Blindfolded, handcuffed by zip ties, one by one all the remaining living criminals were warped via Shadow to the same warehouse that Roman had performed his 'betrayal' in.
No matter how preoccupied the cops of the VPD were (honestly, they were pretty darn understaffed, too), there was no way that they could have continued doing what they were in Junior's while it was being broadcast on the VNN. They'd be coming in eventually and he didn't want Team CRXN to get caught out like that.
He felt bad about whatever Raven must have been going through as she reassured Summer and Taiyang that he'd be ok. He'd told her that it was ok for her to sell him out entirely, sure that she would put all the blame on him. Even suggested that he'd brought up the favors she'd owed him, saying that she could say he'd asked specifically for her to do nothing about something big he'd planned without telling her what it was.
Urk. He was going to have to give her a hell of a lot of meals to apologize. And then beg forgiveness from Auntie Summer and Uncle Taiyang. Qrow would be pretty pissed too, wouldn't he? Ahhhhhh. He was fucked.
He'd been too focused on the end result and forgotten about how him 'risking' himself like that affected those that cared for him. Ah. Fuck. No wonder Trivia had been mad too.
Ahhhhhh why was he so dumb?!
Roman on the other hand looked like he might piss himself from the excitement, a manic grin on his face. Ok, well. Maybe not that bad. But he looked pretty damn pleased with himself, even if he looked terrified of Jaune.
They met each other's eyes, nodding at each other, shaking hands once. It made Jaune feel a bit dirty, but this had been his decision. The end result he'd decided was the best option in the current moment. He wasn't perfectly happy with it. He might even regret it in the future.
But he'd regret having done nothing at all even more.
At least this way he could say he had tried.
He quickly knocked back a Potion as he curled into the corner of the couch that Roman was sitting on, pretending to sleep as he held the cracked and shattered remains of his green steel staff in his hands.
Now it was Roman's turn.
Showtime.
"Well well well." He grinned, seeing little mice (what the actual fuck, Cap? What kind of fairy tale bullshit was this?) made of shadows pull the blindfolds loose from the people that would have no choice but to be his new minions. "That was quite the show, wasn't it, everyone?"
"Torchwick?" One of the mob voiced questioningly. "What the fuck?"
"Ah, ah, ah!" Roman waggled his finger to the beat. "Unless you want me to wake up my little Hornet, you call me Boss now."
There was a clear desire to talk back, shut down by the wide eyes of the lot of them seeing the sleeping form of his crazy little captain snoozing away, just fucking covered in blood and a bit of viscera, on the corner of the couch he was currently lounging on.
He grinned, no. He sneered.
"Who'd have thunk it, eh? The one that pushed the Spiders out of Vale and the one that planned for all the major players in Vale's Underworld to die today would be little ol' me, huh?"
Odd. What the fuck were the Brat Twins doing here? Cowering behind Hei's kid. Damn guy looked like he was about to piss himself despite being about Roman's age himself.
"And wow. Ball gags? You brats grew up kinky. Not that I'm judging. You do you, brats. You do you. You two were good camouflage back when I worked in the Spiders, you know. You live only because I'm thankful for that." Roman lied through his teeth. He had no fucking clue those two had been in Junior's and why Cap left them alive. "Even though your mom whacked my old man years ago, I'm choosing to not blame you for it."
Better to make them think he was cashing in on a blood debt that didn't exist. They weren't amazing fighters, but the thought of Lil Miss's kids having to work for him was fucking hilarious.
And honestly, her days might be numbered if everything went well for him, so they wouldn't have anywhere to turn to.
Miltia glared, but then her eyes flickered over to his captain, immediately trembling in terror and avoiding his gaze. Or she could just be fucking terrified of Cap like he was. That worked fine as well.
"So. Here's the ultimatum, because if you say no, I'll just-" Roman reached behind his seat on the couch, pulling out an unbroken steel spear painted in a bright neon green. He almost broke out in laughter as everyone's eyes widened and began following the weapon. "-wake up my little Hornet. You get what I'm saying? You all work for me now! Isn't that fun?"
There were some nervous murmurs.
"You know, if I don't hear some enthusiasm I'ma wake her up."
"WOOOO!" "Th-that's our boss!" "Torchwick for president!"
Roman grinned. Now this fucking felt good.
"Aha ha ha. No need to be so scared. Altsus." He chuckled, "As long as you all listen to me, my little blade won't hurt any of you. We're tired from cleaning house, you know. Made a, heh, a Clean Slate, so to speak. We did have to do a bit of deep cleaning, ha ha, to make way for new leadership, but you all understand that I don't do small waves, right? I mean, I don't necessarily have to make such big waves now. I've gotten my revenge so I suppose I could happily just coast."
