The pain of the past and future
2 years before current events
Michael, a rising star at signal is training in the forest with his girlfriend Tash. They fight and laugh as they trade blows but one wrong step by Tash sets a chain of events that will shape Michaels future forever.
"Come on Michael, you can hit harder than that" Tash says as she starts to pound into Michael with her machine gun gauntlets or griever.
"Well maybe if you stopped trying to shoot me in the legs" Michael retorts as he swings the scythe into her stomach which she blocks.
"Well protect them more. It's going to be your down fall one day" She says.
But life gave her an ironic twist. As she reloads Michael swings at her legs. She goes to block but slips. Michaels blade swings but it has too much force behind it to stop. The blade hits her throat and it starts to slice. Tash gets her gauntlets up just before the blade can slice her neck open anymore and pushes the blade away. Michael looks and sees the cut on her neck. It's at least 5 mm deep into her neck. He pulls out the blade and sees the blade covered in blood.
Tash puts her hand to her neck and starts to laugh, as she covers the wound.
"Haha that was a close one". She says with a smile. Michael sighs with relief.
2 years later
Unknown POV
As I sit on the edge of a skyscraper, I watch the streets for our target. He apparently will be robbing this bank today and we are hired to stop him. I put my scope up to look down at the bank. No movement and nothing has changed for the last hour since we started to watch the place.
I sit and watch the ally next to the bank and no change. I hear foot steps behind me and I look back to the roof door see my team mate. He looks at me and nods.
"The Bikes are ready when we need them DH" He say through his voice modifier.
"Good let's get ourselves set up then Grimm." I say looking at his skull mask.
Ever since I've known Grimm, I have only ever seen his face 3 times, all from his mask being destroyed. Every time that happened he was filled with rage, but when calm he is a kind person so I don't mind. He wears a pitch black cloak and black armour under the cloak. They always had a voice modifier on under the mask so if it was destroyed you could still not tell their voice.
He has a sword on his back that is also a semi-auto rifle and 2 daggers on his waist that are revolvers. His gloves carry grapple hooks which has saved his ass more times then I care to count. He looks over to the ledge as he walks to the lip of the roof.
"They are here" he states. Not long after an explosion goes off. I put the scope to my eye and look out into the horizon. Sure enough a hole now sat where the door once was. I look at Grimm and nod. We jump off the building and land near the bikes I look at mine. These bikes took days to prep and mod for our use. The last bikes we had blew up in an inferno of scrap metal and the people in the bunker we had to attack. The boss made us get new ones and Grimm works for days getting them ready.
"Meet you there" Grimm says in a competitive tone. His bike roared to life a speed off. I laugh and start mine. The engine sounded like it could kill you will a single rev. I speed off after Grimm. Grimm is not far ahead but I can see him pulling Guilty Thorn from his back in rifle mode. He aims at a guard sitting at the getaway car and fires. The guard falls with a thud as we screech to a halt. I smash the window and take out the driver before he could see what happened.
I look to the door from the shadows of the truck and see our target is walking back to the vans with his 5 cohorts. Our target was a well-known dealer in illegal arms and Faunus child trafficking. Most of these children were sent to the Schnee Dust Company as cheap labour. This man's name is Samuel 'Poacher' Read. Now to finish our mission and to make it fast. Grimm shoots his grapple hook at a guy near the back and pulls him into a dark space. The party is just starting.
I walk out into the open and smile. Now I'm not a very intimidating build. I'm tall, thin with dirty blond hair. I have it in a ponytail ever since 2 years ago. My gear consists of the same armour as Grimm and my weapons are machine gun gauntlets and a scythe. The scythe can form portals thanks to void dust in the blade. After the incident 2 years ago I have carried my friend's weapon to remember my mistake and to remind myself that it was my fault but I will keep their dream to help other alive by using their weapon. I pull a crescent blade from my back and look at the 5 men in front of me.
"Samuel Reeds, you are here by ask to stand down or I will make you" I say looking at him. Then 2 more guards vanish as Grimm pulls them in and knocks them out. Samuel still hasn't noticed. Samuel speaks.
"You are merely a child. What could you do to me"? He says then laughs a big deep belly laugh. A smirk crosses my face as I pull out my scythe and load my gauntlets. I just look at him as dark purple aura covers me as I pump it into my scythe. The blade starts to glows black.
"Well it is going to be a 2 on 1 so I think I have a really good shot" I state. He looks at me in question then laughs.
"Hahaha, what are you on about child. There is 6 of us against 1 ….. of …. You" He says hesitating as he looks behind him and sees his men are missing. He also sees the guard and the driver have been shot. Samuel starts to sweat. Footsteps ring out behind him. He turns and sees Grimm slowly walking to him.
