"I have built my organization upon fear." ~ Al Capone
With Mr. Fontane doing the majority of the work in setting my club up I only had to worry about getting some investors involved with the idea. I told Junior about it along with my idea to house an underground casino in the hidden room in the basement and he loved the idea so much we immediately called up Toshi with the idea. We made the arrangements in an afternoon enjoying drinks at his club and I was guaranteed twenty percent of whatever profits the casino made. Even if my club wasn't a success I was going to be able to profit from it.
Thursday afternoon rolled around and I met with Russel who had arranged a meeting with those faunus that wanted to discuss using my bootlegging business for some kind of large order. We met in a nice sub shot that Pudgy Paul frequented and I ordered myself a nice meatball sandwich as we both waited.
"So it's going to be a jazz club?" Russel asked me as we idly talked about the reopening the Moonstone Club.
"Not just jazz," I assured him. "We'll have comedy and some old pop as well, Mr. Fontane says a lot of that old music is getting a lot more popular once more. There's also a cigar lounge and a corner for billiards. Think of it as a lot more relaxed than the clubs we usually frequent.
"Sounds nice to me," Russel said, picking up his soda and taking a sip. "I think this is them." He said as two faunus entered the shop and with a word to the owner they were directed to our back booth.
One was a young ginger haired girl with small white deer antlers protruding from her head while another one was a young man with a cat tail trailing behind him. "Hello," Russel greeted them both, standing and offering them his hand to shake. At least his distaste for faunus was being well concealed for the sake of business.
"Hello," the woman said flatly looking at his hand distastefully for a second before relenting and taking it. Russel to his credit only smiled at her politely and shook the man's hand as well.
"This is my boss Mr. Arc," he said introducing me. I shook their hands as well.
"What can I call you?" I asked the ginger haired woman as I shook her hand and sat back down in the booth.
"You can just call me Deery," the woman said flatly to me as she sat down across from Russel.
"Deery?" I asked her, finding it to be a strange and possibly offensive name for a faunus.
"We're not interested in using real names," the man with the cat tail told me flatly.
"Alright," I said, opening my hands to them. "Then let's get straight to business, what kind of order do you want to make?" I asked them.
"You bootleg video games?" the guy asked me flatly.
"That's correct," Russel said. "What do you want us to provide for you?"
"Flight simulators," the girl told us.
"Flight simulators?" I asked, rather bewildered with the request. Toshi and I hadn't been selling any of those on the street. It was mostly first person shooters and fantasy roleplay games.
"We want the real deal," the man explained to me. "We want the same kind of simulators they use for training commercial bullhead pilots."
"We also were hoping you could procure the necessary desktops and simulator control boards," Deery explained to me, she pulled out a list of materials and slid it across the table to me. I glanced over the list noticing a specific number of control models along with various desktop computers listed and other essentials. They wanted almost fifty different units, this was far from typical.
Why were these faunus training pilots? And a lot of them it seemed. "I think I can provide some of these items," I told them, handing the list over to Russel. "But it won't be cheap."
"We understand that and are willing to pay double what these items are worth on the commercial market," the guy told me, pulling an envelope out and sliding it across the table. I checked the contents to find several thousand lien.
"Consider that to be a down payment," Deery said to me, crossing her arms. "There will be a lot more where that came from."
"I'm surprised you have such confidence in me," I said handing the envelope over to Russel.
"Our sources tell us that you can acquire what we need," the man told us standing up to leave.
"Well I'll be leaving it in Russel's capable hands," I assured them. "If you need anything you can contact him."
Deery gave Russel a look up and down before nodding to him. "Very well," she said as Russel shook her hand once more and gave her sly little smirk.
"I'll be in touch," Deery assured him coldly with another handshake.
"I look forward to it," Russel said, giving her a friendly smile.
They left us to finish out meatball subs. "What do you want me to do about those special items?" Russel asked me.
"Take that list to Paulie and tell him that I would like for his union guys to be on the lookout for any trucks hauling this kind of equipment," I instructed him. "We can either help him steal or buy it from him on the cheap."
"You trust me enough to handle this on my own?" Russel asked me.
"You've been handing this little operation just fine so far," I told him truthfully. "As long as you don't do or say anything to piss those faunus off I don't see any reason why I can't trust you to handle this order."
He nodded, pleased with my response. "So why do you think they're so interested in training pilots?" He asked me.
"I don't know," I told him. "And it's probably best if we don't care either." I didn't really believe that but going along with this business proposition was probably the best way to find out what those two were up to.
"But keep your eyes and ears open for anything funny about them," I told him. "If you get any bad feelings about this I want to know. Capisce?"
"Capisce," Russel assured me.
"Alright let's get ready for tonight," I told him, shoveling the rest of my meatball sub in my face and washing it down with my energy drink.
Russel and I drove across town to meet with Roman in the Vale Shorelines Union that represented the dockworkers in the city. Neo was outside the door when I approached.
"Hey, how are you?" I asked practicing my sign language as I spoke to her. It was starting to become good practice and thankfully Neo saw the advantage of learning and took every opportunity to help me.
"I'm - fine - Roman - is - inside - you - can - go - in." She signed to me. I was starting to get a hang of reading her hand movements. Thankfully if I was having too much trouble I knew the alphabet well enough that she could literally spell it out for me. Though she still used her scroll to text me plenty.
