A/N: 3 milestones were met after the last chapter was posted: 100+ reviews, 50+ followers and 17,500+ views on From Hunted to Hunter, It always makes my day to see more people taking an interest in this story, it motivates me greatly to write.
In response to a guest review on the last chapter: In the Valentine's Special: Blake doesn't know about Simon's part in her Father's death... I didn't want to address that issue in that chapter when I haven't dealt with it in the main FHTH plot, it would be a bit of a spoiler, so I just side stepped the issue for that Valentine's chapter for plot reasons... Ignorance is Bliss they always say haha.
I'm sorry I haven't posted in nearly a month, but I've had some very severe writers block as of late and with uni beginning for the year, I can run short of time quite easily. This chapter is more expanding on some things that people have asked me about in PM's and reviews rather than moving forward very much plot-wise, that shall be the next chapter. -CC Signing on.
Chapter 34: Letting Off Steam. Friday Week 6, Simon's PoV:
In the last several days, I'd thankfully not seen Cardin even look threateningly at Velvet or another Faunus, this made me feel a great relief inside me, for once I'd done something to protect Faunus and make their lives easier rather than to kill, maim or harm them as I had for so long. Also to be able to vent my pent up anger and frustration at Velvet's appalling treatment at the hands of CRDL had allowed me to relax considerably. Thinking back I probably should feel bad for Jaune, I'd seen him waiting on CRDL hand and foot: fetching them meals, I'd seen him cleaning their dorm and doing their note taking in class... but I didn't feel bad whatsoever as Jaune's pain was allowing Beacon's Faunus students some breathing room to live in peace.
It was a good day for two other reasons as well... I get my Gun Staff back today at combat class and I'd received a text from the weapons shop telling me that my customised MX-20 sniper had arrived. 'Today is going to be a good day' I thought as I walked into the mess hall to see teams SNST, RWBY & JNPR (minus Jaune) all sitting together and laughing, even Weiss was joining in on this, though she was trying hard to suppress her laughter. I was suspicious of what was causing such raucous laughter as I drew near to the table I saw the laughter immediately stop and I noticed Yang slide closer to a nervous looking Blake, the blonde looking very protective looking very protective, though everyone else was still suppressing giggles. I sat down next to Sienna, across from Team RWBY.
"Ok, what's so funny that even Snowflake is giggling like a 10 year old?" I asked with genuine curiosity.
"Ummm... a funny joke that Nyanza told us?" Sienna replied sheepishly. I just raised an eyebrow as I sat down next to a still giggling Weiss and Sienna.
"Ummm no, I think Nyanza has nothing to do with why you guys are laughing or you wouldn't have stopped as I arrived." I replied knowingly as I looked around the table, eventually setting my eyes on Ruby who had gone red as her cloak from laughter and/or embarrassment. "So Ruby, what was so funny? I can see you're just bursting with laughter from whatever was said." I enquired in my most disarming and friendly tone.
Ruby looked away shyly, however she eventually turned back and handed her scroll to me. Looking at it I couldn't help but smile: someone had captured a video of me piggybacking Velvet. Ruby and the others upon seeing me smiling like an idiot all broke out in laughs and giggles once more.
"Yo Simon: Every shred of intimidation you possess just disappeared when that clip got sent across the rest of the school. Never knew you had such a soft side!" Nyanza said as he laughed.
Weiss looked over at me, a small smirk on her face. "I must admit, you do look a lot less scary when you actually smile for something other than violence." She said, her tone meaning her comment as a compliment.
"Meh, so what if I've mellowed out a bit. I can still be plenty intimidatingly terrifying when the situation calls for it. As I' am sure Team CRDL can attest to." I replied as I effortlessly and instantly changed my look from a happy face to my most intimidating scowl, making sure the light highlighted my facial scars.
