"A little violence never hurt anyone." ~ Benjamin Ruggiero
"So uh… where are we going exactly?" I asked O-Ushi as the guy riding up front pumped the shotgun with a loud clack-clack chambering a shell.
"The Dragons have a chop shop a couple blocks outside our neighborhood," she explained to me taking a turn, "Junior has given me the go ahead to smash the place up, everyone going is packing aura, but if you see any Atlesians don't touch them, and don't kill anybody kid, Junior doesn't want any bodies."
"No bodies?" I asked her looking at the guy in front with the shotgun resting between his legs.
The man with the shotgun looked back as we stopped at a light and cracked a grin in my direction. "Relax kid, it's just rocksalt," the he told me with a wink, easing my worries, "it packs a punch but it won't kill anybody, just make them hurt like hell."
"Jaune if I wanted you to make corpses then I would have handed everybody some iron instead of clubs." O-Ushi told me.
"Yeah," Melanie cheerfully agreed, "these punks aren't even worth real bullets."
I nodded feeling most of my apprehensions dissolve knowing that I was going to be sending those thugs to the hospital instead of the morgue. "And what if their guns aren't loaded with rock salt?" I asked knowing full well that the 24k Dragons might not share Junior's restraint.
"Like, that's why everyone coming is packing aura," Miltia chimed in, "they're gonna have a hard time taking down us with just some pea shooters."
"Exactly," O-Ushi said, "most of the 24k Dragons don't have aura, I can only think of a handful I knew who did back when they worked for Junior, this should be easy for the ten of us."
"Yeah," Melanie said, cracking her knuckles for emphasis, "but if any of them want to put up a real fight Mil and I got dibs."
I remained quiet for the rest of the drive smoking a cigarette. Tonight I was going to get my hands dirty but not bloody, I could live with that. I'd already beaten up a fair number of the 24k Dragons so doing it again was going to be nothing new for me.
O-Ushi stopped the car and I looked out the window as the doors opened and Mel and Mil shuffled out ready to roll. The shop didn't look like much to me but I saw that indeed there were already some 24k Dragons outside smoking cigarettes and drinking beer.
They had already taken notice of our vehicles stopping and the ten of us getting out with weapons in hand. The guy with the shotgun raised it and fired, deafening me for a second as he struck one of the dragons down with a blast of rock salt.
I watched as the force of the impact seemed to punch him right in the chest. The rock salt shattered the beer bottle he was holding and spilled it all over him and his jacket. He pumped the shotgun and shot down another one trying to scramble inside. It struck him right in the back and fell through the door.
O-Ushi reached into her jacket and pulled both of her long barreled revolvers out. I didn't think those were non lethal weapons but I watched as she flipped the weapons around and gripped them by the barrel. I watched as the twin magnums morphed like so many weapons I had seen at Beacon forming into a pair of hammers. I watched as she moved forward stepping over the one guy that had gotten a back full of rock salt.
One guy tried to jump her at the threshold but I watched as she shattered his arm and knocked some of his teeth out. Mel and Mil were the next in the door and I followed in. The guy with the shotgun loaded a couple more shells in the tube as the rest of the boys moved around back or shattered the windows.
When I finally shuffled into the place a full on melee was already happening inside. I watched as Mel and Mil slashed and kicked everyone who even dared get in their way. I watched as Melanie brought her bladed heel down one guy giving him a slash on his shoulder and sending him to the floor bleeding and in pain. I stared at Mil as she slashed up one punk's face like it was a scratching post.
Those that weren't smacking the shit out of the thugs were smashing up the shop. I watched as a bar at the end of the room had it's bottles shattered with a blast of rock salt. Others broke chairs over the guys or knocked over tables.
One guy charged me with a bar stool, I dodged the swing and slammed my bat into his gut making him double over. Another attacked me with a knife and I broke his nose with a simple strike. These punks should have just ran away and saved themselves a trip to a doctor, but that wasn't the case. It was fucking chaos as they tried to fight back. Some had guns, little cheap .22 or .25 caliber pieces that hardly did anything to our auras and most had too much sense to fire into the chaos where a stray bullet could have hit one of their buddies who didn't have auras to protect themselves. One guy who I kneecapped with my bat actually took a shot that rikochet off my aura to strike him in the arm. The shooter looked stunned before Melanie knocked him to the floor with a graceful kick.
It was a bloody mess. I fell into the craziness of the melee, I broke bones and faces, I smashed up just about anything that looked intact when I wasn't smashing the gang members. It was as horrifying as it was exhilarating. It was a rush, I was pumped full of adrenalin as I fought.
