07-16-2017, 05:08 PM
Teacher and Veritas rented a small place on Tier Five for the night. Rent, of course, tended to be cheaper the lower in Coruscant you went, and so it was a good compromise.
The boy- the only real member of the "Board of Directors" ugh, what a name for a group of villains, had taken Teacher's information to his superiors. Soon enough, he would be seeing if there was business to be had.
In the morning, Teacher got back into connection with the Board of Directors. It seemed that one "Morgan Rothberg" had heard about his talents and wanted a demonstration.
"Veritas, how do you feel about a short jaunt up to Tier Two?"
"Are we getting paid?" the younger man asked.
"I'm unsure." Teacher remarked, "However, it will almost certainly mean a steady source of income in the future. This 'Board of Directors' seem to be rolling in it."
"Then I'm fine with anything. The sooner we get more Omnilium, the sooner I don't have to sleep in little apartments like these."
Teacher grinned, and the two left for the upper Tiers.
Taking the elevators back up, Teacher led his new subordinate towards a fine-looking hotel on Tier Two. Three stormtroopers were standing guard nearby, and Teacher nodded to one, when he came into his twenty-meter range.
Veritas looked around nervously, not quite used to the level of extravagence, while Teacher simply walked in as if he owned the place. Making his way directly to the front desk, Teacher hit the bell, and waited patiently for the clerk to work though the surprise and disgust they felt instinctively when seeing his face for the first time.
"Uh, yes, sir?"
"We're meeting with Mister Rothberg in about twenty minutes." Teacher said, "I believe we have an appointment. 'Rei' and 'Veritas'?"
"Ah, yes, very good sirs." the clerk murmured, the woman looking across the holographic screen, until her eyes lit on the names. "That's right. Will you need a guide?"
"Just a room number will be enough, thank you."
"Very well." she tapped a few of the floating light spots, and a keycard was produced, she moved to hand it to Teacher, and then instead began to hand it to Veritas, "I'm sorry, it's just... blindness isn't really a common problem in the Omniverse. The room doesn't have brail markings or anything, we're sorry for the oversight."
"No insult was taken." Teacher said with a good-natured smile. Veritas took the card, and the two were off.
"You didn't tell her?" Veritas asked.
"No need for her to know. Remember this, Veritas: If people think they have an advantage over you, they'll never even conceive that you have anything over them. Feigning weakness can go a long way in keeping secrets." Teacher grinned quite wide, "You'll never believe how much people are willing to wave in front of your face- so long as they think there's no way for you to see them. I've brought down more than one cocky government official that way. Smugly waving blackmail material in my face, just because it made them feel like that had an edge on me."
Veritas nodded.
Morgan Rothberg was a man of... pride.
Not pride as in 'honor'. Nor in 'dignity', 'integrity', or in even 'confidence'. Pride as in the sin. When Morgan looked at you, no matter who you were- except perhaps Dredd, Bradley, or Palpatine himself -it would be with thinly-veiled disgust. Morgan Rothberg went through life in the firm attitude that everyone else in the Omniverse was not worth his time, and he was sick and tired of overpaying.
It was with this sneering, barely-contained revulsion, that he greeted Teacher and Veritas. The man was wearing quite an intricately painted porcelain mask, not that it mattered to Teacher's enhanced senses, but from his body language alone, one could feel the distaste with what he saw. "I'm glad you had the decency to finally arrive." Morgan said, "You do know who I represent, do you not? We prize efficiency."
"We're early-!" Veritas began, Morgan's attitude pissing him off, when Teacher's outstretched hand quieted him.
"My apologies." Teacher said, "I am aware of your position, Mister Rothberg. And I will endeavor to act quickly. What I offered to your subordinate was a service not dissimilar to that of a weapon's dealer. With a touch, I can bestow something I like to call a 'Quirk' onto anyone, whether Prime or Secondary. This 'Quirk' will be active for thirty minutes exactly." Teacher looked to the armed men and women in fine suits, bearing top-grade Imperial Blasters, and each concealing their face behind a Porcelain mask. "If your guards would allow it, I can offer a demonstration."
"..." Rotherberg was silent for a moment, before snapping his fingers twice. One of the anonymous soldiers stepped forward, a woman, by body shape. She extended a hand forwards.
"I have a selection of Quirks. Two of which are my own, and seven of which belong to my subordinate Veritas. If you would like for me to describe-"
"After I can see what you're actually capable of, and not a moment before. Until she is capable of doing something she couldn't before, as far as I'm concerned you're wasting my time."
