CHAPTER SIX
Bad People
Cr00cy, are we rich on internet dollars yet?
Cr00cy: How would I know? Continues to fan himself with big ass stack of internet dollars
I've always kinda thought of myself as a 'bad girl,' you know?
And not like I'm the most exciting part of a reverse gender boy band or like 'I sneak into the liquor cabinet' either, but someone that had some real edge to them.
It took me years to really, truly, start seeing most of the Arc family as something more than a source of food and safety.
It was hard not too, with where I spent most of my 'childhood.'
But I was wrong. Cause when I got to Vale? I started to remember what bad people really were.
I'm pretty sure you can count me as one of them now.
I know we've been through this before, but Jaune is an incredibly kind and forgiving person. That being said, even he can get a little bit testy when you tell of his crush to fuck off. Luckily, I knew the way to Jaune's heart.
Sugar. Specifically, Pumpkin Pete's flavored ice cream. Give that boy a few bowls of the stuff and anything short of murder could be forgiven. And hell, I haven't even tested the limits on that last part.
Me? I'm a mint chocolate chip kinda girl. Go ahead, make the joke, I dare you.
Which is why we were currently sitting at Junior's bar, shoveling the sweet stuff into our mouths, with me carefully avoiding trying to talk about my little outburst.
"Sooooo, how are things at Beacon?" I tried.
Jaune hummed and stirred his spoon around the bottom of his bowl. "Ok, I guess."
"That good, huh?"
He made a noncommittal noise and reached for the carton of Pumpkin Pete's, scooping himself another rather generous portion out and plopping it down in his bowl. I raised an eyebrow at that.
"Gratuitous amounts of sugar a big part of the Huntsman diet?" I asked.
"It is if your name is Ruby or Nora." He grumbled back, stabbing his spoon down into the creamy substance.
"Last time I checked, yours wasn't."
He sighed and pushed the bowl away, flopping down onto the bar with a huff. "Not like it's going to matter anyway," he mumbled into his arms. "I'm never going to be a Huntsman.
Ah, we'd reached the reality point of Jaune's little dream. Truth be told, I always kind of figured that we would hit it sooner or later. I'd tried as hard as I could to get Jaune as caught up without Papa Arc cracking down on us, but not having Aura is not having Aura. You just can't teach someone to fight like they've got a force field when they don't. Well, kinda a force field I guess, it's more like...you ever like tense your abs when you know someone is going to punch you in the stomach? Yeah, it's like that, except that your abs start tensing all on their own. Except when they don't.
Listen, Aura is some weird bullshit that I benefit from but don't fully understand, and before you start getting all uppity about it I'd love for you to explain to me how your scroll works. And I mean how it really works, not that it uses electricity.
Yeah, I thought so.
Anywho, point being that we were going to have to deal with the fact that Jaune was a fraud and I was no teacher. There were several options on how to go about it, my favorite being pulling up stakes, abandoning this hero drama, and disappearing before Junior or Roman got wind of what we were planning. My Semblance is cool, but it's not cross-continent woman hunt cool. But looking over at my mopey ass best friend, currently about thirty seconds away from starting to write some poetry that Blake chick might be into, I knew that wasn't an option. Fucking feelings.
"There anyone at the school that might be able to help you out?" I tried. "Ren, Nora, Ruby?"
"Pyrrha offered." He half moaned.
Of course she did. I fought to keep from rolling my eyes and pressed on.
"That's good, right? She's like, some kind of famous fighter or something. She can help-"
"No!" I jumped as Jaune slammed his fist down on the bar, suddenly sitting up ramrod straight, an angry scowl on his face. "I don't want her help! I don't want anyone's help! Don't you get it, Em? I'm already a fraud, if I can't make it on my own, then I don't deserve to be there in the first place."
That was an interesting theory, and I decided to break down how I felt about it in the gentlest terms possible.
"Jaune, you know I love you, but that's the dumbest shit I've ever heard. Let me get this straight, you're already years behind these other kids and you think your best option is to fucking refuse their help? Gods, but you can be dense."
Then Jaune decided to say some shit that would piss me off. I'm not sure if he knew which all buttons he was pressing, but let me tell you, he was damn good at pressing them.
He tsked and said. "You're just like Pyrrha-"
Strike one.
"-You just don't get it! You know how long I've been the dummy? The butt of the joke? You don't know what it's like!"
Strike two.
"Just once, I want to be the hero, the one that matters." He chose to get in my face and point at me for this next part, which was particularly ill advised. "I'll tell you the same thing I told her, I'm not supposed to be the damsel in distress!"
Strike three.
I took a slow, deep breath. Not to calm down mind you, but to destroy this motherfucker.
"You have approximately three seconds to get that finger out of my face before I turn you into a maiden, Jaune." He flinched at that. Years of growing up together had taught him that I rarely threatened violence that I wasn't willing to follow through on. His mouth worked up and down for a moment before he croaked out-
"H-hey, I-"
I wasn't about to slow down. "You want to know why you'll be a maiden? Because either way, you're still going to be a virgin. You want to know how I know that?"
He blushed and stammered, eyes trying to find something besides me to look at.
