"I'll swallow my blood before I swallow my pride." ~ Al Capone
"That is quite a story Mr. Arc," Ozpin mused to me the morning after I had spotted and stopped the Atlesian in the club trying to take Velvet.
"So what do you make of it?" I asked him, lighting a cigarette and looking out the window to the street outside my apartment. "The clan is getting ready to go to war with the Altesians if Nicky doesn't deliver justice to Junior."
Ozpin chuckled, "justice is a funny way to describe what he is going to ask for but yes, if this leads to a war then it could very well put a damper on Junior's other criminal enterprises."
"You mean the dust robberies," I said knowing that Ozpin cared about only one thing in regard to the Clan's so called criminal enterprises.
"Indeed I do Mr. Arc," Ozpin admitted to me.
"So you want the Clan to go to war?" I asked him, finding the thought a little disconcerting. If half of what O-Ushi had told me about the Altesians being at war was like it sounded like the last possible thing anyone could want. She had told me that nothing was held back or off limits to them, it would doubtlessly be bloody.
"Right now Mr. Arc the Atlesians are the enemy of my enemy, certainly not friends by any means, but a welcome thorn in both Junior's and Roman's sides. If it leads to war then I would be a fool not to take advantage of the situation." Ozpin explained to me.
I didn't say anything to that. So far I had nothing but hatred for the Atlesians and what they had done. "I found something on the guy I caught," I explained to him, "a matchbook for some bar on the west side of town near the railyards."
"That is one of the areas the Atlesian's have claimed as their territory," Ozpin mused, "what of it?"
"If they have control of the rail yard I was thinking it might be a part of their smuggling operations," I explained to him, "After what happened to Velvet I was wondering if maybe it would be worth checking out, it might even be a part of their human trafficking operations."
"I can certainly talk to my friends in the police department about looking further into it," Ozpin said. "What is the name of the bar?"
"The Caboose," I answered him feeling more than a little let down with his response, "I can look into it myself maybe, take a car and just get a look at the area."
"You are not a detective Mr. Arc, and that area would be very dangerous. The Atlesians probably have already heard of you and I have no doubt that they would take advantage of you sneaking around in their territory. Focus on your current task before setting your sights on the rest of the criminals in Vale. Leave it to the proper authorities." he told me.
I wanted to protest. I didn't have any real hope that the police would make any significant breakthroughs considering so many cops in the Vale Police Department were already on the payroll. Bribing cops and public officials to keep their noses out of criminal operations were par for the course in this kind of life. Even if Ozpin did have some trustworthy badges to send in I knew that the corrupt ones would do everything to slow them down. It could take months for anything to happen and by them the Atlesians's would have burned down their operations and changed to something else. Nothing would change the worst people would probably get away.
"Mr. Arc?" Ozpin asked, pulling me away from my thoughts.
"Yes?"
"How are you holding up?" he asked me in a serious but friendly tone.
The question took me by surprise, "What do you mean?"
"We usually have these calls much earlier in the day, but this time and the last you were rather late," he explained to me.
That was because both times I had slept over at the Malachite's apartment and wasn't able to get back in a timely manner. "I was just a little busy," I explained to him using a half truth, "I'm out all night with these people and when you drink like we do couch crashing is pretty normal."
"I understand that your situation must be difficult," Ozpin said to me, sounding sympathetic, "you're doing this with no friends and no allies and I would understand if you felt lonely and afraid undergoing all of this."
Lonely? Maybe only a little. But that was a loneliness I was accustomed to. Faking my way into Beacon and pretending that I was something I wasn't had been the same kind of lonely. It wasn't that I lacked company, it was that I couldn't be honest with those I was around. But afraid? My fear of these people had been slowly dissolving as I became more and more acquainted with the life. Hell Junior had even stood up for me last night after I had beaten that guy to a pulp.
"I'm fine," I assured him, lying through my teeth.
"Good, you're doing excellent work Mr. Arc so hold your course," he told me before he hung up.
I hid my scroll back inside the useless electrical outlet and dressed for my day to make collections wondering just what kind of course Ozpin had set me on. I felt like I was stumbling in the dark through this mission. Maybe I could have told him about everything, but the last thing I wanted was for him to pull the plug on my work and ruin my chances of becoming a huntsmen.
Around late afternoon that day I got lunch with Toshi after I had dropped my collections off at O-Ushi's. We stopped at one of the finest ramen houses in the entire city, I got my usual bowl of pork miso ramen.