"Thanks," I said to her, stepping inside to see that Roman was already in a meeting.
A tall broad shouldered man was speaking to him and they both stopped their conversation to address me.
"Ah, here he is," Roman said to me. "Bruce, I would like you to meet Mr. Arc, my newest recruit." He said, introducing me, "Jaune, this is Mr. White, head of the Vale Shorelines Union," he said introducing me to the big man that watched me with cool dark eyes.
I shook his hand respectfully. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. White," I told him.
"You can call me Bruce," he told me. "Or Plearly."
"Pearly?" I asked, finding it to me a strangely effeminate nickname.
He grinned at me, rows upon rows of pointed shark teeth glittered in his mouth. A shark faunus I realized gazing at the sharp fangs. "Pearly White is another popular name I carry," he told me with an amused look on his face. I was sure that he enjoyed surprising people with his grin.
"Mr. White here was just telling me about a massive shipment that will be coming to the docks in a weeks time," Roman explained to me. "I'll be having you run over the fine details with him."
I nodded more than happy to make another acquaintance and operate Roman's network of heists. "I'll give you a call soon and we can go over the greater details," I promised him.
"Roman can give you my number," Mr. White told me as he grabbed his coat and made to leave us. He gave Roman a weary glance before excusing the two of us to speak to one another.
"There's been a change of plans tonight Gent," Roman told me, grabbing his hat off the rack along with his cane. "I'm afraid I have an important meeting I need to get to so I'll be having to sit this little caper out."
That struck me as problematic. Losing Cardin for tonight's job was inconvenience enough for me but not having Roman there for his experience. Last minute changes made me nervous. "I don't know about this boss," I told him with a nervous scratch to the back of my head.
"I know sudden changes are never good but adjusting to them is a part of the job," Roman said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "And I think it would be a good opportunity for you to meet my partners."
"Your partners?" I asked him.
"Neo will introduce you to them," Roman assured me. "And they'll be providing all the muscle you'll be needing for this job along with a few specialists."
I sighed but nodded in agreement. If these people were Roman's official partners then there was no way that Ozpin would forgive me if I skipped out on a chance to meet with them. "Alright I'll go ahead and do it," I promised him.
"Great!" Roman said giving my shoulder a pat. "Do you still have that key combination that Lil Miss so kindly was able to provide for us?" He asked me.
"Yeah I got it," I told him, remembering the digits that Lil Miss had made me memorize for this particular job. That was the crux for tonight's job after all.
"Good, Neo will take you to them for the meeting, and I'm sorry that I won't be joining you tonight," he said sincerely to me.
"What came up so suddenly?" I asked him, curious why he was willing to change plans so suddenly.
"My client suddenly wanted a meeting and I'm afraid I cannot refuse her," he said with a sour look on his face.
"You can't refuse her?" I asked him. "You're the Don?"
Roman laughed. "Well I suppose I could refuse her, but believe me that bitch would make it more trouble than it's worth."
"Fair enough," I said, taking note that this client of his was apparently a woman.
We left the office together stepping outside where I saw Neo and Russel laughing together. "What's so funny?" I asked them.
"Neo just told me about how the two of you met," Russel explained pocketing his scroll.
I raised an eyebrow at him. "And that's funny how?" I asked as we made our way to the door.
"I'm just impressed you managed to convince that cop that the two of you were making out," he said, giving me a smirk.
I blushed a little, remembering how flustered I was having her gaze into my eyes as her lips hovered millimeters away from mine. "Well Neo certainly made it look convincing," I said trying to dismiss the conversation as we made our way to the elevator.
"Good luck tonight Gent," Roman told me as he left us to go down to the garage.
"If that client is half the bitch you claim she is, I think you might need that luck more than me," I told him.
Neo silently laughed and signed to Roman. "He - has - a - point," she told him.
Roman cracked a grin. "That's business for ya!" Roman told me, leaving us to go to Russel's car.
"Where are we supposed to meet this hired help?" I asked her as Russel took the driver's seat while Neo and I settled in the backseat together. It was easier for me to read her sign language when I could see her.
She made an S sign with her fist and moved it downward telling me that it was on the southside of town. "I'll - text - Russel - the - address." She told me, taking out her scroll and sending the details to Rus.
"Got it," Russel told us as he put the car in gear and started driving.
"What can you tell me about these partners Roman has me working with tonight?" I asked her wanting to know as much as possible about these strangers before I worked with them.
A sour expression crossed her face as she looked at me. "I - don't - care - for - them," she signed to me.
"Oh?" I said, feeling worse about this with every minute. "What's not to like?"
"Plenty," she signed, "you'll - see."
I shrugged and decided that I would have to just wait and see and try to endure whatever difficulties came with this group. It wasn't like I was in a position to share a long winded conversation with her. But my ability to communicate with her was improving day by day.
We arrived at the southside of the city in one of the poorer neighborhoods. And we stopped out behind a rundown high rise apartment building.
"Let - me - take - the - lead." Neo signed to me and Russel.
"Ladies first," I said agreeing with her proposal.
She led us inside and past the out of order elevator having us climb up fifteen flights of stairs and down a long bleak hallway. A couple of faunus kids playing on their scrolls took notice of us and gave us long stares before we came to the door at the end of the hall.
