Main theme: Metro Exodus rap by Jt Music, featuring Andrea Storm Kaden
Arc Theme: No Time To Die by Billie Eilish
Theme: Skyfall by Adele
It is in the best interests of achieving a perfect utopia that the obstacles in the way of such a dream are, for obvious reasons, removed. These obstacles can vary, and can be attributed to any number of problems and situations, such as the Grimm, rebellious slaves, or the occasional Hunter or rogue army upstart.
However, the greatest obstacle that we may find on that path to Utopia, is the... Annoying penchant for Faunus, enslaved or not, to demand for emancipation. Freedom. These annoying displays of independence are what brought our society of old crashing down around us, and what lead us into a 50 year long war that almost destroyed the entirety of our world. It is these uncalled for showings of rebellion that brings about the instability of society, and is still destabilising our fragile way of life.
The usage of Brute Force Programming has helped to curb these thoughts of resistance amongst the more rebellious of the slave population of Remnant, but we must strive to do better, and to enforce harsher regulations onto our slaves.
Thankfully, the noble families and councils across Remnant have agreed to fund the Menagerie Project, where the Faunus and slave populations of Remnant will be taking away to undergo further Brute Force Programming by our allies and like minded officials, so that they may remove the very thought of rebellion from these rabid curs.
It is times like these where we are fearful of the prospect of the emancipation of our slaves, and the end of the slave trade itself, the greatest material trade in the world, but we must remember to keep our minds calm, and our emotions levelled, so that when we finally do begin the journey to Utopia, we will do so unimpeded by challenges, and possible challengers, that may try to impede our righteous path.
Extract from the Utopia Manifest, now written off as proslavery propaganda, and banned under the Rights Decree at the end of the Rights Revolution.
"-In other news, a dust store, the Arm The Many, has reported a break and entry, carried out by the infamous Roman Torchwick, and the criminal group known as the Jack-O-Lanterns, numbering as the 9th dust robbery in the last 2 months that has been pinned on Torchwick and his associates, and the 15th dust store robbery in the last 2 months as well, where both money and dust have been extorted and stolen in vast quantities. While police and Atlesian officials are able to pin much of the robberies themselves on monetary gains, many of them are stumped as to the need for such vast quantities of dust to be taken as-"
A flick of a finger, and the channel was changed.
"-Is arranged to be marked as an annual time of mourning for the people of not only Vale, but all of Remnant. Remembrance Day, in memory of the Initiation Massacre and the beginning of the Second Great War, shall be-"
Flick.
"-Kingdom's Council's population augmentation and boosting programs led to an increase in inbreeding and institutionalised incest all across Remnant! The population of Remnant was severely depleted, yes, but that does not mean that we must sacrifice our morals for a completely unethical eugenics program where-"
Flick.
"-If the councils actually cared, then they should've granted the House of the White Wolves political party status years ago, and stopped them from becoming a terrorist organisation years ago! They had every single chance to end the threat of the White Wolves when they had the chance, and yet-"
Flick.
"-Why should you be judged based on the use of your semblance, or if you have aura? Why should you be defined because you can sense the weather, and not teleport?"
"That was Huntsman and Scholar Jackson Ingate, giving a lecture to a class of university students at the Ozmanian University in Vale, attacking semblism and aura-elitism, prior to his death above the Valerian plains 2 weeks ago-"
Flick.
"-Brotherhood of Two have condemned footage of what appears to be a group of first year Hunters in training at Beacon rescinding their faith in the Brother Gods-"
"Hey, kid."
Ruby looked up from her scroll, to see Carmine Esclados looking down at her. Or looking down on her. Whichever one was more appropriate.
"Oh, er, s-sorry", Ruby went as she turned off her scroll, and pushed it back into her pocket, "It's just, with Mr Celadon in there, it-"
"Yeah, it gets boring", Carmine said as she leaned against the wall, tapping her feet against a small, shallow puddle and looked down both ends of the dark alleyway, before then saying, "But, we have to remain vigilant, and all that. A huntress, like you and me, has to always been on the clock, looking out for possible threats, regardless of where they are. So keep an eye out, this doesn't exactly look like a nice place to be."
Ruby looked around, leaning off of the wall and looking around the dark alleyway. Above them, the sun was almost set, and the sky was coloured a gradient from dark purplish black to dark blue, punctuated by stars, the little dots of light that were spread out like freckles on a face. She looked down both ends of the poorly lit alleyway, looking past the flickering lights and spotting the oddly coloured doors, the dirty and wet streets, the streaked walls, and the rusting dumpsters, both ways completely devoid of life, save for the birds overhead.
"Um, why did...", Ruby paused, tapping her fingers together as she then continued, ""Why did Mr Celadon-"
"Just call him Bertilak, sweetie, he really doesn't deserve the respect. Or the formality."
"Oh, er…", Ruby was unsure of how to respond to that, other than to continue with her previous question, "Well, why did, er, Bertilak, want to go to this place in the first place?"
Carmine shrugged, "Personal business, I think. I don't know-"
Ruby's instincts flared up-
She's lying.
-But she didn't let it show.
"-But I'd rather not ask. He tends to get arsy about these kind of things."
As if on cue, the faded red door that stood next to them swung open, almost breaking in half as the angry Huntsman waded out, chain mace in hand as he heated up the air around him, angrily muttering to himself about something that Ruby couldn't make up, before he wheeled around and spotted her looking at him, "What?" he snarled out.
"Oh, er, n-nothing...", Ruby quiet stuttered, quailing under the elder Hunter's venomous gaze as she shuffled in place, "I just, erm… I was just wondering... Um..."
Bertilak just looked down at her, a scowl on his face.
"Bertilak", Carmine began, getting next to him and putting a hand on his green chest armour, "That's enough. You're scaring the poor girl."
The Huntsman just scoffed in return, and unsubtly asked, "Why the fuck do we have to get stuck with the damaged goods?"
Ruby looked up at him, eyes wide. The hair that covered her left eye fluttered in the sudden breeze, and the mass webbing of scars and red skin on the left side of her body began to itch, "W... What?"
"Bertilak!" Carmine shoved the Huntsman back, "Cool it, and shove off!"
"Why should I?"
"Because I said so, now go home and cool off", Carmine went with a spiteful tone, "I remember you saying that you had a meeting to prepare for, or something."
Bertilak's eyes widened for a second, seemingly having only just remembered whatever this meeting was, before spitting out, "Fine", and marching off, the air around him heating up and causing the puddles to steam, and the glass windows and bottles strewn around the place to glisten and curdle.
Carmine glared down the alleyway as Bertilak retreated around a corner. With a sigh, she rubbed her forehead and groaned in frustration, before looking to Ruby, who was standing still, looking down the alleyway with a surprised, almost scared look on her face, "Sorry about that, kid. Bertilak's the worse kind of idiot: The jerky kind. He's a bully, through and through", she removed her hand from her forehead as she then muttered, "Can't even remember why I hang out with that guy... Oh yeah, it's because he pays my bills..."
"...Damaged... Good..."
Carmine cocked her head as Ruby's eyes began to water.
"Am I... Really... Just..."
Carmine just put a hand on her shoulder, and said, in a pitying tone, "Let's just get back to our place, kid. You can sleep there for the night", she patted her shoulder, and took her hand, "It's getting late, and this ain't exactly a good part of town."
Carmine was right. The industrial district of Vale was never a good place to hang out at night, especially in these troubling times more than ever. Thanks to the growing ineptitude of the police force, gangs of thugs and looters tended to loiter around these areas, waiting for some unfortunate soul to pickpocket or steal away. Criminal groups flocked to these areas like moths to a flame, trading guns and drugs and-
Why was Bertilak here?
Yet, all Ruby could focus on was Carmine's words as the elder Huntress lead her out of the alleyway, and onto the darkening streets, the streetlights flickering on as they walked down the emptying pathways.
No... That's not... That's not what you were suppose to say...
They were just the exceptions.
Right?
Not every Hunter was like that.
…
Right?
As said previously, Maxwell's apartment had lead to a dead end, and now Maxwell himself was dead in his hospital bed. The staff were interviewed, but nothing came out of them, no slip ups, no conflicting accounts. All of them had accurate alibis, so they were all crossed out of the investigation.
As it turned out, Maxwell really liked his alone time, even when he was healthy. The only times that Maxwell would ever leave his apartment was at breakfast and dinner times, and even at the spa, he had dismissed many of the staff whom wished to tend to him, and took to doing it himself. Ample time for someone to sneak in walk in and kill him.
Harriet had reported that Maxwell had to have been killed hours before she arrived, and she was correct. We looked over the body, and the blood had indeed dried up and stained his bed and sheets, so he must've been laying there dead since the early morning.
One thing was for sure, Maxwell's death threw away the possibility of him hiring our serial killer to off White Wolves, and opened up an entirely different can of possibilities, none of them good.
And to top it all off...
We found 3 more bodies shortly after.
"We met her."
"I know."
"Only a couple of hours ago."
"I know", Winter repeated, as she and Jaune looked down the bloodstained alleyway in the commercial district, red and black trickling across the walls, leaving trails down the wall. Behind them, officers closed down the street, and placed torches and lamps lit up the dark alleyway as the stars twinkled and flickered above them.
Flash, Connie Jessabelle, and Tyler Guerra laid dead in the alleyway, the Techion leaning against one of the walls, the other 2 sprawled out on the dirty floor, still leaking blood. They couldn't have died that long ago.
All of them had died the same way, a shot to the chest where the heart was, and then another to the head. Armour piercing rounds again, it seemed, judging by the damage done to the entrance and exit wounds, the violence of the blood splatters, and the holes that the bullets left in the walls.
Jaune blanched at the bodies, feeling queasy once more, before Winter noticed this and sternly went, "Eyes up, Arc", before approaching the bodies and going, "As a Hunter, seeing a dead body will not be that uncommon", she paused as she leant down to the bodies, and then continued, "And before you say anything, no, that wasn't meant to make you feel any better."
"...Right", Jaune went, a note of suspicion in his voice as he then knelt down to the bodies next to Winter, and went, "Have we got any idea as to why these guys were down here?"
"Not yet", Winter said as she put on a pair of thin gloves that she had been given from the station, and started to ruffle through the pockets and vest of Tyler, looking for anything that would give them a hint.
"Maybe they saw someone down here", Jaune theorised, slipping on a pair of the same gloves over his already gloved hand and tapping the chin of his helmet, "Stands to reason, I guess. They saw a suspicious character- Perhaps our killer- They move to investigate, and then bam", he slapped his hands together for emphasis, "Our killer strikes."
Winter nodded, "That is the most likely theory", before her eyebrows furrowed and she went, "But what we need now is a connection between our victims. More than just the way that they were killed."
"Mm hm", Jaune hummed, as he began to look over the body of Connie, "I feel stupid for pointing out the obvious, but it's clear that these 3 were killed by the same person that killed Maxwell and the 5 Wolves earlier", he paused, opening up Connie's vest and looking over the pockets within, "The question is, though, why? Our theory about Maxwell-"
"Your theory about Maxwell", Winter pointed out.
"-Whatever, that theory went out the window when we found his body and realised that he had died before Yuma and Trifa. Possibly before the 3 this morning as well."
"Yes, but why?" Winter asked, not as a test of Jaune's skills, but he suspected as a genuine question, "Maxwell was a politician who hated Faunus, and the 5 Faunus in total were terrorists for a Faunus extremist group, so there was a possible link there", Winter paused, letting the information sink in once more.
"Yeah, but 3 police officers?" Jaune began, ruffling through the pockets of Connie and coming up with nothing, "There's no connection. Hell, one of them was a Faunus- Is a Faunus, even, so that eliminates the Wolves. They wouldn't attack their own, would they, especially when they're working with humans and fostering cooperation between the 2 species?"
"No, they would", Winter said. Jaune looked at her, and she continued, "Before the House of the White Wolves turned to extremism, they would never even think of attacking their own for getting along with humans and, well, doing what it was that they wanted to do in the first place. But as soon as Sienna Khan", she paused, noticing his confused look, "The current leader of the Wolves", Jaune nodded in understand, and Winter continued, "Well, as soon as she gave the order to Faunus to fight, the Wolves were flooded by dissidents."
"Dissidents?"
"Terrorists and thugs. Low lives and criminals. Men and women who were fuelled by hatred, by anger, the kind that can only be born out of young men, who can be easily manipulated, influenced, and controlled. Hatred born out of a noble cause, or a noble cause used to justify their hatred. Didn't matter, and it still doesn't. These people flocked to and flooded the Wolves, drowning the Faunus House's once noble cause in a river of blood. Molotovs were thrown, shops were broken into, trains were raided, all of them with the Wolves taking the credit. Peaceful protests became riots. Interventions became home invasions. Talks became arguments, arguments became standoffs, standoffs became shootouts."
"That... Wow."
"Apologies for being dramatic", Winter said, a forlorn look on her face, as she then continued, "And then, they declared war on the SDC."
Jaune paused, looking at her with a confused look under his helmet, "They're already at war with someone?"
"The SDC, yes."
"Your company?"
"No, not mine, my father's", she seemed to growl at the last part of her sentence, before continuing on, "The Wolves began to raid SDC shipments, stealing away dust, and sometimes even people. Bodies of both SchneeFall soldiers and Wolves would be left behind, and more violence from the Wolves would lead to less profits for my father, would lead to him becoming more and more aggressive and angry, would lead to harsher treatment of the Faunus in his workforce, would lead to harsher reprisals from the White Wolves, and so on, so forth."
"...I'm sorry."
"Don't be", Winter sighed out, "There's nothing that you can do about it."
Jaune was starting to beg to differ. He didn't let it say.
"...And then the shootings happened..."
"Hm?"
"Nothing", she waved it off, "It's fine."
