Wisteria

A fresh cup of Friar Tuck’s in her hand, Wisteria moved down the street with ease. To any passersby, she would have just looked like a regular citizen, enjoying a latte on a brisk Atlesian day.

When she reached her destination, Wisteria looked up and down the street, before removing a key card from her bag and letting herself in. On the outside, it looked to be a private, three-storied apartment building, but had long ago been emptied and rebuilt as a place of operations for Farron Hargrave and his people.

Wisteria left her coat and bag downstairs, making note of who was already present, before climbing two flights of stairs to reach Farron’s office within the building. She had barely reached the door when she could hear yelling.

“It isn’t your place to ask questions on production!”

Wisteria winced slightly as she entered the room, Candy’s yelling already beginning to annoy her. The pink-haired woman was speaking down to one of their associates, a faunus named Lunick. Sometimes the two of them had butted heads in the past but never to this extent. More often than not, Candy playfully flirted with him, as she did with Farron too.

“Ladies, ladies, it’s a little early to be yelling don’t you think?” Wisteria said, preventing Candy from saying something else. “What’s the problem?”

“I was telling Candy how the incident at the factory has obviously dropped production values,” Lunick said, shooting Wisteria an appreciative look.

“It isn’t your place to look into that!” Candy snapped. “Just stick to your computers.”

Lunick sighed, rubbing his temple with his hand. “When your antics have an impact on the funds we have then it becomes my place, Candy,” He told her, managing to keep his voice surprisingly even. “If you’d rather work without any money then feel free. We’ll see how long that lasts when you come crawling to me asking for someone to help fix your weapons because you broke them yet again.”

Wisteria smirked. “Does she come crawling there for anything else, Lunick?”

“Wisteria I swear I’ll -”

“Nice to see you’re all getting along,” A fourth voice cut in. Standing in the doorway stood Farron Hargrave, the leader of the group. His green eyes studied them all carefully, before he walked round to his desk, and took a seat.

With Farron now having arrived, Candy was quick to play nice, walking over to his desk and sitting on it. Lunick merely rolled his eyes and sighed softly but seemed quietly relieved not to have Candy snapping at him currently.

“How was your trip, Farron?” Candy asked, using the sugary sweet voice she reserved only for when she was playing nice. 

“Fine,” He grumbled, his neutral expression suddenly shifting to a frown. “Or at least it was until the police started asking questions! Do any of you care to explain what happened?”

“Well as you know, Lunick suggested Verde to us, so any blame for what happened at Verdant Storage goes to him.”

“Thank you for that, Candy,” Farron said with a sarcastic tone. “And whilst I will need to speak with Lunick about Verde, what happened at Verdant Storage was not the problem. I am talking about my factory, my family’s factory. Which I had entrusted to you to take care of whilst I was gone.”

“You’re not blaming me surely!?” Candy said with an incredulous tone jumping off the desk.

“The machines were riddled with mostly your bullet holes were they not? You were also supposed to have moved those additional supplies by the time of the attack.”

“If I may interrupt, sir,” Wisteria said with a cough. Farron and Candy both turned to to look at her, whilst Farron had returned to his neutral expression, Candy’s was nothing but hostile. “Candy is merely angry because she was defeated by a group of children.”

Farron arched a brow. Candy on the other hand was quick to remove herself from the desk and march over to Wisteria.

“I was not the only one ‘defeated’ by them.”

“I was not defeated by them,” Wisteria pointed out. “I was helping get you out of there so you didn’t wind up like our dear friends Merlot and Saika.”

“As if I would fail like-”

“Enough!” Farron snapped, silencing the two women. Whilst Candy turned to him with a pleading glance, Wisteria found herself feeling quite smug.

“What’s done is done,” Farron began, now addressing everyone in the room. “To avoid further questions, I have allowed the police to seize the factory completely, claiming that I have no knowledge of the supplies found there.”

“And that worked?” Lunick asked. “Surely having the supplies found there won’t look good when held up against your existing record and discharge from the army.”

Farron nodded his head, his brow furrowing slightly. “You are right it doesn’t look good. Thankfully my brother still has legal ownership of the factory, and as I was away on business at the time, it should provide us with enough cover to get away.”

