"Money talks in this business and bullshit walks." Michael "Ozzie" Myers.
With Roman giving me license to go after the Desperados I managed to start planning things out. The next day I went over to the Motleys' clubhouse I got a rundown on what they had and exactly what roads they claimed as their turf.
Babe who was more than excited to claim her retribution, laid a road map out on the table to show me. They had taken the time to outline their roads going into and out of Vale with black while giving the Desperados blue with some other roads marked with red.
"So we claim these roads that go into and out of Vale and the surrounding towns and villages," she explained to me, tracing the black roads with her meaty finger. "And this is where the Desperados have been hitting your union trucks and starting to attack us." She explained.
"And these roads here?" I said pointing to the blue that represented the Desperados, "You haven't been making any moves against them in their own territory?" I asked them.
"No," Vixen explained to me as she leaned against the table. "I gave the members clear instructions not to hit the Desperados on their own turf, we want them to get back to their lines, not redraw this map." She explained.
"Good keep it that way," I ordered them. Any move made against the Desperados on Motley turf would only provide legitimacy to the Motleys' actions. Despite what Cueball had said about the Atlesians not being involved I knew that it would be best to cover our asses. "And absolutely adhere to the neutrality of the town, if the Desperados want to shatter that agreement and get the sheriff involved then let them."
I traced a line down some of the roads outlined in red. "What are these roads?" I asked them.
"Those are old roads that no one really uses anymore," Babe explained to me. "We have some outposts along them, it's mostly deserted along them, only people like us and drifters use them."
"Why aren't they in use anymore?" I asked them.
"They hardly lead to anything anymore, plus there's a lot of grimm along those roads, it's dangerous," she explained to me. "We get some Desperados and other gangs there but there's no point in claiming them."
"What did they lead to?" I asked her.
"They used to lead to Mountain Glenn and a bunch of surrounding towns that have long been abandoned. We occasionally use them to store guns and other equipment but it's not like we can travel across them easily with our bikes."
I traced the red lines seeing that indeed most of them converged on the town. White Peak was a key towards Mountain Glenn, I didn't know how or why that was important but I felt that it was. Did Roman really send me here just because of stolen dust and union trucks being hijacked or did it have something to do with the old abandoned city? It could be a coincidence but I didn't believe it was that simple.
"Is something wrong?" Babe asked me, pulling me away from my contemplation.
"No," I said with a shake of my head. "I called a contact and managed to get word about several shipments that will be coming down from Vale in the next few days," I explained to her. By contact I meant Lil Miss and her spiders who were more than happy to provide me with the intel I needed."
"So what are we hitting?" Vixen asked, twirling her pearl handled revolver as she leaned against the table.
"Cash shipments." I said looking at them all.
Babe's brow furrowed at that. "We… are you sure that's a good idea?" She asked me tentatively.
Vixen set the gun down and crossed her arms to look at me. "We've gotten a few of those shipments before but we don't exactly target them." She explained. "We were worried that the Atlesians might get angry at us and decide to do something."
"That's the idea," I explained to the two of them.
Babe and Vixen both gave me confused looks.
"If the Desperados lose that money, who do you think the Atlesians are going to get mad at?" I asked them. "You guys for defending your territory or the Desperados for losing it? Cueball said it himself, usually the Atlesians and us don't really concern ourselves with these gang matters until it starts affecting our business. Well we're going to make them see that this turf war is bad for business, we're going to give them a reason to yank on the Desperados leash."
"But what if the Atlesians decide to do what you're doing? They could escalate things?" Babe asked me.
"They could," I admitted to them. "But Roman and I don't think that it'll come to that, not right away at least. If a small little turf war is bad enough for their narcotics and smuggling operation then cranking hostilities to eleven is just going to make it worse for everyone. The Atlesians are hot blooded but they're not stupid, they'll get word back that we offered to stop raiding the SDC trucks and lower tolls, so they'll either pressure Cueball to renegotiate with us, and if he botches the deal this time they're going to replace him with someone who's a lot more agreeable and won't rock the boat."
Babe frowned and looked back down at the map. "And what if the Atlesians take it personally?" She asked me.
"Then we'll rethink our strategy. But I need you to know that as far as most of the Atlesians are going to see this it's just business. They already lost the railyard as an avenue to traffic shit so now these roads are their best options. Fighting a war they could lose would be idiotic, they need things to run smoothly too," I went on.
"But that money is supposed to go to the cartel's in Vacuo," Vixen explained. "What if they get involved?"
"If they do it'll be to ask the Atlesians; where's their money? They're not going to fight their battles for them. Trust me if the Vacuans decide to mettle in this affair it'll be to see that they get what they're owed and nothing more." I assured them.
Babe nodded to show she understood. "Alright… I suppose we have a lot of work cut out for us."
I turned to leave out the door. "You do… we're going to put as much pressure on the Desperados as we can in the next few days. Take what opportunities you can to hit them as hard and as often as possible, but try not to kill anyone. Blood just makes people bitter and we want the rest of the gang to goad Cueball back to the negotiation table. If you start stacking bodies then the gang is going to take it personal and no one is going to think straight. Capisce?"
"Capisce," Vixen said. "I'll tell everyone not to start handing out Vacuan neckties."
"What's a Vacuan necktie?" I asked her.
"It's where you cut some fuckers' throats and reach up into the wound to pull their tongue out to dangle like a tie!" Vixen explained to me.
"That's barbaric!" I said to them, Did the cartels really do that?
"Yeah it's fucked up, but it certainly scares people," she said with a sadistic smirk.
"Well I'm hoping that we can avoid such tactics. Word has probably already gotten out among the Desperados that Cueball turned town two million lien and they know that every minute that this drags on our offer slips away. And I doubt that Cueball can convince the chapter that he can squeeze more money out of this for very long."
"You're thinking the chapter will turn against him?" Babe asked me.
"It's a possibility I'm considering," I told her as I made to leave and start my own work. "But if Cueball has any sense it won't have to come to that."
The Brown Jug was a lot more quiet in the morning without everyone celebrating the death of their leader. Cardin and Neo sat at the bar enjoying a basket of fires, a frothy rootbeer float sat in front of Neo.
"Enjoying yourselves?" I asked them.
Neo nodded to me with a smile. "How - did - they - like - your - plan?" She asked me, patting the stool next to her for me to join as she ate and drank her sweet treat.
"They're going along with it for now," I answered her. "Did Rus and the others check in?"
Cardin nodded, sliding the fry basket in my direction. I took a couple and dipped them in the ketchup. "Yeah they're on their way back now, Kaiu told them that his stock wasn't quite up to what we had hoped, we kind of sprung this big order on him by surprise."
