The Bazaar of Emerald Street sat beneath a massive layered canopy of hanging cloth, woven tarp and patched metal roofing that stretched between old buildings like a second ceiling over the district.
Strictly speaking, places like this were uncommon in Vale.
The kingdom generally preferred cleaner commercial structures. Supermarkets, shopping plazas, chain restaurants and corporate storefronts with polished signs and fixed prices.
Bazaars were different.
Chaotic and alive.
Mountain Glenn itself had inherited countless cultural influences over the years due to migration and trade routes and somewhere along the way, a section of Emerald Street had transformed into something that resembled the great market labyrinths more commonly found in Vacuo.
The moment Shore and Raye stepped beneath the hanging canopy overhead, the atmosphere changed completely.
Voices echoed everywhere.
People haggling over prices. Vendors shouting daily specials. The sound of sizzling oil, chopping knives and clattering cookware merged together into an almost overwhelming symphony of organized chaos.
Dozens of spices filled the air.
Grilled meats, charcoal smoke, cinnamon, fried garlic, cardamom, roasted peppers, citrus and sweet syrupy desserts.
It hit Shore immediately. The sheer density of people moving through the narrow walkways was unlike anything he was used to.
Colorful banners hung overhead between stalls selling fabrics and jewelry while nearby merchants argued loudly with customers over prices.
A middle aged woman wearing gold bracelets dramatically clutched her chest after hearing a customer's offer for dried saffron.
"Hey, what kind of offer is that?!" she declared. "At that price my ancestors themselves will rise from the grave and slap me!"
Two stalls over, a teenager aggressively fanned smoke from a massive grill covered in skewered meat while another vendor loudly advertised imported tea leaves from eastern Sanus.
Children ran between crowds carrying bags twice their size while elderly men sat around tiny tables drinking tea and debating loudly about sports.
Shore found himself watching everything carefully.
Not tactically, just... observing.
The place felt strangely vibrant different in a way most city districts were not.
Shore himself had never had the chance to visit Vacuo before, which meant that this cultural atmosphere was quite new to him.
Raye, on the other hand moved through the crowd with natural ease beside him.
She slipped through gaps in the moving masses almost instinctively while Shore followed several steps behind. Every now and then she would lightly tug his sleeve to redirect him around crowded intersections or avoid particularly dense sections.
It was... perhaps a little emasculating, but Shore didn't particularly care.
"You're standing out," she informed him casually.
Shore glanced down at himself. "Because of my clothes?"
"Hmm. More so because you're moving like a cop."
Shore frowned slightly at that. "I am not even a police officer."
"Doesn't matter. You've got that hyperaware 'I'm analyzing every possible threat vector' posture going on."
Shore said nothing.
Raye smirked faintly. "Relax your shoulders a little."
He ignored her advice completely. She was hyperaware of his behavior because she knew of him. Others wouldn't spare him more than a passing glance. Besides, those that actually did give him a second glance were the ones that he would have to worry about. Likely that they were skilled.
Several minutes later, Raye suddenly grabbed his sleeve lightly.
"Also," she added, "watch your pockets."
Shore raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Pickpockets."
Almost immediately afterward, Shore felt movement near his side. A hand slid toward his pocket with surprising precision.
Shore reacted without even looking. His hand snapped outward and smacked the back of someone's head with a clean thwack.
"Ow!"
A young dark skinned man recoiled instantly while clutching the back of his skull dramatically. The attempted thief stared at Shore for a second before breaking into a sheepish grin.
"Worth a shot."
Then he simply wandered off casually into the crowd in search of easier prey. Shore watched him disappear.
"…That was surprisingly nonviolent."
"Could even call it professional courtesy," Raye replied.
"Standards among thieves? How surprising." Shore drolled.
"Of course. This is a marketplace, not a corporate meeting. Those guys are snakes."
Shore stared at her briefly. Then against his better judgment, a small tired laugh escaped him.
Raye looked deeply satisfied with herself afterward.
The two of them continued deeper into the Bazaar afterward. Raye occasionally stopped to browse random stalls while Shore followed with mild confusion.
At one point she bought grilled flatbread wrapped around spiced meat from a vendor working over an open charcoal grill.
Another stop involved iced milk tea mixed with crushed lime and preserved plum.
Shore eyed the strange drink suspiciously.