“And go where?” Candy asked.

“You and I will be returning to Shizukana,” Farron said, looking at Candy. “That is where we have been funnelling most of our resources, and we already have a base of operations there as you all know.” He paused and now looked at Lunick and Wisteria. “Lunick will stay here and continue to monitor his network. Hopefully, he might even be able to lure Verde out from whatever hole he crawled into. As for Wisteria, she will also be joining us on Shizukana, but not before seizing the asset from Crocus.”

Wisteria seemed a bit surprised by this. She had no idea what the ‘asset’ was, but she knew it had to be something of value, as the man who informed them was an old military contact of Farron. Like Farron, he wasn’t part of the military anymore, though he left on his own volition rather than being discharged, and currently worked at a laboratory in the city. From what little she knew, the laboratory took a lot of contracts from the military, upgrading weapons and armour, and helping with some of the androids they used. However, following the incident at Beacon, she imagined they probably wouldn’t be dealing with robots for a while.

“I thought you wanted me to retrieve the asset?” Candy said, looking surprisingly crestfallen.

Farron’s steely gaze fixed on Candy. “I did initially. However, I require someone with a certain degree of subtlety to retrieve it, and following your antics at the factory I do not think I can trust you to handle it anymore.”

“She almost blew the place up with her little trick with the dust crystal!” Candy protested.

“I’m aware of that, and whilst that wasn’t too wise of our friend, I’m willing to overlook it for the time being due to her previous track record,” He explained. He glanced towards Wisteria. “Whilst I do not doubt your skills, the place is likely to be highly secured, do you have anyone you trust to accompany you?”

Wisteria inclined her head to the side. “I know some people who’ll be willing to help me.” Nieve and Ulysses had been waiting in the wings for an eventuality such as this.

Farron nodded. “Good. Speak to them as soon as you can - today if possible. I would like the asset retrieved as soon as possible. Once you do have it, I would advise you lay low for a few days before joining us on Shizukana, to ensure the police aren’t tracking you.”

“As you wish,” Wisteria said, dipping her head in acknowledgement. With a new task at hand, she was about to leave the room but found herself stopping near the door to respond to the questioning look Candy gave her. “I’ll get in contact with my people and we’ll get on this right away.” She stopped to give a wink to Candy, aiming to further rile her up. “See you soon.”

Wisteria headed back downstairs to retrieve her coat and bag before leaving. She discarded her empty coffee cup in a bin as she left, and then waited a moment to ensure the door was locked behind her. Wisteria made sure she was a safe distance away from the meeting place, before pulling out the modified scroll she carried with her. She clicked it on and scrolled down until she saw the person she needed to call and pressed their name. They answered within a few rings.

“Bianca,” Wisteria greeted.

“How good to hear from you again, Wisteria. We were beginning to think you had forgotten about us.”

“I have news,” Wisteria said coolly, hoping to get straight to the point. “Farron intends to move his operations to Shizukana. I will be joining him there soon, but I will first need Nieve and Ulysses to help retrieve the asset we discussed weeks back.”

“He’s finally decided to go after it then? Excellent. Ensure that you have it delivered to us once you’ve dealt with them. Belle is practically salivating at the chance to get her hands on new Atlesian tech,” Bianca said, with the faintest hint of sarcasm. There was a pause before they spoke again. “How long do you think it will take you to deal with them?”

“Not long I don’t think,” Wisteria began. “They were practically falling apart by the time I arrived two months ago and all these recent setbacks have only added to our advantage.”

“That is pleasing to hear, and I’m sure father will be delighted as well. The sooner Farron has been dealt with, the sooner you can return to us and we can begin phase three. Now get in contact with Nieve and Ulysses and I hope when we next speak you’ll bring me further good news.” There was a small click as Bianca disconnected the call.

Candy

High in the sky above her, an airship rushed past, heading in the general direction of Atlas Academy floating high in the sky above. When she first came to Atlas four years ago, she had looked upon the great city in the sky with awe and fascination. Her mother was an Atlesian Operative and had spoken to her and her sister Pepper of the city during her numerous visits home to Vacuo. The way she spoke it sounded like a veritable paradise and the perfect place for Candy to hide away in. But she soon learnt the truth.