"-Very well." Teacher said, his voice dropping what little amusement it had before. He reached out, gripped the woman's arm, and felt the eerie pain of giving a power to someone else, "You can now summon a ball of destructive energy." Teacher informed her. He pulled out a pocket watch, "In exactly twenty-nine minutes and forty-five seconds, you will no longer be able to."
"Can you?" Morgan asked his subordinate.
She lifted an arm, and one of Veritas Dark Magic Blast Balls formed over her finger tips. Morgan's mask remained as concealing as before.
"..." he snapped his fingers three times.
One of the guards left, heading out into another room, closing the door behind them. A few seconds later, Veritas looked up as he heard the sounds of struggling and swearing. Teacher didn't move, simply keeping his head aimed at Morgan. Morgan stared at him right back.
"I WON'T, DON'T MAKE ME, PLEASE!" the mask-wearing guard shoved a thin man, wearing almost nothing, into the room.
The woman threw the ball of dark magic at the man, and he went down, screaming. The explosion of the magic sent the man crashing to the floor, flames spilling off of him and onto the carpet. He struggled for a few more moments, before his movements stilled and the screaming stopped.
Veritas looked away.
Teacher hadn't bothered to look in the first place.
"...What did that do that a landmine couldn't have? Hm?" Morgan asked, "At least with a bomb, you can choose when it goes off. There wouldn't be any kind of half-hour limit involved."
"Bombs can be detected-"
"We know how to hid them. Believe me. Give me something else."
Teacher bit back the response of 'I offered choosing something', and instead merely smiled, "Very well." Teacher began to coil his arm, taking in air, before aiming it at the smoldering corpse of the guard's victim. The air pressure ripped forward, extinguishing the flames and destroying the body further. It was no longer recognizable as human.
"Five second charge, explosive air-pressure blast wave." he said, "or alternatively three super-powered punches that deflect and push everything away from you. A defensive move. I can give you a Quirk that lets you create bone spikes, ones that let you summon guns and swords- ones superior to the weapons you're using now, from nothing, and Quirks that let you create three, floating, mobile versions of the explosive that your woman there used."
"..." Morgan frowned under his mask, and looked to be considering it.
"If you tell me when you might be planning an attack, I could be there, and offer-"
"No. First rule when dealing with the Directors, you never call us. We call you."
"If you told me-"
"When we conduct our... operations. Is a strictly need-to-know information. When we want your services, we'll call you. Now, I want to see more demonstrations. We'll begin discussing price ranges once you increase the limit from a half-hour to three-hours and then-"
Teacher's fists clenched, and he was nearly shivering with rage. Veritas lowered his hand, reaching for a weapon, feeling more than a little insulted himself. If these people weren't going to pay then-
Teacher stood up suddenly, and guns from a half-dozen elite Directors were suddenly aimed at him.
"Thank you for your time, Mister Roth- Morgan. It was pleasant to meet you. Veritas, come on." Teacher turned around, and began to walk towards the door.
"You don't turn your back on me." Morgan Rothberg growled. The guns began to humm as blasts charged, in preparation to fire.
"You don't want to do that, Morgan." Teacher said, not stopping his pace. When he reached the doorway, he pushed it open, two more Directors were on the other side, guns already pointed at him.
"And why the not, you disrespectful son of a-"
Veritas jumped back as something within Teacher seemed to explode. One moment, there was empty space, the next moment, not so.
Teacher grew and grew, his flesh spilling forward in waves, engulfing, and crushing, the two Directors behind the door, forcing them into the wall opposite. Teacher turned his head, the skull nearly the size of a man's chest, and still growing, towards the conference room. Spikes of bone launched themselves from the oozing flesh that was probably Teacher's arm, and began to stretch and reach, crashing into guards, spearing weapons, and pushing them to the walls.
Morgan reached into his chair, and pulled up a blaster pistol, crafted ornately, with ivory, gold, and jewels set into it.
Teacher's other arm, still growing, still stretching and shifting unnaturally, came swinging forward, and fingers the size of legs, and a hand the size of a chair crashed into Morgan. The floor groaned under the new weight, and the massive hand, still slowly growing, formed a fist around Morgan Rothberg and his weapon. The mobster felt his hand loose on the grip of the weapon, and his very expensive gun was lost to the eerily melty body of Teacher.
