Chapter 40: Realpolitik
Jacques Schnee, Remnant's richest man and, in his own opinion, its greatest businessman, was irritably swirling the glass of cognac in his hand, letting its contents swirl freely. The few drops that had already spilled from his glass fell on his snow-white clothes, in his personal opinion perfectly matching his appearance, or spilled onto the expensive Vacuo carpet on the floor. Greatly spoiling the appearance and diminishing their value. But unlike other circumstances in which Jacques would be enraged by such circumstances, right now something else is occupying his mind for him to care.
The thing being the news report currently broadcasted on the huge screen that hung before him.
"…so far, the identity of yesterday's attacker has finally been confirmed as Marcus Black, a well-known assassin for hire…" Jacques was in such a bad mood that he had no desire to even drink the alcohol in his hand right now, continuing to simply twirl the glass, as if in an effort to reduce his stress. "… the motive and client are still under investigation by the Glenn police…"
Grimm-fucked Marcus Black… Fuckin' failure of an assassin…
Marcus Black… Jacques had spent years, burning various favors in his circle of 'acquaintances', spending an innumerable amount of sums of lien to find the best assassin for his job.
And he had believed that he had.
Marcus Black is perhaps Remnant's most famous and successful assassin, as oxymoronic as that might sound. Politicians, activists, businessmen, all sorts of inconveniences, almost two hundred confirmed assassination were under his belt.
He charges quite the exorbitant sum for his services, but the price was always worth it. The most paranoid, the most protected, the most powerful, in their secret hideouts, in locked rooms, behind a dozen security cordons, no targets could escape him. There were rumors, ideas as to why Marcus Black could pull such feats off, but Marcus had kept any information about his abilities firmly to himself.
Some said he was a Hunter, and there were uncountable speculations about his Semblance, the supposed secret to his success. There was even speculation that Marcus Black was not a single person at all, but instead multiple assassins using the same moniker. Or simply that Marcus Black was just a simple facade for yet another arm of Aifal's organization.
Whatever the rumors might be, one thing was certain.
Marcus Black had always completed his job successfully.
Not always flawlessly, as Marcus did not take any further instructions on exactly how the target was to be eliminated. He worked only on his terms, and therefore sometimes the client for a specific assassination could be traced or found without much trouble. Which is not ideal, but then again, if only one person could benefit from someone exiting the mortal coil so suddenly, an investigation was perhaps nothing more than a formality.
But Marcus himself, his work and more importantly, his results, were never in doubt. Marcus always killed his target.
Jacques had to spend a lot of time and money to eventually secure his services, for the sake of killing Osmond he was prepared even to go to such an expense.
No, Jacques was not an insane maniac who hired elite assassins to eliminate all those who crossed his path. Jacques Schnee had a knack, if nothing else, for saving money by cutting off unnecessary expenses, like safety equipment for his mines. If he personally acquired the expenses of the most expensive assassins in killing every thief who ever thought of stealing anything from his shops, he would quickly go bankrupt.
And besides, why else would he need internal security if not to deal with such matters?
But Jonathan, Osmond Vale the Third, was a different beast altogether. Never mind the fact he's the teleporter who had robbed Jacques' bank of millions of lien, he was dangerous either way, but what was even more important was that he had crossed the line.
The Schnee Dust Corporation was his personal corporation, his personal project. For years, he had developed it, allowed it to grow, pulled it out of the muck that Nicholas and Willow had driven it into. Thanks to him, the Schnee had become from 'just another rich family', into becoming the 'Schnee', the standard which others compared their riches to. With him at the helm, Remnant's richest and most powerful man.
He crushed his rivals, made the most practical deals in the darkest corners of Remnant, went over and beyond the heads of his opponents, and made it easier when he removed their heads, former, current, or future. Just three years ago, his company, which was once nothing more than a multi-million lien among many, was a colossus on clay feet, unstable and unable to rise higher. With him at the helm, that colossus rose again in marble.
With that achievement, everyone knew, Jacques Schnee was a figure that could not be diminished or ignored. The whole world also knew that if you want dust, you go to the Schnee.