"Because you have the balls, though not for long, to tell a chick that has been in more tournaments than you'll ever be in women that you're not going to be a damsel in distress."
"T-that's not how I meant it!" He sputtered out. Hey, maybe he did, maybe he didn't. I wasn't in the business of fact finding, I was in the business of winning this goddamn argument.
"Oh? Then how did you mean it, Jaune?" I pressed. "Cause it sure seems like you've got a problem with a girl helping you out, cause she's a damsel. What about me, Jaune?" I snatched up the front of that dumbass hoodie he's always wearing and pulled him real close. "You think I'm a damsel?"
To my shock, Jaune swallowed, but didn't shrink back. He stared me down, dumb, deep blue eyes staring into my own.
"I meant that I don't need your or Pyrrha's help with this. Not with school and especially not with Cardin." He growled out.
I quirked an eyebrow at that. "Who the fuck is Cardin?"
His eyes darted to the side in that way that people who are really shitty at lying do and mumbled.
"Nobody."
I scanned his face for a minute, trying to find some hint of what the hell he was talking about before it dawned on me.
"Holy shit! Is someone bullying you!?"
"No!" He snapped out, still refusing to meet my gaze. I wasn't having it. We'd already been through this shit growing up. Jaune was always, and I mean always, the nail. Other people were the hammer and I was the hammer that broke other hammers.
"What'd he do, Jaune? I'll find out. I always do." I'd like to tell you that I wasn't threatening my childhood friend for the purpose of threatening his bullies, but...yeah.
"It's none of your business, Em!" He shot back. "Just let it be."
I scoffed. "Yeah? I'm pretty sure it became my business when I fucking got dragged into this bullshit job for your dumbass."
"I never asked you to!"
"And what was I supposed to do? Just watch you march off into the night with your dad's gear and hope that I didn't read your obituary over the next couple of weeks?"
"Maybe that's what I wanted!" He shouted back.
You ever hear that soul crushing shit? The kind that you can tell the other person immediately regrets from the look on their face, but they can't take back? Yeah…
"Oh…" I somehow managed to get out, letting go of Jaune and rocking back onto my stool.
"Em, I didn't-Neo?" He cut off in confusion.
Neo?
Sure enough, the sociopathic imp was sitting cross-legged on the bar, dipping Jaune's spoon into his discarded quart of Pumpkin Pete's and watching us with all the interest of a middle-aged mom watching her soap operas.
"Fucking Brothers." I groaned.
"Awww, what's wrong, Girly? Trouble in paradise?" I heard Roman's disturbingly familiar voice call from the door of the bar.
"Fuck off." I offered.
The mobster gave me a sigh and an exaggerated shrug. "Fraid not, Girly. I'm sorry, but we don't really do family days here at Roman inc." He pointed his cane towards Jaune. "It's time for blondie to be scarce."
"If it involves Em, then it involves me." Jaune challenged.
Also, hypocrisy, thy name is Jaune.
Roman just sighed and made a show of spinning his ridiculous cane. "You know, I was just thinking about how I want more teens affiliated with law enforcement agencies involved with my more...morally ambiguous dealings." He spread his arms wide, grinning. "And here you are, just waiting to volunteer! It must be fate!"
Jaune blinked and shifted uncomfortably. "Really?"
Roman's smile fell. "Hell no, kid. Now get out of here before you become a statistic."
Jaune's hand started to trail over to where his sword would have been if Junior hadn't recently implemented his 'no weapons' policy for Hunters. Big Cat still wasn't really over the whole Yang thing I guess. It was both incredibly flattering and incredibly stupid. Luckily, Neo was apparently in a pretty forgiving mood today, as she just grabbed Jaune's shoulder and raised an eyebrow. I took the opportunity to spare him a beating.
"Jaune, it's fine." I soothed. "You know this is the deal. Just go back to Beacon for now and I'll call you in a bit."
His eyes darted between me and the harpy perched on the bar for a minute before his shoulders relaxed and he nodded.
"Yeah, ok, but if they try anything you just call me and- urk!" He half choked as Neo shoved a spoonful of Pumpkin Pete's into his mouth and made a shushing with her finger to her lips.
"Neo, could you help Prince Charming be somewhere else? He seems to have forgotten his trusty steed."
Neo nodded happily, patted a confused Jaune on the head, then 'popped' out of existence. I'm not really sure what her Semblance is, but it's fucking terrifying.
"He better be ok." I growled, because I'm also a fan of empty threats. Roman just rolled his eyes.
"Calm down, she just dropped him off somewhere on the school grounds." He said, fishing around his coat for a cigar. "Worst case scenario? She left him in the womens' showers for shits and giggles." He hummed as he pulled one out and lit it. "Or maybe that's the best case scenario, that kid doesn't seem like he's going to be talking the pants off a lady anytime soon." He smirked, looking remarkably like an asshole. "Unless you're helping him out on that front...or back, to each their own."
"You know, it's good that you're back." I drawled, leaning back against the bar and fishing for a glass. "I thought it had been too long since I'd had a drink anyway." He slapped a hand over his heart in mock hurt, making his way towards the bar as Neo 'popped' back into being over by her favorite table and took a seat, a worrying grin on her face. She waved one of Junior's boys over to take her order. Ice cream. Always ice cream.