Neo knocked on the door four times and crossed her arms waiting within sight of the peephole. I heard someone moving from behind the door for a long moment before the clicks of various locks sounded and the door swung open.
A floppy eared dog faunus opened the door. Eyes concealed behind a White Fang mask he looked us all up and down before he motioned us in with a cheap handgun he was carrying. I stepped into the apartment seeing that others wearing the white masks were staring at us.
Shit.
I had thought that Roman having my crew and I wear the grimm masks of the White Fang was just a clever trick to divert attention away from the Family but it was much deeper than that. I looked at the various equipment and weapons lined up on the wall and various maps and other charts where covered up before I could even get a proper glympse of them.
"Evening everyone," I said, feeling like someone needed to break the tension. I flashed them all a friendly grin but not one of them returned it. I really wish Neo would have told me that I would be walking into a room full of humorless terrorists. I could feel that Russel was equally nervous standing next to me, I gave him a look of confidence I didn't feel so he wouldn't lose his nerve and draw a weapon. That was the last thing we needed.
"So you're Roman's new errand boy?" A cold voice from behind asked me.
I turned to see a tall bull horned man with spiked red hair approach me with a sheathed katana in his hand. I couldn't see his eyes but I could tell that he was studying me and found that I was rather unimpressive.
"Names Jaune," I told him, politely offering him my hand to shake. "Jaune Arc."
The guy looked at my hand like it was diseased and rotting and simply moved past me to the far end of the room. "I don't really care what your name is human, and I'm sure that you don't really give two damns what my name is."
I chuckled trying to turn the other cheek to his discourtesy. I really wasn't in the mood to get into a dick measuring contest with this guy. "Well talking to you and your men is going to get awfully confusing if I just call you all faunus isn't it?" I said, trying to honestly diffuse the situation with some humor.
The man whipped around clutching his blade but Neo stepped in between us stopping him as she held Hush up defensively. The guy had a short fucking fuse.
"You better watch your fucking mouth!" he growled at me.
"Hey hey hey!" I stammered taken aback with how violently he reacted to me just calling them faunus. His guys chuckled sinisterly around us as if they were looking forward to him fileting us both with his sword. "I'm just trying to say that this will go down smoother if we all know what to call each other. If you don't want to give me your name fine, I'll call you whatever you want."
"Call me Adam," he said with a sneer.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Adam," I lied, wanting this little meetup to finish already.
He relaxed his posture and crossed his arms, I stayed constantly aware of the sword he was holding. By the look on his face it seemed like he figured me to be perfectly pacified. I was fine letting him believe that. "I'm only doing this because Roman tells me that he requires more hands to keep the dust coming."
"We're pulling shitloads of the stuff," I told him. "If you want more then it reasons that we're going to need as much manpower as we can," I told him stating the obvious.
"We wouldn't have to dirty our hands with this if your boss's unions pulled in more for us," he told us with a bitter sting to his voice.
I shrugged. "Listen if you think the Unions could be doing more than you need to bring that up with Roman not me," I told him. "I'm just an errand boy, remember?" It was a moot point really, I already knew that the unions were pushing their luck using their positions to take whatever dust was passing through them. Taking more would have been a serious risk to their contracts and would have cost them tons of money. The Family wouldn't go along with it.
"I'm telling you so you can tell him," Adam told me with a sneer.
"Fine," I said to him. "Message received I'll tell Mr. Torchwick all about it tomorrow. But tonight I need whatever muscle you promised him if you want that dust."
He frowned and looked to the rest of the room where his men seemed to wait for his orders. He snapped his fingers and motioned to me, three of them stood up and removed their masks. "This is George, Ross and Ted," Adam explained to me as the three of them gathered up some duffle bags with what I could only assume was their gear. "They'll see that this job is done right."
I swallowed my desire to snap back or refuse their help and just nodded to him. Who the fuck was this guy to start acting superior on me? I turned and left without another word with the three of them following behind Neo, Russel and myself.
"You're not all going to fit in my car," Russel said as we descended the stairway.
"We have a van we're going to use for this job," George told me.
"Great," I said, happy that I wasn't going to have to arrange for any transportation for the terrorists.
We got back into our respective vehicles and drove off to the place I had agreed to meet the rest of my crew in the back of a bar I had invested in in Little Mistral. Dove and Sky were already waiting for us enjoying a basket of fries.
"Who are these guys?" Dove asked me as we filed in and locked the door behind us. "Where's Mr. Torchwick?"
"Roman has an engagement so this is our extra muscle to make up for him and Cardin being out tonight," I explained to them. "This is George, Ross and Ted," I explained to them as I pulled out my scroll that had the blueprints of our target building. A small SDC owned store on the west side of town.
"I'm Sky and this is Dove," Sky said to them.
"This is just a job, human," Ross growled. "We don't need to know your names."
A flash of anger and annoyance crossed Dove's face and he clenched his fist on the table. "What the fuck is-!"
"Let it go!" I told them, cutting them off before anyone could say anything that would make the situation worse.
I turned to the faunus and pointed my finger at the three of them. "And that goes for the three of you as well, you might not be happy about this arrangement and I sure as fuck am not happy about everything being changed last minute. So everyone shut up so we can get this job over with!" I told them using my best and most commanding voice.
