Chapter twenty-one: Important questions

"Hello? Can you hear me?"

"I can hear you just fine." I said, smirking slightly towards the phone in my hand, twisting the cord around my finger. I was in the building reserved as my office in Vale, and I'd just gotten a very interesting call. "Ah good. You're the one they call, 'the fallen', correct?" the person on the other end said. It was hard to tell who the voice was, being as there was a fair bit of static and it seemed to keep fluctuating over and over again. Higher, lower, louder, quieter. I couldn't tell who it was, or even if the person was male or female. "I am they. I know you aren't calling for a visit, so what can the fallen do for you?" I asked, leaning back and throwing my legs up on the table. I heard some crackling for a few seconds before they answered.

"I need Pyrrha Nikos killed. It needs to look like an accident however. Leave no one the wiser that it was a murder. I'll pay double your usual fee." they said. I nodded a few times, feeling my smirk growing wider. My usual fee for killing a police officer and making it look like an accident was 80,000 lien. So he was offering enough to essentially buy myself a house… not that I'd need one, of course. "That's a very generous offer. Do I have a deadline?" "It has to be done before this Friday." they said. I frowned, gripping the cord a bit tighter. No wonder they were offering double my fee, if they needed it done on such short notice. Still… I couldn't really pass up that much lien, could I? Not to mention she'd seen Emerald. She was a loose end that needed to go, me getting paid for it was just a nice little bonus.

"Got it. The little slut will be dead by tomorrow. Has the money been wired?" "Half now, half later. That's how it works." they said. I smiled at the phone, whoever this was had been in the game for awhile, and they were smart about money. I liked that. We exchanged goodbyes before I hung up, leaning back and blowing out air towards the ceiling. I looked up, frowning slightly as I saw Emerald walk in, dressed in only her mint green nightgown. I knew what that meant. "Lie Ren still lives, doesn't he?" "Yes… but, Neo is under Jaune Arc's care now. So…" she trailed off, shrinking back as I walked towards her, glaring down. She gulped, looking away from me as I placed a hand on her shoulder. "Take it off." "... of course…" she said slowly. I saw tears pricking her eyes as she slipped off the nightgown, letting it drop to the floor. She didn't try and cover her bare body. Enough failure had taught her not to.

"All fours Emerald." I said. I saw a tear run down her cheek as she complied, her head facing away from me. I turned around, walking over to my desk and pulling open a drawer. I grabbed out what I needed before I walked back over to emerald, rearing my arm back. "AH! I-I'M SORRY!" she said as I hit her rear with the whip in my hand again, an insane smirk twinging to life on my face as I struck, over and over. I was so absorbed I didn't even notice the pair of gray eyes burning into my back from behind me, the sound of someone grabbing tight onto a nearby wall. Though, I did hear the slight muttering. I couldn't tell what it was, but the feeling behind it made me pause, turning around. I shrugged when I saw nothing, going back to whipping Emerald for her failure as those eyes started walking away, a thought going through their head.

"One day Emerald… one day."

…

"Chief Ozpin."

I looked up, raising an eyebrow and giving a smile as I saw a man walking in. What gave him away wasn't just the black hair, gray on the sides, but also the infamous white tuxedo. I could see the handle of his gun -a customized colt revolver- as he walked in the room. I motioned for him to sat down, he complied without hesitation. Glynda, who was sitting just next to him, glared over for a second before she stood, excusing herself to use the restroom. Of course, I knew she wasn't actually going to the bathroom, but rather just trying to get away from the man in front of me. "Commissioner Ironwood." I said. The way Vale was structured, he and I were both technically the heads of the police force. The difference? He was appointed by the city council, while I was given the position based on my thirty years in the force.

His half of the city was, admittedly, 'cleaner' than my own, but it's mostly due to all the faunus regulations he lobbied to get, whereas I refused to implant anything in the northern half of Vale. "I… have to ask. Glynda filed a report the other day, something about you meeting with one… Jaune Arc? A private eye? Might I ask the reason?" "He was a witness, nothing more." I said, blatantly lying to him. I trusted Ironwood, to a certain extent. I wasn't about to trust him with this project that could change the face of Vale forever. I didn't want to assume anything but… the possibility of his corruption was too great a risk to just rule out. He nodded, "Then why wasn't he brought to the station? More importantly, why did you interrogate him?"

