A Beacon in the Night:
Jaune's gotten himself into another mess, one with a body this time, and has to call in an old flame of his to help. Perhaps she could be of some use in this case, after all, Melanie always had a knack for sticking her nose where it didn't belong.
0-0-0-0
Hauling a body around the downtown of Vale was actually easier than one might expect. Especially if you go through the narrows, those people could hear a murder outside their window and all they'd do is close their blinds. Furthermore, a dashing rogue such as myself knew how to navigate the shady underbelly of Vale's ghettos all the way to Junior's Club.
I was being as quiet as possible, which was made difficult by the rampant squawking of one Melanie Militades.
"Where do you get off Arc? Leaving after some one night stand like I'm another one of your floosies. Well I won't have it!" Melanie snarled from the other end. I sweat slightly at her aggressive tone, but to be fair I probably had it coming.
You see, Melanie and I, used to have this on-off relationship thing so to speak. My job as a selfless, handsome, yet rougish, private eye clashed with her dark and mysterious gang security job a lot, so we knew eachother by face and name before we got together. After that, I ended up working a case for Melanie which involved some very personal, and very sensitive, business which I resolved with efficiency.
Her payment and following "payments" were much appreciated and we ended up hitting it off together. I'm not sure if I believed, even then, that our relationship was going to last, for it was built on the fragile foundations of passion and that rarely ended well for a couple. Our jobs clashed occasionally and we found ourselves drifting apart, Melanie didn't take it well and neither did I, but we both had our ways of dealing with it.
Melanie, being kinda bratty and snobbish, took our falling out as some sort of personal offense as if I had been fucking another girl behind her back. I knew telling her I there was no other girl was fruitless, that was just the way she was and I could never hate her for it, not when I fell in love with the same person. As for me, I resorted into an alcoholic spiral of self-destruction, caught up in what could have been and feeling the dull ache of what happened when I was rejected by Beacon all over again. A good friend of mine pulled me out of that slump, and now we act like a couple of divorcees with occasional bouts of hate sex.
Besides the point I know, but it explains her attitude.
"Melanie, it wasn't a one night stand and you know it." I sighed.
"Regardless, you, Jaune Arc, are a scoundrel with a silver tongue and I refuse to get dragged into another one of your hairbrained schemes." she cried petulantly, yep that was my darling ex.
"Melanie this is serious, I can't tell you why but I need help hiding this body." I chewed my lip, Melanie was the only person I could trust to not ask questions about this mess. "Seriously, if you can't help me with this it could mean my head!"
"Oh, whatever shall I do then." goddammit Melanie.
"Please, I'm asking nicely here. I'm paying too." I bargained, I heard her huff and mutter something to herself.
"Whatever Jaune, come over to the Red Room right now and we'll handle it." thank god, because that was the only explanation I could find for this right now. Divine Intervention.
"I'm almost outside actually, I'll be right in."
"Go around back you idiot!"
"Fine." I sighed again, she had a point I suppose. When I got around back I found Melanie, her sister Militia, and a few goons of Junior's waiting out back. I dumped the faunus girl I had been carrying unceremoniously on the ground, call me cruel if you want, the gaggle of goons came out with a rug and rolled her up in it before heading inside to do god knows what to remove all the evidence.
By morning, it would be labeled as another hate crime or something. I didn't really care right now, right now I was facing down a pissed off, bratty woman with a pair stiletto heels made of knives.
"Good to see you Militia." I smiled wearily, all I wanted right now was to take a hot shower and go to bed on my favorite couch. Militia smiled slightly, seemingly more amused by the situation than anything, but Melanie gave me a glare that could turn a man to stone. One I was used to as well.
"Don't try putting the moves on my sister Jaune, I won't allow." Melanie said icily.
"I'm not Melanie. How have you been."
"Oh? So you care now then?"
"Melanie, you know I care about you." I said tiredly, as if I was explaining it to a child which I kinda was.
"Hmph, think you can get into my combat skirt that easily do you? I'm not like that hussy you were fucking behind my back."
