The Story so Far... After dealing with a ragtag team of misfits from one of the local gangs present from within the Commercial District, as well as fighting off two more skilled warriors that will play a rather crucial part to the events of the near future, our hero prepares for an important mission that was presented to him by his teacher.
In just a month and a half, the boy will set out for the cold Kingdom of Atlas in order to guard the theater where the fundraiser will be held. Though making sure things go smoothly is but an afterthought to our dear boy.
One of his top priorities was to ensure that the main events of the timeline are in order. This meant to ensure the safety of the one who would come to push the main story forward, the Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, Weiss Schnee.
The General was right about one thing, this fundraiser presented an opportunity for those who would hold a grudge against the higher-ups of the company in question.
Every member of the family would be there, even the specialist of the Atlas Military, Winter Schnee would be taking over as the head of security for the course of the event.
Stakes were set during this fundraiser, and the boy with the spirit bound to his soul would ensure that things don't go wrong. Though that is a story for another day.
...
One Thing
It has been quite some time ever since the whole encounter that the assassin and the thief had with the boy with the spirit bound to his soul. It has been little over a month since that day, and the fundraiser was fastly approaching.
Though at the moment, there were other stories to tell before the eventual trip to the continent of Solitas. Unbeknownst to the boy, his encounter with the members of the gang from before had caused quite the stir from within the criminal underworld.
Most of the members of the gang were still behind bars from within the Vale Detainment Center, as such most of the police force had been more present from within the Commercial District.
This made it exceedingly for the members of the criminal underworld to perform the robberies that were required by the main boss of said industry. That man was known as Roman Torchwick, the most well known and respected thief of the entire criminal underworld.
Many have tried and failed to capture him, those who were lucky enough to put him behind bars would soon realize that there weren't a lot of prisons that could hold this charismatic thief.
No matter how strong the defenses or how well secure it was, there was no place that this man couldn't break into or out of. Though despite that, the man knew his way around the system that was established by the council.
You see, the local police department and the military deal with criminals such as himself, though they didn't pose too much of a threat to the state of his operations. He was always one step ahead of the police, though even he knew to stick close to the ground.
It was an unspoken rule that ran throughout the criminal underworld, even militias such as the White Fang understood and followed this rule rather diligently. Stick close to the ground, avoid drawing too much attention towards your operation.
Large scale heights were dealt with by the military, making for a rather interesting story when it comes to the reputation of the criminal group behind it. Though even Roman was only willing to go so high up on the legal ladder.
Once you got high enough, the council would have considered you a threat to the Kingdoms of the world. You would have officially been targetted by a Huntsmen or Huntress, perhaps even a group depending on the crime.
Having the attention of the Council was something people of the criminal underworld wanted to avoid at all cost. They were more than willing to deal with the police and military, though these were highly skilled fighters they were talking about.
They were specifically trained to fight foes that would pose a threat to the continued existence of mankind. Once you had their attention, there was no getting out of the situation you were in.
Which is why Roman's authority was being questioned by the fellow gangs of the Kingdom of Vale. It was only a couple of months ago, though the man has been planning some rather large scale heists that drew more attention to them then they would have liked.
However, he was remaining in control for the time being. He had only been discussing plans that involved more security than usual, though just the mere mention of these possible operations was enough to set people on edge.
At the moment, he was discussing plans with some of his higher level gang members about a plan to break the group of thugs that were arrested during their patrol over a month ago.
Vale was putting their security around the detainment center all-time high, at least until they believed that the crime within the area would eventually calm down. Though at the moment, this doesn't seem to be the case.
"I'm open to any ideas right now! These idiots have been behind bars for over a month now!" Roman said as he slammed his hand onto the large table at the center of a warehouse.
"Here's an idea. The fools do their time for going into such a situation without the proper information first. It's not like they were a high priority target for the police to begin with. Give it a couple of months, they'll be released sooner or later." One of the leaders of the district said to the man with the bowler hat.
"That's not gonna work. We're gonna need all hands on deck for any future operations." The man said to his group of leaders with a serious expression. "We're playing a high stakes game here, and I don't know about any of you, though I'd like to push the odds in our favor," Roman stated.
"You keep talking about these plans for the future. Heists that would surely the attention of the council." A large man said with his arms crossed. "Yet despite talk of these operations, you still keep us in the dark of what we will be dealing with." He said.
"I'm aware," Roman said while he lit one of the cigars that he had in his pocket. "Though I'll let you know when I figure out what we've gotten ourselves into in the first place." He said, grabbing the attention of everyone in the room.
"Hold on, what do you mean by that?" A man with a pair of sunglasses asked with one of her eyebrows raised.
"We've got a new set of jobs to do. I met this employer a few months back, they came to me for a job. They're suspicious, and have a habit of leaving some of the details out of the explanations they give to yours truly." Roman said.
"Then why are we fighting for this person if we don't even know what their intentions are?!" He asked while he slammed his hand onto the table.
"Because this presents an opportunity, one that could change our way of life as we know it. We're not talking about dealing with just some parts of the district, the whole goddamn kingdom is about to get involved." Roman said to the group. "Though when I was talking with this person, I had an idea."
"This could be our biggest score yet, we could expand to other parts of the Kingdom. So, for now, we keep to our code, we stick close to the ground so that we don't draw the attention of the Council." He said.
"We keep play along with this little charade of there's, though once we get enough firepower to hold our own against whatever they can throw at us, then we'll break off the deal and set course for the border," Roman said.
"You keep referring to this employer as they." The leader to his right mentioned.
"They've been doing what they could to keep their identity a secret. Though they do need to know what's going on around these parts, so they've sent their right hands to pass on information to her. So if they don't know that we're making these plans then..." He said while twirling the cigar he had with his right hand.
"...You better know what you're doing, Torchwick." The large man said with a grunt in his tone.
