"I can't stand squealers, hit that guy!" ~ Albert Anastasia.
Neo was on a whole other level to me in terms of combat ability. Contrary to her promise she was actually going easy on me, otherwise I wouldn't have managed to last more than five minutes sparring against her. But despite the obvious gap in skill I felt that I was holding up better than expected.
She moved in close with Hush moving in to thrust the blade. I moved to parry only to have her spin the feint away and slip to my exposed side. She leveled a slash at me but I raised Vendetta and squeezed off a blast from the short stubby shotgun absorbing the recoil into my wrist.
Neo deployed her parasol to block the simple rubber shot that I was using for training purposes. The harmless rounds deflected easily off the surface of her weapon's unusual shield but I pressed my advantage and rolled across the ground to get an angle past her shield.
I squeezed the trigger twice more firing the semi-auto shotgun as I slipped around but Neo had easily managed to maneuver her parasol to deflect before springing forward into a lunge right at me. The parasol struck me and forced me a step back, it closed and the thin blade was right behind it aimed for my face.
I parried with Astuzia and leveled Vendetta from my hip and fired from the hip. She stepped aside away from the blast. I parried another few strikes from her before stepping back to raise the shotgun and fired.
She ducked the shot and moved forward. With the fifth shot the bolt locked back, Vendetta was empty, and when Hush's blade came at me I could only deflect a few strikes before the weapon struck me with a barrage of quick thrusts at my chest. My aura blocked it all but by the time the assault of sword strikes had ended I knew that it was over. In any real fight that'd probably be the end of it.
She sheathed Hush and secured the weapon by her side like a sword.
"At - least - you're - using - both - your - blade - and - gun," she signed to me, providing some commentary on my performance.
I nodded as I got up and slid the blade back into Vendetta forming the weapon back into a cane once more. She had been wanting to get me used to using both weapons in unison instead of just a gun or just a blade. I was far too used to using one or the other but I needed to get used to using them in unison. It wasn't what I was used to but considering my previous training had been slim to begin with I was more or less a blank slate.
"Yeah it takes some getting used to," I said, happy that I was at least making some progress.
She nodded and pulled out her scroll, even as I got better and better talking to her with sign language some things were easier explained through a text message.
'Remember that you only have five shots and you might not have time to reload during a fight. Don't be too eager to fire away. The shotgun isn't going to make an opening, use the swords for that.' She explained to me in a simple text message.
"I'll keep that in mind," I told her, understanding very well that I wasn't exactly subtle in my attempts to use the Vendetta to hold the edge in the fight. Neo wasn't exactly a ranged fighter so I had figured that I could have at least some edge over her, but it wasn't that simple as she had demonstrated. And that was without her using her semblance to trip me up and confuse me like I knew she could.
'Also keep in mind that Vendetta isn't just a shotgun. It's a second weapon, it was designed to be used as a club or even parry attacks at the same time, don't just treat it as a gun.' She explained to me in another text.
"I got it," I said with a nod. "I'll try smacking you with it next time."
She smiled and nodded to me. Pleased with my answer.
"How's she handling Gent?" A voice called out to the side and I turned to see Kaiu looking at me with his arms crossed leaning against the wall of his own training arena. I should have figured he'd want to watch and see his newest creation at work.
I looked from Kaiu to the weapon he had forged specifically with me in mind. "So far so good," I told him, "though Vendetta is a bit heavy being held in just one hand."
"That's to dampen the recoil so it's not as much as a wristbreaker," he explained to me, stepping close and offering to take the weapon from me. I handed it over to him.
"You'll have to get stronger in your left hand if you're going to be using it like that, but believe me it's better that you start pumping iron with this arm than get a sprained wrist, but please tell me if you need some adjustment to the grip, I'm familiar with how much missing a piece of a pinky can affect that." He explained to me separating the weapon into its two forms to inspect them both.
"I'll keep that in mind, the recoil is bigger than I'm accustomed too but pretty smooth all things considered" I assured him, it was a wonderful weapon and if using it meant that I had to take a little extra time building the strength in my left arm then so be it. I could always get a set of weights to use in my spare time.
"What about the blade?" He asked me, looking at the straight bladed smallsword. "How's it handling for you?"
"It's pretty heavy in the hilt, but the blade isn't as light as it looks. I thought it was just a thrusting blade but I see that it's not half bad at delivering cuts." I explained.
"I can fit a different blade in if you want but I figured I'd keep it mostly light in the tip, and all the weight in the pommel. It makes it a good bludgeon if you ever just decided to fight with it while it's still a cane, or to just pommel strike some bastard over the head."
"I'll consider doing just that," I said to him, "I just need to get used to it, I'm starting to become a walking arsenal." I pulled back my jacket to show that I was also wearing the .357 that Lil Miss had gifted me hanging from the shoulder holster that he had so generously included with the weapon.
"As long as you keep carrying the best," Kaiu said with a proud little smirk. "Speaking of which… I hope that you can take a moment to try out that piece as well. If you're going to carry it then you should have at least some range time with it."
I looked over to Neo and she gave a nod so I could spend the last bit of time we had today trying out my new revolver. I took the Astuzia and Vendetta back from Kaiu and collapsed it down into its short form before tucking it into the holster he had designed for it. We both followed him back to the indoor range where he set his targets to pop up at random intervals.