"I was talking to Tonen earlier today," Tosi explained as I gathered the delicious noodles on my chopsticks, "he says he's going to suggest I officially be welcomed into the clan… as a full member."
"That's awesome!" I said looking up from my steaming bowl, "congratulations my man, we should celebrate! Are you up for some karaoke tonight? Maybe get some drinks and meet a couple girls?"
"Let's save the celebrations for when it happens," he said unable to hide his grin, "I don't wanna get my hopes up."
I chuckled at him, "it looks to me like you already got your hopes up dude," I said to him with a grin, "otherwise you wouldn't be telling me."
"Ok... maybe a little," he admitted, "but you're the only person I've told so keep this to yourself."
"I will," I promised him, "but what are you planning on doing once it's official?"
He shrugged, "I talked about that a little bit with Tonen, he said he'd help me set up a used car dealership and sell some of his vehicles, then maybe I could look into starting some of my own businesses."
I chuckled, "before long I might be calling you boss."
"Don't get ahead of yourself," he grinned, "there's no way O-Ushi would even let go of a Gentleman like you."
I sighed, it had only been last night but already that name was starting to stick with everyone. "Word gets around fast," I said, scratching the back of my head with embarrassment.
"You mean about you beating some manners into that Atlesian?" He asked with a proud smile, "I doubt anyone in the clan hasn't heard about that yet."
I shrugged, "I just did what I could," I told him, "it was no big deal, I just got lucky."
"Well Gentleman I could sure use those fists of yours again today," he said, picking up his ramen bowl to drink the remaining broth. "I caught word that one of the stands selling our bootlegs has also been dealing with the 24k Dragons."
"You think they're selling drugs for them?" I asked, looking away from my own bowl. If one of our sellers was working under the table with the Dragons then it meant that Toshi and I could be held accountable.
"I wanna find out," Toshi told me, setting his empty bowl down on the table.
"Then let's go," I said, slipping down the broth of my ramen and leaving a generous tip. We took Toshi's car and sure enough we found one of the stands outside a shop that was selling our pirated dvds.
"Hey Jing," Toshi greeted looking over his table. The moves and video games and other cheap fake merchandise crowded the stand.
"Toshi, Jaune!" Jing greeted us with a grin, "I thought I already gave both of you your money this week. By the way I need more copies of Third Crusade, they've been selling very well."
"We'll keep that in mind," I told him, trying to be friendly and not accuse him outright. "And this isn't about the money, you're all paid up."
"We are here because Han told me you were making deals with the 24k Dragons," Toshi clarified. "Is that true Jing? Are you selling drugs for them?"
Jing chuckled, "I don't know what Han is thinking... dudes… that's bullshit you have to believe me he's fucking lying."
"Then let's check your goods," I suggested, "there's no point in waiting, let's have a look at what's on you."
Jing stood up and pulled his coat open, "I got nothing on me!" he said, pulling his pockets out for us to see little more than lint and a pack of cigarettes.
"But you got a van right?" I said knowing that he had more than just this simple stand's worth of bootlegs on him. "Show us the van, if it's clean we're done here and we'll see about getting you copies of Third Crusade."
Jing nodded and led us down the alley. The fact that he didn't even ask anyone to watch his stand was already suspicious to me. We reached his van and he opened the back up for the both of us to inside. I pulled out a box filled with our bootleg movies and video games.
The next thing I heard was Jing sprinting down the alley away from us. We turned around and dropped the boxes to run after him, he barely made it fifty feet before Toshi caught him by his jacket and punched him across the face.
"Son of a bitch ! Why are you running!?" Toshi said, throwing him up against the wall and delivering several more smacks across his cheek.
"Fuck Toshi I'm sorry dude I'm fucking sorry," Jing stammered with blood and tears steaming down his face. Toshi punched him again in the stomach making him double over so he could bring his knee up.
"Why did you run!?" Toshi asked again, smashing Jiro's back into the wall once more.
I was already back to checking the van and was throwing open the boxes and pulling out our merchandise. Sure enough I found a bag full of pills near the back and I held it up for Toshi to see. "Yup, we got pills here," I told Toshi as he proceeded to treat Jing's face as a punching bag.
"I'm sorry," Jiro cried through a bloody nose, "It's just that stuff moves man, that bag alone is worth more than all those disks. It sells so well, do you know how much some of these gamers will pay just to stay up all night."
"So sell some fucking energy drinks! Not drugs you fucking rat!" I spat at him pulling more bags out of the van.
"Did the 24k Dragons sell it to you?" Toshi asked as I threw the bag onto the street and proceeded to crush the little white pills with my shoe till it was a powder.