"Believe me, once we pull one over on this employer, it'll be smooth sailing from here on out. New gadgets, new bases, besides, when have I ever led any of you down the wrong path?" Roman asked with a charismatic smile, though the only response he got from the group was a rather deadpanned one. "Don't answer that." He said in response to his followers.
"You said you didn't know much about this employer. Shouldn't we know what we're going up against before we initiate a plan like this?" The man with the rifle asked with a serious expression.
"Right you are. We'll need to tread carefully, gather as much information about this woman as we possibly can. Once this whole thing goes down, we'll head for the border before anyone even knows that we were involved." Roman said to the group, though he could tell that the leaders of the gangs were still rather skeptical of this whole ordeal.
"Look, I know that this is huge. That this is larger than anything we've ever had to deal with before. Though we can't pass up this opportunity." He said to the leaders of the gangs.
"...Fine, we'll play along for now." The man with the rifle said to the man in the bowler hat, though before he could respond he was interrupted by the man in question. "Though the second we grab the attention of Council, we're heading for the border, with or without you." He said while he started to walk out of the warehouse with the sniper on his back.
The other two gang leaders nodded in agreement before following the man out of the large building, the large doors making an audible thud once they closed. With a frustrated sigh, the thief took out another cigar and lit it with the lighter he had in his pocket. The sound of footsteps could be heard from behind him, though he didn't seem to be alarmed at the sudden sound.
"You know, it's not polite to eavesdrop on other people's conversations." He said with a chuckle as a small, pink and brown haired woman appeared suddenly at the side of the table with a frown.
This woman was known as Neopolitan, or Neo as most people call her, Roman's right hand. Though she isn't as well known when compared to her partner in crime, as she tends to keep to the shadows more so then he does. It was a rather unusual pair, as the two were completely opposite from one another.
Roman was always known for putting on a show while his partner wanted to remain out of sight and out of mind. The man always ran his mouth while his partner wasn't physically unable to speak due to her being mute.
He liked an up close and personal way of doing things while his partner tended to strike once she was certain that the enemy wasn't around anymore. The man in the bowler hat was a natural born leader, though she was a lone wolf, only choosing to fight by the man's side.
The two were night and day compared to one another, and yet somehow they were able to climb to the top of the criminal underworld together. However, the two did have their fair share of arguments of how each individual goes about keeping their status.
Before the man could speak, the small woman started to wave various hand signals towards him, as this was one of her ways of communicating with people. "This plan isn't going to work." She said to her partner.
"You're faith in me is astounding." He said dryly with the cigar in his mouth while his partner started to wave her hands around once again.
"We had a way we did things. We all did. Stick close to the ground and avoid the attention of the Council. What you're doing is the complete opposite of what we stand for." The girl said with a serious expression.
"Hey, these aren't my plans. I'm just following orders given to me by our new employer." Roman defended.
"That's not the point! We're still wrapped up in the plans of some stranger that we've never met! Don't you think it's a little suspicious that this person sent their henchmen to talk with us about this deal?!" She said.
"Of course it's suspicious! Everything about this whole ordeal is suspicious!" Roman argued back to his partner. "Though this is an opportunity of a lifetime! This could be our biggest score yet!"
"So you're trusting the words of some faceless person?! What happens when the Huntsmen start to get involved, once that happens every leader will try to get out of this situation!" She said.
"It's not just words, this wasn't like our usual deals. This was one was upfront with the payment." Roman said before he flipped the meeting table. The man in question took out a key from his pocket and revealed a lock that was hidden underneath the table.
Once he unlocked the strange door that was at the center of the table, he pulled out some sort of case that was hidden from within the safe. He punched in the code to said briefcase to reveal a large sum of money.
The girl narrowed her eyes and began to count how much was in the case, to begin with, though once she did that she started to examine the money to make sure it was even real in the first place.
It took her a few moments to recount the pieces of Lien that were stored from within the case, though she eventually started to wave her hands around in the air once again. "Where did they get money like this?"
"All they said was that it wasn't hard to come by, nor was it hard to give us further payment once we follow through with our end of the bargain," Roman said to his partner with a smirk "They say they want weapons, then we start getting as much firepower as we can possibly get." He said.
"How do we know that they'll keep their end of the deal, to begin with?" She asked.
"We don't though don't worry. This isn't the first time we've dealt with less than reputable people. So once this whole thing blows over, we take what we can get and head to the border." Roman said.
The girl was still unsure of the intentions of this new client, though she had trusted Roman for most of her life. He gave her a life when she had nothing when she was considered nothing.
So the least she could do was put her faith to the man who had given her so much. "What do we have to do now?" She asked once she let out a silent sigh from her mouth.
"Right now, I need to handle getting these idiots out of prison so we can actually begin the next operation. You'll be attending to a weapons deal with the gang of the Lake District near the walls of the Industrial District of Vale alongside one of the henchmen of our client." He said.
"Which one?" She asked with one of her eyebrows raised.
"The one with the prosthetic legs. Forgot his name, though then again I never really bothered to put any effort into remembering it to begin with." Roman said while his partner rolled her eyes.
The man pulled out a slip of paper from his coat pocket, as well as a pen before he began to write some sort of address on the white surface. "Meet him at this address." He said as the woman took the slip of paper in question.
"What kind of weapons are we talking about here?" She questioned while she committed the coordinates to memory.
"Not sure, all I know is that they were imported from the Kingdom of Atlas." He answered as he took the cigar out of his mouth and used the end of his cane to put the end of it out. "Handle however you want, just make sure we actually get what we're paying for. Payment will be provided by the assassin you'll be working with." Roman said before he started to walk towards the exit of the warehouse.
"Anyways, I've got a lot on my hands as it is. Try to make sure things don't go south, we already have enough problems to deal with as it is." Roman said with the tip of his hat, causing the girl to wave her hands around once again.
"You're faith in me is astounding, Uncle." She said, causing the man to chuckle to himself as he made his way out of the warehouse, leaving the woman to plan for the weapons deal with members of the Lake District Gang.
...
