"We came, we saw, he died."
- Hillary Clinton
Percy groaned, stretching out his arms as far as they would go and listening for the satisfying pop of his joints settling.
He'd gotten a good workout in. He'd spent nearly all his time preparing for the — hopefully not inevitable — conflict with Atlas and the SDC. Drilling soldiers, training officers, checking in on the construction of ships or production of weapons, smuggling said weapons into Mantle, building defenses everywhere from Argus to Mistral — it had been weeks since he'd gone to get a proper workout killing grimm.
Today in particular had posed a pretty hefty challenge. Some pretty big grimm had found him almost as soon as he'd arrived in the Grimmlands, and he'd been fighting them all day and, by now, well into the night. The two particularly notable ones were the giant worm thing with teeth like a ripsaw that never stayed above the surface for more than a few seconds, and the enormous Nevermore which kept flying just a bit too high for Percy to really get at it with the lack of water around.
There'd been some other grimm worth mentioning, too. Big things that challenged him, but weren't quite as annoying to deal with as those two had been. All in all he'd gotten some good work in today, and he was satisfied he wasn't getting rusty.
Done stretching, Percy settled himself into the cushions of the bullhead seat. Normally he'd leave the same way he got here — that being by swimming— but luckily he'd arranged for a bullhead back today. He did not want to deal with any ocean grimm who might think he made for a good meal. Even as convenient as it might be to deal with them in the middle of an ocean, he really just… didn't feel like bothering.
He relaxed for most of the journey, listening to the calm hum of the bullhead's engines and the occasional chatter between the two pilots up front. They knew by now his general distaste for flying, so they stayed a bit lower than they normally would. Even if it used a bit more dust to get them back to Mistral, Percy was comforted to look out the window and see the ocean a few hundred feet below them rather than a vast expanse of clouds.
He'd been picked up at the coast closest to Mistral, and at the bullhead's high speeds it was only a couple hours before the signal from the closest CCT tower reached them.
Percy's scroll vibrated in his pocket, a sure sign they'd be back in civilization soon. He was used to half a dozen unread texts and a couple missed calls every time he was back within range when he spent days away from civilization. It was just normal at this point. Normal didn't mean welcome however, and Percy was feeling particularly beat right now. He didn't fault anyone for doing their jobs, but their problems could wait until he'd landed. In fact, they could probably wait until he woke up tomorrow. Right now, he was relaxing.
A few minutes passed of uninterrupted, blissful silence. The routine returned. Calming engine, quiet conversation, relaxation. The only downside was the knowledge of their impending landing and the end of his peace hanging over him like a cloud, ironically preventing him from fully relaxing. He decided he'd turn off his scroll next time.
But it was not meant to be, because a few minutes after they crossed over into the CCT's range, his scroll vibrated again.
Adjusting in his seat, Percy did his best to ignore it. That might have meant someone had just texted him and it wasn't a part of the backlog, but that didn't mean their issue was any more urgent.
And then it kept vibrating.
Someone was calling him? Now? At… whatever ungodly time it was right now?
Grunting, Percy shoved his hand into his pocket and yanked out his scroll, glancing at the caller ID.
Taiyang?
Why would Tai be calling him in the dead of night? It was a bit earlier in Vale, sure, but Taiyang wasn't an idiot, he knew how timezones worked.
Deciding there was no point guessing, Percy tapped the accept button and held his scroll against his ear. "Tai? What's up?"
"Percy! Gods, where have you been? I've been calling you for hours!"
Percy rubbed his eyes and sat himself a bit straighter to wake himself up. "I've been outside of CCT range all day. What happened?"
Percy could hear Taiyang audibly let out a deep breath, presumably calming down. "Everyone's safe now, but I just thought you'd like to know as soon as possible. There was a man caught sneaking into Signal today. He has no ID and hasn't said a word since he was arrested, but Percy… he was carrying a gun and a picture of Pyrrha. I know she's not involved in anything, it's probably just some psycho trying to get at a celebrity, but I figured that given your line of work…"
Freezing cold washed over Percy, tensing his muscles until they might as well have been frozen. "Where is she now?" he snapped.
"She's staying over at my house. She's playing games with Yang and Ruby in Yang's room. Her mom is here, too. Thought it'd be safer than their place."
