Team EMAD hung around the dock in complete boredom, the transfers were due to arrive any minute but they hadn't seen even an airship in the last hour. Thatch and Francois were sitting playing cards, Allison was standing back with Maria staring at the two play, and Maria was just standing and sharpening her sword with a whetstone. The day was hot, and all were pretty annoyed that they were missing the new bloods initiation. Part of being an upper classman was watching the younger members live through your pain, but EMAD had to swallow their pride and be tour guides. Allison was deep in though when she though she heard something.
"What?" The green clad teen said as she turned to her leader.
"I said, what are you waiting for?" Maria said with a smile, he eyes showing slight amusement.
"I…I don't know what your talking about." Allison said, trying to deflect attention.
"I don't mean to insult you, but you're staring at our pirate. It's kinda noticeable." Maria said, she knew about her partners crush for a while now. At first, Allison had a crush on Francois but when he and another student started dating…she kinda fell flat. After a while, and a lot of gestures of kindness, she had started falling for Thatch. He did show some interest and she wanted to maybe start a relationship, but she had no idea how to go about it. Maria found this situation pretty funny, looking at it from the outside, it was pretty clear that the two had a thing for each other. The only ones who didn't seem to notice were the pair themselves.
"I'm not staring." Allison said quickly, her cheeks getting dark.
"Uh-huh, Allison, just go talk to him." Maria said, still smiling that smile. Allison stuttered before taking a deep breath, she had wanted to talk to him about that blonde girl but she didn't want him to know about her little spying trip. However, it seemed that Maria wasn't going to let down, so…she stared walking towards the pirate.
Meanwhile, Francois and Thatch were having a similar conversation.
"So, you gonna ask her?" Francois said as he eyed his cards.
"Ask who what?" Thatch said his voice defensive.
"Our resident shy girl, are you going to ask her out?" The Frenchman said as he and Thatch eyed the drawn cards.
"And pray tell why would I do that?" Thatch said, his voice a little hostile.
"Well, you keep giving her passing glances, shows of kindness, and the fact that you keep getting hostile whenever I mention a guy staring at her ass." The Frenchman replied, making Thatches redden a bit.
"Any man would do that if one of his friends was getting wrong looks." Thatch said even more defensively.
"Thatch, Mon Ami, you know that if you don't act soon, you might loose her." Francois said seriously.
"And I hope that she finds a good guy." Thatch said threatingly, making it known that if his teammate continued, he might hurt him.
"How about this, if I have a winning hand, you ask her out." Francois said with a hard stare.
"If I win?" Thatch asked, his voice curious.
"I have to Velvet how many of my servant girls I've hit on." Francois said, Thatch grinned at that.
"Alright, Royal Flush." Thatch said as he slammed down his cards.
"Oh my," Francois said with a fake pout, "If only I didn't get the same thing."
Thatches mouth dried up.
"Too bad for you, I'm the dealer. I win, and look, here she comes," Francois said with a gesture at the approaching female, "Go get her, tiger."
Thatch got up with a mean glare at the noble, his eye furious. The two walked over to each other.
"Uh…hey, Allison." Thatch said awkwardly.
"Hey, Thatch." The usually silent teen replied back.
"Uh, I've been meaning to ask you…" Thatches question was cut off by the sound of an airship approaching. Both of the teens thanked dust for that, while the others both mentally cursed at the timing. The ship landed with a hard thunk, and the doors opened. What came out was…unexpected to say the least. The first out was a female, tall, athletic, and with strange eyes. That went unnoticed as most of the attention was on her giant battleaxe that was strapped to her back. She wore mango colored clothes, and looked quite intimidating.
The second to follow was a teen who was slightly shorter, wearing a black suit most suited for a ninja, and had a sword strapped to his knee. His face was exposed to reveal his dirty blond hair and pale blue eyes. What followed next was unexpected. The sound of spinning wheels filled the air, as a teenage girl in a wheelchair came out of the shuttle. She noticed the strange looks that she was given.
"Before you ask, no…I don't fight," The girl said with a sigh, her dark red hair and green eyes moving around, her leather jacket made a small sound as she moved her neck, "I give intel from the sides."
"Hey!" came a voice from inside the shuttle, "You gonna help us or what?"
A stockier teen came out from the shuttle carrying about four suitcases, this teen wore pretty standard attire but the attention was primarily focused on his face. It bore a glorious handlebar mustache, one that could make any man desiring facial hair jealous.
"Guys, take your stuff off of me!" The teen yelled as he set down the suitcases, making the girl in the wheelchair giggle.
"Calm down, Richard, we're grabbing our stuff," She said with a look at the rest of the team, before turning to Maria, who had stepped forward, "Are you team EMAD?"
"Yes, welcome to Beacon." Maria said as she offered the wheelchair bound leader a hand.
