pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq

Junior's was a bit of a mess when we arrived. They were still working on cleaning up the mess my students had made and there were only a handful of scattered patrons at this time, around midday.

We waltzed in and surveyed the place and went up to the bar. "I'd like a fuzzy navel for my friend and three shots of vodka. Then I'd like to make an appointment with Junior. Can you help me out?"

The man behind the bar glanced down at little Neo then back up at me and nodded. He served us our drinks and I slammed back two of the shots immediately and held onto the last for a moment longer.

The man wiped down the bar then left for the back room. He took his time which was fine by me. He came back out to me.

"For you, Professor, Junior will take a walk-in."

"You know me?" I asked.

"You're the youngest Professor in Beacon's history. You're a public figure. Follow me."

I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised they knew about my occupation. They sold information here. But was I really renowned? I suppose it was possible.

I hammered my last shot and let the vertigo strike me. Then I followed the man with Neo behind me into Junior's office.

"Junior," I greeted. I was in my usual attire as was Neo.

"Professor Strife," he said. "You would do well to keep your students out of my bar. I'm tired of Beacon's finest fucking this place up."

"Would you consider it a favor?" I asked. "Or is it just that group of students? I don't think that they'll be back. Is that sufficient?"

He grunted in what I thought was an agreeable fashion.

"What did you want?"

"I wanted to talk about who took over Roman's place in town after he died. What can you tell me about him or her? Or has nobody taken over yet?"

"You would owe me."

"I would. You would have to answer me sufficiently but I would. You can call on me for something. I can even offer my services as Professor of Beacon. There are some perks."

"Very well. It's important that you said 'him' or 'her.'"

"Why?" I asked.

"Because it's both. A brother and a sister. Their names are Lila and Noir Engelbert. And they rose to power in Roman's wake."

"Are they a problem?"

"They can be… I wouldn't know how to start to combat them."

"What are their semblances?"

"I don't know the details of their powers. But Lila seems to be able to find nearly anything with some strange thinker power. She never gets lost and can sniff out any missing object or person. Noir has some trump and thinker ability that lets him pin down other hunters' abilities and see how much danger he's in. Together they can do pretty much anything. It's in combination that they are incredibly dangerous. I wouldn't know how to take them down and luckily I don't have to."

"You are the useful type. For people on both sides of the law. What sort of crimes do they run?" I asked.

"Murder. Theft. Drug running. That sort of thing. All the profitable big ones," he answered.

I figured I could probably take them. The trump power was concerning and I wasn't sure how well something like that would work on me with my magic. I would be worried about someone able to nullify powers of other hunters completely but I was still more than competent with my blade. In a straight up fight with no powers I could probably win. Add in my magic and things really started to skew in my favor regardless of how many abilities got countered I would have something in my grab bag due to magic. It was still worth being cautious around. All trump powers were scary and rare. Powers that interacted with other powers were the exception and not the rule. I would be careful and against a thinker I would have to be worried about but I figured I could probably take the Engelberts if I had to. Especially with Neo's help.

The question was then whether or not I should. Not all criminals were made equal and some could be worked with. Junior was the case in point. Some people could be used well and were good for all sorts of business. Including my business. Whatever that happened to be. I wasn't really sure which side of the law I fell on nowadays. I supposed I'd probably do as much as I could get away with. Marijuana was illegal and not super recommended for potentially unstable hunters but I still had a stash back in my dorm. What were a few other laws as well? Not much. Few people could really hold me back or stop me. Maybe I had a shade too much power but I could realistically do whatever I wanted and leave no witnesses.

There were probably other problem hunters. For example someone with a mind control power that spread like a virus. Or someone who could solve NP problems really quickly. That sort of thinker or master power could be a real issue. But there were few brute/strikers who could keep up with my whole onslaught of tools and I had a lot. I was also a mover, blaster, and probably a minor trump and thinker. There were hunters who had only part of my powers as their entire semblance. Stuff like flight and super strength and speed were like that. Then I had Limit which was my big game changer. I could kill pretty much anybody with Omni slash in a heartbeat.

