[Vale; Midnight]

Crickets created music from within the debts of the town of Vale. Despite its rather dull color, it seemed to be rather living at this sort of time. It mostly comes from the local bars and dance clubs that blare from within the serenity in the dark sky. Though at some circumstances, there are days when the heinous inside the mortal soul brings the worst of all individuals. It pans to a few men in the alleyway, their footsteps hastily running across the rubbled concrete as they were moving around big suitcases to a truck aiming at the street. Most of them wore steampunk outfits as they seemed rather dreaded, sweat coming down some of their faces as they stumbled over to get the stuff into the truck.

"Come on, hurry, hurry, we don't have all day!" one said in particular, who was the leader of the bunch as he had a trench coat and goggles hanging over his neck. "If that damned paunchy mob boss notices that we sticked him, we are dead meat!"

"Boss, we stole a vast amount from that fat bastard, this will take longer than you think!" a grunt explained.

"You think I don't know that!? That's why we need to get this done, no breaks, no slacking off! Now get back to it before I make sure your insides are spilled on the floor!" the grunt gulped and quickly went back to it, everyone putting their backs into the stolen goods. A grunt was about to pick up a cargo box until the sound of a gunshot was heard, followed by the sound of pain as everyone stopped what they were doing as they had widened eyes. The leader unfolded his arms as he jolted from the shot, taking a step back. From within the darkness, the sound of feet calmly tap on the concrete floor, the taps getting louder from it being closer. Grunts were taking a few steps back, some taking out blasters, rifles, even techno swords as a shadow like figure came into view. It didn't take long for the figure to slowly come into view.

It was a man with a somewhat scrawny build, yet had its place of producing some mass in his muscles. The sound of his feet came from his black boots that had a tiny chain clipped in a U shape on the side of his left boot. He wore dark blue jeans, his belt buckle being that of a silver skull with green eyes glowing from the sockets. He wore a white shirt, followed by a jet black leather jacket that had a bigger chain connected from the collars of the jacket. His face came into full view, an indomitable expression on his face as he had dark yellow eyes, having a glint from it, making it seem like they glowed in a way as his buzz cut stood straight as he stared at the group who had their weapons out. The intensity was risen a bit as the man stood silent as he stared at the group, the leader getting in front of them as he had a cautious look.

"...Well, shit just got quiet." the arrived individual commented in a somewhat raspy tone, while sounding not that severe than the group thought he would be like due to his original posture. Most of the men had their weapons out, pointing them at the individual. The one in charge studied the individual as the other person just crossed his arms. "...So you gonna say something or what? Because uh...the shit your doing now wont make a difference since you're just a dead man walking."

"So, he decides to send a low class thug to deal with me instead of himself. Some family crime Syndicate he is." the leader said with a shake of his head.

"Well, aside from this boring politics of "Which family owns this territory" stuff. You stole from businessmen more than anything." Anthony shrugged. "And low class thug? I'd say I'm more than your average mercenary who has to deal with dimwits like you."

The steampunk leader squinted his eyes at him as the unknown man only smirked. "Even if they show themselves as "businessmen" as you call it, they are just as violent as us in every aspect. My father owned this territory and they are violating our...agreements on our treaty...think of this as more of an ultimatum for their treachery."

"Don't bore me with these family politics. We all know I'm not here for that shit." he shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just here to kill you, get paid, go home. Pretty simple life, really."

"If money is the only thing you wish to have, I wouldn't mind sharing...lets say 2 boxes of your buyers goods."

"Oh no, you misunderstand me." the man walked forward a bit, the grunts cocking their weapons. "You see, money is more of an offside thing I tend to appreciate, but making profit isn't my main concern." the moment he got a close a grunt got this side with a pistol to his head, his expression never deteriorating. It was silent again as he only glanced at the grunt for a brief moment. The grunt was glaring, but also confused at the look on this mans face before a gunshot was heard, the grunt widening his eyes as he gasped. The others widened their in surprise themselves as the leader took a step back, a growling glare forming. "I'm in it for the thrill."

