"You're insane if you think that any of that can work." Richard finished his drink and waved to the bartender for another.
"What? All I want to do is train people to fight the Grimm instead of hide behind walls and wait for other people to make a mistake. Why is that wrong?"
He chuckled. "You don't know people. They won't want to send their sons and daughters to their deaths."
"I'm not asking for kids! I want anyone who thinks that we can push them back. How many people-" I looked around the dimly lit bar, waiting until the bartender had moved away to continue. "How many people do you think know that Hunters can unlock their Aura, make them just as capable?"
He frowned, and took a sip from his 'beer'. "Not many. So, what, you want me to come join you, is that it?"
I shook my head. "No, nothing like that. Not yet. I just want you back in the air. Do you still have a job?"
"Yea, I run radar now. It's boring as hell."
"Making decent money?"
"Why?" His features tightened. I had no clue why people here were so sensitive about their earnings.
"Maybe I'm offering a job. I need to get around, quick. I need a good pilot. I have a lot of money."
At once his attitude changed. "You have a ship? Somewhere to store it? Weapons, fuel, mechanics?"
"I have nothing yet, Richard." I admitted, opening up my inventory and taking almost all of my money out. It amounted to just over 1,000,000L. I left myself with 10,000 or so, just in case. "This is what I can give you, right now, to start setting up whatever you need." He scoffed until he saw the numbers on the cards.
"Where did you get this?" He asked, picking up one of the cards with something approaching reverence. "This card alone is twice what I'll make in a year…"
"So it will buy us a Bullhead?"
He scooped the money into his bag, realizing a dodged question when he heard it. "Maybe not a Bullhead, but I'll shop around. First though, give me priorities. Heavy lifting, speed, stealth, comfort, what are you looking for?"
"Transporting small groups of people at high speed."
He nodded. "That can be covered on the commercial end so it won't raise any attention. I'm taking one of these cards for myself, though."
"Take all of it for yourself. Whatever you don't need to do your job."
He glanced at me. "What's my job?"
"Show up if I need you in a fast airship. I can't go flying around the city with trails of fire behind me, besides I want to go out Hunting."
"Outside the walls?" He pulled out his scroll and started flying through pages. "That may require some aftermarket modification which will be pricey. Are you pulling in this kind of money regularly?"
"Not regularly, more along the lines of contracts with large payouts?" I attempted to explain over my drink and we continued to talk. Eventually the conversation fell away and Richard put away his scroll, saying he'd get back to me when he had found a place to store the yet to be bought ship. He left and I waited a couple minutes before calling a cab on my scroll. Time to head home.
My night was spent training Flamethrower, Dust Battery, Conversion, and Featherweight. After my first attempt using Flamethrower on myself, I quickly moved my training up to the roof of my building. With every level it gained, the flames got more intense, and I didn't want to set my building on fire.
When the sun started peeking up, I made my way inside. A long shower under the luxury of a massaging showerhead was something I had begun doing in the mornings, and I made no exception today. That finished, I dressed and sat at my kitchen table. My team would hopefully be coming by at some point today. I sighed and tried to think of what I would say, before quickly opting for the majority of the truth.
I would stress the need for secrecy, of course, though with RWBY being such a high-profile team and my own… Wait, I thought they would get kicked out without 4 people? Something to ask about later.
I opened up my refrigerator and saw absolutely nothing but a harsh white and empty shelves. Something else I would need to do later. I didn't need to eat but good food was still enjoyable.
For now, I looked over what Arthur had insisted I get. I was pretty surprised when I had seen it last night but my mind had been busy on other things. There was a large screen hanging on the wall in my bedroom, with a couch facing it. A small, knee height table sat between the two which I wondered how anyone would use such a thing until I sank myself into the couch and realized it was at a perfect height.
On the table was a black cylinder with a blinking green light on it, and a folder. Inside said folder, was a handwritten note.
Dear ViralAudio&Video Customer!
Congratulations on purchasing the Smart Home Theater Setup! Technicians completed the installation of your entertainment system at approximately 4PM on the day of ordering.
Attached is a copy of all warranty and customer safety information included with the system. Please note that if you have any troubles, you can request a service call at .www.
Thank you for your purchase, and enjoy!
Tom McGreenridge, CEO
P.S. To start, just say "I'm home."
