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Most of the little town's defences fell quickly once his Minions were inside, either overwhelming or just surprising the guards so badly they couldn't really resist any of it. But the guards further in had a chance if only a small one, to fight back. And they did, at least for a few minutes, before the confusion of what was actually attacking them mixed with the chaos and they fell apart. Whoever managed to get away ran for the Mayor's Manor, set in the heart of the nicer districts, along the outer curve of the wall. Away from the smelly fisheries, slum-living and shipping wharves.

The Manor itself was a simple, square, brick building with narrow, iron-frame windows he could see guards peeking through, along with a handful of scared civilians and staff. Outside, the manor had a few feet of space around it, filled with overturned carts, abandoned trucks, and injured, dead or dying Minions and Guards both. There were a few little gardens, with hardy plants warmed by Dust-powered heaters - an expense that made him even angrier, compared to what he'd seen in the town - set to either side of a stone walkway leading up to the only front door he could see.

"There is probably a servant's entrance, Master." Gnarl offered as he stepped into the open area, watching the windows warily, and the Head Minion seemed to… Almost spawn from somewhere he couldn't see. He flicked him a look and Gnarl shrugged, "If you wished for a more, erm, 'subtle' option, I mean."

"Do I look like I'm feeling subtle today, Gnarl?"

"Master, you are wearing a mask…"

"I-" He sighed and shook his head, "Gnarl, don't be a moron."

"My Master, I am cut. Wounded, I say!" The Minion chortled, "I am the head Moron."

He rolled his eyes and turned, watching the owners of the houses around the square the mayor lived in looking down on him. Owners and servants both. Looking up at them, shying away around the edges of the windows, he sighed and murmured a quiet, forlorn, "They hate me… Don't they?"

"Fear you." Gnarl corrected quietly, "But… Yes. Hate, too."

"I don't want to be hated, Gnarl."

"Conquerors are hated, Master." The Head Minion answered simply, as if it were so simple and easy to get over. Still, when Jaune sighed and nodded, the creature at least had the good nature, somewhere deep down inside, to roll his eyes and grumbled, "Oh for the love of all that is Evil… Consider for a moment, my Master, do you want to conquer, or… Do you want to liberate?"

"Are you suggesting I not conquer…?" He asked, confused for a moment.

"No." He chuckled darkly, "Frankly, not taking them under your control after this is… Not ideal, for a whole mess of reasons. No, no… You have already enacted this conquest. Can't shy out of it, now."

"Then…?" He gestured for the Minion to go on, "What's your point?"

"Do you dislike conquering more?" Gnarl asked, raising his brows meaningfully, "Or just being hated for conquering? Because we can do something about one of those."

He paid the old creature a long look, mind going over his words for a few moments before he hummed, thinking longer about it.

He couldn't simply leave the town, like Gnarl had said. Not only were they likely to be so scared after that Grimm would come, they'd also be unable to fend them off. Even if only half the guards were actually dead, or just too hurt to fight once they left, they'd be overwhelmed. And even if they didn't, word about him would get out. And not for what he'd done at the quarry. No, here he'd be a man who lead creatures to attack a town. A raider, a marauder, at best…

A monster at worst, coming and doing what he wanted and leaving everyone behind to die after.

He didn't want that - he just couldn't stomach it. No… He couldn't leave, that just wasn't on the table, now. But he didn't want to be an occupying invader, either. Couldn't just become that. Not if he wanted to face his family again, one day. Or live up to his family's legacy. He wasn't a monster thirsting for conquest, and that wasn't why he'd come or what he wanted them to even think he was. No, not a marauder and not a conqueror…

A hero, a hunter- A liberator, here. That's what he wanted them to see him as - what he wanted to be. The only question was how to make them see that, make them see him as that…

So, after a few moments of thinking he quietly asked, "Do we have prisoners?"

"A few, yes." His Head Minion answered, sensing the gravity in his words and asking, quietly, "Why do you ask?"

"Bring them." He snapped, turning and raising his armored fist to call the attention of the Minions milling about in the town square, "Minions- Make an open circle! I want the mayor and the rest to see me! And to hear me, too!"

"That means shut up ya gits!" Gnarl added on, waving them off and continuing, "Go on, then, make the space! Get the pathetic, mewling meatbags!"

"And be quick, too! I want this done and dealt with before dawn." Jaune barked, turning and looking up at the nice, frost-laden windows, and the shadows hiding inside them. All the suffering Fiona had hinted at, Rose had proven could be enacted here, and they had done nothing? Blood boiling, he added, "And go to the slums. Do not hurt anyone, but bring all those willing here. To me."

"And if they don't want to come…?"

"U-Um…" He turned step anxiously towards him, eyeing his chittering Minions as they set about the tasks he'd commanded.

"Rose." He rumbled, flicking a look up and down her now that she was safe enough. She was thin, as he'd seen before, and dressed now in a similarly tatty blue dress, an apron stitched onto its front. Her hair, he realised now in the better light from the road-lights, was a dark red, almost to brown, and she had it tied back. Her ears were covered in the same colored fur, and flicked anxiously at every sound around her, and then towards him when he asked, "What is it?"

