Chapter 126: Recommendations

Chapter 126: Recommendations

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.

Recommendations

I let my senses flow across the city, searching even as I calmly walked with my family. Even though it had only been a short while since I'd last been here, both my power and my senses had grown by leaps and bounds since then and with my new senses

It was almost like I was seeing the city for the first time. Crocea Mors slipped silently from reflection to reflection, a mercurial figure without a source to be found, hopping between a hundred pieces of steel. Levant found the highest structure in the area and stood at its edge, power expanding through the air currents as they flowed between buildings. Xihai flowed through rivers and pipelines alike even as Vulturnus raced through a glowing web of power lines. Suryasta peered out of fireplaces and candles, furnaces and engines, forming pictures in my mind written in shifting flames, which Ereb walked beneath my feet, matching my stride exactly as he walked on the underside of the street, in the hidden earth.

But even without my Elementals eyes, the city was different now. I felt thousands of emotions bubbling up like air in the sea; ephemeral hopes, seething anger, and hundreds of different flavors of love and fear and despair alike. I felt a sudden shock of a man watching a horror movie, the deep-seated fear of a woman waiting in a hospital, the burning surety of a young man who thought he knew what love was and the quiet certainty of his parents who didn't need any grandiose displays or proclamations to know what they had. There was the pain of the grieving, the fear of a child huddling in the dark as her parents foughtthough that was a fear that had the taste of routine, as did her parent's anger, sadness, and guilt. There was exhaustion in the back alleys, joy in a nursery, enough dreams to fill the skies, and celebrations gross and subtle.

Things meant to be kept private, locked behind walls and doorsbut no wall, physical or mental, were enough to keep me out. Even without trying, even just standing there, I felt them all. I knew them all, even if I dismissed most of what I sensed with no more than a cursory glance, as my passive Empathy kept we aware of the truth of the city and its many people, things I hadn't even thought about previously.

And then my more physical senses came into play. I picked up every radio signal in the city, every show on the air, and a flood of information from every direction. Though I could focus my Clairvoyance and ESP far better than I could my Empathy, I kept my senses open as I searched for old friends and new enemies alike. I heard everything around me, saw things on levels that most people probably didn't know existed, smelt traces of things that had happened days or weeks ago, and more.

Once again, I had to give thanks to the Gamer's Body and Mind, without which I was sure I'd have long since been driven mad by my own powers. My Empathy alone would likely have driven me far away from any city and just attempting to use my other senses the way I did now would likely have probably driven me to my knees. Instead, it had reduced all of that to little more than an occasional agony that I'd quickly gotten used to healing and even that had faded as the power of my skills increased. Remaining constantly aware of my surroundings had become a simple habit to maintain now and I was able to stay calm and focused despite the scope of my senses.

As such, it didn't take me long to find what I was looking for. It was simply a matter of searched for a person of the right shape, size, and body mass while screening out anyone who didn't fit. Since my target was a rather distinctive person besides, it didn't take me long to find him.

"Adam," I spoke across the distance without moving my mouth, Levant giving form to the words with her own lips as she stood invisibly by my friend.

At the sound of my disembodied voice, he nearly jumped out of his own skin, a hand falling to a weapon as rose and spun around. Seeing nothing, Adam paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes beneath his mask.

"Jaune," He said after a moment to calm himself. "Don't do that. What if I hadn't been alone?"

"Then I'd have waited until you weren't," I said reasonably. "I'm not an idiot, Adam; I checked before I started talkingno one's nearby. Feel free to keep talking at the top of your voice, by the way, because I silenced the room, too."

He looked around as if to see some evidence to support my claim, a frown on his lips.

"Okay," He nodded in acceptance after a moment. "Fine. Jaune, don't do thatbecause you nearly gave me a fucking heart attack."

"I also improved my healing abilities recently," I informed him helpfully. "Should you have suffered a heart attack, I'd have rushed to help you."

"That's nice," Adam's frown became a scowl. "But you aren't promising not to do that again. Don't think I haven't fucking noticed."

I hummed noncommittally, making the sound come from all around him just to be an ass.

Adam snorted like a bull.

"I heard you might be coming to town," He said after a minute. "Didn't think it would be quite so soon, though I'm not sure why, knowing you."

"I don't like wasting time," I admitted. "I take it Raven told you the important parts?"

"God only knows," He said. "She was obviously keeping stuff to herself, but I wouldn't know if it was important or not. Your names came up, thoughboth of them, along with several of your family members. Supposedly, you're working for yourself."

"One of the perks of being a self-made man," I answered. "You get to be your own boss."

"Hah," He feigned a laugh. "But are you sure you want to bring them into this, Jaune? It looks like you're playing a pretty dangerous game."

"Well, you know how much I love my games," I replied. "But yes, I'm sure. For better or for worse, I trust Raven."

"You trust her with the lives of your family," Adam wondered. "But not enough to tell her who you really are?"

"In fairness, even I'm not sure who that is anymore."

"What?"

"It'sa long story," I sighed. "I don't know what Raven told you, butwell, a lot of what I told her was true, if perhaps not completeand part of that is because I don't know the complete truth. I'll tell you the full story when we meet up in person."

Adam stared ponderingly into the air for a long minute before nodding.

"Okay," He said. "As it happens, I trust you, so I'll accept that. I just hope you realize what kind of spot you're putting me in here. I haven't said anything about who you really are, but"

He shook his head, looking aggrieved.