The rest of the papers were full of tiny print and confusing pictures I didn't quite understand so I stuffed it all back into the folder and cleared my throat.
"I'm home." I said, the words leaving a bitter taste in my mouth. My lights flicked off, then slowly brightened as a droning sound came from seemingly everywhere, in a full range of sound that harmonized inside of me. I actually smiled. This was quite a bit more interesting than I had thought.
The screen flashed to life with an absolutely gorgeous shot of a crystal-clear waterfall in a vibrant jungle teeming with life. I could hear the insects buzzing around me. I sat enraptured as it cut to a desert with a lone man walking along the top of a dune in stark contrast to the bright sun behind him. Again, the sounds of swirling sand and howling wind had me enthralled and I looked around to see that my lights had changed colour, matching the bottom half of my room with the colour of the sand and the top half the colour of the sky. As my eyes flicked back to the screen in wonder, the scene changed once more.
A Hunter, or what I had taken for the public depiction of a Hunter, battled the a massive Goliath. The fight went on for thirty seconds, and I almost congratulated the shadowy, featureless man on his triumphant victory before he faded into dust that reformed into the letters VAV. The droning sound that I had barely noticed throughout cut off abruptly, and a female voice came from my screen, accompanied by a blob that pulsed when she spoke.
"Welcome home, sir. What would you like to do?"
"What can I do?"
"The current activities you have available are: Watch TV, Watch Movie, Play Scroll Games, Play Music, Set Lighting, Set Alarm, Program Smart Settings, Help."
I put my hand on my chin, scratching the small length of stubble I'd managed to grow. "Play Music?"
"What would you like to hear?" The voice called back.
"No electronic stuff. It doesn't sound real."
"Playing a list of classical hits."
The distorted sounds of a guitar came through my speakers, way too loudly. "Turn it off!"
The sound cut. "Make it quieter. And didn't I say no electronic stuff?"
The green light on the cylinder flashed blue, ten back to green. "Sorry sir, playing historical hits."
Another guitar sounded but less distorted, and playing in a much calmer manner. With a pang I wished I had some mead and was sitting in a smoky tavern. Then some baby-voiced dunce had to ruin it with their crooning.
"Close. Like that, but without the singing."
"Got it nailed, sir." The voice replied as the song stopped once more. "Playing instrumental historical music."
I sat and listened to that for about a good half hour. Like all good things, though, it was cut short. A knock sounded on my door. I raised an eyebrow as a camera showed my door from the hallway, popping up in the corner of my screen. Now that was pretty amazing.
Standing in the hallway were Pyrrha and Nora. Lie Ren was notably absent. I sighed. "Turn it all off." I said, standing. The TV, audio, and lights all clicked off, and my blinds started closing themselves. "No, not the lights! And open the windows back up. Yeesh."
I took another deep breath before steeling my jaw and loosening my neck; I opened the door. As I predicted, a fist soared through and cracked me in the jaw, courtesy of Pyrrha. I didn't react to it, besides for my head inevitably snapping to the side. I turned to Nora, mildly afraid that she wouldn't hold back as much as Pyrrha had, but instead of a bone-crushing attack I got a equally ferocious hug. She lifted me off the ground and I felt a couple of bones in my back pop. I genuinely laughed and hugged her back for a second before pushing her off. She gave me a half-hearted punch in the shoulder.
"Ren told me to pass that along." She said flatly. "He's not too thrilled. He was probably the most upset, you know?"
Pyrrha, eyes ringed with dark circles that told me she hadn't been sleeping well, stormed past me into my apartment. I stepped aside and gestured Nora in, and within an instant she had come directly to my empty fridge and was looking at the inside in shock. Her face was slowly turning sad.
I was about to suggest grocery shopping but then realized I had given Richard almost all of my money. 10,000 L would be enough for meals for me and Pyrrha for the day, assuming they stuck around that long, but Nora was a bottomless pit.
Speaking of the Imperial-themed woman, she was looking out my balcony window. I didn't know specifically at what, but I assumed it was Beacon tower in the distance. "Why?" She spoke softly.
I moved over to the window as Nora continued poking around my kitchen. "I didn't have much of a choice."
"You said there's always a choice." She shot back.
I was silent for a few seconds. "There is."
