"I'm a kind person, I'm kind to everyone, but if you are unkind to me, then kindness is not what you'll remember me for." ~ Al Capone.
Sure enough first thing in the morning I met Kaiu at his indoor range first with the sawed off shotgun I had looted from the Dragons. The place was closed so I parked back and he let me in through the back of his business.
"Morning Gentleman," Kaiu greeted me as I entered in with the sawed off shotgun stuffed in a bag, "what you got there?"
I set the bag on the table and pulled out the old shotgun. "I was thinking I could get some shells for this from you," I explained to him.
Kaiu looked at the shotgun I set on the table like I had thrown down some garbage and he picked it up to inspect. "Are you sure you don't just want a new shotgun? What trashcan did you even get this from?" He asked me as he stripped apart the gun and inspected it piece by piece frowning at the spots of rust and the tape around the sawed off grip.
"I took it from a Dragon," I explained to him.
"No wonder it's a piece of shit. I can get you something better than this street trash if you want. What's the occasion?" He asked me.
"I just need it to teach some guys a lesson," I told him, "not kill anyone, just make them hurt."
He looked up at me and motioned to his face, "Same guys that left you black and blue?" he asked me, indicating my bandaged nose and bruised face. My aura was starting to return and was working to heal my wounds but even after a full night sleep my face was still a mess.
"Yeah," I said scratching the back of my neck, "Normally I'd just get a bat or a crowbar but you see these guys are packing aura so I need something that can take down their aura fast. Do you have anything like that rock salt that could maybe do the trick?"
He set the disassembled gun down one the table and tapped his finger. "Rock salt might do something to their aura but if you want something that's gonna hit them hard… I think I might have something for you."
He left for a moment and returned with a box of shells. "A client of mine wanted these for a bank job but he got pinched before the heist and never collected," he explained pulling out the green plastic shell and holding it up for me to see.
"What's so special about them?" I asked him.
"They're custom bean bag rounds," he explained with a proud smile, "I filled them with gravity and lighting dust, they'll hit like a brick and give those bastards a good shock. If that doesn't send them the message they'll feel like they got lead weights on their legs and they'll just be begging for a beat down."
"That sounds perfect," I said to him, inspecting one of the shells, "how much?"
"I'll give you the whole box for two hundred," he explained to me.
"Two hundred!?" I asked, finding that to be way steeper than I was expecting to pay. "I could just get myself another gun for that."
"Hey man, these are top quality," he assured me. "Plus dust prices are at an all time in case you haven't noticed, two hundred is a bargain."
I found that rather peculiar. Ozpin had sent me here because he suspected that the Clan was colluding with Torchwick on the dust robberies, but it seemed the shortage was even affecting Kaiu. I would have thought that one of the Clans arms dealers would have access to dust others didn't, but it seemed that wasn't the case.
"Alright," I said, pulling out a roll of lien and counting out the bills. "You got anything else for me? I suppose I shouldn't just have one trick up my sleeve when I visit these guys." I asked him, thinking that going in with all my eggs in one basket wouldn't be the smartest way to face Cardin and his team.
"I got some flashbangs I've been meaning to get rid of," Kaiu explained to me, "you could blind and disorient these guys before you start blasting them with those shells."
"How much?" I asked him again, liking the idea.
"These aren't exactly the easiest things to get a hold of," he explained to me, "take two of them for another hundred and I'll throw in a baton, you can beat the shit out of them with that." He pulled one of the weapons out and snapped his wrist letting the telescoping club extend out for me to see. "Easier to carry around than a bat or a tire iron."
I counted out the bills. "How about an extra fifty lien and I get some practice on your range?" I explained to him, "I haven't exactly used that gun or any gun before."
"Deal!" he said with a satisfied grin.
We shook hands and I handed over the cash. He helped show me how to operate the shotgun as well as my revolver and proceeded to let me practice till my heart was content and my wrists were sore. He had me practice reloading in a timely manner and even timed me as I fired on multiple targets.
