"You remember that kid I told you I was sticking around to train? There's something off about him, I'm telling you."
"How so?"
"Well apparently he's from a village west of Windpath. I checked, there are no villages west of Windpath, not unless you want to cross Lake fucking Matsu."
"People lie about where they're from all the time, Qrow. That can't be what piqued your interest."
"Oh that's not even close to everything. He doesn't know anything. He didn't know what aura was, he'd never heard of huntsmen, he didn't even know what a bullhead was for Oum's sake."
"I suppose that's odd. I'm sure it can be explained by living in a small, sheltered village however. You'd be surprised how much those disconnected from the world around them are ignorant to knowledge we take for granted."
"But I'm not done. The first time I met him, he almost kicked my ass."
"Oh?"
"He's seventeen, Oz. I still beat him, of course, but he was seventeen, he had no idea what aura was, and he's stronger than me. He beat me in a spar today."
"Perhaps you're getting rusty."
"I'm not fucking joking here Oz. His aura is crazy big, too. Almost knocked me out unlocking the fucking thing. And don't get me started on his stamina. I had him running 23 miles at what I thought was a sprint for someone his age, before I told him to go all out and he tripled his speed."
"Oh?"
"Then he gets a bottle of water on his head and it's like he's good as new. He claims everyone in his family can hand his ass to him on a silver platter, and then there's his sword. It's a pen that transforms into a sword, but it doesn't shift. There's no mechanism — not that one could be that small — to enlarge the pen, it just becomes a sword."
"You think it's magic?"
"It's the only thing I can think of. I've seen mecha shift weapons, and it wasn't one. I really am leaning towards magic on this one. I asked him how it worked and he said it was a family heirloom."
"You think he could be one of Salem's agents? Some child who has been convinced that Salem is his mother?"
"Nah, there's no way. He's a good kid, and he's workin' for some two bit crime lord. He seems way too genuine and he has a sense of humor too, no matter how annoying I find it at times. Nobody raised by her or her agents could ever end up like that, and we both know she wouldn't have use for an agent that low in the underworld."
"I see. You've given me much to think about, Qrow."
"Yeah, you're telling me. Just tell me before you decide anything, Oz. There's something up with him, but I think he's a good kid. He doesn't deserve to get caught up in our mess if he isn't already."
Percy let out a low groan into his eggs.
"Rough night?"
Percy glared at Qrow over his plate, wishing for all the world that he could stab the man in front of him with his fork and get away with it.
"After yesterday's training I had to go with the boss to a high profile meeting with some rival gang leader or something. It went well, and he demanded that I party with them for the rest of the night." he explained.
Qrow winced. "Nasty hangover? Trust me, I know how that feels. The key is to drink more. If you're perpetually drunk you can't get a hangover."
Percy slammed his forehead against the table and let it rest there. "No, that's the problem. The party ended a half hour ago. I'm pretty sure I'm still half drunk, and I moderated myself."
Qrow whistled. "Sounds like a party for the ages. We can keep it easy today. I'd say we could go academic and teach you about some grimm before we have to end our whole student teacher thing, but honestly I don't think you'd remember anything I told you."
Percy's light snores were his only answer.
"Right." Qrow rolled his eyes, starting to dig into his breakfast. He would let the kid get twenty minutes of sleep before waking him up for training.
He felt sympathy for the kid, he really did. But Qrow wasn't going to sit around for a day, and honestly he was pretty sure Percy would kick himself later if he missed a day of training.
He was beating Qrow consistently and almost easily now. Qrow actually thought it was unfair that he could run into someone that could beat him at seventeen. The kid was a beast. An unstoppable beast.
Qrow was the most powerful huntsman in at least Vale, and likely the world, and a teenager showed him up. Honestly he would never get over the embarrassment.
He figured the kid was magical somehow. He had to be. Something like a male version of a maiden, just without the cool lightning powers, and not created by Ozpin.
Either way something was up with him, and he dared anyone that laughed at him for losing to a kid to go toe to toe with him themselves.
They were three days away from the end of their training now, and Percy probably wouldn't have been happy to lose what limited time he had left.
That's how Qrow justified his actions anyway.
"Wake up." He grunted, upending a glass of water over Percy's head.
Jumping up, Percy shook his head, eyes wide.