Percy let out a breath he didn't know that he was holding, but his heart didn't slow. "Good. Keep her there. When did this happen?"
There was some shuffling on the other end "It's five thirty now, and it happened near the end of school today. Just after three, I think. So a couple hours."
"I need you to stay there, Tai. I'll have people there soon, and I'll be on my way the second I land, alright?"
"Yeah, I'm not going anywhere. The police have the creep in custody, and they're keeping a pretty close eye on him. He won't be a danger to anyone any time soon. Do you think this has to do with your… y'know… work?"
Percy was forced to control his breathing as, for a moment, he was brought back to the hall outside Wolke's office where he'd stood barely more than a week ago.
'This is my first demonstration. There will be a second.'
Percy had thought he'd meant shutting down a racket, or a mass arrest of union leadership, or maybe even taking down Roman. That, Percy had been prepared to retaliate against, to strike back twice as hard. That was within the bounds of what had been done so far.
But sending someone after Pyrrha? That… that Percy would not tolerate.
There wasn't a doubt in Percy's mind that it had to be Wolke behind this. Percy had no other public enemies, for one, and the timing of Wolke's threat was too convenient, for another. No, Wolke had wanted to get to Percy in the most personal way possible.
"I'll be finding out." Percy lied, clicking his scroll shut. He wanted oh so badly to talk to Pyrrha, but that could wait. Would have to wait. Wolke had a lot of manpower, and a lot of influence. If Wolke discovered his one man had failed, he could send many, many more. Not to mention that if push came to shove the police could be used as well…
Pushing himself off of his seat Percy leaned into the cockpit and between the two pilots. "Contact Windpath, tell them to have a bullhead fully fueled and running before we land, and have Lie Ren waiting for me at the bullhead docks. Highest priority."
The co-pilot just nodded once and began speaking into his radio to the bullhead tower at Windpath.
Percy for his part withdrew himself from the cockpit and sat back in a seat, rapidly tapping through his scroll until he found the Malachite's number and pressing 'call'. He didn't have the time for this to go through Shiro.
Percy tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for the head of the family to pick up, the seconds feeling like hours.
"Lord Perseus, the house Malachite is at your service." came the greeting from the other end. Irvine's voice was low and throaty, and Percy didn't doubt he'd been woken up for this.
"Patch." Percy wasted no time. "Every agent and asset we have on the island, I want them in a perimeter around the Xiao-long property."
The scroll was silent for a moment "My lord, the vast majority of the agents we possess on Patch are deep undercover, or sleeper agents, as per your specifications. We've spent years building their cover, using our best agents in this way now, as simple bodyguards, would be a waste of-"
"I don't care." Percy interrupted. "This is what they're there for. Everyone we have on the island. Fighter or not, I want them in a perimeter surrounding the Xiao-long property until I get there. And until then, nobody gets in. Not police, not fucking Shiro. Understood?"
Percy heard a resigned sigh echo through the line. "As you say. I'll dispatch the orders immediately."
Percy hesitated for only a moment before giving his next set of orders. "And Vale. Everyone we have in one of Wolke's or his ally's offices. Activate the contingencies we have for them, and today we take it all down."
Irvine didn't hesitate this time. "It will be done."
Satisfied, Percy clicked his scroll shut and glanced out the window where he could see Windpath rapidly approaching. Within seconds they came in for landing, and Percy didn't even wait for them to touch down before leaping the dozen-odd feet to the ground and hurriedly making his way to where he could see another bullhead spooled up and waiting.
Unfortunately his haste didn't help much and he was left waiting anyway, as Ren wasn't there yet. That was to be expected considering he'd asked for the boy to head to the bullhead docks a small handful of minutes ago, but Percy anxiously waited for Ren to arrive nonetheless.
In the meantime he reached for his scroll to make yet another call. If there was anyone that might've been in the area that Percy could trust to help protect Pyrrha…
Tapping the call icon under Qrow's name, Percy listened to the scroll ring.
Pick up. Pick up. Pick up.
But it kept ringing. And ringing. And ringing.
"This is Qrow. I'm probably out of CCT range, so leave a message and-"
With a frustrated grunt, Percy slammed his thumb on the 'end call' button, returning to waiting impatiently.