His influence grew to such an extent that he had transformed his company from a simple chain of dust shops into a veritable mega-company. Banks, cafés, artistic ateliers, all were in his grasp, and no one could stop him. The latest paladins, purchased directly from the government, the cutting edge of science, kept the peace of his warehouses, vaults, mines - and…
That damned Jonathan showed up and ruined everything!
Jacques slammed his glass sharply on the table, causing its contents to spill outwards from the cup. And the expensive glass, created by the best craftsmen of Mistral, to crack.
The moment Jacques Schnee first became invulnerable, at the height of his power, that bloody Jonathan broke into Jacques' bank! Humiliating him!
Right then, at the moment Jacques Schnee had cemented his place at the top of the food chain, some vagrant upstart dared to steal from him! Took his money literally out of his pocket!
Like he was some nobody that can be pickpocketed with leisure!
Jacques knew, understood the benefits having a teleporter on your side can bring. So much so, that the politicians in the Atlas council were literally slobbering on themselves on having the chance of having him work for them. For the good of Atlas, of course.
But to hell with that!
Jonathan had disrupted the status quo, broke through all the rules of doing business like a common vagabond, then, with no regard for anything, snatched lien out of his pocket!
And who thinks they can control such an idiot?! An idiot who doesn't behave according to the rules, who doesn't obey the laws, laws that exist even in the underworld?! They think they can profit from the work of someone who, without even realizing the situation he's in, is willing to steal from Jacques Schnee himself?!
What if tomorrow he gets the idea to kill Jacques, steal his money and run away?! Will they be able to stop it?! Who can guarantee that Jonathan won't do the same thing he did before, break all the rules and just run away?!
Jonathan was a rabid dog who had not been taught to listen to commands, with him left on the loose, he was nothing but a danger. No, Jonathan needed to be killed, and Jacques' opponents needed a lesson on what happens to those who cross him, who break the rules of business.
Jonathan should have been dead.
But it was as if the whole government of Atlas had turned into empty-headed idiots! Ironwood, Kaiser, they all just shrugged his worry off as if it wasn't their business at all that the most dangerous criminal was walking around free, already planning his next act.
What if, for his next act of tomfoolery, he decided to break into their house at night and slit their throats! What then?!
For a fortnight after the break-in on his bank, Jacques Schnee spent his days constantly surrounded by paladins, with orders to shoot to kill any unauthorized person who approached him. He didn't even dare to visit the restroom without a paladin with him!
How could the council of Atlas ignore such a danger!
And so it finally transpired that Jonathan was the grandson of a great King, becoming King himself. Something which is hogwash in his opinion, and thankfully the council of Atlas sees it in the same way. At least if they still want their city supplied with Dust.
So now, Jonathan, a person possessing in addition to his inexplicable ability to teleport also the most powerful semblance in the last hundred years, had now become the ruler of a city… And that made things much worse.
If this Osmond could not only teleport, but also summon fucking meteors, who would take responsibility if the people of Atlas would wake up to a day when meteors began to fall on their city?! Who will take responsibility if he goes mad with power and goes on to destroy a city just to collect its valuables from the dead, in order to reckon with his next political opponent?!
It wasn't a question of the safety of the Schnee anymore, it was one for all Remnant!
And if no one but Jacques understood this fact, then it was him who had to take the lead. After all, he was Remnant's most powerful man, and it was even fair that he should be the one to take on the responsibility of protecting it!
But Marcus Black, the one Jacques was betting on, turned out to be nothing more than a charlatan, incapable of handling even a cripple whose location is basically public knowledge.
And now, news of his attack and his failure was spreading like wildfire around the world! It was as if Jonathan was the victim, as if he were the unfortunate innocent passersby of an assassination attempt. But only Jacques saw through his disguise! He was nothing more than a rabid dog that was ready to bite at any moment.
And if so, Jacques had the responsibility to put him down!
"Klein!" Jacques' voice boomed, causing the door to his office to crack open and a balding, overweight man to appear on the threshold a moment later, "Yes, Mr. Schnee?"
Jacques, looking at the man, wanted to shout out his order to contact Ironwood and use the might of Atlas' army to crush Jonathan, only to pause at the last moment. What if they track the assassination attempt to him?
Hmph, impossible, not if those idiots in the government couldn't even see what he saw. Besides, Jacques had hidden all the money transfers and contacts, so it was impossible to trace him as Marcus' employer, especially now that he was murdered. But, if that empty-headed idiot Ironwood found out that Jacques had ordered Jonathan's murder… Tch.
