Alright, boys and girls of the amazing RWBY Fandom. Relks the Disturbed here, coming at you with a new and fresh chapter one.
After I looked over the first chapter several times and looked over my views, I realized that my chapter one was severely lacking in comparison to all my other work in this story. So, I fixed it. To all of you who've been with this project for awhile now, I sincerely hope that this new version pleases all of you. If this is your first time reading this story, then please, enjoy my work and leave any criticism you feel like I need.
And now, on with the show!
January 1st, 9:40p.m., 451 A.G.
The Sun had set a few hours ago on the first day of a new year. As the darkness settled out across the sprawling Kingdom of Vale, one building in particular stood out against the dark. Beacon Academy shone out bright against the shadows and gloom from its place atop the cliffs above the sea, it's emerald namesake casting a faint light across all of the school grounds.
This emerald light even fell into the office of the prestigious Academy's Headmaster. Professor Ozpin relaxed back into the heavily cushioned chair at his desk, eyes flickering up from his computer terminal to glance at the bookshelves that lined two of the walls in the room. With a lamenting sigh he turned away from the walls of tomes back to the computer terminal.
On the screen was a collection of portrait thumbnail pictures. Twelve pictures were stacked to the left side of the monitor. The top row consisted of four girls, each wearing a definitive red, white, black and yellow. The girls of Team RWBY. The second row was of a nervous looking blonde, a confident girl with crimson hair, a bubbly orange-haired girl with a huge grin, and a nonchalant-looking dark haired young man. The four members of Team JNPR.
The third and final row, however, was one not commonly known to the people of Beacon Academy. Only Ozpin's trusted assistant, Glynda Goodwitch, and Ozpin himself knew of these four: A figure clad in the hooded black cloak, a smooth white mask with nought but two black circles for eyes adorning the figure's face. Next was a young man with a smug grin, his styled back hair and eyes both the color of blood. Two dark haired girls comprised the last half of the row, both similar yet undeniably opposite. One's long ebony tresses flowed down straight as a board, the top of her head concealed beneath a black beret that drew out the contrast of her disciplined ashen blue eyes. The last's hair billowed and cascaded down in a nearly untamed yet somehow well-kept mess, her own dark green eyes glaring at the camera with a look of distaste. They were Ozpin's secret, one of his few trump cards that he kept up his sleeve for special occasions.
"The root of the problem however remains unsolved," Ozpin gave a tired sigh and reached for his ever-present coffee mug. He sipped at the contents with joy, the warm liquid bringing a modicum of energy back into him. Setting the mug back down, he looked at the right side of the monitor: Four blank spaces for portraits to go. Four people yet undecided.
'How to decide the ones to watch over others…. They'll have to be patient to deal with all of them. Especially Xiao Long and Ashworth….' he mused to himself as he stared into the contents of his coffee mug.
Due to the increasingly dangerous situations arising in the Kingdom of Vale, Ozpin needed to implement new special policies. One of these policies was the institution of a new chaperon rule: Groups of first-year Teams would all be assigned an older, more experienced Team to watch over and help them develop. The only problem was the special circumstance of the three Teams on the screen. Team RWBY had a particular penchant for finding trouble, and JNPR as their friends was never far behind. Not to mention Ozpin's secret Team's own host of issues…
"Professor Ozpin," a refined, feminine voice snapped Ozpin from his musings. Hazel eyes glanced up from over their glasses, meeting sharp green as they emerged from the gloom across the office. There stood Glynda Goodwitch herself, her dignified air maintaining itself as she walked across the room with her black scroll in hand.
"What is it, Glynda?" the Headmaster's eyebrow rose in curiosity, his mug again in hand as Glynda came to stand next to him. She presented her scroll to him with a frown, tapping in a currently running news feed.
"This is Lisa Lavender, reporting this gruesome story as more information is made apparent. Just moments ago, White Fang insurgents attacked and captured an office building in downtown Vale. Reports have come in that the building is a subsidiary of the Schnee Dust Company, a section of the marketing branch of the well-known company. Word has come in that police are hesitant to storm the building due to hostages taken by the terrorist group. They are demanding a high ransom for the release of the company employees."
"That is quite the problem," Ozpin murmured into his cup as he took a sip, his eyebrow still raised in question to Glynda.
"Professor Ozpin, the Vale Police Department has requested that we send a team of Hunters to assist them," Glynda explained plainly, taking back her scroll and pulling up another file in the device. "However all full-fledged Huntsmen and Huntresses are outside of the Kingdom on assignment and all fourth and third year students are currently travelling the country as part of their training."
"That leaves only the first and second years," Glynda commented with a frown as her fingers flickered over the screen.
"Along with the school faculty," Ozpin added as he contemplated the problem, swirling the coffee idly in his mug. "But the only teachers on campus until tomorrow are us, Bartholomew and Peter. Too few to risk leaving the school unattended while the White Fang are this active, correct?"
"Yes, Professor," Glynda nodded, a feeling of unease settling over as she realized what Ozpin was implying. "Sir, you can't mean to send students for this?"
"We don't have much choice, Glynda," came Ozpin's muted reply as he sipped from his mug again. "Which second year teams still have their Scrolls active?"
Glynda wordlessly looked down, her fingers dancing across the display of her Scroll, opening up a built-in feature of all Beacon Academy distributed Scrolls that allowed teachers to see who still had theirs active. Rules of the school dictated that students were to keep their Scrolls active while not preparing to go to sleep, allowing teachers to constantly monitor the rambunctious youths in their care.
"It seems only one second-year team is awake, Professor.…Team Bulwark."
The same faint green light that permeated Professor Ozpin's office also found its way through the large gallery windows that lined the library of Beacon Academy. The soft green glow gave a slightly eerie feeling to the mostly darkened archive of knowledge, save for a single round table with a candelabra-style electrical lamp casting a golden glow across the table, revealing papers, text books, and the four students sitting there.