Everyone visibly cringed and Ruby even looked slightly afraid as she buried her head in Yang's shoulder. Yang sent me a death stare, her eyes tinging red again. I took the warning and relaxed back to a neutral expression. "Well now that I seem to have spoiled the happy mood... I think it only right that I restore it. During the first few days and weeks at Beacon I captured some rather entertaining clips." I said in a devious tone as I withdrew my scroll and sent a message to everyone at the table. I sat back and relaxed as everyone opened up their scrolls to find a video clip of Ruby and Weiss' first meeting which ended in flames (quite literally) and the clip of Weiss and Yang rolling around the halls in their PJs.
I watched and waited for the various reactions from the three teams: Ruby seemed to be embarrassed by seeing her explode once more. Yang was laughing at everything she saw. Pyrrha and Nora were giggling like school girls while pointing at Weiss. Ren seemed uninterested, instead eating his lunch and I noticed him shoot a longing glance at Nora. Teal was trying to keep a straight face and be the mature one while Nyanza seemed to be intently checking out Weiss after seeing the clips. Sienna was red with laughter. I didn't look towards Blake, I was still suspicious of her even though she showed no hostility to me... only indifference and disinterest. Instead my eyes were now firmly planted on my friend Weiss. Her face had gone from one of curiosity, to surprise, to shock and finally to unbridled fury.
"SIMON!" Came Weiss' shrill as she went red with fury. I merely tried to look innocent... which only made me look more guilty. "Why would you do that Simon... this is so embarrassing." Weiss continued to rant as the rest of us continued to laugh. I knew Weiss would stop being too angry with my pretty quickly, I'm the only one who could publicly embarrass Snowflake and live to tell the tale... Well maybe Yang could but only because that busty blonde would kick Weiss' ass. "I swear if anyone else sees these clips, I shall end your life Simon." Weiss finally finished ranting, instead just brooding as she silently ate.
Sienna leaned over to me as I ate "You better hope you don't have to verse Weiss in combat class today, She'll make you pay for this." she whispered to me.
"Meh, I've beaten her more times than I can count during our numerous sparing sessions in White Castle. I think I can handle her wrath over this." I whispered back with a light chuckle.
"So Simon, going to be taking Velvet on a date anytime soon?" I heard Weiss ask, and evil tone in her voice.
'Oh you evil wench.' I thought as all eyes at the table came again to rest on me, needless to say I didn't really like the spotlight very much... I'd always been a shadow. "Well to quote Nora: Velvet and I aren't together together, not yet anyway." I replied, hoping that would be the end of it.
I saw Weiss get an evil glint in her eye, eager for vengeance at me embarrassing her in public but she didn't say anything, instead biding her time for the perfect moment. As the people at the table began to change subject I heard my scroll buzz, it was a text from Gregory.
G: No UPPERCUT tonight, meet K&S at JUNIOR's around 8ish for alternate tasking. C-9.
I looked at the message, wondering exactly what the snipers had planned for me. I quickly put the scroll away to ensure that no one saw the message. I looked over to Sienna "Hey Sienna, Wanna hang out this arvo in Vale? I got to swing by the weapon's shop and pick up my new toy." I asked her.
As soon as the words Weapon Shop and New Toy were mentioned Ruby had disappeared in a blur of rose petals and had reappeared next to me "Ooooh what did you get Simon?" The usually shy girl asked.
"Ummm I got myself a MX-20 Sniper Rifle with a few customisations." I replied. This simple reply was followed by a flurry of questions from the weapon crazy teenager. By the time the bell for combat class had rung, I'd learnt things about the MX series of firearms that I'd never knew from Ruby and she'd also challenged me to a shoot off between her and I when I picked the rifle up, which I honestly was looking forward to. Ruby had a reputation as an excellent shot as well as for her speed. 'This will make good practice for beating Kale and Shauno at their own game. I chuckled to myself as I walked towards the combat arena for yet another round of beating someone to a bloody, auraless pulp, needless to say: this was my favourite class ever... of all time.
