The full moon shone brightly on the night skies, illuminating Beacon campus and surrounding areas with its pale light. The overall scenery had changed a lot about five months ago; all it took was one single night... Gone was the green glow of the CCT transmitter sitting on the now non-existent top of Beacon tower. Where the lights of Vale City shone brightly, indicating a place full of life, was now a mostly dark spot. Vale City, or what was left of it after the Grimm invasion, was largely deserted. All that remained was a field hospital and a sizeable garrison of Vale and Atlesian troops in the relatively intact industrial district.

Beacon was a busy place after the disaster, crowded with refugees and wounded civilians... but those were all gone now, moved to safer areas. The campus was usually half-empty these days since many students were away on missions which sometimes lasted more than a couple of days. As of this moment, it was an hour or two before midnight and everyone present was fast asleep... with a few exceptions.

One of which was down the path leading to the landing pad. A young man, broad-shouldered and tall, almost freakishly so; while few inches shorter than Yatsuhashi from team CFVY, he still towered over most fellow students in the academy. And he also possessed some powerful, well-defined musculature which was clearly visible even under all his clothes. The first glance would suggest this man was not to be trifled with. The reality was, well... much more complicated than that.

The giant reached the large statue placed in front of the main entrance. He sat on a small bench nearby, observing the stars flickering on the cloudless sky.

It would appear that way to a casual observer, at least. But Desmond Lenius wasn't here to stargaze.

Well, it was 'Desmond Lenius'... that is, until the fateful chance meeting that took place right near the aforementioned statue. At that moment, everything about him was called into question. His life, as he knew it, turned out to be but an illusion... as did his name.

Until that encounter, he remembered living with a single mother, his father having died in an accident that nearly killed him, too. The earliest thing he remembered was a room in Vale hospital and he was no small kid back then. He remembered nothing before that but never thought much of it. Being different from most kids of his age, he wasn't particularly well-liked although he didn't seem to mind much. Well-developed and imposing on the physical side and somewhat backward in terms of intelligence, which made him a target of frequent jabs. Idiot, that's what people often called him, as both medical term and insult. But in spite of that, he had his dreams of becoming a Huntsman, a hero that would save the world one day. Thus he took it into his head he would apply for Beacon Academy. No one took him seriously at first, but that changed when he showed a degree of talent in swordplay. True, his academic knowledge was lousy, and that was putting it mildly... but somehow he was accepted into the famed school.

It was a life-changing experience, literally in his case.

He didn't mind that many fellow students would poke fun at him for his childish behavior and lack of smarts. What did it matter when he had a couple of friends who accepted him for what he was?

Alas, things got complicated in the second semester when he started experiencing flashbacks, seeing people he never met, and places he'd never been to. It seemed surreal, confusing... and frightening as all hell. It began with a panic attack at the sight of a medical injection... and it only got worse from there. His partner, a fox Faunus named Nicolaus, tried his best to help him, and it even somewhat worked.

But then the Tournament came... and with it, an encounter with a strange little girl named Neo which turned his life completely upside down. And it happened right there, near the statue and the bench he was sitting on.

Although he didn't know at the time, he and Neo had met years ago... and what he learned from her was something he wouldn't see coming even in his wildest dreams.

Olivia Lenius, the woman he thought to be his mother, wasn't even remotely related to him to begin with.

'Desmond Lenius' wasn't his real name. It was 'Emery,' just Emery, last name unknown, lost far before his first memory ever. His real parents... only Oum knew where they were now, if they were even alive.

But the most shocking was the revelation of him being a part of a military experiment, which he never got a chance to refuse, apparently.

Project Ajax, a secret project aiming to produce super-soldiers, ultimate warriors gifted with extraordinary abilities that would either protect the world and all people living in it... or crush anyone their masters pointed at. That was all these enhanced soldiers were; obedient tools, living weapons of mass destruction who would follow all orders with no questions ever asked. It showed in the way they recruits were treated during the training. Instructors pushed them to their very limits every day, not caring a whit that the conscripts were just children, none of them older than eight. Later on, the recruits were pitted against one another and forced into a kill-or-be-killed scenario, from which only the strongest emerged alive. It wasn't much of a victory because their already impossible training routine became even more intense.

