Volume 3
Chapter 3: The King is Dead, Long Live the King.
=BRUNO=
Bruno stared into the mirror. He was big, both in size and weight. His face was pudgy, his hair was shaved off. Dark eyebrows, thick and intimidating lined his face. He was young but he managed to tame that concrete jungle of a prison. He was the king, sitting atop all other inmates. Except for Gray, but Gray got out. Then the fire happened. The white fang prisoners died. They cleaned house. Except they let him out. A man by the name of Victor told him that he had a role to play. Bruno liked the sound of that. Anything is better than rotting in a cage.
He heard muffled screaming behind him. Trevor was working again. They'd get the information they needed soon enough. Getting their hands dirty was worth the reward in this case. Even if it didn't sit well. Tough times call for violent measures. Still, it wasn't right. He stepped out. Trevor was holding a blowtorch to the man's face. The man was panicking and struggling against his binds.
"Enough." Bruno said. "We can't hurt his face, he'd have trouble speaking." He said. "Break his legs. And remove the gag."
"He'll scream." Trevor said. "Can't have that."
"He won't." Bruno said. He stepped closer and stared the man in the eyes. "Those are pretty eyes, it'd be a shame if something happened to them."
The man began shaking his head. His pants began to darken between his legs. Bruno shook his head in disgust. He waved his finger and Trevor swung the hammer down hard. The man started to sob. With another swing the next leg shattered. The man choked and sobbed quietly.
"Where is it?" Bruno asked.
"Torchwick will kill me." The man said.
"Oh yes, this Torchwick fellow." Bruno said. "The king of crime. Where is the king?"
"He-he-he's..." The man stammered.
"Gone." Bruno said. "The king is dead, long live the king."
"But." The man gasped. "What if he..."
"He's gone, move on, give it over." Bruno said. The man turned his head and sobbed quietly. He pointed to the painting on the wall. Bruno stepped towards it and removed it. A safe. "Combination."
"Five, four, seven, two, five." He stammered.
The code worked. The safe beeped and Bruno removed a series of documents and skimmed through them. Everything they were looking for, and more. He smiled. This was going to do just nicely. He turned back to Trevor.
"We'll release the man." Bruno said.
"Thank you!" The man said.
"What if he talks."
"He'll certainly have trouble doing that." Bruno said. "I never said we'll release him in the streets."
"What do you mean?" The man stammered.
"We'll drop him off in the outskirts of town. If he can make it back on two broken legs without the grimm finding him, then we deserve whatever retribution he brings on us." Bruno said. "Make it quick, we have an appointment to keep."
"Please, no I'm begging you. I have a family." The man shouted. Trevor knocked him out. Two goons came in and dragged the man out.
"It's as good as done, boss." Trevor said.
"Excellent. Send word to our benefactor. Time to meet Mr Gold." Bruno said.
The warehouse was dimly lit. Standing before them were a few familiar faces. Junior, the Malachite twins, the Nazisse twins, and Jasper Gold himself. All people that Bruno had to familiarise himself with. The Malachite twins were nothing but bodyguards for Junior, who was pretty low on the hierarchy before torchwicks arrest. Now he's gaining considerable territory, though he's playing it a little too safe. Something has him terrified, he seems to frightened to expand with confidence. The Narzisse twins were kids, good at what they did but kids nonetheless. They used to work for Torchwick, now they work with Mr Gold. Jasper Gold. Bruno learned to hate this man. The ego alone.
"You're late." Jasper said. He was dressed in a shiny gold suit. It was gawdy and deserved to be burned in a fire.
"Oh you know I love to keep you waiting Mr Gold." Bruno said. "Now let us get down to business, shall we?"
"Division of territory now that Torchwick is gone and his white fang accomplices have gone to ground." Jasper said. "Here's my terms."
"This should be good." Trevor said.
"I get the upper class and commercial districts, as well as half the industrial districts. You and Junior can squabble over the rest." Jasper said.
"Bull." Junior said.
"I'm with him, you take over half the city, all the valuable parts and we get the leftovers." Bruno said. "Agricultural district, yeah that'll be valuable. Shall we take Beacon as well, with all the hunstmen? Or how about Forever Fall and all the Grimm. Let's go with that, that sounds fair."
"You get what you're worth." Jasper said. Here comes that ego. Bruno wanted nothing more than to strike now. He was outnumbered, Junior wouldn't back him up. He'd get more territory if Bruno was out of the equation.
"How about I take whatever territory I want." Bruno said. "And you just have to deal with it."
"You're talking war pudge?" Jasper asked.
"Are you sure about this boss." Trevor whispered. "We don't have the manpower."
"We have Victor." Bruno muttered. "Maybe I'm talking war."
"Think about it pudge." Trevor said. Bruno was starting to get angry. "We've got Atlas military above us, police at their highest alert, hunstmen from all over the world sitting around doing nothing here. You want to start a gang war now?"
"Try and stop me and both of us are destroyed." Bruno said."Good luck with that."
Bruno motioned for Trevor and headed for the door. Solid exit. He could feel Jasper's gaze burning through the back of his head. It was true, Bruno lacked the manpower to do anything if Jasper attacked. However, Jasper did say the time for war wasn't now. If he was smart, he wouldn't start a war over lost territory until after the tournament was over. After all eyes are off the kingdom. Then they would have their war. That was enough time for a recruitment plan. At least they had plenty of time to strategize.
=ASH=
The room was probably the cleanest it's ever been. There wasn't even a speck of dust anywhere in sight. They looked upon it with pride. Ash glanced sat down on his bed. The others gathered around. Now it was time to nominate their two fighters.
"So Billy is going to the next round." Lyra said. "That's final."
"So the question is, who is going with him." Morgana said.
