From the Halls of Beacon to the Shores of Atlas
Beacon
Jäger sat in the stands overlooking the combat arena while Pyrrha proceeded to curb stomp Team CRDL. Using her natural agility, as well as Cardin's Soviet strategy of continual attack, she easily trounced the four, leaving them unconscious or groaning on the floor.
"And that's the match," said Goodwitch, as the lights came back on. "Well done, Miss Nikos. You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament."
"Thank you Professor," Pyrrha replied.
Goodwitch continued. "Alright, now I know that's a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more sparring match." She looked around. "Any volunteers? Ms. Belladonna?" Blake slammed her book shut and stared Goodwitch. "You've been rather docile for the past few classes. Why don't you…"
One of the three who Jäger had found a few nights ago raised his hand. "I'll do it."
Goodwitch looked up. "Mercury, is it? Well, let's find you an opponent."
"Actually," Mercury started.
"There will be no need for that Ms. Goodwitch." Jäger stood smoothly. "I find myself needing to blow off some energy." He looked over at Mercury. "Let's go, squid."
Mercury looked like he wanted to argue, but held his tongue and stepped down into the arena. He was wearing a grey and black jacket, grey arm sleeves with black, fingerless gloves, black pants with a grey stripe down the seam and a pair of leather boots, which had what appeared to be some type of cartridges around the upper cuff. He had no visible weapons. Jäger, on the other hand, was dressed in tan combat boots, MARPAT Woodland pants, and an olive drab shirt. He had his knife on the side of his left thigh and his pistol on his right, with the axes Ruby had made for him crossed on his back with the handles jutting above his shoulders.
Jäger stood, looking supremely unconcerned with his arms held loosely in front of him. Mercury had raised his hand in the classic martial artist starting position, waiting for Goodwitch to start the match.
"Begin." As that one word passed through Jäger's consciousness, he went from relaxed to tense in the span of milliseconds, without it outwardly being apparent.
Mercury acted first, running forward and sending a roundhouse kick directly at Jäger's temple. Jäger's left hand flashed up in a heel strike to deflect the boot over his head as his right fist slammed into Mercury's groin.
His opponent dropped to the ground with a shriek, while Jäger stood over him.
"In our jobs, there are no winners and losers. There are the living and the dead. And if fighting dirty means I live, then you will never see me fight cleanly," he said.
Mercury slowly got to his feet. "That was a cheap shot," he growled.
"Are you not listening," Jäger asked. "There are no cheap shots. There are those who live, and those who don't. That is all that matters."
Mercury charged with a shout, sending a flurry of kicks at the Marine. With a minimum of movement, Jäger dodged each kick, before lashing out with a kick of his own into Mercury's knee. As his opponent stumbled backwards, Jäger spun away, drawing his axes and partially activating his semblance.
—Line Break—
Flashback
Beacon
One Week after Jäger's Semblance activated
Jäger found himself again in Ozpin's office, this time for a training session. If he was being honest, his semblance had scared him more than anything in recent memory. He held within him the ability to deal an incredible amount of damage, but unable to differentiate between ally and enemy, something entirely opposite from his normal skillset. Thus, he found himself in the Headmaster's office.
"Now, James, you are here because of your Semblance. I will admit, it is an extremely dangerous semblance, even more so than Ms. Nikos'."
Jäger looked up questioningly. "I am not currently aware of what her Semblance is."
"Magnetism," Ozpin said simply. "She can stop someone's blood flow with her will if she so desired."
Jäger blanched. "Or cause a brain clot, induce internal hemorrhaging, stop their heartbeat, and a host of other possibilities. Why have you not explained that to her? Even if it was unguided, simply a wave of force, she could easily kill someone by forcing all of their blood to drain from the sections of their body closest to the wave and into other areas, which would undoubtedly tear through internal organs."
Now it was Ozpin's turn to pale rapidly. "I had not considered that. While the other person's aura would dissipate some of the power, if the attack was sufficiently large…" He shook his head. "You have given me something to think on. In any case, we are here to discuss your Semblance and how you will go about controlling it. My advice to you is this: isolate yourself and try to activate a single part of the Semblance without falling into the rage. I believe you called it the Bersekrgang?"
Jäger nodded. "Then try to bring forward the stamina, or loss of pain, without falling into the rage," Ozpin continued. "And make sure you are isolated. I do not want a repeat of last week."
"I understand sir. Thank you."
