Beta: ShadowMeister234

Just because Beacon was gone didn't mean there wasn't any work to do, in fact, it was because Beacon had fallen there was more work than ever. Something her team didn't seem to understand.

They were gone too, off to who knows where or lying in bed feeling sorry for themselves. She felt bad for thinking that. It wasn't fair to her sister. Yang had lost an arm on top of everything else they had lost. She couldn't even imagine what it must feel like to have a part of you missing, and such a crucial part of her combat style too. She had just thought her sister was stronger than that.

She had also thought Team RWBY would be together forever but look how that turned out.

Ruby trudged along the dirt path that could barely be considered a road. Her feet were sore, her shoulders ached, her hands were sweaty, and her clothes were smeared with little stains and marks courtesy of the nature all around her.

This wasn't really her element, but she was still out here because it was the right thing to do. Grimm sightings were off the charts and available huntsmen to deal with them were dangerously low. Almost all of Vale's huntsmen had been called back to the city to help quell the ongoing aftermath. This left the already valuable Sanus frontier with even less defense than normal, and it was why Ruby had packed her bags and set out.

The city had enough people looking out for it, but the people out on the frontier, the ones most at risk, didn't have anyone. She just couldn't sit around in the relative safety of Patch while there were people who might need help. That wasn't the kind of person she wanted to be. She wanted to be a hero to everyone just like her mom had been, but mostly she didn't want anyone else to go through what she had. Didn't want to be forced to leave anyone else behind. Didn't want anyone else to die.

A few tears rain down her cheeks but she didn't bother to wipe them away. In the future, she couldn't be seen crying or showing fear. It was a huntress job to be strong in front of everyone, but right now she was allowed to be tearful and sad because right now she was trudging along all alone.

The first settlement she arrived in was puny compared to every other place she had ever been to before. Granted she had only ever really been to Patch and Vale before but the point still stood. From her quick guess based on the number of buildings she saw, there couldn't have been more than two hundred people living in this village and that was being generous. The whole village could have fit inside Vale's city square and was entirely enclosed by a wall of wooden stacks with many of them looking like they had rotted through.

She thought about informing the guard at the front gate about it but decided not to. Odds were the villagers already knew and just didn't have the resources to do anything about it. Plus, the single gate guard was giving her a sort of displeased look as she walked through. He didn't try to stop her but he very clearly wasn't in the mood to talk; with a scowl like that, Ruby would be surprised if he was ever in the mood to talk.

She just didn't make eye contact and entered the village like she had a purpose. Which she did, she reminded herself! She was here on a mission or really to get a mission.

How did she go about doing that? She doubted there was going to be a bulletin board with posters promising a mission and a reward like there were in some of these old movies dad likes to watch. She was probably going to have to find whoever was in charge and to do that she was going to have to ask someone for directions, and if there was one thing that Ruby Rose was definitely not known for, it was her ability to approach total strangers.

It occurred to her that she might be a tad bit unprepared for her chosen path of heroism. That was fine. She just had to take a deep breath. They were just people. Nothing to be afraid of. All she had to do was greet them—oh no why were they all staring at her!

It was pretty late in the day so there weren't many people out on the only road this place seemed to have, but there were more people than Ruby was comfortable with looking her way, which was to say there were more than zero.

A young boy pointed to her while looking up to his dad, and two women next to a food stand whispered to each other while stealing glances at her. Ruby was trying her best not to shake from nervousness as she wondered what they were saying about her or why they were watching her.

Was it just because she was new or did they recognize her as huntress? Was it the clothes that gave her away? She had to admit her red and black ensemble kind of stood out when everyone else was dressed in plain greens and browns. There was also the possibility they recognized her from the Vytal Festival even if she had only participated in the first round.

Whatever the reason, Ruby couldn't take much more of it. She pulled up her hood to cover her face and moved as fast as she could without the use of her semblance. Flying down the street in a burst of rose petals would only draw more attention.

She checked every building she passed looking for one that might have been the town hall, assuming this place even had one. It didn't help that all the structure looked pretty much the same and that none of them had signs to indicate what kind of place they were. How was a shop supposed to survive if you couldn't tell where or what it was! Did these people not know about advertising or marketing themselves?

Maybe the fact that this settlement didn't even seem to have a name should have clued Ruby in to how things worked around here.