No, that tyrant would probably do some idiotic thing like punishing Jacques, he would be lucky if Ironwood didn't try to remove him from his position. No, Atlas couldn't be trusted with this… But a new contract killing?
No, too soon.
Besides, if Marcus Black himself couldn't do it, many would give up the job just from that alone, Marcus' reputation now worked against Jacques. No, a new assassination attempt so soon after the previous one, it wouldn't work.
Jacques needed a different approach.
An economic blockade, perhaps? He has enough of a casus belli for it, since that damned Jonathan joined hands with the animals. After all, if those damned animals dared to steal entire trains from Jacques Schnee himself, what would they do to other people?!
Political pressure was out of the question, not with those idiots in government, but then what was left for Jacques to do?
"Call Jack," Jacques finally gave the order, watching as Klein slowly moved to enact his orders, almost seeming to roll over on his huge stomach. With that debacle over with, and a future plan in motion, he then turned around and moved towards the empty glass of cognac.
There was nothing Jacques could do to 'solve' the Jonathan issue right now. Physically, politically, economically he was not in his grasp… And, of course, any treaties were out of the question. If Jacques even bothered, he wouldn't remember the terms in the first place, forgetting all the arrangements at the first opportunity. And unless the terms were for Jonathan to fall on a blade, he wouldn't be interested in such a deal anyway.
Besides, with his ability to teleport, who's to say that any sanction would work at all? Given the same power, Jacques would simply slit his opponent's throat… So Jonathan was not to be trusted.
So all Jacques could do now was to speak, through Jack that is, to Gold Trophy, the head of Atlas's military-industrial complex.
Jacques saw his only option for destroying Jonathan through political means, and if it came to that, military. But for all his economic power, Jacques lacked a personal military, any overture he put in that category was shot down by the military. Still, he needed official power, and at least an army that would obey his orders. Well, heed his 'advice' but they're the same anyway.
And who but the second most powerful man in Atlas, after him that is, could help him with both the former and the latter?
"Hmmm," Was all Aifal's reaction as he watched the breaking news from Glenn, before he turned off the television and rubbed his chin.
Was he aware of Marcus Black's attack on Jonathan Goodman? Maybe.
After all, Jacques Schnee, for all the self-aggrandizement he had crammed into his head, was disgustingly bad at playing politics and in being inconspicuous.
Aifal didn't even have to dig for the information! That idiot was using one criminal to contact a second criminal, his actions could be known by anyone who might even suspect that Jacques Schnee would engage in such idiocy.
Really, organizing an attempt on the life of a head of state? If having an idiot as the head of the largest monopoly of Dust in Remnant was not so handy for the underside of society, he would already be dead.
Kaiser, as much as he liked to claim that he was only second to Aifal, for all his, quite good even by Aifal's high standards, experience, and skill, could not even dream that Jacques Schnee would even consider such idiocy. But Aifal could.
Unlike many others in his line of business, Aifal knew that overestimating someone else's intelligence is as foolish as underestimating it.
Now that Jacques had pulled such a stunt, Kaiser would compile all the facts in hindsight, and howl, clutching his head in frustration, realizing that it was Jacques Schnee that had done it all. Though of course there was no surprise in the latter conclusion.
Really, it's not only obvious to him, isn't it?
Figuring out that the only person with enough connections to contact Remnant's most famous assassin, with enough money to hire him, and with the motivation to kill Jonathan was only Jacques Schnee. It was as easy as putting two and two together. In other words, figuring out that Jacques Schnee was behind this assassination attempt was a matter of a couple of minutes at best.
The question remained, of course, what Jonathan planned to do with this information.
Aifal, of course, was keeping tabs on all prospective Remnant assassins, even the newcomers. You never know when you might need their abilities, or when someone might think of getting rid of you. Brothers know what kind of Semblance a Hunter can pull out their ass, so caution is really the better part of valor.
And so he knew everything there is to know about Marcus Black. His height, weight, the color of his hair and eyes, the grades he graduated from Haven with, the rates he charged, his safe houses and family status. And, of course, he knew about his best kept secret.