"Listen here-!" Ted growled at me.
"What human!? I've been called worse! Now shut the fuck up or I'm pulling the plug on this job. And I'll be sure that Roman and Adam both know that it was because you wouldn't fucking listen," I called back trying to make it very clear that I wasn't about to put up with any bullshit.
They glared at me but stayed quiet as we went over the plan. One car would park out in front of the store to keep watch, I gave that job to my crew since I trusted them to keep their cool and not just abandon us at the first sign of trouble. Neo and the rest of us would park in the rear alley. We'd enter through the rear door, take out the cameras and start looting the store. A wall safe in the building contained a number of fine cut dust crystals, thankfully I already had the security code for it thanks to Lil Miss.
"So where do we fit into this little plans of yours?" George asked me.
"You're going to stay outside with the van and keep an eye on the back alley George, call me or honk the horn if there is anything wrong." I told him looking at the others. "The rest of you are going into the store with me and helping me haul everything out."
"We're just going to fucking carry stuff?" Ted asked me.
"You're here as muscle so use your fucking muscles," I said to them. The truth was that I wanted to keep an eye on them as much as possible, I didn't trust them so I wanted to keep as many of them in sight as I could.
They didn't voice any disagreement so we filed out and into our respective vehicles. Neo and I got into our car and drove around so we wouldn't look too suspicious all arriving as a convoy.
"I'm hating this more and more every minute," I told her I drove.
"Me - too." She signed to me.
"Why the hell is Roman working with these guys anyways?" I asked her, it was more out of frustration than curiosity.
"It's - complicated," Neo told me.
"I'm sure it is," I sighed as we drove around watching as the late spring sun set down over the city's skyline.
"How - do - you - like - working - for - the - family?" She asked me.
"Aside from tonight it's going great," I told her. "Mr. Fontane says the club will be ready in a couple of months, it'll be ready for the summer and the Vytal Festival."
"And - to - think - that - it - wasn't - so - long - ago - that - I - met - you - driving - a - cab." She told me with an amused smirk on her face.
I chuckled, I was a little amazed with myself as well. "Not too shabby for a Beacon dropout, huh?" I asked her.
"Not - bad - at - all," she told me with a playful wink.
I blushed at her.
We made our way to the target building and pulled into the alley where the three White Fang members weren't waiting for us. I checked my watch and saw that they were in fact late.
"Fucking amatures," I cursed lighting up a cigarette while we waiting watching as the minutes ticked by. There was little left to do other than wait for them so I did my best to relax.
"The - twins - wanted - me - to - ask - when - you're - going - to - have - a - night - off." Neo told me.
"I don't know," I told her with a sigh. I was working days and nights stealing Dust and meeting with Roman's guys. And when my schedule wasn't full from all of that then I was training with my crew or meeting with Junior or Fontane about the club. "My schedule is pretty full… do they have anything planned?"
"Some - DJ - they - like - is - playing - a - club - in - a - couple - of - weeks. They're - looking - to double - date - with - us." She explained to me, moving her hands slowly and letting me translate outloud.
"They have other friends they can go with," I reasoned. "Why are they asking for me?"
"We're - the - best - dancers - they - know," Neo explained having one hand walk across the surface of her palm to signify dancers.
"I see," I said, feeling a little flattered that I was apparently the top of their list for dancing. "Tell Mel and Mil that I'll try clearing my schedule," I told her thinking that I was a little overdue for a real night off.
She smiled and nodded taking out her scroll typing out a text message. A few seconds of comfortable silence passed us by and my scroll buzzed with a text from Melanie.
You better not flake on us Jaune. I'll hunt you down if you do. She texted me, I chuckled at her excitement and texted her back.
I'll be sure to relay your threat to Roman when I make my request. I told her playfully.
Lights appeared down the alley and I looked up from my scroll to see that the White Fang members had arrived in their van. "There they are," I said seeing that they were fifteen minutes late.
I called up Russel and he answered me on the first ring. "We're outside boss, everything looks clear to us at the moment."
"Good," I said, pleased with his report. "It's showtime."
We hung up and I donned my White Fang mask before getting out of the car with Neo. Her semblance took form and she took the appearance of a black haired woman with a White Fang mask and a set of dog ears. She went right for the door and used the key we had made and punched in the code for the alarm. I really wish I knew how Lil Miss managed to get all of this together so seamlessly, her spiders were certainly enviable.
We rushed into the little dust shop and I pointed to all of the canisters and boxes upon the shelves. "Get that out of the van," I ordered Ross and Ted and they listened, picking up everything they could carry before hauling it out back to deposit it into the van that was waiting outside. Neo had the code for the wall safe so I helped them take some of the unsecured dust out back, loading it into the van.
"How's it going?" George asked me as he waited in the van.
"Smooth as silk," I reported looking down an alley. I spotted a stray cat down the alley seeming to stare at us. I met its eyes and it scurried away. It seemed familiar and a feeling of dread welled in me.
My scroll buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out to see a text from Neo.
Get in here now. She had told me simply.
I sighed and rushed in through the back door and made my way into the back office where Neo and the wall safe was located. "What's wrong?" I asked her.
"Not - working," she signed to me, motioning to the keypad for the safe.
