RWBY 1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I'm pretty nervous posting this since this is my first ever FanFic. Please feel free to leave criticism and overall thoughts about this in the reviews! Thanks!**

**Words in BOLD are emphasised/ Important Information**

**Words in **_**'Italics'**_** are thoughts  
><strong>

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Contract Killer (Prologue)<strong>

**London, England 2014, 14****th**** September, 21:40**

The Masked Man stepped out of the doorway and closed the door behind him. He then proceeded to slip on a pair of Black Oakley Military SI Assault Gloves. He lowered his metal mask, pulled up his solid black hood and proceeded to empty his revolver of empty bullet casings which he stuffed into his pocket. The man had a bulky aspect about him. He was extremely well built and towered over others at a height of around 6 Ft 6 Inches. The large figure wore an old brown leather jacket, under which he wore a black hoodie. Just in case things went south, The Masked Man also wore a full-body, lightweight titanium suit of armour and 13 layers of Kevlar inside said suit.

The Masked Man wielded a Smith & Wesson 500 Magnum and a silenced Five-Seven for stealth assignments. For CQC he adopted his very own dual daggers, handmade by himself. He admitted that his weaponry wasn't very creative, but they did the task they were required to perform.

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><p>The Masked Man had been abducted by a line of Black Market dealers at the young age of 1. These dealers had required someone to 'deal' with their clients if business got out of hand. Instead of wasting their money and hiring an assassin to do their dirty work, they instead decided to abduct a child and train him to be a ruthless killer, loyal to them and them only.<p>

Upon discovering the truth behind his strange upbringing, he fled to the streets, no older than 14. He immediately began to search for work. With no luck, he turned to the only thing he knew how to do. He killed. He killed and got paid to do so.

Finding his new line of work, he donned the mask of a killer. A mask of cold steel. A mask which would represent **HIM**. A mask that would conceal his identity. He would become the greatest assassin in the criminal world.

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><p>The Masked Man proceeded to his next destination, to collect his pay and receive his next assignment. He was like any other man, walking through the cold streets of London. Hands in his pockets, head forward, fixed on the path. The night was cold, but nothing the Masked Man wasn't used to. He had completed assignments across the globe, in multiple extreme environments, each one completed in its entirety.<p>

He probed the area for possible threats before knocking on the large wooden door. A small, stout man in a white lab coat answered his knocks.

"Who's there?" questioned the man with a gruff voice through the crack of the open door.

"It's me," replied the masked figure. The small man gave a relieved sigh.

"Come on in then, no use standin' out there in the cold," the small man let the large figure in and closed the door behind him. "So, how'd it go? I trust all went swimmingly?"

"It's done," replied the masked man, "all of it."

"Nobody noticed?"

"No."

"Disposed of the body?"

"Yes."

"Alrighty then! I'll have ya pay in a sec," the small man waddled off and shortly after returned with a brown bag. The Masked Man pulled open the top of the bag to check his pay.

"£20,000 in cash," said the stout man. The Masked Man put the bag on a table next to him.

"Next Contract?" questioned The Masked Man. He spoke with a solid English accent, almost that of royalty despite being the complete opposite.

"Ha ha! So keen to get back to work! I love it!" exclaimed the small man, "now, if you'll follow me." The man quickly began walking towards the other end of the building with The Masked Man behind him.

"Your next contract is probably the biggest contract that anyone has offered! This contract may seem strange when I first explain it, but trust me, it **WILL** be worth it!" The burly man sounded excited. "This contract is for one who goes by the name of Pyrrah Nikos," he explained, "now yes, yes I know that you probably have never heard of this person before, but that's because they exist in a different **reality** than we do."

The Masked Man was unsure about this contract, but he did like the idea of traveling to an alternate (if you could call it that) reality.

"Now, to get to this alternate reality, I have been given access to a functioning warp gate that will allow inter-dimensional travel!" by the time the portly little man had finished his chunk of dialogue, they had reached a door. "Are you ready to witness the greatest creation man has to offer?" The Masked Man nodded his head.

He stood at the feet of a large, circular device, around 5 metres in diameter. He was completely baffled about how his contractor was able to obtain such a machine, but he knew best not to question the man he had worked with for the last 8 years.

"Isn't it wonderful!?" the exclaimed, his eyes practically bursting out of his head. "But, my friend, time is of the essence! We must work quickly! Are you ready? Ooh! Ooh! Wait! I almost forgot! Here are the details for the contract and the files on some people you may encounter! And don't bother asking me why someone wants this person dead, they must have good reasons to pay so much money!"

The Masked Man examined the details of the Contract.

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><p><strong>SUBJECT:<strong> **Pyrrah Nikos**

**AGE: 17**

**GENDER: Female**

**COMPLEXION: Pale White**

**RACE: Human**

**WANTED: Dead**

**BONUS OBJECTIVE: Death: Natural Occurrence**

**WITH BONUS: £250,000**

**W/O BONUS: £190,000**

**CURRENT KNOWN STATUS: Active**

**DETAILS: Winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament Four Years In A Row, Celebrity Status**

**APPEARANCE: Red waist length ponytail, Green Eyes, Bronze Armour (Other details unknown)**

**OCCUPATION: Student**

**AFFILIATION: Beacon Academy**

**WEAPONRY: (Unknown)**

**COMPLETION TIME: 2 Months**

**FURTHER DETAILS CANNOT BE PROVIDED DUE TO LACK OF INFORMATION**

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><p>'17? w<em>ho the hell would want a kid dead?' <em>he thought to himself, _'and race? What other races are there? There isn't much information here; I think I might have to turn this one down…'_

'_NO! What the hell are you thinking? You don't just turn contracts down! You'll lose your reputation!'_

"I'll do it," he said sternly

"Wonderful! Absolutely splendid! Let's not dilly dally then! Through the portal we go!" at that, the small blob of a man flipped the switch and activated the gate.

'_What the hell are you getting yourself into?'_

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><p><strong>Our new-found assassin friend will travel to the world of RWBY in Chapter 2!<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Remnant  
>Unknown Location, Unknown Date, Unknown Time<strong>

The Masked Man skidded across the dirt, flat on his face until he came to a stop. He let out a slight groan and looked up to find quite the beautiful sight.

Trees

Living in London, he didn't really see that many trees and certainly not ones this big! The only time he would see trees like this is when he want to some place tropical. Of course, none of the trees that he ever saw had red leaves.

He rolled over onto his back and looked up to find a thick canopy of red leaves, aside from a few partings in the crimson canopy letting cracks of daylight through. Aside from these small pockets of light, the area around him was fairly dark, although he could see fine.

'_Enough lying on your ass'_

The Masked Man sat up and then stood up. He brushed himself off and tried to rid his mask of any dirt that decided to cling onto it. He took in more of his surroundings.

'_Seems like I'm in some sort of Forest or Woodlands of some kind. Should probably try to find civilisation. I doubt they know who I am, right? Yeah, they can't possibly know who I am'_

The Masked Man began walking. He walked for what seemed like hours until he came to a clearing.

'_This is getting me nowhere. Best climb a tree or something. Get an overview. There has to be some kind of… large… Monument… somewhere.'_

The Masked Man scaled one of the crimson leaved trees in an attempt to get an overview of the area. Upon scaling a tree he discovered that there were indeed 'monuments'. One of these was a singular, large building, _'Probably some Governmental building', _and the other was what appeared to be a city of some sorts. However, The Masked Man also noticed something else atop his vantage point, chatter. People were talking, and laughing.

'_Seems there are people nearby. Let's go get some info on the inhabitants here.'_

The Masked Man descended from his point atop the tree only to find what appeared to be a large bear of some kind. It raised itself up on its hind legs and let out a monstrous roar. The creature then jumped forward in an attempt to cut The Masked Man open with its claws. He nimbly rolled out of the way and pulled his Smith & Wesson from inside his Jacket.

'_Perfect, I can make those people come to me. Let's see how they react when hearing a couple gunshots go off'_

**2 Minutes Earlier: Beacon Students: Forever Fall****  
><strong>The head of the Ursa fell to the ground and Jaune Arc remained still and silent.

"Holy crap! Jaune?" said Cardin as Jaune silently helped him to his feet

"Don't ever mess with my Team… my friends, ever again" replied Jaune

Cardin Winchester was left speechless and he quickly ran back to his team, putting as much distance between him and Jaune as possible. Pyrrha Nikos, Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee, whom had been observing the scene, turned to leave the area with Jaune just as they heard two gunshots echo through the forest.

"What was that?" questioned Ruby  
>"Why are you asking me?" retorted Weiss, "I have no idea!"<br>"Gunshots," said Pyrrah, "someone might need help"  
>"Well what are we waiting for?" asked Jaune<p>

The four rushed to the scene, followed by the rest of the class and Glynda Goodwitch. As they arrived at the location where the gunshots were presumably fired, they found an Ursa, lying dead on its back with 2 bullet holes embedded in its torso.

**Present Time: The Masked Man****  
><strong>The Masked Man stayed crouched behind a bush, hidden in the darkness as he waited for someone to investigate. Much to his surprise a group of four children emerged from the treeline. They all looked to be around 17-18 years of age, aside from one who looked to be a few years behind, 3 of them were girls and they all wielded different weapons. One of the girls, presumably the youngest of them all, was dressed in a black, hooded dress with a red trim around it and a cape attached. She had black hair with red highlights and silver eyes. He was unsure what kind of weapon she wielded. The one next to her was dressed in a white dress with a red trim. She had white hair, light blue eyes and appeared to wield a rapier of some sort. The third girl had red hair and wore bronze armour. Her eyes were green and she used a javelin and shield.

'_Pyrrha Nikos I presume' _he thought to himself as he pulled his Magnum from his jacket and thumbed back the hammer, aiming the gun at her head. He quickly analysed the final child. Male, blonde hair, blue eyes, sword and shield.

'_Last one looks like a crappy Knight'_ he thought to himself as he softly squeezed the trigger…

'_Damn'_

Around 20 other children and who he assumed to be their teacher emerged from the treeline.

A girl dressed in Black and White and wearing a black bow walked up to the Ursa and examined the corpse, followed by the younger girl in the red.

"What did it?" squawked the girl in red

"I… don't know" replied the girl in Black

"What?" said the girl in white, "how could you not know? You always know these things, Blake!"

"It looks like a Pistol wound, but it sounded too loud for that" replied Blake

the girl in red gasped, "I wanna see what did it!"

"RUBY!" screeched the girl in white

"Sorry Weiss…" Ruby replied

"Ugh!" Weiss rolled her eyes

Another girl burst from the treeline. She wore yellow and brown and had stupidly long hair. Her weapons appeared to be gauntlets, yellow ones obviously.

"Ruby!" she exclaimed as she ran up to Ruby

"Yang!" shouted Ruby as they ran towards each other. They locked themselves in a hug which lasted around 10 seconds.

'_Hopefully names will be useful; otherwise I'm runnin' on nothin' here…' _his thoughts were silenced for a moment_, '… maybe they're students of this 'Beacon' place. Let's ask…'_

The Masked Man emerged from his hiding place to confront the group of children. Much to his surprise, he was held at gunpoint by most of the students.

'_Whoever knew that kids were so violent?'_

"Calm yourselves. I'm looking for Beacon Academy," The Masked Man clearly stated

"I don't trust him," whispered Weiss

"You don't trust anyone!" Yang snapped back

"He's wearing a mask! Who wears a mask!?" challenged Weiss

"Why?" Blake asked The Masked Man

"I'm new to the area"

"Then why are you wandering around in the forest?" asked Weiss

"Good to frolic with the wilderness every now and then," explained The Masked Man, gesturing towards the once living Ursa

"You did that?" inquired Yang.

The Masked Man made no action and spoke no words and everyone lowered their weapons.

"Can you direct me to Beacon?" he asked

"Better yet, we'll take you there!" exclaimed Ruby, cheerfully. Weiss looked unsatisfied as she crossed her arms and stormed off as the remainder of the group began arguing between each other, debating whether it was a good idea or not.

'_Let the journey begin…'_


	3. Chapter 3

**Alright, this chapter is pretty weak, I'm gonna admit it  
>Thanks to idomo3912 for the feedback.<br>Next chapter will be longer to compensate for this one!**

**Chapter 3: Meeting New Friends**

The Masked Man trekked slowly (for him it was slow) behind Team RWBY who had been tasked with guiding him to Beacon in order to speak with a 'Professor Ozpin'. He just couldn't get over how much these damned kids talked! Weiss was being extremely stubborn, as per usual. She was the one he hated most.

'_Rich. She's very obviously rich. She got everything she wanted, everyone always listened to her. The perks of being brought up in a wealthy family.' _He snarled at the thought such a spoiled brat. There was only one person in the group that was quiet and that was Blake. Someone normal.

'_She's hiding something behind that bow. It's fairly obvious.'_

"So," started Yang, "where ya from?" The Masked Man remained silent.  
>"Not much of a speaker eh?" No response. The Masked Man was staring down at the floor, hood up, mask down, walking.<p>

"Why do you wear a mask?" asked Blake. The Masked Man was frankly surprised at Blake asking the question instead of her more nosy friends.

"We all have our secrets" he replied in a cold tone.

The group of girls shivered at how dramatically his tone had changed since they first met him (around 3 minutes ago).

They continued to walk silently for the remainder of the trip.

Upon arriving at Beacon, The Masked Man carefully surveyed his surroundings.

'_This school would probably be the only place where my contract will be alone'_

He was guided through the halls of the large Academy to Professor Ozpin's office. The girls knocked on the door.

"Come in," came a voice from behind the door.

The Masked Man entered. The room was large and very plain. On one end there was a desk, behind it was a large window, overlooking the front of the Academy.

"I was informed you would be arriving," stated Ozpin, "Please, sit." He gestured towards the chair opposing his desk. The Masked Man sat silently and observed Ozpin's character.

Average height, grey hair, shaded glass spectacles, adopts a cane yet has no visible disabilities, not even a slight limp, most likely used as a weapon, seemingly a middle-aged man. Seems to enjoy coffee.

'_If I had to make assumptions, I wouldn't know what to think'_

"My name is Professor Ozpin. As you may know, my school is where the best students from the kingdom learn to fight monsters. What brings you to here?"

'_Monsters?'_ He didn't question it. Suspicion would arouse.