First of the four was a petite, slightly pale girl, only just five feet and two inches tall, with long brown hair that reached all the way to her shoulder blades. Two rabbit ears rose from the brunette's head, both of them crimped and riddled with small pink scars, the left ear remaining constantly bent in half while the right drooped next to it. The girl's bangs came to a stop above her violet eyes, as they scanned across the paper in front of her again. A black hoodie with purple pullstrings and zipper clad her torso over a black blouse with a slightly frilled front, a black and purple pleated skirt covering her legs nearly to her knees, where black stockings trailed down the length of her legs to her purple sneakers.
Second was a tall, lean young man with short and messy white hair and pale skin, who would have stood at six feet and one inches had he been standing. A pair of snow-white wolf ears topped his head as his golden eyes casually read across a textbook as his right hand scrawled works across a paper. His features were handsome, angular and contemplative as he rested his chin in his left hand. He wore a hooded black canvas jacket with a tall collar in front,, four large pockets placed vertically with two on either side of the zipper, over a t-shirt so dark blue to as almost be black. Black jeans clad his legs, held in place by a grey belt with a dull golden buckle. His feet were wrapped in comfortable black leather boots with thin, soft soles.
Third was a somewhat shorter man, at five feet and ten inches, a skin tone closer to peach than white, with mid-length black hair. Said hair was styled back away from his face and down the back of his head, with a single spike-like lock of hair hanging down near each of his temples. His electric blue eyes with half lidded as he lay his torso on the table. His face was noble, handsome and refined, or would have been if not for the sleepy daze he was in. He wore a dark gray coat, two rows of traditional buttons running up its center to a over and under collar, the left side of which was showing while the right side tucked beneath it, the sleeves of the coat accentuating his toned arms as a the collar of a white button-up shirt poked out of the collar of the coat, buttoned tight to the young man's neck. Jeans of a darker gray, close to black, wrapped around his lower body and were added to by a black belt passed through a single loop on his right hip. Dark gray boots, extending up to his mid-calves and bound tight by black straps held by silver buckles finished off his clothing.
The final was a colossus of a man, looking like like an adult sitting at a table of small children in comparison to the others. Had he been on his feet he would have stood at six feet and eight inches, his dark brown eyes narrowed in concentration as he swept a single large hand over his close cropped dark brown hair. His body was exceedingly muscular, belaying great strength as the light of the lamp cast a golden glow onto his tan skin. He wore a simple dark red shirt with short sleeves, along with brown trousers leading down to dark leather boots so brown they were almost black. In front of him were two stacks of papers, one finished and one yet incomplete.
"Hey, Abel, what's the answer to number seven?" the lone female of the group spoke up, pulling the wolf-eared young man to her side's arm to show him the problem she was working on.
"Kazue, I'm not going to just give you the answer," the white-haired wolf Faunus known as Abel replied as he pulled his arm back and indicated the question with his pencil. "Professor Oobleck covered all of this before the break, and the answer is in your textbook. You simply have to find it."
"Ugh, you can't just make this easy for me, can you?" the rabbit-eared Kazue sighed, her right rabbit ear twitching in frustration as she opened her second year history text.
"Abel has a point, you won't gain anything from this work if you don't learn the material yourself," the colossal man commented as he continued working on another paper. Kazue's right ear straightened in irritation, as she cast her smoldering gaze on the much larger man on her right.
"This is all your fault, Leon," she sighed as her rabbit ears settled and she began searching through the relevant chapter of her textbook. "If you hadn't made us spend all of the break working on combat drills instead of doing our actual homework, maybe we wouldn't be working on this stuff for six hours straight. You realize I had six papers for our Physics class, right? And three of those were how Dust both follows and ignores the laws of physics."
"At least you're working," Leon's chocolate eyes looked first at Kazue, then at the gray-clad young man to his right. "Alastair is just laying there. Alastair! Do something, will you? You have homework to do, too."
"No," came the drowsy reply from the gray-clad teen, using his crossed arms as a pillow. "You've had us in this library for the past six hours. You made us skip dinner, and I hate missing meals," Alastair complained, keeping his electric-blue eyes closed. "Besides, I was smart enough to do some of my work whenever I got the chance, so I don't have as much as you three."
"Oh, can it and start writing you-" Kazue's insult was cut short as a loud beeping suddenly chimed from Leon's pocket. Curiously, Leon retrieved the small white device and pressed the activation button on its face, allowing the collapsible tablet to expand to full size.
'Good evening, Mr. Rosso.
There is an emergency in Vale that requires Beacon's assistance, and your team is the only one of sufficient training that is available. I happen to know you spent most of your vacation training in the Emerald Forest, so let's put that to use, hmm?
Gather your team and meet me in my office for your briefing,
Professor Ozpin.'
"An emergency?" Leon muttered, raising his head from the machine to look at his team. All three were now wide awake and looking on expectantly, Leon having subconsciously read the message aloud. "You heard him, guys. Get your things together and lets get going."
The four quickly gathered up all their papers and belongings, stuffing them in their bags. Leon was the last to finish, taking care to keep his completed assignments and his incomplete ones separate in the bag before extinguishing the lamp. Now that all of them stood, the differences in height were readily apparent. Alastair gave a tired sigh as they made to leave, melodramatically dragging his bag behind him.
"Pick up the pace," Leon ordered quietly as he caught up with them, Alastair begrudgingly lifting and shouldering his bag.
The team traveled quickly through the halls of Beacon, using short-cuts they had learned in their time at the school to reduce the twenty minute walk to Ozpin's office in the central tower of the school to just ten short minutes. As they gathered outside the door, each took a moment to ready themselves, standing straighter and settling their bags. Leon moved to the front of the four, knocking on the solid oak.
