Chapter 6: Fated Meeting

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works; all other characters and worlds belong to their respective owners. I'm just playing with them.
Betad by Priapus, Marethyu, Old man of the mountain


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Chapter 06: Fated Meeting

– Blake Belladonna –

Their attack on the slaver bastards had done some good in Vale, but she'd quickly realised the real reason that Shiro had wanted to do this. Shiro and Sombra had stolen a lot of money from the slavers. She'd even been given a hefty cut, more money than she'd ever had as a bonus for her hard work, enough for her to run home if she wanted to… but she wasn't eager to head back to the Menagerie with her tail between her legs.

Wearing her maid outfit, she brought Shiro his coffee as he typed away at his computer, giving her an appreciative nod before going back to work. He'd been extremely busy since they took down the slavers.

She knew he planned to make his own gang, but she'd expected him to jump into it immediately. He'd started working on something, going over building plans and property deeds; she honestly didn't know what he was up to.

Still, she'd realised something. Shiro was very smart; the Fang had tried to improve things in Vale for years, and Shiro had found and then dealt with a slavery ring in a matter of days. She still wanted to help her people in Vale, and working with Shiro gave her a chance to do exactly that as Shiro, ambitious as he was, grew more influential.

"We'll be moving soon," Shiro said, getting her attention as he cracked his knuckles and stretched before taking a sip of his drink.

"We are?" Blake asked, blinking. She hadn't heard anything about this.

"I need a proper base of operations and a front if this is going to work. We can't run any kind of organisation from an apartment. I'm opening a nightclub to serve as our front, and that means I've had to do it all legitimately," Shiro said with a yawn. "It's what I've been so busy with lately, building and business permits, starting a legitimate company, several actually."

"Wouldn't that take longer than a few days?" Blake asked, making him chuckle.

"For someone else, perhaps, but I've had some help. Remember how I told you that a council member was involved in this mess? Well, Sombra tracked them down, and with a video of him balls deep in an underaged Faunus girl held over his head, he has been extremely helpful," Shiro scoffed, a cocky grin on his face. "It's helped speed things up a lot."

"You aren't worried about blackmailing a council member?" Blake asked; she didn't want this piece of shit getting away with his crimes, but taking on a council member was dangerous.

"No, Sombra is handling the blackmailing, and my permits are lost in a pile of things she's gotten him to sign. Besides, I'm pretty sure Sombra has some deadly friends. She knows what she's doing," Shiro said easily.

– Olivia Colomar (Sombra) –

Sitting at her computer, she grinned as she got word back from Talon. Letting Shiro keep all the money was more than worth it for the blackmail of a Vale councillor, who would be getting a visit from Reaper soon to ensure he continued to follow orders.

Talon was happy with her, which was good because there were two people in existence that she gave a damn about, and one of them had done something very stupid, and now Talon wanted him dead.

Glancing at a very old picture from her time at the orphanage, she frowned at the sight of three young figures, her standing in between a smirking white-haired boy and a grinning dark-skinned boy.

The three amigos. Those two were the closest thing she had to a family. Unfortunately, one of them was an arrogant prat, and the other had developed a conscience at the worst possible time and gone rogue from Talon. It was hard being the responsible one of their little family.

– Blake Belladonna –

"So, you're spending all the money we got on a nightclub?" Blake asked, making him shake his head.

"A nightclub and a new home, along with a small factory so I can increase production," Shiro explained before pausing. "With a considerable nest egg for emergencies."

"That money was made through my people's suffering. We should use it to help the Faunus in Vale. It could-"

"I'm going to stop you right there because I can already see where this is going. So, how exactly would you spend this money to help the poor unfortunate Faunus?" Shiro asked, turning to her with a raised eyebrow.

Faced with the sudden question, she floundered for a moment, having not made any actual plans.