"I come here to test your students," The Masked Man spoke with an undecipherable tone, one of a dead man, "I am informed that you run one of, if not the greatest combat school on Remnant."

"You wish to fight my students?"

The Masked Man nodded in reply

'_These students better be the real deal. If this is where the best of the best train to fight, I really hope they're good_

"Hmm… I suppose they haven't really had a true challenge in a while…"

The Masked Man smirked under his metallic covering.

"How about I strike you a deal?" said Ozpin, "You defeat 8 of my students in combat training and I offer you the deal of a lifetime."

The Masked Man pondered the thought for some time.

'_Deal of a lifetime? Ought to be fun. Besides, I haven't really figured out how to get back to Earth yet… Probably should've thought about that one sooner'_

"Deal"

"Good, you will be able to 'test' my students tomorrow. Make your way to the sparring room at precisely 10:00 tomorrow morning. For the time being, you will be staying with team RWBY overnight. Ah, one last thing. Your name?"

He stood and silently exited the room without making another sound.

"Or not…"

**Team RWBY's Dorm: 8:40pm**

"So… whaddya think of the new guy" asked Ruby sounding extremely excited

"I just hope he doesn't stay" groaned Weiss

"Do you always have to be so negative, Weiss?" asked Blake

"Have you seen him!?" squealed Weiss, "he looks suspicious!"

"You even think food is suspicious," mumbled Yang

"Wha- How dare you!" Weiss said, practically fuming, "You can't insult me like that!" She crossed her arms in retaliation.

The room remained quiet for a few moments until a knock sounded on the door. Yang jumped up to answer the door. Upon opening the door she saw Ozpin standing with the strange man they found in the forest.

"Good evening ladies" said Ozpin, "Now, I must inform you that the person you brought back from the forest will be staying the night here In Beacon"

"I see where this is going…" said Yang

"Indeed you do. He will be staying the night with you."

"WHAT?!" Screamed Weiss

"I'll leave this to you to figure out" said Ozpin, "Goodnight."

The Masked Man entered the dorm room, took a chair and sat in the corner of the room, almost disappearing from sight.

"Where will he sleep?" asked Ruby

"He can sleep on the floor for all I care!" retorted Weiss. The Masked Man let out a small chuckle.

"Whoa. That was creepy." said Yang. There was a long pause. "Anyway! Unless anyone wants to give up their bed, you'll have to sleep on th-"

"I don't sleep" interrupted The Masked Man, his voice still cold like hours before

"What?" Blake asked, looking up from her book

"I don't sleep" he repeated

"Well, why not?" asked Ruby. The Masked Man remained silent in the corner.

"Surely that has **some **negative effects, right?" Weiss asked, shuddering slightly.

"Not at all" replied The Masked Man.

There was a long pause

"Feel free to go about your daily routine, act as if I'm not here"

None of the members of Team RWBY felt comfortable around him, so they did exactly what he suggested, they acted as if he wasn't there and bedded down for the night.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Contest**

The Masked Man had been sitting in the corner for over 3 hours until he decided that sitting in the corner of 4 girls' dorm room was getting pretty boring, especially when you had nothing to do. Soundlessly, The Masked Man got to his feet and proceeded to the doorway, opening it with the slightest of sounds.

He traversed the halls for several minutes before finding the stairwell to the rooftop. He ascended the stairs and opened the door to find a cool night time breeze. The cool air slipped through the holes in his mask and he gave a relieving sigh. It was nice feeling the breeze on your face, especially since it was usually, if not always, covered by a metallic mask.

The Masked Man closed the door behind him and proceeded to climb onto the slanted tiles of the roof. He sat, legs crossed, on the outcropping where the doorway connected to the roof. He simply sat and took in the sights. Looking at the sky reminded him of the sunset back on earth.

'_When I die,' _he thought to himself, _'I want to die seeing the sunset one last time'_

The Masked Man almost fell into a trance, staring up at the night sky. It wasn't often he got to have a moment of silence and, almost, peace.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening underneath him. He quickly stepped back and submerged himself in the shadows. He stood silently and watched the figure walk from the doorway, to the edge of the rooftop.

It was Blake.

She raised her hands to her head and touched the ends of the small, black bow. She then began to unravel the bow. The Masked Man watched with anticipation.

She held the bow in her hand as she removed it from her head. Upon removing the bow, two small, purple cat ears were shown. The Masked Man remained unfazed although he was slightly surprised.

'_I knew there was something there'_

He quickly, but silently emerged from his hiding place and slipped through the doorway, hopefully unnoticed.

Blake's cat ears twitched as she heard light footsteps behind her. She quickly spun around to see who lurked in the shadows, but saw nothing. She knew someone had seen her secret, but who? She was unsure of who could move so quickly, the only acception being Ruby, but she would probably hit a wall during her departure.

The Masked Man decided to take a seat in the hallway. He had an itch under his mask. He unsheathed one of his knives and poked it through the right eye socket and manoeuvred the knife to give himself a good scratch. He grumbled with satisfaction as the itch subsided. Upon hearing footsteps down the hall, he sheathed his knife and returned to his normal sitting position, slumped back in his chair. His eyes drifted over to where the footsteps were originating from to see Blake approaching her dorm room, trying not to obtain eye contact with the figure slumped in the chair outside the dorm.

His eyes went to watching the wall in front of him as soon as the heard the 'click' of the door being closed. Maybe if he knew where his target slept it would be an easier night for him.

As the night subsided, The Masked Man was back inside the dorm, in the corner that he had claimed. He watched as the members of Team RWBY awoke from their slumber. The time was 8:47. In precisely one hour and thirteen minutes, he had to go 8 on 1 against 8 students of Beacon. He didn't exactly like the idea of going up against 8 people at once, but they were just children. They were inexperienced. It wouldn't be a problem.

Time ticked by in utter silence inside Team RWBY's dorm room. When the clock ticked 9:45 he decided that it would be best for him to find the sparring room and get himself prepared. He found the sparring room in no less than 5 minutes giving him 10 minutes to prepare his weaponry. He ended up waiting for around 10 minutes as his opposition prepared themselves. He wasn't told who he would be facing, but he doubted he would see familiar faces.

'_If it takes them this long to prepare for a fight, there must be something wrong. I thought these were the "Best students of the Kingdom"'_

A few more minutes ticked by as he waited.

'_Must be devising some sort of strategy…'_

After another 3 minutes, 8 students appeared from the other end of the room, 6 of which he recognised, 5 of which he knew the names of, 2 of which he had never seen before. The two he didn't recognise were a boy dressed in green and a girl dressed in pink. The boy held 2 SMG's with blades attached and the girl held a hammer.

In order to keep the fight fair, nobody was permitted to use ranged weapons. He had never needed to repair his armour and he was glad that he wasn't going to anytime soon, besides, guns would be unfair.

The screen showed the aura levels of each combatant. The Masked Man's aura gauge showed nothing. He decided that hand-to-hand was the best way to go since he didn't know what combat styles his opponents were employing. He stood waiting, ready for his opponents to strike.

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><p>Weiss was the first to strike at The Masked Man. The latter simply sidestepped her speedy lunge and caught her head in his hands and drove her into the ground, depleting half of her aura. Ruby followed up Weiss's attack with an even faster swipe with her scythe. The Masked ducked underneath her swipe and retaliated with 2 quick jabs to the back of the neck, staggering the young girl. He heard fast footsteps approaching him from behind and delivered a back kick to Jaune, flooring him. Ren and Nora quickly advanced on him. He ducked under a punch from Ren and slammed his elbow into Nora's side. He felt bone break as he delivered the elbow.<p>

'_Whoops. Might've overdone that elbow'_

He nimbly spun and delivered a right hook to Ren but, much to his surprise, it didn't connect. Instead he was sent rolling across the floor. He quickly regained his balance and pulled his dual daggers from inside his jacket. He blocked a swipe from Ruby's scythe and sent her flying back with a butterfly kick. Yang, Blake and Ren converged on him. Blake through Gambol shroud and he swiveled out of the way, only to narrowly miss being struck when she pulled the weapon back. Whilst attempting to avoid Gambol Shroud, he had failed to notice Yang close the distance between them. She landed 7 hits on the Masked Man and managed to disarm him before he figured out the Brawler's rhythm and dodged 3 more jabs before delivering a solid punch that sank into her right side and left her gasping for air. He knew he had delivered a good shot. A good punch rattled a fighter, disabled them for a while. Blake threw Gambol Shroud once more and instead of avoiding it, The Masked Man caught it and used it to disable Ren, who decided it was a good idea to get closer to him. The Masked Man easily removed Ren from the fight but was caught off-guard when Weiss struck him from behind, sending him skidding a few meters across the floor.

The Masked Man once again recovered from his setback and charged Weiss. He dodged some slices and jabs from Myrtenaster before disarming Weiss and knocking her silly with a reverse roundhouse. Blake then moved in closer to her opponent. She parried The Masked Man's attacks and slashed at the large man's torso. The Masked Man got close and countered each attack with jabs and elbows, most directed towards the arms before driving a knee into her stomach and planting her head first into the ground. He turned to find that Yang had recovered and was fairly pissed.

Yang sent fist after fist into the large man's chest as he staggered back from the force of the punches. He caught her arm when she threw another punch and broke the joint in her elbow. Yang kept coming at him, an unrelenting force. The Masked man dodged her next few attacks and sent his foot into her leg, shattering her kneecap. He rolled over Yang's now limp body and retrieved one of his daggers mid roll. He scanned the area to find his final opponent.

Much to his surprise, Pyrrha Nikos hadn't been involved in the fight at all. She didn't even bother to help her teammates. Had she been stood there the entire match? Maybe she was scared. He ran at her and brought his dagger down in an overhead stabbing motion which scraped harmlessly off her shield. He sidestepped to avoid the lung from the javelin and then leant back to avoid the attack which came in a spinning motion. He retaliated with a forward kick that Pyrrha blocked with her shield. The kick was powerful and sent her skidding back but she kept her form. She threw her javelin, aimed perfectly at his head. He spun to his right, swatting the javelin out of the air as he did so. The Masked Man rolled toward Pyrrha and began to throw a barrage of punches and kicks, all of which were blocked. He got a surprise when Pyrrha's shield caught him in the jaw. The unexpected offense dazed The Masked Man for a while. When he regained his composure he saw Pyrrha charging at him with Miló in sword form. He blocked two slashes but got caught on the chin, drawing blood, but he remained unfazed as he countered the next 2 attacks with well-aimed jabs and a kick to her left arm, causing her to drop her shield. He followed this up by disarming her weapon and landing 3 consecutive strikes with it, finishing her off with an axe kick.

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><p>He decided that this was not the best place to kill her off as there were observers, besides, he wanted that bonus pay. The Masked Man was having fun, beating seventeen year-olds senseless. He left Pyrrha with a few bruises and a broken arm, nothing to be concerned about.<p>

He scanned himself for wounds. A few broken ribs, a couple cuts, a hole in his abdominal region… wait what? There was a small hole in his armor.

'_Weird. I don't remember getting stabbed'_

It dawned upon him that Weiss must've gotten a lucky hit on him when she took him by surprise. Luckily for him she didn't appear to have punctured any major organs. He was surprised that his armor didn't block the strike. He shrugged the injury off. It would heal.

He looked back towards his defeated opposition. Pyrrha, Yang and Nora were being helped onto stretchers by medical personnel whilst the rest were being directed to the infirmary to get their injuries checked.

'_Should probably get mine checked too. Not much of a doctor myself'_

The Masked Man headed off to the infirmary.

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><p><strong>Next chapter won't be out for a few days<br>Sorry for the huge chunk of text in the middle  
><strong>**I'll try and make chapters longer in the future :)**


	5. Chapter 5 (Poll)

**It's Poll Time! (The Poll is displayed on my profile)**

**This Chapter isn't a full chapter**

**Chapter 5: Decisions, Decisions**

His injuries were apparently 'too serious' for the School's infirmary to deal with and they redirected him towards the local hospital.

The Masked Man sat on the edge of a medical bed, awaiting the results of his medical examination. The doctors had told him that he had sustained fairly severe, but not life-threatening injuries.

He cast his mind back to the fight, remembering it in its entirety. He smirked under his mask, remembering every last detail, especially the part where he broke Yang's leg. That was fun.

The doctor walked emerged from a hallway and walked back to The Masked Man's bed and handed him a sheet of paper, detailing his injuries. He also handed him the results from an x-ray scan that they he took earlier on. The x-ray revealed that he had 4 broken ribs.

'_Injuries are subtle. That's good.'_

The doctor continued to talk to him about his injuries,

"… and your spinal cord has been ruptured; it's amazing how you're still able to stand! It is simply beyond me." The doctor concluded. After handing him a few extra sheets of paper, the doctor told him about the injuries that the students had sustained, explaining that they were 'very serious' and that they would be 'able to operate' within 3 weeks, thanks to their auras. Once the doctor concluded his explanation, he told The Masked Man that he was free to leave.

Apparently, having an aura quickened the healing time of wounds by ridiculous amounts. The doctor had told him that the worst of the student's wounds would be healed within 3 weeks. This amazed The Masked Man since he clearly recalled the worst wound he inflicted was that of broken bones and joints. The healing properties of this 'aura' that the students possessed left The Masked Man dumbfounded.

He stood up off the bed and pain rifled through his chest. He grunted and groaned at the sudden pain, but pain was nothing new to him. He had experience things much more painful than this.

The Masked Man walked slowly to the door of the room, trying to limit the pain. He pulled the handle of the door down and stepped out of the room, hiding his pain and agony. He decided that he would check up on the students that he had injured and see how they're doing, mostly to get their reactions when they saw him.

The first room was where Yang Xiao Long had been placed. He pulled down the handle and entered the room, closing the door behind him. Yang was laid out across the bed, her arm pointed out to her side, wrapped in a cast. Her leg was slightly elevated by a metal support. Her leg was, much like her arm, wrapped up in a plastic cast.

'_And this is meant to heal in three weeks?'_ He laughed at his thoughts

The Masked Man walked over to the chair next to her and sat down. She was awake. Yang stared at him with a 'F*** you' look in her eye as he walked towards her.

Yang didn't utter a single world as the two sat in silence for some time. He looked over to Yang.

"You chose this," he said.

The Masked Man stood and silently walked to the door. He pulled the handle and disappeared into the corridor.

