Chapter 24…

Sage kept his eyes glued on his running shoes as he followed Verdant through the Omega nightclub. His imposing uncle parted the thin crowds with relative ease, his small troupe of personal bodyguards keeping the rabble away from him as he moved to the door.

He wasn't sure where his uncle was leading him… and the bearded man had been dismissive when Sage asked him that exact question.

"Come along, Sage," Verdant called over his broad shoulder. The two guards ahead of him opened the doors of Omega, causing the late-morning sunlight to stream into the dimly lit establishment.

Sage stopped himself abruptly when his uncle paused. Verdant threw his head back and took a deep breath of the morning air. He stretched his arms above his head, taking a moment to crack his bones and stretch his muscles.

"I feel like I've cooped up there forever!" Verdant sighed wistfully as he turned his eyes up to the blue sky. "I need to get out a little more…"

"I always thought you were chained to that desk…" Sage muttered. "Even before I left…"

Verdant turned his head to give Sage a mysterious smile. "Was that a joke I just heard?"

Sage shrugged. "Depends on how far you read into it…"

Verdant's eyes flicked between Sage and the ground for a moment. "I wonder if we can ever go back to the way things were… before-"

"You had me splayed on a desk and threatened me with a hammer?" Sage hissed under his breath.

Verdant smiled again. "I was referring to you stealing from me and running away… but I suppose your example is equally sufficient."

The screech of tires interrupted them as a long black limousine pulled up to the curb of the nightclub. One of the guards opened the rear passenger door, gesturing for Sage and Verdant to get in.

"Our ride… don't say I don't treat you!" Verdant joked, but Sage stayed silent.

The guard who opened the door attempted to enter after Sage did but Verdant shooed him off, telling the man to instead sit up front with the driver. Sage ran his hand along the interior panels of the door after it closed, feeling the heavy weight of the bulletproof armor plating the vehicle had been equipped with.

Sage turned his blue eyes back to his uncle, who was sitting across from him along the length of the cabin. Verdant said nothing for a long while, busying himself by pulling out his scroll and fiddling with the device.

Sage sighed and closed his eyes, feeling the headache he had woken up with continue to throb dully around his sinuses. He had nearly had a panic attack when he walked into the club an hour ago and the butterflies in his stomach had only increased in intensity.

"Look out the window behind you, Sage," Verdant interrupted, making Sage snap to attention.

"What!?" Sage gasped.

"Quickly!"

Sage spun around and looked through the dark tinted glass, watching as the storefront of an expensive looking restaurant zipped by.

"What is it?"

"Did you see that nice looking restaurant?"

"Yeah?"

"I own that place you know," Verdant explained, twiddling his brawny fingers. "I've turned it into a franchise… four more of that name exist in Mantle… there is even one in Atlas now… the fish is to die for."

Sage narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"Look behind you again!" Verdant requested, pausing as Sage spun to look out the window. "I own that dust shop… there are many others like it under my ownership as well-"

"Why are you telling me this?" Sage muttered, his eyes still glued to the window.

"-that's not to mention the jewellery stores that I receive income from… or the multiple adult clubs under my influence."

Sage took in a sharp breath of realization, spinning slowly to find a gleam in his uncle's eyes. "What? Are you trying to brag about your success to me?"

"Merely pointing out the obvious!" Verdant smiled. "I have my hands in the pocket of many, many businesses and establishments, eyes and ears everywhere, soldiers on every corner… these streets are my kingdom…"

"Ah yes," Sage clicked his tongue in mock praise. "The 'great king' in his dingy, rat-infested castle…"

Verdant smiled coldly, which made Sage shiver. The faunus boy knew he was pushing it and said nothing further, letting his eyes get stuck on his running shoes again.

"To be honest Sage," Verdant nearly whispered. "I do feel a little bad about threatening you…"

"Oh bullshit!" Sage snapped back. "You'd do it all over again if it got you the same results!"

Verdant shook his head and laughed. "That wasn't the beginning of an apology! Your assessment is one-hundred percent correct!"

"Oh?"

"Absolutely!" Verdant smiled. "In truth… threatening you brought me no joy… but it was necessary for what I wanted."

"Don't speak as if you're some incredible negotiator… you're a fucking animal."

"Yes I am!" Verdant laughed again, clapping his hands in mock jubilation as Sage blanched. "Another wonderful assessment!"

