SCPO: A LNTC Story
Chapter One: The Gentleman Agent
It was a regular day at Beacon Academy; some of the students were either out on the town, on school grounds studying, training or whatever they were doing, enjoying their weekend in whatever way they saw fit. But in a clothing store, Yang and Cenric were shopping for clothes. Or rather Yang dragged Cenric along so she could try and help him loosen up…or so she says, but so far it has been Yang trying to flirt with Cenric, while the Spartan tries to keep is cool and his patience.
"How about this one, Cenric?" Yang asked with a cheeky grin, holding up what looked like skimpy lingerie.
"…Yang, that's not a dress." The Spartan pointed out in a blunt tone.
"Oh, my bad!" Yang said with a cheeky grin, before grabbing another pair of lingerie. "What about this one?"
"That's also lingerie," Cenric said bluntly, trying to control his temper.
Before it could go further, they were approached by Oliver Oswald, the tip of his umbrella tapping against the ground.
"Good afternoon, young hunters." The gentleman greeted. "Having a pleasant day, I hope?"
"Yeah, but Cenric can't seem to decide what I look best in," Yang said.
"You keep picking out lingerie." Cenric pointed out with narrowed eyes. "I'm starting to think you're doing this on purpose."
"I see you two are having fun." Oliver chuckled. "It's only natural that young youths should spend their time as free as they can."
"Say, Mr. Oswald, I'm curious," Cenric gave the gentleman his full attention. "How did you come to Beacon and form Team Scorpio with Sting, Corrin and Nathaniel?"
"Yeah, I'm curious too, actually." Yang agreed.
"Ah, quite the tale, that one." Oliver sighed with bliss. "Back in Mistral, I worked as an agent for the Mistralian Council, hunting down high profile criminals that threatened the country."
"Whoa, sounds like an interesting profession!" Yang grinned.
"It also had its challenges." Oliver nodded. "There was this one criminal I was hunting that was extremely hard to track; even I was having a hard time finding clues. That is, until I met Sting…"
Several years later…
Back in Mistral, A younger Oliver Oswald was sat on a bench, deep in thought. He had been assigned to hunting down an elusive terrorist that's been causing havoc in the region. Sadly, he's been having trouble finding the target, despite his best attempts to get information from the settlement dwellers seem to dp no good, as they refuse to disclose any information.
Dejected, Oliver let out a soft sigh.
"Whatever am I to do now?" Oliver said as he leaned back in his spot on the bench. "No one seems to wish to speak to me, no matter how urgent it is. What to do…"
"You seem to be in quite the pickle, my guy."
Startled, Oliver looked back to see a much younger Sting standing behind him; although he was still older than Oliver himself. He had his shades on and his black hair was a bit longer than it was in the present and he had his large, red baseball bat strapped at his side.
"Hey there." The Stinger greeted casually with a smile. "Whatcha up tah?"
"Beg pardon?" Oliver did a double-take, taken aback by Sting's choice of words.
"I noticed you were down in the dumps and I thought I could lend ya a helpin' hand!" Sting said with a smirk. "I'm pretty good at solvin' problems if I do say so myself."
"And just who are you?" Oliver asked with a raised brow.
"Ah, forgive my ill manners." Sting laughed before pulling out a badge of some sort. "I'm a man with no past nor history, so you can call me Sting!"
Looking at the badge, Oliver's eyes widened with surprise that it was actually a badge of a Huntsman of Vale.
"You're a Huntsman from Vale?" The gentleman questioned. "Ozpin sent you?"
"Well, more like a Huntsman in training," Sting clarified. "You see, I've been sent on a journey to find people that would make fine additions to my team before I'm to be enrolled in Beacon, but then I saw you were having trouble here."
"So you've postponed your assignment to help a stranger?" Oliver questioned once again.
"Hey, it's a Huntsman's duty to help others, right?" Sting shrugged. "Besides, the old man said I must also give aid to those that need it."
Oliver seemed hesitant at the idea. He had no idea who this man is and still questioned if his affiliation to Ozpin was actually true. Still, even he admits he could use some help finding his target, as he wasn't making any progress.
"Very well," He sighed. "I'll accept your help."
"Great to hear!" Sting said with a clap of his hands. "Now, where do we start?"