"Trust me," Raye said.
He reluctantly took a sip then paused.
"…Not bad."
"Told you."
The drink itself was oddly refreshing. Sweet, sour and salty all at once. The preserved plum added an almost smoky tang beneath the citrus.
Shore found himself taking another sip almost immediately afterward.
Eventually Raye guided him toward a slightly more open section near the edge of the Bazaar where several connected food stalls operated together beneath hanging lanterns.
Small plastic stools surrounded low tables while customers crowded around grillers who were cooking kebabs, squid and skewered vegetables over open flame.
Nearby, another stall specialized entirely in cold fruit drinks while one old woman aggressively chopped herbs behind containers full of curry and stew.
The atmosphere here felt denser.
Less touristy Valean and more local Vacuo.
Raye sat down casually with her food while Shore took the opposite stool. She bit into one of her kebabs before subtly tilting her head toward the far corner of the street.
"Look over there," she murmured quietly.
Shore followed her gaze.
Part of the Bazaar extended directly into the lower level of a nearby building. The entrance itself looked ordinary enough.
Raye lowered her voice slightly.
"Baldwin operates through a local gang in this area."
Shore hummed quietly.
That made sense. Organizations distributing illegal substances rarely handled direct street operations personally. Local gangs provided insulation, manpower and plausible deniability.
"So we're staking the place out," Shore concluded.
"Pretty much."
Shore took another sip of his plum drink thoughtfully.
"Any identifiers for his personnel?
Raye nodded.
"The gang members usually carry a tattoo, an eye with a sword through it and the location—wrist. They go by the name, Pierced Vision"
Convenient and quite on the nose too.
Fortunately the weather today leaned warm enough that most people wore loose sleeves or short sleeved shirts.
Shore himself looked mildly overdressed in comparison thanks to the jacket hiding his operative equipment.
Not that he cared particularly much. Heat tolerance training made ordinary weather conditions largely irrelevant to him.
Besides, the cold plum drink helped.
The two of them settled naturally into idle conversation afterward while quietly observing the surrounding crowds.
Surveillance through casual presence, which was simple but effective. Eventually Shore glanced toward Raye.
"You know," he said thoughtfully, "I'm a little surprised you didn't investigate my organization more thoroughly."
Raye took another bite of kebab before answering. She pointed at herself lightly.
"I told you already, didn't I? I might be blonde, but I ain't no ditz."
Shore snorted softly into his drink.
Raye continued.
"It's one thing for Eclipse Industries to have local police in their pocket but if you're part of the KBI, CBI or whatever alphabet soup government branch you're hiding under..." she shrugged slightly. "I doubt corruption reaches that high."
Shore said nothing.
"Don't get me wrong, I was curious."
Her eyes drifted toward him briefly.
"But I also got the feeling that digging too deeply into your background would've landed me in a very uncomfortable situation."
Smart instinct. Shore idly wondered if it had something to do with Grimm genes flowing through her body.
"In any case, I stalked you long enough to know you're trustworthy."
"That's still an incredibly strange sentence, especially for someone in my line of work."
"Probably but... does it really matter?" She leaned back slightly against the plastic stool.
Shore raised an eyebrow.
"We're on the same side, aren't we?"
The question lingered quietly between them. Shore found himself considering the answer more carefully than expected.
Truthfully, LUCID was not entirely invisible. Certain civilians, informants and corporate affiliates knew fragments of its existence.
People disappeared into classified operations all the time.
And Raye herself... was quite skilled. Rough around the edges perhaps, but skilled enough.
Resourceful too.
Even without formal training she had managed infiltration work against a corporation potentially involved with Grimm experimentation.
That alone was significant.
Maybe eventually he would tell her.
Maybe.
But not yet. Right now they had bigger priorities. Raye suddenly lowered her drink slightly. Her posture shifted almost imperceptibly.
"Heads up," she murmured. "Found one."
Shore immediately became attentive.
The man was shorter than Shore expected. Stocky build. Brown T shirt and jeans. Cheap sneakers with worn soles. A face that disappeared easily into crowds.
But the tattoo on his wrist stood out clearly once Shore spotted it.
An eye pierced vertically by a sword.
Pierced Vision.
The man walked through the Bazaar carrying several drinks packed inside a thin plastic bag while weaving casually through the crowds. Nothing about him appeared especially suspicious at first glance.