"Hopefully we won't need all of it," I said, "Just enough to lay down the hurt and make the Desperados chicken out."
After the meeting and a drawn out scroll call with Roman I called up Kaiu about getting some better weapons for the Motleys. Mostly his non lethal weapons, but since I couldn't rule out the possibility of escalating violence I ordered a number of other guns as well. I didn't want to have to use them but I knew it was better to be prepared.
"Well apparently it's still a truckload of iron, I know the Desperados run guns for the Atlesians but knowing Kaiu he'd take it personally if a bunch of bikers outclassed him," Cardin said to me.
"That and he's happy to be moving his product, when I called him last night he even tried selling me a mortar launcher. Who the hell in Vale would even use something like that?" I asked, finding the idea of raining explosive shells on anyone in the city ridiculous.
"He probably had it ordered to be sent off to someone else but the buyer flaked and it's collecting dust in his basement," Cardin guessed. "I wouldn't be surprised if Kaiu was sending some of his stock off to remote villages or bandit tribes."
I chuckled at that. "He probably has enough firepower stacked away to invade Menagerie."
My scroll buzzed in my pocket interrupting the conversation. I pulled it from my pocket and looked at the screen, finding only a collection of numbers that I didn't recognize instead of any of my contacts.
"Hello?" I asked, accepting the call.
"Mr. Arc… I'd like to have a few words with you," a familiar voice said over the line.
I took a moment to place it. "Adam?" I asked, having only spoken to him once before I was surprised that he of all people was calling me. I wondered if this had anything to do with Tukson escaping.
"Yes… I wanted to talk to you in person but it seems you're not in town at the moment, and I'm about to leave on business myself," he said coldly to me.
"What do you want?" I asked him flatly, turning to lean my back against the bar. Cardin and Neo looked at me curiously. They clearly were not expecting this scroll call of all things.
"I've been wanting to ask you a few questions, sadly I've been quite busy lately," he answered.
"Questions about what?" I asked him.
"That girl you saw at the docks," Adam said flatly. "I was told by some of my men that escaped with you that you recognized her. I heard a rumor that you were a Beacon student so I'm wondering what you could tell me about her, I'll pay you handsomely for the right information."
My grip on my scroll tightened. He was trying to ask me about Blake? I suppose I shouldn't have been too surprised, she did call those members of the White Fang her brothers. She was involved with them somehow. "What do you want to know?" I asked him, pretending to at least consider his offer.
"So you do know her?" He asked me.
"I think know is a bit strong of a word," I clarified, "I saw her around here and there."
"I don't need to know much," Adam assured me. "I'm more wondering what you could tell me about her team, their semblances, where their dorm is located. Anything like that."
He wanted to know about RWBY. I of course could tell him exactly where Blake was staying and all kinds of details about her team. After all, we were just across the hall from one another. But I wasn't going to tell him anything useful. "I don't really know much about the team, I can tell you their names. There's Ruby, Weiss and Yang, Weiss is the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company and Ruby and Yang are sisters."
"I don't need to know any of that!" Adam spat. "Where do they stay? What are their semblances? Which one is Blake's partner?"
"I'm afraid I don't know anything about that," I lied to him. "Like I said… we weren't that close."
"So you're telling me you have nothing to offer me? I'm willing to pay ten thousand lien just for some information I can use." He went on actually putting a number to his offer like that would entice me. I personally found it to be a weak offer, ten thousand lien had become walking around money to me, it wasn't even tempting. Leave it to a terrorist to be cheap.
"I don't have any answers to those questions," I told him. "You got anything else for me?"
There was a long pause as he seemed to conser alternative questions but came up with nothing. "If you remember anything… or if you learn anything… you have my number."
"I'll keep that in mind," I lied.
He hung up and I looked over to Neo and Cardin staring at me. They had only overheard half the conversation but that alone was interesting enough.
"Was that asshole asking about Team RWBY?" Cardin asked me.
"He was asking about Blake," I said to him. Cardin already knew about Blake being at the docks and outing herself as both a faunus and a former member of the Fang. "But I'm not telling him shit."
"I've been wondering about that girl since the docks," Cardin said to me. "I'm not saying I think you should tell him anything, because I don't, but are you sure it's a good idea to shut him down like that?"
"I'm made, and whether he likes it or not he needs to play nice with Roman," I explained to him. "I'm helping him get dust, not clean up his messes."
"Except - when - Cinder - wants - us - to," Neo signed bitterly.
"Except then," I sighed, "though I doubt they're going to want me doing that for them."
"You two talking about that botched hit?" Cardin asked, having no understanding towards Neo's sign language.
"Yup," I said to them looking around the bar to find that the few bikers that were here didn't pay us too much attention. I didn't want to talk too much about that with others around to listen, even if they were fellow criminals.
"Come on let's go, we have plenty of work to get started on," I said, taking the last few fries and shoving them in my mouth.
Neo nodded and downed the rest of her rootbeer float and hopped off the stool as Cardin left a generous number of bills on the table to pay for the grub. We walked out back to the car with Cardin driving as Neo and I climbed into the back seat.
"Back to the hotel?" Cardin asked.
"Might as well, we have a lot of calls to make," I said.
That was in fact an understatement. It turned out fighting a proxy war with a bunch of bikers was mostly making a ton of calls on my scrolls. Getting reports, giving out instructions, hearing about how certain jobs went, I was practically shut up in the hotel room trying to operate it all.
And more than that I had to deal with other business I left behind in Vale. With the club opening soon I had to deal with calls from Mr. Fontane about hammering the final details out for our grand opening, word was already out across town that Franky Martin was going to sing at the Moonstone despite his retirement so we expected a packed house. What's more, the illicit casino that Toshi was setting up in the hidden basement of my club was also being put together so I was having to deal with calls from him and Junior. They were setting up everything from card and roulette tables to even a few slot-machines. It wasn't going to be a bit of a tight fit in there but they assured me they had enough space to accommodate a dozen or so people that were planning on losing their money.
I also had to trust some other Family associates to make my collections and see that my rackets were kept in line since I was away with my crew that would usually handle that. So I had to make calls for that as well, and since most of this was business that was best left off of the phone I had to keep things vague or use a number of cheap burner scrolls.
And since White Peak was a small town without much to it there was hardly anything for me to do. Most recreation in these parts was either about going to a ski lodge that was closed during the summer or going hiking on nature trails. Considering we were here to help the Motleys' fight their turf war Cardin didn't want to risk me going out anywhere that could be considered remote where the Desperados might try to arrange an "accident," I agreed but because of this my primary form of recreation was the television which I quickly grew tired of.
