"You're boarding up your windows, lay fetal on the floor

but what you're keeping out is on the wrong side of the door"

- Shimon Moore, Monster


"Couldn't sleep?" Percy joked, staring off the small cliff into the eternal moonlit waters. It was at the edge of a tall hill near the borders of Kuo Kuana, and provided a nice view. It was a bit too steep for most people to bother, and some to even physically be able to climb. A good, quiet, safe place, right up Percy's alley.

"You wanted to talk to me." Adam grunted from behind Percy. He didn't sound in as good a mood as Percy did, but that was expected, considering the circumstances.

"Who, me?" Percy turned his back awkwardly and leaned backward to look at Adam. "What would give you that impression?"

"The fact that you're currently standing on the grass where I lost my virginity." Adam deadpanned.

Exaggeratedly, Percy lifted his shoe and looked at the bottom of his sole, shaking it out through the air and stepping a few paces to the right. "Do you guys even know what 'TMI' means here, dude?" Percy asked sarcastically.

Adam walked up beside Percy and crossed his arms, joining him in staring off into the water. "I wasn't raised on Menagerie."

"Oh?" Percy raised an eyebrow, glancing at the boy next to him.

"Your spies not tell you that one?" Adam asked drily.

Percy shrugged. "They're not all-knowing, just as close to it as anyone is. Can't find your birth records if you're born in an Atlesian settlement and they barely stop to give you a name before branding you."

Adam scowled, a hand reaching up to touch the scar on his face before stopping half-way. "So your spies did tell you about that."

Percy snorted. "I am capable of absorbing information without getting it in a memorandum, thank you. I can put the pieces together between your scar, hatred for the SDC, focus on liberating labor camps, and general disdain for anything the color white. I'm a regular Nancy Drew."

Adam looked at him with a tilted head and furrowed eyebrows. "A regular what? Is that a Mistral thing?"

Percy waived it off. "Nevermind, forget it. Inside joke, I guess."

Yeah, inside joke between him and himself. And most English speaking people on Earth, for what that was worth. Not much, he realized.

"Well you went through the trouble of finding out where me and my girlfriend go to be alone and showed up in the middle of the night, what is it?"

Percy resisted the urge to pat the kid on the shoulder and apologize for cock-blocking him, but the fun was over. Now was business.

"How badly do you want the White Fang, Adam?"

The red-haired commander stiffened.

Percy waited patiently for an answer, looking the picture of calm as he gazed out over the moonlit waters.

"I'd… I'd kill for it."

Percy tutted. "I know you would. You've killed for far less. But what are you willing to sacrifice that you really care about? How many of your principles telling you not to listen to a human like me are you willing to let go? How much of your pride will you manage to swallow, and follow my instructions? That's the real cost, the question is how much of it you're willing to shill out."

Percy was content to let the war within Adam rage for a few moments, trying to find peace in the dull sound of the waves crashing against the rocks below.

It seemed like an eternity later when Adam finally answered. "Anything. I know the power you hold over the White Fang, I know where the faunus would be today without your support. I know where my debts lie, and I know where the debts of my people lie. I know the cost of disobedience and I know that you alone will change the future of the White Fang. I'll do whatever it takes to make that the right future."

Percy nodded, smiling slightly. "You didn't mention loyalty once, during your short little speech there. Most people in your position would've told me that not only their debt, but their loyalty lied with me. It's good you didn't. I wouldn't have believed you, and I don't have tolerance for a liar leading the White Fang for me."

Percy turned away from the cliff and started walking away, back to the city to get some sleep. He'd gotten what he came here for. "Give me a couple days to get the pieces in place, and you'll have the White Fang as your own Adam." or he'd be dead. It all depended on what Ghira and Kali Belladonna ended up deciding, and the verdict they'd return to him by the end of the next night.

Speaking of Belladonnas…

Percy made sure to walk just past the bush that Blake Belladonna was hiding in, calling back to Adam just before he was out of earshot. "Just do me a favor and make sure to use protection. I don't want to know what kind of mess that would cause."