Qrow rolled his eyes and stood up. "Let's go. We have some training to do."
Contrary to his promise, Qrow did not take it easy on Percy that day. Or at the least it didn't seem like that to Percy.
He slinked back to his bed, supported by Qrow without so much as the energy left to eat dinner.
"Sleep." Percy muttered deliriously.
"Yeah sure, you get to sleep. Good job today kid. Sleep isn't always a luxury you'll have when you're getting into a fight. It's better you learn now."
Percy didn't bother to inform him that he had fought titans on less sleep than he had gotten today. He only bothered with one thing.
"Sleep." Percy repeated.
Qrow actually laughed. "Yeah, sleep."
He was about to leave when a noise rang out. Turning back, he saw Percy's scroll, which laid out on his bed, flashing, signalling a message had been sent.
Qrow rolled his eyes as Percy's snores pervaded across the room. He was fully dressed with his shoes on, laying on top of his bed, and he had still managed to fall asleep in seconds. The kid was talented.
Curious, Qrow walked over to his scroll and opened it up, finding a message from an unknown number.
Make sure you're on Aspro's detail tomorrow night.
Qrow frowned. The kid was getting involved with some shady shit. Well, that was his choice. He had to admit he cared about the kid just a bit after the time they had spent together, but he could make his own decisions.
"Hey, kid." Qrow nudged Percy out of his stupor.
"Nghhh?" Percy groaned, sitting up slowly and rubbing his eyes.
"Message for you from an unknown number." He said, showing Percy his scroll.
Percy ran a hand down his face, making an effort to erase all exhaustion from his being with pure willpower.
"Well, that means shit's going down tomorrow. Sorry Qrow, but I'll have to cut our training short by a couple days." he said, ignoring Qrow's inquisitive eyebrow.
Qrow grunted and decided to be the bigger man and just ask. "What shit is going down tomorrow?"
Percy sighed dejectedly, as if actually hoping he wouldn't have asked.
"That lady I owe a favor for finding the location of your tribe is calling in said favor. She wants to make me boss in Aspro's place." He told Qrow.
Qrow backed up a step.
"Wait, you've been in the criminal underworld for less than a month, you're seventeen, and they want to make you the boss of a major crime family?"
"Well, it's not really a crime family, it's more a gang. The crime families are all in Mistral; the city, not the country. Here they just care about money and power, nobody gives a shit about the family name. That being said, yeah, it's a little crazy. Basically she saw I owed her one, got angry at Aspro, and decided she wanted a new boss in charge of the entrance to the city. She also saw our little skirmish outside, so now I'm strong enough to run the place, apparently."
Qrow had no words. Instead he took out his flask and chugged the rest down.
"I'm going to the bar to get a refill. If you're going to be dealing with that, I'll head out of town." he said.
Percy nodded. "It's been good, Qrow. Thanks for your training, seriously. I haven't learned that much since my mentor first took me on. Give me your scroll number, so we can stay in contact?" he offered awkwardly.
"Why would you need to contact me?" Qrow asked, coming out a bit harsher than he meant to.
Percy held a hand to his heart. "Oh, Qrow, how you wound me. I thought we were friends."
Qrow rolled his eyes and snatched Percy's scroll, ignoring the teenager's tired cheering in the background.
He entered his number and handed the scroll back. "There. Now you have my number."
Percy took his scroll back, looking at the screen.
"Bwhahahahah! Is that actually how you spell your name?!" he took a break to fall back on his bed laughing. "I always thought it was Crow with a C. Weird, but not like the person that named you was high on bath salts. What the fuck, Qrow." he descended into another bout of laughter.
Qrow scowled. "Yeah whatever." he said, flipping Percy off as he walked out of the room.
"Tell your nieces hi for me!" he called as Qrow slammed the door behind him. He got no response.
Percy sighed. Well, he might as well get some rest for tomorrow.
The following day was one of tense relaxation, as oxymoronous as that seemed.
He had relaxed all day, working off his sore muscles from reaching his limit the past two weeks perpetually with Qrow, and yet he was tense for what was to come tonight.
He had adjusted the schedules, making sure he was on guard detail with a few guys he really wouldn't mind putting into the ground if things went that way. The kind he really didn't want to be associated with, but he had been forced to because they were there before he was.