—Line Break—
Flashback end
Instantly, a faint nimbus of deep blue and scarlet surrounded Jäger. As Mercury charged again, he moved, to Jäger's eyes, much slower than before. His leg came up in a sidekick, and he used his boots for the first time, sending a Dust round shooting at Jäger. Both the round and the booted foot were dodged, and it was here that Mercury made the mistake that would cost him the fight. Rather than withdraw his leg and attack again, he remained in the sidekick position and began partially withdrawing and kicking, trying to catch Jäger unprepared. In response, Jäger dropped to his knees and slammed the blades of both axes into opposite sides of Mercury's right knee. The blades, forced along by the strength of a Berserkr, sheared through the limb with the shriek of tearing metal, and Mercury fell with a scream, one leg amputated at the knee. It was then that Jäger noticed the sparks coming from the severed pant leg and, sheathing one of his axes, he picked it up, tearing the remaining material away. In his hand he held an advanced prosthetic, made of metal and Dust.
"Huh," Jäger muttered. "Not exactly what I was expecting," was all he said. The students in the stands were shocked at the sheer violence of what had just transpired. Strangely enough, Cinder appeared more displeased than anything, while Emerald looked more than a little gleeful. Jäger toed Mercury's leg. "You can stop rolling around in pain now, seeing as we know you have prosthetics."
Mercury lay still, but glared up at Jäger with hate filled eyes. "I am going to kill you, slowly and very painfully," he ground out through clenched teeth.
Jäger laughed, but it was a laugh without any humor. "Many men have tried, and you wanna know what the funny thing is? I'm still here, while they are food for the worms." With that parting shot he walked away, unaware of the eyes that followed him with more than cursory interest.
—Line Break—
Teams RWBY and JNPR sat in the stands in silence as chaos reigned around them. A pair of medics ran in, rolled Mercury onto a stretcher, and proceeded to carry him out of the room. Ruby and Jaune looked as if they might throw up, while Ren, Pyrrha and Blake were impassive. No one could tell what Nora thought. Weiss and Yang were both watching Jäger as he walked out intently, although for very different reasons. Eventually, Ruby stood up.
"C'mon," she muttered. "I…we need to talk."
Both teams converged on RWBY's dorm room. Jaune started immediately.
"I told you all he was dangerous." His voice rose. "He just cut some guys leg off! It doesn't matter if it was artificial or not, what if he had been wrong?"
Yang piped up. "As much as I dislike agreeing with vomit boy," she ignored Jaune's aggrieved 'hey', "I have to. Jäger is the definition of a loose cannon." Weiss snorted. "I know, ironic coming from me, but true nonetheless. He kills without conscience and, as we just saw, has no qualms about severely injuring people during training fights of all things."
—Line Break—
Ozpin's Office
Same Time
"Those three are dangerous."
Ozpin quirked an eyebrow. "How so," he asked, as Jäger paced across his office.
"Cinder is too well developed to only be 18 to 22, I'd estimate her to be around 26…"
"So are you," Ozpin cut in.
Jäger shook his head. "We both know that I am a special case. And besides, it is harder to accurately guess age with men. I can pass as anywhere from a 20-year-old to a 33-year-old if necessary. She doesn't even try." He shook his head. "Continuing, Emerald doesn't strike me as the type to go to a combat school, neither does Mercury. I've long thought that the White Fang is far too organized for a terrorist organization, someone has been guiding them form the shadows. The only question is, which one is it?" They both lapsed into silence.
—Line Break—
RWBY's Dorm
Pyrrha spoke up, almost hesitantly. "If Jäger is so dangerous, what are we supposed to do? Bear in mind, I am not completely convinced that he is as large a threat as you all make him out to be. He is cruel, has questionable morals, and a distinct lack of empathy at times, but I don't think that explicitly makes him a danger to us."
Ren broke his silence. "He is a Warrior. Not a Hunter, but a Warrior. For those he chooses to protect, no price is too high to be paid if it means they are safe. I've seen men like him before, men old before their time from what they have seen and done. They do terrible, sometimes evil things, so that the people they care about never have too." He stood and faced the window. "Jäger isn't a danger to us. In fact, if I had to guess, he would willingly die to save one of us. That's just what they do."
A/N: Hey guys. Yes, it has been a while. If I am being honest, I completely lost interest in writing this for a while. However, with Volume 4 dropping in 2 days, I decided now was as good a time as ever to pick it back up. If anyone has any suggestions for the story going forward, I would be more than willing to hear them, seeing as I have only the bare basics of how things are going to progress right now.
Alpah out