Next up was Pyrrha Nikos. He entered the room silently. The Masked Man eyed Pyrrha's arm in a cast, much similar to Yang's, but much more subtle. He admired her skill as a fighter. Truthfully, she was a good fighter, and just short of a worthy opponent.

'_A job is a job'_

He reached inside his jacket for his gun. Just as he was about to pull the gun from his jacket, a doctor opened the door and walked in. The Masked Man got up and vacated the area. He had missed another perfect opportunity to kill his target.

He decided that it was time to leave the Hospital and return to Beacon. He still had to talk to the Headmaster about their 'Deal'.

The Masked Man found his way to Beacon easily enough, remembering the route that he had been taken on through the forest.

He reached Ozpin's office and lightly knocked on the door.

"Come in," came Ozpin's voice. The Masked Man entered to see Ozpin seated at his desk. He sat opposite the Headmaster.

"I understand that you are here to discuss the 'Deal'"

The Masked Man remained silent.

"You successfully defeated 8 of my students in battle and I see that you are quite the capable fighter," started Ozpin, "that is why I am offering to enrol you as a student here at Beacon Academy."

There was silence.

The Masked Man leaned forward, "What makes you think that I would want to become a teacher here?" he asked

"It's a clean slate, a normal life," Ozpin responded, "by the looks of you; I wouldn't exactly say you're from here. Seeing your fighting skills has led me to believe that you have been fighting for quite some time. Fighting what exactly? I'm not sure. Besides, you won't technically be a student. You will be sent with students on missions to ensure their safety."

The Masked Man bounced the words around in his head.

A Clean Slate. A Normal Life.


	6. Chapter 6

**I am happy to announce that our friendly neighborhood assassin WILL become affiliated with Beacon Academy as of the result of the poll!  
>Also, if you're enjoying this story, be sure to check out my OTHER RWBY story, Multicoloured. I feel like it's a lot more detailed than this one and of higher quality.<br>**I changed his name from Adonis to Drake and uploaded the chapter again**  
>Thanks<strong>

**P.S I also have a new Weekly Schedule that can be viewed on my profile page!**

**-Matt**

**Chapter 6: A Helping Hand**

He shuddered at the words. They almost scared him.

_Normal Life_

He had never had what might be considered a normal life. He grew up with a group of criminals, trained to kill. That was his only purpose in life. To kill. Take a life to save your own.

The Masked Man sat silent for a matter of minutes, lost in his thoughts as he stared blankly down at the floor. Ozpin waited patiently for the assassin's answer.

"I'll take it," he finally responded, looking up

"Good," said Ozpin. He handed The Masked Man something that seemed to resemble an iPad.

'_Goddamned Apple products'_

"This is a scroll," explained Ozpin, "It is used as means of communication, mostly. It will also unlock the door to the dorm I will provide you. It also serves as a scheduling device for students, but that won't apply to you."

The Masked Man nodded in reply

Ozpin continued talking, "Now I do urge you to become more social within your time here at Beacon, you are starting a new life and I'd rather not have my students scared half to death by the large man that stares down at people without uttering a word."

The Masked Man had no option really. If he was going to remake himself at this school, them he had to become more social, although he didn't like to speak unless it was necessary.

"You have my word," he said

"I will also request that you attend some of the Combat Training classes. Your knowledge and skills will be invaluable to this Institute." Ozpin said

The Masked Man nodded

"I will have teachers contact you on your scroll when they are in need of assistance. Oh, and one more thing, why were you here?" questioned Ozpin

The Masked Man remained motionless for a moment, and then proceeded to pull out a couple sheets of paper from his Jacket. He laid the paper on Ozpin's desk and proceeded to exit the room.

As soon as The Masked Man had exited the room, Ozpin reached forward and collected the papers from his desk and read through them enthusiastically.

One sheet was the file on Pyrrha Nikos; the other was a signed Contract illustrating the death of Pyrrha Nikos.

"Hmm…"

The Masked Man was guided to his dorm room in which he would be staying by Glynda Goodwitch. He followed attentively until they reached his allocated dorm.

"This is where you will be staying Mister…" she started

"Drake," he replied, making up a name on the spot

"Mister Drake," she finished, leaving to find her next order of business.

'_Drake… Nice name'_ he felt proud of his new name that he had instinctively made up on the spot.

Drake opened the door with his scroll and strided into the room, shutting the door behind him. Inside the room there was a single bed, a cabinet for clothing, a desk, a door to the bathroom and a window.

'_Rather plain'_

But he couldn't complain about that for he was a very plain person. Adonis hadn't really had a knack for decoration. All he needed was the necessary furniture.

He seated himself on the edge of the bed and let his body rest for a moment. He let out a long sigh. If he was going to go on these 'missions', supposedly killing Grimm, then he was going to need to know his history and gather some general knowledge about this world. But before that, he would get some much needed rest.

When he woke, it was morning and he set out on a mission to find the library since that was the only place he was certain to gain some knowledge.

He found the library with little effort and picked out a book from the shelves titled _'The Grimm'_. He found a seat at an empty desk and began reading the book, absorbing its knowledge to call his own. The book was thick and contained almost a thousand pages, but Drake was a quick reader, a _really_ quick reader. He finished the book in less than two hours and moved to pick another book from the many shelves that filled Beacon's library.

He had found another book in a couple of minutes, this one titled _'Dust for Dummies'_. The book was around half the length of _'The Grimm'_ and it only took him half the time to study the book and pick out all the important facts about this 'Dust' stuff.

By studying the book, Drake had learned all you could learn about dust in around an hour or so. He had stood up to place the book back where it belonged, but someone called out to him in the process of doing so.

"HEY! YOU!" came a loud voice from behind him

Drake turned to see a rather angry looking blonde striding towards him

"We're In a Library!" hissed Weiss from behind

'_Healed already!?'_ he thought to himself, baffled by how her injury had healed in one day

Drake decided that the best course of action was to leave before things got out of hand. He quickly turned and disappeared around one of the many bookshelves within the library.

"WHERE'D HE GO!?" came Yang's voice

He couldn't help but laugh to himself as he left the library, undetected.

'_Another day'_

He glanced at his watch and, upon seeing that three hours had passed, he decided to go back to his dorm and rest for a while. It was Sunday after all.

Drake spent the rest of the day in his dorm room getting some much needed rest, in preparation for tomorrow. He expected to be called upon by Ozpin or Glynda, since he had heard that Goodwitch was a combat instructor at Beacon. Oh how much fun he would have tomorrow.

**Short Chapter, sorry, next chapter will be longer  
><strong>

**-Matt**


	7. Chapter 7

**My sincerest apologies for the delay on this chapter, I had to take my laptop in for servicing which lasted an entire week! Schedule will return to normal now.**

**Chapter 7: Old Friends**

"_No! Please! My baby! Don't take my… baby… Please…"_

"A dream. Uncommon." Drake sat up in his bed. He had just had a dream, whether a nightmare or something more subtle, it was still a dream. He hadn't had a dream in years. He couldn't even remember the last dream he had.

This dream was just a sound, no visuals. Like a short movie without its video. This dream had only lasted a few seconds, but nevertheless, it was still a dream.

* * *

><p><em>Entry 01:<em>

_I have no particular hatred for my harsh upbringing. If I wasn't abducted, I think I would still like to be a fighter of some kind. A soldier, a warrior, I suppose Hunter is an option too, although I don't know if I would still know if the portal existed._

_I never really knew my mother, my father, my brothers, if I even had any of those things. My memory is fragmented and hazy, but I still am aware that something cared about me. Why would I have lived to the age of 1? 1 year had to mean something, right?_

_Either way, I wonder what ol' tubby is doing back in London…_

* * *

><p>"Mister Hargrove, I know that you are housing a piece of invaluable technology, you're not exactly doing your best to conceal it. You have not taken any precautionary measures to ensure its safety, and now I must confiscate this device from you."<p>

"B-b-but… I-"

"However, I do have a… proposal to offer you, Mister Hargrove. I can take all of your troubles away. I can make them all disappear. I can clear you from the government's files; I can make it so that a certain piece of equipment never even existed. It can all be written off."

"Uhhh…"

"You give me access to the portal 24/7 and you simply _disappear_."

"Deal." _It was simply too tempting_

"Good. I will return tomorrow morning."

"Just p-please… don't harm the others."

"Do not fret Mister Hargrove. I assure you that nobody in the world of Remnant will be harmed unless absolutely necessary. We must study this world with the utmost precaution."

"T-thank you, sir."

"Please, Mister Hargrove, drop the formalities, we are business partners now."

"A-alright… Hale."

"Time is of the essence, Mister Hargrove."

* * *

><p>The door clicked open, revealing what, to some people, may be considered as the outside world, or the hallway to others.<p>

Drake had just been contacted by Glynda Goodwitch who told him to meet her in the arena ASAP. He was a man of punctuality and, of course, made it to the arena in under a minute.

"Ah, good," said Goodwitch upon Drake's arrival, "I called you here to examine the students' fighting styles and point out any flaws that you can identify."

'_Of course, they still need to test my knowledge, see if I'm worthy or not'_

Drake caught a glimpse of the large digital clock on a massive screen that took up almost half of one of the arena walls.

2:30pm. He had only been awake for around two hours.

"How long?" he asked

"Half an hour," she replied, "I called you here ahead of time since I was unaware of how long it would take you to show up."

Drake grumbled, frustrated at the fact that he had been called thirty minutes before he was needed. He took a seat in one of the seats that were set out for the students and waited for time to pass. The minutes flew by almost instantly for him.

* * *

><p><em>Entry 02:<em>

_Watching the students file into the room was like one of the old Black Market meetings. Of course, I was never allowed into any, but as a young child I occasionally watched as the criminals filed one by one into that room. Such a small room, just think what would happen if a bomb were to go off, or if the police found that room._

_The children entered in such an orderly fashion. Well, I suppose that living in such a world of pureness and innocence where your only enemy was the local wildlife would have some effects on the attitude of most people._

_Not Goodwitch, though. She seems pretty stern._

* * *

><p>Drake stood near the edge of the arena, eager to see what some of the other students could produce. He wasn't very satisfied with the performance of the few students that he faced the other day. Sure they may have broken a couple bones and ruptured his spinal cord, but that was minor compared to some of the other stuff he had been through. The ones he heard about as a kid seemed much worse compared to his most deadly injuries.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Entry 03:<em>

_As a kid, I was told stories about some men, all part of the Black Market of course, who went through some pretty serious stuff. Two of them caught my ear as a kid and earned my respect as an adult, if I can even be considered an adult._

_One of these men had apparently had his balls cut of and was force fed them. Somehow, he was able to escape the people who had locked him up and done this to him, killing most of them during his daring escape. That man calls himself 'Granddad'. No idea why._

_The second lost one of his eyes during a police raid. Took a bullet straight through the head and left his eye in poor condition. Apparently he couldn't bear the thought of losing his beloved eye, so he ran from the family, disappeared without a trace. Granddad had told me this man's story, and he also included a few more details, but I would probably run out of ink to write in my journal, telling the whole story, so I won't disclose anything more. He ran off when I was seventeen, 2 years ago. Nobody really knows where he is now._

Drake was too busy digging into his recent memories trying to recall the different students' fighting styles that he didn't realise what Goodwitch was saying.

"…Will be here to observe your fighting styles so make sure you perform to the absolute best of your abilities. Good luck."

* * *

><p>On the screen, names rapidly flashed on-screen one by one, slowly decreasing in speed until it stopped on one name. Blake Belladonna.<p>

'_Rinse and repeat'_

The process repeated once more until the screen stopped on another name. Knight Herring

'_Good. Something different."_

Blake and Knight took their places in the arena. Knight was a tall, stoic man with black hair that fell just below his ears. His eyes were a dark red behind a pair of tinted spectacles that rested on his nose. He wore a black tailcoat and a black tie accompanied by a pair of white gloves and a pair of formal shoes.

The lights dimmed and Blake drew herself into a fighting stance whilst Knight assumed a regular stance, standing upright with his hands by his sides. An alarm sounded and Blake charged her opponent. Knight adjusted his glasses, pushing them up from his nose to better fit his eyes.

Knight's lower body remained motionless as he blocked Blake's first few strikes with his hands, Blake's weaponry leaving no visible marks on Knight as they clashed against Knight's hands. Knight moved elegantly and with inhuman speed, throwing several punches, chops and kicks Blake's way. Most of Knight's attacks were dodged, a few deflected by Gambol Shroud, but Knight seemed unaffected by the sharpened edge of Blake's weapon. Knight rolled backwards and fell into a defensive stance, ready to counter any of Blake's attacks instead of dishing out his own attacks.

Blake swung wildly and used her shadow clones to allow herself more versatility whilst fighting her opponent. Knight, seemingly effortlessly, blocked each of Blake's attacks and landing two successful counter attacks when he saw openings in Blake's offensive. The surprise counters surprised Blake and staggered her whilst Knight quickly closed the gap between the two fighters, targeting Blake's legs, trying to reduce her athletic abilities.

Knight delivered two kicks to Blake's upper thigh, dropping the girl to her knees, followed by another kick to her face that sent her flying backwards. The next thing Blake knew, Knight had his foot placed firmly against her throat, signifying the end of the match.

"And that is the match." The lights returned to their normal brightness and Knight helped Blake to her feet

"Good match." He spoke in a relaxing yet sly tone, "You fought well."

"Thanks," Blake replied, before running off to join her team. Knight remained on the arena floor

Goodwitch looked over at Drake, "If you will?"

"Ms Belladonna's attacks were too offensive and some were blindly thrown." He explained, "She didn't fall into a defensive position when her attacks were ineffective nor did she once use any form of ranged attacks."

"And Mr Herring?" asked Goodwitch

"Mr Herring's style is perfected. I saw nothing wrong with his style _and_ he has the speed and power to compensate for his lack of a weapon."

"I'm sorry, Mr Drake, but nothing is perfect-"

"If you see a problem, please bring it to my attention, Professor."

Goodwitch just grumbled in response and turned back to the students. "The next match will begin in five minutes." She stated before leaving the room for a brief moment.

Drake smiled under his mask as Knight approached him.

"So…" Knight started, "I go missing for an entire year and only now you decide to find me?"

"It was a mere coincidence that we happened to be in the same place at the same time. Besides, what are you doing here?"