Thus combat training with Neo and the rest as well as working up a sweat in the little gym the hotel had actually became the funnest thing for me to do. Instead of just practicing one hour a day with a single hour of exercise I was pulling in several hours of each between making my numerous scroll calls.
Unfortunately tracking the cash shipments that I had wanted to hit was harder than I thought, even with Lil Miss putting her spiders to work. What she did was collect some names and scroll numbers for me to call and arrange for some bribes to be made.
It mostly involved making some calls and talking to a few truckers that worked for the Schnee Dust Company that were involved in the smuggling and felt comfortable enough sending some rumors my way for some extra cash. We took those rumors and used them to compare some intel Lil Miss got from some weigh stations. The Desperados handled bribes for the stations so no one knew that those SDC trucks were coming back from Vale with literally tons of cash. We were able to discern a rough pattern and with a few more bribes to the SDC officials we were able to find out which drivers were doing the smuggling and their schedules. And thanks to a few of Lil Miss's spiders that led to us being able to find two mass shipments that were going out in one day.
I told the Motleys' all about it and with a look at the roads Babe and her officers planned when and where they'd tackle them all at once. It was tough to plan but thanks to Russel and Sky we were able to locate a couple of Desperado outposts on the north end that we arranged to be hit while the trucks were being attacked so the club members couldn't ride out to provide reinforcement.
Kaiu had provided us with a couple of tear gas canisters with launchers that I handed out to the teams to deploy the reinforcements along with rubber bullets so I was sure that if properly ambushed they could keep the members pinned to their little hang outs or at the very least destroy their bikes with a few well placed bullets. It was also my hope that if they routed the Desperados out of there they could take or destroy these little gathering areas to weaken the gang's presence on the Motleys turf.
Babe and her Vice President Heavy arranged to attack the trucks themselves, planning on attacking the escort with rubber rounds and rock salt while others forced the truck off the road, blasting the tires out and even boarding the vehicle if necessary. When Babe and Heavy explained how they were planning on hijacking the trucks I thought they were crazy but they were the experts and they assured me that they had done similar jobs before.
Thankfully I was given a good view of the show.
Neo, Cardin and I parked out on an overlook that gave us a decent view of the road that we watched with a pair of binoculars.
"They're late," Cardin grumbled, digging in the bag of McSchnees we had brought with us for another small and unsatisfying cheeseburger. There was very little for us to eat in White Peak so we mostly had fast food and some local diners that were alright. I tried eating from their Mistrali restaurant but after eating the authentic stuff for so long in Little Mistral and having Hana's cooking I found it to only make me a little homesick. And since the hotel didn't include a kitchen I wasn't able to cook for myself.
"Just by a half hour, these trucks don't always keep a tight schedule," I commented as I puffed on my cigar. Neo was sitting on the hood of our vehicle keeping her eyes on the road with the binoculars while we waited, taking turns to watch the road.
"I'm just worried that word got out," Cardin explained to me. "We bribed a lot of people for this information, and now I'm worried that the Desperados or the Atlesians got wind of it. I hate to think about what they'd do to those poor saps we paid off if they found out."
I sighed, I had been worried about that as well but it couldn't have been helped. "They knew the risks when they took our money," I said to him simply.
"But what if they took the money and then phoned others to let them know?" Cardin asked.
"If this intel was any good I doubt it," I told him. "If someone spilled the details on one of our shipments and then came to me I'd make sure they regretted it."
"I never said I thought these guys were smart," Cardin told me.
"Well we're going to know soon," I said with a shrug. Cardin had a point, but then again I figured that he was also overestimating how smart I could be. When the people you're thinking of tattling to are willing to hang you by your own entrails you usually keep quiet. You don't need to be a genius to figure that out, and I'm no genius that was for sure.
Cardin shoved the little burger into his mouth as he looked at his own scroll. "I keep thinking that Rus and the others were spotted, but tower service is so bad here they wouldn't even be able to text us if anything went wrong."
"You need to quit worrying, it's not going to help you," I told Cardin, pulling out a fresh cigar and tossing it to him to smoke. "Russel and the rest are smart and capable, if things go sour I trust that they're going to see that things go to plan."
Cardin sighed as I held out my cigar cutter and lighter for him to use. "I know it's just… I feel like I should be with them."
"You're the one that wanted to keep an eye on me," I reminded him.
"You might be sure that the Desperados won't try to kill you but I'm not convinced," Cardin told me.
"Well then you're really going to hate the next part of my plan," I told him.
Cardin raised an eyebrow at me, "What's the-?"
He was cut off by the sound of tires on the gravel behind us. We turned around to look at the green and white squad car emblazoned with the gold badge of the sheriff's office with Sheriff Gates himself behind the wheel. I noticed that his deputy Gabe was absent, he'd come alone.
"What the fuck is he doing here?" Cardin grumbled.
"I don't know… just let me do the talking for now," I said, standing and walking towards the vehicle as he stepped out.
"Well howdy!" Gates greeted me, removing his aviators.
"Howdy," I said back to him.
"What uh… what brings you city slickers out here?" He asked, looking past me towards Cardin who kept his eyes on the two of us and Neo who remained on the hood of our vehicle observing the sheriff and I while also keeping an eye on the road for the truck to arrive and Babe's crew to begin.
"Just some sightseeing," I told him casually.
"Out here?" he asked me dubiously.
I chuckled, "Ah well there's plenty out here of interest to us city slickers," I assured him. I wasn't really worried about him figuring out why we were here, he was on the take to ignore us and the Motleys so long as it stayed out of town and we were at least a two hours drive from White Peak.
But having him show up now certainly gave me an uneasy feeling. The timing was worrying if nothing else, he certainly could tell that something was up. But then again it was his job as a huntsman to know what went on in and around town.
"Boss! Looks like it started!" Cardin said, I turned and looked as Neo handed off the binoculars to him so he could take a look. I turned and walked back towards the car so Cardin could hand the lenses over to me. I peered down them and sure enough I spotted the truck cruising down the highway with Desperados in the front and rear acting as an escort.
I heard the gravel crunch beneath Gates' boots as he took a position next to me and pulled a pair of lenses from his belt to focus on the road. I watched as the Motleys began their attack. Two teams pulled off onto the road from the front and the rear of the convoy, the ambush quickly took care of them, I watched as Babe pulled her bike alongside the truck and swung her axe into the rear wheels shredding them as the rest of her men proceeded to knock the Desperados off their hogs.
It was admittedly pretty brutal. Watching those bikers get knocked off their rides to skid across the asphalt. Thankfully the Desperados only chose riders with aura to provide security here so I was thankfully spared the sight of watching anyone become a red stain on the road.
