"We used to laugh at comedians and listen to politicians; now we listen to comedians and laugh at politicians."
- Dave Chappelle
"That's… quite the leap." Percy said slowly, not quite sure what to say in a situation like this. Thank you maybe? He had a feeling Foley wouldn't be impressed.
"It's nothing less than you expected though, right?" Foley took a long sip of his drink, looking at Percy almost mockingly. Closer to teasingly, Percy supposed. There was no real disdain. "Ozpin probably assured you it would be the case, even if you didn't know exactly what he'd be giving you. But you have to be somethin' else for Oz to push me to name you my successor. I intend to find out what that is, and when I do then you can have my organization. Until then." Foley reached over to a table on the other side of his chair and brought it to his glass, pouring another refill. "Let's find out what that is."
Percy huffed, a little mixed between amused and aggravated. "Well, what do you want to know?"
"Why do you fight for Oz? Why do you work for him — you may think it's with him, but it's always for him. So why is it you work for him?"
At risk of sounding like an idiot to the man, Percy levelled his tone. "I do not work for Ozpin."
Foley scoffed into his drink which he nursed for a moment and then sat down. "I thought the same when I was your age. Of course I was nowhere near old enough to actually be working with him personally, or to be running this place. But I thought we were working with him all the same. You never realize you're working for him, not 'till it's far too late."
When Foley was his age? How old was Ozpin exactly? He knew aura could drastically slow the effects of aging, but Ozpin looked in his forties, tops. No, Ozpin could have been alive when Foley was about twenty, but he certainly wasn't in a position to command the Tammany Hall.
"And how exactly did you work for Ozpin when you were my age?" Percy asked, a hint of real curiosity tinging his voice. He didn't think the man had a real explanation but he intended to ask him all the same.
"Oh he was around, as he always is. I didn't know of him personally at the time, at least not really, but I knew some of his puppets, some of the strings he was pulling. And they were pulling ours."
Percy's confusion must have shown on his face, because Foley studied his face for a few moments before bursting out in a fit of laughter which was periodically interrupted by fits of hacked coughing.
"How wondrous. In all my years, I never expected…" calming down, Foley leaned back into his seat. "Never mind that, I just… Expected you to know your history a bit better, I suppose. Oz was always a fan of old stories. History is truly his life's passion. But of course, I'm assuming he hasn't talked much history with you." By the glint in his eye Percy knew there was a joke he wasn't getting. He didn't respond, Foley knew the answer for one reason or the other. "Nevermind that, let's get back to you." Percy felt like he had failed a test, and he had no idea what it was or how to make it up.
"Actually I have a question for you." Percy interrupted, feeling like if he didn't take initiative back and throw things off course… somehow he'd be less than pleased with the results of the conversation. "You come from generational wealth — possibly the definition of generational wealth. Your organization has built up billions over hundreds of years, and your word holds sway over a city of millions. So… why the small house? Why the modest neighborhood?"
"That's an interesting question." Foley cleared his throat and crossed his legs, shifting his posture to look at Percy more directly. "Or it would be, if you didn't already know the answer. You're worth more than anyone in my line ever has been, and your official residence is currently a two bedroom house in Windpath, with a secondary residence of an Apartment in Mistral. You're effectively royalty in that country, and you stay in an apartment. I have everything I need here. More than I need. Anything larger would just… draw attention. And we don't want attention, now do we? I have a question for you then. Why'd you ask me a question you already knew the answer to?"
Oh, that's the way he wanted to play it? Alright.
"The same reason you just asked me a question that you already knew the answer to. To take the initiative back. Take control of the conversation. I'm tired of asking questions we already know the answer to, so here's a real one. Why are you retiring? Why leave your empire to a stranger? You look healthy enough, and if you have kids it'd be the natural decision to leave it to them, right?"
Foley smiled slightly, and Percy felt that he'd passed a hidden test like the one he'd failed just a few minutes before. "That's two questions, but I'll indulge. Firstly, I'm retiring because I have lung cancer."
Percy reeled. Well damn, that was blunt.