A mortified squeak from Percy's left was the only response. He kept walking through the small woods and into the city below. And all the while…

He knew what he hoped the Belladonna's response would be.


Percy was on his way to the White Fang headquarters the next afternoon, feeling in a generally positive mood but anxious about the day nonetheless. Despite how often he had to make it happen, he still wasn't exactly a fan of people dying, especially right in front of him. At least if the Belladonnas agreed to his proposal he could have Adam do the courtesy of taking care of Sienna for him. But if they refused his offer, and Adam was the one on the chopping block? That he'd have to do himself. And he wasn't looking forward to it.

And besides that there was also the obvious to be anxious about, the result of the Belladonna's decision in the first place. He knew what he wanted it to be, but he was still just a tiny bit hesitant about offing Sienna and handing Adam all that power. But… it was what made sense. And, he assured himself, if they went through with it then he had all the control he'd ever need over the White Fang through their economy. They'd never be able to become independent. The White Fang and faunus society in general would be so entwined with him it'd take years and an incredible amount of effort to separate the two. And by that time, he could respond.

He was about a block away when he was approached, and for the first time since he'd arrived here it was by someone not wearing a White Fang mask.

"Lord Perseus." The man, a rather tall guy in his middle ages with ram horns coming out of the crown of his head, bowed shortly and handed him a folded letter. He was wearing a uniform, Percy noticed. One similar to the guards at the Belladonna's estate, if Percy recalled correctly. "The Chieftain asked me to deliver to you the council's decision on your proposed agreement."

Percy nodded his thanks and unfolded the letter. The messenger, his job done, nodded back respectfully and disappeared back into the crowded streets.

Percy struggled to read the first sentence for a few moments, his brain working slowly to descramble the letters.

Lord Perseus, this letter is to inform you of the decision reached by the Menagerie Council of Elders, and approved by the Chieftain of Menagerie.

In regards to the proposed trade agreement and additional stipulations proposed by Lord Perseus of Mistral, the council has voted in favor.

Percy brothe a sigh of relief. No… relief wasn't quite right, but some sort of weight had fallen off of his shoulders. At least now most of his anxiety was gone. He knew what had to happen, now. Putting aside his thoughts for the moment he slowly read through the rest of the handwritten note.

The agreement has been unofficially proposed and ratified, however a final copy of the exact terms will need to be written before the government of Menagerie officially recognize any stipulations of the agreement.

Signed Ghira Belladonna, Chieftain of Menagerie.

So about what he expected then. It was as good as having signed the contract itself. He just needed to find a way to get a printed paper out here without a CCT… speaking of which he'd really have to see about getting Menagerie a CCT, but he had no idea how to go about that. Maybe Ironwood could be of use? Atlas did run the towers for the most part, after all…

Shaking his head, Percy resumed his walk back to his destination to meet with Sienna and Adam. Unfortunately if he made Adam the leader and deposed Sienna, she wouldn't stop until she'd hurt him as much as she could. If he put her in prison it'd reveal the coup for what it was. This would only work if she was 'assassinated'. Of course anyone in the building, and most people in the know would know what had actually happened, but what mattered was plausible deniability. If everyone in the building agreed it was an assassination even though all of the proof led to the opposite…

Well Remnant — and Menagerie especially — was a bit primitive when it came to that stuff. It was a he said-she said without any real proof to either side, especially if Adam's faction cleaned house while they locked down the tent. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together would know it was a coup, but as long as there was an argument that it hadn't been, combined with Adam's popularity, most would end up happy enough to ignore it and accept the assassination at face value. The few that wouldn't wouldn't be aggravated enough to actually do much (at least, in general) and so weren't much of a problem either.

No, this coup should go off without a hitch.

He hoped.


Percy walked into the relatively small room. Unlike other parts of the headquarters it was spartan, the only decorations were some embroideries on the pillars holding up the corners of the room. In its middle was a plain wooden table covered with a map of Remnant, and sitting at the table were both Adam and Sienna.