"Did you put the code in right?" I asked her, moving over and inspecting the keypad myself.
Neo gave me an annoyed look.
"Sorry," I said, pulling up my scroll and looking at the little screen with the five digit code. I punched the numbers in myself. The little electronic lock flashed red at me and beeped in the negative. "What the fuck," I said rechecking the code and seeing that I got it right the first time. I tried again and again it flashed red to tell me that it was still locked. Did Lil Miss get the code wrong? Was it suddenly changed?
Before I could try again I was deafened as the store's alarm sounded. Loud electronic whoops sounded in the air and drowned out my cursing as I saw tonight's job going south. "Let's go!" I said moving away from the safe to go out.
Ted and Ross moved in and blocked my way. "What the fuck us going on!?" Ted yelled at me. "Why did the alarm go off!?"
"The safe code was changed and the alarm was connected to it," I explained trying to move past them. "We're leaving."
Ross grabbed my shoulder and stopped me. "The rarest and best crystals are in that safe. We're not leaving without them!" he told me firmly.
"Are you fucking stupid!? The cops are on their way and I can't open the safe!" I told them. "We need to get out of here!"
"I can crack it," Ted told me, opening his bag and pulling out a large drill. "Just give me ten minutes."
"In ten minutes this place is going to be swarming with badges!" I spat at them, they weren't getting it.
Ross chuckled at me, he opened his bag and pulled out a short barreled rifle and a magazine. "We'll handle this! You can run away, human." He told me slapping a magazine in and pulling back on the charging handle.
This was the last thing I needed. As much as I would have enjoyed leaving them and driving away to safety that wasn't an option. I was in charge here and that meant abandoning them would make me look bad. I was sure Roman and Adam both would be steamed if these guys that knew too much ended up getting interrogated by the police. And what's more I wasn't going to let this turn into a bloodbath.
"That's not an option!" I said pushing Ross so he would just move down the hallway.
"You fucking pussy! Leave us alone!" Ross yelled at me leveling the rifle right at me.
Neo moved in a flash, slipping right between us and knocking the weapon out of his hand with a kick before drawing the thin blade from Hush and putting it to his throat. Ted drew a handgun from his jacket and was about to level it at Neo but I managed to be quicker on the draw, I leveled my .38 snub nose at him.
"CALM THE FUCK DOWN!" I screamed, the alarm blaring around us wasn't helping my anxiety towards the situation. Killing Adam's men was certainly not an option but I could tell by the look in their eyes that they wouldn't budge on this. It shouldn't have been like this, the plan went wrong so leaving was the smart thing to do. This was putting everything at risk but I needed to compromise.
"Ten minutes!" I told them, lowering my revolver. "Me and my boys will keep the badges busy out front, Ross you and George and loot the rest of the dust, we might as well grab it while we're here." I ordered him.
"You're not going to stop anyone with that cap gun," Ross told me.
"I'll use yours," I said, picking up the rifle that Neo had kicked out of his hand.
"You know how to work a machine gun?" he asked me.
"I'm a quick study," I told him confidently.
"Fine, hold out for me," Ted agreed with me. "We'll do it your way human."
"What - do - you - want - me - to - do?" she signed to me.
"Watch the alley!" I told her. "Use your semblance to make it appear empty. And be ready with the van. Tell George to get his ass in here and help them with the rest of the dust."
Neo nodded in agreement and moved to secure the back and my escape route. "Ten minutes! Then we leave!" I said setting a timer on my scroll as I moved to the front door of the shop, unlocking it from the inside I stepped out into the street where I spotted the car my crew was waiting in. Thankfully they had stayed put despite the alarm going off. That was why I wanted them to watch the front afterall.
"What's happening?" Russel asked me, sticking his head out the window.
"Change of plans," I said to them. "The safe code was wrong so the other guys are going to try drilling through it," I explained.
"How long is that going to take!?" Dove asked, clearly nervous about staying put.
"Ten minutes," I said, thankful that I had already started the clock. "Then we leave no matter what!"
"Ten minutes!" Sky exclaimed. "That's crazy the cops are already on their way here!"
"I know, I need your help holding them off. Don't kill anybody!" I told them holding the assault rifle at the ready as I gazed down the quiet street.
It was an unwritten rule in this business that you never kill a cop if you can help it. Badges go after cop killers like nothing else and even generous bribes aren't always enough to get that out. And considering I hardly wanted to kill anyone let alone people doing their jobs it was a policy I was happy to hold.
"Sky get out here with Feather's Edge in it's sniper rifle mode," I commanded him, trying to think quickly about how I would defend this street.
"Got it," Sky said, putting his apprehensions away to listen to me.
"If you spot a squad car I want you to put a bullet in the engine block!" I ordered him.
"Dove and Russel keep your handguns at the ready and only squeeze off if they get too close. Try to keep their heads down." I continued on.
"Got it," they said getting out of the vehicle and pulling out their pistols. I was glad that they had joined me for those weekly visits to Kaiu's range. I knew that everyone of them was a good enough shot to not carelessly shoot anything they didn't intend to shoot.
I unfolded the stock on the rifle and crouched next to the car as I stared down the road. I watched several regular cars pass by and was thankful that no one was driving down this street at this hour. The last thing I needed was civilians getting caught in the crossfire.
