Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY but this story and OCs, I do.
Mystery Narrator: Our world was born for over thousands of years. Myths, stories, and legends were forged in the ravages of time. Many still be considered true… or more false than anyone believed. Yet no one can deny those that are false for they believe them to be true. We were forged by stories, built with purpose, but no one expected a change not like any other. What many would call a calamity, I call it a restart on the lives that exist today. Civilizations crumbled, old ways vanished, and many to the likes of millions died from the experience. Yet those that survived, managed to live on. At the price of our restart, we were set back like primitives and fought for what many to be plentiful to share. One thousand years of constant fighting, our revamped world was bathed in blood and forged by iron. What would take more than thousands of years for the people to reach modernization, they did it in decades. Air fleets survey the skies, power sources discovered and refined, lives outside of battle improved. Advances were strong, but so are the desires many clung to like in the past. I wonder though, are we to let go of the past to make our own future or doomed to repeat history? I guess we'll have to see for ourselves.
In the continent of Sanus, lies what was once a kingdom now just a country. The Vale today is now the second most advanced country in Remnant, with Atlas in first. From once it had a suburban style, now holds a gothic urban charm in it with skyscrapers towering over the smaller buildings. The people within are good, depending on one's definition of good. Yet it had hardships from the wars the kingdom to endure, including where the world was recovering… from the Deception Decade.
Within this new city is one of the oldest restaurants, the Solar Morning. A fine place that has lived over a century due to its famous coffee, bakery, and desserts. More important on the bakery since they make cookies the size of pizzas. Inside a sixteen year old silver-eyed girl with black hair and purple edges. Instead of her standard way of dressing, she wore comfortable slacks, a purple hoodie, and black shoes. She slurped on her chilling strawberry shake, waiting the delicious treats she had ordered.
"Ah, nothing like a delicious shake in the evening," she said spooning some of the top to her mouth, "But it doesn't beat what comes with it."
Miss Shae," a young waitress with food on her hand, "I have your two chocolate chip pizzas made with extra chocolate chip."
"Excellent," Shae said with a scent of excitement in her voice.
Two large cookies each the size of small pizzas landed on her table. The sweet goodness of the two glistened with freshly baked dough and chocolate chips decorating it almost to the edges. Shae almost felt like drooling at the sight before composing herself.
"Thank you Ms. Kathie," Shae thanked the waitress.
"Hey, it's always a pleasure to have one of our best customers," Kathie smiled before leaving Shae to her cookie time.
Shae plucked a piece of her cookie and bit it down. The toasted delicacy easily crumbled in her mouth and the sweet taste of the chocolate chip made it even better. She could just sit there for hours just eating the two cookies. Of course when she snapped back to the real world, Shae just realized she finished five-sixths of the cookie she bit on.
'Guess I forgot to savor the cookie,' Shae mentally blushed as she finished the cookie before moving on to the next cookie.
If it weren't for a pair of eyes that bore down on her down as she saw someone standing nearby with two guards behind him with matching suits. The one in front had tan skin with brown hair and yellow eyes.
'If he interrupts my cookie time, there will be three body bags on the streets,' Shae mentally swore before moving on to her second cookie.
"Ms. Shae Rose?" the guy asked her name, "I thought you would be here."
"And who wants to know? The Valesian Army?" Shae wondered taking a sip from her shake.
"Oh please, it couldn't be that farfetched," the guy merely said.
"Says the guy with two guards inside a restaurant," Shae said sharply looking to the two before back at him.
"Touché," the man said quietly sitting down, "I was hoping we would have a chance to talk to you."
"…If you want to talk, at least have your guards have a table and order something. No need to stand out in a public area," Shae sighed and suggested.
The guy looked to them and nodded as the two guards sat at a table closest to them.
"So what's this about?" Shae asked taking another piece out of her cookie.
"Let me put it this way. For something who acts civil, you are discreet for your age," the guy said making Shae pause her drinking, "You had an impressive record that would describe yourself as a vigilante. Leaving very clear messages on the people you took care of. Usually in the form of thugs, gangs, an occasion hoodlum with paint spray…"
"You going anywhere with this," Shae said asking the man to get to the point.
"As far as the public and the people I work for, we didn't mind the methods you used on them. That is until you aimed higher than usual," the guy said seriously.
'I knew THAT will bite me back someday,' Shae thought before saying, "And that is?"
"As I recall you did hits on drug dealers, an entanglement on the corrupt cops, and the inconspicuous elimination on the Valesian Mafia. All that and you never shown your face. It's like you were nothing but a ghost, a shadow. No pun intended," the guy listed.
"It's okay. Although those assholes deserved it. So what is it that makes me an interest to you," Shae asked.
"Your skills outclass many known organizations out there, even surpassing some skills of huntsmen without aura nor semblance. The Mafia you took out? Only five casualties, while the majority are alive. That is incredible," the guy complimented Shae.
"What like Special Forces incredible?" Shae nonchalantly asked.
"No more like Black Ops' level of incredible. What I'm trying to say is that we would like to hire you," the guy implied.
"I don't recall being a mercenary," Shae pointed out.
"I'm saying that this is voluntary, straight from higher up," the guy said pointing up.
"…Like my sister Hal?" Shae tilted her head a bit asking.
"Wait… your sister is Haldrana Xiao Long?" the guy asked.
