"We don't break out captains. We kill them." ~ Vincent Gilante.
I froze from all the red eyes gazing at me from the shadows and the low threatening growls that echoed from the forest. I half expected the grimm to charge me but they only seemed to glare as I adjusted to my shock and grabbed my weapon that rested in its holster before taking a step back and sprinting back to the hotel as I extended Vendetta into its shotgun form. I managed to get the side entrance of the hotel in sight when I heard the sound of them chasing after me.
I turned as two beowolves charged me shouldering the shotgun and firing. Two shots of buckshot killed them both. An urasi lumbered out of the trees behind them with surprising speed closing the distance to me.
I fired the semi auto weapon again only to wound the monster as he slammed into me like a freight train knocking me to the ground on my back. I raised the shotgun only for one of it's massive paws to swiped the weapon from my hand and sent me rolling on the forest floor. My face met the dirt and I tried to get up only for its paw to come crashing down on my back pinning me to the ground. I tasted the dirt.
Astuzia and Vendetta were out of reach and I couldn't reach my magnum that rested in it's shoulder holster while I was pinned. I could feel the creature trying to maul me until my aura broke and I was a helpless pile of meat for it to chew up.
I squirmed awkwardly as I felt it's jaws come down on my shoulder sending jolts of pain down my body. I reached for my left leg with my left hand awkwardly finding my .38 snub nose resting in it's ankle holster. I freed the weapon and brought it up behind me till I felt the muzzle press against the monster's head.
I pulled the double action trigger again and again emptying the cylinder of all five shots. A .38 isn't exactly what anyone would choose to defend themselves against a grimm, certainly not an ursai, but five shots straight to the head was all it took to kill the monster.
The creature went limp and fell against me dead. My ear was ringing from the close gunfire and I pulled myself out so I could reach for my .357 from it's shoulder holster pulling it free. I leveled it against a beowolf that descended on me and fired two shots point blank, dropping it as I managed to free myself from the dead ursai that was dissolving into acrid black smoke.
A second beowolf came in from my right, I was too slow to level my revolver at it as it closed the distance and brought it's jaws down on my gun arm. My aura flared up as I struggled to free myself. I dropped my .38 on the ground and clenched my left hand and slammed my fist into the side of it's head. The gravity dust infused glove that Marcello had given me struck the monster like a sledgehammer. The creature whined as the blow sent it back, my hand was throbbing in pain as I ignored it and shot the creature.
I stumbled forward and grabbed my Astuzia and Vendetta off the ground holding them awkwardly in my left hand as I sprinted towards the hotel. Another beowolf charge me from the right and I raised my revolver and fired another shot wounding it before reaching the glass door. I pulled it open and threw myself past the threshold trying to slam it behind me. The beowolf slammed into it shattering the glass into thousands of pieces before trying to claw its way through the steel frame of the door. I leveled my magnum and emptied the last shot straight into its skull, killing it.
Knowing that more of the monsters were on their way I sprinted down the hallway to make some distance. I popped the cylinder and let the empty shells fall out onto the carpet. With my weapon tucked in my arm I fumbled around for the speedloader.
"Jaune!" Russel said, spotting me on the stairwell. He was half dressed with only his pants and an undershirt on. His pistol was in it's shoulder holster and shortwings were in his hands ready for action. "What's going on?" He asked as the rest of his team followed close behind, clearly having heard the gunfire and reaction.
"Grimm!" I stated to him, taking a breath to holster the revolver and bring Vendetta back up. I reached for the shell caddy I had under my jacket and grabbed a few shells to feed into the tube. "A bunch of them attacked me outside in the woods, there's definitely more."
Neo, who was in one of the white hotel bathrobes, signed to me. "How - many - more?"
"I don't know, but a lot." I answered her.
"This close to town? How is that possible?" Cardin asked.
"I don't know, but they're here and they need to be dealt with," I told him, looking at them all.
The sound of a crash emphasized my point and I turned down thinking that I had heard it come from the lobby. "Let's find the hotel staff," I suggested, not wanting to let them just run around as a bunch of monsters tore into this place.
"I rushed down separating my weapon into the short shotgun and blade and running down the hall. Russel sped up ahead of me as he reached the lobby to find that several beowolves had already broken in and wrecked the place. One of them was tearing away at a door to a back room and I dropped it with a blast of buckshot while Russel fired upon several more that were crawling in through the windows.
I moved to the back door and stepped past the disintegrating grimm. Another was already in there and it lunged at me, I was ready for it with my blade stabbing it through the throat. I stepped back as it bled and suffocated from my strike gargling and growling. Neo bounded gracefully past me into the room to thrust her blade down the throat of another, killing it.
The back room was a horror scene. One of the nightstaff, a young woman with blonde hair was dead on the floor having been torn apart by the beasts. The horrified look on her face and the blank expression of her eyes horrified me and I averted my gaze. "Is anyone else in here!?" I called out looking around.
"Here!" I heard a voice call out from a side room who's door had been scratched up.
It opened and a young man stepped out wearing a simple uniform with a name tag that read Nathan and designated him as a janitor. He looked down at his coworker dead on the floor and averted his eyes that steamed tears as he hugged himself.
"Hey!" I said moving over to him, the sound of gunfire from the lobby as the rest of my crew handled the beast was still in the air. "Hey!" I said again, taking hold of his shoulders. As scared as he was, I needed him to be able to think straight and answer some questions. "Who else is in the building? Any more staff? Any guests?"
So far it had just seemed like it was my group staying here but I wanted to be sure that there wasn't anyone else here. My biggest concern was everyone's safety.
"Uh… there's a couple that rented a room for the night," he said to me, gathering his thoughts. "And one of the cleaning ladies."
"Let's get them all together," I told him, sliding a shell into the tube of Vendetta as I stepped out.
Cardin and the rest were making short work of the grimm that had managed to break through the front door. Sky cut down several with Feather's Edge before shifting the weapon into it's rifle form and laying down accurate fire as the rest of the team cut down any that came too close.