Jaune paused, trying to find his words once more, before deciding to drop the subject, and focus on looking over Connie's body, eventually finding nothing, and, groaning in frustration, moved himself to the side and shuffled towards Flash's body against the wall.
And then, he noticed something.
Cocking his head to the side, he leaned forward, next to Flash's body, and took his helmet off, narrowing his eyes in concentration as he examined the dead Techion.
From the looks of it, much of Flash's body was covered in... "Dust?"
Winter looked at him with a sudden, questioning gaze.
"Not the fuel", Jaune said to her as he looked over the thin sheet of grey that covered Flash's body, "Just... Dust. Like dirt."
"Ah, dust", Winter added, before asking, "You believe that to be unusual?"
"Mm hm", Jaune said as he took a police swab that he had been given at the station out of one of his pockets and took a swipe on Flash's body, placing the swab in an evidence bag, and then looking over Flash's body once again, "I mean, I don't think there are that many places in Vale where you could get that dusty, like a loft, or a disused basement, or..."
Actually, no, it didn't look like dust. Not that much.
In fact, it looked more like...
"Hey, Winter, do you know if there are any open fires or anything around here?"
The woman in question raised an eyebrow as she moved next to him, looking over Flash's body as well, "No, why?"
"Because it doesn't look like Flash is covered in dust. It actually looks more like..."
"...Ash?" Winter asked, using her own swab as well, and placing it within another evidence bag.
"Yeah", Jaune nodded, biting the bottom of his lip as he then went, "Why the hell would he be covered in ash? Did he head down to the Emerald Forest, or down to the plains?"
"Possibly, but all of the fires had died out, and if he did walk through the Emerald Forest, he would've had much larger traces of ash on his soles", Winter went, leaning down to look at Flash's metal feet, "And they're clean. Shining, even."
Jaune paused, and then looked over to Connie, and then to Tyler, realising that they too had the same sheet of dust over them, "It's the same for these guys", he pointed out, "And their soles are clean as well. Could they have all stepped in puddles and cleaned their feet?"
"Maybe, but if they did, then their soles should at least be a little bit damp, but they're perfectly dry", Winter threw in, "And even then, we met Connie only a few hours ago. There's not enough time for her in between the station and now to have gone out to the Emerald Forest and back."
Jaune looked down, trying to think, before he noticed that the same colour of dust on the floor as well, "The ground's covered in ash as well", he said as he looked down, "But the only footprints in them are yours and mine, not these guys."
"Which means that all of this ash must've rained down from above them as they were standing in this alleyway", Winter pointed out, "Meaning that our killer must've either jumped down or flew over them as they killed them."
Jaune stood and looked up, into the night sky between the walls of the dark alleyway, and asked, "Do you think they had a fire semblance, or a weapon that used fire?"
"Like fire dust?" Jaune nodded, and Winter looked over the bodies once more, "I do not believe so. There are no signs of burns on them, or singeing, or anything to indicate any form of fire, and the wounds are not cauterised in any way."
"And yet there's still ash here", Jaune quietly mused, "Then it must've been someone with a semblance that was hot enough to give off ash, or supercharged the air, or... Something..."
Something indeed was visible in the side of Flash's metal leg, in some sort of side compartment. Jaune carefully pushed it open, and revealed the contents within.
A white piece of paper, folded up. Upon pulling it out, it was revealed to be-
"A phone number?" Jaune mumbled out loud. Winter paused from what she was doing and looked at the sliver of paper as well.
"It looks like a local number", she pointed out, "Valerian, not Atlesian."
"If we get this into the station, then we can compare it to any other phone numbers that are registered, and track down who this belongs to."
"Indeed", Winter looked up to him, "Anything else, Arc?"
"I'm thinking that we need to head back to the original crime scene", Jaune answered.
Winter tilted her head, "Interesting decision. Do you believe we can find anything else out there?"
"I think that the first guys who went there didn't exactly to their best. Our guy who was selling those police documents earlier is proof of that."
A nod was her response, "Indeed", before looking down the alleyway, and calling out to their escort that'd followed them here, "Elm, once we've transported everything that we can from here, arrange for a Dropship to take us to the first crime scene. Let's see if we can't get some more answers there."
The room was dimly lit by blue and white overhead lights, and few of the monitors that were organised into rows had been left on, showing white screens and blind tabs, but Jaune didn't mind as he sat in front of his computer, turning on the monitor and logging in, before opening up the internet and tapping into a search engine:
House of the White Wolves.
Know your enemy, and all that.
The first hit to pop up on the search page was an in-depth profile of the organisation as a whole, one which Jaune immediately sunk his teeth into, reading it from top to bottom, from it's roots in the Faunus Houses, to the Great War and the Colour and Rights Revolution, to it's founding at the hands of 2 people whom Jaune had never heard of before, to the inspirations that it took from the religion of Azul Primus and his White Fang, to the peaceful protests that helped to push the laws for fairer workspace treatment, less banning of Faunus from shops, and better ability to move around Remnant, all the way to the debate on wherever to make it an official Atlesian political party.
These were the guys who got the Free Movement Act passed? Jaune thought to himself as he read every line on the Wolves' profile, I remember Apollo saying that he wouldn't have been able to save us without this law... In fact, from the looks of it, these guys were actually able to do a lot... Well, enough for Atlas to consider making them a political party.
He remembered talking to Blake, Neon, and Leadpipe a few days ago- Well, no actually, it was more like trying to keep up with Neon, trying to talk to Leadpipe, who stumbled on his words a lot, whilst Blake sat to the side reading a book- And after a while, the topic of the White Wolves had casually come up, and it was then that Blake had suddenly spoke up:
"The Wolves turned to violence because peaceful protests weren't working out, because no one was listening."
He had tried to press her on what she meant by that, but Blake had started to get a bit more emotional about it and walked off, Leadpipe following behind shortly afterwards, thereby ending that conversation.
Well, she says that, but from the looks of it, she's completely gotten her facts wrong, Jaune said as he stared at the list of changes and laws that had been placed in by the Wolves during their peaceful years, This list is huge! It's got tons of laws on them, and now that I look at them, a lot of them actually benefit everyone more than just Faunus. Not a majority, but still a lot.
He paused once more, confused. From the looks of it, peaceful protests were indeed working out, and people were indeed listening. And from this, came the confusion. Why would the Wolves turn to violence if they were getting so much done? Was it because of the laws that benefitted everyone, and not just the Faunus?
He remembered Winter saying that when Sienna Khan had taken over, she had opened up the floodgates for all sorts of criminals and murderers to come rushing into the Wolves when she gave the order to fight. Wherever that was intended or not, he didn't yet know.
Yet, being the keyword as he scrolled down the profile page and found more of the Wolves' history.
Soon, came the changing of the guard. From the outset, Sienna Khan had been the spokesperson of a more militant and radical faction of the Wolves, and she had helped to pass a few laws, and push even more onto the table. Her group, before she took power, never did anything overtly violent, but did push for more radical forms of protest, such as self-starvation, interruptions of opposing rallies and conventions, and a social media campaign to push more people to their cause. The profile had nothing on Sienna Khan herself, but it did make mention that she had always stood out as fiery and stubborn, angry and spiteful to the humans, but never enough to force for more violent action to be taken.
And then, she took over, and then did indeed call for more force to be taken, calling out to the Faunus across the world to defend themselves.
There were several viewpoints that were attached to the profile about the White Wolves' subsequent radicalisation, the author seemingly not wanting to give a biased opinion.
A few of them were as followed:
1. Sienna Khan had her radical faction in the Wolves begin to arm themselves and their fellow Faunus, conscripting them into their ranks.
2. Sienna hadn't known that the Wolves would become so radicalised and so out of control, and had simply been doing her best to protect her people.
3. Sienna had known, and simply didn't care.
4. Sienna had simply been trying to grab power, and was utterly unprepared for the responsibility of leadership.
5. There had already been radicals within the White Wolves, and they were just waiting to reveal themselves.
6. Similarly, the entire group had been radicals, and were just holding back.
7. Sienna had been planning a hostile takeover for a long time, and had seeded the radicals in herself.
8. Nobody had known how many terrorists and criminals would flock to Sienna's banner, not even Sienna herself, and the organisation was just swept under a tide of reformations and violence that it just could control.
And so on, so forth.
Whatever the reason, the House of the White Wolves radicalised, and began to push for violence on all fronts, and soon, it was firebombing cars and shops and assaulting people on the street. Protests became riots, and gatherings began recruitment centres. It was like Winter said, the entirety of the Wolves was overtaken by a flood of the worst kind of people. It was like Winter said, the group's original cause of achieving equality for the Faunus was overtaken by those who sought that goal through bloodshed and violence, or those who disregarded that goal for their own reasons, merely using it as a cover or an excuse to cause pain.
Gods, Jaune thought, How can a group like that fall apart so quickly?
And then, the White Wolves declared war against the SDC. Not Atlas, the SDC.
SDC= Schnee Dust Company. Jaune didn't know why the Wolves decided to declare war against Weiss' business, but soon, the Wolves were being attributed to raids and bombings on SDC property, and killing off their SchneeFall guards and security contractors. Entire raiding parties swarmed into SDC trains and airships, stealing away their dust and killing everyone aboard (The most recent raid was actually in a red forest known as Forever Falls, not too far from the city of Vale, right near Beacon, in fact. The entire train had been destroyed, and the subsequent Grimm invasion afterwards had left a Grimm infestation that, just before the Initiation Massacre, had only just been quelled).
And now, from the looks of it, there seemed to be a growing divide within the once peaceful now terrorist organisation, between Sienna Khan and her faction within Menagerie, and a group slowly on the rise in popularity amongst the younger and more radicalised members of the Wolves.
The Acolytes of the Ascended.
Headed by one Adam Taurus (Who, from the looks of it, has gone underground, for some reason), and dressing themselves in cloaks of white and purple, this faction of the White Fang was made up of mostly Azul Primus worshippers, and... Well, calling them worshippers was a bit of an understatement.
From the looks of it, they were all cultists. All of them were fanatical about their worship of Azul Primus, and were extremely violent. Credited for multiple shootings across Remnant, including the recent Valerian Central Market shooting and killings, this group's connection to the White Wolves was thin to say the least. They operated almost entirely as their own entity, with Sienna Khan apparently extremely close to disavowing the entire group.
Honestly, Jaune couldn't blame her, which made him disturbed about the fact that he was siding with a terrorist leader. Not a lot was said about these guys, but it was enough for him to see that these guys were bad news. They were attributed with mass shootings, murders, kidnappings, executions of former members, the whole royal flush.
It made sense why Sienna would want to ditch these guys, because as far as her own group had sunk, there was a limit for even some people.
But what Jaune didn't get was why the Wolves would attack the SDC though? What had provoked them into attacking the company and forcing their boss, Winter's father to become... Well, as Winter had said, more aggressive?
After looking through all of the sources, and reading all of the information that they had on them, Jaune put in a link to the SDC's profile, and began to read.
The Schnee Dust Company, or SDC for short, was a vast global corporation headquartered in Atlas, with it's main product being the mining, manufacturing, and exporting of dust, whilst also having ties to the Altesian military's R&D, transportation, and other civilian markets and areas.
First created by Nicholas Schnee, a veteran of the Great War, in the years shortly after the conflict, the SDC was created as an umbrella company, with the express purpose of protecting, unionising, and centralising dust mining and trading operations and businesses within the ravaged Mantle. Dust would flow from these trade partners and businesses through the SDC, who would then judge, sift, and price the dust that they brought up, compensate those partners for any losses that they had, and then send that dust off to their other partners, letting them sell the dust and then send a portion of those profits back into the SDC, which would then go into the restoration of Mantle and the construction of Shelter Academy, with Nicholas serving as it's headmaster. The company would also serve as negotiators and mediators in disagreements between rival dust contractors and traders, and would help to settle disputes between these businesses and find a solution and benefitted everyone.
And then, Shelter Academy was changed to Atlas Academy (For some reason), And began to grow in prominence, and with it, the SDC, as they further began to develop Atlas from just an academy to a military base, and began to help in the research and development for Mantle's military. Soon, Atlas took over as the official kingdom, with Mantle being secondary, and the SDC was elevated as a central benefactor to Atlas, gaining a position on the Atlesian council, and allowing the company to further regulate and centralise dust mining operations, buying several smaller dust companies and propping them up into central trading zones in Mantle, and expanding their operations out into the rest of the kingdoms.
And then, Nicholas Schnee passed away, and Jacques Schnee took over.
Jacques Schnee? Jaune thought to himself, Is that Winter and Weiss' dad? he gave the profile page a good look, and shrugged, It doesn't say anything about any relatives. I'll ask about it later.
Once Jacques Schnee took over, he immediately began buying out multiple dust stores across Atlas and Mantle, and began to redirect funds that were going to Mantle back into the SDC's own banks. Then, he began to outbuy several other competitors, before driving them out of business and buying up their stocks and assets, including their employees.
O... Kay? That's not exactly the wisest business model ever. Then again, I'm not a businessman, so what do I know?
And then, following that, he began to recruit and employee vast amounts of cheap labour- Most of them Faunus from the Mantlian slums- And bought out many most of the mining companies in Atlas and Mantle, forcing them to construct brand new mines not only across Solitas, but all of Remnant, forcing these labourers to work in harsh, primitive conditions for little pay.
Thus, began the multiple allegations of Faunus abuse by SDC overseers and contracted guards, with reported harassment of Faunus workers by overzealous and resentful Atlesians, and leading a rise in anti-Faunus sentiment and racial tensions, with little oversight or care from Jacques himself.
Jacques, in allowing and conducting these operations and actions, revealed himself to be a ruthless businessman, who began to run the SDC like a cartel, pushing out any other competitors and dominating the dust trade with impunity.