Adam stood when Percy entered, apparently having taken their conversation last night to heart. Percy didn't care about the formalities of it nearly as much as Adam doing what he was told, but the gesture was reassuring all the same. Adam was prideful, a token gesture like this meant a lot to show how far he was willing to go. Sienna, not one to be outdone, mimicked the action and stood as well.

Percy nodded at them both, but didn't sit. He knew nothing about this was honorable, but he wanted her to have the honor of dying on her feet at least.

"Before we start, Sienna, I'd like to tell you I'm sorry. We both know that there's only one way to make sure that you won't try to do something stupid."

Her face went through a myriad of expressions. First it was confusion, then shock, then Percy thought he saw a bit of hurt in there. And finally, as a red blade sprouted from the middle of her chest, there was agony.

"W-Why?"

"You were useful for a weak White Fang, not a strong one." Percy admitted. "I needed a strong White Fang, and we both know you never would've just let a demotion go without trying to kill me."

She never got a chance to respond, because a moment later she slumped to her knees and fell off of Adam's blade.

"You took your cue well." Percy muttered, making sure not to flinch at the body. Normally someone he'd worked with for so long (even as infrequent and ingenuine as his relationship with Sienna was) would evoke a bit more of a reaction from him by dying in front of him, but he couldn't show weakness. Not to Adam, and not now.

Adam slid his own blade out of Sienna, and for all the killing Percy was sure Adam had done, he probably could have justified those more easily through his worldview. Racists or at the least people working for a racist system, security guards and 'combatants', or just people that would kill him if he didn't kill them first.

Sienna was none of the above. She was someone who wasn't a horrible person according to Adam's morals, (or at least not much worse than either of them) hadn't been trying to kill him, and really wasn't even a combatant against him. It had been an assassination plain and simple. But she'd been in the way of his goals, and there was no way to leave her alive and accomplish them. What he wanted to accomplish with the White Fang was far too important to let a single life, especially of someone who was relatively morally compromised, stand in his way. It was another step towards the darkness, another action he couldn't take back, another justification he couldn't use against his conscience when it kept him up late at night. Another foot down the slippery slope.

It was a process Percy had been familiar with for some time.

So because of all that, Adam's face was not quite as cold of an emotionless mask as he'd prolly been imagining. Despite that Percy didn't call him on it, letting him get away with the weakness for once. It felt like just that bit wrong enough that he wasn't willing to do it, attacking someone for the weakness of reacting to taking another step away from morality.

"Yeah, well, I like to think I'm a quick-thinker." Adam said, trying and failing to lighten the mood. Percy decided that Adam starting to clean the blood from his blade a moment later diminished what effect it had.

Percy glanced over the map which was now splattered with quickly drying red flecks. He picked up three of the symbols that stood for a grouping of White Fang Forces and placed them on three points in Vacuo, around the countryside. Places which Shiro had told him were strategically important to regaining support in Vacuo. He hadn't bothered figuring out much more than that, occupied as he'd been.

"Congratulations on the promotion, supreme commander. Your first order is to have these three locations under White Fang control by the end of the month, and redeploy the vast majority of your men to Vacuo. More orders will follow. In the meantime, you can attack SDC assets in the area, but don't do anything to the government or the people otherwise. I'll leave you with the rest of the planning."

Adam took a moment to glance over the map before nodding. "It'll be done."

"And Adam." Percy waited until the boy's eyes were locked with his. "No casualties in Vacuo. Is that understood?"

Adam nodded slowly. "I understand. Prisoners only."

"Good." Percy nodded his goodbye. "I'll be in touch."

And like that, he was gone out the door. Adam's men will have taken security around the headquarters, giving them time to clean up and frame the story. He didn't intend to be in Menagerie by the time word truly broke. But he did have one more thing to do before leaving the island.

He'd just couped the military of an entire race of people. Now it was time for the civilian side.


"Ghira, Kali." Percy smiled cordially, genuinely glad to see the two. They'd been courteous, for all the business they'd had to talk the last time they spoke. This time wouldn't be much different, unfortunately.