He had thought about putting some of the good ones there that would be more likely to be loyal to Percy, but decided against it. He had no idea what Lil' Miss Malachite was planning, and he didn't want to place them in harm's way.
Percy checked his scroll, seeing that it was seven. He would go down right now and just relieve someone, but that would be too suspicious. No doubt Aspro would be wondering why Percy was on his detail for once, but Percy had an excuse ready for that. He didn't have an excuse as to why he was so anxious to just get it over with.
So deciding to at least burn his time getting something to eat, he headed down to the tavern and got their soup for the night, absorbing the bustling atmosphere.
It really was a homey place, even if everyone avoided his gaze when he walked around. The tavern was owned by the Alpikos, and he was now their chief enforcer. Nobody wanted to look at him the wrong way.
It made it a bit hard to make friends, but Percy didn't mind all that much. He'd like to make a new friend or two here, but he would have to live with Qrow and Monty for now, as infrequently as they came around. Especially Qrow, now that he was heading back to Vale, where he would likely stay for some time.
Gods, Qrow was such a stupid name.
Finishing his soup, Percy sat at his table quietly and looked around the room. Entrances, exits, windows, potential vantage points into the room. It was something he liked to do to pass the time. Not that there was much else to do now that he was isolated on the top of the food chain and Qrow was gone.
He wasn't some super spy, but it was just a nice exercise he liked to do to increase his awareness and keep him occupied.
That's when he noticed the spider tattoo on a couple of patrons sitting in the corner.
Letting his eyes roam to the other corner, he spotted a single man with part of a tattoo showing, while the man eating with him had no such tattoo showing.
Rolling his eyes, Percy looked to the door, seeing that the closest table happened to have two fighting age males that looked like they had seen combat. Neither of them had showing tattoos, but that didn't change that they were almost certainly a part of Lil' Miss Malachite's gang.
Sighing, he saw that he still had about twenty minutes until his shift started. It wouldn't hurt to mess with them a bit. He hoped.
Standing up and putting some lien on the table as a tip — not that he was required to pay for the meal anymore, considering his boss was the one getting the profit — he walked over to the ones at the entrance, pulling up a chair and spinning it around to sit on it backwards.
"Gentlemen," Percy greeted even as the two tensed, hands twitching. "How's your evening going? Anything planned?" he asked casually.
Feeling like a bit more of an asshole than usual, he took one of their drinks — some cheap beer — and took a giant swig before setting it back down.
Those at the tables near them avoided his gaze as he looked around.
"How can we help you." one gritted out, attempting to play the part of the average patron who wouldn't dare speak out in protest of Aspro's chief enforcer.
Percy smiled. "Well now there's no reason to get testy. No reason to keep any secrets either. I just thought I'd come by and have a chat," his smile fell from his face. "I also thought I'd let you know that if a single one of my men dies tonight by your hand I'll flay you alive and then feed your entrails to the nearest grimm."
The man on the left narrowed his eyes, moving his left hand slowly to his waist, likely to pull out a knife and try to start the fight early, considering they had been found out.
Percy's hand latched onto his wrist, applying enough pressure that he just barely wasn't breaking it.
"Now, let's not be hasty. I'm gonna go back to my table, and you're gonna tell all of your friends in the corners what I told you. And then when all of this is over, we can all get paid and go home. Got it?"
He nodded slowly, and Percy switched his gaze over to the other man sitting at the table. He nodded as well, not moving his hands.
Percy nodded, satisfied. They would no doubt go tell Miss Malachite that they had been compromised, but she was well aware he was on her side at this point. His message would be delivered one way or another.
Percy walked right back to his table and drank his beer in peace, waiting out the few minutes before his shift.
When the time finally did come he stood up, noting with some humor that the two guys near the door were still there and avoiding his gaze to the best of their ability.
He walked through the door and nodded to the guy he was replacing. He was one of the better ones, and one of the new hires that Percy had brought in.
It was hard to find 'good' people for this line of work, but plenty were just as desperate as Percy had been; often more so. Some had families to feed, and Percy honestly pitied them on the salary that they were getting.
Maybe that was his American showing, though. The conditions here were worse than they had been in New York, but the salary that any one goon of Aspro's got was far and above better than the average person in Mistral.
