URRRGGGGGGGG... my life is pain

Tempest: What's with Mr Angsty over here, run out of black eyeliner or something?

You really are annoying sometimes. I'm barely getting any sleep over three hours and I haven't been thinking properly in weeks. Besides that however, I have another chapter here for ye devout fans who still read this fanfiction with an absolutely wonderful update schedule... It's barely been over a month now!

Tempest: Please don't tell me you believe those words...

Wouldn't in a million years. BUT I DIGRESS... I must apologise for the shitty update schedule that this story is experiencing and I really have no excuse for why I haven't uploaded in a while. And even then, I must apologise in advance for this chapter because I'm sure most of you will be pained to hear it's a backstory chapter. I feel as though I've made far too many things happen without actually fully explaining them and while I myself know why they do I don't actually give many good reasons or just don't end up explaining or continuing with them at all (pointed out to me many times by Fierce Striker - no hate to you man, just acknowledgement)

Tempest: What, you mean like why you characters OP as knobs, why he left that totally not a bomb thingy under Beacon, why Amber's alive, HOW HE WAS ABLE TO CALL IN TITANS FROM ORBIT IN THE FIRST BLOODY STORY... seriously, get onto these things right now, even I'm annoyed

What are you talking about, you're always annoyed. But yes, I shall be answering some of these questions and filling in some info I didn't continue on with from previous chapters, hopefully to satisfy those out there who are annoyed with my crappy writing style.

Tempest: Yeah, yeah get on with the chapter, I want to see more of me kicking ass

...

Tempest: ARE YOU KIDDING ME! ANOTHER CHAPTER WITHOUT ME! THIS IS THE WORST TRADE DEAL IN [USER HAS BEEN MUTED]

Oh wow, that actually worked... well, as I get a massive kick out of the fact that I can apparently mute Tempest with the press of a button, you lads and ladies have fun reading the next chapter. You can thank Winterwarrior127 (one of my friends in real life) for whipping me every damned day to release this... thanks man, I definitely needed it and kudos for getting my fat ass back to actually finishing this. It's especially long just because I wasn't at all happy with how everything flowed and I needed some sort of note to end on and I kept having to rewrite it until it felt at least decent and even then I feel as this isn't even close to my finest work so I'm sorry... I'll get back on to actually continuing the main plot soon enough and hopefully get back on to fulfilling those OC request people send in... I PROMISE I READ THEM I'M JUST REALLY BAD AT ADDING THEM!

Yang: And without further adieu, ONTO THE NEXT CHAPTER!

Wait... what the hell just happened!

Naughtbeast

Chapter 26:

Titans always bring smiles to a Pilot's face. The booming footsteps, the clunking of metal around the cockpit and the weight of the massive weapons, all of it coalesces into a symphony of destruction that brings joy to all. Well, that was pretty much how it went for the majority of those who went into Pilot training, they wanted in on the biggest toys out there and they were going to have a damn good time with them.

Being a Pilot took a certain level of... insanity, to say the least. A Titan is less so a machine and more an extension of the Pilot themselves. Pilots were the only ones who could neural-link to the Titan's OS and when they did, as was said when anyone spoke of Pilots... nothing would stop them bar an overwhelming force or another Pilot of equal skill.

Which when you think about it wasn't exactly the best line for boosting moral, but you took what you got. And so, when Josh was once again starting up the boot-up sequence for a Titan after several months of little to no use he was positively giddy with excitement. The screen shuddered to life as the core of the beast whirred with energy. He felt the humming as the servos came online and the Titan's body straightened into a standing position, a tingling sensation running through his legs as though he had been the one performing the action.

Linking was a strange occurrence, one which not many people got to experience throughout their life and it was almost the definition of an out-of-body experience. Actions that were normally subconscious had to be mentally thought out as nerve endings were re-routed to instead control the complex systems of the Titan itself, so much so that moving your fingers or head was an arduous task to complete. Thankfully, 90% of the Titan's functionality was able to be thought-controlled which left little needing to be done out of link but needless to say, you never got used to it.

The screen in front of him flickered to life and the booting sequence began, activating the several ocular sensors that were on the 'head' of the Titan he felt his eyes tingle slightly as the display began to light up to give him the view of the outside world. Normally, with static screens it was extremely difficult to judge distance or angle give that a person's brain had to process where they were seeing it with their eyes but couldn't compute the angle at which the Titan's optics were viewing it from so with a slight change to the optical receival nerves it was possible to warp the screens in such a manner that it removed this discrepancy, meaning Pilots were essentially 'seeing' out of their Titan.

Now, once both the motor and optical systems were in running order it was onto the last of the lot... the AI installed. A small face appeared in the bottom left corner of the screen with features that were beaming with delight... which unfortunately quickly turned into a scowl.

"Joshua..." spoke the robotic tones of Vanessa, the Pilot inside quickly sighing as he subconsciously began the other routine systems diagnostics, ensuring that after their fight with that Grimm guy that she wasn't too damaged.

"You could, you know, address me WITHOUT distain in your voice? I mean seriously, we talked over this before!" he complained as he moved the Titan's arms to pick up the Plasma Railgun that was resting on a set of ropes on the ceiling.

"Maybe... I'm still annoyed though" replied the AI, Josh sensing her as she began searching back through the sub-systems of the Titan to initiate the several HUD elements that were yet to be loaded, the grey scaled reticule loading into place on his screen that he tested by aiming the railgun around the room to ensure it was responsive. Their talk about how Vanessa was apparently his 'sister' went just as well as Josh had expected it to go... that was to say, completely horribly.

It was a complicated story and one which he had told with no small amount of guilt and afterwards, Vanessa had upped her distain towards him, although thankfully she didn't want to kill him anymore, which was probably the one positive to come out of the talk.

Josh had explain how he had been his sister, a real flesh and blood one, and how everything had gone to shit for her life. Her 'original' life was as one girl known as Vanessa Crux Dakkery, the eldest sibling of the Dakkery family with an apparent death at the age of 24 after a serious accident during a car crash... a death which Josh apparently blamed on himself.

She had been given a promotion to Pilot and would receive the honour officially a week after the notification, and so the three siblings of the Dakkery family had decided to go out to a club in celebration. While Vanessa wasn't the type to drink she knew her brothers would somehow make it fun, probably by trying to get her hooked up with some random bar-goer, so she had decided to go along with it. The night had gone well and by the end of it, both brothers were stone drunk with little processing power beyond insulting each other with half-assed comments. The older brother, Damien, had elected to stay out longer with some guys he had met while at the bar, so Josh and Vanessa were left to drive home with Vanessa at the wheel being completely sober unlike her brother.

They had driven almost half way to their residence with Josh being mostly silent until he randomly began heaving in the back seat. Vanessa had pulled over in a seemingly empty industrial lot which was the closest turn off on the major road and took him outside, so he wouldn't stain any more of her car, but she failed to notice the figures that were coming up behind them from the darkness. They had jumped the two of them and beat them until one of the members managed to start the car, the rest jumping in and driving off. The two were left beaten and broken on the side of the road until the next morning when they were found by the workers of the site. They were rushed to hospital to recover from their injuries and after three days, Josh had been cleared to leave.

