Chapter twenty-two: Mind games

(a/n- You know, I haven't done an Omake in almost ten chapters. This one is more or less what would've happened if I'd taken JALR Agency and… completely flipped it on it's head. It also shows one of my regrets for JALR Agency. You'll see why in a second. Roll the footage! Wait… crap, wrong medium. Just read it, you get the idea.)

Omake: The shutterbug

I dashed behind a nearby wall, reaching up and grabbing at my Camera. I felt my ears twitching as I listened. Not a sound. So quiet I could've heard a pin drop. I looked over, dashing towards the open door before I slid to the ground, twisting the lense on my camera just slightly, hearing it sliding into place as it focused. It was painfully loud in the silence. I stood, creeping towards the door, stepping into the building before walking down the hallway, keeping my eyes and ears peeled for danger, just as always. Strangely, the place seemed deserted as I made my way towards the large, open space. The entire building built into the back of the warehouse, just the place I'd stumbled into.

I slid behind one of the nearby crates, looking at the sides of them. They were marked with familiar stamps of food companies, nothing possibly illegal. Gently cracking one open though, revealed there to be nothing even close to food on the inside. Guns. Grenades. Ammo. if it exploded or killed people, it was in there. I held up my camera, hearing the familiar clicking, seeing the bright flashing, as I moved around, taking pictures from as many angles as possible. I only took four of them granted, I needed to save some for the rest. I went around the room, opening all the crates labeled 'food' or 'medical supplies'. Guns. Explosives. Drugs. All those kinds of things were aplenty. I kept taking pictures. "I think I just found my story." I thought.

I let my camera fall down onto my neck as I felt my ears stiffen, the familiar sounds of footsteps coming up behind me, as well as a slow, ominous clapping. "Looks like we've got a pest in the house boys." I heard a deep, cocky voice say. I heard a chorus of chuckling as I slowly turned, seeing six men holding their guns up, a few of them having cigars in their mouths. The one clapping, the boss no doubt, had one between his fat lips, both of them twisted up into a smirk that somehow looked closer to a snarl on his fat face. "We got us a shutterbug." he said, taking out his cigar and letting out a puff of smoke. I coughed, waving my hand in front of me, as I looked down at the man. He looked pretty short, so why these guys that were twice his size would ever follow him was beyond me.

I gulped as the man stepped closer, close enough I could nearly count his eyelashes (they were pretty long eyelashes to be fair). He looked up, putting a small, black fedora on his bald head, the same kind of fedora the other men were wearing. He was the kingpin no doubt. "I'm gonna list what you did wrong bunny, then what you did right. Wrong: Breaking and Entering. Trespassing. Getting caught. Taking pictures. Wearing a long skirt, and of course being an animal. Right: Not trying to run away. Being scared of me, and wearing such a low-cut shirt. Not to mention being a cute little number~" he said, his eyes gazing at me as I crossed my arms over my chest, covering the small window of cleavage I had (what little of it there was). Granted, it was also the only real shirt I had to use for something like this.

He started walking over to the right, reaching into his suit pocket, "Now doll, there's two ways this can go. Good, or bad. Good: You hand over the camera, take off the clothes, and pose for a little photo shoot. You get the camera back, but we get the film. Bad: You try to run, or do something else stupid, and my boys will light you up faster than a cigar. Got it? So get to strippin', or get to dyin', your call." he said, smirking as I felt my face burn bright red. To pose for these men… lose my story… then again, I wouldn't lose my life. That was something at least. I gulped as I slowly placed the camera on the ground, sliding it over to the man as he grabbed it. "See? Not so hard. Now, you gonna make with the show or what?" "...Please… no…" I said, looking down at the ground as I felt my body trembling.

"Knew you were cute on the outside, didn't think you had a voice to match. Make you a deal, lose the shirt and the skirt, keep the underwear right? Do that, you do a little dirty talkin', and we let you go. Sound good?" "For you it doesn't." I jolted my head up as I heard the familiar voice, my eyes widening as I saw a man standing there, flanked by two women. There was a car right behind him, a white sedan with a gold trim. The man was wearing, fittingly enough, an all white suit with a fedora, a gold belt around it. The girl to his left was clad in a cyan blue dress, a white boa around her neck as she clung to the man's arm. The other was dressed the same way, but replacing the blue with red, and the white with black. The man himself had the familiar deep blue eyes, a small smile on his face exposing pearly white teeth as the men looked towards him, some of their eyes widening.