"Is that anyway to talk to your good friend Roman?" He asked dramatically, pulling up next to me and taking a seat at the bar.
"I don't know, you'll have to ask me when I've got a good friend named Roman. You see any around?" I replied, grabbing at a bottle under the counter and pulling up to see my prize. Gin. I hate gin. Today was not shaping up at all.
He scoffed. "Please, you should be so lucky as to know two of us. Besides, I thought you'd be jumping at the chance to get out of here for the day." He finished, gesturing towards the bar.
I had been getting pretty sick of the place, disgusted really, but that wasn't enough to make me jump at whatever Roman had planned. During our short time together, I'd learned that if Roman wanted you to do something, it wasn't in anyone's interest but his. Still, that didn't mean that I couldn't try to play it to my advantage either. And there was definitely something I wanted now.
"Yeah, I have been thinking about getting out, stretching my legs…" I trailed off, pouring myself a glass and wincing at the smell.
The gangster grinned and held out a hand. "See? And here's good ole' Uncle Roman, trying to take care of you. Now, all you've got to do is-"
"I want to go to Beacon." The world ground to a halt, just as I expected it would, with Roman staring me down and fingering his cane. Neo shifted in her seat, angling the chair so that I wouldn't get in her way if she needed to move quickly. Great.
"I think you're forgetting how you got holed up here in the first place." He warned, lowly. "You don't get to make demands."
"It's not like that." I hurried out.
"Then tell me, what's it like, Girly?" Gods, but he could be an asshole.
"It doesn't make sense for me to be here all the time. People are going to get suspicious." I explained.
"You work here." He shot back, unconvinced.
"Yeah, and who spends all day every day at their job? You certainly don't." He opened his mouth for a retort, but I beat him to it. "Which is a good thing, because it makes you seem normal, like you're just a guy. A guy who goes to cafes, and bars, and probably a strip club or two judging from all the glitter on you." That last one wasn't smart, but I couldn't resist throwing it in. Neo was eyeing me with something between amusement and…respect? The girl is fucking weird, but I'd take this over her getting ready to kick my ass.
Again.
Roman looked considerably less amused.
"The café down the street isn't Beacon." He answered, icily.
"No, but I have friends at Beacon-" I argued.
"You have one friend at Beacon." He observed.
"I have friends at Beacon." I continued. Hey, Ren and Nora count. Maybe Ruby too. "Friends that are going to ask why I don't ever come visit. Why I don't ever come visit my best friend." Here was the tricky part, the threat that wasn't a threat. "They seem like a curious bunch. They might start asking other questions. Questions that we don't want them to." I was very careful to add that 'we' bit in. Otherwise, it might look like I was trying to strongarm him. Which I was, but you're not supposed to make it obvious. That's impolite.
Roman watched me for a second, looking for some sign of weakness, some flaw in my argument that he could pick at and make the whole thing come undone. I sipped on my shitty gin to hide my nervousness. I needed this. To get up to Beacon. Up to Jaune. And to whoever the fuck Cardin was.
"You're right…" He started out slowly, taking a slow pull from his cigar. I didn't wait for him to regroup.
"It just makes sense, right? I should-"
"You're right," he continued, ignoring me. "It would seem suspicious…if you were his girlfriend." He blew a ring of smoke into my face that I fought to keep from coughing on. "But you're not, are you?"
I wasn't, but lying is both free and easy, so I gave it a shot.
"Maybe I am."
"Really? So if I have Neo here go interview lover boy, he's going to give her the same answer?" I slumped back against the bar and he nodded. "Yeah, thought so. Listen here, girly, I don't know why you want to get up to Beacon, but if you try to pull one over on me like that again, I'll make sure that your little not-boyfriend doesn't make it there either. Understood?"
"Yeah." I muttered.
He leaned forward and stared me down. "I can't hear you."
"Yes, I understand, Roman." I said, louder.
He leaned back, satisfied. "Good. Now that we've got that little bit of unpleasantness out of the way, are you ready to hear about your next job?"
"I'm giddy with excitement," I grumbled.
"As well you should be. You're going to get to be me today." He announced, spreading his arms out like he'd just announced that both my birthday and non-descript winter holiday had come early.
"You want me to do what now?" I asked, unbelieving. Roman just sighed and rolled his eyes, like I was the one that was being unreasonable.
"It's simple enough, girly," he drawled, just to piss me off. "I need you to be me."
"Sounds terrible." I said, earning a silent chuckle from Neo.
"Sound better than taking a dirt nap in an alley in the warehouse district?" He shot back, wiping the grin from my face. "Then shut up and listen to the job. You and Neo are going to go pay an old friend of mine a visit today. Except you're going to use that neat little trick of yours to make him think you're me. I want-"
"Why not just do it yourself?" I challenged, which wasn't very smart in retrospect, but no one has ever accused me of being overly bright. Roman stiffened, then relaxed.
"You ask a lot of goddamn questions, you know that?" He said, taking another puff of his cigar.
