"When people ask you what makes you do what you do, you either tell them the truth... or a bold face lie. Me, why do I do what I do? Heh... easy...
...because the huntsmen and huntresses won't do what needs to be done."
Line Break...
Vale, Suburban Area
14th of June, 2019
9 Months Since... The Incident
It was around 10:30 at night, and most of Vale was either asleep, at the club, on patrol, or mugging someone... well, maybe not the last one. You see, Vale has had a severe drop in its crime rate to the point where it is nonexistent, the same could be said for the villages and settlements surrounding Vale . Now I know what you're thinking, 'Doesn't that mean the police and huntsmen are doing their jobs?' It would, if they were the ones doing it.
You see, for the past 4 months, a new group has appeared. They're a group that calls themselves 'Laughing Coffin',and their main purpose is simple: Murder for a Price. Now before you go 'Wait, WHAT?!', let me stop you there. You see, Laughing Coffin are a group of mercenaries who will kill a person for a price, but they have morals; they won't kill an innocent person nor will they hurt women, children, or elderly. They do not discriminate with who they have to kill. The day they made themselves known was when the a certain group was wiped out: 'The Red Claw'.
The Red Claw are pretty much a genocidle, human version of The White Fang, at least the ones that aren't lead by Adam Taurus. They were humans that saw the faunus as a plague on Remnant, and they saw it fit to remove them. However, all their operations were failures as entire Sectors of them were being wiped out by Laughing Coffin. I know what you're thinking, 'So what, wasn't Laughing Coffin paid to do this?' The answer to that would be no. Half of their members are Faunus, you see, so them being wiped out wouldn't seem uncommon... if those responsible for the destruction of it were the Faunus members themselves. In actuality, it was the human members that wiped out the secs of The Red Claw. They saw them as a stain on Remnant as many people lived in fear of them, many of which were either Faunus or humans who supported Faunus equality. However, when Red Claw movement was becoming more and more scarce, both of them started wondering what was going on. Over time, police were finding Red Claw members murdered in their homes, and bases burning to the ground. At first, they thought it was the White Fang as some of them were becoming more radical with each passing day. This was disproven, however, when video evidence was found in the main headquarters of The Red Claw. The one who wiped out the main headquarters of The Red Claw was actually one person.
The video of what happened had gone viral. People all over the world were talking about them as they had destroyed the biggest organization that plagued them and all citizens of Remnant. The video showed that person shooting their way through their members as they tried stopping him. The video showed that the man was a proficient sniper, but also deadly in close range combat as he broke some of their hands, arms, and necks using either martial arts forms or the environment. He was also capable of both disarming his foes of their weapons, and using it against them. When the video got to the main room, it showed to everyone that the leader was begging for his life against the man that held him at gunpoint. The gun was a Desert Eagle handgun, but modified to where it was virtually a hand cannon; only those trained in the art of weapon fording could tell that it was that powerful. The video pretty much picked up the whole conversation between the two. The gunman's voice was distorted, however, so no one could place a point on who he was.
"Please, don't kill me!"
"Now why should I listen to you? If I let you get away, then you'll just start The Red Claw all over again."
"Don't you see what those freaks are doing. We humans rule this world, yet you choose to side with them?! Do you not understand what they have done?!"
"'What they have done,' haha, the question is more like 'Do YOU understand what YOU'VE done?'"
He steps on the mans broken hand, causing the leader to scream out in pain.
"Do you have any idea how many lives you ruined, how many people you hurt, how much innocent blood spilled? No, you don't because you. Don't. Care."
He added more pressure, causing him to scream louder. Once his hand is removed, the gun is aimed right between his eyes. The man looked at he camera, hoping to use this as leverage to get away.
"What about that camera, it knows what you look like, it knows what you did! All it takes is the police looking at it for you to be made a wanted man!!!"
The man was surprised when the unknown gunman started laughing.
"You think I care if they put my face on a wanted poster? No, I don't care. Wanna know why... because we want the world to know WHO we are. I'm not the only one out there, you see. There's more of us out there that have been dealing with YOUR troops, YOUR followers. I'm just one of many. Wanna know who we are?"
The safety clicks off as the gunman flicks the switch from on to off.
"We... are Laughing Coffin, and I'm the enforcer known as Death-Gun." *BANG!*
A gunshot roared form the hand cannon as the former leader of Red Claw was shot in the head, leaving only a bullet hole the size of a golf ball in his head. Death-Gun then turned his attention to the camera, his very appearance screaming 'Run or Die.'
"Let this be a lesson to those who seek to hurt the innocent: we will FIND you, and if the price is right, we will KILL you. This, though,... we did for free."
He then proceeded further into the compound, the view switching to a different camera that showed holding cells. At the end of the hallway, Death-Gun was standing there by a switch. Upon throwing it, he opened up the cell doors, letting out both human and Faunus prisoners. The video cut out there.