A minute later Ren arrived, however, and rather quickly given the circumstances. But that wasn't exactly at the forefront of Percy's mind at the moment.
"Hop in." Percy offered the confused looking boy a hand, pulling him into the bullhead and slamming his hand against the bullhead's cockpit wall twice. "Get us moving to Patch!"
The sound of the bullhead engines picking up was their response, the craft lifting off the ground soon after. The doors slid shut and within moments they began speeding towards Vale.
Percy turned to Ren, who had been waiting patiently for an explanation as to why he'd been more or less kidnapped.
"I need Wolke dead." Percy didn't hesitate in saying. He'd not wanted Ren to do the deed for… a plethora of reasons, really, even if there came a time where he needed Wolke gone. He'd thought that might be after Wolke's second 'demonstration', but this was far beyond what Percy had expected.
This was no longer business. It was personal, and he didn't just want Wolke gone, he wanted him erased. No, he needed him erased. The Malachites would have done a fine job with one of the more blunt options normally, but that would take time, and Percy wanted no chance Wolke would walk from this alive. Any other option meant Pyrrha continued to be at risk.
And that, Percy would not allow.
"Okay." Was Ren's simple response. "Is there a way you'd prefer it be done?"
"The quickest, with the least chance of failure." Percy decided. "I need a guarantee he's dead. Tonight."
"There is no chance of failure." Ren assured him, eyes narrowing. Percy almost wanted to say he was offended at the implication of anything else. "It will be done. He should be at his residence by now, but if tonight is a special circumstance then knowing everything I can will help."
Percy nodded, pulling out his scroll. "I'll put you in contact with the Malachites. They'll tell you if anything's changed, they're keeping tabs on him. We have some assets in the capitol as well, which might be able to be of use."
Ren nodded, "That will be more than enough."
"And Ren." Percy hesitated for a moment. "Don't get yourself killed. Wolke needs to die, but… I don't need you dead on top of it."
"Wolke will die." was Ren's simple assurance.
Shaking his head with an exasperated sigh, Percy unlocked his scroll and cycled through the saved numbers. He'd still not been able to call Pyrrha, but now he had time to at least make sure she was okay.
Pressing call on her contact, Percy held his scroll to his ear and waited.
It rang twice and stopped, a low, flat tone telling Percy the call was no longer connected.
Scowling, Percy pulled the scroll back to look. Sure enough, no signal. They were already leaving the range of the CCT.
Crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat, Percy let out an unhappy groan. At least they were making quick progress towards Vale.
Taiyang sighed, pulling the scroll from his ear and letting it drop onto the kitchen counter.
"He hang up on you?" Helen guessed from where she sat at his table, absentmindedly stirring a mug of tea Tai had made for her.
Tai sighed goodnaturedly, shaking his head and moving to join her at the table. "He does that to you too?"
Pyrrha's mother shrugged with a single shoulder, letting a small smile twitch onto the corners of her mouth. "No, I never spoke with Perseus on the scroll much. Mostly just answering the scroll when Alex was out, to take a message. And on the handful of occasions we did speak, it was about Pyrrha, or her school, or… small talk, really. Nothing 'work' related. But Alex — my husband, I mean, Pyrrha's father — would gripe about it just about every time they spoke. How every time work came up Perseus would just… hang up when he'd decided the conversation was over. I don't think anyone's ever told him."
Tai let himself chuckle lightly. "Well, guess I'll be the first to. He's on his way now, apparently."
The smile faded from Helen's face. "Is he?"
Tai's own mirth faded. "Is that a bad thing? I mean someone did show up looking for Pyrrha with a gun, Helen. They seem to have a pretty close bond. I'm just Pyrrha's teacher and I'm worried sick, and I'm sitting in the same house as her. I can't imagine how it is to be half a world away and get the news, hours after it happened."
Helen shook her head quickly, waving it off. "No, no, he's good with Pyrrha. If he's coming here, I believe with all my heart it's to protect her. It's just… I don't think he likes me very much."
Tai blinked, and his eyebrows furrowed together in a strange mix of confusion and concern.
"Really? Why? Did something happen?… if you don't mind me asking that is." he rushed to add.