What he wasn't told until he returned home, though, was that Vanessa had received significantly more injuries and would have to stay there for some time. But, after three months, he knew there was no way she was coming back from this. His family began blaming him for her condition, particularly his brother who was blaming him for letting it happen to her and even his parents who he had caught one night wishing it was him who was in there instead of her.

Not being able to take it any longer he had made his way to the hospital to try and see what he could do given that he did have medical training and by sure coincidence happened across her senior officer in the Militia making a stop by, already talking to the nearby nurses about something. Josh had ignored him and only after he began sitting next to Vanessa was he finally addressed. As it turned out, the man wanted to offer him something, a second chance for Vanessa so that she could continue living, albeit not the way she used to.

He was a representative of the R&D division and was searching for candidates for the latest line of Artificial Intelligences that they were creating, and Vanessa was the perfect candidate. Her neural network would be clone and then copied into a computer program to the point that she would essentially be reborn as a consciousness lacking a body. Josh had originally objected to the idea, until he heard that it required a familial tie to sign off for the procedure. He knew his parents would never sign for her release, they were heavily against technology in just about every facet of life and his brother would never sign because his trust in the Militia was abysmal at best.

And so, with no small amount of hesitation he had signed the release form... his sister had been labelled officially dead... and one month later he had enlisted within the Militia to collect her when the procedure was finally done.

"Yeah well, we're doing rounds now because Demon's run off somewhere in a tiff and we have the wonderful job of searching around to find him so Ozpin can do some Ghostbusters shit and free him from some dude who's controlling him..."

"Uhhhhh, what?" Vanessa deadpanned, not even sure if Josh was being sarcastic or if he was actually being serious at this point in time. Even after all the time she'd spent with him as his AI she still hadn't picked up on just when he was using sarcasm. After his chat she felt as though her entire life had been coalesced into one giant lie and she wasn't sure what she was anymore, which left her in a rather unique mental state... she was pissed.

"I'll fill you in on the details while we're out in the field but... how do I put this? We may need to subdue Demon..." Josh hesitantly spoke, the Titan spending a few moments to whirr in thought as she processed his words.

"Well I wish you extreme luck in that case because I sure as hell won't be able to do that..." she quipped, not bothering to explain any further while she lumbered her mechanised body through the hall into the fresh air outside of the small lawn behind the inn. The inn was surprisingly close in comparison to Shade academy and so there was a particularly large area out the back which held enough room for most of the occupants to be sitting on the grass with room to spare.

"What do you mean, I mean sure he has his aura and Semblance with all the jazz, but he's only one guy and you're literally like a 15-foot mechanised war-machine"

"As much as I don't want to assume... I can say with certainty you've never actually have seen him fight on the battlefield, have you?"

By now, the Vanessa was manoeuvring the Stryder through the field until they were walking through the grounds of the almost deserted grounds of Shade academy. She had already had maps downloaded over the local network which gave her general maps of the surrounding area which gave her an almost direct path through the ground into the surrounding forest where they could begin their search. She had established links to the others scrolls and likewise devices to intercept their transmissions, so she had a general idea of what was going on after she knew Josh either hadn't listened during the briefing or simply wasn't going to tell her.

She didn't like it in the slightest and that was an understatement. Ever since she had been bought by Demon she had been in awe of his almost machine-like mind which somehow could construct strategies which even she herself couldn't even fathom. It was inspiring to say the least, but the most worrisome thing that she was often drawn back to was just how it had come to this and why he is as he is.

Her programming was to psychologically analyse the Pilot she was given but everything she had stored couldn't even let her begin to understand just how he was staying together. With the amount of gore and bloodshed he had seen in his time by all means he should have already been discharged under medical guidelines that the militia held for those with longer exposure to battlefield conditions... and yet each of his psyche evaluations had come back without troubles. Being bound to a mechanical conscience she didn't exactly have the capabilities to investigate just how credible these investigations were. But of course, all she had to go off were shorter-than-average sessions and a much larger pay-check being sent to those performing the evaluation.

"Demon may have a reputation but he's only just a human. I mean, sure he has an Aura and Semblance now, but he's been beaten before" Josh remarked, knowing with confidence that even the infallible Demon could be brought down with enough force.

"That's the problem though, when has he ever actually fought"

"He's fought plenty of times, in Miss Goodwitch's classes, in the Vytal festival and... oh... now I get it, all under controlled conditions"

He finally understood now what Vanessa was getting at. Sure, he'd seen Demon fight, but never seriously. There was the time with the Grimm when he was first transported here... but Demon was never trained to take down those creatures of darkness, he had always had his sights set on those with IMC printed all over their uniforms. Demon was a massive powerhouse in the Militia's promotional propaganda and he knew they would have to drag it from somewhere, but he had never actually seen him fight properly.

"See what I mean. As much I would like to have faith in superior numbers, I'd hate to tempt fate considering how ridiculous some of his battles were"

"But, I mean, he's just a human! As much as I hate to doubt him, he couldn't REALLY have killed someone with a billiard ball"

"I'll stop you right there because I did actually have the 'luck' to manage to see that in person... and trust me when I say it's just as confusing to see happen than it is to talk about"

"Urrgrgrggr... seriously though, how does anyone do that much crazy stuff! I've heard of kids trained to be killing machines, but this is ridiculous. How the hell does he fit so much stuff in his head! I did all my military training after finishing my medical degree but he's, what, only nineteen? He should be broken!"

"His adoptive parents were... not the best choice" Vanessa muttered in an almost sad way, which piqued Josh's interest, mainly because Demon had never even spoken about his adoptive parents before.

"How bad were they? Are they the reason he turned out like this?"

"I wasn't told everything but from what I can gather they have a VERY high chance of being the root cause. Well... less so his parents and more-so the person they hired to teach him the art of killing..."

[12 years prior to Remnant jump – Colony world Jormungand – headquarters of H&C Logistics Incorporated]

A small boy lay in a cot within a dark and dismal room, reminiscent of a prison cell, his eyes open and straining to make out any shapes within the darkness that surrounded him. His bed was one of many within the grey and featureless room, although none of the others were occupied. Almost militaristic bunks were the choice of bedding and he had been glad that he was at least given the luxury of picking a top bunk. He was unsure of the time, as was expected considering he didn't have any possessions on him and a bed-side clock was low on his list of priorities.

His head of black hair was dishevelled with sweat which was mirrored in a patch on the bedsheets and one could guess was also the reason for the bags beneath his eyes. His breathing was laboured but was smoothing out with each successive breath as it was coming more under control with each passing second.

He was brought out of his stupor when light suddenly flooded the room and he was forced to cover his eyes with his forearm to avoid being blinded. It was only after a few seconds that he dared opened his eyes and he still strained to see through the new-found brightness, making out the dark figure of a person standing near to the door. He waited for his eyes to adjust before making any assumptions as to who it was, and he was almost glad to find it was thankfully someone he knew.

Chiquita was her name and as much as the smug as hell smirk she was wearing and the decked-out military gear complimenting the submachine gun swinging from her hip said otherwise, she was a nice person. As the bodyguard to his apparent new mother They had only met three days prior, but she had already taken to talking to him as though they were long-time friends and he honestly found it refreshing considering everyone else here had... well, to put it mildly, the personality of a brick wall. She had been his sole confidant after everything and he was honestly glad that she had been there.