"You chose to leave us."
"I chose to ask questions that nobody thinks of asking. The consequences of that choice were a bit… exaggerated. I wasn't prepared."
She took her turn to be silent. "Is somebody after you?"
"Depending on who you ask, everybody is after me." I replied.
"Well, I know Diana wants to kick your butt if she ever finds you." She sounded hesitant, but I forced a chuckle. She seemed to take my laughter as a cue and let herself smile a bit.
"Yea, she's understandable. I don't care about her, though. Where's Ren?"
She frowned. "He came with us to town. He… ugh boys can be so stupid!"
"What?"
"He wants an apology." She looked away, as if scared that would offend me. Nora was just sitting on my bed, watching to proceedings. Apparently her hunger could be kept in check if the situation was serious enough. "He wants an apology, or he wants you to leave the city before he tells Ozpin where you are."
I rolled my eyes as I turned back to Nora. "Why do you think I invited everyone? Where is he?"
The balcony door slid open and in he walked. I frowned, before getting over it. "Hey." I started.
He stared silently. He looked angry, but also… hurt.
"Okay, we're going to do it this way, wonderful… I'll give you the short version and you can ask questions at the end. Let's take a seat, shall we?" I gestured to the couch as I pulled over the chairs from the kitchen table so we could all sit.
I told them I had been going Hunting. I told them about the attack on the gate, I told them about the plan to let the children die, and I told them how me and Ruby held off the Grimm long enough to get the kids to safety. I told them I was pulled out by Jak's old team, because Ozpin had allegedly decided to use the opportunity to get rid of me. I told them that I needed to be kept secret because people thought I would become an evil version of Jak or something, and how I was training in preparation to take on the Grimm on a serious level.
"So what are we doing at school then?" Lie Ren said.
"I can get stronger in one day fighting Grimm than a week at school. That's part of the reason I didn't go back other than, you know, the apparent Headmaster wanting me dead." I answered. "I'm sorry. I can't go back."
"He didn't ask what you were doing here. You already told us." Pyrrha in a very uncharacteristic type of way. "He asked what we're still doing at the school .You said you would include us. Then you went out Hunting, alone. Now you're getting stronger, alone. Just going to leave us behind on your climb to the top?"
My eyes widened and I looked at Nora. She was also being very odd from what I knew of her, looking down. Pyrrha stayed Pyrrha, though the idea that her team was crumbling around her seemed to crack her tough visage just a little.
"That wasn't my plan, I just thought-" I started.
"No!" The redheaded warrior got herself together quick. "Stop thinking, just ask."
"What?!" I shouted. "What do you want me to ask? I can't ask you to follow me! I don't eat, I don't sleep, I don't have room for you guys and I-"
My scroll buzzed. It was Richard. "Hold on, sorry guys."
I stepped out onto the balcony.
"Richard, what's up, I'm kind of busy."
"Well get un-busy, dumbfuck! I found us a place but we have to go fast, you hear me? Like, now! Where are you, I'm on my way!"
"I'm at the apartments on the corner of Main and 7th." I replied, scanning the street below. "What's the big rush?"
"Just get to the roof!" With that, he hung up.
I sighed again as I opened the balcony door. I took a step inside before I did a double-take and saw a black duffel-bag on my balcony that definitely wasn't there last night. It was large, bulgy, and when I grabbed the handle, ridiculously heavy.
I lugged it inside with me and Ren had the decency to look sheepish. All he got from me was a raised eyebrow and I almost dumped the contents on the floor before I saw what was inside.
I pulled out a pink grenade launcher. "Magnhild? Expecting a fight, Nora?"
Her brief stint of looking sullen disappeared. "When can't I around you?" She challenged.
Everyone had their weapons in the bag which I let them grab on their own. Pyrrha pulled out a long cloth bundle for me which had me surprised.
"What is this?"
"Open it."
I grabbed the significant weight, realizing that this was what had weighed down the bag. It was a sword, quite similar to the one I had woken up with. There were three buttons on the handle, and it looked like it was attached to a shield-sheath. I drew the sword and the first button did nothing. The second extended it a slight amount and small, razor edges came out the sides making it serrated. The third shifted it back, then the center fired out into my ceiling. It dug in there.