"Samuel Reed. You had your chance to surrender, now make your choice. Surrender and live or fight and die. Your choice" Grimm says in a dark tone. Samuel seemed to mull it over before making a really stupid decision. He drew a gun and shot Grimm's mask. The mask cracks but holds together. As quick as a breath Grimm drew one of his knifes, changed it to pistol for and shot Samuel straight through the skull. But as he shoots another shot is heard just after. A high impact round smashed into his revolver and knocked it out of his hands. We look up to a building to our right where the shot came from. On the roof we see a girl in red standing looking down at us.
20 minutes before
Unknown POV
I look down to the street to see Weiss, Blake and Yang in position. We are after Samuel 'Poacher' Reed. He has information we need to find a White Fang base. He has dealings with almost everyone and deals in anything that pays well. Getting him off the streets into a cell will make things easier for us and harder for criminals to fight back.
We watch over the bank and wait. I fall asleep.
15 minutes later
"Ruby wake up you dolt". I wake with a start as hear Weiss over my ear piece. I move to the edge just when I hear an explosion. I look at the bank door and it's been destroyed.
"Ok remember guys, we grab him when he leaves the bank". I say over our coms. We watch him walk inside with 5 other men. 2 stay out at the vehicle. As we wait, a rumble is heard in the distance. I look down the street and see 2 pitch black bikes with 2 riders speed to the scene.
The one up the front pulls out a rifle and fires a supressed round and takes out the one on guard. They pull up and start to walk to the van. The other one smashes the driver's window and smashes his head on a sharp piece of glass still in the frame. As I look at these 2 one turns around to our direction. He has a skull mask on his face. He moves into the shadows near a stand. The other hides behind the van.
Not long after, Samuel and his five goons walk out of the building. They look pleased about their robbery. A quick flash catches my eye as I see the goon at the back is dragged into the shadows without a sound. The others haven't noticed. They move closer than 2 more vanish but into a different direction. The one behind the van reveals himself and they talk. The last 2 of the guards vanish but I don't see where.
Samuel starts looking confident and laughs. Then looks around and starts to look extremely scared. The skull face guy starts walking behind him. Samuel turns to see him and the skull guy speaks. Blake got close enough for us to hear it.
"Samuel Reed. You had your chance to surrender, now make your choice. Surrender and live or fight and die. Your choice" says the guy with a skull mask. I shudder at the sound of his voice. I then raise Crescent Rose in scythe form and aim. Samuel pulls out a small handgun and shot the guys mask. The mask holds and faster than I could blink the skull guy pulls out a knife that shifts into a revolver. The bullet smashes through Samuels head without a thought. I quickly raise Crescent Rose and fired.
"We need to move now" I say over the coms as I stand and see them looking at me.
Unknown POV
As we look at the girl, she seems to say something. I move over to Grimm when a large piece of ice slams between us. On the road bellow the red girl is a girl in white. She's holding a rapier up and it's glowing a light blue. I ready my scythe, when a girl in black and white appears in front of the ice, stopping me in my tracks. I see Grimm come around the front of the ice spire. A fire ball is then shot at him but he dives away in time.
"I believe this is yours" I say picking up his revolver and throwing it to him. He catches it and pulls its twin from his belt. I hold my scythe at a ready stance as I see a girl in yellow stand on top of the ice spire. We start backing up as they close in. Grimm speaks.
"Stop now and leave. Neither of us wish for blood shed so stop this now." He says pointing the revolvers at the white and red duo. I look at the red girl and see her scythe.
"So someone else fights with a scythe besides me, you owe me 20 lien Grimm." I say now watching the black and yellow girls.
"Not now Deaths hand". He says still looking at the girls. "We need to get to the bikes. Our mission is finish". He says motioning to the bikes. I nod and we start making our way to them when the one in white stabs the ground and makes an ice wall behind us. "Stop this before someone is hurt" Grimm says in a dark tone. Almost animalistic.
They just look at each other when the black talks.
"We were after that man. He held information we wanted and now he's dead". She says. Grimm is the first to reply.
"Thanks for the observation Sherlock. What was your first clue? The massive hole in his skull or almost every drop of blood is now covering the floor?" he says with a dark laugh. "Now if you don't mind our job is finished and we will be going now". Grimm finishes as he uses his grapple hooks to fly over the wall. But the one in red is there to meet him. She swings a massive red scythe at him but he pulls his sword from his back and deflects it.
But as the blade swings across the scythes pole, it slides across the shaft and slashes across the red girls right eye and part of her nose. A blood trail follows the blade. But before anything else can happen, I move fast. Feeling something bad was going to happen I grab Grimm's arm and throw him to the bikes. We speed off. I look back and see a massive fire ball blazing behind us. I look and see the end of Grimm's blade is dripping with blood. We ride back to base in silence.
