Small steps. [Keith Richards]

[John Smith]

Every great commander in history had someone they could lead into battle. I had none right now and I did not need some great army of righteousness nor did I want a foul army of darkness. Been there, done that. I just needed a few select people to help me with some delicate stuff. That was why I had been listening to rumors these days. And there was a description that appeared more than once. A hooded boy. There were other clues, but that one was really the only clue worth anything.

And speaking of the devil.

As if conjured by my intense thoughts of this boy, I saw him move in front of me. The vague description matched this boy perfectly. Without much thought, I pulled my right hand out of the pocket in my jeans. The note contained a few words about the place, empty classroom, time, 2 pm, sharp. My movement had been graceful up until the point my shoulder collided with Keith's. The note was placed in one of Keith's pockets. I had not been very subtle at disguising the exchange from Keith. But for the every day student at Hircine ... then I had only been tempting the devil.

- 2 pm. -

Empty classroom. Chairs and desks abandoned by students. My feet slung up on the teachers desk and my hands folded behind my head. Imagine how easy it was being a teacher these days. But my thoughts returned to Keith. The boy might be a bit too "shy" to show up here and have this chat with me. I guess I would just have to put my faith in his curiosity.

[Keith Richards]

I hadn't spent an abundant amount of time at Hircine recently. It's been boring for a long time, and it only got worse when I compared Hircine to Paragon. But neither place felt like home, so I ended up drifting between the two schools, sleeping in my own dorm but I took opportunities to spend the night in unlocked dorms, call me paranoid.

My drifting didn't seem to help the irritating rumors that were starting to spread, my vague description was becoming more widely known. So far my name hadn't been tacked onto the rumors but I figured it was only a matter of time. But I didn't want the attention, not yet, so I had decided to lay low for a while.

So when I was bumped into he played along, I felt fingers in the pocket of my gray hoodie, and turned an angry scowl at the offending party. I struggled with my earlier decision to lay low but somehow managed to pry my thoughts away from strangling the airhead bastard.

Jamming my hands angrily in the pockets on either side of my hoodies zipper I turned and walked away, still sneering under its hood. When I stepped into a classroom, and was sure no one had followed me, I pulled out the slip of paper and read its message.

'This shit isn't gonna fly, kiddies.'

[2:00 PM]

After reading the message I had gone to grab some 'security' for my date. I didn't care if it was going to increase my reputation I refused to get called out on dates in such a retarded way. And just to piss the person off I stood outside of the classroom for ten minutes, my back resting against the wall. The door swung outward and if it did I would be hidden, and to far away for the outward swing to hit me.

When I was convinced that no one was going to come in, and that the person was determined to have facial reconstruction, he walked a half circle to the front of the door and shoved it open with my foot.

Stepping into the room wearing my traditional ratty jeans, white wife beater, and gray hoodie, I spun a baseball bat in my right hand. A bit dramatic but I had to get the point across. The point was leave me alone or I beat your face in, hard to miss and simple. Even a Hircine student could comprehend it.

When seeing the same person who bumped into me earlier I sighed and slammed the wooden bat into the doorframe before making speaking in my best "I'm going to crack your skull open with a bat," tone.

"Hey there sunshine, you have five seconds to jump out the window"

[John Smith]

Perfect.

I thought with a little smirk. I had been idly staring at the ceiling and generally been out of touch with the world. Even a couple of buzz's from my cell phone had not caught my attention. A door getting kicked in ... That was among the things that could bring me back to the world surrounding me. The boy was even armed. Interesting. Either he did not trust me, or else he just wanted to beat me up. Well, I could let the latter fly for now, it was time to get my power face on and see if I could pacify this beast before he needed to vent his rage.

"Only 5 seconds? That's not a lot of time. But I think I will manage."

I got my feet down from the table and folded my hands in front of me again, it was done while I was talking to save my precious time. Oh wait, it wasn't precious. It was just a mad boy's attempt at controlling this little chit chat. And I might as well get down to business right away.

"This school is slowly degenerating into a hippie paradise. And to be quite frank, it sickens me."

I waved my arm out, if this had been Varron, then this room would have been trashed within minutes of it being abandoned. But these chairs, these desks ... even the windows were still intact. What a sorry waste of potential. Fact was, Kyukaku was doing a good job in pacifying large parts of the student body.

"I am going to stop that degeneration, and return things to their proper places. But I cannot do this alone. I need someone like you on my side."

I looked at my wrist watch. It was a simple one, nothing fancy about it, I had used a little over 10 seconds on this speech.

"It seems I used more time than I had at my disposal. Interested in what you get out of it? Or do you still insist on me leaving through the window?"

[Keith Richards]

Okay so he went over five-seconds, but he did it in an acceptable way. If he was the fruity little faggot I had expected him to be that would've been a problem, he obviously had something interesting in mind. But that also left me with another issues, he wanted someone at his side. I wasn't that much of a team player, and obviously I wasn't going to throw myself at any offer for that to end.

Disregarding all that I still wanted to jab the bat into his stomach for waving his arm all dramatically. (And no you can't remind him that he was being dramatic on his entrance.)

Recap, I hate people. I hate people more when I can't beat them senseless and then go eat a cheeseburger because I'm the only guy that beats people senseless. Which reminded me I had missed lunch...

