Pearls on a String

Volume 2

Chapter 16: Visitation

Town of Vale

Friday Evening

Pip grinned as she looked her silver-haired teammate over. "Babe, you rock that dress. Doesn't she rock that dress? Tell her she rocks that dress." She gave her auburn-haired boyfriend a nudge with her elbow.

"Definitely rocking the dress," Rufus laughed lightly in agreement.

"I am still not certain," Lustre hedged, looking down at herself. She stood barefoot in front of the dressing room at Remnant's Fashion, the dress she had tried on reaching to just past her knees. It was a white-and-light-blue patterned ensemble, short-sleeved and backless, that the blonde thought brought her brilliant pale blue eyes out perfectly.

"Seriously, Lustre, get the damn dress already. It's perfect."

"And this is casual enough to wear out on the town, as we are tonight?" the dark-skinned girl inquired softly, twirling herself about slowly.

"Yep, or for lots of other functions, you know, like dinners, dances, dates…"

Lustre shot her a glare at that last word which made Pip raise her hands defensively. "Kidding, I'm kidding!"

With a roll of her eyes, the silver-haired girl twirled one last time before returning to the changing room. "Very well, then," she commented over her shoulder as she closed the door.

"Yes!" Pip exulted quietly, pumping a victorious fist into the air.

"Why are you so excited about her getting a dress?" her tall boyfriend asked curiously.

The blonde grinned, bouncing up and down on her toes like a child at Yuletide. "You don't understand! She never, and I mean never, buys clothes for herself, outside of her combat clothes or for special occasions, like the Vytal dance! This is huge progress!"

"Oookaayyy," he drawled uncertainly. "Which means…?"

"Which means, tall, dark, and handsome, that she's coming further out of her shell!" Pip explained patiently. "Look, when our team first formed, both Beryl and Lustre were incredibly shy and withdrawn. In Lustre's case, she just wanted to hide behind her books all the time, right?"

"I still enjoy reading more than social interaction," Lustre called out from the changing room.

"Hush, you, I'm giving context," Pip chided with a grin before turning back to Rufus. "Anyway, she's come a long way since then, not just within our team but with other students as well. This is just another step out, breaking away from her mold of a serious student."

The changing room opened to reveal Lustre, back in her school uniform with her non-regulatory white socks. "I still fail to see how dressing differently does anything meaningful."

"It's like your socks, babe. Individuality!"

"Which is overrated."

"Pfft," Pip scoffed as she pulled Lustre in for a one-armed hug. "Admit it, you're blossoming."

"I shall admit to no such thing."

"Now you're just being sulky."

"I prefer the term 'quietly petulant'."

"Yeah, that means sulky."

Lustre rolled her eyes humorously as she walked with the other two teens towards the register. "Remind me why it is I continue to tolerate you?"

"'Cause you love me," Pip grinned cheekily.

"Ah, yes, I knew there was a probable reason."

Rufus walked with his hands stuffed into his dark-brown knee-length duster, open to reveal his toned and muscular abdomen. "You've got the most interesting relationship with your team, darlin'."

"Eh, what can I say? We're family!" The blonde gave Lustre a quick peck on the cheek, which caused her friend to squawk indignantly.

"Pip, we discussed this, no forms of affection involving the lips!"

"I can't help it, you're just such a cutie!" Pip needled her, following it up with a gleeful cackle.

Lustre simply growled in reply, sounding much like an angry kitten, before placing her dress on the counter and pulling her wallet out.

"She ever beat you over the head for your antics?" Rufus asked with a smirk.

Pip shrugged carelessly. "Eh, once or twice. That's what an aura is for."

Lustre stood tapping her foot, muttering choice phrases under her breath, while she was rung up. Pip was able to catch a few of them such as 'incorrigible' and 'despicable', as well as 'recidivous', whatever that last one meant.

Once her silver-haired teammate was finished, Pip intercepted her before she could storm out of the store. She wrapped her ropey and muscular arms around her shorter friend and gave her a warm hug.

"You know I love you, right?" the blonde murmured.

"Yes, Pip," Lustre sighed affectionately. "Though you do tend to push things."

"I can but try," she smirked as she let go and followed her outside. "So, where are you off to next?"