We put in hearing protection and I waited for the beep of the shot timer before drawing and firing at the first target that popped up. I wasn't accustomed to drawing from the shoulder holster but I managed well enough as I shot the two targets, repeating the process as I had gotten used to with my weekly range visits. Kaiu had made sure that visiting his range week in and week out I learned that constant practice was the only way to get and stay skilled at this sort of thing.
Indeed the weapon did shoot like a dream. I was concerned that higher grain count .357 rounds would have been a bit more difficult to handle but the heavier revolver actually made it a lot smoother than my .38. I still kept the little gun, it had been through enough with me that I was thinking about keeping it in a little ankle holster in the off chance that things got that hairy.
I managed to go through a couple boxes of shells getting the handle on reloading with the speed loaders and getting my groupings together. Neo spent most of the time watching me while leaning against the wall silently accessing my skills with a curious eye while texting her her friends and playing around on her scroll.
Kaiu was proud of my work as he watched me take down the targets with better efficiency than usual. I was pretty pleased with his work as well. The gun really did shoot like a dream, smooth trigger pull, smooth recoil, the sights were easy to reacquire.
I thanked him for his work and for letting Neo and I use his training space. He was more than happy having me come around and keeping things smooth between the Clan and the Family as well as congratulating me for getting made. We got into my car and took off to get ourselves some lunch together. I drove us over to a little Valean restaurant called Angelo's.
"Any - plans - this - afternoon?" Neo asked me as she pushed away her empty plate.
I looked down at my lasagna having barely touched it myself, I had been contemplating just that myself. "I was going to check out that book store for that job Roman assigned to me," I explained to her. That had been hanging over me since Roman had passed it to me.
"Just - let - me - do - it," she told me. We were in a secluded booth in the back so we weren't too worried about talking business, especially since we were used to keeping things vague and having half the conversation in sign language.
"It's my job," I told her. "Besides, you were explicitly told to stay away and let someone else handle it."
She scowled at that, "I - don't - care - what - that - bitch - said."
I shrugged to her, "But Roman does, just leave it to me. I wouldn't want to get you in trouble," I meant that because I was already planning on doing something reckless myself. As much as I liked Roman I wasn't comfortable with killing someone just because he told me too, I still had some standards after all.
Killing Ryu and Michail had been one thing, they were bad people that were causing trouble in Little Mistral with their drugs and flesh trafficking. But from what Roman had explained the only thing this Tukson guy had done was decide to defect from the White Fang.
I thought about George, imagining someone that just wanted to get away from the ugliness of the Fang. I didn't want to kill anyone for anything like that, and I especially wasn't going to pull the trigger to help Cinder and Adam clean up their mess. I liked the Family but as far as I was concerned the Fang and whoever Cinder represented could hang. I wasn't going to be their hitman and kill any innocent sap they pointed me towards. But it wasn't as simple as saying no.
Neo wasn't so pleased with my response however. She crossed her arms and gave me a pout to show exactly what she thought of things.
"Hey I just made my bones here," I told her. "It wouldn't be good form to start ignoring Roman's word now."
She rolled her eyes but didn't offer me any other protest. "Just- be - careful - I'm - teaching - you - to - fight - for - a - reason."
"If I do this right I won't need to fight," I lied to her. "I want to keep it clean and simple, hit him when he's not looking."
She nodded to show that she approved of my method of thinking. But she still held me with an uneasy gaze. It wasn't just that she doubted if I had the capability to shoot someone in the back of the head. She was concerned about more than that.
"Mel - and - Mil - have - told - me - about - the - nightmares," she signed to me. I had to have her repeat the last word seeing her combine the signs of dreams and scary.
It was true, I occasionally relived the events of that night in my sleep. I can't tell you how many times I had awoken to a replay of Michail's eye popping out as I put a bullet right through his head. And since I was a regular bedmate for Melanie and Miltia they had witnessed my night terrors first hand with me rousing violently from my sleep in a cold sweat. They were thankfully understanding and offered no judgement.
Was that why Neo wanted to keep me away from the hit? To keep me from doing something that she knew I'd regret and relive in my head again and again? It was a considerate thought.
"I really wish those two would learn to keep some things in the bedroom," I sighed trying to dismiss her worry with a bit of deflection. But one look on her face showed that she wasn't going to be deterred so easily.
"Let - me - do - it!" She offered me again quite firmly. She really didn't want me doing this.
"Sorry but no," I told her plainly, "Roman's orders are Roman's orders, and besides I'll have to get used to this sooner or later."
She didn't look happy with my answer, but she didn't offer any other form of protest.
We paid for our meal and parted ways. I drove over and took a look at the bookstore where my target was. It was a quaint little shop with two big front windows where I could see the tall man with long bushy sideburns working behind a counter from all the way across the street. Anyone with a rifle could have killed him from across the street.
I got a look at the store hours and even stuck around long enough to see that he had a car parked in the back side alley just a few steps away from the shop's backdoor. Planning to botch an assassination is actually harder than it sounds. Even though no one was supposed to be shadowing me I figured that I needed to make a bit of a show to scare the guy out of the town but still not get recognized by anyone that would talk to the cops. It's hard to show your work in this kind of thing and remain anonymous.
What's more I needed a solid reason why I couldn't pursue the target. And with that in mind I had the idea to call in a favor.
Parked in a dark alley I stared long and hard at my scroll as I debated making that one particular call. It took me a long time to steel myself enough to touch the call button.
My heart beat was heavy as I listened to the ring. I knew that this was probably a very bad idea but it was the best one I could come up with.
"Jaune…?" I heard Coco answer tentatively.