I wasn't going to win any shooting competitions but in a few hours I was more confident and comfortable with the guns and I was at least fluid with reloading them. He even taught me a few dry fire exercises I could practice at home to keep what skills I did acquire polished. After that day I started making weekly visits to Kaiu's range.
I said goodbye to Kaiu as he started opening the range up and I stowed away the shotgun and flashbang in my car as I went to get a late breakfast.
I walked into a diner I had chosen for a meet up and waved to the waiter who I had become accustomed to seeing during my weekly collections. I asked him for an order of pancakes and some coffee and paid him. At the corner booth at the end I spotted Melanie and Miltia waiting for me already having ordered their food.
"Hey," I greeted them approaching the booth, "thank you for coming."
"Woah… like please tell me that the other guy is in a hospital or a grave," Miltia said looking at my bruised up face.
I scratched the back of my head as I scooted into the booth next to her. "That's uh… why I'm here," I explained, "the guys that did this to me have been trying to use my bootleg sellers to move drugs for the Altesians, they roughed me and Toshi up bad yesterday."
"You should tell O-Ushi," Melanie said, "she'll help you straighten them out, probably with a few strikes of her hammer but they'll get the message."
"I don't want Toshi and I to look like a couple of pushovers," I explained to them, "that's why I'm asking for your help to deal with the muscle," I explained to them, "These guys that thrashed us up… I knew them back at Beacon, they're tough and they had us completely outnumbered."
"Do you know where to find these guys?" Miltia asked me.
"I know where the guy who'd been giving my employees the drugs was, he might still be there," I told them, quietly as the waiter brought me my pancakes and coffee. "I'm pretty sure I can get him to call them for help."
"Well I'm sold," Melanie said, she picked up a piece of bacon from my plate and smiled at me, "I can't just let a pack of drug dealing bastards rough up one of my boy toys and get away with it."
"Thanks," I said with a blush and turned to Miltia, "what about you Mil?"
She shrugged noncommittally, "what's in it for me?"
"Well… what do you want?" I asked her.
"Ah! Good thinking Militia!" Melanie said with a greedy smirk. "How about dinner, at Georgetti's!"
"Really? You want a date?" I asked them.
"An expensive date!" Miltia giggled maliciously, "we'll also hit up a nightclub and you're going to pay for our drinks and dance your ass off with us."
I should have known that this wasn't going to be free. But a full night out with the twins wasn't exactly what I had expected. It'd be fun, even if they were certainly going to drain my wallet dry.
"Deal," I told them, cutting into my pancakes.
We ate breakfast together with a little small talk before laying down a heft tip and leaving. I called Toshi as we went out to the car together ready to put my plan into play.
"Hey man, what's up?" He asked when he picked up.
"My aura is back and the worst of it is already patched up. How are you holding up?" I asked him.
"Still healing," he told me bitterly.
"I'm going to deal with Cardin and Jun," I explained to him.
"Dude… we just got thrashed up yesterday," he told me, clearly worried that I was going to have another more serious trip to the hospital.
"And my aura is back," I explained to him, "and I got some extra muscle with me, I'm going to take care of this."
"I said I didn't want to get our bosses involved, we need to take care of ourselves!" He protested as I climbed into the driver seat with the twins settling into the passenger side like they did.
"No bosses," I told him, "just friends and some extra firepower I got from Kaiu, the clan takes care of their own right?"
I heard him release a sigh of relief into his scroll, "don't get hurt man," he told me.
"I won't," I said to him confidently, "leave it to me, and get better."
"Good luck," he said to me before hanging up.
"How's Toshi?" Miltia asked me.
"He's not doing so hot," I explained to them, "he got it a lot worse than I did, I just had to deal with one guy knocking me around, he had three."
"So it's just the three of us?" Melanie asked me.
"Yup," I told them, pulling out of the parking lot and driving for Jun's place.
