"Why just a picosecond ago clear blue skies,

But now lightning's struck your last resolve,

It's not an accident that no one hears your cries,

As your last strength seems to dissolve."

- Benjamin Franklin, Last Surprise

"So Lord Perseus-"

"Just Perseus, please." he cut her off. "The older lords like to get caught up in all the titles and honorifics, but Perseus is just fine."

The lady Belladonna nodded gratefully, "Then please, call me Kali. But as I was saying, I heard something about investing in Menagerie earlier?" she looked over at him curiously, setting down her fork. They were having some pork now, the meat of imported pigs from Mistral decades ago, probably. The lack of recognition for Menagerie and the pressure from the SDC meant it was nearly impossible to do any consistent trade with the outside world. Something Percy intended to change.

Percy glanced over at the Chieftain — Ghira — curiously. He hardly shared some of the more archaic notions of the other Mistrali nobles, but he hadn't really been expecting to talk business with the wife of the person he was here to see.

"She's involved in running the island as well." Ghira answered his silent question. "I technically hold the title of Chieftain, but it may as well be a two person position. Kali shows up to the council meetings about as often as I do, and we founded the White Fang together. When it was peaceful, of course. It's a joint position in all but name. We never officially made it so because we know that when it's time for us to leave the leadership of Menagerie to someone else, a joint system… doesn't work the best."

Percy nodded he understood and turned back to Kali. "I see, then forgive me. But yes, it's my goal to invest in Menagerie. I see a lot of… underdeveloped businesses and homes around here, and the lack of trade with the outside world. Ideally, I could open you up and put you on the map with the other five kingdoms. Not officially of course, but as far as trade and communications goes there won't be much of a difference." The difference being that all of that trade would happen through Mistral. Through him.

The kingdoms at large banned trade with Menagerie? Easy enough, Mistral would just 'import' what they needed and sell it right to them at marked up prices. It'd be more than worth it for Mistral with the handsome profit Percy would make, and far more so for Menagerie. They'd go from the dark ages to a modern nation in months. There'd be some growing pains, sure, but for the vast majority… life would get much better. Mistral would take a tiny mark to its reputation, but it was an entire kingdom, and one that was rapidly advancing at that. No kingdom could just decide to cut ties with Mistral, or the others would leap at the opportunity to trade with Mistral and take all the profit for themselves. Even if it was distasteful, Mistral was far too lucrative to let go for a bit of rough diplomacy.

It was a tactic which had never been tried on Remnant before but that was hardly original on Earth. As far as Percy was aware China was doing it with about a dozen nations that the US was embargoing, and it had been done in the past with hundreds of examples, especially during the world wars and cold war.

That aside there was an obstacle. He now had the power to do whatever he really needed to in Mistral, but convincing Menagerie to go through with it was another discussion altogether. Which is why he was here now.

Kali and Ghira shared a glance, and then Kali said what was obviously on both of their minds. "What's the catch? No offense but while your reputation is widely known, it's not all flowers and rainbows."

Percy swallowed a large cut of meat, dabbing at his lips with his napkin. "I'd hardly say it is, I agree. But what a reputation doesn't tell you is the intricacies of anything that happened. I don't go around killing for fun, and I certainly would have taken a peaceful route to where I am today had one existed. But there was no peaceful route, and to get here I had to take from others. And people don't like giving up what they have, especially powerful people. My rise to power in Mistral necessitated that I take from other men. Powerful men, greedy men, cruel men. Evil men, even. And some? Some of them were no worse than me, but I had to take from them anyway. What I want from Menagerie is to make some money, because I see an opportunity. I see a continent with just shy of a hundred million people and without running water, in most places. I see eighty million customers, and all I have to do to sell to them is to be willing to. I see an economy that exports nothing every year, with the GDP of a Mistrali settlement, and the capacity to have the GDP of Vacuo in under a decade. I see a market that has no other options for buying modern goods, and is willing to pay a significant markup over what everyone else in the world is selling it for. And all of that together? That's opportunity incarnate, it's a capitalist's wet dream.