Combat Arena, Simon's PoV:
Sitting next to Sienna I was watching Nyanza dance all around Dove from CRDL, Nyanza had made Cardin's lackey so mad and swing wildly which resulted in Nyanza being able to manoeuvre the tethered blade of his right gauntlet around the blade of Dove's sword and disarm the CRDL thug before lunging in and using the other tethered blade like a noose, hauling a gagging Dove to the ground thus sealing the match.
"That is the match, our next fight shall be Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee vs. Sienna Reynolds and Simon Alexander. Combatants, take your places." Goodwitch commanded as Nyanza waltzed off victorious.
"Ha Simon, you know Weiss is going to want your guts for garters." Sienna whispered, reminding me of how angry Weiss was at me publicly embarrassing her.
"Yeah, Yeah... but I know all of Weiss' moves, and we've got a few of our own aye." I replied confidently.
As we took our places opposite Weiss and Ruby, I noticed that Ruby was no longer the shy, awkward girl she was most of the time... with her Scyther rifle in hand she looked many times more confident. I also noticed Weiss pointing Myrtenaster at me in a very threatening manner. 'Ok, maybe pissing Weiss off today wasn't such a good idea' I thought as I drew Umbra Vigilans and flourished it several times before resting it to my side with it set in gun mode, the laser aimer pointed right on Weiss' chest.
As the match started, Sienna kneeled behind her shield and held her gun-axe in a groove in the top of her shield and began to shoot buckshot at Ruby who had attempted to charge in using her semblance and catch the dog Faunus off guard. Ruby had dodged most of the shot, but Sienna had used her keen Faunus senses to anticipate Ruby's move and switch from buck shot to explosive slug and made Ruby wear a round in the thigh, which at such a high speed had caused Ruby to tumble past me as Weiss and I simply circled each other, sizing the other up and trying to find familiar or new weaknesses to exploit.
"Well now isn't this a bit of déjà vu? Me pissing you off then having to fight you a bit later haha." I said light heartedly to Weiss as we circled.
The only reply I got was for her to flourish her rapier and ram the tip into the ground, sending a wave of ice towards me. I rolled to my right and brought my gun staff to bear and I launched a flurry of flechettes at Weiss who brought up a glyph which deflected the kinetic darts away. Weiss then used her agility to handspring to my side and conjure a speed glyph and propelled herself at me as I was still flat footed and stationary in firing position. I didn't bother trying to dodge, Weiss was coming in too fast for me to get out of her path, instead I turned to face her, gun staff still at my waist and ready to fire.
I didn't have to bother trying to evade the strike as my trusty partner: Sienna jumped in front of me at the last moment and slammed her shield up under Weiss' rapier and up into her ribcage. "Thanks Sienna, I owe you one." I replied as I shot a smug grin Weiss' way.
"No problem Simon, I'm eager to try and prove to everyone that SNST can actually work together!" Sienna replied with a determination and aggression I'd not really seen in her since initiation. I hung back and faced Ruby who was still trying to get up and recover from the tumble that Sienna's round had sent her on. Ruby managed to stand up and though she looked kind of dazed and surprised that Sienna had managed to anticipate her move so effortlessly.
I flourished my gun staff and charged in towards her, Ruby however readied her Scythe and fired its sniper rifle at me, I wore the massive .50 cal slug right in my midsection which sent me flying and drained my aura severely. "Ugh! Oh you little bitch!" I swore under my breath as I rolled to my feet and swung my staff to my hip, firing flechettes at the scythe wielder. Ruby used her semblance to dodge the incoming rounds and dash towards me, that massive and intimidating scythe bearing down on me. I dug my heels in and as Ruby drew near I activated my semblance and slowed Rubes right down, even then she was moving at a blistering speed but it was enough to position my staff's blade where the massive curved blade of Ruby's scythe met the shaft/sniper rifle which succeeded in killing Ruby's momentum. I then used my superior height to deliver a punishing boot to Ruby's face. Ruby managed to keep hold of her Scythe and retreated slightly from my, opting speed shot sniper rounds down at me. I dodged and weaved as quick as I could but I wore another round in my right arm. Even though my Aura stopped any major damage being done, the concussion that the impact made was enough to leave my arm feeling numb and all but useless. I staggered towards the centre of the arena where Weiss and Sienna were battling it out.