I checked the timer on my scroll. Seven minutes left. Every second felt like an eternity to me as I waited for something to happen. I was hoping that I would get news from inside that the safe was easier to crack than porcelain and we could leave but I had no such luck.
I reached into my pocket to grip the ring as I tried waiting.
Six minutes. Two black and white squad cars turned down the street. Damnit.
Sky fired his sniper rifle and I watched as the first car swerved onto the curb. I leveled the borrowed rifle myself and released a short burst from the weapon. I aimed low so the rounds wouldn't go through them. I watched as the car pulled to the side and the cops inside took cover. I let them get behind their vehicles knowing full well that they'd be calling in backup right now, a SWAT team probably already got the call to gear up. Hopefully we would be gone by the time that happened.
Russel and Dove squeezed off several shots so they'd know to keep their heads low. I let off another burst into the engine block just so they'd remember that I had an automatic weapon.
Four minutes.
I was shooting at cops. Well... I was shooting close to cops but that was a paper thin line and it didn't stop the shock I was feeling. This situation was insane, this job wasn't supposed to be like this. A part of me really wished that Cardin was here right now, he probably would have been able to bully those terrorists into listening to me.
I envied him for being able to spend this night with his family.
I heard a siren from behind us and I turned to see two more squad cars racing right towards us. Shit. I aimed as the vehicles stopped and released several quick bursts with the weapon hoping that it would be enough to keep the newcomers pinned as they got out with their rifles and shotguns.
"Don't be heroes," I said to the cops under my breath. It was more like a prayer than anything else. I may have gotten used to being a criminal but this was towing the line for me.
Several of the cops popped up and fired a few rounds that thankfully missed. I fired another few bursts above their heads and the weapon clicked empty. I only had the one magazine and I wasn't going to be much help with just my snub nose revolver. I tossed the empty weapon into the back seat of the car through the open window.
I checked my scroll. Two minutes.
That was it. I wasn't going to play this game any longer and let the situation get any worse. I called Ross's burner scroll. I was glad that he at least picked up my call.
"That safe better be open right fucking now!" I barked over the line. "We need to leave now!"
"Give us a minute," Ross told me. "The safe was too tough for the drill so Ted is going to blow it."
Blow it? Like with explosives? I remember when I first met Ruby. When she made a crater with just a sneeze.
"Are you fucking crazy there's dust in that safe!" I screamed bolting for the shop to stop them. "It's going to-!"
Boom!
The blast knocked me on my ass. The windows had been blown out and I was showered with ass. Smoke billowed out of the little shop and my ears were ringing. I was dizzy and disoriented and I flailed on the ground like a turtle on its back. Glass and other debris littered the sidewalk and I was covered with it all.
"Jaune!" Sky said, helping me stand up as I coughed and tried to hear something.
"Get out of here!" I coughed at him.
"Yeah, let's go!" Sky agreed.
"No not me," I coughed to him as the rest started climbing into the car. "I need to make sure the rest of them get out."
The explosion had knocked out the power on the street and we were shrouded in darkness as the streetlights were off. Thankfully that alarm in the store was silent now. Between the cloud of smoke and debris and the darkness the cops weren't making a move towards us.
"We're not leaving you boss," Russel said.
"Just do it!" I said, pulling away from them. As much as I wanted to leave I needed to see that everyone left and that we had the dust. I wasn't going to let tonight be a complete fuck up. "I'll be fine… I got Neo after all."
They just nodded to me and closed the car doors. Russel stomped on the gas and burned rubber as they sped away from the scene with the only cops in sight blind in the darkness and with shot up vehicles. They had a chance to get away.
I stormed back into the store holding my jacket up to my mouth so I wouldn't get a breath full of smoke. "IS ANYONE IN HERE?" I screamed into the darkness using my scroll as a flashlight.
I heard a whimper in the dark and I shined my light to find George sitting on the floor crying. I wished that I could join him. His White Fang mask was gone and all I could see was some scared kid with floppy dog ears with a smoke blackened face. "George we have to get out of here!" I said picking him up from his armpits as if he was a small child. "Where's Ted and Ross!?"
He took a moment to take a breath and answer me. "Everywhere," he said to me. I followed his gaze and shined the light of my scroll to see a severed leg on the floor. Fuck.
I didn't have time to collect the pieces of the other two so I just pulled George along making my way to the back. The back door opened and I saw Neo. Her brow was furrowed with concern and she had her scroll in her hand. In all the excitement I hadn't even noticed my own scroll vibrating from her trying to text me.
She helped me lead George out into the alley.
"Can you drive?" I asked George, holding his face and looking right into his eyes to focus him. He was a mess but we had three vehicles here and any one of them could be used as evidence. I wanted to stick with Neo but I wasn't going to let him go off alone if he was incapable of driving.
He took a breath, nodded and I handed him the keys to the car I had driven here in. "Then go, get away from here as fast and possible and find someplace to lay low and wait for me to call you." I told him, he nodded and took the keys. Whatever shock he had experienced from the explosion it had seemed that I had shaken off of him by giving him a clear purpose. It was the best I could have hoped for.
Neo was already in the driver seat of the van and I jumped up. She floored the gas before I even closed the door. We drove through the illusion she had cast over the entrance of the alley and it shattered like glass as she turned down the street and raced away to wind through the city. I was thankful that she was driving because it let me have a breakdown in the passenger seat.