Her mother had promised it would be good for her here, a perfect place to run away from the rumours that dogged her in Vacuo. She promised that once Pepper had finished at the academy their family would all be reunited in Atlas. She promised she would be there for her daughter. But it was all lies.

Her mother had tried, Candy would give her that much. She had tried to find the balance between her work and her wayward daughter but after a few weeks, it simply became unmanageable. When Candy needed her Capri Cornell was never there, leaving only broken promises of help in her wake. 

Without her mother to protect her as she had promised, it was easy for Candy to be consumed by her guilt and to be torn down by other people's opinions of her. Murderer! They would shout. It was an accident! Candy would protest.

In the end, it became easier to play the part of the monster they already thought her to be rather than try to convince them of the truth.

"Hello, Candy? Are you there?"

The familiar neutral voice from Lunick Otieno called out through her earpiece, taking Candy's mind away from thoughts of the past and back to the present.

"I'm here," Candy responded, rolling her shoulders as she spoke. The crate she was sitting on was not very comfortable. "Where else would I be?"

"Oh ha ha very funny," Lunick responded, and Candy could swear she could hear his eyes roll from here. "You went quiet for a while there I was beginning to think something had happened."

"I was just thinking about things," She responded. There was a slight pause before she added in a teasing tone, "Aw, don't tell me you were worried about me?" 

"I'm quite certain you could handle yourself if anything untoward happened so no I wasn't worried," Lunick responded. "It's unusual not to hear you speak. You usually talk about a hundred words a minute, much to my annoyance."

"You love it really."

Lunick made a noise that could have passed for a laugh. "What were you thinking about?"

"Wondering about how cold you are in your little apartment," Candy lied smoothly.

"Odd thing to think about," Lunick laughed. "It isn't that cold here though. I do have heating, you know. If anyone's cold right now it would be you."

"I bet you'd love to be up there with your sister though," Candy mused, knowing that Lunick had an older sister in Atlas who worked for a research laboratory. "Definitely warmer too."

"I would only go so that I could enjoy Solana's company more frequently. Her work keeps her from visiting a lot and Farron doesn't like me to leave Mantle as you well know," Lunick responded after a moment.

Lunick couldn't see it but Candy would nod her head. She knew Farron had dirt on Lunick, evidence of his hacking and tinkering with military systems thanks to Crocus. Farron had blackmailed him into staying in Mantle and working for him under threat of revealing his actions. Lunick had admitted once that he didn't really care if anything happened to him, but that he worked with him to spare his sister who had made a good life for herself and did not deserve to have her reputation ruined or brought into question by his actions.

"Heads up," Lunick suddenly spoke again. "Merlot and Saika should be with you in a minute. I can see them approaching you from the left side, coming out of Crimson Lane."

There was a small click sound in her ear and Candy knew Lunick had hung up. Although he was always present in some capacity within their organisation, his contact was infrequent and on his terms. If Lunick wanted to speak with you he would speak with you not the other way around. He didn't seem to like opening up all that much which given the hooks Farron had on him was understandable.

As promised, Merlot and Saika promptly appeared around the corner. They spoke idly amongst themselves, not noticing her presence until she caught their attention herself.

"Merlot Sigal! Saika Fujioka!" Candy called out in a grand tone, spreading her arms wide to welcome them. "Glad you could finally make it! I am Candy Cornell and you and I will be working together tonight!"

The two of them looked up at her with a perplexed expression. After a moment, Saika turned back to Merlot and began to speak.

“Oh great, who’s this old hag they’ve got shadowing us this time?” Saika said with a roll of her eyes.

“Just think of me as your big - wait what did you just call me?!” Candy sat up straighter, glaring at Saika. “OLD HAG?! I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW I’M TWENTY-THREE!”

Saika shrugged dismissively. “That’s still older than we are.”

Candy gritted her teeth for a moment before letting the rage leave her with a deep sigh. Annoying as her comment had been, Candy didn't really have the time nor desire to lose her temper on them. 