She was getting visibly desperate which only caused more people to notice her which only caused her to grow increasingly desperate. Why did they have to keep looking at her—she had normal knees, dang it!

She wanted to get off the street. Even if it wasn't the town hall, she would have been fine hiding out in a shop or something so she could cool off, but when you couldn't be sure what was a store and what was just someone's house, that made things difficult.

Thankfully, she caught a break when she noticed a man stumbling out of a building and smelling like alcohol. A bar! Bars were always good places to get information, at least Ruby assumed. She hadn't actually tried before, but uncle Qrow's always seemed to think they were the best place to start.

Ruby slipped right in and took a deep breath getting a good whiff of booze and cigarette smoke. Now, normally one would think that being in a bar would be much more stressful for a sixteen-year-old girl than just being on the road outside, but with uncle Qrow and Yang being her two main role models growing up, Ruby had a lot more experience with bars and clubs than she really wanted. Not that she ever participated in either, it was just her and dad dragging a drunk Uncle Qrow home or picking up Yang after she partied a little too hard. (She still couldn't believe Yang destroyed that guy's club and punched him through a window. It was a miracle she hadn't been arrested and they weren't sued for everything they owned.) The people in the bar were also less inclined to stare at her. Only a few even bothered to look up to see who had entered before going back to their drink.

Ruby was glad for that and the rustic aesthetic of the bar only made her feel more comfortable. It really looked like a tavern right out of a fantasy novel where the hero would get the lead to their first quest. Everything from the exclusively wooden furniture to the roaring fireplace built into the wall, and even antlers decorating the walls, really gave it that style.

Ruby lowered her hood and walked passed many tables to get to the bartender. He was a chiseled man with a scar running down his nose and a beard that looked like it hadn't seen a brush in the last decade.

He took one look at Ruby and instantly turned his head to the side with a disgusted look. It was nearly enough to cost Ruby her nerves but she pushed on. She took a seat on a barstool, and the bartender, who seemed resigned to his fate, turning to face her fully.

"What do you want? If it's anything but ale or beer, your out of luck."

"I'm actually looking for the person in charge of this town," Ruby said as politely as she could, knowing full well that she wasn't very likely to get any in return. "I was wondering if you could tell me where I could find them."

"Right in front of your eyes," the bartender spat. "I'm the one who supplies the food and drink around here so I get to run things. Now, what do you want?"

Ruby winced a bit not having expected the leader to also be the bartender and wishing he could have been someone a little nicer. There wasn't any changing it, though, and suggesting that he might not actually be the guy in charge wouldn't do her any favors. Best to just assume he was telling the truth.

"My name is Ruby Rose and I'm a huntress. I'm traveling through eastern Sanus and was wondering if this town was having any Grimm trouble that you might need me to take care of."

The bartender's eyes looked her up and down. "A huntress? You sure about that? Seems to me you're a little young and a little short, kiddie."

Someone behind Ruby laughed at that and Ruby felt her face heat up. "Okay, I'm only a huntress in training from Beacon, but I'm more than capable of taking on any Grimm you might have."

"Uh-huh," the bartender rebuffed.

Growing frustrated, Ruby pulled Crescent Rose from her back and deployed it in its scythe form for all to see. It drew some attention but not nearly as much as Ruby expected, and the bartender looked at it not with shook or awe but with a kind of amusement.

"Listen kiddie, anyone can get their parents to buy them a fancy looking weapon as long as they've got the dough. Doesn't mean squat if you don't know how to use it."

"Then I'll prove it to you," Ruby said, feeling more confident with a weapon in her hand. She positioned her scythe so the tip of the blade was facing the ground. She was ready to show this ignorant bartender just how great Ruby Rose was. She started spinning her weapon in front of her preparing a series of moves she had done thousands of times before.

It was unfortunate that she hadn't realized that the roof of this establishment was much lower than she was used to. Ruby didn't even make it a full rotation as the blade of her scythe caught itself in the ceiling, sending dust and wood chips onto the bar top.

Ruby's face exploded into a red deeper than her cloak as she wished the world would put her out of her misery and create a sinkhole to swallow her up. The bartender had gone from assumed to quite angry.

"How about you put that away but you hurt someone," he said, but Ruby hardly hear it because someone was absolutely roaring with laughter, and it was no secret whose expense it was at.

