Aura of Steel

by RYNO IV

Huntsmen and Huntresses. They have defended our borders and destroyed the darkness for generations. However, it is not always the tales of heroes that play the biggest parts. Constance Carlisle, pilot of an M7A6-H Light Battle Tank, has never seen herself as someone to be in the spotlight... but after coming across Beacon Academy, she might not have a choice.

1. Author's Note

Right. Here I am. After nearly two years straight of radio silence, I'm back. Not that I was ever popular in the first place, but it's good to be home. Before I get into things, I have to say that RWBY as a whole has been through one hell of a ride. The first season was great; let me make that clear first and foremost. But, like with many things Roosterteeth does, it was unpolished. A gem nonetheless, but not perfect. And then season two! RWBY Volume Two was, in my opinion, one of the best shows I've ever seen! It was fantastic! It had explosions, it had kickass action, it had mechs! And to top it all off, the underlying story has been given an excellent buildup. RWBY has grown so much so fast, that it was dubbed into Japanese! That never happens to an American-made show!

And then, Monty Oum passed away. He was an incredible person. Monty was one of my greatest inspirations. Scratch that, he is one of my greatest inspirations, and he always will be. I never had the fortune of meeting him. I wish I did. Just to be able to talk to him for five minutes, to see how his mind worked, would've been one of the highlights of my life. Monty Oum was one of those incredible people that shined greater than all of us combined, and he was taken from us much too soon.

Monty will always be missed, but he will never be forgotten. It's up to us to take the first step.

And now, here's my first step. This is my story, my own take on Monty's world. It's a concept based around the military of RWBY – what's the purpose of them? If Huntsmen and Huntresses are so effective, why are there soldiers, androids, and mechs? This is just my own spin of things.

I have to be honest, this is going to be an OC-centric story. If that offends you, the back button is right there. Feel free to click it. But, if you are interested, I have one hell of a story planned out. It keeps to the main storyline of RWBY up until the end of Volume Two, where it will branch off into an original storyline I've got cooked up based on things and theories I've noticed throughout the show. It will not be accurate to what the show will be. If it is, it will be purely by accident.

I'm an aspiring writer. I'm not afraid to delve into concepts that might be too much for younger people. Mentions of near-rape, assault, abuse, and brainwashing are going to be in this, as well as blood and possibly character death. This isn't a concrete thing – I've gotten a ways into my storyline, but haven't planned out the end. If this offends you, again, you have a back button.

Now, this story would never have made it off my hard drive if it wasn't for my beta and good friend of mine, Karma Hope. She is one of the best friends I've ever had, and I've never met her. Karma, when you read this, thank you for putting up with my bullshit for so long.

Before we get into the thick of things, I need to get two things out of the way. One, I hate, hate, hate it when authors put a disclaimer on every chapter. It interrupts the flow. So, I'm putting my disclaimer here, and only here:

RWBY and its associated concepts belong solely to Roosterteeth. Any original concepts not associated with RWBY belong to me, RYNO IV.

Now, on to my second issue.

Music is a huge part of RWBY. It sets the tone and mood of many of its scenes, and many of us don't even notice it. I have a selection of music that I am associating with different scenes in my story – however, it's tacky to throw up a (GO HERE AND PLAY THIS) right in the middle of a chapter. To counter this, I will put a '*#' by any spot in the chapter where I feel a certain piece of music could be played, with the beginning of the song corresponding to the beginning of the scene, and the actual name and author of the music will be posted on my profile page. If there are multiple pieces of music, the '#' will be replaced by a number. I will make it so the music can be easily looked up on Google, and therefore Youtube. If you don't want to interrupt the story to go looking for pieces of music, feel free to skip this. I'm not going to force you to listen to music – I just feel certain pieces could go with certain scenes.

And so, without any further ado, welcome to Aura of Steel.