"A pleasure," Emily said as she took Maria's hand, "I must ask, when I was told that our escort was a group of hunter trainees, I was a little surprised."
"As were we, usually a team has to volunteer." Maria said, noticing the sudden bur of Emily's' eyebrow.
"Oh, you weren't told anything about us?" Emily asked, a little concerned.
"No, was there something we should know?" Maria said with a hard glare, Emily suddenly smiled.
"No, nothing that you would care about." She said, Maria would have kept at it, but a new voice joined the fray.
"Could you assholes help me? I'm dragging about 200 pounds of metal, dust, and clothes! I ain't got nobody helping?" The new voice said. A new teen approached, carrying a bright orange duffle bag, and dragging a blue suitcase. He wore a blood red t-shirt and jeans, as well as a set of combat boots.
"Oh, these the guys they sent to meet us?" The new teen said with a grin, "Names Rick, Rick Grimmes."
The teen offered the closest person a hand, who happened to be Thatch. The pirate took it with a firm grip, and a hard shake. That was when Maria spoke.
"We were told about two teams, what's…" She began, only to see Emily doing the cut off sign with her hand, "Never mind."
Francois gave her a strange look, before helping Richard with one of his bags. The mustached teen grunted his thanks as he handed the teen the bag, but before they could start moving. A peculiar thing fell from the top of the bag, a book named Ninja's of Love. Francois chuckled at that.
"Hey, you got a problem?" Richard said, giving the Frenchman a look.
"It's just that I never expected a man to carry this." Francois said with a joking manner, but Richard didn't pick up on that.
"You know, at least I'm not wearing a blue dress and a stupid hat." Richard said with a grin. Francois eyes narrowed, his hands slowly reached for his rifle.
"At least I don't have a ridiculous mustache." Francois said, making Richards eyes bulge. He reached into his bag, ready to pull his weapon. Words had been exchanged; it was time to settle this with fist. The pair eyes narrowed, and suddenly Thatch felt an arm on soldier.
"My moneys on Richard, you?" Rick said with a grin, eyeing the pair closely.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Thatch said as he looked at the teen, who was smiling like a maniac.
"Richard!" Emily yelled.
"Francois!" Maria yelled, the two leaders tired of this exchange. The pair stared at their leader, and slowly withdrew their hands away from what they where reaching for. The pair eyed each other before breaking out into laughter just now realizing what they were about to fight over.
"Damn it," Rick cursed under his breath, before Thatch shoved him off, "Yeah, deserved that."
The teen jumped to his feet with a lack of grace as he turned to Maria.
"Lead the way." He said with a grin.
Later that night…
Rick stretched himself onto his bed, the team who lead them around was nice, sure, but it was still exhausting. The teen got up off his bed with a grunt as he scanned the room around him.
"Hm, Perfect." He whispered as he opened his pack and pulled out an odd assortment of items. A black set of combat armor, a few knives, a revolver with chambers way to big to be for normal bullets, a mask, and finally an ax. Rick grinned as he stared out his window, "Time to introduce myself."
At a White Fang meeting…
"Maria, how's it looking?" Thatch's voice said over an earpiece in the centurion's ear.
"No sign of Blud, that's fine though. Just a quick and clean operation sounds great, especially with those transfers." Maria replied back, her voice giving a small showing of happiness. Most of the transfers were fine, even Richard proved that he wasn't a complete asshole, but Rick was a different story. That…psychopath kept all of her team on their toes, asking various questions ranging from where the food court was to if they had ever seen what a Grimms intestines look like.
"Yeah, so…normal operation?" Francois said over the intercom.
"Yes, ready, Allison?" Maria asked.
"Yes give the word." Came the small voice from the other side of the room.
"OK, Three…Two," Maria didn't finish as the lights inside flickered and went out, "Maria!"
"It wasn't me!" The voice yelled on the other end, but Maria wasn't listening. She was watching the inside of the building, and she was in a mixture of shock, awe, and horror.
Insert The Axman by The Omen
"Maria…do you see?" Thatch asked, only to be cut off.
"That's not possible…he's a myth." Francois said, his eyes able to see in.
"What is…oh." Allison said as she leapt to the vantage point where Maria was, the four pairs of eyes all saw something, something they never though possible. In the building, on a stage that was set up, there was a man. He had a red flare illuminating him, his face was obscured by the mask, but everyone recognized it, primarily because of what was in his right hand. An ax, the tool of the Axman.
Insert the phrase "THE AXMAN"
The lights came up, the crowd fell back. He then decided to speak.
"I'm not here for you," He said, a voice modifier doing its job, "I am merely here for their heads."
After he said this, he pointed at the commanders. The soldiers didn't appreciate that, and decided to open fire. The vigilante surged forward, slamming his ax into the nearest soldier's guts. This display of violence shocked team EMAD out of their stupor.