"You weren't the first to use the portal."

"You've been here for an entire year."

"Only half a year."

"Where were you the other half?"

"Hiding."

"Hiding?"

"Yes, hiding. Until I found the portal that fatso kept in his house."

"How much trouble did you have getting accepted into this school then?"

"A lot."

* * *

><p><em>Entry 04:<em>

_Knight is one of my oldest friends from the family; he is also my only friend. He helped me uncover the truth behind my life but disappeared before I could thank him. He was wise enough to disappear before I went loco and murdered the sons of bitches that called me their own. If he hadn't run away, he'd probably be dead too, just like the rest of them._

_Knight was a pretty special person. He had once told me that his body only needed one fifth the nutrition that the average human body needed, but I could tell that Knight was special. He was different than any of us. Was he even human? I'm not sure. I guess I'll find out one day._

* * *

><p>"So, Knight, care to share your story."<p>

"I'd be happy too." Knight cracked a small smile on an otherwise emotionless face as he started to tell his journey in the world of Remnant.


	8. Chapter 8

**For a visual of the Combat Suit check this link:  
><strong> img . photobucket albums / v341 / overmindrf / AegisSuitFull2Combat . jpg **(Remove Spaces)  
>I'm using this because I'm lazy<strong>

**Chapter 8: Knight In Shining Armor**

_**Knight POV**_

Before you ask, yes I came prepared. I brought my Combat Suit and some spare weaponry concealed in a briefcase.

First things first, I had to find a job. A man's gotta eat. I had scoured the streets of Vale for a few days in an attempt to find someone to hire me. My wishes were soon fulfilled when I overheard some White Fang members talking about a 'Schnee Dust Train' in an alley just off the street. Apparently they were planning to hijack it or something. I was obviously curious about this 'Schnee Dust Train' so, where do you go when you want to find something out? The library.

Finding the library was no easy feat. I asked people for directions but they refused to help me, probably thinking I was homeless or something. I was wearing clothes completely different to mostly all of the people in the streets, which probably didn't help.

I eventually found the library after nearly an entire day and I conducted my research immediately. I found a book titled _'Dust For Dummies'. _The title had the word dust in it so I figured it must be related to the train or the company that owned said train. In the book it mentioned the Schnee Company, the largest producer of energy propellant in the world. It turned out that this 'Schnee Company' mined up dust, some kind of natural substance that practically ran _everything._

After some precise research into the Schnee Company, I found the address of their nearest headquarters and went to inquire about a job regarding a train. Thankfully, the train needed guards for the trip, so I happily signed along for the ride. The pay was 20,000 Lien since it was 'a high risk job' as they had told me. I had no idea how much 20,000 Lien was in terms of value but I had to assume it was a good amount, considering it was 'high risk'.

The train was set to depart in two days and I was given some advance payment which covered for the three days of food that I missed. If I were a normal eater, I would probably have died of starvation by now or resorted to pickpocketing.

I purchased a hotel room for a couple nights and refreshed myself, ready for the job.

The day of the job soon arrived and I headed to the allocated station where the train was set to depart. I showed up in Combat Suit just in case and I spoke to the man who I supposed was the driver. He was an average sized man with a decent muscular build.

"Who're you?!" he spat

"I'm the muscle," I informed the man

"Oh, that's you?" his tone became more subtle, "here, take this and hop in Cargo Bay 2." The man shoved a small, flat screened device into my hands which I pocketed.

"It'll tell you anything important that happens on the train, security alerts and all. If you see an alert, you must check it out, alright?" he continued

"That's what I'm being paid to do," I said

"Good!" he exclaimed, "Now, hop on, we leave in ten minutes."

I boarded Cargo Bay 2 and checked the cargo before the train departed. Everything seemed to be up to check, according to the list.

The journey was long and, mostly, boring. Most of the journey I twiddled my thumbs and made regular checks over my weaponry as well as the cargo I was meant to defend. Nothing interesting happened for most of the journey. Two hours had passed and still nothing interesting had happened, but I jumped to attention when the screen of the small device handed to me by the driver started flashing and making weird noises. I held the device up and read the words displayed on screen.

**UNAUTHORISED PERSONNEL DETECTED IN CARGO BAY 1  
>SECURITY DROIDS DEPLOYED<strong>

'_Crap' _I thought to myself as I rushed to confront the intruders.

I stood in the doorway and surveyed the situation. Much to my surprise, two people had managed to cut down half the security droids in Cargo Bay 1 and were slicing through them effortlessly and worked with impressive teamwork with perfectly coordinated strikes. There was one boy and a younger looking girl.

The boy was dressed in a long sleeved black trench coat with slit sleeves and some odd red designs. He wore long black trousers and black shoes; his hair was brown with red dye and was spiked back in a windswept way. He appeared to wield a katana. The man wore a mask that covered his eyes

The girl wore a distinctive black ribbon on her head and had long black hair and, what seemed to be, amber eyes. She wore a black buttoned vest and a sleeveless undershirt with a scarf wrapped around her neck.

'_A kid?!' _I thought, shocked, _'Heh, in a way, it's kinda like that guy back in London… whatever his name was.'_

I pulled my scopeless Knight M110C Semi-Automatic Sniper System from my back and let loose a singular 7.62 NATO round, aimed at the older boy's leg. I aimed to wound, not kill. Before I knew it, the round had been blocked by the boy's katana.

'_Impossible'_

I fired three more rounds, only for them to be blocked by the duo. I no longer aimed to wound, I now aimed to kill. I quickly placed my rifle onto my back and unsheathed two long combat knives, wielding both at once. This was a usual change of pace for me. If these people could block bullets then that means I couldn't effortlessly parry their attacks or use my hands. I had to use weaponry and cunning.

I waited for one of the pair to attack me. The girl did so first. She ran at me and swung her blade in multiple different directions with lightning fast speed. She was fast and she attacked from all directions, but I was faster. I easily blocked her first few attacks and launched a couple swipes at her when she exposed herself. I was able to cut lightly into her abdomen, a painful wound but not a deadly one. The girl staggered back, clutching at the knife wound as her partner took over the fight.

The boy's katana shot from its sheathe and struck my helmet. I staggered slightly at the unseen attack but quickly regained my senses. I had lost one of my knives from the attack (right hand knife), so I pulled out my 92 A1 from its holster on my hip and proceeded to fire five bullets at the advancing threat. The boy deflected the bullets with his katana at lightning speed and swung vertically, connecting with my knife.

The two blades locked and I leaned in to the boy.

"What the hell are a couple of kids doing attempting to rob a train?" I demanded, but the boy just smiled

"And by the way, I'm not anything you need to worry about." I activated my cloaking system and rolled towards the wall of the carriage. The screen of the small device was flashing.

**SPIDER DROID DEPLOYED**

I deactivated my cloak as the Spider Droid dropped from the roof of the carriage.

'_This ought to be fun'_ I thought as I jumped onto the Spider Droid, balancing myself on its head. I pulled my rifle and assisted the spider droid in dispatching the intruders.

The Spider Droid let off a barrage of blue energy, the blue balls exploding on contact. The pair expertly avoided the explosives and the girl advanced on the Spider Droid, jumping to attack the metallic frame, only to be head-butted away by the large robot.

I had set my sights on the boy, firing bullet after bullet at him, only for him to dodge every single one with insane speed. The boy leapt up and delivered multiple slashes to the Spider Droid. I leapt from the guns of the robot and delivered a flying kick to the boy, sending him flying back. The boy quickly recovered, just in time to save his partner from being crushed by the Spider Droid. The girl spoke.

"We need to get out of here!" she said to her partner. The Spider Droid's weapons connected to form a large railgun of sorts that sent the pair flying through the large steel doors of the carriage, onto the flatcar that was connected. The pair traded some inaudible words as I emerged from the hole in Cargo Bay 1, followed by the Spider Droid. The boy began to glow with a strong red light as the red coloured clothing and hair lit up, as if he was charging something.

I decided to stay cloaked and watch the Spider Droid perform his magic. The girl charged the Spider Droid and delivered multiple successful hits whilst avoiding the Spider Droid's attacks. Eventually, the girl retreated past her partner and onto the next flatcar.

The Spider Droid charged its railgun once more and released a devastating beam of energy. The boy unsheathed his sword and simply _absorbed_ the beam into it, re-sheathing the sword soon after. The Spider Droid leapt, looking to crush the boy, but was evaporated by a single slice from the boy's sword.

'_What in the hell is up with this place'_ I thought, going over what I had just witnessed. The robot had _literally_ evaporated!

I ran to confront the duo, but found that the girl had cut the bond between two of the cars. The boy stood on one whilst the girl stood on the other, slowly disappearing as she grew further and further from the boy.

It was a sad thing, really. Why would they part? They seemed perfect combatants! Either way, I had a job to do and that was defending the train. Although I had technically failed my job since half of the train was now idle on the tracks, and who knows what the girl would do to the front half, I still felt the need to kill this boy.

The boy stood motionless, gazing out to where his partner, his friend, had left him. I slowly walked up behind the boy, my footsteps were loud and clear, but the boy didn't seem to turn. He just stood there as I raised my knife to the back of his neck.

No, the job had been failed. It was no use taking a life now.

I sheathed my knife and jumped off the idle train, leaving the boy alive. I followed the tracks back to the city, the pair of fighters in my mind.

I returned to the city, not bothering to even attempt to collect my pay. The contract was failed and I don't get paid, simple. I had packed up my combat attire and was wearing my regular attire once more.

'_Maybe I can get a job at a school. If the kids are really that good at fighting, there must be a combat school somewhere'_

I stopped a man on the street, "Excuse me sir," I started, "Where's the nearest combat school?"

"Ah, that would be Beacon Academy." The man pointed to the largest building in the area. It was perched atop a cliff.

'_Academy? More like a Castle!'_

"Are you new to Vale?" he asked, "I haven't seen you before."

"Yes," I replied, "Just got here today, in fact."

"May I ask why you asked for the nearest combat school? You don't seem 17."

"I'm 22. 17 is the admittance age for Beacon?"

"Wow, you really are new, aren't you?" the man joked, "Yeah, 17 is the admittance age for all the Academies."

"Alright then, do you it would be possible to get a job there?"

"Well, you're probably a little young to get a job in such a prestigious Academy. Are you a hunter?"

"A Hunter? No, I am not."

"I suppose if you have good enough combat skills and experience then you might get a place in Beacon, be it a job or becoming a student, maybe even a support for the current students."

"Hmmm… and what would I have to do to get into this academy?"

"Well, Ozpin would have to accept you In personally since the school year is about to start… You know anyone in the school?"

"I have a sneaking suspicion I do…" the girl on the train seemed young enough, but the boy seemed a little too old.

"A friend?"

"I wouldn't say that."

"Actually, I'll tell ya what, I could probably get you a private meeting with Ozpin himself!"

"You could do that?"

"Well, I would say that I am a rather large name in Vale if I do say so myself."

"You speak very fully of yourself."

"Indeed I do! However, this will cost you."

"How much?"

"Ten thousand."

"How about this?" I pulled my 92 A1 from my hip, still in its holster. I tossed it over to him.

"Where did you get this?" he asked

"I'd rather not say."

"I have never seen this before!"

"Will that cover the payment?"

"You're damn right it will!"

This man gave me a private audience with Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of this 'Beacon Academy'. We spoke and he gave me a temporary trial at his school, if I proved my worth, I would get a place as a support for one of the teams. I am still puzzled as to why he accepted me in so easily.

**Third-Person**

"So, here I am today, no longer on trial, but now a support for team RWBY." Said Knight, "But I still can't get my head over why that Blake girl looks so familiar…"

"The girl on the train." Said Drake

"What?"

"She's the girl on the train."

"Oh… right."


	9. Chapter 9

**!NEW STORY ALERT!  
>New story! <strong>_**Team VGCE (Vengeance) **_**Is starting up today! I would be grateful if you had a look!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9: Cold Regrets<strong>

"Onyx Team, respond!"

"Affirmative Commander, Onyx Team responding."

"Good. Current location?"

"Current location unknown, sir."

"Affirmative, how many casualties?"

"Three dead, five of us remaining, sir."

"Three dead?! How?!"

"Grimm, sir, an entire pack of Beowolves and one Deathstalker. Twenty nine confirmed kills."

"Are you at the rendezvous?"

"Negative, sir. ETA twelveminutes."

"Make it quick, I'm sending the Spec-Ops team through as we speak."

"Yes sir!"

The trooper switched to local radio, "Equipment check, squad!" he ordered

"All weaponry and armor appears to be intact and we were able to retrieve Mathers' corpse, sir."

"Just Mathers?"

"Yes sir."

"Ammo count?"

"Twelve spare magazines and hand grenades per trooper and six remaining warheads, sir."

"Alright, we move in two!"

"Yes sir!"

_**Drake**_

The bell rang, signalling the end of the lesson and Drake walked over to join team RWBY and Knight. When he joined the group, he realised that Yang was giving him a death stare, probably because he broke her leg. And her arm.

"It has come to my attention that Knight is your newly assigned support, correct?" Drake asked

Ruby perked up, "Thaaaaaaaats right!" she said in an elevating tone

"He has been treating you well, no?"

"I suppose so…" Yang said, her tone was evil and she still glared at him with that death defying stare. Drake was getting slightly unnerved.

"Look, I know I broke your leg… and your arm…" he started as the blonde's glare stiffened, "But we ought to put our differences aside if we're going to be working together."

Yang's expression remained as it was.

"I'll pay you."

No change.

"Fine…" he sighed, "We can spar…" he immediately regretted his words. He was a fool.

The sparring match didn't end very well. Yang had a good amount of pent up rage built up inside her, which didn't exactly favour Drake in the match. In the end, Drake emerged from the match with a broken leg, a broken arm, a ruptured spinal cord, a dented mask, a broken hand, his dagger was now damaged and he had brain damage (Okay, maybe not that last one), yet somehow he managed to drag himself to his dorm.

Drake was angered to find that he his living quarters had been moved. Apparently, Knight had requested that he share a dorm with him. Drake slumped down on one of the two beds that were placed in the dorm, burying his masked face in the blanket. Knight was sitting on the other, reading a book.

"Fun?" he asked

"Why am I here?" Drake grumbled in return

"I thought you might need some help socialising, Drake."