Helen seemed to deflate slightly. "It's a long story, but the best way I can put it is… politics, I guess. The sort of things that friends can usually look past. But when both him and our family are so… involved, things were always going to get personal. Him and Alex had a split, and even though I wasn't as much a part of it I… well, I tried to do right by my husband. It backfired, and I think Perseus thinks that I'm trying to keep him away from Pyrrha. To be fair it's not an entirely incorrect assumption, I don't think he's a very good role model, but I know he does care for her."
Tai hummed, but when he opened his mouth to respond he was cut off by a knock at the door.
Freezing, Tai shared a glance with Helen and stood slowly. He knew, reasonably speaking, there was nothing to be worried about. They were on his relatively isolated property, and he was a huntsman. An out of practice one, but one nonetheless. And the three girls upstairs, while far from being huntresses themselves, were also more than capable of defending themselves against some creep with a gun.
Besides, it was probably just a police officer here to update them on the situation, or reveal they'd found the guy's name, or a concerned neighbor.
But a healthy dose of caution never hurt anyone.
Tai stood, but quietly signaled for Helen to stay put. She did so with a bitter frown, but stayed seated nonetheless.
A second knock, slightly louder than the last.
Squaring his shoulders, Tai left the kitchen and rounded the corner, strolling down the short hallway to the front door and cautiously peering through the glass.
As soon as he got a glimpse of who was on the other side, Tai let out a relieved sigh and pulled the door open all the way.
"Officer." he greeted, relieved. "How can I help you?"
The police officer was as tall as Taiyang was, but a little lanky. Middle ages, Tai figured, though it looked like he was on the older end. The man smiled and tipped his hat. "Mr. Xiao-Long, I'm Sergeant Briggs. I just wanted to inform you that, given the risk to the student's life, my squad and I will be taking patrols around the property for some time. If you see someone in the treeline it's probably just us, and nothin' to be concerned about. But If you wanna make sure, feel free to give us a call. Don't worry bout botherin' us, we gonna be out there anyway." the officer said, offering Tai a card. It had the man's name and number on it, with 'Patch Sheriff's Office' embedded in bold letters.
Tai didn't know the officer too well, but he was sure he recognized him, enough to know he'd seen him around every now and then. Enough to be assured he was really police.
Taking the card, Tai looked it over once more and shoved it in his pocket.
"Thanks," he said, nodding gratefully. "I appreciate the extra eyes. If there's anything you might need, just let me know. Water, tea, snacks, we have it all, it's the least I can do."
The sergeant gave him a quick grin and another tip of the hat. "'preciate it, I'll make sure to keep it in mind. If you need anythin' you just call me now, ya hear?"
Tai nodded once again and was about to bid the officer goodbye when Helen spoke from behind him. "The stalker's arrested, right? Why do you think there might still be a danger?"
Tai turned and sure enough Helen had walked up to the door. She stood behind him, eyes narrowed suspiciously at Briggs.
"Can never be too safe." he answered her, "Patch might've had a boom lately but we're still a small settlement. Things like this don't happen too often 'round here. We wanna make sure we do all we can to make sure our residents are safe. That means precautions like this from time to time."
Helen edged closer. "But it happened hours ago. Why send people now?"
Officer Briggs was getting annoyed now, Tai could tell.
"I don't know what to tell ya' ma'am. Lotta chaos today. Had to make sure the school was safe, get statements from witnesses, fill out paperwork like you wouldn't believe, and keep an active guard on the suspect. We ain't a large station. Stuff like that takes time, but we're here now." he said. "Is that all, ma'am?" he asked, professionalism keeping his irritation from being too obvious.
Tai looked at Helen expectantly. He had to admit he was just a tiny bit annoyed now too. But, he supposed, a mother had the right to be paranoid over the safety of their daughter. Especially given what had just happened.
"How did you know we were here?" she asked, unrelenting in her interrogation.
Tai shot her an annoyed look. Even he was getting a bit impatient now. He didn't know either, but he also hadn't known the answer to the previous questions, and there had been perfectly reasonable expectations for those. He was clearly a real officer, this was just edging on rude.
"We were at the scene," Briggs said, frustration coating his voice as he rested a hand on his hip. "We saw you two headin off towards Xiao-Long's place. Figured you'd be here. Looks like we figured correctly."
