Hit a bird while driving yesterday – grouse or pheasant of some kind. I was overtaking a tractor with numerous cars behind me on a country road so no room to swerve and no ability to slow down without causing an accident. The thing also did the "waddle of death" where it goes left and right in the road, always to the edge of being able to dodge me, then wandering back into the middle as if it has had second thoughts on living.

It died quickly but also slammed up into my grill, shattered through it and LODGED in there. I had to pick it out by hand when I got home. Now I've had the grill priced up to repair and it's going to be £600! That's about $800. Ffs. Going to see if I can't find somewhere to do it cheaper.

I only went out to get prescriptions for my parents so they wouldn't have to risk themselves in public at the doctors. Argh.

Chapter 43

"To reiterate, you cannot think of any reason why the White Fang would target you?"

"Nothing other than what I've already said."

"Which is?"

Jaune Arc sighed. "That they just wanted to cause terror and we were convenient targets."

"An attack of opportunity, then? That's your assumption?"

"It's not an assumption; I'm only guessing."

"And what were you doing again?"

"I've already told you all this," he said, slouching at the table. "We were meeting with suppliers about setting up our own brewery."

"You run a nightclub, correct?"

"Yes."

"Why would you need a brewery?"

"Is that a trick question?"

"Answer it please."

"We're a nightclub. We spend hundreds of thousands a year on beer. We make a profit on that, sure, but if we can make our own beer for cheaper and use that then our profits will be much higher."

"Do you know anything about running a brewery?"

"No, but I don't have to. We're going to hire someone more experienced to run it."

"You were attacked and nearly killed several weeks ago, I've heard.

"A-Ah. Yeah." Jaune rubbed his left arm. "I don't think he was with the White Fang though. He wasn't even a faunus."

"Most people don't get attacked two times in as many months-"

"Don't they?" Jaune spat. "Because I was mugged on my very first night in Vale. You think this city is safe? I work until the early hours of the morning when people are drunk, rowdy and the streets and alleyways are empty. Everyone knows Vale is dangerous."

"Please calm down sir…"

Qrow Branwen sighed and turned away from the recording. He didn't like doing this, not to someone he considered a pal, but he'd been called in to aid the investigation and part of that was listening to the interviews. "Is what he said true?" he asked. "Is Vale that dangerous at night?"

"Some parts are," the officer admitted unhappily. "We just don't have enough boots on the street and we have to prioritise busier times. We do try and keep a presence on the busier areas, but we can't police every street, residential road, and back alley. We don't have any reported muggings to his file."

That didn't mean it hadn't happened. Qrow supposed he'd never experienced Vale as a civilian. He'd been an adequate fighter in the Branwen tribe, then he'd come to become a huntsman. From the first time he stepped in Vale until now, he'd never been what one might call a normal person. He watched idly as Jaune became increasingly frustrated with the roundabout questioning. The officer in the video was trying to get him to slip up by covering the same topics, albeit with different questions, to try and provoke him into giving contradictory information.

It bothered him more than he cared to admit. While you could argue that there was no problem if Jaune didn't have anything to hide, the line of questioning practically assumed guilt. Our police shouldn't be this biased, he thought. Then again, even if Vale was dangerous most people didn't experience two assassination attempts in the space of a month.

"I assume you've dug out old files. Did the person who tried to kill him have any connections to the White Fang?"

"None. He was human and had criminal ties at best. A record for aggravated assault, burglary and two charges of blackmail. He was a known quantity to us, and he'd been in and out of jail."

"Not in long enough…"

"Prison doesn't do its job, huntsman. It's meant to reform, and while most people come out of it changed, it's not in the way we want. The gangs like to swipe up people who leave. It's practically a boot camp for them."

Qrow grimaced. Gangs were another thing he'd never had to deal with as a huntsman-in-training. Vale had always seemed so relaxed. According to Ozpin, it was because the gangs knew better than to cause trouble for people from Beacon. As such, all activity would have stopped the second Team STRQ came near. It was crazy to imagine criminals being that disciplined, but then that was why it was called organised crime.

"If the prisons are that bad, why not change them?"

"Not in our power. It's a controversial issue too. If we try to improve conditions in the prisons then the public get upset because they think taxpayer money is being used to spoil inmates. They think conditions should be bad so it makes people not want to offend again. The council weighs in whichever way the public do. They don't want to be seen as weak on crime either."

And so, the prisons remained cesspits and those inside were treated as less than human, eventually becoming that by the time they were released. It sounded stupid to him but then he'd always had an unpopular view on things. Most people didn't have to deal with the consequences of who came out of prison either. That was for unfortunate souls like Jaune.

