Chapter 3: Companions and Cronies
This may seem a little odd of me to ask you, but do you have friends? I know it is out of the blue, and no I don't want to be one of your compatriots before you ask. It has been a long time since I had a friend to question my every move, or hit me upside the head when I did something stupid. I frankly find it hard to believe that a person like me would need a friend but I find myself almost longing for one nowadays. Yet, I feel like reality will assert its dominance once it shows that a person who could relate to a wretch like myself cannot exist. It is hard for people like you and me, put on a shelf so high like a trophy or award that they feel like is impossible to achieve. And so the trophy will grow old with dust until a new award is placed up for grabs... Sincerely, from the loneliest mortal atop Mount Olympus, The Welder.
The sound of metal falling onto metal awoke my tired body from ts resting position of my head buried in my arms. My attention was focused on the two pieces of metal that collided against one another and bent down from my stool to pick it up. After putting on the workbench I slept on I stood up and cracked every bone in my body finishing with my neck. I looked around the worn warehouse that I called 'home'. Multiple holes in the roof, windows, and walls let in light with a little bit moss growing on the outside. It's been about a week and a half since I left the faunus village, and Faith. The car I took from them as a 'payment' sat all shiny in the middle of the warehouse just before a pile of rubble that had been overtaken by grass. After fumbling through numerous shelves and cabinets I found a knob to turn on a radio nearby. I'm one of those crazy people who listens to radio news in this day and age. They didn't talk about anything really worth noting; sob stories, the weather, where the next Vytal Festival was going to be, you know the usual stuff. While listening I was tinkering, cause I'm a madman. What I was working on was small, and very dangerous. After several hours and many swear words later I yelled at the top of my lungs, "Eureka", as I held a small cylindrical canister. So a little lesson about my two torches or as I like to call them, Reason A and Reason 2, 'A' is on the left and '2' is on the right (yes I know it doesn't make sense but I use damn welding torches what do you want). Welding torches need a source of fuel, and since I can't create a fuel source smaller than a one inch cylinder, I use a homebrew formula with dust to make this liquid fuel that is stashed in a pack attached to my back. It contains a three by three storage for canisters that hold the fuel. The main problem with it is I've made too many than I know what to do with, I don't really run out of fuel on a job. So I thought to myself, what is the best use of a liquid that is ignited and in a canister system, make a long story short: remote detonators. Yes, the best thing to give a man who has a habit of killing most people who stand in their, detonators. Now obviously I created a remote in case one gets out of my reach or is used against me. It goes from one, to two, to three, or all the bombs transmitting a signal (because if I'm using more than three then I'm blowing up a really big thing).
It was probably just before dusk when I left the warehouse to go to the place where I usually find my jobs: one of the small towns on the coastline of Vale. Yes I could go to Mistral and find 'my people' but I hate nature, Vacuo is too chill for my taste, and Atlas is well… Atlas. I also didn't have a mode of getting me anywhere faster than walking, I mean I could've ridden a bike but I'm not some idiot (I'm crazy but not stupid). The town was an hour drive and I parked it out behind an alley, I've made some 'modifications' to it to avoid some poor unlucky sod stealing my new baby. I walked up to the front and took a big whiff of alcohol and blood before walking looking up at the sign of this 'fine' establishment, with big light bulb letters and an image that fit the title it read: The Leaky Pipe. Upon opening the door you saw a bartender in the back polishing mugs, somebody with their back on the table being held by the collar, people in suits who obviously didn't belong there, other people who looked like they shouldn't be roaming the streets in freedom, gambling, and the inglorious activity of 'chugging contests'. Ah, how I love this place.
When I walked in the whole room went silent and they all stared at me all except the bartender who was squinting at a glass, they knew who I was and they should after all this has been known to give me some of my more 'famous' inquiries. In the very corner next to the old bartender was a table, a simple wooden round table with two chairs; the perfect configuration in my mind. I sat taking a breath, this is where I belong, I thought to myself.
"Hugo!" I yelled making a motion with my hand, "Bring me a glass of water!"
The old man came from his position and brought me a glass of water with ice floating. "Have we grown bored Welder?" He asked placing a second glass on the opposite end.
"Come on Hugo this is the place that I get all my fun jobs."
The minutes turned to hours and night became even more quiet, the desperate people had already come by with their offers. The greener hunters had already taken them, the older you are at this the more you realize that the best jobs come to you. Closing time was approaching and nothing had peaked my interest, when you're one of the most wanted criminals in the world you get to be a bit choosey. Most of the chairs were up on tables when the door flew open which caught everybody's attention. A man in a white tuxedo with black shades with a briefcase was standing in the doorway.
