"What do you mean, like do I carry a membership card that says "Mafia" on it?" ~ Willie Moretti.
With the war averted for a moment and a somewhat stable peace established I was able to throw myself fully into the business. I told Junior that night over the cigars that I wasn't sure what I should do with the money I made from the hit. He was thankfully sympathetic to my plight of having blood money so he suggested I simply invest it back into the neighborhood.
So I did.
I spoke to some of O-Ushi's accountants that actually kept track of the money and managed to get myself set up with a portfolio. I became partnered with more businesses and within the next week I was having team CRDL make collections for me. I was still O-Ushi's bagman but now I had so many investments to collect from that I needed the extra hands to collect all of them.
I invested in everything from toy stores to strip clubs, offering money and protection where I could. This meant that when some of these businesses had trouble they came to me to solve it.
This one strip club called The Red Lantern for example had an incident where one guy tried getting a little handsy with one of the dancers. When the bouncer tried intervening he got stabbed by the creep. The cops arrested him for assault but he didn't stay behind bars for very long and proceeded to stalk the dancer and even attacked her boyfriend one night. The owner asked me for help and we decided to run this guy out of town.
Cardin and his team's penchant for cruel pranks became a real help in this life. We decided to harass the guy and give him a taste of his own medicine. I managed to find the guy and I had Russel tail the son of a bitch. Within a day he learned where he worked, where he slept, where he got his fucking hair cut. I had Dove pay off his employer to fire his ass, I had Sky and Cardin wreck up his apartment while he was out. Cardin even broke the air conditioning and hid some bad meat in there so the place stank. When that didn't make the guy leave we upped the stakes. Russel I learned was pretty skilled at lifting cars so we stole his and parked it by a hydrant and filled the interior with cement after smashing it up so it would have to be towed.
A couple of badges spotted us doing this but they clearly saw that I worked for Junior so they only nodded at me and drove off letting us write some threatening graffiti on the dented hood.
After that and a few nights of throwing some bricks through his window the guy left town. The Red Light was grateful and handled the expenses for getting him to leave.
With CRDL working for me I started to get a handle on some of them and their skills. Russel as I had learned was pretty sneaky and good at stealing things, especially cars. He hadn't come from a privileged family so stealing was second nature to him. I had some of O-Ushi's drivers call him when they saw some wheels to boost. Some of the cars he delivered to Tonen's shop but since the Clan was getting chummy again with the 24k Dragons I arranged for some of the stolen cars to be delivered to some of their chop shops as well. They couldn't pay me as much as Tonen could but it helped improve relations and pretty soon I was helping finance some of their other operations.
Dove as it turned out had plenty of old friends from his old combat school that did amature tournament fights and with his suggestion I met with a couple of his old pals to get a gambling scheme together. We had them agree to draw out some of the fights so they would only end after a certain number of rounds. Dove would bet on his old friends to win after an exact number of rounds so we could get a pretty hefty payout. And since we weren't asking the fighters to take a dive and sacrifice their honor it went well.
With a half dozen tournament fighters on the take it managed to become a relatively lucrative racket gambling on fights. Dove was even sure that he could convince some of his old friends back at Beacon to throw their fights in the Vytal Tournament so we could make a bundle gambling on fixed games. The Vytal Tournament was still ages away but I looked forward to setting that up and collecting a hefty haul of lien.
But one of the biggest scores from that time was practically handed to me on a silver plate by Russel. He had an old friend that worked as a valet for some art gallery downtown and he wanted to use his friend to get the keys for some very nice cars to steal. I figured that pulling a heist or two of my own would be a good way to get closer to the dust racket so I agreed to meet with the valet and he gave me the lowdown on exactly what kind of cars to expect, to the locations of the security cameras, to where the security room with the guy watching the monitors was. I even got to know when the other valets were having a smoke.
It took over a week of planning but I was able to get everything together for my first real heist. I set Tonen up to take the cars off my hands and line up some buyers and talked Kenzo into coming along with some other members of the 24k Dragons that he trusted. I managed to plan it out and gave everyone their job.
The whole thing went down like clockwork. Russel was able to sneak into the building and knock out the rent a cop watching the camera feed while Cardin bullied one of the valets outside enjoying a cigarette to let us in. Russel's friend pretended to give up the keys at gunpoint and before any of the rich snobs in the art gallery knew what was happening we were driving away with ten stolen cars.
Driving down the street together in these slick rides was a hell of a rush. We had stolen over a million lien in wheels and got away with it. Naturally the money was divided up, between everyone that had stolen the cars including a bonus to Russel for finding this gig, his valet friend who was our inside guy and of course the cut that Junior and the bosses were owed. It didn't exactly make anyone rich but I made enough lien to buy my car back from Tonen. I was so happy to have that ride back. I'd become rather attached to it.
