Tai I
'Why do I have to teach teenagers with superpowers?' Tai wondered as he stumbled his way back from work. Being the teacher of Signal Academy, Vale's most prized and 'up-and-up' Preparatory Academy came with its downsides. While it wasn't as physically exhausting or dangerous as it would be if he were a full-time Huntsman, his responsibilities were many.
Field Hunters contended with death-rates and hidden dangers, along with the limited comforts of the natural world and what little they could bring with them without compromising their supplies. In exchange, they didn't have to deal with small-scale politics of interacting with both school boards, civilian whining, governmental oversight, the protection and safekeeping of Patch and its constitutes, and the management of a teacher's duties.
It was a lot of work. But it was what a grounded Huntsman needed to face if they wanted to not get listed as a Field Hunter. Being an Elite and holding such responsibility came with its boons, of course. The pay was good, very, very good. A lot of it was pumped back into things like ammunition, repairs for one's weapons, new weapons, new parts for those weapons; one gets the point.
It wasn't made better by raising two superpowered teenagers who also had those weapons, and also wanted the luxuries of the civilized world.
Speaking of which.
The man glanced behind him, briefly getting blinded by the brights of the motorcycle that came almost sheepishly to a halt behind him.
Tired man and the drunk, slightly embarrassed, and sheepish girl met eyes.
"Ugh, hey Dad!" Yang greeted on her bike, her words slurring slightly.
Tai's eyes, half lidded as they were, blinked slowly. "Yang." He said lowly.
The girl flinched at the tone.
"It's twelve, I just got done finishing a metric fuck-ton of paperwork. I am not filing you a DUI." For yes, he could do that. He was supposed to do that. He was literally a superpowered cop. "This is not because you are my daughter, merely because I don't want to do more paperwork." He said calmly.
The girl previously looked ecstatic for getting off the hook. However, now she sensed the boot about to fall.
"Instead, I'm revoking your Bumblebee privileges." There was a squawk of unreasonable outrage, one that was crushed by a half-hearted glare. "Your allowance is being cut for the next three months." Even more outrage. "And you're grounded from partying or going to any event for the next two weeks. I will be watching."
The teenager's mouth flapped wildly, trying to find an excuse, any form of way to get her out of the situation she'd found herself in, only for Tai to turn around and start walking. He heard her start to drive, but instead turned around and away from him, back to town.
Tai closed his eyes, trying, desperately to imagine that he didn't just hear that.
He glanced behind him, and yes, Yang was driving away.
"Teenagers."
He turned, braced himself, before he started sprinting.
He honestly didn't understand why Yang loved the bike so much. It was fast, yes, but Hunters could move just as fast with some practice in using their Aura correctly. His boots slammed into the gravel road; blasts of dirt and rock and deep craters being carved where his feet landed sent him racing towards the driving teen.
She glanced behind, furious red eyes widening in a spark of fear, before Tai's hand laced around his daughter's neck and his leg kicked out into the earth. The leg speared into the sediment halting all of his momentum on a single adamantine point, ripping Yang off the bike as she was held in the air like a cat caught by its scruff.
The bike meanwhile spun out of control, Yang's grip was strong, and while it failed as she was ripped off the bike, she'd twisted the handle at an odd angle that caused the bike to flip and spin into the air; falling to the earth with a resonating crash and scream of steel.
Tai's hand dropped his daughter, who stared up at him with a mixture of fear and semblance driven anger.
"That was dumb." Tai stated.
She continued to stare up at him, almost uncomprehendingly.
He sighed, "Follow. Don't make me chase you again."
She visibly hesitated, glancing over to where her bike had crashed.
"It's done, Yang."
Tears gathered in her eyes, before she followed on her father's heel, gaze locked to the ground.
Tai sighed, shaking his head and placing his hands into his pockets.
The walk back home to their cabin was done quietly, the sniffing and soft sobs of Yang periodically echoing out. When they reached the cabin door, Tai glanced down at Yang with a sad and disappointed expression.
"Yang." He said as he sat down on the porch rocking chair, something he'd bought for Summer when she was pregnant. She loved sitting here, gazing out into the forest. "You are meant to be better than this." He said softly, completely understanding.
The girl peered through her bangs with a spark of anger flashing in them, making the man plant his face into a hand. "You fucked up Yang, and yet you can't seem to understand that, no, you understand that you fucked up; you just can't accept the consequences." He saw her visibly flinch, making Tai cringe sadly. "Just like your mother…" He muttered softly.
Crimson Eyes glared at him, "Don't you dare!"
"I'll fucking dare!" Tai roared as he stood up, towering over his daughter, "I loved her! I had you with her! And she fucking left! She left because she couldn't handle the responsibility. The consequence of finding someone that loved her." He sneered at the memory, "The consequences of having weakness. Full of fear, a coward who ran and ran and continues to run." He seethed.
Yang stared at Tai with wide eyes, the man never talking about Raven, and when he did it was always vague, or sugar coated. Tai stared at Yang with hard eyes, "You're the best of both of us, you know?" He whispered hoarsely, "But you're also the worst. You have my love for adrenaline, it's what got me into becoming a Hunter. The rush, the thrill; I felt like I was living life!" The man laughed freely, yet it was stained with ridicule as he shook his head, "More like I was rushing forward to end it." He whispered softly, staring into the flinching and reeling eyes of his daughter.
He sat back down on the rocking chair, falling back as he stared up at the shaking and shivering form of the girl in front of him.
"No one was hurt." He said.
The girl nodded.
"No one was hurt today." He added.
She nodded again.
"I'm trying to teach you, Yang. That your actions have consequences. I never got the chance to learn that. Innocents died, and that was the cost of my lesson." His breath ghosted out of his lips as some mockery of a sigh, "Today it was fine, you had fun, you got the thrill, had a bit to drink; enjoyed a night."