"Yeah," Jiro said, sadly looking at the pills being destroyed right before him. "But I've been buying directly from a dealer."
"Where?" Toshi asked him, stepping away to let him whimper in pain.
"Jun's place on 86th," Jiro answered him as I poured the powdered pills out all over the alley, "He's been selling it out of his apartment for the Dragons."
Toshi gave him one final right hook to his chin and turned. "You don't work for us anymore, and you're lucky you're already paid up or we would be taking everything you got on you," Toshi told him while walking away with me.
"What am I supposed to do?" Jiro called after us. "If I don't pay the Dragons back for those pills they're gonna do something horrible to me."
"You think I give a fuck!?" Toshi called back to him.
"You got a van Jiro, I suggest you put this city in your fucking rear view mirror," I told him as I walked away with Toshi.
We got back to the car and I lit up a cigarette. "So what now?" I asked him.
"Let's pay Jun a visit," he said lighting his own smoke, "If he's gotten to one of our guys then he'll try to get some more so we nip this in the fucking bud before it becomes a real problem."
I nodded, our business was in trouble so we needed to step in and protect it. While we drove we talked about other measures we would have to take to make sure that none of our other employees were pushing drugs alongside our bootlegs. If the rest of the Clan found out we'd look like chumps or worse they might think we were using our little hustle to move drugs for the Dragons. That was unacceptable, especially with Toshi trying to get made.
We stopped on 86th street and looked over at his apartment. "So do you know this guy? Do you think he's home?" I asked him.
"Didn't you hear Jiro? He's working from home, he's probably in here all day," Toshi said opening the car door and marching right for the front door, "and if he isn't home then we'll let him know we dropped by," he said kicking it right open. "Jun!" he called stepping in, " Jun you fat fuck are you in here!?"
I stepped in behind Toshi as we stepped into a hall and sure enough we spotted him standing up from a chair with four other guys already in there from him. I spotted a number of the drugs on the table along with fat stacks of lien. For a second I thought I recognized the four others with him. I noticed that they were armed and a look at the mace hanging from the hip of the biggest guy made me suddenly recognize all of them.
"Cardin!?" I said feeling an icy chill go down my spine. He was wearing a cheap grey shit instead of his usual combat attire or uniform that I was accustomed to seeing him in but the minute I looked into his blue eyes I could see that it really was him.
"Jauney boy!?" Cardin said with a predatory grin, "what brings you here?"
"You know this guy?" Toshi asked, turning to me with a raised eyebrow.
"We were at Beacon together," I said to him before looking back to Cardin and the rest of Team CRDL. "What are you doing here?"
"Business," Cardin said, simply stepping close and staring me down. "What are you doing here Jauney boy?"
I didn't understand how this could possibly be happening right now but I knew we needed to get the fuck out of here right now. Toshi and I were outnumbered and I knew from personal experience that Cardin and his friends were no pushovers.
Toshi spoke immediately, "Jun here has been dealing drugs on Clan turf! This ends now!"
I put a hand on Toshi's shoulder to try to calm the guy down before this turned into a fight we couldn't win. "Keep away from our people," I told Jun trying to lay it down in a reasonable fashion, "we know you've been selling to Jiro so we're here to put our foot down."
"Or else things will get ugly Jun!" Toshi cut in.
I wanted to choke the son of a bitch. I don't know if it was because he was possibly going to be joining the Clan or if he really didn't understand how bad this situation was but he wouldn't shut up.
"Ugly?" Cardin said, stepping between Toshi and Jun with his imposing figure. "Are you threatening my boss's associate?"
"Damn straight!" Toshi growled at him. "This is Junior's neighborhood and-."
Toshi never finished the sentence before Cardin punched him right in the stomach, making him keel over in pain.
"Fuck!" I said seeing the situation deteriorate before my very eyes. I reached for my snub nose revolver. It was my only weapon. I barely managed to pull the little revolver free before Cardin caught my wrist and punched me across the face. My aura shielded me from the blow but the force of it still sent me stumbling backwards and crashing into the wall.
"Look at this little peashooter!" Cardin said holding up my revolver. "Looks like Jauney boy here upgraded his arsenal," he laughed, throwing the pistol down to my feet and stepping forward as Russel came forward and sent Toshi down with a swift kick and Dove did the same. Poor Toshi, he had aura but it meant little against the three of them. Meanwhile Cardin was giving me a painful reminder of what my short time in Beacon had been like.
