Author's note: Stupid school... Getting in the way of my writing...
Having just left the classroom, Yang and her teammates strolled through the halls while they complained about the Human and Grimm Anatomy class they were just in.
"I swear I did not understand a single word that Professor Lloys said. Now I'm not sure who makes more sense, him or Professor Oobleck?" Ruby groaned as her brain burned from the long-winded biological terms that flooded her mind.
"It also didn't help how he wasn't able to pronounce a full word without stuttering." Weiss complained as she pinched the bridge of her nose due to the migraine that she happened to share with her leader.
"Thank god, there were pictures." Blake ironically muttered while she massaged her temple. Apparently, migraines can spread faster than butter on toast.
"I fell asleep when the word 'learn' was mentioned." Yang chirped proudly in her usual cheerful manner; much to her teammates' jealousy. Sometimes, ignorance really was bliss. However, she couldn't ignore the familiar military hoodie that she caught a glimpse of as it rounded a corner of the hall.
"Hey, uh, you guys go on ahead. I need to check on something; I'll catch up." She received a bunch of nods from her teammates before she began to track down the one person who she knew that wore a complete set of military clothing.
Yang chased the person through the hallway and around a series of corners, using the stealth techniques that she picked up from Blake to the best of her ability. As she crouch-walked to towards the opposite wall, numerous thoughts began to cross her mind. Why was she taking the effort to follow this guy while trying to remain undetected? She was ninety percent sure that she knew who he was already. She could have just run after him and talked to him directly to save her time and effort… but… this was kinda fun. The certain possibility of getting caught sort of… excited her… for some reason.
She flattened her back against the wall and sidled towards what felt like the seventh corner in the damn hallway while her thoughts resumed. She could be a spy for a secret organisation and track people down to get some Intel and shit. Or she could have her own group of agents and go on stealth missions while their theme soundtrack is playing in the background. Suddenly, her musings stopped as she peeked around the edge to find the hallway completely empty. It was void of humans and Faunus alike; especially the person she was after. She could have sworn that she saw him round this very corner. The only reasonable explanation she could think of was that he had a teleportation semblance, which she knew he didn't. Out of nowhere, an arm constricted around her neck and a hand firmly grasped the back of her head.
"Twitch, and I'll – Yang?!" She chuckled at the surprised tone of the recognisable voice as the grip was loosened.
"You'll what, Draksis?" She purred with a saucy smile on her face.
Draksis only sighed as he released her and crossed his arms. "Why were you trying to sneak up on me?"
"Oh, shut up! I wasn't that bad." She playfully punched his shoulder when she saw the mocking smirk on his face. "I wanted to surprise you."
"Well, consider me surprised when I saw you after the third corner. I was just messing with you and wanted to see where that was going after that point." He retorted as he leaned back on the wall.
"I thought I did very well!" Yang argued as she put her hands on her hips. "But that isn't the point. Where were you? I didn't see you at breakfast and you missed first period."
"I had to catch an early airship to let my boss know that I can't work with him because of all… this." Draksis widely gestured around himself.
"Oh. Where did you work?" Yang inquired.
"I worked at From Dust 'Till Dawn. I helped around with the shipments of dust but I was mainly there to keep guys like Torchwick's group from trying to rob the place."
"How come I never saw you there?"
"My shifts were on the weekends and pretty late at night. Barely got much interaction from people who weren't trying to break in. That, and I got the job fairly recently." He shrugged.
"Aw, would have been nice to see you there. We should probably go; we're gonna be late for combat class with Professor Goodwitch."
"I was actually heading that way until you decided to get all sneaky on me." Draksis snickered as he resumed his way to combat class.
Yang gave out a sheepish laugh as she walked with him. "Now I'm curious, what were you gonna say for your threat? You never finished it."
"Well…" He trailed off before he suddenly grabbed Yang by the shoulders and gently shoved her against the wall. He leaned down extremely close that Yang felt his breath against her cheek. "I'll leave it to your imagination." He whispered in a very suggestive tone before he casually continued to class.
To say that Yang was caught off guard would be a sheer understatement. She was left breathing heavily with a growing blush on her cheeks. "W-wow. Did not expect that… at all." She muttered as she calmed herself down and shook out the naughty things her mind conjured. She jogged back up to Draksis' side, despite still feeling a little hot and bothered.