With rear wheels taken out the truck swerved haphazardly and slammed on the brakes as more Motleys pulled onto the road to surround the truck.
"It's over," I said, handing Cardin the binoculars so he could have a look at how things went. "Pretty interesting view wouldn't you agree, Sheriff?"
"Yeah… that's some interesting… bird watching y'all are doing here," he said lowering his own binoculars.
"Yeah… it's quite the sight," I said to him. "Nature certainly is both brutal and fascinating."
"You should be careful out here watching such things," Gates said to me. "It has a nasty habit of attracting grimm."
That was indeed a concern I had planning this out. Even though these highways did get plenty of use and have patrols and huntsmen it still had grimm that could come and attack travelers or be drawn in by negative emotions. From what I had heard, car accidents commonly attracted the monster. I'd gotten a number of horror stories about people getting into auto wrecks only to get attacked by grimm before anyone could arrive to help them. A bunch of bikers getting into a scrap along the road was certainly something that could summon a few beowolves.
It was one reason why I had wanted me and my crew to observe this going down. I and the rest might not be huntsmen but we at least had some experience fighting grimm. But perhaps having some of the local law enforcement here wasn't a bad thing.
"Well thankfully we have a huntsman here with us," I told the Sheriff with a smirk, flicking ash off my cigar before taking a long puff off of it. "If you see any grimm then I trust that you can do what you do best." I said, giving him a pat on the shoulder and turning away to the car. "Let's go get a closer look."
I climbed into the rear seat with Neo as Cardin got into the driver seat and pulled out onto the dirt roads following them for a little bit before getting onto the paved highway. A look behind showed that Gates was following us.
"That was some interesting timing," Cardin commented, Neo nodded in agreement.
"It certainly is, but it seems that he's doing what we pay him for and ignoring our antics," I commented, blowing some of my cigar smoke out the cracked window.
"It - can't - be - that - simple," Neo signed. "He's - up - to - something."
"Maybe," I agreed. "But if he was planning anything he came alone and that's hardly a good idea, plus he came up to us. If he does start trouble then he's going to be badly outnumbered, besides I don't think he'd risk losing all the bribes the Family sends his way."
Neo shrugged to show that she wasn't sure about anything. I wasn't exactly sure myself but I couldn't deny that having him show up just before the job made me nervous. But I was hardly in any position to do something about him, he wasn't violating any agreements as yet and if I wanted to be successful here I needed him to remain a neutral party and look the other way for both parties.
Driving up to the scene of the job we found that everything had been settled. The SDC truck was on the side of the road having almost crashed into the side of the mountain and sure enough the back was open with the Motleys stripping the trailer clean.
I had never seen so much fucking money in my life. It was stacked in bricks and wrapped in plastic making it easy enough to haul out and load up into a number of smaller trucks that had been prepared for the occasion.
I stepped out of the car and waved at Babe as she directed some of her guys that were restraining a group of Desperados that had been captured. Some had naturally escaped but if the rest of my crew had done their job right then they would find their outposts already wrecked and their members in no position to provide reinforcement. That or they could go all the way back to White Peak which would make them too late to do anything.
"How did it go?" I asked Babe, eager for a report. It all seemed to have gone well enough but I figured that there had to be some complications.
"It went well enough," Babe explained to me. "A few guys wiped out with injuries and can't ride so they're going to have to load up into the pickups."
I nodded, "that was to be expected."
Babe turned around and examined the trailer as her guys pulled out the cash and stacked it outside on the side of the road. "But… between these bastards you insist we take with us and the injured I don't know if we have enough room to take all of this cash." She explained to me nervously. "There's more green here than we expected."
I frowned looking at the pickups that were being loaded up. I wasn't about to leave behind the Desperados or a single bill of that cash, I wasn't going to give Cueball the chance to accuse me of keeping any of it for myself.
I was thinking about the problem when a roar caught my attention. I looked off to the side of the road seeing the trees and bushes rustle. A beowulf leapt out of the woods only for a single loud gunshot to drown out it's roar and kill it instantly.
Sheriff Gates had drawn his lever action and held the weapon up with one hand. He flipped the weapon around cocking it one handed before releasing another shot on another that tried rushing out to him. The huntsman raised his gauntleted left arm deploying a shield from the armor blocking the blow of an ursai, he raised the lever action as it extended mecha shifting into a blade cutting the throat of the breast before cocking the weapon and firing on another beowolf once more.
It was certainly an impressive display watching him take care of the grimm. The bikers lined up around the treeline and shot down a few of the grimm, making up for their lack of strength with combined firepower. But it seemed that the sheriff was the focus of the grimm's attention. Thankfully there weren't that many of the beasts, though I did draw my new revolver just to be ready. Cardin and Neo had also drawn their weapons wanting to err on the side of caution.
"How many bikes did you capture?" I asked Babe, keeping my mind on the problem at hand.
"What?" She asked me.
"The Desperados bikes!?" I said, raising my voice to be heard over the nearby gunfire. "How many are in good enough shape to be ridden?" I asked her.
"About five, the rest got trashed," she told me, tightening her grip on her axe.
"Load up their saddle bags as much as possible and get whoever you can to ride them," I told her looking at her bikes and noticing that a few of them had sidecars. "Anyone that was in a sidecar, have them use some of those bikes and fill them with as much of the cash as you can. Also try filling my car if you need to, trunk passenger seat, I know it's not much but let's use every bit of space we can."
They proceeded to do just that and with too many of the Motley's watching out for grimm I made sure that Cardin and myself helped them out. I assisted in loading the cash into the trunk and rear passenger seats of our car since it had so much space. I really should have planned for there to be more money than I expected, then we had filled as many of the saddle bags and side cars I started stacking the front passenger seat of the car.
"Where are you and Neo going to sit?" Cardin asked me, filling the last few inches we could. I hoped that Heavy's team had more luck with their truck and finding the space for all the cash they probably had to deal with.
"They're short one rider so we're going to take one of the bikes," I explained to him. It had been something Babe pointed out early on so Neo and I volunteered to ride the last bike.
"Can you ride those?" He asked me.
"I don't have a license or anything but I'm a fast learner," I explained. In truth I was a little excited to use one of the bikes, I had always thought that Yang looked really cool driving Bumblebee around so getting a chance to drive one myself was a little thrilling.
It took us longer to load everything up than I would have liked but thankfully we didn't get any civilian drivers coming down towards us before we were able to roll out. I got to the bike with Neo as Babe began showing me how to operate it. I commandeered two of the helmets that we stripped off of the captured Desperados for Neo and myself. Safety first as mom always said to me.
It took me a couple of tries with the kickstarter before I was able to get the engine on the bike rumbling beneath me. The bikers certainly had a laugh at my expense for it but I could see that it was good natured.