"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" I screamed as I punched the dashboard again and again hating myself for allowing tonight to go so wrong. I just cursed at everything. I was furious at everything. Too much had gone wrong. Two guys were in pieces, they were dead.
Neo thankfully was calm and didn't give me a judgmental look for my outburst. Despite speeding through the streets of Vale and taking plenty of hard turns she was perfectly tranquil.
"They fucking blew themselves up!" I told her. "Those stupid motherfuckers tried blowing the safe and look what fucking happend!" I hit the dashboard again. I wished that I had a real punching bag or a pillow. The hard plastic of the dash was making my hand hurt and pissing me off even more.
"I should have just left them to deal with that safe by themselves," I ranted to her. "I should have just fucking refused Roman when he wanted me to work with these people. Fuck!"
I looked over at her. "Why the fuck did you let me agree to let them try cracking that fucking safe!?" I yelled at her.
She looked over at me and I saw only regret in her eyes. She didn't need to say anything to me. Sometimes her silence can say a lot more than any actual words.
"Sorry," I said, having instantly regretted my words to her. I was the one that was making the calls tonight and I was trying to shift blame to her but that was wrong of me. "I'm just… I'm fucking angry. I fucked up big time tonight."
She took one hand off the steering wheel and reached across the cab to put her hand comfortingly on my shoulder. I was grateful for it. I took a few deep breaths before I pulled out my scroll and called Roman.
"Jaune… it's good to hear from you," he greeted me. "Is Neo with you?"
"Yeah she's driving," I told him. "She's fine."
"What happened?" He asked me coldly. "This shit is all over the news right now."
"I'm sorry… the code for the safe didn't work and then the whole thing went south," I explained to him. "Those guys you had tagging along weren't willing to leave without getting into the safe so I tried holding the cops off while they drilled it. Before I could stop them they tried blowing the safe with the dust inside. Two of those Fang members died in the blast."
Roman cursed under his breath. "Did anyone get arrested?" He asked me.
"I don't think so, but I had everyone scatter after the place blew," I said looking into the side view mirror for any lights flashing behind us. "We managed to get out of there before too many cops were able to show up. Neo and I were the last to leave with the dust."
"You got the dust?" Roman asked me.
"I got what wasn't destroyed in the explosion," I told him. "Which was most of it." I suddenly realized just how bad that blast could have been if we hadn't removed the rest of the store's supply. That street could have gotten really fucked up.
"Where are you right now?" Roman asked me.
"I don't know," I told him honestly. "Neo's driving us somewhere to lay low for a little while.
"I know where she's going," Roman assured me. "Wait for me and we'll talk some more, and have Neo text the rest of your crew where to meet."
"Understood," I told him, hanging up and looking at Neo. "Roman wants you to text the rest of the crew where to meet." I said hoping that no one was currently in handcuffs.
"Already - done," she signed for me.
"Are they all safe?" I asked her.
She nodded to me and I leaned back in my seat to relax. "Roman's going to kill me isn't he?" I asked jokingly. I felt like I was a kid that had broken a lamp and was waiting for my parents to get home so I could explain.
She smirked at me and shook her head no. Her fingers typed out on her scroll.
It wasn't your fault that things went so wrong. She told me.
"Yes it was," I told her with a heavy sigh. I tried lighting a cigarette but my hand was shaking so much that Neo had to pull the lighter out of my hand and light it for me. I thanked her as I breathed in that first sweet puff.
"I was in charge of everything and it turned into a shitstorm that cost two lives," I told her watching out the window as we put the skyline of the city behind us to glitter in the night. "Those faunus guys didn't fall for my tough guy act and I let them fuck up everything else. I should have just bailed on them."
That would have been bad and I would have stopped you. She told me as she texted. And the tough guy act doesn't exactly work on terrorists.
"Thanks," I told her as puffed on my smoke. We drove for quite a while in silence and I kept replaying the events of the night in my head.
She pulled out onto a lookout just south of the town. I watched Vale glittering in the city like diamonds. Off to the side I could Beacon Academy perched on the cliff like a glowing… beacon. I just got that looking at it. I'm such a dumbass sometimes.
"How the hell did one place change me so much?" I said as I looked out at the splendor that was Vale. Beacon felt like some kind of unreachable ivory tower next to it, and I had been cast from it down into the glittering city of diamonds.
Neo unbuckled her seatbelt and just looked at me not saying anything. She just let me talk and I was glad for it.
"I came here to go to that school and I went in a completely different direction," I sighed. "I became everything it isn't."
"How - do - you - like - it?" Neo asked me.
"I like it more than I should," I told her, tossing the cigarette butt out the window.
"This… all of this isn't what I expected at all," I told her. "Even after everything that went wrong tonight… I'm left with that rush."
She gave me an amused smirk telling me that she knew exactly what I was talking about. "Better - than - sex?" She asked me using a rather lewd gesture to say sex rather than the offical sign.
"I wouldn't say that," I told her, unable to hold back a chuckle. I could tell she just asked that to lighten the moot. "But yeah… it feels better than it should. And the first time I felt it was the first time we met."
She smirked at that. "That - was - an - exciting - little - first - encounter."