When this video first aired on the news, many people were shocked beyond belief to find out that the ones killing The Red Claw were mercenaries for higher. Many different opinions formed about the group: some thought they were heroes and warriors, some thought they were murderers and scumbags, some just didn't know how to feel. On one side, they were doing good by saving civilians and preventing genocide; on the other, they took the law into their own hand by hunting them down and killing them, rather than taking it to the proper authorities.
This all happened a month ago, and yet it was still fresh in everyone's head; like it only happened yesterday.
Beacon Academy, Vale
Cafeteria, Same Day...
9 Months since The Incident
If one was to describe the atmosphere in the Beacon Cafateria, it would usually be lively and full of energy. Now, however, it was heavy as they still had the image of the man having his brains blown out and splattered across the floor, well, everyone except Ruby Rose as her sister and team covered her eyes and ears to prevent her from seeing it. Of course, that didn't stop her from finding out about it because Nora couldn't stop blabbering on about the news and what happened before someone could stop her. Thanks a lot Nora, you scarred Ruby!
Anyways, after that things were going somewhat back to normal, but the image of that man being shot AND killed would forever be stuck in their heads. At one table in particular, three teams were talking. Well..., two and three fourths of a team. Turns out that while Cardin may have agreeed to leaving Jaune and his friends alone, Russel and Dove didn't. They took what they knew to one teacher that the first year students didn't have and they took it to Ozpin. If Jaune wasn't expelled, said teacher would report him to the council and have him arrested.
This lead to a conversation between both Jaune and Ozpin about what the teacher brought up, and Jaune realized what it meant. He learned that Ozpin already knew of these and let him in any way. He saw potential to grow, and was hoping that Jaune would be able to find his path here. However, with what the teacher had said, he must now find a new path. As Jaune was about to leave Beacon, however, Cardin and Russel were there to see him off. They had come to apologize for what their teammates had done, since Jaune had done good by them, he was alright in their book. When all was said and done, the three had become friends. Jaune was never heard from again, however, after a week of his expulsion from Beacon. Search parties had been sent out and teams of huntsmen in training at Beacon were sent to look for him. They never did...
During those months, the search continued with no success. Some students even began to speculate what had happened to Jaune to cause his disappearance; they weren't that great or appropriate to say around Ruby, so no one talked about them whenever Ruby was in the room. He was eventually listed as MIA, potentially KIA, by the council. This didn't go over well with his family, mainly his sisters, as he was their only son/brother. The council members didn't know what to tell them, though, since it's been months without even a single lead. There was nothing more anyone could do at this point, and unless the had solid concrete evidence as to where he might be, then there was nothing anyone could do. The case would remain open as there was no solid evidence of his death.
With Team RWBY, Team CFVY, and Team PNR, pronounced Pioneer, they were currently talking about the latest news. Although, the conversation drifted towards Death-Gun and what he had done to the leader of The Red Claw. Ruby was still questioning why he would do that, and Weiss, Blake, Velvet, and Coco had to explain to her why it happened... twice.
"Hey, mind if we sit with you guys?"
The group then turned to see Cardin and Russel standing at their table. The two were actually new to the circle of friends as they were actively trying to apologize to everyone they hurt. Well, half of them were. These two weren't exactly on good terms with the other members of their team, so they had to find somewhere else to sit.
"Oh, yeh that's fine guys, have a seat."
"Thanks Ruby."
Cardin and Russel took a seat next to Team RWBY, not fully comfortable with sitting next to PNR or CFVY after what they did to their teammates. It may have helped that they tried to apologize, but why weren't fully comfortable with sitting so close to each other. While they were apologizing to many others, it so happened that the two were able to get girlfriends while they went on with the apologies. Both of their girlfriends were Faunus, and while it was looked down upon by society, it wasn't necessarily illegal. Plus, they loved their significant other, and that's what mattered to them. Many of the students were either happy for them, shocked, tried splitting them up, or just watched things play out. Ozpin was happy that the two were maturing as people, as this was a step in the right direction for them. Glynda saw it as another reason to no longer worry about the two going back to their old ways, though she did wish the other two members of their team would grow up as well.
"What's new with y'all?" Russel asked, trying to break the ice.
"We're trying to think of a few new combo attacks for pur teams. We already have White-Rose, Monochrome, Freezer-Burn, Lady Bug, Bumblebee, Burning Rose, and so on." Yang said as she listed off the names.
"Don't forget Storm-Flower, Hit-and-Run, and Bouncing Betty." Nora pitches in as she had her go to grin on her face.
"Whistle~, That's a lot of Combos." Cardin said as he took a bite of his sandwich.
"You have no idea, and the time it took to get the hang of them was a challenge, too. We had to put it most of our free time to get used to fighting with each other." Weiss said as she ate some of her salad. They really did put in a ton of time to get these moves ready. It took nearly most of their time outside of class and when they weren't studying for upcoming tests or doing homework.
"Oh yeah, I saw something on the Atlas News Network last night. I think you guys may wanna..."
Before Russel could finish his sentence, the TV's inside the cafeteria came on; they were on the Atlas News Network.
"Greetings to all viewers watching, this is Martin Green bringing you some breaking news."
