It had been a couple days since they'd been in Mistral. Eve paced the halls a bit waiting for the status on her team's recovery. Eve stared at her scroll for a bit and sighed. She was looking at the map of Anima and the relation of where Azalea is to Mistral. It was in the southernmost part of Anima, pretty far from the train. She knew she wasn't getting Yoki on an airship again anytime soon. Well might not be so bad to check out the surrounding areas anyway. That corner of Mistral has plenty of ruins, old and new... We can't really afford many more detours though, if we see anything we'll just have to make note and get Bisque on it.
"You're thinking too hard," Yoki poked her in the back of the head. She didn't even notice he was near.
"Just trying to make some sort of plan to find Rose," Eve huffed. "I asked Bisque to look into the symbols I put into my book. Told her it was just for research. Hopefully it doesn't draw too much attention to her."
"She'll be fine she's like a cockroach..." Yoki stretched. "You are thinking too much though."
"I'm the leader of this team it's my job!" Eve gave him an annoyed glare. She eased up and looked at him. "How's that shoulder?"
"A bit stiff, but not like it'll affect much," he shrugged.
"Where's the others?" Eve asked him.
"Around..." Yoki looked around, his hands behind his head.

A couple days flew by since the crash and Marlin's injuries were well from healed to the fullest, but at least he could stand. Thanks to the quick recovery of Bisque and her ship, they didn't have to undergo a sketchy surgery in the middle of nowhere. With the proper equipment and team he was well taken care of and now in the process of healing and resting. Though a few days out of commission his aura was plentiful and potent. He didn't wanna do much with it but he threw it around his arms as if playing with a snake, then surrounding his rib cage for added protection and enhanced healing.

Marlin looked around his hospital room for his belongings, only to find a pair of hospital pants on a chair and the gown he was wearing. With short action he threw the pants on and took off his gown, revealing a large surgical scar on his ribs. He stared at it for a moment and touched it carefully only to be surprised it was only sore and no pain, and the fact that he was missing an entire rib. His eyes widened a bit. Marlin was feeling a bit of excitement, he had never lost a bone before, only broken, fractured, shattered, and splintered.

He quickly went for the door slamming it open as the bang echoed the halls of the hospital. The first person he spotted was Yoki, shouting before he could think, "DUDE I'M MISSING A RIB!!!" then noticing Eve standing next to him. A small look of worry still adorned her face. "I mean, it's gonna grow back." He strutted over there, half naked and all showing off his enormous scar and pointing at it. "You can touch it too, doesn't hurt, CAUSE IT'S GONE!" he got loud again before realizing the team wasn't entirely together, "Where's Diana?" A look of concern shortened his smile as the last thing he remembered was shielding them both before the crash.

Diana was laying in her hospital bed fully geared up and ready to head out, but as she stood up she heard Marlin yelling about his missing rib. Diana figured as much, but she just wished she didn't have to hear Marlin yelling about it. He sounded like a child in a candy store, it was infuriating. Taking a wound like that and getting excited over was the height if stupidity in Diana's books. Letting out a sigh she stood up and headed out of her cubicle. "I'm here you idiot!" Diana said as she approached the group she then gave Marlin a brief glare. "Now shut up, people are trying to sleep here. This is a hospital."

Diana scowled into the distance for a few moments before speaking again. "Thank you for protecting me Marlin." Diana clicked her tongue after she finished speaking. It looked as if it physically hurt her to thank Marlin, like her leg twitched and everything. "So. What's the plan?" Diana said trying to change the topic before Marlin could say anything foolish.

"Good to see everyone is as lively as ever," Eve gave a relived smile seeing Marlin in high spirits and Diana just as salty as ever, even Yoki was happy for once. It lightened her mood and her plan didn't seem so off putting to her. "I already have Bisque looking for leads on our overall mission. It might take a bit of time. So let's take the train down to the southern end of Mistral and look for Hansa's little sister in the mean time."
"How hard could it be to find a little blind girl being held by the White Fang?" Yoki shrugged. "I'm sure we'll be back long before that mad scientist digs through her notes and finds us a place to investigate."

---

The team took the train down south. Passing by the beautiful Mistral scenery. The open fields of peculiar flowers, expansive farmlands, the forests of knotty trees making interesting shapes among the green foliage, ruined old towns in the distance, passing through some quaint little towns that seemed far more lively, and some towns that seemed a touch shady.
They stopped off at a small town. Rather spaced out buildings nothing taller than two stories. These buildings all had plenty of wear and tear. The further on the edges of town the more run down and damaged they were. Despite the obvious signs of Grimm attacks the small town of Vanda was thriving, it was rather lively even in the sunset's orange light.
"Well this is as close as we can get to their hometown via train." Eve stretched pacing the platform. "It's not too far but we might as well search around nearby towns as well as in Azalea when we get there. I doubt they've moved too much if they didn't want to draw attention."

