Seven Deadly
Chapter 1
Deniable
Pyrrha Nikos was not a happy woman.
At best, she was approachable, but yet distant- someone who had been molded by fame into a shadow of their former self. A woman, once the darling of a kingdom, made tired, bitter, and jaded by the dual lives of a celebrity and of a huntress. At worst, she was a cynic, full of venom and hatred for a world that had dealt her so much pain in her 32 years on Remnant, taking away the friendships she was so desperate to forge. Right now, she was somewhere closer to the former.
And that didn't even begin to delve into the business she ended up in now. Weiss Schnee, heiress to the biggest Dust Company in all of the Four Kingdoms, had given her a proposition after Pyrrha made a terrible mistake. All she had to do was work for the SDC, and they could make all the pain, all the guilt, all of it, just vanish.
She knew better. And yet, she accepted. So now, she was no better than her fellows who merged into the corporate scheme before her. Guinness, Rouge, Scarlet, Pallas, Lancaster, Maddox, all of them had given in to the shining coin that promised them a life far away from the horrors of the Grimm. In the end, they simply traded targets- instead of hunting the monsters, they had become the monsters themselves.
She reminded herself every day that she was no better than any of them. All she was, and all she was considered to be, was an attack dog. Not a woman. A tool. A one-woman ethics code violation with a sword-rifle-javelin, shield, and a broken pedestal, sitting at a bar in Atlas, wondering if maybe, just maybe, if things could have been different. Like they were in her dreams. Now, she was going to have to do yet another one of these dirty jobs that no one with a shred of decency would commit to, all because of a simple accident. It wasn't her fault... or so she said.
Her Scroll rang. She sighed, frustrated, before taking out the damned device and looking down at the caller ID. 'SDC HRO'- the Schnee Dust Company Human Resources Office- her employer.
She stepped away from the bar, taking the cheap vodka with her as she answered the call. "Hello?"
"Hello, is this a Miss Pyrrha Nikos?"
"That's my name."
"Ah, excellent. My name is Roman Torchwick, representing the Schnee Dust Company Human Resources Office, on behalf of Madame Weiss Schnee."
"What do you want, Mister Torchwick?" She asked. She was not in the mood for small talk. She had a drink to finish.
"Would you be interested in a bit of work?"
"What kind of work do you mean?"
"The kind that stays behind closed doors."
Pyrrha knocked back a bit of her drink, before setting the glass down on a table in the back of the bar. Of course, far be it from anyone to seek an honest job in this world she lived in. "I need some details," she informed him.
"Does the name Madder Guinness ring any bells?"
A lump formed in her throat. Hadn't she just heard something about her former partner? Something about him being involved with some big-name Dust corporation?
"I know the name," she admitted. "What about it?"
"He just so happens to have not-very-kindly bumped off a few SDC employees in a botched deal for our mine in Reveille. And he's about to start killing more."
"What do you mean, he's going to start 'killing more'?"
"He's demanding we sell the land to him at a huge loss and pay for the release of the townspeople, on threat of executing one every twenty-four hours unless things start going his way. He's got a small company of corporate goons going about with him, including, but not limited to Magni Carolus, a high-ranking Atlesian security official in the Varsis Dust Solutions company, a wanted Valean faunus refugee by the name of Judd 'The Hammer' Mabbacus, a Vacuoan folk hero by the name of Judie Violotto, and an old-school Mistralian tournament jockey by the name of Ikoto Cyantoras. The group has shown to be extremely efficient in dealing with hostile takeover situations, and are, along with Guinness, considered extremely dangerous."
Pyrrha wanted to have a hard time believing that Guinness would do anything of that sort, or have a private goon squad willing to help him do said things, but, considering the world they lived in now, it was sadly believable. It had been a long time since PRGS. At the very least, it helped to squelch the doubts about the morality of the work she had taken up, if only for this one operation. "What do I need to do?"
"Madame Schnee wants you to get over there ASAP while she tries to stall Guinness long enough to keep him from relaying orders to his goons. They've all gone back to Varsis HQ in Mistral, for the moment, and Guinness is relaying orders from there to a man on the ground named Cardin Winchester. Weiss wants those goons gone, and if Guinness decides to get involved, it wouldn't hurt to have him take a dive, either."
