(A RWBY AU INSPIRED BY THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN)

(PRESENTED BY SHOCK FACTOR)

Seven Deadly

Prologue

Just Business

Somewhere in Vale

Sienna Braz was just a little girl, in a small family, in a tiny little Dust Mining town. Only 7, she was the daughter of a SDC worker and a stay-at-home mother who didn't care much for any affairs outside of their own.

The townspeople had gathered in the town hall to discuss the matter of a recent visitor to their fair domain. A man, clad in business attire, had come and made an offer. He represented the Varsis Company, who were performing experiments on Grimm using Dust in order to find ways to better defeat them, or better yet, tame them. All they needed, the man said, was the place to do it. They offered a pretty penny for the land this town was on, but there was no information as to where exactly the displaced would go.

Jesse Braz stood up and refused, and the rest of the town agreed with him. They wouldn't give up the land they fought Grimm, Nature, and Man to claim as their home and livelihood.

Surprisingly, the businessman took it well, all things considered, and said he'd be sending an agent in due time to see if they reconsidered. The town gave him a meal for the road, out of hospitality, but were quick to -politely- inform him that the town was not up for sale.

Then, two months later, came today.

Today seemed like a normal day in this sleepy town. The birds sang, the poppies danced, and the wind whistled through the trees. The sun cast a deep orange glow over the land, and all seemed well. No Grimm in sight, nothing amiss.

The watchman couldn't help but marvel at the wondrous show Nature had seen fit to give him. He let his weapon, a shotgun with a long, needle-type bayonet, rest on his lap, as the threat of the Grimm seemed further and further away.

"Hail!" someone shouted from below.

He blinked quickly, refocusing as he grabbed his weapon and looked over the parapet. Someone wanted in.

The men and women at the gate were all garbed in utilitarian clothes- fatigues, armor, light coverings, the like-, and carrying advanced weaponry. They were obviously hunters and huntresses, but the question was, what purpose drove them here?

"Good morning!" One of the hunters in the group greeted him, a man with jet-black hair, slicked back and trimmed at the sides, and deep blue eyes. He carried a pair of double-barreled weapons, which both hung loosely in holsters attached to his coat. "Is this the town of Reveille?"

"It would be," the watchman said. "What's your business, stranger?"

" Business is my business, my friend," the man replied. "I've come on behalf of the Varsis Company."

Oh, great. Didn't that businessman just come by last week?

"Sir, our position hasn't changed, we're not selling you the land," the watchman informed him.

"Are you the mayor, friend?"

"... No, sir."

"Then do not pretend to speak on their behalf. I assure you, I'm only here to try and negotiate some sort of agreement. Now, if you would kindly let me in, I'm famished. It's been a long trip from Mistral."

The watchman wasn't sure if he trusted this new presence. The businessman came with guards, but he was always the one who came. It seemed odd that, instead of him, they would send the equivalent of a hatchet man to come and try to 'negotiate an agreement' with the town. He didn't like it, no, not one bit. But, turning them away would likely bring more trouble on their heads than they already were in.

"Open the gates, we got visitors!"

The gates opened, and the motley crew in front of them strode in like conquerors, looking down their noses at the local populace while they looked around for the town hall. save for the man with the blue eyes. He was just hungry. He accosted a random citizen, who just so happened to be the young Sienna.

"Good morning, young lady!"

"Good morning, mister!" she replied to the stranger. She stuck out an eager hand, which brought a smile to Blue-Eyes' face. He took the small girl's hand, and shook it.

"Now, you seem like a knowledgeable woman," the man began, his tone easy and warm. "Would you happen to know where I can get something to eat? I've had a long trip, and I'm really hungry."

Sienna thought for a moment. The man seemed nice, for a stranger, and he wasn't being weird, so she guessed he was okay. He looked really awesome, so he must be a hunter, she reasoned, which made him, like, a superhero. Sienna loved superheroes, she read X-Ray and Vav comics all the time. She really would like to talk to a superhero- er, a hunter.

"You can come with me! Maybe Daddy will be okay with you having lunch with us!"

"Now, now, I don't mean to impose-"

"I'll go ask him!" With that, she bolted, headed straight for the gates. Her dad was on watch duty today, so he might have actually met the stranger. Her dad was coming down, already expecting trouble, when his daughter came careening into him.

"Daddy daddy daddy daddy daddy!"

He couldn't help but smile at his daughter's enthusiasm. "Yes, nugget, it's me. What's up?"

"A hunter came up to me and asked about getting food and I really want to meet a real hunter please please pleaaaaase can we let him come over with us I promise I'll never ask for anything ever again! Ever!"

