(no subject)

[monkeystowaway]

WHO: Sun Wukong, Open!
WHAT: Sun is out on a manhunt for Candy Man! Come and talk to him on his stakeout.
WHERE: Attleton Marketplace
WHEN: 2/19
WARNINGS: Possibly some violence.

With all that had gone on, Sun needed something to take his mind off of things. What better way then to go on a hunt? Well, a Manhunt. He’d read about the Candy Man giving candy to kids that was apparently making them sick after they ate. He didn’t know what the guy was doing to them, but someone needed to put a stop to it. He got the chance to talk to a few of the ill kids and found out some stuff about the guy’s cart, since the kids couldn’t give him any substantial information about what the guy looked like.

As long as the guy didn’t change his cart, Sun knew he would be able to find him. So he stood in the marketplace of Attleton. He was holding up a drink with his tail, while in his hands he was looking over a magazine, though he wasn’t really paying too much attention to it. His eyes were on the lookout for his target. He was dressed for warmth and to hopefully not draw attention to himself.

Comments

[whiteas]

Weiss wasn't in Attleton's marketplace for the bounty. She was there because she needed to go grocery shopping for something other than cookies. With Blake in the hospital, and Ruby's inability to go to a store without buying far too many cookies for any normal human being to consume in a single sitting, Weiss had decided to go on her own. She wasn't 100% sure what Yang was up to, but frankly sticking to the house and work were starting to wear on her. Besides, she honestly didn't want to let Torchwick think that he'd scared her into staying home if she didn't have someone with her.

Since their last attempt at being sneaky, Weiss had realized their idea of incognito wasn't exactly the most expert-level disguises, and she knew the whole fake-magazine reading thing by now. She'd recognize that tail anywhere though. From the basket she was carrying, Weiss held out a bright red apple to him. Even if it was a friendly gesture, her tone clearly said she thought he was doing something odd.

"What are you doing?"

[monkeystowaway]

Sun looked to Weiss when she spoke, and then to the apple. He lowers the magazine and takes the apple before looking back up to Weiss. This could actually work in his favor. It was clear that he and Weiss were friendly with each other, so maybe anyone that sees them will think he was just here waiting for a friend, if anyone was actually paying him that much attention.

“I’m on the lookout for the guy in the paper.” Given their location, he figured she might be able to realize who he was talking about.

“I didn’t know you came here to do your shopping.” He lifted the apple up and took a bite out of it. Mmm, delicious apples. And he didn’t have to steal this one, something he had been planning to do if he were here too long.

[whiteas]

"Either here or to get fresh fish in Fayren since they have the port there. Fresh food is much better than what's been sitting at Pan's for however long."

Weiss set the basket of fruit on the bench next to him, still standing as she watched him eat the apple. At least she was being fairly helpful, even if she only thought it was by bringing something to eat by. If he's just been waiting around out here, chances are he would've had to leave his perch eventually and potentially miss the guy while he was worrying about food. She kept her voice quiet enough that only Sun should be able to hear while she spoke.

"Drinking with your tail isn't exactly blending in. You do bounties a lot, don't you? That criminal probably isn't as good as Zuko at looking for suspicious people, but you should still try to keep a low profile or you're going to end up being well-known and easy to spot."

[monkeystowaway]

Sun didn't do the cooking at his place. I don't know who does, really. So he had no idea about what freshness did to make a dish better tasting. Dinner at RWBY's place was always really good though.. "I guess that's a benefit of this place. You can travel from city to city really easily just to shop around."

He took another bite out of the apple. If she has another one in that basket, he might grab it a little while after finishing this one. He looked from her to his tail now..she had a point. Tailed folk weren't common and if he got pegged as a bounty hunter..

He took the drink from his tail and let it droop down behind him. He'd just factor hiding his tail into his next outing. "Good point, Weiss. I don't need people on the look out for me. Or running when they see me." Though in some cases that might make hunting a little easier.

[whiteas]

Weiss had 4 more apples in there, having grabbed an extra couple because somehow they always go missing whenever a certain someone visits. There are a few little packs of berries of various kinds, a bunch of green vegetables and leafy greens, and some nuts and seeds. Weiss was a pretty healthy eater overall, even if she wasn't the best at cooking (she mostly helped by making sure all the ingredients were A+ unless she got incredibly stubborn about being able to cook something).

Finally sitting down with the basket between the two of them, she looked around.

"Especially not if you're chasing someone dangerous who doesn't particularly care for being chased."

[monkeystowaway]

He takes a moment and peers over to Weiss' basket when she sets it down and gives the things she has in it a quick look.