Tai and Helen shared a glance. They hadn't driven off together. Helen hadn't been at the school when everything had happened. Why would she be? School wasn't out, and the girls usually went to hang out after school anyway. Tai had driven them to the Nikos' house, (mansion, really) where they'd collected some items and Helen herself, and then drove here.
It could have been explained by a mistake of perception and a lucky coincidence, but…
"Pull up your sleeve." Helen told the man suddenly, stepping forward.
Sergeant Briggs blinked twice. "I'm sorry?"
"Your left sleeve. Pull it up to your shoulder."
Tai narrowed his eyes. He didn't know what she was getting at, but he was suspicious enough to follow her lead now.
"I'm sorry ma'am, I don't understand why yer' askin me to-"
"Do as she says." he interjected, his muscles coiling. If this turned violent, he had to make sure nobody was seriously hurt.
The officer backed up one step. "Now look, I don't know what's gotten into ya'll, but I-" the hand on his hip twitched, inching slightly lower to where his pistol was in its holster.
Tai didn't wait, launching forwards and seizing the man's wrist. He wrapped his other arm around Sergeant Brigg's neck, getting him in a chokehold and adjusting his forearm to stifle the man's mouth. Tai moved his left hand — the one holding the officer's wrist in a vice-like grip — to grab the man's other arm, holding them both together.
It had taken barely more than a second. Even as rusty as he was, some police officer did not fare well against a huntsman.
Tai nodded at Helen, holding the officer as he struggled in Tai's grip. Tai didn't choke him — he made sure of that — but his muffled cries for help went unheard.
The crimsonette approached cautiously. Tai adjusted the man's left arm, and Helen took hold of the sleeve, pulling it up to reveal the skin underneath.
"Whatever you're doing, he doesn't like it." Tai grunted, adjusting his grip to stifle the struggling Sergeant, whose tossing and kicking had just gotten worse. Not that it did much more than annoy anyone.
Within seconds the sleeve had been pulled almost all the way up, revealing nearly all of the officer's arm. Tai made out a tattoo of some sort on his bicep, though he couldn't get a good look at it with all the struggling. Helen, though, could.
Slowly, she lowered the sleeve back down.
"Well?" Tai asked impatiently, adjusting every couple of seconds to a renewed attempt to break free. "Find what you were looking for?"
"I did." Helen confirmed quietly. "Take his gun and let him go."
"What?" the blonde man looked at her like she was crazy. "He just reached for his gun. You found the tattoo on his arm. He was clearly whatever you thought he was."
"Which is why you should let him go." she repeated forcefully.
Sighing exasperatedly and muttering to himself about his luck, Tai suddenly twisted the man's arms to cause pain to distract him, released his chokehold, and quickly snatched the gun. That accomplished, he pulled the officer's arms up behind his head and pushed him lightly forwards to create some distance.
Briggs had no more an idea what was going on than Tai did, if his wild eyes and lack of action were any indication. He just panted heavily, glancing between the two of them. He took a few measured steps back away from Tai and held his hands out cautiously.
"He's one of Perseus'." Helen said flatly, pointing to the officer's upper shoulder. "They all wear the mark of the spider, in one way or another."
"What?" Tai looked between the two. "He?" he pointed at the officer who had definitely been a police officer in Patch before today. "Works for Percy?"
"It's best if you don't mention that name for now." Helen said curtly. "But yes, I have no doubt. He was likely told to help protect us until Perseus arrives."
"But he's been an officer." Taiyang pointed out, baffled. He wasn't naive enough to think that anyone couldn't dress up in an officer's uniform, but this was different. He was actually a policeman. Tai knew it wasn't impossible to bribe an officer, but to this extent?
"No." Helen denied. "He might get a paycheck from the Sheriff's office, but I'd wager he's never been just a police officer. When did he move here? When do you recall seeing him for the first time?"
Tai scratched his head, eyeing the man who apparently worked for his family-friend warily. "A couple years ago, maybe? Definitely not before the immigration surge, so probably more recently than that."
"So after Pyrrha arrived." she summarized.
Tai blinked. Pyrrha… had moved to attend Signal towards the very beginning of the large immigration to Patch, yes. So… "Basically, yeah. You're not saying…"
"He moved here after my daughter and I did, yes. Had probably been tasked with protecting her, too. Or maybe just keeping an eye on us. And he didn't arrive here to help protect us until several minutes after you managed to reach Perseus. Perseus has the resources to be cautious, and so he is."
