"Bear no arms, I'll rip those from you
As a corpse, no more harm you'll do"
- Ashe, God Syndrome


The bartender had no idea what a 'Manhattan' was, but he'd been told which word his contact would signal him with, and recognized him at once.

Where normally he might tell some random kid asking for a known (not a very well known, granted, but known nonetheless,) criminal wouldn't get him much more than thrown out, the bartender nodded as subtly as he could towards a booth in the far corner of the room. In the dark diner (which was more like a high-end club than anything else, it looked like) Percy could barely make out a small cloud of smoke coming from that direction, and what sounded like the giggling of some girls.

With a nod of his own, Percy turned and promptly made his way to the corner of the room Roman Torchwick was occupying, making himself at home by sliding into the empty booth opposite of the novice crook.

Roman wasn't a fan of his bold entrance, if the scowl directed at him was any indication. The great thing about being a one man show, however, was that Roman had no goons to intimidate him into leaving, which made this much easier.

He was dressed pretty eccentrically, a bowler hat with a red strip of linen on his head and he had a clean black trench coat on. A cane was resting on the table, a cane which Roman made to rest his hand on as soon as Percy had appeared, almost as if he was willing to beat him to death with it.

"Sorry to interrupt your night," Percy began, and really he did mean it… a little bit. Two ladies were clinging onto his arms, and by the looks of things Percy was about to stop the guy from scoring tonight. Unfortunately he wasn't going to leave so that they could resume. "But I'm here on business."

Roman took one look at him and figured he probably couldn't be older than his mid-twenties. Then he looked at his outfit (a simple t-shirt and jeans, as it almost always was) and decided he didn't have enough money to afford his time.

He jerked his head out of the booth "Get lost kid, I'm busy."

Percy winced at the amount of waste, but pulled two lien chips out of his pocket and slid it to each of the girls on his arms. It was irresponsible, and flaunting his wealth for presumably no good reason. But it also got Roman's attention, and two thousand lien really wasn't even noticeable to him at this point.

"Would you give us a minute ladies?"

Both of their eyes nearly fell out when they saw the amount on the chip of lien. Quickly grabbing it they sent Roman an apologetic look and awkwardly scooted out of the booth. Roman didn't seem to mind as much though, considering his attention was now directed at Percy. He definitely couldn't buy Roman with that much, but throwing two thousand lien around so brazenly had certainly earned him Roman's attention, if not quite his cooperation.

"As I was saying," Percy continued, "I'm here to talk business. I think we can be useful to each other."

Roman raised an eyebrow, keeping his cane close to him and taking a slow sip of his drink. "Useful in what way, exactly?"

"You like pulling heists, from every day dust stores to art galleries to banks." He recalled the research he'd done on Roman before the meeting. The surface level skim included pretty much what he was wanted for and who he did business with. "To do this, you need info."

"I'm perfectly happy with my informants at the moment, thank you."

Percy waved it off. "I know, I know. You get information from the Xiong clan, they run their business racket on the side. The fun bit is that they get their information from me."

"No," Roman began with an amused snort. "They get it from the Malachites. And since Lil' Miss was taken out in some Mistrali drama, it's run by another member of the family. Sorry kid, but I'm not an idiot."

He collected his cane and began to stand up.

"Who do you think the Malachites work for?" Percy interrupted, causing Roman to pause in confusion. "Do you really think I showed up, cleared out Malachite's band of cronies, took over the city, and didn't take over the one valuable commodity to come out of that settlement in the south of Mistral?"

Roman slowly sat back down. "You really expect me to believe that you are the one that took out Malachite? And you really expect me to believe that the rest of the family just bent over for you?"

Percy shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me whether or not you believe me. I couldn't give a damn. What matters is that you know I can get better information, more information, and cheaper information than anyone willing to do business with you."

Roman took another slow sip of his drink. "So what's the catch? What do you want from me?"