"Percy?" Aspro called from the couch he always sat at, another girl on his lap this time. "I was just about to call for you. I didn't think you'd be on my detail, what's the occasion?"
Aspro and Percy had become… closer, over the last couple weeks.
Percy was apparently the only person in the organization that Aspro allowed himself to befriend, 'friend' being a very loose use of the word. They had drank together more than he had with anyone other than Qrow, and Percy had begun to understand Aspro. They were comfortable around each other more or less.
It didn't change what was going to happen tonight.
Percy recited his thought up excuse. "Eh, Porto called in sick just a few hours ago. I checked on him myself, the dude doesn't look like he's doing well, so I gave him the night off. Instead of pulling someone out of a saturday night last minute I decided to fill in. Didn't have plans anyway."
Porto was absolutely fine, and hadn't even been scheduled to be on shift today. Not that Aspro would know that; he was honestly pretty sure Percy was the only one who's name he knew. He wouldn't bother asking, and even if he did for some reason get suspicious and check in on it later, there very likely wouldn't be a later for him.
Aspro shrugged. "Whatever. Come over here and sit, I needed you anyway."
Percy shrugged and sat opposite of him, doing his best to ignore the girl nipping at Aspro's ear, trying to get his attention without daring to interrupt their conversation.
"Have a meeting tonight with the Blue Wolves, the guys just south of us. They're vulnerable; if their leader dies they'll descend into infighting, and we're in a good enough position to take over their territory. I already have their drug contacts on our side and a few of their top guys willing to jump ship. We just need to cut off the head of the snake tonight and take their territory."
Percy raised an eyebrow. "You'd be killing them during a meeting, wouldn't the other gangs get kind of pissed?"
Aspro waved it off. "They hate me anyway. If they could kill me they would have by now. They'd be too afraid of someone else taking the gate, and they're too afraid to take the gate themselves because it makes them a target. Bunch of pussies," he took a swig from his glass. "And this move will more than double our territory. We'd be a big gang after this without control of the gate, but with it we'll be on top of the city. That means increased pay." Aspro smiled his way.
Percy shrugged, pouring himself a glass, but making sure not to drink too much. He had already had some beer and he wanted to be on his A game tonight. He wondered how Qrow performed so well while perpetually drunk. Maybe if he decided to be sober for once he could win one of their spars.
Percy shrugged. "That should be easy enough. Leave em' to me."
Aspro grinned. "That's what I like to hear. Don't let arrogance kill you, though. He'll have a few guys with him, and we'll be meeting in neutral territory. We have no idea what he could do."
Percy nodded. "Fair enough. I should still be good, though, especially with those two." Percy gestured to the two behind Aspro, who were on detail with him for the rest of the night.
Aspro shrugged. "If you say so. Our greatest weapon will be the element of surprise. If we get the first shots off then we win."
"What if they have someone with aura?" Percy asked.
Aspro scowled. "Nobody in the city has aura 'cept the enforcer for the Kokkino family's gang. It's why nobody fights them, those guys are damn hard to kill."
Percy nodded, taking a drink to hide his small smile. "Got it. What time's this going down?" he asked, taking out his scroll and casually browsing the web, looking at a bevy of news articles but not really reading any of them.
"A couple hours. The meeting is at ten." He answered.
Percy nodded, looking up from his scroll briefly to see the girl straddling his lap.
Smiling, Percy stood up.
"Come on boys, let's give the boss some alone time." he said, walking out of the room. The other two would watch the front entrance leading to the tavern restaurant while he 'watched' the other door.
Instead as soon as he passed through it Percy called the number that had texted him from before.
"How can I help you?" came the voice from the other end of the scroll. Percy didn't know Malachite's voice well enough to know if it was her personally or not, but it was close enough that it could be. Deciding to take his chances Percy assumed it was her.
"Did you know about the meeting tonight?"
There was a pause from the other end.
"Why honey of course I knew. I organized it."
"Well there's another opportunity tonight, and I think we'd be stupid not to grasp it."
"Oh? Do tell."
"Aspro has made contact with a lot of the Blue Wolves' underlings. They're ready to fold to Aspro as soon as the leader of the Blue Wolves is out of the picture. Aspro wants him out of the picture tonight."