"That's not my name."

"It is now."

There was a short pause and Drake just stared at Knight for a moment beore Knight continued talking

"Anyway, I requested a dorm near to Team RWBY; thankfully the next dorm was free."

Drake just stared at him in disbelief, "You didn't."

"You'll make friends."

"Whatever, I'm going to sleep."

"It's only 5 o'clock and I thought you didn't need to sleep."

"I don't care, I need time to heal."

"I won't wake you then."

Drake quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Drake woke in the middle of the night, lying on his back. Knight's bed was empty and the clock read 5:37 am. He sighed as he sat up in his bed, throwing the sheets off himself. He hung his legs over the edge of the bed, his bare feet touching the floor. He felt uneasy and decided to head for the roof to get some fresh air. His feet pounded against the stairs as he advanced up the stairwell, heading for the rooftops of Beacon. He sat down at the end of the roof and let his legs hang over the edge. It was becoming progressively lighter and the sun was just rising. He pulled his hood down.

Reaching for his mask, he undid the straps that held the metallic object to his face and slid it off, holding it dearly in his hands. His eyes were fixated on the mask as he ran his fingers over the cold metal, barely even touching it. The mask was more than cold, more than just an object. It was colder than death itself and chilled him to the bone as he gently ran his fingers along the careful indents of the mask.

_Entry 05:_

_My life's work lies in this mask, all the lives that I have ruined, all the souls that I have stolen, they are all reflected in this very mask. Through the eyes I see men and women, all of whom are dead, who had their lives taken from them, stolen by me. Through the breathing holes I fell the final breath of every man, woman and child that I have banished from the world. In these leather straps I see all the people I have tortured, bound to a chair and whipped just to receive answers that would lead to the death of yet another man, innocent or guilty._

_Sometimes I hear them too, they speak to me from the dead, and they mourn for me. They curse me. They torture me. They pick away at my sanity bit by bit, day by day. I can't get rid of them; I can't stick a knife through them and whisk them away to a place where they cannot bother me. They do not kill me; instead they stay with me and torment me._

_I deserve it. God knows that I deserve it._

Drake slipped his mask back on, re-doing the leather straps. He stood and straightened his back, dusting himself off before he turned to face the doorway.

In the doorway stood a particular Faunus girl, Blake.

She walked up to the edge of the roof and stood on the ledge that Drake had just been sitting on.

"How long have you been watching?" he questioned

"Since you sat down." Replied Blake

"How long ago was that?"

"You don't know?"

"I was… thinking?"

"Thinking? About what?"

The question rung through his mind, pounding against his skull as if it were the walls to a room and it were trapped

"_Open up"  
>"Tell the truth"<br>"Let her know the killer that stands before her"  
>"Scare her"<br>"Like you scared us"  
>"Words are your knife"<br>"Kill her!"_

Drake clutched his head as pine rifled through his body._  
><em>

"_Spill the blood of an innocent!"  
>"Just like you did ours"<br>"Do not resist"  
>"Obey your temptations"<br>"Release your body"  
>"Let it roam freeeee…!"<em>

His other hand reached for his face, trying to block out the voices as he closed his eyes. He began to murmur, then moan._  
><em>

"_Kill the cat!"  
>"No secrets hide forever"<br>"No regret"  
>"No remorse"<br>"Kill and maim!"_

And then he began to scream. His screams of agony turned into howls of pain as his legs gave way, sending him to the floor.

He let out a startling screech as the pain overtook his body. He began to crawl to the stairwell.

"_Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"_

The voices began to cackle as Drake repeatedly hit his head against the concrete flooring. A streak of crimson red flowed from his head. Blood soaked the concrete around him as he mashed his head against the floor. He eventually stopped ramming his head into the floor and began talking quietly.

"No more… Please… No more… The voices… Please… No…" he whimpered as he ran his hands over his scalp, wiping the blood onto his gloves.

_Entry 06:_

_The voices were never this demanding. Never…_

_I had finally realised that I was going insane and as that realisation swept over me, I saw something else too. I saw fear. I saw fear in my voice and in Blake. Poor girl… I had forgotten that she was there for the few minutes during my breakdown, but I was almost glad she was there._

_After giving it some thought, I have concluded that the voices are triggered by certain questions or key phrases, my past being the main topic in discussion, but never before have they been this bad. They have never made me draw my own blood._

Drake felt a hand on his back and looked up to see Blake kneeling next to him, comforting him. He quickly swatted her hand away, begging her to leave with his pained eyes, not wanting to be seen in such a state.

As he looked up Blake saw his eyes. His eyes were blood red and his tears were bloody, his breathing was uneven and his body was quaking with fear and pain. He tried to stand but his legs collapsed under his own weight, still weak from fear. Thankfully, Blake offered her shoulder and he accepted her help instead of trying to swat her away like a fly. She supported him down the stairs and to his dorm where she silently left him with Knight. No words were exchanged that morning.

_**Onyx Team**_

The troopers trekked through the forest, dropping any Grimm that dared near them.

Each member of Onyx Team wore full body Nanotech armor. The armor looked similar to the 'Hard Shell Crowd Control System' in solid black with a ballistic face mask replacing the goggles. On each of the team member's armor was the word 'ORDER' in block capitals and coloured white on the left shoulder pad. The gear was light and still offered amazing protection. This was reinforced by the fact that Mathers was man handled by a Deathstalker and remained physically unharmed. The medic had declared that Mathers' cause of death was from a heart attack.

Each member of the team carried a L115A3 AWM sniper rifle with a detachable scope and a bipod, an AK47, an M1911 hand gun and an Eickhorn Advanced Combat Knife.

Two members of the team carried Panzerfaust 3 rocket launchers, the 'heavy weapons guys'

The leader of the team went by the codename 'Siegfried', signifying victory and peace.

"Hey, Sig." asked one of the troopers, Leon to be precise. He was one of the two heavy weapons and explosives experts.

"Mhm?"

"Why are we here again?"

Sig sighed, "We're here to ensure the safety of some girl."

"You got the file?"

"Yes."

"Can you get it out?"

"Oh, sure! I'll just stand here and let my guard down whilst trying to produce a file from my backpack in a forest infested with the creatures of Grimm and get mauled by an Ursa!"

"Don't have to be an ass…"

"Let's just keep going before we end up like Mathers…"


	10. Chapter 10

**If some of you are sad (or angry) that The Masked Man got accepted into Beacon, there is no need to worry! I will be writing a separate story arc where we see the more 'assassin' part of his life once this arc is complete.**

**Chapter 10**

Drake sat in his bed, examining his dagger. The blade was curved and could cut through metal, it had seen more than its fair share of flesh though.

'_Apologise and leave'_

"_And kill…"_

'_Quiet. Just apologise and leave before bad things happen… Stop worrying. Less than a minute. It'll be fine.'_

_Entry 07:_

_Sometimes the voices urge me to kill, and sometimes I obey. I just hope to God that I don't kill anyone. I don't want to kill. Not any more._

Drake stood up to leave and Knight called to him from his own bed.

"Where you off to? Don't you think you should take some more time to calm down? It's only been 14 hours." Asked Knight

"I need to speak to someone." Drake replied

"Then I'm coming with."

Drake had no objections to this. Knight could probably stop him from killing someone if he stayed too long.

Drake walked out into the darkened hallway, followed by Knight. He knocked on Team RWBY's door, which was answered by Ruby in her sleepwear. She just stood there, waiting for one of the two to talk.

"I… need to speak to… Blake." Drake's voice was hesitant

"Oh… she… isn't around…" replied Ruby

"Where is she?"

"Well… we don't really know. Weiss and Blake had an argument and she ran off."

"When?"

"A couple minutes ago."

"You're not going to look for her?"

"Well, we figured she'd be back by tomorrow, if not then I guess we have to."

"_Running from the Predator?"  
>"Chase the Prey!"<em>

Drake silently walked away from the door, back to his dorm where he lay down on his bed.

"You're not considering helping, are you?" asked Knight as he closed the door to their dorm.

"Yes, I am."

"That's unlike you." Knight sat down on his bed

"She helped me last night, it's only fitting that I help her. I'd probably be half dead if she wasn't there. Scared her to death too. Still have to apologise."

"Just remember, if you go, I go."

"It's not like we're hunting the Order anymore. I don't need you babysitting me."

"The Order? I thought you forgot about them after you killed The Family."

"When you assassinate members of a powerful group, you don't just forget about them, especially if they're hunting you."

"They're not hunting us anymore."

"I know…"

The pair exchanged no more words and both slipped into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning came and Blake had not yet returned to her team. Drake was unsure about what the argument revolved around, but he was sure it had something to do with her being a Faunus.

_**Onyx Team**_

The remainder of the team emerged from the treeline to find an extremely large building.

"Think this is it?" asked Leon

"Has to be." Sig turned to his team, "You three," he gestured to the three other members of the team, "See if you can find this girl. Radio in when you do." He pulled out a yellow folder and handed it to one of the three. The man nodded, memorising the details of the file and the girl's appearance before the three activated cloaking modules and disappeared from sight.

"Why aren't we going?" asked Leon

"We have another objective." Said Sig

"And what might that be?"

"We have someone to kill."

"Why do we have to kill so many stupid people?!" Leon groaned

"Spec-ops team just reported sighting her in Vale. We have coordinates." The pair set off to find their target, re-traversing the forest once more.

In a matter of minutes the pair of troopers arrived at the border of the city known as 'Vale'

"Here we are, Vale!" Sig exclaimed

"Dude, how do you know all of this stuff?"

"The course was eight hours."

"And you remembered _all_ of it?"

"You would be able to remember it all too. You know they only choose the genetically perfect at The Order."

"Yeah yeah… whatever."

The pair of troopers easily passed through the borders of Vale, using their cloaking technology to do so without needing to kill one of the many guards stationed at the security checkpoints.

After an entire hour of epic infiltration, the troopers had made it past the multiple security checkpoints without being noticed. Leon stretched his limbs, slightly stiff from the amount of crouching he had to endure.

"So, what now?" Leon asked

"Now, we follow our coordinates." Replied Sig. The troopers followed the coordinates, supplied to them by the Spec-ops team, to a coffee shop in downtown Vale. Whilst approaching the coffee shop, they walked by a young boy and girl who conversing about the 'Schnee Company' and they had also mentioned something about the docks. The pair had eyed the troopers as they walked past, but thought nothing of it, probably thinking it was a new military thing.

"Ya hear that?" asked Leon

"Yeah, the docks." Replied Sig

"That where we headed?"

"Yeah, that seems to be our girl."

"They didn't suspect anything?"

"They would pass us off for military. I hear they use robots here."

"Are you sure we can't just kill her here?"

"No, that would attract too much attention. We have to do it somewhere quiet where nobody else is observing or we do it from a distance and disappear before something bad happens."

"So, we set up a nest near the docks and we take her out from a distance?"

"Exactly. I hope your marksmanship skills are up to par."

"Pfft! Of course they are! Just because I shoot explosive things that require minimal accuracy to aim doesn't mean I can't shoot a precision sniper rifle with bullet drop that has to be aimed and calculated perfectly, not forgetting the factor that the wind plays in sniping, of course."

"Sometimes I don't understand why they made _you_ the lunatic that carries explosives around in his pockets."

"Whatever, let's just get to the docks."

_**Drake**_

_Entry 08:_

_Recreational sleep is… nice. It helps me think about things sometimes, when I have troubles or issues that I can't solve. I can understand why some people enjoy sleeping so much. Sadly, I never had much time for sleep back on Earth but now… now I have all the time in the world._

Drake's eyes gently opened as he woke from his sleep. He twisted his head on the pillow to look over at Knight's bed. It seemed Knight had already woken up. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the clock that hung precariously on the wall, just above the door. The hands read 8:17 and sunlight gently beamed through the window of the dormitory.

He left his dormitory and knocked on the door to Team RWBY multiple times until a very sleepy Ruby answered the door. He simply stood there, his lifeless mask demanding answers. Ruby simply stared back at him for a moment before speaking.

"So…" she started.

"Back yet?" he asked

"Waddya mean...? Oh, right. She isn't back yet."

"Notify me when you leave to search, I desperately need to speak with her."

"Ok then…" Ruby concluded sleepily before closing the door.

Drake sighed before lumbering back to his dorm. He didn't have a good feeling about what Blake was doing, probably something stupid given her current situation. He lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

'_No… no… I'm leaving now'_

He jumped up from his bed and headed for the airships, grabbing his revolver from the table next to the door before he left the dorm.

Upon boarding the airship (conveniently grounded in the courtyard), he saw Knight's head pop out from the cockpit.

"About time you showed up, I was getting bored." He said, retracting his head back into the cockpit.

"Never knew you could fly." Drake replied, slightly surprised

"Surprise"

"Just go"

Knight throttled up the Bullhead and the jets of the aircraft slowly lifted it off the ground.

"Mind telling me what you plan to do when we get there or how you plan to find her?" Knight inquired

"Not sure really, just follow trails. Shouldn't be hard, these kids are nowhere near professional so I doubt they would know how to cover their tracks." Drake replied

"Yeah… you sound like you got this under control, so I'm just going to leave you to it."

"Alright, sounds good."

After a few short minutes, the Bullhead touched down in Vale airport. Drake departed from the Bullhead to search for Blake whilst Knight headed into town, presumably to check out some of the weaponry that was on sale. Drake checked his watch

8:38 am

He sighed and pocketed his hands, walking down the street.

It had been several hours since he had started his search and still he appeared to have no luck. He had run into Team RWBY a couple hours ago who had also apparently been searching for a few hours.

Drake had been forced to stick to the shadows of the alleyways, seeing as full-face masks didn't seem to be welcomed very well by the public. He checked his watch.

5:55 pm. It would get dark soon.

Just as he glanced up from his watch, he caught sight of a familiar looking girl dressed in black and white. He quickly dashed from the alleyway, stopping just before he hit the light of the street. He poked his head around the corner and caught glimpse of the girl again. It was Blake.

Blake was accompanied by a Faunus, most likely a monkey, judging by the tail. Two figures in full-body armor passed. The four seemed to have a stare-down for a brief moment before returning their gazes to the paths in front of them. Drake thought nothing much of the two figures, thinking they were probably military seeing as he didn't recognise the armor from anywhere and he had yet to see the military that Vale had in store.