"Don't use the word 'interrogate'. He wasn't a criminal. I've found over the years that people are far more receptive to a kindly old man asking something than some hot-headed rookie." I explained, looking behind him as I noticed a young man walking past, the name on the badge 'Winchester'. New recruit, worked under Ironwood's division. Ironwood nodded a few times, standing up before he pushed the chair back in, turning around and walking towards the exit. "Oh! I'm sorry sir!" I heard the captain of my division say as Ironwood walked away, heading off to the right. I sipped at the coffee mug in my hand as Pyrrha Nikos walked into my office, sitting down where Ironwood was just a few moments ago.

"Don't apologize, he didn't look where he was going either. What can I do for you dear?" I asked, smiling towards the young woman. She looked away from me, her face slightly red at the 'dear' bit. "Why do you do that?" "I'm sorry Pyrrha. You get to be my age you… well, you start calling everyone something different, simpler. Just so you can remember their names." I said, feeling a pang of guilt. I was lying through my teeth. The reason was much more tragic than old age, much more sad than an old man losing his memory. "I won't tell her though. She doesn't need to worry about me. She's got enough to worry about as is." I thought as she spoke up.

"It's about this assignment you gave me… I'm attending a party? With Jaune?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at me. I nodded, confirming her suspicions. She looked at the file again, and I patiently waited as she went through it, no doubt looking for the places she'd annotated and highlighted (I guess she was still high-school age). "I understand why but… why me? Why not one of the more experienced officers? One of the older ones?" she asked. The confusion was clear, and I understood well enough why. Why send in a teenager? Why send in the captain herself? I had no doubt she had ten thousand questions. So, I decided to answer that one first. "Simple. It's not outside of the realm of possibility for you to be dating Jaune Arc."

"WHAT!?"

Her face burned bright red as she yelped, covering herself with her hands, despite the fact she was still fully clothed. Never did understand why women did that… "Y-You… you want me to-" "Act as his girlfriend for the party, yes, I do. Surely you're not absolutely disgusted with Jaune are you?" I asked, giving her a knowing smile. She looked away from me, shaking her head as I saw her playing with a strand of her hair. She was nervous, the strand of hair was always her tell… maybe that was the reason I always beat her at poker. "Well… I mean, no. He's not… it's not that he isn't handsome -no! T-That's not what I-!" "Pyrrha. Calm down a moment. Think through what you have to say next." I interrupted, holding out a consoling hand towards her.

She nodded, taking a breath before she spoke, this time fluently, and less flustered. "Just speak honestly Pyrrha." "He's cute. He's nice. He's smart. It's not that I'd never date him, I can only hope I'll find a man like him one day, but… that's not really the problem I'm looking at." she said, her face still read as she reached into her pocket, pulling out a small, black ribbon. "Hmm… wonder where she got THAT from." I thought with a hint of sarcasm as she set the ribbon away, looking towards me. She wanted to know if I got the message. I got it, but then again, I guess she didn't know that if her next words were any judge. "Blake, sir. He already has a girlfriend. Won't she be… I don't know, jealous about this whole thing?" "I've already dealt with the Blake situation. Besides, I'm not asking you to commit adultery -not that I can stop you- I'm only asking you to tag along and see if you can find anything incriminating on the Rose family." I said.

I couldn't help the smile on my face as her face flushed again, as she sputtered excuses about how she'd never commit adultery with Jaune. I knew she wouldn't, she was too good to do it. Though, that didn't mean I couldn't find her reaction amusing. She stopped after a second, and I kept that smile. "Pyrrha, what you do to sell that your Jaune's girlfriend to the Roses doesn't matter to me. Just… try not to act like a total stranger around him, alright? A kiss on the cheek should do it just fine." I said, smiling wider as Pyrrha blushed brighter. I wouldn't have been surprised if she fainted at that point. Instead she stood, turning around and walking away, shutting the door behind her without another word. I sighed as I leaned back, looking up towards the ceiling.

"Pyrrha and Jaune… this is going to be interesting."