"Enter."
Leon wasted no time in opening the door, revealing the green-themed office of the school's famous Headmaster. Ozpin sat opposite the door, leaning back into the cushioned leather chair at his desk as his ever-present friend and assistant Glynda Goodwitch stood to his right. The emerald light coming through the windows cast long shadows before Glynda activated the lights, giving the four a sense of foreboding. A wave of Ozpin's hand welcomed them in, as they lined up in front of his desk.
"I apologize for calling you all here at such a late hour, but there is trouble in the Kingdom and we have been asked to lend a hand," Ozpin began as he put down his coffee mug and rose from his chair.
"It seems the White Fang has taken several people hostage at one of the Schnee Dust Company buildings in the commercial district," the enigmatic Headmaster began the briefing, walking around to the front of his desk with the aid of his cane. "The Vale Police Department has requested the aid of a Hunter, but we currently had no Huntsmen or Huntresses that are able to leave the campus grounds without possibly endangering the students here. This has, unfortunately, left you as our only option. The situation is far too delicate for any first-year teams to attempt, and all third and fourth years are still gone on their educational expeditions. Thus you second years are our only choice."
"But, sir, why us?" Kazue spoke up as she took in the information being presented. Ozpin's words meant that they were about to be sent out as an anti-terrorism unit, not the normal Grimm-hunting most students got assigned as extracurriculars. Hunting Grimm was one thing, but fighting people was completely different. A whole mess of things could go wrong while trying to save hostages, so why would he send a group of mere students.
"Partly because there are so few students of capability present right now, and partly because if young Mr. Rosso has spent the majority of your vacation training you all, you are most likely to be able to handle the challenge," Ozpin answered as he leaned against his desk in front of them and drank from his coffee. 'They don't need to know they were the only ones we were able to contact…'
"Do we know how many hostages they have?" came Abel's question as golden eyes met hazel. A wry smile threatened to crack across Ozpin's face, eliciting another sip from his mug before looking at the tall wolf Faunus again. It always came as a surprise how level-headed Abel was, even when dealing with him in the past. The young man proved to have an exceptionally ability to focus on the matter at hand, something Ozpin was very grateful for.
"There are believed to be seven of them, if what little information the Police Department has is accurate. Though we do not know where they are being held inside the building," Glynda answered before Ozpin had the chance, moving forward and revealing her Scroll. On it was a detailed, skeletal map of the building, a blue-print by the looks of it. "They are most likely holding the hostages in the main conference room on the fourth floor, though the executive office on the top floor is also a likely location."
"Understood," Leon nodded at Glynda's words, politely taking the Scroll and syncing it with his own to give him a copy of the blue-print. "Rules of Engagement?"
"You are to liberate the hostages without casualty, and escort them to the police waiting outside. When you encounter the White Fang members, you are to avoid killing them unless all other options are taken from you. We are Hunters, defenders of the people, not murderers. Am I clear?" Ozpin's objectives were clear and concise, an obvious sign of the years he had spent as the Headmaster of the Academy.
"Yes. sir," all four of the second years answered in unison. Ozpin smiled at their quick understanding of the situation. Though they were all below the age of twenty, they were still one of the best trained teams in their year. If any of the second-years had a chance at pulling this off, it was them.
"Good. You are free to use your own strategy to free the hostages, but please try and keep collateral damage to a minimum," Ozpin concluded the briefing, moving to sit back at his desk once more.
"Um, Professor Ozpin, sir?" Alastair spoke up, politely raising his left hand slightly as if they were in a classroom and not a mission briefing.
"Yes, Alastair?" Ozpin raised his eyebrow at the boy.
"Can we pleeeease get something to eat before we leave? Leon's had us cooped up in that library all afternoon," the gray-clad young man all but begged.
Ozpin's only response was a subdued chuckle, as Glynda glared at the teen for the wanton disregard of the situation, "Yes, Alastair. I will try to arrange something for you on the way there."
"Awesome!" Alastair cheered, the formerly drowsy sudden alive as can be. "C'mon you three, we've got people to save, terrorists to fight, food to eat…." he could be heard muttering as he hastily pulled the remainder of his team out of the room with him.
"I swear, that Wintergale boy is so strange sometimes," Glynda sighed as Leon shut the door behind them, the large young man far too big for Alastair to drag.
"Let him be, Glynda. They're all very mature when it counts," Ozpin laughed as he turned his gaze back to his computer monitor. "In fact…."
January 1st, 10:45p.m., 451 AG
A Bullhead airship emblazoned with the symbol of Beacon Academy on the nose of the craft cut through the night air as it sailed over the City of Vale. Though Beacon typically used larger airships for its transport, it did have several Bullheads on hand in the hangars for special occasions. These were modified to be transports instead of cargo ships, the large cargo-bay instead converted into an equipment room lined with lockers.
"Alright, I feel much better now," Alastair grinned as he tossed the crumpled wrapper of a sandwich into a trashbin, along with four others. Wiping the corner of his mouth with his wrist, he stood and checked his sword. The black sheath housing it looked rather technical for a scabbard, made of a dark polymer with gray metal banding at the far tip and the mouth. Four dull luminescent blue lines stretched across the metal piece at the mouth, stopping halfway across. With a tender smile, Alastair slowly drew his sword and held it up to the light to inspect it.