"Yup. She said she's going to return in some super-secret project that helped us a few years back and that it got us back on our feet and paying our bills. Said something about returning the favor and being in a job that doesn't have a problem with her methods," Shae recalled her memories back then, they were not pleasant.
"Well… that makes my job easier. So would you like to join us?" the guy asked.
"I don't know, is it something similar to the old huntsmen academies," Shae wondered.
"Something like that, but you get your own pay," the guy mentioned.
"How much?" Shae asked drinking her shake.
"Six digits," the guy merely said.
Shae almost spat out her shake as she held it in her mouth and swallowed. Six digits, that's equal to hundreds of thousands of lien. It's like the usual paycheck of construction workers, aircraft pilots, or even doctors. Huntsmen usually get their lien based on their missions, but a pay with six digits. That can help her a lot.
"So what do you say? Want to be in with your sister?" the guy asked waiting for an answer.
Shae thought about it and it did come with pros she could use. She not only gets paid, but gets to bring justice and vengeance on the world with people on her side. And she doesn't need to be secretive about it. But she has to ask more on it. It sounds too good to be true.
"Does the place my sister is going in have insurance?" Shae began asking more questions.
"Yes, even family insurance," the guy answered.
"It's cool with people that have brutal methods?"
"So long as it involves less civilian casualties and results."
"And it is also like the secret services like those in Atlas where we are hush-hush to the world?"
"Just as you described it."
"But we do more good than the usual huntsmen?"
"Yes."
"We also get to destroy those with evil intentions?"
"All that and more."
Shae now turned silent on her questions as she now speaks to the man in front of her.
"So Mr. …" Shae said then trying to get his name.
"Bron. Bron Williams," the guy gave his name.
"Mr. Bron, tell your acquaintances this… I'm in," Shae declared.
Bron and his guards exited the establishment as they paid for the meals. Walking down the busy streets to the car, he reached for his phone and dialed his boss.
"Did she take the job?" A female voice asked.
"Yes ma'am. She and her sister are both going in. They can be powerful assets since the return of the huntsmen," Bron spoke with confidence.
"And I'm not fond of bringing in those less than 18. The project we are surveying is very important to us and the one who made it possible."
"I understand. To be honest Mistress Sera, for a girl who has a unique condition she is smarter than I thought," Bron spoke out.
"In my experience, people with her condition tend to have remarkable strengths despite their… disadvantages," Sera spoke with honesty in her voice.
"And what we can have to keep us honest," Bron said as the car drove through a traffic light.
Two weeks past from the meet with Shae preparing to present herself to the project. Her dad didn't like the idea that his little girl is going into the secret project Haldrana got in, which got them out of their financial problem. Shae had to constantly tell her old man that her mind is made up. It took a lot of persuasion with her and her daring Uncle Qrow on the phone, but they ended up getting her dad to give in and let her go. Before they left, her dad asked Haldrana to watch over her sister as he saw them leave in an airship.
Inside the large ship, Shae returned to her specially made dress. She wore her small combat boots, thigh-length skirt, long-sleeve black dress with cuffs and a high collar, and gloves. The dress had dark purple highlights at her laces and the trims of her dress. To top off her dark look, she had a purple cloak with a black underbelly. She then had her dress enhanced with some armor plating around the legs, her arms, and her chest.
Truth to be told, she stood out a lot in the ship, but looking at the others made her feel a little better. Shae turned to a woman walking to her person.
A tall woman with long, wavy black hair with gold tints at the ends reaching her chest. She wore knee-length pants with brown boots that covered her legs, leaving a small reveal of her knees. A yellow choker tucked tight on her neck, followed with a blood red shirt and a gray vest. On her arms were oversized gauntlets with its fingers sharpened to resemble claws. On her face she had a gray mouth guard under her jaw and a pair of eyes that are purple and red. Her loving and protective sister, Haldrana Xiao Long.
"You sure you want to do this? You can still walk away," Haldrana asked crossing her arms.
"I made up my mind Hal, there's no turning back. I want to see more than Patch and Vale. I want to expand a bit more," Shae told stubbornly.
"If anything, it's a nice change for you. Especially now I and dad won't worry about your vigilante schemes at Vale," Haldrana said placing her hands on her hips.
"Give me a break will you? Those guys deserve all the blood and bruises I wrought upon them. I get sick and tired of the graffiti, theft, and drugs," Shae grumbled a bit.
"Isn't that a bit overreacting?" Haldrana wondered on her sister's motives.
"What's the point of laws if there are those who just ignore it? For the countries we live and the technologies advancing, you'd think they would put more enforcement on the small ones than the big laws," Shae barked a bit to not get attention to herself.
Haldrana merely raised her hands in surrender, not wanting to invoke an argument that will last the entire trip. Shae caught wind of her sister's silence and sighed, now wanting to change the subject.
"So this project can help the world," Shae asked about it.
"Yeah it will. The guys made me do a lot of damage to the criminal underworld. You just need to past the harsh beginnings," Haldrana advised.
"If you can do it, I can as well," Shae said with determination.
"Really? Then you better prepare while you still can," Haldrana laughed a bit on her sister's enthusiasm.
The two sisters then look out a window and saw their new home. A massive superstructure with four large towers arranged as the defense. The walls reach halfway to the towers with cannons to halt an intruding army. The insides look like a combination of a park and a suburban area with trees and gardens.
"Well sis, before we set foot. I just got one thing to say," Haldrana said as they then looked a one another, "Welcome to Project Freelancer."
Hope you guy like it. Oh and Happy New Year!