It was a rather quiet day, all things considered, the day when I would ship out to the Kingdom of Atlas in order to guard the theater where the fundraiser was being held was fastly approaching.
Things have gotten rather serious with the constant training and missions that I was going on with the Huntress, so it was nice to have a single day to myself. At the moment, I was just sitting on one of the park benches while staring at the scenery before my eyes while chowing down on some ice cream that I purchased from a nearby vendor.
It was a rather nice day, all things considered, the birds were singing their songs as the sound of the waterfall echoed throughout the park. Moments like these were rare, even before I came to this world.
The members of the gang that had attempted to rob me from about a month and a half ago were still behind bars, and I haven't heard hide nor hair from the two henchmen of the False Maiden ever since then.
For once, I'm glad that it was looking to be a one time encounter, I'd rather not involve myself with trouble like that. Speaking of which, there hasn't been any mention of the other lieutenant that I met a while back.
Guess he must have left the city alongside that kid. I do feel bad for the future of the child, I wonder if she knows about the plan for the future of the world we live in, though all things considered I don't really know what the plan is.
It's possible that she's just ignorant to what's going on, though this world is full of surprises. She didn't have a very kind life, I gathered that much from the brief time I had with her.
Though I can worry about that later, right now let's just enjoy a rare moment of peace and quiet. It's not like it will last for very long with the fundraiser right around the corner.
However, just as I was about to take another bite of my ice cream, the sound of a familiar voice disrupted my state of peace, causing my ice cream to go flying onto the ground below.
"Jesus!" I yelped as I turned my head to face the man behind me. Though as if fate had been listening to my inner thoughts, the gray-haired assassin was standing right behind me with his usually confident expression.
"Finally! Let me tell you something, you are not an easy guy to find!" The sound of the assassin's voice rang through my ears as my eye started to twitch. "You remember me, don't you?" He questioned, though before he could continue with the conversation, the boy was quickly cut off at the sudden swing of the fist of Shade.
"Whoa!" He yelled while dodging the sudden attack. "Look, I know we didn't start off on the right foot-!" Mercury began in hopes to defuse the situation, though his words were quickly cut off as I threw yet another punch at him, causing him to do a quick flip in order to dodge the oncoming attack.
"Look, I didn't come here to talk!" Mercury said once he landed on the ground, though I merely continued to give him the cold silence whole I continued to throw various attacks at the assassin before me.
"Do need I remind you that we're in public?! Do you really want to get the cops on us again?!" He asked with a rather frustrated expression on his face.
As much as I hated to admit it, the assassin had a point, people were starting to turn their heads towards the two of us due to the ruckus we were creating from within the park. "Fine, what do you want?" I growled.
"I came out here to find you. I have a job that might benefit both of us in the long run." He explained while he patted the dust off of his clothes. I crossed my arms and raised one of my eyebrows in the direction of the boy.
"What kind of job did you have in mind?" I questioned as the assassin had managed to catch my interest.
"Just a simple weapons deal with one of the trading districts of Vale. I'd manage the whole exchange myself, though having the extra backup wouldn't hurt. I got some extra gang members as extra muscle." Mercury said.
"Then why do you need me? Seems like you've got all the muscle power that you need." I asked the gray-haired boy that stood in front of me.
"You're not wrong. I wouldn't have needed to come and find you in the first place if this whole exchange was only about brute force." Mercury said. "Though my boss isn't exactly keen to start a shootout, so they'd rather us handle this whole deal without having lead fly everywhere."
"Strange how a Mercenary has a boss. Normally they move on from a client once the job is complete, so how come you're still answering to this boss of yours when you've already completed the job you've been hired to do?" I asked.
In truth, I already had a general idea of why this guy was even working for the False Maiden, to begin with. Though right now the last thing I needed to do was to draw the attention of said maiden.
"Okay I'll ask again, why do you need my help if you've already got backup?" I questioned with a rather deadpanned expression on my face.
"I'm not about trust the trade to some thugs who'd rather shoot first and ask questions later. There's also that one strange hitman that's gonna make sure that everything goes smoothly, though from what I've heard they aren't exactly one for words."
"So I'd rather have someone who knew their way around a conversation than a couple of thugs and some hitman who barely even speaks," Mercury said with his usual confident expression. "Besides, I'd rather have someone with your intimidation factor by my side during this whole deal." He stated, causing me to stare at the assassin with a rather confused expression
"Not sure I follow," I said.
"Don't try to mess with my head. You really spooked my partner Emerald during our last encounter." The gray-haired boy said as I stared at him with a look of surprise on my face.
"I knew I took the both of you by surprise, though I didn't believe I left that strong of an impression on you two," I said to the assassin in question.
"Hold on now, I never said you shook my boots. You may have some strange powers, though it's not exactly the weirdest thing I've ever seen in my life." He said to me as he sat down on the bench.
I was still rather suspicious as to why the thief was so spooked by our encounter in the first place, though at the moment I had other manners to attend to. I had to work out the terms of the deal that was being offered.
"Don't get my intentions all mixed up. I hate the fact that I have to be here in the first place. Though I'd rather have to deal with you for a day than deal with my boss down the road." He said.
I stared at the assassin for a few moments in relative silence before I eventually shook my head. "Enough of that. How much is this job paying in the first place?" I questioned with my arms crossed.
"At the moment, the only thing we're supposed to do is handle the exchange. We pay the Lake District Gang while they give us the weapons the boss requested to be delivered." He explained.
"So we're not getting paid is what you're trying to say," I said with a deadpanned expression.
"No, at least not directly." The assassin said while I started to walk away from where he was sitting. "Hold on, hold on! I never said we weren't getting paid period! I'm just saying it's gonna be a bit more complicated!" He said with his hand reached out.
I let out a rather frustrated sigh while pinching the brim of my nose with my right hand, though I decided to continue to hear the boy out for the time being. "So what did you have in mind?" I asked.