Drake overheard Blake and the Faunus saying something about the docks. He didn't get much more detail, but that was all he needed.

He headed straight for the docks

_**Onyx Team**_

"Rivet, respond" Sig spoke into his radio

"Rivet responding"

"Status on target?"

"Negative on target. Still need to search the entire building"

"Roger, radio in when you have visuals on the target. Do not make contact without my go, understand?"

"Affirmative, sir!"

The radio went quiet. Sig and Leon lay prone on a rooftop overlooking the docks, their Snipers set up on bipods pointed at the docks. Suddenly, a small aircraft, closely resembling a VTOL, landed and there were several men dressed in white outfits and masks with some strange symbol of a wolf with three slash marks behind it that got off the aircraft. A man dressed in a white coat and bowler hat holding a cane walked down the ramp from the aircraft to the floor soon after and started shouting something at the group of men.

"What's this?" Sig asked himself

"Seems we have some criminal activity going on here…" said Leon

"Not the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves, I have to say…" mumbled Sig. The conversation paused for a moment before Leon spotted a black blur moving through the shadows of the cargo containers behind the group of criminals.

"I got something." He informed

"What is it?" asked Sig

"Can't make it out from this distance. They're moving around in the shadows."

"Keep watching"

Leon kept his gun trailed on the black blur as it emerged from the shadows and pressed a blade against the lead criminal's neck.

"That's her" said Leon

"You got a shot?"

Leon nodded in response

"Take the shot" ordered Sig

"Ooh, kitty ears... Taking the shot" Leon complied and as he pulled the trigger, a silent gunshot rang out through the night.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Confrontation**

The bullet rocketed through the air, faster than light and shattered as it hit the young huntress dead center of her forehead. The girl did nothing more but recoil from the bullet before being fired at by the leader of the group.

"What?!" Leon shouted, baffled by how the sniper round hadn't been able to even injure the girl, only stagger her

"Damn, I forgot…" started Sig

"Forgot?! Forgot what?!"

"Everyone in this world has something called an 'aura'. It's similar to a shield, but weaker."

"God damn it!" Leon screamed in anger as he clipped the rifle onto his back and stood up

"Where are you going?" questioned Sig calmly

"To claim our pay before someone else takes it from us!" he harshly replied as he jumped from the forty foot rooftop, landing safely and cracking the pavement below him

"Damn" Sig sighed as he followed his teammate into the action

When Leon arrived at the fray, the boy that had accompanied their target was fighting off a group of gang members. Leon pulled his rifle from his back and mowed down the remaining three gang members before trailing the assault rifle on the boy and speaking.

"Bog off and you don't die, we're here for one person and one person only!" he shouted at the Faunus boy. The boy was about to reply when he was thwarted by the group leader's cane, knocking the boy out. The ginger-haired man laughed to himself but was cut off by a blow from the butt Leon's gun, rendering him unconscious.

"Now… Where are you kitty cat?"

_**Siegfried**_

Meanwhile, Sig had found some trouble with a certain assassin who appeared to arrive on the scene. He tossed the assassin against a metal shipping container, the assassin collapsing as he impacted the large crate.

'_True Colours'_ Sig thought to himself, smiling under his helmet.

"Look at you… disappearing without a trace… disobeying orders, perhaps… Well let me tell you something, I fulfil my duties and I follow orders! I do not overdo them, or fall short! I never betray my leaders! I am the perfect soldier!" he howled at the assassin, "But you seem to have failed your orders, whatever they were… If not, then why would you be here?"

"Who are you?" the assassin groaned in pain

"I come from a little group called The Order, heard of em? A bunch of perfect soldiers, we are…"

"No man is perfect!"

"I AM NO MAN! I AM MACHINE! I have been programmed and reprogrammed over and over and over again until I reach perfection! It may be a goal that changes, but I keep neck and neck with it! I never stall, I never delay!"

"You are heartless, soulless! I am a person! I have feelings! I carry respect!"

"Your emotions simply weigh you down! They are no more than a burden! You were once like me, a machine with no feelings, no emotions, the perfect soldier! But then, these people…" he held out his arms, gesturing to the world around him, "They gave you a heart! They gave you flesh! They gave you thoughts! They made you _WEAK!_"

"NO! I will not play your games! I will not fall for your trickery!"

"I PLAY NO GAMES, ASSASSIN! I speak the truth! I march because that is all I know! I have been relieved of irrelevant information and useless burdens! I have been relieved of a family! I have been relieved of friends, all these things that people like YOU are too weak to let go!"

"SHUT UP!"

"Your family was killed, but you can't just let go, can you?"

Drake's eyes filled with rage

"Oh, I'm sorry! Didn't you know? THEY'RE DEAD!" Sig chuckled maniacally, "That's right, they're not alive anymore and they're not looking for you! We knew what you would do. We watched and waited. We observed you, and we killed them at just the right time. Just then you snapped and got rid of all our problems for us! You destroyed the Black Market! You slaughtered the family! And we didn't have to lay a single finger on them! The Order is smart like that. We wait for the perfect time to strike, or we simply get someone else to do it for us."

Drake's rage bubbled up inside him, threatening to destroy his body if he didn't release it. He couldn't bear listening to this… _thing _any longer.

"So _Hunter, _what will it be? Will you fight and fall to the superior Warrior; will you run off to your friends? Or will you get your friends to join us and watch as the infamous _assassin _falls at my feet?"

Hunter (Drake) screamed in a fit of rage as he charged the trooper, knife drawn and aimed at his adversary. Sig raised his pistol and relieved the chamber of a bullet, sending it into Hunter's left leg. He was sent tumbling onto the floor as he clutched his leg in pain. Sig just chuckled as he walked over to the limp form of Hunter on the floor, putting another two bullets into the same leg.

"This is what I mean!" Sig chuckled as he stood over Hunter, raising his gun to the latter's head, "Goodbye, Hunter."

Before Sig could pull the trigger, a voice crackled through the radio in his helmet.

"_Heads up, you got company" _came the voice

"My my… Today is your lucky day. I suggest you reflect on my words, Hunter." Sig casually wondered off in no hurry whatsoever as a familiar figure rounded the corner of one of the containers.

"Onyx Team, rendezvous at point Bravo." Sig spoke into his radio as he wandered off, activating his cloaking module and disappearing into thin air.

_**Hunter (Drake)**_

_Entry 09:_

_I was blinded by my rage and foolishly charged him without a plan of action or even thinking about a ranged approach. The soldier knew so much about me and he claimed to be part of The Order. If that was so, then I need to find him and get as much information about him as possible. Besides, he tried to kill someone I considered a friend, and he wasn't getting away with that._

_My vision was blurry and I saw the unmistakable figure of Knight running towards me, closely followed by Blake and a Faunus boy. The bullets that the trooper had used were far from standard issue. They packed a huge punch and had some strange effects on my attitude, but maybe it was just my anger having a negative effect on me._

_Something that worried me was the sheer power of the bullets. They were able to pass through my armor effortlessly and even managed to pass clean through my leg, no doubt they would've been able to penetrate any type of heavy armor and destroy weaponry on contact._

_**Leon (During the previous scene)**_

A strong impact of blade against armor from above him forced Leon to his knees. He quickly rolled forward, dropping his rifle, to avoid the next attack and drew his knife in his right hand, scanning the area. He heard near silent footsteps quickly approaching from behind, resulting in him swinging his knife blindly behind him. He felt satisfied when the metal blade cut into a soft material. He saw that he had cut a large wound in the girl's side.

Seeing his opportunity, he rushed forward, delivering a calf kick to the girl, flooring her and attempting to sink his knife into her throat. Before the cold edge of the knife could reach the girl's skin, his attack was interrupted by an extremely powerful bullet, lodging itself into his left shoulder. Leon howled in pain as he staggered back from the impact of the bullet.

He examined his shoulder and found that the bullet had managed to penetrate one of the few less armoured areas in his armour. Luckily for him, the bullet didn't seem to have penetrated that deep into his flesh, so all he needed to do was pull it out.

As he yanked the bullet from his shoulder, he noticed that the bullet was .

'_Figures'_ he thought to himself as he looked back up to his opponent to find a girl in red crouching over the girl in black with a large scythe by her side. Leon carelessly dropped the bullet to the floor and it made a soft 'clink' as it hit the concrete. The girl in black appeared to have heard the sound and shouted to the girl in red.

"Ruby!" she shouted in pain. The girl in red turned around just in time to block a two-handed overhead knife attack from Leon with her scythe.

'_No way in hell she can use that' _Leon thought to himself as the girl readied her scythe for an offensive.

The girl dashed forward and attacked with lightning fast speeds. It appeared she had some sort of inbuilt sniper in her scythe. Leon found it hard to keep up with blocking and dodging the girl's attacks, but he was able to use his forearm to block the bullets and most of the girl's melee attacks, the armor plating in his arm deflecting the bullets with ease.

The young girl eventually grew tired and Leon went on the offensive. He expertly manoeuvred his knife around the girl's, now flimsy, attacks, delivering multiple cuts with the blade of his knife. The knife wasn't able to cut deep due to the ridiculous length of the girl's weapon, but he managed to immobilise the girl after a short period of time.

The girl in black fired a few small arms bullets at his head from her position on the floor, all of which harmlessly ricocheted off his ballistic mask as he edged ever nearer to the helpless girl, knife at the ready.

As the distance between the two decreased, Blake could see that the mysterious perpetrator had several wounds inflicted by Ruby's scythe on the figure's arms and one across his torso, all of which appeared to be bleeding profusely.

"The amount of trouble… I went through… Just to get to you…" his voice appeared faint to Blake as he gestured to the three limp bodies behind him. "Sparing them… was probably…the hardest part…" he went on.

"But, thankfully… I don't have to spare you!" he screeched as he readied his knife to pierce the helpless girl's heart.

Leon was interrupted when something hit him from the side, slicing clean through his armor. He was sent tumbling by the attack and threw his eyes about; trying to find out what attacked him. That was when he caught sight of a group of flying swords heading his way.

"This is way above my pay grade…" Leon muttered as he engaged his cloaking unit and rolled away, narrowly avoiding the flying swords. He radioed in to Sig and warned him of the coming threat.

* * *

><p><strong>Another name change? I know, right?<strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**Review Response:  
>Imperacis: <strong>Indeed I do like Skulduggery Pleasant… more on that later

* * *

><p><strong>Who enjoyed Chapter 11 of RWBY? I know I did<strong>

**Poor writing 4 days, crappy chapter ahoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 12<strong>

Hunter awoke to a blaring light. He raised his hand to shield his eyes from the blinding light. After around a minute, his eyes adjusted to the lighting of the room. He lowered his hands and looked around the room. The room was small and was solid white in colour. It seemed to be completely sterile and free of dirt.

Upon further examination, he found that he was lying in a bed wearing his usual attire. Putting the pieces together, he came to the conclusion that he was in some sort of medical ward.

He lay still for what seemed like hours until a soft _click _sounded at the door. He sat up and looked towards the door where Knight poked his head in. After a second, he entered the room, followed by Blake.

"You know, I had to fight the doctors to stop them from treating your wounds." Knight said as Hunter stood from the bed and checked his clothing.

"Thanks," Hunter replied

"How are you feeling?"

"Leg still hurts. And what's she doing here?" he asked, directing his gaze to Blake who stood next to Knight.

"I asked her to come along, you said you wanted to talk to her, right?" replied Knight as Blake stepped forward.

"Hi, uh…" she paused to try and think of his name

"Hunter," he told her. Knight raised an eyebrow

"Back at the docks," he started, "I was told that was my true name."

"And you would just believe your enemy?" asked Knight

"Too cocky to lie." Assured Hunter. There was a short pause before Blake spoke up once more

"Hunter, I wanted to say… thanks for helping me, at the docks." She thanked Hunter

"I didn't help at all."

"You tried to help"

"I got ambushed by an Order operative; I don't count that as helping."

"At least I didn't have to fight two…" Blake trailed off

"Wait, you had to fight one?" Hunter felt concerned about her safety, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Blake reassured him

"Did he injure you?"

"Well, just a cut. Thankfully Ruby and Penny showed up to help."

"Are they okay?" He didn't know who this 'Penny' girl was, but he still felt concerned for her safety, much like any other person's.

"They're fine, Ruby wasn't hurt too badly."

"Thank God." Hunter breathed a sigh of relief as another short silence filled the room.

"What did you want to speak to me about?" Blake asked Hunter, breaking the silence

"Ah, yes." Hunter racked his mind for the reason he wanted to speak to Blake.

"A couple nights ago, on the roof." He started

"Oh…"

"I just wanted to say that I'm… S-" He had trouble uttering out the last word, "Sorry." He looked down to the floor. Blake looked surprised by his apology. After a long silence, Blake spoke up, breaking the silence once more.

"I'm sorry." She spoke

"Why?" he asked, raising his head

"For asking that question."

"No, no. It is normal for people to be curious…" he replied sitting down on the bed.

"I shouldn't have asked though. We all have our secrets." He could have sworn she smiled a little before leaving the room.

The room remained silent for the next few minutes before Hunter spoke up.

"I'll be on the roof."

He slowly made his way to the rooftop of Beacon.

Upon stepping onto the roof he felt the refreshing breeze brush against his body, slipping through the eyeholes of his mask, gently touching his face. He walked to the edge of the rooftop.

* * *

><p>His momentary peace was disturbed by a familiar voice.<p>

"Evening, assassin." The voice greeted the assassin as he spun to face the voice. A similar looking figure stood at the door, caked in armor, holding an assault rifle in his hands.

Sig smiled beneath his helmet as the assassin turned.

Hunter quickly drew his gun and started the battle by firing two rounds of his magnum at the Order operative which were expertly dodged. Sig retaliated by firing a burst of his assault rifle at the assassin who rolled to his right in order to avoid the short burst of bullets that Sig fired off.

Sig redirected his aim to meet the assassin's new position and pulled the trigger.

_CLICK CLICK_

He had forgotten to reload his gun before the fight. How amateur of him.

Seizing the opportunity, Hunter rushed forward delivering three swift slashes with his dual-wielded blades. The trooper quickly relieved his hands of his rifle, dropping it to the floor and blocking two of the attacks with his forearms but one of the strikes slipped by, though it barely pierced his chestplate.

