Atonement: Lincoln Clay
Episode 8: Ain't Exactly Clear
A/N: Sorry for taking so long everyone but I hope this chapter makes up for it. I apologize for making it filler but with how things are going its getting harder to write especially since my job eats my time and sucks out my soul. I do want to ask you all one important question that I need feedback on. I am thinking about the story's direction and I know some fans want me to take this on a certain route. In short, should Lincoln become a somewhat benevolent yet feared mob boss or loosely follow the teachings of Father James and become the Remnant equivalent of 'The Equalizer' with a slightly rebellious side to atone for his sins (old habits can die hard)? To quote Arthur Morgan from RDR2: "You can't be two people at once..." Of course there may be a way I can bridge the two so that one leads to the other, but I really don't know, and I've heard some outstanding ideas from fans of this story about the former option, but it was not originally the direction I thought of taking. So my dear readers I ask your advice, Redemption or Rule?
Keep in mind it's my decision and I only ask for input.
[Disabled Doctor: Thank you so much.]
[Wombag1786: It is but I've had time to think about what I should do and I guess I'm lost.]
[Review dude: Yeah things are getting heavy and thanks for the encouragement. I love the idea of yours man.]
[Sam hill: Could happen but it's really stretching the divine intervention angle.]
[Guest 1: Glad to hear it.]
[Guest 2: I'll try to pump out more chapters man! :)
[Gamelover41592: I will put out more when I can.
The discussion lasted for a short time longer and ended with Lincoln and Donovan agreeing with the idea. The two of them did need all the assets they could get their hands on in this strange new world, and superpowers would play no small part in their endeavors. Qrow said that he and his boss would keep in touch with them, and the bird himself would be a regular customer, neither Donovan or Lincoln objected to those actions. The two men watched the huntsman leave the bar with a drunk stumble and then looked to each other with nods of agreement. They both knew they were in the middle of something big and now they were stuck with Qrow hanging around their place from now on. It would be some time before they would have a meeting with Oz again though but they weren't in a rush.
-2 WEEKS LATER-
The former CIA agent saw a few more customers come and go from the establishment while he and Qrow had their talk. The three kids were still playing the arcade game and Ren was in the zone skillfully tapping the buttons, winning the fight. He used a combo move and won the boss fight with Nora and Emerald cheering at his victory. Emerald then stepped up to the machine and cracked her knuckles to mash the buttons. Nora quickly got bored though and started playing outside with the sledgehammer her uncle Donovan had provided for her. The former agent looked outside to see the girl breaking rocks and assorted junk like they were dirt clods and tin cans.
"Little carrot top over there, she's obviously quite a handful." Qrow noted how destructive the hyper little ginger seemed to be.
"What can I say? She has a thing for smashing." Donovan said as he coolly puffed a cigarette in his mouth while cleaning a beer stein.
"You know if you and Lincoln are interested, Oz and I might be able to get those little tykes into Signal when they're old enough." Qrow grinned as he took a swig from a hard liquor bottle Donovan had sold him.
"Actually, I was already considering that." The sly operative replied as he rinsed out a beer stein.
"Oh really?" Qrow raised an eyebrow.
"They're fighters alright, I know it when I see it. Those three over there are gonna be something when they grow up, so come hell or high-water Lincoln and I had better send them somewhere that'll help them get that future." He said with a calm yet determined look before realizing his own actions. "Look at me, talking like some kind of mister mom." Donovan stuck a hand to his forehead in embarrassment with a smile on his face.
"Ha! You know now that I think about it, maybe my nieces could come over sometime, Ruby and Yang need to make some friends after all." The dusty bird brought up the two girls who he held so dearly.
"Eh, this isn't a daycare but what the hell, bring them by whenever you feel like it." Donovan shrugged in agreement.
"I'll tell that to their mom and dad then." Qrow said as he twisted his back with a loud satisfying pop. "Another thing, why do you call this place Sammy's anyway?" He asked with the bottle still firmly in his hand.
"That's a long story friend and frankly not mine to tell." The sly operative said as he set down the stein with an audible clink on the bar counter.
"Let me guess, it's Lincoln's and its personal." Qrow said as he tilted his head.
"Exactly." Donovan said firmly.
-MEANWHILE OUTSIDE-
"Alright, y'all got everything you need?" Lincoln asked his three foster kids while they all stood outside in front of the bar waiting the bus.
"Yes, Lincoln for the hundredth time, we got it all." Emerald sassed him.
"Then all of you keep yourselves out of trouble, especially you Nora." Lincoln pointed squarely at the ginger girl.
"Okey dokey Lincoln, BYE!" Nora said happily as she, Ren, and Emerald approached the school bus when it had stopped.