"I believe I shall retire for the evening," Lustre explained. "Team Iris has invited me to watch a video in their room. It might give Evie and Beryl some alone time as well."

Pip shook her head and sighed melodramatically. "I wish the two of them would just bang and get it over with."

"Not everyone is as concerned with sex as you are," Lustre reminded her archly.

"And not everyone is as disinterested in sex as you are," she retorted.

"Indeed. But they are comfortable as they are, and you should not try to influence them otherwise."

The blonde girl suddenly grinned anticipatorily. "Ten lien says within the week."

Her grin widened as she noted Lustre's pale blue eyes twinkle. Betting was the silver-haired girl's one weakness, especially when it came to her friends. It was well-justified, as she had the best record of all of them, which was understandable being as observant and intuitive as she was.

"Acceptable. Foreplay does not count."

"What?"

"Sex only."

"Ugh, fine… So how do we define sex?"

"We do not," Lustre replied with a smirk. "They will be the ones to define it as such."

"You are making this less and less fun, you know."

"I am simply removing the opportunities for you to cheat."

"What, me? Cheat?" Pip held a hand to her chest in mock affront.

"Please," Lustre scoffed. "How else would you describe your actions yesterday?"

"Hey, how was I supposed to know Beanie would insult me within the agreed-upon time frame?" Pip protested, her eyes wide and broadcasting her innocence for all to see.

"Perhaps it had something to do with the note you left for him, goading him on," Lustre stated flatly, not buying it for a second.

"Oh," Pip said with a chagrined smile, touching the tips of her forefingers together. "Found out about that, huh?"

"Mmhmm. And while I realize that cheating is an accepted and time-honored ploy in our wagers, I shall still remove as many avenues from you as possible."

The blonde giggled quietly. "Okay, then. Sex within the week."

"As defined by Evie and Beryl."

"Yup, as defined by them."

"And no leaving notes to them in their names to trick them."

"Dammit…"

By this point Rufus was leaning against the storefront, his shoulders shaking in silent laughter. "She's got your number, Pip," he gasped.

"Yeah, she usually does," Pip grinned. "Alright, babe, we're gonna go hit the town. Let the moon-eyed couple know we'll be back late."

"I shall do so," Lustre replied with an answering grin. The two friends shared another warm hug before the silver-haired girl finally turned to leave, giving Rufus a friendly wave.

"Yep, the most interesting team," Rufus chuckled. He draped his arm comfortably around Pip's shoulders as they began to meander along the street. "And she's got, like, zero interest in anybody?"

"If you mean for relationships, then yeah. I tease her about it sometimes, but not in a mean way, and not around others that we're not close friends with. She just doesn't want anything like that."

Rufus stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I've just… never met anyone who had no interest in sex at all."

Pip shrugged nonchalantly. "It's not a big deal, really, just who she is."

"Speaking of relationships…" Rufus began hesitantly. "So, I told Sunny about Beryl and Evie."

"Oh yeah? How'd that go?"

"She's fine with it, really. Actually said how happy she was for them."

"No kidding?" Pip chuckled. "Damn. Guess I should've expected that."

"There any way you might be able to, I dunno… talk to Beryl about keeping in touch with her? Sunny still wants to be her friend, but doesn't want to intrude if it's gonna make things awkward."

"Now that I didn't expect, for her to want to check first. I mean, not that Sunny's inconsiderate, but…"

"I know, but I have a feeling Tara talked to her."

Pip laughed merrily. "Yeah, okay, that makes more sense. But sure, I'll mention it."

Rufus nodded genially. "So then, where to, gorgeous?"

"Hmm…" Pip mused thoughtfully. "Well, a hotel room is out, neither one of us have the lien…"

"Very true," he replied with a laugh.

"Wanna hit a bar?"

"Why, my dear Pip, are you trying to get me drunk to take advantage of me?" Rufus asked with a lecherous wag of his eyebrows.

Pip gave him a light smack across his bare chest. "Dork. No, I know of this cool little bar on the seedier edge of town that I like to go to. Cool atmosphere and always good for a bar fight."

"Vale actually has a seedier side?"

"Yep."

"Huh. And you haven't gotten barred from this place yet?"

"Nope. The owner likes me, I saved his kid this one time from being harassed."

Rufus glanced over at her curiously. "Why were they being harassed?"