"I need to have an idea of what's going on if I'm going to pull this off." I tried. Really, I just wanted to know as much as I could to try to turn this around with the police if everything went south, but you know...lying is free and easy and all that. Roman considered me for a moment before shrugging, apparently deciding that it wasn't worth it to talk in circles anymore.
"My new employer has decided that my old friend is moving a bit too slowly with our new business venture. Thinks that he might be dragging his feet on purpose." He explained.
I shook my head. "If he's your friend, then why aren't you the one trying to convince him to go faster?"
"Because, I'm not trying to convince him to go faster." He reached out and took the bottle of gin from me and pulled a glass out from behind the bar. "I'm trying to convince his lieutenant that he can move faster."
"Oh," was all I could manage as the words sank in.
"Yeah," he confirmed, knocking back a shot of gin. "The problem is that my friend is the suspicious type."
"Smart."
He grunted in agreement. "He'd probably take offense to me having a meeting with one of his boys without him." He explained, turning the glass in his hands before looking back over to me. "But if I were talking to him at the same time that I was having said meeting, then he wouldn't have any reason to be suspicious, would he?"
This was starting to sound more and more like something that I didn't want to be a part of.
"I can't fool more than one person at a time." I really didn't like reminding him of my limitations, but if it meant getting out of this, I'd make the trade.
"I remember." He said, knocking his ash into his now empty glass. "Which is why you're going with Neo. She'll be able to make you look the part, all you have to do is keep your sizable mouth shut till you're alone with him."
Damn, Little Miss Psycho's Semblance was really something. I still wasn't sold though.
"What makes you think that he'll see me alone?"
"Because," Roman started lowly as he stared into cherry of his cigar. "Bane trust me. At least, as far as you're allowed to trust someone in this business."
"Gods, you're really going to do this? To your friend?" I whispered.
"Yeah, Girly, I am."
I couldn't stop the inevitable question. "Why?"
He sighed as snubbed his cigar out in his glass. "Because if comes down to you or me? I'm always choosing me. Can't afford to do anything else in this business." He gave me a look that wasn't anything of the things I expected. Neither angry or sad, just tired. So very, very tired. "Best remember that, Girly. Now, get your things. Don't want to be late to your big meeting, do you?"
The walk Bane's building had been mostly quiet, and not just because it was with Neo. I just didn't have shit to say. What are you supposed to say in a situation like that?
No, I'm really asking.
My first thought had been to ask about the guy we were going to go meet. Now, that might not have been a bad idea for the purpose of keeping a conversation going with the guy, but I didn't trust myself not to freak anymore than I was already if I found out something like he had a wife or, Gods forbid, a kid.
So instead, I just pulled out my scroll and wrote about a dozen apology texts to Jaune before deleting them. Neo spotted me doing so and pointed to my new scroll, the latest generation of iSchnee, courtesy of Weiss herself before she wised up and canceled her credit card. We spent the last twelve blocks arguing back and forth, which is an interesting proposition with a murderous mute, about which were better - iSchnees or PolTechs.
If I didn't know her to be the heartless little monster that she is, I would say that she was doing it take my mind off of it. Which it did. For the rest of the walk at least. Once we reached the building, it all came flooding back.
'Big Daddy' Bane's office was pretty nondescript in and of itself, perfectly positioned on that part of town where the good part of town slipped into...something else. It was a gray, squat four-story building that looked like it could have just as easily housed a dental or law practice rather than one of the biggest muscle and drug dealers in the city. Well, I suppose the two guys standing around the door in all black suits might have been a tip off. Seriously though, to all gangsters frequent the same tailor? And if so, who is it?
Roman?
I didn't have too long to mull over their fashion choices before one of them, the taller one, greeted me with a nod. "Roman."
I had to fight everything in me not to look around for the thief before I realized he was talking to me. Neo jabbing me in the leg helped out with that last bit.
I nodded back like a dummy.
The shorter man chuckled. "You tired, Roman? That little hellion stressing you out?" He said, motioning towards Neo, who mocked gasped and put her hand over her heart. "Yeah, you! Don't think we forgot about that job down in the Dust district."
She tapped her finger slowly against her lips while looking up into the sky. The taller man rolled his eyes. "The one where you blew up half the block?"
The imp made some series of gestures that I'm 100% certain aren't any form of sign language and the man looked unimpressed.
"Yeah, well we have different definitions of the word 'necessary.' Maybe we could teach you."
Neo just smirked and shrugged, which seemed to piss the two off. I took that as my cue to do something and made a big show of sighing and looking at my watch. The two men in black straightened and coughed.
"Sorry about that, Roman." The shorter one apologized. "The boss is ready for you."
"Right this way," the taller one agreed, pushing open one of the steel double doors of the entrance and allowing us inside. The inside of the building was the polar opposite of the outside, covered from floor to ceiling with lavish displays of wealth.
Loud, clashing, mismatched displays of wealth. I take it back, these guys definitely weren't taking notes on design from Roman. They were more like hoarders, taking anything shiny and throwing it up on their wall. My shock must have shown on my face, because the bigger guy sighed and shook his head.
