Junior grumbled and huffed as he ushered me into the back room. I remembered this place, been here a lot when we had been discussing less-than-legal things. I plopped down on the familiar couch, waiting for him to speak.
Junior took off his sunglasses, rubbing his eyes before falling into a seat opposite me.
"You and Roman. You both are going to give me a heart attack."
"Not Neo?"
"Neo would just stab me." He snorted.
"That's probably true." She was a very stabby girl.
"Atleast you had the damn common sense to disguise yourself before waltzing in. Fucking Roman just strode right in, in broad daylight, sat at my bar and asked me how it was going. I had Vale Authorities riding my ass for days." Junior breathed out in annoyance.
"Let me guess, he did it just to piss you off?"
"Probably." Junior sighed. "He did ask me a few things though, so it was probably just a pleasant bonus for that idiot."
Fucking Roman.
He would do something like that just to mess with Junior if he knew Junior wouldn't suffer meaningful because of it.
"Shit, kid. Where did you disappear to? You got any idea how many people were scouring the Kingdoms for you? I even tried my hand to see where you'd gone, and I couldn't find a single trail. It's like you disappeared off the face of Remnant."
I couldn't help but chuckle at his wording. "If I don't want to be found, it's going to be damn hard to find me."
Junior shook his head, knowing he wouldn't get anymore out of me. "Pretty good disguise too, didn't recognize you until you opened your mouth. Dead giveaway after that."
"It's hard to hide this kind of charm, even with my skill." I sighed dramatically.
"Sure, let's go with that. Cause it's definitely not that urge to slug you right in the mouth." Junior snorted.
"I missed your bluntness, Junior." I chuckled again.
"Yeah, yeah, don't get sappy on me, kid. I'm ready to hand over this Lien I've been holding onto. Been burning a hole in my pocket, and I've had half a mind to just snatch it for myself." He went to the side, tapping on the wall and a compartment popped open, revealing a safe. After a few button presses and turning of the mechanism it popped up. He pulled out a briefcase and set it on the table. With a click it opened it up facing me. "230,000 Lien."
"Damn."
"Damn right." He didn't take his eyes off the money. "It was Atlas that ended up buying back the stolen blueprints. I guess they realized it was quicker and easier than the alternative.'
"That must have been a fun conversation. 'Here's your stolen stuff back, please don't arrest us. And by the way, you owe us a lot of money.'"
Junior let out a chuckle. "Having been in the business this long, I do have contact on that side of the line. They wanted it out of the public and it was worth the cost."
Yeah, I could imagine all the bad press they were getting. It made them look incompetent and everything, keeping the bad PR down was probably worth the cost.
Well, while not the reason I came over, the greedy part of me was always happy to have more money.
"How you been, Junior? Have any trouble because of what happened?"
"I've had my fair share, but I had enough cards in reserve to get out mostly unscathed. Had to burn a lot of favors and turn over a bunch of blackmail on some politicians, but it was worth it for the payday we got."
I leaned back in the comfy seat. "And what's the word on the street? I've been holed up in my little hidey hole for awhile, what's going on right now?"
"You want a run down since you went underground?"
"I'd appreciate it." I nodded.
"Hmm" Junior tapped his chin. "Don't know if you know the name or note. Merlot, or something like that. Apparently some mad scientist type, he's been experimenting with Grimm, had a lot of secret labs scattered around the Kingdoms. They got stumbled upon when our illustrious Atlas elites went looking for you. Complete accident mind you, and they uncover a conspiracy that could have gone very bad."
"Did I get credit for the discovery?" I smiled humoredly.
"I'm sure they'll give you a trophy if you turn yourself in." Junior snorted with a chuckle himself. "Besides that…..apparently there's been word out they're looking for a woman that appeared over by Mistral. Some big players that people want to recruit and find out the origins of. They said she killed a few of Merlot's big nasties all by herself with nothing but a basic spear. Lots of sightings of her too, randomly wandering around, helping people."
I blinked, because that sounded rather familiar. "Does her description align with something like – a red spear, purplish red hair, red eyes, purple skin-tight clothing. Utterly stunning?"
"Yeah, you heard about her?"
"Hard to not know the woman who shares my bed." That would be awkward. Should I just randomly ask her who she was after sex next time? She'd totally kick my ass for doing it, but it would be hilarious.
