A Man of Honor.

Chapter 16: Dust.

"When I was a kid, I asked God for a bike, but I know he don't work that way. So I stole a bike, and asked for his forgiveness." ~ Frank Costello.

"Are you absolutely sure about this Mr. Arc?" Ozpin asked me as I spoke to him the next day over the burner phone I had hidden in the electrical outlet.

"Perhaps if I had been told this a couple months ago I would have had my doubts," I explained to him sitting in my little apartment pouring myself a glass of Glengoolie. I was determined to finish the bottle before I had to leave all of this behind. Booze and tobacco would probably be better left behind instead of following me back to Beacon so I might as well enjoy it while I could. "But after everything I have done sir I believe him, if Toshi was told to stay away from dust then that means he's staying away from dust."

"Are you certain that this rule applies to all of Junior's captains and their soldiers?" He asked me, clearly disappointed to learn that everything we had been working towards had been for nothing. He wasn't willing to just let it go.

"Even if that was true and Junior was secretly running dust then there's no way they'd let an associate like myself in on the secret," I explained to him. "I don't really think that I can get closer and learn more from where I am."

Ozpin sighed over the line clearly seeing my point. I had risen as far as I possibly could within the Clan and there was no way that I could get closer with my standing. "I was sure that the Clan was somehow involved... those thugs that Ruby fought the night I met her certainly belonged to the Clan."

"I'm telling you that was an isolated incident," I assured him. "After those guys got pinched Junior didn't want to have anything to do with dust."

Ozpin was very quiet after that. I could practically hear him thinking over his mug of coffee over the phone. I didn't know what there really was to think about, he miscalculated and my mission was a bust. It wasn't my fault, I felt like I had done everything he had wanted me to do and much more, but he put me in the wrong place. You win some and you lose some, that should have been the end of this.

"So what's the plan for me to get out of here?" I asked him, deciding that we should talk about my next move before he came up with another hair brained scheme to spy on the city's organized crime syndicates.

"What do you mean?" Ozpin asked me, confused by my question.

"My mission is over," I told him. "Since the Clan is who you sent me to investigate and they have nothing to do with the spike in dust robberies I figured there should be no reason for me to stick around, and I was thinking you could also help me get team CRDL out of here as well, since I am their boss and disappearing wouldn't look very good for them."

"Mr. Arc... you have come too far to throw in the towel now," Ozpin told me plainly.

I felt my heart drop and I almost choked on my whiskey. "You can't be serious!?" I coughed into the scroll. "Did you not hear what I've been telling you Professor? Junior isn't in the dust business, he's forbidden it. I can't very well change that."

"Mr. Arc, you have performed exemplary in this mission I have assigned you. I had hoped that just by behaving as a criminal you could have found your way into assisting the robberies but you have done far more than that. You have made a name for yourself with the Clan and you have developed numerous criminal connections, it would be a waste to throw that all away right now." He explained to me.

Flattered as I was by his praise I still had no idea what he could have wanted me to do. "So what? I'm not going to be able to convince Junior to change his mind."

"No," Ozpin agreed. "But you might be able to make your own way into the dust heists. If you could start stealing and selling dust yourself you could begin learning the connections yourself and inform me what you learn."