Here we go.

Cover Art: Serox

Chapter 38

Business with Hei and the Xiong Clan was a lot more business oriented than he imagined. The details were written down in a contract which Jaune was given a good half an hour to read over with Ilia. It was mostly an agreement – the odds of a contract between a terrorist group and a crime gang being binding were slim – and detailed what they would and wouldn't do for one another.

The Xiong Clan would not fight the White Fang's battles for it, would not be publicly affiliated, would not accept orders from them and would not act against Vale in a way that would draw attention on them. In turn, the White Fang didn't have to fight the Xiong Clan's battles, wouldn't be asked to get involved in criminal activity and the Clan wouldn't work with anyone else against the White Fang where and if possible.

"The latter is for the sake of technicality," Hei said. "We might have traitors. So might you. Information can slip out either way and I'd rather we not be at each other's throats if it does."

Other than that, everything was above board. Jaune was still hesitant to be contractually obligated – in spirit if not in law – to a criminal organisation, but it was really more of a truce. They would step in to stop the Xiong Clan if it turned out they were doing anything too illegal.

"Everything looks good." Jaune signed and handed it back over for Hei to do the same with a far more elegant flourish. "Is this the part where I say here's to a beneficial relationship?"

"Only if you want to be cliché."

"Never mind…"

The door opened again and the twin in white returned with a ring-folder under one arm. She waited at the door for Hei to wave her forward, approached and set it down on the table before retreating to the door again. Hei then slid the folder across the table to him, nodding his head for Jaune to open it.

Inside were neatly partitioned sections split by coloured tabs on the right, little bits of cardboard sticking out like a high school arts project. The contents were far less comedic however, sections of it dedicated to Jaune Arc, Ilia Amitola, Trifa, Yuma and the others. Perry, Deery and Bane were fortunate enough that their sections didn't have so much as a name, but Tukson had a full profile, including his place of work which even Jaune hadn't known.

I'll have to warn him to move. The people who want us dead know where he works and lives!

"This is the information I sold on you before," Hei explained. "As you can see, I'm thorough when it comes to my work."

"How detailed is it?" Ilia asked, leaning over.

"Detailed enough that it has `Blake` under your likes section. Not that it's a mystery or a surprise to anyone. Dislike fish?" He looked to Ilia for confirmation. "Is that true?"

Ilia squirmed. "Blake loves fish, so I always tried to go to seafood places with her before. I hate it though. What else does it-? Uwahhh!" Bright red, Ilia snatched the folder away and against her chest. "H-How do you have my internet history on this!?"

"Chameleon faunus aren't common." Hei said. "When Miltia found one online she decided to get in contact. You opened pictures from her with a keylogger and we used it to break your account wide open." He paused. "Sorry about that."

With a loud ripping sound Ilia tore several pages out of the folder, scrunched them up and stuck them down her top. Face blood red, she glared at Jaune and then the two girls by the door. "I can't believe I got catfished."

"Online?" Jaune asked, head swivelling. "Oh, did you finally make a Huntr profile?"

"Not a word!" Ilia growled. "Not. A. Word."

"So," Jaune drawled. "Aside from them knowing more about Tukson than I'm comfortable with and more about Ilia's fetishes than she's comfortable with-" Ilia whined. "-they don't know anything. Is that what I'm seeing?"

"Pretty much. We know more about your associate here than we'd ever want to-"

"Please stop…"

"But as for pertinent information that could be used against you, there isn't a lot to go on. Sadly, the same can be said for the person you're looking for."

"You already know who we're after?"

"The one involved in the arms deal," Hei said. "The one that nearly killed you. It wasn't difficult to figure out."

"And you had time to search for them already?"

"Hmph. We already were. Or did you think we wouldn't pay attention to someone forcefully recruiting the local gangs? Three crime lords have been found dead in the last two weeks. Successors have been named but they're not the right ones. The order of succession is wrong," he explained when Jaune looked confused. "Fathers skipping out their sons. Second in commands dying with the current leader and then some rank rookie being put in charge. That wouldn't fly normally, but it's happening all across the city."

"What does that mean?" Jaune asked.

"It means someone is taking over the gangs and placing puppets in control. Easily influenced and frightened people they can exert pressure on. I expect this is the woman that challenged you before."

"I guess it's in your best interests I take her out?"