The rest of the money I used to buy some nice new cabs for O-Ushi, I officially became a part owner of the Rickshaw Cab Co. I had opened a money faucet, I had so much cash I had to start washing it with O-Ushi's money launderers and started tricking it into bank accounts we set up under fake names. I still paid for most everything with cash. Since stuffing an envelope behind my fridge wasn't any option anymore I had to buy a safe to keep in my apartment.
A week after I had attended the meeting with Junior I got a mysterious call from Toshi asking me to go to this little place in the neighborhood and keep my schedule clear for the next ten hours. The date I had promised the Malachite twins for helping me with Cardin was that night but I managed to arrange to make my collections later.
The shop Toshi asked me to go was small with just a single door with a single word painted on the door, Irezumi. I had no idea what that meant but I stepped inside to see a small shop with all kinds of tattoo designs and Toshi sitting in the corner looking through a display book.
"Why did you ask me to come here?" I asked him looking at the various tattoo designs that ornamented the wall. I was fascinated with the colorful and elaborate designs.
"I wanted you to celebrate with me!" He said standing up and grinning from ear to ear.
My eyes went wide when I realized exactly what he was talking about. "You got made!?" I said, happily embracing him.
"Last night," he told me, confirming my guess as to what had him so excited. "I didn't see it coming, Tonen just asked me to meet him and next thing I knew I was kneeling before Junior and pledging my life to the Kuroi Kuma Clan as he gave me my daisho."
"Tell me everything," I said, patting his shoulder wanting desperately to know what it was like to be welcomed into the Clan as an official member.
"Sorry but initiation is a secret, I can't say anymore," he explained, leading me to a seat. "Come on Gent, I got us a bottle of top shelf whiskey and a box of Vacuan cigars."
I looked back at the walls and the elaborate tattoos of dragons and geisha and koi fish. "You're getting tattooed?" I asked him.
"We're getting tattooed Gentleman," he said, picking up the design book and handing it to me. "Consider it my gift to you."
I opened the book and looked at a design of a tiger. "I… I don't know," I said to him, a little intimidated at the idea.
"Come on, all the big shots in the Clan get ink. This place is legit irezumi, I heard even Junior got his ink done here."
I had no idea what tattoos Junior had under his suits but I had no doubt they were elaborate and likely denoted his status. "What does that even mean? What's irezumi?" I asked him.
"It's old school Mistrali is what it means, they do it by hand with wood handles and metal needles instead of some fancy tattoo guns." He explained moving to a table and pouring me a drink. "Come on I don't want to do this alone Jaune."
"I'm not really in the Clan," I said, trying to get away with it. "I'm just an associate… I'll be calling you boss pretty soon."
"Plenty of associates get ink in Jaune, there's no rule against it." He explained to me. "Come on, I'm paying for your first session, these take a long time to get colored and finish so I want a buddy to go through with this."
I took the drink he offered me and took a sip as I looked through the catalogue. "This is a pretty big decision," I said, actually a little intrigued with the idea.
"Dude… I owe you for protecting our bootlegging racket," he explained to me. "You may not be a made man but you're as much a part of the Clan as I am. I probably wouldn't have gotten made if you hadn't done what you did. Not to mention the other things you've done for the Clan."
"Keep quiet about that," I hissed to him. "No one is supposed to know that I pulled the trigger on that hit."
"I know I know," Toshi said, grabbing a couple of cigars and clipping the ends for the both of us. "But that's my point, you've earned your stripes here Gentleman."
I honestly was more than a little interested at the idea. I had seen my share of Clan tattoos since coming here including the intricate Koi fish that ornamented O-Ushi's arms and the tigers on the Malachite twin's backs. What made me hesitate was the simple fact that I was here as a spy and leaving with Clan ink would be strange.
But considering that getting tattooed would only help cement my image with the Clan it didn't seem like a bad move. I decided that at best I could keep the tattoos as a memento for the occasion or worse case I could get them removed after this was done.
"Alright you win," I said to him, accepting one of the cigars and letting him light it with a match. "What do you think would suit me?" I asked him, flipping through the book.
"I was already thinking about that," Toshi said puffing on his own celebratory cigar and flipping to a page with a design he apparently had already chosen for me. I looked at a pair of elaborate looking mythical lions facing each other.
"They're Shisa, lion dogs that guard homes and temples. The one on the left always keeps its mouth closed to keep in good spirits, while the one on the right bares its fangs to ward off the evil ones. I thought it rather symbolic considering what you did with the 24k Dragons."