"Don't worry. I have a plan to get what the boss wants while getting some pocket money." He said while leaning over on the bench he was sitting on.
"Alright, let's hear it," I said as I sat down next to the assassin, though I was keeping a good distance between the two of us. I wanted to be ready in case he decided to finish the battle we started a month and a half ago.
"The boss said to avoid causing a firefight during the whole exchange near the Industrial District. Though I don't think they'll fault is if the opposing gang was the one who fired the first shot." He said. "All we have to do is make it look like they were the ones who took the first shot, once we do that we can take the money and the weapons the boss requested." The assassin explained.
"Right, so how exactly do you suggest we provoke them enough to fire the first shot?" I questioned.
"I haven't really thought of that part of the plan yet. Though I'm sure something will pop up sooner or later." He admitted with the same arrogant smirk that he was infamously known for.
"Can't you just kill everyone at the exchange and say that one of their men shot first?" I asked.
"I like the way you think, have I ever told you that?" This, in turn, caused me to shake my head towards the assassins question. "It's like I said before, most of these thugs have below average intelligence. I doubt they'd be able to keep the whole story straight." He explained.
The right hand to the Fale Maiden did have a point as much as I didn't want to admit it. "How much money are we talking about here?" I questioned.
"There's a good amount. About half a hundred thousand give or take. Once we split the money up we each got fifty grand. Sounds like a good deal if all we have to do is start a little shoot out in a secluded area of Vale." He said.
"Hmm." I hummed while pinching my chin with my right hand. I was still rather cautious towards the whole ordeal, as this could have easily been a trap to lure me into a false sense of security.
It wouldn't be the first time that a deal had more shady intentions then what it was on paper, though I try not to think back to those times. However, if this guy genuinely wanted to get me out of the picture then he would have had more then enough opportunities to do so from the past month or so.
"We're gonna need to come up with a plausible reason for why the Lake District Gang would suddenly open fire on us," I said as I opened my eyes while I turned my head towards the assassin in question.
"So you're in?" He asked with a pleased expression.
"As long as we get paid or you get shot then I don't see any issue with what we're doing," I said as I sat up from where we were sitting. "Though how about we come up with a more thought out plan before we go into this whole situation," I suggested.
"Fair enough. Got any suggestions?" He asked.
Once again, I started to rub my chin in order to think on the matter, though I eventually came up with some form of a plan that might cause the ruckus that the assassin is looking for. "Do any of the other gang members you recruited know about this plan?" I questioned.
"You kidding? I can't trust any of those idiots with a plan like this. The hitman seems to have some level of intelligence, though she rubs me the wrong way, I wouldn't trust her anyway." He said.
"That might be a good thing. The less they know about the plan then the better." I said, though my thoughts were quickly shifted towards a certain part of the assassin answer. "Hold on, the hitman is a girl?" I questioned.
"Yeah, not sure why it matters," Mercury said with one of his eyebrows raised. I had a sneaking suspicion of who this woman could be, though if it was who I thought it was then this plan was about to get much more complicated then before.
"It doesn't. Where did you say this exchange was being held?" I questioned, causing the boy in question to take out a slip of paper and a pen.
"Right here. Just go to this address in the Industrial District. Make sure nobody follows you there though." He said as he wrote down the location of the building before handing the slip of paper over to my hands.
"Got it. When is this deal exactly?" I asked as I put the slip of paper in my pocket.
"In about a couple of hours or so." He responded, causing me to stare at the assassin with a frustrated expression.
"What?!" I yelled.
"Look, the idea didn't come to me until just recently! You're the only one who has the muscle and brain needed for this job! The deal is still on, once this whole thing blows over we'll split the money!" He said.
I sighed to myself in order to push those thoughts to the back of my mind. "Whatever, I suppose now it doesn't matter. Here's what I had in mind." I said as I proceeded to explain the plan of action to the person next to my right side. Once I finished with the briefing, I could see a rather cautious expression on his face.
"You know I was sort of hoping we could do better than that," Mercury said.
"Well, if I had a day or two then maybe I could arrange a more in-depth plan that we could go off of. Though considering we only have two hours, this is as good as we're gonna get." I said with my arms crossed. "Besides, a reckless plan is better than no plan at all."
He was about to give his counter-argument, though he eventually saw that it was pointless to argue about it now. "Fair enough." The assassin said. "Anyways, we should head on over now." He said while he sat up from the bench.
"I'll meet you over there. I've got a few things I need to pick up before we start this whole charade." I said as I started to walk towards the market place, leaving a rather confused Mercury behind.
Though he eventually shrugged his shoulders before he started to head on over towards the set location of the deal. He was still rather skeptical of the plan, though right now it was the best one they could manage from within a two-hour time frame.
...
Before I could actually make my over towards the location where the deal would be held, I needed to make sure nobody there knew who I was. The last thing I needed was for either the Lake District Gang or the gang from the Industrial District to get on my trail.
I managed to purchase a set of goggles that covered my eyes, as well as a black bandana in order to conceal my identity. It's been quite some time since I used this outfit, though it was only a matter of time I suppose.
The figure of Mercury could be seen leaning up against the warehouse where the exchange would be held, though once heard the sound of my footsteps approaching from beside him, he quickly got on his guard.
It didn't take long for him to figure out who I was though, as I didn't really change my clothes from our last encounter. "Good, you're here. Took you long enough though, the Lake District Gang should be here any moment." He said while examining my disguise.
"You know, I could still recognize you even with the bandana and goggles on you," Mercury said with one of his eyebrows raised. "The whole point of a disguise is that nobody's supposed to know who you are." He said.
"I'd hope that you would recognize who I was through this. The last thing I need you to do is accidentally shoot me in the crossfire." I responded. "Besides the whole point of this outfit is to blend in with the other members of the gang."
"Fair enough. There was another member of the gang waiting for the others to arrive, though I dealt with him before any of the others made it." Mercury said with a confident smirk.