Which honestly made him more suspicious. People doing illegal work rarely looked like movie villains. Most blended into ordinary life disturbingly well.
Shore and Raye followed from a careful distance. Shore kept his pace relaxed while maintaining visual tracking through reflections on nearby glass stalls and metal cookware.
Meanwhile Raye moved beside him with decent fluidity. She slipped through crowds smoothly without drawing attention toward herself.
Shore had initially assumed most of her infiltration capabilities came entirely from invisibility.
Apparently not.
Even without using her ability, she was surprisingly competent.
Still rough around the edges, yes.
Her situational awareness occasionally lingered too long on specific people and her pathing choices sometimes betrayed intention. But formal training would smooth those flaws away quickly.
The bald man eventually moved toward a quieter section of the Bazaar near one of the older concrete buildings bordering the market district.
The crowds here were thinner. He approached a weathered metal door partially hidden beside stacked produce crates and knocked against it in a strange rhythm.
Three quick taps, a pause followed by two slower knocks and then one final sharp hit.
Shore memorized the pattern instantly.
The metal door opened slightly afterward and another man peeked out from inside. After recognizing the tattooed courier, he stepped aside casually and let him enter.
Then the door shut again.
There were no visible security cameras or armed guards standing nearby. Nothing outwardly dramatic.
Then again, with this crowd density, almost nobody would pay attention to one random man entering a side building anyway.
Shore and Raye continued walking casually past the area without stopping.
A few minutes later they circled back indirectly while browsing nearby stalls. Raye pretended to examine necklaces at one table while Shore picked up a carved glass souvenir from another.
After roughly two minutes, Shore spoke quietly.
"You remember the knock pattern?"
Raye grimaced immediately.
"…Uh... no."
Shore hummed. "Don't worry about it."
He lowered the souvenir slightly.
"You know what to do?"
Raye nodded.
Then casually bent downward as if tying her shoe. Part of her body became obscured behind a nearby hanging cloth display while Shore subtly shifted position to block additional sightlines.
Nobody paid them any attention.
A second later... Raye vanished, turning invisible.
Shore had once found it unsettling, but now he was only deeply intrigued. He placed the souvenir back onto the stall shelf.
"Ready?"
A soft whisper brushed past his ear.
"Let's do this."
Shore approached the metal door calmly afterward and repeated the exact knock sequence he memorized earlier.
Three.
Pause.
Two.
One.
Then immediately afterward, he stepped sideways and flattened himself silently against the wall beside the doorway. The door opened outward several seconds later.
The man on the other side frowned immediately.
"Huh?"
He leaned his head outward slightly while staring at the empty alley.
"…Did I imagine that?"
He scratched his head once while muttering under his breath before eventually shrugging and shutting the door again.
Click.
Shore remained silent, then he waited. Five minutes later the door opened again quietly. Raye stood inside the doorway while beckoning him inward with a small tilt of her head.
Shore entered immediately and shut the door behind him.
The corridor beyond was narrow and dimly lit. Concrete walls with old pipes overhead. A staircase descended deeper underground nearby.
The guard from earlier sat slumped unconscious against the wall.
Hogtied.
Very efficiently.
His own clothes had been stripped off and repurposed into restraints around his wrists, elbows and ankles while another section had been tightly gagged around his mouth.
Shore blinked at the sight.
"…Impressive."
Raye looked oddly pleased with herself.
"There weren't many materials available."
Shore crouched briefly beside the restrained guard while checking the bindings.
Very secure.
Honestly better than what some actual operatives produced under pressure. Shore stood afterward and turned toward Raye.
Then paused slightly. Her katana rested visibly across her back.
He frowned.
Shore said slowly. "Where were you hiding that earlier?"
Raye glanced over her shoulder.
"This? I just turned it invisible too."
Shore stared at her for a moment.
"…You can selectively control the effect?"
"Mostly."
That was quite interesting.
Shore mentally catalogued the information immediately. Her invisibility wasn't just a beefed up camouflage, then. It was precise enough to affect chosen objects individually.
That level of control suggested significant adaptation to her abilities already.
In fact, that level of power practically resembled the power of a rune in and of itself. Shore was increasingly growing interested in this girl.
She would make a powerful LUCID asset.