"Christ Melanie, we both know there was no other woman." I whined, already tired of this argument.
"Yeah right, well you might as well come in and get all that blood and grime off you. You look like a goddamn homeless serial killer." she sniffed the air and her lips curled in distaste. "You smell like one too."
"Thanks Melanie, whatever would I do without you?"
"Shut up and come inside." she snapped, dragging me into the seedy bar along with her sister. When we got inside I saw Junior waiting there, smoking a cigarette and rubbing his temples.
"You know Jaune, you could make it a habit of not causing me trouble." he sighed wearily.
"Oh, and where is the fun in that?" I said with a wry smile. He growled but just opted to shake his head and give up on trying to deal with me, a plan that would have worked better for all of us.
"If you two lovebirds are done, you smell like roadkill." Melanie said, sharply jabbing a finger into my chest before dragging me to one of the VIP rooms nearby. Junior's bar wasn't just a den of criminals and date rapists, no The Red Room catered to all tastes and had taken its fair share of VIPs and their associative "company" over the years, so the room was idealic for what I needed.
A large, soft bed, beautiful furniture decorating the room, a flat screen TV, and a bathroom that could probably hold a squad of Atlas troops if need be and a shower to match. I breathed all the lavish luxury in before I was thrown back into reality by my ex grabbing the scruff of my jacket and holding me at arm's bay like a sick animal , she dragged me over to the bathroom and shoving me inside.
"And don't come out until I can't detect even a single whiff of your foul scent." she hissed. "Because if I do, you're going back."
"Ok, but why are you staying here? Afraid I'll drown in the shower." her faced turned red and started to steam, but I wasn't sure if it was from embarrassment or from anger.
"It would just like you to pull off a miracle like that Arc. But no, I'm staying here to make sure you don't knick any of our complimentary items." damn, and that soap was so nice too. Whatever, I didn't need to play her petty little games so I just stuck my nose in the air with a huff and locked the door.
Damn Melanie, I just wanted some help with a body and I end up getting a free shower for it. Now that might not seem so bad to the naked eye, but I was sure Melanie was going to lord this over my head for months. I can hear it now: "How dare you Arc, after I let you use the club's VIP for free?"
I let the hot water run down my body- but god damn if this wasn't just what I needed. I felt my thoughts flicker back to the little faunus kid I killed, I couldn't quite call what I was feeling remorse, more like distaste.
I didn't like the idea of killing her, far from it, and I would have relished in the opportunity to just not have encountered her. But, in my opinion, there's a certain point where someone, even a normally innocent person, has become a dangerous loose end. This could happen over the course of months due to investigation, or it could be an instant wrong-place-wrong-time issue.
Regardless, it didn't matter. She had her orders from high command, and I had my fight or flight instincts. Still, what she said had irked me "our leaders and benefactors want you to end this fruitless case", I mean shit, what do they know about me?
Someone must have caught wind of this somehow. It could have been a leak somewhere along the line (which was doubtful) or it could be that Torchwick and his gaggle of fuzzy terrorists had more than a few ears and eyes around the city. Worse, when their assassin didn't come back, they'd keep sending more, they'd keep pushing more and someone, who I cared about atleast, was going to get hurt.
I never drag people into my business, and I try to avoid doing so unintentionally if at all possible. It's because I feel for 'em you know? Some Joe Average that might be my Friend's Brother's Roommate could see where I was going the other night and then suddenly he's tied to a chair and interrogated by the mob for my whereabouts.
I really hate it when people get dragged into my shitfest.
I stepped out of the shower, squeaky clean and smelling like a hundred thousand roses. Of course, being the suave and handsome jerkass I was, I came out without anything on. That's right, full frontal baby! Part of me just wanted to see Melanie squirm, and the other part was latching onto the fact our last meetup was a lot more passionate than this one.
I like to think being a lady-killer is another part of the silver-age detective motif.
Melanie looked at me and gave a small "tch" sound and turned away, but she wasn't fast enough to hide her blush. "Why, in god's name, Jaune, are you naked right now? If you think I'll let fawn all over you you have another thing coming."