"Besides those, how many other boots do they have on the ground?"
"At least twenty."
Pyrrha, to anyone watching, probably looked like she had swallowed a lemon. "I hope you're giving me backup..."
"I'm afraid, in the interest of deniability, we cannot. However, we will compensate you for any expenses you rack up during your operation, including the payment of any extra hands you pull on board."
Considering Pyrrha's lack of options right now, she supposed that hiring someone would be a wise idea. "I'm going to need a lot of guns to take on twenty, plus Guinness' private team. Do you have anywhere I can start looking for hired help?"
Not that far off, a young woman at the bar perked up at the words, 'hired help', searching for their source. She locked onto Pyrrha, who was wrapping up her call with Torchwick, and a figurative light bulb went on over her head.
Somewhere in Mistral
VDS HQ
"That could have gone a LOT better, don't you think?" Guinness asked no one in particular as he paced around the floors of his polished, tile and marble office. "Those townies were so stubborn."
Ikoto said nothing, merely looking at the floor in front of him. He wasn't paid to talk.
"Anyone agree with me?" the CEO asked, confused as to why no one was answering him. "Anyone home in there?"
"I figured it was a rhetorical question," Judie replied, spinning in the rolling chair she had claimed as her own. Judd looked puzzled, motioning to her, which drew a roll of the eyes from the brunette. "It means you don't answer the question, big guy."
"Oh." With that, the man was once again silent. His tail flicked idly as he looked around the fancy office, attempting to comprehend just what all was going on in this room at once. "Where's Magni?"
"The restroom," Ikoto rasped, looking towards the office doors. The tournament fighter didn't enjoy his job, but the pay was more than sufficient. The company was tolerable. The only problem he had with it was the lack of cooperation between himself and his team. Especially their appointed leader, Magni Carolus. His religious bathroom habits never ceased to perturb Ikoto.
"I'll go talk to him," Judie offered.
"I don't care," Guinness admitted, looking out of the window and over the city that had slowly grown around VDS' corporate headquarters. Far be it from him to indulge himself in his employees' affairs. "Just make sure he ain't dead."
Meanwhile, in that bathroom, Magni Carolus washed his hands.
It had become a strange routine for the former Huntsman. No matter what he did, no matter where he went, the first thing he would do was wash his hands. Whether they were dirty or not, he was happy to stick his hands under the faucet, and let the cold stream flow between his fingers and over the ridges of his hands. He looked up into the mirror, trying to see if his face needed to be washed, as well. His hair, long and flaxen, fell limply to either side. No hair could be found elsewhere- he never did have the desire to try and manage a beard. The jade eyes staring back at him locked in on the dark-blue thorn encircling his right eye. The eyes looked dull, but at the same time, alert; distant, yet present and on edge. The tattoo framed his eye in a half-circle around it, and it moved ever so slightly with the twitch of his eyes.
"Checking yourself out?" Judie asked, snapping him from his focus.
Magni cleared his throat, turning around to face his partner. "Do you mind knocking before walking in on someone, Judith?"
"Judie," she corrected him, a soft smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
"Judith," he insisted.
She sighed, in that airy, frustrated way she always did, folding her arms. There was an odd scraping sound as metal folded over metal, which caused her to shudder slightly. "Jeez, that's no less annoying than it was the first time..."
Magni watched her intently, his eyes searching for any sort of reasoning for her visit. "What's wrong?"
"We need you in the office."
"Why?"
Judie gave him a look, tapping her right arm with her fingers. "Guinness wanted to go over the rules. For 'Money Shot'."
"'Money Shot' is the most inane, stupid, and obscene operation name I have ever heard," Magni noted, leaning back against the sink assembly. "Who else has to die?"
"No one, hopefully... Just come on. We're waiting for you."
Judie turned around, her gaze lingering on him over her shoulder, before she stepped out.
Magni slowly raised his hands up, looking at them. Filthy. Filthy. Irredeemably filthy. He turned about, and once again, he washed his hands. Scrubbed and scoured them with soap and embroidered VDS towels.