Weiss was using her Rapier's dust cartridges to try and batter down Sienna's strong defence with combinations of Ice, Fire and Rocks being flung with glyphs. But couldn't get close enough to stab or slash at the dog Faunus due to her axe's ability to fire off buckshot or explosive slugs. I got behind Sienna, my right arm limp by my side, the feeling only just beginning to come back to my arm. "Sienna, I'm temporarily out of this, mind covering me" I asked in a pained tone.
Sienna's face grew even more determined. "You got it Mon Capitaine, protecting others is what I do best!" I took a knee and began flexing my arm, trying to get feeling back in it as Sienna locked her shield in front of her chest and placed her axe in the groove at the top where it can be used to fire or be quickly moved into a position to swing the curved axe blade at one of her opponents. Weiss and Ruby circled around Sienna and I, even with a limp arm, I could still lash out with my staff or lob grenades with my dominant left hand.
Weiss charged in, using a speed glyph and then used a propulsion to send her skyward over the blow that Sienna tried to deliver with her round shield. I saw that Sienna had overbalanced and would not be able to recover from her attempted strike before Weiss shot down at her, I folded reached in and pulled out a dust grenade, pulled the pin and dropped it at my feet. "Sienna, Semblance NOW!" I yelled as I crash tackled Sienna away from where I'd dropped the explosive and Sienna used her semblance to create a shield bubble around her and I. Weiss to was saved from the explosion by the speed of Ruby's semblance to pick her up mid-run and carry her across the arena, though the added weight of the Heiress caused Ruby to once again tumble to the ground.
I stood and lobbed another grenade toward the White Rose pair as Sienna shot an explosive slug from her axe. Ruby and Weiss saw the incoming threat and managed to encase herself and Ruby in an ice bubble. I flexed my arm again, this time managing not to wince. 'Good, I'm back in the fight' I thought as I got into a sprinters start, ready to rush Weiss and not give her or Rubes time to recover from the explosions.
"Sienna: you take on Rubes... I got Weiss, she has no tricks I don't know." I ordered as the explosive slug hit the ice and the dust grenade exploded moments later. I saw ball bearings from the grenade impact the bubble shield "Go!" I called to Sienna as I charged towards the disorientated Weiss. Weiss saw me charging down at her and charged straight back at me, though she was a bit shaky. As I drew near I knew what Weiss was going to attempt due to our many hundreds of sparing matches at White Castle, I slashed my gun staff's forward blade across the ground, causing Weiss to have to abandon her attempt to slide through my legs and get in behind me. "Oh no you don't!" I said smugly as Weiss skidded to a stop.
"Oh you want to play it like that then huh?" Weiss smirks as she coats her blade in yellow electric dust, much like Teal does with her whip. I flourished my staff and waited went straight onto the offensive, slashing horizontally at Weiss' midsection a slash the Weiss athletically limbo under before retaliating with a upwards strike at my face. I managed to move my head away from the electrified blade and lash out with my steel capped boot into Weiss' left knee.
"Gotta do better than that Snowflake!" I taunted as I continued my assault on the Heiress with quick short stabs with both ends of my staff twirling the blade and myself to strike at every possible angle and to fully utilise my staff's double bladed design, trying to tire out Weiss as I knew she had little endurance compared to most other combatants at Beacon.
Weiss was being overwhelmed with both the strength and speed of my strikes, but still had a few cards up her sleeve, as I advanced upon her for a downward thrust I saw a speed glyph appear under my feet and then I was being propelled across the arena and into the far wall. "Ugh, should've seen that one coming!" I coughed as I slid down the wall to the ground. glancing at the aura gauges, I was currently in the orange, only a few more strikes away from being knocked out of the fight, Weiss was about as low as I was. Sienna and Ruby both had quite a high level of Aura left, both still being in the green, Sienna's had barely dropped at all.