Physical punishments were nothing out of the ordinary. At first, they were used to maintain strict discipline; then the instructors used them whenever a trainee failed to carry out their tasks properly, to the letter... And later the physical abuse became something of a sport, a means to strip the future super-soldiers of everything that made them human. Enhancements, which were intended to improve their bodies, were another thing entirely. In many cases this stuff was experimental, untested, and many recruits died in agonizing pain because of it. A few trainees were already driven to a breaking point during the combat drills... and the enhancements pushed them over the edge. The insane and the insubordinate were disposed of.

The treatment of the trainees was horrible enough, but the methods the Project leaders resorted to when provide new recruits was outright heinous. At first, they picked up orphans or basically any unwanted children. When those ran out, they resorted to kidnapping children from their families. In order to eliminate the risk of the Project's activities being exposed, they would orchestrate accidents during which the parents would be killed and their surviving children taken, always making sure none of those accidents could be linked to the Project itself.

In short, from the moment of its conception, Project Ajax was willing to commit atrocities for what they saw as a 'good cause.' The end justifies the means, as the saying goes. Emery should know because he went through this hell himself. True, he still didn't know anything about his life before the Project but even if he did it wouldn't make a difference since that part of his life was forever lost now. It was strange that he didn't remember any of it before because this kind of experience would surely haunt a man for the rest of his life, or drive him insane. But Neo, this strange girl with the looks of a porcelain doll, was able to shed some light on this mystery.

Once upon a time, she was 'recruited' into the project as well, about three years before Emery came along. She's seen and experienced it all; beatings for not following orders properly, exhaustion after each and every day of gruelling training regime, first time she had to kill someone, the cursed enhancements, generally being treated as something less than human, a thing. The hostile environment almost succeeded in breaking her, almost.

Then Emery appeared, dragged into the underground base with the latest batch of recruits, and he was dropped right into the thick of things, not given even a moment to acclimatize. But unlike many others, he wouldn't break easily, despite all that's been done to him. And the Project leaders didn't like that... They needed an obedient, merciless killing machine, and Emery's optimism and sometims rebellious behavior threatened all their progress. Thus instructors started giving him 'special attention', but nothing seemed to wok.

As life under the Project's heavy-handed rule became more difficult, recruits began looking for a way to escape their daily misery. Thus a rebellion was born, one that Emery eagerly took part in... and somehow managed to talk Neo into joining. Their first attempt ended up a failure... and a whole fifth of all recruits ended up executed as both exemplary punishment and warning. Then the leaders of the rebellion were forced into another experiment session... one that was supposed to end with their agonizing demise.

oOo

Struggling and kicking against the guards that restrained him, Emery tried to escape from the surgery room. Seeing all those instruments and an assortment of injections laid out on the table, he knew what was going to happen. This many concoctions could kill a horse slowly and painfully, even more so when most of them were untested. This was the punishment for his courage to try and take his life back, he realized. It only made him try harder to escape. He couldn't let them do this, not to him, or Neo, or Chang, or anyone else.

Even when little over ten years old, he was giving the guards a hard time. No wonder one of them got tired of wrestling him into submission and hit him in the head with a steel baton. So hard that his vision began swimming and he felt like throwing up. It was enough to stop his struggling.

The man in the white coat walked casually to the table and picked up an injection containing a pale yellow fluid while his lackeys strapped Emery to the table. He still attempted to fight against the restraints, earning a hard blow to his stomach for his effort. Those goons didn't hold back, they never did.

"You brought this on yourself, you ungrateful shit." The scientist, a tall man in his fourties, sporting round glasses and a moustache, glared at the restrained boy. "You could've been the part of something great, you know. We made you, we gave you a purpose, to be both guardian and champion of humanity, defeating anyone who could ever threaten it. Anyone else would've taken pride in that. But you chose to spit on all that, wasting powers we gave you on destroying everything we worked so hard to achieve. And we will not tolerate that." He approached with the injection in his hand. Emery couldn't help it but shrink away from him, as far as the restraints allowed. "You don't want to be a part of something great, to make a history? Fine by me, it's your choice. But we'll make sure history won't remember you at all."

Without warning he stabbed the injection into Emery's arm and pushed its contents into his bloodstream. For a moment, nothing happened. Then his vision went white as searing pain shot throughout his body.

Not perturbed by his pained screams in the least, the white coat grabbed another injection, light blue in color.