"Wait… what?"

Verdant sighed and allowed the smile to disappear from his face, he shifted in his seat for a moment. "Allow me to illuminate you! Tell me Sage… did I ever tell you about my time in the military?"

"No you didn't," Sage answered. "And that's not an invitation to begi-"

"Shhh!" Verdant hissed. "This will be a tale with a wonderful moral… and we have a long ride ahead of us."

Sage bit his lip and stayed silent.

"I served for half a decade in the Atlesian special forces… They were a grueling couple of years that instilled me with great discipline. One of my first deployments was to Mistral to assist with the bandit incursions… it was a very brutal conflict."

"So what?"

Verdant closed his eyes for a moment, when they re-opened his gaze was as hard as stone. "I spent a week by myself in enemy territory after I was separated from my squad… all alone in the thick jungle with no one but myself and my own thoughts… just me, the bugs and the insufferable humidity."

Sage stayed silent as Verdant paused.

"Until a lone bandit happened upon my basecamp and had me held up at knifepoint," Verdant mused. "I had deconstructed most of my ammunition to use the fire dust inside to cook my food… but I had far superior training."

"I'm assuming you killed him," Sage whispered.

"Well, yes…" Verdant admitted with a shrug, sounding almost nonchalant. "But that's not the point… I gave him a choice… I told him he could just walk away and we didn't have to fight… but then he lunged at me. I didn't have my gun on me… but there was a suitably large rock I had used to construct my campfire."

Sage paled a little bit.

"In the heat of it all I suppose I got a little carried away… there wasn't much left of his head after I finally snapped out of it," Verdant sighed. "Do you know what I did afterwards?"

"N- no," Sage stuttered.

Verdant frowned and wrung his hands together. "I took his body and hung it up in the trees, facing the direction from which he came… do you know why I did this?"

Sage was silent.

"It was psychological warfare… fear … I did it to send a message… and I wasn't harassed by any of them until I was properly rescued. My platoon commander at the time, a yet unproven James Ironwood, chewed me out for the gruesome display, but it was an effective and necessary tactic and I learned a very valuable lesson…"

"Which was?"

Verdant smiled coldly and leaned in. "It was that actions always speak louder than words… and sometimes brutality does all the speaking for you. Do you think I became powerful simply because of my business acumen? I butchered and threatened anyone who sought to harm me or the powers that I held… those who were smart took the bribes."

Sage suddenly felt the urge to vomit.

"So yes… I am an animal… we are all animals…" Verdant smiled. "We act 'civilized' because the world humanity has built allows us to… but if widespread scarcity returns then so does anarchy…"

Verdant paused for a moment to collect himself, looking thoughtful as he did so. "It's why I can't stand those frauds up in Atlas… throwing lavish parties and patting themselves on the back… pretending as if they've experienced true adversity and worked hard for their family's success… they are simply denying their roots…"

"At least they aren't criminals…"

Verdant snorted loudly and slapped the seat. "Not criminals? Are you daft?"

"I-?"

"Take a man like Jacques Schnee for example," Verdant mused. "What do you know about him?"

"He runs the Schnee Dust Company…"

"He is also known for introducing appalling work conditions and scaling back worker benefits to increase the companies profits… does he sound like a good man to you?"

"Well-"

"You can call me all the mean names you want… at least I pay and take care of my employees," Verdant sneered, curling his lip distastefully.

Sage was silent.

"Or what about Arthur Marigold?" Verdant cocked his head, his blue eyes shining. "That man is a swindler who makes even me blush… he spent years ripping off low-income families under a pseudonym before immigrating to Atlas and intermingling with the elite. I am a more honest man than either of them and they're only still around because the Atlesian government profits from their business…"

"Still…" Sage wandered off, being unable to offer any true rebuttal.

Verdant leaned back into his seat and rubbed his hands together, a curious gleam in his calculating eyes. "Going back to the topic of Jacques Schnee… I believe his youngest daughter went to Beacon as well?"

"Weiss," Sage nodded. "We talked on a few occasions… but she was more of an acquaintance than a friend."

"I sincerely hope that the apple fell far from the tree… Remnant doesn't need another Jacques Schnee..."

"She was alright… a little uptight at times…"

Verdant hummed in affirmation but said nothing further.