Oh, wonderful. The watchman knew that these men and women had less than the best intentions in mind, just by looking at them, and now one of them had come up to his daughter and plied her into her usual bouts of hero worship. That was no feat, but it still concerned him that this was the case. However, he supposed that it would be best to treat them well- perhaps when he and the rest of the town council rejected their offer for the umpteenth time, they would be inclined to leave in good faith.

"I suppose so, nugget. Let's go."

"YAY!"

From what conversation the hunter had made, the watchman found out that his name was Guinness. He was from Mistral, currently contracted to Varsis as its Security Chief. He was a Beacon Academy graduate, and currently did negotiation and business management work when not on the hunt- as a matter of fact, he was the current majority shareholder at Varsis, making him, for all intents and purposes, the acting owner. Another thing he learned was that, evidently, the man's stomach was unappeasable, as he was currently on thirds.

"This food is delicious, sir. I appreciate your hospitality," Guinness looked across the table at the watchman as he picked up the last scraps of his meal.

"It's not a problem, Mr. Guinness," the watchman replied.

"I didn't catch your name."

"Jesse."

"Ah, Jesse. Very business-like name. What's your occupation, Jesse?"

Jesse guessed there was no harm in small talk. "I work as a project manager for the Schnee Dust Company."

"Huh. Interesting." Guinness jerked his head towards a window pointing over at the caves. "Those are your project?"

"Yes, the Dust mines are the biggest source of the town's income."

"Hm." Guinness took another mouthful of his meal, not even bothering to chew it before continuing his line of questioning. "We could pay you more for the land than Schnee ever would, and yet you stubbornly insist on sticking to it. Why?"

"I don't know about you, Mr. Guinness, but around these parts, we tend to prefer our family home stay our home. We don't take kindly to people stealin' it."

Guinness shot back up in his chair, face blanched, and mouth in a wide 'o'. "Oum and all of his angels, sir! I would never steal anything from anyone! That's just plain cruelty. I intend to reimburse you for the land, make no mistake." Say what you want about Madder Guinness, but he was a professional, and he would not have a blemish such as 'refusing to honor one's end of the deal so long as both parties remained willing' on his record.

"Your coin may be good, sir, but it's still highway robbery."

"That so?" Guinness sighed, rolling his eyes. "How is this town run, Jesse?"

"The mayor consults the council on major matters, and makes the final decision on them. I happen to sit on the council."

Guinness leaned over the table, a strange, nigh-unreadable look in his eye. His hands were planted firmly on the table, and the dim light of the house cast a shadow over his face. Then, he smiled.

"Jesse, would you be a good host, and see about calling a meeting for me?" the businessman asked. "I have an important matter that needs to be discussed."

Now, Jesse Braz was a man of integrity, if nothing else. He was very proud of his home, and he would fight to the death for it. However, the look this man across from him gave as he looked across the table at him promised that, should he refuse Guinness, something would happen to him that he wouldn't enjoy at all. Perhaps, now that he was full, Guinness would be more reasonable when faced with the forces of democracy.

"Give me a couple of minutes, Mr. Guinness."

"Excellent! I'll assemble the team to meet you at the town hall!" With that, the hunter got up from the table, acting as if his attempt at intimidation had never happened. "Thank you for the delicious meal, and I will be seeing you shortly. Don't be tardy, now!"

With that, the hunter/businessman walked out of the house through the same way he entered, whistling a tune as he threw open the door, not even bothering to close it. Sienna, dutiful child she was, immediately rushed to close it, before looking at Jesse for approval. The man smiled at his daughter, nodding his head. "Good girl."

Sienna skipped over to her father, looking up at him expectantly. "So, what did the nice man say?"

Jesse sighed, leaning back in his chair. "He wants the town to have a little meeting to talk to him about stuff. Nothing you need to worry about."

"But I'm a big girl!"

"You sure are, but not big enough to understand this. Look, I want you to stay home and wait until I come back. Don't come to the big house, don't leave our home, okay?"

Sienna looked confused, her big brown doe-eyes watering up slightly. "B-b-but..."

"No buts, or I won't let you have your play date with Millie tomorrow. Got it?"

"Yes, sir..." the little girl muttered.

"Now, Daddy's gotta go take care of this, okay? Stay inside."

The town hall was abuzz with gossip at the sudden turn of events. Sure, the Varsis company had entered Reveille before, but never with a full complement of huntsmen and huntresses, and certainly not with the company's de facto boss. This was a worrying turn of events. The mayor intended to have a quick discussion on the matter before the Varsis reps arrived.