It was a rather ornate, modern looking katana. Its pommel was square and gray, the front part of which extended forward into a dull edge on the lower side of the hilt. The hilt itself was black, three silver rings wrapping around it and spaced evenly apart along its length. The crossguard was a three dimensional spike, beginning as the hilt gave way to four arches, three of which meeting a semi-rectangular block of metal, the fourth extending along the block of metal to create the spike that then gave way to mirroring slopes leading back towards the rest of the sword and flowing out to the blade. The blade was straight-backed, contrary to traditional katana, with a fuller(A/N, what most know as a "blood groove") running the length of the blade save for the last three inches. The first four inches of the blade were dull, allowing safety so one could not cut themselves when quickly sheathing or unsheathing the weapon. All in all the sword was almost four feet in length, with razor-sharp blade being a majority of the weapon at three feet.
"Hello, Tempest's Edge, I've missed you," he whispered to the weapon before sheathing it again.
"Alastair, stop making goo-goo eyes at your sword and get over here," Kazue chastised from where she stood with the others, the waving of her arm flashing the black leather of the sheaths housing her ulak knives and the dark purple hilts of the weapons themselves. Strapped across her back was an Ashworth Arms PSG1, the large rifle looking disproportionate to her lithe frame.
"Sorry," the gray swordsman quickly apologized, moving over to where the rest stood around Leon's Scroll. It gave off a holographic projection of the building's blue-print, letting them make plans ahead of time on how to enter and best take the hostages back. As an afterthought, each member of the team had synced their own Scrolls with Leon's, allowing them to review the blueprints at any time if need be.
"We're going to split up as soon as we reach the corner where the building is located," Leon stated, using a hand to expand the image to include the rough models of the rest of the buildings on the street aside from Schnee Marketing. It was in the heart of the Commercial District, and thus there were many other buildings both near and across from the Schnee Marketing offices. Alastair let himself be distracted just long enough to marvel at Leon's choice in combat gear. No matter how many times he'd seen it, the sheer sight left him somewhat awestruck.
Over the plain crimson shirt Leon wore in the library was a burnished bronze-colored chestplate made to look like a muscular torso, a small image of a lion's roaring face etched into the metal just below the collar. Enshrouding his right arm was a leaf-scaled manica, also bronze in color with the occasional crimson scale breaking the sea of bronze scales. Straps from the manica vanished beneath the chestplate, while Leon's left forearm was covered in a bronze vambrace. Beneath the chestplate was a crimson armored kilt, covered in small bronze plates of armor, that extended all the way down to his knees. From there his dark brown pants could be seen, until they gave way to bronze greaves that were strapped on over crimson boots. To top it all off, held under Leon's left arm was a bronze helm with a long mane of blood red hair extending from the back of it, the helm's face only broken by an angular Y-shaped gap in the metal that allowed Leon to see and speak.
"First, Kazue will split off and get to the top of the building opposite Schnee Marketing," Leon said, indicating a building across the road from Schnee Marketing that was a single story taller than the Schnee branch building. "There's a fire escape on the side you can use to climb up. From there you should have access to all the outer facing rooms through the windows. If we get into trouble, we'll make our way here," he continued, pointing at the largest room on the top floor, facing the street-side of the road. "It's supposed to be the executive office, so it's our secondary objective anyway. It's also a convenient choke-point as there's only one entrance or exit unless someone wants to jump five stories straight down."
"Got it," Kazue nodded as she yanked the strap across her shoulder to settle the rifle on her back again.
"Abel, Alastair, and I will make our way in through the first floor's back entrance. The police are making a large show of collecting near the front door, so if luck's on our side the back will be unlocked," the leader of Team BLWK continued as he spun the model to indicate the back of the building. "From here we'll make our way up the indoor stairs along the western wall of the building up to the fourth floor. There, we'll make our way to the conference room to confirm if the hostages are there or not. If they are, we will free them and send them back down and out the back. If not, we move on the executive office on the fifth floor. Rules of Engagement are as Ozpin ordered: Incapacitate but do not kill. We clear on this, guys?"
"Crystal," Abel spoke, reaching one of his hands out to zoom in the display on the conference room. "The room only looks big enough for about twenty people if they have the typical long table in the center. You sure that's enough room for you to fight, Leon? You do drag that huge shield along," he pointed out, indicating the massive four foot wide bronze circular shield that leaned against the bench next to Leon. Depicted on the front of the shield were the silhouettes of a man with a sword fighting a Beowolf. Words were written along the edge of the shield, following the curve and wrapping around it. They read "I am the shield that guards my brothers, so they know not fear in battle. I know not fear, for my brothers stand at my side. Against the tides of Hell we stand, resolute and unmoving".
"I'll be fine, Abel. I made a point to learn how to fight indoors with Arx a long time ago," Leon smiled at his friend's concern.
"Hope you kids are ready, because we're landing," the pilot's voice called from the flight deck. The woman was a non-Hunter member of Beacon's faculty, normally charged with flying and landing the Airships that delivered students to and from the school. However, when you work for the most famous combat Academy in all of Vale, your job is never simple.
"Thanks, Lee, we'll be back before you know it," Alastair called before a low rumble carried through the Bullhead as it landed. The bay door opened and swung down onto the ground, letting Team BLWK hurry down it and out into a small park five streets down from the assaulted building. Even from here, Abel and Kazue's superior Faunus hearing could pick up the sounds of policemen yelling into megaphones at the White Fang members in the building.
"Alright, you kids send word when I need to come pick you all back up," Lee's voice called over the comm-link units each member of Team BLWK had in their ears. Without further adieu, Lee took the Bullhead back up into the air and started drifting off back out of sight. The four teammates looked at the fading image of the aircraft for a moment, before snapping out of it.
"Alright, you all heard her," Leon said, setting his shield down long enough to pull on his helmet. He took the shield back in his left hand and checked the draw on the sword at his hip with his right. He nodded as the sword came free easily, then slid it back into place as he faced his team. "She's waiting on us to get this done, so let's not keep her."
"Yes, sir!" Abel, Kazue and Alastair grinned at their leader, all four moving out at a brisk jog through the backstreets and alleys towards the Schnee Marketing building. At three streets down from the building Kazue broke off, sprinting across the street quickly so as not to be seen.