"Come on, up and at 'em little birdie! We're off to meet the big boss so you gotta look your best!" she announced cheerfully, falling into a sort of lazy smile afterwards, one that she was always contented to wear just about everywhere.

She was quite youthful, which the boy found strange considering everyone else that worked here looked several years older than she did, but he mostly put it down to him being rude in assuming her age or something. He knew she was a body-guard, and if the solid black tactical gear that she wore and the weapons that she would never be caught without were any indication, her toned muscles and imposing physique would clue you in almost immediately. She stood head and shoulders above the boy at an impressive six foot three with a short head of dark black hair that fell between her eyes and contrasted her fair skin. The most notable feature was a large cross framed by rays of sunshine that was tattooed into her right forearm which was always left bare despite the body armour that coated the rest of her body.

A nod was the only response she received from the boy, a timid remark, more-so done out of formality rather than want to respond. With that reply she respectfully stepped outside and left the door slightly ajar, giving him privacy to change into the gear that she had left on the bunk below. It wasn't long before he stepped outside in a rather well-fitted miniature uniform over his frame. Complete with a small bullet-proof vest over his chest, the outfit was a perfect reflection of her own and she was marvelling at how they had managed to make one so small considering the small stature that came with his age.

He looked up at her with a raised eyebrow, almost as though he was asking if he had passed the non-existent test that she had set out for him. She gave him a smile and ruffled his hair to ease his worries but behind it she hid what real emotions she felt for the boy... sorrow. Because she knew exactly what kind of a burden would come with him having to don that uniform.

"Come on, best not keep her waiting, she's positively ecstatic at getting to meet her new son!" she cheered, beginning to walk down the corridor towards her destination, failing to notice the boy flinch as she brought up memories he was not happy to have to grip with so soon after the incident. He reluctantly followed a few moments later and fell into step behind her not long after, despite how large of stride she would take with each step.

The halls they walked through were just as unremarkable as the room he was stationed in, solid grey walls with directional signs at each intersection and simple marked doors along the walls of each corridor. After a rather awkward silent travel they eventually found their way to the sections of the building that were far more outstanding in terms of the fact that armed guards were standing at just about every corner that they turned. An escort had already fallen into step behind them consisting of two stone-faced men with rifles held tight against their chest as though they were prepared for the two in front of them to begin attacking.

The woman took it in stride and continued her casual sauntering down the halls towards their destination, wherever that was, whereas the boy had noticeably tensed from the extra attention, sending furtive glances back towards their shadows, more notably the weapons that they held and so he saw it fitting to quicken his pace to stay nigh a few inches away from the woman who he was following. Their walking eventually stopped when they finally came to stand in front of a large set of double-doors with a massive placard embellished within the wall above it, reading 'Main Office' in massive bold text.

Chiquita stepped up and swiped a key-card that hung around her neck over a strange sensor that was almost indistinguishable from the wall and the doors slowly began sliding to the sides, revealing the interior to the two of them. The boy was hesitant to step forward and so required no small amount of coaxing on the behalf of Chiquita, but they eventually stepped inside to see where their true destination was.

"I really couldn't care less how much it costs, you get it done and get it done on time! I do not want a repeat of last year's shipment so make sure –"

The boy kind of cut out after hearing that much of a rather young and feminine voice that was projecting from the far side of the room, the origin yelling rather forcefully into a handset that was held to her ear. Her back was to the two of them but after a questioning glance of the woman beside him, the boy knew this is who they were after. He knew who this was, and more importantly who this was going to be, his new mother. Without any legal guardians left, the only person who apparently came to his aid was this woman, yet he had barely heard her name until two years ago.

Her bleak white hair was the most stunning feature he had seen yet and he marvelled at how neat it was, cutting every bit the imposing businesswoman that he had heard she was, the idea only reinforced by the short pencil skirt and white business shirt that she chose to adorn. She didn't look like a bad person, but the boy was already imagining all the horrible situations, from her hating him from the moment she laid eyes on him to being just as abusive as he had seen some of the other parents be in their neighbourhood. As much as he didn't want to believe they would become real, he didn't really feel as though the world was through with kicking him just yet.

She spoke into the phone for an age and the boy honestly considered sitting on the floor, luckily though she did turn around in a particular bout of anger towards whoever was on the other end and finally caught on that the two of them were there. Her face twitched for a moment as she looked at the boy and it turned into some sort of forced smile, one which quickly disappeared as she turned around to finish up the conversation.

"... I need to put this conversation on hold, we'll finish discussing the deal later... what do you mean no? Do you know who you're talking to? If you want to get sub-par gear then go ahead but if you want the top-tier stuff then you'll do god damn well to listen to me, now goodbye!"

The woman slammed the device she was using on the nearby table and took a large breath, seeming to stabilise herself after the rather heated conversation. Taking one more moment to straighten her hair, she turned once again to address them with a smile that even the boy could tell was not even the smallest bit genuine.

"Hey there Hawk, it's so great to see you up and about after you mother was k- I mean, after the incident... Chiquita how about you stand outside for a moment, I'd like to have a few quality moments with my... son" she spoke, gesturing for said woman to leave. The boy went slightly wide eyed and frantically turned to see Chiquita leaving, his arm quickly shooting out to grab at her leg before she could go. She looked down to see his pleading eyes and she felt it tugging at her heart-strings, but she knew that if she didn't listen to her boss then a slap on the wrist was the least of her concerns.

"Don't worry kiddo, you're in good hands and I'll be just outside, ok?" she offered with a smile as she ruffled his hair, trying to at least give him a tiny amount of support but it still didn't look at all like he believed her. He eventually loosened his grip enough on her leg that she could finally leave the room, which mean that it was just him and this woman.

"I understand how you must be feeling so before we do anything else, let's introduce ourselves, maybe that way we can get off to a better start!" she spoke, shoving out her hand in greeting as though he were another one of her business partners, all formality. "My name is Koko Hekmatyer, and as you should already know I am the current head of the HCLI weapons and arms trade business, single richest and most profitable privately-owned company in the entirety of Frontier space and well... I guess I'll spare you the rest of the spiel. In short, I am your new legal guardian and I look forward to the future that we'll share together!"

The boy didn't quite know what to do and so he met her hand with a shake and was surprised when she shook it vigorously, causing him to almost bounce up and down on the floor. She obviously meant it to be as some sort of joke, but it was almost entirely lost on the boy who was at the most terrified of what was happening and using all his strength not to exclaim his surprise with a shout. Once she was done, not once picking up on his discomfort, she let go and stepped back, standing in place as she awaited his own introduction.

Once the boy himself was done getting over just what had happened he knew it was his turn and didn't quite know how he was going to get past doing it. It all just felt incredibly... wrong. When he spoke, it was a hush and grating sound which was a result of almost a day of constant tears and just over a day of no use. To say the least, it showed just how much pain he was in.

"My name is Hawk" he spoke simply, putting out his much smaller hand as she had done, cringing as an even bigger smile somehow worked its way onto her face when she grabbed his hand once again and shook it with all her might. He broke off as quickly as he could and stepped back, looking down to the floor as he didn't quite know what to do next. Before anything else could be said, he heard a colossal booming sound that seemed to come from the nearby window of the office and so naturally he was drawn straight to it.