"T-There's a lot of homeless, starving Faunus, we could-"

"Hand out alms on the street? Blake, you are laughably naive for a terrorist," Shiro said, making her go to speak up. She wasn't a terrorist, but he continued cutting her off. "I can see why the White Fang has never managed to make a difference if your comrades think like you."

Okay, now he was just being a dick.

"Blake, let me break things down for you. We could give all my hard-won money to the poor and needy Faunus, leaving us stalling, and do you know what would happen? We'd help them on for a very limited amount of time; maybe they'd be able to afford rent for another month, maybe they'd be able to get a proper meal. But realistically, what would happen is they'd blow through the money and come back looking for another handout, one we wouldn't have," Shiro lectured. "Because it wouldn't change any of the problems that had put them in that position in the first place. If they had more money, rent would just go up, and whoever we helped would be back to being fucked in a month or two. Hand-outs don't work; we'd just be giving them a brief reprieve at best while also sending out a neon glowing sign telling criminals that the Faunus had money they could steal."

"They could get out of Vale," Blake argued, making him laugh.

"To where? The Menagerie? It can barely handle its own population; how do you think they'd manage with an influx of poor faunus trying to move in?" Shiro asked, making her hesitate. "Mistral is a crime-ridden shithole, and Atlas and Vacuo both have far stricter laws regarding Faunus. Blake, we are fairly rich, but if you want to make real changes in a Kingdom, you need to be Schnee levels of wealthy. I will be that wealthy in time, but you need to spend money to make money. Throwing away our limited funds on charity projects, where most of it will get stolen or squandered, is just short-sighted and absurd."

"So, how would you change things?" Blake challenged, making him raise an eyebrow.

"Firstly, I'd use my drones and wealth to set up an apartment block. Nothing extravagant, but cheap, affordable housing, since a common cause of Faunus becoming homeless is their landlords inflating their rent. It's illegal to refuse a renter just because they're a Faunus, but it's perfectly legal to raise rent until the undesirable renter can't afford it, and you can kick them out. With a series of apartment blocks aimed at housing Faunus for affordable prices, that would help lessen the issue while still making a small profit," Shiro started, rubbing his chin as he considered his answer, her eyes widening ever-so-slightly at his much more thought-out answer than hers. "Secondly, I'd look into solving the other major issues, employment and the basic necessities. Setting up some local stores near the apartment blocks, where the renters can get the necessities like groceries, again turning a profit while supplying a required service. Both the apartment block and stores would also require staff, but it wouldn't be enough to employ everyone. I'd have to think more about how to fix the employment issue. Of course, I'd face opposition every step of the way, but very few can stop me from doing something I want."

"So why don't you?"

"Because, as I just said, you have to spend money to make money. Every step of that process would require funds, and the profit margin would be too slim to be a reliable source of income. If you want to make a real difference, you need real capital to throw around," Shiro shrugged. "Hence, the nightclub."

"You think a nightclub is going to make that much money?" Blake asked, making him laugh.

"Of course not; that's why it's a front. Besides, I have some plans to make some real money; the nightclub is just a start," Shiro explained. "I don't plan small."

And this was why she was still here, despite no longer being in such dire financial straits as Shiro typed away. Shiro was very smart, but she wasn't delusional. He might have been able to throw up a plan to help the Faunus in Vale in seconds, but he didn't actually care.

If she left, he'd make his gang and likely excel with his technology, giving him an advantage over the other gangs, but he certainly wouldn't try and help the less fortunate like she wanted to. Gods, he'd probably exploit them to turn a profit. If she stayed by his side, she might be able to convince him to help, to guide him down a more benevolent path.

She realised she was repeating history, having just run away from the last guy she tried to guide away from a darker path, having utterly failed and watched as Adam dove deeper into his insanity, but she didn't want to just run back to the Menagerie.

She had a chance to make a real difference here.

– Shiro Eis –

Vale is ripe with opportunities, and I intend to take them all.