Tai didn't know how he felt about that. It made some sense, he supposed, but it was creepy nonetheless. That some random person on the street had some secret agenda, had moved here under completely false pretenses, and did all of it on the orders of someone he knew pretty well. That it was a police officer who'd done all this just made it worse.
"What now?" Tai asked tiredly, giving up on trying to make sense of the situation. One way or another, Helen clearly knew what was going on. He'd just follow her lead.
"Give him his gun back?" she suggested, shrugging. "Like I said, he's from Perseus, which means he's really here to protect Pyrrha. Let him do his job, but hopefully a bit more honestly this time." she shot the man a glare, prompting him to avoid her gaze.
Apprehensively, Tai handed the spy back his pistol. Now that he thought about it, Percy had said he'd be sending someone. Tai just hadn't thought it'd be… like this.
Nodding gratefully, the Sergeant took his pistol back and slowly re-holstered it. "My apologies. I can't, uh… talk about it. But we'll have this place on lockdown, everyone's on their way. Now that ya' know, we can have the perimeter a bit closer to the house. Be a bit safer. Trust me, nobody's gettin' through."
His assurance didn't do much to set Tai at ease, but he nodded anyway.
With another tip of the hat he turned and he was gone. Turning back to the house, Tai gestured vaguely at the door.
"After you."
Percy leaned back forcefully as the bullhead came in for a landing at the Vale bullhead docks, keeping as much of his face concealed from the outside as possible. They were using a forged callsign, with a forged origin and a fake registration to make sure there was no paper trail suggesting the bullhead had come from Mistral, and the Malachites had even bribed one of the tower personnel to expedite their landing, but he didn't want to take any chances of being spotted. Even the pilots had been forced to awkwardly climb out of the cockpit one at a time and change into regular Valean pilot uniforms, rather than Mistrali military pilots.
The sun was setting as they arrived, and the streets were slowly turning dark. All the better, Ren had assured him.
"You ready?" Percy asked said boy. He nodded once resolutely and rose to make his way out of the bullhead.
"Hey," Percy grabbed his arm the moment before he hopped out. "Be careful. The number one priority is making sure you get out unscathed, alright?"
Ren looked at him silently, eyebrows drawing together. After a moment he seemed to realize something, because he made a small humming noise at the back of his throat, and his face relaxed. "There's no reason to worry. This is what I do. This is what I have been trained to do, for nearly as long as I can remember. I am not worried." he said, like he was stating a series of facts. Though, Percy supposed, he technically was. He wasn't sure which part of that was supposed to put him at ease, but Percy got the message either way.
Letting go of his arm, Percy nodded once. "Good luck, Ren."
Ren hesitated for a moment. "Luck is not a factor."
And with that, he hopped out of the bullhead and walked away. Percy lost sight of him soon after.
He'd wanted to protect the boy. He really, really had. And he believed he'd have gone through with it, regardless of how dire things got. Even if his empire of intrigue was on the verge of collapsing, he wouldn't sacrifice his mission to give Ren some fraction of a peaceful youth.
But this was more than that. This was far, far beyond any aspiration he had of uniting Remnant. This was for Pyrrha.
Wolke had tried to have Pyrrha killed to prove a point, and for that there was only one price he could pay. More than that, there was only one way to make sure it never happened again.
As the bullhead doors slid shut and it lifted off to take Percy to Patch, Percy began to think about next steps once Wolke was dead. He could grab a lot of power in Vale, sure, but that just reminded him of his deal with Ozpin.
Gods, Ozpin. How would he explain this to the old man? He supposed that not taking advantage of the chaos this would cause was a good start towards convincing him that simple profit or power hadn't been a motivator, and that he hadn't immediately gone back on his word.
Other than Ozpin, he wouldn't come under suspicion from… anyone, really. Percy and Wolke weren't public enemies. If anything, the few members of the general public that really cared about Percy here in Vale probably thought he was on good terms with Wolke, considering their mutual cordial relationship with Ozpin. Or at least, their publicly cordial relationship.
