A/N
Hey everyone. This is something I've had in the works since the end of V3, when I realised the potential RWBY had for weaving a dark story, and wanted to expand on that. This is my first time posting to fanfiction, and also my first RWBY story. I hope you enjoy. If you have any thoughts, criticisms, etc. leave a review!
Over and out!
Chapter One
Night had fallen over Vale, and like most of the city, its industrial district was dark and vacant, most of its workers having left for home.
All except one warehouse in particular. If one were to walk past it, it would be blatantly obvious something was going on in there, the constant din of machinery and workers combined with the bright lights making it stand out amongst the string of identical warehouses.
If one were to look inside, they would see White Fang hard at work moving crates of dust, and two individuals in the center of the room in heated discussion.
One was Roman Torchwick, a criminal mastermind with a flair for the dramatic, and across from him was Cinder Fall, an enigmatic figure who'd made a rapid rise through Vale's underworld. She was also the most powerful person he'd ever had the displeasure of meeting.
But Roman, while he had no choice but to go along with her schemes, still would make passive aggressive jabs at Cinder. It simply wasn't in his nature to keep his mouth shut, Cinder noted, not allowing her irritation to show.
Roman twirled his cane, pacing around the room in that ridiculous outfit of his.
"Speaking of which, if you don't mind filling me in on your grand master plan, it might help my next string of robberies go a little smoother!" he said defiantly.
"Oh Roman." Cinder said condescendingly, tracing a finger across his cheek. She felt a twinge of amusement. Cinder demanded total loyalty, and while Mercury and Emerald, both standing behind her, both eagerly obliged, Roman wasn't as much so. But she was in control. She liked that. Try as he might to change that, at the end of the day the crook was nothing more than that. Just putty in her hands, to do as she pleased.
The crook grimaced, noticing her hand warming up to an uncomfortable temperature. Cinder's smile widened. "You'll know what you need when you need to know it. And besides, we're done with dust. Have the White Fang clear out this building. I'll send you coordinates later."
"While that's all well and good, Cindy, that won't be necessary. There's been a bit of a change of plans." A third voice interjected, sounding oddly distorted.
Wait. What was he doing here?
"What do you want, Chroma? Vale is under my jurisdiction." Cinder asked, glaring at the man in front of her, a hand on her hip. He was dressed head to toe in some kind of black bodyarmor. His whole body shimmered when he moved, the harsh artificial lighting reflecting off the organic curves of the armor. The only hint of anyone being inside was the slits of blue light serving as a visor.
"Was under your jurisdiction. I saw how you were handling things back here and couldn't help but step in." Chroma said haughtily.
"I have things perfectly handled here. And this is unacceptable! I-"
Chroma scoffed. "Oh really? Should I not be worried about, say, the colossal failure of the docks incident, or the misstep in Vale? If you can't keep your lapdogs on a leash, then what use are they?"
Emerald glared at the man, but said nothing.
Cinder scowled. "And what makes you think you can waltz in here and alter the plan? She said explicitly I was to be in Vale, not you."
He laughed, the sound coming through the helmet as choking. "And you will be in Vale… under my authority. I already spoke with her, and I've been given express permission to change things up around here."
"And what does that entail, pray tell?"
"I'll tell you later when there are less… security holes around." Chroma said, turning to look at Roman. "For now… watch the news.
Hunter Onyx Midnight was certainly not an ordinary man, and he liked it that way. He loved the fame his job gave him, and especially how good he was at it.
Just a stroll along Vale's streets earned awed stares at his dark brown hunter garb, the shining metal of his weapons, all of that. He probably got asked to sign something once or twice a week. And that was how he liked it.
For such an extraordinary man, his days were rather ordinary. He hadn't much to do, after all, since he was far too important to risk being sent out on missions. But hey. Get paid bucketloads of lien for sitting around was fine by him. That old fart Ozpin was a fool, but he was more than happy to take advantage of that.
But his pay fit his skill level. He was strong, in fact, strong enough to sit at #12 amongst Remnant's employed hunters. So when he found a little crime happening here and there, he dealt with it. Didn't take much effort on his part anyhow.
Today was no exception, especially when it was another dust robbery. A string of them had plagued Vale for months now, so putting a stop to it would almost certainly give him major recognition.
He grinned, striding into the dust shop with a spring in his step. He made his presence known to the thugs around the counter.
"Hey, fellas. Listen, I suggest you surrender," he said, deploying his katars with a whirring of gears, "...before I'm forced to do anything rash."
The thugs froze, before running out the back of the shop. Onyx rushed to stop them, but an arm across his body stopped him.
"Wha-"
He was roughly shoved backwards with surprising strength, crashing through a display. It was only then that he noticed the man that had stepped through the store's shelves. The man's whole body was covered in plates of black polymer, complete with a helmet covering his face.