The team was traveling once again, everyone seemed to be in operating strength, himself not a hundred percent but enough. Upon their arrival and to his surprise, they weren't attacked, or so it seemed that's all that happens when traveling longer distances. Marlin hopped off the train and walked out a little further than everyone else, taking in the towns ruggedness. He could tell the town was merely surviving on the response time of Mistral or with the luck of a few traveling huntsman; this town needed its own watch.

He turned back towards the group once Eve started talking. Taking note of her objective he butted in, "You think we should split up? Cover more ground," he turned to the town and gestured his hand in a way to show it's appearance, "by the look of things the grimm don't seem too serious around here, nothing we can't handle ourselves." Marlin glanced at everyone else in the group before returning his gaze on Eve, "Captain."

Diana looked around this "town" they'd stopped off at, it seemed this was a place that was frequented by Grimm the signs of such damage made Diana wonder if they'd come looking for a corpse. She pushed that thought aside and looked in Marlin's direction as he spoke, maybe the crash knocked some sense into him along with breaking off his rib. "Splitting up could be a good option, though the reception this far out may make communications difficult. And losing communications would be a very large problem." Diana then looked down at Eve's feet as she awaited the leaders decision.

"Yeah, let's split up and look around town for maybe an hour or two. We'll meet up at the inn just down the road from here." She pointed the direction the direction the inn was at. "We'll probably stay there tonight anyways. Local coms should keep us connected if we are nearby but if we end up too far apart then I'm sure we can improvise in the off chance we need help."
"What like smoke signals?!" Yoki voiced sarcastically.
"I mean if you want but I'm sure you can do better than that." Eve shrugged as she walked past him. She paused walking down the steps of the train platform, "But then again-"
"Shut up!" Yoki huffed and shoved his way past her as she just giggled, knowing she was going to call him an idiot in some roundabout way. He stormed off to try and find clues of either Rose or of the person he's been after.
"Well you two stay safe now! Try not to draw too much attention," Eve waved to the other two as she went another direction.

Diana looked down the road Eve pointed at taking note of the meeting place, she then returned her gaze to Eve and Yoki's interaction. She could hold back her smirk as Yoki stormed off, Diana gave Eve a wave before looking over in Marlin's direction. She just looked at him for a bit before turning and walking off to go and interrogate some people. "I will see you later. Do not follow me." Diana's tone wasn't threatening in any way, but it sure as hell wasn't inviting. It'd be better for everyone if nobody saw her interrogate people, she'd gain a bit of a reputation for how well she could extract information, though she could get rather... Intense.

Diana would wait for Marlin to give confirmation that he would not follow before continuing to walk, quickly looking for some filth filled alleyway where she could start her search.

Marlin took in what Eve said aout not drawing in too much attention, might be a challenge for him but he would manage. Diana glanced at him to which he made eye contact, he felt that odd feeling once more and tried to hold to glance a bit longer but she looked away and proceeded to state she didn't want to be followed. Marlin silently accepted this and turned away to look up and down the street of the small town.

Marlin's eyes landed on a saloon that didn't seem to be far. He made his way in, making sure his aura wasn't too strong of a presence but enough to keep him protected and ensure his healing was still excelling. "Fill this with your top shelf whiskey please," he set his flask on the bartop, "And a glass of your cheapest rum," as soon as the small glass was presented before him it was gone. Marlin placed the glass back down in such a manner as to say he wanted a refill and keep them coming.

"Haven't seen you before, and by the way you're dressed I'd say you're far from home," The bartender started some small idle talk.

"Don't have a home, I'm traveling...so to speak," he glanced around and studied the room.

"Shame, I'd welcome you to the town however theres not much left of it."

"Why is that? Grimm?"

"Part of it, though we were fine for awhile, we knew how to fight them and we were sometimes lucky to have a hunter in the fray from time to time. However only recently have the attacks been more frequent. Despair is falling over the town quickly and people are making the smart move and packing bags."

"Not you?" Marlin asked curiosly as the guy seemed he never had any intention of leaving behind this business.

"No , my whole family has been behind this bar, I'm not gonna let it go just because we get a few more Grimm. Besides my business is booming with the occasinal large group of White Fang coming by. Seems as though they set up camp just outside of town. I wonder if they'll be staying or not."

"Hmm," Marlin took the new gathered information and contiued drinking his rum. He didn't really learn anything new, he already knew that there would be White Fang nearby, what he did know was that they frequented his curent location. Marlin would stay at the bar, drinking and waiting.