"So, as I was trying to say before," She began again, pushing off from the crate she had been sitting on. "I have been sent to assist you by Farron."

"We don't need a babysitter," Saika whined.

"I am not your babysitter," Candy cut in, giving the younger girl a sharp glare. "I am here to assist you."

"We don't-"

"Oh my god, just accept the help and stop complaining," Candy told her.

"Does Mr Hargrave not trust us?" This question was asked by Merlot. Candy was about to tell him to back off but as she looked over at him she could see he had meant it in a genuine manner and not sarcastically as Saika had.

"It's not that he doesn't trust you," Candy assured him. "He is simply wary of this job. It's not somewhere that was even on his radar, much less that he intended to raid this place. The pair of you did spring it upon him after all, are you really surprised that he is being extra cautious?"

The truth of the matter was that Farron had in fact become mistrustful of the young duo. It didn't help that Verde himself had apparently seemed just as confused by their suggestion.

In the end, her answer seemed to be sufficient enough for Merlot, though Saika's face suggested she wasn't entirely convinced by it. With matters resolved for the moment, Candy pushed on ahead, leading the little mismatched trio in the direction of Princeton's Province. Luckily the alley they were currently hiding in had an exit on the opposite side of the street the shop was on. They walked through the alley and then lingered by the opening, keeping to the shadows but still being able to see the shop opposite. There appeared to be dim lights on inside the shop, but otherwise, it appeared closed.

Saika moved to step out and cross the street, but Candy stuck out her arm and kept her firmly in place. Saika gave a glare and Candy merely shook her head.

Moments later, the lights flicked off and a ginger woman stepped outside and proceeded to lock the front door before walking down the street. Candy had a feeling her companions were itching to get over there - or at the very least Saika was - but she held back for a minute or two, wanting to ensure the owner wouldn't come back anytime soon.

When Candy was satisfied that the owner was not returning, she permitted Merlot and Saika to follow her across the road. From the outside, Princeton's Province appeared fairly lacking in security measures. The windows were blocked by metal shutters on the outside, but there were holes in the metal material that allowed you to peer inside if you got close enough. Then again, it didn't make much sense to peer through the shutters when you could just look through the glass panes in the door. If someone really wanted to, they could probably break in via the front door - so long as they were willing to take the risk of there being no internal security systems in place. Which, thanks to a combination of what Merlot and Saika already knew and Lunick's tinkering, they knew there was a security system in place.

"How are we getting in?" Saika asked, leaning close to the door to look in.

"Patience, my young friend," Candy responded, making a jab at Saika's age as she had done to her earlier. Candy raised a finger to her earpiece, making a gesture as though she was turning it on. "Lunick?"

A click sounded in her ear again. "Don't worry I'm working on it."

Slowly, the metal shutters began to rise upwards. Candy heard the rapid tap of a keyboard in her ear before Lunick finally responded. "Done. Alarms and cameras are down. You are free to enter at your leisure."

"Make sure to wipe any footage of us approaching," Candy reminded him, which earned her a small grunt of acknowledgement. She then proceeded to look back at Merlot and Saika.

"The alarms and cameras are down," She said, relaying the information to them. "We can go in when we're ready."

Merlot nodded but once again Saika pouted.

"What's wrong with you?" Candy asked.

"The locks?" Saika said, speaking in a tone that suggested that Candy was stupid for asking such a question. "Do we need to pick them or something?"

"Uh, no," Candy chuckled awkwardly, now looking at Saika like she was the stupid one. "You do this." Candy proceeded to raise her fist and smashed it into the glass pane in the door closest to the lock. Admittedly, she was taking a bit of a risk in hoping that there would be a lock within reach, but luckily it paid off in the end. Through the broken panel, she moved her hand up and around on the other side of the door, eventually finding a lock and unlocking it with a satisfying click. It was a pretty basic system all things considered, but Candy noted that they did usually have a more substantial system in place.

Pulling back her hand and shaking off the specks of glass attached to her glove, Candy opened the door, doing a little dramatic bow as she held it open. 

"You may enter."