He stood up from his seat, splaying his arms wide. Melodic Cudgel hung from his left hand, dangling off of his wrist. His right still held onto one of Cap's spare spears.
"I'm Roman fucking Torchwick! Gentleman Thief! Now your new boss! Your new fucking King and I AIN'T FUCKING LEAVING!" Roman burst out into laughter, feeling a bit ecstatic. Almost lightheaded from how easy it had all been thanks to Cap. "I just have to make a few things clear. Some new ways that we run things as we unify under my banner. Because if we don't do things my way… well. I'm a pretty nice guy. I won't make it hurt, no no no. That's just mean. Crude. It'll just sting a little."
Everyone winced.
Ruling through fear really wasn't for him, but he'd be able to portray himself as a scary but whimsical and lighthearted boss after some time had passed.
Nobody would be dumb enough to forget The Hornet's Massacre Dance. It would be immortalized in history. Not only because it had resulted in the feat of slaying all of Vale's major gang's leaders, but because the people knew it.
Across all of Vale now they'd have seen it.
The little heroine being beaten to the point her Aura shattered. The sight of her about to die, about to drive despair into the Kingdom.
And then she caught the fucking bullet with her teeth, the crazy bitch.
Like she was a fucking superhero in a fucking MOVIE.
He didn't even know that Cap could do that.
As much as there would be people that were horrified that the girl murdered all those people, they were criminals. Gangbangers and thugs that had festered in the city, boiling over with violence in the shadows.
For many citizens of Vale, their deaths would have been a dark catharsis, seeing the sight of their criminal oppressors that managed to weasel away in the dark, despite the laws that were meant to protect the people, get their just desserts? Even if it was a bit gruesome?
Well there would be a bit of negativity for the Grimm, sure, but the sensation of triumph was a strong deterrent in return. Triumph was a form of hope. Hope was truly the one thing that truly kept away the Grimm.
It was one of the reasons why the Vytal Festival would rotate from Kingdom to Kingdom. Actually it could even be argued that it was the real reason nowadays. It was part of why the whole Festival was such a big fucking deal.
It wasn't mere cooperation between the Four Kingdoms. Frankly, there was always some level of political and social unrest between them, only Atlas and Vale maintaining a clear, positive relationship. It wasn't wrong to say that the Four Kingdoms were always quietly on the verge of breaking into a new war.
It was something that the civilian populace couldn't know about, of course, fed with propaganda of peace and prosperity.
And tonight The Green Hornet had sent out this dark hope to the people of Vale. That all of the biggest criminals of their Capital had died tonight, alongside a foreign Crime Family having been pushed out in the same night. Because of Roman fucking Torchwick.
Roman grinned, turning to take a smirking selfie with the sleeping and healthy form of his crazy captain behind him, uploading the photo to his Chirper account. A payment of a mere thousand Lien was enough to get it to artificially boost its appearance on people's feeds.
The people of Vale themselves would take it from there.
And his captain was trending hard right now. Almost immediately his DMs and post blew up with updates and alerts.
She's safe, Vale. You're welcome. The post stated with his charming smile. Stay safe. #RomanForPresident
Ah. It was good to be the King.
"Let's make sure we're all on the same page, though." He smiled, dragging a sack full of some Atlas tech-looking wristbands, disguised to look similar to the new Nikkos Medical Monitors that were going to be up on the market soon. Cap had given him a couple of crates of these to force onto his new minions. "You'll have to forgive me if I can't just take everyone at their word. You'll have to wear one of these before I cut you out of your zip-ties, eh?"
"Everything is ruined! We're ruined! HOW COULD YOU HAVE WORKED WITH MISTRALIANS?!"
"I did it for the same reasons as you! For our family! Once I had earned Lady Beatrix's trust-"
"THE POLICE WERE AT OUR GATES! If it hadn't been for that- that- MASSACRE at Xiong's event-"
"And you think they won't find out what you'd been doing for him now that he's dead?! The one to risk everything first was you!"
Trivia gripped Jaune's hand as he kept her company under her invisibility.
He raised the back of her hand to the side of his neck. She could feel his pulse. Regular, calm, smooth. Warm. She wasn't alone.
What am I, Trivia? Neo joked lightly, trying to bring up her mood. Chopped liver?
She fingered the choker at her neck. Unlike the silver one she normally wore to match with Jaune's shackles that he never took off, she was currently wearing a techy one that Jaune had made just for her.
Just for tonight.