"I would ask you what you did, though to be honest I have a general idea. That and I don't really care in the first place." I stated, causing the assassin to chuckle in response to my answer.
"Wish I had more people like you in my line of work. Everyone always gives me a hard time." He said as he pulled out the ID for the man he had supposedly killed. "Here, go head over by the entrance to the warehouse. The others should be here to meet Jerry eventually." Mercury stated before he made his way inside the warehouse,
Once he was out of sight, I looked down at the ID in order to read the information that was on it. From the looks of it, the members of the lake district were supposed to meet someone named Jerry.
I shook my head and placed the ID into my coat pocket. Quite a bit of time had passed before I eventually heard the sound of trucks from the distance. I turned my head over towards the source of the noise to see a group of vehicles coming from the west.
The trucks were carrying various boxes from within the back, boxes that I assume contain the weapons that we were looking to collect. I saw the man in the passenger seat wave over towards me, or at least the man he assumed to be Jerry.
"Jerry! Help unload these crates!" The man in the sunglasses said as they parked over by the warehouse. They probably had a general idea of what this man sounded like, so I thought it would be best to hold my tongue for the time being.
My only response was to nod my head as I started to make my way over towards the back of the truck. The crates were fairly heavy, though I was just barely able to pick one of the smaller crates up.
"Are the goons waiting in there?" The woman who I assumed to be the leader of the group questioned, causing me to nod my head in order to confirm her question. "What are we all waiting for! Let's get these crates into the warehouse before someone catches wind of this deal!" She said, causing all the members of the gang to nod as they started to make their way into the facility.
I could see Mercury sitting on one of the larger crates of the warehouse while the leader of the group he had brought started to give commands. However, once I caught a glimpse of the hitman that he had brought to the deal, I cursed under my breath.
There was no doubt about it, that was indeed the right-hand woman of the notorious criminal Roman Torchwick, Neopolitan often referred to as Neo. I doubt Mercury had told her of what he had in store for this deal, so that made things even more complicated than before.
However, I needed to focus on the task at hand, that being taking both that weapons and the money that was currently in the building. The plan was to stage a double cross that would make it look like the Lake District attempted to steal both the weapons and the money that was in the case on the table in front of us.
Though at the moment it doesn't seem likely that anyone here would do such a thing. So that's where I come in, as far as I can tell, no one other then Mercury knows that I'm not actually part of this gang.
Which means that as far as everyone else is concerned, the Lake District is the one who started the firefight. All that's left is to actually survive long enough to reap the rewards of this whole scandal.
"I take it you have what the boss requested?" The leader questioned.
"As long as you have what we want." The woman said with her arms crossed. The man in question turned to one of his fellow gang members and motioned him to open the chest on the table.
The man nodded as he started to type the code in the case, eventually opening it to reveal the money that was promised to them. "You'll get your payment, though first, we want to see the weapons." He said.
"You heard the man, give em the crates." She said, causing the members of the gang to place the wooden boxes on the other side of the room. The man proceeded to move over towards the crates with a crowbar in hand.
However, once he opened the wooden boxes, the only thing that could be seen from within the containers were various bombs. Before anyone could react, the man in the sunglasses pressed the detonator, causing an explosion to echo throughout the room.
My ears were ringing due to the sudden burst of noise, and I was having trouble staying conscious as I went flying onto one of the metal boxes in the room. Though I was able to shake off the feeling in order to asses the situation.
From the looks of it, there wasn't even a need for my plan, to begin with. The members of the Lake District Gang had started to make their escape with the money at their side, as well as the weapons that had been stolen from at Atlas Convoy.
I looked around to search for the assassin, though from the looks of it he was still trying to regain his composure. The hitman was nowhere to be seen, and the other members of the gang were open firing on the Lake District.
"You okay?!" I heard one of the members of the gang question as he pulled me up from off the ground. They still believed that I was a member of the group, perhaps I could use this to my advantage.
I gave the man a thumbs up, causing him to nod his head in response. "Good, now come on! The others will take care of the rest! The boss is waiting for us in the van!" He said while making his way over towards the exit of the warehouse.
My eyes met with the assassin, causing him to signal me to go with the gang in order to get a hold of the situation. I nodded my head and got in the truck, causing the leader to slam on the gas.
The sound of the gunshots got further away as we made our way through the industrial district. "Did you get the money?" The leader questioned, causing the man in the sunglasses to nod as he pulled out the case.
"Good, there was no way in hell that we were delivering those weapons to a client we barely even know." She said to the two of us. I'm assuming they were talking about the False Maiden known as Cinder, and from the looks of it, she's been pretty keen on keeping her identity a secret to the rest of the gangs.
"How are you holding up, Jerry?" She asked, causing me to break out of the daze that I was in. The only response I gave her was a thumbs up, causing the woman to let out a chuckle. "Good, so what's up with the bandana and goggles? Not that I'm complaining, it's good to hide your identity. Makes it harder for the authorities to capture you." She said.
I merely pointed at her and gave her yet another thumbs up. "You say that's the reason why you have all that on?" She questioned, causing me to nod my head in approval.
"You sure you're okay? I get that you've always been softspoken, though this is kinda ridiculous." The leader said. "Now that I think about it, you really haven't said anything since the deal started. What's gotten into-?" She began, only for a sudden thud to echo throughout the car.
Before any of us could really question what was going on, a small blade could be seen piercing through the top of the car. It just barely missed my shoulder's, this caused the leader to slam on the breaks in order to shake the sudden attacker off.
"What now?!" She asked, though her question was quickly answered once she caught a glimpse of the right hand of Roman Torchwick standing on the roof of the car next to them. The girl raised her blade up towards the air and stabbed the driver of the car, causing the vehicle to spin out of the road and into a ruined building on our right. "Goddamnit! Both of you, get ready for a fight!" The leader ordered, causing the man to nod as he took out some sort of submachine gun.