Merlot dipped his head at her as he stepped inside, Saika meanwhile gave her usual sneer. Candy was beginning to think her face only had one expression.

Candy followed her companions inside. Whilst they walked ahead of her and began to poke around, Candy scanned the shop trying to make note of anything interesting. As they had been told priorly, it seemed the majority of the items were military related, which was a pain for Candy. Although her mother was in the military and Farron had tried to teach her some things, a lot of the information flew over her head if she was being honest. She couldn't tell anyone the specific differences between guns from pre-war and those made post-war.

"Lunick?"

There was a brief pause before he answered. "Yes, Candy?"

"Anything in particular I should be looking for in here?" Candy asked, picking up a metal device and rolling it in her hand for a moment before setting it back down.

"The Princeton's don't keep a digital list of stock so I don't know any specifics," Lunick informed her. "Honestly anything that looks big, shiny, and military issued would probably be fine. Those kinds of items always fetch a good price, especially with the unscrupulous former military types."

“Gotcha.”

CRASH.

Candy turned on her heel to see what was the cause of the sound, her eyes blazing with rage when she realised Saika was the cause of it. Saika had pulled down a shelf of items and was proceeding to throw around several valuable figures and vases, sparing little thought for the sheer amount of noise she was making.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She hissed in a low voice.

Saika did not answer her and moved to grab a large, round vase which she proceeded to heft above her head. 

“Don’t you dare throw that,” Saika warned.

“Sai,” Merlot looked at her pleadingly. “What are you doing? We never agreed to do this.”

Saika gritted her teeth, a strained expression on her face as she held the vase aloft. “I’m ensuring Jasmine gets the punishment she deserves.”

Candy stepped towards her with intent. “If you don’t put that vase down now I’ll give you a damn punishment.”

“Shut up, Candy!” Saika snapped. “I don’t take orders from you!”

Candy clenched a fist. “Listen here you little-”

Before she could finish her warning, a door at the back of the shop opened, and none other than Jasmine Princeton stepped out of it carrying a small wooden crate with her. Candy, Saika, and Merlot all froze on the spot but luckily it seemed Jasmine had not noticed them initially as she was too focused on a phonecall.

“Yes, mum, I packaged those orders for you as you asked. I’ll send the package for Mr Dahlia once I finish up here.”

After Jasmine set down the crate on a countertop next to the till, she looked up and seemed to fully notice the three people in the shop with her for the first time. Her yellow eyes went wide.

“Uh, mum I’ll have to call you back,” She said calmly as she disconnected from the call on her scroll. She set the scroll down on the counter before pointing a finger in Saika and Merlot’s direction. “You have some nerve showing up here.” Jasmine’s eyes snapped to Candy. “And who are you supposed to be? You look like some secretary for the CCT.”

“Candy Cornell,” Candy introduced, bowing in a mocking manner. “Charmed.”

As Jasmine seemed to mull over what to say next, Candy got a good look at the woman who caused Saika such ire. She didn’t really look like much Candy noted. Her clothes seemed fairly plain for Atlesian standards, though she wore a lot of silver jewellery that was no doubt very real.

In response to Jasmine’s question, Saika threw down the vase she was still holding with a great deal of force. 

“Oh, real mature Saika,” Jasmine sneered. “Does smashing up all our products make you feel better?”

“Not really,” Saika confessed, strangely calm for a moment. “But this might.”

Before Candy could process what was happening, Saika grabbed a pistol Candy didn't even realise she had and fired off a singular round in Jasmine’s direction. Luckily Jasmine had ducked down but the bullet hit the wall mere inches above where her head had been.

“Sai!” Merlot looked at Saika with an alarmed expression. “I know things ended badly between us but is that any way to treat an old friend?”

“That’s okay, Merlot,” Jasmine called out from behind the counter. Candy glanced back in Jasmine's direction, watching as she rose back up, this time holding a baseball bat in her hands. “Like you said, we’re old friends.”

Despite the formal look of her clothing, Jasmine moved with ease, as she quickly vaulted over the countertop and began to stride towards Saika and Merlot. Although Candy didn’t really much care for her companions, she doubted Farron or Verde would be happy if any harm befell them. She quickly moved to intercept Jasmine, who at first shoved her away before Candy quickly reached out for her arm and twisted it at an awkward angle to try and get her to drop the bat.