Junior opened his mouth and closed it again. "Of course you know her, because why not." He finished with a shake of his head. "Well, Atlas is going to piss themselves if they ever find out. From the talk I heard, she's one hell of a Huntress. Made Atlas's special ops teams look like trainees."
"That's my Scáthach." I smiled in response.
"Yeah, I heard that's her name. Weird sounding, but whatever." Junior shrugged. "Guess I don't gotta care about that now since you're involved. Probably just disappeared to whatever rock you were hiding under. But if she pops back up, I'll keep an eye out for trouble."
"Thanks, Junior."
"Yeah, whatever." He rolled his eyes, but I appreciated the sentiment. "Other than that, not anything major. Mistral is settling down, that old bitch Malachite bribed the right people and she's not even being talked about. The tournament kind of went out with a whimper after everything that happened. Uh….." He scratched his head. "Really, the only noteworthy thing happening right now is Beacon's new semester is starting soon, which gets things really busy around here."
Oh, is that coming up already? "You got a list of potential attendees?"
"Who do you think I am?" Junior looked down at me with an offended expression. "And what do you want that for?"
"Just wanted to check to see if a friend is on it. Kinda befriended Pyrrha Nikos during the tournament, we've stayed in touch and she said she's attending Beacon." I explained simply.
"Yeah, she's going to be there." Junior confirmed. "Along with some other names that were in the tournament."
"Oh?" I perked up. "That's interesting, I might need to drop in and see how those kids are doing."
"And I guess there's one last thing." Junior hummed to himself. "I said Roman dropped by, and he did ask me for some things. He didn't really tell me what it was for, but I think he's going to solve our – your – little problem with the authorities soon. Don't know what magic he's going to pull out of his ass, but Roman can get some ridiculous things done when he wants to."
"I will be hesitantly optimistic." I shrugged, not really caring either way. Would be nice to walk around without a warrant for my arrest so I could bring others here. But it otherwise wasn't that huge of a deal in the first place.
"so…" I closed the briefcase full of Lien. "Where's the girls? I was hoping to see Miltia." She was my friend, I did miss her.
"They bailed after Roman did his little walk through. Said they needed a vacation after being raided by the police for the eleventh time in the past month." Junior let out another sigh. "Can't really blame them there, if I could, I'd have jumped ship – literally – to that resort over in Vacuo."
"oof, rough."
"Brothers, you don't know the half of it. Even if I'm technically in the clear, I'm being pressed by several sides to try and get me to roll over. You know how many times I've had to ride in the back of a squad car since you've left? Several times, and it's always for bullshit reasons, but the higher ups that I got no leverage over want to keep making me miserable." Junior glowered, tossing his Sun Glass on the coffee table infront of us.
"I know the feeling."
"Really?" He looked surprised.
"Well, kinda. Instead of police cars, they're beautiful women."
"Oh, fuck you."
"Sorry, there's only one Xiong that I'll –"
"Don't make me get my bat, brat." Junior groaned. "Damn Roman, what was this bullshit about 'adopting' you. Aint no way you aren't his bastard."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"It wasn't."
"I know, but it makes me feel better when you compare me to him."
Junior chuckled again. "How long you staying around? Gonna jump back into your hole right away?"
"Eh, probably. Might go see Pyrrha, bully her a little bit. But I did need something else, which is why I stopped by." I replied.
"hmm, What do you need? Keep in mind, I'm under heavy surveillance right now."
"I need dust. As much as you can get me. Crystals are best, and the higher quality the better." I didn't hold back.
I was thinking about the siege weapon designs I gave to Medea and it might be more optimal when using Dust as a source of power instead of soul gems.
"Shit kid, you're not with the White Fang are you?" Junior looked almost concerned.
"….no? Why would I be? The Faunus Terrorist Organization is completely irrelevant to me?" I said in confusion.
"Huh, I guess that's something I forgot to mention then. Yeah, the White Fang had been active here recently. Heard they've been hitting the Schnee Dust shipments that've been coming in. Stealing what they can, blowing up what they couldn't steal in time." Junior explained briefly.
I let out a breath of annoyance. "So it's not viable to get dust in quantity around here?"
