Okay. Nothing happening today? No distractions? No disasters?
It's a miracle.
Cover Art: Solace O'Autumn
Chapter 46
Not a single Grimm showed itself on the journey from Menagerie to Mistral. Jaune couldn't decide if that was good luck this time, or if he'd just had rotten luck the last time, but it was a pleasant change either way. Instead, they spent the journey accompanied by dolphins and the occasional whale, which didn't exactly do much to spare him the awe and adoration of the crew, but that ship had well and truly sailed by now.
At least it was so unbelievable a story that no one on Mistral would take them seriously.
Probably.
Hopefully…
He had too much to do when he landed to care, anyway. He'd been gone from the world for several weeks, and while he'd had a letter sent back to Saphron so she could tell his family he wasn't dead, there was still a lot to fix. Aside from the obvious jobs of contacting his friends and family – especially Meera and Cinder, who didn't even know if he'd escaped Vacuo alive – there was also some general infrastructure stuff he had to handle.
Like getting to a bank and proving his identity (without any credible ID) to access his bank accounts and get a new debit card, then buying a new scroll and setting up all his emails and texts again. It wasn't all fun, and losing his scroll, wallet and all his personal belongings sucked. He'd considered asking some animals to look for them, but the scroll was surely doomed at this point, and he didn't know how to explain to a dolphin or shark what a wallet was, let alone how they'd find it and pick it up.
"Find the flip-thing made of fake-cowskin that has little things made of plastic inside. What do you mean you don't know what plastic is? Or a cow?"
It wasn't worth the pain.
"We'll be arriving on the morrow!" the captain announced. "Then we'll be heading back home and fishing along the way. You… uh…"
"The fish will come." Jaune said.
He'd already struck a deal with the sharks, and they'd said they would honour it. How serious they were about that, he wasn't sure, but the dolphins – who were much smarter – had told him they'd bully the sharks if they broke it. The hierarchy of the ocean was a strange one that felt more like a school playground sometimes.
"Bless you," the captain said. "If there's anything we can do—"
"You've done enough. Just… don't hunt or fish for dolphins or sharks."
They'd done so much to help him that he didn't want any of them to suffer. Of course, the captain and the sailors close enough took it as a commandment, and quickly swore that they would never knowingly harm either creature. Jaune had the sinking suspicion his comments were going to form the basis of a full-blown religion at some point, but it was too late to stop that. Besides, he'd escaped Menagerie, so it didn't matter anymore.
Instead, he retreated to his bed – the captain having begged him to take his own cabin – and considered his Semblance. He'd completed the quest on escaping Menagerie – had that been what it took? It'd be a little dark to imagine him leaving giving people hope, but whatever. He had another level and a few more points to deliver.
And, as was becoming typical, his Charisma had jumped a few points over the weeks.
Not only him playing in Menagerie, but Guitar Cutie's music continuing to spread. That was one good thing, he supposed. The fact that Jaune Arc had been missing on an island for weeks but Guitar Cutie had been actively uploading videos would serve as useful proof they couldn't be the same person.
-/-
Jaune Arc
Lvl 15
Title: Bard
HP: 870/870
MP: 110/110
Str: 9
Con: 51
Dex: 6
Wis: 8
Cha: 182 (183)
Aura: Locked
Semblance: The Game
Perks:
Speak with Animals.
Bardic Skills.
Jaune-dor Calls for Aid!
Razor Wit
You have 5 points to spend.
-/-
It was tempting to just keep slapping the points in Constitution and call it a day. It was what he'd been doing ever since he almost died when the White Fang raided the SDC's charity gala. Was it a good idea, though? That stat was already way above the others, and he had to wonder if neglecting those might come back and bite him in some way.
Maybe I should keep hold of them, he thought. Keep them open and unassigned. There's no rush to put them somewhere and I can save them until I need to be better in some way.
It went against every instinct he had from a childhood playing videogames, but those games always allowed grinding and backtracking if he made a mistake. Real life didn't have a convenient save function or respect button.