Unfortunately, Jasmine kept a strong grip on the bat despite her obviously uncomfortable position, so Candy disarmed Jasmine herself, tossing the bat aside like it was nothing. "There's no need for that," Candy said in a mocking voice as she released her grip on Jasmine.

Jasmine pulled away, hunching over and looking as though she was fussing over the arm Candy had twisted. "That's alright I much prefer these anyway," Jasmine said as she straightened, before slamming her fist into Candy's jawline.

The strike took Candy by surprise, even more so on account of the cool metal she felt connecting against her skin. Candy took a step back, massaging her jaw where she had been hit and looking at Jasmine with a raised eyebrow. It became apparent that she had utilised a pair of sturdy brass knuckles, which until recently had been attached to her belt, concealed by the waistcoat she wore. "Impressive," Candy mused, giving Jasmine a respectful nod.

"You still have your weapons?!" Saika snapped, glaring at Jasmine.

"Although our team was expelled, fortunately for Neta and myself we were not consorting with criminals," Jasmine responded. "The general was a little more lenient with us."

Saika made a grunting noise. Candy merely smirked, before turning her head back to Jasmine and rolling her shoulders. "Are we doing this then?" She asked, hoping that Jasmine would rise to her bait.

Jasmine made what appeared to be a nod before lunging forward, another punch aimed at her head, which Candy stepped back to avoid. Candy wouldn't consider herself much of a brawler but she had often gotten into fistfights back in Vacuo as a younger girl. Her mother's position in Atlas had often made her and her sister a target of bullies. 

Circling each other, the two women began to fight, punching, kicking, and grappling in all manner of ways. Jasmine was naturally more precise and clean with her movements, and Candy was notably less so. Though, unlike her opponent, she was not above using a few dirty tactics to gain a momentary upper hand. She stamped on Jasmine's toes, slapped her rather than punched her, attempted to trip her at least three times, and even managed to knee her in the gut.

This all worked to wind Jasmine up, and Candy watched with delight as her frustration caused her concentration to slip. Sensing her opponent was putting more force behind her attacks, Candy eased up slightly in her defense, allowing Jasmine to hit her several times causing her aura to flare. To the unknowing eye, it would have seemed as though she were throwing the fight and allowing Jasmine to win. But in actual fact, there was a method to her madness. And with another hard hit to the jaw, Candy's aura sparked, and with it so too did her semblance. She could feel the power waiting to be unleashed and willingly surrendered herself to it.

After staggering back from the last hit, she crouched a little, acting as though she were more injured than she actually was. She saw Jasmine take a step towards her, winding back to punch her, but before she could, Candy snapped her hand up with an alarming burst of speed and caught it.

Candy lifted her head and gave Jasmine a smirk as a red-pink glow swirled around her fist before slowly absorbing her entire body. Jasmine looked at her with an expression of mixed fear and confusion as Candy slowly straightened, never once relinquishing her grip on Jasmine's fist until she was standing level with her opponent.

"You wanted to get hit…" Jasmine said, slowly putting the pieces together.

"Clever girl," Candy said, winking. And then proceeded to headbutt Jasmine so hard that the other woman was sent sprawling to the floor. Candy's semblance did not activate until her aura dropped below a certain level, after which Candy could enter a state of near invulnerability for five minutes at the expense of her remaining aura. 

With her opponent on the floor, Candy got in a few good kicks whilst the other woman was downed, largely ignoring Jasmine's attempts to yield.

It was only when a distant wailing siren could be heard that Candy finally eased up, looking around at her two companions to see if they knew what could have been the cause. Merlot seemed too stunned to speak, looking down at Jasmine on the floor with a dazed expression. Saika was also looking at Jasmine, but when she saw Candy looking at her, lifted her head. For a brief, fleeting moment, Candy saw something that was not disdain from the younger woman.

“Must have set off a silent alarm,” Saika said in way of an explanation for the encroaching sirens.