With her emotions running high, Ruby pulled her scythe from the ceiling and turned to face her heckler. "It's not that funny!" she yelled—and that's when she saw the last person she had ever expected to see.

Mercury Black sat at the table by the wall laughing up a storm. Their eyes met and he had to bring himself under control, actually wiping a tear out of his eye in the process. Then without missing a beat, he leaned his elbows on the table and waved at her with the most condescending smirk Ruby had ever seen plastered on his face.

All the memories of the Vytal festival came flooding back: Yang, Penny, Pyrrha, and so many others. People had died because of him and now he was just sitting there like it had never happened.

Pure rage wasn't something Ruby was used to feeling but at that moment, it filled her from head to toe as she quickly shifted her weapon into a sniper and aimed it right at Mercury's smug face. "Don't move!" she yelled.

To be fair, Mercury didn't, but he also didn't seem worried about the high-caliber sniper being pointed at him.

"Hey, what are you doing!" the bartender shouted from behind her.

Ruby didn't dare take her eyes off the grey assassin as she replied. "The man sitting there is a very dangerous person, but don't worry because I'll protect—"

Ruby never got to finish as she suddenly found a silver revolver being pushed into the side of her face. "Put away your weapon right now or I'm gonna have a mess to clean up, huntress or not."

"But, he's a criminal," Ruby tried to explain.

"Yeah, well right now he's my customer and I don't appreciate little kids disturbing them."

"But—"

The bartender pulled the hammer of the revolver back causing the weapon to emit a satisfying click. The whole bar was watching their exchange at this point and Ruby saw a few other patrons with hands on their own weapons ready to step in if they needed to.

Even with the position she was in, Ruby felt confident she could take them all, but what would that accomplish? At best, she would be attacking civilians and at worst the bartender would be true to his word and the revolver smashed into her cheek would have enough kick to break through her aura and her skull.

Slowly, Ruby lower her weapon and returned it to her back in its storage mode. The bartender smiled and put his gun back under the bar counter. "Glad we could reach an understanding. Don't try that again."

With the excitement concluded the bar patrons quickly return to their drinks as if a sixteen-year-old girl hadn't just pulled a mechashift weapon on a customer. The only one who hadn't was Mercury himself, who didn't hesitate to start laughing at her, again!

Angry and humiliated, Ruby stomped over to his table and slammed both hands onto it causing the two glasses he had to rattle. "What are you doing here?" she hissed.

Mercury stopped laughing, for good this time, and his eyes scanned the bar like his answer would be written on the wall somewhere. "Well, I was just sitting around, but then you came in and put in quite the show. It was the best entertainment I've had in a while."

"That not what I meant and you know it. Why are you here?"

"You seem pretty strung up right now. How about you take a seat?" Mercury pointed to the chair across from him.

"Answer the questions?"

Mercury didn't. Instead, he picked up his glass of water and leaned back into his chair as he sipped it.

"Mercury!" Ruby growled, her fingernails digging into the wooden table.

His only response was to nod his head towards the unoccupied chair.

Ruby held out for maybe a minute more before giving in and sitting down. She was very aware that from this position she couldn't see his feet under the table. Not normally anything to worry about, but since her tablemate was a killer who specialized in kicks, she was feeling a bit vulnerable. She did her best to tuck her feet in and keep her eyes low, but she knew that if Mercury struck she was going to be losing some aura.

"There, now we can talk like civilized people instead of you leaning over me?" Mercury said setting his glass back on the table. "Feeling a little more relaxed with a seat under you?"

"No."

He shrugged. "Oh well, nobody can say I didn't try my best to help."

"What are you doing here?" Ruby repeated.

"Well, I was just sitting around, but then you came in and put in quite the show. It was the best entertainment I've had in a while," Mercury repeated once again.

Ruby wanted to hit him or better yet stab him with Crescent Rose, but she took a deep breath to try and calm down. It wasn't going to do her any good to let him get to her. "Where's Cinder?"

"You know, it's rude to ask about someone else when we just started talking."

Deep breaths, deep breaths. Come on, you survived Yang and Weiss. You can get through this. "Why aren't you with Cinder?" Ruby rephrased.

Mercury realized he wasn't going to get much more of a reaction from her and sat up a little straighter and looked a bit more serious. "I'm not with Cinder and Emerald anymore."