"Aw, just some ignorant inbred hick bigots who didn't like the fact that she was half-Faunus."

"Really? You guys still get that around here? I thought that was an Atlas thing."

"Eh," Pip shrugged carelessly. "Like I said, a couple of inbred hicks. You get those every so often. I convinced them of the error of their ways."

Rufus snorted humorously. "Likely with some amount of broken bones and concussions, right?"

"You know me so well," the blonde grinned.

"So when was this?"

"Hmm…" Pip gazed up at the stars in thought. They'd moved away from the main bustle of main street downtown and were now in an area where the street lamps were further spaced apart as they traversed through an industrial area. "I suppose about six years ago now?"

Rufus pulled to a halt, startled. "Wait, you're saying you beat the crap out of two grown adults when you were twelve?"

She laughed, a carefree and unselfconscious sound. "I've always been a scrapper, growing up in an orphanage can do that for you. But yeah, by that point I was already accepted into the early combat schools on a government program."

"Wow, got an early start, then," he mused as they began to walk once more.

"Yeah, one of the advantages of being an orphan, it allowed me opportunities for programs like that. Basically a full-ride scholarship, so long as I don't screw up majorly." Pip snickered loudly. "So far, so good. Or at least, they haven't found out about anything major."

"And I'm sure your performance at the Vytal Festival helped."

"Well, it's not like I'm being evaluated or anything. I mean, Oz can always boot me out, and then that would drop me out of the program as well. He's pretty cool, though. I'd have to seriously fuck up to get on his bad side."

Rufus was about to make another rejoinder, but before he could a shiver went down Pip's spine.

"Hey, babe…"

"Yeah, I felt it too. We're being watched."

"Should we ambush them?"

Rufus chuckled lightly while searching around the deserted street. The few shops there were closed already as they mostly catered to the day workers in the nearby factories, and the pedestrian traffic had trickled off to nothing.

"Figures we'd be unarmed," he sighed. "Not that toting greatswords around town is overly inconspicuous or anything…"

"Oh, please," she scoffed confidently. "We're hunters-in-training, dangerous enough on our own. Besides which, I can brawl with the best of 'em."

They turned as a shadow detached itself from the storefront across the street. "Well, I guess we're about to find out," Rufus murmured before raising his voice. "What do you want?"

"Well, he's sure as hell not selling makeup," the blonde quipped, earning her a semi-exasperated glance from her boyfriend.

As the shadow approached it resolved itself into a tall, gangly-looking man who was several inches taller than Rufus and almost a foot taller than Pip's not-inconsiderable height. He moved with the grace and deadly fluidity of a skilled fighter, the ropey muscles evident on his lean frame. There was a loose shirt over his frame that matched the beige and tattered shorts, held up by a rope belt, that hung down to his knobby knees. On each of his gangly arms was an armguard crafted out of some wooden material and secured with linen wraps, similar to the bindings that encased his feet and shins.

"Yeah," Pip said slowly, her earlier snark forgotten as her mouth momentarily went dry. "This is not lookin' good."

"Still think we can take him?" Rufus asked quietly. He crouched with his feet braced apart, balancing on the balls of his feet, and arms held loosely at his sides, waiting to see what the approaching man would do. To his credit, the tall auburn-haired boy didn't try to shield Pip, knowing she could handle herself just fine.

She shot him a tight grin as she mimicked his ready stance and tried to inject confidence into her voice. "Between the both of us? Yeah, we got this."

And then the mysterious stranger was close enough for them to see the black pools of his irises, devoid of any emotion. The blond man stopped a few feet away and regarded them dispassionately.

"Why isn't he attacking?" Pip whispered out of the corner of her mouth.

"Maybe he's intimidated by us?"

"Not likely. I'm gonna try for conversation."

"By all means, be my guest, darlin'."

Without leaving her combat stance, Pip directed her next words at the gangly man. "So, hey buddy, lookin' pretty menacing there. We gonna fight or talk?"

Without warning the man lashed out with a foot towards Rufus, sending a powerful spin-kick at him that the auburn-haired boy barely managed to block. Still, it pushed him back along the sidewalk.