"I know, Roman, you tell us every time you're here." He put on a fancy voice and did a Roman impression, which - funnily enough, was way better than anything I could have managed. "'I can't believe you animals live like this! Don't you have any sense of style!?'" It was so on point that I actually had to fight back a giggle, a very girly giggle, from spilling past my lips. I settled for just snorting like a pig.
The guy just grinned, clearly pleased with himself, and led us to a stairwell at the end of the hall and walked us up to the fourth floor. He pushed open the door and revealed a hallway that was, while just as loud as the first floor, certainly more put together. Lush red carpet led down the long hall, flanked on both sides by pieces of art that I had most certainly seen on our little family trips to Vale's many museums. They were either really, really good replicas, or the arts district might need to due some revaluation of their net worth.
I must have stared like an idiot for a bit too long, because the shorter guy - let's just call him Shorty - coughed and nodded towards the door at the end of the way, a confused look on his face. I gathered what little dignity and faith I had in this dumbass plan and started to swagger down towards what was clearly Bane's door. Side note, you ever try to swagger on purpose? That shit is hard. I'm way sure that I ended up shaking my ass more than you're supposed when you swagger.
Once we got to the boss' large oak door, Shorty reached out a knocked twice with its giant gaudy, golden knocker, shaped to look like a lion. I shot him a look and he rolled his eyes, clearly over it at this point.
"Who is it?" A disturbingly deep voice called from the other side of the door.
Shorty just sighed and rested his head against the door. "Boss, it's Reggie, your two o'clock is here!"
"Who's that?" The thunderous voice yelled back.
The taller goon chuckled at his partner as Reggie cursed. "Boss, it's Torchwick! You remember? You asked to meet him!"
"When?"
"Today!" Reggie shouted back, face turning red. Neo and the big guy were practically rolling on the floor at this point, both trying to keep it as quiet as they could. I'll let you guess which one of the two was more successful at that.
"Don't let him in the building yet! Make that motherfucker wait for a minute. Gods know that his arroga-"
"Boss!" Reggie shouted, eyes wide as he slammed on the door. "He's here!"
A long, awkward silence followed as we all stared at the door like it was going to give us the answers to some of life's great mysteries. Instead, we got-
"Like I said, let him in! No friend of mine gets left waiting."
This time my hand beat Reggie's to the door, pushing down on the handle and mouthing 'thanks' as sarcastically as I could to the embarrassed goon while swinging the door open. Sitting there, feet propped up on what had to be a very expensive desk, was one of the biggest fucking guys I've ever seen. We're talking bigger than Papa Arc big. Massive shoulders and arms stretching a stark white suit to the max, with buttons that looked like they were in danger of becoming projectile weapons straining to keep the jacket closed. He smiled at me sheepishly, which I assure you looks as out of place as it sounds on a man that big.
"Roman! Sorry about all that. Good to see you, man!"
I held the door open long enough for my Semblance to take hold, then let it swing close, leaving Neo and his goons in the hallway. I gathered up my shaky at best confidence and spoke in Roman's voice.
"Good to see you too, Bane."
The giant of a man pushed back from the desk, nearly sending the contents of said desk spilling to the floor.
"How long has it been, you sonuvabitch?" He boomed with a wide smile, circling around his desk and reinforcing just how fucking tall and big he was. He spread his arms wide, causing at least two buttons to fly off his chest, and started lumbering towards me. "Come here you old dog!"
I realized in a panic what the big guy wanted. Panic for multiple reasons. One, I'm not a big huggy-feely kinda girl. Two, I'm a girl, which is something that I feared might become all too apparent once the big man wrapped me up in an Ursa-hug. I'm not Weiss after all. I rallied as quickly as I could and poked the spare cane Roman had given me into the giant's chest.
"Whoa there, big guy. Not today." I said in my awkward Roman voice.
Bane just grinned and shook his head. "Still worried about me ruffling that suit of yours, huh?"
Sure, let's go with that.
"More you touching it with that monstrosity that you call a suit." I shot back, doing my best to out Roman Roman.
The big man tsked. "My suit is just fine, thank you."
My gaze shifted over to one of the buttons still settling on the floor. "Fine, huh?"
"Ok, so I might have put on a few pounds." He grumbled, attempting to pull his jacket closed again. I swear that I could hear the material screaming. "But that's not the suit's fault!" He defended. I couldn't help myself, I started laughing.
"Nope, just yours." I answered with a smile that found its way to my lips with disturbing ease.
The monster of a man huffed as he fell back in his chair. "Why are we friends again, Roman?"
"Probably because it's mutually beneficial." I offered.
He hummed. "Yeah, that sounds about right. Doesn't feel that way lately though." He said, leaning back in his chair, his feet popping back onto the desk. I figured that was my cue to jump in.
"What's bothering you, Bane? You look like you've been stress eating." I teased. I don't know, being an asshole just seemed like the Roman thing to do.
Bane shot me a playful glare. "I've been stress lifting," he clarified. "And you'd be stressed too, if your friend kept trying to push an unreasonable schedule on you."
Roman had said that this was probably the intent of the meeting. I took a slow breath and steeled my nerves as started to wander around the room, trying to look disinterested.
"Nothing unreasonable about it, big guy. Just trying to stay on schedule." I said as started fiddling with a very expensive looking globe.