Just as it looked like we had devastated the lot of them, I heard the loud hum of a bike outside so I moved to the door throwing it open to see one guy with a 24k Dragons jacket pulling up on a motorcycle. He looked right at me and pulled off his helmet revealing a head of black hair tipped with gold dye.
"I'm going to give you one chance to get the fuck out of here with all your teeth!" I shouted pointing my bat right at him. Now I was still more than a little high on adrenaline from fighting a bunch of the punks inside and I was feeling pretty confident with myself.
"You should understand why I can't leave without a fight," the guy said, standing up from his bike and approaching me. His composure was loose, calm, he didn't hold himself like someone ready for a fight. I had tried to give him a chance to walk away with no damage and if anyone saw me give him another chance I knew that I'd look like a chump to O-Ushi and the rest of the guys here.
I raised the bat and charged right at him like an idiot. He raised up his motorcycle helmet and deflected my swing before hitting me in the face with it. My aura deflected it easily enough but I was so surprised that this guy had actually stopped my attack and hit me that I just blinked. I was completely unprepared as he struck his open palm right into my sternum. The blow sent me flying straight back and crashing through the door.
My aura had held but the wind had gotten knocked right out of me. I tried to breathe as I lay on the dirty floor of the shop realizing that I'd been hit with some kind of semblance. O-Ushi and the twins looked down at me wheezing. Thankfully Miltia offered me a hand up that I graciously accepted, getting back on my feet while the other guy stepped in through the door with everyone's eyes on him.
He looked down at one of his fellow gang members and helped him to his feet. "Get everyone out of here!" He ordered his guy and he did just that gathering the Dragons that were still around and hurt and seeing them out the door. O-Ushi and the rest didn't do a thing to stop them. He looked right to O-Ushi glaring at her, "you made your point," he said, "I suggest you leave before anyone else gets hurt."
I watched as O-Ushi laughed at him, "You got balls to tell me to leave Kenzo!"
"I'm not telling you," Kenzo said calmly flexing his fingers that rested calmly at his side, "but this is our place, I cannot let you stay so if you leave now there will be no more trouble."
"Trouble!?" O-Ushi spat, "That's funny considering the trouble you've been giving me and my people, if you didn't want trouble then you shouldn't have tried wrecking my cabs, or selling your fucking poison on my streets!"
Kenzo's face fell in what looked like disgust, shame even. "That wasn't my call," he said regretfully, clenching his fists.
O-Ushi shrugged, "then take off that jacket," she said to him, "leave the Dragons and you won't have to do that kind of shit."
Kenzo released a sigh, "I cannot," he said looking her dead in the eye, "I know you understand."
"And I know you understand why I gotta do what I gotta do!" O-Ushi said regretfully.
The guy with the shotgun raised and fired. The rock salt hit him and he stepped back from the force of the blow but otherwise his aura had shielded him. He leapt forward right past O-Ushi and struck the guy with the shotgun with an open palm. The force of the blow sent him flying just as it had me, sending him tumbling over the bar at the end of the room.
Mel and Mil jumped into the action delivering swift kicks and swipes with their bladed heels and claws. I watched as Kenzo moved back and dodged their attacks gracefully. Miltia thrust her claws right at him only for him to slap her wrist away with a strike, his semblance activated increasing the force of the blow, it sent Miltai spinning away and crashing into the wall. Melanie spun a kick only for him to block her with his forearm and strike her right in her stomach sending her flying out one of the already broken windows.
Kenzo rocketed away from his position, using his semblance to boost himself as he moved to another one of the guys with a chain. He kicked out his leg and sent him down with a second kick. His aura disintegrated into light as he moved right to the next guy sending up crashing into the ceiling with an uppercut. Another tried to club him in the back of the head only to end up on the floor when his elbow shot back and struck him.
O-Ushi gave a bone chilling roar and charged him and swung her hammers right at him. He dodged the first blow and deflected the second only for her to send a knee up in her sternum and crack one of her hammers across his face. I watched as his arua shielded him from the strike and he tried to catch the second blow only for the first hammer to come right up and smack him beneath his chin.
Kenzo stumbled back from the hit, right at me. Seeing an opportunity I stepped forward and swung my bat right at him. The wooden club bounced off his aura and he turned to face me as I raised the bat for a second swing. His hand came up and intercepted the club activating his semblance as I brought the bat down with all my might.