"Move!" Maria yelled as she leapt across, busting through a window along side of Thatch. Allison and Francois followed suit, they landed with a hard thud. The sound attracted attention as some soldier turned and opened fired their rifles at the team, Allison quickly dispatched with a well placed lighting blast. Said blast attracted the attention of the Axman, who turned and regarded the new people.
"Great." He muttered as he turned to see the White Fang leader getting away, he ran in pursuit. EMAD dealt with the remaining soldier quickly, only to see the tail end of the Axman as he pursued the commander.
"Damn it!" Maria yelled, taking off with the rest of her team in tow. They followed the pair down a hallway; their steps weren't soft so The Axman heard them. He sighed as he ran past a new hallway, this one with a door that was raised with a chain. The man had a huge grin under his mask as he cut said chain, causing the door to slam shut. What he didn't expect was to hear the sound of Dust, and a rather loud smashing sound. He turned to see that the team, without missing a beat, had frozen and smashed a giant hole into said door.
Great teamwork the man though as he charged forwards, only to see two guards jump out in front and ready themselves. The Axman laughed as he suddenly slid across the floor, and disembowel the pair with his axe and knife that he pulled from his jacket. Team EMAD almost slipped on the blood, but managed to avoid it, making the vigilante a little frustrated.
"Got to be kidding me." He muttered as he neared the leader, the man had just run through a door. The Axman rushed in, and before EMAD could react, slammed the door and sealed it with an ice crystal.
"That should hold them," The vigilante said with a laugh as he turned to regard the White Fang commander, who pulled a pistol and started firing. The crazed vigilante dodged said bullets, and slammed the guy into a wall. The man dropped his pistol as the Axman stabbed him in the chest, avoiding the heart, "Gonna enjoy killing you sick bastard."
The man tried to stand only to be shoved to the floor, he looked into the blank white eyes that the mask gave the vigilante. The Axman readied himself when he heard a cracking sound; he turned to see that the ice wall he had constructed was cracking. He growled as he suddenly picked up the commander, and put a knife to his throat. Team EMAD busted in, each aiming their respective weapons at the vigilante.
End Music…
"Let him go." Maria said with a hard glare, the glare of someone who was upset about an operation that had been foiled.
"Why? So you can turn him in?" The Axman said with a low growl, making Francois back up a bit.
"Yes," Maria answered, "How did you know that?"
"Studied up on the city before I came, saw a local group of vigilantes saving people, but letting the White Fang live. I personally don't share your sympathies." The Axman said his tone dark.
"So what? Just kill them?" Francois cut in, trying to sight in his rifle.
"Don't even try, wearing armor. Yes, killing them is much easier," The Axman said, noticing the furrowed brows of the team, "You know, I honestly think that we could gain much insight if we talked, but I don't imagine that's why you're here."
"Right, how did you know about this meeting?" Thatch asked, his voice and face showing the entire reason why they hadn't made a move, they wanted to know how and why he was here.
"Check fourth and Fifth Street; find some answers there, now if you excuse me, I've got justice to carry out." The Axman said as he suddenly cut the commanders throat, Team EMAD charged, only for the vigilante to pull a crystal out and slam it into the ground. The crystal shattered and covered the entire area with smoke, Team EMAD started coughing. The smoke cleared as suddenly as it appeared, with the Axman nowhere in sight.
"Damn it!" Maria yelled as she ran to a nearby window, not seeing anything.
"Smart man, knew that we couldn't hit him without him killing the hostage." Allison said her voice a mixture of fear, anger, and respect.
"Cold blooded," Francois said with a spit to the side, "Just like all of his kind, crazy bastards."
"Can't deny his effectiveness," Thatch said with a point towards the fleeing crowd, "Scared them off."
"EMAD," Maria said, cutting them off, "We are going to Fourth and Fifth Street."
A scene transition later…
The team entered the site, it was an abandoned building. Poorly lit, but enough to see. The team moved quietly, hoping that if someone was here, they would find them with the element of surprise. That was the plan, but the came across a room with a light on inside, Maria did a hand signal to stop. They all wrapped around the doorway, Francois and Allison on the left, Thatch and Maria on the right. Maria did a silent countdown with her fist, before running in. What they saw…was something they wished the could unsee.
It was a body, a dead one, but one that had been brutally tortured. Its hands had been broke, its legs cut, one of its eye gouged out, and a bullet hole in its head. Allison turned away; Francois lost his dinner, Thatch's eyes widened, and Maria's face turned into a grimace.
"Call Harry," Maria said, "Now."
Meanwhile, at Beacon…
Weiss Schnee was currently looking at her scroll, looking up names. Her face fell with each face she crossed, until she had an idea. She looked up the name Jaune Arc, and smiled.
"Perfect."