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The following is a fan-based

FICTION

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CHAPTER 9: Aggressive Negotiations

Betareader: DragonByte (SV Forum)

"That was ballsy." Yang Xiao Long had seen cocky dudes but Shaun had managed to reach her top ten with that spectacle. A carefully-planned revenge around their own little trick, a smart action that left her quite conflicted about the asshole.

Sure, she was pissed that she had been royally humiliated in front of strangers but she could see a simple logic behind it all. The blonde has screwed around, literally and metaphorically, ever since she had arrived at Beacon with Ruby and maybe went full out when she got together with her Kit-Kat.

The last lessons at Signal had been quite clear to her but she had horribly forgot those the moment he stepped outside of the airship for the Academy. It was always her sense of being incredibly arrogant and easygoing with everything and everyone that got her detentions back in Signal and now in Beacon.

At first it had been mostly because she had started studying at the previous school in a better shape than other former classmates, letting her ease on her training and bringing her father's whines about her lackluster attitude with serious things.

That drive to become better ended up to disappear after just a year in Signal, her attention mostly gathered around the trendiest thing to try. Smoking, drinking and then there was her 'little bike'.

Yang was mortified, angry but incredibly lucid over the situation. This wasn't the first time she had been sneered at nor it was the first time she had to deal with someone bravely stating her glaring flaws, but this little drama ended up bringing quite the big issue within herself.

The tournament was around the corner and she was quite sure that the difference between her and Pyrrha had widened after three weeks and not for her best. When was the last time she had a full-blown session at the school gym?

Her thoughts were interrupted by Blake, the faunus tugging at her shoulder with a curious expression in her face. Gone was her cool composure, a visibly shaken look now present in her beautiful visage. That humiliation had hit them all at the same time, Yang reminded to herself.

Lilac eyes moved away from the Belladonna, ignoring Weiss' enraged rant and turning to look at the silent Ruby Rose.

Her silver eyes were staring at the floor, her face slightly pale but... nothing else. No tears and no sad lines in her features, further worrying the older girl as she felt like that little stunt had hit Ruby the hardest, the gift being held with a strong grasp, rips appearing on the gift paper around the box.
What a crappy development.

A new resolve entering the blonde's mind as she decided that Shaun Reyter, no matter how rightful he had been in his spectacle, had to be punched on his face.

We were all sitting by a bench near a small stone fountain and boy I was having the most confusing discussion ever.

"Penny, you are my friend. Girlfriend is the synonym of fiance and doesn't share the same definition with 'friend'."

I had severely underestimated Penny's naivety and lack of direction with some words. The girl that represented Pinocchio in this realistic tale looked every bit trustworthy like the living puppet had been early on the story, easily falling for Neo's false statements.

She blinked at my explanation and tilted her head in confusion, like a small child trying to make sense while solving a complex equation.

"But Neo said-" "She is lying and teasing you, Penny." I pointed right at the petite girl's twitchy smile, ready to collapse in a silent laugh at the glorious comedy that was coming out from those few moments with the Altesian 'girl'.

"This is... sarcasm?" I nodded and she accepted the lack of details around the criminal's antics. "But seriously Neo, you shouldn't play someone as sweet as Penny like this."

The ice-cream maniac paused at my words and gave me a questioning stare.

'Sweet'? And I thought we were turning in a couple...

She faked a disheartened look before looking away. "You shouldn't hurt your girlfriend, Shaun."

"She smiling there and she is not my girlfriend."

"But you seems close and..." The android paused, humming to herself and leaving me to only theorise what was going on with her.

Was this how she processed things? Was she trying to elaborate the complex insanity that was Neo?

The answer was given by a now smiling Penny Polendina. "Then you could be my boyfriend?"

At this point this kind of declarations barely fazed my inherent resilience to this kind of situations and... how would it even work?

Penny was a bot, not made by mortal meat like every normal person and, even though she had a soul (Which I was truly unaware how she got), she was incapable of feeling properly things around here.

The technology that would require to have a fully operational robotic, semi-human body defied the absurd level Atlas bragged about and the funds required to reach that level of robotics would be suicidal even for the SDC.

