Jade Green was once again bargaining with the crooked dealer whom she had bought dust from earlier. But this time she bought a location for a Grimm that had been kept in the dark for years. One she knows a certain person never wants to see again for this creature had already tainted a memory of theirs from a long time ago.
"This it?" She asked the broker, who then handed her a piece of the map of Mistral. The monster's coordinates were located in an undefined area not far from Botan.
She sighed. "Of course it's not far from here. I assume this thing isn't the only one left of its kind?" She asked the broker, who responded by shaking his head.
"Who knows? There may be more of them out there than you think." The broker said.
"We'll see about that." Jade said to him as she headed back to her motorcycle until he'd stop her with something he knew.
"Good luck mending that bond with Blake." He said.
This immediately caused Jade to stop in her tracks and slowly turn back at him with an aggravated glare. Her eyes pierced at him like daggers.
"How do you know about that?" She said, and tilted her head. "Big mistake unveiling your twist like this." She stepped closer to him.
"Are you one of those scouts Atlas keeps sending out to watch over us non-atlesians like birds?" She said, now pointing a finger at him, her eyes still fierce like thorns. "That also explains how you people know about where The Hollowed are." She said.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about." The broker said, sweat trinkling down his face.
"Cut the bullshit. I should've realized sooner that I was into deeper shit than I thought." She said, sighed then headed back to her motorcycle to finally flee.
"Can't say we should stop making these deals, though." Jade told him before revving up her engine and driving off to order one of the bikers to invite Waylon to come with her to the location of the monster.
2
"So what's it about? She wanna give me a lecture about being greedy and strong as a bad biker gang and all that stuff?" Waylon asked Sterling during their road trip.
"No. She hasn't told us. But whatever it is, you better keep a calm mind and coontrol your temper, yeah?" Sterling said to Waylon.
"I'll try." Waylon said, then Griselda whom was also riding by their side, chuckled.
"What's so funny?" He asked her.
Griselda shrugged. "Nothing, baby boy. I just like it when you're angry." She said. As they were all close to wherever craphole Jade is about to pull them into. That is if she will still even do that. Waylon doesn't trust her, but only for now. Ever since he noticed how she'd been acting up.
By the time they got there, they found Jade standing in the middle of a path leaning on her bike, with her arms crossed and posed as the rather smug yet awesome woman she is. She seemed glad to see Waylon this time than recall what happened recently and berate him about it whenever he is around her.
"Are we late?" Waylon asked, being the one to speak first.
"No." Jade said. "You're just in time."
"What do you got for me?" Waylon said.
She slowly shook her head. "Well.. I tried this thing you do called caring about other people and... this woman told me her kid got lost in this cave." She said. "Somewhere in there."
Waylon raised a brow and smirked. "So you listened to me? Unexpected of you." He said.
"Shuddup and go rescue that kid." She chuckled, elbowing him. "Sterling, Gris. We got this. Keep a look out for everything else." She called off the two before she and Waylon carefully entered into the cave which had an opening only children could squeeze into.
"Man, this reminds me of that one cave we used to camp in back then." He said.
"Yeah, and you hated it." Jade said, following suit.
"I didn't hate it." Waylon said, scratching his head. "Wait, did I?"
After they crouched and stepped into the cave,
Jade took out her scroll, a handheld device that could display the level of their aura, let them use contact anyone they knew who also had a scroll. No different from phones, except these ones had camera in them and almost everything. And that they are flat.
She turned on the flashlight in her scroll to light the path, as they uncovered the tiny dried up jungles within the corners and sides of the cave.
"How come we never knew of this cave until now?" Waylon asked.
"Maybe the kid was looking for treasure and took a pickaxe to break through." Jade chuckled. "I mean there used to be tons of boulders toppled over this. Maybe when the world was shook months ago, they settled off and uncovered it."
"Probably." Waylon said. "Still..."
As they ventured into the cave, Waylon recalled when Jade mentioned that she had connections that likely explained how she knew about the SDC delivery yesterday.
"Say, Jade. To whom exactly do you have connections with..?" He asked her calmly. Very calmly.
"This broker who is..." Jade hesitated for a few seconds, before she decided to tell him the truth. And she was not so bad at it. Only she wouldn't tell him the truth about why they came here.
"...Not actually a broker." She finished.
"What is he?" Waylon asked, looking confused.
"An atlesian." Jade said. "Those scouts they send out to bird-watch the other kingdoms."
"And did you know?" Waylon asked.
"No." She replied. "Not until earlier, when he slipped, bid me good luck about our quarrel."
Waylon stayed silent for a while until- "So they're watching us?" He sighed. "Those atlesians, they just don't know when to quit. They always force themselves into other peoples' business."
"He did give me a good deal of dust. Maybe he just used to be part of Atlas?" She said.
"That helps it make more sense." Waylon said. "Anyway, we better find that kid before we got bombarded with more lies."
Jade sighed, following his lead as the cave expanded along their path. They could hear waterfalls and bats snickering as they drew closer.
"Kid! We're here to help you!" Waylon shouted. "Anyone here?"
Jade kept quiet, staring at the darker perimeters. The creature she knew as here might close in on them anytime now. Oh, how questionable was the fact that she was testing her brother like this.
Waylon turned back at her, confused. Because she didn't seem to be looking for the kid.
A sweat trinkled down her cheek. "Oh! Uh--kid! We're looking for you!" She started shouting as she stepped forward along with Waylon.
"Where the hell is this kid? Girl or boy?" Waylon asked.
"Uh... boy." Jade said.
"Who's the mother? Or at the least." Waylon looked at Jade. "How did this woman know she could trust you?"
The impending silence expected earlier by Jade finally came into the fold.
"Uh.." Jade clearly didn't think this through.