The two of them moved downstairs afterward. The staircase opened into a surprisingly spacious basement area lit by harsh fluorescent lights overhead.
Several gang members lounged around cheap folding tables while the juice from earlier and playing cards.
Shore immediately recognized the bald courier from earlier among them.
One man scratched his stomach lazily while throwing down cards.
"When's the boss coming out already?"
Another snorted.
"Probably after he's done having fun with that whore."
A third laughed loudly.
"You know he always takes forever once he gets started."
One of them glanced toward the bald courier.
"Hey. When you brought the drinks in earlier, was he finished already or still going at it?"
The courier barked out a laugh.
"She was still under the table, I think."
Several men burst into ugly laughter afterward. Shore exchanged a glance with Raye silently. There was only one notable room nearby.
A reinforced door on the left side of the basement with a sign attached reading:
KEEP OUT UNLESS EMERGENCIES.
Thomas Baldwin was almost certainly inside.
Raye leaned closer slightly.
"We going in guns blazing?"
Shore shook his head once.
"No."
They couldn't risk any accidents occurring. Who knew if these people had consumed Aetherion. If their adrenaline levels spiked and they transformed into Hybrids, it would be much more problematic to deal with them.
He reached into one of his hidden pouches afterward and pulled out two compact filtration masks. He handed one toward her and Raye took it immediately.
Then Shore produced a small black sphere roughly the size of a golf ball and he pressed a hidden switch along its side. A faint hiss escaped from the device.
Invisible gas began leaking slowly outward.
Shore casually rolled the sphere beneath one of the tables toward the darker corner of the basement.
None of the gang members noticed. The effects started roughly forty seconds later.
One man yawned heavily.
Another blinked repeatedly while rubbing his eyes.
"…Why'm I suddenly tired…"
A third slumped halfway sideways in his chair before collapsing directly onto the table face first. Within another minute every gang member in the room had passed out completely.
Raye looked around with visible appreciation.
"…That is incredibly convenient. How long does it last?"
"It lasts around an hour."
"Can I get one?"
"No."
"Tch."
The two of them quickly moved through the basement afterward securing weapons first. Handguns, knives and one rusty sawed off shotgun.
Shore unloaded everything before tossing the weapons into a far corner. Afterward he pulled compact restraints from his pouch and efficiently tied up every unconscious gang member.
Once the room was secured, the two approached the KEEP OUT door.
It was locked.
Shore knocked against it firmly and a muffled irritated voice answered immediately from inside.
"Get lost!"
Shore and Raye exchanged a look. Then Shore stepped sideways calmly and Raye gave him and eye-smile beneath her mask.
Then, she kicked her leg towards the door.
BOOM.
The reinforced door exploded inward violently from the impact.
The two entered instantly.
Inside, Thomas Baldwin jerked upward in complete shock while scrambling frantically to pull his pants back up.
Beside him, a relatively attractive woman screamed loudly while moving her mouth away from his lap.
"What the FUCK?!" Baldwin shouted.
Shore reacted immediately.
Thip.
A tranquilizer round from his gauntlet struck the woman cleanly in the shoulder. She slumped unconscious almost instantly across the couch.
Simultaneously Shore fired another different round directly into Baldwin's chest.
Electric shock payload.
BZZZT.
Thomas Baldwin convulsed violently and crashed sideways onto the floor twitching uncontrollably.
Raye visibly recoiled in disgust.
"…Ugh."
Shore stepped forward calmly while observing the bald distributor writhing helplessly across the carpet.
Then his eyes drifted thoughtfully toward Baldwin's shining scalp.
A long silence followed.
Then Shore quietly muttered:
"Truly a self fulfilling prophecy."
.
.
Shore crouched beside the twitching distributor calmly. Then he adjusted another setting on his gauntlet.
Click.
A tiny compartment along the underside shifted open and a thin injection needle extended outward with a quiet mechanical hum.
Baldwin immediately stiffened.
"W-wait wait WAIT!"
Shore ignored him completely. He grabbed the man's arm firmly and injected the compound directly into his bloodstream.
Raye raised a brow slightly.
"What was that?"
"A beta blocker," Shore replied calmly while retracting the needle. "It suppresses adrenaline production temporarily."
From Baldwin's plump build and general physical condition, Shore doubted the man consumed Aetherion personally. Distributors rarely sampled unstable merchandise if they possessed even half a functioning brain.
