RWBY: MRRN
VOLUME 2, CHAPTER 8: In Trouble
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY. All rights go to Rooster Teeth.
"Please, this is all we have," a person begged the Huntsmen who were holding him and those accompanying him at gunpoint, along with his wife and child. He and his company of thirty were travelling through the forest to a village to establish a temporary shop as they were travelling merchants. However, a group of Huntsmen got the drop on them and was taking everything from them.
"And you'll lose your lives as well if you don't shut up," the leader threatened, pointing his shotgun at the man.
"You're Huntsmen!" the child shouted. "You're supposed to be protecting us, not robbing us!" The leader chuckled condescending in response to what the child said.
"Be quiet!" her father told her.
"No, no," the lead Huntsman replied. "It's obvious she needs a lesson in reality, so I'll tell her: We are Huntsmen. We're professional Huntsmen at that. Do you know what that means?"
"It means you're bad people," the child replied defiantly.
"No," the Huntsman smirked. "It means we can do whatever. We. Want. Since none of you are Huntsmen like us, you can't stop us...unless you're stupid enough to try."
"You're monsters!" the wife cried, looking at five of their company the Huntsmen had killed. "They had no way of defending themselves!"
"Why should we care?" the leader callously smirked. "If they didn't learn to defend themselves, that's their fault, not ours."
"That's everything!" one of his crew called out. "Got the money, supplies…everything."
"Good," the leader spoke. He then reached over and grabbed the man's wife and child. He let out a yell of defiance, but the leader pointed his shotgun at him.
"Follow us and they die," he warned. "I may choose to release them; your wife's a beauty after all."
"Let us go!" the young girl cried. The leader handed her over to one of his men, who held her at gunpoint.
"Here's another lesson in the real world," the leader informed. "It's best to shut up and keep quiet…or else we may feed you to the Grimm." He relished in the look of terror on the young girl's face.
"Let's-"
A hooded figure appeared behind them, hitting the leader with his green and silver blade and the other Huntsman with his gauntlet, forcing them to release the wife and young girl.
The Huntsmen looked in shock at the hooded figure who had just attacked them, his blade in one hand and his activated gauntlet in the other.
"Who are you?" the leader asked.
"Someone who's standing in your way," the hooded figure answered. "I will not let you harm these people."
There was silence for a little bit. The robbing Huntsmen looked at each other, confused at this. Finally, the silence was broken by roaring laughter from the leader. The rest of his gang of eight joined in as well.
"Do you honestly think you can take on all of us?" the leader taunted. "We're Huntsmen. Pros, at that."
"From the look of things, you have been targeting those who cannot fight back," the hooded warrior responded. "You're not pros. You're simply scum who haven't gone up against an actual Huntsman in Gods know how long."
"And you're supposed to be a pro?" the leader asked. The hooded warrior made no change in his stoic expression.
"Fight me and find out," he challenged.
"Sounds good to me," the leader smiled. "Kill him!"
The Huntsmen charged at the hooded man. The first one swung a single edged blade at him; the warrior blocked it with his gauntlet and struck her torso twice with his blade, her Aura shimmering from the impacts. Two more rushed towards him, swinging a Dust spear and pair of daggers at the hooded warrior. The hooded man parried each of their attacks and kicked the first one to the ground; the second, he slammed him against the tree and hit him in the head with his gauntlet until his Aura was quickly depleted.
The leader fired his shotgun at him, which he deflected with his gauntlet. The hooded man rushed over to him, knocked his shotgun aside with his blade and dealt a brutal punch to his face, causing his Aura to shimmer from the attack.
"You can't take us," the leader claimed. "We're Huntsmen."
The hooded man said nothing, instead deflecting the bullets of another Huntsman. He rushed over to him, knocked his guns aside and punched him into the air, making him hit a thick tree branch.
"Kill him!" the leader roared as he fired another shotgun shell at the hooded warrior, who deflected the projectile with a swift swipe of his blade.
Two more Huntsmen charged at him, one with a hammer, the other a flail. The hammer user slammed his weapon into the ground, but missed the swordsman as he rushed out of the way. He reappeared from the side and slashed at his arms, neck and legs with a clean string of attacks with his blade, depleting his Aura.
The flail user swung her weapon at the hooded warrior, missing and hitting a tree trunk instead. She activated the Fire Dust in her flail, making it burn with immense flames. She swung once more after catching sight of the hooded warrior, yet again missed.