"I don't think that would apply to a guy like this one." He bites the apple again. But he also knew that he couldn't underestimate him just because of his MO.

"I don't know what he is doing to those kids to make them ill, but he needs to be stopped." Especially if there was much more behind the illness than it seemed. He planned to try to get that info out of the guy if he had the chance.

[whiteas]

"These bounties would be much easier to solve if this place had a crime lab."

At least then they could figure out just what was in the candy, maybe figure out if it's a controlled substance and trace it.. Who knows. They did all sorts of things like that to try to find perps in movies. Which, admittedly, Weiss didn't go to very often, but she'd seen a couple of them.

Weiss doesn't really pay attention to Sun eying her basket much. She gave him an apple and she trusts him, after all.

"How are you planning on catching him before he gives something to another kid?"

[monkeystowaway]

That was true. Some of these places could benefit a lot from some of the technology that they had on their world. He dug into his jacket pocket and took out a little notebook and opened it up.

"I talked to some of the kids that felt well enough to speak to me. They said the guy has a panda or something on his cart." He has a small wrapper taped to the page to. "And the candy wrappers have little cutesy pictures of animals on them. They couldn't remember much about the man himself other than have blond or brown hair and maybe blue or green eyes." He honestly didn't know how accurate the info that he got was, though.

"Does the Schnee company have any sort of place in Vale where they could analyze the candy if I got some samples?"

[whiteas]

"For a boy who was running from the police the first time I saw you, you would make a pretty good officer."

She doesn't really care about his Junior Detective badge, but it was pretty impressive that he'd gotten even that much info when this guy had been on the loose for a while.

"Not traditionally for that purpose, but we have R&D labs that I can probably get into if I ask but.." She paused for a moment, looking uncertain. It might go fine if she brought Sun with. Weiss didn't have a problem with him anymore, but the chances of him somehow getting pulled aside and accused of being White Fang or trying to steal something. She'd grown up in an environment that spoke down to Faunus, one that she was once a part of. She knew it was wrong now, but dragging Sun into that...

"I won't make you go with me if you don't want to and I know my family's company isn't exactly the kindest to Faunus, but you should know that I will stand by you if you want to come provided that you behave yourself."

[monkeystowaway]

His JDB is really cool, thank you very much. Jaune is so jealous that he doesn’t have one.

“I owe it to a year in this place. Hunting a monster isn’t that different from hunting a crazed criminal.” Both required information gathering and such. Sun likes to think he has gotten really good at that. He figured that Weiss might be able to put in a special request at one of their labs to get the stuff analyze. He didn’t like..using his friendship with her to get these sort of favors. But it was for a noble cause as opposed to something selfish.

“It’s fine. I can just leave it in your hands and wait for the results. I don’t want my presence to cause trouble and take away time from analyzing the candy to find out if there is anything seriously harmful in it.”

[whiteas]

Jaune doesn't have a Weiss either, so Jaune has to deal with not having a lot of things he thinks are cool in general.

On the bright side for Sun, Weiss doesn't mind as long as it's for a good cause and not just because he's trying to mooch. Saving kids from getting sick or it possibly escalating? That's a good cause.

"Of course. Do you have a paper bag? Whenever the police came over, they had paper evidence bags, even if they use plastic in fiction. There's probably a reason for it."

[monkeystowaway]

Poor Jaune. Even when he's not here, he is still getting ragged on. "I don't." Mainly because he's never had to collect evidence like this before. This was the first time he had decided to go beyond the call of his job.

"But I think I can pick some up. They probably won't be police issue evidence bags, but I know there are at least some paper bags around here that I can use." He'd have to be quick when he went and grabbed them, because he didn't want to miss his opportunity to catch the guy.

[whiteas]

"I'm not police, so it isn't like I need official evidence bags. As far as I know a paper lunch bag will work just fine."

It wasn't like she was a lab tech or anything- she just had seen movies before and she could go find people who were lab techs. She didn't know if they'd know what to do with a fingerprint or if there'd even be anything on whatever he found.

"There isn't anything else you need help with is there?" Weiss reached into her basket, taking a blueberry out of one of the little berry boxes and popping it into her mouth. She'd been focusing on her company a lot, trying to keep busy, but she actually felt useful with Sun asking for her help. Even if it was just using SDC resources despite being so far from home.

Who can take a sunrise...

[youfool]

Ted was out for a stroll, and could not be bothered to read the newspaper that fine Thursday morning. This would serve to get him into a lot of trouble, as he saw a seller of sweets cross his path. He could be heard even by Sun and friends, who were far away, as he was shouting to be heard above the murmur of the crowd, and doing a good job of it. Too good, really.