"I may look healthy but I am far from it. The prognosis is six months, but I'm thinking closer to two. I have about a month of coherence left, by my estimation. I'd like to make the most use of that time possible. Oz is more trusting in the doctors than me, and insisted I wait to find a successor. That changed when you came along. And as for why you instead of my children? I do have children — a son and a daughter — but I always intended on keeping them out of this business. Too much backstabbing and politics. I think it's time my family left this legacy behind. Plus, my son's an idiot."
Percy couldn't hold back his amused snort, and from the look of it Foley didn't mind too much.
"But that brings me to my question, and I'll do you the courtesy of asking a real one as well. This business, it requires mettle. The cunning to know what's needed, but more important the strength to do what's needed. I intended to find out through more subtle means but I'll give. How do I know that you have the strength to run the Tammany hall when I'm long gone?"
Percy struggled thinking how to answer the question for a few moments. He knew he had the strength to do what was needed, but how did he show that? He'd killed his own boss and framed a rival gang for the assassination. He'd performed enough hostile takeovers for a lifetime, he'd killed in Vale to pull the right strings, Hades even right now he was currently orchestrating a coup to put the nobility of Mistral in his pocket.
Ah. That works, he supposed. Suppressing a grin, Percy pulled out his scroll and went onto a news site. The front page showed videos of the speech Lord Nero was giving about the declaration of restraint. Of the new position put in place to make sure this would never happen again. He did it behind a wall of men wearing Percy's own medallion, with his weapons in hand, in front of an angry — but placated — mob.
Turning up the volume Percy turned the scroll to Foley, showing him the live broadcast.
"Awfully convenient that I happen to be in Mantle for all this uproar, isn't it?"
Percy got far fewer stares than he'd expected when he came down to the 45th floor. Nobody really paid much attention to him, just going about their days. Some of the more boney ones eyed him up, but decided they didn't really care and then moved on. The benefits of mostly hiding his face he supposed, he was never one for the spotlight. Too many of his plans would fall through if his identity became public knowledge to everyone he worked with. Way too many.
But that was neither here nor there. Walking up to the vaguely familiar wooden home, Percy knocked on the door with a few resounding thuds. Like before, her husband answered the door. Unlike before, Percy knew she was home.
"Hey Lan." Percy greeted the man, "It's been too long."
Percy definitely wasn't the best with names and hadn't remembered Lan's until he'd looked him up in the huntsman database. He was an emergency contact for Heather, so it was easy enough to remember who he was.
Lan seemed to have a bit more trouble. "...Shiro's friend, right? How can I help you?"
"Here to see Heather." he stated the obvious. "Mind if I come in?"
Lan moved out of the way quickly, hospitable as he was, and nodded, "Please! Yeah, sure. I'll go grab Heather, make yourself comfortable."
Percy stood impatiently in the foyer as Lan went back to their kitchen to grab Heather, fiddling with Riptide in his pocket and tapping his feet on the ground. Thankfully he didn't have to wait long however, because after a few moments Lan returned with Heather in tow.
"Perseus?" Heather almost shouted when she saw him, as if she couldn't believe the fact that he was back again.
"Hey Heather." Percy gave a short wave.
"I'll… leave you two to it." Lan excused, backing away from the two. Percy had no doubt that Lan wanted nothing to do with whatever huntsman bullshit was about to go down.
"So judging by your reaction I'm assuming you keep up with the news." Percy chuckled, scratching his neck a bit awkwardly.
"Yeah." Heather deadpanned. "I do. I know you said you were trying to expand to Mistral, but this is… this is something else entirely. This is insanity. What you have done is insanity."
Percy chuckled, taking the comment without offense. "Yeah, kinda. But I'm not here to chat. Do you remember why I visited you the first time Heather?"
She blinked. "Uh, to ask me to work for you? To help you get a start in Mistral?"
"To offer you a job." Percy agreed. "And I'm back to offer you another one. Shiro's vouched for you, I don't know any other huntsmen in Mistral, and I'm currently down a headmaster. How would you like to be the headmaster of Haven, Heather?"
Percy stepped off a passenger ship and onto the docks of Kuo Kuana with a deep breath of fresh air. The air here was fresh, and filled with the scent of the ocean and fish. A paradise to him, really.