"So what did you imagine?" He teased with a cheeky tone while he waggled his eyebrows.
"Oh, shut up!" She slapped the back of his neck as the blush returned. However, her brows furrowed when she felt she hit something wet. With a glance to her fingers, her eyes widened when she found traces of blood on her hands. "Draksis, are you bleeding?!"
"W-what?" He rubbed his hand along the back of his neck. True to Yang's word, he was surprised to find blood on his palms. "You go on ahead. I'll go get this cleaned."
"N-no! You should get to infirmary. It looks pretty bad" Yang protested worriedly.
"It's fine. Just go on." He sprinted to his dorm before she could have another word in.
Keeping a hand on the back on his neck, Draksis hurriedly entered his dorm and rushed to the bathroom. He took a cloth and soaked it with water and proceeded to wash the blood off his neck before doing the same to his hands. "Phew, that was close." He sighed in relief as he turned away from the mirror, revealing that there was no cut or any sign of injury on his neck in the first place.
Earlier. Much earlier.
Suited in his black attire, Draksis fitted the black mask onto his face and waited for one of his employers. He was in one of the darkest alleys in Vale where the streetlights barely illuminated the entrance. Just a few minutes later of waiting in the shadows, a tall bald man with a very expensive suit stood at the mouth of the alleyway and noticed two green lights that resembled eyes in the darkness.
"Hey, uh, I was expecting some kid who's willing to do… something for a ton of cash." The man called out into the alley.
"I know. He sent me. He's busy with something unavoidable." Draksis replied with a voice distorted beyond recognition from the mask's voice mod.
The man accepted the answer without hesitation. "Alright. Something's better than nothing, I guess."
"What's the job?"
"There's a bunch of White Fang moving a bunch of dust at an abandoned factory that belonged to the Schnee Dust Company. I need you to kill one guy in particular. He's a bear Faunus and he has a pyrokinesis semblance; he's in charge of the shipment so you can't miss him."
"How do I know that you'll pay me when I'm done?"
"The whole reward is 10,000 Lien. So, I'll pay you 5,000 now and 5,000 when you're done; sound good?"
"Yeah. What about the others?"
"I don't care. Kill them, if you want."
"Alright." With the notice of a successful 5,000 Lien transaction on the Heads-Up Display on his mask, Draksis pulled his hood up and stepped out of the alley.
"Wait." The man called out. He handed two black wristbands to Draksis. "I was going to give this to the other guy but you can have it. These wristbands project a coating over your hands. It keeps your fingerprints off of surfaces to make it harder for the cops to identify you. It's basically retractable gloves."
Draksis slipped the wristbands beneath his sleeves and activated it. He noticed the sheen of the clear film crawl from the wristbands and covered his hands entirely. "Thanks."
"That kid, uh… Draksis. Did he quit this entire thing? And who are you?"
"Draksis Walker is done killing." He replied with his back turned. "As for your second question, I am Hell's Angel." He added before jumped to the rooftop.
At the SDC abandoned factory.
"Let's hurry this up! The sun's gonna rise soon." A large bear Faunus commanded his cohorts as they loaded trucks with boxes of dust.
"Yo, Brutus!" One of the armed White Fang guards shouted from his position. "Why we gotta do this so early in the damn morning?"
"Torchwick's orders, Craig. Not mine." The overseer, named Brutus, answered.
"You gotta admit; the guy's a dickface." Craig commented.
"Yeah, he is. Now, get back to your post." Brutus agreed before he took out a radio and spoke into it. "Ramirez, any movement?" After a moment of static, he tried again.
"Ramirez, come in. Do you see anything?"
Radio silence.
"Ramirez! Come in, Damn it!"
More static.
"Jesus!" He growled before he turned to the armed guard. "Craig, go check on Ramirez. The dumbass isn't answering his damn radio."
"Sure thing, chief. Probably stupid enough to leave it muted." The guard replied before he left to check on his colleague.
"Ramirez?! Ramirez?! You here, man?!" Craig called out as he wandered around the back of the factory. Suddenly, he heard the sound of glass shattering. He raised his rifle and shifted to where it came from. "Ramirez, is that you?" He carefully inched closer and closer to a stack of crates.
"Sorry."
"Huh?!" Craig turned around and gasped as he saw a hooded figure with a skull's jaw and green visor standing right behind him.
"Ramirez is too busy shitting his guts out."
