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I had my meeting with the crime family tonight. The Engelberts as they were called. Lila and Noir. The Thinker and the Trump. They could prove to be a problem but I had Neo with me and it was at Junior's club. Neutral territory, so there was a low chance of a real fight breaking out. Not that I was unconfident. I could one shot nearly anybody and with Neo beside me I was a real terror to behold.

I walked into Junior's club and ordered the usual drinks. Three shots for me and a fuzzy navel for Neo. It had some fizz to it and some ice cream on top of the alcohol. It was probably delicious but I had my dignity and I couldn't be caught dead drinking something called a fuzzy navel. I was a man damn it. Or at the very least I was pretending to be one.

Then we sat back and waited. I opened my scroll and glanced at the time. It was seven o'five. They were late. Were they doing it just to piss me off or was there something else going on? Perhaps they just didn't understand the gravity of their situation and just how replaceable I could make them.

Then they walked in. A black haired woman with purple eyes, darker than Yang's. She had a mechashift weapon on her back that was serrated and had blades to it but also seemed to be some kind of rifle.

The man next to her had the same black hair and dark purple eyes. He had an enormous battle axe on his back and he was broad at the shoulder. They both had the same round nose and deep jawline. They had high cheekbones and were classically good-looking on top of being hunters. So they had that extra special something on top of all that. The shorter of the two was the woman and she was still tall at just a handful of inches shorter than me and the man was taller than me by an inch, maybe two.

I looked them both dead in the eye. "Green and red," the man said to the woman. The woman looked us up and down warily.

"Just like Roman," she murmured back.

"Tell me," I broadcasted my voice. "Is red bad or good?"

Red was typically bad. But with powers that let you see danger in colors it really could be anything.

"Red sure is something…" Noir said.

"So you're fully aware that if this shakes out violently you're likely to go the way of the dodo," I pointed out. I was leaning against the bar. My giant weapon was in my harness behind me. I could activate Limit Breaker and then Omni slash one of them in a fraction of a second. Then Neo would capture the other in delusory imagery and teleports and stall until I had time to deal with the other. It could be short, sweet, brutal.

"One of the two ways. Sure," Lila said.

"No, let's be clear about this. I could crush you both and you only live or die by my good favor."

They exchanged a glance.

"It's the girl with you that really worries me. I've heard of Neapolitan and she's the one who's red," Noir indicated. "Keep her on a tight leash and we'll do just fine."

"And I'm just measly green. What does your power tell you I can do?"

"Store a bit of power for later use in over charging yourself. That's all," Noir said. Huh. I had always wondered what was semblance and what was magic. Now I finally know.

"That's really not all I can do. You're not picking up my grab bag of powers; of the two of us, Neo and I, I'm the more dangerous. I could kill one of you in half a second. Then deal with the other fairly quickly. You can't see the whole picture."

"I'm not scared of you."

"Well you should be. I'm the most dangerous man on the planet."

"And so what? You summoned us here just to threaten us?" Lila asked.

"Maybe so. I wanted to make a deal. Draw up some limits. That sort of thing."

"What kind of a deal would a Beacon Professor have to make with us?" Lila wondered.

"I'm looking for some people that you can find for me. Can't you?"

"Maybe I can. But that sort of thing has a price."

"The price is me not killing you."

"I'm sick and tired of being threatened by you." Noir came out and said it.

I activated my semblance and crossed the distance between us in a heartbeat. I thrust forward up into his chest with enough force to make his aura crackle. Then I swept my blade around and down on his body. I flicked it out again like the tongue of a snake in a thrust that floored him. Then I brought it in three horizontal cuts one from each direction on his crumpling body. Limit Breaker faded around me but his aura was gone and with one hand I reached down and picked him up by the throat. I shook him like a doll.

Neo teleported right into Lila's space and put her in an arm bar before she could react.