"So this Cardin asshole was at Beacon with you?" Miltia asked me watching as the neighbor passed by out the window.
I sighed, "Yeah… he gave me a real hard time."
Melanie giggled, "oh… so this is a little personal?"
I shrugged, "Maybe a little," I admitted, "but it's business first."
I parked a little ways from Jun's place so no one would see my conspicuous looking car pulling up and I pulled the bag with the shotgun from my trunk just in case I found Cardin there with Jun like last time and walked the last block to his place hoping that Jun really was stupid enough to still be there.
I kicked down the door to Jun's apartment and walked right into his place. Sure enough the idiot was still sitting in his busted up living room in his chair playing some video games on this television.
"Shit!" Jun cursed scrambling for the window to escape but I caught him by the collar of his shirt and threw him to the ground.
I punched him several times in the face again and again. "You should have left when you had the fucking chance," I said bloodying his nose before picking him up and throwing him against the wall where I pinned him.
"Cardin said-," Jun sputtered only for my fist to interrupt him.
"Cardin isn't here!" I growled at him, "he can't protect you right now! And if you want to see tomorrow you're going to listen to me!"
I jabbed a fist into his stomach and made him double over in pain. "You're going to call him and his team here," I told him, "right now!"
Jun's eyes went wide as he realized what I was asking him to do. He looked past me to the twins who were admiring my handiwork and realized that I was asking him to lure Cardin and his team into a trap.
"No!" he cried, "If I do that… Michail will kill me!"
I drew my .38 revolver and whipped him across the face with it before pressing the muzzle against his forehead. "What the fuck do you think I'm going to do with you?" I bluffed, pulling the hammer back for emphasis. I wasn't going to kill him but I figured a gun to the head would be the best way to get through whatever fear he had of Michail or the Atlesians.
"I got his scroll right here," Miltia said to me tossing it in my direction to catch. I took it and held it up for Jun. "Call him… make up some reason for him and his team to get down here," I instructed him, "and don't even think about trying to warn him."
Jun was a sputtering hyperventilating mess as he took his scroll. There was no way he could call Cardin like this, a deaf person would have heard him panicking. "Take a deep breath and count to ten," I told him, pulling the gun away so he could take a moment to relax. If he didn't I just knew Cardin would see right through the call so I gave him several minutes to calm the hell down before making the call.
I stared him down and kept the gun at the ready while he called Cardin. "Make it convincing, I want all his guys to show up."
He put the scroll to his ear and I listened to it ring. "Hey Cardin… I'm getting ready to move my operation but I think Junior's guys are onto me, those guys from yesterday probably blabbed so I'm a little paranoid. Could you and your friends come down and see that nothing happens at the moment?"
There was a pause and Jun nodded. "Yeah I'll pay you for your time… nothing has happened yet but I saw this one car pass buy a few too many times… Alright… thanks I'll hang tight."
The call ended and he dropped the scroll. Jun looked like he wanted to collapse. "He said that he'll be here in twenty minutes with all his guys," he said, handing the scroll back to me.
I turned to the twins. "What should we do with this guy?" I asked the twins since they held a higher rank and more authority than me, "he's selling on Junior's turf."
Melanie looked Jun up and down, "What do you think Miltia? I think he could send a good message for the other dealers not to sell in Junior's neighborhood. Maybe we just bend Junior's rules a little bit today."
"You have a point Melanie… but that sounds like a little too much work," she said stepping forward and placing her claws beneath his chin. "And really messy, maybe we could just remove a few things and let him walk around the neighborhood without a nose or a hand. We can certainly take his balls."
"P-please," Jun whimpered as one Miltia's claws poked the thin flesh of his throat releasing a small drop of blood to stream a red line down his neck.
"What does the Gentleman here think?" Melanie asked me, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms under her breasts. "It was your business he was moving in on, I don't see why you shouldn't be the one to decide his fate."
