To Be Relentless (Previously A Personal Favor)

Chapter 10

-Alexander-

Reclining in his chair, Alexander watched as the Atlas Court Martial trial for one Lucius Malfoy was aired live. Normal Military Court Martial hearings weren't a public matter but one where a guilty verdict would result in a life sentence to the Aeonar was certainly something the public took note of and would demand details on. On the screen he could see Jaune and his friends sitting in the stands, Jaune holding a dark-skinned girl's hand tightly while glaring hatefully at Lucius Malfoy. The rich Atlesian boy was pale and shaking, dark bags under his eyes as he got a taste of life outside of his ritzy manor. "Well, it seems someone got your glare." Looking over his shoulder, Alexander saw Roman had returned "Got his Momma's color but that fury is all yours Alex."

"He had to get something from me besides this hair and a stubborn attitude." Alexander took a deep pull from one of his cigar's, a vice he tended to only ever do when his children weren't around. Admittedly that meant he usually just did it around Roman, but it still helped take the edge off his nerves.

"True enough." Roman took a seat beside him "I left Neo back in Vale proper today by the way. After the trial we have some important matters to talk about and such things tend to bore her." Nodding to his old friend, and offering a cigar, Alexander turned back to watch the trial, studying the people involved. Jaune and his friends, Lucius Malfoy's social circle, the 'Happy Huntresses' of Mantle as well as the Atlesian Military Personal running the facility where the attempted murder had happened, where it would have could have easily been Jaune who got shot and left without a person with a healing semblance on hand to intervene. There was a great deal of tension between several of the people on screen, far more than he expected.

"Ironwood is going in for the kill." Alexander scowled as he looked at one of Ozpin's right-hand men, one of his precious secret society leaders pulling the strings of Remnant while nobody was left the wiser.

"Say what you will of the cyborg, he's always hated people who's sole claim to power was a thick wallet they got handed down from Mommy and Daddy." Roman smirked, lighting up his cigar with a pleased puff "He was always more impressed by well one could flex their muscles." Abraxas Malfoy's lawyers kept up everything they could to try and get charges dropped, or at the very least punishment lessened to avoid 'Aeonar' but as the trial kept going it became more and more clear how futile an attempt it would be. While the lawyers were smart enough to keep any racist opinions to themselves, Lucius himself seemed to lack such tact. The fact that the boy was clearly stressed and terrified likely didn't help matters.

"A truth detection Semblance." Roman raised an eyebrow as that little nail came in to hammer Malfoy's coffin shut with all the brutal subtly of a beringel, "Think that could be used on Ozpin and his sycophants?"

"Maybe." Alexander paused to consider before shaking his head "But it could just as easily be used against us. And I wouldn't put it past the old bastard to have contingencies." As Alexander finished his cigar, the Military Court came to their decision, sentencing the teenage boy to life at the Aeonar.

"Dumb kid." Roman grunted, the wrappings of his own cigar crinkling as Roman gripped it tight "Throwing everything he had away like that without even a plan to escape that place."

"They still after you?" Alexander frowned as he leaned back, his thoughts going to the Aeonar and its purpose. Aura, and by extension Semblances, made one beyond human or faunus. A person with active aura was stronger, faster, could fight on for longer, resist gunfire, and if they got a good semblance could cause no end of trouble. Laws to punish such people had been put in place long ago, deterrent against crimes in the hopes that fear would keep the people in check. Sure, something like a huntsmen academy student shoplifting a candy bar would just get a fine and some trouble at the school but what of the murderers, rapists, and violent psychopaths of the world. Do enough crimes, or just ones bad enough, and get condemned to the Aeonar. A detonation chip implanted into your skull so if you tried to escape you were dead, and sent out every day to fight Grimm in whatever area they were told to. A prison of death row inmates who's only way to stay off their final judgement was to fight every day with tooth and nail to see the next sunrise.

"When I was just stealing I was a potential candidate, but I hadn't earned a full sentence to their yet." Roman snorted "Although I'm fairly sure my great coffee heist made Ozpin consider it. But no, killing that bitch Browning and Hei Xiong, no matter how much they deserved it, cemented it. Too many councilors want me out of the picture in case I got any of their dirty laundry from that little escapade and want me shipped off even if those two were just as bad as I am."