"Perseus." Kali said kindly, shaking his hand first, and then Ghira after her. He thought that'd be a bit of a breach of propriety because of Ghira holding the official title of chieftain, but he supposed they really were serious about being partners. If anything, Kali seemed to take the lead for the most part.

Ghira nodded kindly as well, and they all sat down. They were at a table before the council of Menagerie, which was truly a council of elders as it had said on the paper. Just under a dozen of some of the oldest people Percy had ever seen sat before them, and Percy really wasn't feeling the most confident in Menagerie's government at the moment.

But as far as more-or-less uncivilized island nations went, he figured a council of old people led by two generally uncorrupt and competent people was about as good as it could get.

Percy glanced through the paper in front of him just long enough to see that it was the one he'd had written out and sent to them, not bothering keeping them here for him to read the whole thing. That'd take longer than he was willing to spend here.

Instead he signed his name (his first name, that is) and slid the paper over to Ghira. He signed it, and there was a very small rise in volume within the room. It was what Percy imagined an absolute banger of a party in a retirement home would look like, the elders turning to each other and shaking hands, speaking in upbeat but quiet voices about… who knows what. Congratulating themselves? For agreeing to a deal, he supposed. Not that any of them had truly done any real work. It was all ceremony anyways, it had been as good as signed earlier that day, and it wouldn't actually take effect in any part of the country for some days to come.

Instead, Percy turned to the Belladonnas with his own small smile.

"Thank you Perseus, for giving us a chance." Kali said seriously, nodding to him gratefully. She wasn't naive enough to think he wasn't doing this for his own benefit (Hades, he'd as much as said so out loud) but the opportunity had been there for decades. It's just that nobody was willing to risk the international backlash from working with Menagerie on such a scale, even other criminals. Luckily for them Percy had a lot of money and a couple spare identities to throw around. Even then it was far from risk-free for him (like when Jacques found out, for instance), but he could weather the storm. Ozpin was friendly enough to encourage the council not to be hostile with him, and between that and his own people on the council he didn't have much to worry about there. Vacuo was something, but they were so unimportant to Mistral in any real geopolitical sense that it didn't matter much even if he wasn't working on that problem with the Asturias'. The ties between the SDC and Mistral had been all but severed anyways, so now all he had to worry about was Atlas. That was… something to worry about when he got back to Mantle.

"I'm not exactly as old-fashioned as my peers when it comes to race relations. You have nothing to worry about from me." Percy assured, figuring she'd gone the more… subjective route. He had actually wondered about that, when he'd first heard about faunus and the racism towards them here. It wasn't just a difference in skin color, they were actually part animal. It was… a different subject than he'd dealt with on Earth. But at the end of the day it was apparent they were just as sentient as anyone else, and to Percy it just about stopped there. Not much else mattered to him.

"About that…" Ghira coughed into his hand awkwardly.

Kali elbowed him and sent him a quick glare, but then looked back to Percy all the same. "Sorry about that, he's less than subtle. But… there is something else."

Percy quirked an eyebrow. "Well? Shoot." He was in a good mood, the two had just handed him the most profitable deal he'd made yet. He had a market of a few tens of million people, and he was the only one that had access to it. He could sink every lien he had and sell every stock he owned to invest in Menagerie and it'd still pay off in a couple years. Almost instantly, from a purely monetary view. So, he was feeling a bit generous. There wasn't much they could ask him for that he'd say no to right now.

"The council wouldn't let us make this a term, they were afraid it'd make you scrap the deal, which… to be blatant, we can't really afford. But for us to be dealing with Mistral while you have the laws you have…"

Percy stared at her in confusion for a few seconds. "Oh! Faunus equality laws, right." Percy shook his head, he probably should have remembered Mistral still hadn't technically implemented any sort of equal rights still, at least not on paper, and not for most things. It hadn't really mattered because almost all working people in the city were being hired by him now, and Shiro was managing that, which meant in effect that faunus were treated the same as anyone else, but… now that he thought about it, he figured Adam would have asked about that by now. Though, Adam wasn't exactly in a position to ask for favors from him recently.