"I'll keep them free for now. I can dump them in a stat at a moment's notice anyway."
/-/
There was an immediate feeling of safety on reaching Mistral. The White Fang would never be able to reach him in a capital city, and the Grimm hadn't noticed his arrival either. Jaune took a deep breath of the city air and choked on it.
"Gah! Didn't realise how polluted the air in the city is!"
"Aye, that's how it is," said the captain, helping Jaune off the boat. "Menagerie isn't so industrialised, and the sea keeps the air fresh. Here, you have every bit of fishing coming in the one harbour, and on a huge level. At this hour, the filleting and gutting of fish is taking place as well."
That explained the stench of fish burning at his nostrils.
"Right. So, thanks for the ride." Jaune shook the man's hand. It somehow felt rude of him, given the religious awe, but he didn't want to make any big proclamations or signs that'd be taken the wrong way. "The fishing on the way back should be good for you, but it'll be better the closer you are to Menagerie. That's where the sharks are more cooperative."
Jaune hated the reverence he saw in the man's eyes. "Thank you. This means a lot to my crew and their families. You've done us a boon we'll never forget."
"Please do forget it. You've done as much for me." Jaune shouldered his guitar. "Anyway, I'd best be off."
No one stopped him leaving the harbour, thankfully, and soon he was in Mistral proper. He'd been there once with his family, but the city was too big for him to claim he knew his way around because of a one-week holiday. The people weren't exactly friendly to being stopped and asked for directions either, outright ignoring him when he tried.
Eventually, he found a back solely by way of walking around aimlessly and looking for a sign. Heading inside, he waited for his turn at the front and explained his situation. Soon, he was taken into a booth to discuss in more detail and to answer a host of security questions about his accounts.
"It all looks good," the woman said, "but the best we can do is arrange for a new card to be sent to your registered place of address in Argus. We can't just open your account up to someone who comes in claiming to be you."
"Can I at least draw enough money out of it to buy a scroll?"
"I'm afraid not, sir. It would be as good as giving your money away to a stranger on our parts."
Jaune cursed. "Then what am I meant to do?"
"We could allow you to use our systems to contact a family member and ask them to transfer you money. We could hand you money from their accounts if they were willing to vouch that you're real and take responsibility for the transfer."
"Ah! Perfect! Let's do that!"
It didn't take long for them to provide him a device through which he was able to reach Saphron. His sister was happy to see him, and she said she'd received his letter and passed on the news of his survival to Pyrrha and his family back home. Technically, no one thought him dead anyway, so finding out he was alive was probably a bit of a shock to them. Really, it was more to explain why he couldn't contact home, and why they couldn't reach him if they'd tried to.
Once he explained he was back in Mistral and his card situation, Saphron gave approval for him to have full access to her account. It was all money from Guitar Cutie anyway, so it was as good as his. The bank clerk was a little surprised but, once she did security questions for Saphron and made sure Saphron knew the risks, she shrugged and processed it, giving Jaune a card that would let him make payments from Saphron's account.
"It's fine, it's fine," Saphron said, laughing down the line. "I know my little brother and I know he'll be responsible with it."
"If you say so, ma'am. As long as you're the one making that decision. Your brother's new card will be delivered to your address. Please destroy this secondary card accessing your account once you have it." The woman handed it to Jaune. "Thank you for your business. We hope we've been able to help you today."
"You've helped," Jaune said. "Thanks. And Saph, I'll buy a new scroll and send you my number soon."
"Sure thing. I'll see if I can tell Pyrrha you're there. She commutes to Mistral for the week in Sanctum, so she should be able to hook up with you and help you out. I'll give her your new number when I get it."
Fifteen minutes later, Jaune left the bank with a full wallet and a card.
One hour fifteen minutes later, he had a new scroll that was actively downloading all his prior contacts and would be done in a couple of hours.
Things were finally looking up.
And then, suddenly, things were looking like the inside of a brown burlap bag.