The bat hit and shattered into a thousand splinters, and as I wondered dumbly what to do next Kenzo was already acting. He delivered another blow right to my chest and I slammed against the concrete wall. Stars danced in my eyes as I watched O-Ushi push her offensive throwing one of her hammers right at him after he hit me. She rushed right at him and brought her other hammer down on him.
I watched as the yellow light of his aura shatter and glitter away as gold dust. He rolled on the ground a bit and O-Ushi grabbed the other hammer on the ground. "Get the fuck out of here Kenzo!" She told him with a low dangerous voice, "I'm letting you off easy tonight so I suggest you accept my mercy!" She warned him. "You can either go visit your boys in the hospital, or you can join them!"
Kenzo spat out a mouthful of blood onto the floor. "Very well," he said standing up and moving for the door calm as ever. When he reached the door he found Melanie standing in the doorway glaring at him.
"Let him go!" O-Ushi ordered her.
"He hit me!" Melanie growled.
"I know," O-Ushi said, "but it's my show tonight, let him go!"
"Whatever," Melanie said, stepping aside for him to pass but glaring daggers at him as he stepped by to get onto his motorcycle.
We waited until we heard his motorcycle engine start up and fade away down the street. "Wreck the place up!" O-Ushi ordered everyone, morphing one of her hammers back into a revolver and shooting out one of the lights with an ear splitting crack.
I watched as everyone went about breaking chairs and tables and anything else they could in that front office that the 24k Dragons seemed to have been using more as a bar. I picked up a lead pipe to replace my bat and shattered the bathroom up leaving it strewn with broken porcelain.
After we had finished busting up the rest of their office area we moved back into the garage where they kept all the cars and their parts. I watched as the boys descended on the vehicles, hitting anything and everything. One even shattered a window and proceeded to pour gas into the interior and set it alight.
The point was clear, it wasn't just about beating up a bunch of punks, this was about ruining their business the same way they had been trying to ruin O-Ushi's. A handful of guys getting beat up was normal for the gang. But financial wounds are the ones that hurt them more. I was never a big car guy I'll admit, but watching some of these nice rides get smashed and burned up beyond repair was a little heart breaking.
I looked at one of the nicer cars that hadn't been touched yet. It was a two seat sleek white luxury sport trimmed with gold. It kind of reminded me of the armor I had been wearing back at Beacon and I took a long appreciative look at it before raising my lead pipe to wreck the shit out of it.
Before I could bring the pipe down O-Ushi caught the club in her strong hands and wrenched it away from me. "What the fuck are you doing kid!?" she asked me seriously.
"I uh… I was just," I stammered dumbly with confusion.
"Why the hell are you trying to smash up your car!" She said grinning widely at me.
I blinked at her, processing her words. "My car?" I asked her for clarification to see that I hadn't misheard her.
"Yeah your car," she said pulling a set of keys and tossing them to me, "take good care of it, don't smash it up, it's nice."
I looked back at the sleek vehicle and tried to imagine it as mine. I was living in a shitty studio apartment above a laundromat and I was going to be driving this around? It seemed surreal to even think about driving a set of wheels like this but here it was and I had to do was take it.
I hit the button on the fob to open the doors and saw that they lifted straight up, I thought it was so cool. I got into the driver's seat and took a moment to appreciate the fine leather seats. Say what you will about the 24k Dragons but they did a fine job assembling this car, I don't know how they managed to find it and properly chop it to be sold but it was now somehow all mine. I was thrilled.
The passenger side door opened and I looked over to see Miltia and Melanei sticking their heads in to inspect the lush interior. Melanei gave a low whistle of appreciation. "Nice! Like you certainly got the best one Jaune," she complimented to me. I looked past them to see that indeed not all the cars were being completely ruined as O-Ushi's boys had gotten ahold of the keys and were laying claim to the rest of the wheels while the others were piles of dented metal and glass. Others still had their interiors burning from the inside stinking up the whole place with acrid smoke.
"Thanks," I said touching the steering wheel appreciatively as I tried to imagine myself cruising around the neighborhood in this car and making my collections. I certainly would be turning more than a few heads sitting behind the wheel of this ride.
"Well what are you waiting for Jaune?" Miltia said, "start her up!"
"Yeah," Melanie said, gracefully slipping into the passenger seat, "stick it in and listen to her purr!"
"Melanie!" Miltia chided her twin sister.
"What?" Melanie said fainting innocence, "I'm just agreeing with you Miltia, he should start her up."