After a few steps he was frozen in place at what he saw, no words or experiences being able to describe what he was seeing through the massive panes of glass that separated him from what was going on down below. His expression shifted to a mixture of terror and curiosity, his feet freezing in place despite how much he wanted to move away.

It was a massive room the size of two entire aircraft hangers and it had hundreds upon hundreds of construction machines running at once with sparks flying in every which way. Although, it wasn't that which drew his attention, it was the other machines which were the focal point of the whole thing.

Gigantic mechanised robots walked in droves one behind another with guns that would have been several times his size and even from this distance they inspired a sort of primal fear in him. Alongside them other smaller mechanised robots that walked in much larger groups, all of which were holding weapon that varied from smaller ones like he had seen Chiquita holding up to large tubes with warning labels printed all over them, most prominently that of 'EXPLOSIVE' shown near the 'top' of the weapon.

Their eyes were a glowing red and he could practically feel the hostility that they exuded as they walked down the massive loading bay towards an absolutely gigantic loading ramp which led to the interior of what he could tell was a space ship if the markings on what he could see of the hull were any indication. It was terrifying to watch as he questioned what in the world would possibly need all of these metal soldiers.

"Interested in my business I see. Top-of-the-line Atlas Titans and the first prototype models of the first-generation spectre mechanised infantry!" Koko broke out in a spiel, looking down with a smile at her work, once again missing the cues that the kid was exuding. "Those guys over at Hammond industries brought them up before I even began the sales pitch!"

Hawk by now had dispelled most of his terror at seeing the death-dealing machines that he had heard that Koko dealt with, but he was still in awe of what they were. She had been described to him as an 'arms dealer' but this was beyond even his wildest expectations. Being from a reasonably well-off world on the edges of the Frontier meant he wasn't exposed to much of the politics that went on around the worlds which bordered his area, even more so since his house was far detached from the rest of his village. He had seen one of those gigantic mechs before, but it was never like what he was witnessing now.

One of the farmers nearby had been friends with his uncle and had owned a decommissioned model of the Titans before him which he would often use to bring in the large bails of hay that laid around his property or to move around the machinery which his aging body couldn't quite cope with. He had ridden inside the cabin of one before and he hadn't gotten the smile off his face for weeks after but now that he was seeing them for what they really were he wasn't sure how to feel about them.

They were built to kill people... taking away their lives before they had lived out their lives into old age... just like his mother. The boy balled his fists and narrowed his eyes, feeling a strange sense of anger fill him as he continued to watch them walk along with mechanical efficiency. By now, Koko had seemed to finally catch on to what he was doing and looked on in mute interest, deciding after almost two minutes of silence to finally say something.

"What are you thinking? I've seen that look before and a little munchkin like you shouldn't have such a serious expression" she probed, for once actually sounding genuine when she addressed him. Her question didn't produce an answer instantly, but just as she was about to speak again, he made his thoughts known.

"If those robots are built to hurt people then... can you... teach me how to stop them" he asked in an almost innocent determination, Koko raising an eyebrow at such a strange request.

"Well little Hawk, I wouldn't exactly say that those robots are built to hurt people... the people that use them want them to be. If it wasn't like that then I'd feel a lot worse about being in the respectable business of arms trading. Guns don't kill people... people kill people"

Hawks gaze never faltered from what was before him as he contemplated in silence, not once giving Koko any indication of how he felt about her response, that was until he turned to her and said with the utmost resolution a phrase which Koko would never forget until many years later when she finally said goodbye to him.

"Then... teach me how to kill people"

To say the least... Koko had never smiled so widely in her life.

[Three years later – HCLI training quarters]

The harsh booming of gunfire blocked the hearing of the many soldiers which were currently undergoing the soldier training regime to become part of the HCLI defence contracting division, well-known for producing exemplary personal defence personnel. This particular batch of recruits were in the second year of training and had only recently moved on to the practical training section of their stay with the company, completing a theoretical course the year prior to ensure they had a vast knowledge of squad and defence tactics before they began to familiarise themselves with weapons.

This was the fifth week of firing range drills and each of them had graduated to the level that they were now moving into the heavy weaponry subsection of the program which had each of them now beginning to hone their skills with both the Kraber AP and the Spitfire heavy ordinance weapons. Most were finding it easy to pick up and the stability of the Spitfire's automatic compensation mechanics were working wonders, and many had taken a liking to the weapons potential. The problem was however with the Kraber.

Most were not trained snipers and never intended to be and the unwieldiness of the weapons colossal weight was not lost on any bar those who had already trained with the beast. There was one however, who was having particular trouble trying to pick up the weapons intricate skill set... in a more literal sense than anything else.

A small boy, short black hair cropping his eyes which were now displaying his intense frustration at the task in front of him. He was by no means small for his age, but he was completely dwarfed by the men which were around him. Which was most notably because of the fact he was barely nine years old. In his hands he was trying to get around the unwieldiness that the mass of the Kraber presented but was having little luck considering his small frame could barely even carry the thing. The others watched on but knew not to help lest they be 'disciplined' by the overseer for interfering with another's training. It was strictly forbidden to involve yourself with another training so that HCLI could be certain of each individual's aptitude rather than their ability to be helped by others.

And so, after he had tired himself hefting the massive thing over to the firing range to his designated stall, the others were incredulous to see that he then began the meticulous process of setting it up for firing. That was when the commotion finally stopped. All of them knew that even the experienced among them were hard-pressed to control the recoil and so they all knew it would not be pretty if he even had the gall to pull the trigger. Each of them knew that they had to stop him... but each were dissuaded when they turned to meet the gaze of the overseer who himself was looking at the boy with narrowed eyes and a mouth set into a scowl.

They all knew the message... help him, and it's your hide that's on the line.

When they heard the unmistakable sound of the rifle discharging they all turned to see the small figure of the boy fall to the floor with the rifle close behind, smoke coming from it's barrel as the boy's face contorted in pain. As the two hit, all of those assembled could see the damage done and by no means were they disappointed in their predictions. His shoulder had been at the very least dislocated given his arm was pointing off at a rather odd angle and a piece of bone was highlighted even through the black shirt that he wore.

"BRANWEN! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" roared the overseer, jumping down from his post to stride over to the boy, not even showing the slightest of intent to help him in any way. The boy, who most of the others in the room fully expected to be wailing in agony simple stood up from his position on the floor to greet his overseer with gritted teeth, his eyes watering but not a single tear falling despite the pain he was in.

"Finishing the drill Sir... unless I can fire the Kraber effectively then I can't pass on to the next stage of training" was his simple response, which didn't at all seem to satisfy the overseer. He brought back his hand and with a swift clap of sound, a red mark was appearing on the side of the boys face where he had been slapped.

"DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU'LL BE ABLE TO DO THAT YOU DAMNED CHILD! THAT DAMNED ARM OF YOURS AIN'T GONNA HEAL UNTIL WE'RE IN NEXT WEEKS COURSE AND BY THEN YOU'LL HAVE WASHED OUT! YOU DISPICABLE PILE OF TRASH, UNLESS YOU CAN ACTUALLY FIRE THAT DAMNED THING WITHOUT FLYING OFF ONTO YOUR ASS YOU CAN KISS THE ENTIRE COURSE GOODBYE!"

