Third times the charm? Hopefully.

X

It had been a quiet night for junior so far, so when he saw a cigar chomping teen walk in he knew it was all downhill from there. The boy walked through the front door calmly enough. He looked around his establishment before settling his eyes on the very bar Junior stood at. The boy gave a two finger salute and made his way over. He leaned over the counter and stared at junior with a neutral expression. Junior stared back before sighing, putting the glass he was drinking down he pointed at a tucked away room on the second floor. "He's in the same place he's always is." The boy reached into his pocket and took out something, then he placed it in the counter and walked away. Junior looked down at the lien just laying there. "S," The boy stopped, "What's the money for?"

S turned his head, "There's a blonde liability on its way, I'm just giving you some money to repair the club." With that he walked to and up the stairs. Blonde liability, whatever did he mean? He turned his head towards the entrance just in time to catch a girl with gold colored hair walk in.

"What a coincidence."

X

An old man sat in a dimly lit room, waiting for the door to open. He listened to the classics while smoking his cigar, occasionally singing along and thanking God for Junior's soundproof back room. The quiet didn't last forever though, as the door opened and the sounds of the club flooded the room. S had entered. The boy closed the door and sat in an armchair directly across from the old man. The older of the two smiled, S had neglected to light his cigar. "S."

"Old Man."

"May I?"

"Certainly." The old man pulled out a lighter and held it to S's cigar. The boy twirled it and puffed, lighting it all around. After a few minutes the cigar was lit and they both smoked while listening to the soft music. The old man broke the quiet first.

"What are you smoking my boy?" S took the stogie out of his mouth, blew out the smoke, and inspected it in his hands.

"Davidoff Nicaragua Toro Box Press."

"Ah, how did you cut it?"

"Punch cut."

The old man smiled, "I've turned you into quite cigar connoisseur, haven't I?" That elicited a chuckle out of S. He took another huff of his cigar and smiled, "Pretty soon you'll be lighting my cigars."

"And let you do the jobs? Didn't know you have a deathwish." Old Man shook his head.

"Who said anything about me doing jobs? Speaking of, you'd like yours wouldn't you?" The boy merely nodded. Old Man dug a folder out of a nearby satchel and handed it to S. "As per usual all of the info is in there. I'll give you a quick rundown. There are some White Fang hold up west of the city, our employer wants them eliminated. This, however, is the secondary objective. The aim of this job is to snatch something they have. This is the object." Old Man showed S a picture of a very ornate sword. "Our employer wants to add this to his collection, and is willing to break bank for it."

"Any idea why he's lusting after it so bad?"

"Not a clue, but 25 million lien is enough to keep me from inquiring."

"25 what now?" Old Man looked at the amazement on S's face.

"25 million, all ours for killing a ragtag group of terrorist and taking their sword. Easy enough for you." Old Man saw the suspicion on the boy's face

"It seems too easy even, what if it is a trap?"

"We've taken jobs from him before, I trust him. But he is paying a lot, odds are other people want that metal stick too. Watch your back S." S nodded and stood, but before he could leave Old Man grabbed him. "This is the last job you'll get from me for awhile. I got some heat, so I'm laying low for now." S looked sad, but nodded reguardless. With one last puff of his cigar he walked over and opened the door to leave. Old Man took his cigar into his hands and looked at it, looking for something to comfort him. Had he been right to arrange the meeting for the boy without his consent? Was he in the wrong?

"Old Man, you might want to see this."

X

Yang had just delivered the beat down of a lifetime to junior and his thugs. She had trashed the club, which was regrettable, but felt better about the lack of leads she had on her own mother. Looking around for anyone else to question, she spied the most peculiar pair up on the second floor. A old man wearing a suit and a figure draped in a black cloak and hood. She was too far away to make out any disconcerable features, but they were talking. The older man nodded and walked out of her view, leaving only the cloaked figure. He walked down the staircase towards her and the bar. As it got closer she made out a cigar hanging out of the hood. It stopped near Junior and looked down at him laying on the ground. "A girl? All this damage was done by a single girl? Perhaps you need better men." It reaches up and pulled the cigar from its place in the hood and placed it on the man's chest. "Here, have a smoke break. Now, girl." It looked at her. Even being a few feet away from it she couldn't see his face. It was like his hood casted an impenetrable shadow that not even a flood light could break it. The only thing she could tell for sure was that he was tall, maybe 6'2. Oh, it was undeniably a man. Even if she couldn't see his face, his voice gave it away. She might even consider his voice kind of hot. "Now, I advise that you leave before I introduce your hair to the business end of a pair of shears." Never mind, she was going to kick his ass.