"Well, I already tried asking some of the folks around the settlement." Oliver said. "I haven't had much luck, sadly. The people here won't seem to speak to me."
"Dude, you've gotta be more assertive." Sting said. "Show them that you mean business! That you need info and you don't give a damn about their feelings!"
Oliver simply gave him a blank stare before sighing.
"Sir Sting, I'm not trying to interrogate them." He explained. "They certainly know how important the situation is, but they're too scared to give the information."
"Then let's go with the good-bad cop routine." Sting shrugged. "You be the good cop, I'll be the bad. One way or another, we'll make 'em talk!"
"Very well, but please try to restrain yourself." Oliver frowned.
The two went onward, making their way to a small house at the far end of the settlement. Oliver knocked gently on the door, and a young man answered.
"Good evening, Sir." Oliver greeted with a curt nod.
"I already told you, Suits, I don't know anything!" The young man growled.
"Nice people you've met." Sting remarked sarcastically.
"Sir, please," Oliver said. "It is important that you tell me what I need to know."
"I already told you; I don't know!" The man snapped. "Now go away!"
Before the man could slam the door shut, Sting pushed the door opened and forced himself in.
"Look, pal, we've had a busy day," He said in an uncaring tone, as he pushed the man against the wall. "This gentleman has been trying to bring to justice a guy that's breaking the law, and I've taken about two boats, one of which was destroyed by pirates, who I then beat up and took their boat, about six armed taxi's to get here! So to say I'm royally annoyed would be an understatement!" He then took hold of a nearby vase. "And if you don't talk, you can decide which I break first; you or your house."
"No, not that!" The man cried out. "That's my grandmother's ash vase!"
"Well, you're gonna have to tell gran gran how you broke her vase by pissing off a busy man." Sting shrugged before preparing to throw the vase on the floor.
"Wait, WAIT!" The man screamed. "I'LL TALK! JUST DON'T BREAK MY GRANDMOTHER'S VASE!"
Satisfied, Sting let the man go and allowed him to swipe the vase from his grasp, holding it protectively in his arms.
"He's hiding out in an old warehouse at the far side of the settlement!" He yelled in fear. "That's all I know, I swear!"
"Thanks for your cooperation, pal." Sting said in a mocking tone, before turning to Oliver. "Let's go."
Sting walked out of the house, with Oliver following close behind, leaving the man to shake in fear.
"That wasn't fair of you Sting." Oliver frowned. "You didn't even give me a chance to play my role."
"Well, sometimes, ya gotta get your hands dirty." Sting shrugged. "You can't always play by the book and expect things to go your way."
"Even then, it wasn't right." Oliver objected.
"Pal, I've been doin' this for quite a while." Sting declared. "Trust me; sometimes, when playin' nice doesn't get results, you gotta break some bones. That's how it works in the real world."
While Oliver didn't agree with Sting's barbaric methods, he does acknowledge they were effective to some degree. While he preferred to do things with finesse and grace, he does agree that using some degree of force gets results, if applied correctly.
"So, who are we hunting anyways?" Sting asked.
"A Dust trafficker by the name of Sid Vicious." Oliver said. "He's been trafficking Dust through Mistral via illegal means. I'm actually quite surprised how he managed to keep the people of this settlement quiet as long as he did."
"I assume he's quite vicious?" Sting joked in regards to the last name.
"Despite his name, Sid is actually quite the strategist that knows how to use the fear of others to his advantage." Oliver explained, ignoring the joke. "Still, don't put it past him to use vicious tactics."
After a long walk, the duo made it to the warehouse the man mentioned.
"So, this is it." Sting let out a short whistle. "What now?"
"We take things nice and slow." Oliver said. "See if we can get him to come quietly."
"Well, this ought to end well." Sting said sarcastically with a roll of his eyes.
Ignoring the Stinger's sarcasm, Oliver pushed open the door, the inside was pitch black and impossible to see. Stepping inside, the duo turned on their flashlights, seeing several bits and pieces of machinery and several clusters of Dust lying about.
"What the hell did we walk into?" Sting asked in a hushed tone.
Before Oliver could give any sort of response, someone beat him to it.
"You have walked into my Dust shop!"