"Top button." Pyrrha giggled, and I grinned. She had smiled, I was officially off the hook with her.
I hit the first button again and the sword retracted. I put it back into the sheath. "This is awesome." I said simply. "Thank you. Where did you get it?"
"Ruby and Pyrrha were up literally all night finishing it for you." Ren informed me. "And you aren't done yet. Try those buttons again. When it's in the sheath, each button is a toggle. First is length, second is range, third is form."
I was confused so as he suggested I tried it out. Pressing the first button led to a delightful change. The edge doubled in length, as did the handle. I gave it a few waves, not having the room to swing it properly inside, but I could tell it had the balance nearer to the handle to make for easier and quicker maneuvers. I could appreciate that.
The second button folded the tip of the sword back in four directions, leaving me with an odd mace-head at the end. A gun barrel poked out the end. A trigger had folder out and the handle had curved. It would be more difficult to fight in close this way, but if had a feeling I would get the hang of switching the forms with practice.
I pressed the third button, and the blade of the sword appeared to slide up the edge, gathering into an axe-head.
It took me a couple tries but I discovered a short axe that couldn't use bullets, a short rifle form, and a spear form that occured when I used the form toggle on long mode without the gun activated. The ammunition went into the handle, but there was no spot for Dust. I could achieve most of the same effects with Aura Enhancement, but still.
"This is… incredible." I replied, setting the weapon down. I didn't want to use Observe on it until I had a name for it. This was definitely a weapon that needed a name. I walked up to Pyrrha and looked her directly in her green eyes. "Thank you, Pyrrha."
"Ruby's the one you should thank, she's been working on this since you left. I think you underestimate the effect you have on people."
"Maybe I do." I replied. "Look, I'd love to offer you guys breakfast but there's something that I've gotta go do and I don't have food anyways so… Thank you for coming, and you're all wel-"
Pyrrha slapped me. "You dumbass." she swore. "We're coming with. How many times do we have to say it, hm?"
"I didn't bring my hammer for nothing!" Nora shouted.
I chuckled, relented, and led them up to the roof, locking my place behind me. It hadn't started raining yet but the wind was still chilly. Nobody else besides for me appeared to be cold, then I remembered they keep their Aura on all the time.
Within a couple of minutes, a sleek air-car came screaming out of the sky, covered in stickers and painted in vibrant colours. It spun into a frantic descent and pulled up less than a foot from the roof. I gaped at the sheer speed and danger, along with the grace with which it was executed. Landing gear popped out and the engines shut off, all in a smooth motion, as Richard opened the hatch and jumped out.
"Eh? What do you think?" He sounded incredibly proud of himself.
"It's quick." I admitted. "But very noticeable."
"I know." His giddy expression left his face and he began trying to sell it to me. No need, considering I assumed he already bought it. "I got it for 120,000L, and the modifications to the engine alone are worth double that. We can clean it, repaint it, fit it with our own mods even! Vicky here was a real popular model in Atlas around 25 years ago, and they shipped them everywhere. We can find parts for cheap, we can blend in, and it's incredibly easy to modify. It was built for it. The model was originally for the Atlesian military for a multi-role craft, but the Bullhead won out. This is a civilian model that AtlesiaTech adapted to make use of the manufacturing facilities but get this, the only differences from the original military concept are armor plating, the engine, and a radar system. The last owner already beefed up the engine, and armor plating is easy to weld on. Radar might be an issue but we can buy one with the 800,000L I have left."
He looked smug still, and I do have to admit he saved a lot of my money. "What about the other 80 thousand?"
"My paycheck." He sounded nervous.
"I'm paying you 80 thousand a day?"
He shook his head frantically. "No, no, not a chance. I was thinking this would last me for the first two months or so. My kid needs braces and that isn't cheap."
"I have no idea what braces are, but take 100,000 a month." I replied. I got about 2000L for every hour spent in Forever Fall killing skeletons. I could afford to pay a friend. That was only about a week of skeleton killing.
He took it in stride, handing back the rest of the money and looking over my companions . "Good to see you all again. What's the occasion, other than dunce over here not being as dead as they said he was?"
"You tell me." I shot back before anyone could get a jab in. "You're the one that said we had to go 'right now'."
He appeared to remember in an instant and shooed us into the back. "We have to ride seperate but there's an intercom. I'll explain on the way."