By the time he had come back, finished with his routine, the rest of the team was waiting for him. Ikoto gave him a glare, the intensity of it so strong that it could start a fire in the air, should it be made tangible. Magni met it with a cold, distant glance, before looking up at his employer. Guinness smiled at him, the same Varsis Dust Solutions trademark smile that graced every advertisement, every billboard... teeth too white to be natural. Probably implants, no way anyone's teeth could be that straight, either.
"Done pissing?"
"I had to wash my hands, sir."
Guinness chuckled. "So, that's what they call it now. You did good, by the way. Nice, clean shot from Durendal, right through the chest. Shame that it got blood all over it, though. Anyway, besides the point. You ALL did extremely well today, which is why I'm giving you a little bit of a break. You guys will chill here with me, until Schnee deigns to interact with us peons and begin negotiations. At that point, I'll be keeping you guys around me for security purposes. Magni, you'll also be in charge of relaying messages from me to my guy on the ground in Reveille, and vice-versa. You caught that?"
Magni nodded curtly.
"Awesome. Anyways, like I said, you guys need a break, but keep your Scrolls handy. I don't know when something is gonna come up, but I imagine Princess over in Atlas isn't the least bit happy with her new predicament. It's likely she's got men on the way. Luckily, we've got some of our best and brightest- save for you four, of course- down there, ready for anything. Hopefully, they'll see how stupid it is to try and fight us, and take to the table."
"And if they don't?" The blonde asked.
"Then they meet a horrible, painful demise, of course! What did you think?" Guinness rolled his eyes sarcastically. "You want to give them a cookie?"
"I'd like one," Judd admitted, looking sadly at the floor.
"Then get your babysitter to get you one," Guinness replied, cutting his gaze towards Ikoto, who sighed in frustration. "You're all dismissed for now, but keep your Scrolls on. I'll let you know when Schnee gets in contact. Get outta here."
The group all nodded, but none of them made their way to the exit quite yet. Judd still seemed upset, much to Ikoto's consternation, while Judie gave Magni a strange gaze that neither the latter, nor Guinness could decipher. She held his green orbs in her light blue for a brief moment, before abruptly looking away towards Judd. "You said you were hungry, big guy?"
"Mhm," the Faunus replied, one massive palm rubbing over his exposed stomach.
"Come on, we can go get you something. Ikoto can take a break."
"I do NOT. Need. Breaks." The Mistralian growled as he looked over at the team's token female. She glared back at him, chin raised in defiance, and, given a few minutes, the man gave in. Magni supposed that she was one of, if not the only person on Remnant able to cow the fighter with a glare. She immediately turned back to Magni, but not directly on him, instead looking more towards the floor.
"You want something, Magni?"
The blonde thought for a moment as Judie's gaze remained firmly on the floor. She seemed upset about something. As his team's du-jour leader, it was his responsibility to ensure everyone was at peak physical and mental condition. Therefore, he considered tagging along his best option.
"I might be a little hungry," he said. "I'll come with you."
She smiled, just a small one that barely showed white as she looked more towards him, yet still not making eye contact. "Okay, then... That settles it, I guess."
Ikoto watched his team leave, with a mixture of both confusion and disappointment. It was one thing to work well together with them, but he was not a socialite, nor did any of them need to be. Weren't they all just here for the job? To do the dirty work, take their ball, and go home?
"Ikoto, go with 'em." Guinness ordered suddenly, turning on his heel to look at the armored guard.
"Sir?"
"I said, go with 'em. You're a team. You stick with your team."
Ikoto nodded slowly, and walked out, leaving Guinness alone in the polished office. He pressed a small button on his desk, bringing up a screen, with two men appearing on the display. One of them was an older man with a thick overcoat and dark red shawl around his neck, while the other was identified by a dark, wide-brim hat.
"Where's Winchester?"
"Busy," the hat man replied, looking over at the smiling man in the coat. "We're in charge until he's done with his business."
Guinness didn't like the sound of that. "You... and Rossacorsa... in charge of a delicate operation?"
Rossacorsa Ganen's smile didn't even start to dissipate. "That'd be the case."
Guinness figured Winchester would get cold feet just from looking at him on day one. Whatever, he'd deal with that particular case when the time came. "Napier, whenever he's done with his 'business'... tell him to call."