My face was hot with embarrassment so I just stayed quiet and inserted the key. I listened to the loud engine start up and idle in a loud impressive rumble. I didn't know what kind of horsepower was under the hood of this thing but I was certain it was a lot more than I was ever going to truly need. It was rare for me to even go past thirty five on my average day.
"See?" Melanie chimed, batting her eyelashes, "isn't that a lovely sound."
"Yeah," I said, forgetting my embarrassment as I listened to the engine rumble.
"So let's go," Miltia said sliding herself gracefully into the passenger seat beside her sister and closing the door.
"Where to?" I asked, realizing just how petite they both were occupying a single seat like that, even if it did violate a number of vehicle safety laws.
"Sakura's Sushi," Miltia told me.
"O-Ushi is getting us all dinner," Melanie explained, her shoulder against mine in the confines of the vehicle.
"And then we're going clubbing," Miltia continued on.
"O-Ushi is taking us clubbing?" I asked them.
"No you're taking us clubbing," Melanie said to me leaning against me over the center console.
"What?" I asked them stupidly.
"You said you'd make it up to us later," Miltia reminded me.
"And like, now it's later Jaune," Melanie explained with a teasing grin.
I actually couldn't help but smile and nod in agreement. It wasn't like I had any actual plans tonight before O-Ushi called me over to Junior's club. "Alright, we'll go clubbing," I agreed with them putting my new car into gear and tapping gently on the gas to make it go. The car accelerated like nothing I had ever driven before and I was a little awkward taking onto the road and following O-Ushi and the rest of her people out. The twins giggled at my expense.
Thankfully I managed to adapt to the car and didn't hit anything as I drove to Sakura's Sushi. O-Ushi ordered a back room and every roll on the menu along with several bottles of hot saké. Melanie kept suggesting that we should all try nyotaimori, sushi that was served on the bodies of naked women. She said ancient Mistrali samurai used to do it to celebrate victories. Thankfully Sakura's didn't have that kind of option so we ate off of normal dishes.
Dinner conversation mainly consisted of reliving the fight and laughing about how we all kicked the shit out of the 24k Dragons. I got a few good natured ribs for having been thrown through the door by Kenzo but also praised for getting a solid if futile swing on the guy.
I wanted to know more about Kenzo. So far he seemed different than the rest of the 24k Dragons I had seen so far. For one he wasn't a pushover like the others, he had aura and skills I would have expected from a huntsmen. But more than that he genuinely seemed to regret fighting O-Ushi. The 24k Dragons used to be in the Clan's pocket before I arrived and I could tell there was some history between O-Ushi and him.
I also spent the dinner getting acquainted with O-Ushi's guys. The guy that had been blasting the 24k Dragons with rock salt was named Kaiu, he gave me his card for his indoor range and told me that if I never needed firepower to give him a call. I reluctantly agreed to take him up on the offer if I ever needed to.
Melanie managed to brag that Miltia and her were going clubbing after dinner with me and somehow the situation got out of hand. Before we managed to eat up the sushi and drink all the sake they all invited themselves to go to this club called Bonsai and they even called for a limo to take us all. I suppose that was for the best as I was already a little buzzed from the sake so driving my new car seemed out of the question. O-Ushi assured me that she'd send someone to park it behind my apartment and I handed over the keys.
By the time we finished eating and stepped outside that limousine was already waiting for us. O-Ushi said goodnight and was off to take care of some other business. I settled into a seat next to the twins and we were off still sharing war stories and occasionally one of O-Ushi's boys gave me an offer to invest in one of their more illicit businesses.
I certainly promised that I'd consider some of their offers and even told them about my own joint business with Toshi pirating dvds. One guy even let us in on a ball game he had apparently rigged and gave us the rundown on who to bet on. I actually made a decent chunk of change the next week taking his advice.
We arrived at the club filled with flashing green lights and rhythmic techno music. We all got a couple of drinks at the bar together, I was starting to gain a pallet for alcohol by that point and we talked things up for a while as I enjoyed a bloody mary.
We talked and joked some more over drinks but the minute I had finished my bloody mary Melanie and Miltia were dragging me to the dance floor by both arms. "Come on!" Melanie said, "we came here to dance not to talk it up with the guys."
"Yeah," Miltia agreed, "besides they probably don't even know how to dance."