"Precisely." Hei revealed a cruel smile and motioned for the white twin again, who came forward with another, smaller folder. "This is the known locations of one of the gangs that has suffered a sudden change in leadership. The same one as were caught in the crossfire of your little arms deal gone wrong. Not two days after that, their leader mysteriously died and all of a sudden, they're not as interested in their usual business as they used to be. Suspicious, don't you think?"

Jaune opened the folder. Inside were locations, addresses, pictures and some details of what the gang primarily focused on as their main sources of revenue. Weapons, smuggling and illegal gambling rackets that preyed on the desperate apparently.

"They run a grungy gambling ring down in the poorer parts of town. Rumour has it they even do live fights. Anyone can show up and sign themselves in, with the winner getting a cut of the betting pool."

"Rumour has it…?"

"Confirmed rumour." Hei said. "It's there."

"And this is a problem for us?"

"It is when they're running a faunus show match this weekend. Animal on animal action, they're calling it."

Jaune grimaced. That was horrid but was it really something they could stop? If the faunus were signing up of their own free will then desperate or not, it was their own choice. Vale had a lot of people eager to see the tournament at the Vytal Festival, so it didn't surprise him that some people would get impatient and pay to see some warm-up fights.

"That's horrible but I don't see the connection. If those people chose to fight-"

"Who said they had a choice?"

Ilia sucked in a breath. "You don't mean-?"

"Yep." Hei leaned back. "Faunus baiting. Been a long time since that was made illegal – well over a hundred years now. Plenty of homeless faunus on the streets lately though and who pays attention if a few go missing? This gang pride themselves on being all human. I've heard – but I can't confirm this – that their initiation ceremony involves finding and cutting the ear off a faunus."

"Those monsters!" Deery hissed. "Jau- Boss, we have to stop them!"

"It cuts off their business, puts attention on them and you might find their leader." Hei said. "If so, he's a puppet put in charge by your mystery lady, and likely your best bet of finding her."

Jaune picked up the folder and handed it off to Perry. "We'll deal with this," he said, his own blood bubbling and no telling how bad it was for Ilia, Deery and Perry. "What's this group called?"

"The Legion."

"Ominous." Ilia said.

"Edgy more like," Hei said, shrugging. "They're small time for the most part, united by their hatred of faunus and their willingness to dabble in business too problematic for the other gangs to want. Trading in weapons smuggled out of Atlas is lucrative, sure, but it's also a one-way ticket to the army smashing your door down. And I don't hear General Ironwood is a very forgiving man."

He certainly wasn't. Jaune stood and offered his hand, shaking Hei's and thanking him for the information. The man in turn poured each of them a glass, himself included, and toasted their arrangement. The four faunus downed the drink after Hei did, placing the glasses down. On their way out, with the twins stepping away from the doors, Hei called out.

"Amitola…"

Ilia glanced back. "Um. Yeah?"

"No one has a search history they're proud of. Don't worry about it."

Jaune was sure Hei was tyring to be kind, trying to make it less an embarrassing issue, but from the way Ilia flooded her entire body a dark red colour and scurried out the room, he wasn't sure the man succeeded. Jaune would give him props for efforts.

And maybe he'd go change his own passwords tonight…

/-/

"These assholes need to be dealt with."

"They will be. Relax."

The rest of the White Fang were whipping themselves into a veritable frenzy reading over Hei's documents. Jaune, meanwhile, had just sent Tukson off with Bane to clear out his home and close down his bookstore. The man looked incredibly frustrated about it, asking if he couldn't just hire an intern to look after it, but Sienna had promptly pointed out that unless he wanted that intern to get murdered, he should shut down. Ultimately, the realisation that he might be signing someone's death warrant by hiring them had Tukson reluctantly agreeing.

If Hei hadn't done me the kindness of keeping my family out of this then they could be in the same danger. They still were if their enemy did even the simplest of research. Nicholas Arc wasn't exactly an unknown name, and it wouldn't be too difficult to track him back to Ansel, especially not since the police, Beacon and Atlas military likely already had. More reason to find who this is and stop them as soon as possible.

"Is it really okay for us to be working with criminals?" Perry asked. "I didn't want to say anything back there, but we're trying to be good guys, aren't we?"

"If the good guys knew about this, they'd want to stop it."

"They don't though…"

"And that's the problem with following the law," Sienna drawled. "All too often, it causes you to be blind to what is happening right in front of your eyes. We wouldn't have this information if it wasn't for Jaune's little deal. I think that makes it worth the risk."