Jaune's muffled cries were silenced into the material as he was bundled off his feet and into the back of an unmarked black car. He landed hard on a seat, and then there was a knee in his back pinning him down as a car door slammed shut.
Tyres screeched just as the bag was yanked away, and as a cloth dosed with damp was held over his mouth. Jaune barely had the time to see a man in a purple suit with a tattoo of a spider crawling up his neck to his cheek before the drug did its job and knocked him out.
/-/
Groaning, Jaune woke up with a splitting headache and a taste in his mouth like he'd been sucking on week-old socks. He worked his tongue in and out to rid himself of it, only to hear a sharp laugh.
"Looks like sleeping beauty is waking up. Give him a drink."
Jaune's head was yanked back, his eyes snapping open to see a man with tan skin holding a bottle to his lips. Jaune drank because he had to, because it was poured down his throat. The taste was awful. The cheapest and rawest of beers. The kind that even the worst drunkard in the world would only take if they absolutely had to. Once it was pulled away, he coughed and hacked out the taste, wishing he could have the socks back.
"Lift his head up. Let me see him."
Fingers cruelly twisted into his hair and forced him to look ahead to a woman – quite a large woman – sat on a wooden stool across what looked to be a basement. Jaune tugged on his arms but they didn't move. Tight bindings behind his back were locking him to his chair.
Jaune looked back.
.
Margaret Malachite
Lv. 29
Margaret Malachite, more commonly known as Little Miss Malachite, is one of the six premier crime lords in Mistral, and controls much of the city's information and smuggling trade. Her connections leave her in the good graces of the other crime lords, and she plays the board carefully to make sure none ever surpass her.
.
A crime lord…?
He'd half-expected someone related to the Grimm or, failing that, the White Fang. There were no faunus here, however. Why would these people up and kidnap him? Something of his shock must have shown because the woman frowned.
"This is the right person, isn't it?" she snapped.
"Jaune Arc, ma'am." The man holding his head confirmed. "He's the one. I double-checked his face against the videos from Vacuo as well. There's no mistake."
Margaret frowned at Jaune. "Is that your name?"
It was tempting to say no, but if they were looking for him then who knew what they'd do with the wrong person. They might just kill him. Besides, they had everything they needed to confirm his identity, and lying would just anger her.
"That's me, but I don't know who you are or why I'm here."
"Oh really." The woman rose. She wasn't tall, and she looked even less so with her weight, but she still managed to loom over him given he was tied to a chair. She held a fan, which she tapped under his chin to raise his face up. "Let's see if I can't jog your memory, hmmm?"
Suddenly, the fan left his chin and swept in to strike his cheek. It was reinforced with some metal, cracking his jaw and leaving an angry red mark.
"Sixty-six million lien in narcotics on the bottom of the ocean!" she hissed, throwing her fan down and clutching his face with one hand. Her thumb was perilously close to his eye. "Does that jog your memory, you little shit? A shipment from Vacuo to Mistral. Ringing any bells, hmmm!?"
A shipment of narcotics…?
Jaune's eyes widened as the memory came back to him.
.
You have failed the quest. -Rep with crime family.
You have failed the quest. -Rep with crime family.
.
"Oh, come on!" Jaune cried out. "How is that fair!?"
He meant the comment to be aimed at his stupid Semblance with its stupid game-like mechanics. A commentary on how little sense it made that the reputational loss of a failed quest would somehow be known, let alone felt, by some random crime boss all the way over in another country.
Really, she shouldn't have even known he was on the ship. And yet, with all the surety of how every member of a faction in a videogame knew of your allegiance, this woman apparently knew he'd failed a quest. Two, in fact, since the attack of the Sea Feilong had gone and arbitrarily added another.
"I see you remember now," she snapped, turning away from him. "You were contracted to deliver the narcotics to Mistral over a week ago. Now, I find out my boys are dead, the shipment is on the bottom of the ocean and you are somehow here."
"I was rescued by sailors near Menagerie!" he said. "The Grimm left me for dead."
"And yet here you are, alive and well."
"I was lucky!"