What the hell? What's with this turnabout? From what it looks like, the SDC was doing pretty well beforehand, so why the sudden change in tactics?
Soon, many of these allegations of racism against the Faunus within the SDC's workforce would come to the public's attention. Many of these reports of racism included beatings, harassment, and-
Branding?
There had been several reports of Faunus labourers being branded by SDC personal. All of those whom were branded have been kept anonymous, but they are still there. First hand accounts from Faunus workers report of labourers being held down by guards, and having SDC brands pressed against them, burning their bodies with red hot brandings, and leaving them with marks forever. There were also reports of guards cutting off ears and tails off of Faunus just for the sheer hell of it.
Jacques Schnee had neither confirmed, nor denied these claims.
Some mused that he was even amused by them.
Oh my god... How the hell is someone allowed to get away with this?
Eventually, the House of the White Wolves, having been under the leadership of Sienna Khan, took notice of these transgressions against their own kind, and began a campaign of violence against the SDC, raiding trains and freeing captive Faunus who were being transported to the mines.
Most of these Faunus came from varying backgrounds. Some were convicts, some of which themselves got extended overtime, some had families to feed, and some threw back too many drinks one night and just woke up in SDC chains.
Just like the old press gangs, Jaune thought to himself, Back when the 4 kingdoms started kidnapping people for military service during the Great War...
These prisoners would be released and sent back into the wild, with most of them joining the White Wolves themselves and moving to take revenge on their old captures, sparking more violence between the SDC and the Wolves, and then escalating into dust raids, arson of SDC shops, and killings of SDC personnel, eventually becoming a war between the 2 groups, with Atlas choosing to stay out of the fight.
"Well, great help they were", Jaune muttered to himself.
It is from this bloodshed that the faction within the White Wolves, the Acolytes of the Ascended, were born, and escalated the violence even further by carrying out shootings in public places against former members of their own group, and attacking SDC employed people and places with a zealous, almost religious fervour, before it then blew up into the shooting in Onus Square. The details of the shooting weren't available, but from what he was able to see, the ramifications included the deaths of over 50 innocent people, as well as 40 Mantlian and Atlesian police and military officers, and 30 Acolytes, as well as Atlas tightening it's grip on their holdings and ramping up it's drone and robotics projects, and the Acolytes going underground.
Jaune was shocked at the massive loss of life that came from this shooting, all for a war that he still didn't have a true grasp on, or fully understand. How could a dispute between 2 groups, whatever reasons they may be, devolve into such a bloody feud?
He looked through the sources on the page. All of them held the same information.
Maybe he was just being naïve. Maybe this conflict was always going to turn into such bloody violence.
No, that was just being silly.
Of course this conflict was going to turn to such bloody violence.
The SDC, from what he could see, had started this fight, and the White Wolves certainly weren't helping. Or was it the White Wolves who started it, and the White Wolves had escalated it? Did it matter? Probably not. Whatever had started the fight, the White Wolves had turned from protest to violence, and the Schnee Dust Company had only helped to escalate them. Both sides had their fair share of the blame for this bloodshed, and-
Winter.
Jaune darted his eyes from the monitor, and looked to the side, lost in thought.
Winter was a Schnee...
Where was she when Yuma was killed?
Where was she when Maxwell and the 3 Faunus from before were killed?
She was with him when they were told about the 3 officers that were killed... Who wasn't with them?
…
How rich is a Schnee? was the question that came to his mind.
He logged off of the computer and turned off the monitor. Getting out of his chair and pushing it into the desk, he left the room in silence.
He had to see to something firstly.
The armoury for the barracks was filled to the brim with weapons, from guns, to swords (For some reason), To grenades, to a bunch of freakish looking mecha-shift weapons that looked like they'd break apart at the slightest touch, but Jaune didn't pay them any mind as he walked into the grey room lit by white and neon blue lights, helmet held in his arm, and looked to the worker behind the counter, a man in a grey and blue 2 piece suit, with combat boots, shoulder, elbow, and kneepads, and a bullet proof vest, as he awkwardly looked to Jaune and then went, "Er, hey there. Looking to rent out a gun or 2, 'cause you've got some spare holsters that need to be filled."
"Heh, story of my life", Jaune went, unsure of where the sudden boost of confidence came from. The man behind the counter looked at him awkwardly, and Jaune then stuttered and went, "That was a... That was a joke, I was trying to-"
"Yeah, yep, I guessed. I figured. That was a- That was a poor choice of wording on my part."
"Er… Yeah, it was."
"So, moving on", the worker began, rubbing the back of his head before then going, "So, for the guns, you looking to rent any out, kid?"
Jaune shook his head, "No, no, I'm actually here to ask a few questions."
"Oh, er, okay."
Jaune nodded, and then asked, "Just between us, has anyone over the last few days taken out any guns that could hold armour piercing rounds? Or has anyone taken out any armour piercing rounds at all from here, or any other Atlesian armouries around here in the last few days?"
The worker looked at him, and then shrugged, "Er, kid, most Atlesian guns are configured to support armour piercing rounds."
"Ah, I didn't know that."
"Yeah, but no one's gotten any armour piercing rounds out recently. Not since we moved into Vale. And I don't know any place in Vale that sells armour piercing rounds legally, only the Hunter academies sell that stuff, and we don't have any jurisdiction to regulate or monitor those."
Jaune paused, and then hummed out, "Hm", and then continuing, "What about before you left Atlas and came here? Did anyone stand out in any way to you?"
"What are you, a cop?" the worker asked.
Jaune then paused, shrugged, and then showed him his temporary police badge, "Maybe."
The worker tilted his head, paused, sighed, and went, "No, no one stood out to me. No one had any weird faces or were sweating or looked like they were going to put a round in a robot, or anything. Hard to tell what people are thinking when most of the time, everyone's wearing a helmet", he then looked to the computer near him, "I can pull out receipts for you, if you want, but I doubt that it's gonna do much."
"Well, any sort of help is always good help", Jaune went.
"Yeah, I suppose", the worker went, tapping at the computer now in front of him, "Might take a while, though. Can't just pull up every gun transaction over the last few days immediately."
"Just do what you can", Jaune went, "And thanks."
"No problem", the worker went. Jaune then turned around and started to walk to the door, "You got somewhere to be?"
"Yep", was his response, "Got a crime scene to investigate."
It was hard to tell that the CSI officials had ever been at the first crime scene, having left little evidence of them being there, save for a extra pairs of footprints in the dirt and a swab in the bloody stains on the ground and bushes.
It was both a good and a bad omen. It was good, because that meant that the crime scene was still relatively untouched, and as such there was still a lot of evidence and theories that they could pull out of the area, and connect them to the crime scene itself.
The bad news was that it meant that the cops weren't doing their jobs, and they hadn't done a furrow enough investigation of the surrounding area and pulling out as much as they could. He remembered Harriet earlier acting passive aggressively when it came to the cops, especially when he first met her earlier, so that had to say a lot about the state of the crime scene investigation department in this city.
Jaune would blame the conscription law, but he would like to get some proper context on as many angles of that argument first before he started pointing fingers.
Speaking of which...
"I found something!" he called out to Winter as he knelt next to a dusty bush, "Well, a few somethings, anyway."
"What is it?" Winter asked as she came over to the bush and knelt down on the other side of it.
Around them, the leaves on the trees and the blades of grass on the ground shimmered in the growing condensation that came with the evenings, and waved left to right in the gentle nightly breeze. The sky was filled with stars and a forever crescent moon, though made murky by the light pollution from the nightlights of the city, and the walls were made a shade blacker by the night, the neon blue lights of the cannons that were perched up on top of them providing the only source of sight and comfort that travelled down the walls.
In the distance, the owls gave their evening calls, and the fireflies danced between the trees. A nest of birds slumbered away in the branches above them. In the far distance, a pair of Flattop Watchtowers let out a soft yawn and nested on the ground for the night, and a flock of birds flew overhead, shielded from harm by the animals below by the gentle, freeing breeze of the air. In the distance, life finally began to grow again in the Emerald Forest and the Valerian plains, with the remains of the Grimm Tidings having been chipped and picked away by the scavengers and the vultures, whilst nearby, what was left of the melted remains of the Winchester and the King's Sword, having mostly been disintegrated in the fireball that consumed them, the rest of them melted together in the heat, sat in the middle of a burnt out crater as an ugly showing of modern art, all sharp and soft corners and broken angles.
Further away, across the fields that were freed from war, and the forests that were forever charred and scarred by battle, Mount Glenn stood, an ugly reminder of the past. The broken down remains of the last settlement that had been built there no longer stood tall, it's tallest buildings having been broken down long ago. Around it, the faded remains of the old floating city of Titan decorated the area like baubles on a tree, shattered and rusting habitation pods the size of city districts sticking out against their black and brown and green surrounds and casting shadows so deep that nothing grew in their wake.
The whole place probably smelt of iron and gas and rusting metal and death.
Speaking of which, Jaune gestured to the bush, and flicked a leaf. Under the torchlight, the world around the leaf shimmered a dull, burnt grey.
"Look familiar?"
"Ash", Winter went, dabbing another swab into the grey dust and comparing it to the swab that she had taken earlier, "The same shade, and from the looks of it, the same texture and grain as from the crime scene in the commercial district."
"Which means that there's a definite link between a few of our crime scenes, now, aside from the methods of death", Jaune went, pulling out a pair of tweezers and reaching into the bush, and getting at something, "And now, we possibly have a link between all of them."
Winter seemed surprised at this. Jaune didn't point that out, "What is it?" she asked.
Jaune then stuck his tongue out in concentration, and then dramatically went, "AH HAH!" before pulling out the tweezer from the bush and revealing what was in it's grasp, "Look familiar?"
An ammo shell was grasped awkwardly between the tongs of the tweezers, coloured a dull, busted grey, "Looks like the shell of an armour piercing round", Winter pointed out, before she queered her head to the side and went, "And it looks like there is... Writing on the side."
Jaune turned the shell over, and looked to see on the maroon coloured shell, a series of black scribbles so tiny that he couldn't make out the words, something that only a microscope would be able to see.
"Hm", Jaune hummed to himself as he examined the maroon shell, and then went, "Well, we'll know more once we get this back to the police station and put it under the microscope", he then carefully placed the shell in an evidence bag, and said to Winter, "Even if the initial police investigation was sloppy, I'm surprised that they missed this."
"I'm not", Winter said, with a degree of annoyance in her voice, "Even before the conscription laws were put in place, and even before the Initiation Massacre, Vale's police force were horrendously corrupt", she looked right at him, "I did my research. Officers were paid off, investigations went cold, and leads on criminals were treated with a curious lack of haste", she scoffed at this, and got up, "Not as bad as Mistral, of course, but still, it is horribly unfortunate", Jaune nodded at this, "Do you see anything else that we can pull from here?"
"Well, apart from the blood stains and the rest of the ammo shells in this bush", Jaune went as he looked into the bush for anything else out of the ordinary, picking out the last of the maroon ammo shells and placing them into their own evidence bags, "No, nothing else out of... Wait."
He stopped, and looked to a twig deep in the bush. Reaching his tweezer into the bush, he carefully wiggled something off of the bush and presented it for all to see.
A single piece of fabric was held in the grasp of his tweezer, coloured white, though stained by tiny wood fragments and smudged by the grey ash.
"Here's something", Jaune went as he presented it to Winter, "Looks like it was ripped off of a piece of clothing", he furrowed his eyebrows, then raised one and looked to Winter, "Look familiar?"
"I do not believe so", Winter replied, "It could be from an Atlesian uniform, but then again, it could be from a lot of uniforms as well", she paused, and then looked at Jaune, "Why are you asking me?"
He shrugged, hiding his suspicion under his helmet, "I thought you'd know."
Winter kept looking at him, before moving her eyes away and going, "A good point, I suppose, but unfortunately, I do not", she then gave him another look, before getting up and dusting her knees, "Right then, we should hurry up here. We're on a time limit."
"Well, yeah", Jaune went, getting up himself and placing the white fabric in another evidence bag, "We've got a murderer to catch. Can't be wasting time before this guy decides to strike again."
"Well, yes, of course", Winter amended.
"Is there anything else?"
She nodded, "A politician was killed, which automatically makes this a political case, which means that the council will be placing further scrutiny on us to solve it, lest we suffer the consequences", Jaune's eyes widened at that, and Winter continued, "If we take too long, they'll try to force us to work with a political officer."
"Ugh."
"If we don't reach a satisfying conclusion for them, then they will most likely replace us with someone who is more... Aligned with their intentions."
"Eugh!"
"...Yes... Ugh and eugh indeed..."
Winter's scroll began to flash, and she pulled it out of her pocket to see that she was getting a call. Jaune leaned in to see that it was from Chief Raymond.
Pressing the answer button, she then turned the speaker on and answered, "Specialist Schnee here."
"Raymond here, we've got a lead on the phone number that you and the kid pulled from my officers", there was a hint of distain in the last part of his sentence, but he continued on, "Turns out that the number belongs to someone who's very well known to the police force."
Jaune looked to Winter, and then leaned over the phone and asked, "Really? Who?"
"One Hei Xiong, who goes by the street name of 'Junior'."
Jaune winced at that, as did Winter, "His name is 'Junior'?
"Yep."
"Who the hell's Senior, then?"
"Yeah, we're still trying to figure that out. We'll let you know if anything pops up."
"...O... Kay", Jaune slowly drawled out, before going, "Well, what else do we know about this Junior guy?"
"He's an information broker", Raymond continued, "Information dealing with Vale's criminal underworld."
"Oh, so he's a drug dealer, and all that."
"Er, from what I can see over here, he doesn't go anywhere near that stuff, but he does lend out a bunch of his goons for guys like Roman Torchwick and his gang, and does sell information to criminals, but we've never been able to prove it."
"Seriously?"