"I am looking for a man who calls himself 'Ze Welder," he proclaimed in a heavy german accent.
All at once with what little people were in the room slowly turned and pointed at me sitting at my little table. You couldn't see it but underneath my scarf I had a smile that would scare the devil out of his wits. As he walked closer he suddenly got a lot shorter we're talking about five foot on the the man got to the table he placed the briefcase on the table with the clips holding it facing him. He sat down and snapped his fingers; a glass of water was brought to his side of the table.
"Well I finally found you," he noted.
"Why am I in trouble," I joked.
"No, not at all," he said clipping the case open and bringing out a file filled with pictures, notes, and many more papers, "'ze man in the pictures is a lawyer by 'ze name of Horatio Sherwood. Recently he was investigated for corruption with a few judges as 'vell. While 'ze other judges were found guilty he wasn't. But I know he is, being a lawyer I 'ze same firm I knew what he was doing behind 'ze scenes. I need you to kill him or bring him to justice with a few parts, uh how do you say it, removed from his person."
"If you had this information already why didn't you go to the police? This doesn't sound like a job for a hitman such as myself and more like a private investigator."
"We didn't know how far this whole case had reached, so I didn't know who to trust in this position, 'zen you appeared on 'ze local news about your latest, um, work."
"Well you could say I'm flattered, how much?"
"Ah, right to 'ze chase," he said turning the case around so I could see the Lien, "1.5 million Lien, right there, no funny business."
One of the many skills you learn as a bounty hunter is reading the client, he was new to this which is what I loved. When they're new they haven't picked up on the bad habits. "Alright my little friend you have a deal, I will make sure Mr. Sherwood is gone by tomorrow evening."
"What do you want with the money?" He asked as I stood up.
"Don't worry I'll pick it up," I chuckled as I walked out the door.
"Before you go!" he yelled, "There may be others after him so you might have some competition!"
Oh, please I'm 'The Welder' I have no competition, I thought to myself walking out the doorway. Returning home to my disheveled warehouse seemed to take forever, the road appeared longer in the blackness of night. The headlights shining on the ground for split seconds as I sped through the rough makeshift road. I parked the car in the warehouse where it had been left and began to search through the databases and numerous sources on this Mr. Sherwood. This guy made bank; lavish home, personal security, and a lot of enemies when it came to the White Fang. Apparently he forced many faunus out of their homes, supposedly charges of unruly and disruptive behavior with their 'partying'. When they retaliated to the police they got arrested and they all just vanished, perhaps this Mr. Sherwood had grabbed a certain bull by the horns.
As I was finishing up the aerial layouts of his home a twig was snapped and an odd blob swished past one of the broken windows. While I have had visitors in the forms of huntsmen teams traveling through, they never got too close to my sanctuary. I stepped outside and nothing but the moon stared back, at least not in the open. It was quiet (aw hell let's be cliche), too quiet as, not even a bird flew into the cloudy sky. I stared at the trees going back and forth between to dark gaps and saw a glimmer and a grey object zoom at my face. The last words of my client beamed back in my head, "There may be others after him so might have some competition," a small chuckle came from me as my 'competition had arrived.
Before the pointed grey object pierced my face I grabbed it with my amazing twitch reflexes. That's when I noticed it the object was a kunai connected to a chain, a very long chain, I gave an exasperated sigh as I felt a tugging on the chain and winced for the inevitable pulling of my body into a tree. The pulling never came instead a second kunai came for my stomach, the jerk (if you're going to use chains then use it to pull me in like a fish). Awkwardly forcing me body to go around the kunai missed my stomach and streaked for a damaged wall of my warehouse.
"Don't blow anymore holes in it, I still got to make the security deposit on it!" I joked to my unseen attacker.
I felt the chain in my hand tug some more along with the other chain strain to move as it got lodged in a crevice. Oh this is going to be fun, I thought to myself slowly wrapping the chain around my hand a few times and grabbing the second tightly. With a force that could've uprooted a tree in the middle of a summer's day. I felt tension from the chains previously become nothing and soon enough my attacker came flying through the woods. One issue with my plan as he came barreling forward, when I pulled I did it towards me which means his trajectory was towards me. This guy was smart because they figured that out too and next thing I knew I felt a fist force itself into my gut. I flew backwards along with my attacker into the wall where the second chain was just above my shoulder. The attacker pulled out the chain from afar as they flipped backward into a fighting stance which let me stand back up into a menacing pose of me cracking my knuckles, at least I thought it was menacing. Getting a better look at the ambusher you tell it was male by the body structure and that he was a samurai, an odd thing to see nowadays. The chains he used to attack me were wrapped along the armor with hooks so they stay in place, couldn't imagine how heavy that would be seeing as these were chains used for cranes by the looks of it. His mouth and nose was covered by an ancient style mask that I've come to know as a mempo that was blood red, a angry sneer was blazen across it, with a fake mustache made of fibers that would be from a clean paint brush. The top of the attacker's head was a samurai helmet, or kabuto, that covered his eyes with a black visor that gleamed off the moonlight (what can I say? Covering our eyes is a concept we all adhere to). On his waist was a sword, probably a kitana (just going to take a stab in the dark, no pun intended) tied with a strap that dangled.