"Ah! Mr. Arc! Just in time for the show." he said, gesturing back towards me, the men keeping their guns trained. I gulped as Jaune stepped over, keeping that eerily calm smile on his face as he spoke, "I don't think I heard that right. Could you say it again?" he asked. The man took a step back, some of the others exchanging nervous glances. I started walking forward, slowly grabbing my camera as the unnerved kingpin spoke again. "I uh… I said you're uh… just in time for the show yeah! Caught this little shutterbug ditzin' around, muckin' with our plans." "Did you bother to ask why she was here?" he asked, leaning back slightly as I saw another car pull up, looking the same as the first. Four men got out, all of them holding guns similar to the one's the men already there were. Difference was, these four were in uniform, and they took up positions nearby, all of them in cover and aiming their guns at the others.

"She was here takin'-" "I said did you ask her. Did you?" Jaune asked, his eyes beading down on the man as he kept stepping back, trying to keep his distance from the eerily calm man, who was somehow more threatening than all the guns in the room. The man, of course, shook his head. Jaune sighed, "Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. If you didn't, I will. Velvet? Why are you here?" "I was following the lead you gave me Jaune." I said, smirking slightly as the other man's face paled, his eyes darting between me and Jaune. He stepped back, pressed against the wall as Jaune started walking over, dropping the smile for a more neutral expression, one that was disturbingly like Ren's. "You… you sold me out!? After all we been through?!" "Yeah, turns out stealing a ship with my profit on it isn't the best way to stay in my good graces." Jaune said, holding up a hand.

SNAP!

BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG! (other machine gun noises)! BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG! (Something other than BANG! please)! POW!POW!POW!POW!POW!POW!POW!POW!POW! (nope that's even worse, go back to BANG!) BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG! (actually try POW! again) POW!POW!POW!POW!POW!POW!POW!POW!POW!POW!POW!

(Nah, BANG! works better) MAKEUP YOUR MIND!MAKEUP YOUR MIND!MAKEUP YOUR MIND!MAKEUP YOUR MIND! (Okay okay we're done!)

The other men were suddenly riddled with bullets, falling over in bloody piles as the leader looked at Jaune in fear. Jaune, the man who'd just produced a large revolver. "You… you cheated me you sonuvabitch!" "Cheated? It looks that way doesn't it? But the truth is," Jaune placed the pistol right in between the man's eyes, giving him a slight smirk. "The game was rigged from the start." At that Jaune pulled the trigger, the man falling back against the wall, sliding down into the floor and slumping over at Jaune's feet. He holstered the revolver in his coat, walking towards me as I fiddled with my camera slightly. I set it on the nearby crate as Jaune walked over, standing right next to me. "Sorry you didn't get your story." "Yeah… that was a shame… have any more friends you need exposed?" I asked, giving him a slight smile. He chuckled,

"Oh yeah, I've got a few."

(a/n- Yeah, that regret was not making Velvet a reporter (I mean her weapon in the show is a camerawhy did I not think of that?) Anyway, this is taking what happened with JALR (jailer since I apparently never mentioned how it was pronounced) Agency and going down a dark path. I'd have probably made this JALR agency had I not already seen so many different mafia AU style stories for RWBY on the sight. I figured hey, we don't have many detective AU stories, why not make one? You know… after writing this out, I'm half-tempted to make this a real story… eh, who knows? Stranger things have happened.)

"How can you be so broken inside?"

I glared down at the man, flicking my blade off to the right, riding it of the blood as I started walking forward. Meanwhile, he sat there, clutching at the dead woman he held in his arms, trying to stop the blood flowing from her neck. "How can kill like it's nothing… cause so much pain…" he said, tears streaming from his eyes. I just kept walking, my lips twisted into a small smile as I stopped right in front of him. I held my blade back, the way I was taught, ready to end him. "Worst part is you do it all…" I rushed as he shouted,

"All with that damn smile on your face!" (a/n- yep, totally just used Jaune's own words against him)

"GAH!"

I looked around, trying to remember where I was as I saw the familiar walls and roof coming into focus. I looked down, letting out a sigh of relief as I saw the scars. I didn't have those when I was younger… these last years of peace weren't a dream. I stood up, hearing something hit the mattress behind me. I ignored it, walking over to the bathroom and shutting the door behind me, turning on the sink. I looked up, those familiar blue eyes, my mother's eyes, everyone always said, gazed back at me. They weren't cold and dead like they used to be, now there was emotion. Now there was passion… now there was life. "I beat her once by being alive… now I've gotta stay that way if I want to win for good." I thought with a wry smile as I splashed some water on my face, as if it would wash away the painful memories. When I looked back up though…

"Worthless."

