So I watched the trailer for volume 8 and I gotta say some parts really disappointed me. The fact Nora is up for leaving Atlas and mantle when she was the one who argue for the people The most was disappointing. Then the whole thing with yang apparently taking command of most of jaunes team really bothered me cause come on it's his team but apparently the writers don't care about that much.
Also I noticed that most of jaunes team want to stay and help mantle while most of RWBY want to leave which is close to my idea of the JNPR story I talked about earlier. As for Salem getting The relic of knowledge...well that kinda disappointed me cause now it seems like cinder went back to being Salems lackey. Hopefully there will be some good things that come of this but I don't know we'll just have to wait and see.
The day had barely started and for some reason it felt like a crap load of things were about to go wrong. Junior just finished cleaning the last of his cups when the last glass slipped from his fingers and shattered on the ground. A bad omen if you believed in that sort of thing.
When junior looked up to see both Blake and jaune approaching with very serious expression on their faces he suddenly became a believer. Jaune didn't bother to take a seat and neither did blake so junior knew right away that this needed to be private. The bar owner gave a small hand gesture letting them know to follow him somewhere with less people to listen in on their conversation.
The main office had a very expensive desk with all the tools needed for paper work and a relaxing time. Junior sat in his comfy chair and waited for the other to to do the same in the wooden ones in front of the desk. Once they were all seated it was time for business "if you got something to say spit it out already".
Jaune nodded before pulling out his scroll and placing it in front of junior "on my scroll there's a recording of Roman trying to make a arm's deal". If that was true junior didn't see a problem with that but what jaune said next only proved how crappy this day was going to be. "The deal Roman was working towards was to get enough fire arms for his partner and the men who served him". Jaune tapped the screen of his scroll and a familiar face appeared "Adam Taurus and the white fang".
It was early in the day but that didn't stop junior from opening the first drawer in his desk and pulling out the half drunken whiskey bottle he had left. He had a choice between a shot glass or his glass cup and unfortunately the choice was easily made. The glass cup was set on a cup holder before junior fetched some ice for his drink. When junior sat down and poured a decent enough brown liquid into his glass he took a sip before returning back to the conversation.
"I guess honor among thieves and all that other stuff is dead, just like chivalry" junior said. Jaune shook his head "even if that's true you can't just go belly up and let the fang take over"! Junior slammed his fist onto the table "don't you think I know that already?! My problem isn't that I've lost all hope but the fact of the reality is that now I've got a fully trained huntsmen who knows me well enough to give the edge to my enemies"!
Junior moved his glass cup to the edge of the table before pulling a rolled up map of vale out from under his table. The bartender unrivalled the map and used his cup on one side to keep it steady while using the whiskey bottle for the other side. Jaune looked over the map and noticed white and red marks litter the paper almost equally sharing half of the map.
Junior tapped his finger on a red mark "places with the color red represent my gang's territory while the white are the fangs". Jaune and Blakes eye's widened "that shouldn't even be possible" Blake said as she rose to her feet. Normally it would've been impossible to take so much territory in such a short amount of time but then again that's what happened when you had a traitor who was good at staying off the radar.
At some point jaune had stood up as well and placed a firm hand on Blake's shoulder forcing her to calm herself. Junior sat back in his chair and let out a tired sigh "with Roman helping the fang it feels like a up hill battle just trying to hold what's mine but even still".
"The white fangs too strong" jaune finished.
Junior nodded "even with all my men we just can't fight them as well as Atlas could. After so many years of fighting the Atlas military and learning to use their own military tactics against them what could a bunch of thugs growing up on the streets do against that. Then there's the fact that the fang is paying off the cops so they won't get involved with this mess and the huntsmen are about as useless as a pile of crap since vale refuses to ask them for help".
"Then why don't you just ask for help" Blake asked.
Junior laughed at the suggestion "no offense but asking the huntsmen to stop my rival for the underground is as good as asking them to send me to prison. The huntsmen and huntresses only do one thing and that's beat the bad guys and save the day, to them there is no grey area. If the hunters got involved you'd best believe they'd move to take me, the fang and probably Roman down leaving vale with a power vacuum that could turn a bad day into a shit show".