Sig threw a punch at the assassin's face which was caught with immense strength by the large man. Hunter sunk his knife into the trooper's arm, piercing the armoured forearm due to the immense force behind the blow. Sig showed no signs of pain aside from a short grunt as he shoved the assassin back with his boot, drawing his knife in his left hand as he did so.

Hunter had been unable to retract his knife before he was pushed away by the surprising strength of the trooper's boot, so it remained impaled in Sig's right arm. Sig tried to move his right arm, but was met with failure as he tried to twitch his fingers and flex the joint.

Sig charged his opponent, his right arm now unresponsive to his brain's commands, slashing with his knife, trying desperately to get a hit on the assassin. Hunter blocked his flimsy attacks but was caught by the trooper's boot as Sig drove his foot into the assassin's chest, throwing him onto the floor.

Sig raised his knife over his head and brought it down on the assassin in a stabbing motion which sunk into his opponent's belly, the assassin screaming in pain as the knife dug into his skin. Sig knew he hadn't hit any vital organs. It wasn't enough to kill, but it gave him time to kill. Sig fell back, drawing his M1911 pistol and aiming it at the downed assassin, Sig's knife still protruding from his adversary's mid region just as Sig had a knife stuck into him.

Sig showed a ghost of a grin as he pulled the trigger.

_1, 2, 3_

_BANG BANG BANG_

Three bullets flew from the barrel of Sig's gun and dug into Hunter's chest. Not a single moan uttered from the assassin as he lay there, motionless. Sig giggled childishly as he turned and looked off into the distance.

_BANG_

Another gunshot went off and Sig fell to the floor, a sharp pain in his leg. Fearing the worst, Sig slowly turned onto his back to see the assassin now on his feet, glaring daggers at Sig, a gun at his side, the barrel still smoking.

Hunter hoisted the trooper up with one hand wrapped around Sig's throat, staring into his eyes

"Golden eyes? That's not natural…" Hunter threw Sig back to the ground

"Exactly!" Sig began to laugh, "I am not natural! I AM MACHINE!" He cackled

"Save your stupidity for the afterlife, coward."

"You don't get it, do you?" Sig sat up, "We are machines! We aren't human! I told you this!"

"You bleed!"

"Hunter…" he lay down again, "I am a robot. Are you too blind to see?"

"Impossible! How can a robot do what you have done?"

"I was programmed to feel what humans feel! Pain, satisfaction, happiness, sadness, but not contempt, or regard for the wellbeing of others." He laughed again, but his tone dropped when he spoke his next words, becoming a tone of sadness.

"Maybe I am not the perfect soldier. Maybe I was not meant to be the perfect soldier… Perhaps I have deluded myself…"

"Exactly! If you were made to be so much like humans, then why can't you open your eyes and see?! Look around and see the world around you! There are people here that are happy! They do not live a life of murder and death, or a life of senseless killing and following orders from someone who claims to be better than you! They are happy because they care about other things! Things more important than death! They care about family, friends… and love."

"Love…" Sig repeated the word that Hunter had just spoken, "I am afraid I do not understand the concept of love, or friends or family…"

"That is because you are a mindless machine." Hunter retorted

"Yes, I am a robot programmed with a specific set of instructions. I cannot override these instructions because I am not programmed to…" the robot continued sadly

"No… a simple minded robot would not be as cocky and arrogant as you. You have a human attitude; no programmer in the world could program a human attitude into a robot. That means you learned, you learned from others around you. Perhaps you can learn again. Perhaps you can see what I saw in this world."

"Perhaps…" the robot spoke

"But I won't allow you to discover that." Hunter grinned menacingly behind the cold wall of metal that concealed his face before raising his gun, aiming it perfectly level with the automaton's head and pulling the trigger.

The gunshot rang out through the world as the gun spat the bullet from its chamber, sending the small chunk of metal into Siegfried's head. The force decapitated the robot's head from its body, sending it flying off the rooftop and landing in the courtyard of the school where it lay, waiting for someone to breathe life back into it.

Hunter holstered his magnum silently as he stared off into the distant darkness, his mind completely detached from the world. He looked back at the now inanimate body of The Order's automaton. Artificial blood leaked from the robot's body.

'_It was a robot, not a human. You didn't kill a person' _he thought to himself, afraid that he might have just resorted to his old ways. Killing was not his agenda anymore.

"_Oh, but you did!"  
>"Just like the old days, eh?"<br>"Back to the old ways…"_

'_Shut it.'_

_Entry 10:_

_That night, I would have been dead if I wasn't wearing any armor. Never before have I felt the necessity of this armor strapped to my body 24/7, but now I see why I wear it._

_Much to my confusion, the armor had been able to absorb the brunt of the bullet's impact, although they did manage to pierce the armor. I had been through worse._

* * *

><p>The screen of Hale's terminal flashed multiple times as it updated the status of one of the subjects on screen.<p>

**Subject: Agent Siegfried - Terminated**

**Subject: Agent Leon - Terminated**

**Subject: Agent Rivet - Active**

**Subject: Agent Hall - Active**

**Subject: Agent Bool – Active**

**Subject: Agent Mathers - Terminated**

**Subject: Agent Reuber - Terminated**

**Subject: Agent Kain - Terminated**

Hale growled as he spun around to face one of the troopers behind him.

"Get EvEx on the line!" Hale demanded, "We're going overdrive."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"Mister Gunner?"

"What?"

"We have a mission for you."

"Really? Now? Of all times, it had to be now?"

"We apologise for the inconvenience Mister Gunner, but you were the closest Agent."

"Closest? Closest to what?"

"We are having you complete a mission that was deemed failed."

"A mission deemed failed? Who am I working for now, The Order? Last time I checked, our company doesn't fail missions."

"Precisely, Mister Gunner. This is a mission that was originally given to The Order to fulfil, but it seems that things have gotten… out of hand."

"Elaborate."

"Two of their best operatives were deemed KIA approximately thirty minutes ago, the same goes for the Special Ops team sent with them."

"And you expect me to deal with this?"

"We are asking nothing more than for you to complete their set assignment."

"Fine. Fill me in."

"The assignment set was to assassinate a seventeen year-old Faunus female by the name of Blake Belladonna-"

"Hold up. Blake Belladonna? White Fang operative?"

"Former. Now attends Beacon Academy-"

"Alright guys, if you think I'm going to go through the trouble of transferring into Beacon just to kill _her_, you're wrong. Spotlight is a nice place and I intend to stay here. She isn't worth the trouble anyway, not unless Adam is involved."

"We suspected such attitude from you, Mister Gunner. That is why we are letting you off the hook."

"Wait, what? Say again."

"This will be your final assignment, Mister Gunner."

"What? You're just going to drop me? Just let me run away?"

"If that is what it takes, then yes. You are our final shot at getting to Belladonna. All of our other options are out of the question."

"I still don't believe you."

"You are currently a student at Spotlight Academy; you can easily transfer over to Beacon Academy, kill your target, and stay there or transfer back. We will know when you have completed your assignment. We have planted a device on Miss Belladonna telling us her life signs, meaning you cannot play us for fools."

"Alright then… you got yourselves a deal."

"It has been a pleasure working with you, Mister Gunner."

'_I'll do your job and then I'm done. Smooth life here on out. Not even gonna transfer. Ima do this the old fashioned way…' _Rowan Gunner mentally added as he loaded his six-shooter.

* * *

><p>"<em>Is it over yet?"<em>

'_No, not yet'_

"_Why?"_

'_They won't just stop, not this easily'_

"_You will have to kill more then?"_

'_A lot more'_

"_There is no other way around this?"_

'_No'_

"_I didn't come here with you just for you to remain the same"_

'_I know'_

"_Why are you helping her?"_

'_Because… because she's a friend'_

"_See? That's the spirit"_

_**Silence**_

"_Stop thinking about mother and father"_

'_I can't'_

"_It's hindering you, what if they were to come sooner than expected?"_

'_Then I'll die'_

"_I will not allow that. You are the only person I can talk to"_

'_Can you not talk to the others?'_

"_They are blinded by rage. They just want vengeance"_

'_And you don't?'_

"_I forgave you a long time ago"_

'..._Thanks'_

"_Now, go speak to someone living"_

'_Right…'_

Hunter opened his eyes to a bright light shining into his eyes. He recoiled from the brightness, raising his hands to block the light. Just then a light _'click' _was heard and the light instantly dissipated. He lowered his hands to find a group of six surrounding him.

Team RWBY had heard the gunshots and went to investigate the rooftop, seeing as that was where they seemed to be loudest. Knight had had to prevent any of the other Beacon students from swarming the rooftop, seeing as half of them would most likely fall off simply because the amount of children was too much for the roof to handle. The curiosity had long since dissipated and Knight could help wake his friend up, Ozpin following when he had heard the commotion.

"How long?" Hunter asked the group

"Nearly an hour," Blake informed. Hunter sighed

"I must leave." He said

"And why is that?" inquired Ozpin, taking a sip from his mug

"Because I am being hunted. I will not allow him to tear down the entire school searching for me."

"Him?" asked Yang, confused

"The next one they send will be the best of the best. Whilst I may not know who that is, I do know that he will be beyond the skill level and power of anyone on this world. I will draw him to me, we will fight, and I will most probably die. He will then return to Earth."

"Earth?" asked Blake

"Knight will tell you."

"If this man is truly beyond the skill level of any other man, then we ought to fight him at full force." Said Ozpin

"I will not drag anyone else into this. If you get involved, you all die, he goes home with an extra lump of cash in his pocket."

"But we want to help-" Ruby started before being cut off by Hunter

"And if you do you will all become targets. As far as I am aware, the only other person in danger is Blake Belladonna. I urge you to protect her at all costs. Not me."

"But-"

"In fact, now that I think about it, The Order wouldn't have sent two men to assassinate a target, or multiple; they would've sent a squad. Between an entire squad of eight, three separate missions could be completed effectively… In a rare case, one of these could be a defence mission. Might explain why we only saw two of them…"

"There's more!?" blurted Weiss, slight shock on her face. She had seen what one of them had done to Blake and Ruby 2 on 1 with just a knife before being forced out of the fight; she didn't want to think what three could do, especially if they were coordinated.

"From what I know, Order likes to split three objectives between one team of eight, the two most skilled operatives taking one objective whilst the rest of the team split into two groups of three."

He walked over to Siegfried's mangled robotic corpse and rolled it over, revealing a backpack. He opened up the backpack and produced three solid black electronic files. He opened them up and started scanning through the digital pages.

**Subject: Pyrrha Nikos  
>Species: Human<strong>

**Objective: Protect potential HVT**

**Conditions: Squad must remain undetected unless immediate intervention is required in which the squad would be revealed to the HVT.  
>HVT must remain unharmed.<strong>

**Mission Status: In Progress**

**Squad Status:  
>Agent 1: Active<br>Agent 2: Active  
>Agent 3: Active<strong>

**Subject Status: Active**

**Backup Squadron: Delta**

**Subject: Blake Belladonna  
>Species: Faunus<strong>

**Objective: Assassinate Subject**

**Conditions: Operation must go unnoticed by Subject's family**

**Mission Status: Failed – Backup Squadron en route**

**Squad Status:  
>Agent 1: Deceased<br>Agent 2: Deceased**

**Subject Status: Active**

**Backup Squadron: [CLASSIFIED]**

**Subject: Silver Belladonna  
>Species: Faunus<strong>

**Objective: Assassinate Subject**

**Conditions: Operation must go unnoticed by Subject's family**

**Mission Status: Failed – Backup Squadron Dismissed**

**Squad Status:  
>Agent 1: Deceased<br>Agent 2: Deceased  
>Agent 3: Deceased<strong>

**Subject Status: Active**

**Backup Squadron: Zulu [DISMISSED]**

Curiosity struck Hunter as he read the name of the subject specified in the third file.

'_Belladonna'_

He handed the first two files to Ozpin and told him, "I do not know why these people are the subjects of these files, but it isn't for a good reason."

He then walked over to Blake and handed her the third file. She simply nodded when she read the subject.

"Can we speak about this?" requested Hunter. Blake nodded subtly and the two headed for Hunter's dorm. He unlocked the door with his scroll and the two strolled in, Hunter locking the door behind them. He motioned for her to sit down.

"Who?" he simply questioned

"My… my brother…" she replied sadly

"Brother?"

"Yes… I never saw him much. He would always be away, despite being only two years older than me. The last time I saw him was when I was thirteen." She explained as her eyes began to tear up, "He left a note the day he left." Her hand shakily reached into her pocket and produced a folded up scrap of A4 paper.

"I still keep it around to remember him…" she continued painfully, "I've never understood what he meant to tell me in that note…"

Hunter took the scrap of paper from her hand and unfolded it. The paper was tattered and the paper was ageing fast. On the paper, scrawled in neat handwriting, was a passage that looked slightly like a letter.

_My dearest sister Blake,_

_I am writing you this message because, from this day on, it is likely that we will never see each other again. Please know that I am not leaving you. I have protected you my entire life and I do not intend to stop now. You are likely too young to understand the reasons as to why I have left you alone, but I feel that you are strong enough to look after yourself._

_It is hard for me to explain to you the reasons why I have left, but all you need to know is that I left for your sake. Just know that I have and always will love you._

_I leave you this bow as my final parting gift. Use it to conceal your identity to the humans._

_By the time you reach the age of seventeen, I will most probably be dead; if I am not then I promise to visit you in the place where you would be safest, Beacon Academy._

_Until we meet again, be it Heaven, Hell, Remnant or Earth._

_Your brother, Silver_

"He mentions Earth. Do you know what Earth is?"

Blake lightly shook her head in response, still crying a little.

"Good"

"Why?"

"You don't want to know anything about Earth. Forget the name."

"A- alright then, b-but why?"

"Those men who tried to kill you came from Earth. That's all I will say."

"H-how do you know?"

Hunter remained silent for a moment and then spoke, "I will leave you." He said, resting the scrap paper next to her before walking out of the room.

'_**BOOM'**_

_**Onyx Team**_

"Agents Siegfried and Leon have been terminated."

"I tried to stop him…"

"No matter, Rivet, we have our mission, let's focus on it."

"Indeed. Do we see her?"

"Affirmative"

"Then let's focus on-"

'_**BOOM'**_

"Contact!"

"Grimm Contact! Open fire! Protect the HVT!"

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 14 on Thursday 30th October<strong>


	14. Chapter 14 - Arc 1 Finale (More To Come)

**Chapter 14: The Cost of Life (Arc 1 Finale)**

A large explosion rocked Beacon Academy as the wall to the school's dining hall collapsed before the might of the explosives. An army of darkness poured in through the now non-existent wall of the dining hall, clambering over the debris and attacking anything in sight.

Three figures materialised in the center of the room, facing the wall of Grimm as bullets erupted from their rifles, dropping the Grimm like flies. One of the figures knelt and took something that seemed to resemble a rocket launcher from his back, loading it with a red-striped rocket.

"Incendiary!" he yelled as he pulled the gun's trigger, releasing the projectile into the air. Upon contacting the ground, the projectile erupted into a wall of flames that engulfed multiple Grimm, instantly charring them. The wall of flames stretched the entire length of the dining hall, blocking the Grimm from advancing further.

"Rivet! HVT!" screamed another of the three figures. The third figure, yet to speak, scanned over the crowd of trainee Hunters that had gathered until his gaze finally rested on Pyrrha Nikos. She stood near the back of the crowd.

"HVT sighted, pull back!" he yelled, turning back to his mysterious comrades. The group walked backwards, guns still aimed at the wall of flames. They eventually lowered their weapons and casually walked over to Pyrrha. The crowd parted for the three mysterious saviours as they advanced on Pyrrha.

The appearance and sudden existence of the three made her somewhat uneasy, although she didn't let it show. Team JNPR stood with her, weapons at the ready, prepared for the worst.

"Lower your weapons, we mean you no harm." One of them spoke

Team JNPR was hesitant at first, but eventually lowered their weapons, seeing as how these three had just saved a large amount of people from death. Jaune was the first to question the three.

"Who are you?" he quickly blurted out, still unsure of the three

"Vale Military. Elite force, tasked with maintaining the safety of Pyrrha Nikos."

"What, why me!?" Pyrrha questioned

"Do not question." One of the soldiers replied. A few words travelled between the members of Team JNPR and the rest of the trainee hunters whilst one of the soldiers pulled out a small device.

Rivet read the writing on the device carefully.

**Primary threat to HVT terminated, return to HQ ASAP**

"Well… looks like our work here is done." Rivet stated gaining questioning stares from his two remaining squadmates.

"Command says the primary threat has been eliminated, we have orders to return to HQ ASAP." He explained. After a short pause a different soldier spoke.

"Alright, prep transporters."

At that, the three mysterious saviours disappeared into thin air, just as soon as they had appeared from it. The students held many questions in mind, but turned their attention to fighting off the army of Grimm that was about to steamroll the school as soon as the flames blocking them died down.

Rowan Gunner stealthily snuck his way into Beacon Academy via his newly formed entrance, where a wall once stood. None of the students that had gathered in the hall saw him sneak by. Rowan recognised three identical looking figures that stood out from the crowd of students and he recognised their attire to be part of The Order.

Rowan dismissed the three Order operatives from his mind as he continued the search for his target. Rowan Gunner eventually completed his objective, but not before taking one more life that stood in his way.

_**Hunter**_

My body was met with pain as a silver blade thrust through my stomach, cutting me open, blood gushing from the newly formed hole in my belly as I fell to the floor. A foot stepped over my limp form, bringing a figure with it. He sheathed his sword before he spoke to me.

"I wish we could've met under… different circumstances."

My vision blurred as the boy crouched next to my body, leaning in slightly to examine me. His cigarette hung loosely from his mouth and smoke trailed from the lit end as he inhaled lightly. He reached his free hand up to his face and took the cigarette between his index and middle finger, letting his hand fall back down to his side once he had removed the stick from his lips.

"I sent the Grimm as a distraction. Led them here."

He exhaled and then sighed, closing his eyes. My blood reached his shoes and begun surrounding them like an object being surrounded by water. He simply remained crouched for what felt like years before he spoke.

"Sorry mate." His voice was soft and sad, "They're letting me off the hook when I finish this job."

He opened his eyes and gazed knowingly into my eyes.

"I can see your pain. Your carelessness. I see two people dying before me. A killer and a friend. If you ask me, only one of those is dying right now, I'm sure you know which one that is."

He stubbed his cigarette out against the concrete floor and rested his six-shooter on the floor.

"I'm sorry for this. I didn't want to do it, but I'm willing to do anything just to escape from them. I'm sure you would too… Good luck mate."

He gave me a firm pat on the shoulder before picking his six-shooter back up and standing. His blurred figure loomed over my body like a skyscraper as he aimed death at my head. I closed my eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

'_I'm sorry'_ one final thought pulsed through his mind.

A killer turned human, but at what cost? The cost of a new world? The cost of happiness? No.

Just the cost of death.

**-END ARC-**

**There will be another story arc in around a week that focuses more on the 'assassin' part that I had originally based this story around, stay tuned!**

**And, uh, Happy Halloween (For when it arrives)**

**And enjoy The RWBY Volume 2 Finale!**


	15. Arc 2: Chapter 1

**Follows right after Chapter 1 of Arc 1**

**-BEGINING ALTERNATIVE STORY-**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1: Man Made of Monsters<strong>

The Masked Man took his time getting to his feet whilst he examined his surroundings.

'_A forest, great.'_

He sighed as he further examined his surroundings. The floor was coated in, what appeared to be, some sort of red leaves or petals of a kind. Like a cherry tree. He looked up to see a canopy of similar reddish leaves where the small amount of light came from a couple miniature cracks in the otherwise thick canopy.

The surrounding was dark, yet The Masked Man was able to see perfectly fine due to his enhanced vision. A clearing lay up ahead.

The assassin walked toward the clearing, where light illuminated the red coated dirt. As he arrived in the clearing, he was immediately bathed in sunlight. It was near blinding for a few seconds, but his eyes quickly adjusted and he was able to see normally once more.

He took a minute to gather himself and formulate a plan.

'_Find a monument or landmark, find help, find the school, get temporary residence at said school, kill the target, possibly gaining the bonus along the way, leave a note for her friends if you can't make it seem natural, disappear and hope you don't have to kill anyone without getting paid to do so. Simple.'_

He concluded his plan in his mind and once again examined his surroundings to ensure that nobody was watching. Once he was happy that there was nobody following him, he initiated his plan.

'_Step 1: Find a monument, landmark or any building'_

He started by climbing a tree so that he could get a better view of his surroundings and hopefully find something that stuck out like a sore thumb in the middle of all these trees. Thankfully, he did just that. Roughly a kilometre away stood a large building with several tall towers and one in the center that towered over all the towers (so many towers!).

'_That's where I'm headed'_

He jumped down from his vantage point on the tree, landing with a thud and sending a few fallen leaves back into the air, only to flutter back down to the ground once more.

Suddenly, a quarrel of shouts entered the air but a more distinct sound quickly vetoed the shouts from the assassin's mind. The bushes rustled behind him.

The Masked Man spun, drawing his pistol and aiming it straight at the creature that now faced him. A large creature resembling a bear with bone-like plating on its face and back came bounding out of the darkness of the forest and took an almighty swing at the assassin. He ducked under the creature's monstrous arm and quickly rolled to the side to avoid an overhead attack from the bear, quickly countering with a bullet from his magnum, aimed perfectly in between the eyes of the beast. The bullet ricocheted harmlessly off the creature's armor and The Masked Man was forced to roll again to avoid the creature as it lunged toward him. As he stood, he aimed his magnum at the bear's side and fired two bullets. The creature howled in pain but continued its offensive, this time with a low swipe.

The assassin jumped over the bear's swipe and shot another round at his adversary, this time into its shoulder. The creature roared in pain once more, yet it never seemed to let up. Its attacks became slow and sloppy and were easily dodged by The Masked Man's superb agility. He emptied his final bullet into the bear's chest and it finally fell down dead. The assassin reloaded his magnum, bullet by bullet.

As he holstered his gun, he heard shouting that seemed to be getting closer and closer. Eventually he started hearing footsteps and he dashed behind a bush in the opposite direction to hide.

After a few seconds, he saw a group of four run into the clearing, followed by another two, and then more, and more. The clearing was eventually filled with over sixteen people, all of which looked like teenagers and carried a different type of weapon with them, most of which were swords and shields but some carried guns as well. Amongst the crowd, one individual stood out amongst the rest, the only appearance he recognised out of all the children. Pyrrha Nikos.

The girl's red hair stood out amongst all the other children and she seemed to be bundled around the dead creature, much like all the other children. One of the children appeared to be inspecting the creature's body. He dug his finger into one of the bullet wounds, trying to examine it, only resulting in disgusted moans from some of the children and a stream of vomit from others.

Another child, a girl with raven black hair, broke out of the huddle and walked over to a tree with a distinct bullet hole in it. She used her sword to chip away at the wood around the bullet until she finally reached her finger in and dug out what remained of one of his bullets. The bullet was, surprisingly, nearly completely intact. Aside from a couple dents and chips, the bullet looked as if it were ready to be fired once more.

'_And that is why I make my own ammunition'_

"It's not dust…" the girl stated curiously as three other girls huddled around her, "I've never seen this type of ammunition before…" The girl inspected the bullet a little more before passing it to a shorter girl dressed in red who gawked at the remains of the bullet, examining every inch of the magnum ammunition.

The Masked Man continued to observe the black-haired girl from his hidden position as she broke through the ring of students around the bear-like creature and started examining the gunshot wounds on the animal, much like the boy earlier did.

Whatever was wrong, The Masked Man figured that he wasn't using what people in this world would call 'standard ammunition'. Whatever the standards for ammo were here, they probably have something to do with this 'dust' stuff that the black-haired girl was talking about.

It really was quite strange. What else would ammunition be made of? The most common material for ammo manufacturing is any kind of metal. It was rare to find a bullet that wasn't made of a natural resource, but it could be done. The Masked Man had even witnessed money and sweets being used as shotgun ammunition. Using such ammunitions would only be possible in shotguns, however, seeing as you can use whatever fits in the shotgun shell and it would still kill, if not injure. The only other type of ammunition would have to come from some sort of natural resource for it to be manufactured and sold.

His final hypothesis was that 'dust' was a type of natural resource, be it limited or unlimited, that could be used either in bullets, or to manufacture them. This 'dust' may have other uses too, but until he saw it being used in other means rather than ammunition, he couldn't be so sure.

The girl stood from examining the bear's corpse and thoroughly scanned the treeline, her gaze finally setting on where The Masked Man was crouched. He quickly fell backwards, further into the darkness when the girl's gaze rested on his position.

'_Not a chance she could've seen me, too dark for any civvie without equipment. Then again, they are all carrying weaponry…'_

Deciding it was time to leave, The Masked Man quickly manoeuvred his way backwards, making sure to keep his body concealed behind the shrubbery, out of the girl's vision just in case she actually could see him.

After a minute, he was casually walking through the forest once more, having snuck around the children in order to continue towards the direction of the large building he had spotted around ten minutes ago.

Along the way he encountered a similar looking creature to the bear, only this one looked more like a wolf, a werewolf to be precise. It had the same armor plating on its face, but none on its back. The creature was accompanied by four more identical looking creatures that formed a circle around him.

He drew his gun in his left hand, thumbing down the hammer; and one of his signature daggers in his right, preparing for a fight.

He fired a bullet at one of the wolves, killing it instantly as another snarled and charged him from behind. A wolf from his left charged simultaneously. He rolled forward, toward the wolf that he had just killed and the two that charged him collided with each other, stunning them momentarily. He shot the other two wolves that hadn't moved yet and their bodies collapsed now dead hunks of meat.

Deciding against using any more ammo, The Masked Man slipped his gun back into his coat and drew his second dagger, waiting for the stunned wolves to strike. The wolves quickly regained control of their bodies and simultaneously lunged at him once more. He swerved to the side and dug his daggers into the underarm of one wolf, decapitating its arm with one mighty pull. The wolf fell to the floor, still living but in agony as the other wolf swiped at The Masked Man who ducked under the swipe and sunk his daggers into the wolf's belly. He retracted his daggers, cutting the beast's belly open and letting its guts flow onto the floor as the carcass collapsed forward, into its own guts. He walked over to the wolf that he relieved of an arm and finished the animal off with one blow.

He sheathed his daggers and continued toward his destination, now drenched in blood, figuring that the children would come to investigate once more as soon as they heard the gunfire.

Within a short matter of minutes, The Masked Man was able to reach the building that he had sighted with no more encounters with the odd wildlife that seemed to inhabit the forest. Once he reached the building, he ran across one major problem. It was on a cliff. A high cliff. A _very _high cliff. A cliff that couldn't be scaled unless there was a blatantly obvious path leading up said cliff, which there wasn't.

The Masked Man scanned his surrounding for any means to traverse the cliff, but to no avail. The only thing he saw was an airship that appeared to land atop the cliff.

'_Only way up'_

The Masked Man sighed.

'_Or I could climb…'_

The cliff looked rugged enough to have a good amount of extrusions to climb on, so that was probably his best bet seeing as hijacking an airship wouldn't exactly be easy or end well. Sneaking onto an airship undetected also seemed out of the question unless they were bigger than they seemed from the outside.

Climbing was the best and fastest option.

The Masked Man began his deadly ascent up the cliff face, having multiple close calls with loose rocks. He eventually reached the top of the cliffs alive after over twenty minutes of climbing. During the time, another airship had flown overhead just as he neared the top, almost knocking him off the cliff face.

He groaned as he hoisted himself atop the cliff and stood at the edge. Children walked around wearing identical uniforms, some with personal modifications to the appearance of said uniforms. Most wandered about a large courtyard in pairs or groups of four, some in groups of eight or more.

A School.

The airship that had flown overhead minutes ago had now landed near the edge of the cliff and had a large group of children, most likely students in different attire, disembarking the airship. The Masked Man recognised a select few, one of them being his target and the black-haired girl who had played detective with the corpse of the bear back in the forest. Each student was holding a large jar of red liquid.

The Masked Man decided to let the students enter the building before proceeding forward into the school's courtyard himself. A few students seemed to give him odd glares but quickly resumed their daily activities, mostly talking to their friends. Much to the Masked Man's surprise, most of the students seemed to ignore his presence, as if his appearance was normally seen. Maybe large men wearing masks and hoods was normal.


End file.

RWBY, Adventure, Crime