Or is he unfortunate at all? What if it's targeted…? No. I know him. He's a good kid.

A good kid. Someone he wouldn't feel bad letting around Ruby. Heck, he knew about their little study sessions and thought they were adorable. It was a good chance for Ruby to learn how to socialise with people too. Jaune was a good lad – he had a job, he had a girlfriend by all accounts now, and he had dreams of joining Beacon. He took lessons with Oobleck and even Ozpin had complimented him.

Qrow changed his mind to the other two. "Do the stories of the girls match up?"

"Pretty much. They all agree they were out setting up a brewery. Their job records are all in order and they pay their taxes. I'd say his meteoric rise in employment was suspicious, but his old boss died and he was left to take the role."

"Died? Violently…?"

"You know, it doesn't say here." The officer sheafed through several documents, then wheeled his chair over to his computer to search through the records. "Nothing here either."

"Is that suspicious?"

"Not on its own. Records don't always get updated and it's not like we have direct access to the hospitals. If he died of natural causes, it's not really any of our business. If he didn't…" The man trailed off. Qrow could put the pieces together though. If Jaune's employer had been killed then they might just have a motive for why the first killer went after him. That might not explain the White Fang as well, but they could be working with one of the gangs.

The big question now was why a criminal gang might want to kill the owner of a nightclub. Money? To send a message? Intimidation? The more he thought, the more reasons there were. It could even be as simple as a gang member wanting to buy it out, the boss refusing and then being killed off so they could try again. A big assumption to make, but they didn't have any other angles right now and Ozpin was counting on him to make headway.

"Look into it. Don't call him in and question him again but try and find out what this Hei Xiong died of. Hospital records or at least a coroner's report. If it was violent, I want to know in what way and what, if any, suspects we have."

"One might be the person promoted to take his spot…"

"No." Qrow's answer was immediate. "I know the kid. They were on good terms."

"People lie, sir. With all due respect, part of the job is being able to put aside your personal feelings and look at things objectively. He will be a suspect is his former employer died under mysterious circumstances."

A grimace spread across his face. He took the chastisement, though. "Right. I'll have a word with him and all. Just, don't jump down his throat. There's no evidence to say he did it and he's been attacked."

"I only said he would be a suspect. He wouldn't be a prime one without further evidence."

/-/

"You were attacked!?"

"The White Fang drove us off the road and tried to kill us." Jaune confirmed to his shocked audience. Lisa, Andrea, and Tammy had been waiting for him in Lisa's home. He had the suspicion they'd been out at the parade together and had stuck around to see why he'd set Tammy up. Any anger they might have had hadn't lasted beyond him arriving in a squad car, bruised, and banged up from the crash and with a police officer very gently telling him to stay off his feet and report any nausea or difficulties to the hospital. "I'm surprised you didn't know," he told Lisa. "You're a reporter, aren't you?"

"I worked the parade all day!" Lisa said. "I've been in and out of interviews. Someone else must have been given it. Holy shit, Jaune, is that – is that blood!?"

Tammy was at his side immediately, and Jaune only lightly protested as he was dragged to one of the seats and pushed down into the space Andrea quickly vacated. She disappeared into the kitchen and came out seconds later with some water in a glass. "Here. Drink it. Lisa, do you think you can get him a clean shirt?"

Lisa rushed up the stairs before he could tell her it was a) fine, b) not his blood and c) he could walk perfectly well. No one cared to hear it. Tammy was already unbuttoning his shirt and none of them seemed to see anything wrong in the situation. The two of them worked together to pull it up over his arms and Lisa soon returned with a fresh one.

"You're covered in bruises!" she yelled.

"My car was literally smashed off the road," Jaune replied, wincing as Tammy poked a nasty yellowish bruise on his shoulder. Aura was great and all, but it didn't prevent everything. A bullet that should have gone right through his shoulder had instead bounced off it, but the impact was not unlike being hit on naked flesh by a paintball. Simply put, it hurt. And it left one hell of a mark. "I think a few of these were from bullets as well."

"You were shot!?"

"I have aura. Ouch. Stop poking it!" He pushed Tammy's hand away and grabbed the shirt from Lisa, wriggling into it before they could make him feel any more awkward than he already was. "The blood isn't mind either. It was our driver. He didn't have aura."

"Is he okay?"

"He's dead." They all winced, and Jaune wondered if it wasn't a bad sign that he didn't. After a second's thought he dismissed it as more because he'd had two hours to come to terms with it. Plus, he was emotionally and physically drained as it was. "Sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I've had a bit of a shitty day."