Before he could draw his rifle, Hell's Angel slashed at the guard's throat with a black knife. Craig collapsed while he gurgled on his blood which sprayed from his throat.
Another man burst through the back door and spotted the killer. "Hey! You-"
The mercenary threw his knife and impaled it right between the man's eyes, effectively shutting him up. He was just about to enter the conveniently opened door before he had second thoughts. He looked back at the pool of blood left by Craig's corpse and smirked under his masked.
"That's everything! Get in the trucks!" Brutus commanded as he noticed the sun rising. "And Jacques, Go get Craig and Ramirez. Tell them to get going or they're gonna get left behind."
"Yes, sir!" The female deer Faunus nodded before she entered the factory. However, she failed to notice the assassin waiting behind her when she closed the door.
Hell's Angel constricted an arm around her neck and grasped the back of her head.
"Twitch and I'll break your neck." He threatened his choking victim. "Who is your boss and where is he?"
"Gah… Bru-Brutus… Ack… he's… out fr-front… by the trucks!" The White Fang member barely coughed out from the chokehold.
Draksis grinned under his mask. "Thank you, 'deer'. I'll let you go now." With that, he violently twisted her neck with a reverberating snap and discarded the corpse. "God, that was fun."
Brutus watched the last of his group pack the last dust crate before entering his own vehicle. His brows furrowed when the engine didn't start when he turned the key. He tried again and again and again, but to no avail. He growled as he stepped out of his vehicle and kicked the bumper out of frustration. Suddenly, a black knife flew towards the truck and stuck into the windshield. The overseer glared at the masked hood behind him.
"Hello." The contract killer casually greeted with a wave. "Hope you don't mind, but I killed all your White Fang buddies before I decided to pay you a visit." Brutus snarled as he materialised a flaming sword and swung the uninvited guest; only to hit air. Hell's Angel dodged the furious slashes with mere tilts and shifts of his body until he grasped the pyromancer's wrist to block a blow meant for his head. With the glove momentarily retracted, Draksis subtly siphoned his aura before getting punched back.
"Is that all you've got?" Brutus taunted as he twirled his literal fire blade. Despite taking a hit, Draksis smirked out of anticipation.
"Bitch, please…" He snidely began as he materialised two green-flamed swords in his hands. "I'm just getting 'warmed up'."
While Brutus stared bug-eyed at him, Hell's Angel vanished into a shroud of flames of his colour and hurtled towards his target. The large Faunus barely blocked the strike in time as the mercenary re-materialised in front of him. He gritted his teeth as he tried to block the relentless assault of the green-hot blades, despite creating a second fire sword for himself in an attempt to even the odds. He grunted as Draksis nailed a slash across his chest. Brutus was shocked when his assailant copied his semblance and was more skilled with it; imagine his shock when he felt a painful burn on his chest.
"It's your semblance but it's my aura." Draksis plainly explained when he noticed the confused look on his victim's face. He figured that the poor guy should at least know how he was burned before finishing him off. Before Brutus could move to retaliate, the assassin got rid of his swords before he attacked with his bare hands. Brutus was helpless to fight back so he resorted to using his aura to protect him, but little did he know that Hell's Angel took advantage of this and sapped his aura for every punch landed until it was too late. The aura vampire struck at the White Fang operative's windpipe which caused him to drop to his knees. While his victim was choking in his own throat, Draksis firmly grasped his head with both hands and sent blazing flames down his arms. Unable to properly scream, Brutus let out whimpers and groans of agony as he was getting burned alive at a slow painstaking speed. Draksis continually scorched Brutus until his skull was reduced to ash before he used the remaining stolen aura and threw a fireball to completely disintegrate the corpse.
When Hell's Angel allowed his adrenaline to recede, he activated the voice mod in his mask and contacted his benefactor. He turned it off at the start of this mission because they would all be too dead to remember his voice.
"Did you do it?" The voice of the man he met earlier sounded out in his earpiece.
"Yeah. All kills confirmed."
"Good. Patching the rest of the money through to your account. Nice job, Hell's Angel."
With the money transferred, Draksis disconnected the call and retrieved his forgotten knife from the windshield of the truck. He made sure that his gloves were on before he opened one of the crates in the truck and took a couple of dust vials then made his way back to Beacon; he couldn't help himself. He can't wait to sneak back to his room and catch up on his well-deserved sleep.