"Fight it is!" she sang out gleefully. Surging forward, she led off with a fierce uppercut, hoping to catch him off-guard from his attack on her boyfriend. That hope was immediately dashed as the man effortlessly blocked her strike with a negligent swipe from a hand. His other palm snaked out and slammed into her sternum, bowling her over backwards.

She lay on her back, stunned and gasping for breath. "Son of a fuck," she wheezed. "That fucking hurt!"

With an effort she pushed herself up and staggered to her feet once more. Rufus was desperately backing up as the man spun in a whirlwind of kicks and open-handed strikes.

Grimmshit, she thought angrily. I need a weapon.

She glanced around quickly until her gaze fell on the awning of the store next to her. Beggars can't be choosers.

Pip took a long step over and wrenched hard at the metal support holding the awning away from the side of the shop. It snapped off, leaving her with a long rod that felt solid enough in her hands to serve.

As she turned around, she noted worriedly that Rufus was up against a wall now. He twisted away and rolled to the side before coming up on one knee. And then he shouted.

Rufus' semblance was sonic and multifaceted. In conjunction with his sword he could channel it into a force strong enough to break down a wall. But by himself, it was still a power to be reckoned.

The auditory blast sent chunks away from the facade of the wall and blew detritus along the sidewalk, but the stranger just crossed his arms in front of his face. Those strange wooden armguards lit up with glowing runes, and he seemed to shrug the attack off as if it were a gentle breeze. Three quick steps took him to Rufus' side, but instead of attacking, he simply placed a hand on the top of her boyfriend's head.

She let out a roar of challenge as she raced forward, but she could tell she would be too late. Rufus' warm brown eyes widened in shock, and his mouth opened in a silent scream before he fell backwards, those same brown eyes now rolled lifelessly up into his head. He dropped into a boneless heap at the stranger's feet.

Pip let her roar turn into a growl as she channeled her own semblance into her makeshift weapon. It wouldn't be able to handle much of her heat before becoming useless, but she could light it up enough to make it hurt.

With a deft motion she twirled the rod around her, bringing it up under his guard while holding like she would a greatsword. Her eyes widened in shock as he intercepted it in a move that she didn't even see coming, one forearm blocking the strike with those odd armguards of his to shatter her weapon.

He took another step towards her, bottomless pools of black staring into her like the maw of hell itself.

"Who are you?" she whispered, shuffling a trembling leg backwards. She tried to surreptitiously pull her scroll out to call for help, but her shaking fingers couldn't pull up her contacts without her looking at it.

"My name," he finally spoke in a deep and resonant voice, sounding as if he were speaking from the bottom of a well. "Is Leech."

And then he flew at her faster than she could react to clamp his hand atop her head.

Pip felt as if her very soul was being sucked out of her, all the energy and warmth being pulled up through her body and into the hand that rested on her forehead. If she could have screamed she would have, but all she could do was stare in incomprehending terror at the blackness that rushed up to greet her, her scroll falling from limp fingers.

Undisclosed Location

When Pip came to again, her predicament had significantly worsened.

For starters, she was strapped to a gurney that was slightly elevated. That in itself was usually a very bad sign. Her clothes were gone, replaced by a thin paper gown that only covered her front, leaving her back and sides exposed. Which greatly improved her mood, having a cold metal slab pressed against her bare rear end. Add to that the whole evil laboratory feel, with the sterile white walls, medical equipment, and transparent windowed outer wall that showed a brightly-illuminated hallway, and she was beginning to feel rather despondent about her chances of a quick escape.

She flexed her limbs, testing the unyielding restraints to no avail. Then she tried reaching up with her fingers to melt the restraints with her semblance, but all it did was give her burns on her wrists.

Must be laced with dust. This is very bad.

Her head swiveled around, unable to see any sign of life or even a door, just what looked to be heavily reinforced glass. But then her eyes went beyond the glass to another identical room across the hall where she could see a similarly-attired Rufus, strapped to another gurney in much the same predicament. He was watching her with a concerned look on his face, and though his mouth moved she could detect no sound whatsoever. So, soundproofed as well.

"Yep," she sighed heavily. "We're fucked."

And then there was a flurry of activity as a group of nondescript people in labcoats scurried down the hallway. They split into two groups of three, each tapping a code into a keypad outside the rooms before a glass panel slid aside to allow them entry.