There was another long pause from the other end of the line.
"I must agree, that is interesting, but I don't see how this helps me."
"It helps you because the gate can't be the only place you'd like unfettered access to. You might be on good terms with the Blue Wolves, but not as friendly as we could be."
"Oh, am I sensing an offer?"
"If we take out the Blue Wolves tonight we double the size of Aspro's, or my, territory. I don't care much about money, but having the manpower to back up my claim on the gate would save me a headache or two down the road. I'd also come to you exclusively as my information broker. Everything I know goes through you. Having a significant part of Windpath as your client exclusively can't hurt, right?"
Really Percy was mostly making the offer because he didn't know anyone else to get information from, but it would work as a bargaining chip as well as any other.
"Well, that does sound beneficial. What do you need me to do?"
"I know your men are here, and you know I know that. I need you to pull them out. If they kill anyone left at the tavern it'll only make things harder for me. I've got everyone I need gone in one place tonight, and I can get rid of all of them rather easily. I'll also need you to help out with taking the Blue Wolves territory. I don't have the manpower to actually secure their whole area. Having an operation as organized as yours helping out would go a long way."
She snorted. "So you want me to get out of the way and help where you ask me to," Percy tensed, hearing ugly laughter echoing through the scroll call. "I like a man that can take care of himself. Alright, you have yourself a deal. My spiders will scatter and you take care of this yourself. As you said, I'll be here for support to fall back on and some assistance early on in return for favorable terms for my agents."
She hung up, and Percy let out a breath, saving her number in his contacts. Now all he had to do was kill half a dozen hardened criminals in a room together. Easy.
The place was a broken down and rusty warehouse. Percy wondered if they had to have meetings in such cliche places all the time. Couldn't they just meet at a restaurant or bar or something?
Rolling his eyes at the dramatics, Percy walked in behind his boss. Two idiots were on either side of him and Percy couldn't wait to get the night over with. Of course, the end of the night would bring with it more than one headache, but Percy was prepared to deal with that.
"Aspro." the rival boss greeted them once they entered the warehouse. There was a single table set up, with one light shining directly above it. Seriously, this was maybe the most cliche thing he had seen in his life.
"Nekros." greeted Aspro in turn, walking up to the table and sitting down. They were both tense, and their guards stood just as tense. Nekros had also brought three guards with him, all armed. Not that numbers would matter.
"I called you here to discuss the recent friction in our territory." He said. Percy rolled his eyes. He had called this meeting because Malachite had told him that Aspro would end up dead at the end of it.
Aspro smiled slightly. "Oh, I don't think that will be an issue anymore. Now!" he signalled, ducking below the table.
Percy pulled out his pistol before anyone in the room could react, including the other two goons.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Nekros sat dead, his own henchmen collapsing to the floor.
Percy was a pretty bad shot all things considered — at least according to Qrow — but they were two feet away and stationary. He couldn't have had easier targets.
Aspro got up from under the table to see the slumped body of his long time rival, before beginning to laugh.
"Damn, that was easy. I can't believe I didn't do this forever ago."
His two fellow guards seemed a bit less calm at the sight of the bodies. They were 'hardened' criminals, and had probably seen a dead body or two, but this was a bit more than either of them had seen.
"Damn, kid. You're a good shot. Quick, too. I knew I made the right decision making you my number two." Aspro praised.
True to his word, the other two hadn't even managed to get their guns out of their pockets before Percy was done with them.
Percy shrugged, exchanging one magazine for another he kept on the back of his belt, ensuring he had all the ammo he would need.
Percy walked around the table to where Nekros was before turning to Aspro.
He raised an eyebrow. "What's up kid, what do you need over there?"
"They need to think you killed each other. Can't have anyone suspecting something, can I?"
"Wait, no!"
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Two bodies hit the floor, and one head slammed onto the table.
Percy reached into Nekros's pocket, taking his scroll. He had some contacts that would no doubt be useful. Walking over to Aspro, he did the same. He would be taking over both of these men's territories. He would need to be able to get in contact with the right people.
Percy resisted the urge to brush some imaginary dust off of his suit. He felt a bit badass, he had to admit. But there was no pleasure in killing people who couldn't defend themselves.