With that, the lights flashed on, blinding the two temporarily. Their vision clearing up, the two saw their surrounding clearly; the machineries were large diggers and drills used to get to the Dust underground, along with several pickaxes, and several piles of Dust stacked in wheelbarrows.
"The fuck kinda place is this?" Sting said, looking about the sight.
"For the longest time, I've been using this place as a base of operations for my Dust trafficking plans," Called out a voice with a thick foreign accent. "And for so long, nobody has found this place…until you two came along."
From the shadows, a figure emerged before them, wearing a dark outfit consisting of a black leather jacket over a gray shirt and black jeans and boots. He had slicked-back black hair and onyx colored eyes.
"I assume he likes the color black." Sting joked half-heartedly.
Ignoring the joke, Oliver kept his eyes trained on the man before them, "Mister Sid Vicious, I assume?"
"Please, just 'Sid' will do." Sid Vicious chuckled. "So, you must be the pests scurrying around the settlement, looking for me. I must say, you are persistent."
"What's yer angle, pal?" Sting demanded. "How the hell did you get a hold of this equipment and the Dust?"
It's quite simple, really," Sid declared. "You see, this settlement discovered that there is a large amount of Dust underneath. Sadly they lacked the equipment to dig for them." He then grinned. "That's where I came in; I procured some digging equipment from the Schnee Dust Company and created a mine here."
"By 'procured' you mean 'stole'?" Sting said with a raised brow.
"And what did you hope to achieve by doing this?" Oliver asked.
"To make money, of course!" Sid laughed. "Dust has been at an all-time high lately and this place was perfect to mine a large surplus of the stuff! I'll make a fortune!"
"And if the settlement runs out of Dust to mine?" Oliver said.
"Then I leave and find another." Sid smirked wickedly. "And maybe I'll leave tip that the settlement is in possession of SDC property. No doubt Jacques will want the whole settlement burned down and its occupants thrown into his Dust mines."
"So you used the fear of being caught by the SDC as blackmail." Oliver remarked. "No wonder you avoided being exposed for so long."
"You're not gonna get away with this, you sunava bitch!" Sting growled as he pulled out his baseball bat.
"You're not gonna stop me, tough guy!" Sid declared smugly. "Time to die!"
The two stood ready, as Sid pulled out a pair of katanas and charged forward, Sting raising his bat in defense as the trafficker swung his weapons, the blades colliding with the large bat, before jumping bat and the blades bending backward to change into a pair of submachine guns and opened fire, Sting activating the forcefield function on the bat, while Oliver opened up his umbrella, the ultra-fiber cloth of the umbrella blocking the bullets.
Rolling out of the way of the bullets, Sting fire a rocket at Sid, whole easily jumped to the side, the rocket hitting one of the machines, blowing it up, the explosion causing a chain reaction with several red barrels, before eventually causing the Dust piles to explode as well.
"You fools!" Sid shouted in anger. "Look what you have done!"
"We've put an end to your Dust trafficking scheme?" Sting deadpanned before chuckling.
Enraged, Sid roared, before charging with great viciousness, swinging his blades wildly, but Sting used this recklessness of his opponent to his advantage, easily blocking the sword swings with his bat, landing several swings of his own, witling down Sid's aura bit by bit. Eventually, Sting grabbed the blade of one of Sid's swords and headbutted him, making him stumble back some, before hitting him in the gut with his bat, making him double over in pain, then struck him in the head with it, sending him into the air before crashing down.
"Well, that's done!" Sting declared. "Now, let's get this guy outta here!"
With the warehouse on the verge of blowing up, the duo dragged the trafficker outside, getting far enough from the warehouse before it ended up exploding, sending various scraps of metal everywhere.
"Well, we did it!" Sting declared proudly.
"As unorthodox as that situation was, I'd say this was a mission accomplished." Oliver admitted, before dusting off and straightening out his suit.
Sid Vicious, howver, began to stir and open his eyes, his now captors standing before him.
"You're finished, Mr. Vicious." Oliver said with a stirn tone. "Your Dust trafficking operations here is over."
"You think this means anything?" Sid snarled. "There will always be more!"
"And we'll take them down too." Sting shrugged.
Sid looked up at Sting before chuckling, "You think this makes you better than me, Stinger? Oh, I know all about you and your past."