The giant grunted. "Whose schedule?"
I glanced back over my shoulder at him. "Mine."
"Ah!" He let out, a grin coming over his face. "Well then, since we've already determined that we're friends, then you shouldn't have any trouble slowing down the schedule, right? After all, it's your schedule, isn't it?" He left the question hanging in the air, eyes boring holes straight through me.
Big guy was sharper than he let on. A whole lot sharper.
You ever have one of those moments where you don't know what to say, so you just stare at someone like an idiot, hoping that the answer will appear out of thin air? Ok, now imagine that, except that you're pretending to be someone else while trapped in a room with a guy that looks like he could strangle a Beowolf with his bare hands. I guess what I'm trying to say is...fuck your moment, mine was worse.
Bane sighed as he leaned back in his chair. "It isn't your schedule, is it, Roman?"
I didn't really know what to say to that, so I panicked and did something incredibly stupid. I told the truth.
"No." I whispered before I could think about what the words might mean for me or Bane. Hell, I didn't know they meant anything besides that they were the truth. I'll tell you what I did know. My damn heart was about to jump out of my throat.
"Who's schedule is it?" He asked again, voice now ice cold.
I swallowed, throat suddenly dry as a Vacuan desert. "I don't know."
"Bullshit!" He snapped as his hand slammed down on the desk, splintering the thick and expensive wood like balsa. I'd like to tell you that I didn't jump about a foot, but you know...we already talked about lying.
"I don't know her name! Just what she wants!" I shouted back, probably a few octaves higher than Roman would have. The titan stared at me for a few moments, seeming to weigh my words, and if I were to guess, my life in the span. He slowly started to shake his head.
"Brothers, Roman, what have you done?" Bane said as he rocked forward, giant mitt of a hand closing down around one of his desk drawers. I won't lie, in that moment I thought real hard about lunging at the big guy with the prop cane Roman had given me and seeing if I could beat him into submission. It was only the follow up thought about what a terrible fucking idea that was that stopped me long enough for the familiar tinkling of crystal to reach my ears as he fished out two glasses and a bottle of amber liquid. I fought to keep my knees from shaking as he popped the top off and poured two very generous helpings before taking one in each hand and rising from his seat.
As impossibly big as Bane had seemed when I walked into the room, he seemed to be at least twice that size as his thunderous steps closed the distance between us. When he reached me, towering over even Roman's illusionary frame, he gently held out a glass and we both pretended my hand wasn't shaking when I took it.
"That bad?" He asked, not unkindly.
"'Fraid so." I answered quietly.
He took a long pull of his drink. "I figured, what with how you were fluttering all around the room like an asshole. Never known the great Roman Torchwick not to try to stare someone down while he shakes 'em down." He sighed again. "Whoever she is, she may be bad, but she's not as bad as the two of us combined. We own this city, Roman. Always have, always will. No bitch from the outside is going to take it from us without prying it from our cold, dead fingers."
The shock of not being crushed to death must have still been showing on my face pretty well, because the giant chuckled. "Surprised I figured it out? Come on now, Roman. All those hints over the past couple of weeks to go faster? You must have known that I would have gotten pissed and called you here." He smirked. "I gotta admit though, it was a pretty clever way to call a meeting without actually calling one." He held out his glass for a toast and nodded. "Well played, my friend."
I'll tell you this, the sound that fucking glass made when I clicked mine against his will forever be one of my least favorite memories, topped only by the bitter taste of the liquor as it poured down my throat and refused to settle in my stomach.
Bane made a satisfied noise as he finished draining his glass and laid a giant hand on my shoulder. "Now, I want you to tell me everything-"
A sharp knock on the door saved me from spilling my guts right there and then. Bane rolled his eyes in frustration and shouted back. "What?"
"Sorry, boss. Neo is out here saying that they need to go." Reggie called through the door.
The giant snorted. "Tell her that her boss and I are having a conversation. A very important conversation." There was a brief pause before Reggie spoke again.
"She just keeps pointing to her watch and dragging her thumb across her neck." He coughed nervously. "She's getting real antsy out here, boss. Can you get Roman to tell her something?" Bane shifted his very much intimidating gaze over to me and raised an eyebrow.
Well, that was a pickle now wasn't it? I could fool Bane into thinking that my voice was Roman's, but Reggie and his friend who I couldn't see? Now that was another matter entirely. I stared at the giant still holding on to me for what felt like an eternity, which probably equates to about a second or two in non-panicking time, trying to find something to say. The big guy had his mouth about halfway open to ask a follow up question that I probably didn't want to answer before it hit me. I motioned him forward and leaned in, just close enough to speak in a whisper.
"She's calling." I said with as much hidden meaning as I could muster, hoping that it'd do something for the titan. Boy did it.
His eyes immediately lit up in understanding and he squeezed my shoulder again. "You need to go." He whispered back. "Can't have her getting suspicious that you're ignoring her calls. You tell her whatever you need to, you hear me? Tell her that I rolled over and fell in line." He patted me on the shoulder once more and smiled. "And try to put some of that swagger back in your step, huh? We're going to get through this, you and me, together."