"And I thought the worst thing to happen today would be a missed date." Tammy slid in next to him and gently wrapped her arm over his shoulder, careful not to put too much pressure on him. At least her annoyance over a missed date was gone, not that anyone could have held onto it after this. "I bet you wish you were out with me today now, huh? You could have avoided all this."

Or Torchwick would have had the White Fang attack anyway and Tammy could have been gunned down in the crossfire. She didn't have aura to protect her after all. Jaune shuddered as he imagined everyone screaming, people dropping, as masked figures opened fire in a crowded parade. The girls mistook it for him reliving the memory and crooned over him like his sisters might have.

It wouldn't have happened. Security at the parade would have been too high. Probably…

The "probably" bothered him. All the other gangs were predictable; they wanted it to be business as usual, so they were willing to let things slide by while the huntsmen were busy. The White Fang didn't play by the same rules. They wanted to be seen – they wanted to be noticed and feared – and that meant they could strike at any time, any place, and not care about whether they were caught or not.

A cool palm placing itself against his forehead snapped him out his thoughts. All three of them looked worried for him. "I'm fine," he said. "I drifted off while thinking. Sorry if I worried you."

"You're taking time off work, right?"

"I'm working tonight-"

"Jaune!"

"But not behind the bar," he said quickly. "It's just… I have things to do. Including calling the family of our driver to explain what happened."

"You shouldn't be working at all!" Lisa insisted.

He shouldn't be, but Team RWBY might be coming down tonight, or Blake if they didn't agree, and he had to be there to meet them. Technically, he would be safer at the club as well. He wouldn't put it past Roman to know where he lived. "It won't really be work," he said. "I'm going to be in my office the whole time. It's a Sunday too. Most people have work Monday and it's not as busy."

"If I didn't have work as well tomorrow, I'd come with to make sure you didn't work." Tammy threatened. Lisa and Andrea nodded. Jaune laughed and assured them he'd be fine. As fine as he could be anyway. As long as Cinder followed through and called Roman and the White Fang off, there might not be any problems.

And if Roman didn't back off, well, Jaune wasn't beyond calling in help of his own.

/-/

"Sir." Tony knocked twice on the door and poked his head in. "Several girls here to see you – they say you gave them permission. One is that girl from the other day."

If he hadn't been expecting Team RWBY, it might have taken a little longer to figure out who he meant by that. It was Blake obviously, but Jaune was also a little surprised by the heated glare Tony, normally so professional, sent Yang as well. The blonde wore a shit-eating grin as she sauntered in and flicked Tony the middle finger.

"Where are those twins?" she asked tauntingly. "I thought we could go another few rounds."

"Miss Malachite and Miltia are resting after nearly being murdered by the White Fang."

Ruby's sister blanched and sucked in a sharp wince. "Shit. Well, what about Junior, huh-?"

Tony was stone-faced. "Mr Xiong is resting in a cemetery after successfully being murdered…"

The blood drained from the blonde's face and her lips sealed shut. That her teammates all stared at her disbelievingly couldn't have helped, but it seemed Yang had decided to shut up before she wedged any more of her foot, shin, and knee down her own throat. The four girls walked in and took seats at the round table after Blake did, following her lead. Tony set some drinks down on the table, some mixers and spirits, then left and closed the door behind him.

"Help yourselves to drinks," Jaune said. "Except you, Ruby."

"Eh-? Why not me?"

In answer he slid an unopened can of soda across the table. Ruby caught it while Blake smiled tiredly and Weiss laughed. "Last thing I need is accusations of selling alcohol to a minor. You're fifteen, remember?"

"It's not like I've never drank any before!"

"We're a licensed club. I'd rather not lose that."

"You said the White Fang attacked you." Blake interrupted the conversation. Yang and Weiss helped themselves to drinks, but Team RWBY's resident faunus and ex-terrorist was focused on the task at hand. "You also said… that it might have been…"

"In response to my helping you?"

Blake winced the biggest of winces.

"Helping her?" Weiss spoke up. "What does that mean?"

"You didn't tell them?"

"I… I was planning to…" Blake admitted.

"Now might be as good a time as any."

Blake told the story miserably, first to raised eyebrows, then to shocked expressions and finally to Weiss almost flipping the table in anger. She wasn't the only one glaring at their teammate. "Damn it, Blake!" Yang all but howled. "You told us you'd come to us with problems, not go behind our backs!"

"I promised that after that. And I came this time, didn't I?"