Veritas looked on in horror, down the hall, as his boss became a monstrous giant, lying on his belly, halfway inside the meeting room and halfway out.
Teacher lifted Morgan into the air.
"...You see, Morgan." Teacher said, his voice, coming from massive lungs, had a deep and reverberating quality, "I came here offering my services as an equal. I am the service provider, you are the customer. I am the teacher, you are the student." he quieted, "There will be a certain level of respect."
Morgan pulled an arm free, but he had no weapon.
"...Isn't power something grand, Morgan?" Teacher whispered, but in his new giant form, even that was perfectly audible.
Morgan snarled, and to his surprise, his arm began to coil, and air began being sucked into it. His snarl turning into a grin, he punched forward.
The giant's hand was ripped from him, the giant's face was knocked back, a bleeding bruise the size of a dinner plate, at its center the imprint of a fist remained.
Morgan looked down at his fist with a moment of awe.
Teacher began to shrink back down, and groaning and dazed guards began to make their noises of complaint, where they lied slumped against the walls. Veritas, slowly, cautiously, walked back into the room, and saw the destruction wreaked by his boss. Veritas eyes lit up. He wanted that power.
Teacher walked forwards, and Morgan raised his fist once more, before punching again. The explosion of air in every direction covered him, and the fist shot out farther than the length of his arm. Teacher dropped to the floor in a quick dodge, before jumping back up. His arm snaked out, stretching, and grabbed Morgan's shoulder, shoving him to the window, only for the third punch to knock the arm free of Morgan's shoulder, and in fact sending it ripping past Teacher, who reeled it back.
The two stood there for a short time, Morgan looking at him with rage, and suspicion.
Teacher raised both hands placatingly. "Mister Rothberg." Teacher said, "Tell me, what is power? Is it money? Reputation? The place they live? Pride?"
The leader of the Board of Directors looked at his fist.
"No. The answer is that true power is exactly that- I overwhelmed all these elites by, surprise, yes, surprise had a factor, but mainly because I am powerful. I am strong. I can turn my back on you, because all you can do is shoot me- and that's not a big deal. You might even kill me, but within a week I'd be right back, wouldn't I?"
Morgan Rothberg began to coil his arm again, "We'll see if you'll turn your back now." he muttered, "No one humiliates me and lives, you peasant."
"It will run out in a half-hour." Teacher said, "...You see? All your money, all your attitude, your-" Teacher pulled out the jewel-encrusted rifle handle, and held it at arms length from him, as if he found it as disgusting as Morgan found everyone, "-gold-plated ego stroking weapons... None of it is real power. The only thing you can use to threaten me? Is something I gave you."
Rothberg let-a-rip, and the explosion of air pressure ripped through the carpet, before focusing into a beam of high-pressured air, streaming though the room to rip into the opposite wall. Teacher was growing bone-spikes, and stretching them into a makeshift shield. "...Why the hell are you looking to us, then? If you don't need money, our money, why come to us in the first place mister 'Real Power'." Morgan said with a sneer.
Teacher shrugged, "You have me there. We do need money. And my personal method of making money, is selling people Quirks. Now. You've seen what I can do. What I allow your subordinates to do. You're seeing what you can do."
"...You insulted me, and you still expect us to do business with you?" Rothberg asked.
"Yes. Because it's that good of a service." Teacher said. "Although I've obviously stepped over my bounds. Allow me to make reparations. Tell me- or rather, when the time comes, alert me when you need my services. I only give one Quirk every ten minutes, but I'll give up to forty Quirks, free-of-charge."
Veritas bristled.
"...This insult is more dire than that."
"Well, that's up to you. It's not sufficient?"
"Eighty."
"Thirty-five."
Rothberg bristled, "Ninety."
Teacher sighed, "Forty-five."
"One hundred."
"...Sixty." Teacher said. "Or I'm walking."
"You walk, my men will hound your homeless disgusting body until you've died more times than you can count. Weekly, like clockwork." Rothberg threatened.
Teacher would have rolled his eyes, if he could, "Sixty, and I'll repair the Imperial Blasters I wrecked."
"...Get out. We'll call you when we need you. If you contact us again, unsolicited, I'll have you and your friend gutted like the Fountain Fish you are."
Veritas glared at the group, but kept his cool. Teacher simply nodded, and the two walked out together. He picked up one of the weapons, and looked at it under the keen eye of his Enhanced Senses. "...Two dozen of these guns, then."