Rounding on him, the woman smiled and cruelly grasped his nose with her fingers. "Then you'd best hope that luck continues because you owe me sixty-six million lien, young man. And I didn't get to where I am in life by letting people forget their debts to me."
"But itsh not my faultsh," he said, his nose still pinched shut.
"You took the job. That means we have a contract." The woman let go of him. "As I see it, there are two ways you can pay me back. First, you can work off your debt and do a few jobs for me. Second, we cut you open and see how much we can recoup from your organs. It won't be much, but it's better than nothing."
Something told him she wasn't joking.
Maybe it was the fact he'd been kidnapped off the street and locked in a basement.
"W—What if I paid you back the sixty-six million?" he offered. It was a stupid amount of money but he probably could manage it, especially if Guitar Cutie could raise billions in Vacuo. "I could get you the money."
"Silly boy. It's not about the money."
"Why not!? You're literally saying you'll sell my organs for money!"
The man behind him cuffed Jaune's head, rocking him forward in the seat before pulling him back up again. A little blood dribbled down Jaune's lip from where he'd bit through the skin.
"Idiot boy," Little Miss Malachite scoffed. "Losses in business happen. Money is just a number. But what matters more in my line of work is reputation. The loss of sixty-six million is meaningless compared to the loss of face I experienced when I had to beg more time from my customers!" Her face was bright red, burning with furious indignation. "I, Little Miss Malachite, had to apologise and ask for more time. Do you know how that makes me feel?"
"Embarrassed and angry."
"Yes. Yes, that's right. Embarrassment for letting them down, and anger because of the morons who lost the shipment. The others at least had the grace to die trying to reclaim it. I can't fault them for failing to stop a Grimm." Her hands slammed down on the chair's armrests. "But you're here, alive, well and strolling down the road with your fucking guitar on your back. Acting for all the world like nothing happened. Can you see how that would be damaging to my reputation, hmmm?"
Jaune swallowed. He'd faced death too many times for his own liking, but he didn't have his guitar on him and his hands were tied. He couldn't play his way out of this one, and if she decided the best way to reclaim her reputation was to kill him, then he'd die.
"Y—Yes, ma'am. W—What can I do to help you reclaim it?"
"That's better." Smiling, she pulled back. "You see, simply having my money back doesn't undo the reputational loss I've suffered. I need to show the other crime lords that I'm as big and bad as they remember. I also need to make it clear that those who fail me don't get away freely. That's why you have a debt to be repaid that goes beyond mere lien."
A debt his Semblance had lumped on his head. Go figure.
It was being awfully quiet about it too.
.
NEW QUEST: In the Pocket of the Mafia
Forcefully inducted into the criminal underbelly of Mistral, it's time to make your stand. Repay your debt, crush your foes or go further and claim the Malachite's criminal empire for your own.
Success: +EXP. +Rep Criminal Gangs. Title: Criminal.
Optional: Bring all criminals in Mistral to justice. +EXP +Rep Mistral. -Rep Criminals. Title: Detective.
Optional: Kill Margaret Malachite and take over. +EXP -Rep Mistral. Title: Crime Lord.
Failure: Death.
.
Never mind, then. His Semblance was choosing to be an asshole today of all days. If nothing else, it reinforced his thoughts about the consequences of refusing this. Having that nice, indicative "Death" laid out there made it clear there was exactly one thing he could say to her kind offer.
"So…" Jaune smiled weakly. "When do I start…?"
"Immediately. You're going to be putting your musical skills to use providing entertainment at a meeting between myself and another syndicate head. Don't think you'll be getting off that easily, however. The shipment was meant for them, and that means you'll be working on their behalf to make up for it. First of all…" She looked him up and down. "You'll need better clothes. Secondly, you'll need a spider."
"A what…?"
Little Miss Malachite signalled to the man behind him, who strode in front and tugged his collar down to show the tattoo of a spider on his neck.
"Everyone who works for me has one. A signifier of your allegiance."
Jaune gulped. "I need to get a tattoo…?"