About his 'invincible combination of semblances', and what a pathetic shadow of an assassin he had become, relying on those too heavily. He knew very well that with the way he is right now, Marcus Black had a great chance of failing the job.
Why, then, had he not helped him?
With Aifal's influence and capabilities, just a couple of permutations and coincidences and Marcus Black would have killed Jonathan Goodman and run off to drown himself in alcohol. Salem would have bestowed upon him all the riches of this world and…
It would just be so boring.
Aifal saw the occasion as a kind of test of sorts.
If Jonathan died at the hands of Marcus, as weakened and disappointing he is, Aifal would simply sigh at the subversion of his expectation and start looking for new entertainment. Ozpin, perhaps? That one was slowly regaining his strength, and a shadow war with him would be terrific entertainment for Aifal.
But if Jonathan would deal with his assassin? Well, there was the question, so many possibilities. He was barely holding himself back from being giddy.
What would Jonathan do about Jacques Schnee? An assassination in return? No good would come of it really, it would be entertaining to watch nonetheless. After a short chain of events, Jacques' 'handlers' would probably piece together the chain of events sooner or later. After the assassination attempt on Osmond, the death of Jacques Schnee that would come later, would make the perpetrator for prior obvious. All that would await Remnant was a gigantic crisis in Atlas, which would then be on the precipice of war with Glenn.
In this case Jacques' identity wasn't important, not that it was in the first place, it was simply what the death of one of the most 'powerful' men in all Remnant would bring.
A power vacuum.
The ensuing succession crisis and economic crisis over all Remnant, will make the rich howl for Glenn's, no Jonathan's blood. Might even start the second Great War.
Try to 'deal' with Jacques peacefully by strangling him in backroom intrigues and removing him from the levers of power? Jacques was the kind of man that, when cornered, bites the hardest. He would sooner bomb his whole company and kill himself and his family before he would allow his position to be torn away from the SDC.
No, If Jonathan wants to get even, he would need to play the long game, as slow and careful as it gets…
The old Ozpin was capable of such a job. He would create a smokescreen, some major events or some paradigm shift as he slowly tightens the noose tighter and tighter around his enemy's neck. Might even make his enemy put it on their own neck, if he was being especially spiteful.
Aifal was clearly aware that as a politician, Ozpin surpassed him by several magnitudes. But there was no shame in that. On the contrary, the fact that Aifal could, in just one human lifetime, become, if not equal, then at least glimpse the full abilities of Ozpin, who had a thousand years head start, showed the talents Aifal has in the field.
However, Aifal, unlike Ozpin, also possessed another ace under his sleeve that put him ahead of the immortal wizard. Contacts, both the legal and illicit kind, money, and influence in many places, all things that Ozpin had squandered over hundreds of years and that Aifal had spent decades carefully and persistently gathering.
Still, it was not a unique advantage that Ozpin wouldn't be able to replicate.
No, on the contrary, as Ozpin possessed a talent and ability far greater than Aifal himself, it only meant that with each passing day, with each passing second, Aifal's head start was shrinking. Ozpin was increasing his influence, while Aifal was hitting a ceiling. Even with his Semblance, experience and abilities, there was a limit to his capabilities. Aifal possessed only one brain to think things through, one body to control his subordinates, one voice to persuade them, while Ozpin possessed Magic, and Aifal had nothing to counter that.
However, in any case, no matter how great Ozpin was, even he would not be able to deal with Jacques Schnee easily and swiftly. Okay, dealing Jacques is actually quite easy and quick, the aftermath however won't be. It will take months, even years, to deal with him definitively.
And in the meantime, neither Jacques nor Aifal will sit still. Jacques would be sinking his teeth deeper into the piece he'd already grabbed and had already mapped out, and Aifal would be working in the background to rekindle Mistral's old friendship with Atlas… Or rather, maybe he would.
Ozpin was powerful, but not omniscient. Even he could not fully surmise what Aifal would do. And, to resolve the problem that is Jacques, Ozpin would either have to let Aifal out of his sight. Too long then for what Ozpin was comfortable with. Or do both things subpar, so that solving the Jacques issue could take decades, which already meant that Jacques would be let loose to commit a dozen more of the craziest things and monstrous mistakes that Ozpin could not make. What else to do in that case? Let Aifal go free? Perhaps even for Ozpin to start looking for not only powerful allies, but allies close to the political top of Atlas that is not Ironwood, that is willing to work with Ozpin against Remnant's richest man?