"...You promised me we would be making money." Veritas accused, as the two of them left the meeting behind and boarded the elevators, "Now we're in trouble with the mob."
"One of the mobs, at least." Teacher murmured, "Trust me Veritas. It'll make money. Sixty Quirks- they'll use that up over the course of a week. And I can promise you that individual members will be coming to buy powers for their own purposes, separate from the others. After having a Quirk- you can't go back to being Quirkless, to being powerless. Not in this society, not in any society. It would tear you apart. After tasting power- one can't give it up." Teacher grinned, "Superpowers... they're more addictive than drugs. You'll see. They'll eat out of our hands."
Two months passed in almost the blink of an eye. The Board of Directors had kicked up their activity a bit, more robberies on lower-tiers, stories of a Bomber serial killer wiping out anyone who wandered the night on a few particular streets of Tier Five. The Board of Directors called in their sixty Quirks- and Veritas and Teacher were called all over Coruscant for it.
Sometimes Morgan was there himself, at other times, he sent delegates. Always, always, they were utterly cagey on the why and what of how they would use the Quirks he sold them. Outside Casinos, in parking lots, at storefronts, in secret bunkers. The two of them found themselves getting called randomly. They would never know the time, and never know the place.
Just that they had to be there quick, and they would be providing whatever Quirks they asked for.
Veritas was beginning to chafe under the pressure. The work was- technically, just following Teacher around. Being there, as a source of powers to sell, but the hours, the stress, and the different locations added up to a lot of confusion and missed nights of sleep. Teacher didn't mind, but the man was already quite weird.
Teacher had been right in that individual members would approach them on their own, not as part of the Directors, but because they needed superpowers again. Taylor, the girl from the first night, came almost weekly, always asking for Tri-Fireball. The Auditor guard who had been given the Dark Magic Ball had come by more than once asking for it again. She didn't use it to destroy anything, but the sensation of having magic, of having the opportunity to destroy things at a whim- well, it was for that reason that many of the Directors joined their gang in the first place.
But the big money that the two had been expecting wasn't rolling in. Morgan still had a few free Quirks left- the mob boss hadn't yet paid them a dime, and each individual member, while they paid more than a bit, it wasn't enough to purchase a house with. But Teacher wasn't yet worried.
One of his customers, after all, was a customer for life.
The boy- the only real member of the "Board of Directors" ugh, what a name for a group of villains, had taken Teacher's information to his superiors. Soon enough, he would be seeing if there was business to be had.
In the morning, Teacher got back into connection with the Board of Directors. It seemed that one "Morgan Rothberg" had heard about his talents and wanted a demonstration.
"Veritas, how do you feel about a short jaunt up to Tier Two?"
"Are we getting paid?" the younger man asked.
"I'm unsure." Teacher remarked, "However, it will almost certainly mean a steady source of income in the future. This 'Board of Directors' seem to be rolling in it."
"Then I'm fine with anything. The sooner we get more Omnilium, the sooner I don't have to sleep in little apartments like these."
Teacher grinned, and the two left for the upper Tiers.
Taking the elevators back up, Teacher led his new subordinate towards a fine-looking hotel on Tier Two. Three stormtroopers were standing guard nearby, and Teacher nodded to one, when he came into his twenty-meter range.
Veritas looked around nervously, not quite used to the level of extravagence, while Teacher simply walked in as if he owned the place. Making his way directly to the front desk, Teacher hit the bell, and waited patiently for the clerk to work though the surprise and disgust they felt instinctively when seeing his face for the first time.
"Uh, yes, sir?"
"We're meeting with Mister Rothberg in about twenty minutes." Teacher said, "I believe we have an appointment. 'Rei' and 'Veritas'?"
"Ah, yes, very good sirs." the clerk murmured, the woman looking across the holographic screen, until her eyes lit on the names. "That's right. Will you need a guide?"
"Just a room number will be enough, thank you."
"Very well." she tapped a few of the floating light spots, and a keycard was produced, she moved to hand it to Teacher, and then instead began to hand it to Veritas, "I'm sorry, it's just... blindness isn't really a common problem in the Omniverse. The room doesn't have brail markings or anything, we're sorry for the oversight."
"No insult was taken." Teacher said with a good-natured smile. Veritas took the card, and the two were off.
"You didn't tell her?" Veritas asked.