Nathan stared at them but I focused his attention back to me. "Nathan, where is everyone?" I asked him.
"Upstairs," he said to me.
"Show me!" I said, trying my best to have him keep his mind on the task at hand. I sheathed Astuzia back into Vendetta having it form into its crude stock. Cardin took point as we left the lobby and made our way upstairs with little in the way of opposition.
Using a master keycard Nathan opened up the room and we found the guests he had mentioned huddled in one of their rooms scared shitless. Just a man and a woman passing through town on a road trip only to get caught up in this mysterious grimm attack.
"Are you all huntsmen?" The man asked us as we pulled him away from the room so we could avoid anyplace with windows that would be too easily broken by the grimm.
"No," I answered them as we moved up to the third floor where we figured that would be the most defensible area. It was closer to our room where we had extra weapons and ammunition. Several gunshots erupted down the hall as Russel killed a couple of beowolves with his dagger pistols.
"Then why are you armed like this?" The husband asked, looking at my shotgun as I looked down one of the starways. An ursa tried forcing it's massive body up the stairs and I squeezed off several shells before moving, urging them to move up behind him.
"Hunting, we're on a hunting trip," I answered, more a joke than a lie as Cardin led the way up with Executioner in hand. We were just moving up the stairs when we heard muffled gunfire coming from outside. Small rattling bursts of some automatic weapons.
"Sounds like someone arrived," I commented to them. My first thought was the sheriff but I remembered his weapon being a slow if powerful lever action. Perhaps it was his deputies that were making use of machine guns.
"We should go out there and help them," I commented, not much liking the idea of staying inside this hotel and waiting for more grimm to come inside to eat us. Just because the cavalry had arrived didn't exactly mean that we were safe.
"Dove, Russel, take these people upstairs," Cardin ordered. "Jaune Neo and I will go down."
"Where do you want me?" Sky asked.
"Get a window and take a look outside, provide fire if you can, you're not so good in tight spaces," he commented, getting a nod from him.
We made our way down the stairs stepping over the dead ursa that was disintegrating. We killed several more, mainly Cardin who was able to blow through anything that got in front of him while Neo covered our rear, able to use Hush as both parasol shield and sword. She seemed to be the best to watch our rear.
Taking the starwell down to the first floor I shot several more of the creatures getting low on shells as Cardin blasted his way out. We could hear the familiar report of Feather's Edge as Sky provided sniper fire outside.
My scroll rang and I picked it up to see that Sky was calling me. I put it on speaker and tucked it into the front pocket of my jacket. I really needed to get an earpiece.
"What do you see Sky?" I asked as Cardin smashed the skull of an beowolf, killing it in one blow.
"Someone's here." Sky told me. "Three vehicles but they're not with the Sheriff's department."
"Then who are they?" I asked him.
"No idea, but they're coming inside," he told me.
That worried me, a bunch of strangers showing up right now with automatic weapons? That couldn't bode well considering the situation.
"They're not shooting at you are they?" I asked him.
"No… and I think they saw me shooting at the grimm," he told me.
"Just keep an eye on them," I told him.
A blast of gunfire sounded from down the hall and I lowered my shotgun. "Let's go greet the party crashers," I said with bravado I didn't feel. Cardin moved past me down the hallways, even now he was putting himself between me and any potential threats.
A few rattles of gunfire and we rounded the corner to find the mystery gunmen. There were four of them, large and imposing dressed in off the rack suits that were currently covered with plate carriers that held magazines and other equipment. The first leveled his rifle at us but quickly lowered it seeing that we weren't grimm and that we weren't making any hostile movements towards him.
It took me a second but I recognized him. I had only seen him once before but he had made an impression on me. He was tall, stone faced and broad shouldered. I recognized him from that sit down I had attended with Junior when I met "The Prince" Nicky. I stared into the dark eyes of "Bazooka" Boris.
The Atlesians were here.
My blood went cold as I stared at them. And if he was here then his captain "Clever Girl" Sophia couldn't be far behind.
"Hello Gentleman." Boris greeted, stepping close to me, his hand remained on his slung rifle but he made no threatening gesture. Cardin stepped in his way so he couldn't get so close to me.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, putting my hand on Cardin's shoulder. If he or his men were just trying to kill me during all of this they would have just opened fire by now.
"That is not for me to answer," Boris told me, turning away to touch his earpiece as the rest of his men moved, setting themselves up to cover the hallways. I could hear more gunfire from outside. "Ma'am… There's been a development, we found Jaune Arc and Neopolitan inside with a crew… yes that Jaune Arc "The Gentleman" it seems the rumors of him being here was true."
I was of course nervous, it was no surprise that they recognized Neo but to have him so casually report on me was a surprise. But then again I had apparently made a strong impression during that sit down.
"Yes ma'am," Boris finished before turning his attention back to me. "Please allow us to escort the three of you outside, my superior would like to have a word with you." He said to me.
"There's grimm out there," Cardin commented.
"They've been handled," Boris assured him calmly. "The rest of my men are mopping up the remains of them as we speak."
I looked at Neo who looked back. She bit the inside of her cheek with worry, she wasn't thrilled to see these guys either. She looked at me and gave me a nod, she swallowed her discomfort. She could see that we were hardly in a position to refuse him or his captain.
"Alright," I said to him, "we'll speak to her."
"Very well… And please tell your sharpshooter at the window that he can observe us but we have a marksman of our own. If he turns his rifle to us he will be fired upon and that is the last thing we want ." Boris explained to us.
I nodded, letting Sky keep watch from where he was a fair compromise, a way to make us feel like we had some control of the situation. It was almost friendly in a weird fucked up kind of way that you can only find in this business.
"Sky," I said, picking up my scroll that was still on speaker phone.
"I heard him," he confirmed. "Don't train my rifle on any of them or they'll shoot me. I think their sniper just waved at me."
"Very good," I said, happy that he was being attentive and suppressing any apprehensions he had to a sniper putting a bead on him.