"Hey!" Gates called out to me walking towards me. The grimm it seemed had been taken care of for the moment and he was currently feeding the large rounds into his lever action.
"Is there a problem, sheriff?" I asked him, clipping on my helmet and adjusting the straps as Neo slid onto the bike behind me having secured her own head protection.
"What are you gonna do with those Desperados you've taken?" He asked me. "And what did you do with the driver?"
"The driver got blindfolded and hogtied," I explained to him. "They're going to let him loose just outside of town, and don't worry he didn't see you turning a blind eye to all of this," I explained to him. "Besides, even if he wanted to make a report he'd have to drag himself and the SDC into a smuggling investigation so I doubt anyone is going to be making too much of a stink about this. Just have your report state that you found nothing here except for the wrecked bikes and truck and some grimm."
He frowned at me. "And the Desperados?" He asked me with a frown on his face. "I can't exactly keep this quiet if eight bikers show up dead, that doesn't exactly fly."
"If we wanted them dead we would have left them for grimm chow," I assured him. "Trust me you're not going to have to explain anything to anybody except that the bikers were being bikers."
With that I pulled up the kickstand and pulled the throttle taking it slow but moving all the same. Babe took the lead of the formation and I followed behind operating the bike as best I could. Neo wrapped her arms around my waist as we drove the wind whipping her pink and brown hair behind her. My unfamiliarity with the machine earned a few chuckles from the Motleys, seeing a suit as some call me operating a hog was not what they had expected but they were helpful. Though my attire wasn't exactly good for motorcycle riding, I saw why bikers were so fond of wearing leather. The cold air rushing by made us both shiver and Neo did her best to stay close and let my wider frame shield herself.
I followed the pack for a while before turning down some dirt roads with them and winding through some backwoods before coming upon one of the gang's compounds. It practically looked like a fortress, it was a collection of squat concrete buildings surrounded by high chain link fences topped with razor wire and what seemed to be defensive positions as well. It made me think of compounds I would have expected some backwoods militia to hold up in. The only thing it was missing was some guard towers and a moat.
A gang member with a rifle slung over his shoulder opened the gate for us as we all rolled in with our bikes stopping in the gravel courtyard. Thankful to have arrived without further incident I leaned the bike on the kickstand and did my best to dust myself off and discard the helmet.
Cardin got out of his car and opened the trunk so we could begin unloading everything into one of their garages. Babe waddled her way over towards me with her scroll in hand, apparently they did have tower service here at the compound.
"I just got word from Heavy," she reported to me. "They took the truck and about three of the Desperados hostage, three made a break for town, and two escaped into the woods." She explained to me.
"Any casualties?" I asked her.
"Two, one of ours and one of theirs. The truck driver swerved into one of our own, the Desperado apparently was knocked off his bike and pulled under the wheels," she explained.
I wasn't happy to learn that people had died but it wasn't something that could have been completely avoided. Besides these bikers were choosing to take these risks to put bread on the table. It was just an uncomfortable reality I had to put up with.
"And the money?" I asked her.
"They got all of it and it's currently being counted in one of our other outposts." She explained to me. "Do you want them to bring it here once they're finished counting it?"
"No keep it there for the time being, I'd rather make the Desperados attack two targets if they want to get their stolen cash back," I explained, pulling off two sieges would be hard for them especially since both compounds where firmly within Motley turf where any attack would be reinforced and communication was a lot easier. "Count all of it out so I know just how much we took, then fill a bag with a hundred thousand. I'll be giving the Desperados back their boys and some of the cash personally."
"What!?" Cardin cried, dropping some of the plastic wrapped money bricks on the ground and looking at me with surprise.
"I said that you weren't going to like the next part of my plan," I told him plainly, giving Neo a look as she leaned against the bike with her arms crossed.
"You're giving them back the hostages!?" Babe asked me incredulously.
"It's a play," I explained to her. "A gesture of good will so they know that we're willing to be reasonable."
"You think that's going to matter to Cueball?" She asked me.
"No, but it's going to matter to the rest of his chapter," I pointed out to her. "They're going to see that if Cueball keeps up this silly little turf war then it's more trouble than it's worth. It's about putting pressure on Cueball, but what do you think Cueball is going to do if we keep these hostages? It's going to look personal, we're holding their friends and comrades and he'll fan those fires. I'd rather douse those fires right away and remind them that this is just business and they need to make the smart decision."
"That's not what I'm worried about," Cardin cut in. "I don't want you rolling up in front of those guys so they can kill you!"
"If they even try then the rest of the Torchwick Family will descend on them like a plague," I reminded him.
"They might not be thinking about tomorrow when they decide to pull that trigger," Cardin told me.
"It's a chance I'm willing to take," I told him. "Plus I'm planning on having you Neo and the rest of my crew with me so I'm not planning on being completely defenseless."
"Why not just have the Motleys deliver the guys and the cash for you?" Cardin asked me. Neo gave a nod in agreement with the idea.
"Do you think anyone on a bike wearing anything other than a Desperado jacket can even get close to them?" I asked them. "Word about what has happened probably has gotten back to them right now and the last thing we need is any shooting to happen. Besides… This is also about showing that the Torchwick family is not to be fucked with."
"I - like - it," Neo signed. "It - shows - we - have - balls."
I nodded to her. "Exactly," I said to her. "It's carrot and stick, and I'm hoping to show both before the end of the day."
"You're set on doing this aren't you?" Cardin asked me with a sigh.
"Don't worry, between all of us and Neo I'm pretty sure we can handle it," I assured him. "Now let's start counting all of this."
We stacked the cash in the garage of the compound where we were sure that it'd be safe enough. Thankfully the plastic wrap for the cash was already marked with exactly how much it was worth so counting it all out was easy enough when we divided the work.
In a few hours the rest of my crew managed to make it back and tell me all about them helping the motleys assault those outposts. So far from what they had told me it had gone mostly smooth with only Dove and Sky having had some trouble with one of the Motleys getting spotted and shooting off too soon. They had managed to get the bikers to flee into the woods and set forth demolishing the little shacks they had set up along the backroads. They also had been there when Heavy's crew counted out their share of the stolen dough, it had totalled out to just over four million, which also matched our truck totalling us to a few hundred thousand lien over eight million.
With that done we stuffed about a hundred thousand into a duffle bag and loaded out prisoners up into a truck. The Desperados, despite being wounded and banged up from the fight, were not holding back to tell me or the Motleys exactly what they thought of us. There is certainly an art to profanity and these bozos were certainly able to string curses together in a most interesting fashion.