As Blake slips away, I smirk to myself. She's predictable, a bundle of guilt that would do anything to help her people, and I've already laid the bait out for her. I do plan to do all the things I mentioned because I have big plans for my time in Vale.

But Blake is easy to read; she's fallen into the most dangerous mindset possible. 'I can fix him'.

Of course, from what I know, she's fallen for this exact same trap before with Adam, a White Fang member wanted in all four kingdoms for his brutality, so she failed there as well.

Unfortunately for her, while she wants to fix me, I want to corrupt her. It turns out it's a lot easier to pull people down into the abyss with you than it is to pull them out of its depths. As long as I improve things for the poor, unfortunate Faunus, she'll stay by my side, which makes her so laughably easy.

Looking over the reports from the club, I smile. I've made a new type of drone, made for construction purposes. The building I bought was derelict, and I had it reduced to the foundations easily enough and started construction of my new nightclub.

My drones work fast, which has gained some attention, but I've done it all entirely legitimately (aside from the whole blackmailing a councillor thing). I own a construction company and have all the permits sorted and signed. It's all above board.

I've also set up a transport company with my drone. It means I can automate a lot of the processes that I used to do myself, especially now that I have the money to afford better parts and a factory (once again, almost entirely automated) for the sake of mass-production, so I don't have to make everything by hand.

I plan to make a private security company as well, but the permits for that are a little harder to come by. My drones can provide security to remote villages, travellers and more, but I want to improve their performance and efficiency before I start that service anyway.

Basically, I'm setting up multiple sources of entirely legal income, which will help muddy the waters and make it harder to find the… less legal sources of income I have planned.

Expanding my VI network has also helped me finish my Scientist quest because I've been busy, but then only needing to sleep for a few hours a week helps with that whole free time thing.

[Chems Speciality]
You have gained the knowledge of how to create advanced chems, meaning drugs. So, so many drugs.

[Reverse Engineering]
You have an innate understanding of technology and are able to study any piece of tech and dismantle it, learning how it works in the process.

I have learned something very important: Remnant is a depressing place to live. This world fucking sucks, even if you ignore the hordes of genocidal monsters trying to wipe out all life. Crime is rampant, and racial tensions are at an all-time high. Despite the high tech level, everything is reliant on Dust, which is hoarded and laughably expensive because only a single company is handling the mining of it worldwide.

The Schnee Dust Company supplies Dust to all four kingdoms because they've bullied everyone else out of the market. Every competitor has been ruined and then absorbed, and while every so often someone tries to join the Dust market, they never last.

So when Jacques Schnee decides to increase prices, everyone feels it.

Basically, if you're a Huntsman or Huntress, life sucks because you're probably gonna get eaten by a Grimm at some point fighting a seemingly unwinnable war against an endless hoard. If you aren't a Huntsman, it double sucks because you're still going to get eaten, but you also don't get superpowers.

So, what does that mean?

It means drugs because when people are fucking miserable, they'll pay out the ass for a brief respite.

Heading into my workshop, I head over to my newly acquired chem lab and smile at the sight of the small pink pills on the desk.

You know the funny thing? Vale's laws are so broken that you can legalise just about anything with enough work, support, and bribes. Euphoria is entirely legal in Vale because my VI is very good at navigating the bizarre and often nonsensical law code. Also, I donated a considerable amount to various people to grease the wheels.

Sure, it is somewhat addictive and may cause slight depression as a withdrawal symptom, but the warning is on the package, so it's fine. Just read the small print, nerds. The pure serotonin overdose that the aptly named Euphoria provides is worth it, and you won't deal with any nasty withdrawal symptoms as long as you never stop taking it.

I'm not even doing anything wrong, because it's safer than other drugs on the market, both illicit and legal. I do damn good work, and if people are going to be throwing their money away for a quick fix, they might as well be throwing their money at me.

And the only place to get the best drug in the city? At my new club, Lux, of course. I've done a lot of work building up hype for the grand opening. Okay, fine, I had the VI do 95% of it, but I have also been busy.

