Chapter 6: Aces And Eights

                                    

                                          
Y/n Pov
Atlas
11:14 AM

In the days following, life in Atlas started to normalize. RWBY and JNR both getting a feel for going out on their own, while I worked background, as usual. By now, most of Mantle has figured out that I was in town. Despite how bad my reputation was in Vale after the Fall, Mantle absolutely adored me, much to my shock. 
I was their very own hometown hero, just without this being my hometown. Still, they adopted me as their own and wasn't afraid to tell that to Atlas. It was admittedly nice having the people on my side again. After the Fall, any time I was spotted, I was faced with abject fear and hatred. In Mantle though, I could walk down the street with my gear on and people would go absolutely nuts. It was a night and day difference to how it was back in Vale and Mistral. 
The publicity however had some... Consequences Namely that Atlas had a issue with my presence in the Kingdom. I may be here with Ironwoods "blessing" but the People up high didn't like it one bit. Probably has something to do with the last time I came to Atlas. Blowing up a SDC mine and freeing the Faunas inside tends to have that effect on the elites. If I could tweak Jacques on the nose and get away with it, what could I do to them if I wanted to? 
Then there's the murders. The autopsies were still in progress, the bodies being examined and filmed only to be reexamined in the film. The team in charge was making sure that everything that there was to find was found. Both the woman from three days ago and the fist victim have already been examined. Both had the same type of injuries. 
A small puncture, somewhere on the body. The first victim, from my understanding, didn't die immediately from his wounds. He survived for a additional three hours before dying. In his blood stream was a unknown substance that didn't match any thing in Atlas database. The same was true for the woman I found, only her wound was instantly fatal. If two of the four victims have the same chemical in their systems at the time of death, then I was willing to bet that the other two would as well. 
That did little to stem my concern that Salem was connected. Tyrian Callows worked with her, and he's a scorpion Faunas. His stinger would be about the same gauge as the wounds that were found, so there's a possibility that he's involved. When I ran that by Ironwood, he seemed to agree. I wasn't convinced that Ironwood was innocent yet, but what we've found already is pretty damning. 
The unfortunate thing about this is now we have to wait for the killer to strike again. Maybe this time, I can be fast enough to get there before it's done. If not, then I need to take a sample straight from the wound. The Doc gave me a syringe that I can use to pull a sample straight from the wound. Once that's done, cross examine the chemical with the others, and reference that with undiluted scorpion Faunas venom and wait for the results. Sounds complicated but it's really not. 
That leaves me with down time. Down time that I've using to fuck with teams RWBY and JNR. Specifically in the training arena. All of them have spent today getting their asses kicked by the Ace Ops. It was to be expected. They had at most ten years with Clover, and four for Marrow. Funny how he still acts like the rookie of the team after nearly five years. 
After a while, the Ace Ops took pity and they were pitted against team FNKI. JNR was first with Oscar being their fourth member to make it even. The last few days have been me helping to train them. The Ace Ops were doing a pretty good job of that on their own. Their focus on seeing where each members strengths and weaknesses lay and what they can do to empower the two teams. I on the other hand took the more direct approach and would do one on one weapon sparring.