They led us outside, all the while we saw the signs of damage to the hotel from the fighting.
We stepped out past the shattered remains of the hotel lobby and into the parking lot where indeed several cars had been parked illuminating everything with their bright headlights. Two more men with slung rifles and balaclavas stood guard while a third opened the door to one of the sedans.
Spohia stepped out, her long platinum hair was still pulled up in a severe bun and she wore a long coat and a curved saber hung from her hip. She looked calm and regal as she stepped across the asphalt and offered her hand to both Neo and I. I shook first but I noticed that Neo was a little apprehensive taking her hand.
"A pleasure to formally meet you Jaune Arc, Neo, I only regret that it has happened to me under such circumstances." She said to us camly as the rest of her men fanned out, clearly understanding their assigned roles and performing them quietly.
"I'll admit that you were not the kind of cavalry I was expecting to arrive," I told her, trying to appear more amused than worried. She had us outnumbered and almost certainly outgunned.
"I was not expecting to find the hotel I intended to stay at to be swarmed by grimm," she admitted to me. "It is quite worrying."
"I'll certainly be knocking off a star on my review," I joked, trying to cut the tension.
A thin smile curled her lips at that and indeed helped ease some of my worries. There was only one thing that could have brought her here, our current feud with the Desperados that had led to us hijacking one of the cash shipments. Roman had told me to expect someone to possibly show up to deal with this in person, but I had been made to expect a soldier from the Atlesian Mafiya, not a captain with a small army.
"I suppose we have business to discuss," I said, figuring that a bunch of small talk wasn't appropriate given the current mood. I of course had every intention of returning the money, but not wanting to appear weak I couldn't just surrender it without her asking.
"Indeed we do," she agreed with me. "But I think it would be best to talk inside, I am currently waiting for the rest of my men to clear the hotel."
I nodded and took out a cigar as we waited for them in relative silence, getting a few sounds of gunfire from the woods as her soldiers did their job. While I held the title of soldier in the Torchwick Family I couldn't help but think that these men with her wore that title quite well. They weren't like those bozos Michail had for security, if these guys had been guarding him I would have run for the hills.
My scroll buzzed and I looked to see that it was Babe calling me.
"Do you mind if I take this?" I asked her.
"I don't mind at all, go ahead," she told me.
I stepped away and brought the scroll to my ear. "You picked a hell of a time to call Babe," I told her.
"Yeah well it's not a social call," she told me firmly. "The Desperados just attacked the compound."
My stomach sank, that was far too many surprises in one night. "Is the money safe?" I asked her, I gave Sophia and her men a look but they didn't seem to be paying anymore than idle attention to me.
"We fought them off… killed maybe a dozen or more before the fighting attracted some grimm and they were forced to flee. About four of my guys are dead but it's mostly just injuries, they tried ramming the gate with a truck."
"Damnit!" I cursed, Cueball had decided to do what I figured he was too smart to do. Sieging that compound was a gamble I didn't think he would take and now a whole mess of people were dead because of it.
A horrible dark part of my brain recognized that this was a good thing. Losing that many members in an assault would have to break any remaining loyalty the chapter had for its President. This little turf war was already ending before my eyes and I hated that I was able to look at this as a win.
Why couldn't that bastard have just taken the money and spared us the trouble? It didn't make sense to me.
"Keep as many guys in the compound as you can," I instructed her. "There's been a development on my end so await further instructions."
"What happened on your end?" She asked me.
"Grimm attacked the hotel," I said, briefly considering if maybe the attack on the compound was related. That place was far away, there had to be a reason why grimm of all things attacked here. "And the Atlesians are here."
"Shit." she cursed.
"Let me handle them, focus on your current task," I ordered her before hanging up.
I pocketed my scroll before returning to the group. Cardin and Neo looked at me wondering what had happened but I didn't want to carelessly talk about it in front of Sophia. I wanted to get an understanding of her knowledge of the situation here before tipping my hand.
Two squad cars arrived and I expected to see Sheriff Gates only to be disappointed by the arrival of two deputies. It was Gabe and one other that I didn't recognize and they proceeded to take stock of the situation and make calls. They didn't question me or Sophia's men too much and when I heard the married couple ask they just dodged the questions. It seemed the rest of the deputies were on the take as well.
After a while we moved inside and Sophia took the liberty to procure a suite on the second floor. We settled in a couple of chairs, Boris ordered some of his men to contact the hotel owner and rent several rooms despite the damage the hotel had taken. Grimm attack or not they were determined to be staying here.
"Do you mind if I smoke?" Sophia asked me as we sat together in her room with both Cardin and Neo with me.
"Not if you mind me smoking," I said, bringing my own cigar out. I was still sweaty from training with Neo and the fight and having been thrown across the ground by that ursai I was dirty too. Compared to Sophia I looked like a peasant.
I watched as she took a cigarette from a case and lit up, relaxing in her chair. "Forgive me but I just drove here and I am quite tired, I have little patience for further pleasantries.
"We're in agreement," I said to her. "I'm not in the mood to beat around the bush either, I imagine that this business with the Motleys and the Desperados is why you're here. It has interfered with your business."
She nodded, "That is what has brought me here, but I'm afraid it's a bit more complex than that Mr. Arc. One of my representatives should be in contact with Mr. Torchwick about the return of our lost funds."
So they were already negotiating for the return of the eight million I had helped the Motleys steal. I figured that would be the main reason she was here but like Roman predicted they were getting it back through negotiation.
"I see, so what is the purpose of this meeting if not to discuss the return of your money?" I asked her.
"This situation has brought a number of different discrepancies to my attention with the Desperados. To be perfectly honest this only came to my attention two days ago when one of my informants within the gang informed me that the Chapter President had refused your second offer. I had given this… Cueball strict orders to avoid such a needless conflict over territory. I was even paying him extra to cover the tolls the Motleys had set, I can only assume now that he was pocketing thee money I had intended to buy safe passage for our cargo."