And no, you can't prove that the issues some of the other non-Gang affiliated clubs have been facing are my fault; I'm innocent! Sombra, however, is very much not innocent and owed me a favour for the cloaked scouting drones I gave her.

I don't know what she did. I don't want to know, but I do know that my future rivals have been having some tech issues that no amount of tech support can fix. It's less 'the computer won't turn on' and more 'where did my bank account go?'. She's been having fun with it.

Junior's club has been spared because Junior doesn't particularly run his club for the sake of running a club. He's an information broker using the club as a front for his gang. It's much smaller, in the ass-end of nowhere, so we won't be stepping on each other's toes.

My club is closer to downtown, in the richer part of town, because we stole a lot of money from those dipshit slavers, and while I've blown through a lot of it, it'll all be worth it to get this early start.

It does mean I've already started to get some attention from the other gangs before I've even started my own criminal organisation, but while I can't start my own security company yet, I can use my own creations to protect my property. It's just drones and cameras for now, but I've already caught several sabotage attempts, although most were easily driven off by my drones.

…I have gotten some queries about my creations because people are reasonably not eager for a repeat of the Omnic Crisis, but my drones come with an in-built defence against the so-called 'God Programs' that went rogue and took over the Omnics and started a mass war. Atlas doesn't exactly believe me, but they can kiss my ass. I'm not being lectured by the dumbasses who started the Omnic Crisis to begin with.

Basically, every program in this world is on one programming language, while mine is in a very different one that only I speak, so hacking my stuff would be very hard even if it wasn't for the fact that it's game-protected.

You're lucky I don't feel like watching you get turned into a target dummy by your own drones; who goes full tech build in a world with 'God Programs'?

Meh.

What's the point of being a Gamer if I can't do what I want? And what I want is a drone army.

– Days Later –

So, how do you staff several companies that pop into existence at the same time? If you answered 'with people', then you're a fucking idiot, and you can suck my schlong.

The answer is robots, obviously. Okay, sure, I can see why people might not be particularly happy about more robots being made after the last set nearly wiped out Atlas, and yes, AI research is currently super illegal in every kingdom, but, and hear me out here.

I'm built different.

As long as I tiptoe the line between AI and VI, I can get away with a lot because the research and creation of VI is not outlawed, and more importantly… when people think of robots, they think of the Omnics, who are extremely obviously robots.

So, what if my robots looked very clearly human? In fact, what if they were indistinguishable from humans?

Bending some international laws is worth it for a loyal, talented workforce that I don't have to pay. My VI can basically scour the net for knowledge, and then I can use that knowledge to create 'skillsets' for my androids.

So, if I want a bouncer, I can make a fairly intimidating android and just download some basic unarmed fighting techniques right into their heads, perfected by my VI running millions of simulations to work out what data is useful and what is trash. It's the same with making a bartender, an entire world's worth of mixology recipes downloaded in a second.

More importantly, I created a skillset for a chemist Android so I can automate the creation of Euphoria and whatever other drugs I come up with, giving me more time to work on other projects.

Creating a synthetic skin was the hard part, but my nanotechnology specialty came in useful there, and my increased (but rapidly depleting funds) helped me get access to some parts that would normally be out of reach, speeding up this whole process.

The main issue is that the parts for each android are expensive. I had to limit myself to just building a few so far and slipping them into my hired staff. I got the security from Junior; his men are always for hire, even if I had to pay extra to get them to not come in their Xiong family uniform. It's a temporary fix until I can arrange for some security under my control; the cleaning staff I've hired from a cleaning company that is a bit more professional than the one I hired Blake from, again a temporary measure until I can get my own cleaning business set up.

Basically, I don't trust anyone who doesn't work for me directly, but I had to cut some corners to get everything open so quickly. The sooner I can get this ball rolling, the faster it can snowball out of control.