"Have we reached an agreement on what exactly the terms are?" the elderly man asks.

"We're saying 'no,'" a young woman said. "That's MY terms!"

"We ain't giving up our land. We built this building with our blood, sweat, and tears, and I'll be damned if I let it go to some Atlesian asshat businessman!" a younger council member interjected.

"What if they offer us more money this time?" one retorted. "We could just take the money and get a better place to live, farther from the Grimm!"

"And leave behind the land given to me by my blood as far back as we go? Like hell!""

Jesse sighed as the back and forth arguments continued. At this rate, no decision would be made- they'd sit here, twiddling their thumbs and stroking their peckers until the Varsis reps came in and raised all kinds of ruckus. And they wouldn't take a non-decisive answer. In Jesse's opinion, they needed to either take a stand, or just give up- there was no point in trying to delay the inevitable decision thrust upon them.

"Everyone, quiet!" The mayor shouted. stopping the proceedings. "All in favor of selling the town, raise one hand."

About eight men and two women raised their hand.

"All in favor of rejecting the offer?"

The rest of the townsfolk present, around fifty-something, raised their hands.

"Alright, then. It is settled. Where are the men from the Dust Compa-"

The doors to the hall swung open, as if on cue, and the Varsis hunters all entered the main chamber. Their faces were cool, unreadable, as if expecting at any moment for the whole affair to go keel-up. They all spread about the room, with one man in blue and steel grey armor standing at the doorway, eyes hidden behind red bangs. He had a large leaf-shaped sword and a broad, oblong shield of Mistralian origin. A mercenary, no doubt. Guinness walked with a defiant swagger to the center of the room, as if he not only owned the hall, or the town, but the entire Kingdom of Vale as well- hell, maybe Atlas and Mistral too! The crimson, sleeveless longcoat he wore trailed behind him like a cape, while his deep, crystalline blue eyes swiveled around the room, taking estimates as to who was who in this godforsaken town.

"Who's the mayor?" he asked, as a boyish fellow with blonde hair like fresh-cut grain and eyes the color of jade stood beside him.

"That would be me," the greying, aged man at the podium replied, straightening himself up to look as strong as possible. "Who are you?"

"Mister Mayor, my name is Madder S. G. Guinness, majority shareholder and CEO pro-tempore of VDS- Varsis Dust Solutions. We understand that this here town is called Reveille, and is sponsored by the Schnee Dust Company, currently chaired by the young Weiss J. Schnee, is this correct?"

"It would be."

"Are you satisfied with the Schnee Dust Company, Mister Mayor?"

The mayor shook his head. "We need not be satisfied, we must simply make do."

"And that is the kind of attitude that contributes to the homeless and unemployed population increase, ladies and gentlemen! Unambitious louts who are afraid to rock the boat and take a damn stand!"

The crowd was riveted on him as he continued his spontaneous little speech. Jesse hated it, made the man look like a wannabe tyrant who would try and conquer the world with his words. Who knows, maybe that's his plan.

"The weak, the unskilled, the underachieving! They all settle for mediocrity and failure when they could have so much more! You could be rich! You could be famous! You could fuck a celebrity! You can do anything you wish, so long as you work for it, but you refuse to WORK for it," the Atlesian ranted, his blue eyes widened, teeth bared, and gesticulating wildly to emphasize his point. "Look at you all! Living next to the biggest deposit of Dust discovered in a century, nearly, and being forced to work day in and day out while being paid a PITTANCE for your services! You live in FUCKING! WOODEN! SHEDS! For the LOVE of OUM! YOU'RE ALL POOR!"

The man who earlier agreed to the sale nodded. The blonde looked nervously at those who didn't.

"All you have to do, to be happy now, is to help me help you! Sell this land and the Mine to Varsis Dust Solutions! Sell your homes, sell your livestock, sell your Dust! Let me give you my money, let me give you a new home! You'll be relocated to a pleasurable, relaxing place far away from the creatures of Grimm or the White Fang! All you have to do..."

He took a pen out of his hair, from behind his ear, and mimed signing something, before pointing it at the mayor.

"... is just agree to these terms... and I'll make you a very, very wealthy man, Mister Mayor." He then swept his hand over the crowd, who stared at him like he was possessed. "I'll make you all wealthy! EVERY DAMN ONE OF YOU WILL BE FILTHY SHITTING RICH! JUST GIVE ME THE MINE!"

"No."

Guinness snapped, his coat whipping as he turned to face the assembled group on his right, where the denial had come from. "Who said 'no?'"