"Never had the jurisdiction is the official report, but I reckon that it was either because he was giving information to the police force for their investigations, or he was paying them off. Or they just didn't care. Something like that."
"Oh... Great", Jaune muttered, rolling his eyes underneath his helmet.
"Hei Xiong", Winter began, re-establishing herself in the conversation by asking, "Do we know where he is?"
"As a matter of fact, we do. His main base of operations, and his home, is a nightclub called the Lightbright, in the upper industrial district, where he runs that place and a few other legitimate businesses as proxy and shell companies. A few weeks ago, there was some sort of fight there, and they had to close down for repairs, but from what I can see on the club's online information, it had it's grand reopening a few days ago."
"Huh, enough time for a meeting between this Hei Xiong and Flash, Connie and Tyler", Winter commented.
"Sounds like it", Jaune went, before looking back down to the phone and going, "What about Yuma and Trifa? Do we know where they were going to go with those police records?"
"Well, we couldn't pull much from the bodies, other than a scroll with a bullet hole in it- No need to wonder what happen to that- And that same glass that you pulled off of Yuma, but we were able to get something out of our mutual corrupt friend."
"The guy with glasses?"
"Yep. Turns out that he and Yuma had met earlier and hashed out their deal in a very familiar nightclub."
"You mean the Lightbright?"
"Second verse, same as the first, and apparently our good friend, who is currently in a holding cell in the station, overhead earlier that Yuma was going to be meeting someone in the Lightbright as well. Tonight."
Winter and Jaune looked between each other, and then to the Bullhead that they had used to arrive at the crime scene outside the walls, and then to each other once more, before looking back down to the scroll, "Affirmative", Winter replied.
"Roger that", Jaune went, shuffling his feet and looking to Winter, "Time to pay ol' Junior a visit. See if we can't kill 2 birds with 1 stone."
If what Raymond had said was true, then Hei Xiong- Or Junior, which was his street name, apparently- Had been holding meetings for both Yuma and Flash and his friends, as well as whoever they were meeting at his nightclub. If we were lucky, then he would spill on why he was holding meeting for the White Wolves, and tell us why Flash had decided to go there as well.
Of course, it was possible that maybe Flash, Connie, and Tyler were going there just to dance, and stuff, but the fact that they going to a club, who's owner has ties to the criminal underworld, right on it's first day, as well as 2 members of the House of the White Wolves, was just too big of a coincidence to ignore.
Then, there was the possibility that there wasn't a coincidence. It was likely that Flash and his friends, as well as Yuma and Trifa, were going to the Lightbright for the same reason, and were going to meet each other up there.
It was a possibility, but it wasn't a certainty.
Still though, we flew back to the airfield within Vale, and then took a police cruiser through Vale down to the Lightbright.
However, on the way, we were stopped in the commercial district. Our way was blocked by a group of Faunus protesting against the council and the conscription laws.
"The council wants to make peace with us, they say! The council wants to give rights to us, they say!" a hyena Faunus with sharpened teeth and claws cried out in front of a crowd of fellow Faunus as he stood atop an elevated podium made out of spare wooden boxes, all of the protesters below holding picket signs of their own as they listened to the ranting activist, "Even though those same people had, not too long ago, lumped us all in the same category as those bastard White Wolves, who murder our own kind and say that it is for the betterment of us all, just like the bastards in the council!"
This elicited a cheer from the crowd of Faunus as nearby, in their police cruiser, Winter and Jaune looked on with a curious gaze at the Faunus who had flooded and blocked their path on the road, Winter at the wheel.
"Should we...", Jaune hesitantly began, "Should we do something about this?" he pointed to the crowd, "These guys are causing an obstruction of the road, or something. They could bring harm to someone."
"I doubt that they will cause much harm to anyone", Winter said from behind the wheel, "And from the looks of it, they're not sympathetic to the White Wolves, so unless they turn violent, then there's no reason to intervene."
"Yeah, well, crowds like this do go violent sometimes", Jaune, having taken off his helmet, nursed his still bruised cheek, "Believe me, I know."
"Yes, well, so do I, but from the looks of it, there's already a police presence nearby to make sure that this protest doesn't come to that", she pointed to the sides, where other police cruisers were sitting in silence, the officers inside looking onto the crowd with readied faces, "See? There, there, and there."
"Yeah, well, I think I'm not exactly in a position to trust our newest officers with something as possibly volatile as this."
"Hm, fair point."
"And who are they, I hear you ask!" the hyena Faunus continued on, riling up the crowd as he cried out, "Who are they that call us animals, freaks, and beasts? Who are they that cast us out of our homes, and brand us criminals, crooks, and monsters? Who are they that deny us jobs, livelihoods, and homes, all because of an extra pair of ears on our heads? They are the decrepit fat bastards that hide behind the walls of the council building, and the police department, and Navi Heights! They are the aging relics of an age long gone, who pass laws that they say are for our protection, and for our betterment, but do nothing but spread corruption and give a badge to those that would execute us with impunity!"
This got the crowd really riled up, chanting and swearing, whilst a few of the cops in their cars began to get fidgety, scowls on their faces as they moved to get out, though their partners held them back. Jaune pointed this out, and Winter replied with, "They won't do anything rash. Their partners will keep them in line, and even if any of the other officers do get out, then they'll be facing the crowds alone, and no one wants that."
Jaune hummed in response as Winter began to reverse the cruiser, and move down to a side road nearby, focusing his attention to the crowd of protesters once again, and asking, "Who on Remnant would want to hold a protest in the middle of the night?"
"Less cars out, less chance of obstructing anyone's way on the road, thereby less chance of bringing the police down on them."
"Yeah, but they didn't have to do it in a residential area."
"No, this is a commercial area, not residential. There are no shops around here, not houses. I have little doubt that the only things that they'll be waking up around here are the stray cats in the alleyways."
Jaune hummed once more, and paid his attention back to the crowd of protesters, as the hyena Faunus continued, "And they use the White Wolves as an excuse to arrest and detain us! They would use a band of murderers and thugs that use our name as a banner for their slaughter as leverage against us, so that they can throw and kick us into the dirt with a clear conscience!"
"Who do you think these guys are?" Jaune asked, "'Cause they really don't like the White Wolves from the sounds of it."
"I would say either Faunus Lives Matter, or the Exodus Troop", Winter replied, "I remember Radio Free Remnant saying that the Exodus Troop had made a presence in Vale about 2 or 3 days ago."
"Radio Free Remnant? I thought that was just Mistralian propaganda?"
"No, Voice of Mistral is all Mistralian propaganda, Radio Free Remnant is an underground news network that operates out of Menagerie, and before you ask, they hate the White Wolves just as much as we do."
"Huh", went Jaune, as he turned back to the crowd and the one that was rallying them.
"And now- And now!- These same bastards and fat gargoyles that beat us down, suddenly wish to break bread with us! I say no! I say resist! This is nothing but a ploy! A trap for them to butter us up, so that they may get us, as a people, onto their chessboards, ready to be moved and manipulated like the good little pawns that we are!"
Jaune didn't see how the rest of the rally went, as Winter finished reversing the car and turned it down the side road, leaving the image and the fading cries of the crowd behind, though his thoughts on it still lingered.
Before long, he asked, "Do you ever wonder where all of this is going?"
Winter seemed to know what he was thinking about, "Of course. I'm not one to completely trust the news, as they tend to come with their own share of biases and exaggerations, but most of the news sources now say that there is a White Wolf presence in every city on the planet, big or small."
"That... Does not bode well."
"Indeed, and they're attracting Faunus from all walks of life, from the young and the naïve, to killers and mercenaries. There have even been members of groups like Faunus Rights Matter and the Brotherhood of Two that have spoken out in support of the White Wolves", Winter paused, and then said, "Apologies if that sounds alarmist."
"No, no, it's fine", Jaune went, "I mean, all of this is heading somewhere bad, isn't it? I mean, if the council doesn't do anything to curb the corruption in the police force, and if the Wolves keep growing in numbers...", he paused, and then began, "I have this friend, by the name of Melanie, who says that all of this stuff with the Wolves isn't about reformation, it's about revolution", he paused once more, and then said, "It's about a new world order. Another war on top of the one that we've already got.
Winter took her eyes off of the road for just a second to spare him a look, and just went, "I... Suppose that her conclusion... Is not entirely inaccurate... The Wolves have been trying to rile up the Faunus population of Remnant for sometime now, though it's reason to believe that their ambitions far outweigh their realistic expectations", despite herself, she shrugged, "Not every Faunus across the planet wants to kill everyone. Same as not every human is a racist. Only the bad ones."
"Yeah, but I don't think that they care", Jaune went, before continuing, "The racists, I mean. Both sides. Push comes to shove, the Wolves are gonna riot."
"Yes, if they are not already", Winter muttered to herself, though Jaune picked it up, "The Wolves are like their namesake. Nothing more than rabid dogs clawing at whatever excuse they can get to hurt people, no matter what allegiance, kingdom, or species that they are."
She gripped the steering wheel tightly, her stoic face morphing into a scowl.
"I've lost good people to those animals. I refuse to loose anymore!"
She calmed herself, and spared a passing glance at Jaune as she took a deep breath.
"I... Apologise for that outburst", she slowly said, "That was... Unprofessional of me."
"No it's- It's fine", Jaune waved it down, "It's fine."
Winter hummed in response and nodded, and Jaune took to looking back to the dark, moving streets outside.
He kept his thoughts on her to himself.
And his growing suspicions.
"You sure you don't want a glass of water or something, kid?" Carmine asked as she watched Ruby grab a spare cushion and a blanket, laying them down onto her makeshift bed as she then said, "You haven't had anything all day."
"I'll be fine", Ruby said as she took off her pauldrons and arm armour, and then began to take off her boots, undoing the laces and putting them to the side.
"You sure?" Carmine asked again as she leaned against the doorframe to the guestroom, "You can't focus if you're on an empty stomach."
"I'll have to in the future", Ruby waved it off as she took off her ammo belt and put her Crescent Rose 2.0 to the side, as well as the other 2 weapons that she had strapped to her back, and looked into her bag at the side of her bed to see that she hadn't brought her pyjamas with her, "Ah, I knew I was forgetting something", she muttered, before turning back to Carmine and going, "In the wild, away from the cities, we'll have to contend with being hungry and away from any food sources, so I should probably get some practice in, should I?"
"That's... Not exactly the healthiest thing to do, but alright", Carmine said as she got off of the doorframe and reached for the handle, "Just make sure to get some food in you tomorrow morning. Don't wanna give you over to our fellow Hunters with an empty belly now, do we?" she then grasped the door handle, and waved, "See you crack of dawn, kid", before closing the door, and leaving the room in darkness.
Ruby didn't bother changing out of the rest of her clothes as she listened to Carmine on the other side talk to herself about Bertilak and his meetings, before she zoned herself out, and closed her eyes, trying to put to rest the concerns that she had in her head about Bertilak, and Carmine, and what they had said, and so on.
If she had been listening in, she would've heard the muffled and faded chuckle of Roman Torchwick downstairs.
If what Winter and I had been talking about was accurate, then the Wolves being in Vale was an even bigger danger than we'd once thought, but at the moment, we had other priorities in hand. We had to leave the greater threat of the Wolves to Ozpin and Ironwood and those guys.
Still though, it wasn't a pleasant thought to have. We're already at war with the Ascendant Court now, and we've already lost thousands of people in the first week. We don't have the time, resources, or morale to fight a war against the Grimm whilst we're fighting a war against ourselves. We need to serve as a united front against the Grimm and their masters, not unable to stand on our own 2 feet because of our own problems.
A house divided amongst itself cannot stand.
Editing note: Edit this all down. No one needs to listen to this wishy washy preaching stuff when it's already been told to them a million times before.
Anyways, after a while, we arrived at the Lightbright.
Suffice to say, our trip didn't go very well.
The outside of the Lightbright was an old brick building on the corner of a street- Underneath a wide railway track with freight trains that chugged away overhead- With arched windows that hid away the flashing lights and music inside. The only indicators of life inside, and any actual usage of the building was a pair of sliding doors at the entrance that let out muffled sounds of music and flashes of technicolour light, and the small sign over the pair of doors that, on it, read the name of the nightclub, with a pair of bouncers just behind the doors, dressed in black shirts and trousers with red armbands, black shades, and earpieces.
But that wasn't what Jaune was paying attention to.
"Who are those guys?"
Winter looked at him as they both got out of the police cruiser, "Who?"
"Those guys, there", he pointed to the side of the road, to a black car of the same make, with 2 people in the car dressed in plain, casual clothing, looking over them and the nightclub, "And there", he then pointed to the other side of the road, and to an identical black car, with another 2 people gazing over them and the nightclub intently.
"They're undercover officers", she quietly said to them, "I can make out the off lights in their car grills."
"Why are they here? I thought we were going it alone."
"I called them here."
Jaune looked to her with a questioning glance under his helmet, "You what?"
"I called them here when we were back in the airfield. I felt it be better if we went in with reinforcements available", she paused, looking from the cars to him, "Why do you ask?"
"Well, I would've liked if you'd told me that you brought in backup", Jaune went, "I appreciate it, but I would've liked if you'd told me earlier", he shrugged, "We're on this case together, aren't we?"
"Well, I had thought that it would be an obvious choice", Winter pointed out, "We don't want to go into a criminal establishment without reinforcements."
"It's not the choice itself, it's the lack of trust behind it."
"Well, in the future, I shall make sure to inform you", Winter amended as they approached the doors, "I apologise for the breach of trust, and I shall make sure to amend it in the future."
"...Right, right", Jaune muttered to himself, "Sure you will..."
The doors to the Lightbright slid open in front of them, and the bouncers in front of them held their hands out to stop them. A flash of their badges gave them passage through the second pair of doors.