If Ozpin tried the latter, Aifal would wish him good luck. To find one honest politician, or at least one that is not already fully bribed by the SDC, would actually take Magic to do.
Remnant right now was hanging on a precipice, with all the mastermind moving in the background, Remnant was like a mountain of dry twigs waiting for a lit fire. So much uncertainty, so many possibilities, and so much… Fun.
Aifal was prepared for every possible path Remnant could take, within the realm of possibility, of course. Even if Aifal possessed all the money and connections of this world, there was little chance that he could escape the wrath of God or the sky falling. But, apart from those possibilities of imminent doom, Aifal was ready for anything. Whether if Jacques Schnee didn't 'wake up' tomorrow, or if he decided to take over Atlas with an army of robots, all were possibilities that he had accounted for.
And yet, like any gambler addicted not to winning but in the act of gambling itself, Aifal was not without a kind of irrational favoritism. An outcome that he wished would happen, as irrational as it might be. Just as people choose their favorite football club based on random chance and factors, and then stick with them for years, instead of doing constant analysis and always picking a certain winning team. This is exactly how Aifal felt a strange favoritism towards one figure involved in the whole situation.
"Good luck to you, Jonathan Goodman." Aifal smiled. "I think you'll need it."
Ghira Belladonna understood the need for the news to report an assassination attempt on Jonathan, or either of them really, which still remained a theoretical possibility.
Had they not reported such a thing, the situation in which Glenn and Menagerie found themselves in would have looked… Rather suspicious.
A foreign head of state who was due to depart on one particular day suddenly disappeared from the radar for several hours with his family and then reappeared, outside the scheduled time. Such a thing could provoke a wave of interest, and far from the healthiest audience in that.
In this case, there was no 'better' option, any excuse for what happened was bad, in their own way. If Ghira had volunteered to go into hiding with Osmond, all the talking heads would report it as the both of them engaging in secret negotiations. And this being done between the two heads of unrecognized states? Well, it was very unlikely to be an unexpected trip to a nearby park for an unplanned picnic.
That, or some sordid extra-marital affairs. Both possibilities are both equally likely in the popular press.
Either way, it wouldn't look good for Menagerie and Glenn. Assuming things were, a fallibility that humans and fauna sadly share. People have a habit of creating expectations for themselves, then instantly becoming furious when expectations are subverted, even if the expectations are one that were engineered to be so. Ghira didn't need public opinion to come to the false conclusion that White Fang was planning to set up its new official office in Glenn. Or worse, Atlas' intelligence agency coming to the same erroneous conclusion.
Ghira wasn't so blind as not to realize that Atlas had agents in Menagerie or the White Fang, regardless of what he himself thought or hoped for. There is more than one way of getting cooperation, after all. The stick works just as well.
Alternatively, the people might believe that Ghira had gone to this secret meeting involuntarily, being strong-armed into it, which was even worse. The White Fang could not afford to lose Glenn's support, the only state, with all its industries and economies backing it, with them. The White Fang definitely could not afford to ally with a side that took dignitaries and their family hostages.
Either way, It would have been a total disaster for both Glenn and Menagerie.
In other words, information about the assassination attempt had to come out, officially, and publically with confirmation from a host of high-profile individuals, to mutually confirm the fact. But this created a host of other problems.
And if the blow to RATS' prestige could be handled by the fact that the assailant's identity was Marcus Black himself, a semi-legendary assassin. With no one injured, no one important at least, in the attempt, when previously, to people even more protected than Jonathan dying, and the assailant himself was killed in his attempt, then it was perhaps to be expected. The identity of Marcus' client was a much bigger issue.
It wouldn't take a genius, in fact it probably wouldn't take anyone who periodically reads the news, to easily figure out the identity of Marcus' client. Anyone, with a working brain, could easily collate the information available to suss such a fact out. Just imagine, who had the connections and money to hire Marcus Black, an assassin famous for his exorbitant price, and wanted to destroy either King of Glenn or the head of the White Fang badly enough to do so?
The name Jacques Schnee should pop up, it's so obvious.
