"Mmmm"
Lavi slowly opens her eyes. Her eyes flutter open lazily. Then they snap open.
The Faunus girl quickly looks around the empty and dark room. It's not her room and she doesn't recognize it. She also isn't on the floor. And she's much warmer than she usually is when she wakes up.
Her breathing begins to pick up and dread begins to take over. She brings her knees to her chest and tears begin to swell in her eyes. She clenches her eyes closed and the tears fall down her face. Her body begins to tremble and suddenly breathing becomes one of the most difficult tasks. Her mind races and then she remembers some events of the previous day.
"J…un…ior" She squeaks out through her panic. It's like her entire world is crashing down on her. Every little thing hurts so much.
And even more so when Junior said he wouldn't leave or abandon her. But he's gone. He isn't in his fancy chair or anywhere. Just like her father. She didn't even know her father. She never met him, and she was told he wasn't very good looking last night like it was supposed to be a compliment to her or something.
*Clink*
"Please stop getting your tears on my jacket"
Her eyes snap open as tears continue falling. She quickly looks over at the corner of the room where her feet are pointing, it was out of her sight before and she hadn't checked it.
Standing in front of a cabinet full of bottles is Hei Xiong, her first and only friend. He's wearing a white dress shirt and a black vest.
The white is ironically a beacon to her in her darkness.
Junior turns around after closing and locking the cabinet. "I'm just putting the liquid courage away, stop freaking out"
Lavi pulls what is covering her over her head and begins crying somewhat loudly.
"I said stop crying on my jacket" Junior takes his jacket off Lavi after kneeling down beside her. He lifts her torso and lets her cry on his arm.
The crying girl latches onto his shirt and buries her face into his arm like he will disappear if she lets him go.
Junior holds her light frame in his arms and can feel her trembling. Her hands tightly grip his sleeve. He is glad that she hasn't learned to increase her strength via aura yet because she probably would have done more than wrinkle the sleeve a bit.
"I-I thou-ght y… I was… where. Felt so alone…!" Lavi incoherently cries to Junior.
"Shhhhh" Junior rocks her back and forward. "You're a member of my family now. I won't abandon you. Remember, you have your aura now. It'll protect you. And if you don't think you can handle something, you come to me. I'm strong enough to handle the burden of 1,000s of people if not all the people on Remnant. You are not alone anymore Lavi"
The girl quiets down and stops screaming, but her tears keep flowing.
Junior is pretty sure he's seen Pavi cry more in the past 24 hours than he has in his past, including his last life. He doesn't want to get too attached to Lavi, but he won't let her cry alone. The least a man can do for a crying woman is lend her his shoulder and his company.
——————
Junior shows Lavi to the training room after giving her some workout clothes. Basically pants and a shirt that somehow is still a size too big for her. It's at least better than the first one that was too small. Not everything about Lavi is small after all.
The short Faunus didn't want to take her hoodie off but Junior was eventually able to convince her that she would eventually have to wear other clothes. She just was self conscious of her body is all.
Derek sees them enter and begins lecturing Lavi on what her training will consist of while Junior added bits and pieces.
She will be a 'spy' of sorts for Junior. And her training will be finished in about a year. She begrudgingly was forced to choose a weapon even if she didn't particularly want to fight. She will need to know how to fight so that she can be able to runaway and asses certain situations.
Junior and Derek both deadpanned when Lavi walked up to the biggest sword they had. They give her credit for being able to lift it, but damn.
It basically meant that Junior will just have to design a light weight, collapsible, greatsword gun that is only sharp on one side. He already had the materials picked out and a blueprint in his office. He wanted a similar weapon for himself in the past before he forged his baby… that he still can't use. But he can still train with it.
Junior also received some updates that his projects are going smoothly with only minor bumps. Recruitment is picking up across Remnant. Info is flowing in, even if most is useless. Someone might eventually want it and he could sell that info to them.
——————
The days go by and when Junior goes to his office Lavi would spend time with Derek.
Junior finds it ironic. The old man and the young fox. Derek Blaize and Lavi Bole. Very funny. But it got old after the first month. Because Junior is 80% sure that Derek is teaching her weird things. Like now Lavi likes to run around on all fours, and he even caught her running in circles as she tried to catch her tail. But the 20% is mostly just left up to Lavi being really weird.
After a few short months Junior got in contact with Ghira but was denied a partnership. Ghira didn't even want to talk with him. For the Ghira Belladonna already somehow knew that Junior was a crime boss before Junior even introduced himself. It pissed Junior off that Ghira didn't even want to talk with him.
