A Man of Honor.

Chapter 78: Betting On Black.

"Tom, don't let anybody kid you. It's all personal, every bit of business. Every piece of shit every man has to eat every day of his life is personal. They call it business. OK. But it's personal as hell. You know where I learned that from? The Don. My old man. The Godfather. If a bolt of lightning hit a friend of his the old man would take it personal. He took my going into the Marines personal. That's what makes him great. The Great Don. He takes everything personal Like God. He knows every feather that falls from the tail of a sparrow or however the hell it goes? Right? And you know something? Accidents don't happen to people who take accidents as a personal insult." Michael Corleone, The Godfather, Mario Puzo.

"Roman... Why are you pointing your weapon at me?" I asked him carefully, feeling my scroll burning in my pocket. "What's on my scroll?"

"Sorry Gent, but I need it." Roman explained to me. "I told Cinder I'd help her do it and there's still a chance for this all to be pulled off!"

"What are you talking about?" I asked him, dumbfounded. "She's going to destroy the city! Our city!"

"I know! That little virus she gave you will set all of Ironwood's little tin soldiers loose upon the city! Everyone will think Atlas helped attack Vale." He explained to me, his voice flat and serious.

"Why!?" Asked him firmly, trying not to look down the barrel of Melodic Cudgel as I spoke to him, keeping my focus on his eyes. "Why could you possibly want that!?"

"Because there's no other choice! And because Vale must pay for what they did!" He hissed, his voice dripping with venom.

"You're talking about Mountain Glenn." I said calmly, understanding what he meant when he talked about making Vale pay.

"Look outside Jaune! Look!" Roman told me, motioning to the window with his weapon.

I turned my head and looked out at the burning city before me.

"Do you think it was any different when that city fell to these monsters!? When those bastards on the council set us up to fall!? When they, when Ozpin left all those people to suffer! Sealing the tunnels and leaving them to the mercy of the grimm! It's what they deserve!" He told me, his voice rising with frustration.

"Bullshit!" I said, turning back and facing him, glaring into his eyes. "Those people out there never did that to you!"

"No, but those people were happy to bury their heads in the sand when those greedy bastards on the council condemned an entire city to suffer and die!" Roman told him, his weapon never moving away from me. "But ultimately they're just collateral damage."

"So your little plan to stop Cinder was just bullshit!?" I asked him, feeling my heart sink lower and lower into my chest. "You just lied to us so you could have what? Revenge?"

"You don't understand!" Roman told me.

"I'm getting really fucking sick and tired of people telling me that!"

"I was planning on stopping her, at first. But then I saw what she could do, and I heard more and more about the people she's working for. Do you really think you can stop all of this? Even if you do, do you think they can be stopped! They're going to remake the world, Jaune! And the people who're in power are going to pay for everything they've done!"

"What is Cinder after?" I asked him, wanting to keep him talking as I tried to figure out a plan.

"Some kind of mystical power that's being kept at Beacon." Roman told me. "She's already absorbed part of it, and she's going to get the rest. She probably already has it right about now."

"A power? Like a semblance?" I asked him, not sure what he could possibly mean.

"It's more than that, Jaune, far more." Roman told me.