"So what's the catch? What am I getting out of this? I'm getting the deal of a lifetime, I'm getting the chance to modernize an economy like I did Mistral, and if you haven't noticed I've been doing quite well off of that recently. I'm getting a monopoly on a nation of people, and all I have to do is say yes. What do you get? You get trade with the outside world for the first time since your inception. You get modern medicine, plumbing, eventually even dust, and access to goods that your people have never before seen. So I'm getting a pretty sweet deal, but so are you. There isn't a… catch per se, but there are a couple conditions."

The two shared another glance, and Kali took the lead again. "We… well, obviously we'd agree to trade if it's opened up. But… I want to hear this. Name your condition."

"Two things." Percy held up two fingers. "One, curtail the White Fang, but don't shut them down. You can solidify your place as leaders if you have a real economy, you can make your own police and army and whatever you want, but I still have use of the White Fang. I have some… negotiations with them at the moment which would be inconvenient if they were interrupted. I don't need you to let them push you around and you can cut them off whenever you like, but don't force them out. And two, you can't close off your market. I'm taking a bit of a risk here, allowing trade with you. For that I need some sort of guarantee you or your people won't just seize my goods and ships and make off with it. I'm not saying you will!" he held up a hand at Kali opening her mouth to protest. "But I need a guarantee nonetheless, or I'm putting a lot of capital and political influence at risk here. To do that I need your economy to be open and privatized, the same way the rest of the civilized world now operates. Open to investment, buying, and selling. It's the only way that I can know that anything I invest into the city and the country at large will be worth anything in a day's time."

That was a lie. It was definitely worth it just to trade with them at a marked up price, but he wasn't here to control trade with Menagerie. Sure if he hadn't had any other motivations that'd be a great deal, but he was here to control their economy, and so he couldn't take anything less than an open market. Being able to effectively control the economy of Menagerie itself made sure the White Fang would never grow beyond his control. And on top of that, it was another significant boon in the long run.

"Okay." Ghira let out a deep breath and sat down his own fork, holding out his hand to hold his wife's and calm her. She looked like she needed it. "First, your first condition. What business do you have with the White Fang, exactly?"

Percy really should have prepared himself for this moment better, but to be honest he wasn't going for the cunning politician act here, he was going for the absurdly powerful kid. Off the cuff responses had a… feel that prepared ones didn't. That didn't make it easier for him to respond now though.

"I'm currently… trading with them, for dust they capture from the SDC, to support Mistral. Recently the SDC has been putting a lot of political pressure on us, and we're on the verge of facing a dust embargo. Without the dust we buy from the White Fang, my people would freeze to death in their homes. Personally I'm not much of a fan of them, and I have to admit a considered benefit of coming here and trading with Menagerie is that it'd put a lot more power in the civilian government's — your — hands, to counter them. But if I'm giving you the power to face them down, I need a guarantee you won't. As much as I'd like to be gone with them, millions of my own people's lives and livelihoods depend on that not happening."

A half-truth. Sure without the White Fang they'd be fucked, but a lot of the reason they faced political pressure from the SDC in the first place is because they worked with the White Fang. But it had enough truth in it to not be considered a flat-out lie. From a certain perspective, it very easily could've been fabricated SDC evidence in an effort to shut down the MTC, their one competitor. Considering the general faunus opinion of the Schnees, he'd put his money on them believing him over Jacques if it came down to it.

"You understand we're weary about working with the White Fang, or anyone who supports them." Ghira said softly. Looking over at Kali, Percy figured she'd have put it less softly.

"I understand." Percy lowered his voice. "But also understand that my people are my first priority. I will do anything to keep them from the fate that a mass dust shortage would cause. You yourselves harbor them in your very own country. You may not think you have a choice, but you could always attempt to force them out. Consider the consequences, the thousands dead, the infighting, and ask yourselves if my reason to work with them is any less valid."

That seemed to get to them at least, Kali forcefully reclining into her seat and Ghira de-tensing.

"We… understand the difficult choices that have to be made. But you understand what you're asking us, to just let them continue their rule of violence."

"What choice do you have?" Percy asked rhetorically. "I cannot go through with this agreement if you don't give me your word that you won't move against the White Fang. Either I stand up and leave right now and things remain as they are with you under their boot, helpless to move against them, or you agree and you have the ability to act against them, but you're never allowed to. Refusing won't help you here. At least if you have the power of a modern economy you can politically pressure them to follow your laws in your own borders. I'm not trying to stop you from controlling Menagerie, I just want to ensure you won't act against the White Fang."