The boy didn't at all seem phased and reached down with his undamaged arm to pick up the Kraber which had fallen to the floor and began re-setting it for firing. The bipod was deployed, and he used his undamaged arm to chamber another round, pressing the weapon up against his shoulder and wincing as it touched tender flesh. His free arm went out and fished piece of rope from his pocket, wrapping it around the trigger of the weapon and everyone else was stupefied to see him grab the rope in his teeth. Next to come out was the dagger that was sheathed at the small of his back, the small blade being stabbed into the table and anchored there.

His breathing slowed and with one methodical motion, whipped his head back and the rifle once again discharged. The others saw it before they heard it. The rifles recoil went straight back into his already mangled shoulder but with the knife as an anchor and an iron grip, the energy wasn't directed into putting him onto his ass and instead burrowed itself into his shoulder. The already dislocated bone was further destroyed as the shattered marrow poked through the skin and jutted out of his uniform as a stark contrast to the black that was normally present.

But again... nothing bar a sharp intake in breath indicated anything had even happened.

He carefully tore the knife free of the table and stood back, letting the rifle rest as he turned to face the overseer with barely contained pain through teeth that you could hear grating just by looking at them.

"Was that... satisfactory" he spoke in choked breaths, never once tearing his eyes from the overseer who by this point had no clue how to act. He had been given this child by the head of his own damned organisation and told to 'make him into a soldier' but this was ridiculous. He was meant to be her own damned son and yet she never once came to check on him in the barracks exceeding anything other than sending Chiquita in for status updates and he had no clue how he was even keeping up with the rest of the others going through the training. If anything, the bastard sure had more determination that the rest of them combined.

"You're either incredibly stupid... or you've got more guts than the big boss herself... either way, you're unique, I can give you that... NOW GET YOUR BLOODY ASS IN GEAR AND FIX MY DAMNED FIRING RANGE, YOU PUT A HOLE IN IT WITH THAT KNIFE OF YOURS AND I SURE AS HELL AIN'T GOING TO FIX IT!"

[Five years later – HCLI biotech R&D department]

"Ma'am, the tests have far too much room for error and half of what we're installing could cripple him if things went RIGHT! I just think you should rethink this before you sign his life away!" came a concerned voice spoken in a harsh whisper. The voice was spoken from one rather femme fatale known as Chiquita and in a strange turn of events it was being used to address her own employer, one Koko Hekmatyar, who was at the moment enraptured with another person under her employ. Said person was currently strapped to an operating table with several doctors bustling around him with various tools of their trade on the opposite side of the glass to which the two of them were standing.

Hawk had his legs and feet bound to the table with his chest pressed to the metal, revealing his back which already had several incisions over its entirety, the largest running straight up his spine and stopping just after the base of his neck. Light scars were present as white marks against his admittedly pale skin with a rather large one right where his shoulder blade was, the remnants of his injuries from all those years ago during his days of training. One of the doctors was currently busying himself with a large array of tubes and metallic wirings that were sticking out from the back of the boy's head, being bunched so heavily that it almost looked like it was just his hair being braided, even though his actual hair had been shaved off for the procedure.

IV drips were running through both his arms and legs with fluid being pumped through in seemingly random intervals, never once forming a solid flow, which wasn't the most shocking thing considering they had several parts of his skin peeled off and freely bleeding while they began tinkering with the wounds with odd devices.

"What could you possibly mean Chiquita! These are the Frontier's top biotech scientists and none of the highest risk procedure only has a seventy percent failure rate, he's completely safe. He's being given a completely new life!"

"Ma'am, he's just a child! At least wait until he's cleared his weapons engineering course! He should have a say in what you're doing to him!"

"Chiquita, he had a say the day he told me to turn him into a soldier. I still hate that he chose those stupid degenerates over at Fleet Tech Constructions over my own instructors, but I suppose they are at least decent. But that doesn't matter... once I can prove that these enhancements can work he'll be both the perfect little soldier and the perfect promotor for my stock! Nanobots injected with a direct link to his optic nerves to render even the most advanced cloaking completely moot as well as a litany of other visual enhancements. A direct spinal graft to allow for complete nervous system integration into any and all operating systems we offer, he basically becomes a living computer, not to mention the boost to his reaction speed. Direct injection chambers of stimulants directly into his blood stream..."

"Koko, you're going to kill him..." Chiquita interrupted, not even managing to draw a reaction from the woman to any degree. Koko didn't bother looking back to the woman to give her response as the doctors within the room began to move around with a more rushed demeaner, only further amplified when the boy began spasming on the table, causing more fluids to run down the IV drips that were piercing his arms until he quieted down and they resumed their work with the same casual movements with which they began.

"Go on my perfect little soldier, go and make mommy proud..."

[Two years later]

Koko sat at her large mahogany table within her private office scribbling signatures and notes over several letters which were present on the table in her usual rushed handwriting, her eyes flickering back and forth as the pen moved with grace and precision. She was so focused that she failed to notice the door opening and shutting in one smooth motion, allowing the entrance of her long-time bodyguard Chiquita. It wasn't until the guard came up and stood right in front of her desk and coughed in a rather obvious way to display her intentions.

The boss looked up and crooked an eyebrow at the fact that her choice in clothing wasn't anymore the blacked-out combat gear she was used to seeing and there wasn't even a weapon that she could see. Chiquita's normal smile was gone and instead was replaced with a strange look of apprehension.

"Don't tell me my personal bodyguard is quitting on me now, and here I was putting you down for a promotion" Koko joked, only drawing a sigh from the other woman who seemed to be avoiding eye contact with her.

"It's not that Ma'am. You asked me to come see you when I was heading off for my personal leave time and so here I am..." the woman explained, obviously annoyed that her employer had forgotten that simple fact despite how she had been reminded the day prior.

"Oh, ok then. Tell me, how is my little boy's training going, you've take him through the Titan operation course right? He's not still doing that ludicrous pet project for that pistol of his?" Koko asked, looking back down to her papers and resuming her previous writing, seeming disinterested regardless of the questions she had just asked.

"Yes, I've already tested his graft and as you predicted he's already surpassing the majority of our best Pilots in terms of combat effectiveness, although he still has an annoying tendency to destroy most of the Titans that we use for the tests. My personal training with him over the last few years have already prepared him for the advanced phases of testing. As for his 'pet project' that he's been working on, he finished that several weeks ago and the weapon is in the process of being green-lighted for mass production"

"How nice for him..." she said, not at all sounding as though she had heard a thing Chiquita had said.

"Ma'am you do remember that it's his graduation ceremony today. They're even doing it on the ship that was remodelled with his own designs, they're calling it the 'greatest battleship to grace the frontier' or something like that... he's really outdone himself this time" she remarked, letting out a slight smirk of pride for how far the boy had come and at how much he had accomplished.

"Chiquita! Why didn't you tell me! This really is a wonderful day!" Koko responded, Chiquita's hopes rising as she finally thought she would actually act like the mother she was supposed to be... until they were dashed once again as she continued with what she was saying. "He's finally putting all that annoying engineering behind him and we can finally begin to move on to his second phase of biotech enhancements! Thank you, dear Chiquita, I really am thankful that you reminded me, I'll be sure to add a little bonus to your pay for this!"