"No need for her to know. Remember this, Veritas: If people think they have an advantage over you, they'll never even conceive that you have anything over them. Feigning weakness can go a long way in keeping secrets." Teacher grinned quite wide, "You'll never believe how much people are willing to wave in front of your face- so long as they think there's no way for you to see them. I've brought down more than one cocky government official that way. Smugly waving blackmail material in my face, just because it made them feel like that had an edge on me."
Veritas nodded.
Morgan Rothberg was a man of... pride.
Not pride as in 'honor'. Nor in 'dignity', 'integrity', or in even 'confidence'. Pride as in the sin. When Morgan looked at you, no matter who you were- except perhaps Dredd, Bradley, or Palpatine himself -it would be with thinly-veiled disgust. Morgan Rothberg went through life in the firm attitude that everyone else in the Omniverse was not worth his time, and he was sick and tired of overpaying.
It was with this sneering, barely-contained revulsion, that he greeted Teacher and Veritas. The man was wearing quite an intricately painted porcelain mask, not that it mattered to Teacher's enhanced senses, but from his body language alone, one could feel the distaste with what he saw. "I'm glad you had the decency to finally arrive." Morgan said, "You do know who I represent, do you not? We prize efficiency."
"We're early-!" Veritas began, Morgan's attitude pissing him off, when Teacher's outstretched hand quieted him.
"My apologies." Teacher said, "I am aware of your position, Mister Rothberg. And I will endeavor to act quickly. What I offered to your subordinate was a service not dissimilar to that of a weapon's dealer. With a touch, I can bestow something I like to call a 'Quirk' onto anyone, whether Prime or Secondary. This 'Quirk' will be active for thirty minutes exactly." Teacher looked to the armed men and women in fine suits, bearing top-grade Imperial Blasters, and each concealing their face behind a Porcelain mask. "If your guards would allow it, I can offer a demonstration."
"..." Rotherberg was silent for a moment, before snapping his fingers twice. One of the anonymous soldiers stepped forward, a woman, by body shape. She extended a hand forwards.
"I have a selection of Quirks. Two of which are my own, and seven of which belong to my subordinate Veritas. If you would like for me to describe-"
"After I can see what you're actually capable of, and not a moment before. Until she is capable of doing something she couldn't before, as far as I'm concerned you're wasting my time."
"-Very well." Teacher said, his voice dropping what little amusement it had before. He reached out, gripped the woman's arm, and felt the eerie pain of giving a power to someone else, "You can now summon a ball of destructive energy." Teacher informed her. He pulled out a pocket watch, "In exactly twenty-nine minutes and forty-five seconds, you will no longer be able to."
"Can you?" Morgan asked his subordinate.
She lifted an arm, and one of Veritas Dark Magic Blast Balls formed over her finger tips. Morgan's mask remained as concealing as before.
"..." he snapped his fingers three times.
One of the guards left, heading out into another room, closing the door behind them. A few seconds later, Veritas looked up as he heard the sounds of struggling and swearing. Teacher didn't move, simply keeping his head aimed at Morgan. Morgan stared at him right back.
"I WON'T, DON'T MAKE ME, PLEASE!" the mask-wearing guard shoved a thin man, wearing almost nothing, into the room.
The woman threw the ball of dark magic at the man, and he went down, screaming. The explosion of the magic sent the man crashing to the floor, flames spilling off of him and onto the carpet. He struggled for a few more moments, before his movements stilled and the screaming stopped.
Veritas looked away.
Teacher hadn't bothered to look in the first place.
"...What did that do that a landmine couldn't have? Hm?" Morgan asked, "At least with a bomb, you can choose when it goes off. There wouldn't be any kind of half-hour limit involved."
"Bombs can be detected-"
"We know how to hid them. Believe me. Give me something else."
Teacher bit back the response of 'I offered choosing something', and instead merely smiled, "Very well." Teacher began to coil his arm, taking in air, before aiming it at the smoldering corpse of the guard's victim. The air pressure ripped forward, extinguishing the flames and destroying the body further. It was no longer recognizable as human.
"Five second charge, explosive air-pressure blast wave." he said, "or alternatively three super-powered punches that deflect and push everything away from you. A defensive move. I can give you a Quirk that lets you create bone spikes, ones that let you summon guns and swords- ones superior to the weapons you're using now, from nothing, and Quirks that let you create three, floating, mobile versions of the explosive that your woman there used."
"..." Morgan frowned under his mask, and looked to be considering it.