Someone immediately pointed at Jesse. The wispy man took a deep breath, and looked up at his adversary. "That'd be me, Mr. Guinness."

Guinness' mouth formed an 'o', as he stepped to the side, turning to look at Jesse. "Jesse?"

The man stood up, leaning slightly on the table, tawny beige eyes locking on Guinness' blue. He would not be cowed now.

"That would be me, sir."

Guinness' 'o' morphed into a wide, affable grin as he took a few steps towards him. "Jesse, Jesse, Jesse... What's got you so determined? You seemed so open to discussion before!"

"We came to an agreement. If you'd like the terms, ask the mayor."

Guinness looked over at the mayor. "Well?"

"Mr. Guinness... we've discussed your offer, and.. held a vote on the matter. With respect, the town has declined your offer," the Mayor explained, looking down at the podium.

"Oh, what a pity, what a pity..." Guinness muttered, his hands hanging limply at his sides. "Well, Magnis," he continued, looking over at the blonde. "I guess there's only one other option left, isn't there?"

The blonde sighed, resting his hand on the hilt of his blade. Guinness, with a long, drawn out sigh, pulled out one of his shotguns. "Remember, you could have prevented this!"

With that, he nonchalantly pointed the weapon at Jesse, and fired.

A day later, in Atlas

Schnee Dust Company HQ

"Mr Torchwick, please report to Madam Schnee's office immediately, Mr. Torchwick," a bored voice chimed over the intercom, awaking Roman Torchwick from his slumber at the guest room. He had been called up by the woman late last night, and wired the lien needed to buy two tickets to Atlas. Ever since he 'went straight', he'd been doing semi-legal duties for various businesses, alongside his faithful assistant, Neo. Their most recent employer was none other than the recently crowned heiress Weiss Schnee, who had yet to fully utilize their services.

Roman yawned as he stood to full height, his cane in hand. Neo followed suit, the small mute staying close to her handler's side as he made his way to the elevators. Schnee never did have any sort of patience, in all 10 of the years he served as her employee. As they went up, the intercom came on yet again.

"Mr. Torchwick, please report to Madam Schnee's office immediately."

"I'm on my way, you rube," the man muttered, tapping his cane on the elevator floor until the elevator stopped.

"50th Floor", the elevator droned, as the two former criminals stepped out and into the lobby. The secretary, a waspy woman in about her late fifties, looked up from her desk at them.

"You're late, Mr. Torchwick."

"Maybe if you remind me enough, I'll magically turn back time for you, darling. Now, am I allowed in?"

"Yes, sir." The woman pressed a button under her desk, and the doors to her left opened. "Go right in."

"Don't mind if I do," Roman replied. He and Neo walked past the desk, and through the double doors, into a small antechamber, with a pair of large steel bulkheads with the Schnee family sigil.

"Roman, you're an hour, thirteen minutes, thirty-six and three-quarters seconds late. Care to explain?"

"Please excuse me, princess, I'm not getting any younger- ah, who am I kidding, I'm not really concerned at all. Can we skip the questioning and just get down to business, because I promised my belle I would buy her a new dress, and I need a nice sum of lien right about now."

"You and your hussy just shut up and get in here."

The large bulkheads opened up, revealing an elaborately designed chamber, with a double staircase leading down to a work area, sectioned off from a private study behind it. A svelte, haughty woman no older than 30, maybe younger, walked down the right staircase, her heels clacking against the granite. Her hair was tied back in a prim bun, and a pair of thin-framed glasses rested on her nose. A rapier with revolving chambers in the hilt lay at rest on her left hip, and her ice-blue eyes immediately locked in on Roman.

"You certainly have aged quite a bit, Torchwick."

Roman chuckled, leaning slightly on his cage. "You aren't exactly a child yourself, ma'am."

"I'm not here for small talk. Didn't you want to get paid?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact. This a simple job?"

"But of course. All you have to do is make a call."

Roman raised an eyebrow. Nothing was ever that easy with Schnee. "Care to elaborate?"

Weiss sighed. "A rival company entered my town without any sort of notice, and killed the mayor, the project manager, the manager's wife, and two other citizens. The leader of this massacre then sent me a recorded message."

With that, she hit a button on her desk in the middle of her work area, bringing up a holoscreen. "Play File- 'Demands'."

The screen lit up, revealing a man in the center of what looked to be a meeting area, twirling a weapon- some sort of shotgun, as he whistled, stepping in a wide circle around the room. Weiss paused the feed.