Hades, there wasn't pleasure in killing people anyway, but it made it especially bitter when they were essentially defenseless. He had his aura unlocked, he was a demigod, and he had a couple weeks of huntsman training, as well as five years of experience in a war. Not that most of that played a factor — any of it, really, they hadn't even been able to shoot back — but it still left a bitter taste in his mouth even beyond that of killing people.
He consoled himself that they were genuinely bad people. At least, Aspro was a bad person, and the two guards Percy had brought with him were bad people. He could only assume Nekros and his lackeys were bad guys. At the end of the day, he had to call them the enemy, deal with them, and move on. Thinking of them as anything else would lead to nothing good.
Percy walked back to the tavern, without a speck of blood on him. He would get back to the tavern, call an emergency meeting of every goon they had, and then go seize the Blue Wolf gang's territory to avenge their boss.
Taking over operations of their territory wouldn't be hard. He had been doing the job for a couple weeks now while Aspro got all the profit, so it would hardly be anything new. Taking over another territory, though, would be harder.
He'd need to assign people to run the original territory in his place, double staff at the very least, and handle a bevy of logistical problems.
He would find some schmuck to do it for him, but it was important that he lay the groundworks himself.
Maybe once he made sure that crime in the area was as humane as he could make it he would get some idiot to run it for him and disappear into the wilderness to go kill grimm or something. He'd figure it out.
Percy now stood in front of every enforcer of the Alpikos gang. Now the Jackson gang? He needed a name or something.
The last one walked in, one of the old guard from before Percy was here. Percy had been asked half a dozen times why he had woken half of them up and called the other half from their company to a meeting, but he had told them to be patient until everyone was here.
"Alright boss, everyone's here. You gonna tell us why you pulled us all out of bed?" one of them asked.
Percy pushed off the wall to address the dozen men in the room.
"Aspro is dead."
Nobody made a noise for a long time. Nobody wanted to interrupt the silence until Percy resumed.
"He was killed by the Blue Wolves during a meeting we went to tonight. I made sure to repay the favor in kind," he told them, letting his eyes roam over them. "That means I'm the new boss. It also means we need to pay those sons of bitches back for what they did to our boss. We're going to take some territory."
Brunnis' former number two, a man called Braun who was in place to take over for Bruce before Percy showed up, stepped forward. "You've barely been here a month. Why should you be the boss? What happens if I don't accept you?"
"You don't get paid. If you won't accept me as your new boss, get out. Go back to the streets or find someone else to use you, if you're that opposed to me for some reason. I'll replace you easily enough. That goes for everyone here," he looked everyone in the eye, but spoke up before giving anyone time to decide. "But new or not, I was Aspro's number two. I hired most of you here personally, and I've been running the show for the last half month. You all know this. Who here is more prepared to take this role? We can't afford infighting or inefficiency at a time like this. We have to stay united and hit them where it hurts, or we'll collapse like the lesser gangs before."
Nobody commented, and Percy held in a sigh of relief. If someone tried to attack him, he would have to retaliate lethally to prove he wasn't fucking around. That was something he didn't want to happen tonight, not with the blood already on his hands.
"Good. Now that we're on the same page, let's get moving. You should have your weapons on you already. We're absorbing their gang so give them an option to surrender. If they fight back, I want them dead. We're making an example of those who fuck with us."
That part got a cheer. It was a bit muted, but Percy forgave it. It was the middle of the night, they could get a pass on the enthusiasm part.
Percy led the group out the back to the parking lot behind the building, hopping in one of their vans and turning the ignition.
It was gonna be a long night.
Ik a lot of people were salty that Qrow ended up beating Percy and I kind of expected that, but cmon bois. Percy has a lot of advantages but he's a decade and a half younger than Qrow, meaning Qrow has been training for like 20 years while Percy's been fighting for about 6, and Qrow had aura. Cmon. As you can see in this chapter that's already changed, but even without his powers or his aura, he's definitely the strongest person in his age group by a mile. Just stick with me here.
PS thank you Betoran for following when you did. I got the email notification when I was higher than I've ever been in my life and was convinced that the FBI was coming after me and had sent me an email about it, so thank you.
Next Chapter September 19 (Cutting it short a day so I can release on a Saturday instead of a Sunday.)