"If you tell me when you might be planning an attack, I could be there, and offer-"
"No. First rule when dealing with the Directors, you never call us. We call you."
"If you told me-"
"When we conduct our... operations. Is a strictly need-to-know information. When we want your services, we'll call you. Now, I want to see more demonstrations. We'll begin discussing price ranges once you increase the limit from a half-hour to three-hours and then-"
Teacher's fists clenched, and he was nearly shivering with rage. Veritas lowered his hand, reaching for a weapon, feeling more than a little insulted himself. If these people weren't going to pay then-
Teacher stood up suddenly, and guns from a half-dozen elite Directors were suddenly aimed at him.
"Thank you for your time, Mister Roth- Morgan. It was pleasant to meet you. Veritas, come on." Teacher turned around, and began to walk towards the door.
"You don't turn your back on me." Morgan Rothberg growled. The guns began to humm as blasts charged, in preparation to fire.
"You don't want to do that, Morgan." Teacher said, not stopping his pace. When he reached the doorway, he pushed it open, two more Directors were on the other side, guns already pointed at him.
"And why the not, you disrespectful son of a-"
Veritas jumped back as something within Teacher seemed to explode. One moment, there was empty space, the next moment, not so.
Teacher grew and grew, his flesh spilling forward in waves, engulfing, and crushing, the two Directors behind the door, forcing them into the wall opposite. Teacher turned his head, the skull nearly the size of a man's chest, and still growing, towards the conference room. Spikes of bone launched themselves from the oozing flesh that was probably Teacher's arm, and began to stretch and reach, crashing into guards, spearing weapons, and pushing them to the walls.
Morgan reached into his chair, and pulled up a blaster pistol, crafted ornately, with ivory, gold, and jewels set into it.
Teacher's other arm, still growing, still stretching and shifting unnaturally, came swinging forward, and fingers the size of legs, and a hand the size of a chair crashed into Morgan. The floor groaned under the new weight, and the massive hand, still slowly growing, formed a fist around Morgan Rothberg and his weapon. The mobster felt his hand loose on the grip of the weapon, and his very expensive gun was lost to the eerily melty body of Teacher.
Veritas looked on in horror, down the hall, as his boss became a monstrous giant, lying on his belly, halfway inside the meeting room and halfway out.
Teacher lifted Morgan into the air.
"...You see, Morgan." Teacher said, his voice, coming from massive lungs, had a deep and reverberating quality, "I came here offering my services as an equal. I am the service provider, you are the customer. I am the teacher, you are the student." he quieted, "There will be a certain level of respect."
Morgan pulled an arm free, but he had no weapon.
"...Isn't power something grand, Morgan?" Teacher whispered, but in his new giant form, even that was perfectly audible.
Morgan snarled, and to his surprise, his arm began to coil, and air began being sucked into it. His snarl turning into a grin, he punched forward.
The giant's hand was ripped from him, the giant's face was knocked back, a bleeding bruise the size of a dinner plate, at its center the imprint of a fist remained.
Morgan looked down at his fist with a moment of awe.
Teacher began to shrink back down, and groaning and dazed guards began to make their noises of complaint, where they lied slumped against the walls. Veritas, slowly, cautiously, walked back into the room, and saw the destruction wreaked by his boss. Veritas eyes lit up. He wanted that power.
Teacher walked forwards, and Morgan raised his fist once more, before punching again. The explosion of air in every direction covered him, and the fist shot out farther than the length of his arm. Teacher dropped to the floor in a quick dodge, before jumping back up. His arm snaked out, stretching, and grabbed Morgan's shoulder, shoving him to the window, only for the third punch to knock the arm free of Morgan's shoulder, and in fact sending it ripping past Teacher, who reeled it back.
The two stood there for a short time, Morgan looking at him with rage, and suspicion.
Teacher raised both hands placatingly. "Mister Rothberg." Teacher said, "Tell me, what is power? Is it money? Reputation? The place they live? Pride?"
The leader of the Board of Directors looked at his fist.
"No. The answer is that true power is exactly that- I overwhelmed all these elites by, surprise, yes, surprise had a factor, but mainly because I am powerful. I am strong. I can turn my back on you, because all you can do is shoot me- and that's not a big deal. You might even kill me, but within a week I'd be right back, wouldn't I?"
Morgan Rothberg began to coil his arm again, "We'll see if you'll turn your back now." he muttered, "No one humiliates me and lives, you peasant."