"You're welcome Ma'am" she responded in as much of a straight voice as she could muster, dreading what more she would have to deal with if she stayed any longer. "If that is all then I'll be on my way"

Chiquita turned to once again make her way out the door, quickly opening and not bothering to say anything else, that was until Koko decided to stop her right before the door was shut behind her.

"Say, before you go, your leave wouldn't have anything to do with this graduation of his would it?" Koko piped up, loud enough for Chiquita to hear but with enough edge for the woman to know it wasn't a question... it was more of an order than anything else, and if she didn't give the right answer then she knew how that would go.

"Not at all, it's just some family business I've got to take care of..." Chiquita replied through the semi-shut door, being thankful that the wood was there to stop her facial expression from being displayed to her employer who would not be too happy with how much she cringed with having to make up excuses.

She didn't receive a proper reply but heard a soft humming which meant her boss which was at least satisfied with what she heard... so Chiquita allowed herself a small smile in victory... twenty minutes later she was sitting in a dropship on her way to Hawk's graduation ceremony happily humming a tune to herself as she stared off into space.

[One year later]

Chiquita's trademark smile had been used less and less as of late but whenever she saw her little Hawk fight she couldn't stop it from gracing her features. Right now, he was performing a simulated demonstration for a group of investors intent on hiring him out for a personal defence contract and as she watched the screens which broadcast his performance from within the simulation capsule, she couldn't help but walk alongside him as she thought through the meticulous hours of training she had put him through to drill such perfected combat into his nerves.

Check corner on left... perfect. Ready weapon for engagement... use mirrored surface to check peripherals... Engage targets at effective range, eliminate... ahhh damn, I still don't know how the hell this kid remembers everything I tell him.

Her smile only widened as he finally ran out of ammunition from his weapon of choice, the Spitfire, and the real fun started. Swinging it on the sling it was on to lock onto his back, he reached down and pulled out his secondary weapon of choice, a rather large hand-cannon which was a making of his own, the B1 Wingman revolver. Ever since he had 'perfected' the design he had been resolute to develop his prowess with the weapon and she had do say, despite her initial doubts about the slow firing speed and abysmal clip size compared to the standard issue pistol for most soldiers, in skilled hands like his, the only word to describe it is beastly.

The long barrel and mechanical loading system meant that most of the weapon's bulk was made up of the firing mechanism which could pump the .45 calibre bullets it chambers out at ludicrous speeds, she doubted many rifles could match it in accuracy. And yet, even with its unwieldiness, he was out-gunning spectres with fully automatic CQB weapons... she had no doubt he would exceed even her own marksman skills in a scant few months.

Once she had seen him effortlessly blast apart a squad of spectres without so much as breaking a sweat she instead turned back to her own job, making sure her boss' ass wasn't shot off by the rather interesting company they were with currently. Mainly a rather uptight businessman who was eyeing the screen with a type of scrutiny she knew had him enraptured. His name, though, was the largest problem... Lucious Hammond, the current head to Hammond Robotics.

And then there was the company he brought, a rather vicious looking bodyguard which she actually thought looked quite handsome if she were being honest and given the looks he kept sending her way, it was reciprocated. He had introduced himself as Lehm and they had gotten off into a small conversation while their respective charges talked, mostly consisting of Chiquita making several 'dumb blonde' jokes about the man's hair colour while he retorted with his own jabs at her apparent 'edginess' which had apparently been conveyed with her all-black attire and the half skull bandana she wore around the bottom of her face.

Chiquita had now noticed how Hammond's previously intent gaze had lightened to a mild disinterest and realised that he had already made his decision.

"Miss Hekmatyar, I understand this soldier holds quite the potential, but I must enquire as to his effectiveness against Titans"

"Titan's you say Mr Hammond? Hmmm, whatever job you have him lined up for it's obviously not some chump's errand"

"And here I was thinking client confidentiality was still present in this day and age..." the man casually replied, not once tearing his eyes from the screen. Koko didn't answer and instead pressed a few buttons on the tablet she was carrying, looking up to see that a Titan had been dropped into the simulation, one which Hawk was now facing down without so much as flinching. It was a standard issue Atlas chassis armed with an XO-15 Titan Battle Rifle, although they barely got to see it in action as the boy was already on the move.

Sprinting straight at the Titan, an Arc grenade was unlatched from his belt and thrown with such precision that it detonated straight on the machine's optics, rendering them useless and making the operating system begin firing the chaingun in seemingly random patterns, something which the boy seemed to almost casually dodge as he ran forward. Holstering his pistol, he flicked out his arm and not a moment later a knife was held within his grip, something he then used to climb up the stumbling Titan's legs while avoiding being crushed, utilising the blade to pry open an access panel which after a time bordering four seconds, caused the mech to begin sparking and fizzling at its leg joints.

Hawk utilised the stumbling and climbed up the rest of the beast, popping open the access panel to its reactor core and plunging his arm in, ripping it back out with bundles of wire which caused the mech to further fizzle out, ceasing the machine's attempts to knock him off with its flailing arms.

Three seconds after that, it's core was in overdrive and Hawk was walking away fixing the knife back in its sheath, waiting for the next challenge to present itself.

"Very well Miss Hekmatyar, consider me sold... with this contract, he'll be doing a lot of good for the IMC in the coming months"

[One month later]

Chiquita's pumping heart throbbed in her ears and muffled the outside sounds of gunfire that were echoing throughout the corridors of the IMC compound that she was running through. Her submachine gun whipped up as she ran and after pulling the trigger for a quick burst, two IMC grunts thumped onto the floor with holes in their chests.

She rounded a corner and thanked her quick reflexes when she managed to dive behind a nearby wall as a barrage of gunfire peppered her last location. Pointing her weapon around the corner she let loose with the rest of the clip and heard more loud thumps. Ejecting the clip, she sighed to herself as she realised that she was out of any spares. Throwing the weapon to the floor she unsheathed her dagger and jumped around the corner in a flash of motion. It wasn't long before three more dead IMC grunts were lying on the ground with their throats slashed, all bearing the same ide eyes of surprise.

Giving herself time to rest, she slumped against the nearby wall and thought back to how this shitshow managed to start... all because once again she had let Hawk get out of her sight without giving a damned warning against doing anything stupid. It had all started as it should have... his first big job, working under a big IMC head honcho to defend a simple cargo convoy through a small patch of hostile space. As was expected, they were intercepted en-route, although it was the outcome that was really surprising in her opinion. He had been taken prisoner by the Militia, which in itself had raised some red flags, but it wasn't until he resurfaced a week later during a raid on an IMC storage facility that it all made sense.

He had let himself get captured, and she didn't like the fact that she could damn well guess why. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the IMC had something to do with it considering they bought out the place three months after it was decimated, but even she was in the dark about the specifics. She had no doubt that Hawk had figured out something at least to a satisfactory extent to basically begin waging war against them and had probably given the Militia group he had been sighted with details on their storage facilities... which lead to HCLI being blamed instead for the turn of events.

Which had then lead to her making a hasty escape with Koko back to their safe house and once again for Koko to show her ineptitude at being a mother by asking Chiquita to 'recover the asset' known as her son. And so, here she was, infiltrating an IMC base already on high alert to try and find her damned apprentice so that he could receive a thorough smacking for the shit he put Koko through... at least she knew that the woman wouldn't sacrifice her work with his biotech enhancements for something as 'small' as this.