Ruby's eyebrow jumped. "Then where are they?"

"No idea."

"They left you behind," Ruby gasped. Even with all the horrible things they did, she still thought they were a team.

Mercury noticed her shock and couldn't help rolling his eyes. Honor among thieves was a saying only used by those who had never been thieves "It's actually the other way around."

"You left them behind?"

"You're making it sound worse than it is. My agreement with Cinder was over after she got what she wanted, so I decided it was time for us to go our separate ways."

"And she just let you go?" Ruby questioned. "Not as naïve as you look, are you? Yeah, I'm sure she was planning on keeping me around for the long-haul, to keep me from becoming a loose end if nothing else, but after Beacon, she wasn't in much condition to demand an extension to my tenure. From what I understand, I have you to thank for that."

"I don't even know what I did," Ruby said trying to recall those last few moments on top that tower. "Is that why you're even talking to me right now?"

"Eh, I wasn't doing anything else and I don't actually have anything against you."

"Did you have something against Beacon?"

"No."

"Yet you still attacked it," she said the anger seeping back into her voice.

"That was all Cinder's idea. I was only brought on to help her with it," he replied with the same passiveness he had been using since the start of their conversation.

"Why?"

"Because Cinder is a very dangerous woman at the best of times and when she came to me with her offer, I wasn't in a position to reject it."

"You could have said something. You could have gone to Ozpin for help or even the General. I'm sure they would have listened."

Mercury shook his head finding the desperation in Ruby's voice a bit funny. "I think you're misjudging me. I wasn't someone looking to be saved. Just because Cinder wasn't my preferred boss doesn't mean I was trying to sabotage her. I was on board for the entire thing."

"You killed people!"

Mercury smirked. "Technically, I didn't kill a single person. That was all the White Fang, Cinder and Grimm."

"But you were involved. You're a criminal that needs to be locked up so you can't hurt anyone ever again."

"Probably," he conceded, "but that's not going to happen out here. Even if you fight me and win, everyone is going to think you're the bad guy."

Ruby looked out at the bar patrons that been ready to gun her down not too long ago. "Why don't they care that you're a criminal? Did they just not believe me?"

"You do know where you are right? People who live outside the wall do it for a reason," Mercury said. "That reason is usually because they have some kind of problem with the city and more often than not it's a legal one. Half the people here are probably criminals in some way or another: robbery, assault, tax evasion, you name it."

"Destroying a huntsmen academy and unleashing Grimm into the city is a little more serious than robbery or assault."

"You're right, but they don't know that I'm partially responsible for that. Information was slow getting out here even when the CCT was active. Now that it's gone, information flow has pretty much staled. Even if they were tuned into the Vytal festival broadcast while it was happening, they'd only recognize me as the poor boy who got his leg shattered in the finals."

Ruby teeth cracked together in the back of her mouth as she remembered what Yang had gone through after that incident. "How did your leg heal so fast anyway?"

"Magic."

"Magic doesn't exist."

"Then I suppose the Grimm Dragon that was turned to stone on top of Beacon was just my imagination."

That took Ruby back a bit. What her eyes were capable of was still a mystery to her, and Uncle Qrow, the only person who seemed to know anything about them, had been very cryptic about it. "Just what do you know?" she asked him.

"I'm getting kind of tired of answering all the questions. How about we reversal roles for a bit."

Obviously, he was deflecting but if he didn't want to answer then she didn't have a way to force him. Better to just play along. "What do you want to know?"

"You asked me why I was here alone, but I'm far more curious about what you're doing without the rest of your colorful friends. I thought you were all besties for the resties," he mocked.

Ruby faced drooped which Mercury easily noticed. The last thing she wanted to tell him was the problems between her and her team, or maybe it was better to call them her ex-team now, but it was too late to hide it. "Yang's doesn't want to leave the house, Weiss is back in Atlas and Blake ran away," she vented.

"Sad," Mercury replied clearly feeling anything but.

"You know, it's your fault that it happened."

"Eh, we might have been the catalyst, but I don't think it's very fair to place your team's issues on us. Whatever decisions were made after Beacon were decisions your team made all on their own. If you couldn't stick together during the worst of times then I don't think you were ever a real team to begin with."

"That's not true!" Ruby yelled, slamming the table again as she stood up.