However, we failed to notice that the girl had taken out the driver of the car in front of us, causing it to tumble towards us at an alarming rate. With no other choice, I quickly summoned Shade towards the front of the car in order to flip us into the air.
We had just managed to avoid colliding with the oncoming truck, though seeing as how I couldn't keep the spirit out for more than a single second, there was nothing stopping us from crashing into one of the nearby buildings.
Once we made contact with the rubble, I could feel my consciousness slip away once we crashed through the building. It took a few moments before I was able to wake up, though the sound of gunshots in the distance quickly broke me out of my daze.
The vehicle we were in had been flipped upside down, which in turn made it so that I landed on the roof of the truck with an audible thud once I unbuckled the seatbelt of the back seat.
"Maybe I should have thought that through more." I groaned before I reeled my foot back in order to shatter the window. Once I had done so, I crawled out of the car and out towards the ruined building.
I gripped my head in response to the pulsing pain that echoed throughout it, though I was quickly brought back into reality at the sudden pressure of someone kicking me onto the ground.
The figure of the ice cream themed girl could be seen right in front of me with her blade in hand. "Hold on! I'm on your side! I'm with-!" I began, though my words didn't seem to reach the girl as she proceeded to jab the blade towards my chest.
However, just before it could get any closer, the figure of Shade quickly rammed it's fist onto the chin of the small woman, causing her to go flying into the air while her blade fell to the ground with an audible thud.
I expected the girl to rise with a rather furious expression on her face, though what I saw caught me by surprise. Rather than seeing rage, I saw a rather monotone a serious expression on her face.
She pulled out a knife that was hidden from within her boot and proceeded to prepare for a fight between the two of us. With no other option available to me, I grabbed the blade that was right by my side with a serious expression on my face.
Though just before we could initiate the next stage of the fight, the grey-haired assassin step in between the two of us with a rather frustrated expression. "Hey! Would you two calm down! We're all on the same side here!" He yelled while the girl to stare at the assassin with one of her eyebrows raised.
"Look, I'll explain everything later! For now...!" He began as he fired a white ball of energy over towards one of the vehicles of the gangs, causing the members behind it to rush for another form of cover.
"We need to clean up this mess!" He said while the gears in his legs started to turn in response to the oncoming battle. The man in the sunglasses started to head towards the top of the building that was next to us in order to get a better shot of the battle.
"I'll take care of the sniper! You two need to deal with things down here!" I said before I proceeded to make my way over towards the ladder that led to the top of the stone building.
"Quit ordering us around! Take the sniper on the building! We'll deal with things down here!" Mercury echoed.
"But that's what I just-!" I began, though I merely let loose an audible growl as I saw no reason to continue this argument in the heat of battle. I nodded and started to make my way over towards the building where the man in the sunglasses had gone towards.
The two proceeded to take on some of the more larger brutes that had been present throughout the exchange while I started to climb up the ladder. Once I reached the top, I could see the man looking down the scope of his rifle.
Just as I stepped onto the stone floor, he spun around while taking out a pistol from the holster he had on his waist before he fired one of the bullets over in my direction. While I was able to avoid taking mortal damage, I could feel the bullet fly straight through the palm of my hand.
"Goddamnit!" I growled in pain.
"Hold on." He said while examining the clothing I was wearing. "What did you do to our dealer?!" The man demanded while he pointed the rifle at my forehead.
"Don't know. Don't really care either." I responded as I slid my shoe across the ground, causing some of the excess dust to fly towards the lenses of the glasses that the man was wearing.
The man in question growled to himself while he shook off the shades, though I had managed to close the gap that was between the two of us. I slammed my fist onto the jaw of the sniper, causing him to go flying back a few feet.
Acting quickly, I picked up the rifle that fell onto the ground and pointed it at the man. Once I pulled the trigger, I stumbled back a few feet due to the force behind the sudden blast of the gun.
While it did manage to do some damage to the man, most of the force was absorbed by his aura. I cursed under my breath and prepared another shot, though the sudden force on my back quickly broke my state of concentration.
"Tell me something." I heard the voice of the leader say as I got up from the ground. "Did you lot figure out our plans for this whole deal? Did you plan for all of this to happen?" She asked as she clenched her fist tightly.
"Actually, I was taking the identity of your dealer in order to start a firefight between the two gangs. Though from the looks of it, the two of you did it for me." I said as I rubbed the back of my neck in order to remove the sharp pain.
"...Oh." She said.
"Yeah, they had no idea about this plan of yours," I said while I clenched my fist tightly. She was about to question what I was even doing, though the sudden figure of Shade slamming his fist right on her nose quickly cut her off.
The sniper stared at the scene with a look of complete and utter shock on his face, as well as a hint of horror in his eyes. "W-What the hell are you?! Are you possessed or something?!" He questioned while he aimed his pistol at my head.
"...Sure, let's go with that." I responded while slamming my foot onto his stomach, causing the air from within his lungs to be knocked out as he fell out of consciousness. I was about to make my way down the ladder in order to patch myself up, though the sight of the leader standing before me quickly stopped me in my tracks.
"You know, I don't want to kill you. The only thing I'm here for is the money, I could care less about what you do then." I said with a deadpanned expression, though I could tell that we were past the point of walking away.
Her only response was to take out some sort of shotgun that she had at her side, which in turn caused me to kick her away with the strength of the Spirit bound to my soul. I quickly rushed over towards the rifle in order to gain some sort of an advantage in this fight, as fighting close quarters wasn't exactly something I was to keen on doing since she had a weapon that specialized in close range combat.
Though once I aimed the rifle at her, I suddenly started to feel rather lightheaded due to the wound on my hand. She took this opportunity to fire a shot towards my direction, however, I quickly blocked the attack with the rifle I had in my hands.
While I did avoid taking some serious damage, the rifle was pretty much useless to me after that attack. I slammed it on the ground and picked up the pistol that the sniper had dropped.