"Just another unmarked grave." That was the last thing Emery heard before his consciousness was smashed into pieces by an explosion of agony.

OOo

Leaning forward on the bench, Emery shuddered slightly, head dropping into his hands. He hated that memory. At the time, he thought this was the end for him; drugged to death simply because he wasn't willing to take the torture lying down. Except that wasn't the end, not even remotely.

It was a small comfort but the Project was no more, hasn't been for years. As Neo told him, during what could be only described as deliberatly slow, agonizing execution, another riot broke out. Only this time the Project staff was overwhelmed by all trainees attacking at once. Sometime during the ensuing pandemonium, a fire broke out, destroying the facility and killing anyone who wasn't killed in the fight between the trainees and the Project's personnel. As far as Emery knew, him and Neo were the only survivors.

As shocking as it was to learn who, or what, he really was, it felt... nice to have a kindred soul at his side, someone who could really understand him.

It didn't last long, however, because aboard the hijacked Atlesian cruiser, during the night when Vale City fell, he learned who Neo really was.

A henchwoman for Roman Torchwick, a hired blade, paid assassin... a killer. Efficient, ruthless and absolutely unapologetic.

That was when their ways parted, possibly for good.

Neo and Emery might've come from the same harsh environment, shared living space for years, went through the same torture... but in the end, they couldn't have come out any more different.

He wanted to escape from the project because he wanted to live his life for himself, because he refused to let his masters take away his ability to make his own choices, mold him into a soulless tool of destruction. Even if it didn't turn out the way he hoped in the end. Those damn concoctions must've damaged him more than he thought if he ended up basically like an overgrown child. He still didn't know how it happened or what caused it but ever since coming to Beacon he slowly began to, well, heal somehow. His old memories and personality surfaced again over time... and when the truth about him came out, his team simply accepted it, just like that.

But Neo?

Emery assumed she joined the riot for the same reasons like he did. However, he quickly ceased beliving that the moment he found out she was working for a crime lord... and repeatedly tried to kill his friends. She had been given a chance to be something more than just a puppet, a thing... and what did she do with it? That's right, she became the very thing she hated... or Emery thought so, at least. He didn't know what to think, or if there was anything left of the girl he used to know.

Right, they fought during their very last meeting and she nearly killed him, too.

Maybe it's best that I forget her, he told himself. It might've been different at one point, but now he and Neo had almost nothing in common outside their experience in Project Ajax. She was an enemy now and he should treat her as such, should the two of them cross paths again. But their history didn't make this any easier...

His inner musing was interrupted by a series of footsteps approaching the place where he sat. He looked up and saw a couple of police officers approaching, wearing VPD uniforms. It struck him as odd, seeing policemen on Beacon campus; he wasn't aware that the police force was still present here. They weren't even needed in a ruined and abandoned city.

The two policeme stopped a few steps away from him, regarding him with critical gaze. Emery found it curious that they both possessed tall and athletic frames; officers in VPD usually didn't care much to keep in shape and obesity was a common problem in their ranks.

"Are you Desmond Lenius?" One of them asked, not even bothering to offer a greeting first. That was unusually forward... and Emery wasn't sure if he liked it.

"Um, yeah." He replied. It wasn't his real name, not anymore, but he couldn't risk anyone finding out what he really was. It spelled problems not only for himself but anyone connected to him, so he kept up this farce for now. "Why are you asking?"

"I need you to come with us." Came the blunt reply.

Emery now knew there was something fishy about this situation. Why would the police bother looking for him? As far as people knew, he was but an average huntsman in training, like the hundreds of other people at Beacon. "Why?" He asked.

"Your life is in danger." The officer replied. "Someone is trying to kill you, and we have a reason to assume it's the same person that murdered your father years ago."

As far as Desmond Lenius knew, his father died in a car accident and he ended up in a hospital for weeks afterward. Investigation showed no foul play, though he didn't understood what it meant at the time. Emery, however, never knew his real parents... and the closest person to a father figure died when the remains of the Project's staff tried to stop him from taking Emery away.

While Desmond would say this is probably a mistake, Emery just knew the cop was talking out of his ass... and probably wasn't a real cop at all. Which begged the question: who were those guys?

"Dad was killed in a car crash. It was an accident, that's all." He answered, playing the part of an unsuspecting teenager.