The night became a blur once we took to the dance floor. Mel and Mil were just as handsy and provocative as they were the last time we danced together. I was still awkward and embarrassed but the buzz of the alcohol probably helped loosen me. I moved with the flow of the music and the two of them as they touched me, grinded themselves on me. It wasn't like the three of us were even standing out here on the dance floor. Compared to other dancers that kissing or grinding or being generally lewd to one another I felt the three of us were being rather timid. Stay at a club late enough and things can certainly get a little debaucherous.
But I was losing myself dancing between the two of them. Growing up with my sisters and taking dance lessons I had come to really enjoy it. But there had been few chances in my life to enjoy it like this. Dancing with girls that weren't my sisters and who were clearly intent on making the best of the night was a new experience, and with my nerves dulled from drink I was certainly enjoying every minute of it, of moving with them, of having them put their hands on me in a less than innocent manner. And with my inhibitions lowered I certainly made more than a few bold touches of my own.
We would stop dancing here and there to have another drink or two and catch up with Kaiu or another one of O-Ushi's boys before we got back to the dance floor to repeat the process all over again. Some of the guys peeled off early, they either wanted to go home or had sudden business they needed attending to.
It was about three in the morning when the club was starting to die down. Few dancers remained going home tired or to enjoy other nightly pleasures and the rest of us decided that we had had our fill as well. We got back out to the limo and the guys gave the driver their addresses so he could take them home. All the while they mixed drinks in the limo's mini bar.
I settled in my seat a sobering energy drink and watched the city lights through the window talking it up with the guys as they went home one by one until naturally it was just me and the twins together heading through town towards their apartment.
"Jaune," Miltia said, pulling my attention away from the city passing by and to the two of them sitting next to me.
"Yeah?" I asked, taking another sip of my energy drink.
"There's no need to take the limo back to your place alone," Mil told me looking into my eyes.
Melanie smiled at me, "yeah like, you should come with us to our place," she continued on touching my thigh and smirking sensually, "there's no reason for the party to end so soon."
I was a huge idiot not to have seen this coming, especially after how I had been dancing with the two of them earlier. But when my brain managed to put two and two together through the haze of alcohol I blushed like the innocent virgin I was.
"I uh… I don't know," I stammered lamely, "it's been a long night."
"A tough guy like you is tired already?" Miltia pouted cutely at me.
Melanie shook her head in exaggerated disappointment. "You're a cruel man Jaune Arc," she teased me, "getting us all riled up on the dance floor only to leave us to go home all hot and bothered."
"I uh… I didn't mean to," I explained defensively, "Thanks for the offer, I just… uh… you both took me by surprise… I've never really done anything like this before."
"Wait..." Mil said, her gaze on me softening, "Jaune… are you a-."
"Yeah," I said, cutting her off before she could say virgin and embarrass me anymore.
"Oh!" Melanie said, eyebrows raising with surprise. But her surprise quickly hardened into a lustful glare and a sinful grin. "All the more reason to say yes," she said running a finger down my chest and turning her head towards Miltia, "we could teach him a thing or two Miltia."
"I think you're right Melanie," Miltia said touching my face, "what do you say Jaune, you could lose that troublesome v-card tonight."
I was stunned, like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. I was nervous, scared even to think about what could possibly happen next. But I was also excited, I had certainly felt my body's opinion on the matter while we all danced. The way they had grinded against a certain stiff part of my anatomy had made me shudder more than once that evening. I was never really a lady's man but suddenly I found myself sitting between these two girls offering me a night of lustful delights.
I thought back to those two words I said to myself when the twins first asked me to accompany them to Junior's club.
Fuck it.
"Alright," I muttered to them nodding as I approved their intentions for me. Melanie purred with satisfaction and leaned in and kissed me. Her lips tasted like tequila and I surrendered myself to the taste of them. I kissed her back letting instinct guide me on this new road. I ran my fingers through her long silky black hair, as my tongue danced with hers. I felt her breasts press against me as she leaned in against me and deepened the kiss.
I felt her hands move down and took hold of my belt to release the buckle, or maybe it was Miltia's hands. My heart raced as I felt their fingers work, the soft clink of metal as it was freed and they opened the fly of my pants. I could hardly believe that this was actually happening.
I moaned into the kiss as I felt confident hands pull me free and stroke me gently. The kiss broke between Mel and I. I looked over and saw Mil gazing at me hungrily with her emerald green eyes as she ran her hand gently up and down my length. I could only smile at her in approval.
She leaned in and kissed me, harder and fiercer than I expected from her. The spiced rum she had been drinking was still on her lips and for a second time I got lost in the kiss feeling her hand work my tool as Melanie's hot mouth came down on it, sending my night into a whirlwind of ecstasy.