Prologue-

The stench of recently spilled blood.

It wasn't an unfamiliar scent for Cinder, but it was an unexpected one. A small fire burned nearby as she stood face to face with the person that was responsible for all of the destruction in the area. Dull gray irises framed by a beaten and battered face glared back heatedly at her. Blood leaked from the corner of his lips as the boy gripped his hands together into tense fists.

She had seen the tail-end of the battle, and it was a brutal one.

A fight between father and son. A battle in which the stronger fighter had been decided. Cinder had been expecting to add the famed assassin Marcus Black into her ranks, but if his son was even better than the man himself, then his death was of no great loss to her. Mercury was young, but perhaps that was even better, as she could still mold him into a useful tool like Emerald.

"Tell me, Mercury." Cinder began with a smirk. "Are you anything like your father?"

The boy's jaw clenched, and Cinder could instantly tell that she had made a mistake in linking him with his father.

"Nah. I'm better." Came the terse reply.

Perhaps negotiations were still salvageable though?

"I see. How would you like to work with us then?"

The boy looked back towards the fallen body of his father for a moment before he turned his attention back towards herself.

"Not interested."

That had not been an answer she had expected.

"I see…" She slowly repeated. "Any reason why?"

For a brief moment, only the sounds of the burning house on the horizon could be heard.

"I ain't got nothing to do with my old man anymore." Mercury eventually grounded out. "You want another Marcus Black? Well too bad, because that ain't me." The boy finished venomously, spitting on the corpse of his father for good measure.

Cinder frowned.

While she could take the boy by force, it was pointless if he wasn't willing to work with them. Perhaps if she had gotten here earlier, she could have prevented the battle from ever taking place and hired both of them. That was neither here nor there though and she wasn't a woman that liked to linger on what-ifs.

"That's unfortunate to hear."

"Guess so." Mercury tersely replied. "Later."

She watched as the boy limped past her onto the road. The creaking of metal grinding against metal could be heard all the while. Prosthetics limbs perhaps? Either way, it didn't matter to her anymore. She doubted the boy would last long out there on his own, with the injuries he had suffered from the battle. It was a foolish move on his part to reject her offer.

Shed glanced over towards Marcus's body once more before letting out a sigh.

"We didn't need him anyway." Emerald chipped in. "We're doing just fine on our own."

She supposed that Emerald was right about that. There were always more pawns out there that she could recruit anyway. The White Fang sect in Vale and their new leader being one of those potential pawns.

It was just a pity that she had missed out on an exceptionally useful tool this time around.

Mercury begrudgingly forced his eyes open.

The sunlight stung like hell, and so did the rest of his body. His aura was almost done healing up the damage his old man had done on his ribs, but it was a slow and painful process. At the very least, he had managed to get his legs fixed up, which was the most important thing. He felt vulnerable without them, and that was a feeling that he never wanted to feel again.

All in all, though, he felt like absolute shit.

Thinking back on it now, it probably wasn't a good idea to burn the house down without at least grabbing some supplies first. Maybe he should have taken up that woman's job offer. He probably would've too, if she hadn't compared him with his old man. It was a stupid decision, one that had been made because of his hatred for his pops, but what's done was done.

His stomach grumbled, and he could only let out a sigh in response. It was going to be one hell of a rough day.

With a grunt, he forced himself up off the raggedy bed.

His ribs stung like hell all the while. As much as he hated to admit it, his old man wasn't infamous for no reason and had done a number on him before he managed to take him down. He couldn't help but crack a wicked smile at the thought though, his old man was finally gone and for good this time.

For better or for worse, Mercury Black was his own man now, and just the thought of that gave him renewed strength.

All of the shit he was going through now was well worth it in his eyes. He'd gladly do it all over again if it meant getting rid of that bastard for good. With a small grin, he hopped off the bed and made his way into the bathroom. The small room he rented at the town tavern didn't have much, but it was cheap and provided a place to stay which was all he needed. It wasn't like his old man had provided a better place to live in comparison anyway, so he was used to it.

The small dingy town that he had eventually made his way into after leaving home didn't have much to speak of. It was the same as all of those other small-time towns in the middle of the frontier. A population of less than three-hundred filled with all different kinds of people ranging from wanted criminals to your average Joe.

And that meant someone like himself fit right in.

Mercury was lucky that he had brought some money on him before the whole burning the house down thing. He was able to afford a place to stay and get some tools to get his legs fixed up, but he only had enough for a few more days of rent at best, so he'd need to find work soon. It would've been all too easy to head into the rougher parts of the town and use his father's name to find some work from the criminals there.

Screw that though.

He wasn't going to give his father the satisfaction of becoming the second coming of Marcus Black. No, he was going to make his mark in this world in his own way. He wanted nothing to do with his father anymore, no not his father, with Marcus anymore. And that meant doing things differently than from what he was used to.

Which was why he found himself standing in front of the town hall.

There were always jobs for clearing out Grimm in frontier towns like this one. There were never enough huntsmen that came way out here in the middle of nowhere after all. He had fought Grimm before, so it wasn't anything new for him, but he had never done it for money so that was going to be a first.

The man at the counter had a dull look in his eyes.

"What'ya want, kid?" The man dryly asked.

"I'm looking for work." Mercury tersely replied. "You need any Grimm taken care of?"

"You a huntsman, kid?"

Mercury just shrugged. "Something like that."

The man's eyes narrowed.

"You got a license?"

"Look, you want me to kill some Grimm or not?" Mercury crossed his arms. "I don't got all day."

The man's brow furrowed for a moment as he looked him up and down.

"... Alright fine. There have been some Beowolves that have been getting a bit too close for comfort in the forest nearby. Take care of them and the reward's 500 Lien."

"Consider it done." Mercury grunted out before turning to leave.

"Don't get killed out there, kid!"

Five-hundred Lien wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. Mercury could see why professional huntsmen never bothered to come out here into the frontier, the pay was absolute shit. Still, he needed money and killing a couple of Beowolves wasn't going to be too difficult. He never thought that he'd become a huntsman to pay the bills but it beat the alternative.

He wasn't going to rely on Marcus's name to make a living, that was for damn sure.

Author's Note- Corona virus is basically keeping everyone indoors so I decided to get back into writing. This is partially inspired by Coeur's new Adam centered fic. I thought that it would be interesting to see a piece with Mercury as the protagonist. I think it's a pretty what-if scenario to write about, using his hatred for his father as the basis for the scenario.