"I see… so that was why he wasn't so keen on accepting the reduced tolls. He was pocketing your money." I observed. Talk about foolish, Cueball was running a racket under her nose.
"I am afraid that it's more than that," she told me. "News of this made us relook at our books and called our contacts in Vacuo to find that they hadn't been receiving all of the money we had been sending. Small amounts were missing here and there, only ten to twenty thousand but I suspect that he's been skimming."
"I offered his gang two million lien and thought he was an idiot for turning it down," I mentioned, if she had an informat within the gang she almost certainly knew about that among other things.
"Exactly, and my informant made no mention of this. What's more, several shipments never reached Vale and were reported to have been raided by the Motleys, but my informant was ignorant to any such shipment." She explained.
"So you're in town to put Cueball and the Desperados in line," I commented to her. It had little to do with me or the Motleys, this was all about how Cueball was screwing over Sophia. No wonder she had come personally and with a small army, she was here to lay down the law.
"So that's the situation for you… if you're planning on getting a hold of Cueball I suggest you talk to the Desperados soon. He apparently tried and failed to get his money back at the cost of numerous lives." I explained to her.
"A desperate attempt to cover his failures, but even if he had managed to get that money back I'm afraid it's too late to hide what my investigation has turned up. I'll be here cleaning house, but I would like your assistance in this matter." She told me.
"You want my help?" I asked her. "I fail to see what kind of support I can give you."
"You've been here longer, and with that attack I imagine that the position the Desperados held has been severely weakened. I would like your assistance in assuring that the Motleys' don't try taking advantage of this so we can put this silly turf war to an end. What's more I doubt Cueball could have done all of this on his own, he had help and I believe that I might need the cooperation of the Motleys to get to the bottom of this."
I hadn't considered this. Aside from the failed attack having gotten members of the gang killed the Desperados were probably severely low on manpower now. This wasn't like Vale where everyone had tons of wiseguys and associates to provide manpower, the Desperados couldn't have more than fifty or so members in the local chapter. Sophia needed me to hold the Motleys' leash so she didn't completely lose what control the Atlesians had on the south highways.
"I have no interest in seeing this conflict continue needlessly," I told her honestly. "And I'll be happy to assist you in matters concerning the Motleys. I will of course have to discuss this with Roman but I can tell you that his interest is to see that we maintain the status quo around here."
"Then we are in agreement on this matter," she told me, blowing out a thin stream of smoke. "It is also our intention to see that everything the Desperados stole from the Family is properly returned, namely the dust."
I smiled, considering my previous dealing with the Atlesians this was actually pleasant by comparison. "I am happy to hear it, but I am also concerned about this grimm attack. There's no way this was some mere accident, and that means someone here targeted me and Neo. That's an attack on the Family itself."
"I understand your concern, this is certainly a concerning matter indeed." She agreed, flicking the ash from her cigarette. "Too much business passes through this town to risk drawing the attention of the authorities, someone stepped over the line tonight. I already plan on investigating the matter, if you want you can have one of your men accompany one of mine to ensure that all findings are shared."
"I appreciate the gesture," I said, already knowing that Cardin himself would want to be on that.
I looked behind me and looked at him. "Would you be up for that tonight?" I asked him.
He nodded to me.
"Very well, Boris see to it that his man here is accompanied and answer any of his questions pertaining to this recent incident," she explained to him.
Boris nodded to Cardin, "Very well… some of my men outside already found a lead, they found a truck and trailer. The driver was killed by a grimm, from their estimation they released the creatures. It seems some grimm wranglers were involved."
I found that curious. "Grimm wranglers?" I asked.
"You remember how we fought some grimm in professor Port's class?" Cardin asked me. "Some people make a living off of capturing grimm and selling them off."
I didn't know that. I had always figured that Beacon had managed to get those creatures itself, I never considered that there was a business for selling grimm. "Is there that much of a market for that kind of thing?" I asked.
"Some are licensed and sell the beasts off to companies, usually for experiments to learn how to kill them better," Sophia explained. "Some also get them for illegal underground fights."
That distrubed me. I wasn't unfamiliar with underground boxing matches like Cardin used to do for his dad. But to have people fight against grimm, against man-eating monsters? That was sick.
"Well I trust you can look into this matter Cardin," I said to him standing up. "I'll be making my call to Roman right now. I'm sure the rest of this can wait until morning."
"It can, I have some calls of my own to make and my men are already at their tasks," she explained to me. "We'll know more in the morning and we can discuss it then. I am sure that I will be far more personable then."
"Very well," I said, shaking her hand goodbye and leaving. Cardin went off with Boris and I went up to our suite and I explained everything to my crew.
They were not exactly comfortable with the fact that a bunch of heavily armed Atlesians were going to be staying in the same hotel as us. A fact that Neo agreed with so we arranged that someone would at least stay up at all times to keep an eye on things, Dove volunteered to take the first watch and I went into my room to tell Roman about these developments.
"So the "Clever Girl" herself came to town… that's interesting… I almost feel sorry for those bastards." Roman commented after I gave him the lowdown. I was currently stripping off my sweaty and dirty suit to ready myself for a desperately needed shower before bed.
"I saw her guys… they're not like any wiseguys I've ever seen," I told him.
"Those guys of hers are all former Atlesian military," Roman explained to me. "Former airborne infantry if I remember correctly."
"Military? So why'd they all become wiseguys?" I asked him.
"Apparently Sophia and her unit were all court-martialed, Atlesians can only get made after serving in prison and if the rumors are to be believed they all spent a number of years in some cold Atlas gulag." Roman went on.
"And they got out?" I asked him as I laid out my nightclothes on the bed, just a simple pair of boxers and an undershirt.
"The mafiya is rooted deep in the Atlesian prison system Gent… these guys aren't afraid to end up behind bars, it's a mark of pride to them. But if the rumors I've heard about those kinds of places are true then people pulled some serious strings to get her and her guys out of there." He explained to me.