I nodded dumbly and muttered, "together," which did all sorts of uncomfortable things to my stomach, but ended the conversation. Bane turned back to the door and said something that I don't really remember. A second later I was shaking hands with Reggie and his buddy, whatever his name was, and then I was being ushered out the door by Neo, trying my damnedest not to make eye contact with Bane. I failed for the record. I turned back as I was leaving the room, just in time to see the big bastard mouthing, 'together.'
The rest is a blur. If the walk to Bane's building had been quiet and awkward, then the walk back to Junior's was a fucking silent film. I don't even think I looked at Neo again till I was watching her bang on the tall wooden doors of 'The Club.' One of Junior's boys, who I definitely should have remembered, I think he was the guy who took over my table once, cracked the door open and motioned us inside. I zombie walked my way towards the bar, or maybe Neo led me, it gets hard to tell, and took a seat.
"You look like shit." A voice spoke beside me, making me half hop out of my seat. I suddenly became aware of the fact that Roman was sitting next to me, drink in hand and half empty bottle on the bar in front of him. More importantly, I found that there was a tall glass of something brown sitting in front of me too. I snatched it up and knocked it back before a very unladylike coughing fit hit me.
"Easy there, Girly." He said, the usual venom gone from his voice. "Take it slow."
I fought back as much of the fit as I could before answering. "You look like shit too."
He hummed as he took another pull. "Lot of that going around I guess."
I stared at him for a moment, waiting for him to say something, anything. My natural impatience eventually won out. "How'd it go?"
He chose to ignore my question, which should have been annoying, but I was just so goddamn tired.
"Neo says you did good." He said instead.
"Doesn't feel like it." I muttered into my empty glass before reaching for the bottle and refilling it. "Feels like I barely made it out alive."
He chuckled. "Yeah, it usually does." He took another swig and licked his lips. "Hey, how was he-" He shook his head and held up a hand. "Don't answer that, I shouldn't have asked. I'm just a little drunk. Don't worry, Neo will drive me home, so long as she can reach the pedals." He joked as he pushed away from the bar.
"Roman, how'd it go?" I insisted, turning to follow him. He looked at me with some weird combination of pity, which I was pretty used to, and consideration, which I'm less so, and said.
"Don't worry about it. You did good out there today, Em." While I was still processing the use of my actual name, he pointed to Junior, who had also somehow snuck up on me behind the bar. "Take the bottle, John, she's had enough."
I had a retort for that, but by the time I'd formulated it, Neo and Roman had disappeared using whatever shit that she does. I instead turned to take up the issue with Junior, but Big Cat was already pushing a mug of something warm and steamy into my hands. It was either hot cocoa or tea, but I'll be damned if I can remember which. Whatever it was, it took the fight right out of me, because the next thing I do recall is having a big ass hand push my own scroll into my palm. To my surprise, it was ringing. I put it to my ear and said, 'hello' on autopilot.
It was Jaune.
We ended up spending the next two hours talking about his day at Beacon. His incredibly dull, boring, dumb day at Beacon. Apparently, he'd sorted out his bully problem all on his own. Or rather, he'd done it with Pyrrha. Something deep down told me that I should be jealous about that last bit for some reason, but you know what?
I've never been so happy just to hear someone's voice before. And there was no voice I'd rather hear than Jaune's.
It kept me from watching the news that night, which was important. I wouldn't find out that a large, unidentified body had washed up at the docks until a couple of weeks later.
Memory Lane
Jaune and I have a weird relationship, which I figure probably isn't shocking to you at this point, but let's focus on a particular aspect of its weirdness for a second.
I would do just about anything for Jaune, and he knows that. Here's the thing though, Jaune doesn't ever want to be the one who picks what we do. Well, except for that whole 'becoming a Huntsman' thing, but that was an exception. A dumb exception if you ask me, but that's besides the point.
The point is, I was the one who generally ended up choosing the activity of the day. Which is why we were currently skipping our last class and trying to hotwire some guy's truck in the school parking lot.
"Dammit, Em, I can't believe you talked me into this." Jaune complained for roughly the hundredth time in the past five minutes.
"And yet here we are." I replied, head firmly buried in the mess of wires of torn apart console.
"Why'd you even need me?"
"Because I thought it might be fun to hear someone complain the whole time I was doing something complicated." I shot back.
It was really because I needed someone to watch my ass while I was working, almost literally in this case, since I was currently folded over the driver's seat fiddling with the rainbow of wires under the wheel. In my defense, this had been a lot easier when I was practicing on Papa Arc's old pickup. And yeah, I probably should have picked a similar model to try this on, but this truck was fancy as hell. Fresh from Atlas.
Too bad that meant it was basically a spaceship and I had no idea what I was doing.
"Em, we're going to get caught." Jaune whined. I could practically feel him nervously scanning the lot, convinced that all of the local police department were about to hop out of the bed of this guy's truck.
"We're not going to get caught," I said. "Who's going to catch us? Officer Onyx? That guy can't make it from his office to the cafeteria without having to stop for a snack break."
"He still patrols the grounds, Em." He said, now standing over me from the sound of it. Good lookouts are hard to find.