Of course, after that conclusion, the more thoughtful sort might then start thinking of other possibilities. Was it really Marcus Black? Jacques Schnee could not have been so idiotic as to send an assassin who would instantly lead him to himself! Someone must have been playing a double game by framing Jacques Schnee, wasn't this the actions of the government of Glenn itself?!
That would also mean that this hypothetical 'thoughtful' person would also be stupid enough to believe the litany of aggrandizing bullshit that Jacques spew on the daily. He is indeed that stupid.
Still, Jonathan and Ghira possess enormous credibility to their constituents, and the number of people who would not believe their words would be very small. And so the thing they would end up uttering on the news would be the most likely information for many. And that in turn meant that if they named Jacques Schnee as the official perpetrator.
No, while enticing, it would be creating too chaotic of a result… They could say that an investigation was underway? To buy some time… No, there's no way that would work, the news was too bombastic to be able to fade into the background quietly. An assassination attempt on a beloved hero and leader of a social and political movement? On their families? On the two rulers of the countries at the same time?
No, even if the both of them concentrate all their energies on 'drowning' this news, it will only cause confusion on the part of the public.
It will take months for such an event to be erased from the public's memory, perhaps even years of deliberate action on the part of Jonathan and Ghira, and why would they do that in the first place? Let Jacques Schnee get away with the attack?
Ghira Belladonna was totally unprepared for the world of politics. He would like to go out and give his followers an inspirational speech now. But the problem to that, was that if he gave an inspirational speech now, he wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow some mad faunus would be caught in Atlas trying to blow up a Schnee. It wouldn't matter that the faunus was crazy in the first place and was just waiting for an excuse to snap, a faunus had just tried to kill a Schnee, again, it wouldn't look good for Menagerie.
But then, what should he do? He knows that he needs to do something, just not what.
Ghira truly didn't know what kind of quagmire he would fall into when he stepped in the position of ruler of Menagerie. Ghira naively thought that all he would do was to manage his population while looking for qualified deputies, delivering inspiring speeches from time to time at rallies… It was too late for him to back out when he realized that the world of rulers was connected to politics. So tightly connected that even if he tried his best to run away from it, he couldn't.
And now, together with Jonathan, aware of these same thoughts, he was sitting at the same table discussing their plan of action.
For the first time in a long time there was no Cinder or Neo beside Jonathan, and no Kali or Blake beside Ghira. The two rulers of allied states sat opposite each other, immersed in their own thoughts, trying to find a way out of the trap they had fallen into. The statement that the assassination attempt was currently being investigated had bought them time. But how much? A day, two? A week?
"Total and utter fuckery." Jonathan summed up the situation succinctly. And Ghira, for all his softness and attempt to keep his speech without any swearing in it, had to nod in agreement.
Risk a full scale conflict, one notch below open warfare, with Atlas? Let Jacques Schnee get away with an attack? Make an official statement that would shock world politics and diplomacy?
Ghira couldn't even imagine what exactly they had to do now.
"Oh, for fuck's sake," Jonathan exhaled, then leaned on his cane and rose from his chair. At least Ghira had to give him credit, even in the clusterfuck they're in, Jonathan looked, for all the frown and swearing, far more calm and even… happy than Ghira. More accurately, of course, Jonathan didn't look happy, but he looked much more confident and calm than Ghira himself, which was quite the achievement for a man just targeted by an assassin.
"Okay, damn it… I don't think we'll find any answers anytime soon. I'll keep you posted, but I think you're already overstayed at Glenn, at least without having the press having field days with their reporting. Still, I have a lot of things to discuss, if I find a way to solve this problem I will let you know. I will not take any action without your approval."
Of course, in the world of politics, words and verbal agreements weren't worth much, but at least Jonathan had some credibility from Ghira. And, with no other alternative visible to Ghira anyway, he just nodded. "I guess that's all we can agree on now."
"I suppose so." Jonathan sighed, then held out his hand to Ghira. "It was a pleasure to meet you, but let's hope that our next meeting will be without such… excitement."
"I hope so as well," Ghira smiled languidly at Jonathan's weak joke and then moved away. "Then, I assume that RATS will have their escort?"
"Yes, of course, I will let RATS know immediately." Jonathan sighed, but inwardly continued the sentence. 'I think I really have to go visit Ozpin soon…'
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