"Well, they were nice", Jaune commented.
"Indeed", Winter went, "Hei Xiong was apparently selling information to the police before, and we know that Flash, Jessabelle, and Guerra, have been to this place before, for whatever reason that may be."
Jaune mirthlessly chuckled, "Can't wait to find out."
The insides of the Lightbright looked to be freshly refurbished, coloured in black and white, and illuminated by white lights running along the floor and walls and ceiling, and punctuated by rainbow coloured flashing lights built into the pillars that held up the roof, with a pure white dancefloor sitting in the middle of the room, surrounded by elevated platforms, a DJ stand at the far end of the dancefloor, and a large bar at the side, with a large platform elevated by glowing white stairs, with a series of tables and chairs positioned together for people to drink on and look over the dancefloor.
Nice place, Jaune thought to himself, I might've come here again if it wasn't for the whole criminal hideout thing.
The bar was sparsely populated by people, mostly more bouncers and a few dancers and people sitting in the tables above. The dancers on the floor consisted of 2 humans, a lizard Faunus with scales across his skin and a tail, and a pink coloured Techion with green eyes and an orange faceplate, whilst in the tables above, sat a few humans and a Techion in purple and pink with a single glowing blue eye that encompassed the entirety of their face. Around the bar, the bouncers consisted of mostly humans and a few Faunus, as well as AK-BX robots that were coloured in purple and white with glowing red optics, with tasers and pistols strapped to their waists.
Jaune wasn't surprised by the lack of people around. Ever since the announcement of the Second Great War, from what he had heard on the news- He hadn't left Beacon for the entire week since he'd been let out of the GVMC- Most people had been staying in their homes, hunkering down, and only ever going outside for either work that they couldn't do at home or essential shopping. People were scared, and while a few might go out to try and live life as normal, and another few might take to the time to start living each day as if it were their last- Because in all fairness, they probably were- But most just stayed in their homes and locked their doors, jealously hording their supplies and loved ones close.
He didn't blame this kind of mentality that was floating around. He and his family would definitely have been doing the same if they were living in one of the big cities. In fact, in the first few weeks of their time in Jewel, none of them had left their new house at all, only ever coming out for food, so it had taken them a while to readjust to their lives once more.
He was broken out of his thoughts when he spotted someone behind the bar. A tall man with a matching beard and moustache, wearing a black vest and red tie over a white dress shirt, polishing a glass from behind the counter. He looked depressed, but that wasn't Jaune's business. He needed to find out where this Junior guy was, and what Yuma and Flash had been after by coming here.
He and Winter approached the bar, and Jaune took a seat at the counter, whilst Winter chose to fold her arms together and stand up next to him. It was her that got the bartender's attention first, and he looked up and narrowed his eyes at her, "You a Schnee?"
Winter raised an eyebrow, "You know of my family?"
"Hard not to", he shrugged, "Especially since your family name is stamped onto practically every dust shipment into Vale", he snorted in feigned mirth, "Or since your husband, or dad or whatever-"
"Father."
"I'm not your dad."
"No, you're thinking of Jacques. He's my father, not", her face scowled up in disgust, "Not anything else."
"Right", he held his hands up in surrender, "My bad", he put his hands down, as well as his dishcloth and glass that he was cleaning, and then asked, "What's the likes of you doing down here, anyways? Thought guys and girls like you were too good for us plebs?"
Winter looked as if she was about to retort something, but Jaune stopped her, muttering, "Stop it, Winter", before looking at the bartender and going, "We're looking for a guy named Hei Xiong, goes by the name Junior, or something. You know him?"
"I am him", he pointed to himself, "I'm Junior."
"Oh", Jaune's eyebrows rose under his helmet, before he lowered one and asked, "If you're Junior, then who's-"
"'Who's Senior'? Yeah, I get that joke all of the time", he humourlessly said, "Is there anything you want?"
"Yeah. We're on official business", Jaune said as he flashed his badge to him, with Winter doing the same a second after.
'Junior' just looked at the badges, and sighed, "Ah dammit- What'd you want?"
"Information. We've heard that you're a generous provider, see?" Jaune tapped on the scroll that was built into the armour of his lower left arm, and he flashed the faces of Flash, Connie, and Tyler at the bartender, "You recognise these 3?"
Junior took a short look at the 3 images, before looking to the younger boy and going, "Nope, never seen them before", he must've realised that this was an interrogation, rather than a trade off, judging from the slightly defensive look that his face had taken.
Jaune narrowed his eyes through his visor, and tapped on the scroll to show the head images of Yuma and Trifa, "What about these 2? Ring any bells?"
"Nada, no bells rung", Junior shrugged, "Sorry."
Jaune sighed, and stopped Winter from saying something by putting a hand before her, leaning back, before looking around the bar, and going, "Nice place you've got here, Junior. Looks like it was newly made. Smells like it as well."
This visibly put Junior at ease, as his shoulders laxed, and he scowled, "Yeah, just got the place redone. Some blondie a couple of weeks ago barged in and completely trashed the place. Trying to find someone, or something."
Trying to find someone, or something.
Bingo.
Put most of my staff in the hospital. Had to close up just to repair the place, and now I can't make back the revenue that I lost from those weeks off because of the war, now, so that sucks a lot for me."
"'Most of your staff'? You mean most of your bouncers?" he gestured a thumb to the bouncers, "Or must of your goons, I mean? Most of your goons, who, rumour has it, somehow find their way onto Roman Torchwick's payroll, or some other group of gangster? I mean, maybe, but hey, that's all just rumour..."
Junior looked at him with narrowed eyes, "...What do you want?"
"Better question is, why would some 'Blondie' barge into a bar in the middle of the industrial district, a place left for the gangsters and criminals, looking for someone? Why would they come here if they're looking for someone in here? Maybe they were looking for something, or maybe", he leaned forward, "They were looking for a lead? Maybe, just maybe, they were, perhaps, looking for information."
Junior sighed, and went, "Alright, alright, I've seen them before. The 2 Faunus came in earlier with a friend during the opening evening a few days ago. So did the Techion and his 2 buddies."
Jaune nodded, "That's better", before putting his hands on the counter, bringing them together, and going, "Why the lie, though? Is it like a hospital in here? Patient confidentiality, and all that."
"Yeah, it's like that", Junior replied, "Can't just give out information like that. It's a breach of trust, and not professional at all."
"Hmph", Jaune went, "Yeah, I get it, but in this case, it's not exactly to everyone's benefit."
"Why's that?"
"Because someone's murdered them all."
Junior was taken back by this, and his eyes widened as he then asked, "What?"
"Yeah", Jaune sombrely replied, "The Techion and his friends, Flash, Connie, and Tyler. They're dead. Same for Yuma and Trifa, the 2 Faunus, as well as 3 other Faunus, and a man as well", Jaune paused once more, letting the information sink in for Junior, before adding in some context, "They were all murdered the same way, and most likely by the same person. The lone man was a councilman, the 3 Faunus were confirmed members of the White Wolves, as were Yuma and Trifa, who were also members of the Acolytes of the Ascended, and Flash, Connie, and Tyler were police officers. Now, I don't know if the councilman and the 3 other White Wolves were here, for whatever reason that they might have, but I know for a fact that Flash and his group were here, as well as Yuma and Trifa, and I also know for a fact that they were going to be meeting here again."
Jaune paused once more, letting Junior understand his point without needing to say it, before continuing on yet again.
"There's a murderer running about, and we don't know who they're gonna try and gun down next. If you have any leads- Anything at all- Then you need to tell us."
Junior looked to the side, seemingly weighing his options, before going, "Fine", nodding, and then putting his own hands on the bar counter. Jaune moved his hands away, and leaned back, relaxing as Junior began, "That Techion, Flash, and his 2 cop friends- They came here to meet up with 2 people. Hunters."
"Hunters?" Winter asked.
"Yeah."
"Why? Why here?"
"Because they're dirty", Winter was taken aback, as was Jaune, and Junior continued, "They're corrupt. Flash and his guys were helping the Hunters to run guns. Sell them to the highest bidder. The Hunters would bring in the guns, and those 3 cops would look the other way. For a price, of course", he paused, and sighed, "Yuma and Trifa, they and their buddy were their own propaganda club. They'd steal or buy any official documents and records that they could get their hands on and edit them down into propaganda pieces for the Wolves. I don't know about the councilman and the 3 other Wolves, I swear", he put his hands up in defence, "That's all I know."
Jaune nodded, and Winter then asked, "Were these 2 Hunters planning on meeting up here again?"
"Not that I'm aware of."
"What about this friend of Yuma and Trifa? Are they here already?"
"Yeah, in one of the backrooms", Junior pointed to a door to the side, "Their friend's a Techion. Goes by the name of Primal, or something. One of my guys can take you down there", he went as he gestured to one of the bouncers nearby, the man nodding as Junior then pointed to Winter and went, "He ain't gonna react well to a Schnee, though. Most Wolves in general don't, to be fair."
"I can handle myself."
"Yeah, I don't doubt that, but my bar can't."
"Hm."
"What about those 2 Hunters you were talking about?" Jaune asked, "The ones who were meeting with Flash, Connie, and Tyler?"
"They're bad news, kid", Junior went, before asking, "You are a kid, aren't you, like in Hunter high school, or something?" Jaune nodded, and Junior continued, "Those 2 are some of the worst Hunters I've ever had to deal with. They used to work with that old cult that worshipped Grimm in the Sleeping City before they all got killed off about a year ago. They'd either kidnap or herd people towards the cult for their sacrifices, or whatever the hell they did with them. I only know about this because the Huntress' partner liked to brag about it whenever he got drunk around here. Now they just spend their time doing odd jobs as Hunters and running guns for the gangs in Vale on the side", he sighed, "I don't know their names. One of the bouncers might, though. I'll ask around, but I can't promise anything."
Jaune nodded again, "Right", before getting up from his seat, and going, "Just, do your best. As quickly as you can, please."
Junior grunted, "Sure thing", and gestured to the same bouncer, who then began to lead Winter to the backrooms, the Huntress folding her hands behind her back as she followed with a steady, rhythmic pattern to her heeled footsteps across the flashing white dancefloor and smooth black floor.
Jaune moved to follow as well, but stopped once he spared a glance to under the opposite side of the counter, seeing a picture that's windowed frame was masked by light reflections. He tilted his head to the side, to get a proper look.
His eyes widened.
Miltia and Melanie Malachite stood side by side in the pictures, the girl in white trying to look away with a frustrated pout that betrayed amusement and even enjoyment, while the twin in red, as she always seemed to, had a gentle smile on her face, her eyes stilled, and looking like they were staring right into the eyes of those who looked at the image.
As if she was staring right into the souls of those who looked at the image.
He was broken out of his gazing by Junior, who quickly shut the cupboard that the picture was in closed, and gave Jaune an intimidating look, "Sorry", Jaune quickly said, "It's just... Sorry", rubbing the back of his neck, he then said his thanks to Junior for his cooperation, and hurried along after Winter.
The backrooms were sectioned off by a corridor that was covered in black covered walls and ceiling that housed white lights, and a white floor, with maroon carpets, which led to red doors that themselves led into their own rooms.
No need to wonder what happened in these rooms.
Jaune stopped, as well as Winter, as the bouncer indicated to the door, and went, "Primal's in there", before then pointing to Winter and going, "Like the boss said, he ain't gonna react well to a Schnee, so it's best that you stay outside. Let the other one handle it."
"And like I said, I can handle myself", Winter argued, but Jaune stopped her before she could continue.
"As much as I would not like to escalate the situation, I'm afraid that Winter and I are gonna have to go in together", he said, "Can't go into a room with a possible terrorist-"
"Confirmed terrorist."
"-What she said, We can't go in alone- Actually", Jaune paused, tapping his chin, and going, "How about this: You stay out here and provide overwatch, and I'll go in there and try to talk to him. Maybe get him to surrender peacefully. If things get ugly, I can call on you, and we can bring him down together."
There was a second meaning to his words, besides the peaceful option. Jaune simply didn't trust Winter to be alone with a White Wolf member. From what he had seen, there was too much bad blood between the Schnee family and the White Wolves to ignore, to the point where one probably couldn't get them into the same room without them trying to kill each other, and from what he had seen from Winter, she definitely felt resentment for the White Wolves. Understandable, of course, but too much that he wouldn't trust her to not make a confrontation like this personal.
That, and he just... Well, he just didn't trust her. At least, not enough to leave her alone with anyone. The last few hours with Winter hadn't exactly endeared him towards her.
"Bad idea", he knew that she would disagree, but he didn't say, "You're a Hunter in training, and I'm the Specialist. You stay out here, I'll take him alone."
"Yeah, it's the alone part that bothers me..."
"What was that?"
"I said that it'd be better if I went in. We want to solve this situation peacefully, not violently, and if this guy sees you, he'll freak out. You're a Schnee, he'll pull a gun on you."
"I am fully capable of convincing an opponent to surrender."
Are you? "Yeah, but we'll have a better chance of getting him to come quietly if we don't present him with anything that might trigger him! A Schnee for example."
"I'm going to ignore the phrasing in that sentence and say that you do not have the same experience that I do, and you will be the first to be defeated if a fight breaks out-"
"We're not trying to start a fight, Winter! That's the point!"
The bouncer just looked between the 2 of them, and simply said, "So, er, do you guys want me to tell him to wait, or..."
The red door violently opened up, and a Techion marched out, covered in brownish black fur on his shoulders, back, lower arms and sides of his legs, and just above his chest and below his neck, with the metal parts of him coloured silver, with red and blue sections coloured on him, as well as a blue head with a silver faceplate and glowing red optics, as well as a glowing orange circle on his chest, and 2 long silver cannons attached to his back.
The ape looking Techion, most likely 'Primal', then looked around and went, "Yuma, Trifa, what the hell are you arguing about? I can hear you from in..."