…

"Well?"

I shook my head as I looked over towards Ren, seeing him nodding a few times. I looked out among my gang, the sugar sloths, and I saw all of them holding their weapons, looking at me anxiously. I took a few breaths, trying to get May's sad expression out of my head. "May Zedong… will not be joining us. We're doing this ourselves." I said, hardening my expression as I heard cries of disapproval, some of outrage. I held out my hands, silencing them. I felt Ren place his hand on my shoulder, and I gave him a smile. At least someone had my back on this. "I understand any anger you have… but we don't need May to do this! Look at us! We're the toughest gang in Vale! We've been terrorizing the families for ten years now! Even the Khan's don't hold a candle to us now! Right now, it's our time to shine! After tonight, the Rose family will know they picked the wrong sloth to poke!" I yelled, slamming my fist into my palm.

They let out cheers, rallying cries, a lot of things. They held their weapons ready as I nodded, jumping down off the podium as Ren followed behind me. I looked back towards him, "Renny, I need you to sneak in and open the doors. We can handle the rest." I said, giving him a small smile. He nodded, holding open his door as I jumped into the passenger side of his car. I saw my men getting into their own cars, mostly vans, before driving off, all of us heading towards the docks. I held up a cigarette, rolling it between my lips before I lit it, blowing a small puff of smoke out the window. Ren had already put the top down, so I wasn't worried about it. "Just like old times huh Ren?" I asked, smirking over towards him.

He smirked right back, "Yeah, except we've still got clothes on." he said, causing me to blush slightly. I rolled my head away from him, blowing smoke out the window as I held the cigarette in my fingers, twirling it slightly. I chuckled, "Yeah… hey uh, Ren… you love me, don't you?" I asked, looking over towards him with a frown, snuffing out the cigarette. He looked over at me, raising an eyebrow before he nodded. I didn't expect him to speak, it was an obvious question. Now though, there was a hint of concern burning behind that meaningless gaze. The cold gaze that I'd fallen for. "I know, stupid question but… I'm going to be going through withdrawal soon and-" "Wait, since when have you cared about 'withdrawal'? You were just smoking." he interrupted, looking over at me as we pulled into a red light.

I looked away from him, my face burning slightly. Why did I know he was going to ask that? "Well… I'm not going to be able to smoke or… drink or… do a lot of those things for awhile…" I said, looking back over towards him, wringing my hands together. I tended to do that when I was nervous. Ren raised an eyebrow, but then his face tinted red, his eyes widening as he looked down. He always was smart, he'd figured it out already. "You mean you're…" "Yeah… yeah." I said, giving him a small smile. Neither of us wanted to say it, but we both knew what I was getting at. He looked back ahead, driving forward through the light, still red, without a care, heading towards the dock. We sat in silence for awhile, until he pulled into the dock that is, parking.

He looked over at me, "Why did you come? Why didn't you stay home tonight? They'd have understood." "It's not… I'm the leader alright? I was a khan. Whoever would lead the raids back in the day would almost always be the one that organized them." I said, frowning slightly. I felt knots of guilt welling in my chest, May's teary eyed gaze accompanying them. I felt a hand over my own, and I looked up to see Ren grasping my hand in both of his. His gaze was filled with a sort of stubbornness I knew I couldn't get around. I expected him to say something but… instead he just leaned in, kissed me on the cheek. He smiled at me, walking out of the car and closing his door. He opened mine, but before I could get out he placed a hand on my shoulder. "Close your eyes Nora." he said. I complied, only to feel the familiar cloth on my lips, the sickeningly sweet odor.

One whiff, and I blacked out.

…

"Sorry about this Nora."

I muttered as I set the ether soaked rag in the back seat. I picked up Nora, careful not to hit her against anything, and gently laid her in the back seat. I reached into the glovebox, grabbing out a piece of paper and pen. I set the paper on the roof, and I quickly scribbled out a note to Nora in it, before I laid it down on her belly. I smiled down at the note, hoping that she'd understand what it meant. I shut the car door, walking towards the back and popping open the trunk. I smiled when I looked inside, "Good thing I came prepared." I thought as I reached in, pulling out my weapons of choice. I grabbed out two .22 pistols, integrated silencers of course, and my trusty MAC-10. This time though, I screwed on a silencer to the end. I set the pistols at my waist, the MAC-10 in my coat, and shut the trunk, locking the car. Nora had a key on her anyway.

