AN: SolarTitan here with another chapter of A Grimm Tale.
First order of business: the poll. I should apologize, I'm still new to the website, so I didn't know there was an actual poll function available to writers. That's my bad, I know it's there now and I set up an official poll to choose Verdax's pairing. Because of my mistake, I am pushing back the closing date for voting to Tuesday at 5 PM Central daylight savings time. Like I said the pairing is anyone on team RWBY in any combination or any member individually, everyone gets four votes.
Special thanks to N7 Recruit, who is the first person to post a review, voting for Weiss to be in the pairing. On that note it occurs to me that I should have asked people to specify whether or not the person they choose is for a single pairing or a multi pairing, so for the moment only Weiss has a point in the polls, if N7 would like to change or specify that he can or if he wants to keep it as is that's fine too.
Anyways I've taken up enough of your time, just a quick disclaimer and then enjoy the story.
Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth, all I own are my OCs.
Dust Store Blowout
Two years later...
The light from Remnant's moon seemed to spotlight where Verdax was sitting. From his secluded spot in the alley, he watched people pass by him with disinterest. He sighed, taking out a small flask of whiskey from his coat pocket before taking a swig. He then leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, unsure of what to do next.
Suddenly, he caught the scent of a large group of people nearby. Looking over to where it came from, Verdax saw a group of men in black suits with red ties led by a man in a white suit with a cane, enter a Dust store down the road.
Sighing and shaking his head, Verdax stored his flask and got up to leave, not wanting to get caught in the mess that would follow a store robbery. Before he got far however, he heard a crash and turned around to something he didn't expect.
A window to the shop was broken, one of the goons unconscious on the sidewalk, and a young girl standing in the middle of the street, holding a scythe as big as him. She was on the short side, probably a teenager, her hair was black with red highlights, she wore what looked to be a black dress with red frills poking out from under the skirt, and a corset wrapped around her midsection.
"Now I've just seen fucking everything." Verdax mutters to himself as the girl plants the blade in the ground in front of her, obviously challenging whoever was in the store. Shortly after the display by the girl, more goons started to pour out of the store and try to attack the girl.
Surprising both the goons and Verdax, the girl starts zipping around the street at ridiculous speeds, slashing at goons and firing rounds from her scythe to boost her speed. 'Interesting use of the recoil.' Verdax thought to himself. 'But she's getting cocky, at this rate she'll miss one of them.'
As Verdax predicted the last goon wasn't struck, but fell over to give the illusion he was. As the girl turned to face the man in the white suit the last goon slowly got up, careful to not alert the girl.
"You were worth every cent, truly you were." Said the man as he dropped a cigarette that he proceeded to crush with his cane. "Well Red, I think we can agree that this has been an eventful evening." The man states as he glances at the goon sneaking up on the girl. "But unfortunately, this is where it ends."
During the man's monologue, Verdax was starting to walk away, deciding that he couldn't care less about the events unfolding outside that store. Or what happens to that girl.
If she lives or dies.
He didn't care.
Not for a second.
Not... a...
...
"...Oum dammit." Verdax says to himself before turning and sprinting down the street back to the shop, pumping his legs with Aura to make them go faster.
As Verdax runs, the girl, realizing what the man means, turns around to see the goon's machete arching towards her head. Before she can do anything, the goon's arm is suddenly severed and disappears. As the goon screams over the pain of losing his arm the girl backs up in shock and the white suited man's eyes widen in surprise.
"Now that was a dirty trick to pull on a young girl like that." A voice said off to the side. The girl and the man whip their heads around to see Verdax, holding a bloody scythe in one hand and the severed limb in another.
Tossing the limb to one side and putting away the scythe, he walks up next to the girl, still glaring at the man in the suit. "If I recall the recent newscasts correctly, you're Roman Torchwick, am I right?" Verdax guesses with a smirk.
The now named Roman chuckles to himself. "My reputation just gives me away, doesn't it?"
"Actually it was the eyeliner." Verdax deadpans, gesturing at Roman's left eye. This earned a laugh from the girl and a growl of anger from Roman.
"Let's see you laugh at THIS!" He shouts angrily as he raises his cane, the cover flipping over revealing crosshairs. "Son of a bitch." Verdax mutters before a small missile flies from the barrel.
The girl uses her gun scythe to push herself out of the way, while Verdax blocks the blast with his hand, the explosion creating a small dust cloud. He hisses as the burns on his hand start to repair themselves. The girl rushes over to Verdax. "Omygoshareyouokwhydidyou-"
She asks panicked, but is cut off by Verdax. "I'm fine, it'll heal. Where's Roman?" He demanded. The girl looks around, "There!" She exclaims, pointing at the top of a ladder along the side of a building.
'He's fast, I'll give him that.' Verdax thinks to himself. "Follow if you want," He says to the girl, "I'm gonna go stop him." Verdax then runs up to the building and channels Aura into his legs before jumping up and pulling himself onto the roof, shortly followed by the girl.
"Hey!" She calls out, making Roman stop. "Persistent." Roman mutters in an annoyed tone before a drop ship reveals itself from the alley below and shines a spotlight on Verdax and the girl.
Roman climbs aboard the ship before shouting, "End of the line you two!" And throwing a red Dust crystal at the girl's feet. 'SHIT!' Verdax thinks as Roman raises his cane. Verdax swipes his hand across his face, forming his mask before grabbing the girl and twisting around so his back faces the Dust as an explosion engulfs the roof.