It cuts to the grunt shakily looking down to see a gunshot wound his stomach then towards the unknown person, who had a gun hidden in his loose sleeves, a custom made black deagle as he aimed it up a bit more and shot the grunt in the head, killing him as he fell to the ground. The grunts all were shaken by this before they started firing their guns at the stranger in fear. Said person quickly dived and rolled to the wall, taking cover as he pulled out another gun, dual wielding custom black deagles. They continued to fire until the man came out of the corner before the bullets could get fired as he charged the group firing at him, bobbing and weaving.

When he got close, he ducked one trying to swing his sword before he kicked him in the leg, making him go onto one knee before bringing up his gun and shooting him in the head. He quickly dodged a gunshot by ducking, taking both deagles and aiming it at the attack, shooting from his chin to the back of his head, the back of his head exploding as his jaw was clean off. He got back up as he leaned back to dodge sword swings before sidestepping an overhead strike, shooting three shots on the left leg, left side of the abdomen, then a shot the right eye. He started to get surrounded as he looked at the surroundings, the grunts going in a circle as they aimed their rifles at him. He only stood still as he crossed his arms with his pistols as he waited, the grunts taking this chance to shoot at him at the same time. It didn't look like he moved a single muscle during that time and he was still standing there. That is, until he casually walked over to a grunt, who seemed frozen like a statue before he pushed a finger on his forehead, making the grunt fall dead as he had a gunshot wound to his heart, to which the other grunts fell to the ground.

"I love my job." the stranger said in passion as he grinned. He looked over towards a group that had swords as weapons as they charged him. He only smirked as he pressed a button on each of his guns, transforming them into miniature scythes that had a 10 feet long blade as he twirled them and casually walked towards the small army charging him. He whistled to himself as he moved his head to the side from a stab going for he head before he reversed a grip on one scythe, swinging up as he sliced the attackers arm off, then quickly sliced off half of his head as he gave a scream of pain. One goon went to attack him from the side, but the stranger simply blocked and countered with a quick slash to the goon's head, then spun around and stabbed the blade into another goon's head. He didn't waste time to react to someone charging behind him he leaned in and stabbed both blades into his stomach, actually spinning his body before throwing the guy into the wall. Before the goon could even sercomb to his wounds, he was met with an scythe being thrown at him as it went directly into his forehead. "Bullseye." the stranger said with a grin as he was simply walking to the now dead goon, now there only being one left as he stood there in fear. The unknown grabbed the handle of his scythe and pulled it out, the gushing sound of flesh on blade being heard as it slumped to the ground. He stared at it until he set his eyes on the last good, his smirk making him jolt from the expression. Within seconds, the grunt dropped his weapon and took off, fear in his eyes. The stranger gave a crocked eyebrow as he twirled one of his scythes as he watched him run. He brought his arm up as he had his thumb sticking out, trying to get the angle and distance right before he pulled his scythe back and chucked it as it went flying in the air. He crossed his arms as the grunt continued to run, just waiting…the next thing he heard was the sound of a blade hitting the back of someone's head, followed by the sound of a body falling on the ground with a big thud.

The leader, watching this, had his eyes widened, his eyes vibrating as his hands shook, clenching his teeth. He looked over to the man who just slaughtered his crew as said person slowly looked over his shoulder at him, his smirk looking more sadistic than originally. The scythe he still had in his hand retracted back into gun form as he charged the leader quickly, his smirk transforming into a wide grin. The leader took out two hooked swords as he got into position, posing to strike as the mercenary got close. The stranger got closer to him, until he felt like something was behind him. He didn't get a chance to react though before he felt something large slam the top of his head, knocking him to the ground and out. The leader was frozen in place, because one thing was for sure, is that he was about to swing, but if he did...he would've been met with a bullet to the temple. He looked forward to see a mountain of a man looking down at the passed out mercenary, before looking at the leader, who took a step back with his weapons still keeping guard.