"I'll keep up on my end. Be at the top of the building in less than ten."
"Roger that," Leon spoke into his comm-link as he, Abel and Alastair kept on.
In just a few minutes they arrived near the back entrance to the building, stopping short of the opening that served as the back area of the building. Leon nodded at Abel, who immediately took point and moved closer to the wall. The lean wolf Faunus crouched close to the ground, his wolf ears tilting forward as he tried to listen for anything.
"Sounds clear, going to take a peek," he whispered back, before backing up and crouching behind a large trash can that hugged one wall of the alley. He closed his eyes, slowing his breathing as he focused within himself. A faint white light began to overtake Abel's whole body as he brought forth his Aura. The light intensified and then steadily died down to a mere flicker, before a shade of Abel rose up from Abel's still crouched form. The copy looked exactly like its owner, all the way down to having a shadow, save for the fact his footsteps made no sound whatsoever as he stepped.
The ghostly copy made its way around the corner, still crouched low to the ground. It may have been a ghost, but it was not invisible. As the ghostly copy made its way closer to the door it saw a single White Fang soldier with an assault rifle standing next to the rear exit. The man's face was hidden behind the gray masks and black hoods the lesser members of the White Fang all wore, though it was obviously a male Faunus. Despite the fact that he was with the infamous terrorist group, he didn't seem to be well trained as he only kept his gaze settled in the opening of the back entrance and didn't bother to check the alleys.
The phantasmal Abel returned back to its owner and teammates, literally walking into Abel's still-crouched form and disappearing. Abel's golden eyes snapped open as he stood, his ears idly twitching for a moment as he got used to the sensations of being fully physical again. "One guard, armed with an assault weapon. I can take care of him no problem," the Wolf grinned at his teammates, pulling up his hood over his snow white hair and zipping up his coat. The hood combined with the tall collar did well to hide his face, and if one didn't know to look for him he would be very difficult to spot.
"It's still creepy when you do that," Alastair commented, getting a golden wink from Abel as the wolf Faunus drew his weapons. They were a pair of pistols, jet black with extended slides and barrels, unique in that they had several divots not normally on the slides of guns along with a block of white metal extending forward from the trigger guard to the end of the barrel. With a flick of his thumbs, Abel activated the shape-shifting feature of the weapons, the blocks of white metal unfurling and spreading out over the barrel and and grip of the gun slid backwards. The hammer disappeared into the slide as the white metal flattened out, forming a blade along what had previously been the underside of the pistols' barrels. It was a transformation Abel found quite useful, the twin pistols shifting to become the twin daggers they were now.
"Be back in a second," Abel said as he darted around the corner to face his foe.
The wolf Faunus stuck to the shadows, doing everything in his power to keep behind something or in the darkest parts of the lot behind the building as he made his way along the edge of the empty space. A trashcan, one of the newer plastic ones that were unnecessarily bulky was the last obstacle between him and the White Fang member, and one Abel was glad for.
He waited until the White Fang member made the mistake of looking down at his rifle, then rushed at the opportunity. Abel lunged from behind the trashcan, rounding it in an instant and leaping into the air. The guard didn't even have time to scream as Abel landed on him, left hand covering the man's mouth as the right held a knife to his throat.
"Shhh, shhh, little lamb. Sleep now while the wolves hunt," Abel whispered in the Faunus's ear, slamming the pommel of his right-hand dagger into the man's left temple with a hard, quick motion. The man went limp beneath him, and Abel grinned from behind the tall collar of his coat. He kicked the man's rifle away from his body and flipped him over, untying the man's belt and wrapping it around the man's wrists several times over before utilizing the belt's clasp to lock it all together. Abel then hoisted the body up and deposited it in the trashcan he had used for cover, wincing at the smell that came from the plastic container when opened.
"Sorry, friend, but you're going to need a bath when this is over. I'm sure the jails will be happy to oblige," he chuckled as he shut the lid and walked back to the entrance to the back lot.
"All clear," he reported to Leon, most of his face still hidden by the combination of collar and hood.
"Good to hear, now let's go," Leon nodded, the three of them moving into the back entrance as a single unit.
Abel moved into the back corridor first, moving first to the far end of the hallway as Leon and Alastair made their way along behind him. The wolf Faunus shifted his daggers back into their pistol forms, stepping out into the adjacent hallway with a handgun aimed in either direction. The path to the left extended another twenty feet to turn to the right. The path on the right led to a door, that according to the rough blueprint they received, led out to the office block at the back of the first floor.
"Hall is clear," Abel called back, taking a step towards the left as Alastair moved up to cover the right path.
"What's the plan, big guy?" Alastair asked while he placed his right hand upon the hilt of his sword.
"According to the blue-prints, that hallway down the left leads to the emergency stairs," the bronze and crimson clad young man responded as he checked his Scroll, his sword still unsheathed. "We'll use that to get to the fourth floor, then from there take the conference room."
"Sounds like a plan," the gray swordsman and black gunman replied in unison. The trio began to move immediately. Leon took point this time, holding his torso at an angle so his massive shield, Arx, partially covered his body as he walked. Behind trailed Alastair, hand still on the hilt of his weapon as he followed. Abel brought up the rear, both guns trained behind them in the event that someone should attack. They reached the end of the hallway and made the right turn, seeing a door with a crude sign depicting a stick-figure man running down stairs. Locked around the door's turn-handle and the wall next to the door was a large metal frame, obviously concealing the emergency alarm system.
"Alastair, can you take care of the alarm?" Leon asked quietly as he stepped to the left as much as he could.