"Will do, sir."
"That mean we're in charge?" Rossacorsa asked, raising an eyebrow, his downright childish grin still plastered to his face.
Guinness rolled his eyes, copping a grin of his own. "I suppose I'll give you a bone, Ross. Don't do anything until I tell you to do it. Got it? You still have another few hours before we have to up the ante. And, for the love of Oum, don't-"
"Thank you, boss, talk to you soon!"
With that, Rossacorsa disappeared from the display. The man in the hat, Napier , mumbled something under his breath about 'psychopaths'.
"Napier," Guinness said, leaning over the table slightly. "You keep him on a tight leash until it comes time. Then, let him have his fun."
The man on the screen nodded. "Anything else, sir?"
"That'll be it."
Ruby Rose, you see, was damned desperate right about now.
The chain of events leading up to this point were so outrageously contrived that, should she ever retire from her current lifestyle, she might write a book about it- under a pen name, of course. The great 'Silver-Eyed Maiden', thief extraordinaire, was currently looking for a temporary escape from her current lifestyle in a shady Atlas dive.
Well, in her defense- that weirdo asked for it.
You see, Ruby had been minding her own business, stealing a big-ass shipment of weapons-grade Dust from a company that she didn't even quite remember the name of right now, making a (dis)honest living for herself. Wow, Taiyang would be thrilled to see her then, wouldn't he? Anyway, the whole thing went off without a hitch- getaway vehicle secure, thanks to good ol' Cindy- when some random jackass came by and tried to feel her up in the middle of that dark alleyway! I mean, come on, she was carrying an Anti-Material Scyfle, for Monty's sake! Frankly, he was lucky he got away with only a fractured tibia.
Well, turns out he was the son of a high-ranking Atlesian politician. Who promptly had a Dead or Alive warrant put out on 'the Silver-Eyed Girl'. Yeaaaah... that was not a good day.
So, here she was, looking for enough money to pay off her pursuers- they had been whittled down to one Valean lawman, two bounty hunters, a robot, and one angry old man with a pitchfork named Geoff- and get the hell back in business, preferably with less groping. Unfortunately, this guy had feelers everywhere. An over-the-table, honest job would be her undoing. So, she knew she would have to find someone who wanted some dirty business done.
And now, she had one.
The woman couldn't have been that much older than her- built like a fighter, with hair almost the color of blood, eerily bright green eyes, and a series of barely-visible scars marring her alabaster skin from where someone must have beat the piss out of her, and judging from this woman's body language, said someone was most likely deceased. She was wearing light armor attached to some sort of corset, which hugged her figure really nice -okay Ruby, not the time for homoeroticism, this is a potential client- and a bronze coronet.
Now, this was gonna go one of two ways- either Ruby was gonna get decked for getting in this honey's business, or she would get a job out of it. Was it worth the risk?
This is Ruby Rose we're talking about, she lives for risks.
The woman had just wrapped up her call with whoever 'Mister Torchwick' was, leaving Ruby with her opportunity to strike. She sprung, getting up from her seat a few tables away, grabbing her own drink, and strutting purposefully over to the redhead, cape trailing loosely behind her. She sat without a word across from the woman, waiting to see her reaction.
Those green eyes didn't even lift from her glass.
Ruby whistled, intending to get her attention.
"I see you," the woman said, taking another drink. "Is there something you need?"
"Actually, I was here to ask you the same question, miss!" Ruby said, propping an elbow on the table as she threw out the most disarming smile she could muster.
"I'm sorry?" the redhead asked, raising an eyebrow. "I don't think we've met."
That was a dismissal, and that shit was not going to fly today.
"No, we haven't, missy, but I really think I might be able to be of some help to you!"
The woman looked over Ruby with a calculating glance, as if she was some sort of piece of meat, rather than a young woman. Her eyes roamed up and down Ruby's face and figure, before coming to rest on her own glass. She picked it up, took a stiff sip, and put it down with a sigh.
"I'm sorry, miss, but I don't sleep with strangers," she said, looking off to the side, cheeks dusted pink.
If Ruby had a drink, she'd have spit it all over this lady. Instead, she let out a raucous guffaw, doubling over the table. "HA! You thought -heheheh!- you think I- heheheheheeee!- you think I'm a prostitute!?"