Opening his eyes, Percy looked around at the various seaside residences, fishing huts, and shacks. The docks were bustling with faunus all loading or unloading shipments from cargo ships in crates, and every now and then he caught a sight of someone wearing a white fang mask over their face, donning it proudly.
He'd have preferred to fly (and gods that was something he never thought he'd ever say) because it was so much faster than travel by ship and he was still securing his hold in Mantle and working with Foley, but Menagerie didn't actually have a bullhead docks. It would've been incredibly suspicious if a single bullhead came in and left, and without an explanation people would get curious. That would ruin his attempt at being very covert about this whole thing, for more than one reason.
Either way he appreciated the time on the sea for what it was, and he'd ended up here, at Kuo Kuana. Why? Well…
"Lady Khan will see you now, sir." a man and a woman in White Fang masks greeted him after a few seconds on the docks, his escorts to Sienna he supposed. Couldn't have him making any trouble in the city he supposed. Or more likely than anything else, couldn't have anyone in the city making any trouble with him.
Either way he followed the two from the docks and through the streets, taking the time to observe the new sights. He'd never been to Menagerie, and it was the last nation he hadn't actually visited. He'd even visited Vacuo now, in his effort to pave some roads for the Asturias siblings. Things were going decent there, but slow. Well, very quickly for a monarchist revolution but slow for one of his projects nonetheless. Not that he could've been moving faster without them considering his lack of… any connections whatsoever in the country. Or at least, his former lack of connections.
Percy took the time to scout out the city while he was being walked to the White Fang Headquarters. Menagerie was infamously hard to get intel on, mostly because… well, it was all faunus. The people here had been exiled from the kingdoms as a whole and were generally bitter. Though they now had the right to rejoin general society on the other continents, the ones that remained here had been raised and grown up in a community of faunus for generations. At some point even Schnee level wealth didn't mean much compared to sheer loyalty to your people.
That didn't mean it was impossible to get info from here though. Percy himself had a little, and he also knew for a fact that Jacques had some low-level agents on the island. But Percy had honestly had a hard time believing some of the reports he'd gotten back about the place. Now…? He believed them.
There was no modern technology visible almost anywhere. The most sophisticated bit of electronics he could find were the lightbulbs in some of the shops and houses, and even those weren't everywhere. Fishing trawlers were propelled by low-powered rudders or just good old-fashioned oars, and were operated with manpower alone. They used nets or fishing hooks tossed overboard and then pulled up repeatedly, using the power of their own muscles as opposed to say… dragging the net behind them.
It was a bit surreal coming from Atlas to Menagerie, the two were polar opposites. It could be more likened to some of the poorer areas of Mistral or Mantle, but he'd already begun to industrialize and modernise those areas, and because of that they were decades ahead of Menagerie, which… really, seemed like a backwater in comparison.
Making sure he didn't vocalize those thoughts, Percy followed his escorts into what he figured was the White Fang HQ and through a series of hallways. Percy glanced around at the relative grandeur of the place, the high ceiling and torch-lit rooms. Was this what his money was going to? He knew he was wasting more than he'd like on the White Fang but it was a necessary expense to rent a more or less private army. Plus they more than made up for it in stolen dust if he took global production into account (something he was desperately needing now that Mistral was just days from being cut off from the SDCs supply). But either way, it left a bit of a bitter taste in his mouth to know that even a cent he'd given them to fight the SDC had gone to this… palace. The costs of bribing corrupt leaders, he supposed.
Soon enough he was brought to their final destination and he almost laughed. This was a throne room. An honest-to-gods throne room. He never knew that Sienna had such aspirations of grandeur, but this trip had just been full of surprises. It was already worth it and he hadn't even gotten to the main reason he was here.
"Perseus." Sienna rose from her throne to greet him when he came into view, and he mentally congratulated her for not sitting there and waiting for him to come to her. That was about one step away from asking him to kneel for her, which… was not their relationship. He thought he might have to remind her of that for a moment.
"Sienna." Percy greeted her in kind, "Where's Adam? I expected him to be here already."