Sage almost felt elated when the limousine slowed to a stop, the driver calling through the speaker that they had arrived. Verdant reached underneath his seat and slid open a hidden cabinet, reaching in and pulling out a bottle of whiskey and a single glass.

"Isn't it a little early for day drinking?" Sage muttered.

"It's not for me…" Verdant answered, pouring a healthy cup's worth of the amber liquid and holding it out to Sage.

"I'm good," Sage held up his hand, but Verdant did not stop.

"I hope you realize the danger you're about to be put in…" Verdant muttered, his face almost impassive. "You should take it…"

Sage hesitated for a moment before gingerly accepting the alcohol and swallowing it, feeling a burning sensation snake down his throat.

"Good boy," Verdant smiled as the driver opened the door, allowing them to exit onto a dilapidated street.

They were somewhere in the industrial district, indicated by the endless stretch of worn out asphalt and dingy warehouses. The acrid scent of tar and garbage hung in the crisp tundra air, burning Sage's nose for a moment before a light breeze cleared his nostrils.

Sage wordlessly followed his uncle into the warehouse in front of them, taking the side entrance to enter the administrative room. Just behind the door sat a dingy looking desk where a young woman sat, she was idly picking at her well-manicured fingernails…

She stood out like a sore-thumb…

"Haywood shipment services…" The young woman droned out, her eyes locked on the holo-screen of her computer. "What can I help you wit-"

She froze when her gaze finally drifted upwards and found the cool blue eyes of Mantle's most notorious gangster. "Mr. Bulwark… sir!"

"At ease," Verdant chuckled. "Would you mind letting us in, Martha?"

The young woman's gaze flicked to Sage for a moment before she nodded and turned around. She reached into the top drawer of her desk to pull out an innocuous looking metal handle. Martha walked to the wall behind the desk and inserted the handle into two hidden sockets. She pulled open a hidden door with a metallic screech.

"Thank you, Martha," Verdant said as he clapped the woman on the shoulder, with Sage following right behind him. "Try to look busy next time…"

"Yes sir," Martha weakly stuttered as she shut the hidden door behind them.

The sounds of talking, metallic clanging and boxes squeaking filled the air as Sage and Verdant entered the warehouse floor. Sage followed his uncle through the lobby doorway and ascended a rickety metal staircase. He and his uncle were now standing on an old catwalk giving Sage a prime view of the workspace below.

Dozens of workers rushed about, assembling guns and other weaponry before neatly packing them into boxes. Several of these men were carrying crates filled with rifles and grenades to a truck that was waiting nearby.

Sage watched in fascination as two other workers carried a large missile, packing the rocket-propelled device into a refrigerator box and cushioning the object with straw.

"It might be a little hard to sneak that past customs," Sage idly remarked as the arms dealers continued working.

"Yes," Verdant muttered. "Smuggling has been a little more difficult recently with the borders closing… but I find that customs agents can be motivated to 'leave their glasses at home' during inspections…"

"For the right price?"

"Of course," Verdant smiled. "Follow me, Sage."

Verdant led Sage into a room that was adjacent to the catwalk. He flicked on the lights to reveal a barely decorated office, consisting of a rickety looking table, desk and a filing cabinet that had been pushed into a corner.

"I tend to keep sensitive information here," Verdant explained. "This place is a little less obvious than the nightclub…"

"Very…"

"Take a seat at the table… I'll be but a moment."

Sage obeyed his request, settling into a very squeaky chair and putting his hands together in waiting. Verdant wandered over to the filing cabinet and opened a drawer, he rooted around in the papers before extracting two sheets.

He placed said sheets atop the table, revealing them to be blueprint layouts of Atlas academy.

"My appraiser supplied me with these," Verdant explained. "The same one who figured out your bullshit with the arm…"

Sage gulped. "No bullshit this time…"

Verdant viewed him critically. "For the sake of your girlfriend… I hope so…"

Verdant placed his brawny finger on the rooms labeled the R&D labs. "This area is your target… a mole tells me that the crown is being kept in storage area 'A4'... understand?"

Sage nodded. "How do you suggest I get in?"

"I can supply you with transport… but you won't be able to just walk in."

Verdant shuffled the sheets, revealing a blueprint of the ventilation system underneath it.

Sage was regretting the decisions that led up to this point…