The woman looked a little embarrassed. "I assumed something, based on our current environment, and your body language. I figured you were soliciting me."
"Well, given the word 'solicit'..." Ruby said, "... that's kinda what I'm doing, but... not that kind of soliciting. You interested?"
"I'm not sure. I'll need to hear it, first."
Got 'er. Now came the big moment. This would be what made or broke the entire plan she had set up in her head.
"I may have overheard you talking about needing hired help, for some sort of mission?" Ruby threw the most charming grin she could muster, hoping that this stranger would trust her implicitly from the word go, like most of the complete imbeciles she had taken up work with.
"I may have said that. Who are you?"
"Name's Red!" Ruby replied, pulling out her tried-and-true alias. "Beacon Academy grad, top honors! I'm currently semi-retired from the hunt, but I've been taking up a few... odd jobs."
Pyrrha knew that was bullshit from the word 'Red'. She had almost immediately recognized the woman as Ruby Rose, a wanted criminal well known around Atlas. She may or may not have considered pursuing the young lady to make a quick lien, but nothing came of it, due to the whole SDC business. If Ruby really thought she was up on her game, she was sorely mistaken. However, Pyrrha saw no reason to let on that she knew the game was up. Any ally, especially one with prior experience on the side of the law behind which she stood, was essential.
"How much are you charging?" Pyrrha asked.
"Five thousand lien now, five thousand after the job. If the job takes more than three days, I charge another two and a half thousand, then the same for every three days after that."
"You certainly aren't that cheap..." Pyrrha muttered. Well, looks like she was going to be putting that blank check to good use, after all. "What kind of work do you specialize in?"
"Ah, you know, killing bad guys, blowing crap up, the good stuff!" Ruby grinned audaciously at the athlete sitting across from her, leaning further over the table. "If your job involves one or all of the above, I'm your girl!"
"Could you please get back into your seat," Pyrrha asked suddenly, "you're in my space."
Ruby looked down, realizing she was actually on top of the table and her cape nearly in Pyrrha's drink. "Ahahaha... shit, sorry." The smaller woman scooted back off the table and into her chair, her face now the picture of cherubic innocence. "So... you interested in my services?"
Pyrrha now had her first moral dilemma of the operation. On the one hand, she had a wanted criminal who was eavesdropping on her and looking for a job, with a metric ton of lien involved in the transaction. On the other hand, this criminal might be extremely useful to her 'deniability'. Why would the Schnee Dust Company hire a criminal?
... well, come to think of it, she wouldn't call it wise business practice to hire Pyrrha Nikos, but whatever the case, this would be interesting. She smiled across the table at her new companion, putting her hand out.
"Alright, 'Red'. You've got yourself a deal."
Meanwhile, in SDC's HQ, Weiss Schnee sat at a conference table, a large display ominously standing over it. The table was filled out with various SDC personnel, all in various states of dress and mind. Her bodyguard stood by her side, eyeing the display worriedly with his glass-blue orbs. Weiss had never seen him acting so... out of balance.
"Snowe?"
The man's eyes focused in on her. "Pardon me, Madam. Just thinking." With that, he returned to the screen, not even giving her enough time to begin her customary rebuttal that, to him, she was simply 'Weiss'.
Palatine Snowe did not normally dismiss her like that, but she supposed that the situation was weighing heavily on them all. One of the executives had gone into a fit of hysterics upon hearing the news, while another simply fainted. Yet one more had gone into a rage, demanding that he be given one dust round, a pistol, and an airship to Mistral. Said man was also drunk, and was forcibly restrained by Palatine. This was likely the biggest crisis the Schnee Dust Company had faced since the Faunus riots- and this had much deeper ramifications, should this fall through. The former issue was simply resolved by Weiss, who, upon taking ownership of the company, began an affirmative action program for Faunus that gave them equal pay for equal work, as well as a quota-based hiring system that guaranteed an equal ratio of equally-qualified individuals. Although it cost her heavily in donors initially, soon, Faunus rights organizations were lauding her as 'The Good Schnee' and sending her their lien in waves. All in all, a good business decision.
This was not going to be solved that easily.