I considered my answer. Letting a guy get dismembered in front of me was not how I wanted things to go down, but I couldn't appear weak to them. "How about we let him skip town and never come back?" I suggested to the girls.
"Y-yeah!" Jun agreed nervously, "I'll leave Vale… you won't ever see me again."
"If I do," I told him with a wave of my revolver. "Then you're going to end up in the trunk of my car!"
Jun nodded frantically, clearly understanding my threat very well.
Melanie shrugged having no issue with the arrangement, "Fine, you're lucky this Gent here has a sense of mercy… now get the fuck out of here!"
Jun stepped away from the wall and looked around at his apartment nervously. I saw his eyes go to his stash.
"What the fuck are you waiting for!?" I barked at him.
"I just need to grab…" He trailed off looking nervous.
"Your drugs!?" I asked him angrily. "Didn't you hear the lady!? Get the fuck out of here!"
Jun sprinted out and away before I could even kick him. He sprinted out the door with only the clothes on his back. I never saw him again. I had just run a guy out of home and town, but it was better than letting Melanie and Militia dice him up into little pieces.
"Are you sure that was the wise call?" Miltia asked me.
I shrugged pocketing Jun's scroll, "If he shows up then you can make as much of an example as you want out of him," I said. "Besides I'm pretty sure Michail won't forgive him for losing his drugs. He'd have to be both really brave and stupid to show back up in Vale."
"Well we know he's stupid," Melanie said, "but alright… let's wait for this Cardin guy to show up."
I pulled out the shotgun and loaded in Kaiu's special bean bag shells, and I prepared the flashbangs for them as well. We stepped into a coat closet to hide and waited for them to arrive.
"You know when we agreed to help you get these guys I wasn't expecting to hide in a closet waiting for these guys to show," Miltia complained, "it fucking smells in here."
"Good," I said to her, not exactly comfortable myself but I had little pity for the twins having to squeeze themselves in here with me. "I want to get my money's worth from you two."
Melanie groaned, "Oh come on Jaune! You're getting a date with the two of us out of this!"
"Yup!" I deadpanned, "And I know the two of you are going to bleed my wallet for everything it's worth."
"You bet I will now," Miltia grumbled, "ugh… this closet stinks. Did that bastard keep his farts in here?"
"Quiet!" I hissed at the two of them "I think I hear them."
Sure enough I heard the front door swing open and the fall of footsteps. "Jun?" I heard Cardin call into the house, "Are you in here?"
I held my breath and peeked out through the crack in the door watching as Cardin and his team walked right by calling for Jun. "Do you think something happened to him?" Sky asked Cardin as they settled around in the living room.
"This place doesn't look anymore fucked up than it did yesterday," Russel said looking at the damage that remained from yesterday's fight, "you think there would be signs if something did happen?"
I yanked the pin on the flashbang and released the safety lever before tossing it right out and into the living room and slamming the closet door before it could go off.
"What the?" I heard Cardin exclaim before the little stun grenade detonated with an ear piercing pop.
I saw the flash come through the bottom crack of the door and even though I was on the other side of the door the sound made my ears ring. I burst out of the closet and raised the sawed-off shotgun right for Cardin.
The sawed off roared and I watched as Cardin's aura flared up to shield him. The bean bag burst apart to release the dust. I watched as a faint black glow outlined Cardin to show that the gravity dust was weighing him down and the electric glittered and sparked with yellow flashes and arcs of lighting.
I worked the pump and ejected the shell as I moved to my second target. I pulled the trigger and shot Dove next making him fall as the dust electrocuted him and weighed him down to the floor. Pump, aim, shoot. Pump, aim, shoot. Just like I had practiced hours earlier on Kaiu's indoor range.
By the time I had managed to shoot each and every one of them Cardin was picking himself up and he glared right at me. He charged right at me with his mace in hand lumbering like a drunk urasi. I shot him a second time before he could even get close enough to swing his weapon at me.
