Chapter 12

A/N: Updates will slow down, due to school, friends, homework, etc. 10th grade's going to be a bastard... so I hope you forgive me if I spend a few days between chapters working. Thank you all for your understanding, and until next time, peace out.


Maine sighed as he tore out the Brute's Revenge from the head of a dead Deathstalker, the last one of three. He listened to the cheers from the settlers as the last few Beowulf's fled to the forest.

This had been his fifth settlement and his fifth battle with the Grimm. Still, admittedly, fighting creatures of death and destruction felt a lot better than killing people. He knew whatever god out there couldn't punish him for killing these things. Hell, it might even be his first steps to redemption.

He walked through the gates of the small village and accepted the villager's thanks, and continued on his way. But he barely got far before he heard the whine of engines.

He looked up to see three aircraft similar to Pelicans descend, except they had turbine engines at the ends of their wings instead, and were less modern in design.

Maine's grip tightened on his battle rifle as armed soldiers wearing green uniforms jumped off of two of the bullheads before the third touched down behind them across the road and powered down.

An old man wearing a green suit and sporting a cane and glasses climbed off and walked slowly towards him, waving his cane to stop the soldiers from advancing.

He walked right up to Maine, who found himself looking down at the shorter man.

"Good afternoon, my name is Ozpin. I hope you don't mind if we have a talk."

Maine recoiled and stepped back. He sounded exactly like Agent Washington. It took all his willpower to not raise his rifle at him.

Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "Is something wrong?"

Maine shook his head, albeit a bit too quickly.

"Right… well, would you like to talk?"

He grunted and reached to his neck, pulling the neck protector down to reveal his throat. Nine bullet wounds and multiple scars were centered on it. He growled to make it clear.

Ozpin just nodded, while the soldiers behind him stared at it in awe and horror. "You can't speak. So do you have any other means to communicate?"

Maine shook his head as he placed the neck protector back.

Ozpin then pulled out a device that slid open. He tapped on it before handing it to him, a keyboard on it with a writing document open. "I hope this will work?"

He nodded, and Ozpin stood next to him. "Right. What's your name?"

He typed in the words MAINE on the screen.

Ozpin nodded. "Agent Maine, part of the former Project Freelancer, originating from Earth."

Maine stared at him.

"Some individuals were able to talk to me about you."

The former Freelancer shot a look at the soldiers. Ozpin shook his head.

"We're not here to lock you up. But I do understand that you are no longer under the influence of the AI fragments."

Maine's fists clenched as he typed a response. Ozpin looked at it and nodded. "Yes, we know where they are."

Maine turned and stepped towards him, towering over him, growling menacingly. The soldiers all stepped forwards, guns ready.

For the first time in his life, Ozpin felt something. Seeing Maine in person, what he'd gone through, and what he was capable of, it showed him that even he didn't have much chance to escape without harm. He felt slightly afraid of the man in front of him and could feel his cold glare from behind the gold visor. This was a man who had no moral qualms about killing him, so long as he completed his goals. And his growling didn't make it any easier.

"There is no need for hostilities." He raised his hands and stepped back. "I know that they have caused you great grief, but if we could just-"

Maine stepped around him and started walking down the road. The soldiers all stepped to the sides as he walked past them.

The bullhead was still sitting on the road, and the pilots nervously jumped off and stood back as Maine approached it.

Then, he bent down, grabbed it by the bottom, and grunted. In a single motion, he lifted the entire Bullhead off the ground before rearing back and throwing it to the side. It crashed through the trees before flipping over and breaking its wings off. It then suddenly exploded in a fireball as the power lost stability and broke.

They all stared at the wreckage as Maine continued down the road. One of the soldiers raised his rifle. "H-hey! Stop!"

He didn't.

"Warning shot!" The leader pulled out his own rifle and shot at the ground next to Maine, but he didn't even pause.

"Don't." Ozpin stepped forward, but the leader was already aiming at the back of Maine's head. He pulled the trigger.

The bullet hit him right at the back of the helmet, before pinging off and spinning into the air. He stopped walking, allowing the bullet to land on the road with a faint tinkling.

The silence was deafening as the soldiers and Ozpin tensed, waiting for his reaction.

He started walking again, and this time the soldiers didn't stop him.

Neither did the two bullheads, who came down on the road, although their guns were aimed at the retreating figure. Ozpin continued to stare as Maine grew smaller and smaller as he continued down the road.

"It looks like he's serious." He sighed. "This is worse than I thought…"


Maine shook his head, mind racing.

Ozpin was his name, yet why did he sound like Washington?

Memories came through, from the rookie of the Freelancer family to the man who shot him with a Gatling gun. From his partner as they tried to hunt down the Reds and Blues, to his final assault on the icy plains with his final betrayal.

He shuddered as pain rippled through his head. He reached down and grabbed another painkiller, lifting his helmet slightly to swallow it. It didn't make sense.

But one thing was clear. He'd tried to defend them. The AI.