"Am I supposed to keep this entire place clean by myself?" Blake asks, giving me a look as I pause. We're just moving into my new house, well, mansion, really.

Okay, I got carried away, but it wasn't that expensive since I just bought the land at the edge of the city and had my drones build the mansion exactly to my specifications. Furnishing it was what really hit my bank account, but I deserve the best.

I could absolutely make a Maid Android, in fact, I think I will, but this is an opportunity.

"Honestly, a good point," I say, looking around the foyer. "Why don't you look into hiring a new maid?"


"...why me?" Blake asks, I can tell she's slightly in awe at my new home. I can also see the slight scowl at the 'waste' of resources, but my image is everything.

I need to have a good reputation for what I have planned, and material wealth is a good way to gain a reputation; look at all those idiots back in my old world who became famous 'influencers' purely because they were rich and had nice cars.

People gravitate towards wealth, hoping some of the rich bastard's money rubs off on them (it won't), and putting up a front of a wealthy scion will help my plans as I go forward. Blake should be happy since I do have some charitable plans for the less fortunate, but I have my reasons.

"Congratulations, you're now the head maid until I change my mind, so it's your job to find me a new maid if you don't want to clean the entire mansion by yourself," I deadpan, making her roll her eyes.

"Does it come with a raise?" Blake quips, making me nod easily.

"Ah, the bonus I gave you wasn't enough? What a greedy little kitty," I taunt, making her frown slightly. "Fine, I'll give you an extra treat in your pay for your hard work. I'm going to get my workshop set up, so go and pick a bedroom but don't get changed yet; I'm going to need your services as head maid soon."

She blushes slightly, giving me a dirty look as I give her a light spank on her barely-covered backside. Did I make up a new role just to say that innuendo? Perhaps. Letting Blake pick the next maid is an easy choice because I have some tests I want to do that require a more expendable Faunus, and Blake is basically guaranteed to recruit some down-on-her-luck Faunus for the role.

Besides, a week ago, Blake would have taken offence at me requesting Oral from her. Now, she just seemed annoyed at the pun since we slept together. I've made sure to gently push her into a less professional relationship, a grope here and comment there.

It's cute that she thinks she can actually manage to 'fix' me, unaware of how much she's already fallen.

Heading into the basement, I start setting up my new workshop with a smile. Speaking of girls who think they're smarter than me…

A yelp gets my attention as I turn around casually, seeing the force field activated in the middle of the workshop. Nobody seems to be inside it at first, but my [Hardened Mind] makes me very good at spotting illusions.

"Hello, Miss Politan. Have you enjoyed your voyeurism?" I ask the empty space, getting no response as I sigh and press a few keys on my wrist-pad, the forcefield electrifying as a yelp sounds out, and the sight of the air seemingly shattering makes me smile, the glass-like fractures falling to the floor to reveal a sheepish-looking Neo Politan.

I was only going to tolerate her following me around for so long, and if she's going to wander into a Tinker's workshop like she owns the place, she deserves a little serving of humility. My trap could have been much more fatal after all.

Neo waves her hands, gesturing something, giving me an innocent look as she places them behind her back and gives me the least convincing puppy dog eyes I've ever seen. Holding out her hand again, she offers her pinky in the irrefutable offer of a pinky promise to behave, making me snort.

"If I put my hand in there, I'd lose it," I deadpan, making her shrug. She noticeably doesn't refute my accusation, instead making a gesture that can be best translated as 'you can't blame me for trying'.

Seeing the diplomatic approach has failed, she suddenly lunges forward, her deadly umbrella in her hand as she stabs at the forcefield.

Needless to say, electrocution.

This forcefield is a much stronger version of the one I made for my power armour, made to keep things in instead of keeping threats out, and attached to a much larger power supply; it will take a lot more than that to break it.