Her quest wasn't over yet and so she hauled herself up and began making her way deeper into the station. It took a while but eventually, she found just who she was looking for and it only took a few tense moments of the two of them looking each other in the eyes for her to understand just what was going on. She had raised her hands in surrender so that he was at least comforted in the fact she wasn't his enemy in this, much like she assumed he viewed Koko right about now.

"Did you know?" were his first words, and he didn't need to say anything else about the matter for her to understand what he was getting at.

"Yes..." was the only word she offered back, knowing full well that lying wasn't going to get her anywhere and so brutal honest was on the table today. A nod of his head was her only indicator of how he felt and she instantly knew all the hard years of friendship they had forged was knocked down with that one word... and she wasn't finding it any easier to stop the tears for swelling forth as she imagined what would happen next.

And yet, she would never have expected him to come forward and wrap her in a hug.

"I forgive you..."

With her own feeble attempt at returning the gesture the rest of her barriers came down and she couldn't help but cry at the fact she was losing him after all this time. As much as she hated to admit it, she had always viewed him as her own child, an opinion that she knew Koko would never approve of but had only strengthened as she watched him grown into the young man he was today... and she couldn't have been prouder.

His hair had been grown to a length that reached almost down to the middle of his back, something that he had explained to her was an attempt to hide the wires and tubing that had been attached to the back of his head during his initial biotech enhancement surgery. And the one that had her beaming the most the skull mask he had wrapped around the bottom half of his face. She had always drilled it into his mind that people were always judged by appearances first and foremost and that little fact was a soldier's greatest weapon, second only to fear. And so, when the two were combined, it was perhaps more lethal than the weapons they carried. Which led to his adoption of her own tradition of 'war faces' as she called them, her own attempt at scaring the crap out of her enemies before she even began her work.

Instil the fear of death into your enemy before the battle and you have already won. That was her motto and he was doing his damn best to stick to it.

Yet, the mask did little to hide his own pain at what he had said next... how he was leaving HCLI for good. He had finally grown tired of how Koko had been using him and had decided to instead enlist within the Militia to, as he put it, 'find out just what had happened to my planet'. She wasn't mad at him for making that choice, but she so wished she could join him in his breaking of shackles. Koko still held her by the reins thanks to some old unsettled debts, but she knew he would do just fine on his own.

And so, with tears in her eyes she had to see him off with a wave and a kiss on the forehead as a parting remark. In that moment, they had exchanged unspoken words... it was a promise, to once again see each other when the time came, when the two of them were no longer enemies by proxy and instead could rekindle the friendship that they had developed.

Thirty minutes later the last of the IMC resistance had been cleared. Forty and the Militia dropships had finished scraping the place clean of any and all resources. Fifty and the last of the soldiers were leaving with as much haste as they had arrived.

Standing on the ramp of the last dropship was Hawk, his mask gone and a content smile of freedom gracing his features. Chiquita could do naught but wave a heartfelt goodbye at his departure but felt as though this was not the last time they would see each other within their lives. Unfortunately for her, it was about as inaccurate as she could get.

Three weeks after the incident, a report was released by most major news corporations on the frontier of the dissolution of H&C Logistics Incorporated after their main headquarters had been bombed with a nuclear warhead with no survivors to speak of...

[Back to Josh and Vanessa – present time]

"What, so this Chiquita was the reason he turned into how he is now?" Josh spoke, trying to sum up how Vanessa had described the story to him. He knew that there was no way Demon was just a 'normal' everyday run-of-the-mill soldier given his more than impressive record within the Militia, but he had no idea just how deep it had gone. Soldiers could be subjected to several procedures to enhance their effectiveness, ranging from small things like the injection of nanites into the optical nerves in your eyes to automatically make your eyes adjust to low-light or glared conditions and even to have some HUD elements active without a helmet, all the way to complete prosthetic leg replacements so that Pilot's didn't have to worry about that annoying thing known as stamina.

And yet, to hear that Demon had been the test guinea-pig for every single on of these enhancements was ridiculous... and he damn well knew that the spinal grafting had been all but made illegal after hey heard about the nearly eighty percent failure rate of the procedure. The fact that he was alive right now even after the litany of tests he was forced to undergo was testament to his stubborn nature.

"Chiquita was the one responsible for his rather... brutal method of combat. She was one of the deadliest assassins ever registered on the frontier's law enforcements watch-list and he had apparently been trained by her for several years after he had graduated from HCLI's training program. Even that alone would have been enough to make him a killing machine, but top that off with his innate knowledge of the machinery and equipment fielded by both the IMC and the Militia, he was as destructive as ever. The one thing that I don't know the origins of is his fighting style ... even with my database access it has never been recorded in any documents from history"

"So, he's been trained by an already legendary assassin who was bodyguard to the frontier's richest arms trading company owner, enhanced beyond what you should realistically shove in even a Spectre and enough smarts to make use of just about everything he can get his hands on... why does it make so much god damn sense even though it sounds so bloody ridiculous" Josh lamented, rubbing his temple to try and remove the headache that was building at the back of his head.

"Yeah... Even I think it sounds a bit far-fetched. Without the records to back it up I would have just assumed he was crazy for coming up with a story that sounds at home in the furthest reaches of some fiction writers brain trying to justify how ridiculous his feats were"

Some kilometres away, Tempest sneezed for no apparent reason, furrowing his eyebrows and staring into the sky... then having to dive to the side from several completely random falling anvils after a rather vengeful author felt particularly vindictive at the current moment.

Besides that, however, Josh thought it best to drop the topic and take it up with Demon later on to get better details, finding that once he broke from his train of thought Vanessa had wandered a fair way along the outskirts of the city so that the city limits were just within view, enough so that her sensors were no doubt scanning passively for any disturbances which would indicate someone was there.

Josh groaned to himself and began trying to search for something to calm him down after all the stupid pain he had to deal with... he really needed a drink. He disconnected the neural link to Vanessa and kicked up his feet onto the small bar in front of the display screen, reclining the back of his seat as far as it would go.

"Wake me when anything interesting happens..." Josh asked, wishing he had actually gotten any sleep the night before over spending a stupid amount of time trying to get his nanobots to begin the self-replication process without the terminal he usually used.

"Fine, but don't blame me if anyone slips past my sensors while you're not watching"

"Oh please, no one here has cloaking that can fool your sensors and they go out to like 300 metres, nothing's getting past them"

Of course, as he was saying that, neither the Titan nor Pilot noticed the figure flying high above them with ghostly purple wings propelling them further into the forest, nor did they notice the light tapping steps of another figure running in the exact same direction of the first, whose presence was masked by the shimmering air around them which reflected the landscape which they passed through, almost like a mirror...

[Three hours prior]

The bartender of The Bee and the Barb inn never really was one for asking questions. A lot of the 'unsavoury' folk frequented his bar and so it was bad for business when they found out the bartender liked to chat. That wasn't to say, however, that he didn't know his way around the happenings of the city. It was amazing how much information you could get by staying in the same room for the better part of the year.