The large man stared at the leader with a stoic look before he simply lifted the mercenary and placed him on his shoulder. "Be glad you get to live for another day." He said in a gruff voice as he turned and left the way he came with the stranger in tow. The leader lowered his guard, confusion plastered on his face as it only left with his dead men. He was curious what this guy wanted with the lunatic, but he decided not to worry about it as he quickly walked away from the scene, the image of the mercs grin in his mind now.

[Hours later; unknown]

"Ugh...God damn…" the stranger said as his vision started to come back into place. "I didn't even drink today and it feels like I had a Saturday hangover…" he sat up as he clenched his head, trying to numb the pain as he made small grunts.

"Ah good, was wondering when you would wake up." On instinct, the merc went to reach for his weapons as he looked towards the owner of the voice. "Don't bother, I had your weapons taken away for safety measures."

"Whatever, I don't need one." Anthony said as he got up quickly, stumbling a bit before getting up straight. "I'm giving you five seconds to tell me why you attacked me or I will strangle you with your own walking stick." he sounded angry and aggravated as the merc was looking at a man in a suit and rather puffy mustache.

"Now now, no need for hostility." the man in the suit said with his hands up. "Please, let's start over and introduce ourselves: I'm Watts-"

"An former Atlas Scientist right?" the mercenary asked with crossed arms, the now named scientist Watts, looked startled.

"Fascinating...you know who I was and we've never met."

"I tend to know what you are based on expression and looks. You give an expression who has been let down by his own superiors because they didn't believe in your ideologies and felt betrayed. You dress like you want to show a more intellectual side of yourself than brute force so you could fool around with your enemies, manipulate, until you have exchanged the usefulness they have possessed."

Watts was stunned by this for a few brief moments before he cleared his throat. "Well, you're right on that."

"As for my name...just call me Anthony." the merc now named Anthony said crossing his arms. "Now that we are "acquainted" tell me why I'm here and not choke you with your own mustache."

"Well, there is one good reason to not do that." a deep feminine voice was heard in the the darkness as Anthony jolted a bit in surprise as he stood straight and looked forward. Watts straightened up as he cleared his throat when he heard the voice.

"Well, I didn't expect you to come here yourself my Queen, I thought you would wait till I brought him to you in the conference room." He said with a small bow.

"Not necessary, Watts, please, leave us while I have a….small talk with our new friend." she said with a small smirk as Anthony turned to face the Grimm Queen herself, Salem. Watts nodded as he turned around and started to walk away, opening and closing the door as Salem and Anthony stared at one another.

"...I've heard of you...mostly from rumors….your more beautiful in person, that I can tell you." Anthony said as he observed the Queen. "Not to mention...sensing the power within you is something admirable to be witnessing."

"Thank you for the compliment, but flattery won't work much for me." Salem said with a small grin.

"Heh. Of course it wont." Anthony put his hands in his pockets. "So, what brings me here to your little castle? Need someone for me to harass? Killed?"

"In a way, I do need something from you." Anthony furrowed a brow as he tilted his head at the Grimm Queen as she walked over to him.

"I see. And what would that be, hun?" he asked ever so casually. Despite it being the Grimm Queen herself, he seems to be less intimidated, less frightened. She simply walked over to him, never losing her grin as she got closer to him. She then surprised him when she wrapped her arms around the mercenary. He widen his eyes a bit as she leaned closer to him with a seductive grin now with half lidded eyes.

"O-okay, uh...I'm not exactly in that type of...profession…" he trailed as Salem only smirked as he looked down to her D cup chest as he stared a little bit since she was closer. "Woah…"

"I see you like something." Salem said with a small chuckle.

"Maybe uh...maybe because of perspective...I guess." Anthony blinked as her hand trailed to his neck, and something...glowing from it. She moved it away as it showed a symbol of a python snake, with yellow eyes slowly forming as it glowed slightly. "What...what is...I feel…" Salem never lost her smirk as she stood back a bit with her hands on her hips. Anthony placed a hand on his neck as he look surprised and confused, looking at Salem, having a look of what did she even do.