The other officer leaned to his colleague. He was whispering so he wouldn't hear... but Emery caught what he said anyway.

"Told you he wouldn't buy it..."

Emery rose from the bench when he suddenly heard noises right behind him. In the next few moments, a quartet of thugs, clad in all black, rushed him from behind and dragged him to the ground. Surprised by the sudden onslaught, Emery tried to throw them off, which was difficult to do since he was pushed into a prone position. One of the attacker rammed a baton into his back, knocking the air out of his lungs.

"Okay boss, we got him!" A man on his right grunted. "What now?"

"Do I really have to spell it out for ya idiots?" The cop that spoke to him earlier barked out. "Give 'im sedatives, lot's of 'em. Can't risk him tryin' to escape on the way back to Atlas."

Atlas?!

Emery struggled even harder, earning a few kicks to the side.

The boss of the assailants knelt next to his head. "So, Mr. 140803-EQ, you really thought you could escape us? Well, you thought wrong, buddy." He mocked, ruffling his hair roughly. "Your little Beacon dream is over; you're comin' with us, like it or not."

140803-EQ... That was what passed for his name back during his Project days. Emery realized, with immense horror, that this was what Neo warned him about, back when they were still on talking terms. Just how long were those bastards spying on him before making their move? There was no one around to help him; no one could possibly miss an attempt at kidnapping... and said attempt would be successful if he didn't do something now.

No... I'm not coming back! They won't steal my life again!

While one of the thugs fumbled with his belt trying to find the sedatives, the boss continued to laugh at his captive, even proceeding to sit on his back, his feet on either side of Emery's head. „That's right, you're comin' home; ain't that great? The dear doctor Todd Engell is restartin' the project and he'd love for you to be there to see it! Though he'd be even happier if we caught that freaky-eyed bitch," The faux cop spat to the floor. "He has a score to settle with her after she slaughtered his boys the other day-"

I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE!

Taking his chance, Emery turned his head and sank his teeth into the faux cop's leg, right above the ankle.

The cop's triumphant rant was abruptly cut off; he screamed in pain as Emery bit down hard on his leg, his teeth penetrating all the way to the bone.

The other thugs were startled by their boss' agonized wail and momentarily loosened the hold on their captive.

This was his only chance... and he was going to make it count.

Spitting out the blood pouring into his mouth, Emery quickly rolled onto his back, throwing off the men trying to restrain him. The faux cop remained laying on the ground, favoring his bleeding leg and screaming his head off.

The one goon that managed to remain standing swung his steel baton at Emery's head. He stopped the blow with his arm. It hurt like hell but he knew far worse fate awaited him of he stopped. He rammed his foot into the thug's knee... with a force that made it bend completely backwards.

There was a sickening crunch of snapping tendons and ligaments. The injured thug dropped his weapon and fell to the ground with a whimper, the shock from his injury keeping him from screaming.

Grabbing the baton, Emery quickly scrambled to his feet. Another baton hit his shoulder but he shrugged the blow off and threw a counterattack which only barely missed the offender.

Surrounded by four remaining goons closing in from all sides, Emery lowered into a combat stance, summoning his Aura.

The attackers paused as they saw a light blue glow surrounding his body. "Aura?" One of them exclaimed, eyes widened in panic. "The contract never said anything about Aura!"

"We can take him down!" The other faux cop shouted. "It's just one guy!"

The goons resumed their attack, suddenly not so eager to fight.

And for a good reason.

Emery charged and literally plowed through them, knocking two to the ground. A baton struck his back, the force of the blow was absorbed by his Aura. He whirled around and lashed out, hitting a thug right in the jaw. The blow threw him backwards and knocked out a few teeth.

The uninjured cop ran at him with a taser, trying to shock him into submission.

Emery caught the hand carrying the device and twisted it behind the assailant's back, forcing him to drop it. Once the taser slipped out of his grasp, Emery kicked the cop away and stomped on the device, destroying it.

He then was assaulted by the other three goons, two of them armed with long daggers instead of batons.

"We're to take him alive!" The cop roared. "Don't fuck this up, damn it!"

The boss was still on the ground, whimpering as he nursed his leg. A copious amount of blood poured out of the bite wound, already starting to form a sizeable puddle.

