A Man of Honor.

Chapter 23: The Docks.

"Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good. Hence a prince who wants to keep his authority must learn how not to be good, and use that knowledge, or refrain from using it, as necessity requires." ~  Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

Those were the first words that raced through my mind.

What the hell was Blake of all people doing here?

The rest of the White Fang members gathered around and leveled their weapons at her as she continued to press the edge of Gambol Shroud against my boss's throat, threatening to slit it if anyone tried anything.

I saw her amber eyes glance over me briefly, but considering I was wearing one of the Fang masks and my leveled weapon was deceptively nonthreatening I probably didn't look like much to her. To me I was nervous as all hell, I had actually killed someone with that tiny gun. I knew just how bad this could all turn out with just one wrong step.

What could I do? Should I have stripped off that mask and blown my cover? Should I have leveled my gun against someone else? Should I have hoped that my crew would follow my lead instead of listening to Roman and these terrorists?

I wasn't sure that any of that would have worked for the better. So I kept my weapon trained on her as I tried to think of how I was supposed to help her out of this little jam while still maintaining this facade I had built around myself. It seemed the only thing I could do at the moment.

"Woah! Take it easy there little lady!" Roman said coolly, not a shred of fear or concern touched his voice. A blade to his throat did very little to perturbe him.

I watched as the huntress in training reached up and tugged off the black bow that I had always known to have adorned her head. I gazed as the simple sea breeze carried it away leaving the black pointed cat ears atop her head completely exposed.

I had not been expecting that.

"Brothers of the White Fang!" She called out to all of us as we gathered around her.

I definitely hadn't been expecting that.

"Why are you aiding this scum!?" She asked them all, accusatorially. She looked at us all once more and I felt a chill when those amber eyes of hers passed over me. From the corner of my eye I could see the Fang members lowering their weapons with indecision.

Apparently they had reservations aiming their guns at one of their own kind. I on the other hand kept my revolver raised to her just so no one would suspect anything of me. Did Blake really expect that to just put an end to all of this? Did she really believe that Roman would be threatened so easily?

Roman chuckled with genuine amusement. "Oh kid, didn't you get the memo?"

"What are you talking about?" Blake asked him, applying pressure to her black sword as if he needed a reminder that she had a blade to his throat.

"The White Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture together." He told her smugly, giving me a look and a confident wink.

"Tell me what it is or I'll put an end to your little operation!" She threatened him.

The wind around us kicked up and I gazed above to see that two more of our bullheads had arrived as they were scheduled to. Reinforcements had arrived.

"I wouldn't exactly call it a little operation!" Roman proclaimed proudly.

When I looked back down I saw him angle Melodic Cudgel and fire the explosive dust round straight into the ground at Blake's feet. She went flying back from the deafening blast.