"It'd normally be something easy, relatively speaking. Large quantities of dust are watched by the Kingdoms, but since Dust is not an illegal merchandise it makes it much easier to move around. However, Atlas and Vale both are heavily cracking down on it right now with the Vital Festival coming up and it is to be hosted at Beacon this year." Junior responded.
Vital Festival?
Didn't ring a bell, but it's probably something I should know, so I'm not going to ask about it.
"So just shitty luck then, great." I slumped back in my seat. This was an annoying set back.
Junior let out a sigh. "I….can maybe scrounge up what I can in Vale right now? Have my guys hit up most of the shops around town and gather it all for you. Otherwise, you're better off taking a page out of the White Fang's book, rob the Schnees if you want some. Or even the terrorist bastards themselves. But, good luck, even I don't know where they are."
Yeah, If I could rob them, then I would feel absolutely no guilt. But it'd be near impossible to even divine their position with such broad information.
"Honestly, any bit would help, and I'll happily compensate. But you also gave me an interesting idea. Schnee Dust company, they have some questionable practices, don't they?" I inquired.
"A polite way to say that they use Faunus labor basically as slaves."
"How bad is it?"
"In some places, pretty damn bad. Like, you see them and understand why groups like the White Fang exist."
I winced a little, imagining it and what I was considering. "Think there are some places where they're literally used as slaves, not allowed to leave, that kind of thing?"
"…..I might know a couple places. The really bad ones where you get rumors about some horrendous shit."
"Well, I'm already a criminal, may as well put that title to good use."
If there's one thing I abhor, it's slavery.
[***]
Ozpin POV
"Glynda, how goes the recruitments?"
"Nearly all of the children we scouted had accepted our invitation to Beacon this coming year." She pushed up her glass, a proud look about her. I could only imagine how difficult it was to gain so many promising Hunters.
My Scroll began ringing, I noticed it was James, but I pushed it on hold. I would call him back in a few minutes after talking with Glynda.
"What about the few I told you to see your eye on?"
"…..specifically, Pyrrha Nikos will be attending, as you put a lot of emphasis on her. Especially now that we have to look for a potential host for the Maiden's power."
I let out a sigh, recalling what happened to poor Amber. She never liked to stay in one place at a time, and getting her to listen to us was difficult at the best of times. It was when we was in the wilderness that she was attacked.
Not only that, stripped of half her powers as the Fall Maiden.
Somehow, Salem had discovered a way to steal away that power I granted so many years ago. Something even I couldn't achieve with my diminished state.
If Qrow hadn't arrived in time, she would have been completely stripped of the power and killed in the process.
As it is, she's currently in a coma below Beacon, and we're using the most state-of-the-art equipment to keep her alive.
Unfortunately, it looks like her Soul took a significant amount of damage in the process, and a natural recovery may be beyond hers and our means.
Thus, we must search for a viable candidate to inherit what remains of her Magic.
My scroll began to ring again, breaking me from my thoughts. Looking down I noticed it was once more James calling me.
"Should you answer?" Glynda asked.
I shook my head, dismissing the call. "I will call him in a moment. If it's an emergency, he has other ways of contacting us."
A special means for if Salem or her people make a move.
"And what of the other potential candidates, Glynda?"
"Yang Xiao-long is also attending. But Qrow may have some things to say about trying to get her to become a Maiden."
"Agreed, we'll keep her as a worse-case scenario. The young woman is already...hot headed, we wouldn't want to encourage that kind of behavior with newfound abilities. And I believe that Miss Schnee is also attending?"
"Correct, we received the letter from the youngest Schnee daughter, Weiss, and she will be attending come this next semester." Glynda confirmed, much to my delight.
Beyond her potential candidacy for the Fall Maiden's powers, it would be very beneficial to have the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company attend our school. Especially considering that the Vital Tournament will be hosted by us this time. The cost of dust alone already puts us over budget, maybe we can get some allowances out of Jacques Schnee by means of his daughter.
"I would also like to bring up the subject of Blake Belladonna" Glynda's mood noticeably shifted. "Are you sure it's a good idea to take her in? She had acted as a terrorist for the White Fang for how many years?"
Oh yes, the young daughter of Menagerie's leaders. How she thought she could go undiscovered by giving her real name is beyond me.
It was very easy to confirm her identity and cross reference it with sightings in White Fang operations over the years.