"I must say Jauney boy, I never expected you to be the kind of guy to be working for Junior," he laughed, taking his bulky mace up and sending me crashing into the drywall with a mighty swing. "I didn't think you had it in you to do this kind of work. I'm actually a little impressed Jauney boy."
"What are you doing here Cardin?" I asked him, picking up a lamp and desperately swinging it at him only for it to shatter harmlessly against his aura.
"Same thing as you," Cardin said, smashing his mace against me making the dryway against my back crumble, "Beacon booted me out so I found a line of work that could use my services. And by the look of things I'm a lot better at it than you are."
He kicked me right in the sternum and sent me right through the cheap flimsy wall. I crashed into a bedroom and scrambled through the door and moved around back into my living room. I spotted my gun on the floor and leapt and grabbed it. Before I could even raise it Cardin's foot stomped down and pinned my hand.
His mace came crashing down on my back again and again, the floor beneath me cracked as my aura flared to protect me and eventually gave out, shattering into specks of white light. The mace dropped from his hand and he picked me up and proceeded to punch the snot out of me until I heard my nose break with a wet crunch and blood gushed out.
He dropped me down as I tried to struggle and I broke the coffee table scattering the drugs and money all over the floor. He then proceeded to kick me again and again in the ribs. It was agony, I couldn't breathe and even though I clutched my gun I hardly was able to use it.
"Cardin!" I heard someone shout at him and the kicking stopped. I looked up to see that it had been Sky who had spoken.
"Dude," he said, laying a hand on his shoulder, "that's enough, Michail said we can't kill any of Junior's guys, he's had enough."
Michail. That fucking Atlesian piece of shit. I hadn't even seen the guy but just hearing this name sent my blood boiling. That sex trafficking drug dealing son of a bitch was why he was here. I almost wanted to try shooting him but I knew it would be helpless, Cardin would probably cave in my skull before I could get a second shot off and his aura was definitely close to full.
"And you're trashing my apartment," Jun said to him. Jun must have been pretty fucking dumb to think that he could still live here once news about his little drug dealing gig got around.
Cardin grunted but sighed before lifting me up and leaning in close. "You and your friend better leave our dealers the fuck alone Jauney boy," he snarled in my ear, "this isn't Beacon Jauney boy, there's no teachers or anyone to hold me back so if you even think about threatening our dealers again… well next time I'll put you through a tougher wall. Now get the fuck out of here!"
I stumbled away tucking the gun back into my hoster before I grabbed Toshi so we could stumble outside and back into his car. We were bloody messes, Toshi's face looked like mincemeat and looking into the mirror side view mirror I saw that I was just as bad if not worse. I was black and blue from Cardin's beating and my broken nose was making this weird little whistle noise as I breathed. Everything hurt as I moved.
We didn't say anything as he drove away. We felt like a bunch of chumps running away with our tails tucked between our legs for the hospital. Toshi and I barely spoke to each other and by the time we left the hospital with bandages on our noses and ribs along with ice packs to bring down the swelling we were pretty tired so Toshi decided to take me home. "You know Jun is going to go after our people even harder now right?" I asked him finally to break the silence between us.
"You think he'd dare?" Toshi asked him. "This is still Clan turf and he should be trying to keep his head down."
"I know Cardin," I explained to him. "He'll make sure that this brings me down."
"That's bad," Toshi said.
"Maybe we should ask for some help from the Clan," I explained, "if Jun is buying drugs from Michail then that's violating the treaty."
"And?" Toshi said, grabbing a cigarette as he drove and letting me light it for him. "This is our business, if I can't keep it under control without going to Tonen then I'm going to look like a chump to the Clan."
"The Clan exists to help each other," I said to him. "And these aren't just some punks without aura, they were in Beacon, they know how to fight."
"I don't know Jaune," Toshi sighed as he pulled up by my apartment, "I just don't know right now… let's just sleep on this."
I nodded and said my goodbyes before getting out of the car and going up to my apartment.
"What happened to you!?" Hana asked me as I passed her on the stairs.
"The life," I said to her simply.
"Do you need anything?" She asked clearly, understanding my answer just fine.
"Just rest," I told her, wanting my aura to return soon so it could begin healing all the bruises and cracked bones.
When I got into my room and locked the door the first thing I did was pull the couch out and take out the hidden scroll and call Ozpin. He didn't pick up so I just waited and tried to think about what to do about Cardin.
I wanted to get help before the situation got worse but Toshi was clearly worried about what it would do to his image. I bet the fact that he was being considered for entering the clan was why he was hesitant to invite our bosses to help. And as much as I wanted to get other people to help with this I realized that it could very well reflect on my reputation with the clan as well.