BUT SERIOUSLY HOW DOES ONE GIVE A ROBOT A SOUL?!

That was a science-defying kind of stuff and frankly even someone like me, after having played to Detroit Become Human, knows that some stuff cannot be replicated.

But what is a soul-Gah!

My hands went for my sheen, Neo having decided to test how distracted I was and the result was... it hurt like hell.

"Are you okay, friend?" I sighed but nodded at Penny, hoping her concerned look would died out in her previous happy one. I would be lying if I didn't consider her worried expression akin to a kicked puppy.

Seriously why is she so cute? Why Geppetto Polendina had to Genderbend Pinocchio into an adorable girl that could quickly turn in a WMD-level death machine?
"Tis merely a scratch." The girl frowned but decided to let go the argument, my tone leaving little to no space for other questions.

I suppose I should have expected that things would never be peaceful anywhere in this world as two interesting individuals entered the area pacing quite quickly. Far from running but a little swifter than jogging, Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias passed nearby and decided to seat in the bench in front of ours.

Few moments passed as Neptune stared at the floor, trying to catch some oxygen, while his friend continued to stare around with an alarmed expression. It was at this moment that the monkey faunus noticed who was sitting on the opposite side of the path.

"Dude look!" Slowly he turned his attention right where Sun was excitedly pointing at and his eyes showed a little bit of confusion. "W-What?"

"That dude managed to get two chicks at once!" The further comment sparked quite the different set of reactions. The blue-haired dude's eyes widened and he nodded as he agreed to this sight, Penny didn't took much out of that callout and Neo... gave a sweet smile.

Oh. My. God.

"I wouldn't say that-" "Man, how did you do that?"

"I think he is not truly dating them, Sun." The blond gave an incredulous look before shaking his head in disappointment. "That is sad."

Now what does that even mean!

I was about to answer back to the two dudes from Vacuo but I was cut by Penny, the girl deciding to greet them back.

"SALUTATIONS!"

My ears were now ringing and Neo had her hands on her own as the two foreign student almost jumped at the situation. It was comical to see the 'brave' Sun Wukong jumping like a scaredy cat at the cheerful introduction.

Still it was in that moment that I came to realise something that I had almost forgot about this day and... I noticed also another change in the Canon before my eyes.

Sun should have convinced Blake to join him to see if the White Fang had been the cause of the recent robberies or not... but she had been with the others and they would have probably gone back by now.

Her temporary departure should have been dictated by Weiss vehemently ranting about the organisation the cat faunus had once been part of, berating their violent ways and their obsession over the SDC.

But Weiss would hardly have an irrational attitude about their race, especially every since she had learnt that Blake was a faunus. They would surely be less inclined to spat because of the little trickery I had pulled on them earlier that day.

...Goddamn, I am the one that fucked the Canon this time!

Ignoring the incoming theft would be a bad idea. Cinder's plans, whatever those might be, were speeded up by the large amount of Dust the White Fang got for her.

Yet fighting them during the criminal act would be detrimental too. I gave a glance at Neo, the petite girl staring at the two boys with an amused expression that promised pain. She was loyal to Torchwick and trying to bring her in the plan of attacking her own boss would be utterly suicidal for my attempts to stop the foul plans against Beacon.

... I'm dumb. Of course I wouldn't think about this- I should stop thinking as if this was still the very series I have watched. If I had changed Canon so easily, then that means I could be able to go around the problem and solve it easily.

It would require some good conversation with Sun and influencing Neo to accept my foolish plan to disrupt the planned theft but... I now knew what I had to do.

Sun was dumb and I was thankful that Neptune had been there to help him around with my questions. Trying to get him to tell us willingly about the planned White Fang theft had been a painful experience for my brain but thankfully I managed to not only get him to talk but also get him to join us for a counter-theft.

Just as I had expected, the White Fang had prepared a small hideout where to prepare the equipment and house the men for the evil deed that was planned for few days from now. It had been quite interesting how cheap the information about its location had been when we went to Junior's but the tall man was more than happy to deal with the radical group that was raising hell in some establishments under his control.