"You're off the clock, but I forgot to eat lunch so I wouldn't count on patience."

[John Smith]

"Brilliant."

I remarked with a smirk. I had halted the man from venting his anger on me. I'd hate if I had to end this in hostilities. But he was impatient and I would have to figure out what to offer this guy in return of his help.

"You can get bitches, money and power without me, so that is only a bonus you will get for working with me ..." I paused my speech and instead went directly on the offensive with a question.

"What do you want?"

Undoubtedly Keith would have noticed that I was not a normal sized student, and because I was wearing a simple t-shirt, he would also be able to see my muscular arms and some minor scars that I could not recall where they came from. I would be capable of taking out most people without breaking a sweat. I was a bit curious about what this boy would want from me.

[Keith Richards]

Bitches, huh? Well chalk one more up on the 'chauvinistic anarchist' list.

I vaguely remembered hiring Dirk on the condition of providing a path to power and a bitch or two. It hadn't panned out yet but I remembered because it was funny how similar this situation seemed. I get what he's trying to sell me on, but he hasn't told me what I'll be doing.

Well I guess it doesn't matter, he gave up any leverage he had. Which wasn't much to begin with.

I stepped forward and took a closer look at him. He could be full of hot air, he had a few scars, a bit more muscle than most, but that could all be part of the show. Needless to say I was pretty skeptical at this point.

When asked what I wanted I decided on something simple that would smack down two problems at once. I would buy that this guy wasn't just a sideshow and one of my itches would be scratched, honestly I wanted to scratch it myself but I still wasn't feeling all that motivated.

"Beat down Tiao Lei Shen."

[John Smith]

"The ex-pillar. Any reason for this, or you just don't like him?"

I had run into one of the other pillars back in my days, but I had never seen Tiao in action, so this could be a mighty interesting deal to make. But still. Taking out an ex-pillar, just to get his trust? I had already hatched ideas involving removing the opposition at the other school, but moving in there, and removing Tiao on my own was a bit risky. Besides, my paranoia was tingling in the back of my head.

"A capable fighter. Whatever, I will get it done. But first when you have done something for me. Just a token of good will from your part. I would like you to met me on Saturday at 1 am, and this time, don't be late. It would be a shame if you missed out on the fun."

I motioned to leave the room, I had spent enough time here, I had other things to get done before I went home tonight. But I stopped before the door and I turned to face this young man again.

"Should you happen to know anyone you can trust, feel free to bring them along." I turned my head a little. "Oh, and one last thing, what is your name?"

If this little prick didn't give me his name, then I wouldn't give him mine, and just leave. And on the contrary, I would give him mine if he gave me his. I'd still leave though.

[Keith Richards]

I didn't really expect that he'd ask. But motive was something I was curious about when I had such dealings so what the hell, I decided to humor him a bit. "An itch I've been meaning to scratch," was my response. It would probably just piss him off but I didn't really care, I still thought the guy was full of hot air.

When he came forward I stepped outside, looking inside the room as he followed me out. He had motioned to leave, I left first because I wasn't in any mood to get locked in a classroom. I was getting paranoid, it made me cringe. That itch was getting to me apparently, I normally didn't give a flying fuck.

"You forgot to mention where I was meant to meet you," I voiced, unable to keep the what are you stupid look off my face. I didn't like this meeting bullshit when I still didn't think the guy was worth it, and I wasn't going to be left guessing.

I placed the bat on my shoulder, standing in the hallway, I didn't hear voices. For a moment I considered giving him an alias, but I always forgot those. And, well, if he was full of shit I could just give him a concussion.

"Keith Richards, and I'm not gonna be calling you sunshine again."

[John Smith]

... He sends me to scratch an itch? ... Whatever. For me, the concept of being send out to scratch an itch, was like deciding to stab a zit out. I put my hands in my pockets and looked out the window for a couple of seconds while Keith talked. He did make a good point, but I did not know where they would meet yet. .

"I am not certain about the where yet. That depends on some events that will happen in the next couple of days. Security might get turned up a notch before Saturday. So, I have to owe you an answer. Oh, and the name is John Smith. I'll see you around."

This will be so fucking fun... I thought as I walked away from Keith. Not sure if I was expecting a sharp pain to suddenly explode in my back from his bat, or not. They both had something to win if they kept each other from biting each others throats out. I had a fresh nice smile on my lips. This day had been saved, sort of. Keith had a personality that I would have to keep a watch on, but for now, I had subdued the beast.

[Keith Richards]

Okay, he pisses me off.

I grit my teeth as I watch John walk away, my hand tightened on the wood bat. It would be simple to crack his skull or dislocate his knee before he could easily retaliate, and I really wanted to, for two reasons.

1: To have a meeting set on an exactly day, on exact time, with no location was just fucking infuriating.

2: That meant I wasn't going to get what I wanted, and that pissed me off.

"If I don't have a location before Friday I'll be sure to find you." It wasn't a warm reassurance, or a threat, it was a statement that was left very open. Maybe he'd get lucky and I would have had a good friday, but I doubted it. There was also a chance that he would get me a location before Friday, I doubted that more.

I put my chips on a friday outing were I'd track him down with a bat, preferably aluminum.

With that thought in mind and grunted, took two steps back, turned, and left.