"It was," I agreed with her smiling at the memory.
"For - what - it's - worth - I - prefer - you - being - here," She told me pointing to Beacon off in the distance. "Not - there."
I smiled at her. "Thanks," I said to her leaning back in my seat.
She pulled her flask out of her coat and took a swig before handing it to me. I graciously took it and savored the sweet liquor. It helped take the edge off and I figured that was the point. I looked down at the engraving I had read before and decided to ask her.
"Who's Nikolai?" I said as I handed back the flask.
"My teacher," She told me.
"For what?" I asked her. "Robbery? Fighting?"
She nodded.
"I figured Roman was the one that taught you all about that," I said, figuring that her adoptive father would be the one.
"He - did," she confirmed looking a little nostalgic as she signed to me. "But - Nikolai - taught - me - a - lot - as - well."
I nodded. It wasn't like I had a single teacher in all of this. Between O-Ushi, Roman and Junior as well as my own crew I had plenty of teachers helping me along. Though I got the sense that she was being more formal with the title. And considering that the flask had been a gift from Roman I could only assume that he was a dear friend as well.
"What happened to him?" I asked her.
She shook her head grimly at me and I knew that was approaching a touchy subject. "Sorry," I told her, handing the flask back. "Just trying to create conversation."
"It's - alright," she said before taking a sip and handing it back to me.
"As fucked up as this all is I'm glad I stumbled my way here." I told her, it scared me how true those words were. I took a long drink from the flask savoring the rum she had filled it with. She really did have a sweet tooth.
We passed the time waiting for the others to arrive just enjoying a long moment of peace and quiet passing the flask back and forth. I tried to turn on the radio but it didn't work, I shouldn't have been surprised, the van was a piece of shit. So we just endured silence together.
Some time passed, as we waited together she leaned over and rested her head on my shoulder making herself comfortable. Her hair smelled like strawberries. It was so pleasant that I didn't even question it. It was nice, it was comforting and gave me some sense of peace after everything that happened. I just stared out at the city as we continued to pass the flask back and forth until it was empty.
Somewhere down the line I dozed off with her head still on my shoulder. Somehow despite everything that had happened that night I was able to rest peacefully. The alcohol probably helped.
A knock at the window woke both of us up and I looked out to see that it was Roman who had rapped his cane on the glass window. I went red with embarrassment that he found me with Neo like that. A look behind him made me see that it wasn't just Roman that had seen us cuddled together in the van.
Several more vehicles had arrived while we rested and I saw that Russel, Dove and Sky were there too. Even Adam was there with George who looked worse for wear sitting on the hood of a car, I was glad that he had made it out all the same.
Discovering that everyone had seen us just made me blush harder but giving a look to Neo she only gave me a friendly smile. She clearly wasn't embarrassed at all by this.
"Hey boss," I said to Roman as I opened the van door and stepped out onto the gravel. "I'll explain everything," I assured him.
"Don't bother," Roman said to me. "Georgey boy there explained everything to the both of us, and your crew confirmed his story."
I looked over at the dog eared faunus sitting on the hood of the car while Adam observed us both. He looked over and met my eye. He looked so broken.
"He did?" I asked him.
"Ted and Ross blew the safe without consulting you," Roman said to me, confirming exactly what had happened. I had expected George to try to pin most of the blame on me somehow but be in guilt or sorrow or shock, he told the truth.
"I'm sorry this all went so wrong," I told him, releasing a heavy breath.
"Not every job is as smooth as silk," Roman said, giving my shoulder a pat.
"Are we done here?" Adam asked Roman.
"I think so," Roman said to him with a dismissive wave of his hand. "But I expect you to tell your little insurgents to listen to my people next time. This could have all been avoided if your boys had checked their egos at the door."
Adam tightened his fist. It seemed that George really had told the truth about how everything had gone down and how his friends were hardly cooperative. The White Fang was shouldering the blame for this job going south.
"I'll set them straight," Adam said with a bitter edge to his tone.
"See that you do," Roman said to him with another dismissive wave of his hand.
I watched as Adam turned and left leading George to his own vehicle. We watched as they drove away.
"I don't want to work with the White Fang again," I told him seriously.
"I'm sorry Gent but I'm afraid that we have too. That dock job we have coming up is going to need quite a bit of manpower so they're going to be helping us on that." Roman explained leading me towards my crew who were just watching and waiting.
I groaned at that and Roman chuckled. "Don't worry I'll be there this time," he assured me. "For now just go home and get some rest, you got the dust and kept your people out from behind bars. As far as I'm concerned you made the best of a bad situation."
"Thanks," I said to him.
"Take my car," Roman said, pulling the keys from his pocket, "I'll get some people out here to get rid of these vehicles, Neo and I will take the dust." I nodded and walked away. I waved goodbye to Neo and she waved back to me with a smile and a wink.
I looked at my crew as we gathered around the car Roman had arrived in. "How long have you guys been here?" I asked them.
"A couple hours," Dove said with a teasing smirk.
Hours? "Why didn't you wake me?"
"You looked comfy," Russel said to me.
I chuckled and got into the back seat, desperate to get back to my little apartment and sleep. "Well thanks," I said watching as Neo disguised the van with her semblance and drove away. I gave her a little wave before she disappeared.
That had been a long and eventful day.