Several masked Faunus were walking around, only few of them having their weapons on themselves as I looked from the skylight I had found. Penny looked giddy, possibly because this was her first time fighting and... she was going against baddies. Baddies that were known enemies of Atlas.

Sun was next for excitement, the monkey faunus ready for some ass-whooping, while his friend had that kind of expression that questioned why he had decided to join us in this little crackdown.

Neo was the one that seemed to dislike this the most. Maybe there was some uncertainty over busting Roman's plans but... she had an illusion semblance so none of the possible survivors would have been able to pinpoint her in this little surprise attack.

I was also glad that I had brought with me Vergix as this particular mission made the gun the optimal choice. Silencer added at the end of its cane, the machine-gun was ready to have some real action after a while as I aimed it at the closest guard, holding four fingers up.

3.
2.
1.

The silenced bullets reached the masked man's head, killing him instantly as we descended on the unaware group.

A rapid strafe and two other WF thugs went down with some holes in their chests as I continued to raise hell with my quick-fire against other unarmed thugs.

Sun and Neptune teamed up against ten of the grunts, leaving Penny and Neo to easily fend off against the rest of the occupants of the room.

But my plan was far from only removing the manpower for the attack on the shipments. If this was a more important hideout then it would be certain that there would have been some schemes over other attacks planned before Vytal.

If I got hold of those and handed them to the VPD anonymously, the damage I would deal to Cinder's strategy would be more than enough to make it unsalvageable. Hopefully this was the case and I started to look around for any paper or document that could be what I wanted to find.

The room grew quiet as the last of the fighting force was rendered incapable of continuing, leaving us to give a look around the place as-! *CLANG!*

A red sword, a furious grunt and the half-masked red-haired bastard aiming insane amounts of bloodlust at me? Oh boy, what is Adam Taurus doing there?

Vergix was holding well against the katana but the man had some absurd strength behind his attacks. "You are either mad or foolish to take on the White Fang, human."

Several other grunts flooded the area and the rest of the group started to engage quick fights with those. Welp, it seems like I will have to hold over the angry Bull Faunus.

"Maybe both, Mr. Taurus." His growl grew louder as my smile got bigger at the challenging struggle. "I wasn't actually expecting you being there for a simple raid."

"I will always be in the first line of this never-ending war and I don't think I have ever given you the permission to call me by my name."

"Oh, right? Then I'm sorry. It is quite difficult to be polite during a fight and... would you like if I introduced myself first?"

"Are you raving, human?!" He broke the contact and tried to land an upward swing, which Vergix blocked once more.

"I don't need to hear the name of a deadman-" "But what if it is the name of a trustworthy individual that could get your arse off your.. unfair situation."

"Unfair situations? You don't know-" "I know about Cinder and I know that she made some hefty threats on the Valean branch of the White Fang."

Surprisingly he relaxed just for a moment before pushing even harder than before his blade upon the gun. "And we should trust a student of Beacon, a human, to remove her out of the way?"

"Just listen this plan. Soon Atlas will come to give security for the festival and.. we can screw her. If a certain individual fakes his allegiance to the bitch and then.. stabbed her while she is sure that she is winning, wouldn't the White Fang enjoy some... popularity from it."

"That woman is far too dangerous to even approach. Her minions-" "Will be taken care of. I know where they are going to be quite soon and... they will disappear."

"You promise a lot, human, but you offer no proof of your so-called trustworthiness-" "I know a café near where we are now. You ask your buddies to stop the attack and I will do the same with my friends. I wish for a truce and.. we need to start from somewhere afterall."

Afternoon came and the cup of coffee that I was holding in my hands was warming my cool throat with its delicious flavour. Adam had preferred a beer, drinking quick sips and settling Wilt & Blush by the table's side, keeping a solid stare on my frame as I relaxed in my chair.

Sun and Neptune had been quick to convince that I would have informed them about what was going on, Penny had to run back 'home' because she had been away from her minders far too much for her likings and Neo... Neo had been the most difficult to get to not join this semi-amiable chat.