"So now she's here to put the fear of the gods and the mafiya into Cueball and anyone else who's wronged the Atlesians," I said, stepping into the bathroom.
"It's got to be more than that," Roman told me. "Sophia is high up in the ranks, she's a member of the Authority, she's like a Capo to us. If she just wanted to scare people in line and kill those that are too far past the line then Boris could do that. You know how he got his nickname?"
"No idea, why's he called "Bazooka?" I asked Roman.
"Five years ago the Atlesians were having some problems with some trailer trash gang that was cooking up dope without paying dues. Boris showed up with a rocket launcher and fired a rocket right into their lab. It was a dummy rocket, it didn't explode, just burned a few things up. But the message was clear to them and they paid up. Trust me Boris could handle Cueball on his own."
"So what do you think Sophia is here for?" I asked him.
"I think this little debacle with the Desperados has turned into some kind of internal affair," Roman explained. "If Cueball really is skimming from the cash shipments then that's a big problem. The Vacuans won't take anyone messing with their money lightly, someone had to be cooking the books."
That made sense to me but it gave me an uneasy feeling. "So why tip her hand to us about that?" I asked him. "If there is someone faking numbers for the Atlesians then they should try to keep that hidden. If you can guess that it's easy hearing it from me second hand then she practically admitted to it."
"I don't know what kind of game she's playing," Roman admitted to me. "But whatever it is, I'm sure she plans on dealing with the traitor ruthlessly. She's one to respect the rules so I wouldn't expect her to give you trouble, but whatever you do don't stand in her way."
"Understood boss," I told him.
I ended the call and hopped into the shower letting the hot water wash away all the dirt and sweat. It felt nice to finally relax after everything that had happened and only focus on the soothing water for a change. So much had changed in the blink of an eye. I had been spending the last couple of days trying to think of further things to use to harass the Desperados but now that was over and I was having to clean up the mess with Sophia's help.
I couldn't help but think about the lives lost. I hated it, and what's more I could tell that with Sophia and her goon squad here that it wasn't over. It all seemed so needless, I understand that this was how the business worked, that violence was just a part of it all. But that didn't make it easier for me to swallow. Why did people have to be so greedy and stupid?
I got out of the shower and dried myself before donning one of the hotel's white bathrobes and stepping into my room drying my hair with a towel. I found Neo sitting on my bed waiting for me.
"Hey," I greeted her. One hopeful part of my brain wondered if she was here to maybe attempt to continue where we had left off before Coco had called me and those grimm attacked. But I doubted that, that mood had once again been shattered.
"What - did - Roman - have - to - say?" She asked me frankly.
Naturally she wanted to talk to me about business. "Roman wants me to work with Sophia in setting this all straight," I answered her casually as I tossed the damp towel away.
She frowned at that. "That's - a - bad - call," she told me.
"I don't know but you were in that meeting with me," I said to her. "So far it seems like she just wants things to be brought back into line which is what Roman figured the Atlesians would want anyways."
"Do - not - trust - that - woman!" She signed to me firmly.
"Why?" I asked her. I didn't trust Sophia, trust was something that could only be reserved for some loyal few in this life, but I found it particularly interesting that Neo felt the need to tell me to be wary of her.
"She's - Atlesian," she said flatly, "You - can't - trust - them!"
"I don't trust her," I assured her. "But I figured you had a more convincing argument than that. Was there an incident with Sophia?" I asked her, I wanted to know whatever I could about this woman since I was going to be working with her and sharing a hotel.
Neo shook her head no and crossed her arms and released a breath she had been holding, steeling herself. "I've - tried - doing - business - with - the - Atlesians - before. They - fucked - me - over."
So that was what this was all about, a sour personal experience with the Mafiya. I wasn't sure if I should ask about it but I couldn't help but remember how she had given Nicky a death glare during that sit down.
"It was Nicky who betrayed you wasn't it?" I asked her flatly.
She nodded to me. "I - trust - him - once - and - he - betrayed - me," she signed to me. "There - is - a - reason - I - don't - handle - business - like - you - do."
That did strike a chord with me. Despite having years of seniority over me I couldn't help but wonder why Neo wasn't calling shots in the same way I did. She clearly had plenty of respect within the Family, but she didn't play the game like me or Roman or his Capos. She was set in her role as an enforcer and as far as I saw never stepped away from it.
I stepped forward and sat down on the bed next to her and put a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes. "I'll be careful," I assured her. "But right now I'm going to have to be friendly with her, and that means I need you to watch my back."
"That's - why - I'm - here," she told me with a nod and a smile.
I released a tired sigh. "I was really excited to go swimming tonight," I said mournfully to her, putting the business matter to rest for the night.
She slowly inched forward and kissed me gently. It was nice, tender and though it didn't have the same heat or passion or urgency that the one we had shared outside had. It relaxed me. I cupped her soft cheek as she ran her hands through my damp blonde hair. When our lips parted we leaned our foreheads together.
I silently cursed my own weariness. My desire to explore where this could lead us was sadly overshadowed by exhaustion from what had become a long day, not to mention stress.
But Neo didn't seem to be in any rush. She pulled away slowly, a part of me wanted to follow but I stayed sitting on my bed.
She gave me a sweet smile. "We - can - swim - later." She told me with a wink. "Goodnight - Jaune - sleep - well."
She left and I changed and went to bed. Despite all the stress and my mind being awhirl with business and with Sophia and Neo I found myself quickly able to fall asleep and rest deeply and dreamlessly.
I awoke and immediately got to work. Cardin told me all about going with Boris and finding the trailer that had sure enough released a number of grimm. One of the businesses that was close by had a security camera that Boris and Cardin bribed to get a look at the tapes. Cardin explained that they were able to see the eighteen wheeler pass by opening the doors to the trailer to release the grimm. We noticed that the grimm that was released almost seemed to ignore everything else to run through the patch of woods towards our hotel. Cardin explained that they estimated that three trucks had been used to release the monsters upon us.