"You belong to me now, as one of my new recruiters to say the least." She said crossing her arms now.

"I feel...different…" Anthony said as his body felt a lot hotter than usual, especially near Salem.

"The mark is currently sending in dark energy into your body, bringing in your lustful for sexual tendencies." Salem went to eye level with Anthony when she got back close. "And you, will be mine...beloved." as she said this, she rubbed her hand on his shoulder, pulling him closer with a half lidded look. Anthony, in most situation like this, would push a women away since he had to focus on the job, to which he admittingly only gives about 50 percent focus on it. This time was different, so different that an arm wrapped around her waist without his conscious as she continued to smirk. It felt like his body was moving on his own, but in a way...he had some time thinking of doing this as his face got closer, his lips partially open as it seemed he was entranced to Salem, who giggled. There lips made contact now, the Grim Queen who didn't lose her smirk and half lidded look. For someone who has visible veins on her face. Her lips where the smoothest thing he has ever kissed, her skin surprisingly the same when a hand went to her cheek. He was the first to probe his tongue in as his hands expertly rubbed his hands over her body, a hand going between them as his hand rested on her left breast.

'This'll be a fun night for me.' Salem thought with a small moan. Anthony seemed to be enjoying himself as he gave a small chuckle, pulling back as he groped her boob.

"Any preferable...positions, My Queen?" Anthony asked, sounding the same from before like the mark never happened. However, he seemed very willing to serve his new mistress. Granted its it's a lot different then meet your client, make a deal, and finish the job, but this was more thrilling to him than he thought. Salem as before, never lost her smirk as she gazed seductively at him.

"I guess you could say, I prefer being on top." She said gave off a small moan at his touch. Anthony gave a smirk as he lead him and the queen towards the bed as he sat down, slowly laying down as she was on top of him.

"As you wish." he said simply, taking her lips again as he gave her control from here. She moaned in the kiss as her hands felt him up, liking his built body. He was a bit lean in some areas, but regardless he packs a good build. Anthony decided it was time as, out of courtesy, started taking off his leather jacket and shirt. In his mind, it was quite clear he wasn't allowed to undress the Queen...not yet anyways, but is fine with him touching her. He took off his upper body as it showed his bare skin, having tribal and skull tattoos on his arms. She smirked at this as she rubbed a hand on his chest, now liking what she was seeing. His hands went to her hips, one going to her backside as he gave a light squeeze. She gave a small coo at the touch as she smirked down at him. She felt something from within his jeans, to which her expression changed more darkly in lust. He leaned in and took her lips again as her hands were getting lower from his chest, his tender lips pleasuring the Queens.

Salem was enjoying this fun as she sat up a bit, and started to remove her robes. Her snow colored skin showed all her beauty, some black veins on her arms, but didn't bother Anthony in the slightest as a hand went to her stomach, rubbing it gently to feel her smoothness. Not to mention she wore no underwear, so she was fully nude to him as she gave a small chuckle. She looked down to see a visible bulge in Anthony's jeans, giving a chuckle.

"Someone's happy to see me like this." She said in a sultry tone as she glanced down at his bulge.

"They would be a fool to not notice your full beautiful form, my queen." Anthony answered in a suave tone. "I hope you don't mind my excitement, my beloved Queen." Salem chuckled at him as she slid down his body, her hands working on removing his pants. He helped assist after she unbuckled the belt swiftly as be pulled his jeans down, and might as well, get rid of the underwear. It's only fair since Salem is already naked to the mercs eyes. After a couple of seconds, she now had his erected dick in her sights as she was already jerking him off now. Anthony gave a pleasured exhale, being in this situation with a Queen seems rather more exciting when someone of importance is doing this as he gave a small chuckle himself. He had a rather long length for a normal sized man, seven inches if she guessed. Without a second thought now, she leaned down and enveloped the length on his dick into her mouth. She was pretty quick about it as Anthony squirmed slightly, giving a small pleasured grunt as Salem didn't even gag. On instinct, he placed a hand on Salem's head when she was bobbing her head now. Her hair felt silky like a spider web as he rubbed her head, loving her warm mouth.