She went to fire another shot in my direction, though I ran up and kicked the broken rifle over towards the woman, causing her to shoot it out of the air. In response, I started to fire various shots at her, though her aura absorbed most of the damage. She continued to fire various shots at me, though I either dodged the attack or had Shade deflect them.
Either way, the only thing I was actually doing was buying time until she had to reload each shot individually. As soon as she ran out of shots, I ran towards the woman with a determined expression on my face and proceeded to ram my elbow into her stomach. I could hear her growl as she slammed her knee onto my chest before attempting to fire another burst of lead at me, though I quickly knocked the weapon out of her grasp.
I used this opportunity to give the woman a quick jab across the jaw, as well as a swift punch to the center of her forehead. With the force of Shade behind it, the woman eventually fell out of consciousness.
Once I was certain that she wasn't getting up, I took a deep breath and exhaled, finally able to catch a break with everything that had just happened. This wasn't getting any better, I should probably head back over to the house.
Though once I made it back down to the ground, I could see the two killers finishing up with the rest of the group. Not really sure if any of them had actually died, though the lack of blood told me otherwise.
"Whew! Guess that's that!" Mercury said as he turned his head towards the ruined truck that held the weapons that the False Maiden had requested. "Boss isn't gonna be happy about that." He said while rubbing the back of his neck.
"Now, where the hell is that..." The assassin began, though he was quickly cut off at the sight of the small hitman holding the case of money that we had been gunning for in the first place. "Case." He finished his previous statement.
The man reached over to grab the case, though the woman quickly pushed it out of his grasp. "Hey! The hell do you think you're doing?!" He questioned, though the only response from the girl was to make various hand gestures towards the two of us.
"..." We merely stood there in silence once she stopped making the signs. Though once she saw that we couldn't understand a word that she was saying, she let out a silent sigh before she took out a notepad.
Rather than dropping the briefcase, she merely took the pen in her mouth and proceeded to write down what she had just said. It was surprisingly easy to read all things considered.
"Explain the situation. Then you get your money." She said.
"Fine, here's what happened," I said as I proceeded to explain the process of our plan to the small woman that stood before us. It took a few moments due to the communication barrier between the three of us, though we eventually explained things to the girl.
"I don't like being kept in the dark like this. I nearly killed the kid from before." The woman wrote down.
"We didn't know if we could trust you. So we didn't take any chances." I explained, however, this didn't seem to brighten the mood of the girl in the slightest. "It doesn't really matter, to begin with, we have the money and the weapons." The only response she gave was to make some sort of chopping motion.
"Half of the weapons. You're still getting what you wanted more or less." I said.
"Yeah, in the end, I think it's safe to say that things turned out alright. You got your weapons and we got our money." Mercury said with a smirk as Neo proceeded to write something down.
"I want a cut of what you got." She said.
"Oh yeah? Why would we do that?" The assassin questioned with his arms crossed, causing the woman to write down another message on the notepad she had, as well as with the pen that was grasped in between her teeth.
"You can't be serious. I was just as involved as the two of you were, the money and weapons would have gotten away if it weren't for my help." She said with a serious expression on her face.
"...She does have a point. I wouldn't have gotten that opportunity if it weren't for her help." I said.
"Fine, we each get about..." He began as he proceeded to divide the amount of money that each of us would be getting for our troubles. Though after a few moments of failed math later, the woman eventually silently growled and proceeded to hand each of us with about fifteen thousand while she kept about twenty thousand.
"Hold on, why are you getting more than us? We were the ones who came up with the plan in the first place?" I questioned as the girl proceeded to walk away from the two of us while waving her hands around.
"We still can't understand you." The assassin said, causing the woman to wave a certain finger at us before she disappeared. "I understood that." He growled while kicking away a small stone.
However, before we could speak amongst ourselves, the sound of sirens quickly brought us back to reality. "Damn it! Come on, let's get out of here before the investigation team gets here!" I said as the two of us ran down a nearby alleyway in hopes to lose the authorities.
Though little did either of us know that the hitman had been watching us escape from a distance with a rather amused expression on her face.
"That kid sure has some interesting powers. Perhaps he'll come in handy in the near future." She mused to herself.
"I should keep an eye on him, you never know what kind of adventures might follow." The girl said while walking away from the crime scene.
We continued to run down the various alleyways in hopes to lose the authorities, though it was becoming increasingly more difficult to do so due to the blood loss from the wound in my hand.
The assassin seemed to have noticed that I was starting to fall behind. "Would you hurry it up! I'm not gonna bail you out if the cops catch you!" He said, though his look of frustration quickly turned into that of confusion as he saw the sweat coming down my face.
He was about to question the reason for why I was acting this way, though his question was answered before it could even be asked once his eyes laid on the wound on my hand.
"Guess you took some damage back there." He said with his arms crossed.
"I'll be fine. Just gotta patch this up." I responded once I caught my breath.
The assassin started to look around the area in hopes to locate a secluded spot where the two of us could rest for a while.
"Over here." He said while pointing at some sort of tree that was nearby the wall of the Kingdom. Once we were certain that nobody had followed us, we took the time to rest from the most recent battle.
"Ah!" I bossed as a sharp pain started to travel up my arm.
"You know, your aura should have stopped the wound from hurting by now. Strange how it's taking so long to kick in." Mercury said.
"That's because I don't have an aura," I said, causing the assassin to do a quick double take as he processed this new piece of information.
"Come on, quit pulling my leg. All living things have an aura, even plants." He said.
"You can take a look, though there's nothing there. Believe me, many have tried to prove me otherwise." I said while I took out a spare neckerchief in order to wrap it around my hand.
The assassin proceeded to attempt to locate any form of evidence that would indicate that I have an aura. Though as to be expected, the boy found nothing from within his search.
"Whoa." He said once I finished tending to my wound. "I've met a lot of weird people in my life, though you definitely make it to the top five," Mercury said.
"Told you," I said with a deadpan expression on my face.