They shared one of those glances again, and then turned back to him. "We'll consider it." Kali said, "Onto your second term, to have a free market. We're not exactly experienced in running a business. What does that mean exactly?"

"You allow people to invest in your economy, whether in Menagerie or outside it. To be honest I'm going to be the only one to invest in you from outside until we can get you internationally recognized — doesn't really work for anyone else. But other than me, you allow your own people to buy and sell their businesses and land as they please. When you sell government land you sell it to everyone equally, and you respect and enforce the ownership of businesses and land as agreed upon. I'll set up a market for you, my treat. But so long as you agree to those basic things, we won't have a problem. The issue comes when laws are set about who can own what and when. Technically we still have these laws in Mistral, but I've gotten around this by selling my ownership in businesses second hand. To be honest this is the most progressive autocratic nation I've ever heard of, so I don't think you'll have much of an issue with anything."

They shared another glance and apparently came to an agreement. Kali was the one to return the verdict. "Anyone on Menagerie, citizen or not, is free to buy or sell whatever they please so long as it doesn't conflict with our laws and they pay the proper taxes. That won't change. If you want to set up a market for it, you can go right ahead."

Percy nodded gratefully. "I'll have to take a look at your tax rates later, but assuming it's agreeable we shouldn't have a problem. If you two come to agree to my first condition then I think we have an agreement here."

"There is one last thing." Kali said, "What exactly do you propose we trade with? We use lien, but as you mentioned we're hardly rolling in it. At marked up prices — which I agree may be fair — we could hardly put our economy together and buy a single cargo ship's contents from you. We can't buy the tools to rapidly mobilize our economy if we can't afford them in the first place."

Percy nodded, holding his napkin in front of his mouth to speak as he swallowed the last bit of pig on his plate. "A couple things. One, foreign investment. I'm here, and I have a vested interest in seeing you take off like a rocket. As soon as we agree to terms I'm prepared to contact my people to start shipping in equipment immediately. Because of the way I manage my businesses where I let all of them run autonomously of one another, one of my businesses in Mistral will end up buying from one of the factories here in Menagerie. When that happens it'll be a Mistrali business buying Menagerie goods, and you'll collect taxes on it." he didn't have to let that happen, but it sweetened the deal a bit, and with how intensely he was planning on controlling the Menagerie economy… it wouldn't matter. "So you can then buy and set up your own businesses, and then sell them off for a profit. Plus for the factories that are set up here I'll pay the workers wages. I'll admit they won't be much higher than your current average at the moment, but it'll be enough to be worth the work, and the first bit of real money your people will personally see. As more factories and businesses pop up, the wages will rise because they'll be competing for a shrinking number of workers. But, that's only the first way. The second, is debt."

Kali blinked, unimpressed. "Menagerie has no intention of going into debt the moment we join the global economy."

Percy shook his head emphatically. "You have a negative connotation for debt. That's understandable, debt isn't something you should seek out, and I don't mean to say that having debt for debt's sake is good. Obviously, it isn't. But while debt on an individual basis is a bad thing, if debt is so bad why do you think it exists as an institution? Why do you think that people or nations would go into debt in the first place?"

"Because they're forced to?" Kali guessed. "Because they have no option if they want to protect their people?"

"Does Vale look like it's struggling?" he asked rhetorically. "Does Atlas? Because out of the four kingdoms, they're the two with established banks and systems of debt and investment. I'm getting Mistral there, and you can see for yourself how well it's been doing the last few years. Does it look like I was held down and forced into taking debt to invest in Mistral? I had banks across the planet leaping at the chance to offer me loans to build a factory in Mistral, because they knew that with such an underused labor market it was almost impossible to take a loss on a new factory. How about Vale or Atlas, were they forced into taking debt to stop their people from starving?" he glanced between the two for effect, meeting their eyes. "They understand that taking on moderate debt to invest in their people is worth it. Because their economies will grow because of that money faster than the interest payments will suck money out of it. Atlas' economy grows about six percent a year, if you don't count the SDC, Vale's eight percent. Mistral's? Last year the total worth of the Mistral economy doubled. And to do that, I paid two percent interest on some loans to an Atlesian bank." He was debt free and rolling in enough lien to start his own bank now, but he wasn't lying. He had taken some debt when he first became a noble and started building things in Mistral.

