Content within this chapter may be disturbing for all ages. If you have a weak stomach or are simply the kind of person who has to turn off the t.v. during more horrid news stories I would greatly recommend finding another story. This fic is rated M for mature, and there is a reason for that. Enjoy.

For every unique thing that makes Vale different from an average city there are things that share similar blood with other large cities. The most depressing of which are the slums, the kind of area where a scream is a call to put something heavy in front of the door and hope that it passes. The police are largely useless due to corruption, and even the three largest gangs are unable to fully take control of the area, despite it playing a strategic role for any criminal operations. This is due to a number of factors, the two largest of which are the rights to the land and the various small gangs that make the area their home. The rights to the area are a largely contested issue due to a sale on the land that had taken place years ago, a sale that had gone on three times with three different buyers. By the time the issue had gotten to court with the backstabbing and maneuvers by the three buyers the area was less then worthless, and would in fact cost more for them to own due to the mass decay of the various structures. Even selling the area to the city would bring money out of the 'owners' wallet since they would be marked as the one responsible for the land in the first place. The pathetic amount of rent that is sent in by those who can't afford to live anywhere else is sent to a joint account and split between the three owners until such a time as the debate is solved. The minor gangs also made it an issue, typically making it dangerous for more powerful Mafia families to move in without accidentally starting a war.

Of course that wasn't to say that the slums went unused, rather the business conducted there was kept to a more private nature. Temporary bases filled with burner phones and unmarked cash filled the area, with whatever minor gang had the most strength being cut a small portion of the larger pie to keep the buildings unlooted and untouched. It also made a perfect area for dealers of all kinds to peddle their wares to regular customers, keeping the harder drugs away from the more controlled dealings within the city proper.

But one building stood as the exception to the rule, a grimy but standing hotel that always seemed to have a few people coming in and out of it, always well equipped and trained. The lesser gangs in the area knew to stay well away from the place, and the few who knew what happened inside would always get pissed about it if brought up.

Outside of this very building was a blonde haired man calmly dragging off a cigarette, blowing a long trail of smoke into the air and watching it dissipate. He was well dressed and groomed, the very definition of high class and it was easy to see that he stuck out among the broken roads and dead architecture.

A man from inside the building stepped out and tapped his watch. "Smoke breaks over, if you don't get your ass behind the camera you can forget about your payment." the man went back inside with a few curses under his breath, mostly targeted toward the mans starkly Asian features.

The blonde man dropped is smoke to the ground and crushed it underheel with a low sigh. "No respect for the artist, go figure." he walked into the building and carefully stepped around a bit of fallen ceiling that had landed on the floor, taking the stairs up to the third level to avoid the death trap of an elevator. Once on the floor he made his way to a door at the end of the hall, opening it up to find a single bed surrounded by lighting equipment, a camera, and a small crew he had brought along with him. There were of course a few other hard faced men carrying guns at their belts, but they were background to the work that happened here. "So what are we shooting today?" the man had a well practiced smile on his face.

One of the men sneered at him and answered with a single word. "Snuff."

"Ah, I see," he paused for a moment to go over and check his camera. "I would have thought you would keep them for more then a week, seems like a bit of a waste don't you think?"

The man glared at him and spat to the side. "You ain't paid to think, just stick to behind the camera and get paid."

The blonde man simply raised a thumb to the goon and fiddled with his camera. "I assume we will be shooting a few last scenes with the subject then?"

Before he could be answered the door opened again, with two men entering into the hotel room, each holding tight to a thick rope, which was attached to a collar around a small girls neck. From her face and figure she couldn't have been more then ten, and from how sunken in her eyes were it was obvious that she hadn't seen a proper meal in days. She had been put into what had probably once been a rather lovely blue dress, but with the grime that clung to the building like a disease it had been slowly rotted until it was less of a dress and more of a loosely hanging bit of fabric that hung off her ebony skin.

The girl was taken to the bed, the fight long since beaten out of her, she looked to the camera with dead eyes and simply stared with the look of someone who was no longer mentally there. A few minutes later a portly man wearing a towel around his legs entered the room, a bright smile on his lips. "He always gives me the sloppy seconds, not that I mind but for once you think he would throw a new princess for me to break in, eh?" he looked about the room and found mostly neutral faces. "Ah buck up, you all get paid to be here don't you?"