And Perseus wouldn't really be suspected of this either. The White Fang had been blamed for the seizing of SDC dust most of a year ago, but most people had more or less forgotten about that by now thanks to his stunt in Argus. Or at least, it wasn't the first thing that came to mind. If Perseus and Mistral were to assassinate anyone, it would surely be Ironwood or Jacques, rather than Wolke, who had helped officiate many of the privileges Mistral had been granted after the war.
But Wolke didn't know Percy was Perseus either. He knew he was involved in organized crime, but nobody actually knew that Perseus was involved with Valean organized crime. Sure Wolke knew that there was a good correlation between when the MTC & the 'White Fang' had stolen so much dust with the 'help' of locals and when Percy had spoken to Wolke on behalf of the underground, but Wolke had done nothing since then so he clearly hadn't connected the dots.
But if that were the case… how did he know to target Pyrrha to get to Percy? It was public that she'd been trained by Perseus, but Percy had no affiliation with her at all.
Percy felt his stomach flip on its head.
Wolke had to know he was Perseus. Otherwise, he wouldn't have targeted Pyrrha. But why wait so long?
The only answer he could come up with was that Wolke suspected he was Perseus, but didn't know. If Perseus wasn't Percy and discovered what had happened to Pyrrha, there was no reason for him to go after Wolke. But if Perseus did respond? Then Wolke would have his theory confirmed.
But that would do the man no good. The operation to dismantle Wolke's powerbase would only happen when he was already dead. He'd never even know he'd been right.
Percy forcibly relaxed himself. Despite knowing Wolke's intentions now, it didn't change anything. Wolke wouldn't be a problem after tonight. All there was left to do was wait for Ren.
Chairman of the Council of Vale, Fantoche Wolke, has been announced dead in his home at the age of 48.
Wolke has passed away, insiders confirm. Unofficial reports indicate heart attack was the cause of death.
BREAKING: Amid Chairman Wolke's passing Vale law enforcement arrest multiple party and cabinet members for allegations of corruption, bribery, and conspiracy.
Government conspiracy? Arrests after Wolke's death prompt theories of blackmail and coverups.
Leak reveals cause of mass arrests: months-long investigations finally bear fruit with anonymous leak of a Wolke-centric conspiracy.
On the outside, Jacques looked the picture of calm. Tired, yes, but when had he not been recently? He sat reclined in his seat, his finger calmly circling around the rim of his glass, his arms relaxing on the armrests of his chair.
Internally, he'd felt like vomiting for the last twenty minutes. There was a deep, dark feeling of something he didn't know how to describe at the bottom of his stomach, and he was on his sixth bourbon in the last hour. Four of them had been in the last twenty minutes.
"You were actually right." Ironwood said, voice tinged with disbelief. It was the first words any of them had spoken in fifteen minutes.
"You're well aware I had my… significant doubts." Atlas' chairman muttered. "But this is… beyond anything I thought…"
Jacques swallowed. His saliva felt thick enough to block his throat.
"I didn't-" he paused to clear his throat. "I wasn't certain. But once I had the thought, too many things lined up for it to be coincidence. I had to be sure, and…"
"Now you are." Ironwood finished. "We are. This evidence is enough to prove your suspicions."
"The council is on its way." The chairman spoke quietly, adjusting in his seat at the head of the table as they all watched the screen on the wall. "Or at least, the Atlesian members. After this, I'll not neglect your advice so soon, Jacques. If you say he has puppets in Mantle, I'll take your word for it."
"He does." Jacques confirmed grimly. "How many I do not know, but we must be cautious."
The chairman nodded his agreement and stood. Ironwood joined him, but Jacques remained staring at the screen as the news from Vale scrolled by. "Due to the circumstances, I think it's only appropriate you be allowed to attend the meeting of the council, Mr. Schnee. If you'll excuse me, I have some preparations to make before said meeting."
"What do we tell them?" Ironwood asked the chairman, stopping him in place. "When the council members arrive, I mean. What do we tell them when they ask why they've been called here in the middle of the night?"
"Tell them the truth." the chairman replied tiredly, shrugging to adjust his jacket.
"Tell them we've found Perseus."
Discord channel is open now. The link to it and pat-reon are on my profile. Sorry for the chapter coming out so late, I hope you enjoyed.
Next chapter August 10