"Hey… how's the most fashionable gal in all of Beacon doing?" I asked her, trying to sound cool and casual. I had no idea what the rumor mill of Beacon was like right now. I didn't think of Blake as the gossiping type but if she did recognize me then she could very well have told the whole school about me. And while Coco knew more about me than most to begin with I didn't want to drag her name down with mine carelessly.
"I'm… I'm fine you big flatterer," she said to me with a laugh in her voice. So far so good. "Though I've been wondering about you… I haven't heard a word from you since the last time."
"I'm sorry I've been a bit busy," I said to her. "And I'm afraid that it's best that I only call when it's important. Did uh… did Ozpin say anything to you about this since we last talked?"
"I tried talking to him… he just told me that you were doing something for him and leave it at that," she explained to me.
So Ozpin had chosen to deflect her questions instead of answering them himself for her. And from the way she talked it didn't seem like there were any untowards rumors going around the school about me. But that didn't mean that the rest of team RWBY and possibly my old team didn't get an earful from Blake about me fighting alongside Roman.
"I see," I told her plainly.
"So if you're only calling when it's important, then I'm guessing this isn't about inviting me to a nice party or giving me the phone number for those twins," she said, picking up on the mood.
"I'm sorry Coco, but no," I confirmed. "I'm calling to call in that favor you apparently still owe me, though I think that last time you more than did that."
"Like I said, that was a pleasure," she told me. "But what do you need from me this time?"
"Someone is going to get killed and I need you to stop it," I said, laying it out straight for her.
There was a long pause as she chewed on my words. "Who am I having to protect this person from?" she asked, there wasn't any doubt or hesitation in her voice.
"Me," I told her flatly.
"Are you serious?" She told me.
"Listen I know it's weird but believe me it's for a good cause," I assured her.
"I believe you… you're asking me to save someone after all. I take it that you have to make this look good?" She said with a lot more amusement in her tone than I expected to hear from anyone.
"Yeah it's going to have to be pretty fucking convincing, luckily I know that I can't hold a candle to you," indeed I was hoping that the excuse of being set against someone who completely outmatched me would be a reasonable excuse for my failure. After all, if a bunch of Junior's boys couldn't stand against Ruby or Yang then what chance did I have?
Not that this was the smartest idea to begin with but she was the best chance I had, she was the only one I could count on to help me botch this hit. So far Junior was the only person that knew about my acquaintance with her and he had promised that the stuff with her hitting the Atlesians would stay secret and I had every reason to believe him. He didn't want to risk anything about that reaching Nicky and I doubted that Roman was going to be sharing his dirty laundry with Junior. Friendly as they were, I knew that this business worked on need to know, and Junior didn't need to know about Roman taking out the White Fang's trash.
"Damn right I'm one of the best, those Atlesians didn't stand a chance and neither will you," she explained to me confidently.
I believed her, I had never seen Coco in a fight myself but with my short time at Beacon I had heard plenty about team CFVY and it's leader. I had no doubt that she could stop me of all people.
"Your confidence is reassuring," I said to her, a little uneasy about the fallout of my little plan should it go down without a hitch. The hard part was if Roman and the rest would accept my excuse of failure.
"So when is this going down exactly?" She asked me, she was in. I had a top notch huntress to stand between me and Tukson.
"Tomorrow night is the plan but I think you should try arriving a little earlier in the afternoon, I think you should try talking to this guy for me and explain that you're there to protect him." I explained to her.
"Won't that just spook this guy whoever he is?" Coco asked me. "Some stranger just tells him that he's in danger of being assassinated and I'm here to protect him? That'd make me super suspicious."
"Then he's probably going to run before I can take a shot at him and it's all the better," I told her, having already considered that. If Coco couldn't protect him she could at least scare him away for me.
"I could try that tomorrow during lunch," Coco told me.
"Alright… head over to Tukson's book trade and make sure you talk to Tukson himself," I told her.
"Why is a bookstore owner wanted dead?" She asked me.
"Trust me Coco, you're better off ignorant, believe me," I assured her. "Just trust me that the wrong people want him dead and they're bad people."
"Alright, but you're going to have to tell me about all of this stuff one day," she told me.
"I will," I assured her, "just know that it's going to be a very long story."
"I expect that it will be, those are my favorite kind," she said before we said our goodbyes and hung up.
I sighed and stared at my scroll for a long time before deciding to go about the rest of my day. I picked up what I needed to make dinner that night and headed off over to the twin's apartment.
"What's for dinner?" Melanie asked me, moving into the kitchen with her sister to find me heating up the cast iron and laying out spices and vegetables.
"Lamb chops and I'm making a tomato salad," I explained to her. "The wine is on the counter if you want to pour yourself a glass."
"Lamb chops?" Miltia asked, "well that sounds fancy, what's the occasion?"
"A thanks for letting me crash here," I told her as I sprinkled rosemary on the meat. "And I figured that I should start cooking you guys the good stuff while I'm still here."
"Did you find a new place to crash?" Melanie asked me.
"Fourth floor of my club has a lot of space and amenities," I explained to them as I poured the olive oil into the pan to heat up before going to slice tomatoes and other vegetables for the salad. "I was thinking that it'd be a good enough place to stay, I just need to get it furnished which should only take a few days."
"You're staying at the club?" Miltia asked me. "You can stay here until you find something a little more… permanent."
"I'll be fine, it has everything. It apparently used to be a bordello so I have multiple rooms there and if I want to cook something myself I just need to go downstairs to use the club's kitchen," I told them.
