Chapter Text

Cats can work out mathematically the exact place to sit that will cause most inconvenience. -Pam Brown

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Sun Wukong didn’t necessarily like waiting sometimes.

Now, what he was waiting for varied. Whether that was a mission, for a new training session, a mission, hanging with his buds, a mission, or something that was outside of his comfort zone in general, he was the kinda guy who wanted something done right away.

Quite the detraction from his image and reputation as an upbeat dude who wanted his friends to get things done at their own pace. That coaxing, “can-do-will-do” type of friendship he had with some people was a far cry from his desire to get the job done.

But one thing that had him doubly anxious was his lovely wife, Blake Belladonna.

Married for a year after Blake and her friends put an end to Salem’s reign of terror, Sun couldn’t be happier. He had a wonderful home in Menagerie, no longer having to be a nomad in Vacuo or Mistral.

Two loving parents-in-law, who supported him and Blake every step of the way. Well, apart from Ghira being the more conservative parent without much love for some of his quirks, even though they made up long ago with his blessing for marriage.

And yet, Blake had been acting strange lately. Not like she would constantly run away from things back then. Not how she would be self-deprecating thinking she was a coward/weakling/toxic influence/whatever.

No, something was off about her, and Sun, being the loving husband that he is, never wanted to push her into talking. It wouldn’t fly with him back during the Salem Crisis, it doesn’t fly with him now. He’d let her explain when she was ready.

Of course, that would have to wait as the couple had a mission to attend.

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Professor Lionheart III had briefed the Belladonnas that there was an uptick in criminal activity in Southwest Anima. Namely, by a recent new kingpin taking some rough parts of Remnant by storm.



Giovanni Torchwick. Nephew of none other than the dapper ex-mob boss of Vale, Roman.

Through some channels within the loopholes of Vale’s crime scene, Giovanni had stepped up to the plate by clawing his way to the top, waging a one-man war after gathering resources for years to take over his in his uncle’s absence in death.

While this new boss hadn’t had the back-up or funding of say, Cinder and Salem’s goons, or the support of groups like the White Fang, Gio had definitely put law enforcement on edge.

Dust smuggling, extortion, racketeering, piracy, assassination, gun-running, kidnapping. This new Torchwick cartel had many things covered like what you would see in gangster films like Bad Guys, Good Girls, Pulp Friction, Reservoir Beowolves, among other movies that romanticized the life of crime.

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Sun had a good feeling about taking this Gio kid on, but still had a bad taste in his mouth from Blake’s shifty behavior lately. She seemed ready to kick some ass, but it would have to wait for later so they could get to their objective.

Sun’s impatient expression brightened as he saw Blake walk up to him in her latest combat attire.

Her hourglass figure was wrapped in a purple and black catsuit, padded with light Kevlar at the arms and legs. A plate carrier around her torso, fitting snugly but not hiding her lovely curves.

Blake smiled at her hubby with him standing by a palm tree turning off the radio playlist on his Scroll. Just before his list could get to Like Morning Follows Night, right after the extended mix of Let’s Just Live playing in preparation for their inevitable talk.

“Well?” Sun happily asked. “What’d the doctor say?”

Blake waltzed up to him and rested her head on his shoulder, his tail wrapping around her waist as she answered him during their hug.

“Nothing major.” Blake responded. “Looks like a stomach bug, so we’re looking into getting some anti-acid pills.” She explained further.

Their embrace split as Sun held her chin up, looking into her lovely golden eyes.

“Babe, I told you that it was probably some mishandled fish we got.” He responded, giving a brief scratch behind her ears, a kiss on the forehead as she uttered a surprised purr.

The couple held hands as they took the route down to the abandoned Fort Noah. The suspected last known location of the Torchwick Cartel’s operations after making a hail Mary from South Anima.

Intelligence was spotty, but while this wasn’t Giovanni’s exact location, given how much he loved to chill, smoke, and hold dinner meetings in an undisclosed location, this was an alleged hiding spot for the Cartel.

With Menagerie and other recent Faunus colonies still having an awkward relationship with Mistral, Lionheart III and Mistral’s council insisted that they send in Hunters with experience in their Kingdom.



Naturally, Blake and Sun were among the first choices. Team CFVY was of course, on the table. But Coco and Velvet were currently on their honeymoon at the time of the call to action. Fox and Yatsu, meanwhile, were still busy with bringing refugees of the Crisis back from Vacuo to Vale.

“So, CFVY is still busy, huh?” Sun asked during their stroll to the fort.

“Yeah.” Blake sadly answered. “Really wish we could’ve been there at the girls’ wedding, had it not been for the food riots in Hanafuda up North.” She said, shaking her head at the uprising in one of Mistral’s market cities, which her teammates were rapidly deployed for at the time.

“Guess we owe them a bar crawl.” Sun jokingly suggested, making his wife laugh.

Blake nodded, looking to the side at that idea. Which concerned Sun.

“You okay?” He worryingly asked her.

“Hmm? I’m fine.” She reassured him.

“Blake, you’ve been acting weird lately. What’s going- -ON! Ow!”

Their pre-mission chat was interrupted by Sun running face first into a palm tree branch, landing back-first into the sand which Blake winced at, helping him up.

“Shit!” Blake exclaimed. “Sorry, honey. I probably should have spotted that for you.” She said with an embarrassed smile as he got up.

Sun merely shook his head, spitting out palm leaves and quickly applying a bandage to his busted-up nose with Blake’s help from her med kit.

“Ahh, not the dumbest pratfall I’ve had.” Sun said as he grunted at the touch of antiseptic blotted on the bridge of his nose before the bandage was planted once the bleeding was stanched.