"I nominate myself." Ash replied. They scoffed. "What, I'm the leader after all."
"Yeah because you lead so well by example." Lyra said.
"What's stopping you from getting liquored up and blowing it for Billy?" Morgana asked.
"Oh that's low." Ash replied.
"I vote for myself." Morgana said.
"Great. Because you're not a one note fighter." Ash replied.
"Oh at least I knew how to use aura and semblence from the get go." She said.
"Isn't it usually Lyra and Ash who fight?" Billy asked.
"Oh now you're dragging me into this?" Lyra asked.
"Now we can both agree that Lyra isn't going." Ash said.
"Agreed." Morgana replied.
"Morgan, come on." Lyra said. "I've beaten Ash before. How can you say that?"
"Because Ash's semblence gives him an edge, how many other people can you say can make illusions like he can." Morgana asked.
"I guess." Lyra said. "But I'm ready."
"So you nominate yourself?" Morgana asked.
"Your darn well right I am." Lyra said.
"So it all rests on Billy." Ash said.
"Well I know who he's going to pick, his partner obviously." Morgana said.
"You ran into each other in the woods." Ash said. "That doesn't mean much."
"I help him with his homework." She said. "We're good friends."
"Not like me and Billy." Ash said. "We're like peas and carrots man."
"I don't really like peas and carrots that much." Lyra said. "Well not together, on their own they aren't so bad."
"Good to know you aren't in charge of making suggestions." Ash said.
"How do any of you get things done around here?" A voice called out. Ash jumped from his bed at once. His father was standing in the doorway. He was dressed rather casually.
"Father." He said. "What are you doing here?"
"This reminds me of old times already." Mr Gray said. He turned to the others. "Thomas Gray, a pleasure to meet you."
"You're his father?" Lyra asked. "You're so, youthful, and presentable."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ash asked. They glanced at him. He looked down. There were a few stains on his shirt, his vest was open. There was even a tear on his pantleg. "Okay so I had a battle this morning."
"So you're Thomas Gray." Morgana said. She was glaring at him. "My father has said quite a few things about you."
"Oh, you're Ethan's kid." He said. "Right." He stepped past them towards the window. "Your father would throw a fit if he knew I met you."
"You two don't get along very well?" Billy asked.
"We used to be teammates." Thomas said. "A long time ago. So was your mother. Iantha Umber. She was a good friend once."
"He said her death was your fault." She said. The room went quiet fast.
"Really? I thought your father blamed himself. Why else did he stop hunting. Makes armoured suits like the one your friend wears. Couldn't protect her, maybe he hopes to protect everyone else. Him and his buddy Ironwood." Thomas said. Morgana's eyes dropped to her feet.
"That was a little uncalled for." Lyra said. Now she was glaring.
"You're right. I apologise." Thomas said. "I just don't handle accusations that I was responsible for the death of one of my closest friends." He shook his head. "Ethan really likes to talk doesn't he."
"What brings you to Beacon?" Ash asked. "If you don't mind me asking."
"Not at all son." He said. "I'm going to old Ironwood's little press conference. He finally wants to speak to me about something. I figured it would be a good time to steal his limelight a bit, unveil a little bit of tech of my own."
"You're going to crash the party?" Lyra asked.
"A little bit. Sounds like fun right son?" He asked.
"Actually it does." Ash said. The others glanced at him. "Hey, Ironwood practically ran my company out of business."
"I thought that was the Schnees?" Morgana asked.
"Ironwood backed out of a partnership with us." Thomas said. "So we'll show him that the Gray Dust Company is doing well. "You are all invited by the way. I want you guys to see it."
"Why?" Morgana asked.
"Because I like you kids. You were fun to watch in the tournament. Reminds me of the good ol' days." He said. "Oh and one more thing."
He clapped his hands. The door opened and a robotic dog hopped into the room. Ash ran over immediately and the dog got low and began to bob back and forth as if it were ready to pounce. It gave a steady, robotic and otherwise monotone "Woof Woof Woof".
"Orphy!" Ash said excitedly.
"Never seen him so excited." Lyra said. "What the heck is that?"
"Gray Dust Company Hellhound, Orphrus, the most advanced model we ever made." Thomas said. "Orphy here was supposed to be the gold standard, jointly made with the Atlesian military. Until Ironwood backed out and we wasted our money. He became a family pet instead."
"The best pet ever." Ash said.
"Not many dogs can breath fire." Thomas said. "That certainly gives him an edge."
"He breathes fire?" Lyra said. Everyone in the room moved a few inches away from it, save the Grays.
"And fires missiles." Ash said.
"Don't forget the laser eyes." Thomas said. "Those were very important."
"So what's the big announcement." Ash asked.
"Not yet, I don't want to spoil the surprise. You can bring Orphy to the conference as well." Thomas said. "What I got will make those Atlesian Knights look like a waste of money."
"I can't wait." Ash said. "We're going."
"As soon as we figure out who's going in the tournament." Lyra said.
"Alright. Have fun with that kids." Thomas said. He patted the robot dog on the head, it shaked it's mechanical tail. He stepped out the door and turned out of sight.
"So that's your father." Lyra said. "You make a lot more sense now."
"Not many parents give their kid a walking weapon platform as a pet." Morgana said. "Most parents just cave and buy an actual dog."
"Orphy could take any dog in a fight." Ash said.
"That's exactly the problem." Morgana said. "That's not why people get pets."
"Focus. Our contestants." Lyra said.
"Ash." Billy said. "We need his power."
"Exactly, knew I could count on you." Ash said.
"Don't blow it." Billy said. It was a little too blunt for something Billy would say. Ash shrugged it off.
"Okay." He said. He turned to the others. "So, a conference. I guess I should clean up."
"You think?" Morgana and Lyra said together.