Hopefully we can teach her to correct herself from such...overt thinking.
"I believe in second chances. She clearly wishes a new start, and taking a promising young woman out of the hands of the White Fang is all the more reason. We will watch her closely, if she does revert back to her previous behavior, you have my permission to deal with it as you see fit."
Perhaps I should reach out to her parents? That may be enough of a threat to keep her in line if she does show a hint of unsavory behavior.
My Scroll once more began to ring as I repressed another sigh. "It seems that James will not give up."
"He is a stubborn man." Glynda snorted. "I can wait, go ahead."
I nodded at her with thanks before pressing to answer the Scroll. "James, what's the problem? We were discussing the upcoming Beacon year."
"Ozpin, he appeared." James looked frantic
"Pardon? Who appeared?"
"Wilhelm Schweinorg. We have a sighting and activity from him!" James turned out, muting himself as he apparently started barking orders at some of his subordinates. "Alright, I cleared the room. We have witnesses who saw him."
"Where?" I sat up with a renewed interest. "Actually wait, let's get Qrow in on this, he's going to want to hear things."
I quickly dialed up his number as the red-eyed man appeared along with James.
"What's the matter, Oz? I was 'bout to hit the bar and crash for the night."
"We have a more important matter than your alcoholism, Qrow." James grunted. "The person we've been looking for has made a new appearance."
"The Kid using Magic?" Qrow swayed a little bit, clearly having already started drinking. "Where'd he pop up?"
"He attacked a Schnee Dust mine, about 100 miles out of Mistral." James revealed, and I was actually very surprised. "Oz, there were very few survivors among the Schnee staff and they all point at him as being the culprit."
"Do you have the details, James?"
"We have tons of witnesses; all of the Faunus were sent to Menagerie. The reports say that he used his portals – which we didn't know they could reach that far, but he dropped them all off right in the middle of their biggest city."
"James, if you're saying that he killed nearly all of the Schnee Dust Company employees, why did he send all the Faunus away. Wouldn't he have killed them too?" Glynda asked a rather important question.
"….about that."
"Shit, wait, is it that one that had a Gryphon attack it like eight months ago, then followed up by a massive swarm of Nevermores?" Qrow cut in.
"I'm surprised you know that." James replied.
"Hard not to when I was among those who took part in cleaning upt he Grimm. Shit, James, if he cleaned that place up, then I'll drink to his name. That place was fucking horrific, and that was after they cleaned it up for appearances sake when the Hunters came to help."
"I won't dispute your opinion on that place." James let out a tired sigh.
"James, what was going on there?"
"Too far out in the wilderness, so the Schnee Dust Company allowed their employees to run it as their own miniature kingdom. Only, they decided that Faunus were slaves in their imaginary world, I'm sure you can imagine the rest."
"What was Jacques response." How utterly disgusting.
"He claims he didn't know, I'm inclined to believe him."
"Really? You're going to believe Jacques – willingly breaks labor laws to abuse Faunus – Schnee?"
"….I wouldn't word it that way, but I agree with Qrow. James, tell me you aren't buying into the corporate nonsense he sells to the public."
"Jacques is a businessman first and foremost. Do you think he would allow that kind of negative publicity for the minuscule gains that would have come in from that singular Mine?" James snorted with obvious disdain in the man's name. "Trust me, I would be more than willing to nail Jacques with it if I could, but this is way too sloppy for his normal crap."
"Very well, I'm sure you will do a thorough job of investigating, James. I won't bother to assume anything right now." I couldn't argue with his reasoning, as much as I disliked Jacques Schnee. The man would completely abuse Faunus labor – even human labor, if he thought he could get away with it.
Ironically enough, I don't believe he's racist. I think he just knows that Faunus are easily exploitable and he can get away with it since there are a lot of people who are.
"Most of the staff are dead, and it wasn't a pretty sight."
"Good riddance." Qrow raised his drink infront of his scroll.
"I won't say their presence will be missed. But it's going to be difficult to ease any outrage without anyone to parade around. This is going to become public soon enough." James rubbed the bridge of his nose. "There's already a good portion of public opinion that...embraces this Wilhelm. If news gets out about him rescuing literal slaves, he's going to become very popular."