"Shouldn't be a problem," came his teammate's reply, Alastair moving towards the door. Alastair raised his left hand and put it against the metal panels. An outline of bright blue, the same pale electric blue as Alastair's eyes, appeared around the young warrior's body. His eyes glowed with a bright intensity as small sparks arced off his hand and into the metal plate. A series of quiet, barely audible clicks came from inside the metal plate, before the lock in the door loudly came undone. The door swung open of its own accord, revealing the criss-crossing staircases that led up through the emergency shaft of the building.
"Good deal," Leon nodded with a small smile of satisfaction on his face, the flowing mane of his helmet bobbing slightly at the movement. His right hand came up to a spot near his throat, flipping a tiny switch that opened his comm-line freely.
"Kazue, this is Leon. I'm leaving my comm-line open," he muttered into the microphone as Abel and Alastair both opened the channels on their comm-links as well. Static flashed over the line as all the links settled, a by-product of the comm-line adapting to the increased burden of more communicators. Once the static gave way, they were free to talk as if they were all standing just mere feet from each other.
"Copy that, big guy. Leaving my channel open, too," Kazue's reply came loud and clear across all of their ear-pieces.
"We're going to be using the emergency staircase to get to the fourth floor. Do me a favor and sweep the conference room through the windows. I'd like to know what we are up against before we go barging in," Leon ordered, following Abel and Alastair into the emergency staircase and shutting the door behind him.
"Sure thing, big guy," Kazue's voice answered. Taking that as their cue, Leon, Abel and Alastair began hurrying up the stairs. While it was somewhat awkward for Leon, given the sheer size of his shield, they managed without too much difficulty. It seemed that the White Fang had either not known of or forgotten about the emergency staircase, as there were no soldiers posted inside. This didn't stop Abel from taking point again at Leon's behest, eagerly awaiting Kazue's report as they reached the fourth floor's stair platform.
"Sure thing, big guy," Kazue murmured into her microphone.
She adjusted the stock of the rifle against her right shoulder as she lay flat along the roof of the building across the street, barely making even a silhouette against the skyline. Taking a breath to steady herself and bring the scope of the rifle with her eye. She let the breath out slowly and began her scan.
Zooming in on the window where the conference room was supposed to be, the young Rabbit Faunus frowned from behind her scope. Aside from the long oaken table that took up the center of the conference room and the many chairs that lined it, there were a total of fourteen moving bodies inside. A quick flick of her wrist to turn the dial on the side of her scope and zoom further showed Kazue that there were a total of six hostages kneeling on the ground along the table with their wrists and ankles bound. The remaining eight were standard White Fang foot soldiers, six of them armed with their typical thin-bladed falchions while the remaining two standing near the window were armed with assault rifles.
"Wait….six….," the realization slowly dawned on the purple-clad sniper. "Crap!"
A quick curse under breath, she dropped her shoulder down to the ground, panning the scope up. Inside the executive office on the top floor of the building were two more people. Closing in her view, Kazue saw that one was the final hostage, the executive himself judging by the damaged fancy suit he wore, and the other a White Fang member. This one was dressed differently than the others, wearing a long black coat that hid most of his body except for his head. Upon his face the White Fang member wore a stylized half-mask made to resemble that of a Beowolf, his teal blue hair showing as she zoomed in on his face, showing the dog ears that adorned the top of his head.
"Shit!"
"Leon, we got a problem!" Kazue's voice rang out over the comm-line, her normally even-toned voice now tainted with a touch of panic.
"What's going on?" Leon spoke into his comm-link, sharing worried looks with Abel and Alastair as they all stood poised at the door to the fourth floor. Alastair raised an eyebrow at Leon, as if to ask 'What?'.
"The hostages are split between floors four and five. You have eight soldiers armed with swords and a couple auto-rifles in the conference room, then you have another guy one floor up holding what looks like the executive of the building. White Fang up top looks like he's the boss. And he's not treating the executive nicely."
"Copy that," Leon caught himself nodding despite the fact Kazue could not possibly see him, his gaze moving over to Abel. "Abel, you take the top floor, you like one-on-one fights better anyways. Alastair, you're with me," the orders were received with curt nods, Abel's swift feet carrying him up the next staircase to the fifth floor almost soundlessly.
"Kazue, get ready to take out the two gunmen on my mark," he added as he and Alastair opened the door to the fourth floor and moved in.
"Copy. Ready on your mark. Ah, damn it. The wind's flaring up!"
"I'm sure you'll manage," Alastair quipped, his voice a mere whisper, as they proceeded towards the conference room.
"Shut it, Wintergale!"
Alastair tried valiantly to maintain a sense of sound discipline, but the smallest of chuckles escaped and drew a glare from Leon. The towering monolith of a man shook his head slowly, as if to say "You know better". Alastair simply shrugged in response, as they came to the doors of the conference room. The gray swordsman moved to the right side of the grandiose double rosewood doors that led to the conference room, as Leon took his place directly in front of it.
"On three," Leon told Alastair, knowing that Kazue had heard him since the line was still open. The leader of Team BLWK shifted his weight to his back foot and grinned beneath his helmet.
"One."
"Two."
"Three."
With a burst of speed and power, Leon's right foot moved from behind him to kicking the locked doors in front of him, hard. The shrieks of abused metal and the groan of broken wood tore through the silence they had carefully maintained up to that point, the doors themselves flying open. But, that was all part of the plan.
The eight White Fang soldiers barely had time to turn around to face the door's violent breaching when the floor to ceiling glass windows dominating the northern wall of the room shattered. The gunman on the right fell first as cloth burst away from the back of his hooded head and he fell limp to the ground. The second fell after only a fraction of a second, the report of the first shot only having just registered to him before he got one of his own.
The shock did not last, however, as the six remaining White Fang soldiers readied their swords. Three of them rushed at Leon instantly, as Leon stepped to the left of the doorway and brought up his massive shield. Their three swords scraped harmlessly against the great bronze disc, Leon lunging forward and sending the three of them flailing backwards.