I contemplated this among other things as I made some calls to Vale and to the Motleys. I ordered them to collect the bodies of the Desperados that had attacked the compound and to be ready to return them to the gang as a show of solidarity, Babe had thankfully assured me that her gang hadn't mutilated any of the corpses for fun.
Soon enough we had Boris knocking on the door to our suite and forwarding a breakfast invitation from Sophia, she wanted to meet us at a little diner which I agreed to. I was glad to be rolling up my sleeves so this whole matter could be put to rest.
We drove to the chosen venue where we found Sophia sitting outside on a patio enjoying the morning sun over a cup of espresso. We sat down with her and made our orders as a kindly waitress filled out coffee mugs. I ordered a chicken fried steak while Neo ordered waffles along with a pitcher of fresh orange juice.
"One of my men found this outside, I figured it belonged to you given the location," Sophia said, sliding a folded napkin across the table towards me. I discreetly pulled up the napkin to see the cold blue steel of my .38 snub-nose. I had dropped it outside fighting the grimm and now she was returning to me.
"Thank you," I said, sliding the gun off the table and pocketing it discreetly. The irony that an Atlesian was returning the very gun I had used to kill Michail was not lost on me. Some things it seems can only happen in this line of work.
"Think nothing of it," she said to me dismissively.
"So what developments have happened since last night?" I asked her, doubtlessly she had her guys working all night getting to the root of the problem.
"Cueball is missing along with a half dozen members who I believe are in his pocket," she answered me bitterly as she sipped at her expresso. "It seemed after the failed attempt to recover the cash he decided to go to ground. The whole gang is looking for him but in all this untamed country it's difficult to locate anyone. But between the gang looking for him and my own men it's only a matter of time before we find the bastard."
"Do you have any leads?" I asked her.
"The gang managed to capture their former Vice President Razor," Sophia explained to him. "Currently the gang is working him over for me, a display that their loyalty remains to me, I intended to begin my questioning after breakfast. You're welcome to join me and ask him anything you want yourself, we have been unable to locate your stolen dust for one thing."
Asking a man who had just been tortured a bunch of questions was not exactly what I wanted to do after breakfast but I supposed that it couldn't be helped. "I suppose I'll have to take the opportunity to ask him about it," I said as the waitress brought us our orders.
"Any further leads on that grimm attack?" I asked, noticing that the waitress gave us a weary look. Doubtlessly news of the grimm attack had been going around the town and they knew about us having killed the monsters. When you're in a town where flannel is the typical fashion a suit tends to stick out wherever you go.
"We got the identification number off the truck and trailer," she explained to me as she cut into her mushroom omelette. "We ran them this morning through some contacts in the DMV but it seems that these vehicles weren't registered. The driver that had been killed did have a license in his wallet and we ran it. He was just some nobody ex-con with some petty crimes and a few assaults. We're continuing to look into all of this."
Sophia is certainly a professional through and through. In less than a day she and her men had their nose to the gridstones working to get to the bottom of all of this. They were far more organized than we were and acted with clear purpose. I almost felt like a chump compared to them.
"What I'm most interested to learn is why all those grimm focused on the hotel," I mentioned, cutting into my chicken fried steak. "There was a whole town of people they could have attacked and they just focused on a sparsely populated hotel."
"That is worrying me as well," Spohia agreed with me. "There are of course ways to attract the beasts but it usually involves creating a lot of negativity."
I certainly wasn't feeling negative when I was attacked. I was eager to go back to the hotel and Neo when it happened, and I didn't think that anyone there was in particularly bad spirits. And even if we were I doubted that whoever had released those grimm had any way of knowing our current feelings.
"It has to be something else," I commented.
"Agreed, that doesn't fit," Sophia agreed. "The timing of my arrival is also suspect but I doubt they had time to prepare or that they knew I would be arriving with an armed retinue."
The timing was interesting but I couldn't help but believe it was coincidental. It would have been more advantageous to wait for Sophia to be in the hotel, this was likely all about me and my crew.
"Mr. Torchwick has also given me instructions on handing over the money, we've arranged for a truck to deliver it as far south as Green Grove. And he would like me to extend the Family's regrets that this incident interfered with your business." I told her as we finished our plates, mopping up the last bits of gravy.
She smirked at that as she set her fork down. "I will make the arrangements to receive it, and tell Roman that I understand that it was only business, as long as all the money is returned," she told me.
"It will be," I assured her, laying down a fat tip for the waitress. "And while I can see that you're not taking any of this personally I cannot help but worry that Nicky does."
Sophia frowned at me. "My boss's personal feelings are not my concern here Gentleman I assure you," she told me, lighting up a cigarette as she finished her expresso.
"Forgive me if I was a little too blunt," I told her.
"Do not worry about it, I know what you meant," She told me plainly with a dismissive wave of herhand. "I am well aware of my boss's reputation and temper."
Neo scowled at that and I wanted to ask her to keep her cool but Sophia didn't seem to mind the open show of disdain for her superior. That kind of talk wouldn't be tolerated in the Clan or the Family.
"Do you mind if I ask you something about your... syndicate… family?" I asked her, not quite sure how to call the Atlesians to her. Often people referred to them as the mafiya but I wasn't sure how she wanted me to refer to them.
"You can call us Bratva, or Brotherhood," she explained to me. "And what would you like to learn?"
"I'm just curious about your organization since we are working together. Is it true that you can only become made if you spend time in prison?" I asked, more to fill the time with idle conversation.
Sophia unbuttoned the top three buttons of her blouse and pulled away the collar to show a crude tattoo of a crown on her shoulder, much like I had seen that one bastard at Junior's club, though this one wasn't with a skull but with a sword. I only knew that the skull with the crown mean that guy committed murder to get made. I had no idea what the sword meant. "Yes… only those that have been incarcerated can truly enter into the Bratva."
