Chapter 11

Agent Maine woke up after a very long rest, fully enjoying the lack of voices in his head, although it hurt a bit. He stretched and felt a rare smile come to his face when he remembered.

Today was the day he'd begin his journey for revenge.

No. Not revenge. It sounded too… Meta.

Justice was a much more appropriate term. But Brute's Justice didn't really have the same ring as Brute's Revenge...

He pulled on his armor, and after helping himself to the canteen and packing away food into a bag, he slung it over his shoulder and new Brute Shot.

He checked that the Magnum on his side was full before exploring the other weapons at hand. Something less imposing and more practical, he wouldn't be able to use a grenade launcher in a city. He picked up a battle rifle and several mags for range, carrying it as he headed for the exit.

He walked through a secured airlock before stepping out into the sunlight. The door behind him closed, almost hiding perfectly into the cliff face he emerged from.

Maine spotted a small path that led through the trees, and after a few minute's walk arrived at a road. He walked along it, expecting traffic, but there was nothing to be seen.

He pulled up a map on his HUD and plotted a path to Vale. It would be several hours, but he'd reach the west wall of the kingdom by four.

Maine heard the growls of Beowulf's behind him, but he calmly lifted the battle rifle and let loose carefully placed shots that bore through their heads. The high-velocity rounds were barely slowed down by the armor plating on their skulls as they fell one by one.

Just because he was a brute and had a grenade launcher didn't mean he had to take the guns-blazing route every time.

He used up a single mag to take them out, and simply let it slide out of the gun before loading a new one and continuing his journey, leaving several dissolving carcasses behind him.

The silence around him felt magical as he set a comfortable pace and enjoyed the surrounding scenery.

"If what you've said is true - and I have no reason to believe it is not - then this man is going to come for revenge."

Ozpin sighed as he stared at the AI in front of him yet again. Sigma stood in front, head bowed down, with Church and Tex on either side and the other AI behind them.

"And you do realize that what you've done…" Ozpin narrowed his eyes and leaned forwards. "Most likely, if we went to any authority figure, they'd put you down immediately as punishment. Manipulating this man, killing all these people… you must forgive me if I don't have much sympathy for you."

"Trust me, the feeling's mutual." Church sighed. "But we know for a fact that the Meta… I mean Agent Maine WILL hunt us down. And we know that if he sees us, he'll most likely kill us as well."

"And why would that be?"

"After what Sigma did…" Tex shot a glare at the AI. "Most likely, Maine will be out for revenge. And he'll probably kill all of us too. In a way, we as well are partially responsible for what happened to him."

"Right. I've made my decision." He put his hands on the table and leaned forward. "You will stay here, where we will be able to protect you. I'll bring Qrow and other trained huntsmen and huntresses to deal with him. Until then, you are not to leave the school for any reason."

"The odds of him already being in Vale right now are very slim," Delta told him. "Earliest, he should arrive sometime in the afternoon, based on the location of this message's origin."

"That leaves us with a problem. Qrow will earliest be arriving tomorrow morning, and that is if he goes on an overnight trip, which I expect he won't be bothered to. Same with the other huntsmen and huntresses…" Ozpin rubbed his head. "You'll still be kept here. We need to ensure your safety. Should this… Agent Maine arrives, we will offer him a chance to turn away."

"Somehow… I don't believe he will…" Tex looked down, anxious. "He's lost so much… and he most likely has nowhere to go to. He lost his friends, and is a criminal of the UNSC… So his life is pretty much ruined. Nothing short of dying and being reborn will fix this mess."

Ozpin took a sip from his mug. "Well, it's a new world, with a new chance to make a new life."

"He won't let go until he has his revenge," Tex warned him. "I know him. He always holds a grudge against those who hurt him… or his friends… It was what made us like him, like an overprotective brother…"

She fell silent. O'Malley patted her on the shoulder.

"Regardless, we'll still offer him a chance. But if he refuses it, well…" His eyes hardened. "He'll know first hand what we are capable of as the defenders of Remnant."

The AI and students nodded with mixed feelings of relief and worry. "So we'll get to see Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked. "How do you know him?"

"He works for us." He replied. "Now, for-"

His scroll started ringing. He pulled it out and opened it. "Yes?"

"Ozpin, this is the leader of the Vale Defence Force. I've gotten reports of a heavily-armed white armored figure with a gold visor who is attacking Grimm in the settlements to the west of the city and making his way here. Is he affiliated with you, by any chance?"

They all looked at each other nervously. "I'll be meeting him personally. Send a bullhead to pick me up and take me to him." Ozpin replied.

"Of course, it'll be there in a few minutes."

Ozpin hung up and stood up from his desk. "If you excuse me, I'll be on my way. I hope we can settle this diplomatically and without violence."

"Umm…" Theta spoke up. "Is it a bit late to mention he's mute?"

Ozpin stared at him, and he shuffled nervously under his gaze.

"Maine received nine gunshots point-blank to his neck, destroying his vocal cords," Tex explained to the shock of the students. "How he survived, even I don't know, but it just proves how resilient he is."

"You… never did tell us how he lost his voice." Blake spoke up.

"Sorry about that. After he lost his voice, he was given Sigma to compensate and to communicate. And you can say the rest is history." Tex shot a look at the AI, who looked away.

"The point is, nothing short of an orbital strike is going to kill the bastard. And he even survived one during the raid." Church sighed. "So we are pretty much boned unless you can bring some more magic-users and fighters to do your super-natural mumbo-jumbo shit on his ass."

"Swear!"

"For crying out loud, red!"

Ozpin smiled. "I guess we can get some of these quote unquote "magic-users" to help you. But if you excuse me, I have to go talk to him. I hope we'll be able to communicate through scroll typing. You are all dismissed."

They all boarded the elevator in silence. Ozpin watched the doors close before sighing. "I just hope that Maine will be able to understand…"

He grabbed his cane and his scroll before heading to a separate door that led to the roof, where a bullhead was just arriving. He accepted the hand of the Vale soldier inside and he sat down as the bullhead pulled up and headed to the west of Vale.

Ozpin pulled out his scroll again and went through the contact list before pressing on a name. He sighed as it connected.

"Qrow? We've got a problem."

"What? Can't be that important." Qrow replied, voice a bit slurred as he brought a glass to his lips. Great, he was drunk again.

"Would you believe me if I said that there is a high chance your nieces are going to die if you don't get here as soon as possible?"

There was silence as he stared at him before the glass in his hand shattered. He didn't notice. "Tell me which son of a bitch it is and you'll be able to fit them in this glass when I'm done with him."

Ozpin sighed. "I hope you're sitting down because it's a little bit more complicated than that..."

Author's Note: PLEASE READ. IMPORTANT:

School. That's all you need to know. It starts tomorrow, and I've been spending the last few days shopping for school supplies. So, of course, this is going to slow down updates for both stories I have now. I am so sorry, but since I'm starting 10th grade I'm gonna be getting used to more work. I'll do my very best to continue the story, but if there are long periods of time between updates, then you know. Thanks for all the support and the theories, I love reading over those and you can put in your ideas for what will happen next in a review if you want.

I'm also sorry this is a shorter chapter, but I have been rushed a lot and I don't really have more to add to this chapter. I'm also going to give up on having a set number of words, if possible so that I can write without having to shorten or lengthen the chapters in the ends.

Thank you all so much for your understanding. This was a great summer for me, and I want to thank you all for that as well. Until next time, take care! And for those back in school, good luck. We're all going to need it… :-(