We tried to ignore them for the most part but after a few choice insults directed at Neo I wasn't able to restrain her or my crew, and I hardly cared too. We gave them a few smacks before gagging them to be hauled off.
I sat in the front seat as Cardin drove us to a bar called Stacy's Saloon where Babe assured me the Desperados would almost certainly be having a meeting about the recent events. All within the neutrality of the town of course. So it was my best bet to find Cueball or at the very least one of his officers. Figuring out that we were in the town at least helped Cardin calm down a little as we drove there.
"I told Sky to stop across the street and climb one of those trees," Cardin explained to me. "I figured he'd be best keeping an eye on things through his scope."
"Very well," I said to him as we winded through the quiet streets of White Peaks. I admit that I was a little nervous about doing this, as much as I tried to dismiss Cardin's worries I knew that he was justified to have a bad feeling going to to them face to face.
I looked back at Neo and flashed her a confident grin that I didn't feel. "I'm counting on you to be ready to serve as a shield should anything happen. Are you ready for that?" Since Hush was able to be deployed and stop attacks it made sense to have her stand close to me, but more than that having Roman's top woman standing right by my side would only help cement that I was here serving his will.
She returned my smile and gave me a nod.
We pulled up onto the gravel driveway and just like the parking lot for the Brown Jug it was filled with bikes and a few Desperados sitting outside smoking and drinking beer out of the bottle. That was good, I wasn't going to need to go inside.
Cardin stopped the car and I got out with my cane in hand. It did help my nerves to have a weapon in hand, even if it was only in it's cane form it was a comfort and I admit I thought I looked kind of cool with it.
I took a few steps forward towards the bar looking at all the bikers who gathered around looking far from pleased. Neo got out and opened her parasol to stand behind me while Cardin looked effectively menacing holding Executioner.
"You there Cueball!?" I called out for everyone to hear me.
I waited for a second as the chapter members lined up outside to look at all of his glaring at me. I just leaned on my cane trying to look as comfortable and at ease as I could. It was Vice President Razor that showed up first pushing past all the members to look at me.
"Razor, I don't suppose that your President is here at the moment?" I asked him, reaching into my jacket pocket. "Cigar?" I asked him, politely offering him one.
"Why are you here?" He asked me firmly, clenching his fists.
"I'll take that as a no," I said, putting away one of the cigars so I could light my own. "You didn't answer my question, where's Cueball?"
"He's inside," Razor answered me. "But you can talk to me."
"I don't think so," I told him flatly. "If he's here then I'll talk to him."
"He's not in the mood to talk to you," Razor said with a clenched fist.
"And I'm not in the mood to talk to someone that gets smacked around for talking out of turn." I spat, reminding him how his own president had punched him for trying to bargain with us without his permission. I was glad that the rest of the chapter was here to hear me mention that, it'd be a nice little rumor to be spread around the chapter.
Razor opened his mouth, paused to look around at Cardin and Neo and then shut it. I assumed that he was thinking of firing back an insult of his own only to think better of it. I was a made man after all.
"I'll get him," I heard someone speak up. I looked past Razor's shoulder and saw that it was the Sergeant at Arms Panic. So he was the first to break and fetch the chapter president.
I waited, smoking my cigar and leaning against my cane as Panic walked all the way back inside. I didn't say a word until I saw Cueball walking out with a murderous glare on his face.
"You got a lot of fucking nerve coming here after what you just did!" He yelled at me.
I laughed at that. "And you got a lot of nerve sending your punching bag out here to talk to me." I said cheekily. Razor scowled at me for making another jab at him but didn't voice any protest.
"I don't have a gods damned thing to say to you!" Cueball spat.
"Hey don't be like that," I said to him. "I made you an offer and you refused, and now I'm here to make you another. Pull back your guys from the north end of the town and return our cargo, and this can all stop. I'll return the eight million I just took from you and you can use the north road at the old tolls you used to pay."
"You cocksucking mafioso… that was our money!" He screamed, looking like an overripe tomato as he did so.
"No it was the Vacuans money," I corrected him.
"And you think they're just going to ignore this? You think they won't come down on you and your Family?" He cried.
"And what are you planning on telling them?" I asked him. "You're the ones that lost them eight million lien, money that we are happy to return just to see this end. And believe me… you're a lot less trouble to get rid of than me, I think I know exactly what the Vacuans will do, assuming that the Atlesiasn don't do it first. You think they're going to mess with Roman when they can just bring one leather clad shitstain to heel?"
He just glared at me grinding his teeth. "Get out!" He said, stepping closer to me. "Get the fuck out of here right now!"
"No!" I told him firmly. I wasn't about to do a single thing he told me to do. I needed everyone here to see just how little control he had in this situation. Everyone here knew that I was untouchable to them, and now they had to see that I would be a constant problem unless I got what I asked for.
Cueball paused at that. I could tell that he's the type of guy who's used to getting what he wants with a bit of anger and threats. But he couldn't threaten me and I wasn't going to bow to his anger.
"I have nothing more to say to you!" He told me quietly.
"Well I'm not done!" I told him, keeping my voice loud enough for as many people as possible to hear. "I'm honestly a little shocked Cueball… all this talk of money and you haven't even mentioned those guys who were escorting those trucks."
I turned and nodded to Cardin to text Dove and Russel to come in with the trucks.
"We have quite a few guys here and they're banged up pretty badly, the rest escaped or are probably lost in the woods so I suggest you find them before they become grimm chow." I explained as the trucks rolled in. "One got pulled under the truck and you have my condolences for your gang's loss. But as for the rest of your guys I return them to you, this is just business after all, no one else needs to be hurt so long as we can come together as reasonable people."
I turned around as Dove and Russel opened the back of the truck and pulled the bound and gagged bikers out onto the parking lot. He also dropped the duffle bag we had filled with money, another gesture towards negotiation.
"I'm going to give you three days to consider my offer," I told him loudly enough for everyone to hear. "If you deny my offer or refuse to answer me then I assure you it's only going to get worse."
With that I took my leave and returned to my car along with Cardin and Neo. The bikers watched the whole time as we drove away leaving them to contemplate what I had told them. All and all I felt that I had put on a hell of a show.
"I don't like the look in Cueball's eyes boss," Cardin told me. "He's not someone used to being pushed around, he wants to fight back."
"He can try ramping up the attacks on the Motleys but that'll just give us further license to ramp things up." I explained to Cardin. "He's already lost and he just doesn't want to admit it."
"What if they try stealing the money back?" He asked.
"They can certainly try, but they would have to assault two diffrent compounds and that'd be a risky fight," I explained to him. "And even if it succeeded we could just steal another truck or two in retaliation. This has become too costly already, they can't endure weeks of this."