"Yeah, and Jaune got attacked for it." Ruby said.

Jaune repressed his own wince at that. He didn't want to mislead them like this, which was why he'd not so much said it was her fault as implied it. A lie was still a lie though, and he wondered if he should be more upset about that. They're huntresses. They can rip Roman and the White Fang up in their sleep, plus they have all of Beacon to call on. It'll be fine.

"Are you okay?" Weiss asked him. "Should you be working tonight if you were attacked?"

"Work keeps me distracted." Jaune answered honestly. "Plus, I don't feel safe at home. As for being alright, Oobleck's lessons helped me keep my aura up. Dove has been teaching me how to keep it focused while I'm distracted too. I think I'd be dead if it wasn't for them." He touched the round bruise on his forehead for emphasis. Eyes widened as they all realised it had come from a bullet.

"Jaune…" Ruby whimpered.

"I'm trying to stay out of trouble," he lied.

"You called Blake for a reason." Weiss said. "You want us to go after the White Fang?"

"I want them out the city. I don't necessarily want you four fighting them – but you have Beacon, right? You could easily get them dealt with if you knew where they were hiding."

"As could the police. You could go to them."

"That's if I knew where they are," he said. "I don't. I only know bits and pieces. Maybe enough for someone to try and find them, but only if they were skilled enough to do a little detective work of their own."

"All of which would still be best for the police," Weiss pointed out. "Why us?"

"Because Blake is a known quantity. To them as well as me. I can't go to the police or the huntsmen because then the White Fang will find out and I'll be floating in the bay by morning." Either from Roman putting him there or Cinder. "You, though. You have reason to go after them. If they find out you're digging into them, they'll figure it's because you knew the White Fang before. There's nothing to tie you back to me."

Yang didn't look impressed. "Isn't that just throwing us under the bus instead?"

"You're huntresses; you live in Beacon; you're untouchable. I'm not."

"He has a point." Blake said. "What can they do to us?"

"Kill us." Weiss said.

"I mean in revenge. They could go after our parents but mine are safe. Your parents have an army of bodyguards and the White Fang hate them already. As for Ruby and Yang's…"

"Dad would wipe the floor with them." Yang said.

"See? The risks are low. There's a chance we'll be caught looking into things, but do you really want to sit back when we know the White Fang are active in the city? Jaune, do you know what they're planning?" Blake asked.

"How would he?" Ruby asked innocently. "He just runs a club…"

Blake didn't answer.

"Rubes." Yang spoke to her sister but her eyes were locked on Jaune. "This place has a bit of a rep. Even I know about it. They say it's a place to get information – whatever information you want. It's one of the shadier places in the city."

Ruby looked like she didn't believe it and looked to Jaune for answers. It was hard to find them.

"Your sister makes it sound worse than it is. We can't get any information and there's nothing magical or sneaky to it. People come here to drink. Drunk people say a lot of things. The previous owner, my boss, decided to make extra money selling that information around. It's not illegal. We don't sell people's bank details or huge secrets. It's gossip and news that we put together from different sources."

"Like knowing that this Tukson person was White Fang?" Weiss asked suspiciously.

"Like that." Jaune said, nodding. "We didn't investigate him if that's what you mean. I don't have an army of spies. What I do have is an army of customers from all walks of life that like talking and don't pay much attention to the guy serving them drinks. All it took was one drunk faunus to let slip who Tukson is."

Blake sighed. "Loose lips sink ships."

"It's not illegal then?" Ruby asked. "You're not…"

A bad person? Jaune pointedly didn't answer that question. "It's not illegal. It's dangerous, though. Especially when the people you're ratting out are terrorists. I really do want them gone, though. They're bad for business and if they're working on what I think they are, it's going to get a lot worse."

That caught their attention. Blake leaned in. "What is it?"

"I don't know for sure but I can make some guesses based on what they've done so far. They've been stealing dust – lots of dust. They're also working with Roman Torchwick, which you probably already know-"

"We saw the news. The White Fang have never worked with humans before, especially not his kind. I don't see why they would start now."

"Because they need dust bad enough to stomach it," Jaune said. When Blake looked surprised, he added, "That's the only option that makes sense, isn't it? They probably don't want to work with him, but if they need dust so badly they're willing to steal SDC containers in the middle of the night and in front of all those cameras, then they must be desperate. That suggests they're on a deadline, which suggests they're limited on time for whatever they need it for, and the only thing coming up that they would feel pressured by is…" Jaune trailed off and let them connect the dots.

"The Vytal festival," they said as one.