I started walking towards the large warehouse, the place where a ship was unloading some less than legal cargo. I stopped just behind a nearby crate, nearly face-palming. I'd almost forgotten. I reached into my coat, pulling out a small, dark green mask, two holes cut out for eyes. I pulled it on over my head, pulling my hair through a hole in the back before looping it down my coat, feeling my Kevlar vest brushing against it. I took out my MAC-10 and took aim towards the door. Two guards. Both armed with assault rifles. Both wearing bullet-resistant vests.

Four bullets later, they were dead on the ground, my gun smoking. I dashed towards the door, sliding up against the wall as I reached over, pushing the door in. I looked inside, quickly dashing in towards a nearby crate as I noticed no one looking in my general direction. I used my foot to kick the door shut behind me. A few people looked over, but they went about their business a second later, ignoring it. The ship had already pulled in, men shouting out as they started unloading the cargo, large crates marked with 'Property of the Atlesian Military' stamps. They were weapons, not a doubt in my mind about that. I dashed across the open expanse, rolling back into cover as I looked up, seeing men standing on the catwalk. They needed to go first.

I ran towards the stairs, crouching low as I took out my pistols, walking up behind two guards. I aimed my right pistol, then my left. I fired twice, two shots to the back of the head for each of them. I caught their bodies before they could fall, and I set them down gently. I turned back to the right, seeing one of the guards walking over her, his face sporting a bored expression. A second later, it sported no expression at all, the expression blown all over the wall behind him. A quick burst of MAC-10 fire would do that. I dashed towards him, not a chance no one would've seen that, and ducked down near the edge of the catwalk. I aimed across the way, only one person left on top. I squeezed the trigger, he was dead in seconds.

I looked down, seeing men pointing up towards the catwalk, mostly towards the blood-spatter rather than me. Good, no one had spotted me yet. I walked towards the edge of the catwalk, reaching into my coat. If my suspicion was correct, there was about to be one hell of a fireworks display. I held the vaguely round object in my hand before I pulled out the pin, tossing the grenade towards the water. "Come on… bingo." I thought as I saw the grenade bounce on the ground, people's eyes widening as they jumped back, trying to get away. It was a pointless effort, if my guess was right.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

I felt the heat as the cargo started detonating, killing most of the people around it, sending the entire place into a panic. I turned around, firing towards the men coming up the stairs, no longer caring much about silence. I would just use the chaos to open the doors, let Nora's crew in. I dashed towards the stairs, jumping down them three at a time. I landed into a crouch, firing on two of the random workers running towards me, likely for the staircase. They weren't armed. They weren't fighting. I didn't care. I ran towards the large, warehouse doors. Or rather, I ran for what looked to be the small office next to them. I dashed in, shutting the door behind me and slamming down on a red button labeled 'OPEN'. They really made it hard to screw this job up.

I heard the doors groaning as they were pulled apart, revealing a stunned group of sugar sloths right in front of it. I ducked down as I heard glass breaking, bullets flying at me. I blindly fired back up, looking over and seeing Nora's crew scrambling to find cover, firing as they went. I saw the fire shifting focus as I poked my head up, aiming towards the few men left that could fight back. They were in cover, but all it took was one foot outside of it for me to knock them down, another bullet to finish them off. I vaulted over the window, shattering what was left of the glass as I dashed for the next bit of cover, firing as I went. I slid down next to one of Nora's older crewmen. He looked at me, raising an eyebrow. "Where's-" "I told her to stay back. We need to stop that ship!" I said, pointing towards the ship, as it had started pulling out already.

The man nodded, motioning his men forward. Some of them shouted as they charged forward, blindly firing ahead of them. I saw the men in cover firing at them, killing more than just a few of them as me and the older crewman snuck around. I flanked right and he flanked left. We exchanged fire, killing the only four men that still had guns in the compound. The rest of Nora's men dashed ahead, running for the ship as they crew pulled up the gangplank, running for their lives. The older crewman I'd seen glared towards it before he smirked, reaching behind his back. I saw most of Nora's crew start throwing grenades towards the ship, most of them detonating on impact. One of them held out what looked to be a rocket launcher, firing towards the back.