"Then your gonna need better fighters on your side to turn the tides" jaune said as he placed both palms of his hands on the table. Junior nodded to the blonde "that's true and I'm guessing you and Blake are willing to throw in with us but what can just two hunters do in this situation"? Jaune smiled viciously "just me alone would be enough to wipe out a warehouse full of white fang members but with Blake and her inside knowledge of the fang we'd do some real damage".
Junior was surprised "you never told me she used to be white fang"? The blonde nodded "true and for good reason I mean would you have taken her on if you knew what her former job was"? The bartender rubbed his beard in thought "I suppose I wouldn't have".
Hearing that had Blake's cat ears going down as she felt slightly saddened at the reputation of the organization her family built. Jaune tapped on his scroll and sent a list of things to junior "have those by tonight and I'll start cleaning up some of the fang". His finger tapped on a warehouse at the far end of the map near the wall of the kingdom "this will be the perfect place to announce your new enforcers".
Junior nodded "if we're sending a message to the fang then your gonna need to do more than just knocking out a few guys. Your gonna have to get your hands dirty if you know what I mean" junior said. Blake's eye's narrowed on the bartender "I'm not about to just go around killing people for no good reason".
"I've got no problem with it".
Blake stared wide eyed at the blonde next to her "jaune you can't". Jaunes eye's met hers and Blake didn't see any doubts or hesitation. "I can and I will not because I want to but because this needs to be done" he said. Blake stood her ground "no there is always another way, killing more people won't solve anything and we've got plenty of time to come up with another plan".
The two stared at each other for a few seconds in silence and Blake feared he wasn't going to listen to reason but when he nodded to her she felt immense relief. Jaune looked back to junior "what's the situation in vale at the moment"? Junior pick up his glass and took a swig from it "it's bad, the white fang are charging heavy fees for protection from the human store owners. Those that can't pay are pretty much ran out of business and faunus establishments are brought up in their place".
"What about the faunus? Are they being charged for the protection fees as well"?
Junior shook his head "no their being given leeway so that the fang has a stronger hold in the city. From an outside prospective it looks like plain business but truthfully it's more of a hostel takeover by faunus kind". Junior looked to Blake "look I know you don't want to get your hands dirty but without a big gun to put fear in the fang my people won't have a chance. Showing my people we can not only win some of these fight but also take back what's ours will give them the moral to keep going".
Blake shook her head "no killing isn't the answer"! "Try telling them that" junior argued "every day more and more of my people are coming back hurt or not at all because the fang doesn't care if they live or die so long as they win"! Jaune stood quietly on the side thinking of ways they could do this as Blake wanted but each time he thought about it the problem remained the same, they had too many enemies.
Something else clicked in jaunes mind "junior where are the fang getting all these soldiers from"? The bartender sighed "I got word that attacks in Atlas have come to a complete halt which means now all that manpower would be wasted unless it had a new target". Jaune worried Blake was about to have a heart attack when she nearly fell back "that...that can't be! Sienna would never allow that to happen".
"Or maybe you just don't know her as well as you thought" junior said. The room filled with silence until Blake took a seat in her chair "even with us there's no fighting against the entirety of the white fang" she whispered dreadfully. Jaune nodded "yeah we can't but we don't have a choice". Blake looked to the blonde like he was insane and truthfully he probably was but desperate times called for desperate measures.
Jaunes eye's hardened "get me that gear I need and I'll get started. I'm going to start with the warehouse I mentioned before and from there I'll work my way down". Junior nodded "what about your classes in Beacon? If you spend all your time trying to help us down here you might not be able to attend all your classes".
"Supplementary classes with miss goodwitch or the fate of vales underground? Hmm I think a few make up classes would be just fine after all this" he said. Blake couldn't see how he could joke like this was a game but she could see why he'd throw himself into the fray.
She was afraid but knew that one person couldn't do it alone "I'll help too" she whispered. Jaune and junior turned to the cat faunus "Blake are you sure? This will mean not only stopping but killing people you may have known when you were back in the fang". She didn't want to kill but more than that she didn't want the people she met and came to care for suffer because of the fang.
She stood up once more "I'll do what I have to". The determination in her face was enough for jaune and apparently it was enough for junior as well "I'll have everything by tonight so be ready".
Dark times are coming and Blake will have to see if she's really up to doing the deed. In case anyone was wondering jaune has changed after being with his friends in vale so he's a little softer than the cold blooded killer he used to be. That doesn't mean he won't kill it just means he's easily influenced to not go that far anymore.