Vicky, or the AtlesiaTech MR-380 'Venerable Condor' Multi-Role Aerospace Superiority Ship, was quite different looking from a Bullhead, and Richard gave us the exact differences during the flight.
"The 380 should have been used over the Bullhead, I've said it for years." A crackling voice came from the roof as Len pulled the door closed. It was louder in the cabin than a Bullhead was and I had to strain to pick out Richard's words. "It's faster, more maneuverable. That's what we need against the Grimm, not giant floating targets. Bullheads work great for ground targets, but I bet if we throw even a semi-decent gun on this thing I'll out-fly anything."
"Can you hear us?" I shouted back.
"Shitty intercom if I couldn't! Anyways, once we get some armor on and it fitted with guns, it won't be able to be as discreet. Keeping it somewhere hidden will be necessary. Flying around, not so much. If I were a gambler, I'd put money on us out-running anything that sees us, so we don't have to worry. We've got a dedicated forward thrust engine that's beefed up to shit, and four vectored mini-turbines for maneuverability. I'm guessing you noticed how short the wings are?"
I glanced out the window and saw that while the engine wasn't screaming like it did under high stress, we were still going much faster than I had ever been on a Bullhead. The wings were also indeed shorter, and lacked the engines on the end.
"That's because when AtlesiaTech made Vicky, they first made a massive amount of a special alloy that had very trace amounts of Gravity Dust. The result was a lighter frame, meaning our ventral mini-turbines provide more than enough lift at stationary, even with a full cabin. You aren't going to be lifting anything, though."
The interior was much nicer, too. There were 6 seats, three on each side facing each other. They were made of an old looking leather. I took a seat, surprised at the comfort. Ren and Nora sat opposite and Pyrrha next to me as we listened.
"Anyways, because of that, we can't throw too much armor on unless we beef up the mini-turbines as well. Same goes for any heavy weaponry. Ideally we'd set it up with a missile rack and a decent ROF gun, but it's hard to just buy missiles. I was thinking something along the lines of an energy weapon, leaves no ammunition to be tracked if you can get some Ice Dust for the cooling array, and would last longer on a mission."
"Maybe. We'll see. Where are we going?" I asked, waiting to hear what I really wanted to know.
"Right, so my cousin's friend ran a small air-car taxi service and he's had to close down with those new self-driving ground-cars taking all the business. He's auctioning off everything privately, and we need to get that garage. All the stuff in it is being sold as we speak, which is why we're going now before he sells to someone else."
"What the hell?" I was mildly upset that people like this were here too, not just in Skyrim. No sense of merchant's honor, just sell to whoever pays you the most, regardless of if you've already sold an item to somebody else. Despicable. "Alright, let's go. Will we have enough for a building?"
"That's why I had to bring you. We will, but not if somebody outbids us. So, you show up and make people decide they don't want to bid against you."
"So I'm taking over the building?" I asked, happy again. Jorrvaskr vol. 2, here we come.
"Well, yes? But it will be entirely legal if you don't threaten or attack anybody."
"And if I do?"
"You won't." Pyrrha replied with a glare. I didn't respond to her, waiting for my pilot instead.
He spoke soon enough. "Investigation on you starts, more people are mad at you, and the police show after, Huntsmen."
"Fine, no threatening people or attacking them. What can I do?"
Richard grinned. "Well, there's not many people there, and there's one guy buying most of the stuff. I figure if you deal with him, you've got it nailed."
-.-.-.-
"1001L." I replied calmly. This was incredibly fun. I'd shown up halfway through, and Richard had come in with me. My team was dressed in very conspicuous gear, and we didn't want to leave my new ship alone.
Dr. Rockfell was livid. I had been doing this for the past hour, and from the way he kept glancing at his watch I could tell he had somewhere to be. Luckily, I didn't. We were currently bidding on a desk. I had originally been incredibly confused but Richard had talked me through the first item and now it was in my territory: intimidation and messing with people's heads. He was a heavier man in a suit, clever, but quick to frustrate, thank Divines.
"Two thousand Lien!" The doctor shouted, glaring at me triumphantly. I glanced at the desk. Richard had already searched up the value, it was around 1500L. I pretended to value it for a second.
"2001L." I replied, just as calmly.