As he always said though, knowledge is power and he like to 'lend' his power to anyone willing to pay a large enough price. This of course was more-so for protection on his part given the unsavouries but he gave any information needed to anyone who looked the part, and so when he saw a kid who looked like the famed Raven Branwen, someone he had the... pleasure... of meeting in person, he didn't exactly want to try his luck. However, when he found out he wasn't there remove his head from his shoulders, he happily began consulting in his usual trade.

When he was gone, however, he set out his usual spy network to gather anything they could, but what they brought back spelt bad news. The guys he was staying with were all armed to the teeth with some sort of new Atlesian Paladins to boot. Even worse, it turned out that the guy he sent them to was the Scythe Hunter, one of Vale's best Huntsman. He didn't want his guys to get busted and so called them off with a warning against getting a few free shots for getting extra information.

And then, now here he was, having a rather peculiar customer asking where they could find him... he didn't know quite how to react. But then again, he wasn't one to discriminate. And they were all the more persuasive considering the fact that she had pulled a rather sharp looking knife from the parasol she had carried in. Of course, his usual patrons were all either completely plastered or where staring at her in a fear he didn't quit understand until they mouthed her name... Neo.

It was a name rather well-renowned within the underworld for a multitude of reasons, all of which were bad news. Several bounties, none of them ever collected in the multitude of years they had been set for and notches under her belt he couldn't even dream of. Thankfully for everyone she had been tied down to her employer, the ever evasive Roman Torchwick, so she wasn't going around 'tying up the loose ends' but if she was here and not with him... well, he was glad he was an information broker and not one of the people she would no doubt be hunting because he did not want to be o the bad end of this psychopath.

Considering that however, it meant he could get a good look at her with reasonable certainty that he wasn't going to be killed. The outfit she wore only looked vaguely familiar to the one he was told she wore, yet it was the dual-coloured hair and eyes which gave her away. From what he saw of her when she walked in, knee-high white boots adorned with black buttons covered her lower legs with what had looked like an inch or two of solid heel. They went on to contrasting solid black leggings which went up to her mid thighs and broke to reveal roughly two inches of skin before a pair of brown shorts went to her waist, a tiny fringe of white fur coming from the hems. It was held in place by a black belt around her waist with a second belt slung down from her right thigh which held a small bandolier of throwing knives.

Her midriff was left exposed until it reached a dark black corset which was only seen for about an inch and a half until it reached a white jacket much like the old one he had been told she wore, with a pink collaring except the arms stopped short just before the elbows with pink cuffs. Two coattails trailed down to just above her kneecaps and he saw several other flashes of silver from within the blackness of the inside of the coat. Her left hand was covered in a fingerless black glove which had a small tussle of fur around her wrist, while her right hand had a full glove with what looked to be pink veins running through the fabric up to the middle of her forearm where it ended with gold embellishments. And then, there was her hair, a pony-tail tied so that the brown and pink sides of her hair inter-linked in a criss-cross pattern perfectly.

And then... those killer eyes, the one which were now boring into his own with an intensity which said 'quit the staring or I'll gladly remove your eyes'. He offered a small smile of apology to which she rolled her eyes and pulled back her knife and sheathed it back into her parasol, swinging it over her shoulder and taking a seat at the bar. The barkeep didn't quite know what was going on but he sighed when she pointed out a drink from the list he had printed on the wall.

"You want... a strawberry sunrise? Uh, sure?" he checked, receiving a nod from her before she added a few things in, "no ice? And one of those little umbrellas?"

Neo glared at him and he raised his arms in defeat, concocting the drink she asked for and sliding it over, the woman downing it with a few hearty sips. She swirled it around and sighed in content before he visibly saw her shift once again into 'business mode'. She pulled out her scroll and opened up a photo, turning it around... and lo and behold it was of his rather interesting customer a few days prior.

"This guy, hell no, I'm not showing you..." he spurted out, not finishing the sentence before she had already unsheathed her blade by a few inches to show him the cold steel, shutting him up instantly. Once again, his eyes flicked to the steel and an awkward smile. Five seconds later he had scrawled an address on one of the napkins nearby and passed it over to her. Her eyes looked to it and she shook her head, taking the napkin and writing one single word... information.

He looked down on it and swore internally, weighing up just who was the more dangerous of the two... and right now it was the mute assassin in front of him.

"You want info, I don't have much on him, but I can get more?" he offered, the mute looking somewhat satisfied before she scrawled down a number on the paper, one which after she twisted her scroll around, he found out was her scroll number... great, now he was being contracted by the damn woman.

Ten seconds after that and Neo was happily skipping along the streets of Haven once again happy that she had fulfilled another one of the jobs she had set out for today. And so, she was down to her last one... going back to the inn room they had rented to actually confront him again. After what he had told her, to say she had conflicting feelings would be an understatement and so she had taken a few days to weigh up just how she was feeling. Finally, she had an answer and she was happy to say that she wanted to tag along with their merry little band of friends, for better of for worse... mainly because it was better than going to prison or getting tangled in another gang again.

She watched the sun slowly fall on the horizon while she skipped through town towards her destination, giggling to herself while the others on the street either unconsciously or consciously moved aside to let her pass.

When her feet finally fell tired she was glad to see she was outside The Bannered Mare, right where she needed to be, and so with a smile on her face she reached out to turn the door handle to the inside... only for it to slam out and smack her in the face. She fell backwards in shock and rubbed her nose from the pain, looking up to see just who she had to stab for hurting her... only to freeze as she saw who it was.

"I'm so sorry are you... oh my, it's you!" came a rather familiar voice from a certain blonde that Neo knew all too well. Rosaline. The girl was reaching down to help her up and Neo felt a certain rage boil up within her, one of jealousy... but she fought it down to remain civil, taking the hand and letting herself get helped up, dusting her clothes off from the dust. Neo gave her a smile of thanks and the girl gave her a brimming smile of her own as a reply, right before her eyes flicked to something off in the distance.

"I'm really sorry but I'm on a time crunch here... look, we're in room 274 so come stop by when you have some spare time but we're busy right about now"

Neo quickly grabbed her arm to stop her and raised an eyebrow in question, hoping she got the message. Thankfully, she was a lot more clued in than half the people she dealt with, which was mostly because they were all dumb crooks, but she was confused to see conflicting thoughts splay across the girl's features when she looked back at Neo.

"Well, he did say you were trustworthy... ok, Demon's gone off somewhere and we're all looking for him so if you do want to help then you can link up with someone else you can support the search" Rosaline explain, obviously looking as though she really didn't want to be wasting time... unfortunately for her, Neo wasn't done. Neo took out her scroll and wrote down the fact that she wanted to help Rosaline, something which the girl obviously didn't want to happen.

"I'm really sorry but I've got some... other stuff I need to do. It was great to see you, really, but I've got to go now. Stay safe!" she said as she parted, jogging swiftly down the street away from Neo.

Neo on the other hand, couldn't stop herself from smirking.

Hmmmm, little miss girlfriend here doesn't want to find her man? How peculiar. Who is she kidding! Following her sounds a hell of a lot more interesting than listening to blondie talk my ear off for hours...

So, with a new mission in mind, Neo activated her semblance to cloak herself in mirrors so that all anyone would be able to see would be a slight distortion in the air as the reflections overlapped, something which she used full advantage of to follow the girl. She wasn't going to let some half-assed lie stop her from getting in on the fun!