Ruby POV
Red. I don't feel pain. I just see red. I feel a heat wave hit me. Yang is mad about something. I need to move to her. Follow the heat. I crawl slowly. Only seeing blurs from my left eye, the heat is getting slowly greater as I move. I fall off the ice wall with a loud thud. The heat dies off and I feel myself being picked up by something.
"Yang". I mumble as I start to feel a searing pain come from my right eye. I feel tears coming from my left eye. I start to slightly scream at the pain that has just explode from my eye.
What happened? Why can't I see out of my eye? Why is it red? What happened to those people in black? I ask myself these questions over and over again. I try speaking but only a painful moan escapes my mouth. I feel a needle in my arm and I blackout.
3 Hours later
Ruby POV
I wake up feeling sore and tired. I only see black out of my right eye. I look around and see asleep on my bed. I look around and see I'm in a hospital. Why am I here?
Then I remember why. We went after Samuel, he was then killed by 2 people in black. They were leaving and we tried to stop them. Then nothing. I can't remember after that. I look at the door when I see Ozpin walk in.
"You had a very eventful evening Miss Rose". He says sitting in a free seat. "So care to tell me why you're here" He asks. I sigh and explain what had happened.
"Did one of the duo have a skull mask" He asked. I look at him. How could he know that?
"Yes, yes he did sir". I say looking at him.
"Well no wonder you lost. That would be team Grim Reaper. They are strong fighters but not the best at keeping themselves secret." He says drinking his coffee. "They work for a company that does mercenary and assassination jobs. I do believe it's an invite only club". He says with a chuckle.
He stands up and walks to the door. "Get well soon Miss Rose. You have a test on Grimm anatomy on Tuesday" He says walking away. Leaving me in my room with Yang on my bed asleep during the whole talk.
Grimm's POV
When we arrived back at base. Things slowly went downhill. First the main door won't open since we left without our passes. Then when we got inside, one of the officers started to yell at us for making tire tracks in his hanger. Then we were called to the commander's office. How could this possible get any worse.
We stand at ease, near the door waiting to be called in.
"GET YOUR ASSES IN HERE" The sergeant calls. We walk in and see commander snow and sergeant Stora standing in the office.
"So can you tell me what happened" The commander asked.
"A group of rookies wanted to pick a fight with us. We tried to leave and they attack, Sir". I say at attention.
"So how should I punish you for hurting a civilian?" He asks.
"Might I make a suggestion Max" Says a voice behind us. I look and the man has grey hair. He walked in with a cain, coffee mug and was wearing green. He also had spectacles sitting on his nose. He looked at us then the commander. The commander seemed to smile.
"Hello my old friend. How's the life of a huntsmen and a head master." He asked shaking the man's hand.
"Gets frustrating at times. Like today I went to the hospital for one of my students who had their eye slashed with a blade." I visibly stiffen.
"Ahhh I think I know what you're on about. I believe these 2 are who your here to see Ozpin". Commander Snow says.
Ozpin turns and looks us over. He nods and looks at the commander.
"Do believe I have a decent punishment instore form them". Ozpin states. "Why not get them to attend my school. They will be in charge of keeping students from harm and learn more than they already know". He say. The commander mulls it over and nods.
"Very well. For this fiasco you will be working and training at the school. Also Grimm you will be making that girl a new eye". Says the commander. "You will be leaving tomorrow so get packed" He says.
We salute him and leave the office.
"At least it can't get any worse". I say walking to my room.
Commander Max Snow POV
As the 2 leave I look at Ozpin.
"I have known you for years. I have never questioned your judgment but right now, this is will fail. They are trained kills of man, not beast. Why do you want them really" I say to Ozpin.
"The group of students they ran into were on a trail of white fang groups. They are trying to take down an entire organisation by themselves. I want those two, so I might be able to get them to either train them in combat against humans or keep them out of harm's way. They also need to learn something besides killing". Ozpin states. I look at him and sigh. I nod one last time.
"Ok you can have them, Just bring them back in one piece" I say turning away to look at the monitors behind my desk.
Ozpin POV
1 hour later
"Grimm Reaper 2-0. Team consists of code names 'Grimm and Deaths Hand'. Some of the youngest in their fields. Meet 2 years ago. Grimm hides his face basically always and DH wears standard gear, Deaths Hand became dark after an incident between them and their only friend in a training match. Grimm is unknown. Last recorded house was in Vacuo, after that everything is lost to the world. But why does he wear those masks". I say looking at their file.
"Michael 'Deaths Hand' Sting and Matt 'Grimm' Smith. You will be interesting to have here at my school". I say turning off the scroll.
"God this coffee sucks" I say pouring it out. "I feel like, I forgot something". I think it over but it doesn't click. "Oh well, couldn't have been that important". I say as I yawn and head to my room.