"We can't fault someone for the good deeds they commit, James. While I never will celebrate the loss of life like this, I will admit that the world is a better place." I pointed out.
"I know, Oz, I know." James continued to sound very tired. "It also proves how dangerous he is. That place was fortified, especially after the incidents that Qrow mentioned. He single handedly took them all down."
"Magic is a very powerful tool." I fully admitted.
"Right, and a great means of theft." James snorted. "He stole all the Dust they had mined."
"Pfft." Qrow spit out his drink with a burst of laughter that followed. "Haha, get fucked Jacques."
"Qrow, atleast pretend to be serious. This may be a concerning matter." Glynda lightly scolded him.
"Thank you, Glynda." Seeing James brighten up at her attention, it's like being young again. "As I was saying, he stole allof the dust. Granted he didn't' keep it up, he left dozens of crates with the Faunus he freed. The witnesses said that he told them to take it to ease the burden of moving to a new place."
"Ease the burden, I'm sure. How many of them were there? A hundred, two, three? Split that evenly, and you probably have enough Lien to set them up for life." Qrow replied.
"It is a lot of dust. Hundreds of thousands of Lien worth." I agreed with Qrow assessment. "An act of charity like that does give me hope that he isn't aligned with Salem. I do not believe she is capable of such."
"Based on how much was reported there and how much he gave away, it's clear he still kept a substantial amount. We have no idea what he's doing with that much dust, Oz. Not to mention, aren't the White Fang stealing Dust around Vale right now? You refused me access to investigate." James continued.
"It would do no one good for your ships to hover overhead, James. We discussed this already." I rebuked him once more. He's a good man, but he can be very hard headed when he gets an idea in his head. "As for the link you're implying with the White Fang, I don't believe it the case. For one, he is a human, and this batch in Vale seem to be much more radical than some of their counterparts. I find it unlikely they would work so closely with someone they dislike."
"Admittedly, that is a very good point. But the timing can't be a coincidence. Perhaps there's some other connection we're not seeing?"
"I will investigate on my end, and you do the same, James. However, what else can you tell us about Wilhelm? Do you have any clue on where he disappeared to?"
"We can't very well track someone who can teleport, Oz. We're trying to keep eyes on all his previous acquaintances but they're all laying low too. We haven't seen Roman since he came to Vale not that long ago, only for him to disappear into thin air just as quickly."
Unfortunate. We didn't expect him to just waltz in like he owned the place when he was one of the most wanted men in the kingdom.
The hubris on that one is almost admirable.
"I can take a look at the dust thing." Qrow offered. "Seems like it's our only possible lead right now, may as well start looking into it."
"….thank you, Qrow. Your help is appreciated."
"Don't mention it, Tin-man." Qrow chuckled, killing the warm moment between the two.
"Anything else of note to report, James?"
"About the incident, we're still compiling a report. I'll make sure to send you a copy, see if I missed anything." James offered helpfully. "But besides that...how about we talk about your new students. I'm sure some would love the opportunity to transfer to –"
"Thank you, goodbye James!" I quickly ended the call.
"I'm checking out too, Oz. I'll start asking around...after I wake up in the morning." Qrow hung up.
I shook my head before giving Glynda my attention once more. "Where were we?"
[***]
Wilhelm POV
I let out a breath, stepping out of a portal. The heavy deathly air hung all around me as I began walking through the Grimm Lands.
I was in a mood.
I had several crates – tons – more dust in my storage ring right now. But for some reason, I couldn't feel happy about it.
Maybe it was the children that I had to literally break the chains around their necks.
God, what a fucked up thing. Killed all of those bastard is what I did. Sent the Faunus slaves to their home island – Menagerie or whatever. Had to sort of eyeball the coordinates, but it should have put them out right in the middle of their main city. Made sure to heal the ones that really needed it right away, but otherwise, they made it there safely.
Actually had one of the Faunus that I freed ask me why I was helping since I was a human.
That really hit me right in the gut.
Just wanted to forget about it right now.
I think that was perceivable, because even the Grimm that roamed the area stayed very far away from me right now.
Would probably have welcomed the stress relief if they offered themselves up. However, I'm in Salem's territory, so I wanted to be polite and not kill what could be her potential minions.
It's kinda weird that I'm getting little butterflies in my stomach as I happily approached the spooky castle.