Looks like they were already here.

His fists clenched. Whatever stood in his way, he'd knock them down, out, and into the ground. Nothing would stand in the way of justice.

The two remaining bullheads seemed to follow him from a distance, which annoyed him even more.

A Deathstalker emerged from the trees. Finally, something to relieve his stress.

He merely holstered his battle rifle and waited for the Deathstalker to charge at him. Just as it brought down its stinger down, he caught it with two hands. He pushed it back and leaped forwards, landing on its head as he repeatedly punched it right on its armored plating.

It cracked after a few punches, but it then violently flung him off of it and brought a pincer back to crush it. Maine caught it and in a single motion ripped it off, sending black liquid splashing from the severed limb.

It screeched with pain, before bringing its other pincer in, which Maine ripped off as well. It then brought it's stinger down.

He caught it and proceeded to start spinning, the Deathstalker being flung around as Maine swung it around.

Eventually, it became too much, and the pincer ripped off of the body, sending the now-dead Grimm smashing into the trees, before disappearing in a cloud of black smoke.

It felt good, as Maine watched the black liquid on his body begin to evaporate into smoke. Still, he wished there were more…

Another Deathstalker emerged, intending to avenge it's brother, along with several Beowulf's and Ursa.

Maine grinned. Grimm turned out to be perfect ways to practice extreme murder and relieve stress.

He raised his fists and charged in.


"Oh, my…"

The students all watched as Maine completely tore apart the Grimm with his bare hands. They were watching from Weiss' scroll, from which Ozpin was sending them a live video of Maine from the bullhead.

"We told you." Tex broke the silence. "He's very strong."

"That's putting it lightly…" Yang winced as Maine lifted a Beowulf above him and literally tore it in half. "And he threw that bullhead with ease…"

"Is it really that bad?" Ruby asked, her eyes being covered by her sister to avoid the current massacre happening on the Grimm.

"Trust me." Church swallowed. "You'll be scarred for - OH JESUS CHRIST!"

"Why can't I look?" Theta complained, with Jaune holding his scroll in front of him using his body to block the screen.

"Like Church said…" Jaune looked at the screen and immediately looked away. "I don't think it's very… appropriate… for you."

"Being beaten to death with your own skull…" O'Malley cackled. "What a way to go."

"How is that even physically possible?" Pyrrha stared at the screen, wincing as Maine did just that.

Tex shot a look at Church. "Remember Private Jimmy?" She implied, to which Church just huffed and looked away.

"It appears that peace talks… didn't go well." Ozpin spoke from his end of the video. "And he is fully intent on getting to the city and seeing through his revenge."

"How long do we have?" Weiss asked.

"He will not be able to navigate through the city to get to Beacon until the bullheads open for the trip to the school. However, he could attempt to go through the forest, but that will take the whole night if he doesn't stop."

"That's good, right?" Jaune asked. "It means we can fight him tomorrow."

"Like we have any hope of fighting him in the first place." Ren shook his head.

Ozpin appeared on the screen, although he winced as he saw Maine do… something to the Grimm below. "Regardless, this gives us time to assemble a guard for you, including Qrow. He'll be here at midnight."

"Didn't you say he'd get here by the morning?" Yang asked.

Ozpin remained silent.


"This is Bravo Six-four to unidentified aircraft, you are currently stealing Atlas technology. Return to base now or we will shoot you down."

The pilot could barely keep up with the stolen fighter as it shot over the land. His squadron had already pulled back to take down a flock of Nevermore the target had woken, leaving him to follow with another fighter.

"It's official Huntsman business!" The voice yelled over the radio, making him wince. "So you can go back to whatever hole you came from and leave me be!"

"Sir, you're stealing Atlas technology." He repeated. "If you don't-"

"I don't give a damn, it'll get me to Beacon faster, then I'm taking it!" the intruder yelled, and the fighter before him started to gain distance somehow. "Send the tab to Ozpin, he's got the money!"

The pilot gave up and pulled back before he crashed, turning his fighter around and heading back to base with his wingman in tow. "Command, this is Bravo Six-four with Bravo Six-five, I've lost the target. He claims to know Ozpin and is a huntsman."

The voice on the other answered. "Stand down, Bravo Six-four, Bravo Six-five. The target has been identified as Agent Qrow."

"Oh…" The pilot answered. "Got it. Also, he said that he'd get Ozpin to pay for the stolen vehicle."

"Well, the Atlas military actually has a budget to compensate for his destruction." The woman on the other end sighed. "I just hope a stolen attack fighter is within that cost."

The pilot chuckled. "Man, that Qrow fella's crazy, huh?"

"You wouldn't know the half of it. Return to base immediately. This is Winter Schnee, signing out."

The pilot turned off the radio and shook his head. Man, the general was going to be pissed when he found out.


"He has his ways." Ozpin replied.

Yang and Ruby groaned. "He's doing something stupid isn't he?"

Ozpin sighed. "Only God himself knows how his mind works in there."