"Make some friends out there and stay safe!" Lincoln watched as the three children boarded the school bus to the local elementary school. The three of the walked the aisle until they spotted a group of empty seats. Occupying the seats in front of theirs were two other little girls, one in a yellow T-shirt with a black flame on it and beige shorts with brown high-top shoes and long golden hair, the other was dressed in a black sweater with a red hood and cape with a red skirt and black boots and had short black hair with red highlights.
Without any thinking at all, Nora stuck her head over the seat and grinned. "HI I'M NORA!" She shouted to the two other girls.
"Nora don't do that." Ren said calmly and pulled her back in to the seat.
"Yeah, you make us look weird carrot-head." Emerald
"Aw come on Ren, and don't poke fun at me mint-chip!" Nora cutely puffed up her cheeks in displeasure at being yanked back down and snapped at the minty-haired girl.
"That was one time-!" Emerald groaned in annoyance.
"Both of you stop it, now." Ren silenced the argument.
"Fine!" Both girls said in unison.
"Sorry about them, my name is Lie Ren, that is Emerald, and as you already know she is Nora." The boy in the green jacket formally introduced himself and his foster siblings to the red and yellow girls.
"I'm Yang, this is my cute baby sister Ruby!" The yellow themed girl now known as Yang yelled happily, introducing herself and her sister.
"YAAANG!" The little red hooded girl moaned in annoyance.
-2 HOURS LATER-
Lincoln casually drove along through the city of Vale in his pickup to clear his head. The drive through the metropolis reminded him somewhat of New Bordeaux's downtown district. Though the city lacked any true resemblance to his home except for some slums he'd stumble across, hidden in various places. Poverty, now that was a word that really held weight with Lincoln. He recalled what little Sammy had done for the people of the Del Ray Hollow. He always reasoned to himself that Sammy did the best he could, after all he still answered to Marcano before that fateful night. A part Lincoln's soul couldn't help but sympathize with the faunus and how they reacted to being treated like lesser beings, animals and freaks. He knew that once he took control of city, things were going to change for them if he had any say in it. It would be the least he could do for the faunus, as he knew exactly what racism felt like in its entirety and something had to be done.
As he came to a stop at a red light, he noticed a group of faunus protestors marching at a courthouse. The group of protestors was heavily surrounded by riot geared VPD officers who seemed twitchy from what Lincoln could see of their movements. Lincoln saw the light turn green and heavy drove on for a short distance before parking and watching the protest unfold. As he exited the pickup and he couldn't help but notice that news reporters had even shown up to broadcast the whole ordeal to the viewing world. He watched the whole event slowly start to turn violent as a man walked down the steps, escorted by a team of bodyguards in white suits. The protestors booed and shouted curse words at the executive as he nonchalantly walked down the courthouse steps.
Lincoln eyed the corporate executive and his security detail with a great interest. From what it seemed, he'd just found a lead on a big score if he played it right. Besides, from how the protestors were on the verge of causing a riot, he obviously deserved to be robbed and Lincoln could use the money. It was the perfect setup for a textbook heist if the master criminal ever saw one. Lincoln noted the SDC logo on the side of the limo that the executive stepped and watched it drive off down the street. Without any hesitation Lincoln hopped into the pickup and fired up the engine of the nightcrawler. He put the vehicle in drive and pulled out of the parking space, drove to the next intersection and pulled a U-turn.
The former soldier smoothly tailed the vehicle until it passed by a large and very professional looking bank that held the title 'MISTRAL BANKING CO.' in larg. Lincoln parked in an alley nearby and watched as the limo parked next to the bank and the man who'd left the court house walked inside with a briefcase that was handcuffed to his wrist. After a few minutes of gauging the bank's defenses and its foot traffic Lincoln spotted the man getting back into the limo. He just needed to bring this intel back to Donovan for confirmation and then they could better case the location for a possible score.
-5 HOURS LATER-
Lincoln had been driving around for a while to throw off any suspicion that he might've garnered and continued thinking to himself all the while. Eventually after having picked up some groceries along the way, he pulled to a stop outside the bar and then parked the car in the garage. Lincoln stepped back into the bar with the groceries to see the kids playing with two little girls he'd never seen before. Just as he was about to say something he was interrupted by Donovan.
"Hey Lincoln, what took ya so long buddy?" Donovan said as he had a drink with Qrow.
"Yeah, me and Donovan were just talking about you." Qrow said casually as he took a swig from his mug.
"I'd like to point out, Qrow, that was hours ago." Donovan held up a finger.