"He's too fast!" the flail user shouted. Tired of this, the lead Huntsman grabbed the young girl as she and her family were trying to escape.
"Put down your weapons…or I'll kill this girl!" he threatened. There was no response from the hooded man.
"I said-"
"I heard you," the warrior spoke as he appeared beside the leader, grabbing the girl and hitting him firm in the face with his blade, depleting his Aura.
"Get out of here!" the hooded man told the travelers. "I'll take care of them!"
"Be careful!" the young girl called out as they got into the Huntsmen's vehicles containing their supplies and drove off while the hooded warrior combated the Huntsmen.
The last remaining Huntsmen, excluding the leader, tried to stop them, but the hooded man rushed in front of them and finished them out with one last strike of his blade, hitting both of them and depleting their Auras.
"This is over for you!" the leader roared. He pulled out his other shotgun and unleashed a barrage of shotgun shells on the hooded man, again deflecting them with his blade. The hooded man again rushed up to him, followed by a swift punch with his gauntlet to the leader's jaw. He went flying and hit a tree trunk, left in much pain without his Aura to protect him. Before he could stand, the hooded warrior stood in front of him and pointed his blade.
"Go on," he dared. "In the end, all Huntsmen are just killers."
"You're wrong," the man denied as he sheathed his blade. "I've known many Huntsmen who protect people the way they should."
"I was that way too and what did I get?" the leader asked. "Not even a thank you! I'm tired of risking my life for others when they won't do the same-"
"They never said they would!" the hooded man interrupted sharply. "We don't always get the recognition we should get, but that's no excuse to stoop to robbing innocent people."
"Then you're either really devoted or really stupid," the leader responded. "Go on; kill me."
"No," the hooded swordsman refused. "I should for what you did, but you are beaten; killing you serves no purpose. I will say this: leave these people alone…or next time I will not be merciful."
"Boss!" two of the Huntsmen called out as they rushed to help him. One of them prepared to pull a gun on the hooded man, but the leader stopped them.
"Let's get out of here," he groaned as they left. When they were far enough, they looked back, but the hooded man was gone.
"Did he disappear?" one of them asked.
"Let's not wait to find out," the leader insisted. As they ran away, they were ignorant of a Vacuo Golden Eagle flying away, looking for someone.
-0-
"You asked Yang to the dance!?" Math asked with a huge smile on his face, his throat having mostly recovered thanks to his Aura. "I'm happy for you."
"Don't be happy that Ren was the one to teach me dancing," Ruo responded. "He is ridiculously hard on me."
"Ren? Hard on you?" Nasser asked with disbelief in his tone. "Ruo, Ren's probably the calmest person I've met…besides you."
"You'd be surprised," Ruo responded. "He takes dancing VERY seriously."
"I could give you some pointers," Math suggested. "I mean, dancing isn't that hard once you get it down."
"What about you, Nasser?" Robin asked. "You going to the dance?"
"Probably not," he replied. "Vacuo never had these kinds of occasions."
"We're not in Vacuo," Math reminded his teammate.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," the knife user responded. His scroll went off and he took it out of his pocket to see he had received a text from…Octavia. He opened it and it read "Ready for the movie tonight?" Nasser typed and sent the message "Be down there in 15."
"What's going on?" Robin asked Nasser.
"Nothing," he denied. He went to the door, but Robin jumped in front of him.
"You're going to see Octavia, aren't you?" he asked with a smirk.
"That's not your business," Nasser responded. "Now move before I throw you out the window."
"You break it, you buy it," Robin responded with a calm smile.
"What about you, Robin?" Math asked his cousin. "Are you going to the dance?" The archer nodded his head.
"Hopefully, Coco will be back in time," he said. "We were looking forward to this."
Math could see the disappointment in his cousin's eyes. He was taking his relationship with Coco seriously and didn't give her any reason to believe it was just 'love them and leave them'. He genuinely loved the leader of Team CFVY and had been looking forward to enjoying the dance together, but the sudden call had put a dent in their plans.
Robin rarely gave off any type of sad feelings; this was one of those rare times.
"We can just hope for now," Ruo insisted. "I'm sure Coco wouldn't want you to miss out on having fun."
"I know," the red-haired archer responded.
"Well, talk to you guys later," Nasser departed as he opened the door and walked out…luckily, without carrying out his threat of throwing Robin out the window.
The knife user walked down from his dorm to the lounging area where he and Octavia would watch their movie. As he waited for his childhood friend, Nasser prepared some popcorn, chips and bottled lemonade from the fridge.