Neo could kill me so laughably easily, even with my power armour, but that's only in a fight that's even slightly fair

"Tut, tut, tut… that wasn't very nice of you," I taunt, pressing my wristpad again as the force field electrifies again, Neo letting out a strangled scream as electricity courses through her body. I might feel sorry for her if I wasn't sure I'd be bleeding out on the floor if there wasn't a force field between us.

Neo is very attractive, probably the hottest woman I've ever seen, but she's also extremely dangerous and would happily kill me and Blake, then burn down my fancy new mansion just for fun now that her cover has been blown.

"Now, I think you got the… why are you blushing?" I ask, making her pause before she just shrugs again, poking the force field and yelping as she's shocked again, and it's not entirely in pain. "You have issues, and I'm going to knock you out now."

Her look can best be described as 'come at me, bro', so I do exactly that.

By gassing her.

As a gas floods her little prison, she sighs and actually pouts as she tries to hold her breath for as long as she can, actually faking collapsing with an illusion once in an attempt to get me to lower the force field, but I don't buy her bullshit, and before long she hits the ground.

Then I gas her a little more, you know, for luck.

— Bonus Scene — Cinder Fall

As Emerald bandaged up her wounded side, she glared out of the window with barely suppressed rage. Things just kept going more and more wrong. First, the Maiden escaped with her powers intact, and now this?!

Adam being recalled shouldn't have been a problem, but the new head of the local White Fang division was far less eager to go along with her plans, and her wounds were proof of that. Rengar had barely even bothered to let her talk before he'd attacked her, and he very nearly killed her. Months of manipulating Adam with his grudge against the SDC reduced to nothing because Adam had been dragged home by his mistress, and she'd sent an unreasonable beast to take his place.

Mercury groaned, laying on the bed; he'd taken the worst of the injuries, with Rengar ripping off one of his arms; she knew a doctor who could patch him up, but Mercury wouldn't be any use for a while.

To make things worse, Roman was starting to get ideas, given her recent string of failures, wondering if it was worth the risk to just try and escape from Vale. It was fear that kept him in line, and with her injured and Mercury down for the count, he and Neo were probably considering trying their own luck.

She couldn't afford to lose the duo and the men Roman had acquired, not now that she and the White Fang were essentially at war. She hadn't just lost a minion. Rengar made it clear he wanted her dead for trying to manipulate the White Fang; it was only due to Emerald messing with his senses that they'd managed to escape at all. Adam was a beast, but he was a beast she could easily manipulate, while Rengar saw her words for what they were and immediately responded with violence.

Gritting her teeth at the sudden sharp pain in her side, she glowered at the city outside her motel room. She needed to fix this quickly before she had to answer to Salem for her failure. Without the White Fang, she simply didn't have the manpower to continue her current plan, and she'd hoped to already have the Maiden's powers by this point, but that damn sniper had managed to kill the Beetle Grimm Salem had provided her.

She'd told Roman and Neo to cease the Dust robberies and await new orders. Hopefully, taking them off the task would prevent them from running or turning on her a little longer, but she was very much working on borrowed time.

Luckily, Roman was currently in hiding himself. He'd enjoyed being racist to the White Fang, not because he was actually racist but because he found it funny to poke at them; unfortunately for him, Rengar had been told, and now the new head of the Vale White Fang wanted to make an example of Roman, so Roman was unlikely to turn on her while Rengar was hunting him.

Ozpin knew their faces from the failed attack on the Maiden; her forces were reduced to a disloyal thief and his pet assassin, her own pet assassin who was grievously wounded, and Emerald, who was probably the only one still truly loyal. Even Mercury was having second thoughts. He was a self-serving coward at heart, and if things kept going wrong, he'd flee.

Scowling, she cursed Adam for running back to Sienna with his tail between his legs, trying to find a way to recover from this string of losses. She wouldn't go back to Salem in defeat to face Watts and Tyrion's mockery and Salem's disappointment.

No, she was going to bring Beacon down and claim the powers of the Maiden. She did not lose.