He then looked at Jaune and Winter.
They all froze.
And then the 2 cannons on his back aimed themselves at the 2 Hunters, and 2 curved swords emerged from his arms and sat snuggly in his hands, pointing them at Jaune and Winter and yelling out, "Who the fuck are you 2?!"
Winter pulled out her sabre and pointed it at the Techion, while the bouncer behind them pulled out his pistol and called for backup, also whilst Winter ordered, "Stand down."
"Schnee...", the Techion growled out, his burning red optics somehow narrowing.
"Stand. Down."
"Fuck you!"
"Sir, I am ordering you to stand down."
"Make me."
Winter scowled, "Gladly."
"Hey hey, woah, guys", Jaune went, putting his hands between the 2 of them and going, "Let's calm down, alright, let's be cool about this", before muttering to Winter, "I told you this would happen", and then going over to the Techion and saying, "Hey, Primal- It's Primal, isn't it?- Look, we just- We just wanna talk, alright. Nothing more."
"We need you to come with us", Winter interjected.
"Not helping, Winter..."
"Fuck you, I ain't going anywhere with a Schnee!" Primal yelled out, "I've heard the stories of what she and her daddy do to Wolves in captivity! I've seen it, I've felt it! I'm not going anywhere with her!"
"Okay, then how about we don't go anywhere then?" Jaune countered, "How about we just stay here and talk, because that's all I want to do. Just talk."
"Arc...", Winter muttered out, "We can't just let him go-"
"Winter, just- Just trust me, okay?" Jaune went, aware of the hypocrisy of his tone, but he didn't say, but, as he turned back to Primal, he did say, "Look, Primal, we just wanted to talk to you about Yuma Landis and Trifa Fajardo, okay? That's it."
"Yuma? Trifa?" Primal began, "Where are they?! What have you done to them?!"
"I haven't done anything to them, it's just...", Jaune sighed, "Primal, I'm sorry to say this but... Yuma and Trifa, they've been... They've been murdered."
Primal twitched, and lowered his head. After a few seconds, he began to shake.
And then violently slammed one of his swords into the red door next to him, imbedding itself into the painted wood and splitting the door in half.
"DAMMIT!" he cried out, almost breaking his mechanical voice box as he then looked to Winter and snarled, "Schnee..."
"Hey, woah woah woah, Winter- She didn't kill them!" Jaune called back, trying not to hide his own, now confused suspicions as he then said, "But we are trying to find out who actually murdered them."
"You wanna find a murderer, look behind you, kid!" Primal snarled out as he then pointed both of the cannons on his back to Winter, "Now more out of the way and let me kill this bitch!"
"Guys, seriously", the bouncer said into his earpiece, "I need backup in here. Things are getting out of hand."
"Wait, no, look", Jaune began to argue again, before groaning and going, "Look, Yuma and Trifa, they were murdered by the same person, or people, that killed 3 Wolves earlier this morning, as well as 3 corrupt police officers and a councilman. Now, I know that you, Yuma, and Trifa were running some kind of news changing operation, but I don't give a damn about that-"
That wasn't entirely the truth. If they did bring him in for questioning, regardless of wherever he actually had anything to do with the murders, he was still a criminal and member of a terrorist organisation who was running a propaganda and fake news operation, and would still be charged and sent to prison for them. Even if he was working on an entirely different case, he couldn't look away from an illegal operation like this, so if he was able to bring this guy in, then they'd be able to jail him for those crimes anyways, and he'd be killing 2 birds with one stone.
"-But what I do give a damn about is the fact that there is a murderer running around Vale with 9 deaths to their name- That we know of!- And I'm trying to find any sort of lead on the fucker that can help bring him down, so please, if you have any information that can help us get an edge on this guy, then you've got to tell us."
"I ain't going anywhere with you, or the Schnee whore!" Primal yelled out as the insides of his cannons began to glow orange, "You know what they do to Wolves in captivity, kid?!"
"No, but-"
"They hand us off to the SDC, and they brand us! They burn us, and skin us, and send us off to die in their mines, and pull their precious dust out of the ground with our bare fucking hands, all so that the Schnees can keep their precious profits us! They murder and rape our kind, all for money! Do you know what that's like?!"
On one side of the hall, a pair of bouncers and an AK-BX marched into the corridor with their pistols drawn.
"I know what it's like, because I've been there!" Primal jammed his thumb into his chest, "I was born in those mines, and I was made a slave in those mines! You think I became a Techion by choice? I was made in this! I was pulled apart by that whore's company, and infused with dust, just because those fuckers wanted to see what would happen! I had to watch while they did the same to my father, while they tried to breed my mother like a pig!"
Winter's eyes widened, though Jaune didn't notice.
"I ain't going back. You aren't taking me ack to the mines! I'll kill myself before that happens!" Primal's weapons powered up to their max, and he cried out, "I'll kill you. I'll kill you all-"
A silenced round shrouded in a blue tracer light shredded through Primal's chest armour, shattering the central orange light in his chest and spraying shrapnel and black oil across Jaune, Winter, and the walls.
Before Primal, or anyone could even move react, another round went right through Primal's head, tearing it to pieces, and splattering metal, fragments of gore, and oil and blood across the 2 Hunters before him, and then letting his body slump to the ground.
On the other side of the corridor, an unnoticed figure in a black cloak and gas mask, finally seen, hefted and lowered their smoking rifle.
As Winter and Jaune jumped away from the now dead White Wolf in surprise, the bouncers turned to the cloaked figure in surprise, pointing their pistols at him, but before they could pull the trigger, the figure just bounded down the hallway next to him, leaving heavy booted footsteps in the ground.
Quickly forcing down his horror at the second sudden death that he had seen tonight, Jaune looked down the corridor and growled, and bolted down the hallway, jumping over Primal's body, and sharply turning around the corner, Winter and the bouncers following quickly afterwards.
Moving around the corner and-
Grey smudges, Jaune thought to himself as he noted the ashy marks on the walls.
-Spotting an open fire exit that led out into a back alley, Jaune barely noticed the flash of light from beyond the door before he flung himself out, and drew his ML-15LE, pointing it at...
Nothing. No one. The alleyway was empty at both ends.
"...Dammit", Jaune muttered out, before angrily tossing his rifle to the ground in frustration, "DAMMIT!"
Their killer had gotten away yet again.
He groaned and grabbed his armoured side, his old wound playing up again. He remembered Miss Goodwitch saying in his physical therapy sessions not to stress or exert himself during his workout routines and sessions (He had lost quite a bit of bulk while in the hospital, and he had been trying to build it up once more), As it might open up and worsen his still healing wounds, so that meant that he couldn't take part in any sparring sessions until his wounds had finished healing.
However, he pushed that thought to the back of his mind. It wasn't important, not now.
He didn't notice Winter at his side until she loudly asked, "Arc, where did he go?"
"I don't know", he immediately answered, looking up and down the alleyway, looking for any sort of clue, "I just bolted down the corridor, and saw a flash of light, and then I came out here, and he was gone. I don't know where."
"A flash of light?"
"Yeah", Jaune nodded, "White, or orange, or something. Maybe it was a semblance that could teleport, or make them invisible, or..."
Cloak.
Mask.
Was it the Daughter? Had the Daughter infiltrated Vale?
Was the Ascendant Court in Vale?
If it was the Daughter, then why was she here? Why was she murdering people?
Okay, dumb question, but why was she murdering these people? The councilman, he could understand, and the 3 police officers, possibly collateral, but the 3 Wolves outside? Was that an accident? Then what about Yuma, Trifa, and Primal? Why were they killed? Why would she want to kill them?
There was a link between the murder victims, and he just wasn't seeing it.
Jaune looked to the floor, and saw the same patches of ash that were at the crime scenes outside of the walls and down the alleyway. So at least that link, besides the method of murder, meant that whomever was killing these people were the same person.
Or people, he thought to himself, I still don't know if it was the same person who murdered Maxwell and Yuma and Trifa. They could've been murdered by people using the same methods of execution. It isn't crazy to think so.
But it is unlikely. It was too coincidental. Too elaborate.
Well, perhaps it was too coincidental. Perhaps it was too elaborate.
He just didn't know.
"This is why I hate Hunters", a voice called out to behind them, and Jaune and Winter spun around to see Junior standing by the fire exit that they had just run out of, flanked by 2 other bouncers and scowling, "They're terrible to work with and they always make a mess of things", he then pointed his thumb down the fire exit, and went, "The dead guy in there yours?"
"No, Junior, he's not", Jaune replied, before grimacing underneath his helmet, "Fuck", he muttered out, "Now the one guy who could've given us a lead is dead", he sighed, "Dead end..."
"Not entirely", Winter said to him, before turning to Junior and going, "What about the names of the 2 Hunters that you saw with Flash and his friends? Did you get them?"
Jaune quirked an eyebrow, but didn't say anything, his suspicions of Winter still waxing and waning at best, before Junior cut them off by going, "Yeah, well, before all of the screaming and shouting that you guys brought with you, I did ask around, and I got their names, alright, thank you very much. And, you're in luck. One of the bartenders remembered the Huntsman of the pair trying to flirt with her whilst drunk, and got an address from him, which is in Vale."
"Well, thanks a lot, Junior. Well then, who are our esteemed rogues of the day?" Jaune asked with a hint of revitalised mirth in his voice, At least something good is coming out of this venture.
"Carmine Esclados and Bertilak Celadon."
…Fuck.
Carmine Esclados and Bertilak Celadon. A couple of nasty pieces of work, from the looks of it. These 2 scumbags used to run their own human trafficking operations, kidnapping people from inside and outside the central cities and settlements of Vale and selling them to the highest bidder, whilst also smuggling guns for multiple terrorist and bandit cells, and, along with the Outcasts, helping to train White Wolf and Acolyte of the Ascended radicals.
(Outcasts= A company of Atlesian soldiers who went rogue and started acting as mercenaries and enforcers, currently being used as instructors by the White Wolves. Ironically, all of them are reportedly human.)
Editing note: Yeah, get rid of this bit, whoever's reading this probably already knows this.
I didn't know this much at the time, only a bit of it, but at the time, I didn't care.
Ruby was with them. I remembered seeing her talking to Carmine and Bertilak earlier in the day, before we left Beacon. She had been assigned with them.
I didn't know if she was safe or not, or if she was already being taken away to some place far away, and that made things more urgent for me.
I had to help her. I had to get her away from those 2 before they hurt or killed her, and damn the consequences.
However, from all of the events that had been happening through the long night, there was enough information that had been given to me to finally begin spotting the pattern between our 10 murder victims that was so obvious that I'm still slapping myself for not seeing it.
And it was when Winter and I got back to the police station, and I began to have a word with Chief Raymond, that it was finally confirmed to me.
"The book that you got from Maxwell's apartment?" Chief Raymond began to Jaune as the both of them stood around his desk in his messy, paper strewn office, where stacks of paperwork dirtied the ground and made even the most dedicated accountants and bureaucrats shudder in fear, "The Utopia Manifest?" Jaune nodded, beginning to sense where he was going with this, "It's illegal."
The Hunter in training quirked a hidden eyebrow, "Really?"
"Yep", Raymond said as he took the small pocket book in hand and waved it in the air for emphasis, "This stuff- It's all proslavery bullcrap, anti-Faunus propaganda and all that. It was banned after the Rights Revolution by the new councils across Remnant when they passed the Rights Decree."
He threw the book onto his desk. It hit the wood with a sharp {SLAP}.
"Whoever wrote this talks about Brute Force Programming and Faunus slavery like they're tasks given to them by the gods, or something", Raymond shrugged, "I had to skim read through all of this, and I was barely able to keep myself from cringing so much that my face would fall off. The author's a real nutter, lemme tell you."
"'Brute Force Programming'?" Jaune began, "The heck's that?"
"Lobotomy, kid", Raymond explained, "Before the Rights Revolution, and all the way up to the Victorian Era, high class and noble families who had slaves didn't like it when their 'Property' got too rebellious, so they began to lobotomise them to remove the want and ability to rebel against them. Cutting open their heads and scooping out their brains, that kind of stuff. However, that came with removing the capacity for creativity and independent thought, and most of the slaves who underwent this ended up as mothing more than brain dead zombies. Living robots, essentially."
"My gods", Jaune went, "And this guy- Well, he was a racist, yeah, but this."
"It's got his own additions as well", he opened up the book, and turned to a random, white and yellow page, filled with old and faded red line crossing outs and amendments, "Turns out the guy had some... Creative ideas of how to change around and amend the book, for the 'Betterment of humankind'", Jaune gave him a look, and Raymond turned to the page after the acknowledgements, "I'm not kidding, he added that in. He added his acknowledgements in."
And indeed Maxwell had, having written his own red line and worded page, praising himself for his own changes and hindsight decisions. The entire paragraph reeked of a stinking, ugly ego that had been barely hidden away.
"This guy's full of himself", Jaune said as a matter of fact, taking a quick look at the blood red worded page and closing the book, "Maxwell was a Rights Revolution survivor, so I figured that he'd have some resentment left over from it, but still..."
"How did this guy get on the council?" Raymond asked, half rhetorical, half literal.
"Money?"
"Possibly", was the dry response, "Probably."
"Hm", Jaune went, before he clapped and rubbed his hands together, "No, no, this is good."
It was Raymond's turn to quirk a eyebrow at him, "It is?"
"Well, no, I mean, he's dead, but still, it fits my theory", Jaune pressed his hands on his desk, and leaned forward, "Our murder victims are all criminals."
He said it like it was obvious, which it probably was. Raymond motioned for him to continue.
"The 3 Faunus from outside were confirmed to be White Wolves, which is a terrorist organisation-"
"Oh, we were able to identify what they had on them, by the way", Raymond interrupted, "Fake passports. Looks like they were trying to get out of the city."