"Taurus is currently commanding forces in the north east of Atlas. It was important he remain in charge of the situation there, so we don't compromise our operations in the area."
"That's what his lieutenants are for." Percy spoke slowly. He'd 'asked' for Adam to be here when he arrived so he could meet and speak with both of them. Sienna and Adam were the two he backed the most in the White Fang, and so were the two with indisputably the most influence and power. He kept Adam close because he was effective — good at his job — and knew when not to push too far. He was hardly easy to keep a hold of, but Percy could still keep him under control fairly consistently with just a little force applied in the right area.
Sienna he backed because she was easy to control. She was about as corrupt as they came without becoming a pariah. She still cared for the cause, still wanted to advance the Faunus race, she just did so as a way to get herself power personally. And she wasn't stupid, so she was predictable. And while she wanted power, Percy could give her plenty of it, more than anyone else she had an in with certainly. At least by controlling who was seen as liked by the White Fang through his pretty intense control over who got what when, he could control the support of the entire faunus race. And that… that was a lot of power.
Which was why showing up and being told Adam wasn't here as he'd asked meant that Sienna was quickly wearing out her use. His only concern was that if he let Adam take control of the White Fang, the popularity he'd already earned the kid would let him hold the unconditional loyalty of the White Fang and faunus, regardless of what Percy did. That was… dangerous.
He could still cut the White Fang off, sure. Right now he'd be able to raze the organization with a few signatures by cutting their supplies and leaking the position of their encampments to Ironwood and Jacques. But the way things were heading, he wasn't sure that'd be true forever. If Adam held the loyalty of the faunus workers in his factories, he could just keep receiving supplies after Percy had already ordered them cut off. Not a lot to be certain, but enough to survive. And if he did it well enough, there wasn't much Percy could do to keep track of a few million pounds of food disappearing in the millions of tons his factories exported every month. So he'd be relying on Adam backing him to keep his Faunus workers happy, and in return he'd be supplying the White Fang. It'd be a dual power system that he didn't have any intention of getting caught in.
But those were problems he could solve later — and he already had a few ideas how to go about that — but right now he had one in front of him.
"I'm sorry, but Commander Taurus couldn't be here. There's an upcoming battle which is too important to-"
Percy turned to the exit. "If Taurus isn't here by the end of the week, I'll be gone."
And so will you. Went unspoken. He tolerated giving the White Fang so much for relatively so little in return because their dynamic had been clear from the start. If Sienna was trying to change that dynamic, they'd have problems.
"Guards!" Percy tensed. He'd thought she wasn't dumb, but he could be wrong. Though his martial prowess was hardly wide known, he went some great lengths to ensure it wasn't and he was here alone. So maybe she wasn't stupid, just… unlucky. "Leave us."
Percy relaxed his shoulders. Ah, that's what it was then. Not as unlucky as he'd thought.
Percy turned again, waiting until the last of the White Fang guardsmen — carrying spears of all things — left the room and Sienna began to speak.
"I didn't intend to defy your orders. It's just… I know that you're the reason for Adam's victories. I want to talk, without him."
He shot a raised eyebrow back at her. "I'm hardly the reason Adam wins. At least, not any more than I'm the reason that your other commanders so often lose. I provide you weapons, clothes, food, and supplies. I give more to Adam because he's effective with them."
"No, it's not just that." Sienna stuck her chin out, apparently ready to die on this hill. Percy briefly noticed the effect that had on her clothing, but mentally smacked himself. No Percy, you can meet one attractive woman without sleeping with them.
Now that he thought about it she did have a good bit in common with both Winter and Raven aside from a frankly unfair level of hotness. The bossy attitude, the bit of fire in her eyes (she had quite a bit less of it than Winter or Raven, but it was still there) and the knowledge that she'd probably try and kill you if it was convenient for her.
Okay maybe that was more Raven than Winter but still, he had a type. Sue him.