"So why give him three days? To calm down and get his thoughts together?" He asked me.
"That, and to let the rest of his gang put pressure on him. They all heard my offer and they are going to hear from their comrades how they got ambushed and they all saw the compounds and they know that assaulting them would be a huge gamble. Word is going to spread through the gang and those that don't see eye to eye with Cueball are going to let their voices be heard." I told him. "I might have backed him into a corner, but the rest of his gang won't see it that way."
I turned back and looked at Neo. "Did you get a good look at the gang? How were there reactions?" I asked her.
"It - was - a - mixed - bag," Neo explained. "But - that - Panic - guy - seemed - to - be - pretty - nervous - when - Cueball - tried - making - you - leave." She explained to me.
I nodded, the Sergeant at Arms did seem to be the most agreeable of the lot. Back at the stripclub he was even friendly with Vixen while the rest of them kept the members of the Motleys at arm's length.
"And the Vice President?" I asked, hoping that the second in command for the chapter would show some spine.
Neo shook her head. "He's - whipped!" she told me.
"I was afraid of that," I said with a sigh. But even still I was counting this particular meeting as a success. I just needed to lay back and wait for the Desperados to make their move and hope that it was the smart one. It had gone down more or less how Roman and I had tried to plan it.
We drove back to the hotel and after showering and changing into something that wasn't covered in dust I made my report to Roman. Naturally he was pleased that the job went down with hardly any hitches.
"Everyone's a little on edge about us taking that money." I told him, plainly giving him the details so he understood the situation on the ground as best as possible.
"That's to be expected," Roman assured me. "If the Desperados don't cave we can always return it to the Atlesians themselves, they'll know they'll have to either put this gang in line themselves or face further delays. This is too important to them, I'm sure they've already gotten word that this little turf war has caused a delay in the Vacuans getting their money."
"Do you think they'll send someone to take care of this?" I asked him, wanting to be prepared just in case we had some of them coming to town.
"It's certainly a possibility I'd be prepared for, but I wouldn't worry if they do. They'll probably make a call to me before trying anything and if that happens I'll just explain that we're just trying to put the Desperados back in line and amend the situation." He told me.
"And if I have to deal with a representative myself?" I asked him.
"Then try explaining that for me," Roman instructed. "If they want their money back, give it to them, just make it very clear that it's not going to make the problems go away. And that they can't trust the Desperados to move cash for them."
"Understood," I confirmed with him. I left him with some more minor details about the situation and some of the other jobs I had pulled against the Desperados before hanging up and trying to get some much needed rest.
The first day passed like many of the others did. I tried directing the Motleys in a few harassing actions just so the Desperados wouldn't think that we were resting on our laurels. It was mostly arranging a few scuffles that ended with some broken bones and vandalism, mostly a turf war is all about two sides trying to intimidate the other. I imagined that if Roman hadn't decided to have Neo and I step in they'd probably be at each other for a while just trying to bruise the other until one of them tapped out. But since I wanted to make sure the Desperados didn't get a chance to steal back their money I made sure that Babe kept both compounds well manned with some of her best guys.
The second day passed much like the first, but feeling pretty stir crazy in the hotel I took every opportunity to go out to the nearby woods and get some combat training in. I actually ran most of my crew ragged trying to get in as much training as I could. Usually I wouldn't be so gung ho about it but when you're stuck in a room with five other people I just needed some kind of physical exertion. Neo thankfully was always willing to be my sparring partner.
The sky was getting pretty dark outside as we focused solely on our blade work. I deflected her blade before trying a ripost of my own, only for her to twirl out of the way of my attack flashing me a smug little grin.
I growled in a bit of frustration. As much as I had improved in fighting I had hardly been able to land a blow on her even after we had spent a full hour of sparring. My exhaustion was hardly helping with my frustration but even more she kept teasing me.
I pivoted to keep her in front of me and aimed a slash at her legs only for her to step out of my reach. I pressed forward to attempt a thrust only for her to step to the side making the tip of Astuzia sink into the trunk of a tree. I cursed, the terrain was also providing challenges of their own.
Neo wagged a finger demeaningly at me, as if to say "tisk tisk bad move Jaune," I really pissed me off.
"I'm going to get you!" I said to her, pulling my blade out of the tree easily enough and stepping forward to press another attack only for her to stop me in my tracks with a series of her own attacks giving me a doubtful look at my promise.
I parried her attacks and moved back as she unbalanced me and pushed me back with a rapid series of cuts and thrusts. Taken aback I withdrew from her, locking my blade with hers for a second. I pushed it away and pressed the short advantage. I lunged for her with a fencer's thrust, she hopped back just out of my reach and stuck her tongue out to tease me.
My foot knocked against a tree root that knocked off my balance, sending me stumbling forward towards her. With my blade still extended towards her it closed the distance she had made for herself and for a second I thought my little stumble was going to land a blow on her. But Hush's blade was ready and she parried it and stepped in closer to me putting her free hand on my shoulder to keep me from falling. Her face came close and her lips brushed against mine.
It had happened so fast that I just stood there stunned for a second wondering if she really had just kissed me or if it had just been my imagination. But as our blades remained locked and a sultry expression remained on her face that stayed inches from mine, both of us were panting from the exertion of the spar leaving the space between us hot as our breath mingled.
The frustration that had been building during the spar instantly evaporated as we just stared into each other's eyes for a long moment. I opened my mouth to say something to her but I found myself speechless as I struggled trying to figure out what to say to her. I scratched the back of my head with my free hand awkwardly. "I uh… well… why'd you do that?" I asked her dumbly.
Without any more words or thoughts we both leaned in as our lips locked once more. It was sweet, her arms wrapped around my neck and I ran a hand through her soft hair as our lips and tongues moved together. We remained like that for a while before she broke the kiss and stepped away with a smile sheathing her sword into Hush and deploying the parasol. Training was over for now.
"I - did - it - because - I - wanted - to." She told me, turning towards the hotel and motioning for me to follow her. "And - I've - been - wanting - to - do - it - for - some - time - now."
I blushed at that. I had thought that the drunken incident at the twin's apartment had been all but forgotten as the awkwardness between us had slowly vanished.
"Really? So uh… why'd you wait until now?" I asked her nervously.
"There - wasn't - really - a - good - moment - until - now." She explained to me. "And - I - got - tired - of - waiting - for - you - to - kiss - me."
I scratched the back of my head nervously. "Uh… sorry," I apologized to her. "I wasn't really sure if you wanted anything to happen after that night."
She gave me an accusatory look. She didn't need to call me an idiot, her look said it all to me. I had at least been telling myself that that night had been a drunken mistake but I of course knew better, but that had scared me.