"Hey," Octavia called out as she entered the room, immediately making Nasser turn to look at her.
"Hey, Octavia," Nasser responded. "Nice to finally be having movie night, huh?"
"You bet," the redhead agreed. "We haven't had time to really do something together."
"Well…we do now," the green-themed member of Team MRRN responded as he put the popcorn and chips on the table between the sofa and TV.
"Just out of curiosity, do you know Team SSSN?" Octavia asked. The name made Nasser's friendly face dissolve into a more sour one.
"Unfortunately," he responded. "Sun Wukong is so annoying that he keeps stealing everything."
"Is that the blue-haired guy?" Octavia asked.
"No," Nasser responded. "Sun's the Monkey Faunus. The blue haired guy's Neptune…why?"
"He keeps flirting with us, even though we make it CLEAR that we want to be left alone," the redhead spoke with disgust. "Is all of Team SSSN like this?"
"Scarlet and Sage are alright," Nasser claimed. "It's mostly just Sun and Neptune who annoy the hell out of us…but let's not focus on them. How've you been?"
"Good," Octavia replied. "Nebula and Gwen seem to like you, but…"
"Dew doesn't?" Nasser finished.
Dew Gayl never showed any emotions towards males other than callousness or arrogance. It was obvious that she didn't like them and seemed to encourage Octavia not to either. Nasser had no idea why she hated guys so much, but he wasn't going to worry about that right now. All he wanted to do was spend time with the beautiful Octavia Ember.
"Man, I can't stress enough how much I've missed you," Nasser spoke as he sat down next to the member of Team NDGO.
"Me neither," Octavia replied. "How's your family been?" The happiness in the knife wielder's eyes left immediately after Octavia asked the question. The redhead immediately saw this and was about to speak, but Nasser spoke first.
"We've been struggling," he admitted. "My mother, sister and I haven't had it easy ever since we moved to Vale."
"What about your brother?" Octavia asked.
A low growl slipped through Nasser's lips. To even think about his brother was enough to ruin any happy moment he was having with anyone. He was the reason why he and his family lived in near poverty for years. He was the reason he and his sister barely saw their mother because she had to work so much.
"My brother…left us," Nasser admitted with reluctance.
"Left?" Octavia asked. "As in…lives in another kingdom?"
"No," Nasser replied. "As in…took our father's inheritance all for himself and left us to live in poverty."
"What?" the redhead gasped. "But…Cassim always seemed like a good person."
"Well, he sure as hell wasn't one when he left us with nothing," Nasser replied, trying to hide bitterness in his tone. He sighed; he didn't want to spend movie night with Octavia angry. What happened had happened; nothing would change that.
"Well, what movie did you bring?" Nasser asked, changing the subject. Octavia smirked.
"Do you remember that movie we tried to watch, but our parents wouldn't let us?" she reminded.
"Too many to remember," Nasser chuckled. "We tried to watch so many movies behind our parents' backs."
"This one," Octavia replied as she pulled out a movie reading "The Destroyer".
"Now I remember," Nasser responded. "We tried to watch it so many times, Mom had to lock it away."
"Shall we?" Octavia asked as she walked over to the Disc Player and inserted the movie. Nasser grabbed the remote, turned up the volume and got comfortable.
The two snacked on the popcorn and chips as they watched the movie. At times, Nasser found himself looking to see Octavia and feeling a warmth in his stomach. During combat class, she was still the same aggressive fighter he knew her as back then. Outside of combat, she was still the same kind and sweet girl he was...
"Hold on, hold on!" Nasser thought internally. "I'm not actually…liking her, am I? Oh man, if I am…I will never hear the end of it from Robin."
"Are you alright?" Octavia asked, snapping the knife user from his thoughts.
"I'm fine," he assured her. "Let's just enjoy the movie."
Without realizing it, Octavia slowly put her head on his shoulder, making the knife wielder blush. He tried using subtle signs to get her to move her head, but she didn't move. After trying every few minutes, he eventually gave up and let her stay.
The movie went on and the two childhood friends became closer and closer. Nasser had placed his head atop Octavia's and his hand was slowly making its way to hers. Suddenly, Octavia's scroll went off; the redhead pulled it out and read the name. Her expression soured as she hung up and put it back.
"You okay?" Nasser asked. The redhead sighed in annoyance.