"This is the news I was telling you about!"
"Today I'm here to talk to you about a dire situation that has recently occurred. Earlier in the Week, it was discovered that many of the Atlasian Council members were dealing in some 'unsavory' topics, many of which had included Black Market dealings. However, when officers were preparing to apprehend one of them, their limousine was blown in half by a single sniper bullet. Whoever was behind the shot itself was capable of hitting a target from 2 Kilometers away. To be able to make a shot like that, the sniper would have to have the power to launch the bullet 6561.68 feet before it begins to drop. The bullet itself was a standard .50 caliber round. We now go live to or field team operator Douglas Cyan, who is currently at the press conference with Atlas Military General James Ironwood and Police Chief Mark Rouge. Douglas, if you would?"
"Thanks Martin, we're coming to you live from the Police Headquarters here in Atlas, and as you can tell from the crowd here, people are wondering what happened? Let's see if we can get a few questions in."
Douglas and his camera person were walking through the crowd, getting closer to the stage to listen to what the General and Polive Chief had to say.
"...and as to why, we are currently trying to figure out who and/or what could've caused this. While it is understandable as to why they were chosen as the targets for these unknown assassins, they should have been tried in a court of law rather than outright killed."
"Excuse me, General Ironwood sir, how do we know that this wasn't one of Laughing Coffins' attacks? What if they're targeting those in power rather than those that have a history of criminal activity; what if they're just trying to cause chaos?"
"If they were trying to do that, neither the Police Chief or I would be here talking to you right now. If they simply wanted to cause chaos, there would be bodies of the dead lining the streets."
"'Scuse me General, but I've got a question."
"What would your question be sir?"
"How do we know it wasn't Laughing Coffin? We've seen one of their soldiers' handy work, we know he uses a Sniper Rifle, and from the looks of it, a .50 cal., and we know that they have moral codes; they may be mercenaries, yes, but never ONCE has a civilian been killed by them. So, I'll ask again: how do we know it wasn't Laughing Coffin?"
Douglas has brought up several good points; they saw Death-Gun at work, what he carries, which was confirmed to be a .50 caliber by several gun makers, and they saw how efficient he was. Add onto the fact that the limo driver wasn't hurt, only mildly shaken from the experience, and he was right: no civilians have ever been killed by Laughing Coffin.
"While we can neither confirm nor deny your claims, let it be known that we are currently working to find the one..."
Before General Ironwood could finish his sentence, all screens around and on the stage had gone to static for a few seconds before showing a strange symbol; the very symbol of Laughing Coffin. A partly opened Coffin with a smiling face on it, a bone arm sticking out of the opening, white flowers around the left and right side of the coffin itself, and pieces of paper, one each, either above or below the coffin. The one below read 'Why Rush When We All End Up In Coffins Anyway?', and the one above read 'Laughing Coffin.' It didn't make sense, though. Why would their symbol be on the screen.
That's when they heard the distorted voice of the leader, or whoever they could assume was the leader.
"I know that many of you are wondering what has happened over the course of the past few days and many rumors of our involvement in the assassination of the many Altas Council Members have popped up, but I would like to put those rumors to rest."
At this point, EVERYONE was on the edge of their seats as they waited for the person to speak. What would he say, and what were they planning on doing next.
"...They are true."
The silence was deafening; Laughing Coffin had just admitted that THEY WERE behind the killings of the Atlas Council Members. They were willing to openly admit it, in front of the whole population of Remnant. What was their game.
"I'd like for all of you to understand that WE do not tolerate those who use their power to take away the basic rights of the people, whether they be human or faunus. These men and women have committed crimes, ones I will not say, but crimes against humanity, against the people of Remnant as a whole that would NOT go unpunished. They deserved what had happened to them as THEY were monsters in human skin, just like the Red Claw was. To those of you who think to challenge us, then allow me to show you something."
The screen immediately cuts to a new shot, one where the sounds of foot steps were heard. Soon, Death-Gun was standing in front of the camera, the crimson goggles attached to his skull mask simply sent shivers down the spines of everyone watching. However, the camera started to move backwards. It then began to show more people standing there, all having an appearance similar to that of Death-Gun. This terrified many, including a few certain people. Laughing Coffin was not a mere group of mercenaries... they were an army of people with different backgrounds all unknown to the people. Some of them had either masculine or feminine builds, faunus or human, tall or short, young or old, there were hundreds of them standing there with their own weapons and gear.
The camera began to slow down as it finally stopped in front of a man standing on a walkway, his identity concealed by the exact same mask as everyone else, minus Death-Gun as his was the only one with closed teeth and rebreathers attached to the side. The man then turned to look at the camera.
"To those who seek to challenge us, or hurt the innocent either because you can or are using your power to do so, then your life is forfeit. Oh, and incase you're wondering, I'm the leader of Laughing Coffin."
The screens then turned off, back to what they originally were before the drone showed them the members of Laughing Coffin. This was a message, one that would NOT be forgotten anytime in the near future.