Roman starts laughing before he hears a distorted voice. "See, people always seem to think that works, and they let their guard down." It says as the smoke starts to clear. "But in actuality," it continues as a figure stands and turns to reveal Verdax ripping off his ruined trench coat, and looking at Roman with his red and black eyes from behind the mask. "All you've done is piss me off." He growls as he grabs and combines his scythes.
"Wait that mask, that scythe..." Roman says growing more and more afraid.
Verdax channels his Aura into the blade of his scythe, the black and red energy coating it as he shouts in his terrifying voice, "My name is Verdax Ashen! I'm kind of in a bad mood so I'll skip the monologging and go straight to KICKING YOUR ASS!" Before swinging his scythe and launching a crescent wave of black and red energy at the ship, which barely dodges, cutting into the metal slightly.
Roman curses and stumbles into the cockpit. At this time Verdax glances at the girl who is staring at him in awe and fear. Turning his attention back the ship, he sees a feminine figure walk out and stare at him before launching several flaming projectiles at Verdax and the girl. Before he can intervene, the projectiles impact a purple magic circle, and a blonde woman appears out of nowhere and stands in front of Verdax and the girl.
She had blonde hair and green eyes behind a pair of glasses. She wore a white button up shirt that revealed just enough cleavage and had a cape strapped at the shoulders. In her hands was what appeared to be a riding crop.
Pushing her glasses closer to her face the new woman fired her own projectiles from her crop at the ship, making it wobble in the air. Verdax in turn fired his own blast into the wing, almost causing it to crash. The girl turned her scythe into a gun and started firing rounds at the figure on the ship, only for them to be blocked by the figure's hand. This continued until the ship pulled away and flew into the night.
Once the ship is gone, Verdax disperses his mask and stores his scythes on his belt before a blur suddenly appears at his side. "Oh my gosh your scythes are so cool! How do they attach and separate like that? Where did you learn to use them? I thought only me and my uncle used scythes!" The girl exclaimed, stars in her eyes and seeming to instantly forget the events from earlier. Meanwhile the woman was glaring at Verdax. "Whoa there pint-size." He said, trying to calm the girl down. However, she ignored him, running up to the woman. "And you! You're a Huntress! Can I have your auto-" she was cut off by the woman walking past her and toward Verdax, who rested a hand of the hilt of a scythe.
"Verdax Ashen, you're under arrest for mass murder, terrorism, vandalism, and numerous public disturbances." The woman stated with a serious glare. Verdax pretends to think, "Interesting offer, here's my counter offer: No." He tells her before walking off. Suddenly he found himself being thrown into a nearby chimney, making him spit up blood and inciting a shriek from the girl. "What are you doing!?" she cries as Verdax falls on his hands and knees at the base of the chimney.
"I will speak with you later." The woman says sternly, her gaze never leaving Verdax. "But right now this monster must be dealt with, by any means necessary." The girl ignores the woman and rushes over to Verdax, crouching by him and grabbing his arm. "Are you ok?" She asks worriedly. "Well, I did just get slammed into a brick chimney at sixty miles an hour, so I've seen better days." He grunts sarcastically.
"Did you really do all those things?" The girl questioned nervously. "Allegedly." Verdax states, still staring at the ground. "You leveled a small town." The woman retorts, voice filled with annoyance. "Allegedly." He replies. "You also took out several battalions of the Atlas military." She says getting more annoyed. "A..llegedly." He repeats. "You also took every crate on a Schnee company freighter and stacked them into a tower writing 'Sand Castle' on the side!" She exclaims, clearly fed up with him. Verdax is quiet. "Alright, that was me." He said in a defeated tone.
Before the woman could reply, Verdax jumps to his feet. "Not that our talk wasn't fun," he said stretching his arms, "Believe me, it was a great time killer, but I've recovered now, so I'm just gonna leave. Unless, you're still determined to stop me?" The girl looked between Verdax and the woman, unsure of what to do.
Eventually, the woman spoke up. "You had better get away from him Miss, or I'll assume that you're allied with him and act accordingly." She threatened, raising her riding crop. Verdax stopped what he was doing and glared at the woman in a deadly serious manner. "This girl has nothing to do with me." He stated calmly with a venom-laced tone. "Leave her out of this." "Either way, I'm bringing you both in." She said shocking both Verdax and the girl. "Why?" The girl asks, getting more nervous. The woman, still locking eyes with Verdax replies, "That is classified information, now come quietly or be punished."
"She is not going anywhere with you." Verdax growls, grabbing both his scythes and taking a defensive position. "So you intend to resist?" The woman asks, taking a position of her own. "If so I will not hold back." "Then neither will I." Verdax says as he swipes his hand across his face, forming his mask.
"You're move." He said tauntingly.
AN: And boom! Cliffhanger! And right before Verdax vs Glynda (don't start calling spoilers you guys knew it was her, you're smart) probably gonna get chewed out for that.
Two reasons I stopped here: First, I was afraid the chapter was getting to long. Second, I'm not sure how long to make the fight, I don't want the fight to drag out, but I don't want one side to curb-stomp the other.
Fighting-wise, Glynda's tough to write for. All I know is she's got telekinesis and magic, but I've got a few ideas so don't start panicking. Yet.
I also don't want Verdax to be over-powered (believe me that comes WAY later. Hint: Ichigo vs Ulquiorra, feel free to theorize, let me know what you come up with) so having him match Glynda blow for blow is saying that Verdax is already as good or better that a fully trained Huntsman or Huntress. He's good, but not that good.
For those of you that want a full list of Verdax's powers, that will come in a later chapter (one or two) when he talks with a certain someone (anyone who guesses right, you're awesome).
Please Rate and Review! Criticism is appreciated! And share this story with your friends, the more the merrier!
SolarTitan signing off!