We're these two the sort of criminals who would work with me or should I have them 'replaced.' Somebody else would take over after them if they happened to disappear and if I kept that up eventually there would be natural selection for ones that I favored. That or I would eventually run into a fish too big for me to take down. That would be exceptional and probably unlikely but if I kept shuffling the cards and drawing from the top deck I would eventually draw an ace. I could make a problem where there was none. It might be better to see if I could work with the Engelberts. Maybe I could strong arm them with threats into cooperating with me but that also posed its own unique set of risks. They almost certainly wouldn't be loyal to me under those circumstances. They would rage, rebel, and writhe under me. That could prove to be a real issue. They could feed me false intel. That could get me killed. Faster than almost anything else.

I really wasn't sure what it would take to bring me down and I didn't want to be vibe checked by a real threat all at once out of nowhere. That sounded like a recipe for disaster. Surprise stress tests could be a real problem by the very nature of surprise.

"I want to meet with them," I decided. "Can you arrange it?"

"I could but that could cost you."

"You misunderstand me." I leaned forward on his desk. I couldn't let Junior rack up favors with me willy-nilly. He needed to know who was running this show and I had better set him straight. I splayed my palms over the desk and squeezed gently and the metal compacted like styrofoam under my fingers. I left dents behind on the surface easily. "You'll call this meeting because I asked you to because we're friends. Because if we're not friends this place will become my personal piñata and I'll hand you over to Neo. Let her have some fun. Spend your favors with me wisely and there will be more. I can probably kill just about anybody and quickly at that. I'm the real deal, my man."

In terms of damage per second on a single target I had everybody outclassed. I was the guy to beat and held all the records away and above the competition.

I needed Junior to understand that he pretty much lived and died at my pleasure. It was only through my grace and boredom that he survived. He could try and run but I would just find somebody to replace him. There would always be others jockeying for position and he could be swept aside easily enough. The whole Hei family could be dealt with. The Malachites, too, if I had to do it to 'em. I was going to run this shit show how I saw fit and if they didn't like it they could go grab that guy who could stop me.

"You killed Raven Branwen," he pointed out in a whisper.

"I did. You know about that? Of course you do. I'm capable of all kinds of things. I'm for real. Set up the meeting for me and we'll total those favors up to just one. Deal?" I tagged.

"That can work. When should I do it?" He wondered.

"Next weekend works best for me. I'm usually teaching all day. And I'm fairly flexible in the evenings. You have my number. I just want to chat with them. See if they're amenable," I carefully phrased.

"You want to know if they'll do what you say. They won't like that," he deciphered.

"People have a way of doing what I want or disappearing and no one has been able to put a stop to me yet. No reason to break the streak. At least none I can think of. Serious customers drop like flies when I'm around. I'm hard to pin down in a myriad of ways and I'm very powerful. Not to toot my own horn but I'm the realest man you'll ever meet. I'm potent to say the least. Make it happen. Call in your favors however you see fit. I'm a man without limits."

pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq

I was smoking in my room with the window open and breathing out into the fresh evening air. My meeting with Junior went well. I think he got my message well enough and he should remain grateful I left his whole establishment in one piece. How's that for goodwill. Try and milk favors out of me, why don't you? I'll turn you inside out on a dime. I didn't come all this way and get this far to let some two bit gangster own me over some gossip.

There came a knock at my door and I waved the smoke out the window quickly. I was probably red eyed stank but there was little I could do about that.

I paced over and opened my door to see the headmistress. Immediately her nose wrinkled and I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.

"What an… earthly cologne," she murmured.

"I smoke. Weed. It's a bad habit but it helps me deal with my Mother's influence on my mind," I confessed. "Fire me or hand me over to the cops."

She glared at me. "Is that so… smoking is bad for you. Drug abuse is serious."