"It was Dew," she replied. "I wish she wasn't so distrusting towards guys. She keeps acting like you're so…" She exhaled. "She doesn't know you like I do, but she keeps acting like you're nothing but trouble."
"So she's sexist towards guys?" Nasser asked bluntly.
"Well…technically, yes," she confirmed. "We've spoken to her about it, but…" Sound effects from the movie interrupted their conversation, but quieted down enough for them to speak again.
"What about your other teammates?" Nasser asked. "Are they okay with this?"
"Nebula and Gwen trust me," Octavia replied. "Luckily, they're not as judgmental as Dew."
The movie continued on for about another hour before they reached the end credits. Octavia walked forward and took out the Disk before resetting the TV projector to its normal channels.
"Man, I loved that movie!" Nasser smiled. "Now I know why our parents wouldn't let us watch it."
"Yeah," Octavia agreed. "We have a little bit of time left before we need to head back to our dorms. Want to see what else is on?"
"Sure," Nasser complied. Almost immediately, he was greeted by the sight of Lisa Lavender on VNN.
"We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news. Tonight, chaos on the Vale highway; several dozen people are dead or injured from what looked like a robot chase, which was identified as an Atlesian Paladin that was stolen by the White Fang. The VSU, having been tasked with apprehending Roman Torchwick and the White Fang, recently arrested Team RWBY of Beacon Academy, along with Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias of Team SSSN. They are being held on charges of interfering with a VSU investigation and reckless endangerment of civilian lives. Captain Kijivu left this comment:
'Because of their interference in a VSU investigation and their reckless actions, dozens of people are dead or in the hospital. The students of the Academies cannot behave like they can do whatever they want. What happened tonight was a preventable tragedy and I intend to make those responsible pay for it.'
"This is Lisa Lavender at VNN and we'll now return to our regular programming."
Nasser's mouth dropped at what he just heard. He couldn't believe at what he just heard. Without thinking, he took off towards his dorm and slammed it open.
"Nasser?" Math asked. "What's wrong?"
"We need to find Ozpin," Nasser informed.
-0-
"You're absolutely certain of this?" Ozpin questioned.
"I saw it on the news," Nasser informed. "Team RWBY and Sun and Neptune were arrested tonight."
"On what charges?" Ironwood asked.
"Umm…interfering with an investigation and reckless endangerment," Nasser tried to remember. Just then, Ozpin's scroll vibrated. He picked it up and placed it next to his ear.
"Hello?" the Headmaster greeted.
"Professor Ozpin…could you help us please?" Ruby asked, using a scroll belonging to the VSU.
"Mr. Achdarr told me about what happened," Ozpin asked. "Is it true?"
"Well, if you're talking about the Paladin incident…yes," she admitted.
"We were just trying to help," Yang said over the scroll.
"We will discuss this later," Ozpin replied. "I'll come get you. Are you being held at VSU Headquarters?"
"Yes," Ruby confirmed.
"I'll be there," Ozpin assured before hanging up and standing from his seat.
"I thought police didn't have the authority to arrest Huntsmen and Huntresses," Ruo asked.
"For years, that was true," Goodwitch responded. "Because of the training they received and their responsibilities of defending the kingdoms, they were considered above the law. However, many Huntsmen committed crimes and used their authority to get away with it. The crime rate by Huntsmen raised so high that the Councils passed a law fifteen years ago that created special units with the legal authority to arrest Huntsmen when needed."
"The VSU," Math assumed.
"Correct," Ozpin confirmed. "Sadly, even with this law, several Huntsmen and Huntresses still twist their authority to do whatever they want and are allowed to get away with it."
"And it's Huntsmen and Huntresses like them that make the Iron Knights' numbers grow," Robin assumed.
"Sadly true," Ozpin replied. "Now, I must go pick up Team RWBY. You may head back to your dorm now." Ozpin left his office and went down one of the elevators to go to the parking garage and drive to VSU Headquarters.
-0-
Upon returning to their dorm, they tried to get to sleep, but failed. The news of their friends being arrested was hard enough, but the revelation around Huntsmen troubled them even further. For eighty years, Huntsmen were the defenders of the Four Kingdoms. They protected those who couldn't protect themselves while fighting the evil creatures of Grimm.
However, that also meant for sixty-five years, Huntsmen were above the law. They could do whatever they wanted without consequence, without being arrested, and could get off scot free. From the sound of it, they could kill someone for no reason and law enforcement would turn a blind eye to it.
"So this is probably why the Iron Knights were made in the first place," Robin guessed.