"I SAY, GOOD SIR, ARE YOU A MERCHANT OF CONFECTIONS? IF SO, I SIMPLY MUST PATRONIZE AND ADD YOUR WORKS TO MY COLLECTION." He had had ice cream trucks in his home world, but this was a treat.

"Please, sir. Keep your voice down."

"WHAT? WHAT WAS THAT?"

"I said...never mind. Aren't you a little old to uh...partake in my merchandise?"

"NONSENSE. A SWEET TOOTH KNOWS NO AGE! ARE NOT THE ELDERLY KNOWN FOR PEANUT BRITTLE?"

"...Okay. Try one of these, as a free sample. I insist." He handed Ted a gobstopper, which, true to its name, contained a powerful anesthetic.

"THANK YOU, GENEROUS MERCHANT. YOU'RE TOO KIND." *few seconds later* "I'm feeling light headed..."

The merchant waited for his annoyance to pass out, before hoisting him into his cart and burying him under the rest of the merchandise. The irritation was apparently widely felt, for none were looking closely enough to see this unscrupulous transaction. The Candy Man didn't wanna chance it, though, and whistled nonchalantly as he carted his latest victim towards HQ. In his haste, he did drop a few stray pieces of candy with the animal insignia Sun had discovered.

[monkeystowaway]

The ruckus was easily noticed by Sun, it was sort of difficult not t notice when the guy was talking so loudly. Sun felt for the merchant as he had to deal with the guy, and he watched to see how it would all play out. Only when he saw the guy start to sway, did he become suspicious. When he saw the man pass out after eating the candy, his suspicion went into overdrive.

He moved closer, but waited for the guy to wheel his cart further down. When he did that, Sun moved closer and checked the wrappers and noted that they were the very same ones that the Candy Man had been using. So it was him. Sun tucked them away into his pocket before following him.

[youfool]

The Candy Man knew the streets well. Not as twisty as some labyrinthine city; this was the suburbs, after all. Still, he did what he could to mix speed and obfuscation, weaving an intricate path only to return to his van. Purely for travel, in this case. The van, as an automobile, had picked up a bad reputation when combined with sweets, and thus he had to turn to something with more innocent symbolism.

One might think that one who worked with such unhealthy foods would be unfit; nay. A lifetime of factory work and manual labor made loading the cart into the back an easy enough task. With a grunt, he hoisted his goods and Ted, then made for the driver's seat. Checking his mirrors with a sinister amount of caution, he sped off to his defunct lair.

[monkeystowaway]

Sun kept following him, making sure to keep his distance so he couldn’t be easily spotted. When he saw the guy finally reach his van, he took the chance to climb onto the rooftop of one of the buildings. He figured that this guy was going to drive, and it’d be much easier to follow him this way. If he had a vehicle of his own, he would have used that instead, though.

And as he drove, Sun leapt from what rooftop to the next, still trying his best to stay out of sight. He was mindful of angles that might let him catch a glimpse of him in his mirrors too.

[youfool]

He pulled up to his large, steel factory. Once upon a time it would've comfortably housed thirty or so employees, eagerly churning out confections and flavorful delights for the masses. It was clear to look at it that those days were far behind. Rust and age had worn at the building, or at least the exterior. The Candy Man toted the rest of his goods, and Ted, into the building.

Inside, the age showed less. He had taken on the brunt of the work himself. Production, naturally, was lucky to run even a tenth of what it was capable of, but under his command it did just that. Thus, the machines saw some use, and of course he had retooled many of them himself to produce the illness-inducing goods. He propped Ted in a chair, trying to figure out what to do with him.

Murder was pretty far out. His MO was just making people ill. Children, true, but that was as far as he'd take it. He'd read the paper; he knew people would likely be after him, so perhaps Ted's memory wouldn't be the damning piece of evidence he feared. Bah, he decided. "Useless. No good...I do my best thinking in my office." He climbed the catacombs to his central office, high atop the facility, where he could best oversee and direct the machines of happier times past.

[monkeystowaway]

Sun stopped on a nearby building when the Candy Man came to a stop and started to unload his things and the man that he had taken as well. Sun wasn’t quick to make any moves just yet, he gave it a few minutes before he jumped down from the rooftop and came over to the building. He crept close to the door and placed his ear against it and listened to the sounds coming from inside.

There was no talking, so Sun just figured it only Candy Man inside with the other guy still knocked out. He made out the sound of machinery, which was a bit of a surprise because this place looked abandoned. He wouldn’t have thought there would be any working machinery in there.