Should the Schnee Company fold, two things would come of it- the public would see that the VDS was an unscrupulous gang who were willing to backstab their way to the top of the mountain, if need be, and that the SDC was deathly afraid of them. Sponsors would be appalled by her lack of decisive response, especially in the tenuous Human Rights sector, and the HRO's PR would drop like a de-winged Nevermore.
"Madame?" one of the executives asked, checking his Scroll, "have we been able to establish contact with Varsis Dust Solutions?"
"My associate is currently working on it, Representative Vinn," Weiss replied curtly, checking her scroll for any word from Torchwick. Still nothing. She frantically typed a message to him under the table, demanding that the buffoon put his posterior in gear and get that connection up, and get some word from Nikos, or so help her Monty and his angels she would-
Nikos tells me that she's acquired the services of a mercenary and en route to Reveille on foot. ETA two days.
Weiss grimaced as she typed a response.
Roman we do not have two days. Tell her to take a damn bus.
The mercenary is a wanted criminal. Public transportation or acquisition of private transport may result in compromise and the arrest of both Nikos and the mercenary.
Who in the blue hell is this mercenary, Torchwick!?
...a certain 'Ruby Rose'. She is highly qualified.
If Roman was anywhere within her reach, she'd have taken Myrtenaster and slashed his damn throat. He actually did not OBJECT TO THIS!? Of course, he was a criminal himself, why wouldn't he be happy with this turn of events! Ruby Rose probably owed him a favor!
"Madame, is something the matter?" Palatine leaned down, looking over her shoulder.
"Nothing... is the matter..." she growled under her breath, about to crush her Scroll in her fingers. Roman sent another brief message, indicating that he had made contact with Guinness, and then signed off. "We're about to be live. Is the panoramic view set up?"
"It is on our end, and he has one in his office, according to my investigation," Palatine informed her.
"Good work."
"It is the only kind of work I do, Madame."
Weiss looked up at him, her face softening from its near permanent scowl, if only for a second. "Palatine. You will refer to me as 'Weiss'. Understood?"
Although he didn't smile- he had to keep pretenses, after all- she could tell he wanted to. "Of course, Weiss."
The device turned on, revealing Guinness sitting, with his feet propped on his desk. He was either totally unaware the device was on, or he just didn't care. He looked over to Weiss specifically, cracking a toothy grin.
"Ice Queen! How are you this lovely... uh..."
"It is Tuesday, Mister Guinness," Palatine said, voice flat.
"Tuesday! Thanks, guy."
"I would be better if you had not caused an inter-Kingdom incident, Madder. What has possessed you to think this was a good idea?" Weiss asked, folding her hands over one another, awaiting his explanation.
"Ah, sorry! I kept sending you representatives to ask nicely, and they kept saying no! What was I supposed to do, give up!?" the other executive asked, rolling his eyes and scoffing. "They were such assholes about it, too!"
"Did you ever so much as send ME any sort of notice or representative to inquire about the mine?" Weiss asked.
"I don't believe he did, Madame," Palatine said, his mask of formality still unbroken.
"And you know what you'd have done, Weiss? The SAME. DAMN. THING. That you have done every time I have asked you for a deal, or a negotiation, or a sale. You would laugh, you would dismiss me as 'a rogue among nobles', and send me out on my ass. Isn't that right? Oh, by the way, tall boy, don't interrupt me again, or something bad might happen."
Weiss watched Palatine carefully, and noted that his thumb twitched slightly. That was the closest he would get to admitting he was miffed. She looked back up at the display. "My subordinates are required to send any business deals up to me for approval. Even if they had sold it to you, the sale would have been moot- it was not signed off by me, therefore, the deal is void."
"Well, damn! And here I thought I went about it the right way. Ah, well. So... let's talk business. The terms of my deal were laid out in my little message. Do you accept?"
"I would like to negotiate the terms of the agreement."
"Then let's get to it."
"I will not pay a ransom for the civilians. You will provide them transport to Atlas immediately, at no cost to them, and have them brought to SDC Corporate Headquarters. Then, we will discuss the terms of a sale."
"AH! Wrong answer, try again!"
"Excuse me?"