Mercury didn't even flinch. He just sat there grinning at her until she lowered herself back into the chair feeling a little embarrassed over her outburst. Getting her mad was exactly what he was looking for and she hated how easily she was falling for it.

"What about that the June guy and his team," Mercury continued. "Weren't your friends with them."

"It's Jaune," Ruby corrected, "and they decided to head to Haven since that was the only lead we had on you guys."

Mercury looked skeptical. "And you didn't go with them?"

Ruby turned away not wanting him to see her shame. "No…I wish them the best, but I don't want to be involved anymore. I became a huntress to fight Grimm not people. Spending the rest of my life chasing revenge isn't going to fix anything or bring back anyone. Let the professionals handle Cinder. I want to focus on helping people who still need it."

"So that's why you're out. Trying to fight for the common man," Mercury said after a moment of unusual quiet.

"Yeah," Ruby said leaning her head on the table. It left her wide open but she was keeping an eye open to see if it was enough to bait him into attacking her. "But, I guess they don't actually need me to help."

Mercury chuckled. "Oh, they need you."

"How do you know?"

"Because places like this always need help especially from a huntress. They just never want to admit it since they're used to doing everything on their own."

"So, is getting a gun shoved into your face a normal part of their stubborn rejection?"

"No, but to be fair, you were the one to start the gun pointing."

Ruby's eyes widen and her face burned as she realized he was right. "Dang it," she muffled, burying her face in her arm leaving only her eyes to peek over. Mercury didn't make any comment so they sat in silence.

Ruby didn't know what to think. Here she was sitting with one of the criminals that had attacked Beacon and she couldn't do anything about it. What would Jaune think if he knew that she was exchanging small talk with one of the people involved in killing his partner? What would Yang say if she saw her like this? Probably something along the lines of fighting Mercury no matter what the other bar patrons thought or did, but getting into a bar fight just wasn't something she could do even if it meant bringing a criminal to justice.

What did he even think of all this? Unless he had been spying on her since Beacon fell, meeting her here would have been just as surprising for him as it had been for her, yet he hardly acted concern. Was he that confident he could beat her if it came to it, or was it something else entirely?

Her eyes looked him over trying to find some sort of clue. They eventually landed on the two glasses in front of him. They had always been there but this was the first time she really looked at them. One was just water, that he had been sipping on and off, and the other was clearly filled with alcohol. The thing was that the alcohol glass looked untouched.

It was strange and Ruby couldn't stop looking at it until Mercury caught on. "You want it," he said grabbing it and sliding it over to her.

"You don't want it?" Ruby said and then immediately wished she could take it back. Of course, he didn't want it if he was offering it to her.

Luckily, Mercury saved her the embarrassment by not responding with a clever retort. "Nah, I don't drink."

Ruby blinked a few times not quite believing what she heard. "If you don't drink then why do you have it?"

"You can't just walk into a bar and not order alcohol. That's how they make all their money, so if you don't order a drink to start you're not getting anything at all."

"So, you came to a bar just to get some water?"

"Kind of, mostly I'm just killing time. In case you didn't notice, there isn't much else to do here but sit around in a bar."

"Killing time till what?" Ruby said trying to dig a little deeper.

Mercury just shrugged.

Ruby sighed and looked down at the drink she had been handed. "What are you even doing in this town."

Mercury grinned like his favorite show had just come on. "Well, I was just sitting around, but then you came in and—" he cut off as he saw the liquid of the drink he had just relinquished come flying at him. His reaction was quick but not quick enough and the alcohol splashed the side of his face.

On the other side of the table, Ruby held a near-empty alcohol glass with the biggest smile on her face. Then it was finally her turn to laugh at him. It had been a long time since she genuinely laughed. She had gotten him, and even though it was childish, the little bit of payback she had achieved made her feel great. The blank stare he gave her while he tried to wipe the alcohol from his eyes and hair made it all the better.

"I didn't think you had it in you," he said. "To toss a drink back into a guy's face have after he lovingly gave it to you. Are you sure you're not the evil one?"

Ruby stopped laughing instantly feeling almost sick that she had done it in the first place. She had gotten too caught up in the mood and had forgotten just who was sitting across from her. "I'm sure," she replied, her eyes narrowing, "what you did is unforgivable. You deserve much more than just getting a drink thrown at you." This wasn't a friendly chat with some distant acquaintance. Mercury was a criminal who had framed her sister and been involved with killing two of her best friends.