“Either that or your attempts to wreck the shop drew more attention than you realised,” Candy countered, giving Saika a look that prevented her from saying anything else. “Regardless, we should not linger here any longer. I do not wish to find myself in a cold Atlesian prison cell anytime soon.”

“What should we do about Jasmine?” Merlot asked.

It was a fair question, and one that Candy briefly pondered before swiftly acting. “Making sure she doesn’t follow us,” Candy answered him. She quickly leaned over Jasmine and hoisted her over her shoulders - or as best she could - before staggering over to the window. It was not as easy a task as it should have been in the current situation, hampered by Jasmine’s attempts to free herself.

"Get off of me!" Jasmine yelled, straining to get free.

Candy ignored her and continued to move closer to the window and then with a small grunt, she hefted Jasmine over her shoulder and straight through the window. The force of the impact of going through the glass coupled with landing roughly on the pavement outside had caused Jasmine's aura to break. She had tried to pull herself up but the loss of her aura caused her to flop listlessly outside.

"Okay, you two move it! Move it!" Candy urged, practically shoving the two of them when neither of them seemed in a hurry to move.

Rushing out of the shop, the trio darted back into the alleyway they had lingered in not so long ago. They ran through that alley and waited at an exit to ensure there were no soldiers nearby, before dashing into another alley.

"Do you even know where you're going?" Saika asked as they ran.

Candy didn't even give her a response. Of course, she knew. When you spent most of your time stalking the streets of Mantle, the layout of the streets was easy to recall. After running through the second alley, the trio came out onto a side street. It took Candy a moment to place where they were in her head, but after a moment she was able to recall the knowledge, noting that if they took a left further up they would come out on Thicket Row, a street known for its various shops. Even though it was nighttime, Candy suspected that there would be a few customers on the street again.

Just as they were beginning to walk away, Candy abruptly stopped. "Shit," She cursed to herself, realising her semblance was about to fade, which in turn meant her aura was about to break.

Candy snapped an arm out, her hand resting on Merlot's chest for a moment. "I need you to support me," She instructed, ignoring the confused expression on his face. "I will put my arm around your shoulders and you will put your arm around my waist, understood?"

"S-sure," Merlot said, nervously putting his arm around her waist. "Can I ask why?"

"Hold me tighter! You’re not going to spontaneously combust if you touch me, you know,” Candy snapped, practically putting his hand on her hip when he placed it there awkwardly. Once satisfied he could do his job, Candy felt comfortable answering him. “To answer your question, when my semblance stops my aura breaks. I am left completely drained when it happens and can barely support myself much less actually walk straight. Whilst I should be fine in an hour or so, this doesn’t exactly give us a smooth getaway. I mean imagine what someone will think if they see me staggering around, barely able to stand up.”

“I imagine they’d think you were drunk,” Saika said in a snide tone.

“I bet they probably would,” Candy agreed. “But it’ll certainly look suspicious given there’s no bars or restaurants anywhere near here.”

Saika hmphed but said little else regarding that matter. A moment passed and Candy’s aura finally broke. Although she had her doubts Merlot would keep her upright, Candy was pleasantly surprised when he pulled her up slightly when the loss of aura caused her to slump forward.

“Good job,” She smiled, giving him a pat on his chest reassuringly. “Let’s keep moving.”

The trio stepped out of the alleyway, and with a little bit of further encouragement from Candy, made it onto Thicket Row. As Candy had anticipated, there were a few civilians milling around on the streets, enjoying the few shops that were open for business at this hour. Candy began to make some small talk with her two companions, which only Merlot seemed to realise was to help them blend in and promptly responded back to her. Saika continued to scowl like a moody child.

They had gone by unnoticed thankfully and had almost made it off the street when a crowd of people caught their attention. They were huddled around the window of an electronics shop, which has a small TV in the window, screening coverage of the Vytal festival. Candy thought that whatever match was playing would be a great distraction for the three of them to slip by unnoticed. However, as they passed by, Candy was forced to a halt when she heard what was being said, her curiosity getting the better of her at that moment. Even Saika stopped to listen.

It was not coverage of the Vytal festival at all, but rather a breaking news bulletin.