Maybe it was because she felt like I knew something about everything, surprised that I knew about Cinder and that she had some big plans for Vytal. A promise for a detailed explanation and five free ice-creams got me off the hook but that also meant I had to make some good impression on her to avoid that her boss continued this collaboration with the dangerous woman.

So much to do and so little time to do everything well.

"I mean, I understand that the Kingdoms had been dicks." We were in the middle of a political discussion about the Faunus Revolutionary Wars, my intention being trying to further endear the man to the idea I could be at least trusted with simple things by being sympathetic to the Faunus' humiliating peace. "Faunus had won rightfully that war and they still got put in a small, desertic area of Remnant."

"The greed of humans caused for that. If only our representatives had not gone to appease them then we... we wouldn't have to be like this." He sighed, a tired Adam looked incredibly dreadful to look at. A reminder that some villains are made into the role and that the ones that made them such are the very people heroes fight for.

"But what if they were greedy too?"

He blinked calmly before giving me a confused scowl. "What?"

"You won the war and yet the diplomats you picked didn't push for your demands, compromising a deal that favoured more mankind than Faunus without being threatened whatsoever."

"You mean that they were bribed? That sounds..." The Bull faunus paused for a moment, his brain working out the kinks of my little suggestion. "Now that I think about it, it is never explained in Menagerie why the diplomats were not punished for their disobedience to their people."

"Weren't they sworn in as the first leaders of Menagerie once the peace had been brokered?"

Adam opened his mouth but froze the moment the information reached his ears. "W-What?"

"It is something we have studied in History class. The diplomats were given the Governorship of Menagerie to deal a smooth immigration policy."

"This... there are books about this?" I frowned and nodded but it was in that single instant that I realised what was going on. It is never stated how good elementary education was in Menagerie and the treaty was part of the usual curriculum of primary schools.

They didn't know. They didn't know that they had been sold out by someone of their kind and... the Kingdoms had wanted the radical White Fang to appear in the social-political landscape.

With an active violent group represented a major need for more weapons, guns, Dust itself was essential to fight off the growing 'danger' of the organisation and... Atlas and the SDC were possibly the ones that spearheaded this long-term plan.

My God, even in a different world I had to find out about world-wide plots?!

"S-So I said that I was going to talk about Blake?" The mere mentioning of the man's crush seemed to flatten the current worries as he focused on what I was supposed to say.

"Well, she got engaged with.. *CRACK* someone." I stared at the broken beer bottle and flinched a little the moment it was crushed. "But I don't think you will like the identity of the individual."

"Who is he?" I flinched again and hoped that the idea that the dude had been ignored for so long because he didn't fit with Blake's preferences wouldn't see me murdered in the open.

"Yang Xiao Long is one of the girls that are in my team-" *Thud* "Uhhh..."

The moment Adam understood that 'he' was a 'she' and that Blake was a lesbian... well, his head crashed on the metallic table and he stopped moving for a long-time.

For a moment I started to think I had verbally murdered the redhead and prayed that it wasn't the case as... I wouldn't know anyone else to influence to avoid the White Fang joining forces with Cinder.

His head rose from the table and his lips were in a thin line when he made a question.

"She... likes girls." I nodded and he slowly facepalmed at those news. "That... then that is why Ilia...nevermind."

Ilia? Who is he talking about?

He stood up from the seat and gave me a long look. "I... still despise you."

I tilted my head at this.

"But I will concede that your interest in aiding our case in well-accepted." He took his blade in his hand and gave one last warning before going.

"Still I will make sure you die the most painful death if you betray the feeble trust I am giving you."

"I would be more disappointed if you didn't threaten me with that." I smiled widely. "That means you truly care for the cause, I suppose."

He gave another glance before truly leaving me alone in the café with the empty mug in my hands and... the broken shards of the bottle of beer he had not paid for.

THAT MOTHERFU-!

The flight back to Beacon went smoothly and uneventful as I was quick to rush back to the dormroom, knowing that the curfew was nigh and I needed to reach bed before Goodwitch decided to give me some detention.