I drove the price of the desk up to 10,000L, many times the original price. I didn't even want it, and Richard looked at me like I was stupid. I did get it though. I did the same thing when the car-lift was being sold. That was much more expensive. It was valued at around 50,000L. I paid 150,000L. Richard looked ready to hit me.
Then, after much more waiting during which I didn't bid on a thing but watched Dr. Rockfell fight this blue-collar man for every small item, it came the time.
"Finally," the greasy, skinny man running the auction began, "The deed for this property. Bidding begins at 100,000L!"
The doctor called out, bidding. I stood, making quite the scene in the audience and distracting them from Richard, who stood off to the side. I had sat patiently until now, but the move was to be made. I paced directly over to the doctor, stood between him and the stage where the auctioneer was, looked him dead in the eye, then bid.
"Half a million Lien." I said calmly and flatly. The doctor went to raise his paddle. I leaned in. "I will make you spend every single bit of wealth you own. I will outbid you until you drop from exhaustion of raising that paddle. Then, on your last bid, when you've thrown much more on the table than you ever had and ever could make, I'll stop. You will get the building, For a bit, until you have to sell it to take a drop out of the ocean that will be your debt. Or, you give it to me, I'll rent out half of it to you for whatever you were going to use it for."
"I need the whole thing."
"I don't, but I still need it." I answered back.
He frowned, raising his paddle slowly as he stared right back at me.
"600 thousand."
"1 million Lien." I replied, actively trying to keep calm as the stare-down continued. His paddle twitched. "Actually, you know what?" I interrupted. "10 million."
Doctor Rockfell actively recoiled, then tried to hide his grin. He probably though I knew nothing about how auctions work. He probably thought that my team and I hadn't researched exactly what happens when someone doesn't have enough to pay for an item. Namely, it travels back the bidding line until someone other than the offender can afford it.
"20 million." He shot back with venom, probably thinking I was ridiculously rich and I dressed the way I was for anonymity. I did nothing to dissuade him of that.
"Forty." I replied calmly.
The perk 'Big Spender' has been activated!
"200 million." He growled back, daring me to take it further.
Instead, I let my facade crack, and started chuckling as I walked back to my seat, thanking the hell out of that perk I had almost forgotten about. It was done and over with, unless this random guy had 200 million to spend. I had about 6,000L on me, to be honest.
The Dr. remained stoic but I could tell as his features fell that he was realizing I had done exactly what I had told him I would. I let the auctioneer call out loudly, as if anybody would pay 200 million Lien for this dump. Hell, with that kind of money, you could buy a housing complex.
As the auctioneer realized that the doctor didn't have the money, I gave him an apologetic grin and emptied my pockets with the planned 1,000L note in it. "Sorry, guess I spent more than I thought earlier."
He turned to his page and then attempted to find someone in the crowd until Richard stepped forward for him with a 100,000L note in his hand. He had the same grin I had on.
Our plan had worked. While I distracted Dr. Rockfell, Richard had discreetly bid on the deed, being the first. As soon as I had heard that, which would be difficult if you weren't listening for it as the room was underneath a skyway and the garage was open, making it quite loud; regardless, as soon as I heard him bid, it was time to get both the Dr and myself disqualified. Because the price went up so high, nobody else bothered bidding. In fact, by this point, most of the other attendees left when they realized that Rockfell was buying everything.
The auctioneer wasn't happy either, and the previous owner of the building came over from where he stood against the back wall.
"Listen here, you can;t do that shit! This is my retirement!, that'll barely be anything after greedy over here gets his hands on it!" He gestured at the oily man.
"Huh." I replied, having anticipated this too. "Fortunately, I need somebody to move that desk out of here. Could you take care of that for say... 400,000L?" The man grit his teeth in response.
"You probably don't even have that money."
I held my hand out to the side and Richard pulled four cards out of his pocket, putting them in my hand with an audible and satisfying clack. "This money?" I couldn't stop grinning, this was working out perfectly.
The man glared at me, then did a double-take at the money. "Fuck you. I don't need your charity."
My jaw dropped. "Bitch? You storm over here because you didn't enough money and then when I try to give it to you, you insult me? Get the fuck out of my building before I decide you're trespassing and put you out, do you understand?"