He leaned forward with a mocking smile, "'Bout tomorrow, huh? Tomorrow you come home with your bike covered in blood, some poor civie dead in a ditch somewhere." He threw his hands up, gazing at her as if she wasn't his daughter, but some imbecile.
"We're blessed, Yang. Absolutely blessed that we, you, live with everything that we have." Tai shook his head, "I was born to a couple of immigrants from Mistral who lived on the Sublevels. My dad sold his kidney to obtain enough money to purchase a ticket to come to Vale. I lived in Vale and fought with gangers and roughnecks, bashing my fists against teeth and skulls and became good at it. Until I wasn't. Until I got shot, unlocked my Aura, and became a Hunter Prospect." He snorted, blue eyes glaring into Yang's.
"I'm lucky that I was good. So good that I got a ride to Beacon. Met my team, hammered out my flaws, found 'em at deep cost, and had a family." Yang wasn't looking at him anymore, tears streaming down her face.
"Yang, Yang; look at me, damn it." He hissed. The girl looked up at him, her eyes back to the lilac lavender that his mother held. "I learned it the hard way; you get to do it the easy way. But it doesn't work when you refuse to learn, yeah?"
She nodded weakly.
Tai sighed, pressing his fingers into his skull, "I feel like I'm failing you two." He muttered, "Got two daughters without a fucking clue how to raise 'em. I love you, Oum I love you both, but you're killing me here. This world, it doesn't give a fuck. It just doesn't. Doesn't care how hard you can punch or how fast you can run. So, I'm trying to teach you, 'Hey, maybe don't break the law you're being raised to represent?' Without this world doing it for you. Because you might think I'm being mean, angry, harsh; you haven't gotten the slightest fuckin' clue what the world outside this little Patch is like."
Tai let out a deep breath, closing his eyes and feeling the weight of the day nearly knock him out on the spot. He shook his head, grumbling as he stood up and turned to the door. Unlocking it, he walked inside, Yang skittishly following behind him as he clicked and locked the door shut.
The two paused as they heard voices.
"I swear I heard shouting." A distant male voice echoed from upstairs.
"Maybe Yang's outside? She might've brought someone home and gotten into a fight; I dunno." Ruby's more recognizable voice had both of the two relaxing.
Tai raised an eyebrow as he saw a familiar teen striding down the stairs. Shadowing him was Ruby.
The teen wasn't wearing a shirt and wielded his massive Warhammer by the neck. Tai had seen the kid wield that thing and even he didn't enjoy the thought of getting struck by it. Corwyn previously lacked the speed to truly use the advantage the weapon brought him, but now-a-days the kid was finding a comfortable and scary balance of speed and strength. Every time he saw the kid in the ring, he got better, and it wasn't looking like he was stopping anytime soon.
Ruby followed behind the teen, wielding his father's old revolver, the barrel pointed up as her mischievous silver eyes darted down to them.
Tai snorted as he saw Ruby give a bright and wide smile. "Hey Dad!" She waved, before noticing Yang behind him.
The girl instantly noticed the girl's downtrodden demeanor, "Yang?" She called, the girl peering over her father's shoulder, eyes going wide as she noticed what Tai just did as well.
The two teens had turned on the stairs lighting, allowing both Tai and Yang to inspect their physical state.
Hickeys on necks, slightly swollen lips, ruffled clothing or in Ruby's case pajamas that boarded on lewd in how tight and loosely put together they were.
As the two 'intruders' comprehended what they were seeing, Corwyn smiled and waved, "Hey, Professor Tai, Yang. We have cookies in the fridge if you want some." He flinched as Ruby glowered up at him and karate chopped him in the back of the skull.
"How dare you give up our treasure!" She whined.
Corwyn snorted as he rubbed his head, "C'mon, we left the TV playing. Night, y'all, we'll be quiet."
Ruby perked up and crawled up the stairs, with Corwyn shaking his head and quickly lumbering after her.
Tai took a deep breath, mechanically and woodenly turning to face Yang who looked absolutely stunned at what she'd just seen. She was broken away from that shock as she met the dead-inside and all-suffering eyes of her dad.
"To your room." He stated, his tone begging.
Yang quickly nodded, only to glance at the fridge. Ruby's cookies were legendary and she was still working off her buzz.
Tai waved and gave her permission, before heading upstairs. He followed the distant and muffled noise of the TV, and soon came to Ruby's room. He opened the door to find the two teens laying on Ruby's bed, a mess of snacks, plates, food that smelt or looked like a mixture of divine and 'oh god what abomination created you'.
Ruby was curled up into Corwyn's lazy embrace, the teen glancing at Tai and gave him a soft smile and sat up.
The girl in his embrace whined, before glancing over and smiling at her dad. She scrambled away from Corwyn, picked up a seemingly random dish from the floor, and skipped over to Tai.
"Dad! We made all kinds of crazy stuff today. Corwyn's an amazing cook, although he's strangely fixated on nutritional values and all that nonsense."
Tai heard an aggrieved 'hey' from the boy's direction as he gazed down at the delicious looking chocolate fudge cake that was almost certainly homemade from how…rough, but gooey and delicious it looked.
It was midnight.
He was an old man now.
He shouldn't be eating chocolate fudge cake at midnight.
But it looked so delicious.
A plastic fork planted inside the cake found its way into his hand, and so he scooped a chunk up, and placed the piece of nirvana into his mouth.
Tai opened his eyes after an indeterminate amount of time, gazing at a smug looking Ruby and a curious Corwyn who sat on the edge of the bed.
Tai smiled, "Welcome home, son." He took the entire plate, glanced around the room, promptly stole three other delicious looking meals, and left like the tax-man.