"To have so much privilege without responsibility is just something terrible waiting to happen," Ruo replied. "I've met good Huntsmen who use their power for good, but I've also met those who twist it to do whatever they want."
Math was being unusually silent. This revelation hit him the hardest; he had always thought the best of Huntsmen being the defenders of the kingdoms because of his experience with Forest and Glaucus. He knew that there were several crooked Huntsmen in Remnant, but he thought it was because they just decided to adopt the mindset they could do whatever they wanted.
It wasn't that. They were considered above the law for years, meaning they could do whatever they wanted as long as they defended the kingdoms. Math didn't agree with this; he was taught that Huntsmen must be disciplined and understand there are consequences to their actions. To hear this unsettling truth was something that bothered the autistic swordsman.
"Math?" Robin asked. "You're being very quiet over there. You okay?" The swordsman looked down at his feet, thinking back to his encounter with Nachtfel.
"A devil you created."
"Are we really capable of this kind of selfishness?" Math asked. "That we're willing to twist our-?"
"We're not them, Math," Robin assured. "We're better than them. We know right from wrong."
"Exactly," Nasser assured. "We'll be the ones to defend the kingdoms, not hurt others for our own petty needs."
"Yeah," Math replied. "I guess…I knew that not all Huntsmen wanted to be protectors, but being above the law, doing whatever you want with no consequence…that's not a life anyone should have."
"Agreed," Nasser replied. "Let's just hope everything turns out okay with Team RWBY."
"Well, we can only hope," Ruo agreed. "It may not be easy to get them out, considering what happened. You heard what Goodwitch said."
"How could they act so irresponsibly?"
"But Ozpin seems to be on good terms with the VSU," Robin brought up. "Surely, he can do something to get them out."
"As I said, for now, we can only hope," Ruo responded.
-0-
"We were just trying to help!" Ruby pleaded from inside the cell she was in with her team.
"Well, you didn't," Kijivu responded. "All you did was get people killed tonight!"
"But we didn't kill them, Roman did!" Yang argued.
"Roman killed those people, yes, but what did you do to ensure their safety?" Kijivu questioned. "You led him onto a highway full of innocent people and you did nothing to contain the damage."
"At least we did something while you've barely done anything," Sun argued from his cell next to Team RWBY's. Kijivu walked over to him and looked him in the eye.
"I'd watch your words carefully, Mr. Wukong," he warned. "Just because we're not having high speed chases on open roads or fighting giant robots where everyone can see us doesn't mean we're not doing our job. We're simply considering casualties, unlike you."
No one could argue with that. No one did anything to save the innocent people that were in Roman's path of destruction. Blake and Sun thought they would lose him on the highway, but instead endangered dozens of people that are now dead or injured.
Just then, Lieutenant Gormen arrived with a large scroll with a paused video on it. He handed it to Kijivu, who made sure all of the students could see it.
"Does this look like you had the situation under control?" the Captain asked and played the video. It showed Blake and Sun, jumping from car to car as Roman destroyed the majority of those in his path. It then showed the destruction of the columns during their fight with the Paladin that nearly caused the highway to collapse.
"It doesn't look that way to us," Gormen responded. "So, we'd recommend you choose your words carefully. You're all in enough trouble as it is for the damage you caused tonight."
"Captain!" a VSU Officer called out. "Professor Ozpin is here to speak with you."
"Tell him I'll meet him in my office," Kijivu replied.
"Yes, Captain," the Officer obeyed as he left the cells.
"You're lucky Ozpin came here to help you," Kijivu told the students. "If Ozpin manages to talk me into letting you go, then I'll give this warning: the next time I put you behind bars, you stay behind bars." Captain Kijivu and Lieutenant Gormen walked out, leaving the six students by themselves.
"Man, we really screwed up," Neptune brought up, realizing there was no justifying what they did. Not only did they fail to get information on the White Fang, they also indirectly got people killed.
"Ozpin will get us out of here," Ruby claimed. "Right?"
"Let's hope so," Weiss replied.
The Schnee heiress felt like saying "I told you so" to her teammates, but chose not to. She had warned them that they were not ready for this because they were still students. Even though she eventually jumped on board, she was still doubtful of it…and now her doubts were right. They should've left this to the VSU and not have interfered. By doing so, they may have thrown away their chances of becoming Huntresses.
If Ozpin doesn't convince Kijivu to release them, then all of their hard work will be for nothing.