The twins moved past me and attacked Cardin together. Miltia slashed at him as Melanie flipped a kick right into his chin. Cardin tried swinging his mace at them. He moved with all the speed and grace of a tortoise. His strike tore a chunk of drywall off as he put his back to me. He tried all he could to get a strike in but the twins moved as if they were a single graceful entity.
I opened the chamber of my empty shogun and dropped a shell into the gate. I closed, aimed, and fired hitting Cardin square in the back.
"Get the others!" I told the twins seeing that the three other members of CRDL were recovering and getting ready to fight.
"Right!," they said in unison, moving together passing by Cardin to get to his friends. Mel whipped around and kicked Russel across the face as Mil caught Dove's blade in her claws and raked a slash across his chest.
Cardin turned to me and lunged with all his strength to give a wide desperate swing in my direction. But it was slow and clumsy and I ducked the swing as I dropped another shell into the shogun. The mace crashed into the wall leaving a hole and as Cardin tried wrenching it free I fired point blank at him.
The force of the shot so close sent him reeling back. The hilt of his weapon slipped out of his fingers and I pressed my advantage. The accumulated power of the gravity dust as well as the electric shocks sent in sprawling. I reached for the collapsible baton and extended in with a flick of my wrist before mercilessly beating the living daylights out of him.
The steel club rose and fell again and again as I smashed it against his aura. I'll admit that after all the grief Cardin had given me I was enjoying this immensely. I thought about all the times he had bullied me at Beacon, the time he stuffed me in a rocket powered locker and sent it flying, how he had apparently hurt Pyrrha after I had left. But mostly I thought about the people that Cardin was working with and how much I despised them. He was working for Michail and that was all the justification I needed to hurt him.
His aura broke. Shattering into light I continued my assault on his unshielded face. The club smashed his nose, it chipped a tooth, it left marks and bruises. Cardin roared in agony. The gravity dust wore off and he finally managed to push me off of him with all his strength. I stumbled back gracelessly from the push as he tried to raise himself up and grab for his mace.
But it was too late. I was still running full on my aura and he was already out. I lunged for Cardin as he grabbed his mace and snapped the baton across his wrist breaking it. He growled in pain and tried punching me, only for his naked fist to smash against my aura harming him more than me. I cracked him in the knee cap and sent him down to see Russel moving in to help his partner.
I blocked several of his dagger swings and even managed to get a few solid swings in before Melanie rushed to deliver a roundhouse kick right to him and knocked him right into the wall. He hit the wall and I dropped my club to bring the shotgun back up. I ejected the spent shell still in the chamber and dropped a fresh one in. I hit Russel right in the sternum and blasted away his aura leaving him to spasm from the electric shocks and pulled to the ground from the gravity dust.
Dove tried coming at me with his sword but Melanie was ready by my side. Her shapely leg and bladed heel came up to deflect the sword thrust away as I readied another shell and blasted him to the ground. Melanie dropped her leg, finishing him off as I watched Miltia catch Sky's halberd in her claws and send him flying before lashing out with a flurry of slashes.
It was over. The fight had ended and I barely had a scratch on me. Cardin on the other hand was bleeding on the floor groaning in pain. He was trying to crawl to his friends and he looked up defiantly at me.
"Get up!" I hissed to him grabbing him by his shirt collar, "get the fuck up you piece of shit!" I forced him into the living room with the others kicking him to move and waving the sawed off around to make my point.
"Fuck you!" Cardin cursed earning a strike from the grip of my shotgun.
"You know, I have half a mind to take Nora's advice and break your legs right now Cardin," I said to him, putting the muzzle of the shotgun against his kneecap. I had no idea what kind of damage a beanbag would do at such a close range but I was sure it would be devastating on his leg.
"We won't stop you," Melanie said with a sadistic smirk.
Cardin looked away from me too proud to admit defeat but clearly understanding that he had been beaten in this fight. The tables had turned, he was now at my mercy.