"Yeah, it'll take some work but I can get that done." Percy assured them. Really it wouldn't take anything more than a text telling Shiro to order the council to draft the bill, but it didn't hurt to have them think he was expending a bit more effort in the process.

The idea with the recent reforms was that he would be making sure the council wasn't pressured by the other great families. The small flaw with that system, unfortunately, was that nobody was keeping tabs on him. And now nobody else was trying to influence the council, meaning he was like a kid in a candy store with all the cheap councilors up for grabs.

She let a relieved smile show through for a few moments. "Really? Just like that?" she seemed about as surprised as anyone would be. Shifting national policy for a city with a hundred million souls on a dime wasn't something most considered possible.

Percy just shrugged. "Call it a favor. It helps me to help you. I don't need to worry about political capital in Mistal all that much, I've got plenty to spare at the moment."

"Well I have to thank you somehow." Kali insisted. "We'd be honored if you'd join us for dinner tonight." she said, and Ghira nodded in agreement beside her.

Percy shook his head. "Sorry, I have a bullhead already waiting offshore to pick me up, actually. Your country is beautiful and it's been great spending time here, but I've been away from business for far too long."

"We ah- we don't have a bullhead docks." Ghira said slowly. "We can try and clear a field for you to land in the city, if you'd like?"

Percy waived it off. "I have them picking me up a bit off shore. I can consider it a last swim down here. Besides, I don't exactly have a way to communicate with them without a CCT."

"If you're sure…" Ghira trailed off.

"I am." Percy assured him, smiling and standing up. Many of the elders had done the same, standing and moving to leave the building, probably to go prepare as many as they could for the arrival of the first ships. He'd have to figure out what exactly to put on them… A couple crates of luxuries to give away would be a good idea, but he also had to fit a lot of tools and equipment on them too, not to mention the employees for local financing and management and-

That was a problem for another time. Soon, but another time all the same.

"It's been a pleasure. Thank you both for hosting me, and I'm glad we managed to reach an agreement." They both stood with him. Ghira shook his hand, and Kali leaned in to give him a quick hug.

They echoed his sentiments and Percy walked out of the room in a much better position than he'd entered it.

Walking out into the bright sunlight, Percy saw a few hundred feet down the road that people were crowding towards the coastline, pointing at something out of Percy's view.

He smiled, now that he was listening for it he could hear the dull sound of the engine over the water off shore. So the captain he'd paid to forward his message had followed through, then. That was refreshing. He was prepared to swim back to Mistral, but that would've been just a little bit annoying.

Putting that out of his mind, Percy began to make his way towards the shoreline. As much as he was enjoying Mistral… he'd rather not be here when the Belladonnas found out about Sienna.

He shouldered his way through the crowd until he was at the waterfront, and to the concern of a few of the onlookers dived straight into the shallow waters.

He slipped through the water at a shallow angle, glad to be back in his element, even if he hadn't been out of it for long. He really needed to find a way to get some saltwater pools at his apartments in Vale and Mistral. Maybe have a little aquarium? That'd be nice.

But that was something he could worry about later. At the moment he had other things to deal with.

Speaking of which, Percy leaped up from the water to grab onto the side of the bullhead and pull himself up.

"Won't even offer me a hand?" Percy complained, settling into one of the seats of the bullhead as the doors slid closed.

Shiro shook his head with an exasperated sigh. "I'll never get used to you leaping from the ocean dry as a desert as if it's perfectly normal."

"Jealous I don't have a useless semblance?" Percy shot Shiro a cheeky grin, signaling to the pilot that he was clear to leave.

"Hey!" Shiro objected. "My semblance isn't useless, it's just… situational."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Yeah well, next time I need an overqualified construction foreman I'll call you up."

Shiro grunted. "Forming walls is more useful than you'd think. I just… don't get a chance to use it much in my current line of work."

Percy laughed goodnaturedly. "That makes two of us, then."

"Anyway." Shiro brought them back on track. "I don't know why I had to come all the way out here to brief you on this. We could have done this in Windpath."