"He's trolling for something alright, but the girls' locker room is back that way."
"Gods, you're an asshole sometimes." He grunted, starting to push in next to me.
"What the fuck are you doing!" I snapped.
"Trying to see what you're doing." He shot back.
"Trying to hotwire a car, Jaune. You know, the thing you're supposed to be my lookout for?"
"Trying is the key word, huh?" Jaune thinks he's cute sometimes.
"You wanna switch? That what you're saying?"
He shrugged. "Couldn't do much worse."
"Well, be my guest! You get down here and try to figure this shit out and I'll fuck off out there, bitching while I stare at your-"
Beep. Beep.
My heart froze as the lights of the truck flashed and the sound of all the doors that hadn't been jimmied open unlocking filled my ears.
We were fucked.
"Jaune?" An uncertain but familiar voice asked.
"Uh, hi Crys. Hey, are you ok?" He replied, at first nervous, then concerned. I popped up out of the truck and tried to position myself as best I could to block the damage I'd done as I faced the oldest Arc sister.
"Hey! Crystal! How's it going?" I asked, about twice as loudly as I needed to, like the noise would somehow distract her. It didn't.
"What are you two doing?" She asked, ignoring both our questions as she eyed us both suspiciously, streaks of tear stained makeup running down her face. Apparently it was not going well.
"Nothing," I tried, being the inspired liar I am.
"Em, are you trying to steal Navy's truck?" She demanded. Ah, that explained why it'd looked so familiar. It was her boyfriend's, her very well off boyfriend's, truck.
"Whaaaa? No, I'd never do that to Navy. He's such a great guy."
"He's an asshole." She snapped.
"Oh thank the Brothers you finally figured that out." I said with a sigh. "That guy is a grade A douche."
"I've been made aware." She replied shakily. Jaune had already walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her.
"What happened?" He asked, squeezing her gently.
"I was going to go by the gym to grab him so we could ride home together, but I couldn't find him." She sniffed and shook her head. "Then I heard them beneath the bleachers."
"Who?" Jaune asked with a wince.
"Navy and that slut Marigold." She growled.
"The ditsy cheerleader?" I offered helpfully.
"The soon to be dead ditsy cheerleader." She confirmed. Crystal, like most of the women of the Arc household, was not to be fucked with.
"What an asshole."
"That's what I said." She said with a weak laugh.
"We'll take care of it." Jaune promised, already starting back towards the school.
"No, Jaune." She said, grabbing him by his hoodie. "I can deal with Navy on my own. Thank you though." She added.
"But I-"
"Jaune, I've got this." She assured him in a tone that left no room for argument. He looked more than a little conflicted, but he eventually grunted and nodded.
"What brought you up here?" I asked. "I'm guessing that you're not riding anywhere with the guy anytime soon."
She nodded back towards the truck. "Left my purse and figured I'd grab it before we had the big fight and he took his spare keys back." She said, holding up the key fob and shaking it. "Gods, I can't believe you were trying to steal his car."
"Trying is the key word." Jaune teased, poking me in the side.
"Fuck you." I shot back.
Crystal laughed. "I'm not surprised, it's really new. Not like dad's old POS you keep playing with."
"How did you-" I started, before she gave me an unimpressed look that said I wasn't half as smart as I thought I was. I cursed, which made her smile again, before her eyes seemed to light up with an idea.
"But you know, these new Atlesian models don't have keys, they just use a fob…"
"Yeah," I sighed, "figured that out when I opened it up. I tried fiddling around in there, but I'm just not sure how-"
"Em." She cut me off.
"Yeah?"
She held up the fob and pressed a button, causing the truck to roar to life.
"Congrats on hot wiring your first, and last, car. Go take it somewhere nice and scenic with Jaune. Like the bottom of a lake."
Gods but I love the Arcs.
The Aftermath
The battle was terrifying in a way that the storms of the sea of fandom had somehow never been. The storm was dangerous, and the sea could swallow you whole and pull you down to its dark depths, but that was simply its nature. It was inherent to shipping and sailing.
But this...this was different. There had been an intent to this that hadn't been there before. A desire not that I should see the ship that they had built, but that I should understand that my own was wrong. It baffled me, and I turned to the senior man in the unit, Sgt Light, to ask about it when I saw him standing up and staring across the battlefield.
"Sir, get down! You'll be shot!" I cried out, grabbing at his coat. He shook his head calmly and tiredly, gently prying my hands off.
"We're safe for now, my friend. The battle is over and now the Archivist is taking count."
"The Archivist?" I asked, confused. He pointed out to the battlefield, where a lone man walked among the fallen, stopping and tending to wounded here and there. He seemed to my eyes to be the most exhausted man I'd ever seen.
"I knew an Archivist called Nyx once upon the seas." I commented as we watched the man work.
"Perhaps he is the same one." Light said. "They have many different roles."
"What is it that he's doing?" I asked. "Counting those that will switch sides."
Light shook his head again. "No, no one ever switches sides in these wars. They just get tired of fighting and eventually leave. The Archivist collects their stories before they go."
"And them leaving, that is considered a victory for our side?" I asked, incredulous.
He just shrugged. "So they say."