Something about wanting to not deal with shady people and not do illegal things.
It also didn't help that Junior laughed right in his face as soon as he heard that. To Ghira it was very disrespectful, like Junior was looking down at the White Fang and Faunus. But to Junior t was him laughing at what the White Fang Will very soon become.
Because to his expectations, the White Fang will be changing soon. Blake right now is 11 years old. He gives it a year or two at most.
He also set aside some funds to bet on a certain Invincible Girl when she competes in the Mistral Region Tournament. Why waste such easy money when you already know who's going to win?
And then there's the Schnee Dust Company. They're a lovely bunch. But some little birdies told Junior that Winter is already with General Ironwood and that Weiss is singing to audiences that are a bit divided. Mainly her parents that sit on opposite sides of the giant performance room. If they even bother showing up.
There is nothing about the Branwen tribe. Absolutes quiet. Not even crickets making a ruckus. And that's what gets him. Villages are getting wiped off the map, but he can't pin point where the dang tribe is.
Then there are the groups he has set up that will be exploring the world. They are to search ruins and anything interesting. He wonders what type of artifacts or cool old junk has been left behind. Not much has been found to catch his eye, but things have been returned and some nice alien has been earned.
Now besides sorting and filtering information, Junior has kept himself busy. He's been training in order to fight many enemies at once. Fighting one on one is easy enough, but when he is outnumbered there is only so much one man can do. Especially without his semblance.
But he is kinda thankful he doesn't have his semblance yet. It lets him focus on his combat and aura training.
In RWBY certain people can coat their weapon's blade with aura. And when they swing they allow the aura to leave their blade and continue forward. He remembers Blake did it very often. So he's been trying to replicate it but he just feels like a madman. Even the books in his father's collection didn't help and they explained a process on how to do it, granted those books were old.
——————
Junior hasn't had to personally defend his club yet. His men have been competent enough on their own. And Derek has only had to step in a handful of time.
It's mostly been other crime families coming to Vale and trying to punch the biggest guy in town. But they get turned around and slapped back to where they came from.
Each night the club is open there are a few people that come to him for information. He likes to handle these things personally even if they're trivial. It helps him keep his mind sharp when dealing with people and with how he stores and shares information.
He isn't strictly a black market information broker. Some people treat him like an off the books private investigator. He's more along the lines of a gray information broker.
——————
It was near the end of his second year in Remnant that Ghira stepped down.
And Junior gives Sienna credit, she didn't just immediately start attacking humans. She only started robbing them. Which did result in some casualties.
And there that a tiny rumor of a red haired Faunus male donned a Grimm mask. And then the rest of the White Fang also donned white masks. It was really a weird thing to live through. Some of his men were tempted to leave, but Junior was able to reign in his men. A nice speech and a few words were enough. He even allowed quite a few Faunus to go and join the White Fang ranks to increase the number of informants in the organization. The White Fang was spread far and wide after all. Him allowing those Faunus to 'join' the Fang was a win-win for both sides so Junior didn't really mind it. They were still loyal to him otherwise they would have left without a second thought.
Now as time ticked forward and he entered into his third year of life in Remnant things got a bit shaky.
——————
"Sir" Derek is in Junior's office sitting across the desk that has many detailed reports strewn across it. Junior sits behind the desk, clearly a bit stressed and annoyed. But Derek is relaxed and sitting back in his chair. "I warned you this would happen"
"I know!" Junior shouts.
The young boss runs his hand over his face and his beard is decently long. It's gotten to the point where he will likely keep its length now.
"I know" Junior rubs his temples and sits forward as he overlooks the papers.
Derek grabs a paper and shakes his head. "Your father cleared out the competition before you took hold of the chair. And after becoming the official boss you continued to grow. You rooted out potential competition or added them to your ranks if they were decent enough. And it worked for some time. But people will always find a way"
Junior closes his eyes. "Yes, but I didn't anticipate anyone to be this crafty. Somebody had this in motion well before I even became boss. They likely wanted to boot my father from Vale and have changed their target to me"
"That is indeed what it seems" Derek places the paper back down. "So what do you plan to do now?"
Junior glares at Derek. "Lavi is gathering intel on the Vale council right now. Leave her be. What about Desmond?"
Derek shakes his head. "Desmond Byzz is currently elsewhere"
Junior gets slightly frustrated. "Anza Ize"
Derek shrugs. "Same with her"
Junior stands up and walks towards the liquor cabinet. "Frost Nav, Celia Amas, Veronica Vio!"