"Onyx Midnight. 12th ranked hunter in the world." the man said, his voice distorted electronically by the helmet.
The man in question smirked. "That'd be me. And listen, pal. I think you and I both know that I'll win this fight. So just stand down and turn yourself in."
The man in front of him drew his blade. It was a rather plain thing, with sleek curves, and no hints of any sort of mechashift technology, sans the extremely thin seams travelling down the blade.
Yang was bored. She'd had a slow day, and it had just hit that afternoon lull. Her teammates were too. Blake was reading, Ruby was fast asleep, and Weiss was studying, though Weiss studying didn't really mean much. Yang yawned. The most she had to do was flip through TV channels, but there was nothing on. Nothing was interesting.
Until the news came on.
"...dust robbery in Vale ends in the murder of famous hunter Onyx Midnight by a mysterious man in black armor. This man has been identified as well known rogue hunter and assassin Chroma. His whereabouts are unknown at this time, but he is armed and extremely dangerous. Citizens are advised to stay indoors. Back to you, Lisa."
"Thank you, Kevin. Here we have famed politician and writer, Doctor Arthur Watts." A man with a distinctive outfit and in particular distinctive facial hair appeared on screen. "Doctor Watts, you said this incident shows the 'danger' in Remnant right now? What did you mean by this?"
"Yes. Well," Watts said in a clearly English, baritone voice, "Frankly… it shows how defenseless we citizens are against the hostile forces of Remnant. Look at the Vale incident. The 12th strongest hunter in remnant, taken out with minimal effort. Stopping a dust robbery, no less. I find it appalling how little could be done to stop that man. It makes it blatantly obvious how incompetent Ozpin's force of hunters are in the defense of the-"
The scroll turned off.
"That's enough." Weiss said.
The room was dead silent. Blake's book lay forgotten, and Ruby was wide awake. The room was seized by a mix of frustration and skittishness. Yang was the first to speak.
"Dust robbery? Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Torchwick?" Ruby responded.
"Yeah."
Blake's brow furrowed with concern. "This isn't typical White Fang behaviour. They normally work in the shadows, not in broad daylight like this."
Yang turned. "Should we do something?"
"I'll have to do more investigating," Blake replied, "But we need to find out why-"
"Are you insane?!" Weiss butted in angrily, "Do you even realise the danger of the situation? We're huntresses-in-training! We're just over a semester into our first year! We'll just get ourselves hurt!"
"Well, what do we do then? Sit around and do nothing?" Blake retorted.
"Yes!"
"We can't just stand by and let this happen! The situation is getting worse and it's only going to get worse if we don't do something!"
"Blake," Ruby said, softly. "Weiss is right. This is too dangerous for us. Ozpin told us not to get involved."
"Fine." Blake stood up.
"Where do you think you're going?" Weiss huffed.
"Out."
Blake slammed the door, angrily stomping down the hall. It was fine. If they weren't willing to help her fight against the White Fang, she'd do it alone.
She was more used to doing things that way anyhow.
She rounded the corner, bumping into someone. She looked up and scowled, a scathing remark on the tip of her tongue, but didn't see a face. She looked higher. Higher. Finally, she realized the sheer size of the absurdly tall figure in front of her. He had a worn battle helmet on, matching the armor he was wearing. The first thing that she thought was Chroma from the helmet, but the heights weren't even close. Someone peeked from around the bulk of the titan in front of her. He was short, and not comparatively either. He had messy dark red hair.
"Sorry. This is Iron. He doesn't really talk. I'm Hong," he said, "We're new around here."
"Atlas?" Blake asked, looking at the uniform.
Hong smiled. "That's right. Can you show us where the lockers are?"
"I'm doing something right now. Maybe you can find someone else."
Blake walked off, ignoring the cries of indignation. She didn't really want to deal with anything at the moment. Besides.
She had work to do.
It was night again. By the time Cinder arrived at the safehouse, Chroma was already there maintaining his weapon. The various segments and components were scattered across the table, revealing a dazzling array of circuitry and dust crystals. He faced her.
"Everyone's gone now. This won't be necessary."
He took off the helmet, showing her his face for the first time. She hadn't seen it before, not even back in the Grimmlands during the meeting with Salem.
"So you've gotten another member of the Inner Circle involved with this? I thought Watts was supposed to be in Mistral."
"I've 'borrowed' him only for the Vale phase of the plan. I've been given jurisdiction to by her."
Cinder was silent, before asking, with a twinge of irritation:
"What did you accomplish with your little jaunt in Vale anyhow?"
"Oh Cindy." He stroked her cheek.
"You'll know what you need when you need to know."
Her expression clearly showed what she thought of him at the moment. Anyone else, she would've incinerated on the spot. He snorted.
"Sorry. But you'll understand in time. Now."
The final parts of his weapon clicked into place. He sheathed the blade with a metallic rasp.
"I've got hunters to kill."