"I'm still talking. You should be hanging on my every word. I will cut you into pieces. You will find these targets for me or I will discard you until I find someone who will. Am I completely and finally totally understood yet."

"How did you do that? You're green," he managed.

"Looks can be deceiving. Here's what I want. I want Hazel Rainart. I want Emerald Sustrai. I want any of the Arc sisters who make their way into town. And you two are going to give them to me or I'll reshuffle the deck and destroy you."

"Just don't kill my brother! I'll find them. We'll do whatever you want! Just put him down. You're killing him!"

Noir struggled feebly in my arms. Without aura he was as weak as any normal civilian.

I dropped him.

"Come have a drink with me," I ordered. "We have serious business to discuss."

I led them over to a table and sat them down.

"So what'll you have?" I waved a cute waitress over to us. Not aura cute but still cute enough to probably do very well for herself. She had blonde hair and green eyes and was on the short side.

"Nothing," Noir intoned.

I tsked at him and charged my semblance a little. I let the smell of my aura waft over the room. "You'll drink something. We're sharing a drink. Because we're friends. Because if we're not friends then we're enemies. And you don't want to be my enemies. So drink up."

"A whiskey, then."

"Piña colada," Lila decided.

I looked at the waitress who was writing it down. "Three shots of vodka and another fuzzy navel, please and thank you."

She nodded and left.

That just left me and Neo with two potential mortal enemies sitting at the same table. Life made for interesting bedfellows. If I gave either of them half an opportunity to kill me they would take it. This must have been what Roman faced with Cinder. But how to get out from underneath my palm? My reach was far with Neo in my pocket. They had to know that. And with fingers outstretched I could cage them. That was where they were bound to spend the rest of their lives. Under my thumb. Now everyone in the room knew it. I had brutalized Noir. And I could already do it again with my semblance charged up. Of course this time I'd go for the girl and rip her to pieces and leave the guy to Neo's games. And weren't her games delightful.

"So what happens now?" Noir asked, rubbing at his throat.

"You work for me now. I thought that should be obvious. You'll do what I say when I say and aside from that you'll remain free to do whatever it is you do. Of course it would be for the best if the things you get up to don't involve Beacon Academy or her students. But aside from that you should go nuts. Do what you please. Don't make it my problem and you should find the people I have mentioned. They are so awful for our line of business. I want them found and I want them dealt with on a permanent basis. It would be safest for you to leave them to me but things don't always go as planned. The Arc sisters will kill you and torture you. Best give me a call if they should come up. I'll give you both my number."

Neo gestured for more icecream and I flagged the waitress down again and ordered her another drink.

"I don't suppose we have much of an option to all this," Noir grumbled.

"Naturally you must do as you see fit. Bearing in mind the consequences and repercussions of your actions."

"Well we wouldn't want to step on your toes," Lila said.

"I believe I have mentioned my toes and how to avoid them already. Those things aside you can sell drugs, murder, rob, whatever you people do. I don't really care. If it's not you then it will be someone else doing it."

I reminded them a little how disposable they were to me. I could kill them. I would kiss them. Do what I say. The 'or else' was just very strongly implied. Don't give me half a reason to think that you're turning on me or I'll turn you into the dirt I walk on.

"You really don't care if we kill people. Isn't it your job to...prevent that?" Lila

"I kill people all the time. Why shouldn't you?" I fired right back at Lila. "Let's be reasonable about this. I can't expect you to stop doing your jobs? I may as well just kill you now myself. We have yet to see if you're of use to me alive. That would just be a waste if you met your end now. I suppose if you're so inclined I can grant that wish."

"We're good on that. Thanks. And we will be useful. If any of your targets are in town I can find them."

"Good. I hate searching blindly. Think of this all as an opportunity. And of course I can grant you great favors if you find any of my names. I'm the real deal so I could easily clean up your competition. Think it over. Don't go rushing into any conclusions."