I stood shakily as I saw Weiss leaping up into the air and then using a glyph to shoot herself like a dart at me. I activated my semblance and as everything slowed down for a moment I managed to duck under Weiss , dropping my staff as I did. As she passed over me like a ballistic dart I pushed myself upwards and as things returned to normal speed, I tackled her mid air, my gauntleted arms wrapping around her upper chest, swinging her like a rag doll as gravity took over and brought us down to the ground so that she'd hit first. We hit the ground and my shoulder smashed into Weiss' chest, knocking the wind out of the Heiress. "Game Over Weiss as I pinned her on the ground by sitting on my waist, both my gauntlets' blades crossed over Weiss' throat, signifying a kill strike.
Weiss seemed to have noticed the compromising position she found herself in and shoved my smirking form off of her, looking furious she holstered Myrtenaster and made her way to the edge of the arena. I turned my attention to where Sienna and Ruby were battling it out. Ruby was trying to use her speed to trip up Sienna and get around her impressive defence. But Sienna wasn't budging and met each one of Crescent Rose's strikes with either her shield or her axe. I ejected the current magazine on Umbra Vigilans and took aim at Ruby, unleashing a hail of flechettes at the hooded girl who had her attention on Sienna and thus didn't see the darts impacting her back. Ruby lunged out of the way after the first 5 or so impacts and used her speed to dodge the further bursts I fired at the her. I used my fire to force ruby into a corner so Sienna and I could move closer together, but at a really bad time my gun staff jammed. Ruby saw my weapon's malfunction and barrelled in at full speed swinging her scythe at me which I had to dodge with a jump as I couldn't raise my staff to block it in time.
I growled in anger at my weapon failing me, but I preferred it malfunction now than in life or death combat. As I tried to fall back, my momentum destroyed Ruby kept pushing, using the recoil from her shots to propel her in every direction, slashing and cutting at me. 'Ugh how can this little red bitch move so fast with such a big fucking weapon!" I mentally cursed as I got caught off guard and was struck in the right shin by the scythe. Even though I'd been knocked to my knees, I wasn't out of this. As Ruby charged in again, I horizontally slashed a mere 5 inches off the ground with my staff's blade, the shaft tucked against my hip as I threw my whole body weight into the strike. Ruby however managed to not only dodge my slash but shot her weapon towards the ground and flipped over me, I realised I was doomed, having thrown my entire weight and strength into that strike and now was not in any position to block any of Ruby's strikes and Sienna was still just out of range to be of any help. Ruby landed and struck me in the head lightly with the back of her scythe, deciding not to risk actually decapitating me with the razor sharp blade of her weapon.
With me now 'dead' I made my way to the edge and sat next to Weiss and watched as our partners traded blows with their weapons. Ruby was agile and quick where as Sienna was strong and cautious (unlike myself) in her combat style. "5 Lien on Sienna." I said snidely to Weiss.
Weiss looked at me and scoffed "I don't make such trivial bets, they are beneath a Schnee... 500 Lien on Ruby." Came the humoured come back.
"Deal... prepare to lose that Lien." I replied and turned to see Ruby manage to out flank Sienna and use her Scythe to take Sienna's legs out from under her. Sienna fell to the ground but rolled away, kneeling behind her shield as she fired buck shot at Ruby as the red headed reaper tried to follow up with a downward strike on Sienna. Sienna rolled from the strike and hit back with an axe strike into Ruby's back. Ruby tumbled to the ground, looking quite exhausted from using so much speed for such a long fight. Sienna brought down her axe to finish the match but it was blocked by the shaft of Ruby's scythe less than 10cm from her Ruby's head. Sienna withdrew her axe while simultaneously punting Ruby in the right hip. Ruby yelped in pain as Sienna went swiftly and mercilessly from defence to offence. Ruby rolled out of the way of a savage axe swing but couldn't dodge Sienna's shield being rammed into Ruby's right knee.