The effect was devastating, the whole ship smoking as it's turbines were destroyed, the entire thing grinding to a halt. I stood, watching as the men stopped with the grenades, running to the Atlesian munitions and throwing whatever else they could, firing towards the ships hull. There weren't many grenades left granted, but those that were… oh, they did the job just fine. I saw men jumping overboard as the ship started tipping over, leaning towards the side opposite of us. Fires were breaking out as Nora's crew shouted and cheered, high fiving each other and patting each other on the back. I crouched down and aimed toward the water, putting a bullet in any sailor that managed to survive the carnage on the ship. We couldn't have any witnesses for this. Not one.

A few seconds later I heard the screeching as the ship's large center smashed into the wooden deck of the warehouse. I heard the rumbling as Nora's crew ran back, trying to get away. I did as well, hoping that if the warehouse collapsed, it would kill any crewmen left on the boat. If they didn't drown first of course. I dashed through the warehouse doors as one of the men stopped, that same older crewman from earlier. He nodded towards some of the others, barking orders as they started nodding, running to the outside of the warhouse. My eyes widened as I realized what they were doing, placing down those large, circular objects. I heard the term 'crater charge' thrown around as I realized why this was going to be such a big hit against the Rose family.

They were destroying the warehouse.

I ran back towards my car, my mind flying back to Nora. If she was there, still unconscious in the seat, then she could very well be caught in the sheer amount of flying debris. I knew what kind of damage one crater charge could do. But forty? There might not even be a dock left when they were done. I bolted towards my car, letting out a sigh of relief as I saw Nora still lying down, my car the way it was just a few minutes ago. I reached into my pocket, unlocking the car and jumping into the driver seat. I heard the crater charges going off as I burned rubber, reversing as I saw a large piece of metal hit where my car was just a few seconds ago. "Just made it." I thought with a sigh of relief. I mean, yeah, it had survived the onslaught of bullets from just a few hours ago with Coco, but a giant piece of metal versus a tiny piece of lead? I didn't like my odds.

I started driving off, taking off my mask and putting it in the glove box. Hopefully we wouldn't get stopped, it'd be hard to explain the silenced, military grade guns I still had on me. With that in mind, I drove a bit more carefully than usual, looking back towards Nora every few seconds, making sure she was still knocked out from the ether. I drove all the way back to her hideaway before I got out, walking towards her apartment. When she woke up, I knew for a fact she'd join me. So I left her in the car, forgetting all about the note I'd written her…

…

"Ugh… Ren you sonuva…"

I swore as I sat up, rubbing my head. The familiar smell and feel of ether on me. I looked around, finding I was still in Ren's car, but I was in front of the Rexford. The mission must've been successful. I started to get up when I felt something on my belly. I looked down, seeing a small piece of paper, laid face down. I grabbed it, flipping it over. I felt tears spring to my eyes, a smile plastered on my face as I read what it was. The beautiful, kinda hard to read cursive, I knew Ren's handwriting anywhere. "Ren… I'm so glad I didn't pull the trigger all those years ago." I thought, sitting up and pocketing the note. I got out of the car, locking it back with my own set of keys before I walked towards my home. I crumpled the note, dropping it in a nearby trash can. No one would read it, no one but me. The note read:

"We've taken some big leaps Nora. Come inside, it's time we take the biggest leap of all."

(a/n- You know, this is actually the first (possibly not last) chapter in JALR agency where Jaune and Blake don't make an appearance. This time we've got a Nora and Ren (I ship it if it wasn't clear by now) centered chapter. Along with a little Cinder and some Ozpin (not in the same place mind you). We've even got some shady ironwood here… and yeah, I put a little Cardin joke. Not that hard to find, but props if you caught it. Anyway, see you in the next one!)

(a/n- Also; bonus points if you can explain why Nora and Ren's conversation seems to be under Hays Code regulations (it involves them not being able to say certain things... I probably just gave it away, didn't I? Oh well, not like it was much if a secret anyway.)