"I guess that means no more home cooking Melanie," Miltia said crossing her arms.
"I suppose we'll just have to visit Miltia," Melanie said to her sister as she poured the wine into a couple of glasses.
"You know the club hours," I said as I worked the blade on the cutting board.
"Oh don't expect us to come and go with the rest of the rabble," Melanie said to me as she handed her sister her glass of wine.
"You don't expect me to give you any keys do you?" I asked them sarcastically.
"No I was thinking about some breaking and entering for fun," Miltia said with a playful smirk.
"Well I look forward to it," I said, playing back.
We ate dinner as I explained some of the plans I was having for the club serving as my new residence. I had learned that I had a number of different rooms to use so I wasn't exactly lacking in space. Miltia even suggested that I just hire someone to refurbish one of the rooms so I would have my own kitchen and not have to work around the staff of the club. I certainly liked the idea and decided that I'd talk to Mr. Fontane about getting the same union guys that worked on the club to do just that for me.
The next day I readied myself for the fake hit. All the meetings I had with Roman's Capos I appointed Cardin and the crew to handle since I needed to keep the day clear. Since Coco said that she'd pay Tukson a visit during the lunch break that day I parked down the street from the shop and a cafe that I took a seat outside ordering some lunch. I wanted to keep as close an eye on it as possible.
'I'm on my way there.' Coco texted me as the waiter brought me a meatball sub and a soda.
I was in the middle of enjoying my meal when I looked across the street and caught a small glimpse of mint green and silver hair.
I did a double take and recognized both Emerald and Mercury walking down the sidewalk right in the direction of Tukson's Book Trade.
"Shit!" I growled, setting my barely eaten sandwich down and tossing a few bills out onto the table to pay for the meal. I picked up my scroll and typed a quick text to Coco.
'Get here fast, expect trouble!' I told her before pocketing the scroll.
I didn't believe in coincidences, not here and now anyways. There was no way that those two were here just taking a leisurely stroll through the city. I wasn't that lucky after all.
I took off and crossed the street to go after them. They didn't see me, too engrossed in some argument they were having.
"Hey!" I called out to them as I closed the distance between the two. They both turned and looked at me.
A flash of annoyance crossed Emerald's face as she recognized me and contempt colored Mercury's features.
"What the hell are the two of you doing here!?" I asked them, stepping close.
"What's it to you!?" Emerald spat at me.
"Answer me!" I demanded, I didn't care if they worked directly for Cinder. I wasn't going to let them blow me off that easily.
Mercury scoffed, "It's a nice sunny day so we're spending it on the town," he told me. "We're just walking around, seeing the sights, we might do a little shopping while we're here."
"Like for books?" I asked them pointedly.
Emerald raised an annoyed eyebrow at me. Mercury only laughed scornfully.
"You're joking! You're the fucking loser Roman chose to handle this!?" He mocked.
"I am!" I said to him firmly. "And I have it fucking handled!"
"Yeah well you can take the day off because we're here now," Emerald told me, turning away to continue walking.
"Yeah, just leave it to us pros," Mercury said, turning with her, trying to dismiss me.
"If Cinder wanted you two to handle this then she wouldn't have talked to Roman!" I said following them. "How about I try reaching her while the two of you "handle" this?" I suggested to them.
That made the two of them stop in their tracks and look back at me. Emerald's brow furrowed with worry while Mercury sneered at me.
"Is that a fucking threat?" He asked me.
"That's just me covering my own ass," I explained. "You don't expect me to just let you two poach in on my job and not say anything do you? If you fuck up I'm not going to be held accountable for it."
I watched as Emerald chewed on my words a little bit with a concerned expression on her face. "Cinder did get someone else Mercury… and we're supposed to be laying low… maybe we should…"
That was good, she at least had some sense. Her partner on the other hand seemed to be a bit too prideful to have me calling him out.
"It's too important for that!" Mercury said. "Besides no one will see us, Cinder will understand that we're just looking out for the plan."
Motherfucker, he wasn't going to back down from this. "Go ahead and tell your boss and leave it to us!" He said turning on his heel and walking back down the sidewalk.
Emerald gave me a short tentative look before turning herself and following him.
"Fine," I said, falling into step behind them. "Then I'm coming with the two of you!" I told them. "I need to see that this job gets done!"
"Piss off! We have this handled, we don't need some mafioso tagging along with us," Emerald hissed at me.
"You're going to have to make me! And I'm pretty sure your boss wouldn't like you causing a scene out in broad daylight!" I said, they could certainly threaten me but I knew that would be completely backwards to what Cinder wanted. She didn't want them attracting the wrong kind of attention, and she certainly needed things to be good with Roman.
"Let him come if he wants!" Mercury said as he continued walking on. "He can see a pro in action."
Emerald scowled at me, "just stay the fuck out of our way!" She told me before following her partner.
My heart was hammering in my chest. What could I do? How could I throw a subtle wrench into all of this? My plan was having Coco scare the guy off enough to run or having her protect him from me making a half assed attempt. But now I had Cinder's croneys to worry about. It added a whole mess of complications.
I hoped that Coco got my message. But I couldn't count on her. And as much as I was hoping to save this Tukson guy I wasn't going to risk my life and my cover to protect him. After all he was a White Fang member, he couldn't be completely innocent. I was only going to do something if I got the chance to.
The three of us reached the front of the shop and I wondered just what they were planning on doing. I was surprised when they opened and walked through the front door. A bell rang as we entered announcing our arrival. So far so good.