"YAHA!" I yelled, falling back on the ground, rubbing my eyes as I looked at the mirror. No… no, it wasn't real. There was no way I'd just seen my mother's face, heard her voice… it wasn't real. Sure enough, when I stood and looked at the mirror, I saw only my own, terrified eyes gazing back at me. I sighed, turning around and walking back towards my bed. I fell back down on it without much thought, pulling the covers back over me. Until, that is, I felt two arms snake around me. "You okay?" I heard Blake's tired voice ask. I turned around, finding two bright, nearly glowing yellow eyes gazing at me in the dark. I looked up, seeing her cat ears curled up slightly in her exhaustion, that same tiredness showing in her eyes.

"Yeah… just a nightmare. That's all." I said, giving her a smile. She smiled right back, leaning in and pecking my cheek, nuzzling back into my chest. I looked down, moving my hand up and gently scratching behind her ear. She rolled her head on my chest, not even trying not to purr this time. "You're so cute like this." I muttered, and if Blake's blush was anything to go by, she heard me. Not that I cared, I hadn't exactly been that quiet about it. I felt her move over, to the point I was flat on my back, her on top of me. She pulled away from my hands, to the point that she was sitting on my stomach. She smiled down at me, leaning over and kissing me. "How cute am I now~" she said, pinning my hands above my head, smirking down at me. I smirked up at her, my face burning slightly.

"You're more sexy than cute, not that I'm complaining." I said, smirking right back at her. She leaned down and we kissed again, my comments seeming to give Blake back that same energy as she had last night… or, maybe it was two nights ago? I didn't know if it was early morning or late at night, not that I really cared. My attention was on the beauty right in front of me. When she pulled back she smirked, looking down. "Someone's excited~" "With you so close, how could any man not be?~" I asked, smirking right back at her. She moved back, tugging at the edge of my boxers as I saw her give a predatory gaze at me. "Want me to help with that~" "I-If you c-can…" I said, feeling my voice shake at what she was suggesting. She smirked as she sat up, tugging at the edge of her nightgown,

"Oh, I can. And I will."

"You've gotta be kidding me."

I thought as I leaned back, crouching on the fire escape, covering my eyes to hide my blush. "Great, first Ren disarms me, Cinder punishes me, and now THIS?! Really!?" I thought to myself as I stood, starting to climb up the escape. I saw Mercury standing up on the roof, raising an eyebrow down at me. "What're they-" "They're having sex." I said flatly, walking towards the other edge of the roof. He sighed, slowly shaking his head before he turned, walking with me to the other side. "Remind me why you're embarrassed? We've probably done exactly what they're doing, and I know you've seen me." "Yeah, you. You're the only guy I want to look at without any clothes on." I said, looking out over the cityscape.

I felt an arm around my shoulders as I looked over, seeing Mercury smiling at me. "I don't know if you're flirting, complimenting, or proving how devoted you are… but thanks anyway." he said, leaning over and pecking me on the cheek. I sighed, leaning my head onto his shoulder as I looked out at the city lights, all sparkling. I felt Mercury move his hand down a bit as I took a sharp intake of breath, trying to avoid screaming from the pain. He'd moved over one of Cinder's marks. I couldn't help but think… I'd failed Cinder twice. Last time that happened… "Mercury… when Cinder finds out-" "I won't let her hurt you. Not again." he said, moving behind me, wrapping his arms around my neck in a reverse hug.

"How?" I asked, looking up at him, red eyes meeting black ones. I saw that determination in his eyes, that same anger and fear I saw he had when he looked at Cinder. He was afraid of her, but now, it seemed like his anger at her for hurting me was starting to outweigh his fear. "I'm going to do something incredibly stupid." he said. I felt my eyes widen as I turned, wrapping my arms around him, feeling tears gathering at the edges of my eyes. We kissed, both our eyes shutting as I tried to forget what he just said, what it meant. It didn't work. When we leaned back, looking up at him, as pitiful as I could make myself. "You mean-" "Yeah…" he trailed off, standing up and walking towards the edge. I saw him pull out his revolver, loading in a few shells.