The police would do something about this if they knew, or at least Jaune really hoped so. He knew Team RWBY and Beacon would, and they'd jump at the chance to if he leaked the information to them. Of course, then the kudos would be shared between the White Fang and them.

I shouldn't be thinking like that. This is a horrible thing happening and I should be glad it gets dealt with no matter who is the one doing it! He grimaced and closed his eyes, trying to decide if it was a good idea or not. Anything Beacon learned, Atlas would learn, and Ironwood still wanted him behind bars. But Ozpin has trusted us. If I don't return the favour…

"We could sneak one of ourselves in as a fighter," Yuma suggested.

"You might be made to fight other faunus," Trifa argued. "Do you really want to cave the skull of some poor, kidnapped faunus in?"

"Damn. Of course not…"

"We have to end this before their planned faunus deathmatch." Sienna said. "The sooner the better."

"Tonight." Jaune spoke, earning a pleased nod from Sienna and some genuine bloodlust from several of the others. "We hit them tonight, as soon as possible and before they can hurt anyone else. Before they can get any warning we're coming for them." He drew in a breath, knowing this would be the hard part. "And I'm planning to tell Beacon."

Predictably, they weren't pleased.

"And let them steal our thunder?" Yuma complained.

"They're blind to this happening in their own city," Trifa argued. "Why should we involve them in closing it down when they never cared before?"

"Atlas will try and crash the party and mess it up. They always do."

"No subtlety. The Legion will hear 'em coming a mile away."

"Blake will be there!?"

Okay, most of them weren't pleased by the news. Ilia was shrinking back under quite a few withering gazes. Jaune spared her by stepping up.

"It's not because we want them but because we need them. Think about what might be waiting for us. We can deal with the gang members easily enough but who is going to help the captive faunus?"

"We can."

"Can we?" he fired back. "Beacon can push for them to get compensation, help and medical attention if they need it. The best we can offer is a pat on the back and some first aid." The others grumbled but looked less against the idea now. "On top of that we might end up catching some of their guests. The people coming to see the blood sports. We don't want to stick around trying to process them, do we? This way we can hand them off to Beacon and be done with them. Lisa will make sure we get credited for this."

"I'm all for it! I think it's a great idea!"

Jaune sighed. "Thank you, Ilia."

/-/

"Miss Goodwitch! Miss Goodwitch!" Ruby burst into the teacher's office. "I got a text from Jaune A-" -and skidded to a stop, suddenly realising she was about to bump into the back of General Ironwood, stooped over Miss Goodwitch's desk. The headmaster was on the other side of it as well, the three having been in discussion before she burst in. "I-I mean, um, h-hello."

"And why?" Mr Ironwood asked, turning with a face like thunder, "Are you – a huntress who should be upholding the law – exchanging texts with a terrorist organisation?"

Ruby's face went white. "I… um… that is… uh…"

"Why, that's because I asked her to." Ozpin swept into her rescue, blatantly lying past his teeth. Ruby wasn't normally one for lies but was happy to let this one go. "I felt it best Beacon reach out to Mr Arc and decided that as someone close to his age, Miss Rose would make an excellent choice. Isn't that right, Miss Rose?"

"Y-Yep! Totally!"

Ironwood's eyes narrowed.

Ruby sweated.

"The text, Miss Rose." Ozpin prompted. "What did Mr Arc have to say?"

Rather than explain, Ruby handed her scroll over to the headmaster, who took it with a smile of thanks and set it down on the table for the three teachers to look at. Ruby squirmed, knowing they'd see her wallpaper of her and Yang cuddling Zwei. How humiliating!

Thankfully, they were more interested in the documents Jaune had attached to the message, pictures that had chilled her to her bones. Pictures that had, for once, even caused Blake to be horrified at someone other than the White Fang. That was how bad they were. Blake had even said "we have to stop them" and not actually meant Jaune. Incredible.

"Oh my…" Miss Goodwitch said.

"This is happening under your nose, Ozpin?" Ironwood barked. "Something as disgusting as this would never stand in Atlas!"

"It's not as though I knew of it, is it?" Ozpin pinched the bridge of his nose. "There's so much going on Vale that some things slip under the radar. I can only focus on what is apparent to me, especially with the festival coming up." He read on and shook his head. "Well I can certainly see why the White Fang would want to attack these people."

"I'm more surprised they are informing us," Glynda said.

"Mr Arc explains it here that he wishes for us to take into custody anyone who is visiting these people. And to take care of any victims found. Hm, that is certainly within our power."