"-Right, so that makes them criminals either way, and the 3 police officers that were killed, Flash, Connie, and Tyler, were criminals as well, working for corrupt Hunters, Yuma and Trifa were members of the White Wolves, and the Acolytes of the Ascended, so was Primal, and all of them were running a propaganda and editing operation, and Maxwell was a Faunus racist who possessed an illegal, proslavery book. All of them are criminals in their own right", Jaune paused for dramatic effect, and then continued, "Chief, our killer is a vigilante. Whoever our murderer is, they're running about and knocking off people who have committed crimes. And whoever he is, he's a professional, always conserving ammo, and always going for the double tap. Some random civilian can't do that, and even some of the best soldiers can't perform kills that cleanly and get out of crime scenes so quickly. He has to either be one hell of a soldier, or he has to have Hunter level training."
"So, we've got a Hunter vigilante running about, murdering criminals?" Raymond asked, before slumping down into his chair and groaning, "Great, as if this case wasn't a political landmine in of itself."
Jaune tilted his head, "What's up?"
"Hunters are held up pretty high in the public eye, kid", Raymond said, "And by that, I mean that they're pretty popular, always being presented by old Ozpin and the rest of the headmasters as the paragons of humanity or something along those lines. There's all sorts of propaganda made about them and how they're all so good, and stuff. Now, if a Hunter was found murdering innocent people- Which, thankfully, this guy isn't- Then it would make bringing him down politically easier, but since this guy is killing criminals, then a lot of people will see this as a Hunter simply doing their job, or delivering justice, or something like that", he sighed, "And even if this guy wasn't a Hunter, then people still won't care. This guy's killing criminals, and no one cares if it's criminals that are killed", he let out a humourless chuckle, "If anything, they'll probably ask to give this guy a medal."
Jaune just folded his hands together, "So, politically, it might be a crap storm."
"Basically", Raymond went, "I mean, if we do bring this guy in, and if he is a Hunter, then that'll probably give us a cheer from the sceptics and the guys who don't like the Hunters, but from the vast majority of the public, if they see cops arresting a Hunter- Cops from a police department that already has accusations of corruption, not helped at all by the conscription laws- Then it'll be an even bigger shitstorm than it already is."
Jaune tensed up, and then relaxed, "Right, well, you worry about that, I guess. I'll worry about bringing this guy in to justice", Raymond looked at him, and he continued, "This guy's murdering people, Raymond. He's executing people. Wherever they've committed crimes or not, I don't give a damn. He's a murderer, and we've got to bring him in before he kills anyone else, like Carmine and Bertilak", after a moment of silence, he then asked, "What are we looking at for Carmine and Bertilak's apartment, by the way?"
"Quite a lot, actually", Raymond said, pulling out a large scroll from below his desk and pulling up the construction plans of a large warehouse connected to an house, "Once you sent out their address, we were able to pull up the floor plans for their home. It's a 2 layer house with an attic and no basement that we know of, that's connected to a large warehouse filled with god knows what."
"Any info on our rogue Hunters in there, Carmine and Bertilak?"
Any information. Any at all. Anything at all. As much as he could, so that when he got there and planted a fist in each of their faces, he could make sure that there weren't any surprises in store for him. He needed to end that fight quickly, so that he could get Ruby out of there faster.
He might've been visibly keeping his cool, but internally he was freaking out. Having a panic attack, for lack of a better word. These 2 were human traffickers and associates to murderers, and right now, they had his friend in their care. Who knows what they were doing to her right now, at this moment?
Now, don't get him wrong, he knew that he was sort of underestimating Ruby at this moment. She was strong, much stronger than him, both mentally and physically. She was a better fighter, a better leader, and a better Hunter overall. She could take care of herself.
But that didn't stop the worry, not in the slightest.
He'd stop worrying when he saw her, and knew that she was fine. Once she was fine, then he'd stop babying her in his mind.
"Goodwitch will know. She's on her way down now", Raymond broke his train of thought with that sentence, "She'll brief us when she meets us near their apartment."
Jaune paused, and looked at him, "Miss Goodwitch is coming down here? Was she in Vale already?"
"No, she was in Beacon", Raymond went. Jaune looked at him in surprise, and he continued, "Yeah, I know, it's time wasting, but-"
"It's all about politics?" Jaune asked without a hint of humour.
"Pretty much", Raymond sighed out, "I was able to get you, Winter Schnee, and 2 of Atlas' Hunters on the team as well, but I've had to wait for Goodwitch and a few other council approved Hunters to come through as well, just so-"
"Wait wait wait, 'Council approved'?" Jaune began, before remembering something that Winter had said earlier in the night, and went, "Political officers? The council is assigning us political officers?"
"Council approved Hunters, but, well, yes", Raymond went, "Apparently, if they allow Atlas to have more autonomy over a Valerian investigation, then it'll be a breach of rights and-"
"And sovereignty, yeah, I figured", Jaune just groaned out, shaking his head as he then went, "Whatever, we can work with this. As long as they don't start squabbling amongst each other, it'll be fine."
"You think they're gonna start fighting each other instead of the enemy?"
"I've seen a bunch of Atlesian Hunters arguing like children earlier today, in front of a public demonstration. I really just don't have the time for politics", Jaune then turned to the door, and grunted out, "As long as they don't get in the way of me trying to do my job and making sure that my friend doesn't get caught up in the crossfire, I really just don't care."
"That's a bit disrespectful, isn't it?"
"I chose to become a Huntsman to help people, Chief, not get caught up in politics."
The door opened up, and Harriet Bree popped her head in, "Hey, Chief, kid, we're about to move out", she then turned to Jaune, and went, "Oh, hey kid, Specialist Schnee wants a word with you whilst we're on our way."
Jaune allowed himself to grimace under his helmet, and then sighed, "Alright then", he then turned to Raymond", "Let's go kick the bad guys faces in", before he left though, he then asked, "Hey, what about that piece of fabric that we got back from over the walls? In the bushes? Have we got any leads on that?"
"Don't know what to tell you about that, kid", Raymond just shrugged and said, "There's a lot of white clothes out there, lots of white fabrics, and the one that you got us was covered in dirt as well. We've not been able to pull up anything on it."
"Oh", was Jaune's reply as he left, "Well, it was worth a shot at least."
I am aware of how I acted around Winter during the majority of this incident, and how I was making it difficult for her to work with me, and for that, I apologise. It wasn't my intention to act difficult and be an annoyance to work with, and I'm sorry for it.
However, I did have my suspicions of Winter, and to cut myself some slack, she hadn't exactly been entirely trusting of either, though I suppose that was because of my disagreements with her, but also, as a personal criticism, she was extremely cold, and was herself a bit difficult to work with, due to her stoic nature border lining, in my personal opinion, on emotional dismissal.
And, to be fair to myself again, she had been acting suspicious as well. Or at least, there were enough connections to provide the basis for a suitable theory.
Again, at least to me.
Though, as it turns out, she had her own suspicions of me as well...
"You don't like me."
Jaune looked to Winter as they drove down the dark, empty streets of Vale all the way to the warehouse, surprised by what she'd said.
"Please do not give me that look, Arc", Winter chastised, "I can tell. I've dealt with many people who have... Negative feelings towards me", she spared one look from the road to him, and then looked back and said, "So then, what is it about me that you feel negatively about?"
Jaune looked away, suddenly feeling a lot more uncomfortable about things, "Um...", he really didn't like being put on the spot like this.
"Better to get it out of the way with now than later", Winter coldly went.
"...", Jaune just stayed quiet for a while, before finally finding the words, and going, "Well, you're... You're not exactly... Approachable, y'know?" Winter cocked an eyebrow, "I mean, you act cold, and dismissive, and stuff, and it's just- It's hard to work with you when you act like you don't give a damn, you know."
This was part of the truth that Jaune wanted to say. Strictly speaking, he never liked the stoic types. They were always too cold, too unapproachable, too willing to mask their own emotions and problems under a façade of emotionlessness, instead of just being honest about themselves. Perhaps that was part of the reason that he just... Well, for the short time that he had known her, he just couldn't bring himself to like Winter, as much as respect at least.
"And, well, when you do show emotion, it's anger", Jaune hurryingly added, "You were angry at the Wolves, and you were quick to violence when confronting Primal, and while I get the anger, and I get that you were defending yourself when it came to Primal, but you didn't exactly try to, I don't know, defuse the situation, as much as egg him on into a fight", Jaune went, "I'm just- I'm just saying, I just... You're not exactly the most amiable person out there."
He went back to sitting uncomfortably in his seat, looking outside at the empty streets of Vale, looking at the passing lights with a feigned curiosity.
"...That's not everything, is it?"
Jaune froze up, and didn't say anything.
"...You think I had something to do with this, don't you?"
An awkward silence followed shortly afterwards.
Finally, Jaune answered, "...Yeah."
"..."
Winter stayed silent for a while, before parking the car on the side of the road, and looking at him.
Jaune stayed looking outside for a while, before moving his head forward and leaning back against his chair.
"Is this the part where you kill me?"
"Don't be an idiot", Winter said, remaining silent herself for a while, before tweezing the bridge and going, "Why?"
"Hm?"
"Why did you think I had something to do with this? With these murders?"
Jaune realised that Winter wasn't going to get going with anything other than a definite answer, so he just came out with it, "Well... The SDC and the White Wolves- Your family and the White Wolves- They've been at war for years, so there's probably gonna be a lot of bad blood between you and them, right?"
The silence from Winter was telling enough.
Jaune took that as a sign to continue, "Well, I figured that there was a sort of cycle of violence and hatred that was being created by that conflict, which would only help to further that same cycle, which would breed even more violence and hatred. So, Yuma, Trifa, Primal, and the 3 Faunus/Techions from outside the walls in the morning were all White Wolves, a group that, thanks to said cycle of hatred, you explicitly hate. And so did Maxwell, evidently, considering the fact that he had a racist book that was made illegal by the Rights Revolution, as well as his partnership with the SDC and his feelings towards Atlas."
He was unsure where this sudden boost of confidence and sincerity in his words was coming from, but he didn't question it.
"So, evidently, these 2 groups, Maxwell and the Wolves, would help to further along that cycle of hatred towards each other, which is bad news for everyone else. Now, if it was just those 2 that were the victims, that would've given my theory about yourself more solid ground, but with the fact that 3 police officers were killed off as well, that just muddies up the theory, though the fact that they were all corrupt doesn't help to... Well."
Jaune paused once more, his own realisation coming over him.
"But you acted confused when Junior said that those officers were dirty. You didn't know about it. The same with Carmine and Bertilak. You didn't know that they were corrupt, and they were executed in the same way as Maxwell and the Wolves, which puts my theory about you in a jam, if it didn't have shaky ground already."
"And what was this theory, Arc?"
Jaune paused, and then sighed out, "That you have a lot of money, and you have connections. You know people", Jaune sat in silence for a little while longer, and then said, "And yeah, I know, it's not a very good theory. I know that now. I was making the evidence fit the theory, and not the other way around."
Winter stayed silent for a while, before letting out a, "Hm..."
"Hm?"
"Hm", Winter hummed again, "Well, I suppose it's fair."
"Fair?"
Winter paused, and then looked outside the window.
"...You think I had something to do with this? With these murders?"
"You chased down one of the murder victims alone, you've been difficult to work with at places, and you were extremely adamant about putting yourself in this investigation", Winter replied, before looking at him and going, "I suppose I was doing the same as you."
Jaune couldn't help but feel hurt.
Well, he knew that he- Well, he supposed that he deserved it, but... But still.
It did hurt.
He supposed he was a bit of a hypocrite in that regard.
They spent the rest of the car ride in silence.
Ruby wasn't sure what specific noise woke her up, but she knew that it was coming from downstairs.
A muffled round of swearing, yelling, and calls for them to be quiet, so that their guest upstairs didn't wake up.
Too late for that, she supposed.
Ruby let her head tilt upwards, off of the bed, to listen in to the voice down below, and remembered Carmine saying that Bertilak had some sort of meeting which, from the sounds of it, didn't seem to be doing too well.
Ruby wasn't surprised. In the short few hours that she had spent with the older Huntsman, he had painted himself as an impatient and intolerable thug and bully. How he got through even the most basic Hunter academy with that attitude was lost to her.
Damaged Goods...
The words still rang in her head, and she gently touched the left side of her face, feeling the still raw scars and scabs.
Let's not think about that now, Ruby thought to herself, I'll tell Miss Goodwitch about it during our therapy sessions... Together...
There was another voice down there, sounding lofty and arrogant. It was a male, with an above mid pitched tone of voice, who seemed to speak of himself highly, though Ruby couldn't quite make out the words through the walls.
She could make out Bertilak's voice though, but again, not the words, getting louder and angrier. Then, it was Carmine's voice, trying to calm him through sarcastic retorts and threats. Quite unlike the Carmine that she had spoken too only a few hours previously.
Ruby leaned up from her bed, and moved to put her boots on, her instincts telling her that things were about to get messy.
She could hazard a good guess as to why.
Jaune stood with the rest of the Hunters that had gathered on the rooftop a few houses away from Carmine and Bertilak's warehouse, the cold of the night tempered by a portable radiator that one of them had brought with them. Below, on the streets, were a few police officers hidden away in undercover police cars, and nearby, another group of Hunters had gathered on a different rooftop, on the opposite side of the warehouse.
He looked to the Hunters around him, the group composed of Winter, Miss Goodwitch, Harriet Bree, and a Valerian Hunter named Maikio Taro, who covered in green and dark grey samurai like armour, with a long katana that looked like it had dust infused into the sharp edge of the blade. On the other building, stood Elm Ederne and 2 other Hunters, one with robes that looked like they were made entirely out of flowers, and the other dressed in a... Bunny outfit?
