Chapter 21
I made sure to give Blake and com link before splitting up, and I end up finding an ongoing police chase. Fortunately, they bikers aren’t using their guns, so no one is getting shot at, but this is still really dangerous. I catch up and use a few distant webs to trip up their bikes and send them flying into a nearby wall before I web them up. No sign of Tombstone though. Meanwhile, Blake found a few causing havoc a few blocks away. She jumped in the way and clawed at their tires as they drove by, causing them to crash.
Biker 1: “Agh! Damn cat!” As they drew their knives.
Biker 2: “Never was a cat person anyway.”
Blake: “You definitely won’t be after this.” They try to go on the offensive, but fall short when she jumped to dodge and landed behind them, followed by a scratch to their legs to stun them. And after they drop to their knees, she does a long kick that hits them both in the head hard, knocking them out, and then grapples up to the rooftops when she hears the cops coming. Encounters like this have been happening for the past few hours before Blake and I meet on a roof.
Ruby: “Geez, just how many guys does she have on her payroll?”
Blake: “This is never gonna end until we can actually find Tock.” Luckily, Weiss and Yang are listening.
Weiss: “I think I may have a lead on that. Surveillance cameras can’t see them in them, but I found one pick up chatter from a nearby alley that happened five minutes ago. Tomorrow at five, the gang plans to pick a shipment of alcohol from their supplier.”
Blake: “Chasing the troublemakers like this is just going to run us ragged and lead us nowhere. We can’t know exactly when these guys will retreat for their hideout if all their doing is just causing chaos.”
Ruby: “But the ones handling the pick-up will need to return to avoid getting caught with the goods. So, if we can find that exchange, they can lead us to the hideout if we just follow them from there.”
Yang: “Do we know even know where it’ll be, though?”
Weiss: “According to the convo, it is happening in an alley behind a club known as Junior’s.”
Yang: “Junior’s? Sounds more like a daycare center than a club.”
Blake: “Oh, it’s a club alright. And a dangerous one too. From what I understand, that place is owned by one of the most infamous crime families in Vale.”
Weiss: “You’re referring to the Maggia crime families, aren’t you?”
Blake: “Exactly.”
Ruby: “Huh. You know, I think I remember reading about them somewhere. An old paper Uncle Qrow had about how one of the families lost their leader.”
Weiss: “Yes. The head of the Xiong family, Hei Xiong, died of a heart attack some years back, and control of the family went to his son, Hei Xiong Junior.”
Blake: “Who is the founder and owner of Junior’s as he is best known solely by the name ‘Junior’.”
Yang: “Seriously?”
Ruby: “Regardless, a mob owned club definitely sounds like the kind of place these guys would get their drinks from.”
Weiss: “And in other news, I managed to get ahold of some anesthesia. Some guy at the SDC let me buy a couple of tanks off of him with no questions asked. Probably some under shmuck strapped for extra cash. They should be delivered to my place tomorrow morning before I have to leave for school.”
Ruby: “Perfect. Then let’s finish cleaning up a few more of these guys before calling it for tomorrow.”
Blake: “Agreed.” And that’s exactly how things went from there. We cleaned up good number of other bikers before we all went home. The next day, we all went about our school day like normal, Weiss confirming the delivery during lunch, and then we met up at Weiss’ place like usual.
Yang: “You sure this stuff is even any good? I mean, how do we even know this is the real deal?” Weiss growing a bit irritated.
Weiss: “Wanna try it and find out?”
Yang: “Yeah, I’m good.” As she put her hands in defeat.
Weiss: “Regardless, it’s only natural I made sure it was real before we go using it, so I had PENNY do an analysis while I was gone. I just checked with her, and the results came in positive.”
Ruby: “Okay. So how do we go about using these?”
Weiss: “As inconvenient as it seems, you’ll have to strap the tanks to your back to allow use of both your hands, and then get in close to use the attached inhaler masks.”
Blake: “No other choice, I guess.” Once we suit up and apply the tanks, we take a short patrol around the district before we head to Junior’s and sit up on the roof of the building behind it about 30 minutes before the given time. 30 minutes later, two bikers show up without their bikes and carrying duffle bags. Upon arriving, they give the back door a few knocks before someone opens up for a brief moment to get a good look at their outfits before they close the door, and the garage door next to them opens up, revealing Junior, a few of his posse and a delivery truck.
Junior: “Right on time as always. Hm? Where’s the boss?”
Biker 1: “Tombstone gives her regards.”
Biker 2: “Ever since she faced the cat and spider, she’s been hanging back at the base and solely organizing our excursions. Saying stuff about wanting to save her strength for the next time they fight.”
Junior: “Not that it’ll matter with her affliction. Chick can survive anything, while all I’ve got is my head plate.”
Biker 1: “Still, she sent us to handle the pick-up.” As they drop the bags by Junior's feet.
Biker 2: “2 billion Lien as promised. Wasn't easy either, what with those ‘heroes’ constantly getting in our way.”
Junior: “At least you still got it all in time.” As he and one of his men pick up the bags and he snaps his other hands fingers, signaling the other good to get in the truck and pull it out before getting out and opening the back. “And just as promised, 10 crates chock full of bottles of our strongest whiskey.”
Biker 2: “Heh. Perfect.” As he closed the truck and received the keys from Junior’s goon. Followed up with them driving away in the truck as Junior and his men head back inside. Once they’re all gone, we follow the truck from the rooftops and their drive went on for about an hour before we find ourselves at a desolate drug storage warehouse uptown. We see Tock at the garage door.
Tombstone: “Alright boys, get these crates unloaded.” They work on that as we get up to the roof and watch through the skylight.
Blake: “No wonder no one could find them with blind searches. This place is so far out of the way from their usual public sightings.”
Ruby: “And big enough to hold everything they have in plain sight.” They watch as they unload the last crate into the warehouse, and Tock opens one of the crates to take a bottle.
Tombstone: “Oh yeah, that’s the good stuff. You all leave me be. Go check up on the bikes or something.” Of course, they all do as she say, and she’s left alone with her drink. This is about as good as any to strike. Time to pull the brakes on this operation.