Strange how talking with him now made it feel so distant, but then, he had infiltrated them for nearly a semester without anyone being wise to his true character.

"Aww, I'm not that bad," Mercury fake whined seeming to forget all about the drink he had just been covered in.

"You are."

Mercury drummed his fingers on the table as he looked back at the bar counter. "How about I prove I'm not so bad by helping you out," he said after some contemplation.

"I don't believe you," Ruby replied.

Mercury smirked, which Ruby was quickly realizing was his normal expression, and got up from the chair. "Follow me," he said.

Ruby did if nothing else than to keep an eye on him. The duo walked over to the bartender, who didn't exactly look excited to see them. "What do you want?"

"Same thing she wanted before," Mercury said pointing his thumb at her, "a job."

"I don't got any for little kids."

"I'm sure you do. We might only be students but that just means you don't have to pay us—"

"Us?" Ruby exclaimed.

"—a professional commission. Plus, if we really are all just bluster and bravo, and we end up dying, you won't have to pay us at all. You also don't seem like the type of man that will be too torn up if we don't come back."

The barkeep looked and Mercury then looked at Ruby, judging them. "Fine, I'll bite. There's a pretty good-sized nest of Griffons a few miles east of here. They haven't done anything but the fact they're so close is making people nervous, which only makes them more likely to do something. Deal with it and I'll give you 200 lien."

"Each?" Mercury asked.

"Don't push your luck, kid," the bartender grumbled. "I'm buying you from the bargain bin. If you don't like it, don't take it."

"Can't blame me for trying. Come on Red. Let's go discuss our plan."

Ruby glared at Mercury as he strutted towards the exit. She wasn't some dog to be led around, and why did all the bad guys call her Red. Was it really that hard for them to use her name!

The duo left the bar and onto the street. There was maybe only one or two other people wandering around now that the sun had set, and unlike, Vale there weren't any streetlight so the only light they got was the soft glow of the shattered moon which wasn't a lot.

Mercury leaned against the wall of the building next to the bar and shoved his hands into his pocket. "I say we head out at dawn. That way we can collect our reward by lunch."

"Wait just a second," Ruby argued. "Who said anything about doing this mission together?"

"I did. I was the one to get the job after all. You didn't even say a single word. If anything, you should be asking why I'm allowing you to come with me."

Ruby was glad the darkness kept the red in the cheeks hidden. "But I was the one who asked about it first. Why do you even want this job?"

"This might come as a surprise to you, but I have to make money too. If you really don't want to work with me that's fine, I can easily handle a few Griffons on my own. Of course, if you want to try and undercut me you can try heading out now, but unless you're secretly a faunus, I don't think fighting in the dark is going to work out well for you."

Ruby wished she could say something to wipe that smug confidence away, but she couldn't because everything he had said was true. She hated him for it. "Fine, we'll go together," she grumbled.

"Excellent," Mercury clapped his hands, "I'll meet you outside the inn when the sun rises. Don't be late or I'll leave without you."

"Whatever," Ruby replied still not happy with the agreement.

Mercury pushed off the wall and headed down. "Seen you then, partner," he said before the darkness consumed him.

"I'm not your partner!" Ruby yelled stomping her foot in the dirt.

The night gave no reply.

Ugh, what an awful day. Not only had getting here sucked but at the end of it all she had met a mean bartender and ran into Mercury of all people. She still couldn't quite believe it. What was he doing out here? Why had been so casual with her, and as much as she hated to admit it, helped her get a mission?

None of it made sense. He was a criminal—someone who helped plot the downfall of Beacon. He should be out doing other evil deeds, not just hanging around in the middle of nowhere and chatting up the people he betrayed.

Ruby's shoulders dropped as both mental and physical exhaustion took over. Maybe it would all make more sense in the morning after she had a good night's sleep. She just needs to check into the inn and—

Her eyes shot open as she looked around at all the buildings that surround her. Oh crap, no sign and now no light. How was she supposed to find the inn? Mercury was the only person who she knew to ask and he had just left without giving any directions.

She had a strong feeling he had done it on purpose.

Ruby's shoulders stiffened and her fist clenched as all the stress of the day had finally reached its boiling point. "When I get my scythe on you, you're going to be begging me for mercy!"