"I-I can…" She swallowed nervously, "I can help? J-Just, what do you want?"

"I want everyone brought here." He answered simply, gesturing at the open grounds around the manor. "So I can end this."

"And what is… This?"

"This is…" He paused, for a long moment, looking for the right word before turning to glare at the manor and growling. "This is a house cleaning."

"Right…"

"I don't intend to hurt you or the innocent people here." He sighed, hating that he had to explain it. And hating the relief in her eyes, too. He'd started this because she asked! Why was she relieved now, when she was the one to start everything? Shaking his head, he sighed, "Just… I came here to help, and that's what I intend to do."

"Alright…" She sighed, turning and nodding, "I-I'll… Talk to some of the people out on the docks, see what I can do."

He nodded, watched her leave, then turned back and sighed, "Gnarl…"

"Yes, Master?"

"Do you think…" He paused, for a moment, then shook the question off. Gnarl wouldn't care, he was sure. And Jaune had made up his mind regardless. Quietly, he said, "Pass the word out to the Minions. When Rose and her people come back, we're taking the Mayor's house."

"Taking it, Master?"

"Head on." He answered simply, "Front door. I'm going to lead the Minions in, after I… Talk to the people."

"Talk?"

"Mhm." He nodded, "You'll see."

It took about half an hour before Rose came back. But she came back leading a group of about thirty people, almost all of them Faunus. And actually all of them dressed in ragged trousers, worn-through shirts, and looking exhausted. And scared, as they were ushered in by a few of his more bored looking Minions closer to the road they were coming up - who seemed to be waving them in more to get them away from them, or be able to tell someone what to do, than anything else.

Or out of boredom.

Boredom tracked, looking at their utterly empty, distant expressions.

Taking a breath as they got close enough, he raised his voice and called out in as firm a voice as his seventeen year old throat could manage, "I am the Overlord, good people of this town, and I was sent here first to investigate rumors about this town and then, if they were true, ending the problem."

At that, his Minions chittered excitedly - heads full, no doubt, of a very specific kind of end. The people, though, looked nervous. And he was sure that nervousness was echoed throughout the buildings around him. Even so, he took a breath and moved on.

"Now, I am here, and I am ending it. But I want you all to rest assured, I am no conqueror." He said, pacing side to side so he could flick looks across their faces - and take note of stragglers coming up the road, investigating the quiet, the commotion, or just the crowd, he couldn't tell. Letting them come, he went on, "I am no raider, or pillager- I am a Hunter. And these are my Minions. They serve me, my every whim and need, and I serve you, using them."

"The crimes here…" He went on, the anger and bile rising up in him again before he bit it off. "I act because of what I've seen. Right, Rose?"

"H-He does." The woman, surprised at being called out but nodding stiffly regardless. "I told you, he saved me. My brother. T-T-They were going to… Well, you can all imagine, I-I guess."

"And I stopped them." Jaune nodded, waving her forward with his Gauntlet and laying his hand on her shoulder as he turned her to face the crowd. "And she saved my life, too, from the last guard. This isn't my fight. It's yours. I'm here for you."

"So?" One called out, the old Faunus' long dog's tail flicking behind him. "Why are we here?"

"To take your homes back." He answered, taking his hand off the girl when she turned to him, surprise in her eyes. Gesturing at the wealthy homes around them, he went on, "Look at this! They're so rich, because they took so much from you. And now I'm here, and you have a force to take your homes back- And my promise that after, I will protect you."

"You're talking treason…" A younger man said, "Against Atlas."

"I don't see Atlas anywhere here." Jaune argued, "I see rich people, sure. But Atlas? Where are the flags? The soldiers? The garrison?"

"I-It's a private enterprise." Rose offered loudly, "Not Atlas, b-but a business based out of here. F-Fishing a-and shipping, up and down the coast."

"Exactly. This isn't treason," he turned, looking up at the windows again - which now sat empty - and calling out in the exact words of his favorite character from Spice Hunters, curling a hand into a fist against his chest in the same way he had, "it's revolution. And I am offering you all my strength if you want to undertake it."

For a moment, all was quiet…

Then the mayor's door opened and a portly man in a fine, grey suit stepped out and pointed a long finger at him, "Y-You…. Slanderous, rabble rousing bandit! A thousand Lien and a good contract to whoever brings me his head."

No one moved, except for a dozen or so of his guards, armed with bludgeons and a couple of pistols, who came out to stand anxiously behind him. He turned, very slowly, and just a bit nervously, to look back at a crowd that had nearly doubled, by now. And then watched the doors to nicer houses open, men and women of both species in nicer clothes coming out to join in. Finally, he turned back to face the mayor…

And made a bet, raising his Gauntlet and bellowing, "Take the manor! For the Overlord!"

His Minions shot forward without a moment's hesitation, cheering his title and rushing into the attack. A few fell as the guards with guns raised them, peppering the appracoh, but his Minions didn't care for their losses and kept going. A rolling tide of little creatures in scrappy armor and fur that slammed into the guards as the mayor, wide-eyed and surprised, somehow, that no one had just done what he said, ran back into his home. As the line of guards was overwhelmed and beaten into submission, he turned to watch the crowd behind him throw up a cheer and rush up to join the Minions as they pushed into the manor.