I was glad the family didn't have any such initiation. Getting into the family wasn't so much about performing any specific act but more about proving yourself through service, earning money and gaining the trust of other made wiseguys. "It sounds difficult having all your top members carrying criminal records."
She smirked, "it has come with it's difficulties I admit but it is born from our traditions."
"How so?" I asked her. "I am afraid I don't know anything about your Brotherhood and how it formed."
"The Bratva was born in the prisons of Atlas," she explained to me. "Before the Great War we were bandits, thieves and political dissidents to the kingdom of Mantle. The kingdom formed many labor prisons… gulags you might call them where it threw away any undesirables."
"I see, tell me more," I said, a little curious. I had certainly developed an interest in the history of organized crime.
"When the Great War started and Mantle was in need of soldiers the kingdom offered many of the prisoners a choice. Fight in penal legions and serve as cannon fodder for release or continue to rot in prison. Many naturally choose to fight in the war but the kingdom betrayed them, when it ended and the Amity Accord was signed those that survived found themselves swiftly imprisoned. It was there that our brotherhood was formed and there that it was decided that only those that have provided service behind bars are the only ones who we can trust."
"Is there any amount of time one must spend in prison?" I asked her.
"One year," she said with clear distaste in her tone. "It used to be five years but others seemed to think that was too much to ask."
"Like - Nicky," Neo signed to me.
"Yes," Sophia agreed, giving Neo a nod.
Neo flinched, she clearly wasn't expecting Sophia to know sign language.
"He served the minimum time?" I asked her.
"One year, for car theft, many within our ranks choose to do time to get made," she said with a scowl. "Though I suppose I cannot judge too harshly, it used to be forbidden for anyone with ties to the kingdom to join, including military service."
The fact that she was so open about the distaste of her own boss was certainly interesting. I remembered that Roman told me to expect everything to be planned, she wasn't revealing anything to me by accident.
"Well with a history and initiation like that I can see why your brotherhood had earned a reputation for being tough," I said to her. "I suppose we should go talk to Razor and get to the bottom of this."
We took our cars and drove together towards a Desperado house Sophia was told to find the former Vice President.
We arrived to find a sorry little run down home on the edge of town. Weeds filled the lawn and a number of the Desperados were drinking outside on the stoop. A look at them showed that many had been a part of last night's attack, they sported wounds and injuries as they nursed their troubles with some cheap beers.
When we got out of the car, I watched as Panic stepped out to greet us. I took note that his vest no longer sported the Sergeant at Arms patch but a new patch saying President. He certainly was my choice for replacement, I just hoped that Sophia's hand in his ascension in the ranks wouldn't hold him down. If peace was to be maintained the rest of the chapter had to respect him.
"He's inside," Panic told Sophia, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Is he ready to talk?" Sophia asked him.
"We've been working him over for a few hours, I stopped the rest of my boys because I was a little worried they might kill him," Panic explained to her.
"Good," she said to him. "Hopefully a moment of peace allowed him to contemplate his situation. If he doesn't want to cooperate then Boris should be arriving any minute now. I'll wait for him."
Panic nodded and looked over to me offering his hand. "On behalf of the White Peak Desperados I would like to offer my formal apology to the Torchwick Family and beg the forgiveness of Mr. Torchwick."
I accepted his hand and gave it a shake. "This was just business… there's no grudge on you or your gang, all of this is on Cueball if what I've heard is true."
"I just learned about it yesterday, Razor and him were skimming," he explained to me. "I had no idea he was doing that."
"You were one of his officers," I commented, not sure if Panic was completely ignorant.
"He only explained the truth to me yesterday," Panic explained to me.
"Panic was the one that called and informed me on the situation," Sophia told me. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him."
So he was her informant within the chapter.
"I think Cueball was hoping I'd die sieging that second compound," Panic explained to me.
I had wondered why just the one had been hit last light. I had assumed that it was simply because they didn't know about it or didn't know that I had the money stashed in two separate locations. But apparently Panic had prevented that site from being hit and causing another massacre.
A car pulled up behind us and Cardin and Boris stepped out.
"Let's get to questioning," Sophia said as our two number ones approached us.
"Right this way," Panic said, leading us inside the old run down house. We passed through a dirty kitchen and stepped into the garage.
Razor was sitting tied to a chair. His biker leathers had been all stripped off and what was left of his shirt and jeans was little more than bloody rags. He had been thoroughly beaten, so bad that his eyes and lips were swollen and the rest of his body was a bruised mess. And to think that his own guys had done this to him. A number of bloody pipes and tools were around him and one look at the floor showed dried blood and tooth fragments.
"Wake up!" Panic said, grabbing a bucket and tossing the water on him, forcing him to wake up.
Razor gasped and looked around with his eyes. Only one eye was open enough to actually see us, he looked at me and I could only look at the ground. He was a dead man, all that mattered now was how much more painful it would be.
"The Atlesians would like to ask you a few questions," Panic said to him. "And if I were you I'd answer because what we Desperados just did to you will look like a picnic. You've heard the stories, they're experts in this kind of thing."
Razor turned his eye from Panic to Sophia who stepped close and leaned in. "Where has Cueball gone, Razor?" She asked him.
"I don't know," Razor whimpered.
"Don't fucking lie!" Panic said raising his fist but Sophia held up her own hand to stop him.
"You don't know anything? You were his Vice President after all… you mean for me to truly believe that he's nowhere to be found?" She asked him calmly.
"I don't know where he is… but I know where he wanted me and the rest of the boys to meet, we had an old cabin down south off of Shaky's Road," he explained to her with a whimper.
"Why there?" She asked him.
"I don't know… I think he thought it might be a good place to plan our next move if things ever went bad. But if I didn't show up he might have bugged out already." Panic continued on licking his dry and cracked lips.
I looked at Cardin and Neo, it seemed worth checking out at least, but we didn't have too much time to wait if we really did hope to find anyone there.
"Next question… where did Cueball stash everything he stole or skimmed from us and the Valeans?" Sophia asked, lighting a cigarette.