Still...
Shore wasn't taking chances.
Once the injection was complete, he pulled compact restraints from his pouch and efficiently secured Baldwin's wrists and ankles before tightly gagging him afterward.
The bald man made several muffled sounds of protest while glaring furiously upward.
Shore glanced toward Raye.
"That's him, right?"
Raye hesitated briefly.
"…Probably."
Shore looked at her.
"Probably?"
She crossed her arms lightly.
"I only heard he was one of the major distributors. I've never actually seen him before."
Fair enough.
Raye crouched beside Baldwin afterward and searched through his pockets quickly. Wallet, keys, folded receipts and a cheap lighter.
Then she pulled free an identification card. Her eyes flicked across it before holding it toward Shore.
"Thomas Baldwin."
Good. That simplified things. Baldwin glared at them both with open hatred now that his initial panic had faded slightly.
Shore calmly pulled a combat knife from his belt. Then placed the tip directly in front of Baldwin's right eye.
The blade hovered barely millimeters away from the man's eyeball.
Immediately Baldwin froze.
Shore used one hand to pull the man's eyelid open wider so he couldn't blink. The hatred vanished instantly.
Fear replaced it almost comically fast.
"MMPH—!"
Shore raised a finger toward his mask calmly.
"Shh."
Baldwin stopped struggling almost immediately. A tiny shaky nod followed.
Good.
Shore's voice remained level and cold.
"I am going to ask you several questions and you are going to answer honestly."
Baldwin's breathing became uneven.
"If I dislike your answers..." Shore continued quietly, "you are going to start losing pieces of your body. Do you understand?"
Baldwin nodded shakily.
Only then did Shore pull the knife away. He removed the gag next. Baldwin sucked in several desperate breaths immediately while staring at Shore's gauntlet with widening eyes.
"Y-you..." he stammered. "That gauntlet... you're part of L—"
THUNK.
Shore buried the knife directly into the floor between Baldwin's legs. The blade punched into the carpet less than an inch from the man's groin.
Baldwin went deathly pale. Shore tilted his head slightly.
"What did I just say?"
The distributor visibly trembled now. Several tears gathered at the corners of his eyes. Behind Shore, he could practically feel Raye staring holes into the back of his head.
But now wasn't the time for explanations.
"S-sorry..." Baldwin whispered frantically. "Please... ask whatever you want... I'll answer."
Shore slowly rested one arm against his knee.
"I want to know about Titansblood."
Baldwin visibly flinched at the name.
"Though," Shore continued calmly, "considering you apparently recognize my organization... you probably know it by its actual designation."
A pause followed.
"Aetherion."
Baldwin nodded quickly enough for his cheeks to jiggle slightly.
"Y-yes."
"What specifically would you like to know, sir?"
Shore ignored the sudden politeness entirely.
"First things first."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"The researcher responsible for creating the drug. You know who I'm talking about? He's connected to Eclipse Industries, isn't he?"
The distributor's eyes flicked nervously toward the knife lodged between his legs before immediately snapping back toward Shore.
"The Doctor?" he asked shakily.
Shore said nothing and Baldwin hurried onward.
"I-I never met him personally but... but I know he's here."
Raye's expression sharpened instantly.
"Here?" she asked.
"In Mountain Glenn," Baldwin clarified quickly. "He's currently operating in the area."
Shore filed the information away immediately. So Raye's suspicions had been correct. The operation wasn't simply distribution based. The actual architect behind Aetherion had relocated operations directly into Mountain Glenn itself.
Interesting. And also deeply concerning.
"What's he doing here?" Shore asked.
Baldwin licked his lips nervously.
"Testing the drug," Baldwin answered quickly. "Aetherion. Mountain Glenn is basically one huge live testing ground now."
Raye's expression darkened immediately beside him. Shore remained outwardly calm despite the implications rapidly unfolding inside his head.
Testing grounds.
Meaning the spread of V1 throughout the city wasn't merely profit motivated but, data collection.
Field observation.
Which meant civilian casualties were likely considered acceptable variables. Shore's voice lowered slightly afterward.
"The researcher, you called him The Doctor, didn't you? What's his name?"
Baldwin hesitated for only half a second.
"Doctor Merlot."
.
.
AN: Forgot to post this chapter yesterday lol.