"Bingo. Now, I could be completely wrong on this-"

"You're not." Blake said. "It makes too much sense. It's so obvious…"

"Terrorists are measured by how much terror they cause," Weiss said. "With that much dust, they could make a big bomb – and why not set it off at the biggest event in the world? The festival is televised across all Remnant. There's no event you could send a bigger message at than this."

Ruby balked. "We need to tell Beacon!"

"They already know." Jaune said. "Why do you think the huntsmen are working with the police and coming down on criminals so hard? They're looking for the White Fang and Torchwick. They're not dumb, Ruby. They've figured out the same thing and they want the White Fang gone almost as much as I do."

Almost as much. The problem was that Qrow and the police were being forced to wade through every gang first. They were whittling down everyone in the hopes of eventually reaching Roman, and Roman wasn't afraid to throw any number of gangs in his way to stay ahead of the law.

"If everyone is as focused on stopping them as you say then why do you need us?" Weiss asked.

"Because what the police are doing isn't working."

"How can you be sure?" Jaune raised an eyebrow and tapped his bruised forehead. Weiss blushed. "Oh, yes. I didn't mean-"

"They're not working fast enough for my liking," Jaune said. "Or for my survival. Your sister is right to say we deal in information, Ruby, and the White Fang might be a little worried about that. Or maybe they're not and it's Roman who asked them to deal with us. It could also have been a wild coincidence I was attacked, but I'm not willing to bet my life on coincidence."

"I'm going to help whatever the rest of you decide." Blake said. "It's my fault he's being targeted and I was trying to find out what they're up to anyway. I won't sit by while they build a bomb."

"No one is asking you to," Yang said. "Ah shit, fine. I'm in."

"I'll do it!" Ruby said angrily. "But only because they tried to hurt my friend."

"And I don't have much of a choice at this point, do I?" Weiss groaned. "Very well. I'm sure they'd be aiming whatever bomb it is at me anyway. Might as well cause a fuss at the festival and kill a Schnee in one go. I'm almost certainly a target. What do you have for us that you can't give to the police, then?"

Jaune slid a folder onto the table. "The location of three of Roman Torchwick's safehouses."

Team RWBY were stunned. "How!?" Blake croaked.

"Apparently, Torchwick makes it a habit of hiring goons to do a lot of the heavy lifting for him." Jaune left out that it was their goons. "While he obviously doesn't come here, get drunk and spill stuff like that, we've had a few of his people do so. It's boasting a lot of the time. Torchwick is a famous figure and they think they're special to work with him. They don't even think about whether it's a bad idea to mention where abouts they were working."

"Roman might not be there anymore," Jaune continued, "But even if he isn't you might be able to find some clues as to where he's gone. He may be a master thief, but he has to deal with grunts and the White Fang who aren't. The more people involved, the more chance someone messes up."

"That's your angle." Blake said quietly. "We're not going after the White Fang, we're going after Torchwick. Clever. We'll never find who the White Fang are behind their masks, but if Roman is the one helping them gather dust and stay hidden, he's their weak link."

More like the other way around. Blake might have had a subconscious bias there if she thought the White Fang were the ones doing most of the work. It didn't matter to him. Even if Team RWBY couldn't put Roman behind bars, they'd keep him on his toes and off Jaune's back.

"I need one thing from you before I hand this over," he said, holding onto the folder even as Blake reached for it. They all looked surprised. "It's nothing bad," he promised. "I just need you to all promise that you will make it clear to whomever asks, be it your teachers, the police or anyone you capture, that you found this information yourselves. You didn't get it from me. I didn't give it to you. This meeting never happened."

Yang was the first to be suspicious. "Why?"

Jaune had an answer prepped for that. He unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt and peeled it open to show the nasty yellow bruise on his shoulder. "So that this doesn't have to happen again. Anyone could be working with the White Fang. Even some members of the police. You tell anyone it was from me and they could find out and get their own back." He buttoned back up. "Does it matter if people know who it came from in the end? I'm not breaking any laws in telling you how to catch a bad guy. I'm only trying to make sure we're not attacked again, and that I don't have to bury anyone else."

"Right." Yang licked her lips. "That… That makes sense. We're untouchable. You're not."

"Precisely. So, do I have your word?"

Team RWBY each gave it.

Jaune handed over the evidence.

Send the White Fang after me, Roman, he thought viciously. Two can play at that game.

Jaune sees your attack by White Fang and raises you a Blake Belladonna. You are now forever hounded by an angry cat girl who will not give up. You are soon driven into insanity.

Next Chapter: 18th November

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