“Compared to the time you tried to jump from the balcony of the house, onto the Armistice Day tree, only to get hit in the crotch by one of the branches?” Blake reminded. Cringing at the image.

“Uh…I mean, it…Look. It's better than the time Whitley got drunk and tried humping the tree, during the SDC Armistice party in Argus.” Sun argued. "While making choking sounds." He added.

“That's Weiss' brother for you.” Blake said with an eyeroll. “I just hope once her son is born, that Whitley doesn't try anything that could harm the kid. Weiss has been through enough with becoming CEO.”

Weiss had been 8 months pregnant at this point in time.

She and Neptune were expecting a baby boy, and couldn’t have been more excited. In no way would they push their son in the same direction like Jacques' cruel method. Instead, they planned to let him train in his own way once he was old enough to begin his training.

Ren and Nora had already had a boy themselves. Which prompted Weiss to keep her family's lineage alive once things were back to normal, and SDC's reputation had finally been fixed, with Weiss being lauded as a hero of the Crisis.

No sense in letting dust production go kaput, so it was up to Weiss to ensure that Dust merchant's coffers were filled to the brim by forming partnerships, allowing said merchants to join or stay out however they desired, among other options of leeway that Jacques never offered.

Couple that with letting Flynt Coal's father become Vice President and running SDC while Weiss was away – soon to be on maternity leave, maybe a few Huntress missions afterwards – and the situation was starting to look up.

Not to mention mending Faunus relations with the Belladonnas' help, of course.

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Blake and Sun made it to a vantage point marked on their Scrolls' maps. Fort Noah was a palisade fortress built by Mistrali colonists right before the end of the Great War.

Naturally, being a bad mark on the history with the Kingdom’s relations with Faunus, this area was long abandoned soon as the indigenous Faunus tribes had united to spearhead an assault on these colonizers.

Since then, Fort Noah had become a meeting ground for the tribes to communicate, negotiate, basically. Rarely would the civilized Faunus, living in settlements like Kuo Kuana would visit these hallowed grounds to promote diplomacy between the two groups.

Diplomacy would have to wait, considering how the Cartel just waltzed in, flaunting their garishly bright suits, bowler hats and designer specs that made average convenience store shades look good.

“So, this Giovanni. Who is this tool?” Sun asked. “Besides Torchwick's nephew.” He added.

“That's the thing.” Blake said, adjusting her binoculars to tag how many guards were on the walls.

“He just appeared out of nowhere with a resemblance to Torchwick. Nobody knows if he's a bastard child, an impersonator. Some are even suggesting that he's a clone.” She said with widened eyes at that latter guess.

“Oh Gods, are we dealing with conspiracy theorists again?” Sun moaned, facepalming.

Blake cringed at that thought as well, but shook her head.

“Could be worse.” He replied. “We could be dealing with Prince of Parties posting a hot take on WeTube about how there's a cloning vat used for oil massages and- -“

“Stop! Stop! I don't need to hear that part again!” Blake protested with a shudder. Remembering how she and Sun couldn’t have one of their erotic massages after hearing how far this Prince of Parties guy was willing to take such an idiotic idea.

Sun winced at that mood-killer coming back up, feeling like he needed a cold shower the first time he and Blake finished that video, their massage for later in the evening being interrupted by that bleach-worthy analysis.

“Are we keeping score for every time a new villain shows up, killing the mood for one of our date nights?” Blake thought out loud.

“Well, considering we’ve dealt with White Fang sympathizers who resorted to throwing pies our way before our wedding rehearsal, and we had to put up Hard Light shields all over the altar, this probably isn’t the weirdest thing we’ve dealt with together.” Sun recapped.

“Ugh.” Blake groaned. “Don’t get me started on the time Ren and Nora’s baby shower nearly caught fire from Mr. Peng’s fireworks shop.”



“Nearly?!” Sun exclaimed. “Babe, the Fire Department nearly drove one of their tankers into a water cooler truck! And that was before the candles were lit on their frigging cake!”

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Blake and Sun had reached an opening in the walls, eyeing any potential routes into where the best areas and items of interests would be for their recon.

Sun tossed one of their newest gadgets: A pulse blade. Neat little kunai with a tagging system housed in the head, able to tag, or ‘ping’ multiple subjects on a Scroll’s radar.

The Faunus held their Scrolls up, seeing the blade’s tagging pulse light up on their displays. About 6 guards on each of the fort’s three main walls, 20 or so on the interior.

No doubt about it, these guys looked ready for war. And if taking Fort Noah was any indication, they would have brought a lot of fighting into Kuo Kuana and beyond. Not on these two’s watch.

Blake drew Gambol Shroud, the blade now much thinner and shorter than previous models and looked at the inside of the fortress. She peaked to see how many guards were passing by.

Sun, meanwhile, quietly drew both halves of Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang, wrapping the string of one of his gunchucks around his wrists, the ‘chuck’ part collapsing onto his forearms to reflect its new covert upgrade for a stealth mission.

“Might be a sniper up on that container to the right.” Sun whispered. “I’ll roll over there and take him out, then any sentries.”

Blake nodded.

“Okay.” She whispered back. “I’ll get inside, clear out any guards in the main building we should be searching. Meet up with me there and we’ll grab the intel, get out of here, then call for backup from Vale.”

“Gods, you’re cute when you talk stealth tactics.” Sun dreamily joked.

Blake snickered, failing to hide her blush.

“Focus, Sun.” She said, failing at not smiling at her husband’s wisecrack.

Upon finishing their banter and getting serious, the mission was a go.