"Unfortunately, Mistral isn't doing as well as it could. Most people still can't legally own land or capital, so I've had to do it all myself. But here? Forget doubling your economy every year, if you lose your reservations about debt you can double your economy every month. Think about all of the people with wasted potential, with the next good idea, with the right skills to help the economy that are all just sitting there fishing because they don't have enough money."

They shared another glance. Hook, line, and sinker.

That sounded bad. He really wasn't manipulating them here. At least, not too much. It genuinely would be good for their country. Like, double the average life expectancy and bring them into the modern day overnight level good. Nothing he was actually saying would hurt them instead of help them. But Percy… was getting a very good deal out of it. A very good deal.

"And which bank would loan us this money? It's still internationally banned to do business with us." Ghira reminded him.

"I can handle that." Percy assured the man. "As I mentioned, investment and debt is a very… new concept in Mistral, but we have a bank or two opening. They'll have enough money as you could need, and they're new so they'll be willing to loan it out at relatively low interest rates in an effort to cut into the market internationally. I'll get you the same rates as everyone else." He didn't mention that both banks were his, but he didn't think he needed to. He was one of the few in the country who could do something of the sort, and the only one who would want to.

And as such the entirety of his plans were revealed. Open market, open trade, and all through him. They could get tax money… from his trade. They could open new businesses… which he would buy. People could take debt to open new businesses that would stimulate the economy he owned the majority of… and he would be the one holding the debt.

There was a decent part of it that let them have a healthy, strong economy. Individuals could take on debt, open a business, and then pay off the debt. In fact, millions probably would and he wouldn't own most of it. It would be a thriving economy not entirely under his control, and a lot of people would be better off for it. But it'd be enough his that if Menagerie ever did something stupid, he had an off switch, and multiple backup off switches. Plus, it meant that even if the White Fang was getting everything from Menagerie, they were still reliant on him. He wondered why Jacques had never bothered to do this with Atlas.

Well, as experienced as the man was he was simply a good businessman at the end of the day. A very good businessman, but his scope was limited to making money by selling his product. Remnant hadn't quite discovered neo-colonialism yet.

Or at least it hadn't until he'd brought it here. Good thing Remnant was small enough that by the time everyone else caught on it'd be too late.

"We'll… talk about your first condition, and then discuss the rest with the council if we decide to go through with it. You'll hear our decision by the end of the week."

Percy nodded gratefully and stood, excusing himself. Ghira showed him to the door and led him out. He thanked Percy for coming, and gave a quick recommendation on a few places to stay and eat while he was here. Percy thanked the man and then walked out into the evening streets.

So, those were the parents of Blake Belladonna.

Percy pulled himself from the water soaking wet, feeling content. The last several days had been a bit of a forced vacation. He was here on business but he had nothing for the White Fang until Adam was here, and nothing for Menagerie until the Belladonnas got back to him. There wasn't even a CCT here, so it was truly isolated from the world at large. He had nothing to do but explore a bit.

He'd poked around to see if there was anything resembling organized crime here, only to promptly find that that was pretty much just the White Fang, a group he already controlled for all intents and purposes.

After that he just… relaxed. There was plenty of sun and beaches, and plenty of water. Some of the locals (who probably assumed he was a fish faunus of some kind without any visible traits) had warned him not to go too far out because the ocean grimm were plentiful past a certain depth, but Percy had found it more cathartic to slaughter creatures of darkness several thousand feet underwater than he did to lay on the beach and get a tan. He was doing plenty of both so suffice to say, he was enjoying himself. He even went out for some land expeditions to try and keep his skills sharp, heading out as far as he could into the country and dealing with the most dangerous grimm he could find.

Unfortunately for him the most dangerous thing he'd managed to find was a few larger Beringels, which he'd managed to deal with relatively easily. Most grimm on Menagerie, apparently, were the annoying type. Little grimm bees or mosquitos, or the grimm snakes and tigers that required a lot of focus and attention to make sure they didn't catch you unawares, but as soon as they lunged at you were about as hard to kill as a beowolf.