The samurai lowered his shoulders and put his fists up near his face and quickly shifted his right arm so the kunai tipped chain rested in his hands. I started Reason A which became a great source of light in the thick of blackness. I leaped forward and raised Reason A skyward and swung at the samurai. Putting his arms in an 'X' he stopped my torch from going any farther with the erupting of its flame illuminating his face where you could see the details in his mempo, quite interesting. He pushed back at my arms which made me step back and flourished his chain at me and the ground till he had about five feet of chain which he then proceeded to swing the chain in a circle. After pulling his second chain to his hand the samurai threw the chain he had been swinging. After doing a bad reincarnation of the limbo I activated Reason 2 while dodging a second chain by jumping and ran at him with my arms at my sides. I attempted an uppercut but to no avail as he good reflexes. After ducking his head hu lunged a chain wrapped knuckle which hit my jaw which probably jarred a few marbles out, after resetting it back I got a sudden urge to beat the living ! #$ out of next attack was a hook from Reason 2 which caught him off guard sending him sprawling to the dirt. In retaliation he swept my feet with a sudden swing of a chain while he stood back up. He swung the two chains while I was still on the ground; simply rolling let me miss the iron knuses. Doing a fancy spinning move I stood back up and we were back to where we were, just many bumps and bruises later. While neither one of us could see each others eye, we both felt like we could stare into the others and know what was going to happen next. He threw a chain, kunai tip first, but I have already adapted. Sidestepping I grabbed the chain by the links and wrapped it around my arm like before but began to spin myself like in a hammer throwing competition. I'm a very strong individual and let me say that either it is all the armor and chains or this guy is heavy. But grinning and bearing it the samurai flew in the air hitting trees and the walls of the warehouse with the finale bringing him down like hammering on a railroad spike. He plummeted with a poof of dirt shooting up with the first noise he made: *ugh* as he held his held. I stepped, you could almost say lightly stomped, on his chest turning off my torches and look down at him.
"You have a few questions to answer, samurai," I told him.
He groaned and held his head with two fingers, by the way his skin flexed and stretched he was wincing a little bit, "Yeah like what?" Were his first words in a very deep and calm voice that could probably make reading the phonebook interesting.
"Well for starters, who are you?"
After a few moments of contemplation, "My name is Takeda."
"Now is that your real and final answer?"
"Yes, I choose not to hide behind a fake name like a coward."
"Listen 'Takeda' you don't seem to realize that I am the one with all the power and if you tempt me, I will kill you, and I like to have fun," I said rather pissed off with that earlier comment (I mean who doesn't like codenames!?).
"Then I will die a warrior's death, an honorable death given by a scum of Remnant."
"You're making it really hard for me to like you, and that's hard because you did the one thing that nobody else has been able to do my dear samurai."
"And what's that Welder?"
"You found me, and you attacked me. Ot just that but you put up a fight, something I rarely, if ever, have to deal with."
"Well yippee," he sarcastically noted.
"But let me guess as to why you attacked me. You are hunting Mr. Sherwood just like me and you would rather not have to deal with competition."
"Maybe in essence. Unlike you I don't kill unless they ask for it or they deserve it, not when somebody asks me to. I have been ask to get evidence of Mr. Sherwood admitting to the deeds he has supposedly committed."
I took my foot off the samurai, "well then it seems we have come to an agreement," I announced.
"What 'agreement'?" He asked cautiously.
"You and I while go after , we will get what you need and since I don't need to kill him for my bounty I won't kill the poor miserable sap, we'll be just bringing him back in the trunk," I said putting my arm on his shoulder walking back to the warehouse. "Don't worry we'll get him but we should rest, who knows what our auras are at, while I do like a challenge, I don't want bullet holes in this nice trench coat (it just got cleaned). But don't worry my grey armored clad compatriot, we'll get Mr. Sherwood, it will just have to wait till the morning…"