"Of course." Her eyes narrowed. "You are one of my spiders. Aren't you?"
The "death" flashed through his mind again.
"Yes. Yes, of course. I… um… I just never had the chance to get it done in Vacuo. Um. Can I choose where it goes?" Somewhere his mom wouldn't see it, preferably. "On my back maybe…?"
A little one on the back of his shoulder sounded like it wouldn't be too bad.
Tattoos were never something he'd thought of getting before. He'd seen some look really good on men and women alike, but he'd always been a little too scared of the needle – and also a little too indecisive. He just knew he'd be the kind of person to get one he thought would look cool, hate it a few months later, and repeat the process over and over. But even in his most childish moments, he'd never thought a spider would be a cool tattoo.
"Your back is fine." Little Miss Malachite smirked. "Roger. Put him under."
A hand holding a cloth clamped over his mouth again.
/-/
Jaune's second awakening was no less awful than the first. He was laid on his front, face down with his head sticking through what he initially thought was a noose, but quickly realised was a seat with a hole cut out for the face to fit into. His upper body was bare, and he was resting on a reclined seat.
At least his arms weren't tied this time.
"Hnghhh…"
"You're awake." It was a man's voice this time. A dark face appeared as the man knelt. "So, I'm Roger. The Little Miss asked me to look after you. Get you settled in. You're lucky, ya know. Little Miss wanted you dead at first, but then one of us showed that video of you playing in Vacuo and she realised you could be useful alive."
Jaune let out a wet gurgle. "L… Lucky me… where am I?"
"Tattoo parlour."
"Oh…" Jaune would have panicked if he wasn't so groggy. "Is it over…?"
"Yep. You're inked."
That explained why he felt like shit. Maybe. He had no idea how much a tattoo was meant to hurt – probably not this much, and not in this way. Not unless they were tattooing his brain. "My head is fuzzy…"
"Yeah, that's the rag. Sorry about that but you're not trusted enough to know the Little Miss' home. Should be the last time, though." The man clapped a hand on Jaune's shoulder, sending a lance of pain through him.
"Arghhh!"
"Heh. Still sore, eh?"
"B—Bastard." Jaune almost wept. Almost. "That stings so much!"
"Yeah, there's a lot of bone close to the surface on the back and shoulders. Not the softest place you could have picked. But, eh, it looks good on you. Real statement piece." He placed his hand on a mirror set nearby. "Wanna see it?"
Not really.
"I suppose I should…"
"Cool. Let me sit you up."
Roger helped him into a seated position, and Jaune took the chance to look around the tattoo parlour. It was a dinghy place, and yet oddly sterile as well. A mix of metal and rock pictures lined the wall including – obviously – a picture of his female alter-ego. Roger came behind him and held the mirror out like a barber might to show him the back of his hair. He angled it down.
"There we go. Killer, eh?"
A spider's leg lined up the back of Jaune's shoulder.
Only the leg.
The res of it came down his back, the spider's huge abdomen set firmly on Jaune's spine, the middle of his back, with each of its legs fanning out in every direction, two down to his buttocks, two to his hips, two toward his armpits and the final two reaching up the back of his shoulder. The thing was huge and covered his whole back.
Little Miss Margaret Malachite had stamped him.
Marked him as hers.
Jaune would have felt furious about that if he didn't feel a deep fear settle inside him. His mom was going to find out about this, and she was not going to be happy.
"Son of a bitch…"
Just for this, he was tempted to push for the optional quest objective of destroying the gang forever. Jaune groaned and slumped forward, using the excuse of the drug in his system to hide his feelings. Maybe he could just play a Discordant Note at this criminal meeting and kill everyone. That'd be a classy solution. If a bloodthirsty one.
Cinder studies at Haven, doesn't she? Maybe she'll have some ideas.
After all, it was kind of her fault he was stuck doing this in the first place. The least she could do was help him out.
Not joined for ten minutes and he's already got a Yakuza tattoo. Go Jaune.
Next Chapter: 3rd November
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