Ch 6: A Spark of Hope (2)

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Author's Note: With the New Year comes New Year's resolutions, and my first resolution is to return to regular releases for my stories. But as they say, "Man plans, God laughs." Or, in my case, sends a teenage girl to slam on her brakes on the highway in front of you, forcing you to slam on your brakes and swerve into the barrier on the side to avoid rear-ending her, totaling your car. Anyways, first, I would like to give a special shout-out to Brusalazar and Yswmkii for sticking with me through my long gaps in releases. If not for your power stones and inquiries about updates, I might have stopped wanting to continue to share my stories. Thank you all for reading, and please enjoy the continuation of Ray's journey in Remnant.

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"So, what should we do?" Jaune anxiously whispered as they stepped into the brightly lit bar. "I mean, these people are criminals, right? Isn't there some special way we're supposed to act, or not act, to seem less suspicious?"

Ray sent the suspiciously hunched over, shifty-eyed, and whispering young man an exasperated look out of the corner of his eye as the irony of the contrast between his unconscious actions and his intentions both amused and annoyed him.

"Not really." Ray answered, understanding it wasn't his fault for being uncomfortable in a foreign, and in his view likely hostile, environment. "It's the same rules for any conversation." he elaborated with a shrug, "Have confidence in yourself, don't be an ass, and pay what you owe. Unless, of course, you are looking for trouble."

Seeing that Jaune wasn't relaxing but instead acting even more suspicious, Ray let out a puff of air as he inwardly lamented the overactive imagination of a dreamer. "In a public information brokerage like this, the broker will either be the bartender, able to quietly and naturally talk and listen to anyone who comes in without drawing attention, or they will be in a protected location, either upstairs or at the back." Ray decided to continue talking, generalizing things where there really were no rules to give Jaune a sense of security in knowledge. "Regardless if you aren't familiar with the location and procedure, then always start with the bartender, order a drink, and tell them you are looking for some information. They will either point you in the right direction, ask you what you're looking for, or tell you they don't serve that here."

As Ray finishes speaking, the two arrive at the bar and take a seat on a pair of stools at the far end. "A Galaxy Nova for myself," Ray ordered when the middle-aged bartender turned his attention to them.

"And for my friend…." He turned to Jaune to let him decide his own order.

"Milk, cold." Jaune ordered with his back noticeably straight and chin high in the most authoritative voice he could manage. The bartender shot Ray an amused glance at Jaune's blatant posturing. He had seen dozens of youths like Jaune before. Young men trying to act like adults as their elders brought them out to experience the parts of the world they had been too immature to handle before. Though never one with such a young face yet natural body language as an escort.

After the bartender brought their drinks, Ray took a moment to enjoy his favorite cocktail while Jaune hurriedly imitated him, glancing around in equal parts curiosity and nervousness at the normal yet abnormal bar around them. First, the talk was boisterous yet echoed in such a way that it was nearly impossible to overhear anything from where he was sitting. Second, it had seemed well lit when he walked in, but as he 'sneakily' looked around, there were an abnormal amount of dark corners and shadowed booths. Lastly, everyone in there seemed normal and calm, but there was an edge to the air that constantly reminded Jaune that this was the den of a dangerous beast.

*Ahh* Ray sighed in satisfaction as he finished his drink and waved his hand to call the bartender back over.

"Another round?"

"Actually, we're new here and were wondering if you could provide us with a bit of information about the area." Ray replied casually, in stark contrast to how Jaune suddenly stiffened next to him.

"What do you want to know?" The bartender smiled amicably.

"We noticed that everyone was acting very unnaturally. Some boys were almost rundown in front of us, and nobody seemed to care. Can you tell us anything about that?" The smile melted off the bartender's slightly wrinkled face faster than snow in Vacuo.

"Sorry, I don't understand your question. If that will be all, your total comes out to 25."

Not bothered by the obvious dismissal, Ray smiled and stood up. "Well then, thank you for the drink." Ray said as he tossed a large stack of lien that made an audible clatter as it scattered across the bar top. Jaune looked wide-eyed at Ray, both for how easily he had given up and how obviously he had overpaid for their drinks. There was at least 100 Lien rattling across the bar.

Quickly shaking off his surprise, Jaune hurried after his red-haired friend noticing the increased attention on them as they left.

"What was that!?" Jaune hissed, "I thought you said to pay what we owe, not overpay! We didn't even get any information."

"Yes, but he made it clear he couldn't, or rather wouldn't, help us. So, now we are looking for trouble.*hehe* Or more precisely, troublemakers." Ray explained with a chuckle before abnormally raising his voice as he pointed at a dark alley they were coming up on. "Let's take this shortcut."