Mercury stayed by the front looking over a shelf of books as Emerald approached the counter and rang the little bell in front. Not what I would call the sneakiest assassins, calling the target to you was not what I would have done.
"Be right there!" I heard Tukson say from the back.
I stayed close to Emerald and moved to pretend to look at some comics in the front keeping my eye on them. Every moment I was trying to think of some way to signal for the guy to just run away or something but I had nothing.
Tukson emerged from the back carrying a large stack of books. "Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun!" He said moving to set the stack down. "How may I…?" He trailed off as he looked at them, he released a gasp. "How may I help you?" He finished.
I saw the recognition cross his face. He knew exactly who they were, his eyes moved over to me for a second but he focused more on Mercury and Emerald. What were they doing? I asked myself. This wasn't anything I would have expected to see.
"Just browsing," Mercury said casually, shutting the cover on a book, a little harder than necessary.
"Actually, I was wondering, do you have any copies of The Thief and The Butcher?" She asked him casually.
"Yes we do," Tukson answered.
"That's great!" Emerald said, feigning excitement.
"Would you… like a copy?" Tukson asked tentatively after a short pause.
"No, just wondering." Emerald said casually.
Mercury closed another book, louder than before. I couldn't help but wonder just what I had walked into. I wasn't exactly a seasoned hitman but from what little I did know there was no need for theatrics.
I had been thinking that I should stall them for time but it seemed that they were doing that all on their own. If they kept this up then maybe Coco would walk in before things got ugly. They wouldn't try anything with a witness would they? And even if they did Coco could hold her own. This was all the warning Tukson needed to leave Vale if he survived, this could be a lot easier than I intended.
"Oh, oh! What about Violet's Garden? In paperback?" Emerald asked, pulling Tukson's attention away from Mercury.
"He's got it. Hardback too," Mercury said to her.
"Ooh, options are nice," Emerald said.
"Eh, no pictures," Mercury commented before closing yet another book. "Hey! Do you have any comics?"
"Over here!" I said before Tukson could answer, I was standing right in front of them after all. I gave the two of them a look wondering just what game they were playing here. I was happy they were taking their sweet time before committing murder but I was confused all the same by the display.
"Oh, no, wait!" Emerald said again, pulling his attention back. "What… about… Third Crusade?" She asked him, her voice suddenly taking a dangerous edge to it.
That had unnerved him. I had no idea what the book Third Crusade was about but being asked about it had clearly perturbed him. "Um… I… don't believe we carry that one." He told them carefully.
Mercury slammed another book shut, louder than ever, "Oh."
"What is this place called again?" Emerald asked him.
"Tukson's Book Trade," he answered them.
"And you're Tukson?" Emerald asked him.
"That's right," he confirmed.
"So then you're the one that came up with the catchphrase?" she pressed.
"Yes," he answered.
"And what was it again?" Mercury asked.
"Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun." He answered them.
"Except for the Third Crusade," Mercury stated pointedly. Behind one of the shelves I reached into my jacket and pulled out my cane, taking it hand as I felt the tension begin to rise. I didn't know exactly what I was going to do but I could sense a fight was about to happen.
"It's just a catchphrase," Tukson said.
"It's false advertising!" Mercury spat.
"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep, Tukson." Emerald said while Mercury reached over to a switch, one of the front windows darkened blocking out the street outside shrouding the store in a low gloomy light.
"I hear that you're planning on leaving. Moving all the way to Vacuo." Emerald continued on as Mercury dimmed another window and the front door.
"Your brothers in the White Fang won't be happy to hear that," She said as Mercury dimmed the final window leaving the store dim, he gave Tukson an unsettling smile as the store was left quite dim despite the bright midday sun.
"And neither are we," Emerald told him. "You know who we are, don't you?"
"Yes," Tukson answered as I tightened my grip on my weapon. I quickly thought up a plan. I figured out what I had to do.
"So… are you going to fight back?" Emerald asked him.
"YES!" Tukson roared, claws extended from his fingers and he leapt atop his counter.
This was my moment. This was my chance to throw a wrench into the works. To save his life.
Tukson leapt at Emerald but she dodged to the side avoiding his slash. I lunged for him, extending the cane to use as a baton. He ducked away from my swing as Mercury's legs came up to strike him. Unfortunately I was now in the way, his boot crashed against my aura and sent me down with my head spinning.
"STAY OUT OF OUR WAY!" Mercury roared at me as Tukson continued to slash at Emerald who drew a couple of bladed pistol scythes sending slashes his way. Tukson dodged away as Mercury tried to deliver another kick moving to the front of the store.
I separated Astuzia and Vendetta ignoring Mercury's demand and lunging right into the fray. I sent a few strikes Tukson's way but he managed to dodge my attacks. He was certainly a better fighter than I had expected. And even though we had him outnumbered it was hardly a benefit in that cramped bookstore. He knocked down a shelf showering Emerald and I with a bunch of books and letting the shelf crash over us both, the avalanche of books and heavy shelves knocked us both to the ground.
Mercury took another kick at him only for the large man to grab his leg and throw him across the store crashing into a shelf, splintering it and sending more books tumbling off.
Pushing off the heavy bookshelf with my right hand I raised Vendetta and fired a blast from the stubby little shotgun. He evaded the blast as I had hoped, the buckshot instead struck the dark window, shattering it and letting bright sunlight flood in through the shop. It was blinding to the eyes.