"I know," I answered after a moment, adding the traces of a sign to the words again. "I know, Adam. If it makes it any better, I honestly intend to tell her the truth, once I know what it isabout me and everything else. If I was the only one involved, I would have told her everything already, but you know there are other factors."

"I do," He nodded. "That's part of why I haven't said anything. But I don't like being stuck between a friend and the woman who raised me. It ends with me feeling like crap no matter what I do."

We were both silent for a moment at that before he brushed a hand through his hair and looked to the side.

"But it's whatever," He said after a moment. "You want my help looking into our new friends, right?"

"Yeah," I replied. "Raven and I are both concerned. She said you would be her representative? Anything you can tell me?"

"Not yet," He shook his head. "For something that seemingly everyone in the White Fang knows about, no one seems to have any actual information. Raven put me in charge of this recently to try and find out more, but I haven't made any progress yet. Seems their boss is out of town."

I wanted to frown, but Adam wouldn't have seen it and it might have drawn my family's attention so I kept it inside. But

"I was told she was working out of Haven," I wondered. "Has that changed?"

Adam considered that for a moment before ducking his head in begrudging acceptance.

"Fine," He acknowledged with a sigh. "I forgive you and whatever."

He fell silent for a moment and I waited patiently as he considered what had just happened, pretty sure I knew what he'd say next. Sure enough, after a moment, he tilted his head at me and spoke.

"If that was you being nice, what would you have done if you were trying?" He asked.

"I might have approached you like Raven," I said, my voice changed midsentence to make hers and making him start. Chuckling for a moment, I returned my voice to normal and gave him a half smile. "Or perhaps I'd have done things exactly the same way. See, even if you try and train yourself to be wary of everyone and everything, it's hard to do that all the time, especially with the people you trust. Take right now, for exampleeven after that entrance I made, you're back to being completely calm."

I closed the distance between us in an instant, hand outstretched. Suddenly, I stood in front of him, the claws of my right hand pressed lightly against the fabric of his shirt. I didn't press down hard, but I made sure he could feel their pointed tips through the cloth, that he realized how quickly I'd approached him. We both knew that if I'd wanted to, I could have continued that motion until my hand was in his chest, my fingers around my heart.

"It occurs to me," I said quietly. "That if someone really wanted to approach you, doing so in the guise of someone you trust would be an obvious way to do it. It also occurs to me that pretending to give a test to keep you on your toes might, ironically, be a good way to put you at ease. Even after that light show, after all that noise, you relaxed the moment I told you it was a test and never saw this coming. And now, here you are, dead to rights."

I pressed down just a tiny bit harder and a muscle in his cheek twitched.

"Your paranoia's showing," He said after a moment, the sound of his heartbeat loud in my ears. "But I get the point."

"Do you?" I asked, using Delusory to create the illusion of spiders on my arms, my face. "Do you really? How do you know I'm not actually the illusionist, here to trick you again?"

"If you weren't Jaune, I'd be dead," He stated.

I shook my head.

"Not necessarily," I said. "Not if I needed you alive for something. Try again."

"You healed me," He said. "Without even touching me. And when I hit you before, I felt it connect but you didn't even flinch."

"Better," I said. "Far better, enough so that it's probably safe to assume I'm me. What are the odds that someone could heal and take that shot like I did and know how to act like me? It's enough to conclude I'm me, buthow can you be sure?"

"I can't," He answered after a moment of silence. "Not just from what I've seen."

"Good," I took a step away, watching as he took a deep breath. "That's rightand in cases like these, it's best to be certain. The enemies we're fighting now"

I shook my head.

"We can't assume that things are always as they seem," I told him. "We'll need to be careful."

"What do you propose?" He asked.

"Caution," I said. "Just in case, don't assume anything until you're sure it's me. We'll come up with security measures later, but just to be on the safe side, it's probably for the best that you attack me on sight, unless doing so would draw too much attention. We both know I can take it, so watch how I react to the attack and how it feels when it connects. My power will be the real key here, though. We both know there are things only I should be able to do and we'll use that to confirm my identity."

With a thought and a gesture, I invited him to join my party. He glanced at the window carefully for a moment and then drew up his status screen with a word, nodding slowly.

"Got it," He replied. "And I take it you can tell who I am just fine."

I smiled slightly.

"Yes," I said. "And once you're sure of me, I'll clear everyone else. We'll check to make sure, but I think we both know my senses are up to it."

He nodded again, heaving a sigh.

"Okay," He said. "Okay. Now what? I assume you aren't just here to make sure I'm sufficiently paranoid."

"Yeah," I confirmed. "That's just an amusing bonus. Come on, we're going out."

"Out?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "As in, outside?"

"Obviously."

"Are we going into the city?"

I raised an eyebrow to match his.

"Where else would we go?"

Adam looked at me for a moment.

"In case you haven't noticed, some of us have trouble walking around in public," He stated. "It's an internationally wanted terrorist thing, you see. My union's really strict about these things."

"Hey," I said. "I'm an internationally wanted terrorist, but you don't hear me whining about it, now do you?"

He took a breath and exhaled slowly, refusing to play along.

"You've been cooped up too long," I continued, rolling my eyes. "It shows. I bet you've hardly done anything but jump between missions since your face was revealed and our party got crashed in Vale. Let's hang out for a bit while we sort thing out, okay?"

"If I ask you how, will you tell me?" He asked.

I held out a hand, letting the spiders on it dissipate.

"They aren't the only ones who have an illusionist," I reminded him. "Now let's go already."