"This man is Madder Guinness, pro-tempore Chief Executive Officer and Majority Shareholder of our main rival, the Varsis Dust Solutions company. He's known for performing plenty of hostile takeovers of rival companies- the Coal Dust Conglomerate, Mistralian Dust, and the firm of Wyndham, Maddox, and Priar, to name a few. He just did the same to our Dust mining town, Reveille."

She then points to the man standing by a podium, his weapon stained with the blood of, presumably, the old man slumped over it. "That man is Magni Carolus, a high-ranking security official in VDS. Mistralian by birth. He's been under Varsis' payroll since leaving Haven Academy, acting as Guinness' right hand man. Resume the footage."

The footage continued, with 'Guinness' stopping his pacing to look at the camera.

"Hellooooooooooo, Miss Schnee! How are you this lovely day? Rhetorical question, by the way, don't answer that. You know who I am, I know who you are, so let's skip the introductions for the day. You see, I tried to be nice, I really did! But your employees were just so... hostile! It was appalling!"

A man in the crowd around them tried to leave the room, only for the door to be blocked by a big man in heavy armor, who smashed him onto the floor with his shield, before impaling the man.

"Yeesh..." Roman muttered. "Tough crowd, even for VDS..."

"Ikoto! What did I tell you about making a mess on the floor! Bad! Bad! Now, where was I... ah, yes, the town. Look, Schnee, you know me, I detest all forms of violence-"

"Grimm shit..." she muttered.

"-and I really want this to stop now, before anyone else must get hurt. This is just business, after all. Now, this is all I demand. I want 1,000 lien per head for everyone in this town, plus the land. I will compensate you for it with... 5 lien per acre."

"Five lien!?" Roman looked absolutely dumbfounded.

'That's highway robbery', Neo signed.

"However, knowing your stubborn, pompous self, having been handed everything you've ever gotten in life, expect me to hand you over a victory simply out of the goodness of my heart. Ah-ah-aaaah, not happening. Every day that goes by without word from you, I will murder someone in this town. It will be swift and painless, but a killing nonetheless... Starting right... now."

He immediately swung his weapon and fired, blowing a nasty chunk out of the side of the head of a female councilwoman attempting to hide behind a chair, taking the majority of the chair's backboard with the bloody mess, as well.

"Twenty-four hours, Miss Schnee... TICK. TOCK." Guinness smiled, and waved at the camera pointed at him as he holstered his weapon.

-transmission terminated-

Neo looked perturbed. She wasn't squeaky clean herself, but she never hurt a civilian if it could be helped. Roman had a similar mindset, but his expression was far less emotive.

"So... what do I do?"

"The Atlesian Regulatory Bureau is half in their pocket, half in ours, there'd be no progress in a legal battle... which is why I want plausible deniability. I have private contractors with no formal ties to the SDC, and I know one that is very, very efficient in their business. Roman, you will give this associate of mine a quick call, and wire them 10,000 lien for the recapture of the town, and 1,000,000 for Madder Guinness' head on a silver platter, should they accept such an assignment. You will be paid 50,000 lien once they contact me and accept the mission. Understood?"

"Loud and clear... but who's this associate of yours?"

Weiss Schnee smiled, and took out her Scroll, typing in a few characters, before tossing the device to Roman. He looked down at the image on screen. A woman, aged 32, with bright green eyes, blood-red hair, and, according to the information under her name, a record 14 time Mistral Combat Tournament winner, and a veteran Huntress of going on 16 years. A woman by the name of 'Pyrrha Nikos'.

"Dial it, Torchwick."

Roman complied, copying the number attached down to his own device, before tossing back Weiss'. He held the device up to his mouth as he started walking back to the bulkheads.

"Hello, is this a Miss Pyrrha Nikos? Ah, excellent. My name is Roman Torchwick, representing the Schnee Dust Company..."

To be continued...

A huge shout out to the friend of mine who got me to get off my butt and write this idea that's pinballed around my head. This is an Magnificent Seven/ Corporate Warfare AU where RWBY and JNPR didn't go to Beacon together, and the characters are all in their late 20's to mid 30's. The only characters that know each other personally are Weiss and Pyrrha (the latter works as a contractor, currently employed by the former due to some sort of nebulous under the table agreement made while Pyrrha was a tournament fighter).

Anyway, Magni and his team are the personal henchmen of Guinness, and are basically on about the level of the V3 cast in terms of raw power. All four of them have been picked from the branches of Varsis in different kingdoms to act as the company's axe-men. And yes, a few canon characters make cameos, besides RWBYJNPR.