In a moment of feigned incompetence I had given him an escape, and he took it.
He leapt out of the window and into the street. I rose up and raised my shotgun to fire off two more blasts as he ran away. But standing across the street watching this all unfold was Coco Adel staring right at me with her aviator shades on.
The cavalry had fucking arrived.
She raised her handbag and I watched with amazement and a little terror as it morphed into a six barreled minigun that leveled right in my direction. Coco smirked confidently at me before the barrels started spinning.
"GET DOWN!" I shouted, hitting the floor and grabbing Emerald to pin her down to the ground.
"What the fuck are you-?" She said before the immense hail of gunfire erupted from outside. I kept my hold on her as the barrage passed over our heads. The rounds shattered the other windows showering the place with glass, shredded books and splintered shelves. It was absolutely terrifying to be on the other end of, no wonder those Atlesians never stood a chance against Coco. I couldn't help but smirk as I kept low to the floor. Emerald stopped struggling as the gun kept firing and destroying the shop.
I risked a glance up to see the yellow tracer rounds passing our heads. I would have called this overkill but I couldn't think of anything more convincing than having a bookstore shredded in a hail of gunfire. Though this was certainly going to make the papers, which I supposed was even better considering Cinder wanted things being kept hush hush.
The gunfire stopped and I got off of Emerald offering her my hand which she ignored. "We need to leave right fucking now!" I said to them both.
"He's getting away!" Emerald protested moving for the window but I grabbed her arm and pulled her back away from the window.
"You'll be seen!" I told her, yanking her down. She gave me a death glare.
"You want me to explain to Cinder why you ended up on the three o'clock news? Why you fought a huntress?" I growled, releasing her and moving to head out for the back door into the back alley. "Go right ahead, but I have a car out back if you want to get away, but it's your fucking choice!"
It was out of my hands now. This was already far more attention than they had wanted and having a massive battle in the streets was hardly in line with Cinder's subtle intentions for them. They had to know that fuck up for not this was over and the only thing to do now was to run.
Mercury gritted his teeth at me and looked at Emerald seething with anger.
"He's right," Emerald spat.
I returned Astuzia and Vendetta into it's cane form and returned it into the holster before rushing out the back door and into the alley. I watched as Tukson's car burned rubber and took off down the alley with Coco hanging out the passenger window with her gun. She unleashed a short burst around me that had me ducking for cover. I swear I saw her flash me a cocky little grin while she did it.
"This way!" I urged them running down the alley towards the other end where I had parked a car for this job. I got in and the two of them scrambled into the back seat as I put the hammer down and sped off down the road.
"This is bad!" Emerald said, punching the back of the seat. "He got away! He fucking got away!"
"It's his fucking fault!" Mercury growled behind me. "I fucking told you not to get in our way! We would have been fine without you."
I didn't say anything to them as I drove away. I was already thinking about how I was going to explain this to Roman and Cinder.
"Are you listening to me!?" Mercury shouted behind me. "They're going to hear all about this! Cinder is going to be fucking furious with you!"
I pulled out my scroll and called Roman as I continued to ignore him shouting behind me. There was no point in talking to the two of them, what had happened had happened and what mattered next was how I explained myself.
"Hello Jaune," Roman said to me as he answered my call.
"Roman… that hit went south," I told him honestly.
There was a long moment of quiet between the two of us. I was fine with it, it let me think.
"What happened, Jaune?" Roman asked me.
"I shouldn't explain like this," I told him honestly. "Where can I meet you?"
"I'm at the southside warehouse, you know the one," he told me, his voice had an edge of danger to it. Usually I found Roman to be a pretty chill and sly person but I could feel the displeasure in his voice. I had to play my cards right here.
"I'll be right there," I assured him. "With Mercury and Emerald both."
"What the fuck are they doing with you!?" Roman asked.
"We'll explain everything when we get there," I told him assuringly.
"Just be here soon," he instructed me.
"Will do," I said before hanging up.
The drive was pretty tense. No one spoke but I could hear Mercury seething behind me and taking a glance over to Emerald showed that she was sulking while occasionally giving me heated glances. They were going to try to bury me for this.
I tried my best to ignore them as I worked on getting my story straight. And how I intended to tell it to Roman.
I took a long roundabout path to the meeting point just to be safe, and when I was positive that no one had flagged my vehicle I arrived at the warehouse ready to explain everything to Roman.
I stepped inside and saw that it wasn't just Roman that I was going to have to answer to.
"Cinder," Emerald said under her breath, with worry. She hadn't been expecting to see the lady in red herself here. That was good, because I was ready to explain myself to her.
The raven haired woman glared at the three of us and strode across the concrete floor of the warehouse, her heels clicking on the concrete. She clearly already knew that things went bad, and now she was clearly looking to see that someone paid a price.
"What happened!?" She asked, her voice was still low and velvety but it had an extra dangerous edge to it now.
"It's this fucking retard's fault!" Mercury told her immediately, pointing to me as I reached into my jacket for a cigar and my cutter.
He looked at Roman. "He's a shitty third rate fighter, I don't know what you were thinking, giving this job to him! He's a fucking loser!"
"He got in our way!" Emerald exclaimed, joining in Mercury to lay the blame squarely upon my shoulders. "If it wasn't for him then this wouldn't have-."
"I told the both of you to keep your hands clean in this city!" Cinder cut in. Emerald shut up immediately as Cinder spoke.
"We just thought…" Mercury said to her tentatively.
"I don't fucking care what you thought, I expect obedience!" Cinder chided him.