"Wow, look at that... Sienna is very methodical in her offence, slowly taking out Ruby's strength which is her speed by injuring her leg's joints and not wasting a single strike. I must say that I'm impressed." I said with a slightly sadistic chuckle.
"Simon, that's our friend... How can you be so callous?" Weiss asked quite angrily as Ruby was reduced to almost a crawl, using Crescent Rose to shoot at Sienna, who merely blocked her shot with her shield, but the Recoil had put distance between Ruby and Sienna.
"Because this is combat... no room for any mercy, empathy or niceties to the enemy." I replied deadpanned. Weiss leered at me but smirked upon seeing Ruby managing to get to her feet even as Sienna fired explosive slugs from her axe at the young reaper while advancing. I saw Ruby heft her scythe up and trying to compose herself to strike back at my partner.
Sienna launched another slug, but it hit not but air as a chilling scream filled the arena and a blur of red could be seen flying through the air. Sienna readied her shield but was hit with such force that she was knocked over. Ruby skidded to a stop at the far end of the arena, a look of pure survival instinct on her face as she savagely screamed and despite having a visible limp took off once more, her scythe levelled at Sienna who fired another explosive slug at the reaper but to no avail. Sienna activated her semblance, hoping that her bubble shield would stop Ruby, that also failed. The reaper tore straight through it and swung her scythe into Sienna's shield and once more knocked Sienna down. This time however Ruby pinned Sienna and readied her scythe for a deadly strike. But it never came as an alarm sounded and Goodwitch stepped into the centre of the arena.
"Good work children... your skills are improving noticeably, this was one of the most intense matches I've seen from this batch of first years." Goodwitch commended as Weiss and I stood, both of us making our way over to Ruby who was limping quite noticeably and looking absolutely exhausted.
"Easy does it Rubes, we've got you." I said as I looped a hand over her shoulder and Weiss did the same.
"Come on Ruby. We'll get you back to the dorm so you can rest." Weiss said in a caring manner.
I looked over to my friend, smiling that she had developed a more openly caring side while here at Beacon. "Sienna, go back to Teal and Nyanza. I'll see you guys at the landing pads to go into Vale. " I ordered my teammate as Weiss, Ruby and I exited the combat arena not even bothering to seek Goodwitch's approval to do so in order to get Ruby back to her dorm to let her Aura heal the injuries to her hip and knee.
That Afternoon 4pm, Vale. Simon's PoV:
"Hey Sienna, I haven't seen such aggression from you in any of your previous matches. What brought that on today?" I asked my partner as we and Teal and Nyanza walked through downtown Vale. I'd opted to wear my webbing with my black outfit with my bandolier, gauntlets and webbing which earned me looks from many people.
"I'd seen how easily Ruby had taken you down Simon... and I have seen how hard you are to 'kill' so I knew I'd need to be much more aggressive than my usual tactic of waiting them out with my strong defence until they make mistakes and/or get tired." Sienna replied.
"Well Ruby is someone to be watch, to get here 2 years early AND have beaten Roman Torchwick in a fight... she must be extremely skilled." I replied, spitting Roman's name in contempt.
"I honestly will feel sorry for this Roman guy if you ever catch up to him." Teal said, observing my pure hatred for that thing.
"Oh, I intent on making his demise a very slow, painful one." I replied, not even caring that I sounded like a psycho.
"Well... that escalated quickly." Nyanza commented as we arrived at the weapon shop.
"Trust me Nyanza... his fate will be well deserved, now come on... I want to get my new toy." I said, ending the conversation as I jogged through the doors and straight to the counter.
"Ahh Mr Alexander, your order arrived this morning." The attendant said as they went out back, coming back a moment later with a large carry case. "One MX-20 Sniper Weapon System chambered for .338 rounds and made for left-handed shooters with your chosen customisations and 100 rounds of ammunition." The attendant said as I handed over the Lien all to eagerly, just wanting to get my hands on the weapon.