Jaune looked at Ray in confusion but followed him inside. After walking for a ways away from the bustle of the main street, Ray stopped and casually leaned against the brick wall behind a power pole and crossed his arms as if waiting for something. Catching on to what Ray was planning, the blond quickly flattened himself against the wall next to Ray and silently waited.

They didn't have to wait long. Almost as soon as Jaune had reacted, a group of five burly-looking men entered the alley and started walking towards them.

"Well, looky here, boys. We got a couple of smart ones. Why don't you show us that superior intellect of yours and drop all your Lien? Then we can all be on our way." The largest man said sarcastically as he smiled at the two young men, showing off his pointed teeth.

Glancing over his shoulder, Jaune noticed four more men approaching from the other direction and quietly tapped four fingers on Ray's arm four times to signal him of the brutes flanking them.

Ray just smiled as if he didn't have a care in the world. "That can be arranged. Provided you can supply us with the information we seek. What's going on with this town?"

The big man scowled at Ray's question. "You shouldn't stick your nose into things that don't concern you, kid." he growled before throwing a haymaker at Ray's head. Seeing their boss attack, the rest of the goons raised their fists, pipes, and heavy tools and moved in to beat some sense into the two naive fools before them. They could see the sword on Jaune's waist and weren't going to take any chances with an armed opponent but were confident that they would be able to handle two little boys in way over their heads with their superior numbers and size.

*Bbbbbzzzzzzzt*

They didn't even have time to realize their mistake before they were all spasming on the ground as blue lightning snapped across their frames.

"Now, let's try that again. What is going on with this town?" Ray squatted down next to the twitching sharked toothed thug, the same innocent smile on his face.

"Fuck you!" he spat out around chattering teeth as he tried and failed to spit on the youth looming over him.

"Hmmm. A stubborn one." Ray mused as he looked into the man's defiant blue eyes. Clearly, even incapacitated, he didn't view these two boys as a threat. What was the worst they could do? Turn him over to the authorities? He and his boys had spent most of their lives in one prison or another. Three free square meals a day, room and board without rent, and plenty of folks with similar interests to talk with, it was like going on vacation for guys like them.

Ray's smile grew as he could see the inner thoughts of the confident man practically written all over his face. "Let's see how long that lasts." The thug's arrogance flicked for a moment as the demented smile of the redhead caused his confidence to waver. Uncaringingly, Ray reached out his sparking right hand towards the downed man.

"Hey-" the thug tried to say something to make the boy before him realize what he was about to do and call his bluff, but before he could even start.

*GGGGGGYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH* he screamed in agony as forked spears of lightning arced across his helpless frame. Mercilessly lighting every pain receptor on his body on fire.

"Noisy," Ray muttered, to himself in annoyance as he made a spear with the fore and pointer finger of his left hand and jabbed it into the tortured man's vocal cords, paralyzing them and leaving his hapless prey to suffer in silence, not even permitted to scream to vent his misery.

"Ray! What are you doing!? Stop!" Jaune shouted and grabbed his friend's shoulder, trying to yank him away. Ray let him pull him back but kept his right hand pointed at the wretched croaking man as he continued to electrocute him.

"This is what I was talking about, Jaune." Ray said with steel in his voice, his innocent smiling mask dropping away to reveal a grim, determined man, as his left hand reached up and clamped down on Jaune's shoulder, hard, forcing him to look at him. "This is the darkness you must confront as a leader so that your teammates don't have to. This is the burden only you can bear. It's not pretty, and it's not honorable, but someone has to do it. Because as long as you walk the path of a huntsman, you're going to have to dirty your feet in the muck of society at some point. If you do it, then at least your friends won't have to."

"I… I…" As Jaune stood there, sputtering, unable to reconcile what he was seeing before him with his ideal of being a huntsman, Ray turned back to the tortured man and raised his hand, alleviating him from his suffering.

"What is going on with this town?" Ray asked again, his innocent smiling mask returning.

*Ah- gah- uh-* the pathetic man groaned and blubbered as he lay twitching in his own excrements, unable to speak.

*tsk* "Useless." Ray clicked his tongue and muttered as he turned to the next paralyzed man. "What about you?" Ray asked as he casually waved his hand and sent a bolt of lightning through the incoherent man's skull. Ray's new victim gasped in shock as he watched his boss's spasming suddenly cease with smoke rising from a black burn mark in the center of his forehead.

"What is going on with this town?" Ray asked once again as a snake of lighting coiled and sparked around his raised hand, drawing the traumatized thug's attention back to him.

"It's… it's…" the man stumbled over his words, unable to speak coherently around his terror as the smiling demonic face of the boy before him grew larger and larger in his sight.