A pair of small wires extended from it, connected to her temples with some sticky nodes.
Pink glass shattered as she became visible. Jaune's hand gripped hers. Neither of them were disguised this time. There was nothing to hide anymore. Neither from her parents, nor from him.
We don't keep anything secret from Jaune. Neo agreed. We're better than our parents.
"I guess it's obvious how guilty you both are." A sweet, feminine voice spoke from her collar. It wasn't her voice, but Jaune's. He had really good range. "Both of you always told me that I had to be a good girl. To become an upstanding member of society for the sake of the family, but look at you. This is pathetic."
"Trivia? You're talk- no. A machine? Kid, even now you-"
"I'm not a kid. I haven't been for a long time. I pretty much had to grow up without either of you. Neither of you were ever a very good parent."
"What are you talking about, Trivia?" Her mother frowned, she looked stressed and tired. Also there was a mark on her cheek as if her father had hit her. "And who is this? You can't bring in outsiders to-"
"He's not an outsider! He's more family to me than EITHER of you have been!"
"Now listen here, young lady! I appreciate you going out of your way to try to talk to us for the first time ever, but that's not even your own voice! As your father, I will NOT let you talk to me this way!"
"It hasn't even crossed your mind that I'm just mute, hasn't it? That I could have been born that way? Defective? You always had to have your perfect family, but here we are. Its funny. A daughter that became a Huntress because she just wanted to make a boy proud of her, rather than wanting to protect people. A mother that became a spy for a foreign power. A father that sold out his own Kingdom to the criminals inside its walls. What a family."
"This is ridiculous! None of that is true! Whatever you've heard, it's all lies! We can fix this, Trivia. Please think of your family. Work with us to-"
"Who do you think helped spread the information of the Spiders? That had been spending Friday nights in Vale fighting criminals and wondering why her father introduced an 'uncle' that happened to be 'The King' of the Underground, giving me presents on my birthdays? You're both hypocrites, but I guess sometimes I can be too. It's the only thing I ever learned from you two."
Jaune's hand gripped hers, radiating worry.
Trivia smiled.
"This is the one grace I feel like I owe you. To talk to you both once like this. With a voice. The way you'd both always wanted from me… for so long. Even if, in the end, it's not even really my own, is it? Hah. Even if I didn't speak here like this, though, it still would have been the sound of this voice, in the end. Funny how that works. Still, this is goodbye. Because there was a time, a long, long time ago. When I didlove you. As I know you once loved me, once upon a time. Goodbye."
The air grew heavy as her collar sparked, igniting into lightning as it shattered from her neck, tearing the wires from her temples as pink and brown flames erupted from her eyes.
"Trivia." Jaune's voice was small. "You don't have to do this."
She shook her head.
We must. Neo spoke, knowing that despite that it was in Trivia's head, Jaune could hear her in his strange, perfect way. It has to be us. We won't let it be anyone else. After what they've done they'll get capital punishment. They won't be executed, they'll suffer in prison camps, forced to perform labor for the Kingdom. They'll waste away until the day they die.
Trivia wanted to at least remember them as healthy.
They were just awful, weren't they? They weren't even willing to accept they'd been the ones to do wrong. Once upon a time they'd been kind. Loving. She wanted even a fragment of that to remain.
She wasn't like Jaune. She couldn't just forgive them and let them go free, like he'd done with Cinder. But he'd taught her that mercy came in many forms, and Trivia wasn't a big enough person to just let them go free.
At least she'd save them from a slow, extended pain.
She felt her Semblance burn as two streaks seemed to scorch her hair over her pink side. She didn't need to see it to know that white streaks formed in her hair.
We loved you, once. Mom. Dad.
The Vanille Manor burned that night. Despite the arrival of firefighters, somehow they could not stop it from crumbling all the way down into ash.
The official reports suspected that there was Dust hidden all throughout the house, as Jimmy Vanille had worked alongside Hei Xiong, smuggling Dust into the city for illicit means using legitimate channels.
Only two people and a Spirit would know what had truly happened that Friday night in West Hollyvine, Vale.
Jaune shook Rakan's hand a second time as Xayah snapped another selfie with him.
"Princess, you're the fucking coolest!" The avian Faunus girl squealed as she leapt to Trivia hugging her from the side. "You know Jaune Arc?! This is the coolest fucking day, ever!"
He'd signed four t-shirts, two skirts, all three albums of that had been released, and even Trivia's teammate's forearm.
"I'll never wash this arm!"
"Love, that's gross. If you don't wash that arm, I won't wash this hand!"