Eve wandered the streets a while looking for anyone or anything out of the ordinary. Everything seemed like it was a normal outlying town of Mistral. She didn't expect to find much in the first place but it was still a bit disappointing. Even with all the wandering around she still had plenty of time.
She stopped by the town's market. Plenty of small stalls set up on the street, filled with food, clothing, jewlery, household decor and more. It wasn't super busy but if anyone might have seen Rose she figured it'd be one of the merchants. She walked up to one of the merchants peddling produce.
"Hello young Lady! Are you a Huntress?" The merchant looked rather cheery.
"I am, I'm just passing through town. I'm looking for someone." Eve looked over the fresh fruits and vegetables around as she spoke.
"What do they look like? I see all sorts of people through here. Everyone has to eat!" He smiled at her.
"You aren't wrong," Eve laughed. She pulled up a picture of Rose on her scroll that Hansa sent her. "I'm looking for this young girl. Her name is Rose."
"Hmm I haven't seen her but you aren't the first person to ask me about her." He looked over the picture a bit more to be sure. "Yeah there's been some members of the White Fang asking around for her too."
"So they are around here too... But they are looking for her..." Eve mused quietly to herself. "How long ago did they ask?" She looked a bit concerned.
"Last week, though there have been a few around for quite a while it seems. Rumor is there is a camp outside of town, though I haven't seen it."
"Interesting..." Eve picked out a few apples and gave the man a bit of Lien with a smile. "Thank you for letting me know."

---

Yoki skulked off to the edge of town. While everyone was looking for Rose he was more concerned about looking for someone else. Though he didn't know if Jack would be nearby at this point. It almost seemed like there was someone around that he left to watch them. The forest around town was pretty tall so it was his first instinct to check there since there wasn't too many places to hide in town from what he could tell.
As he wandered he heard voices. He stopped and his ears twitched in the direction they came from. He crept a bit further into the forest towards the voices. He spotted a camp and hid behind the nearby trees. Peering around he spotted some White Fang Members. He sighed thinking it was a bit annoying when he looked for one thing he always seemed to find another. He listened carefully, wondering if Rose was with them but didn't hear anything to indicate she was. She was far younger than anyone at that camp so it would have been easy to discern even down to her breathing.
He carefully snuck away so as to not be noticed. Walking back into town he spotted a way up to the rooftops. He climbed up and used his semblance to bend the light around him so he'd more or less be unnoticed. He didn't want to look suspicious as he looked for things that were suspicious from up high.

"Are you curtain that's all you know?" Diana said peering down at a battered and bruised white fang thug she'd found skulking around in the city. The deer faunus whimpered and nodded profusely, blood dripping down his shirt from his shoulder where Diana had firmly jammed a dagger. Diana would glare at the faunus who refused to make eye contact with her, Diana then quickly twisted the dagger with a wet crunch and a pained scream. The man hardly got to make a sound before Diana had put a boot in his mouth to muffle his scream. "One hundred percent sure?" Diana growled, promptly removing her foot from the man's busted jaw so he could speak.

"I swear that's everything! I don't know of this Rose girl, there's a lot of people in the camp and I'm only new. S-she probably left before I was even involved with them!" The man's voice was totally panicked through a mix of fear and pain, if this poor sap was out in the wilderness he would have no doubt been devoured by grimm at this point. "I should hope you're not lying, that would be a... Mistake." The faunus swallowed nervously as Diana produced a needle, he tried to shuffle away afraid of what this psycho bitch was trying to inject him with. Diana sighed and stomped on the mans chest causing him to cough up a little bit of blood, "Don't move."

The faunus obediently sat still as Diana leaned down and injected something into his wrist. "I can't have you scurrying off now." Diana had just injected the Faunus with a mix of drugs that would both knock him out and stabilise him, things like clotting blood and soothing inflamed areas. They would take effect almost instantly sending the man into a deep sleep. Diana then removed her knife from the wound in the mans shoulder, quickly spraying some medical foam over the wound. He'd be fine for the most part, even if Diana didn't come back for him after the drugs wore off. He'd just have aches and pains everywhere.

"You know I was just starting to like you," Yoki hissed under his breath as he dropped down from the rooftop into the alley way. Bitter resentment started started burning up inside him having just witnessed the tail end of torture on a White Fang Member. "I was thinking that you were better than the typical Atlas Specialist. Turns out you are far worse." He narrowed his eyes and took a few steps closer. He raised his voice and gestured to the unconscious Faunus, "What is wrong with you?! What did you do to him, Diana?!"