So he'd given up on landside training after a day and stuck to the ocean. He preferred it there, and he'd even managed to kill some truly monstrous sea creatures a few miles out.

"How can I help you ladies?" Back in reality, Percy shot the two White Fang waiting for him at the docks a grin, swinging his feet above the wood of the dock and standing. "You mind?" he asked, pointing to the towel he had just behind the foot of the right one. A scowling White Fang soldier reached her foot back and kicked the towel at him. He caught the thing with his leg and bent over to pick it up, proceeding to dry himself off from his swim in front of the two rather annoyed, very female, and fairly attractive White Fang soldiers.

"I assume that means Adam's back?" he asked rhetorically, observing the silent women as he raised the towel to dry off his hair. He could have surfaced on the beach a bit away and used his powers to dry himself, but… meh. This was a lot less of a walk to the place he was staying and it felt nice to feel the water on him a bit after getting out. There was a refreshing feeling after getting out of the water that you just couldn't replace.

"Lady Khan is expecting you." the left one said, and then resumed glaring at him.

Percy shrugged. Sure he was a bit of a flirt but it was a vacation in a tropical paradise, and he did have the opportunity to show off his years of training in a way that wasn't fighting for once in his life, and he was almost depressingly single. Plus he was on an island of incredibly attractive women with some… exotic traits.

And on top of all that he'd paid a visit to Sienna at the beginning of the week which had gotten his blood boiling a bit, and he couldn't sleep with her because he was currently in the process of making a few life or death decisions that, well, might involve her death. The last thing he wanted was for her to get the Raven treatment and somehow escape her fate because there was no way he was gonna let an ass like that-

Okay, not on topic. But point being, sue him. He was a young man with the sex drive of a Greek god in a tropical paradise on vacation with nothing to do. If anything, not taking the chance to hook up with a few ladies would be the crime here.

"Ahem." The one on the right cleared her throat, and Percy realized he had been drying his hair for the last minute and a half, all while his eyes were locked on the two across from him.

With a sheepish smile Percy dropped the towel and pulled on a shirt, buttoning it up agonizingly slowly with how awkward the atmosphere had become.

The day after he'd come here he'd ditched most of his wardrobe for the local style, mostly consisting of hand-crafted items which, to be honest, were probably barely legally called clothes. Everywhere you looked the women wore tank tops and short shorts, while the guys wore shorts and shirts that were as often half open as not. Needless to say, it hadn't helped him with his hormone problems.

When he was finally dressed they turned without a word and began leading him to the White Fang headquarters. His eyes began to trail below their waist but he cut off that train of thought brutally. He'd had his fun and that was fun, but joking aside it was time for business now. He couldn't let something as shallow as sex appeal affect his judgement, not when it came to the fate of Remnant.

It wasn't long before they reached their destination and the two led him down familiar halls to a familiar throne room where Sienna and Adam were both waiting for him, Sienna on her throne and Adam stood in front of her, back to Percy. They spoke to each other in hushed voices, and they were hardly happy with each other if their body language was any indication.

But within seconds the interaction was over, Sienna noticing him and straightening in her seat while Adam glanced back to see what she was looking at and turned to face him.

"Leave us." Sienna called to the two escorting him. With one last quick glare and a salute via a clenched fist to the chest, they both left the room. "You two as well." Sienna said to the two other girls in White Fang masks towards the periphery of the room, the only others in the room aside from the three of them. The two he'd seen years ago, Blake Belladonna and… the unimportant one, the chameleon. He was tempted for a moment to tell them to stay, but ultimately decided there wasn't much reason to. He had plans for Blake Belladonna, but none of those plans involved being here now.

With a quick glance which Adam returned, Blake nodded her deference and led them both out of the room while Sienna rose from her throne to stand next to Adam on equal footing with him and Percy.

"Commander Taurus is here, as you… requested." Sienna said, gesturing towards the boy as if Percy didn't have eyes.

Now he had a slight dilemma. He had other more minor reasons for being here, but his main reason for being here now, today, was to select one, permanent leader of the White Fang. That meant the other might not be able to leave the room alive.