"Sorry," I said again to her. "I'm uh… I'm not really good at these kinds of things."
She gave me a dismissive wave telling me not to fret about it, there was no point focusing on regrets.
"What do you want to do now?" I asked her, a little unclear where she wanted things to move from here.
"How - about - we - go - swimming," she suggested to me, the hotel did in fact have an indoor pool that I had yet to take advantage of. It did sound nice and refreshing considering the exertion we had just gone though.
"That sounds nice… but I didn't really pack any trunks to go swimming," I said to her with a sigh. Whatever that kiss meant it seemed that it wasn't taking us anywhere fast.
"I - already - bought - you - some - trunks - when - I - went - shopping," she explained to me with a satisfied smile on her face.
"Just for me?" I asked her.
She nodded.
"Well alright then," I said, following her towards the side door of the hotel, a little happy to relax with a dip in the pool.
My scroll buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out to see an unexpected but familiar number on the screen. "I'm going to stay out and take this real quick," I told Neo, stopping as she opened the door. "I'll be up soon."
She nodded, "Don't - make - me - wait." She told me.
I nodded and waited for her to disappear before turning to walk towards the seclusion of the woods accepting the call. "Hello Coco, how are you?" I asked her, feeling that I had an idea why she was calling me.
"Hello Jaune… I uh… did you send me this package?" She asked me tentatively.
Before we had left for White Peak my crew had managed to take an SDC shipment that had been mistaken for dust. Instead it was a bunch of designer clothes bound for some company stores. Naturally I sent the designer clothes to some of my business partners in Little Mistral for them to sell off, but I had taken the liberty to keep a few choice items for myself, a few of which I sent to Coco in an anonymously marked package.
"I just wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me," I explained to her. "Do you not like it?" I asked her.
"Are you freaking kidding me? It's wonderful… is it real Atlesians mink?" She asked me, referring to the silver fur coat that I had packed in along with a nice beret and a few silk blouses. But that coat had certainly been the most expensive part of my gift.
"It is, I'm glad you like it, I was worried you might not approve of fur," I said, it was certainly a nice silver fur coat and I knew that I should be given to someone that appreciated it.
"It's not usually my thing but I love it," she said to me. "But you're not supposed to give me a gift for doing you a favor."
"Hey I'm a generous guy!" I told her. "Besides you've done more than a simple favor for me, I thought you deserved a little treat for sticking your neck out for me."
"You're talking about it like you bought me lunch, this coat isn't exactly cheap you know," she protested.
"Don't worry about the price," I said to her. "I got a good deal on it."
"How?" She asked me.
"Don't worry about it, it fell off a truck," I told her dismissively.
"Well it's a bit of a cruel gift," she told me.
"Oh? What's wrong with it?" I asked her.
"What's wrong is it's summer and I'll have to wait months before this coat is in style, it's too hot for fur," she said.
"Well if your biggest complainant is that you can't wait to wear it then I guess I did good," I said proudly.
"You did, it's too much," she said to me.
"It's fine, I just hope you didn't get into too much trouble helping me out with that little favor," I said to her, naturally Ozpin would have discovered one of his own students shooting up a bookstore and helping a terrorist defector escape.
"It wasn't much, Oz just asked me a few questions about it," she told me. "That Tukson guy went-."
"Don't tell me. I'm better off not knowing the details about what happened to him and where he's at all," I told her, I could be properly questioned if I didn't know after all. Wherever Tukson had escaped to, the matter concerning him wasn't completely buried yet.
"Ok that makes sense," Coco told me. "Oz certainly seemed pleased by all of this."
"So you did talk to him about it?" I asked, careful not to use Ozpin's name myself, talking over the phone so people don't get any damning details from your half of the conversation was certainly something that I had refined a bit working in this business.
"A little, naturally he didn't give me any specifics but he told me that you were doing precisely what he asked for," she explained to me.
That was a lie, nothing about what I had asked her to do had been under Ozpin's orders, it was just my intuition and aversion to killing that had led me to helping Tukson escape. But naturally Ozpin was pretending like that had been his plan all along.
"Well I'm glad you like your gift, but I'm afraid I don't really have time for chit chat at the moment," I told her.
"Alright then… just know that favor or not I'm more than willing to give you a hand if you ever need one," she assured me,
"I'll keep that in mind, goodnight." I lied to her.
"Goodnight Jaune," she said to me before hanging up.
I proceeded to shift through my scroll blocking her number and deleting her contact info. I wasn't going to go to her for help anymore. Twice had already been stretching things and I wasn't going to test my luck, there was only so many times a fashionably dressed huntress with a massive minigun could appear for my benefit before people would grow suspicious. And I wasn't willing to drag her further into my problems or Ozpin's lies.
I thought about the headmaster as I walked back to the hotel shining the light of my scroll along my path. If Ozpin had any interest in re-establishing contact with me he should have done it by now, should he? Hell he could have tried using Coco, she had the number for my other scroll, hell he almost certainly did since he was the one that gave me this normal scroll as well. It wasn't the burner sure but it was one means he had to check in on me. To see if I was even still alive.
I wondered if the deal I had made with the old man held. I certainly didn't feel like his spy anymore, I had tried using that excuse on myself to save Tukson but in reality that was just me trying to avoid getting more blood on my hands.
I was alone. He might as well have left me for dead the minute someone had decided to place a bomb in my old apartment. I felt like an idiot trying to pretend that somehow I was going to be able to walk back into Beacon after all of this.
He'd dropped me like a hot stone in the desert.
But thinking about all of that on my walk back I felt oddly calm. A part of me felt free to think that I escaped from Ozpin's shackles. A part of me was glad that he didn't try to contact me. I had built something for myself back in Vale, I was a made man, I was starting a club and I was here in this podunk town negotiating a deal worth millions.
Being one of Ozpin's students felt so small compared to all of that.
And there was Neo. There was a girl I liked who had just kissed me, who wanted me to kiss her and probably more. And I had been fighting against that because I kept deluding myself that I had some kind of future as a huntsman. I thought of Sheriff Gates, he was a huntsman and he was as corrupt as they came. Did I really want to be like him? Some cog in a machine I had come to see from a wildly different perspective?
I didn't think so, and I felt at peace realizing it.
My step had a new spring in it as I walked back to the hotel. I was excited to just enjoy the rest of my night with Neo and see where it led us. A weight had been dropped from my shoulders and though I might have looked back I felt that I couldn't very well retrieve it.
Some plants behind me rustled. I turned around and shined the light of my scroll across the woods. The light didn't penetrate the darkness, but from the shadows I saw dozens of pairs of red eyes looking at me.
The red eyes of grimm.