"A few things." He admitted, folding his hands. "First, I need you to hit a place or two for me every now and then. I'll give you specifics but I can promise it won't be any more challenging than your normal shin-dig, and I'll give you details then if I need you to take or destroy anything specific. It also goes the other way. I might need you to avoid touching a particular establishment for a bit. And most importantly I need you to not ask any questions."

To be completely honest, Percy had absolutely no use for that. He could imagine it might be useful at some point in the future but right now he had absolutely no reason to keep a certain business safe or make sure a specific place was robbed. The main reason he asked that is to repeat what he'd done with the White Fang — start small, and ask for larger and larger favors over time for more and more payment. It was establishing a relationship, even if he really didn't need it for anything. Free information was an incredibly cheap price he was willing to pay to get a foothold in Vale.

"Second," he raised two fingers. "I want your contacts. Friends, friends of friends, associates and business acquaintances. Huntsmen, clerks, thugs, lawyers, anyone of potential use you know. If you think I have good info here, you should see my network back in Mistral. I'd like to expand that here." he wasn't lying. While in Vale he might have someone in every major bank, he'd have every thousandth cop and every hundredth criminal, in Mistral it was much more extensive. Almost every other cop in the big city took money from the Malachites in one way or another (even if that didn't quite mean they'd lose their job for her, they still passed along useful information) and every settlement, institution, and agency was absolutely crawling with her goons. Most were simply part time employees (she paid them when they gave her some useful information, it was as simple as that) but Mistral had far more spiders — their full time agents — as well. He was hoping to spread that to Vale a bit. Okay, maybe a lot abit.

Roman hesitated. "Asking me to give out my contacts is a steep price, you know. How do I know you won't end the deal as soon as you have them? And how do I know your information will even be any better than the Xiong's?"

Percy smiled slightly. "Firstly, it's not good business for me to cut you loose like that. I stick to my deals, because if I didn't there's not a criminal on Remnant who'd do business with me. If you accept this deal you're one of my people Roman. And I take care of my people." What he didn't say is that by referring to Roman as one of 'his people' he'd very subtly (or at least he hope it was subtle) started to build up the relationship they'd have. Roman reported to him. They weren't partners. Roman might have more autonomy than most — almost complete autonomy, really — but that rope would slowly tighten, and when they were inseparable from one another and Roman was incapable of doing his job without Percy, the dynamic would be clear.

"We both know it's your biggest expense at the moment to get the insiders for your more complex jobs. You can have a free trial." Percy continued, pulling a folded up envelope out of his jeans pocket and sliding it across the table. Slowly, Roman opened it. "I know you're going for a car dealership soon. In that envelope is all the info you'll need to do it, for free. I've also tossed in my scroll number. Make sure to give me a call if you're interested in more."

Percy didn't wait for a response, sliding himself out of the booth and making for the exit. Roman, it seemed, was not a complete idiot. He'd realize the opportunity that Percy presented and go for it. His biggest bottleneck as a criminal was getting information before a job. Sure he'd be sceptical at first, but the results would speak for themselves. It was in human nature to be greedy, and a criminal's nature moreso. Maybe a more jaded and experienced criminal would take a step back, but a sophomore like Roman? He'd leap at the chance.


"Roman!" Percy met him in front of the hotel with a large grin on his face. Roman looked a bit nervous, which Percy would give him a pass on. Roman had no idea who he was dealing with, after all. "Job go well?" Percy asked, leading Roman back inside the lobby of the hotel.

"Very well." Roman agreed. "Your… product was everything you promised."

He was clearly hesitant to talk about business in public, which was funny to Percy because he was very clearly known as a criminal by the police. If they could catch him he'd be in jail for the rest of his life, a bit more evidence really wouldn't hurt. His only advantage was how incredibly cramped Vale was, and how unwilling many of the residents were to cooperate with the police, especially to find someone who didn't really hurt the layman.

Percy faintly paid attention to someone entering the hotel lobby behind them, but didn't really pay it any mind, simply walking Roman to the elevator and calling it down. This particular hotel was another 'burner' of his, so to speak. Letting people he didn't exactly trust yet know where he slept was not a great idea, aura or not.