The only problem was that he didn't know who that was yet. He had his mind made up, but his decision was very dependent on the decision of the Belladonnas. If they said no, he wanted Sienna in charge. She was much easier to control, and she'd be able to rule over the nation of Menagerie as a ruler rather than a conqueror more easily than Adam. Adam was also already very popular from the battles Percy had given him on the front line; if Percy also gave him the White Fang and Menagerie, he'd be far too powerful for Percy to know he could control him. If he ever went rogue, it'd be a bit of a mess to put him down.

But if the Belladonnas agreed? Adam could be controlled with Menagerie in check, and the Belladonnas demanding split support from the faunus. Sienna was also not popular enough to keep the White Fang strong if the Belladonnas suddenly reared their own heads towards non-violence. Adam was. He was also effective, with a half-decent brain on his shoulders when he wasn't emotional. Percy knew that the White Fang would be a force to be reckoned with with the bull faunus at the helm. It's just… too much of a force to be reckoned with, if he didn't have the Belladonnas give him a way to put it in check.

And then there was the coup de grace, the final thing that was too good to pass up. Blake Belladonna. Leverage against the leaders of Menagerie and the White Fang? It was perfect. All he had to do was put her firmly in his grasp without it being a blatant threat, and he'd have both Menagerie and the White Fang firmly under his thumb.

He'd have to make sure that neither of them left the city before the Belladonnas got back to him. If they stuck to their word that'd be by the end of tomorrow, so he didn't have to stall for too long. Easy enough, now all that was left was to hold this meeting.

"Sienna, Adam." he nodded to both of them in turn. They gave him respectful nods back.

"I hope this is important. This trip puts me two weeks behind schedule." Adam spoke gruffly, arms crossed impatiently. It would have annoyed Percy a couple years ago but that's just how Adam was. If he was ever truly feeling a bit out of line, Percy would know. Not that that had happened in most of a year.

"It is. We're refocusing most of the White Fang's assets and putting them on a central campaign. Adam, you'll be commanding them."

Sienna narrowed her eyes, that would change the small majority of active White Fang on the front lines that Adam commanded at the moment to… all of them, just about. It was a bit more power than she felt comfortable giving him, but with a reassuring glance from Percy she was assuaged. For all the men Adam had Percy could throw them into the desert and stop giving them water. At that point, the largest army in the world didn't mean much. If he was still backing her, then she was secure in her seat.

Time would only tell if he would still be backing her by the time they got to the front lines.

"What?" Adam seemed a bit miffed, moreso than Sienna almost. He'd picked up instantly on what Sienna had taken a moment to register, all the White Fang in the organization wouldn't mean anything so long as Percy was still standing behind her. He didn't waste time on playing what-ifs, instead leaping to his main objection.

"We'll have to leave behind all our active operations. Weeks of planning, months of logistics, and not to mention the SDC is easily the most concentrated in Atlas. It's also the only kingdom where they're still allowed to have labor camps, if we shift from Atlas we'll have to leave thousands of faunus-"

"Almost the only kingdom." Percy interrupted. The White-Fang dubbed 'labor camps' were actually mining villages. Their ancestors had chosen to move out there to make a living. Faunus hadn't been allowed to work in most places in the city a few generations ago, but the SDC let them come work at their mines, leading to thousands leaving the city en masse to go work for the SDC. But now that more and more jobs were open to faunus, especially in mantle, the current residents had no way back to the main city, and the SDC would hardly open up territory they owned to let any charities try. Once again a pragmatic business practice which would have been considered ruthless but profit-motivated in any other circumstance was now an act of racism.

That being said it didn't mean Adam didn't have a point. They weren't forced to work there, but that far north there wasn't any real way to get food unless it was imported. So unless they wanted to try their luck against the grimm walking to a nearby settlement, they were all but out of other options. It was cruel, but like so much else there was more than one side to the story.

Adam's eyes widened, "Does that mean that-"

"Yes, Adam. Organize your men, the White Fang is going to Vacuo."

The next chapter is up on pat-reon, and you can come hang out with me in discord. Both links are on my profile.

Next Chapter February 15 :)