"I'll come back for you Emi, and I'll bring you her head."

(a/n- Some sexual content in this bit, just so you know (saying this so that I (hopefully) don't have to change the entire thing to Mature just for this one chapter)

"Ah, Vale. It's been too long."

I muttered, smiling as I stepped off the plane, my two eldest (that were still alive and not dishonored) following me off, our servants carrying our luggage past the airport security. A few bribes here and there, and our weapons were through. Just like that. Aureo frowned as she stepped out, her eyes covered with sunglasses as she reached into her coat. I could tell she was tapping her fingers on her revolver. Waiting. She was anxious to kill Jaune, I could tell she was. Aryl was a bit more calm, looking around, wide-eyed. "Woah… so this is Vale…" she said, her eyes wide and nearly sparkling as she gazed out at the city. We'd arrived early in the morning, so the lights still being on, the sun just rising. I had to admit, it did look quite beautiful.

"June." I heard a familiar voice say. I smiled as I looked down, walking towards the familiar woman. She was clad in that same, red dress she seemed to always wear, with the white jacket over it. I knew for a fact she was at least carrying two guns inside of it. Not to mention the four bodyguards on standby. I walked over, the woman holding out her arms as I embraced her, patting her on the back for a few seconds. "Summer. I haven't seen you in ages. You're looking well." "You are too. You simply must come visit more often." she said, turning around and walking towards a long limousine. I wasn't surprised, I had told her I was coming. The four of us walked towards it -my youngest was still at home with her nanny- before a familiar face opened the door.

"Hi aunt June!" Ruby said, waving at me with that familiar, bright smile of hers. I couldn't help but smile back as I stepped into the limo, sitting beside Summer as Aryl took the seat next to Ruby, Aureo sitting across from them. I looked at Ruby, the denim jacket, the red and black polka-dot skirt, the silver eyes and black hair with red highlights… oh she looked just like her mother did when she was fifteen… other than her mother didn't have that much light in her eyes. "As much as I love seeing old friends, I have to ask. Why are you in Vale? Don't tell me you just came for my party tomorrow?" she asked, giggling slightly. She may have been a stone-cold monster (much like myself) but she was still so childish sometimes.

"I'm looking for my son. He's… well, got a lot to answer for." I said, glaring out the window, trying to hide my furious expression from my friend and her daughter. Her daughter who, if I had to guess, was an even more skilled killer than Aryl or Aureo. Summer nodded, Ruby frowning towards her for a second before resuming her joyful conversation with Aryl. "I see… well, if you happen to see him, just remember-" "No doing business on Rose family grounds. I know Summer." I said, giving her a slight smile. She just nodded, leaning back in her seat, shutting her eyes as she faced her head towards the roof. I reached into my pocket, looking over at her to make sure her eyes were shut. Then I drew my revolver.

"Good try."

Summer said, her eyes having snapped open as she pulled my arm over, a knife pressed against my neck as Summer had spun around, wrapping her legs around my chest, squeezing the life out of me as my head was pressed against hers. My revolver fell to the ground, Ruby quickly scooping it up. I smiled up at Summer, "You're strong." "Never skip a leg day." she said, taking her knife away from my neck, instead wrapping her arms around it, pushing me further into her chest. I didn't bother trying to move, knowing better than to try and get out of any of Summer's holds. If I did I knew it would be a fifty-fifty chance she'd kill me or strip me down, tying me up. She smiled down at me, "Did you bring any toys?" "Summer!" I whispered, feeling my face burn slightly, "Not in front of the kids."

She smirked, "Answer the question or I'll strip you right now." "Okay yeah, I did." I said, suddenly afraid. I had spent a good portion of those girls lives making sure they feared, respected, and most importantly, were like me. If admitting Summer was better than me in private was all it took to keep up the illusion, then I'd do it. "What kind?" "Leather for me… you mind rubber?" I asked, giving her a slight smile, both of us still whispering. Summer just nodded, keeping that same smirk on her face as she moved around, me sitting upright as she sat behind, looming over me. "I'll enjoy beating you." "Not if I beat you first." I said, smirking back up towards her. I had to hold back a yelp as I felt her move a hand behind my back, beneath my skirt, toying with the waistband of my panties, tugging it up. I could hear the smirk in her voice as she spoke, "String? You're just asking me to do it."