I lit a cigarette to calm down and took a seat in Jun's chair with the shogun laying across my lap. "What am I going to do with you Cardin?" I asked looking at the rest of his team, "What am I going to do with any of you?'
"You were threatening one of Michail's dealers," Cardin said to me with a noncommittal shrug, "you're working for Junior so you clearly know how this is Jaune. It's business."
"Business!" I spat pointing the sawed off in his direction. "Junior doesn't push poison on the streets, Cardin! He doesn't kidnap women to be sold! If that's business to you then maybe I should have used buckshot instead of beanbags!"
I saw Cardin's eyes go wide the minute I mentioned his boss selling women. All of them seemed to be more than a little shocked at me mentioning it.
"We don't know anything about that!" Russel said, being the first to speak up. "We've only been helping protect his drug dealers!"
"We're just muscle," Cardin told me, looking me in my eyes, "I knew about the drugs sure but I had no idea about… that other stuff. Michail doesn't trust us with much, he just pays us to keep the dealers in line."
He didn't sound like a liar, and the look in his eyes was more than convincing. "He almost got Velvet," I growled angrily to him, "if I hadn't intervened then I don't know where she would be right now."
"I didn't know anything about that!" Cardin roared back at me.
"We had no clue," Sky assured me.
I sighed and blew out a cloud of smoke. "I'd like to have a word with them in private," I said to the twins.
"Are you sure?" Miltia asked me looking over the four of them.
"They're not going anywhere," I said waving my shotgun for emphasis. "We're going to reminisce about Beacon a little, have some guy talk."
Melanie gave them a look before shrugging, "Whatever, fire away if you need us."
They both turned and left with the rest of CRDL looking at them go. "I see your habit of befriending interesting girls hasn't changed," Cardin commented as they closed the door behind them leaving the five of us all alone.
"Yeah well… being a friendly guy certainly helps me make friends," I said to him leaning forward. "How did the four of you end up working for the Atlesians?"
"How did you end up working for Junior?" Cardin said, trying to answer my question with another question.
"I got a cab driving job from one of his bosses," I explained to him, "and then one thing led to another." I wasn't going to tell Jaune that I was actually spying on the Clan for Ozpin.
Cardin sighed listening to me. "I never took you as the type to do this kind of work Jaune… I'm surprised you can stomach it to be honest."
"Answer the question," I told Cardin, finished with the roundabout he was giving me.
He looked away with evident shame on my face. "I needed the money," Cardin told me plainly.
"He's in debt," Sky told me.
"Dude!" Russel said, elbowing his comrade.
Cardin only looked more embarrassed to have the truth bared like that.
"In debt to who?" I asked him.
Cardin was stone silent. He looked as stoic as a statue and I could see that he was deeply embarrassed by this.
"Who!?" I asked again.
"Some loan shark," Cardin admitted bitterly, "he heard I went to Beacon so he got me working as muscle for Michail."
"What about the rest of you?" I asked them.
"We needed work," Dove admitted with a shrug, "and we wanted to help out Cardin. Beacon or not he's still our leader."
I took a long draw off my cigarette and considered them. "What are you in debt for?" I asked Cardin.
"Does it matter?" Cardin retored bitterly.
"I suppose not," I admitted with a shrug, "how much do you owe?"
"Why does that fucking matter!?" Cardin spat.
"How much?" I pressed.
"Seventy five grand," Cardin quietly said after a long quiet pause.
"Seventy five?" I exclaimed in disbelief. I had no idea what Cardin could have needed that much money for but owning a loan shark money like that was explained why he was so desperate. People could end up losing their knee caps for less.
I considered my options as I finished my cigarette. I still hated Cardin, and while I hardly knew the rest of his teammates I certainly had plenty of resentment for all of them and the bullying they had done. Beacon felt like a long time ago but the wounds from their bullying were more than a little raw.