"A bunch of different places, we weren't supposed to know the location of them all, nobody but Cueball. That cabin was supposed to have some of it, mostly the cash in case we needed to leave with it." He said watching as Sophia smoked she held the pack out and he nodded. She put one of the smokes between his lips and lit it for him.
"Is our dust there?" I asked him, speaking up for the first time.
"Some of it, maybe," Razor said, taking a long drag off the cigarette.
"Why did Cueball decide to skim?" I asked, getting to what I personally wanted to know.
"He told me he had a plan to expand the influence of the chapter, to get other chapter presidents behind us. But he said we'd need a lot of money, and that we needed to secure the town and north roads." He said, looking down at the bloody floor.
"So you decide to risk everything!? To risk us!?" Panic asked, his voice dripping venom. "You two got a dozen of us killed last night!"
"Cueball said it was going to be alright, that he had the right friends to back him!" Razor protested, crying as he smoked what was undoubtedly his last cigarette. "He promised it'd be alright! He promised!"
"What friends did he have!" Sophia barked at him.
"I don't know!" he whimpered.
"Who!" She said, snatching the cigarette out of his mouth and tossing it away.
"I don't know! I'd tell you if I know. But Cueball just told me that they're powerful, more than you!" He insisted to her.
"Are they Atlesian?" She asked him.
"I don't know!" he said.
"Are they Vacuan?" She pressed.
"I don't fucking know! Cueball wanted this to be secret, he told me it wouldn't matter once we had kicked the Motleys' to the curb," Razor rasped.
"Then we're done here," Sophia said to him, turning away.
"Should I bring the boys in to finish it?" Panic asked her.
"No… he's cooperated with us… does he have family in town?" She said dismissively, walking out of the garage.
"He has a mother and two sisters," Panic told her.
"Then Boris can handle this, leave it so he can have an open casket," She said.
I watched as Boris stepped behind the beaten man and wrapped a garrote around his throat, strangling him.
I turned away because I didn't feel like watching him strangle to death. I suppose it was far more merciful than letting the gang beat him to death. I personally would have put a bullet through his heart. I shared a worried look with Cardin and Neo as we left the garage with the sounds of a dying man behind us.
"We should check out that cabin right now," Sophia said, tossing her cigarette onto the ground and stomping it out.
"Agreed, it's a long shot but we should try while there's still a chance," I said to her.
"I can call the boys to try and meet us there," Cardin said to me. "If he is there we should try to bring some fighters along.
"We'll take three cars," Sophia said looking at Neo and me. "You three should ride with me, Boris can pick up the rest, we'll have three cars."
"Alright, we'll go with you," I said, giving Neo a comforting glance. I could tell that she was weary about all of this and felt like I was being too trusting with Sophia but she was rolling with my decisions and I appreciated that. It wouldn't have been good if Neo was second guessing my calls.
We got into Sophia's car and I sent Cardin back to the hotel with mine to gather the rest of my crew. In less than a half hour all three vehicles were driving together down one of the many dirt roads in the area.
"I doubt we're going to find much of anything," I admitted aloud as we drove through the heavily wooded area. "Certainly not Cueball if he has any sense," I said, still feeling a little uneasy about Razor getting killed like that.
"Perhaps not, but if he stole as much as I believe he did he'll probably have to move it all, meaning he might not have gotten away quite yet," she explained to me.
"Greed," I said bitterly, "some people can't fucking control it can they?"
Neo shook her head. "Would - you - leave - behind - what - you - risked - everything - for?"
That made me think about my arrangement for Ozpin and how I had already risked everything for my dream of becoming a huntsman. A dream that completely slipped through my fingers.
"I like to think I'd know when to walk away," I told her, feeling like an idiot for waiting this long thinking that I was still somehow working for Ozpin.
We pulled up to the cabin and to my surprise we found that it wasn't empty. Two Desperados were outside loading a few packages into a truck, part of the few that had escaped with Cueball. They scrambled for some handguns and fired as the first two vehicles stopped. Russel was out the door first with Shortwings drawn, he fired upon one dropping him as he popped off a few shots while the other struggled with a jammed pistol to be shot by Boris who stepped out with his rifle leveled.
"I suppose it wasn't all for nothing," Sophia commented as we walked up. Both bikers were only wounded and Boris' men were making short work to restrain them both for questioning. We opened up a few of the boxes and found that it was filled with a number of drugs and cash. Indeed it was a stash that they were recovering.
A few threats from Boris and the bikers told us that more was inside and we stepped into a quaint little cabin. I looked at the various biker memorabilia mixed in with the antler lamps and taxidermy deer and bears.
"Nice place, I could spend a vacation here," I commented as I looked around for anything that could possibly help us. Boris and another were already tearing the place apart, detained to rip the walls down to the studs if that's what it took. They pulled out drawers and emptied cabinets finding small amounts of cash and drugs.
Neo leaned against the wall observing it all and I moved to join her lighting up a cigar. "Penny for your thoughts?" I asked her.
"They're - worth - more - than - that," she told me.
I chuckled, "Fine a roll of twenties for your thoughts?" I asked her.
"This - stinks- risking - two - guys - to - get - what - chump - change - he - has - here?" She told me. "It - doesn't - make - any - sense. He - could - have - sent - guys - here - knowing - Razor - would - spill - about - this - meeting - place."
"You think we were sent here as a distraction?" I asked her.
She nodded.
I nodded back and strolled across the room towards Sophia to tell her Neo's suspicions and ask try to think about what we could do next. That was when my scroll buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and glanced at the text.
GET EVERYONE DOWN! It read, written in all caps to highlight the urgency.
I looked at it stupidly for a moment. The number wasn't in my contacts list. I considered Neo's thoughts, more than a distraction this could be a hit.
"Everyone get down right now!" I shouted trying to rush back to Neo. My words were drowned out by the rattle of a machine gun. The bullets ripped through the walls, one of them striking me right in the side. I fell down to the ground as the cabin was being riddled with bullets.