The blonde haired man smiled and put a hand on the fat mans shoulder. "Oh don't let the mood of the room get to you, just do whats scripted and you will be fine."

"Oh yeah, about that," the fat man scratched the back of his head. "I know its supposed to be a quick thing, but mind if I drag it out a bit? Not much fun after its over you know?"

"Do what feels natural so long as it ends on the same beat. You know how the employer is about the finish." the man stepped behind the camera while the lights got adjusted and the fat man took his place, towel dropped to the side as he got above the girl.

"Action." the blonde haired man shouted, and instantly the fat mans hands went around the girls neck as a sick smile came over his lips, showing rotted teeth and browning gums. He began to shake the girl by the throat, finally causing her to struggle as she was unable to breath.

Before it could advance any further however a piercing noise broke out through the room, the source of which came from the blonde haired camera man, who yelled out "Cut!" before pulling out his phone. "Sorry this is super important or I wouldn't interrupt, just five seconds promise." he opened the flip phone and brought it to his ear. "Hey whats up, a bit busy right now."

It was rare that rival mafia groups met, mainly due to the fact that most meetings between any of the families tended to end in violence. Most of them also started in violence, and on a rare day there would be some manner of communication between these two events. With this knowledge the young heir to the Rose family and her half sister/bodyguard were both a bit more then anxious for the meeting that had been asked for by the current head of the Juniper Collective. The only saving grace was that they had been allowed by the code that kept the city from utter war to choose the location of the meetings. So they sat in one of the executive board rooms within the Schnee Company headquarters.

"So school, is everything still going okay?" Yang looked down at her sister with a warm smile. "Any cute boys or girls I need to scare away from my sister?"

Ruby pulled a face at the implication. "Yang we both know darn well that if anyone had a crush on me you would have their entire history and a list full of ways to make them disappear without me ever noticing."

In reply Yang stuck her tongue out but didn't deny the accusation. Before a full blown argument between the sisters could break out the door opened to reveal Blake, still dressed to the nines from her latest day in court. "I see you two are as mature as ever," she took a seat to the left of Ruby just as Yang stood to her right.

Following in Blake were three figures, Weiss and her two bodyguards, Sun and Neptune. As soon as Sun's eyes caught onto Blake's presence a grin broke out on his face and he pulled a rose from behind his back, offering it to her. "Well aren't we a sight for sore eyes, I mean not that my eyes are anything other then blessed when looking at you."

The entire room groaned at Sun's pick up line, but Blake merely gave a laugh and took the flower. "How sweet of you to steal this from the lobby for me." her tone was dry but the hint of a smile played at her lips.

"Well I figure that my boss pays for the best, so that must mean that any flower from the outside would fail to make a godo enough present." Sun replied quickly and without missing a single beat in the exchange.

"His logic isn't flawed," Yang added with a barely suppressed grin. "I bet each petal was personally spit shined by at least one intern."

"One intern?" Weiss took her own seat to Ruby's right. "What company do you take this for, Apple?"

Sun leaned forward a bit toward Blake and gave her one of his best smiles. "Whats say after this meeting you and I fly to Hawaii and have a repeat of last year?"

"I would have to pass, mainly because as I remember it Hawaii was one night of great sex followed by two days of you bowed over in a bathroom with food poisoning."

Sun chuckled a bit and looked around with an embarrassed smile. "Yeah, but I didn't hear any complaints about night one."

"As interesting as the sexual history of my bodyguards is please return to your position before I charge you for the flower you just took, with interest." Weiss's words were laced with a bit of humor, but her face was utterly serious as she looked toward the blonde haired man.

Sun gave a wink before returning to Weiss's side, standing beside Neptune and lazily leaning against the wall.

Ruby cleared her throat and tried to keep the blush that was was attempting to rise at the exchange down. "How much longer before they get here?"

As if in answer the door opened once more, revealing Jaune and Pyrrha, both dressed in their best. For Jaune that meant a suit and a slightly crooked tie, and for Pyrrha it meant a practical but elegant red dress, the very picture of beauty. She stepped ahead of Jaune and pulled out his chair, allowing him to seat before taking her own position behind him. "Ladies." Jaune smiled and reached forward on the table to pour himself a glass of water. "Long time no see."

The room remained quiet, with all eyes on Jaune as he raised the glass of water he had poured himself. "To the code." he drained the plastic cup and put it to the side. With the traditional declaration of nonviolence put forth the room seemed to relax a bit. If one declared for the code to be recognized and then were to perform an act of hostility it would be recognized for an insult and could be acted upon within the boundaries of their code.