"I know you're giving Adam inside information." Back on topic, right. "There's a clear difference between when he's in your good graces and when he's not. Sure he's normally a good commander, I'll give him that. He's mostly successful, and the tactics he uses that you taught him are effective. But like everyone else he wins some and he loses some. Mostly he wins, but when he's in your good graces? When he's decided to come make amends and smooth over whatever way he's offended you? He's unstoppable. Undefeated. Omniscient. He strikes where and when the SDC and Atlas are the least prepared, and seems to know exactly how many forces he'll need for which battles. It's not hard to figure out what's happening from there."
So she figured that out. Fair enough. He'd been feeding Adam info on battles to exponentially increase his popularity within the White Fang, but while he'd rather keep that under wraps it was hardly compromising.
"Alright, you know I give Adam info. What about it?"
"I'm… humbly asking for access to the same information. With that sort of insight… the White Fang could do so much more."
"I'm already giving it to the White Fang." Percy chided. "I can't just let every operation we execute use that information, they'd catch on and tighten their hatches."
"Even if we don't use it for all of our operations or even many of them, the information that you can provide… it's more valuable in the hands of the White Fang as a whole than just Taurus. We operate in every kingdom but Mistral, while Taurus is only in one part of one kingdom at any time. The opportunities slipping through our fingers…"
Percy actually did consider that for a moment. It would slowly decrease Adam's popularity, but it wouldn't earn him any favors with the bull either. Adam wasn't stupid, he'd know what was going on and then they'd have problems. Percy knew he could deal with those problems with relative ease, but Adam was useful all the same. When he'd started his manipulations of the White Fang he'd been torn between wanting to create a centralized and united force that he had control of, and an organization so steeped in factionalism and division that it could never strike back against him because the big players would all be trying to vye for his support.
The former had been more tempting but was always riskier. He wasn't faunus. If the White Fang became powerful enough to be a threat or independent behind a united leader, it was as good as gone. For something he'd invested so much in, that wasn't an option. He'd kept it at the latter for some time, but with things accelerating…
When he'd first struck his deal with Adam he'd been the warlord of a city, poking at the ankles of giants. Now? He was well into being a giant himself. He still had a ways to go if he wanted to stand a decent chance of making sure that humanity was as strong as possible by the time he took the fight to Salem (or she took the fight to him) but a divided White Fang was less and less appealing every day. A unified White Fang under one, centralized banner that he could control was what he wanted, the only question was who's banner? Adam's, or Sienna's? Both were more than viable. The one already in charge, oh so willing to dance on the palm of his hand, or the rising star of a prodigy who knew who ordered who at the end of the day, but wasn't all that happy about it?
That was the question, wasn't it?
He was here for at least a week anyway, he may as well take some time to think it over.
Turning, Percy resumed his walk to the exit of the room. "I'll think about it. If Adam isn't here by week's end, we both know what my answer will be."
"I understand. It will be done."
Percy shoved his hands a bit deeper into his jeans pockets as he walked out of the door. Gods, he needed a better way to separate business and pleasure.
"Lord Perseus."
The towering hulk of a man bowed to Percy out of respect, and Percy gave him a respectful bow in turn. "Chieftain Belladonna."
Now that probably wasn't what the Chieftain had been expecting. Percy had about as much international influence in his left pinky toe as Belladonna had overall. He'd say he wasn't much one for posturing, but when it came to first impressions… Percy had been a posturing fanatic recently. Drawbacks of becoming a pseudo politician apparently.
But in this case, coming off as friendly and 'equal' as possible was the goal. This wasn't the leader of a military Junta he could bully into submission — well he could, but not with just a bit of a cold demeanor and disregard — he was essentially the peaceful leader of an entire race of people. If the faunus who wanted violent resistance had 'elected' Sienna, then the faunus as a whole had elected Chieftain Belladonna. And so long as he didn't get in the White Fang's way, Sienna was content to back him for the (mostly powerless) position. But while the position was mostly powerless, it didn't have to stay that way forever.
But Percy didn't need to control the Chieftain. That's not what he was after, and a hostile takeover wouldn't work on a leader with the will of the people behind them like the Chieftain anyway.
Percy was after a few things from the Chieftain though, and if he played his cards right then he'd get his cake and eat it, too.