"So what are you? Are you even alive?" He questioned as he stared at me intently. This, in turn, caused me to move my hand toward my heart, and sure enough, I could feel a heartbeat.
"I've got a heartbeat. So I suppose I am." I said to the boy next to me on the bench.
"It's weird. It's like there's nothing there, though at the same time there's something." He said.
"I get that a lot," I said with a slight chuckle. "Not sure how to explain it."
"So why go into the Mercenary business without an aura to protect you?" He asked.
"I'm not completely defenseless, and we all have to make ends meet somehow," I responded.
"...Fair enough." Mercury said with a surprisingly soft expression. "So you mean to tell me that I could have just shot you in the head during our last battle and you would have been down for the count?" He asked.
"I mean if that's what you want to take away from all of this then sure," I growled.
"Well, how about that." He said with a chuckle.
"Something up?" I questioned.
"I just didn't think I'd ever meet another one." He said with a soft smirk.
"Not sure I follow," I said.
"..." He looked rather hesitant to explain to me what he meant by his statement. "...It's nothing. I'm gonna hit the road." Mercury said as he proceeded to walk off into the distance. "We make a pretty good team, maybe I'll recruit you for another job!" He said while waving over in my direction.
I was suspicious about the reasoning for his sudden change in attitude, though I didn't see any reason to worry about it in the first place. From what I gathered, he doesn't want to kill me, and it's not like we're close friends. I eventually shook it off and proceeded to make my way over towards the house.
The fundraiser was only a few days away, and I needed to be ready for anything to come in my direction.
Meanwhile, with Mercury
Eventually, the assassin managed to find his way back over towards his base of operation. He stared at the structure for a few moments before he let out an audible sigh as he entered the house.
"You're late." He heard his partner greet, causing him to curse under his breath while turning around to greet the girl.
"Well hello to you too." He said with his usual smirk.
"I heard about what happened back down in the industrial district. Cinder told us to keep a low profile while we were here." Emerald said.
"That she did, though she also said to contribute to the plan." Mercury countered. "Besides, it wasn't even my fault this time." He said.
"Right, so what happened?" She asked.
"Simple, they had an opportunity to take the weapons they stole from the Atlas Convoy, and they took it. It's what I would have done." He said. "So we had this car chase and we wound up on the other side of the Industrial District."
"Hold on, you were working with someone?" Emerald asked.
"Remember that one guy we fought last month?" The assassin asked, causing the thief to state at him with a rather horrified expression.
"What the hell were you thinking?! I thought we agreed to keep our distance from him!" She said.
"Yeah, though then this job came up and I thought I could make some money with his help. He wasn't convinced at first, though he came around in the end." Mercury said. "Now I just got us a very powerful ally." He said.
"Do you even know what he is?!" Emerald questioned.
"Not sure I follow. He seemed pretty normal." The assassin said, deciding that it would be for the best if he didn't tell her about the situation regarding the boy's soul.
"He's anything but normal. I've seen people with powers like his." She said with a serious expression.
"Huh?" He asked.
"...Are you familiar with the Spirits of Remnant?" Emerald asked.
"I'm familiar with them. Though I don't believe it, I mean, if spirits actually existed then my old man would have come back to haunt me a long time ago." He said.
"Not that! I mean the Great Knights of the White Kingdom!" Emerald said.
"Oh! I've read a thing or two about them. They bound themselves to a worthy soul and they give them great power in return." He said.
"Yeah, and I have reason to believe that we just met one of them. The strange powers, the seemingly strange presence he gives off, and let's not forget about that black figure we saw throughout the fight." Emerald said.
"That right?" Mercury said with a rather surprised expression. "Then that's all the more reason to get on his good side." He said.
"What are you talking about? We're already on the side of a Maiden." She said.
"Right, though for how long?" He said, causing the girl to stare at him with a rather serious expression.
"Excuse me?" The thief questioned.
"Come on, we're only in this job because we have the required skills to finish it," Mercury said. "I know the ins and outs of killing, and you can make people see anything you want." He said.
"Once we get the second half of the Maidens Powers, as well as do whatever it is that Cinder wants us to do, we're not of much use to her after that," Mercury said.
"So what, you think she'll just toss us aside once we're done?!" Emerald asked.
"Oh, I know she will. She might keep you around, for the time being, a semblance like yours is pretty hard to come by." He said. "Though once all is said and done, there won't really be any reason for her to keep us around. Just a matter of time."
"So why put your trust in that boy? In case you forgot, neither of us are on good terms with him." She said.
"Trust him? No, that's not what I had in mind. I don't trust anyone, everyone has some sort of agenda going on in the background. Though he might be useful." He said.
"Also if what you said about these spirits is true, then he may very well be the only one who can take her down." He said.
"You're kidding. You're gonna place your bets on that nobody?! After everything she did for us, you're still not convinced that she's with us?!" She asked.
"As far as I'm concerned the only thing she actually did was give me a new set of weapons. Hell, I wasn't even meant to be here, she was looking for my old man." He said.
"..." She merely stared at her partner in relative silence.
"Cinder went looking for you. She wanted to recruit you." He said as he started to walk towards the door.
"Where are you going now?!" Emerald asked.
"I'm going to get some air," Mercury said as he slammed the door behind him, causing the thief to growl as she slammed her fist onto the wall.
...
With that, another chapter of our story comes to a close. A deal had been made with a former enemy, one that seemingly benefited both sides. However, things got rather complicated once the unexpected struck.
Though with this temporary alliance with a silent killer, our hero managed to deal with the situation. Though he is rather suspicious of the behavior of the assassin, as well as his motives for this alliance.
However, there were more pressing matters to attend to. With the fundraiser only a few days away, our hero will be quite busy.
Though he will soon realize that strength will not be the only thing tested on that day.
Some things require a more subtle approach, and some decisions can be rather hard to make when faced in the heat of battle.
Though that is a story for another day.
Credits
Writer: Quebec
Editor: Smitten
...
Next Chapter: A Job in Atlas