Leon moved forward as soon as the three White Fang soldiers fell back, his right hand reaching out and grasping the arm of one of the luxury chairs positioned along the length of the conference table. With a mighty roar he hurled the lavish chair through the air at three poor souls as they regained their feet. The chair slammed into the face of one of the three, shattering on impact and knocking the man out instantly.
Alastair had moved in during the commotion, on the first of his three opponents before he could blink. The soldier raised his sword high in his right hand, too shocked by the sudden attack to notice the grin across Alastair's face. Before the White Fang could bring down the razor sharp blade of his weapon, Alastair drew his sword from the sheath, slashing across the man's chest.
Sparks of electricity erupted along the torso and mask of the soldier, his body convulsing violently before falling to the ground. Alastair moved past the down soldier, both hands grasping the hilt of his sword and bringing it up diagonally across his body to block the sword of the next White Fang.
"Two down, four to go!" Alastair called out, shoving back against the crossed blades of he and his enemy to disengage his sword.
"Three!" Leon yelled as his armored right arm shot out and caught his second opponent's face. Another growl and Leon hoisted the man bodily off his feet and plunged the man's face hard into the ground. A moan of pain escaped as the man lost consciousness, getting a grin from Leon as well.
"Three!"
Abel shook his head in amusement at Leon's exclamation, their comm-lines still open. The white haired Wolf Faunus tugged on the lip of his hood, making sure it was pulled as far forward as he could to hide the glaring paleness of his hair. He shifted his left hand pistol back into a dagger as he moved along the halls of the fifth floor towards the executive office, readying for what was to come. The sounds of battle continued to filter through the small speaker in his left human ear, getting a small smile out of Abel.
"You can tell they're partners," he murmured quietly, getting a chuckle from across the comm-line.
"You sure can. I've got your back too, partner," Kazue's voice came over the line. "But you might want to hurry. Looks like the Big Boss is getting a little rough with his top hostage."
"Got it," Abel affirmed as he picked up the pace. Within moments he crossed the distance of the fifth floor and got to the executive office doors. He cautiously turned the handle of the door, making as much effort as he could to maintain silence as he opened it. He lead with the pistol in his left hand, making sure he had a weapon between himself and whatever awaited him.
As he entered the room he saw the leader of this particular contingent of the White Fang looming over the beaten form of the executive, a slightly portly man in a suit that had definitely seen better days. The black cloaked White Fang member had his fist poised over the unconscious form of the executive, who was sprawled against the side of his luxurious desk. Abel's appearance seemed to have gone unnoticed, as the man didn't even spare a glance in Abel's direction.
"Freeze!" Abel bellowed, rising to his full height with his pistol aimed directly at the White Fang member's head. The man turned slowly towards Abel, a broad grin stretched across his face. The teal hair above his head caught the moonlight, highlighting the dog ears atop his head and making a line of thought drift through Abel's mind before he could stop it.
'A wolf versus a dog, huh? The universe definitely has a sense of humor.'
"And what are you going to do if I don't?" the teal-haired man asked with a malicious grin. His right hand reached into the back of his coat and drew out a rectangular hunk of metal that extended into a short sword with the push of a button. Along the length of the center of the blade was a metal tube lined with small holes in the tube itself, both the blade and tube connecting to a hilt, which had a knuckle bow extending down from the nearly non-existent crossguard to cover the front of the man's hand.
"Then I'll have to make you," Abel spoke with resolution, taking a step forward into the room and twirling the dagger into his right hand into a reverse-handed grip.
"That's good. That's what I like to hear," the teal-haired dog faunus laughed as he moved across the room towards Abel, holding his strange sword out to his right side and giving the hilt a squeeze. A teal Aura spread out across the man's entire body, and Abel could see the dark blue eyes behind the Beowolf-style mask glimmer with menacing intent. Blue flames puffed from the holes in the metal tube along the short sword, as the man channeled his Aura into the weapon.
"So your Semblance is fire?" Abel surmised as he squared up across from the teal-haired man, a mere ten feet between the two of them.
"Ooh, a smart one,"the grin on the man's face grew broader. "Well I might as well give you the courtesy of a name before I kill you. I'm Malcolm Turquoi, and you're a dead man."
'Someone has a bit too much passion for flair,' Abel's errant thought was interrupted as the man named Malcolm Turquoi covered the distance between them in an instant and slashed upwards, vying to cut Abel across the stomach.
With a backwards hop, the black clad sneak of Team BLWK barely dodged the dangerous attack. He fired off a shot from the pistol in his left hand in retaliation, Turquoi dodging to the left so the bullet passed harmlessly over his shoulder. Said bullet whizzed through the air, burying itself in the ceiling above them. Not even paying any mind to the threat of the handgun, Turquoi closed in again.
His blade shrieked through the air as the blue flames scorched the oxygen out of the air from around the sword, the brightness of the flames almost forcing Abel to close his eyes. Resisting the urge to shield his vision from the glaring flames, Abel swayed backwards on his feet, avoiding the swipe at his face. He slid back on his feet only to find his back against the wall, earning another chuckle from Turquoi.
"Nowhere to run now," Turquoi grinned with a sadistic chuckle lacing his voice.
"No need to run. You're right where we want you to be," Abel grinned back, his hood falling back to reveal his snow white hair and wolf ears.
"You're a Faunus!" Turquoi's eyes widened when he realized he had been fighting on of his own. A split second later, Abel's words registered to him, and he spun to look at the door that Abel had come through. It was the wrong choice however, as it left him in perfect alignment for Kazue across the road. A loud bang rang out through the night, the sniper's bullet cutting through the air and the night. It shattered the scenery window along the office wall and found its home impacting against the back of Turquoi's head. With his Aura activated, it was a non-fatal shot, but still more than enough to knock a man out.