And, for a lot of them, turned and rushed into the richer houses, dragging out old, richly dressed people a few minutes later and adding them to a huddled group where the wounded guards were being brought at last.

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Fiona angled her ship around and came down just outside Angler Town's walls and shut it off, stepping out as a few Faunus in ratty clothes came out to meet her. Along with a pair of Minions who rushed out just after, carrying their little spears and wearing dented iron pots for helmets as they waved and cheered eagerly. They ran up to her and she knelt, holding her arms open as they came in and threw themselves at her, nearly bowling her over in their excitement for some affection. But she stayed upright, and looked up as the young redhead came to meet her.

"Fiona Thyme?"

"Mhm." She nodded, ears flicking, "And you are?"

"Rose." She answered simply, turning and waving for her to follow her along. "Come on, I'll show you to the Overlord."

"So he's, uh, here…?"

"Mhm." Rose nodded as Fiona stood, following along behind the other Faunus and listening to her explain. "He's resting right now, up in the Mayoral Manor."

"The, uh, Mayoral Manor…?"

"From what he told me after, well… Um, everything that happened…" She chuckled, scratching at her ear anxiously and laying a hand on the heavy hilt of a club, hanging in a loop on a belt cinched around her waist. "You can probably guess what happened."

"Ah." Fiona blinked, watching a large ship come into the bay and angle around to land. Even from here, her sharp and well trained eyes could just see people head up the walkway to board the ships. Which, with the Faunus who'd come out to meet her, and the Minions milling about the road inside the gate, told her well enough what had happened. "Well… That's good, then?"

"Mhm." She nodded, explaining quietly, "We're, uh, making some management changes… And handling some evictions."

"Oh?"

Rose didn't answer beyond a shrug, and lead her through the town. Which had obviously been through something. Windows were mashed, trash bins overturned, and a handful of people were scattered across the street, sitting on boxes and nursing cuts, bruises and with arms in slings. That there'd been a fight was obvious. But everyone was… Smiling.

They were happy, and mostly Faunus, smiling and chatting to passersby, each other, and even the Minions as they milled about boredly.

That stayed the same all the way to the town square, where dozens of people were working to put out fires in a few of the houses she remembered being the nicer in the town. A handful of people were lead off by some of the Faunus, towards the docks, but the rest stayed and kept working. Seeing that, she suddenly had a thought.

"How will you explain this to the company?" Fiona asked quietly, "The one that owns the town?"

"The town was owned by one man, who lived here." Rose answered with a shrug, "Not a super big company. He had deals with them, sure, but… Well, we shouldn't have to worry about security goons showing up."

"Easier to just let you run the contracts instead, yeah." Presuming Rose was right, at least. Regardless, if was a problem for later. More importantly, "And the mayor himself? He ran everything, right? Company, too?"

"He did…" She nodded, "But he, um, didn't make it."

"Did the Overlord-"

"N-N-No." Rose stammered anxiously, "He, um, well… He fell down a flight of stairs and broke his neck trying to get away from us."

"Really?" She deadpanned, "He fell down a flight of stairs?"

"I know, right?" Rose laughed, bright and amused, but with a dark grimace on her face thanks to the source. "Who'd believe it, right? But we sent his body with the others, so… Nothing to be done. And as long as Atlas gets its fish, doubt they'll care."

"Fair…" And if they added stone from the quarry to it, it would be a nice, safe enough, spot for them all.

Finally, they pushed through the manor's doors and into a long great hall.

The Overlord was sitting on a nice looking couch, with a long table that stretched out to either side in front of him, head tilted down while he read from a Scroll. And listened to the person at the head of a long line that wound its way through the hall, dirt and snow ruining the nice carpeting. The man was nodding while the young woman talked to him, and looked up to say something.

Then, he saw her and stood, "Fiona! Just in time!"

"God damn it…" She sighed, shouting back across the room, "Stop with the puns!"

"I…" He cocked his head, "I didn't mean it, but you know what? I'll take it! Now come on, you have petitions to hear."

"I have petitions?!"

"Yep!" He chirped, turning and striding away, "She speaks for me, yada yada- I'm going to bed, Fiona!"

She watched him leave, mouth dropping open as he vanished up a staircase a few feet to the side of the entry hall, right beside a door into the rest of the lower level, and then shook her head. "That son of a bitch…"

"To be fair…" Rose murmured, "

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I am largely unhappy with this, but it works… Ugh.

Sorry, rushed out ahead of a funeral trip. Hope y'all can forgive it! Ended up taking a more 'character' oriented approach rather than a, you know, battle… Mostly because I don't think Jaune is QUITE at the 'kill people willy nilly' stage yet.

Close, but not quite - though he will get there.

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Danen :

This is a 'for fun' story, so it doesn't have a schedule. Sorry. Just sort of write it when I feel like it, or it's been long enough I feel kinda bad lmao.

Lea Rosenwulf :

Correct all 'round! Lmao.

Red Demon Eye :

For the Overlord!