The danger of unifying the White Fang was that it might become too powerful, too independent, in too good of a position. If the White Fang was suddenly in a position where splitting from him didn't mean instant collapse, then they were always just one stupid decision away from rebellion.
But the main risk of the White Fang becoming self-reliant was on Menagerie, and in holding the hearts and minds of the faunus. If they had those, then they could cut all ties with him and theoretically survive. They wouldn't be well off, in fact they'd be able to do far less in the short and long term, but they'd survive. And Percy'd have been burnt from the experience, his good will with the faunus working for him and in his cities completely extinguished, even reversed.
So Percy had to find a way to both keep Menagerie from falling into the White Fang's hands, and keep them from holding a monopoly on the hearts and minds of faunus across Remnant. The answer to both of which stood in front of him now.
"Please, my wife has prepared dinner if you'd care to join us." the Chieftain hid his surprise well, only the barest hints that he'd recognized the breach in decorum. But that was enough for Percy to know he wasn't clueless, at least.
Nodding gratefully, Percy followed the man into the Belladonna mansion. The two unarmed guards Belladonna had brought to greet Percy near the front of his house took places by the door and stood there calmly. How they were meant to do anything without so much as a sword or unlocked aura Percy had no idea, but they were probably more symbolic than anything. They had to be, with how effective they'd be if someone with anything more than a pistol decided they'd actually make the attempt.
It was small for a mansion, and very… homey. In the same way that Foley's had been, but this one was more open and spacious where Foley's had been more of a dark cozy little corner of Mantle.
A few seconds later they walked into the dining room of the Belladonna villa to see a petite woman with black cat ears mirroring the Chieftain's own finishing up setting out forks for the meal which was already on the table, steaming hot and fresh.
And then Percy realized what was being served to eat that evening.
Fish.
Of course it would be fish. They were an island nation, a relatively primitive city on the coast of a desert, and he was currently having dinner at the house of two cat faunus. Of course there would be fish.
But hindsight was 20/20, and even Prometheus' foresight wasn't that good, though Percy liked to think that Prometheus probably would have been able to predict this one without much difficulty.
Apparently Percy managed to hide his disgust about as well as he thought because when the Chieftain's wife looked up to greet him, her eyes almost popped out of her head.
"Oh goodness, I'm so sorry! We didn't think to ask if you were vegetarian or anything. If you give me a little bit, I can cook something else!"
The part of Percy's mind that had been through years of political intrigue and politicking screamed at him not to accept, that he'd just sit there and they could talk while they ate and he'd have the noodles or something. But the part of Percy's brain that wasn't cunning at the moment was screaming at him in revolt. It was about akin to trying to hold pleasant conversation while a human torso was laid out prepared for a meal on the table in front of you.
A bit queasily, Percy nodded. "Yeah, sorry, not vegetarian it's just… a religious thing. I can eat meat, but fish…"
Salvaging the situation as best he was able, Chieftain Belladonna guided him over to one of the seats in another room, the man's study if Percy had to guess. The smell of fish still wafted through the air, but that subsided a bit when Belladonna swept the door shut.
"Please take our sincere apologies for that. I didn't think to ask…"
"No, no." Percy waved it off, slowly regaining his composure. "It was my fault. I probably should have expected fish, it just didn't come to mind."
Percy paused a few more seconds just to make sure he had his thoughts straight and then looked across the small wooden table at the giant of a man across from him, who was still looking at him in concern.
"Now that aside, thank you for agreeing to this meeting Chieftain Belladonna but I don't think you know why I'm here."
The Chieftain shook his head. "Please, call me Ghira. And I'm honored you'd take the time to visit Kuo Kuana but no, I don't know why you're here. Is there something Menagerie can help you with?"
Percy nodded, letting the silence drag on for a few seconds.
"The long and short of it, Ghira, is that I'd like to invest in the people of Menagerie."
Heyo, don't have much to say tonight just wanted to tell ya'll that the next chapter is already up on Pat reon, which gets each chapter ahead of time. Lowest tier is $3/month. Anyway, that and my discord are on my profile, come by and say hi either way. Hope ya'll had happy holidays 3