"It will run out in a half-hour." Teacher said, "...You see? All your money, all your attitude, your-" Teacher pulled out the jewel-encrusted rifle handle, and held it at arms length from him, as if he found it as disgusting as Morgan found everyone, "-gold-plated ego stroking weapons... None of it is real power. The only thing you can use to threaten me? Is something I gave you."
Rothberg let-a-rip, and the explosion of air pressure ripped through the carpet, before focusing into a beam of high-pressured air, streaming though the room to rip into the opposite wall. Teacher was growing bone-spikes, and stretching them into a makeshift shield. "...Why the hell are you looking to us, then? If you don't need money, our money, why come to us in the first place mister 'Real Power'." Morgan said with a sneer.
Teacher shrugged, "You have me there. We do need money. And my personal method of making money, is selling people Quirks. Now. You've seen what I can do. What I allow your subordinates to do. You're seeing what you can do."
"...You insulted me, and you still expect us to do business with you?" Rothberg asked.
"Yes. Because it's that good of a service." Teacher said. "Although I've obviously stepped over my bounds. Allow me to make reparations. Tell me- or rather, when the time comes, alert me when you need my services. I only give one Quirk every ten minutes, but I'll give up to forty Quirks, free-of-charge."
Veritas bristled.
"...This insult is more dire than that."
"Well, that's up to you. It's not sufficient?"
"Eighty."
"Thirty-five."
Rothberg bristled, "Ninety."
Teacher sighed, "Forty-five."
"One hundred."
"...Sixty." Teacher said. "Or I'm walking."
"You walk, my men will hound your homeless disgusting body until you've died more times than you can count. Weekly, like clockwork." Rothberg threatened.
Teacher would have rolled his eyes, if he could, "Sixty, and I'll repair the Imperial Blasters I wrecked."
"...Get out. We'll call you when we need you. If you contact us again, unsolicited, I'll have you and your friend gutted like the Fountain Fish you are."
Veritas glared at the group, but kept his cool. Teacher simply nodded, and the two walked out together. He picked up one of the weapons, and looked at it under the keen eye of his Enhanced Senses. "...Two dozen of these guns, then."
"...You promised me we would be making money." Veritas accused, as the two of them left the meeting behind and boarded the elevators, "Now we're in trouble with the mob."
"One of the mobs, at least." Teacher murmured, "Trust me Veritas. It'll make money. Sixty Quirks- they'll use that up over the course of a week. And I can promise you that individual members will be coming to buy powers for their own purposes, separate from the others. After having a Quirk- you can't go back to being Quirkless, to being powerless. Not in this society, not in any society. It would tear you apart. After tasting power- one can't give it up." Teacher grinned, "Superpowers... they're more addictive than drugs. You'll see. They'll eat out of our hands."
Two months passed in almost the blink of an eye. The Board of Directors had kicked up their activity a bit, more robberies on lower-tiers, stories of a Bomber serial killer wiping out anyone who wandered the night on a few particular streets of Tier Five. The Board of Directors called in their sixty Quirks- and Veritas and Teacher were called all over Coruscant for it.
Sometimes Morgan was there himself, at other times, he sent delegates. Always, always, they were utterly cagey on the why and what of how they would use the Quirks he sold them. Outside Casinos, in parking lots, at storefronts, in secret bunkers. The two of them found themselves getting called randomly. They would never know the time, and never know the place.
Just that they had to be there quick, and they would be providing whatever Quirks they asked for.
Veritas was beginning to chafe under the pressure. The work was- technically, just following Teacher around. Being there, as a source of powers to sell, but the hours, the stress, and the different locations added up to a lot of confusion and missed nights of sleep. Teacher didn't mind, but the man was already quite weird.
Teacher had been right in that individual members would approach them on their own, not as part of the Directors, but because they needed superpowers again. Taylor, the girl from the first night, came almost weekly, always asking for Tri-Fireball. The Auditor guard who had been given the Dark Magic Ball had come by more than once asking for it again. She didn't use it to destroy anything, but the sensation of having magic, of having the opportunity to destroy things at a whim- well, it was for that reason that many of the Directors joined their gang in the first place.
But the big money that the two had been expecting wasn't rolling in. Morgan still had a few free Quirks left- the mob boss hadn't yet paid them a dime, and each individual member, while they paid more than a bit, it wasn't enough to purchase a house with. But Teacher wasn't yet worried.
One of his customers, after all, was a customer for life.