"Bastards." Alexander scoffed, part of him wondering if he'd get sent there too if people found out he still met up with his old teammate at times.

"Indeed." Roman nodded before finishing and tapping out his cigar as the trial finished and the TV was shut off "But I have information about that Esclados kid you mentioned." Roman's expression was dark "His sister and that team you mentioned? They're running a slave trade ring out of Vacuo. Kidnapping and enslaving anyone they can sell for profit, while keeping anyone with a powerful semblance. One of the team members, the brother who thinks he's royalty, has a brain washing semblance while his sister can steal and transfer aura, using it to keep his reserves at full."

"And they threatened my son." Alexander's expression darkened, blood red eyes starting to glow.

"Little Mis isn't all too fond of the slave trade." Roman looked equally disgusted with the matter "We barely control enough of Remnant to keep the kingdoms going at times, bullshit like that is the last thing anyone needs, especially as if those fools did get the throne, it would just mean true war. So, she's willing to help with breaking the slave ring, permanently, but in exchange for her giving her help in this she wants a favor from you."

"You told her?!" Alexander's eyes bugged out as Roman looked displeased.

"No, I told her I found out my godson," and without Rhodes around Roman did have that title when it came to Alexander's kids "was being threatened by someone who I'd heard bad things about. She said she does want something taken care of by either me, or the both of us if we're still in contact. She likely assumes we stay in contact, but I've never given her a definitive answer about it. The favor is that she's displeased with the Branwen tribe, they've been getting bigger and causing some problems for her agents in Mistral. She wants us to either kill Raven Branwen herself or just kill enough of her tribe that they're not as big of an issue anymore."

"That's…doable." Alexander allowed himself to relax as he nodded, it wouldn't be the first time he'd killed someone, and he doubted it would be the last "Branwen was a powerful Huntress. I'd rather not tangle with her, if possible, too many things could go wrong. But I do know how her semblance works. She needs a close personal bond with someone to teleport to them so if we find out who in her tribe, she has that with we can wait for her to take some of them away for a job, kill that anchor first, and then kill those who are left in the camp. She can't teleport back in to stop us, and we leave no evidence so she can't retaliate against you, me, your friend 'Neo', or my kids."

"Just like old times, huh Alex?" Roman gave him a tired smile, the two shared a somber nod as they plotted their bloody price to pay.

-Jaune-

Sitting in his bed, Jaune tossed and turned with a frown. Today Lucius had been sentenced and found guilty, he had partied with his friends, he'd even gotten to design more gear with the Atlesian scientists. Sleep should have come to him easily but now something wouldn't stop nagging at the back of his mind, prodding and gnawing his attention while refusing to make itself clear.

Giving up on sleep for the moment, Jaune sat up to try and figure out what the issue was, going through everything that had happened today.

He'd met up with Ciel, Penny, and Marrow that morning to have breakfast before the Court Martial. Nothing there that would be an issue.

They'd gone to the court martial together but that wasn't a problem. Every single argument Lucius Malfoy's defense attorney tried using got shot down and shot down hard. Perhaps worry over reprisal from Abraxas Malfoy?

After the court Martial, he'd gone with Ciel, Penny, and Marrow to eat at a nice place to celebrate. The food had been amazing, so it wasn't food poisoning keeping him up.

Then they spent the rest of the day with Penny's dad and his coworkers. They talked about different gear ideas, various fields of science, and how to improve one's semblance.

Jaune shot upward as another piece fell into place, his semblance! For so long he'd been seeing his semblance as just healing, but that's not what happened. When Ciel had been shot his semblance didn't just heal her, it forced her aura back to full. He'd bolstered and refilled her aura reserves. "Aura…amplification?" Jaune frowned, looking down at his hands as he focused on his semblance, his aura shield forming and then hardening, going from a faint translucent barrier that rippled and shifted like water to a solid sheet of white light.

"This…this will take some experimenting."