"And you're a downed criminal," Abel sighed as he moved passed Turquoi's prone form and checked on the beaten executive. He felt a smile tug at his lips as he found the man alive, a pulse beating beneath the flesh of his throat. It may not have been the strongest pulse, and the man was certainly not in the best condition of his life, but at least he was alive.
"You'd be toast without me, you know that?" Kazue chastised as she watched from her scope.
"Be that as it may, we won," Abel chuckled as he saw a chair go flying out of the window one floor below.
"This is Leon. Hostages on the fourth floor secured. What is your status, Abel?"
"I've confirmed the safety of branch executive. Kazue and I also managed to subdue the leader of the attacking White Fang," Abel reported as he leaned against the executive's desk.
"Meaning I saved his sorry butt!" Kazue added in as Abel saw her stand from her position atop the other roof.
"Don't worry, Abel. I owe Leon one too. Damn guy caught me with a gut punch," Alastair's voice laughed sheepishly.
An hour of speaking to the police and a Bullhead ride back to Beacon Academy, and Team BLWK stood again in the office of Headmaster Ozpin. The four were a little worse for wear, but all in all were fine as they stood under the watchful gaze of Glynda Goodwitch and their eccentric Headmaster. Ozpin smiled at the four of them as he read over the report sent from the police, steam rising from his ever-present coffee mug. With a hum of contemplation he closed his scroll and set his eyes upon his young charges.
"You have done very well," he complimented them. "Not only did you manage to save the hostages, but you also apprehended a captain of the White Fang and several of his henchmen. And all without causing more than minimal collateral damage."
"Thank you, sir," Leon responded as soon as Ozpin finished speaking, the rest of his team nodding their appreciation as well.
"Oh, don't thank me quite yet," Ozpin's smile gained a touch of mischief as his words brought Team BWLK short. "You see, your actions tonight have helped me come to an important decision."
"What would that be, Headmaster?" Abel asked calmly, face once against unobscured as his coat hung open with the hood down.
"For the past few months, I have had a Team in private training," Ozpin began, his voice even as he divulged one of his great secrets. "They are each special cases that required extreme care to oversee, and thus I kept them hidden. But the time has come for them to come into the light and be formally recognized as students of this academy. At the same time, recent events have led to my worrying for the safety of my students, particularly the first years. As such I came to a conclusion."
"Starting tomorrow, two first-year Teams will be assigned to a single second-year Team. Your responsibility in the field and in the training has helped me cement my choice on who should chaperone my three biggest problem teams," Ozpin smiled as Abel's wolf ears perked forward and Kazue's good rabbit ear stood straight.
"Three, sir?" Kazue asked with a shaky voice, her shoulders sagging at the idea of having to deal with twelve first-years.
"Two teams you probably already know of, Team RWBY and Team JNPR," Glynda spoke up from her stoic place at Ozpin's side.
"Weren't they the two Teams that fought the Nevermore and the Deathstalker during the Initiation?" Alastair asked, remembering watching the footage of a little girl in black and red hauling a Nevermore up a cliff and lopping its head off.
"The very ones," Ozpin nodded, glad that his students were keeping up. "Team RWBY has seemed to display a remarkable knack for finding trouble, and as their friends I can trust Team JNPR to not be far behind. Out of all the first year students, they certainly need the most supervision, along with my little secret team. I'll let you know now, they're team designation is REPR. I will be revealing the chaperone policy and Team REPR's existence at an assembly at seven in the morning."
"Am I to understand that we'll be taking charge as their chaperones following that assembly?" Leon asked, his hand finding its way to his chin as he thought over the deluge of information Ozpin just revealed to them.
"Correct. Now, you all should be off to bed," Ozpin said as he lifted his mug towards them before taking a sip. "You've got a big day ahead of you."
"Yes, sir," Leon bowed his head slightly, before he and the rest of Team BLWK made their way out of Ozpin's office.
Once BLWK had left, Glynda's gaze turned towards Ozpin with a slightly disapproving frown on her face, "Are you certain they were the best choice, Professor Ozpin? They didn't seem too pleased with the decision."
Hazel eyes stared into the depths of his coffee mug as Ozpin's smile faded from his face, "In all my years, it has been my experience that the best people for handling a great responsibility, are those that do not want that responsibility. Besides, if I gave them their Team name because they seemed like a sturdy bunch."
"Yes, sir, Professor Ozpin," Glynda nodded, exiting the office to go to bed herself.
Silence fell over the office as Glynda left and Ozpin was left with only his own thoughts. The dull glow of the great emerald light of Beacon Academy still filtered through the windows, casting its comforting glow over Ozpin and his desk. He sipped from his coffee and looked to the screen of his computer, the smallest hint of a grin playing across his face. On the right side of the screen that had previously been four blank spaces there were now the four portraits of Abel Blackthorn, Leonidas Rosso, Alastair Wintergale, and Kazue Murasaki. Beneath their four portraits was the simple designation "Team Bulwark".
And there you have it boys and girls! The NEW AND IMPROVED version of Chapter 1. I shall be doing my best from this point on to provide the best content I can for this project and any others I might undertake. I'm not going to make any promises about when the next new chapter will come out, but know that it will be soon.
This was the big thing that has been keeping me from putting out more new chapters on this. But now that I've got this out of the way, I should be able to soldier on.
And one last thing...
RWBY VOLUME TWO ON THE TWENTY-FOURTH! OH MY FUCKING GOD YEAH! INSPIRATION WILL POUR OVER ME LIKE A LOVING RAINSTORM AND AWASH ME IN THE WONDEROUS GLOW OF AUTHORSHIP!
Ahem.
Thank you, and see you guys next time.