I looked down, feeling my face start burning as I saw her move a knife, the faint sting of it against my flesh as I looked down again, seeing a small, what equated to a string bikini in the floor. "Uncross your legs." she said. I complied, knowing how this little game went. I felt her move it again, this time beneath my shirt. "Make a sound, I'll tear it off.~" she said. I didn't speak as I felt the sting, biting the inside of my cheek as I felt the tugging on my breasts. I looked down, watching as the two strings that were around my shoulder pulled back. I looked behind me, seeing Summer setting the torn remains behind her back. "Top three. Unbutton them." she said, smirking as she tapped on the top of my button down shirt. I felt her loosen her grip as I complied, unbuttoning three of them. Then I moved my hands back, hiding my smirk as I grabbed my own knife. Summer let out a quiet, adorable yelp as I moved my hands into her dress, pulling out the remains of her underwear. White with red flowers on them.

Now it was my turn to order. "Slip off the heels." she complied of course, her bare feet, pressing into my stomach as I felt her move again. Though, what more could she do? I was already naked without the shirt and skirt, so there wasn't anything else for her to take off of me without being noticed. We stayed like that a minute, me taking the time and hiding the remains of my underwear beneath the seat, the girls all but oblivious to the warfare me and Summer were engaged in. A few minutes later, the limo driver stopped, and the girls got out. "Give me and June a few minutes girls. We have business to discuss." Summer said, smirking at me. The driver, he'd likely been informed about this, shut the door. Summer knew what she was doing when she got the windows tinted. The driver got back in his seat, driving towards the back of Summer's house.

I got sloppy, distracted for a brief second, and the next thing I knew I saw my skirt fly to the floor, unzipped. I saw Summer's hands move around to my front. "Don't move." she said. I complied as I felt her move around, to the point she was in front of me, sitting on my lap, her right hand behind my back, her left pressing into my stomach. She slowly moved it down, causing me to let out a grunt. I reached behind her, knife in one hand as I made her think I was doing something else, slipping my hands beneath her dress and grabbing at her rear. She smirked down at me, her breathing picking up as I trailed my hands up too. I smirked as I cut the strap on her bra, sliding it out from behind her, it landing with my skirt. "Kiss me." I said, capturing Summer's lips. She tasted vaguely like strawberries.

She kissed back, the same thoughts running through our heads no doubt. "I'll never let you win!" Of course, one of us had to win eventually. I took the chance, moving my hands around, moaning as I felt one of Summer's hands tugging back on my hair, the other pushing into me. I held up my knife, slowly but surely cutting into her dress. After a second she pulled back, looking down to find that her dress was split down the middle, nearly exposing her breasts. "I win." "Guess again, look down." she said. I did, my eyes widening as I noticed that, while I'd been focusing on her dress, at some point she'd moved her hand from my hair, cutting the remaining buttons from my shirt. We both shrugged off our remaining scraps of clothes, hers utterly destroyed and mine almost completely destroyed. I mean, I still had my skirt and she still had her jacket so… that was more than usual.

"Hold up your tits." "Spread your legs." she responded, smirking as we both complied. She held up her breasts with one arm as I spread my legs, her hand poised and ready. We sat like that for a minute, staring at one another's eyes, both waiting for the other to make the first move. I already had my hands cupping her rear, her hand just a few inches from penetrating me. "Mrs… oh… perhaps this is a bad time?" I heard a voice ask. I looked over for a split second, seeing the driver standing there, shutting the door. I looked back, only to throw my head back in the air, my hands flying off of Summer and gripping the seat as I felt her move off of me, my eyes starting to gloss over. "You looked away. You lose." "D-Damn it… AH!" I said, fighting through the waves she had set me on, her other hand moving from her breasts and onto mine, tweaking them as I tried to gain back some semblance of control.

Of course, that didn't really work.

"Close, but no cigar." she said after what felt like hours. I was spent, laying on the floor of her limo as she stepped out, one of her servants bringing her a long, white cloak, and a white bathing suit, another bringing one of my yellow bathing suits, tossing it next to me. He also tossed in a red towel. I looked up at Summer, "Get out and clean yourself up." she said. I knew better than to argue as I stood, grabbing the towel and swimwear, stepping out of the limo and into the open. I dried myself off as best I could before slipping on the bathing suit. Summer walked over, light squeezing my breast before she gave me a hug, I could hear the smirk in her voice. "You might be in charge in Mistral,"

"But in Vale, I run the show."