Even when outnumbered, Emery managed to keep the assailants at bay. Deflecting a knife coming at his stomach, he ducked under a baton swinging at his face and threw his left hand forward, sending a goon stumbling backwards. Then he rammed his baton into another goon's side, landing a hit that cracked a few ribs. A knife was coming at his chest but he threw his hands up, baton clanking against the offending blade and knocking it away. Its owner was thrown off balance and Emery used the opening to deal him a devastating headbutt.

Suddenly a couple of gunshots rang out.

Emery winced as three bullets struck his body. His protective Aura saved his life but it flickered and died.

"NOW BOYS!" The other cop commanded, holding a smoking pistol.

The next moment, Emery felt a knife being rammed hilt-deep into his shoulder.

The rage that bubbled inside him, aimed at Project Ajax for everything it did to him, at Neo for her betrayal, at the goons that tried to kidnap him, at this Engell character for trying to steal his life again, the rage he tried to supress had finally boiled over.

His body suddenly became a blur of movements.

In a single smooth motion, Emery torn the dagger out of his back and threw it at the faux cop holding a pistol. It struck him right where his heart was and he went down with a wet gurgle escaping his bloodied mouth.

Next came the goon that attempted to stab at his side. Emery punched him hard in the stomach, making him double over and drop his knife. He snatched it out of the air and rammed it right into the thug's eye, killing him before he could hit the ground.

Emery moved lightning-fast and in a few long strides he popped up right before the third thug. Before his adversary could do anything, Emery rammed his fist into his throat. The force of the blow snapped the man's neck instantly and he dropped to the ground like a puppet with cut strings.

The last remaining thug stared at him, completely paralyzed with fear. He didn't even try to defend himself as Emery grabbed him by the throat and started pummeling away at his face. When Emery finally let go of him, he was barely alive, his face a featureless bloody mess; shattered jaw, teeth bashed out, and most facial bones broken into pieces.

As his fury gradually wore off and he came back to his senses, Emery realized he was in the middle of a massacre.

Three people dead, one soon-to-be-dead, and two wounded, one of them most likely lamed for life.

The reality of what he just did began sinking in.

His legs gave out and he fell heavily onto the ground, shocked beyond words. He never thought he alone could be capable of such carnage, but here he was standing among corpses. Was Neo right? Was he just a killing machine and nothing could be done about it?

A sound of footsteps reached his ears. He turned around and saw his partner Nicolaus approaching with gun in his hands.

"Dear God, what happened here?" The fox Faunus whispered in shock, taking in the blood scene. "Did you...?"

"Nick, I didn't want to- They tried to kidnap me!" Emery stammered out. "I had to defend myself!"

"What? Why?"

"They're from Project Ajax!" He whispered frantically. "Some guy named Todd Engell is trying to restart it and hired these thugs to bring me back to Atlas! I- I couldn't let them... You gotta understand-"

"I'll tell you everything!" The leader of the would-be kidnappers wailed. His legs still hadn't stopped bleeding. "Just get me a doctor! I'm fucking bleeding out in he-"

Emery could do nothing but watch in pure consternation as his partner walked to the thug and broke his neck, silencing him for good. Nicolaus did the same with the other surviving thug, who had passed out from sheer pain of having his knee shattered.

"Nick?! Why-"

"I had to, Emery!" The fox Faunus cut him off. "They would reveal everything about the Project, including you! Then you'd have not only this Engell character, but also authorities in all Kingdoms hunt you down! We can't let that happen!"

Emery was stunned. Most people would run away from him in fear, call him a monster or even try and kill him. Nicolaus not only did none of those things, but also stained his own hands with people's blood just to protect him from the world. Only now it hit him how lucky he was to have someone like him at his side.

"Let's go see Goodwitch." Nicolaus stated in a sober tone. "She should know there was an attempt on your life right on Beacon's doorstep."

Emery nodded dumbly, staring a few moments longer at the people Nicolaus killed for him. It occurred to him he should show some gratitude to his 'partner in crime.' "You didn't have to do... that, you know... but thanks, really."

"Don't mention it." The fox Faunus replied, offering one of his rare smiles. "Us rejects have to stick together, right?"

Author's note: Yes they do, Nick. Yes they do.

I should probably let you know that I most likely won't be able to release the last short 'till this year's end. I hit a minor writer's block and it ended up with me unable to write anything worthwhile. Just a heads-up; apologies and wish you all a happy New Year!