They spent a few seconds in silence as the person behind them got closer. If they also had to take the elevator at such a time of night it'd be a bit awkward. He definitely didn't know Roman well enough to make small talk, and the person walking behind them (about half the lobby away) was within ear-shot of them, in the abandoned lobby.

The elevator opened and Percy stepped in, quickly turning around and hitting the floor number before the other person could catch up. It felt a bit petty but hey, he was allowed to be a bit petty every now and then. He made sure to avoid looking out the elevator, so that he wouldn't make eye contact with whoever else was walking towards it. They sped up their gait as the door closed but sure enough, the elevator doors slid shut well before they could enter.

"I don't think I've introduced myself." Percy said, suddenly realizing that he really hadn't told the criminal his name. Holding out a hand, he put a smile on his face. "Call me Perseus."

Roman took it and shook it, "Thanks, I was wondering what I should title the number in my scroll book." he joked. Percy chuckled along, to help the atmosphere just a little bit if nothing else.

Soon enough the elevator arrived on his room's floor and they both walked down the hallway to his rather luxurious room that he was using for the night. It was very… modern, to put it lightly. All glass and metal and blues and greys. He could've mistaken it for one of the high end condos in New York, if he didn't know better.

He noted in the back of his mind that the adjacent elevator was now bringing up the other resident of the lobby but kept walking, taking a seat in the middle of the room by a coffee table and gesturing for Roman to do the same.

He sat down, still a bit stiff. That, more or less, was to be expected. They were dealing in crime, and while most criminals were nice and civil and treated the thing like a business, there wasn't too much stopping Percy from trying to kill Roman here, for… some reason. You never knew with criminals, he supposed.

"So, the job went well. Considering that and your call I assume you agree to my terms then?"

"No, actually."

Percy coughed, some of his drink going down the wrong pipe. Had he misheard? Did he just say 'no'?

"Sorry, could you say that again?" he asked rhetorically once he got his breathing under control.

"Sorry, but I value my independence. I've gotten as far as I have because of that, and I'd rather pay the premium to keep it."

Percy sighed. And meeting him at the diner a few nights ago had gone so well.

Well, he had tried the carrot. With how things had went he assumed it was going to work out well. But it hadn't, and now he had to use the stick.

Before he could break out said proverbial stick, his senses alerted him to a body of water in the hallway. A body of water carried up here by the elevator.

...the same person Percy had shut the elevator on.

Gods damn it, why couldn't he have been just a little awkward and gotten a good glimpse of them.

But more important than that was that they were heading towards his door. It could be a coincidence, they could be about to walk past it. His breath hitched as the person walked right to the door… and stood there.

Fuck. Well, that wasn't a coincidence.

They were here to eavesdrop, more likely than anything. He couldn't exactly tell what they looked like, but from the amount of water in their body he at least had a good idea that they weren't exactly bulking, so not the fighting type. Probably not here to kill either of them. Probably they were here to spy on one of the two. Percy had no idea which.

He kept his voice level, as if he didn't notice anything. He was a little limited in what he could do now. He couldn't threaten Roman while… someone sat just outside his door, at least not overtly. He had no idea who could be listening in. A Mistrilan family would be on the less catastrophic of options, but it could also be a crime family here in Vale, or the media, or even some Valean secret agent that was investigating Roman. Or him. Without knowing who was on the other side of that door, he didn't have much room to maneuver.

He was about to open his mouth and make a short speech about how disappointing that was — one he'd ad-libbed from a memory of Annabeth reading him part of a book he'd had no interest in — when his senses alerted him to something that shouldn't have been possible.

It took all of his willpower not to snap his head to the door when the body of water that was definitely a person moved through the door. And, according to his eyes, nobody entered. And the door didn't open. But what his very, very real senses were telling him, was that there was now a person in the room with them.

What sort of bullshit was that?