Derek holds his hands up. "I know you like relying on the women, but that's just it. You've already sent them off"
Junior pokes himself and Derek a drink. "I'm not using the foot soldiers, they'll just fuck it up"
"I wouldn't advise you use them anyway. Only simple and mundane tasks for them" Derek turns his chair towards Junior.
Junior bites his lips. "I've been too damn busy sorting through all the information we are gathering I've missed so much here"
Derek walks up to Junior and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Mistakes are acceptable, you move on and learn from them and don't repeat them. And do we have ice here?"
Junior forces the short glass into Derek's hands. "Just drink it. The cabinet uses ice dust to keep it chilled old man"
Derek smirks and takes a sip. "Just trying to lighten the mood boss"
"You pick really funny moments to call me boss. I'm sure you weren't this friendly with my father while he was in my position" Junior goes back to his desk and sits down.
Derek takes his seat across from Junior again. "The old boss took me in and groomed me. I owed him a lot. And he wasn't a very friendly man unless you had a pair of tights and a tight-"
"OYE! Oye oye! What the hell Derek?!" Junior nearly spat his drink out.
"Sorry. Always hearing you use examples must have rubbed off on me" Derek says with the smuggest face you'll see.
Junior sets his drink down and points at Derek. "Yeah, it's ALL my fault"
"Let's get back to the topic. Someone wants you gone. Wait her in the ground, out of Vale, or something worse than both combined and they're willing to bring the entire Xiong Family down with you" Derek downs his glass.
"What about…. screw it" Junior shakes his head. "They aren't as reliable but surely one of them must be available. How about Cornet Slate, Rust Emert, Sky Blyzz, Vance Seal, or Jet Fiye?"
Derek gives a helpless look. "Busy, all busy. You've even sent Vance to the Vacuo desert"
"Can you blame me?" Junior stands up and grabs his drink.
Derek brings his hands together in his lap. "Not really, he is rather rude. He couldn't even stick to the Beacon job we gave him"
"Right… That's why we sent Jet and Desmond" Junior drinks his glass.
"Listen, why don't you take a break after we clean up this mess" Derek offers. He's watched Junior not waste a single day for nearly three years now. It's a far cry from his teen phase before his father died.
Junior at this point can't think of a reason to push things too far. He managed to spring a trap and it got him good. After this he should lick his wounds and just let problems come to him instead of trying to go out and find them. "Maybe. But either way, we deal with this now. And it looks like it's just you and me Derek"
"It does look that way" Derek looks at the weapons around the room and spots Junior's weapon that was forged about 2 years ago but still hasn't seen a real battle yet. "Mind if I use ol' Big Bertha?"
"Why must everyone keep calling it that? And why don't you make a new weapon for yourself?" Junior exasperatedly asks.
Derek strokes his beard and rests his elbow on his other arm over his chest. "Because sir. I am simply too old to forge a new one, and I mustn't use the other weapons in here. So that leaves the weapon you made or a simple training weapon"
Junior waves Derek away. "Whatever, just call it by its real name and you can use it"
Derek goes to the big sword mounted on the wall and takes it off like it's a feather.
Junior is determined Derek is too old that his body forgets that it's old so it acts like he's still in his prime.
"Every time I hold it I feel like I'm going out to battle an army of Grimm. It's like I can just hold this up and clip the wing of a Nevermore" Derek collapses it into its compact form. Basically the square glaive but the pole collapses into itself to just become a square. Practically a briefcase.
Derek carries to the door as Junior grabs Bazooka. "The mighty Bear Claw! A ferocious weapon that also sounds like a tasty treat with a cup of coffee!"
"Damnit Derek" Junior complains as he walks out behind the old man. "Just say the proper name"
"Yes boss" Derek steps into the hall and holds up the weapon that looks like a briefcase. "I shall use Netherlight with great care and even more proficiency. Happy?"
Junior rests Bazooka over his shoulder. "I'll be happy once we get this over with"
Derek walks slightly behind Junior on his right side. "It shouldn't take too long. We may not know who is behind it, but we do know where they are"
Junior cracks his neck. "Exactly. And it's been a while since I've demonstrated my strength. But I'd have rather not lost some good men"
Derek knows that at least 25-50 Xiong men and women have died or gone missing. Junior just lumps everyone together for simplicity sake. A few of his businesses in Vale were also destroyed. And this all happened in the span of a week. So whoever did it was proficient, but that didn't stop Junior from gathering what information he could.
And now he's ready to put some people in their place. Which is more than likely 6 feet below the ground.