Percy smiled apologetically. "I need to get back to the old man in Mantle as soon as I can, I've put off finishing things up there for too long as it is. I only really have time to drop you off in Windpath. This is the only way we can speak face to face."

Shiro sighed. "Yeah, sounds about right. Well, I do have everything prepared anyway. These are the issues you might be interested in." he handed Percy a bland manilla folder. He opened it, skimming over the first few pages.

"What?" Percy stared at the page in front of him blankly. "Is this real?"

Shiro leaned over to see which he was looking at, and made an understanding hum in the back of his throat. "Unfortunately. Thought you might be interested in that one."

"And she didn't even tell me?" Percy looked up incredulously.

Shiro shrugged. "You've been without CCT for most of the time after, I wouldn't be surprised if she tried."

Percy cursed under his breath. "For fucking inappropriate behavior. The gods damned nerve… This is my fault, isn't it?"

Shiro winced. "Unfortunately, probably. The less than favorable opinion of nobility in Mistral recently paired with their power being mostly stripped… I wouldn't be surprised if a teacher or two, or three, had an ax to grind with nobility."

"But to expel a teenage girl from their fucking school over it." Percy muttered. "She's top of their class. Top of their gods damned school. She's won two national tournaments for them. She's popular among the masses whether she's a noble or not."

"Apparently not with her teachers." Shiro pointed out.

Percy scowled down at the page. "I'll be stopping in Argus on my way back to Mantle."

Shiro sighed. "I figured. Might wanna look at the others first, though." he said.

Percy did so. Some numbers, more numbers, and more numbers. All interesting in their own right but not important to him right now. But there were a couple other things that were more demanding of attention.

"Vacuo is going well." Percy acknowledged, looking at the report of how the Asturias coup was going. Their name was enough to gather quite the backing against the very unpopular government. Forcefully removing a monarchy from a nation as a foreign power didn't exactly settle well with the locals. Percy shivered to imagine if the blood of the king was still around in Mistral.

And then the last couple. "Ren?" Percy furrowed his eyebrows together, starting intently at the picture which had been stapled onto the report of the now larger boy with the orange haired girl clinging to him. Both were sat in seats in a waiting lobby, probably in one of his buildings back in Mistral.

"He called me on my personal line and claimed to know you." Shiro shrugged. "If you recognize him, it seems it was a good idea to bring this to you."

Percy nodded. "Yeah, I've had some past experiences. Can you try and call ahead as soon as we're in CCT range and get someone to take them to Windpath? I'll talk to him when I drop you off."

Shiro nodded, "It'll be a while but I certainly can."

Percy thumbed aside the report of the two and onto the last one. This one was… less than exciting, but needed to go to him nonetheless.

"Roman has a new contact for me in Vale? I'm curious who'd be so conspicuous he'd have me deal with them."

"From what I could gather talking to him, it's mostly because he's not exactly sure if you'd be fine with the services this new client is asking for. She's on the younger side, too. So, one of the weirder cases. I know you have other stuff to deal with urgently, but you might not want to put it off for too long."

Percy nodded half mindedly. "Got it. Thanks, Shiro. Is this everything?"

Shiro shot him a look. "Well if you have time, we could go over those reports."

Percy stifled a groan. "I'll be in this bullhead for the next several hours no matter what I'm doing. Let's go through them."

By the glint in Shiro's eye… Percy would regret agreeing to that.


Sorry for the late update. Been really busy today so only got to it later, and then I realized that I'd already uploaded the chapter weeks ago, and just needed to press update... Sorry bout that.

Anyways, in other news the next 2 chapters are both up on pat reon and they'll be 2 chaps ahead for the foreseeable future. Next couple chapters went really well together, so figured I'd toss em together on there.

Both discord and pat reon are on my profile. Also huge shout out to dread persephone for crossposting all my stuff on ao3, if for whichever reason you prefer that site then you can find my stories there. Most of them aren't up to date quite yet, but they will be soon.

Enjoy your night.

Next chapter March 1