"Oh come on, can't we talk," she was going to try the same trick she tried on Junior. She got within arms reach and reached down. "You can call me..." she didn't even finish her sentence before his hands shot down, knocked hers away from his groin, and delivered a sledgehammer of a punch to her stomach. Before she knew it she was on her back 10 feet away.

"The only thing I'll be calling you is girl. Leave." He raised his hands, revealing two bulky wrist covers. A long sword like blade popped out of each cover with a loud "shink." Yang, never one to back away from a challenge, got up and raised her fists. With a fierce cry she charged the man. She went for a sucker punch with her right, which was blocked. She smirked and readied her left for a counter punch. The man, however, had different plans. He grabbed ahold of her face and used his leg to sweep hers. With enough force to crack concrete, she was slammed into the ground. He then proceeded to jump on top of her and deliver successive punches to her face. She tried to defend herself, but he had planted his knees on her arms, and was a lot heavier than he looked. Her legs had also been immobilized, stuck under his cloak. She tried to use her semblance, but he only responded with harder punches. He stopped after awhile and stood. She couldn't really see much through the blood and pain. He reached down and grabbed her neck. She was inbetween consciousnesses and unconsciousness, but she knew she had been dragged outside. He threw her down the steps. She landed next to her bike. "Is this yours?"

"Urg, yes." Yang tried to sound strong, but her words came out quietly between pants.

"It's very nice, it would be a shame if..." He knocked it over and scratched it with his blades. "Something happened to it." He stomped on the side, putting a rather large dent in it. Any other day she would have got up and wrung his neck for doing that to Bumblebee, but not being able to feel her face and having to constantly spit out blood made her quiet apathetic to that whole situation. He bent down and picked her up by her hair as to make her eye level to him. "If you ever mess with any of my associates again, you'll have more than just a few bruises and a bloody mouth."

"Yang!" Was that...Ruby? Yang tried to look left, but he held her firmly in place. He noticed, and moved her head to look.

"Well, looks I'll be leaving you in good hands. Remember me next time you trash someplace." With that he dropped her head and disappeared in a cloud of black. Ruby ran up and kneeled by her side.

"Oh my God! Are you ok?"

X

Ozpin walked through the destroyed camp with his co-worker Glynda. They passed by countless bodies. Some were decapitaded, others bisected, and all disected to some degree. While this left his partner more than disgusted, he had steeled himself. The old man had warned that this would be the condition of the camp when the boy was on a mission. While Glynda was sceptical of what a single boy could do(until she had seen his work), Ozpin believed and took the nessecary precautions to not lose his lunch. He admitted that those precautions were merely him not eating lunch, but if it worked why mess with it? All the bodies were leading to a large tent, the one covered in blood and body parts. The unfortunate defenders here faired no different then the ones twenty feet ago. If anything, they got it worse. Ozpin noted with morbid entertainment how two had been impaled by one rifle. Others had had their weapons shoved down their throats. Some held their own end trails. A rare few had their eyes gouged out and fed to them. As Ozpin stepped closer to the tents entrance, he noticed the river of blood flooding from the tent. Steeping inside he saw a figure cloaked in a perfect black cloak, devoid of stains, and member of the white fang kneeling in front of him begging for his life. The boy in black held a sword, a very ornate sword. He brought it back, but Ozpin stopped him before he could stab the poor man.

"Isn't that sword worth a fortune? Would dirtying it not lower the price?" The boy stopped, considered Ozpin, and then drove the sword forward anyway. The sword exploded into black fire that absorbed the poor man and climbed the boy's arm. S screamed in agony and grabbed his arm, falling to his knees. Ozpin and Glynda had been knocked back by the swords sudden explosion, and when they tried to help the boy they were pushed away by an invisible force. They watched in horror as the boy screamed in agony and the man was consumed by the fire. Ozpin tried to yell over the roar of the fire and the anguish of the boy, but failed. Forced to cover his ears or go deaf, Ozpin curled up into a ball and covered himself. He spied Glynda doing the same thing, only with her eyes closed and her face conveying fear. There was a loud crack, like that of thunder, and then silence. Ozpin looked over at where the boy was. He was standing there staring at the sword like nothing had happened a few seconds ago. Said sword was encased in black flame. The same fire also encased him. All that was left of the unfortunate man was a pile of ash. Ozpin stood very slowly. Glynda was out of commission, so he needed to tread lightly. The boy, who was full of surprises, spoke first.

"Who are you?"