The man began to roll up his sleeves, at which my eyes widened. Does this guy really have no sense of self-preservation?
"Listen, man with stones for brains, you're about to make a very bad decision. I'm not going to stop you from making it, I would just highly suggest you don't punch me. It will hurt. for you."
That enraged him more. He swung with all the speed of a tree growing. I didn't even bother blocking it, just letting the blow connect with my jaw. I lost 2 AP that had returned before the ex-owner was holding his left hand in pain. He yelled and swung with his right.
Richard stepped in, raising his right arm through the inside of the other guys punch and planting his palm on the back of his head. With a sharp motion and brutal crack, the man received a brutal knee to the face and dropped onto the floor. Richard dusted himself back off. "Is there going to be trouble for this?" He said almost second-hand to the auctioneer, the only other conscious person present at this point.
Richard was now holding out 500,000L for the auctioneer. We had decided before entering that we would pay 500,000L. In total we had around 150,000L after that, more than enough to start working on the ship. The greasy man took the money and sprinted out the door. We were left with an unconscious man, a bunch of business related crap, and a nice garage with a lift and plenty of tools. There was an office in the back, which was where I headed.
The room was small, a sickly fern in the corner and furniture in terrible shape. Compared to my apartment I felt like I was in the Grey Quarter again. It would have to do. Unfortunately, here it wasn't as easy to grab a few people and set up in an old temple. I'd need a lot of people to help make a coordinated effort with geography and time on my side to even consider it.
I walked back out as I heard my team entering the building. Richard was sizing up the door. "So," I spread my arms out, "What do you think?"
Nora was looking around already, poking through cupboards.
Pyrrha was just giving me one of her questioning looks. "Why did you buy this again?"
"To put my air-car in."
"Vale does offer public parking."
"It's a secret air-car, Ren."
"Fair point."
"Besides, if everyone and their sister is apparently looking for me, it's good to have a back-up place to go if things go south."
Thankfully they didn't point out that I didn't actually need a back-up place. I didn't need to sleep, after all. It was more… having someplace to go. Some place that was mine.
Richard yelled something about grabbing the car, while the rest of us gathered on the relatively uncluttered side of the garage. "So." I started. "About what we were saying back at the apartment. I want to say thank you. It's nice to have those I can trust again. But you can't just quit Beacon."
"We're only there so Pyrrha can win the tournament for Vale. Professor Goodwitch might as well have said it to our face." Nora replied, kicking the dust on the floor.
Pyrrha glared at me for the briefest of moments. "Ozpin wants us to stay until the tournament is over, then attend civilian courses for the rest of the year and come back next fall."
"Does it matter?" Nora challenged. "Torga's out here getting stronger while we're ignored in Beacon. It isn't fair."
"None of this from the start has been fair." I cut in. "At Beacon, you can get the experience from trained Huntsman and Huntresses, plus the resources that come from being backed by Beacon. All I can do is take you out to fight. Grimm, dungeon monsters…"
"Stop doing that." Ren broke his silence.
"Doing what?" I asked in exasperation.
"Acting like we're not a team. It's not about what you can offer us. This isn't a job interview. This is about us coming back together and figuring out what we do. I couldn't care less for Beacon. The Huntsman were nowhere to be found when my village burned."
"I mean…"
"Nora?" She had the decency to look sheepish when Ren called her out. "So what, you can take us out fighting. Richard could probably teach us all a thing or two about real-life combat, you know Pyrrha can train us for a while at least, right?"
"I have an idea." I answered, a few things clicking into place. "But it involves you guys staying for just a while longer. While you're there, if you can, pass along to the math professor that I'm still around, and that he needs to contact me from one of your scrolls. If you recall, he's not too happy with the way things are at the school and we could use his help rounding out our education if we can get him."
"Torga, you're hiring people all over the place and spending money like you can't run out. How do you plan to pay these people?" Pyrrha was the only one still looking hesitant. Nora was downright excited to be pulling some shenanigans.
"That's something I'll actually need your help with."
She crossed her arms. "You want me to pay people for you?"
I shook my head. "I want you to teach me how to unlock an Aura."
AN: Not much gamer stuff in this one, which is why I threw in the Stat block for y'all. Sorry about the delay, my computer charger broke, and I'm also just a lazy author. As usual, deal with it.
~HHR