Sun made a quick trip back to the van to flatten the tires by stabbing them with his folding knife, just in case the man tried to make a run for it. Then he returned back to the door and pulled it open and started inside. He stuck to the shadows as best as he could while trying to get a cisual on where the man had gone.

[youfool]

The Candy Man twitched. Over time, he had grown used to the silence that clung to this haunted candy factory. He knew when it was being disturbed. He took a guess as to why. Up till now, the machines had merely hummed, awaiting their next devious task. Now, some of them started up, whirring and clanking. The factory, formerly clothed in darkness, shone a small light in the center, where Ted sat, bound and gagged. His voice blared on the intercom, full of gravel and musk.

"So you've read the Tribune, have you? Those reporters are so sloppy. Perhaps they've told you what I've done, eh? But they never get the full story. They never tell you why..."

A proud machinist, he never took any offers to install security alarms or equipment. He elected to use his own; there they were now, whirring to life. Two thick, three-dimensional gingerbread men, standing six feet tall and at three-hundred pounds, stomped their way out from their chambers, patrolling the factory. Their heat sensors and infrared vision booted up, scouring the factory for any intruders. In their arms they held frilly, gum-drop adorned bayonets, loaded with tranquilizer darts. Time to bag him a monkey.

[monkeystowaway]

Okay. So there was more to this person than he thought. He was just some random weirdo that wanted to sell candy to kids to make them sick. It was easy to make out the sound of the six foot, three-hundred pounds machines stomping around, even if he hadn’t laid eyes on them yet. Sun was smart enough to know he needed to come up with a small contingency plan, though. He pulled out his device and typed out a quick message to his allies.

“in candymans factory.
If no word from me in 10
Cmere [address here]”

After sending the message, he tucked his phone away and pulled out his weapon and placed it into its staff form. He kept his moves slow, and listened for the sound of the things drawing nearer. He'd fight if he had to, something was telling him that that was inevitable. The darkness didn't bother Sun, his Faunus eyes let him see well in it as if it was lit. He ducked behind the first cover that he could find, which were some crates. And then he peered over them and looked around to check the area.

Responding to the guy was impossible. Mostly because Sun didn't have his own intercom. He could probably yell out to him, but that would give away his location.

[youfool]

A non-response was practically an open invitation to monologue. It'd be rude not to take it.

"Ah, there it is. That slinking in the shadows. Even witch hunts let the 'witches' face their accusers, every now and again. But me? No. I was wronged by a movement. By a public, composed of so many faces it was faceless. By puritans!"

The factory was slowly resurrecting. The intercom still made the primary noise, but the noise of machinery was being added to, bit by bit, with various blinking lights and moving parts. The gingerbread mens' retinal scanners swept past the crates, and they knew. They offered the standard security-robot greeting. "Intruder. Please come out with your hands up."

[monkeystowaway]

Sun didn’t see it as an open invitation, but he couldn’t exactly stop the guy at the moment. But from what’s been said so far, he has no idea how any of it ties into making kids sick. Sun pauses for a moment and ducks behind the crates when he hears the robotic voices speak out.

He took a moment and placed his hands together and created two golden clones of himself. One took off running to the left of the crate and the other one started running to the right in an attempt to lead both of the robots away. Or at least distract them for a couple of moments.

[youfool]

The hulking desserts took the bait running after them and shooting darts. Darn, if only he had installed the magic-clone detection software. He'd make a note of it. Still, he trusted what they'd seen, and had a reasonable guess as to his proximate location. He rotated his frosting-turrets, placed at each corner of the room. Each was packed with something both sugary, creamy, and mixed with military-grade immobilization foam. His voice became a bit more focused; more angry and direct.

"Who hired you, huh? The Attleton Farm Federation? The Organization For a Slimmer Tomorrow? Or maybe you're just some punk mercenary, trying to make a buck. Everyone's got a mouth to feed, huh? I'm not like you. I had a dream once; a vision. I just wanted to make kids smile. After the stuff I've seen, so would you."

The turrets locked on, and fired streams of candy-coated incapacitation.

[monkeystowaway]

Sun kept the clones moving to lead the bots as far away as possible, then when they had ducked around a corner or a another crate or something, he made them disappear. Sun was about to relax for a moment, but he heard the sound of that rotating machinery, even over the sound of that guy’s ranting.

He quickly leapt up and over the crate and darted forward as the guy fired at him to get out of the way of the streams. Now Sun had to keep those turrets and robots in mind while he tried to figure out where exactly the Candy Man was holding up right now. His eyes darted around before moving up higher and spotting at office at the top of the facility.