Ruby leaned forward and kept her eyes on Jaune, as if just by looking at him she would be able to gleam every hint of his mind. "So you were the one who called the meeting, whats up?"

"Oh, well I was wondering if your family would join me in exterminating the Ash Corporation." with those words spoken the entire room once again took on an unnatural silence.

There were very few things in Vale that could still be considered strange by the people who lived there. Open gang warfare, a mafia boss who was more honest then most millionaires, and entire school districts untouched by any drug harder then weed despite the massive amount of criminal activity. These odd sights were almost doubled in the slums, where any number of horrors could be witnessed each day.

But very little prepared people for the sight of a woman who looked to have stepped right off a runway with a suitcase walking besides two Asian men who were practically opposites of each other, a giant of a man with short black hair and casual clothing and a shorter man who looked like he was pulled from a action flick with a good budget, bright red hair slicked back with product and black glasses covering his eyes. "Its a shame we couldn't have Velvet here with us, she would probably love this kind of deal." the well dressed woman gave a loud and overly dramatic sigh as she stepped toward the house that even gang leaders would stay away from.

"We could take pictures, she might get a kick out of this...the word escapes me, how would you describe these people Yatsuhashi?" the Asian man turned in the direction of the giant of a man, but didn't seem to be looking at him.

"Monsters." that single word was spat from his mouth like dirt. "Or dogs."

"Shit that makes us animal control doesn't it?" the smaller man laughed as they stopped on the threshold of the building, tilting his head to the side as the door to the building opened.

The man who came out of it looked like a typical street thug, with a gun tucked into the wasteband of his belt and a few chains around his neck. "What the f-" the words caught in his throat when he saw the woman in front of the two men, suddenly putting away the 'badass killer' and putting on a 'ladies man' persona. "Well fuck don't see many fine women like you around here."

"How odd that women don't flock for miles to be complimented by a man like you," a single quirked eyebrow was offered to the man with with a small smile.

The thinly veiled sarcasm flew right over the thug's head, who gave a laugh before shaking his head. "Much as I would love to stand here and look at your fine ass body I am gonna have to ask you and the Chong brothers over here to get."

"Oh, is that so?" the woman asked with a small laugh. Before she could say anything else a soft tone sang through the air. "My phone, a moment please." she snapped her fingers and the larger man reached into his pocket and placed said phone against her ear. "Yes?"

"Are you fucking insane?" the words left Neptune's mouth before he could fully comprehend himself saying them, and the attention it drew to the bodyguard was enough to make even him feel uncomfortable.

"I mean, how sane is anyone here really?" Jaune tried to cut the tension with a joke, but it was obvious that the delivery of it was flat at best. "Man tough crowd."

Ruby was the first to regain her composure, leaning forward as if just by giving him a once over she would be able to fully understand what Jaune's game was. "You realize declaring war on another family is against basically every rule in the entire book."

Pyrrha cleared her throat and looked toward Blake. "Ms. Belladonna, I believe we need you to clear some light for the rest of those assembled here, as to what reasons a proper hunt can be called on a family."

Blake shot a glare at being given an order by the woman but kept her calm and pulled out a rather thick book she had kept on her lap. With one movement she turned to a page closer to the back of the book. "All families who grow large enough to be recognized as a proper controlling influence are given protections under the laws so long as all observations are made to the rules of governing that separate the true Mafia's of this city from the pollution of the rest of the world. If any five of the lesser rules are broken then the protections of these binding rules will no longer protect a family regardless of their benefactors. And a single break of the founding code means a blood hunt can be called to keep the honor of all families within the city."

"Blood Hunt huh?" Yang's eyes flashed with a bit of excitement despite the situation. "Sounds like my kind of party."

Weiss took a sip of water from her own cup and looked toward Jaune. "Of course you would need to provide proof of the five infractions before we could begin to have a-"

"I accuse the Ash Corporation of breaking one of the three cardinal rules of the contract of the families." Jaune declared, cutting off Weiss and bringing another silence as the weight of the words was processed through the minds of the four women.

"Holy shit." Yang muttered under her breath, taking a good look at Jaune. "You don't do anything by halves do you Arc?"