The door started to creak the moment I slowly pushed it open, my eyes peeking stealthily to see the current state of the occupants and... they were all sleeping much to my safety. I restrained myself from sighing in relief at this news as I didn't want to wake anyone and I felt too tired to even do that.

Eyelids half-closed I closed the door behind me as I went for my futon and... how did I miss that? Ruby Rose was snoring adorably inside the small, red-themed futon placed right beside my own. A small box, the one she was supposed to give me early this morning had been placed over my 'bed' and I decided to pick it up and see what it was.

The hilt was red, soft to the touch, and the blade... holy shit! I gave it a closer look and indeed I was looking at a masterful work and.. did Ruby do this?
The materials looked quite resilient, strong, expensive- seriously, weren't she and Yang not that well with money or something like that?

I was stumped as the gift that was meant to mend the greater problem of the team was the same I would give to someone I murdered their entire family, humiliated their history and then toilet-papered their house.

My eyes wandered back to Ruby's sleeping face and... why is she so good at making people guilty?!

Today was supposed to be a comeback for their little plan about pulling me in Vale against my will but- Goddammit! God-freaking-dammit!

My hands were on my face, embarrassment, anger and confusion starting to sound annoying to deal at the moment as the tiredness was taking a toll on my mind already.

Tomorrow I will address this whole issue accordingly and... what should I do with her?

To think that the girl had decided to buy a futon for this- after what had- I'VE NEVER BEEN THIS MUCH INCENSED AND CONFUSED LIKE NOW!

My brain decided for me, ignoring whatever sense of morality was left in my brain and urging me to go to sleep. Under the soft covers of my own futon, I hoped that sleeping while looking at the opposite side where Ruby was would have reduced the embarrassing factor but-

I could still hear her snoring, even through it was the quietest thing in the room.

WHY IS THIS WORLD SO INSANE!?

AN

FYI this chapter took me half a day to finish because: 1) Helping with my sister's homework and 2) Got a blackout early in the morning today and couldn't do much, thus I decided to spend few hours napping and.. I'M BORED.

A detail about the Revenge: This revenge wasn't about the whole issue that brought Shaun to dislike the team, this was about them trying to force him to accept their attempts of reconciliation. Next chapter will see further explanation of this via a message Shaun will give to Ruby.

White Fang and Menagerie: It is never expanded how much backward the Fauni settlement is, considering that there had to be some mad prices and costs from trading with the Kingdoms that have to make things like books and educational tomes quite expensive. Also why the heck did the Fauni accept that crappy peace? It's like Germany won WW1 and decided to accept the OTL Treaty of Versailles. Lastly, the White Fang will have a major role in the plot as, while Sienna will not be happy to cooperate with humans, she will be forced to accept that an United Front will become a necessity in the future.

Adam and his obsession: At first Adam's pseudo-crush on Blake was manageable, just a secondary objective in the big schemes he had for the White Fang. Then after Volume 4 it became something like an obsession and.. things didn't make much sense. They wasted such a good character and frankly I hope everyone understand why I might have to make him the uneasy anti-hero of this story. One moment he will help around but then he will resume some skirmishes for the sake of his ambitions.

Training, Vytal and what about the future? I have been thinking a lot how to develop Shaun's training regime and I've come up with two ideas. The first one is from a karate movie (not one much known to people) that I've found some videos on YT and thought of it as a cool way to do training; The second one is going to leave him a tad bit weaker than how the first plan would get him as it will be him still sticking with strategical things when... he needs to man up for the tournament. I can understand that he will initially be needing some extra equipment to keep up with the brewing storm and.. he will turn good.

REVIEW Q&A!

The Commissar: *Deploying T34s* Get rekt, ye fascist pig! (xD)

merendinoemiliano: That I do know but the issue is... shouldn't the known Santa Claus image be different from ours? The jolly old man with the red suit and hat was created and promoted by Coca-Cola.

Blake Tourder: Surprisingly enough... yes.

HateReborn27: The plan was about them trying to force him to join them in the morning against his will. Kind of rude for someone that doesn't want to be around them.

GoTeam: The revenge is explained above and JNPR is going to return next chapter.