---

"I didn't expect to find her right away but it sure would have been nice..." Eve sighed heavily, dropping down onto a bench outside the inn she designated as the rendezvous point. She looked up at the sky, taking a bite if an apple, as it was slowly shifting into evening. She showed up early because something else was weighing heavily on her mind. Recent events leading up to their current situation and how her new teammates didn't know the whole story yet. Even if she didn't have the whole story herself, she knew far more than them. They are her responsibility but it was her job to see how far their trust could spread. "This sucks..."

Diana pulled out a cloth and started cleaning her dagger when she heard Yoki land behind her. Slowly turning she met Yoki's gaze with a disdainful glare, truely Yoki's audacity was one of his strongest attributes. Diana grit her teeth as Yoki raised his voice "I got him to talk. I now know exactly where the camp is and when they switch the guard. Slipping in will be easy." Diana would shake the blood off her dagger before giving it a few more wipes. "As for what is wrong with me. There is nothing wrong, it's just your skewed morality telling you that what I'm doing is wrong. I take the necessary actions required to accomplish my missions, those who find themselves at the end of my blade don't get into that position unintentionally." Diana took a brief breath, her nostrils flaring slightly as she sheathed her dagger. "So if you're done judging me we have a rendezvous to get to." Diana then huffed slightly and went to push past Yoki.

The bar got quiet as the day went on, no members of the Fang had shown up and Marlin was losing his patience. He figured he might as well started heading towards the rendezvous point. He had places to go, and it wasn't like the bar was going anywhere, he'd return at another time. Marlin paid for his drinks, shot down the rest of his rum and left the bar looking for the inn. He stretched and checked his pockets to see if he needed to restock on his crystals or not. He was fine for awhile. Looking for the inn Eve mentioned he started walking around town. It didn't take long, the town wasn't very big and Eve was easy to spot. Small blob of blue sitting on a bench. Marlin approached and gave a small wave. "Nothing new from what we predicted, but I do know they frequent the bar, that's about all I got. Any better luck on your end?"

"I already found and slipped in and out of their camp. The girl isn't there." Yoki let her pass, rather than the anger he always had towards her. A sorrowful disappointment took its place. Without turning around and looking at her he sighed heavily hanging his head. "Did you even consider the repercussions of this, Diana? The White Fang will twist this situation as a brutal attack of humans against the faunus to rally more against Huntsman, against Atlas, against you." He looked over his shoulder in her direction but not directly at her, concern etched all over his face. He wanted to at least try to get his point across without her semblance riling him up "They are just going to use you as an excuse to wage their war especially if you keep this up. Though my attitude usually says otherwise I care about you, Diana. As a part of this team I will have your back, just next time can you stop forgetting you have a team that you are also putting a target on."

---

Eve lightened up hearing Marlin's voice snap her out of her thoughts. She looked over at him a smile returning to her face as she tossed an apple his way. "Rumor is a camp is outside of town but no one in town has seen Rose. We could only hope it were that easy. I'm sure we'll have better luck in their hometown."

"While your compassion is heartwarming, I have little need for it so you can save it. As for what you're saying you make it sound like the White Fang wasn't going to attack until now, which is painfully naive. Secondly, who's to say they'll know it was me? In this backwater town, anyone could have beaten this man within an inch of his life. I do have contingencies for the few times I leave interrogation subjects alive, ergo the needle I injected him with earlier." Diana glanced over her shoulder back at Yoki, making sure to avoid eye contact. "Do you honestly think I just indiscriminately go around torturing people and letting them remember who I am? That would be idiotic and unprofessional... And honestly, even if I just pricked his thumb with my knife the White Fang would twist it into a brutal attack. Those animals have no shame." With that Diana left the alleyway and slowly started off towards the rendezvous point, praying that Yoki would hold his tongue.

"Animals, huh?" Yoki glared at her bitterly and scoffed he turned away. "Gee, thanks..." He turned invisible again using his semblance, returning to the rooftops resuming his patrol a bit longer before actually returning to the rendezvous point. What in her past caused her to be so messed up? Mystery serum or no, it's not like one couldn't remember their attacker or Atlas uniform... Or people passing by. Alleyway or no it was too open... Yoki shook his head and smacked his cheeks a bit, "What the hell is wrong with me? I don't have time to be acting like the old me... I've got something else I need to worry about first..." He continued to look around town, hoping his gut feeling was wrong. His unsettling feeling of being watched and followed, even when he could he unseen didn't sit right with him. There's only ever been a few times in his life when it occurred, the source of his revenge included. Not enough time to look, throughly enough before getting too late he decided to head towards the rendezvous point and continue looking later.