Ruby raised a hand to silence any further talking, looking at Jaune with a steely gaze. Gone was the young woman who happily attended high school and made easy friends. Now sitting in that girls place was the boss of the Rose Family, who had exterminated threats to the city her father had tended to ever since she had learned to properly read. "I want to hear exactly what you are accusing them of. No sugar coating."

Without a word Jaune snapped his fingers and had Pyrrha place a dvd case in his hands and then putting it on the table, sliding it over to her without a single word. "Go ahead and open it up, the title should be enough."

The young womans hand paused as she reached for the case, but regardless powered through and opened it. The disk was plain, a burner that anyone could buy at a store, with a title etched on in marker. 'Kindergarten Playhouse- Black, Hispanic, Whites'

"Holy shit." Sun muttered under his breath, connecting the title to the crime that Jaune was accusing the corporation of.

"Honor among thieves, really our rules are nothing more then putting what has always been a concept among people like us into writing," Jaune carefully cast his gaze at Ruby. "There are certain lines we don't cross, because once we cross them nothing is off limits. No chemical weapons. That shit is so easy even piss brained politicians can figure it out." there was no hint of a joke in his words. "No attacks on religion. We are criminals not fucking jihads getting to pick and choose that shit. And the biggest rule written in the blood of our two families when we agreed to divide this city like a pie. The same rule that was signed by the Ash Corporation when we all realized how fucked the city would be if we went to war."

"We don't FUCK WITH KIDS." Jaune slammed his fist down into the table hard enough that the wood cracked. "We don't sell hard drugs, we don't recruit child soldiers, we don't sell arms and we don't FUCKING PIMP OUT KIDS!"

Ruby winced at those last words and looked back to Yang, who was biting down on her lip hard enough to draw blood. A look to Weiss showed a cold outer shell, but the nails biting into her hands left trickles of red down pale skin. Even Blake who was known for her muted emotions was visibly furious.

It was all that the young woman could do to speak out the next words. "You can provide proof of their connection to this?"

Jaune grew silent for a moment, as if examining each word the girl had given as a response. "If I did, if I gave you proof as to what is happening will I have the backing on the Rose family in this?"

Another silence, and then a simple answer. "Yes."

Jaune gave a slow nod. "One phone call, and I will give you all the proof you need."

Ruby looked to Yang and motioned for her to let the leader of the Juniper Collective have her phone to borrow, as his would have been taken at the front desk to prevent any foul play. Once he had the phone in hand Jaune dialed in two numbers and opened a conference call. "Leave enough to question. The rest just take care of." he hung up the phone and placed it in the center of the table. "And now, we wait."

The fashionable young woman smiled at the man in front of her before driving her knee directly into his groin, stepping back as he doubled over before delivering a powerful slam to the back of his head with her suitcase. In almost the exact same moment the smaller Asian man pulled a gun from his side and fired down the road at two young men who had gone for their guns the second the woman had struck.

"Damn Fox, as on the point as ever for someone as blind as you," the woman opened the suitcase and revealed a sawed off shotgun, tossing the weapon to Yatsuhashi with a mad laugh as she retrieved her own pistols, both polished and gleaming in the light.

"And I will never understand why you don't get in bed with me Coco, the many mysteries of the world." he aimed his gun at the door of the building and fired four times. After a seconds wait a man tumbled out of the door with bullet wounds. \

"Our orders are to retrieve any kids and to kill each stupid child fucking bitch in this place. Top to bottom I don't want a single one alive." Coco stepped forward and drove her designer boot directly into the skull of the fallen mook, stepping aside so the sawed off shotgun could send a particularly stupid goon with a knife flying.

"Yes ma'am!" both men answered in cheerful tones as they went about their bloody work.

The sounds of the shots from downstairs instantly put the crew of the 'film' on edge, some reaching for their weapons in reactive fear. But they were so worried about the threat from downstairs none of them noticed that the camera man who had joined them two weeks ago had lost his trademark smile, or that the wig that covered his raven hair had been pulled off. They did however notice the sudden blinding flash that left those in the room blinking rapidly and pulling out their weapons, many dropping them to the ground in haste.

For those who could still hear anything the first scream came from one of the people that had been helping the camera man with his duties. For those who could see past the stars in their eyes they would notice that his neck had been carved open and was leaking blood like a broken fire hydrant. The next death was by a broken neck, a single movement that showed that despite the small stature of the man he possessed an insane amount of strength.