I looked at the design as it was meant to go on my chest trying to imagine myself with these twin lions. It was beautiful and it would only be one aspect of the tattooing I would receive as beyond the mythical lion dogs it would spread into dark waves and flowers into others. I flipped through the book finding a picture of an armored samurai with his katana only half drawn from its scabbard.
"You should get that on your back, a samurai is a servant as much as a warrior afterall," he suggested. "And no one can deny that you have served the Clan well."
I did like the image. The helmeted warrior with his face concealed by a mempo, it was hard to tell if the image was depicting him as drawing his blade or sheathing it. I supposed I liked that it was unclear which was happening.
Toshi chose a serpent that would coil around both his arms and across his shoulders but like many made Clan members he chose a Misatrali black bear tattooed on his back sleeping beneath a cherry blossom tree the symbol of the Kuroi Kuma Clan.
"Have you two made your decisions?" An old bald man asked us, stepping out and looking us both up and down.
"I think so," Toshi said, closing the catalogue. "Jaune, this is Akito, he's a master of the art and has given most of the Clan members their ink."
"Ah, you are the Gentleman I have heard about," Akito said, shaking my hand.
"I must be getting pretty popular," I said, giving his hand a firm but polite squeeze.
"Akito here used to be in the Clan," Toshi explained to me. "He's retired now."
"Retired as much as one can be from this life," Akito said with a smirk. "I still hear many things on the street and consult those who want to learn from my experiences."
We followed him into the back. "People come here just as much for advice as for the ink," Toshi explained as we got into the back room where several beds were waiting for us along with the various instruments of his trade. I gave the inks and needles a weary look still more than a little nervous about going through with this. An older grey haired woman was preparing everything.
"This is my wife Sara," he said motioning to a rack for us to hang out coats and shirts and other clothes.
"Pleasure to meet you," Toshi and I greeted giving her a bow.
"Good morning," she greeted back, taking a seat and motioning to the bed.
"Sara was in the clan with me back in the day," Akito explained as Toshi and I stripped off our jackets and shirts revealing our bare torsos before laying in the beds with our drinks and our cigars.
We explained our desired patterns and the two of them got to work preparing the stencils for the tattoos. I kept my aura down as Sara started outlining the samurai on my back. I winced at first from the needle and gripped the edge of my bed as I felt it pierce my skin.
"Is your aura unlocked?" Sara asked me as I gulped down more of my whiskey.
"Yeah," I groaned feeling her tap the needles piercing my flesh again and again.
"Activate it and try focusing it on the pain," she told me. "Keep your aura down so that I can apply the needles but if you concentrate on where you feel me applying the tattoo you can dull the pain of the needles. Think of it as a form of meditation."
I did just that as she continued to work the needles outlining the tattoo. It took me a little while to get the hang of what she had been suggesting occasionally shielding the stab of her needles with my aura. But eventually I managed to concentrate enough on the painful prickling sensation so that my aura was able to dull it.
"So any advice for a newly made man and an aspiring associate?" Toshi asked Akita and his wife as he tossed out his own cigar and reached for another.
"You think we have some kind of grand secret?" Akita chuckled, never looking away from his work.
"You both retired from this life, you must be doing something right." I pointed looking into the mirror on the wall that showed by bare back as the outline of the armored samurai took shape.
"I gave over twenty five years to the Kuroi Kuma Clan young man, and ten of those years I served behind bars," he explained to us.
"I joined the Clan to support him while he was in," Sara added. "I spent years smuggling him cigarettes and booze into the prison."
"What did you get pinched for?" Toshi asked Akita.
"Something I didn't do," Akita said simply.
"Really?" I asked him, finding the idea a little silly. We were all guilty of something.
"Really," Akita said seriously. "I kept my mouth shut when I took the stand, the guy who did do the crime helped to see that I was well taken care of behind bars."
"So you retired after doing your time?" Toshi asked him.
"I spent a couple more years back in the game. But after getting indicted a second time and dodging the charges I decided to retire, I wasn't about to spend another ten years in prison." He explained to the two of us.
"So what's the lesson here?" Toshi asked him.
"Know your limits?" I guessed taking a sip of my whiskey.
"Precisely," Sara said, keeping her hands working to outline the tattoo not missing a single beat as she spoke. "We have seen many a young man has passed through this shop thinking they are going to go far in this life."
"I was one of them," Akita said with a chuckle. "I was with "Papa" Hei Xiong back in the day, I used to think I'd get rich and connected enough to leave this city behind and start my own Clan somewhere else. Prison changed all that for me, it took me ten years behind those bars to learn that there were some prices I wasn't willing to pay." He looked over and smiled at his wife lovingly, "and I realized that some things were more important to me than those silly dreams."