Ruby couldn't contain herself. "Then we're going to-?"

"Of course we're going to intervene, Miss Rose. That goes without saying. I'd normally suggest this is a little much for a first year team, however you do have Miss Adel. Perhaps she could call on some of Team CFVY to assist."

"I can provide soldiers-" Ironwood began.

"No, no. Let's not scare them off."

"Actually, sir," Glynda said. "It might be good for James to be involved in this." Both Mr Ironwood and Ozpin looked to her in surprise, granting her a chance to continue. "While Ozpin is correct that soldiers would drive the suspects away and might even spook the White Fang, we could send a team from Atlas."

"Students?" Ironwood hummed. "One of my teams? I'm not against the idea. The teams we've brought are all more than capable. What's your reasoning?"

"Showing people that Atlas is getting involved with protecting Vale will bolster your image, James. That might be useful after the fiasco on your arrival and the running battle through the streets."

"Ah." Ironwood cringed. "Yes. That…"

"Secondly, it will split the credit for dealing with this problem three ways instead of two. While the White Fang will still benefit, Atlas and Beacon will share the majority of the publicity between them."

"Um." Ruby raised a hand. "People are being hurt by bad guys. Should we really care about who gets the credit?"

"We're going to be saving them anyway," Glynda said. "It costs us nothing to spend a little time planning how to maximise this."

"I guess…"

"We'll send a partnered duo." Ironwood decided. "Penny Polendina and Ciel Soleil – they are both more than capable. I will… reluctantly refrain from interfering and leave this to you, Ozpin. If you truly believe working with those violent extremists is a good idea, then be it on your head."

"And I will accept the consequences," Ozpin said. "Miss Rose, please inform your team that they have the green light on this and get in contact with Miss Adel as well. I will trust her judgement to lead this combined group. Represent Beacon well."

"Y-Yes sir!"

Ruby practically skipped back to their dorm. Or she would have if she wasn't so worried about what Blake might do in her absence. She had the tendency to assume authority figures were going to do nothing, so it wasn't a big surprise to find Blake sneaking out the window when she got back.

"Blake, no!"

"You can't stop me, Ruby!" Blake launched herself out. "I'll stop this Legion myself if no one else will."

"Not that! Ozpin said we can go stop them!"

"Wait, what?" Blake half-turned mid-air to ask, waved her arms and tried to catch the windowsill. Gravity had other ideas. "Eeeeee! Ow!" A loud thud sounded form below, followed by the squawking of several birds taking flight. "I'm okay!" Blake's voice drifted back up.

"Physically maybe," Weiss muttered. "Mentally is another thing altogether. The headmaster is okay for us to work with the White Fang on this then?"

"Yep. We're going with Team CFVY and a pair of students from Atlas."

"Ten of us?" Yang asked. "Sounds like overkill."

"I think that's the point. Show people we take this seriously."

"Fair enough." Yang grinned and looked to the door as it swung open. Blake limped back inside with a twig in her hair and grassy stains up and down her arms. "How was your trip?"

"Shut up." Blake turned to Ruby. "Beacon is going to intervene?"

"They're sending us." Ruby repeated the story for Blake's sake. The fact Blake looked so amazed at the idea Beacon would do anything at all was both depressing and irritating. It wasn't like they'd held back the last few times. "We have to work with the White Fang, though. That means we're not allowed to harm them."

"Or arrest them," Weiss added.

"Or stab Jaune in any way." Yang said.

Huffing, Blake crossed her arms. "I get it. I'm not an idiot."

None of them quite had an answer to that, making Blake's eyes narrow.

"What? Why are you all looking at me like that?"

/-/

Ruby couldn't help but think that ten huntsmen and huntresses – mostly huntresses – meeting up with a band of terrorists had sounded a lot better in her head than it did in reality. The ten of them, in plain clothing, had been told to meet with the White Fang at a quiet and empty parking lot late at night, close to midnight on a Thursday. At least Ozpin had promised to let them off early lessons tomorrow.

It could have easily been a trap, which was why Ruby was relieved when Jaune approached with only a small band of his faunus. It would have been a pretty poor trap otherwise. The huge one that had gone crazy and attacked Weiss was thankfully missing.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my favourite revolutionary." Coco broke the awkward silence with her usual flair, striding forward with hand on hip and foxy smile on face. How she could see anything wearing shades at midnight was anybody's guess. "I heard you made a big splash at the dance. Shame I wasn't there to see it or catch a dance myse-"

"Coco! Bad!" Velvet's hand slapped down on the back of Coco's head. The rabbit faunus stepped up beside her leader, clasped her hands and said, "I'm sorry for anything my team leader says."