Gold eyes fell upon me, studying me as I remained as calm and placid as I could.
"What happened, Jaune?" She asked me evenly.
I stared into her eyes, holding her gaze as I spoke. "I was there scouting the location for the hit," I explained knowing exactly how I was going to tell her about this, just like I had gone over in my head while driving here. "I saw these two making their way to the book shop so I butted in. This was supposed to be my job and I didn't like the two of them moving in on something I was already working on. I tried to get them to back off and leave it to me, but they refused."
I paused to let her digest that little bit of news. She considered my straightforward answer for a second. "Continue… and don't spare me any details."
I clicked my lighter and took a few puffs off the cigar before I continued on.
"I want to tell you how I was planning on doing this. Roman gave me this job two days ago and I was getting it prepped. I had a plan, I was going to wait for Tukson to close up the shop and go out to his car parked in the back. I was going to put two slugs in the back of his skull," I told her, tapping the back of my head with two fingers twice for emphasis. "Then I'd load the body up in his own car and drive away to dispose of them. I was going to keep it clean and simple, in the dark of a deserted alley, at best Tukson would have just disappeared, at worst it would have looked like a simple everyday carjacking. He would have never seen it coming."
That was in fact how I was going to play it out. The only difference was that I had been planning on Coco playing bodyguard when it happened and fucking it all up. But in a strange way Mercury and Emerald made this situation all the better for me, I couldn't have found a better way to botch this up on my own. They'd done me a fucking favor.
I took a few puffs on the cigar and looked from Cinder to Mercury. "But apparently…" I said looking at the grey haired bastard, "that's not what pros do!" I mocked, his face tightened as he bared his teeth to me.
"Tell me," I said to him with an amused giggle. "Did the two of you rehearse that little speech and that bit about Third Crusade!?" I asked them. "Because I really liked the part with the book slamming, it was really fucking dramatic!"
"What!?" Cinder gasped angrily.
"You motherfucker!" Mercury roared, for a second I thought he was going to charge me but a burst of flames from Cinder ran between us, making him jump back. I was pretty pleased with myself for staying calm and not flinching at that. I have no idea where I found that kind of willpower.
"They walked right in through the front door and told the target they were there to kill him," I went on looking at Cinder and laying down the simple facts. "When it erupted into a fight I admit that I got in their way a couple times and I accidentally took out the window from which the target escaped."
I held the cigar in my lips and opened my hand to her. "That was my fuck up I admit, but the minute he was out in the streets it was over. Some huntresses saw and intervened, and I had to convince them to retreat instead of pursuing the target."
Cinder turned her hot gaze back to her cronies. "Is this true?" She asked, calm but dangerous.
"If he hadn't screwed up in-!," Mercury started only for another raised fiery hand to stop him mid sentence.
"Is what he said true!?" Cinder asked again, her fury barely restrained. "Yes or no!?"
Mercury seemed to struggle with his next words. He flashed me a hateful look, opened and closed his mouth a couple of times. Nothing I had told her was a lie and he clearly wasn't comfortable with the truth.
"Yes!" Emerald blurted out. "That is… precisely what happened. Approaching him was Mercury's idea." I watched as she threw her partner under the bus.
Roman erupted in laughter, that was when I knew that I had gotten away with it. "Cinder, you said this kid was a trained assassin. Was he sick the day they taught the element of surprise?" He mocked finding the method hilariously inept. I personally found it amusing myself, I was hardly what anyone would call a hardened killer and I had a better plan than that.
"It would have been easy if he hadn't gotten in my way!" Mercury roared pointing right at me. "If he hadn't been such a shitty fighter! If that huntress hadn't been there!"
"That's besides the point!" Cinder said to him. "He's only guilty of being a third rate fighter as you have mentioned. But you! Both of you! I told you to lay low here in Vale, to do nothing to attract attention! But you decide to try to murder someone in broad daylight and you tell him you're there to kill him? Of course you encountered a huntress, they're everywhere in this city! Why do you think I told you to keep your hands clean!?"
The two would-be assassins hung their heads in embarrassment and shame. Their hope to curry favor with Cinder by handling some of the dirty work themselves had completely backfired.
"You arrogant piece of shit!" Cinder hissed at Mercury. Berating him for the stunt and taking him by the ear like a disobedient child. He groaned in pain and it took me a second to realize she was burning him. Not enough to scar but certainly enough to hurt.
Roman continued to laugh and Cinder turned around to face him. "Don't think that you're blameless in this! I wanted this done quickly! I didn't tell you to pass it onto your protege! This should have been done yesterday!"
Roman raised his hands up to her. "Hey! I'm a busy guy if you haven't noticed!" He motioned to the dust filled warehouse all around us. "This hasn't been easy work, and since you keep us in the dark about your little plan it hasn't been easy making all these robberies run smoothly. Besides I wanted to give this job to Neo, I guarantee that she wouldn't have announced herself to the poor sucker before trying to kill him. She probably would have just cut his throat from behind and that would have been the end of it. But nooo I couldn't use my best woman for the job."
"I told you I need her to start laying low too," Cinder told him. "I expected you to handle it yourself."
"I didn't think it was that important," Roman said to her. "And I figured the Gent here could handle it. And considering his plan I think he could have if your kids hadn't butted in. At least Jaune here actually had a plan as opposed to whatever they wanted to call what they tried. Theater show sounds like the appropriate description?"