Jaune giggled as the Lovebirds both laughed as Xayah tackled her boyfriend, pinching his cheeks as they teased each other in rapid fire words as Trivia hugged him from behind.
"Where do you shop for your clothes, though, Xayah?" Jaune asked curiously. "You just wear more punk-rock kind of outfits instead of a normal Huntress outfit, right? It's pretty cool stuff."
He'd always thought black suited him well. And he wasn't sure if it was Xayah herself, or if it was just to his personal tastes, but her threads were cool. And if these were good enough for Trivia's teammates it could possibly work for him too, right?
"Oooh! I'll give you some good websites through the Princess later! Ha! We'll make an anti-establishment punk-rocker of you yet, Jaune!" Xayah whooped, her hands thrusting into the air. "Anarchyyyyyyy!"
"I don't know about lawlessness, but I like your energy!" Jaune's eyes flickered to Cinder who was hiding in the corner of the room. "...Are you going to just stand there, Cinder? …Or am I going to have to go to you?"
Cinder flinched, sighing softly before slowly, painfully slowly, shuffling her way over to him.
"...hi Jaune. It's been a while." Her voice was soft and she avoided his gaze as one hand gripped at her sleeveless arm.
He stared at the girl.
And gave her a soft smile. He wasn't scared of her anymore. It felt stupid that he might still be at this point. A part of him hurt when he looked at her, but at least it was no longer fear that gripped his heart.
He pulled out of Trivia's grip to give her a strong hug around her torso, his head tucked down against her shoulder.
"Thank you."
"...what the fuck?" Cinder's breath hitched as she hissed quietly. "The person that should be thanking you is me."
"Maybe. But you've proved me right. Even without needing me again after that night. You're here at Beacon. You've proved that I wasn't wrong to forgive you."
"...You probably still shouldn't. I'm not as.. I'm not a good person. Not even close to as good a person as you seem to think I am. I didn't deserve it."
"You don't need to be. Everyone's selfish. Everyone's got bad parts of them. But even if you have a selfish reason for being here, you're still here. You're still fighting to make something better of yourself. Even if it's just for Robin. You're still here. I wasn't wrong. Besides-" Jaune laughed a bit as he tightened the hug. "-it's not about deserving it. It's about the fact that nobody had given you a chance until me. I'm glad. That I could give you that chance. Just, y'know, don't forget that… you have people you can trust, now. That you should trust us. Me, Robin… Team CRXN. Y'all are cool."
He could feel Trivia give a faintly jealous look towards Cinder, though she did nothing. He grinned. He knew Trivia liked Cinder. At least enough to see her as a friend. That was good. He was happy she had Team CRXN. That she had another family, now that she'd lost her first one.
Like the girl with the crimson cloak in his dreams. The one with the scent of chocolate and roses. A team truly was a family.
Cinder's arms softly wrapped around him. He and the rest of the room pretended that they didn't see or feel Cinder cry.
"You're so fucking dumb." She spoke, her voice watery. Her Aura was soft, warm flames of a campfire. Gentle but cleansing soap water, hot but not scalding. The sound of glass on the wind. "You and Robin are… heh. You're both just so damn weird. Too good for this shitty planet."
Jaune laughed.
"We're the Arcs. Where friends are family."
"It's morning back at Sanctum." Jaune whined as Ruby hung off his back with giggles, his hands raised above his head as he sat in seiza. "Can't we discuss this later? I feel bad for Emerald."
Ruby wore a white cloak with a crimson lining underneath. She looked more and more like Summer back before Tyrian's attack. Her Aura flashed with the sensation of velvet roses against his skin, their scent filling his nose with the addition of chocolate.
Also it was way too late for her to still be up, but she'd come down for a cup of water, dressed in warm flannel PJs and her cloak (originally her mom Summer's, now also her's), snapping awake excitedly when she'd seen that Jaune had come by, though it had been because Team STRQ had demanded he come and accept his punishment.
Maybe he was just lucky that Yang was having a sleepover at a friend's and not here to tease him about his current predicament. Seizas sucked.
Ruby pet his rabbit ears as she babbled some questions she'd had about a weapons engineering question for an electives class above her year (she was smart when it came to weapons, passionate) as Jaune whispered back explanations.
A part of him felt there was something strangely that he was missing, but it might just be his blood rushing out of his arms. Or the pinpricks in his legs from the seiza.
"Oh, we've already sent a message to your little friend." Taiyang sighed angrily. "Just because we're not going to talk about what you did in front of little Ruby, doesn't mean you're off the hook, young man. You cannot expect us to sit here and act like what you did tonight was anywhere near acceptable."