Yang snickered.

"Hey! Hey! I'm not that bad! And I was just saying hello-"

"Coco! Stop flirting!"

"B-But I'm not…"

"You were planning to." The accusation was made with narrowed eyes and Coco coughed and looked away. "I hope we can all work together peacefully," she said to Sienna. "We're all here in the interests of co-operation."

"We are…" Sienna tilted her head to the side and observed them. Ruby stiffened but the woman paid remarkably little attention to her. Weiss received more, much more, and Blake got her fair share. "I'm not entirely sure what you're apologising for however…"

"That one kissed Jaune." the faunus with bat wings said unhelpfully.

Several hands slapped their foreheads.

"Did she now?" Sienna asked, not quite as angry as Ruby imagined someone who just found out their boyfriend had kissed someone behind their back should be. "Awfully bold of you…"

"Coco." Coco winked. "Coco Adel."

"Stop flirting!"

"I am literally introducing myself! Bun, come on. Am I flirting with them both now or something?"

"Or something," Velvet replied miserably. "We're here to stop some criminals endangering lives, not to make friends, complicate relationships or get into battles of oneupwomanship."

Ruby expected Velvet's attitude to upset the White Fang. To her surprise, Sienna Khan smiled. "Well said. Don't worry, I take no offence at what Jaune may have done with someone before we were officially together. Your teammate is safe from my wrath."

"But are you safe from mi-" Coco's mouth was covered by a hand.

"Coco says thank you!" Velvet lied unconvincingly. "Coco is- ow! Coco, you bit me! No! Bad Coco! Bad!"

Sienna chuckled and walked past the two squabbling teammates. "As the dear said, we're here for one purpose and one only, to deliver punishment on those who would mistreat faunus, to restore balance and equality and to show the world that we will not sit back and watch this happen without taking action!"

The faunus cheered. Ruby and her team weren't sure if they should. It was a nice speech, and they technically were doing all of that and more but… well, it sounded like a rallying speech for faunus to action, and Ruby wasn't sure if she'd get in trouble liking it.

"Yesterday we were but people living our lives," she went on, "but today we are united by one purpose, one goal, and as I look at you now, I do not see weak or downtrodden men and women. I see fighters. I see brave souls prepared to do what they must for those who cannot! So go! Go and show the world your mettle!"

"Whooo!"

"Hell yeah!"

"Ahem." Blake coughed acidly. "Isn't Jaune Arc meant to be the one in charge now?"

Sienna blinked, blushed and then stepped back. "Oh. You're right." She glanced back and laughed awkwardly. "Sorry about that, my dear. I got caught up. Old habits die hard. Do you have anything to add?"

Jaune looked around, looked at them and shrugged. "Sounds like you have everything handled. Go team, go?"

"Go team!" a masked faunus with glasses over his mask cheered. "Whooo!"

"Really though," Ciel Soleil, teammate of Penny Polendina said. "There has to be more to this plan than running in there to cause chaos. I'm aware we can outfight the enemy, especially with ten in-training huntsmen and huntresses here, but I hope the White Fang has more sense than to use such a brute force approach."

Everyone looked to Jaune Arc.

Jaune Arc looked back. "W-Well, I was thinking that since the White Fang found this place and organised everything and saw fit to share this with Beacon that it would look like we did all the work if we planned it as well…"

Ruby paled. It would, wouldn't it? Oh no, their whole plan was to make this look like a joint effort, but if it got out that she and her team just showed up and followed the White Fang's orders, that'd look terrible! It might even look like Beacon was subordinate to the White Fang!

"Oh please," Ciel said. "As if anyone is going to fall for-"

"I'll plan it!" Ruby yelped. "I'll plan it!"

Omfg, this is late out today. Why? Well some people came around to remove and fit some new patio windows. Fair enough. They ripped the old ones out leaving a 4-metre hole in the wall, dicked around taking forever to bring the new ones around and then said they couldn't finish the job tonight! My face! They wanted to leave me with a hole leading into my house overnight?

I'm still arguing with them over it now. Absolutely ridiculous that they want to just fucking leave it like this.

Next Chapter: 1st June

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur