First section of the revisions, and soon I will have this story off and chugging.

Knives: Prologue

This is not a story of heroes in the sunlight, this is an ode to the unsung heroes. Those who wage their war in darkness beneath the shadow of that crimson sun. While RWBY is the name of those who carry the burden of the light, it is these four who wade in the shadows of heroes, doing what must be done to free themselves of their shackles so they may join the heroes in the growing dawn.

"Wake up!" The voice roared as he felt the iron hard fist strike his lower jaw, "Answer me now Knives, who do you work for!?" The man roared, he was roughly six feet tall, wearing an all-black suit and a red tie. Sunglasses at night was a poor choice, but he wasn't complaining, kept him from seeing more of this bastard's ugly face.

Standing behind the man was Knives insane carbon-copy, who lovingly called himself Johann. This split personality was Knives' constant companion, and his appearance now was a vivid reminder of Knives' worsening mental state, "Hey, can you hear me in there!?" The boy yelled into Knives ear.

"Like a bell." The young man barked back, spitting out the blood that had pooled in his mouth. How many hours had it been in here, tied to a chair in a dark basement getting roughed up by some low level thug in some shitty street gang, five maybe seven? He didn't care really because punishment was something he could take, but if he was late to Beacon he wouldn't get to go to the school this year like Ozpin had promised him. "Look, I need to be out of here in about three hours do you think we can speed this along?"

The thug gritted his teeth, "Smug bastard!" He roared to Johann's delighted giggling. He delivered a kick to Knives abdomen and Knives felt the toe of the shoe displacing his organs as it drove a wedge through his muscle. He was used to interrogations like these, because life hadn't been easy for him. Growing up on the streets he learned to keep his head down, but that didn't stop him from getting caught and brought into the darker side of Vale. At six he was in a facility for scientific experiments, being a lab rat for all manner of pet projects, mainly chemical enhancement and Dust Infusion. Most people saw the mineral as a source of power for vast weapons and common day appliances, so doing what was done to him was like injecting yourself with gasoline and sending electricity through your body. That beautiful little process that broke and eroded his mind is what spawned Johann in the first place. He escaped at eleven years old and joined a local gang helping them rise up in the ranks of power until they were a full blown force to be reckoned with. And they made enemies of people like this fucking prick.

"Look, I already told you, after that job two years ago I've been on the straight and narrow man!" Knives yelled, focusing what little aura he could around the blood running down his arm and exercising his semblance of Armament over it. He created a small blade with his blood and began to saw through his binds carefully.

"See, this is what I like about us, we're ever so crafty. Now do as I taught you, just keep him talking and then we slit his throat and go." Johann replied with a grin.

"Bullshit! When we found you, you was robbing us of all our hard earned Lien!" He fussed. The guy wasn't wrong, Knives needed money for school and decided to go about it the best way he could think of, stealing it from criminals, but two years out of practice had left him in his current situation.

"Hard 'stolen' Lien, you think your boss would take a little more fucking pride in his work." Knives said already anticipating the next blow and felt it strike him just above his heart as the wind almost rushed from his lungs, leaving him coughing.

"Don't gimme that shit! Your boss is long dead, Don Volk's infamous hunting dog, the 'Immortal Assassin' Bloody Knives, you're a fucking waste of air. You ain't even worthy enough to kiss the ground I walk on, you little bitch!" The thug said with a cackle.

True, two years ago he was one of the more feared people in the criminal world across the Kingdom, but after he went to do a regular robbery, everything went south. Cops were up his ass faster than he could've expected and he was quickly detained and slated for execution for numerous counts of murder and theft, while the murders were a formality as most of them were gang kills. He caught a seriously lucky break that day though, as he just happened to pass Professor Ozpin of Beacon Academy he got lucky enough to get a second chance at life. "Learn under me and fight Grimm until you die, or die now." The man had told him, but even now it was an obvious choice, Knives didn't want to die so he chose the option that let him live another day.

While he had let this punk walk all over him till now, it was time to get going. He broke free of his bonds and kneed the man in his face before delivering a few swift jabs to the gut and bashing his head into the wall. He walked out of the basement and into the small house he was being held in as the three guards met his eyes and quickly tried to draw their weapons. Knives rushed them, leaping across the table and grabbing two of the asps that the men used, quickly extending the blunt weapons and wheeling on his attackers. One tried to fight with his fists, but Knives ducked under the first blow delivering a quick hit to his left leg, chest, and finally his head knocking the man unconscious. He threw one of the asps at the guard at the back who'd grabbed a gun and quickly spun kicked the other one to the ground. He beat the one at the back savagely spinning around the room like a dancer, before recovering the first asp and dropping them both over the head of the second guard.

With the three unconscious men lying there, Knives went into the back storeroom and grabbed his weapons and his hoodie and armor, quickly redressing himself. He fit the red hoodie with the black knives crossed on the back over his black sleeveless. He grabbed the black chest plate and left shoulder-guard and fit them nicely on himself before tightening his black leather bracer with red plate over his right forearm. He slipped his black greaves over his red and black checkered converse and tested his range of motion in them. He slipped on his black fingerless gloves and grabbed his weapons to check them, he drew the red steel kilij from it's scabbard seeing the name "Jack" engraved on the blade as he slipped it in its sheath and slung it across his back. He drew the other, a chainsaw sword with "The Ripper" hastily etched into the blade before sheathing it and setting it on his tailbone. The final piece of his arsenal was the scroll, the little holographic device he used for communication. "Hmm, five missed messages from Ozpin, he's gonna have my ass." The boy said as he put the scroll away, "I guess I'd better call him."

"Aw, do we have to? Hey just let me out for an hour or so, a few murders later and we'll be back at Beacon; snug as a bug in a rug!" Johann said with a wicked grin.

Knives fished a pack of cigarettes out of his hoodie and lit one up taking a long puff, "Shut the fuck up." He stated bluntly as he left the house and walked towards Beacon. Tomorrow the year would begin, and he would be forced to associate with people he could care less for. He bumped into a kid on his way out the door, "Watch where you're going." He said.

"I'm sorry." The boy said as he stood dusting off his blue and gold coat before walking away. Knives looked as he walked away and thought to himself, I hope he's not someone I get paired with. If only he knew the trouble that man would get him in.

There we go, let's keep it rolling!