"No fawning Melanie, but I think you remember what happened the last time we met. And I'd hate for this to end up so sour, y'know?"
"Put your clothes on you jackass and leave."
"Fine." I sighed much too dramatically, making a show of putting my clothes on. "Guess I'll just have to go home, cold and alone and without the feeling of your love. Maybe I'll be killed by another assassin, and my last thoughts will be of how I could never truly repay your kindness for tonight. Aghast! I shall go Melanie, but please, keep me in your thoughts and well wishes-"
"Just get over here you prick." she muttered.
"Hehe, works every time." I whispered to myself.
"What was that?"
"Ugh, just professing my love for you!"
"Right..."
0-0-0-0
I took off after a short bit of afterglow pillow talk, and a promise of returning soon, and booked it back to my personal island to brag of exploits to my most trusted confidant! Wyatt Earp was less than impressed and more focused on how hungry he was, so I, begrudgingly, gave him his food and called up Ozpin.
"Mr. Arc, slept well-"
"Shut up and listen to me, last night I was jumped by a Fang assassin."
"You... were? Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine but more importantly we have a problem: someone knows I was on this case Oz."
"I see, that's... unwelcome."
"Yeah, you're telling me man. Anyways, someone must be keeping a close eye on me as of late so I need to be more careful with my movements. I think that spectacle down at the docks really fucked my shit up."
"Do you think this will severely impair your ability to track Torchwick?"
"I'm not entirely sure. Killing one of their agents certainly doesn't help things. Look, I think I need some backup for this case, nothing major but someone who they would never suspect."
"I think I can arrange that."
3 hours later...
I was going to meet my new partner and subordinate. According to Oz they knew their way around some of the rougher parts of Vale and had a wealth of street smarts to back it up. According to their file, they had lived on the South Side of Ancyra, Mistral which basically meant they knew their way around the art of street life and street fighting.
I arrived there in a thoughtfully provided cab and was faced with another such car, standing outside it were both Goodwitch and Ozpin which surprised me, usually they'd send one of their lackeys to do something like this.
"Mr. Arc, so good to see you alive and well. I trust you had a full night?" Ozpin joked.
"Damn right, but maybe fuller for some than others." I laughed heartily, what can I say? Sex puts me in a good mood.
"Yes, a shame about that girl."
"Wasn't what I was referring to."
"Oh?"
"I met up with an ex of mine, you fill in the blanks." Ozpin took a moment and then began to chuckle while Goodwitch, who had been listening in, blushed slightly and growled something about men.
"Anyways, I would like to introduce you to your subordinate. He's been given instructions to listen to you if he wants to live." damn Oz, going straight for the jugular on this kid huh.
"Doesn't the kid have studying to do or something?"
"Well, this particular person has been falling behind so we offered him a deal: his complete service in return for extra credit, no homework too!" he motioned at the car and raised his voice. "You can come out now and meet your new employer."
The figure that emerged certainly was exotic, he was rather ratty and stood out from the crowd. He was smaller than me, only enhancing his rat-like qualities and he seemed lithe and agile. Beneath his clothing I could see trained muscle wired to kill creatures of the night, at his side were his weapons that impressed me with just their sheer creativity.
He stood there awkwardly, not really meeting my gaze but more like trying to decide if he should. He looked to Goodwitch who nodded at him, he cleared his throat and obviously wanted to say something but it came out in a hoarse whine. The kid did not seem to be very good at first impressions, or atleast not in conditions such as these I suppose.
Ozpin stepped in before this madness could continue any longer. "Mr. Arc, I'd like you to meet your new subordinate Mr. Russel Thrush.
0-0-0-0
Sorry I haven't written much lately you guys, school's back in session so I need to backpedal my writing schedule but I don't plan of giving anything up yet. Up next will be a new chapter of "Needle in a Haystack" and then another chapter here.
Thanks for the patience guys.
XOXOXO
CoffeyJoe