"This is...amazing…" Anthony said in pants, his eyes forming a dark lust in his eyes as Salem looked into his eyes herself. She smirked slightly as she continued to suck him off, enjoying his taste in her mouth. It's been awhile since she had done this, a very long time ago, and yet she seems to be doing an job of an expert despite it as Anthony brushed her hair when she gave her service to him. Her eyes glanced up at him, never losing her rhythm as she moaned and chuckled around his dick. She knew how to please a man, and loved how Anthony was groaning in pleasure from her. Sooner or later she felt a twitch in her mouth after a few minutes of listening to the groans of a man. "I'll leave it up to you if you want it or not." he said in an entranced tone as his pants were a bit shaky now. Salem thought about it before she pulled up from his dick, licking her lips. He was a little disappointed, but he wasn't gonna complain to the Queen as she got up and had her hands on his chest, her womanhood positioned above his appendage.

"I want it inside, love~..." Salem said with half lidded eyes. He could see that she was starting to get a little more eager and ecstatic as she pushed herself into him, a moan escaping her mouth as she shook a bit. Anthony clenched a fist, feeling the tightness of the Queen's warm cavern as he gripped her hips, ready to pleasure his mistress. She has been waiting for this for a long time, now that she's finally doing this, she can enjoy the pleasure. "Yes...Yesssss!" Anthony panted as he started to thrust up at a moderate speed, knowing she is waiting, his hands gripping her hips tightly. She was definitely enjoying this, she hasn't felt this kind of pleasure in a long time, and she planned on enjoying it to her extent. Anthony leaned in as he reached up with his right hand to play with her boob before opening his mouth and gently closed in on her nipple, sucking on it like a newborn child. Salem gripped his head now as she bounced on his lap, a pleasured look on her face. "YES~ Please me just like that!"" She moaned out in pure bliss now. Anthony obliged as he started to nibble on her tit firmly as he went faster at thrusting up into her, enjoying the fact his queen is being pleasured by him. He switched over to the other tit to do the same treatment as his hand on her hip went to her ass, squeezing it and pushing down so he could go deeper.

He stopped sucking on her teat as he looked up to observe his queens expression as he got more explosive with his thrusts as she moaned loudly. A hand went to the back of her head as he pulled her down, her bosom pressed against his chest as he took her lips again, never wanting to leave her warm cavern. He was loving the built up pleasure of this type of activity. Sure, killing people is also fun and enjoyable, but this is starting to become his first ever thing now.

"My queen...I'm reaching my end." Anthony said in a low tone as they both moaned as they were eye level.

"Cum inside me, I need it~!" Salem moaned out in sheer bliss. Anthony nodded as he sat up and grabbed her arse, going piston speed, taking her lips once again. He pushed all the way in and unleashed strings of his load into Salem's snatch as he gave a groan, Salem moaning as she violently squirted onto his lap. They both fell onto the bed, both laying side by side as they made out, Anthony pulling out of the Grimm Queen. After about a full minute of making out they pulled back as they both smirked at one another.

"From the look of your face, It's just the beginning isn't it?" Anthony asked, his pants slowly calming down.

"That is correct." Salem said after calming down, a grin on her face now as she trailed a hand on his chest. "You see, it isn't only me you'll be doing this with…" she then motioned to the mark she have him. "The symbol is fully activated, meaning you are owned by me...but it also means you have the same power to do the same thing to the opposite sex."

"...Really." Anthony said, his grin going away a bit. "Just so you know, I'm not the type of guy to turn women into mindless beings."

"Have no fear." she then caressed his cheek. "The mark only claims them and have them be loyal to you. They will keep their small little quirks all the same. " Anthony didn't seem sure as he glanced a little bit to the side with a thinking look. "Try not to worry love, you never changed all that much when I marked you, now did it?" That was true, despite the small urge of lust, he felt the same, just more tamed to her.