Phasing through doors, okay. Invisibility, he had no right to complain. But both? Being able to ignore barriers, and also being completely unseen? He may as well be a fucking ghost.

Percy paused for a couple seconds to stall for time and let the ghost approach. He had no idea what they were capable of, so he'd play it as safe as he could and wait until he was confident they couldn't escape his grasp.

The ghost moved towards him, and Percy tensed. He didn't appreciate people very blatantly attempting to assassinate him. Just to stall for another split second he opened his mouth as if he were about to speak, and then leaped at the perpetrator, using his senses as a rough guide.

He heard the breaking of glass, and tumbled awkwardly into a much smaller form, bowling over them and ending up on top of them. He flared his aura to his front and scrambled for control. He spent a few moments flaring around and grabbing at limbs before they were subdued, and his vision focused in on… a little girl, probably about fifteen. She was a tiny little thing, if… oddly colored, her eyes a perpetual kaleidoscopic shift between white and brown. Eyes which were wide open in naked terror.

He rested a knee on her chest and slowly stood up, keeping weight on her torso with a foot even when he rose to his full height. Roman stood behind him, as alert as he was it seemed, for obvious reason.

Percy leaned down and gently picked the girl up by the neck. Well, as gently as you could pick someone up by the neck anyway. She was a little girl, but she was also a little girl that seemed to have been attempting to try and kill him.

Percy tossed her onto the couch he'd just been sitting on, but made sure to keep a very loose control over her blood — what he could manage, anyway — if only so that he had something to tug on if she were to pull another trick.

"So, you wanna tell us what exactly you were doing sneaking into our meeting like that?" Percy asked, content to lean back against the armchair of Roman's sofa. Roman himself still stood up near where he'd sat down in surprise, not adjusting to the situation quite as quickly as Percy had, it appeared.

The oddly colored girl just shook her head quickly, eyes still as wide as saucers. Percy snorted. He hadn't thought that when he asked her a rhetorical question she'd answer 'no', but hey, he did ask.

"I'll rephrase that," Percy said, and reached into his pocket to uncap Riptide. The blade sprang forth and he took a large step forward, leaning it against the girl's collar bone. Did he actually have it in him to kill such a young girl? Yes, definitely. He'd done younger during the titan war, though to be fair he'd also been younger himself. But he knew he could kill this girl if he needed to. Would he was another question entirely, and the answer was likely not. If he killed every person that tried to kill him, he'd have a lot more on his conscience. No, instead he'd… he really didn't know what he could do to someone that could both go invisible and walk through walls. He thought mortals on this planet were supposed to have one bullshit power, gods damn it, but it seemed like the exceptions were proving more common than the rule, and it was beginning to tick him off a little.

"Let's try this again. Tell me what you were planning on doing here and who sent you."

The little girl was hyperventilating now, and she sent panicked glances to Roman, as if the thief would—

Shit.

He moved at the last instant, drawing his sword back from the girl's neck and turning to his right to bat aside the cane that was directed at his temple.

He took a step back, observing them both now that he had the chance. The little girl pulled a short, thin blade out of a sheath, and Roman levelled his cane at him like he was holding a particularly long pistol.

Seriously? This guy who he'd been nothing but amicable with, who he'd offered the deal of the century for anyone in Vale's underworld, with whom he'd gone through the courtesy of trying to shower in gifts just to get a foothold, was now threatening him at gunpoint.

"Now listen Perseus, this doesn't have to—"

He wasn't listening, he was too mad. And he was already moving.

Riptide batted the cane aside quickly. He thought Roman might fire his weird cane-weapon but he didn't — likely because it would attract a lot of attention where they both wanted none — so he used the opportunity to rush forward and body check Roman, causing him to tumble to the ground. The pink and white one rushed him from the left and took a cautious strike. He dodged slightly back and then kicked out as hard as he could. Her blade was so short that he was able to kick further than she could strike, and the girl was so apparently inexperienced that she didn't prepare for it, taking the kick squarely to the chest and being knocked back with a flash of her aura.