I watched Sara return the affectionate smile as she continued her diligent work. I nodded in agreement of his wisdom. I could only imagine what kind of sacrifices Junior had to make in order to reach his current standing within the Clan.
"But what about those that did rise to the top?" Toshi asked tentatively.
Akita laughed. "Those people had everything I lacked," he explained to us. "They had charisma and cunning and willpower in spades but they also had luck on their side. Nobody ever said that Luca Torchwick didn't have luck on his side."
"Did you know him?" I asked. "Luca Torchwick I mean?"
"I met him once or twice," Akita said with a smirk. "He was quite eccentric as I recall."
"And charming," Sara said with a chuckle. "He was quite the ladies man, he asked me to dance once at the Moonstone club. That was back when Akita and I were only dating."
"I was so worried he'd steal you out from under me," Akita said. "This was back when he just started the Torchwick Family in Mountain Glenn."
I was surprised that these two had a history going back that far. "Did you know Roman back in the day?" I asked the two of them wondering what he was like back then."
"No I didn't meet Roman until after Mountain Glenn had been overrun by the grimm," Akita explained after taking a moment to think about it.
"I believe that night we met at the Moonstone Club was shortly after Roman left for his first year at Beacon Academy," Sara mused aloud.
"What!?" I exclaimed almost choking on my sip of whiskey. "Roman was at Beacon while his father was running the Torchwick family?"
"You didn't know that?" Akita asked me.
"I didn't know that," Toshi chimed in. "He was fucking accademy student before taking the throne of the family business?"
"That was a long time ago," Sara told us. "Back then Roman was the black sheep of the Torchwick family, it wasn't until he left that huntsman nonsense behind that he rejoined the family. I honestly never expected him to lead the family back then."
"Looks like you got something in common with him," Toshi said to me with a teasing grin.
Sara looked at me in the mirror. "You were a huntsman?" She asked me.
"I tried training to be one," I explained to them. "I got into Beacon with some fake transcripts and even managed to survive orientation, but I was eventually caught and given the boot. I sold my weapon and stumbled into O-Ushi's cab company."
"I see," Akita said, focusing on his work.
"Well whatever you did pick up at that fancy school I'm sure it'll help you in this life," Sara said to me.
"I hope so," I said, feeling that very little of it had helped me so far. Pyrrha unlocking my aura had so far been the only thing I could count on in this business. My combat classes had only taught me how to get my ass kicked and grimm studies had hardly given me to use against gangsters. My short time at Beacon was hardly a secret since I had told O-Ushi how I had aura, but with that lie being so close to the truth it still felt strange having everyone know about it.
We passed the hours sharing stories and jokes as we made our way through the bottle of whiskey and the box of cigars. It took five hours for them to finish outlining the armored samurai on my back. It looked pretty good even without it being colored. I was able to activate my aura and quickly hear the cuts from the needles only leaving my flesh colored from the ink. After that I turned around so the Shisa lions could be worked on. Akita switched places with his wife to work on my chest. Halfway through outlining the first one on my pectoral the conversation turned to business.
"What's your plan now that you're a made man?" I asked him.
"Tonen is letting me buy one of his dealerships but naturally I want to expand. I'll be leaving our bootlegging business completely in your hands." He explained to me a little buzzed from the bottle we had spent hours draining.
"So what new ventures are you planning on expanding into?" I asked him.
"How does a casino sound to you?" Toshi asked me with a satisfied grin.
"You mean an underground casino?" I asked him knowing full well that gambling was illegal in Vale.
"Yeah, I would need to find some business to set up in the back room or the basement but I'm hoping that if I can save up enough I can get it started, have some craps tables some cards and a lounge for sports betting." He explained flicking the ash off his cigar.
"If you want investors I'm in," I told him thinking it sounded like as good an investment as any.
"I figured you would be," he said. "But I'm going to need quite a bit of lien before I can even hope to set up that kind of operation, I don't mind you or some of my close friends investing but I want this casino to be my own thing."
"So you're looking to get some fast money?" I asked him, seeing an opportunity opening before me.
"Yeah… I was wondering if maybe you could let me in on another job like those cars you took," he told me. "A few jobs like that would certainly see me set."
"If I find some jobs like that I'll be sure to cut you in," I promised him. "But what about something different?"
"You got something else?" Toshi asked me.