Hoh boy.
"Why must Mirko wear something like that all of the time?" Miss Goodwitch scolded to herself as 'Mirko' hopped up and down in place and waved at them.
"Disgraceful", Winter agreed, before changing the subject and asking, "Our enemies, Carmine and Bertilak, what are their semblances and weapons?"
"Carmine has a telekinesis semblance", Miss Goodwitch began, pulling out her scroll and looking over the information on the screen, obviously having little patience for pleasantries as well, though she seemed tired and frustrated, possibly from having to get out of bed in the middle of the night, "Though it is weaker when compared to mine, and her weapons are a pair of sais that can combine together to form a double bladed staff. Bertilak, meanwhile, can generate heat to extreme degrees, and his weapon is a chain mace that can fire a single explosive round before having to reload."
"Is there anyone else in there that we have to be worried about?" Harriet asked, "I'd rather not go in there with the fear of being blindsided by someone I didn't know was there."
"We don't know, but we have to assume that there will be more than just those 2 in there, so stay on guard and watch your corners while we're in there", Glynda went, before continuing, "Here is the plan: Our group will be moving through the main house and clearing out every room, recover Miss Ruby Rose if she is in there, and arrest anyone that we find. The second group on the other roof will be doing the same in the warehouse. Raymond and his men downstairs will be surrounding the warehouse and making sure that no one gets out. Remember, scour and cover every inch of that house for anyone and anything. If you are engaged, call for backup as soon as you can, and don't fight alone. The key here is to finish the fight and arrest them as soon as possible. No point in drawing out a fight at all."
"Ah, don't worry, teach", Harriet gave a thumbs up and a smile, "This ain't my first rodeo. We'll grab the kid and bag the bad guys."
"Sure thing, rabbit", Taro went as he looked over his blade, "Just try not to screw it up."
"I'm sorry, 'Rabbit'?" Harriet muttered.
"Your hair."
She tweezed the 2 strands of hair that stood up on her head in confusion, before her eyes widened, "Oh", and she went, "Isn't that a bit racist?"
"You're not a Faunus, are you?"
"No."
"Then it's not racist."
"...Is that how it works? I don't know if that's how it works."
"Guys, why the hell are we waiting around?! Ruby's in there! My friend is in there with those 2 psychos!" Jaune almost yelled, pulling his electrostaff from his back and flicking it on, purple electricity dancing across the barrelled tips as he then went, "Let's go kick the door down and-"
"You're not coming with us", Winter bluntly said.
What?!
"What?!"
"Arc, these aren't just some pair of thugs like with Primal and Yuma", Winter began, "These are Hunters. Professionally trained and experienced Hunters and criminals, and you are a Hunter in training who, as of 2 weeks ago, only just began your education at Beacon, if not less. In a fight against them, fair or unfair, you would be instantly destroyed."
"But-"
"Arc", her response was sharp and curt, "You are staying up here, out of harm's way, and keeping a watch over the warehouse. That is all. You are to observe, and not take part in the fighting, understood?"
Jaune didn't say anything, and just simply glared at her under his helmet. Ruby was in the same house as a bunch of criminals with a known history of weapons and human trafficking, and she expected him to just sit idly by and do nothing?! When someone needed help, or saving, or whatever, you help them, not sit on the side lines and do nothing! Why would she even think about-
"Mr Arc", Miss Goodwitch's voice broke through his thoughts and got him to turn to her, "Miss Schnee is right", he shook in anger and was about to say something in response, but Miss Goodwitch beat him to it, "Mr Arc, I know that you were able to fight out of the Emerald Forest, but you were put into a coma after that for a week, and you are still recovering from your injuries, and even if you didn't have that, you are a Hunter in training, and do not have the experience, or the training to be able to fight against a trained Hunter."
"Wait, injuries?" Winter went, "What injuries? And what about a coma?"
Miss Goodwitch just sighed, "I should've explained this to you earlier", she muttered to herself.
Jaune still looked to the side, arms crossed angrily, hands gripping tightly around himself.
"Mr Arc... Jaune", Miss Goodwitch then softly added, "We will get her out of there. We'll bring her out safe and sound", she then nodded to him and herself, "You have my word."
"...Fine."
Miss Goodwitch then nodded, before turning to the 3 other Hunters around her and going, "Get ready to move, and try not to bring the whole property down on our heads while you're at it."
"No promises", Taro humorously added, getting a chuckle from Harriet.
Winter spared a look at Jaune as she left, an unreadable emotion in her eyes as her face betrayed nothing, before turning away and heading off to the other roof next to them with Taro and Miss Goodwitch, whilst Harriet stayed behind as Jaune slumped down cross-legged in a sulk.
"Sorry kid", Harriet went, looking to the other 3, and then back to him, "First rule of life, kid: You can't always get what you want."
Jaune just shrugged, not looking at her, and moved to get a better look on the warehouse, "You should probably join them", Jaune stated, "Don't want to get left behind."
Harriet sighed, "Right", and then turned around, "See you later, kid", and with that, she sped off to join the others.
Jaune didn't catch the tiny bolt of yellow electricity that bounced off of her.
With her boots and arm armour back on, and her weapons strapped to her back once more, Ruby began to tiptoe to the door, not wishing to draw any attention to herself, or let the soft, yet stupidly loud creaking floorboards give herself away in the dark of the night.
It's okay, Ruby, she thought to herself as she crept to the door, Don't worry about it. Just imagine it's like sneaking out at night to steal strawberries from the fridge again.
That thought brought back memories that she both wanted to treasure and forget, but she shoved those feelings to the side, as she made it to the door. With all of the stealth in her body (And no, she didn't care for the incorrect grammar), She slowly pushed down the door handle, and pulled the door towards her, the bright lights from outside her dark room almost blinding her, but she was able to quickly push though it, and quietly swing the door fully open.
There was no one on the top floor, thankfully, but there did seem to be multiple people on the bottom floor.
And from the sounds of it, those people were having quite the argument.
"Bertilak, I am already paying you generously for your dust, and your guns. I've been giving you fair prices, and interest to boot, and I don't do that for most people! And yet, now, after everything I have done for you and your partner, you want to double the price? Triple it? Don't you think that's being a little unfair?"
Dust? Guns? Ruby paused, What were they talking about down there, No, no, they're Hunters, they wouldn't think about... Who was Bertilak meeting with earlier to... Oh no.
"Oh, don't give me that shit, Roman, you fucking cheat! You know how hard it is to smuggle all of this shit in now, thanks to all of the fucking pigs that are wondering around Vale, now!"
Roman? As in... As in Roman Torchwick?
"Oh, and that's suddenly a problem, why? These new cops aren't a problem, they're as bribeable as the last batch, and besides, you and your partner said it yourselves, that you're 'Professionals', and that you can 'Get the job done, no matter what'. What ever happened to that?"
'Partner'... Carmine?
She began to creep towards the stairs.
"Ah, shut the fuck up, Roman. It ain't as easy as walking around swirling your cane around like a dipshit and expecting everything to be handed to you on a silver fucking platter. Everyone's in a fucking panic now, just because some kids fucked off and died, like that doesn't happen every fucking day."
…Shut up.
She slowly crept down the stairs.
"Bertilak... He's got a point though, Roman, it isn't that easy to get your purchases in now. Not with all of the Atlesian security and the herds of cops now. Not all of them can just be bought off like that. We need better compensation for all of the extra work that we have to put into this now, otherwise we're not gonna be able to get you what you want at all."
Carmine... No...
She made her way down the stairs, and peeked through the rail on the side into the living room.
Inside the living room, there was Carmine and Bertilak, standing besides another group of people.
The Jack-O-Lanterns.
The group that stood opposite the 2 Hunters were Roman Torchwick-
A tall man with his signature cane, along with orange hair that covered his right eye, which were an emerald green colour, dressed in a red-lined white suit with a grey scarf, along with black gloves, trousers, and shoes, along with eyeliner on his left eye and a black bowler hat with a red band and a feather in it.
-The Neopolitan Butcher-
A short girl coloured in white, pink, and brown, with long hair and eyes that were split between brown and pink, along with green eyeshadow, dressed in a long sleeved white jacket with a pink interior, multiple necklaces, a brown corset, and brown trousers that hugged her legs, and knee tall heeled boots that were coloured white with black soles.
-Bloody Mary-
A medium height girl with pale, pure white skin, decorated in deep cuts and scars, burning orange eyes, and blood red hair that reached the bottom of her ears and ended in a ponytail, and was dressed in a black bra that barely covered her breasts, a short, as in reaching the bottom of her chest, and shorter sleeved white jacket with red outlines that was torn at the ends of the sleeves, leaving her arms and slim waist exposed, a golden chain necklace and circular gold earrings, black torn shorts that ended at her thighs, and pure white sneakers, as well as a sadistic smile that showed too many teeth.
-The Preacher-
A man with his hands pressed together, dressed in a pure black robe that showed none of the man underneath, and wearing a white mask that looked like a skeleton missing a jaw, with 2 blood red tear mark like streaks leaving the eyes.
-Dread-
A dark green and black Techion with an emerald green glowing visor, wheels on his shoulders and waist, stubby wings coming out of his back, and dark blue legs with a yellow strip going down them.
-The Beastmaster-
A Lion Faunus with long, wild orange hair and eyes, a large mane on his back, bronze skin, sharpened teeth, and only wearing black ripped trousers, white shoes with orange soles, and black gloves that reached up to his elbows, said gloves that were wrapped up in chains that connected to 2 sitting , one eyed beasts known as Reavers.
-Brute-
A large, and imposing Techion, coloured entirely in black, with a white faceplate and glowing yellow visor, spikes covering his large shoulders, arms, and legs, glowing neon blue lines and circles that covered his body, and a massive cannon on his right arm that pulsated with blue energy.
-And Rage.
Another large, and even more intimidating Techion thug, coloured in gold for his chest, and silver for his arms and lower legs, with black colouring his upper legs and lower torso, and red colouring his waist, with a full black helmet and glowing red visor that seemed to just scream his namesake, and angry, glowing neon red lines and patterns that covered his chest, waist, and shoulders.
These guys were armed, wielding guns and swords, and from the looks of it, they were looking for a fight, should whatever deal they have turn violent, which, from the looks of some of them, was what they were hoping for.
Ruby gulped.
She had to get out of here.
Jaune watched the Hunters on the opposite sides of the house and warehouse intently, looking for any mistakes and slipups, or at least something to give him the excuse to join in on the operation, check up on Ruby, and bring these crapheels to justice.
But nope, from the looks of it, they were doing everything right, or, well, from the looks of it, they were confident in what they were doing at least.
Jaune was more pleased than disappointed.
What was he doing? Maybe he really was worrying too much. Probably.
Ruby would be fine. It was Ruby he was thinking about. She'd be fine.
Winter, though...
That's when the worries began to creep back into Jaune.
He saw the Hunters then jump up, and off of the roofs.
Down towards the warehouse and house below.
Ruby continued to creep down the stairs, trying to be as quiet as possible, her feet barely creaking against the stairs as she slowly made her way to the door.
Unfortunately, she wasn't quiet enough.
It was the Beastmaster who saw her first, his slit eyes widening, before pointing a finger and turning to Carmine and Bertilak, "Isn't that the meat that you're suppose to be looking after?"
Everyone in the room turned to Ruby.
Crud.
The Hunters continued to tumble down.
And then, their feet touched the glass.
The Warehouse Raid had begun.
And there we are! I think that's where we're going to end this chapter now!
Originally, this chapter was going to be so much longer, detailing the Warehouse Raid in it's entirety, as well as the whole aftermath, but I realised that if I had done that, then there wouldn't have been enough content for the next chapter, and it probably would've been under 20,000 words rather than over. So, with that in mind, I decided to end it on this cliffhanger, instead of later on.
Now, it's time for the OCs!
Primal's design is based off of Optimus Primal from Beast Wars, or more specifically, his design from Unicron, drawn by Alex Milne. And since he is a member of this universe's White Fang equivalent, then this could be considered as a case of adaptational villainy.
Bloody Mary is based off of Tain Ling from Fading Fires. At least, I think she is from Fading Fires. I'm not entirely sure, to be honest. Just look up her name on Google Images, and you'll see it.
The Preacher is based off of Darth Nihilus. 'Nuff said.
Dread is based off of Hydradread from Transformers, specifically his IDW design from the Drift miniseries, drawn by Alex Milne and coloured by Josh Perez.
I have no idea where the image of the Beastmaster came from. I think I just thought of it in my head, but I'm not sure.
Brute's design is based off of Turmoil from Transformers, specifically IDW. The same goes for Rage, who's design, and even semblance, is based off of Grimlock, his design based off of Alex Milne's More Than Meets The Eye look, and his semblance from the Aligned continuity. Take from that what you will.
And as for Jaune, in this chapter, well, his viewpoint is flawed, and in the end, even he admits it. He doesn't like Winter, due to their frosty interactions, and that helps to lend bias into his theories and viewpoints. The same goes for Winter, as well.
More importantly, though, Jaune doesn't have all of the facts to this murder, and as such, his theories have holes in them, and are shaky at best. Is he in the right, or the wrong, for assuming that Winter had at least something to do with these murders? I don't know, maybe, maybe not.
Whatever the reason, he doesn't have all of the facts, and because of all of the stresses of leadership that he already has on him (Which will be an important factor into the next arc, trust me), As well as the stresses of trying to stop a murder, survive a war, and staying up past his bedtime (Everyone needs some good sleep in order to function), He's getting grouchy, and this is muddying up his perspectives and rational, though it doesn't impair them, and he can still make good judgement calls and decisions.
So, with all of that in mind, please leave a review, follow, favourite, remember to stay safe and healthy, and I shall see you all next time!
Titanmaster117 out!