Percy turned his attention back to Roman who had almost recovered, lunging towards him with a wide slash and bringing Riptide down. The blade crashed into his shoulder harshly, sending him to the ground groaning. Another hit like that would shatter Roman's aura, he was sure.

Percy glanced over his shoulder to make sure the little girl wasn't near recovering and then turned back to Roman. He could play alpha now — that is, threaten Roman into working for him — but he wanted to make it absolutely clear how easily he could deal with them. Now that his knee jerk reaction to being held at gunpoint was over with, he could really spread his wings.

He used the moments that Roman took to recover to think of exactly how he wanted to appear threatening. If he wasn't so frustrated with Roman he might have laughed to himself. The badass characters in the movies never had to stand there and think about how to look badass, they just did.

Making up his mind, Percy walked over and sat down on the couch. His back was exposed to the tri-colored girl, and he capped Riptide, leaving him conventionally defenseless.

The girl was up first and attempted to stab at the back of his neck, no questions asked.

When her blade was a few inches away a small ball of water formed in mid-air and slammed into her, throwing her lithe form back to the ground hacking and retching. Roman got up shortly after, a bit more nervous that his opponent had suddenly sat down and put away the weapons as soon as he'd basically won the fight.

Roman warily eyed him, cane worriedly swinging around to aim at him. Percy waited until the barrel was pointed at him to strike.

Water tore itself from the ceiling, ground, and air. Pipes ruptured in an episode that he really hoped didn't attract too much attention. He could deal with paying the bill for the hotel quite easily, but someone breaking down the door was not something he needed.

The cascading torrents of water burst forth and encompassed Roman from neck to toe, leaving only his face free from its grasp. The water slowly moved to point Roman's cane away from Percy, and release his finger from the trigger.

Percy casually stood up, walking over to Roman with a slow stride. The girl stood up and she received a similar treatment, water encasing her sans the face.

He stopped about a foot from Roman, allowing the silence to speak for him. Roman's terrified eyes stared back into his. Excellent, then he knew it was working.

After he'd waited for a long while, making it incredibly clear that he'd do exactly what he wanted even if what he wanted was to stand there and do nothing, he began speaking, making sure that his words would reach them clearly through the water.

"So, it looks like we need to revisit this little deal then. Alright." Percy shrugged, feigning indifference. Personally he'd have much preferred to have people working for him because he lined their pockets, not because they feared him. But well, Roman hadn't given him that much of a choice. He was sure he'd stay up some nights wondering just what he could have changed, but for now he had a job to get done.

"New deal." Percy cleared his throat, beginning to inspect Roman's cane in the man's hand. "If I tell you to rob a store, you rob the store," he gently took the cane from the crook's hand, Roman not able to offer even a modicum of resistance. "If I tell you not to rob a store, that store will not be touched." He messed around with the cane a bit more, testing the balance and finding a middle point. "You'll give me any information you think I may want, you'll give me the contact information for all of your associates or anyone who might be helpful at all, and you'll allow me use of your more talented and useful associates." He jerked his head towards the girl while swinging the cane lightly in his hand, bending it slightly and testing how brittle it was. "Lastly, if you attempt to lie to me, deceive me, or go back on our deal in any fashion." Percy brought the cane to his knee in a sudden movement, breaking the weapon in half with a loud crack. "I'll kill you."

Waving a hand, Percy commanded the water to throw them both to the ground. Discarding the broken accessory he walked out of the room at a casual pace. "You have my number," he called over his shoulder, stepping out the door without looking back.


Percy headed back to his apartment for the day, this time employing a few amateur tactics to see if anyone was following him, but paired with his ability to detect liquids it was more or less foolproof. Unless they had some sort of drone technology, he granted.

Did they even have drones in Remnant? He knew they had the capability for it, considering he owned a company that produced automaton soldiers. Did Atlas know they could just… make drones fly and shoot missiles? Why would they spend so much on replacing soldiers at millions of lien a unit when they could much easier get some drone to annihilate their target for them?