"What'd bro even do? Jaune, tell me, tell meeee." Ruby asked innocently, her legs wrapped around his torso, her bare toes wiggling as she swung her feet. "I haven't seen dad this mad since Yang went for a joyride on his bike, even though she can't get a Pre-Huntress Driver's License until December."
Oh that was right. Unlike civilians, Huntsmen-in-Training could get their Driver's Licenses at fourteen, letting them build up more experience for vehicles if they were willing to pay a fee, as the ability to drive and pilot vehicles was pretty important for longer distance missions. He should get on that too. He had a pretty cool one from the Gacha.
Oh. He had an idea for one of Yang's future birthday presents!
"Oh he's in trouble for a lot of things, at this point." Summer called from the kitchen, the sound of chopping vegetables echoing in the STRQ house. "Do you want to tell her, Jaune?"
Was she stress cooking?
"Shutting up!"
What was she cutting up at almost one in the morning?
…It smelled like zucchini. Maybe. Hard to tell from this distance.
"C'mon, brooooo. Jaaauuuuuune." Ruby rocked back and forth on his back, making him lean a little back and forth. "Telllllll meeeeeeeee."
"Ruby, I'll give you some more metallurgy notes later if you don't ask more about it."
"DONE!"
"Young lady, you still need to do more proper weapons training before you even think about making your own Huntress weapon." Taiyang laughed, "At the rate you're going, you won't even be able to stay in Signal's Huntress program."
"I-I can do it! Really! I just need to find something I'm good at! I wanna be a Huntress, just like mommy Summer and Raven!"
He saw Taiyang make a complicated face. He was worried about his daughter. Especially worried over Ruby, even though they both concerned him.
"You really don't want to consider being like Jaune and Dr. Polendina? You're a real wiz for weapons design! Even the forgemasters at Signal are saying it! And even Jaune says you're better than him at putting together third-gen stuff. You've helped Yang take her weapon from a second-gen type into a third-gen already. You've got a lot of talent. You don't… you don't need to fight at all."
In fairness he said she was better at third-gen because his knowledge usually reeled back with the fact that all the moving parts made things more fragile and easier for something to jam. Aura made that less of an issue, but it was true that it still could be an issue at times.
What was wrong with the classics? Nothing, that's what.
"No! I wanna be like mommy!" Ruby whined as she rocked on Jaune's back. "I want to be a Huntress! Besides, Jaune's going to be a Huntsman too! I don't wanna be the only one that gets left behind! I don't!"
Juniper floated over with a chuckle, whispering into his ear, just so that Auntie Raven, glaring at his Big Brother from where she was in her own seiza from the other side of the living room, couldn't read his lips.
Those two really didn't get along much.
"I'd bet a war scythe would suit her well." His Big Brother Juniper advised. "Maybe one that uses sniper rounds to give her long range and take advantage of her lighter weight with Recoil Techniques."
Jaune grinned.
His Big Bro was so damn cool.
"Ruby." Jaune smiled happily. "Have you considered a scythe like Uncle Qrow? I'm sure you'll figure out what kind of gunmeld is best for you on your own. You're smart, Rubes."
"Jaune, no!" Taiyang frowned. "They're really dangerous."
"But if Jaune's suggesting it, maybe I am good with a scythe! I'm gonna go call Drunkle!" Ruby zipped off, crimson rose petals spewing over the living room as she zipped up the stairs. "Would he be up right now? I'm going to call anyways! Oooh! Do you still need that ol' Mantle Hecate sniper in the attic? I could cannibalize that for parts!"
"What have we said about using Semblances in the house, young lady?!"
"Sorry, daddy!"
"She doesn't sound sorry at all." Jaune laughed.
"I could say the same about you, little brat." Taiyang sighed, ruffling his hair, sending his ears flopping back and forth. "Don't think you're off the hook! You know I don't want this for her. She was finding a way to be productive without fighting."
"She wants to be a Huntress, Uncle Tai."
"She doesn't have to be. For that matter, neither do you."
Jaune gave the older blond a sad smile.
"This world won't be so kind. We both know that. But I promise to make it so that she doesn't have to grow up any faster than she has to, though." Jaune promised. "I'll protect her with everything I can. I want to see a future where Ruby can smile too."
"...I don't need you stealing both my daughters! I won't allow it!" Taiyang roared with fatherly something as he pinched Jaune's cheeks. "Is this karma? IS THAT IT?!"
"Ooowugh! Dai! Dhad durds!"
"I'm too young to be a grandfather!"
"Daaaaaaaaaaai! Whud dah fuuug uuuh meeuh? Leh muh guhhhhh!"