Let them stew on it a little. I wanted them to feel hopeless against me for real. Which they sort of were anyways. If they were going to kill me it would have to be quickly and by surprise and I would have no chance to retaliate. Not that they knew that I could retaliate with immense power to the slightest damage. But I could. I totally one hundred percent could. So whatever explosion they set up for me had better kill me and given that I walked off Raven's white dust blade they had better have a whole helping or two of power behind whatever car bomb or building bomb they went for. Or else I'd walk it off and go and crush them. I was still near my peak. And at my apex I zero to death comboed Raven Branwen.

I was the realest deal they would ever meet besides maybe my Mother. And if they ran into her then they would have serious problems besides just little old me. They would be in it real deep at that point. Let's just hope for everybody's sake that it never comes to that. My Mother isn't as nice or as forgiving as I am. If she got her clutches on the Engelberts then they would really be at a point of no return.

"And that's all you want from us? That's it?" Noir asked, genuinely surprised. He wasn't getting it.

"Well of the people you kill I'd prefer you didn't kill kids but that's-"

"That's bad for business anyways," Lila picked up. "So you want us to run our business pretty much totally as before. That's all."

"That's all babe. Glad we could establish some ground rules and get to the bottom of all this. There really was no need for things to get violent but you needed a taste. My power registered as mediocre to you."

"Do you know why?" Noir asked.

"I do. But let's allow each other some secrets and just call it a blind spot. Shall we?" I renaged. "You don't want to look too deeply into my life. That is a rabbit hole that's liable to consume you. Just don't and leave it at that. Shall we?"

"What sorts of favors are you willing to grant?" Lila asked.

"Killings. You need somebody tough dead and I'm probably your best friend. I'll also loan you Neo if you need illusions and teleportations. Like for a quick get away for example. Just so long as it doesn't violate her new pardon. It's in mint condition and I'd like to keep it that way. And of course any killings I do preform must be discreet so as to not compromise my position. That would be an issue."

"That's a pretty tempting offer. And all for people we should want to hand over to you anyways so we don't have to deal with them ourselves," Lila pointed out. "I don't get it."

"You don't really need to. You should instead just take me at my word."

"Then we have an accord," Noir decided, speaking for them both.

"I'm glad you two can be reasoned with. It would have been a shame to have to start over. But all is well that ends well as they say."

I stood up and paid my tab.

"Let's head out, Neo. Unless you want another smoothy." She hit me on the shoulder with the back of her hand. "I meant cocktail. Pardon me."

We stood up and together we left Junior's club and bar. I left the Engelberts at the table with the tab already settled. I could be so good for their business. I just needed a few things from them. Like complete and utter domination of their free will. But that was such a minor thing. Surely they wouldn't choke under that yoke.

And if they did, well, I'd shuffle the deck and draw from the top. Eventually I would encounter somebody willing to do my bidding. I didn't think I would have to go that far in all likelihood. The Engelberts knew that they were under my boot now. It's in their best interest to roll over, play dead, and fetch. I was cash money in their pocket if they played their hand right.

They just needed to not be dumb. They didn't seem to be. That was good news for my part and for theirs. Otherwise I would roll up on them and end them. I suppose they could try and run but then they would lose everything they had built up here. That was, to me, the same as killing them and shuffling the deck again.

It wasn't a real issue.

We walked out of the glass doors of the club and out onto the tall standing streets of Vale. The buildings seemed to lean away from me as I slowly walked so that Neo could keep up without jogging. My gait was purposeful and wide. These streets were as good as mine now. The lampposts appeared to bend away from me as the two of us walked together. Neo had some skip in her step and she was slightly toasted by the drink. She was enjoying herself and I saw no reason to quell it. Let her be happy and I shared a little of her pleasure as well. She was still silent but I got the feeling she was content to be once again second fiddle to the man running Vale's underground. It probably took her back.

Of course, I didn't need to be reminded of what happened to the last guy to hold my current place in the hierarchy.

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-WG