"...What am I to do with this power…?" he asked.

"To sum it up, you will dwindle the resistance that oppose me, with most of the fighters being only loyal to you, they won't be strong enough to stop me." Salem said with a small grin. Anthony was a bit startled at the idea...but also a bit curious. Have most of the fighters be loyal to him? Usually he is a lone wolf on occasion but having a lot of cute women and maybe some teens would be rather...entertaining.

"...Would I have to worry about getting any of them pregnant?" he asked, sounding actually concerned. The last thing he wants is to put a child into any of them when they don't want one. He honestly surprised himself on how he cares for respecting women when he goes around killing anyone his clients tell him to kill.

"No, you won't have to worry about that." Salem answered nodding. Before he could ask "how" she reached over to her robe on the bed as she pulled out a small charm that resembled a cobra with its eyes being of emerald. Anthony took it and looked it over. "This charm makes sure none of your...companions gets a child put in them. I made sure to put enough of dark power to make sure it doesn't happen."

"...Well. I'm certainly feeling better about this idea." Anthony joked with a furrowed eyebrow.

"Well, we don't want a bunch of little kids running around." Salem said with a small shrug.

"At least they're on the legal age." he sat up and started to get dress, Salem doing the same.

"Since when did mercs care about being legal?"

"Eh, I guess it's more of from my heart to have them at least be 16….15 can be an exception." Salem didn't reply as she grinned at him, tying the robe back in place.

"Well, for the time being I'll send you back to your last location...I'll give you more info soon after."

"Wait, how are-" before he could even finish he suddenly vanished out of existence when Salem simply waving her hand.

[Vale, alleyways]

Anthony suddenly appeared where he last was, making him flinch as he quickly looked around. He was confused as he scratched his head, a hand rubbing in the area his mark is after he fully finished clothing himself. He started to think to himself as he placed his hands on his hips, a small furrowed eyebrow forming. Okay, so he is suppose to "dwindle the resistance" for his queen...but how does he do that? He has little background on where to start and he barely knows anyone unless its contracts.

'I believe I can help you find your targets.' Salem's voice sounded in his head like a small echo. He flinched again as he widened his eyes in surprise.

"The fuck?" he said looking around, not sure if he was hearing things or not. "Salem?...I don't see you around here…"

'I am still at my home, I'm speaking with you telepathically thanks to your mark.'

"...I hope that mark doesn't take control of my body either." he joked.

Salem giggled. 'You're such a cute little man.'

"I tend to go for the handsome approach." he then straightened up. "Okay...so you can speak to me from a far distance...neat...but what's the plan? I can't exactly storm into Beacon and start claiming randoms..."

'You are indeed right...so my suggestion would to be to have able body at your disposal by your side...and there is one that can do that for you.'

"And who would that be, my queen?" Anthony asked.

'Your primary target right now is a woman known as Romania Torchwick, know her by any chance?'

Anthony tried to remember as he crossed his arms, closing his eyes to ponder. "...Long white trench coat...feathered hat...long orange hair that reached her neck...brown eyes...I only saw her one time when I had to do a contract for some big dude at a club."

'She's your target at the moment, but to get to her, you need to get close to her partner, Neapolitan.'

"Hm...that one I haven't seen yet…" Anthony admitted. "Should I look for any details?"

'She's short, brown and pink hair, and a sadists.'

"A sadist huh? Heh. Sounds fun...but wouldn't anyone fit that description?"

'Perhaps. But it's a good thing we finished up our little activity...for you see she has the tendency to go to her favorite ice cream shop for dessert at this time.'

"Your talking about the Scoop's Cuisine of Ice Cream, right? That's not very far from here actually."

'Good, go there, she might be there, you get her, she'll lead you to Romania.'

"Understood...hopefully you don't get too jealous of me claiming women, my queen." he said rather playfully, starting to walk to where the sidewalk was as he heard a small chuckle from the embodiment of darkness.

'Cute.'

Anthony only smirked as he turned the corner. Today was starting something fresh and new.

The fun has only begun.