"I...am Ozpin. Who are you?"

"You know who I am, why shouldn't I kill you like everyone else here?" Straight to the point, huh? Ozpin could work with that.

"I heard of your little employment problem."

"Ah, so you wish to hire me?"

"You could say that."

"Well, you've caught me at a bad time, but I'm interested. How about we have a talk over a meal. We could discuss this job you have for me in greater detail at a much cleaner place."

"When would you wish to see me?"

"Next week on Monday. I know a little place. I have but one rule."

"And what is that?"

"You can't bring her."

X

Ozpin arrived at the restaurant at 8 PM. Right on the dot for his meeting with S. Walking into the establishment he came face to face with a waitress. "Do you have reservations, Sir?"

"Yes, they should be under S."

"Ah yes, right this way Sir." He was led deeper into the restaurant. It was very homey. The floors were dark brown wood shined into a reflective surface. The light the chandeliers used were candles, which casted flickering shadows across the walls. It was very warm inside, but not too hot that wearing a suit was uncomfortable. Everyone was talking quietly inbetween puffs from cigars and bites of food. The food itself smelled good. Every possible food he thought of, he smelled, ranging from popcorn to crème brûlée. After a few seconds of walking they made it to S's booth. There was a boy sitting there. Pale in complexion. He had thin glasses and brown hair. He wore a black suit and tie. This...was not S. Where was the blood and guts? He seemed to catch onto this.

"Thank you Miss. Ozpin sit, we have much to talk about." The waitress left. The boy had greeted him with a tone one would use to greet an old friend. Ozpin sat. "Did you expect me to wear my cloak here? I may be good at my job, but I don't take work home. Surely you understand. Now, take a look at your menu, we've much to discuss and you can't discuss well on an empty stomach." S picked up his menu and scanned through it. Ozpin did the same. It was silent until the server came back for their orders.

"Are you two ready?" S went first.

"Yes, I would like the Atlesian Venison. Thank you." She nodded and looked at Ozpin

"And you Sir?"

"May I have the Baklava?"

"Certainly Sir, will that be for you two?"

"Yes."

"Yes." She left the two again. S looked at Ozpin with a cheeky grin

"Your a desert before dinner man?"

Ozpin cracked a smile, "I admit, I have a sweet tooth." S leaned back in his seat, Ozpin replicated the action.

S's face suddenly went from a smile to sour, "Now, before we get into our meals, give me a small insight into how you found out about my sudden unemployment and how you knew where I would be." Ozpin was slightly taken aback by the abrupt change in disposition, but kept his cool.

"An Old Man told me." S shook kid head and looked down.

"Ah, so I suppose the heat he had was also fake."

"No, that was real. I told him that I would wave off some of his notoriety in exchange for a meeting with you."

S looked up in curiosity, "Why? What could the Headmaster of Beacon use the services of a humble mercenary for?"

"Ah, well, I cannot really divulge that info currently. What I can tell you is that the payout is good."

"Is that so?" Ozpin nodded, "Well, perhaps we could talk about it in more depth after we eat?"

"Yes, as you said earlier, we've much to discuss."

"So I did, but before that you need my name. I am Rex

X

Weiss sat at the meeting point, waiting for the mercenary. Her father had hired him to retrieve a trinket for him. Although she believed he was paying much more than needed for a sword, Weiss had no real reason to question her father. He gave her bodyguards and an armored car, so at least she was protected. She couldn't help but wonder what was so important about this sword. Before she could get to in depth in her thoughts, a black cloaked man carrying a briefcase showed up. Her bodyguard stood to meet him, but he was undeterred. Walking up to them to and staring down at her. "I suppose you're the mercenary?"

"You'd be correct." Weiss told her guards to back down. "I have the object, do you have the payment?"

Weiss picked up a silver briefcase with the SDC logo(Schnee Dust Company. I will be using that abbreviation because the regular name is just too damn long.) on it.

"12.5 million in cash"

"The agreed amount was 25 million."

"Half is being sent to your associate after I get the sword."

"Show me proof that your not lying." Weiss pulled out a scroll and brought up a tab to show to the merc. After he looked at it he lifted his case and opened it. There was the sword, laying inside of a red velvet case. "Send the payment to my associate now." Weiss did as told, and the merc handed the case over. She then gave him his and he disappeared in a cloud if black. She wouldn't really mind working with that merc again.

X

Well, that's chapter 1 done. Though I guess that was more of a prologue, since it was really short. From here on out I will try to make longer chapters. Well I hope you have a good rest of whatever day your reading this. Don't die!