I looked at my snub nose revolver sitting in its holster on the table in front of me. I hadn't even fired a shot as Cardin knocked me around and I couldn't help but think what would have happened if I had.
Sure a single round wouldn't have gone through Cardin's aura. But if a second or third shot did then what? It wasn't like Goodwitch would tell us to stop the fight, the bullet after that could have easily killed him. Big as Cardin was without his aura a bullet was still a bullet. As much as I despised Cardin I didn't want to kill him or any of his teammates.
Eventually I managed to get a call through to Ozpin. "Mr. Arc… I wasn't expecting to hear from you again so soon. Has there been a development?"
"I'll say," I told him, "it's name is Cardin fucking Winchester, he and the rest of Team CRDL are working for those fucking Atlesians rats. And he just beat the shit out of me and my friend Toshi."
Ozpin was quiet for a second. "I see," he said simply.
"You see!? You fucking see!?" I said to him. "How the hell did this happen?"
"Calm down Mr. Arc, there's no need for vulgarities. Mr. Winchester and his team were expelled a little over a month ago. They played a cruel prank on Miss Nikos during a field trip, they unleashed a number of rapier wasps on her and she suffered from a severe allergic reaction. They had to get a bullhead to airlift her to the hospital."
I remembered Coco's story from just last night and clenched my fist to think that Cardin had been the one to do that to Pyrrha. "So you expelled him and his team for that," I said, finding the idea satisfying save for the fact that I was in pain now because of his expulsion. "And now he and his goons are hired muscle for the Atlesians."
"It happens," Ozpin said, "sometimes when students fail initiation or are expelled they try finding employment that can make use of their combat capabilities."
"Like hired muscle," I said sourly.
"Yes," Ozpin agreed, "that happens from time to time."
I remembered how O-Ushi told me that I wasn't the first washout from Beacon and that suddenly made sense to me. "So what should I do?" I asked him. "Cardin was protecting this guy who's been recruiting some of my guys to sell drugs from him. He's going after my business and he made me look like a pushover. And that's not helpful to my mission."
"I understand that Mr. Arc but I fail to see what I can do about it." He said, "I cannot step in."
"I understand that," I told him. "But what should I do? I could really use some advice right about now."
"I am afraid I don't have any answers for you Mr. Arc," Ozpin told me, "Can't you call on Junior and O-Ushi for help in these matters? Isn't that what these criminals claim this Clan is all about?"
"I can," I told him bitterly.
"Then do that," Ozpin instructed me, "I'll be in touch."
The call ended and I was left alone with only my thoughts towards the problem. Ozpin didn't understand what he was asking for. Yes the Clan takes care of it's people but if you want to move up then you can't just go crying to your boss over every little thing. And the last thing I wanted to do was go behind Toshi's back and make him look weak. I tried justifying that with my mission, if Toshi was allowed into the Clan then I would have another friend in a position of power. But honestly a part of me just didn't want to do wrong by him. He was a good friend and I wasn't going to betray that friendship.
And what's more I wanted to get even with Cardin. My pride had been wounded as well and I started to think about how I would make this right.
I put the scroll back and moved to my closet searching the corner where I could find it. A short sawed off pump shotgun that I had taken from one of the 24k Dragons the night I met Mel and Mil. I had put it in the cab and later stowed in away since I had no idea what I was going to do with the thing. But right now I knew that if I was going to handle Cardin and his team I was going to need something more than my little .38 snub nose.
I ejected the shells that had been in there since I first got it and looked at the little red plastic rounds considering my options. I wasn't going to kill anyone but I was going to make sure that the next time I faced off against Cardin that I was ready.
I remembered that night O-Ushi and her guys busted up that chop shop run by the dragons and I thought about Kaiu using rock salt in his shotgun rather effectively. I searched my wallet and found the card he had given me and called his indoor range.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Kaiu? This is Jaune… we uh met," I began.
"Oh I remember you," he said with a chuckle, "What can I do for a Gentleman such as yourself?"
"I got a problem and I need some firepower to deal with it," I explained to him.
"I see… how about you come on by first thing in the morning and I'll get you set up," he said with evident satisfaction in his voice.
"Thanks," I said to him before hanging up and looking through my contacts. I was going to get the Clan to help me, but I wasn't going to go to Junior or O-Ushi. I was going to get what friends I did have and make this right. I called Melanie and Miltia next knowing that they weren't the kind of girls to sit out a fight.
I didn't need any bosses to settle this. I had friends I could turn to.