"We are not eliminating anything from the deal. We are adjusting the goalposts. That is the extent of this negotiation. If you wish to test me, my men are very excited to get down to business."
"What exactly are you trying to imply, Guinness?"
"I'm implying that you're starting to piss me off, and I'm implying that someone might get hurt if you do not desist. Tick, tock, Ice Queen."
" 'Tick tock?'" one of the executives present repeated, confused.
"Guinness, I will give you one chance, and one chance only, to walk away from this. Turn over the prisoners, and I'll sell you the land at a discounted price. I will not make this offer again. For your sake, please, consider this proposition." Weiss gave her most sincere frown to her fellow businessman, hoping that maybe, just maybe, he would take it and run. After all, wasn't he a businessman?
He picked up his Scroll, and dialed someone, before putting the device up to his ear. "Napier? That you?"
Whatever the answer was, it pleased Guinness immensely. "The negotiation? Ah, it's kind of sucky. Yeah, no deal. Hey, uh, can you do me a favor? Patch yourself into my feed."
The display split in two, revealing a man clad in light green fatigues, and a wide brim black hat, looking over a group of people- all three blindfolded. "Evenin'."
"This is Napier Creed, one of my ground boys. Beacon Academy Graduate, Team ECRU. Great guy, wife and kids at home-"
"What exactly did you require of me, sir?" Napier asked, ready to get on with it.
Guinness looked straight at an Exec he saw being a bit skittish, and gave a wicked grin. "Be a pal and blow someone's head off."
Before anyone could respond, protest, or even utter a sound, Napier pointed his gun at a man in the middle of the lineup. "I pray your forgiveness."
A single shot from the Dust pistol, and said hostage was no more. Said squeamish executive fainted once again, with another angrily getting up out of his chair and opening his mouth to shout something.
"Alright, fatass, you sit down or I WILL tell him to kill another one," Guinness interrupted said (admittedly quite portly) executive, who proceeded unperturbed.
"You are a monster! Once we get our hands on-"
"Napier! Do it!"
"I pray your forgiveness."
Another bang, another body. Said executive blanched, and sat back down in his seat. Napier sighed, sounding tired, while Guinness chuckled.
"Not so big and scary now, huh?" he asked, quietly, as if everything that just happened was a minor setback. "Hey, Ice Queen... you enjoy the show?"
Palatine looked at her, seeing how she would react.
"... We will revise the terms of our offer, and speak with you tomorrow." Her voice was deathly quiet, to the point where it was likely only Palatine, Guinness, and Napier even heard her.
"Good, good. Glad you're seeing things my way. But... don't take too long... Tick. Tock."
The display suddenly shut down, leaving the room quiet. The silence hung over them like a thick cloud, and no one dared to dissipate it. The portly executive looked at Vinn, who looked at the just-waking fainter, who looked at a female executive, who looked at Palatine, who looked at Weiss. And still, not a single word.
Finally, Weiss stood up, and walked out of the room, Palatine following her immediately. The CEO stormed through the halls, her bodyguard and assistant following hot on her heels as she bypassed the elevator and went straight for the stairs. They both ascended to the office floor, until they had reached the executive waiting area, and pushed through to her office, not even bothering to speak to the secretary. She immediately walked through her office, and stepped into the study, and slammed the sliding doors behind her, leaving Palatine alone with his thoughts... and his Scroll. He sighed, looking down at the device, before walking up to the door.
"Weiss?"
"What?" she snapped.
"Are you going to be alright?"
"Only when Madder Guinness' head is on my desk."
Palatine looked at his Scroll again. "Would you like me to assume mission control duties?"
No answer. He would take that as a yes.
A/N: It's ya boi, tha Factor. Thank you for tagging along with this second chapter of 'Seven Deadly'.
I really figured the criminal Ruby setup would really suit this story- due to it being an AU, it gives you a lot more freedom to play 'what-if' with the characters while keeping a good few of their basic character traits (Ruby's excitability and energy, Pyrrha's mild guilt complex, Jaune's stubborn self-reliance, etc.). If you don't like it... well, sorry.
The three mooks I introduced (two for VDS, one for SDC) are all color themed. Napier Green, Rossa Corsa/ Dark Scarlet, and Palatinate Blue/Purple.