Grimm, Percy realized. Drones on earth only really specialized at taking out specific targets. Now, there could be a lot of those targets if there were a lot of drones in the air, but it was a lot less efficient for playing a defensive game. Atlas wasn't preparing for war, they were preparing to defend themselves against the grimm.

Fair enough, Percy decided. He'd just sell the drones to the Schnees. It might hurt the White Fang a good bit, but well… they only really wanted to drain the Schnee's bank accounts in the end, right? As fruitless as Percy knew that endeavor to be, he wasn't gonna stop them. After all, every drone destroyed just transferred Schnee money into his own pockets. If he played it well he could get a very decent chunk of change well before even moving in on their dust market in any real way. Not that he was hurting for cash, just that… well, for his supposed influence running most of a continent, he was pretty much broke. He controlled all of the parts of the most populated continent on Remnant that barely produced taxes, or manpower.

Such was the route he'd chosen, however, and it still provided a boon, even if it was hardly equal to the influence owning a continent should have given. But well, if it was really as worthwhile as a continent back on earth it'd be just as hard to conquer, and he'd be just about nowhere.

He'd just gotten back to his apartment and began preparing to go to bed when his scroll began ringing. Pushing down a groan, he swore that if it was Roman he was going to march right back and put Riptide through the man's hat.

But it wasn't Roman, instead it was Alexander.

"Hey Alex, what's up?" Percy said, intentionally informal. His relationship with Alexander had been… not exactly rocky recently, but he'd gained a fair bit of distance with the noble. Hopefully if he pretended nothing had changed, that would convince Alexander nothing had either.

"Percy! It's good to hear your voice. Unfortunately this isn't a social call, but the great families would like to meet with you again. They've summoned you to Mistral."

Percy sighed, it was always something. "What is it this time, A threat to back off? A truce? A trap to kill me once and for all?"

"I can't tell you. The only thing I will divulge is that they mean you no harm, you can come assured of that. Though knowing you I'm sure you'll be ready anyway."

"I'm always ready." Percy muttered to himself, before rolling his eyes and continuing the conversation. "I'm a bit busy right now Alex." he lied. Really he was just gonna sit around until things had cooled down with Roman for a little, then start expanding using his contacts. "I'm afraid I don't have time to fly across the planet for a two hour meeting where I'm shouted at for not being honorable."

"I'd strongly recommend attending." was Alexandros' only response. That gave Percy pause. Alexandros had played liaison between him and the families of Mistral more than once now, but usually he just gave Percy the information and let him do as he pleased with it. If Alex was genuinely recommending he attend, and he didn't have much to do anyway…

"Alright, I'll try and make some room. But I hope this is worthwhile, Alex."

"I'm sure you'll be satisfied. The meeting is tomorrow night, eight pm. Please be there on time, and for the love of the sea and heavens wear something nice." Alex said before hanging up.

He sighed, he'd have to pick something up either in Vale or in Mistral. Or maybe he could just stop by Windpath and grab a suit, one that would actually be tailored to him. Yeah, that'd be ideal.

Percy paused, doing some mental calculations in his head before cursing. Tomorrow night in Mistral was about 8 hours from now. Which meant he had less than no time to get sleep, or even a shower before high tailing it to Mistral.

He let out a string of Greek expletives and grabbed a light jacket, throwing on his shoes and flinging his door open, on his way to the bullhead dock in the middle of the night. It wasn't the first time he was glad he'd picked his apartment so close to the docks.


Well you all know the drill by now. Wrote this at the deadline of the next chapter, posting this at 4 am because I only just got done with the pat-reon chapter. Honestly i could probably just copy the an from the last couple weeks and I wouldnt notice. Becomin almost boring at this point. Thank you anyway Shiro for sponsorin the additional chapter/month on pat-reon and I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.

The next chapter is up ahead of time on pat-reon, also please join my discord I need interaction and stuff for the dopamine. Both links on my profile.

Also thanks silence for editin this chapter last second, you're a legend big man.

Next Chapter October 15