I snubbed out my cigarette and stood up from the chair. "Alright… I'm going to give the four of you two options," I explained to them, "I can do with you what I did to Jun, leave town and don't let me ever fuckings see you ever again. And trust me if anything happens to me the twins will make sure that justice is served. They're Junior's top enforcers so I wouldn't suggest fucking with them."
"And the other option?" Cardin asked me.
"I'll settle your debt Cardin," I told him, "you'll work for me."
Cardin snarled, "so you can nickel and dime me like Michail!? Fuck that!"
"I'm not going to nickel and dime you," I promised Cardin, "I got money, I'll pay your whole debt off at once." Seventy five thousand lien was certainly going to break the bank for me. I was certainly going to have to get some more cash if I was going to cover that. Not to mention I promised the twins an expensive date for all of this.
He took a long time to consider me. "What then?" he asked me.
"You help me straighten out my business," I said, "you help me kick the 24k Dragons and the other dealing in the neighborhood to the curb. As for the rest of you… I bet Michail isn't the generous type so whatever he's paying you I'll beat it."
They looked at each other clearly surprised. "You're offering us a job?" Dove asked, voicing his disbelief.
"I am," I said to them. "You guys said it yourselves you're just hired muscle, so I'm going to give you all a chance to be my hired muscle. You don't owe that son of a bitch Michail anything."
I looked at Cardin as his bruised and bloody face twisted in contemplation. Getting beaten in front of his own friends and having his assailant offer to settle his debts and give his friends a job was certainly a wound to his pride. But this wasn't Beacon, pride alone wouldn't get him much here and he knew that next time I really would break his legs or worse.
I offered Cardin my hand so he could pull himself up off the floor.
"Deal," he said, taking my offered hand. I helped pull him up and we shook to seal the deal.
"But if I find out that any of you had a damn thing to do with Michail trafficking flesh I'll fucking kill you all," I said making my point very clear. I meant every word of that, the drugs was one thing but trafficking people was something I would never be able to tolerate.
Cardin gave me a hard look in the eye and nodded. "Fair enough" he said, releasing my hand. I was sure then that they were telling me the truth.
The rest of them pulled themselves up off the floor. "I'll take the job," Russel said, "Michail has been paying us jack shit anyways."
"I don't want to work for some sex trafficking asshole," Sky agreed, "count me in."
"Fuck it," Dove said, "if you guys are in then what choice do I have?"
"Go get cleaned up," I said to them, "I'll call you all soon so we can get to work."
"Wait," Cardin said, putting his massive hand on my shoulder and stopping me.
"What?" I asked him, shrugging his hand off of me and turning to look at him once more.
"Jaune… if you want to deal with the 24k Dragons then I think I know who you should talk to," he explained to me seriously. "I think I know someone who can help you put an end to all of this, I can help you really screw Michail over."
I raised an eyebrow at him as I considered his words, "What are you talking about Cardin?" I asked him.
"Michail tried to get me to wack one of Ryu's lieutenants," Cardin explained to me. "He has apparently been speaking out against the drug trade so Michail and Ryu want him rubbed out of the picture. But this guy is well respected in the gang so they want him to be taken care of quietly."
"You mean there's a dissenter in the Dragons?" I asked him, seeing the opportunity unfolding before me. "You got a name for me?"
Cardin nodded to me. "Exactly, they're afraid of this guy and if I'm going to be helping you screw over Michail then I have no choice but to go all in."
"Does this guy have a name?" I asked him.
"Plenty within the 24k Dragons call him gold fist or Kin No Ken, but his real name is Kenzo," he told me, crossing his arms.
I remembered that name and thought back to the guy in that chop shop who sent me flying and kicked my ass. I remembered the regret he had displayed in fighting O-Ushi and the respect he tried to still give her despite being at odds. I put my arm around Cardin's shoulder as we left Jun's apartment together. "Tell me more," I told him.