"Not really but… what about dust?" I asked him, seeing this as probably my best chance to bring the racket up without raising any eyebrows. Toshi's eyes widened with that one simple word. "I mean I keep seeing these news articles about the robberies so for whatever reason that stuff is really hot right now so I imagine it's worth a lot to the right people-."
"No!" Toshi said firmly to me, shaking his head. Sara leaned away as he gave me a hard look in the eyes.
I blinked at him a little surprised with how fast and how firm he shot the idea down. "What?" I asked him.
"Months ago some huntress took down a bunch of Junior's guys for trying to rob a little dust shop," he said and I immediately thought about the incident Ozpin had told me involving Ruby. It was why he had suspected that the Clan was involved in the first place. "All those guys are behind bars now, last night Junior told me himself that he doesn't want anyone getting involved with that shit, dust is too hot right now and the last thing Junior wants is more of his guys in prison."
I could hardly believe what I was hearing. All this time trying to work my way up in the Clan and get myself closer to these mysterious dust robberies that Ozpin was so convinced that Junior was involved with only to hear that the Clan wasn't even involved in the heists. That one little incident that had so thoroughly convinced Ozpin that Junior was mixed up in all of this was an isolated incident, and one that had made him decide to stay the hell away from the racket.
I had done so much. I had killed people. And it was for nothing. Fucking nothing! I would have been pissed right then but as I continued to receive the outline of my tattoo I couldn't help but feel relieved. I was done, I was free. And the best part was that I wouldn't need to betray the Clan. Their work might still be illegal but it wasn't like my testimonies would have any legal weight in court. I could walk away from all of this and go back to Beacon like I had wanted to. I could put all of this behind me.
I wasn't sure what I would do about Cardin and his team since they would be held in suspicion if I just disappeared without a word. I knew I couldn't just rush back to Beacon that night but I could practically see the end of this mission before me. I just needed to tell Ozpin and let him make the arrangements to pull me out of this mission.
"You understand me Jaune?" Toshi asked, pulling me away from my thoughts. "Stay the hell away from dust!"
"I hear you," I promised Toshi waving my hand dismissively before sticking my cigar back in my mouth. "Forget that I even mentioned it," I told him with a smile.
Part of me wondered if I should have just suggested asking about the Dust racket sooner and spared myself the trouble. It has been something I always wondered but honestly if I had asked back when I was just starting out in the Clan I probably wouldn't have believed it, I would have assumed it was a lie and that the truth about the racket was kept away from low level associates such as myself. But right now I trusted what Toshi told me. The Kuroi Kuma Clan was staying out of dust and I was glad for it.
After several more long hours the outline of our tattoos were finished and I couldn't help but admire them in the mirror. I liked the look of them on me and I was seriously considering keeping them after I left to return to Beacon. Toshi handed over a couple rolls of bills to the two of them and we left. I again promised Toshi that I'd be on the lookout for anyways to make a bunch of cash quickly.
I returned back to my place to wash up and get changed for my date with the Malachites. I decided that calling Ozpin and telling him the truth could wait until tomorrow. Tonight I figured would be my last hurrah of living in the life of a criminal. After the last couple of weeks running hustles I had more than enough money for dinner at Georgetti's and drinking in a nightclub but since the end was in sight I decided that there was no reason not to really really live it up tonight.
I picked up Melanie and Militia in my favorite car that I probably wasn't going to be able to keep and drove them to Georgetti's. I hadn't been there since O-Ushi bought me lunch on my first day as an associate and it seemed fortuitous that my last night would be having dinner there. We all ordered some of the biggest and juiciest cuts of filet mignon and a nice bottle of wine.
I told the two of them all about spending the previous eight hours drinking and smoking while I got tattooed. I promised them I'd show them my new ink before the end of the night. We talked about Toshi becoming made and potential future business opportunities.
I honestly was feeling more than a little nostalgic that night. I was a little regretful that I would be leaving the expensive dinners and nightclubs behind. I had developed a taste for this kind of business and I knew that I was going to miss it. I kept thinking about Beacon all through dinner and trying to imagine myself going back through those halls and attending classes once more. Beacon felt like a vacation right now, it seemed like a nice and simple place to go but after all I had been through I had a hard time imagining myself staying there again. I hoped that after a few weeks there that feeling would fade.
We went to Junior's club and danced the night away. I drank with the twins and a bunch of other wiseguys that I had befriended. I held nothing back that night as I delighted in whatever vice I could. It was almost dawn when I finally went to the Malachites apartment to show them my tattoos. We had a blast together and they even saw that I was in particularly high spirits and commented as such. I just told them that business was good and I was happy. And when I finally fell asleep I slept dreamless and peacefully thinking that this mission was finally going to end.
I was so fucking naive.