"I was out running errands as you can see. Oh before I forget, we have to talk." Lincoln answered the original question and then pointed to Donovan.
"No problem, when Qrow takes the kids home we'll get to it." Donovan said as he relaxed at the bar with his drinking buddy/Ozpin's watch-bird.
"Great. Who are those two by the way?" Lincoln replied and then pointed at the two unfamiliar children.
"The two tykes playing with our own little tax write-offs are Qrow's nieces." Donovan said with a slight grin and gestured to Qrow who couldn't hide his own sense of pride.
"Hi papa Lincoln!" Nora said as she zoomed away from the group of her fellow rug rats. Emerald and Ren were right behind her as she dashed over to greet the man she and her fellow kids called a stepdad.
"Hey Nora! So did you kids have a good day at school?" Lincoln said as he hefted the hyper ginger onto his shoulders.
"It was so boooooorrrrrring but then we had recess and played with our new friends!" Nora said over dramatically as she piggy backed on Lincoln's shoulders.
"I'll bet." Lincoln said with a smile as he gazed up at the hyper active ginger.
"Yeah, these two are alright." Emerald said as she pointed a thumb at Ruby and Yang.
"I agree." Ren said nonchalantly.
"You all stayed out of trouble, right?" Lincoln said to all three children.
"Yes sir!" The three kids said without missing a beat.
"I mean it. I'm not going to be getting any calls from your principal, am I?" Lincoln eyed two of his foster kids suspiciously and then looked up at Nora.
"No sir!" The trio shouted in unison.
"Good job, I guess you three definitely earned this then." Lincoln said as he revealed a bucket of ice cream he'd bought from the store. All the kids in the bar lit up with big smiles at the delicious treat Lincoln held in his hands.
"Your dad is awesome!" Yang shouted as she charged at Lincoln. Two of the other three toppled him over and grabbed at the ice cream bucket. Nora then got into a tugging match with Yang over who would get first dibs while Donovan and Qrow couldn't stop laughing hysterically.
"What's the matter Lincoln, can't handle a few kids?" Donovan said in between his laughing.
"That's what you get for showing a bunch of super kids treats!" Qrow said mockingly. Lincoln sat up and shook his head while he saw the group of children dig into the bucket except for Ruby and Ren who walked over to him.
"Are you okay mister?" Ruby said sweetly.
"I'm fine kid." Lincoln said as he dusted himself off and stood up.
"Okay, can I have some ice cream too please?" Ruby asked nicely.
"I would like to as well Lincoln." Ren joined her in being good.
"Alright, but grab a plate and spoon first. That goes for all of you!" Lincoln said calmly to the two well-behaved children and then bellowed his order to the others.
"Oops heh, heh." Nora said sheepishly as she and Yang stopped fighting over the bucket of goodness. "I think we're in trouble." Nora whispered to Yang, who shoved the bucket over to her.
After a collective sorry was given, the kids received the ice cream and dug into it with big smiles. The three men shared beers together and talked until it was time for Qrow to take the two girls home to patch. The group of kids said their goodbyes and Lincoln sent his three foster kids to bed for the night after they did their homework.
-A FEW MINUTES LATER-
"So that's what I have. What do you think?" Lincoln said as he looked to Donovan for advice.
"Mistral Banking is a fortress, and its obviously well guarded considering the fact of how much cash and gold bullion may be in the vaults. So yeah it's a big take but we don't have the man power to pull it off between the two of us. The SDC stakes in there alone are huge, it'd just be a pinprick to them if we do hit it though." Donovan replied as he lit a cigarette and smoked it.
"Then we need a crew." Lincoln said as he leaned back in a chair.
"That could take a while until I can scare up some talent and besides, the minute we do it we might run into Locus and Cyrus…" Donovan hadn't forgotten
"Or Ozpin and Qrow, all of which could trace it back to us." Lincoln said as frowned in thought.
"Exactly, I'm with you all the way but we don't fuck over people we work with. That's what Sal did." Donovan lazily pointed a finger at his partner.
"You're right we aren't like Sal. But if we do then we have to hit it fast before they know it was us." Lincoln said coolly.
"We can do it but it'll have to wait. I do wonder though if we really should run this town. Besides that was just plan B." Donovan said in deep thought.
"Don't tell me you're getting cold feet now." Lincoln raised an eyebrow.
"Not at all, just taking stock of what we've got you know. I mean the guys we're working with want us on the straight and narrow. So we have got to be careful is all I'm saying." Donovan said as puffed the cigarette.
"Right, I do have kids to think about." Lincoln thought to himself about what Father James would say.
"Yep, now let's get some shut eye." Donovan finished and the two men went to bed.
-END CHAPTER-