Sting went silent at that, while Oliver looked on in confusion at what Sid meant.
"This is how the world is." Sid said with a smug grin. "The weak are purged and the strong survive. Stronger folk like you and I feed on the weak to survive. Face it; you're just like me-"
Suddenly, Sting quickly launched forward and grabbed Sid by the throat and hoisted him up, looked dead into his eyes from underneath those sunglasses, while Oliver simply watched, wondering what was going through Stings mind right now. After what felt like several minutes, Sting simply dropped the trafficker before adjusting his shades.
"Nice try, pal." He said before turning away. "I'm nothing like you. Not anymore."
After a while, Mistrallian Huntsmen arrived and arrested Sid Vicious and reported the stolen equipment, but thankfully, The Councilmen of Mistral smoothed things over with Jacques, so none of the settlers were going to be thrown into any Dust mines of the SDC as punishment.
Meanwhile, Sting and Oliver were sat on a bench, the two mulling over what had happened.
"What happened back there?" Oliver asked. "You seemed completely different from when we first met hours ago."
Sting pondered for a moment, before letting out a sigh.
"Years back, probably when I was younger, I was in a gang." He began. "We exploited the weaker settlements who needed help against the Grimm, and I just so happened to have the one thing that could kill the Grimm." He closed his eyes before continuing. "Then one day, we were attacked by unfamiliar goons that were after me. I took them down, but not before they pretty much destroyed the gang." He then sighed. "I ended up burying over a hundred bodies that day; that's how big the gang was! Say what you want, but they were the only family I had." He looked up at the clouds. "Later, I was wasting away in a bar, drinking my depression away…then I met Ozpin."
"Ozpin?" Oliver repeated.
"Yeah; the old guy basically saved my life, gave me a second chance, a place to belong, and a purpose." Sting nodded. "To take out all the Grimm I come across so the people can sleep easy at night." He then stood up. "But before I can become a Huntsman, he's given me a rather unusual task; I must travel Remnant to find three other folks to form a team of four." He then faced Oliver. "And I want you to be my second; you've shown impressive skill, Oswald, and your persistence certainly shined. Even though you have no Semblance, I'd be lucky to have someone with experience and finesse like yours."
Oliver mulled it over for a moment. He swore an oath to the Mistrallian Council that he was to serve them and them alone as their agent. Then again, he fancied the idea of becoming a Huntsman and defeating Grimm to protect those who couldn't protect themselves.
"Very well, I'll do it." Oliver decided.
"Great!" Sting said with a smile and a clap of his hands. "Get ready, 'cause we'll be leaving soon!"
After squaring things away with the Councilmen of Mistral, Oliver gathered his belongings and went on his way next to Sting.
"And that is how I met Sting." Oliver concluded. "He took me for quite the journey indeed. I've always wanted to travel the world outside of Mistral."
"Whoa." Yang said in awe. "That sounds so badass!"
"I'm impressed you got along with him so easily." Cenric remarked.
"Believe me, I was a bit put off by his attitude at first in truth," Oliver admitted. "But after some time, I got used to it."
Suddenly, his scroll went off. Pulling it out of his pocket, Oliver checked to see a message from Sting.
"Well, I must be going; time for Scorpio's usual meetings." Oliver declared. "Farewell, and I hope you have a good day!"
With a bow and a turn of his heel, the gentleman walked off, leaving the store.
"That guy is totally at the top of my cool people list!" Yang said before turning to Cenric with another piece of lingerie. "Say, what about this one?!"
"Oh for fuck's sake!" Cenric groaned with impatience.
And here's the first chapter of the SCPO story as promised! Now, this will probably only be about four to five chapters long, basically explaining the backstory for Team SCPO, nothing too serious. Still, I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!
Anyways, I once again apologize for not uploading in so long. I've been busy with work lately, working early in the morning until 4 and going to my Pizza Hut job at night. I've also been spending a lot of time playing video games, like Persona 5 Royal, some Shin Megami Tensei 4, Strange Journey, and Nocturne, Fallout 4 and the Final Fantasy remake and other games. I've been busy, to say the least. Hopefully, I'll do better about updating my stories.
Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed! Be sure to leave a review!