Cinder bit the inside of her cheek as she looked back at the three of us. I tried not to look too proud of myself as I smoked my cigar. I knew I wasn't out of the woods yet but I had at least dodged having the failure laid on my shoulders.
"Did that huntress see any of you?" Cinder asked us.
"I… uh," Emerald stammered.
"She might have gotten a good look at me," I cut in for her, keeping my answer clear for her. "But those two kept their heads down, I am very sure that no one saw them."
A sigh of relief exited Cinder's lips, I hadn't even realized that she had been holding a breath. "That's good at least, but this is exactly why I need the two of you to keep out of trouble. This city is teeming with huntsmen and huntresses, especially right now with the festival and tournament on the way, and the last thing I need is one of them recognizing either of you. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am," they said in unison.
"And you," she said, turning her attention to me. She stepped forward and plucked the smoking cigar from my fingers, holding it up between her fingers for me to see.
"The next time you see my subordinates doing something," she said, reaching out and caressing my face with her fingertips. The gesture was more threatening than soothing or alluring, my blood felt like ice water from her hot touch, I expected the touch to suddenly burn like it had for Mercury. "Stay out of their way!"
My cigar turned instantly to ash clutched between her fingers and I watched as it sprinkled to the ground. She flicked her hand to toss away the remaining cigar ash. "Is that clear, Jaune?"
"Crystal!" I answered her, firmly looking into her gold eyes to show that I was listening to her.
A smirk curled her lip, she was pleased with my answer. "Good," She said simply, turning away from me and looking at Roman. "We're going to be moving to the next phase, start moving everything."
"Alright… but what about this little mess?" He asked her motioning to Emerald and Mercury.
"This was Adam's mess to begin with," Cinder told him. "It's going to be a pain but he'll have to deal with it himself now. Tukson knew too much to get away and if he goes back to her it could be a lot of trouble for Adam."
She turned away to leave and I gave Emerald and Mercury one last look. Emerald seemed only ashamed and didn't even bother to glance my way. Mercury on the other hand glared at me with loathing, he didn't like me to begin with but now he really hated me. I made him look like a punk and I could see that he wouldn't be forgiving me for that any time soon. If I wasn't on his shit list before I certainly was on it now.
Roman sighed as he approached me and put a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry about all of this Gent, believe it or not I've worked with worse people in my time."
"Why the hell are you working with them at all!" I asked him. "I don't like this or any of this!"
"I don't either," Roman said, flashing me a smirk. "But you gotta trust me Gent… I'm a man with a plan. This is all for the best, believe me."
I nodded to show that I trusted him. In a strange way and against my better judgement I did trust Roman. I regretted that he was apparently trusting me.
"I know what happened wasn't your fault but just in case you did get seen by that huntress, and considering a lot of people are pretty unhappy about all of this I think you should probably leave Vale for a little bit." He told me with a regretful sigh and shake of his head.
"You want me to skip town?" I asked him, not liking the idea of being sent away when I had so much work that needed to be attended to. Not to mention I only had a couple weeks until the grand opening of the Moonstone.
"It'll only be for a couple of days, a week at the most," he assured me. "I have a situation that I could use someone on and I think you can handle it. And those kids of hers shouldn't butt into your business this time."
"Alright, where am I going?" I asked him, opening my hands up. Maybe getting away for a little bit would be a nice change of pace. It wasn't like I had much choice after all, I might as well try to enjoy it.
"I had a shipment on it's way here stolen out from under a gang that I support, some bikers. They're having some trouble with a rival gang and it's becoming a problem for me and our operations. They call themselves the Motleys, see what you can do for them and find the dust. Oh and take Neo and your crew along with you, if Cinder wants Neo to keep her head down in this town there's no reason that I can't make use of her elsewhere."
I nodded at him, it all seemed simple enough, "So where am I going boss?"
"A quiet little mountain town called White Peak," he told me. "It's supposed to be neutral to the gangs and we pay off the local huntsmen to see that things pass smoothly through there. But apparently this gang calling themselves the Desperados are making a big mess of everything and aren't honoring the agreements."
"Why not just pay off the Desperados and get things running smoothly again?" I asked him, thinking that if one gang of bikers was good for business then two would certainly be better.
Roman chuckled, "if you can buy them off then you're welcome to go ahead, but it might not be that simple Gent, they're in the Atlesian's pocket after all."
I sighed in frustration, "those bastards again?" I asked, not bothering to hide the contempt in my voice.
"Yes it's them again for you I'm afraid," Roman confirmed with a little laugh and a smile. "Believe me they never stay out of our hair for long, though I'm not expecting you to cap off any of Nicky's captains this time."
"So what should I expect while I'm there?" I asked him.
"Hopefully not much," he said, putting a hand on my shoulder and leading me out of the warehouse. "At best you can think of it as a work vacation, these biker types like to think they're tough Jaune but throw enough money or threats their way and their tails should tuck between their legs easily enough."
"And if they don't cave in so easily?" I asked him.
"Then I expect that between Neo and your crew you'll be able to figure it out, but call and keep me in touch," he told me. "I'll send you some details, I'll brief you a little more later but you leave tomorrow."
I nodded to him. "Alright, I'll cancel my plans and get packed up."
"Good," he said with a nod, releasing my shoulder so I could go back to my car and leave. "And Roman… I'm sorry that hit went bad."
"Don't worry about Gent," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "But next time you see Cinder or her people about to fuck up, just leave them to fuck up by themselves."
I nodded to him, "can do boss," I said with a smirk and a chuckle.