Then as the pain of the flash died down people were able to see their deaths come in a more personal way. The former camera man held a wicked looking knife already stained in red and sporting a smile from out of a slasher movie. His skin and hair had been painted by the gushing of the fallen, and the coloring grew only more as he cut down man after man, dancing between them before they could so much as raise a single hand against him.

It was impossible to describe his actions as fighting, it was a dance of death where each new partner was laid low by a powerful strike. The floor grew sticky with blood and grew heavy with the smell of death, but the wide smile of the dancer never lost its shine, even when there was very little of him that wasn't covered in blood. "Brings me back to my youth," he finally spoke in a conversational matter, sleeking back his hair with the blood of the fallen, turning to look at the fat man who was hiding behind his former victim to be.

"D-don't kill me, I have money, powerful friends, I can get you anything you want!" the mans voice no longer held any level of arrogance, now he was just a naked fat man sitting above a pool of blood.

The smiling man took a step forward and the fat man shit himself in fear, grabbing the little girls neck with crazed eyes. "If you take another step I will break the sluts fucking neck I swear!"

The smiling man paused for a moment and considered that. "Little girl, if it meant I could kill the man behind you, would you terribly mind dying?"

The girls eyes went wide and tears came to her face, but despite that she gave a shake of her head and shut her eyes quickly.

"Fuck!" the fat man tried to push the girl aside as if he could somehow charge past the smiling ghoul in front of him, standing only to slip and fall face first into the pool of human waste and blood on the ground, crying pathetic tears and looking up with snot and blood falling off his face. "Don't kill me, please, please I want to-"

Before he could finish the man slammed his knife into the fat mans hand and drove it down into the floor with his shoe, forcing a wail out of the man that sounded utterly inhuman. "Little girl, the exit is through that door. I have some friends coming who will take you somewhere nice." the raven haired killer pulled a lollipop from his coat, carefully protected from the blood and offered it to her before tussling her hair. "Go on you little scamp, me and this fatso have lots to talk about."

The little girl looked up with her dead eyes, but still a few tears that had remained unshed fell loose as she threw her arms around the bloodsoaked man. "T-thank you." she muttered, running from the room and not looking back.

The man stepped over to the camera equipment and leveled the device down at the fatter man. "My name is Ren, and you are going to answer a few questions for my friends, but to make sure you are telling the truth I am going to have to hurt you for a bit." he took off his jacket, revealing a number of different cutting instruments hidden in various sheaths. He laid said jacket on the bed before choosing a blade with serrated teeth. "But first I am going to hurt you quite a bit. Not for the information, but because I don't like you. Now-" he bent down on a knee and gripped the mans good hand, putting the blade between fingers. "Smile for the camera."

Yang's phone went off in the center of the table, and after receiving permission from Ruby's side of the table Jaune hit the answer button and put it on speaker. "That took longer then expected."

"You know in some cultures people say hello when opening a conversation," Ren's voice came from the other end, carrying a tone of sarcasm with it.

Jaune offered a roll of his eyes before speaking once more. "Well, do we have it?"

There was silence on the other end before a high pitched voice came through. "I told him everything, Roman Torchwick hired us to make the movies, they always go to that building first. Please just tell him to stop."

"I have ensured he isn't lying. The children are being picked up as we speak and will be moved out of the city and to the safehouses. Coco said the bill would be in the mail by the end of the week." Ren's tone was now devoid of humor, a pure neutral sound.

"Thank you Ren, please tie up the loose ends for me will you?" the sound of a single shot rang out over the connection. "Please have all documented evidence sent to the Rose building."

"Indeed." the call ended, leaving the two groups looking toward each other.

"Well?" Jaune asked.

Ruby stood up and walked around the table to the still sitting Jaune, examining him. "People are going to die you know. People we like, we might even lose."

"Yeah, yeah I thought of that too." Jaune stood up as well and looked toward the leader of the Rose family, his equal in all but height.

For a moment silence, and then a smile broke out on Ruby's face. "Lets make sure they die first." she offered a hand to him.

Jaune took it, and from that point the future was sealed.

There would be war.

So yeah, this chapter is a long time coming only because the subject matter is fucked to the point where even a guy like me was like 'man shit am I doing this?'. I don't know when the next update will be, because life and muses and such. Regardless reviews, follows, and favorites always drive my selfish muses towards making me write, so do the thing.