She could hear Rufus' angry shouts before the closing panel cut them off, but she herself remained silent, just watching their movements carefully. The lab techs, as they appeared to be, were all male and kept out of her direct line of sight for the most part. Pip felt herself being poked at from the side, and noted for the first time that there were a few sensors placed on various parts of her body.

Eventually she couldn't keep quiet any longer. "What are you going to do to me?" the lanky blonde asked in a desperate whisper.

As expected, they didn't deign to answer, just scurrying about and collecting their data before leaving again.

They paused in the hallway to speak with another labcoat-clad newcomer, this one a thin and balding man who chewed thoughtfully on a stylus as he reviewed the data presented to him. With a nod he dismissed the lab techs before keying himself into Pip's room.

"Hello, my dear," he said as he entered. "Comfortable?"

"Oh, sure," she snarked. "Great accommodations, five-star, really. I got an itch on my nose, though, you mind freeing one of my arms just for a sec?"

"Ah, wonderful," he chuckled absentmindedly as he made some notes into his handheld. "A sense of humor, that's marvelous."

She ground her teeth at the patronizing tone from what appeared to be a scientist. "So, what's going on here?" she prompted, trying to inject her voice with nonchalance. Chances were some of the venom leaked through anyway, but it didn't seem to faze the man in the slightest. "And who exactly the fuck are you?"

"Oh, how rude of me. My name is Doctor Viridian, and you, my dear child, are about to become part of something absolutely wonderful!" He tapped a few more keys before glancing up briefly with a satisfied smile. "Yes, this will work out nicely, I believe. Pippin Cerise, second-year student at Beacon Academy. Heat semblance, yes, wonderful… That will do nicely…"

"What. The. Fuck. Is. Going. On?" she gritted out, her patience wearing thin.

"Oh, I suppose it won't hurt to let you in on what we have in store for you," he replied genially. Viridian tucked the handheld into one of his wide lab coat pockets and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. "You see, and this is very exciting, we're moving into the second phase of our experimentations. I believe you've met one of our, ahem, 'pets' previously?"

"Pets…?"

"Yes indeed, I believe this particular subject was a Nevermore, correct?"

Pip's eyes widened as the pieces fell into place. "Oh sweet mother of Oum, you made that thing we killed?" she almost shrieked in disbelief.

"Yes, yes, we've produced quite a few subjects since we started," he chuckled nonchalantly. "Congratulations on that, by the way. You and Miss Radiance Beryl were the only two to have survived an encounter with a Phase One Subject." His obvious emphasis on the last three words made Pip blink uncertainly.

"And then, phase two would be…?" she prompted with a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Why, you and Mr Rufus Henna, of course!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Now, unfortunately, the process is quite painful, there's no way to avoid it. That much dust infused into a being at such a high rate can be quite the shock to one's system."

"Infusing… dust?" the blonde murmured, dread filling her voice.

"And naturally, we cannot use pain inhibitors," he continued as if she'd not spoken. "That interferes with the process. No, we have good expectations for the two of you. It's all very exciting, I've been waiting so long to try this on an aura user, one who can heal the damage as we go! Granted, there's still a considerable chance of the subject dying during the process, but I believe we've decreased it to acceptable levels…"

Pip stared at the scientist in horror. "Please," she whispered, desperate tears filling her eyes. "Please, don't do this… Why would you even do this?"

"Why?" Viridian replied, puzzled. "My dear child, for science, of course! I assure you, this will be an historic occasion!"

With that he spun and exited the room, cutting off any further pleading she might have made. The blonde turned her head towards the ceiling and let the tears flow freely down her cheeks.

"Yep," she choked out, hiccuping slightly. "Completely, totally, and without any lube whatsoever, fucked."

A/N: Dun dun dunnnnnn… So I resolve one cliff-hanger only to leave you with another. Yeah, I still suck, sorry. Leech's semblance, as you might have guessed, is aura drain. And now we know what the second phase involves. And that Pip isn't feeling too hot about their chances right now.

And, just by the by - almost 2000 hits on my humble little story! Squee!

So, once again, hugs to my readers, favortiers, followers, and reviewers!

DustGremlin: Ha, now I have that image stuck in my head as well! And I feel for you, my brain works the same strange way sometimes…

Stay shiny!