I think it's suppose to be fear or trepidation. But I can't help but remember her cute smile, and that scary ambience seemed to fade into the background.
The large gates opened up for me. It made me wonder if there were spells in place, the amount of ambient magic around the area made it hard to separate anything specific and localized like that. Not to mention the actual defenses that warded the castle.
I was greeted, not by Salem, but her underling.
…Cinder? I thought that was her name.
She paused upon seeing me, even bowing her head awkwardly. "My mistress beckons you inside. She told me to relay a message that she is otherwise preoccupied for a moment and will appear shortly."
Huh.
"...so did she run away to her room really quick to freshen up?"
Cinder twitched, but didn't confirm. However I think the embarrassed expression she had said it all. "I could not comment on what my Mistress does away from prying eyes." She drawled.
I was going to tease her later, that's for sure.
But more importantly, this woman here was surprising. "Since when did you get Magic."
Cinder almost tripped over herself as she took a step forward, clearly not expecting my question.
"H-how did you know?"
"How could I not?" I blinked. "Felt Magical Energy bleeding off of you since I first walked in. It's like you're trying to show off or something."
"I-I acquired it recently with the help of Mistress." Cinder stammered out before regaining her composure. "She never said anything about my…..Magical Energy doing such a thing." She said it like it was foreign words to her.
"Hmm." I tapped my chin, wondering what Salem was thinking. "It's not impossible to give someone their own innate Magic, however, most processes are extremely difficult. Salem must treasure you a lot to go through the effort to do such a thing. I'm guess it was within he past few days? Which would make sense that she hadn't bothered to say anything, she's probably eyeing it to see if it'll start falling off by itself or if other action is required."
Cause leaking Magical Energy like that was not a good thing, even if it appeared as though her reserves were rather large.
"Though I'm curious how you acquired it?"
Cinder looked hesitant. "I.....do not wish to reveal the matters of my mistress."
"That's fair, and I shouldn't have tried to pry." I was just suprised and intrigued enough that I didn't consider proper decorum. "Has Salem taught you anything yet?" A much more innocent question that wouldn't be touching on any secrets.
"Mistress has only showed me how to control the flow of my Magic." There was a slight annoyance to her tone. "I have yet to learn how to control it fully."
"Well damn, if I had known, I would have brought a proper gift. It's tradition when visiting another Magic-user to bring a gift for new students." I quickly thought about what I could give her. "You don't seem to have a proper Focus yet, I suppose I have some decent training ones." I mentally looked into my ring and took out one of the various Staffs I had from Skyrim. It wasn't anywhere near even the one even Rin had made, but it was…..above average for what an Apprentice would use.
I casually tossed it to her and she caught it with confusion.
"W-what do I do with this?" Cinder looked at it, completely bewildered.
"You give your thanks." Salem pushed open the doors, strutting into her throne room.
"Mistress." Cinder stiffened.
"Do you not know proper etiquette, Cinder?" Salem stared at her. "When presented a gift, you give your thanks." There was a little bite to her words.
"T-thank you." Cinder quickly bowed in my direction.
"Think nothing of it." I honestly didn't care much, my attention was almost entirely taken by the breathtaking figure that just walked right in.
"Hmph." Salem walked up, practically snatching the staff out of Cinder's hands. She gave it a once over, inspecting it intently. "It is adequate." She pushed it back into Cinder's hands without any fuss. "You are dismissed, Cinder."
"Y-yes, Mistress." Cinder bowed her head, scurrying towards the doors that Salem walked in from.
Salem, glanced at her leaving, walked to her throne, taking her seat as she loomed above. "So, you have returned once more. Foolishly you seem to have forgotten of all fear as you stand in my presence. Tell me what brings you here, do you have more trite fanciful words to try and whisper into my ear? Do you attempt to woo this Queen? For what reason do you once more trespass upon my realm?"
It's funny, with how standoffish she appeared, I sorta felt like there was some expectance in her words.
"I missed you." I said with all sincerity.
And that whole visage she built up came tumbling down with that slight bit of red that appeared on her cheeks. Even with the scowl as she turned her head away, it was honestly too cute.
[***]
Here's Wednesday's chapter. I actually finished it early this morning, but didn't have time to do edits before going to work. Next chapter will be out later.
If you want to read 7 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone