7th of Searing, 123
Southside, Gel'Grandal
Leon groggily made his way to the kitchen. He lit the stove and put the kettle on top of it. The cold morning air gives him chills. He carefully studied the jar located on the nearby shelves. Squinting his eyes to see better, he opened a half-filled jar. The aroma of grind coffee filled the air. He brought his nose closer to it and took a deep breath. A smile formed on his face. He took a mug and put three spoons of those delicious powder. After placing the mug close to the stove, he leaned back at the kitchen counter opposite the stove. He took a piece of cigar and put it in his mouth. He took his gun and placed it on the counter beside him. He lit his cigar and took a puff of it. Using his free hand, he grabbed his gun and inspected it. He followed his advice of keeping regular maintenance on his gun. He opens the chamber and blows it. Then he closes the chamber of the gun. He returned the gun to the counter after ensuring nothing was jamming the chamber. He took another puff of his cigar.
The kettle whistled, signalling the water's ready. Leon made his way to the stove and turned it off. He gently poured the boiling water into the glass. The chemistry that happened further enhanced the aroma of the coffee, and it filled the whole room. He then took a sip from the mug, letting the flavours hit his palate and mingle before swallowing it.
"Ahhh, that hits the spot. Nothing beats a great cup of coffee and the view," he exclaimed as he looked out his apartment window. He could see the Obelisk and the magnificent figure of the Palace of Spires in the distance. "Grandpa would be rolling in his grave if he knew that one of his own decided to serve as the Ministry of War's hunting dog." He sighed and took another sip. His gaze fell upon the longsword hanging on the wall of his apartment, collecting dust. He closed his eyes. He could picture that day very clearly. Grandpa's funeral that rainy afternoon and his duel with his father. The duel didn't even last for a whole minute. Leon still couldn't understand his father's decision to accept him back into the family. Why? I'm already the black sheep of the family. The oldest grandson of the swordsmaster of Arlais turned soldatz. He paused ……and a fucking Jaeger at that.
He closed his eyes and placed the mug on the counter. Not many people knew about the Jaegers in the first place, and after that grand spectacle that the geezer orchestrated, anyone who knew would think that we all went down with the geezer. He took another puff. I could continue the gunsmith business left by Welker, but there are only so many clients, and competing with established gunsmiths is annoying. Hmmm, a product or business that could be accessible to almost anyone, Southsiders, Northsiders, even Trashtowners and isn't as expensive as guns?
Leon took occasional sips from his mug as he brainstormed with himself, digging deep into the experiences and knowledge he had learned. Before he knew it had emptied the mug. He put the kettle back on and took another three spoonfuls of ground coffee. He looked at the ground coffee, the kettle and raised his eyebrow. "Hmmm, I felt like I'm remembering something. Dammit, brain. Work with me this time." He grumbled as he scratched his head, trying to scratch that itch inside his head. "Ah fuck it." He raised his hand in surrender.
After a few moments, the kettle whistled, and he repeated his routine; he turned off the stove and gently poured the boiling water into the glass. Halfway through, he stopped. "Ah, wait….." he resumed pouring the water. The realisation hit him when he took the first sip from the new batch.
"By the love of……. Billy's fucking drug operation." He cried out loud as he slammed his fist on the counter. "Yeah, Billy's operation. Now I just need to look for that bastard. Last I heard, he was back in the city and…….." He stopped as he heard a knock on the door. He didn't answer but quickly grabbed his revolver and took some revolver rounds that he stashed in the kitchen drawer. He made his way toward the door as silently as he could. Leon leaned on the door and gave the revolver one last check before switching the safety off. The knocking continued until it stopped; a playing card was slid from under the door.
"Oy, don't shoot. It's me. I got your message." Billy called out.
Speak of the devil. Leon grinned as he opened the door with the safety chain still in place.
"How did you know I was home?" Leon asked
"That distinct aroma of cowardice, coffee and soldatz." He replied with a hearty laugh.
Leon closed the door, removed the safety chain, reopened the door and peeked his head into the hallway.
"Fucker….." Billy mumbled as he pushed his way in.
Leon closed the door and reattached the safety chain. "Can never be too careful."
"See, the smell of cowardice." Billy laughed
"Says the coward who ran back home and into hiding when he heard that the Jaegers were after his client."
Billy stopped and turned around. "Who wouldn't? You're all a bunch of crazy psychopaths."
"Well, double that level of craziness, and you get the Inquisitors. We still answer to the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of War answers to the emperor. But, they answered only to the emperor. Just like those Legionnaires."
Billy listened as he made his way to the kitchen, refilled the kettle and put it on the stove, "But still, nothing beats the wrath of the OIR, right?" he laughed. "Oh, and where did you keep the good stuff?"
"Even the five families paid their dues." Leon raised his hand in surrender; he then pointed to a drawer at the end of the counter, "There."
Billy opened the drawer, and after looking, he found a vial of white powder and smiled. He then poured some of it on his palm and snorted it. "Ah yes, that's the stuff. Been a while since I came across good quality stuff."
"That's from the batch you gave me last time you were in the capital."
"Ahh, no wonder."
Leon then took a cigarette and offered Billy. Pouring three spoonfuls of the same ground coffee he was having into another cup. He then leaned on the counter and took a puff. "So, what's new from home?"
"Ahh." Billy took another snort at the white powder. "Nothing much, same old same old. Just with the added shadow beasts. Good thing Arlais' a border province." Billy then lit his cigarette and took a puff. "Oh, and I saw your old man."
Leon raised an eyebrow as he took another puff.
"Yeah, good thing he didn't see me. He took down a shadow beast four times his size with a single slash."
Leon scoffed, "That's something he would do. Crazy bastard."
Billy nodded. The kettle whistled; Leon poured the boiling water into Billy's mug. "Glad as I am to hear that old bastard still alive, that's not what I meant."
Billy looked at him, then sipped, "Ah, thought you didn't want to be involved." He scoffed.
"Still am. Let's be reasonable, alright. If that geezer's still alive, maybe we had a chance. That's still a maybe; after all, that monster of a geezer took to the frontline, and we still got annexed. With that geezer gone and my old man getting older, do you think we still got a chance against one of the most technologically advanced empires on the continent?"
Billy chuckled, "And yet still lost to orks who didn't have access to firearms, vehicles and airships."
Leon scratched his head as he tried recalling the history book he had read during his enlistment. "We were fighting them on their home turf. Uncharted territory."
"We….?" Billy scoffed, "Fucking soldatz."
The pair continued sipping their coffee and smoking in silence for a while. Leon grabbed another cigarette and scratched his head. "Arghh, dammit. You're freaking stubborn. You know that?"
Billy looked at him and smirked, "As if you aren't. Even worse, you're a stubborn coward who became the hunting dog of the invaders."
"At least I still achieved more than that pitiful excuse of a Cause." Leon took his revolver and aimed it at Billy, "I could also end that so-called revolution as easily as this."
Billy stepped forward, grabbed hold of the revolver and pulled it until the barrel touched his forehead, "Then do it, traitor." He taunted as he stared down the barrel.
"I just might," Leon replied, slowly pulling the firing pin until it clicked. After a few seconds, he pulled the trigger.
Click
Leon pulled the trigger again
Click, Click, Click
"You really pulled the trigger."
"And you are stubborn till the end." Leon pulled the gun and placed it down on the countertop. He then removed six revolver rounds from his pocket and individually dropped them on the floor.
Billy dumped the remaining content of the vial on his hand and snorted it all, "Crazy bastards." He grumbled.
Leon opened the drawer near him and took out two other vials. He tossed one to Billy and the other for himself. He poured some on his hand and snorted, "Shame, could've surpassed the First Division."
"The First Division?" Billy asked as he took another snort.
"Yeah, the Special Unit's First Division Jaeger Corps. The first crazy psychopaths are hunting dogs of the Ministry of War." Leon explained as he placed the vial on the countertop and resumed smoking his cigarette.
"How about this, we do things my way, and I will make sure that the Cause can finally bare its fangs at the emperor." Leon raised his hand for a handshake.
Billy looked at Leon before clicking his tongue. "You bastard, you only needed the manpower, aye?"
"Yeah, I needed the manpower, but you needed a more experienced leader in this field."
Billy scoffed at Leon's remark.
"There are only a few numbers of people within the whole of the Imperium that knew of the Jaegers, and you could count on both hands the number of people who knew we're still alive."
Billy raised his hand and counted in his mind. "Who else?"
"Let's just keep it at that, aye?" Leon then motioned at his raised hand.
"Fine," Billy shook Leon's hand. "I'll snitch to the Inquisitors if you decide to backstab us."
"I'm a Wralux; you know that, right?"
"……..and a Jaeger and also a soldatz."
"But still a Wralux."
Billy sighed, "Yeah, you're still a Wralux."