"So is my Mother. She's for real. It helps keep the hallucinations at bay and helps me tolerate the way she worms into my head. It's not perfect but it's the best I've got. I tried all sorts of antipsychotics in Atlas and none of them helped so yeah. I abuse marijuana. I keep it on the down low but it's true."

"I'm not going to fire you over it. All hunters have their peculiarities."

"Coping mechanisms," I sighed. "Just say coping mechanisms. I know it's a few extra syllables but it's a lot more true. We live in a fucked up world and we bear the brunt of it. They're coping mechanisms."

"Well however you wish to phrase it, it hardly matters. I knew you likely had peculiarities when I hired you from our conversations. You have not been through normal ordeals even for a hunter.

"But you didn't come here to talk about my peculiarities tonight, did you?"

"I can discuss what happened with our team RYPP at a club in downtown Vale. What was the name of the place again?"

"Junior's. I gave the students detention with me every Friday for two months."

"And this is for team RYPP?"

"Yeah?" I hazarded.

"And you see this as a punishment?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" I wondered.

"Why? You haven't changed at all. Amazing."

"I don't follow," I confessed.

"Just so. Well, I suppose it could be punishment enough."

"Should be fine."

"I wished to discuss the draw of such locales to our students a little."

"Shoot," I fired.

"Well, would you know why our students would spend their time out drinking?"

"Coping mechanisms?" I guessed. "Blowing off some steam? Is that really this surprising. Haven't you ever drank?"

"Oh I don't partake," she said. "I don't like how it makes me feel. Who would want to be intoxicated? It impairs judgment and lowers intelligence."

"Clearer and clearer…" I trailed off. "It feels good. That's why. Sometimes you get tired of all the thinking and thinking and endless thinking and you want to be awake without thinking for a while. That's the appeal to me, at least."

"Well, did your team ever go out and drink?"

"Nah. I was too busy trying to catch up to spend nights drinking. Pyrrha was helping me with that. Ren wasn't the type and Nora was with Ren."

"Well what about team RWBY?"

"Yang did and I don't think the others did. Not sure completely. Ruby was too young and I can't imagine Weiss going for that. And I think Blake only tried it relatively recently in Atlas. Not sure how she feels about it though. I was never super close to her."

I really wanted to take Ruby and Weiss drinking at that moment for some reason. I bet they became absolutely adorable. Was it weird that the thought of Ruby or Weiss with face hot from drink turned me on a little? I bet they both slurred when they talked after a few shots. That would be well worth listening to. Ruby stuttering over words and Weiss fumbling with her elegant pink little tongue would be something worth beholding. I bet I could make them make the best sounds I had ever heard in my entire life. Hiccuping gasps and little moans and all sorts of pale shallow pants ripped from their pink lips. It would be a delicious feast. That settled it. I had to drink with them some time. I had to before I died and it would be well worth it. I bet Weiss got loud and Ruby got sleepy. So cute.

"-loud? Cloud?"

"Whuh?" I managed.

"I was saying I would really rather that our students find productive ways to exercise themselves. Don't you agree?" She asked.

"It's… hard to say. All work and no play as they say. So long as they don't hurt anyone then it should be fine. That's when the line gets crossed. But then that's more about an abuse of power than anything else. It becomes irresponsible then and I think it's wrong to blame that on alcohol. A lot of our students think they're invincible now that they have weapons and aura. That's the real problem. If only there was a way to beat that out of them."

"Have you tried - well, beating them down?"

"Me? That's hardly fair. I'm sort of a badass now."

"You're barely older than some of them. It could be a valuable lesson. And if what you say is true then it could solve the root of our problem."

"I'll think about it. I've certainly beat on some of the ones who come to me but few students have taken me up on my offers of extra lessons. It's hard to justify bringing my real power to bear against some poor student. But I'll certainly consider it. Maybe something can be arranged."

pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq

-WG