Without so much as a goodbye or a thank-you I took the carry case and the boxes of ammo and left, my team following curiously in tow. As I exited the building I walked several blocks in silence until I came to a large complex marked Vale Rifle and Pistol Club. "I agreed to meet Ruby and her team here, Ruby while a bit battered and exhausted couldn't resist the opportunity to check out the MX, apparently she has an especially soft spot for sniper rifles." I explained to a sad looking Sienna, obviously she felt pretty bad for being so aggressive and vicious to Ruby in combat class.
"I know, but still she should be resting." Sienna replied, getting a nod of agreement from Teal.
"Pfft, Ruby's dealt with more violent and painful fights than that... anytime she and Yang fight being the prime example." Nyanza retorted in defence of his friend.
Looking down the street I could see Ruby, Weiss and Yang approaching, even from here I could see Ruby's excitement and the limp she had earlier was barely visible now.
Nyanza walked over to the sisters of Team RWBY and looked Ruby over from head to toe before smirking and turning to Sienna and I "Come on guys... you barely made a scratch on her, how shameful being beaten by someone 2 years your junior.
"Fuck off Nyanza, or I'll feed you to Teal to use as a punching bag." I shot back before entering the building.
Entering the 1000m range I saw two figures already setting up their rifles: A taller, bulkier man setting up a large .50 cal and a smaller man setting up a MX-20 exactly like mine but with a more traditional sniper scope. 'Oh come on... not these two!' I thought as I saw Shauno turn from his MX-20 to face me, he smirked and winked at me but then quickly turned back to his weapon as my team and team RWY entered the 1000m range
"You ready to get beat for the 2nd time today Simon!" Yang said as she patted her sister on the back.
"Oh Yang... At least I can hit an enemy that is more than 3 feet away from me with my weapons." I retorted with just a hint of condescendence.
Yang looked furious at my remark but everyone, including the Snipers were laughing.
Ruby stepped forward and unfolded her weapon into its rifle mode "Regardless of the result, it shall be fun to actually have do some proper shooting, I've never really had much chance to fully use Crescent Rose's sniper function before." The young reaper said sadly.
"Well I learnt to snipe from a couple guys I used to work with in Atlas, the biggest assholes one could ever meet, but they knew their stuff and saved my life more than once. I'm pretty rusty these days though but I think I could still outshoot you and them." I replied as I assembled the rifle and opened up the Nighthawk sights.
I could almost see the looks of indignation on Kale and Shauno's faces... the one thing that really ate at them was to have someone challenge their abilities as marksmen.
I heard Kale's booming footsteps as the imposing figure walked over to our group. "I do apologise for barging in, but I was wondering if you'd like to join me and my associates competition make it a 4 way shoot instead of 1v1?" He asked with false kindness.
Ruby looked intently at Kale, then getting a seeming look of recognition. "Hey I know you... You were with Julia outside a restaurant a year or two back."
Kale eyed Ruby before chuckling "So you're her little stalker friend. I haven't actually seen her in a long while." Kale answered before looking over and suddenly looking very nervous when he saw Yang.
"Sure, just makes more people to beat." I answered Kale's question cockily.
"Sounds good, Yo Morgan ready up we got some amateurs to school." Kale called out to his younger friend.
'Ahh, they're going by their surnames as cover identities. Nice going boys.' I thought as I loaded rounds into one of the magazines and loaded it into the MX-20. "Well I'll shoot first, try and break this bad boy in." I said as I worked the bolt in a dramatic fashion.
I put on ear protection laid down and positioned myself and looked down the sights. I knew using the Nighthawk to its full potential probably was cheating, but I had not a single fuck to give if it meant beating the snipers. I thumbed the controls on the scope to bring it to x25 zoom and zero the scope to 1000m, lining up the target slowly, exhaling and holding my breath so that my breathing didn't cause me to miss my mark. Once I was satisfied with my aiming I squeezed the trigger, the rifle jumped back into my shoulder from the recoil of the large calibre round exiting the barrel and travelling quicker than the speed of sound over the flat, windless range to hit 15mm left of the bullseye 1000m away.
I worked the bolt to load another round, but put the safety on and then stood up "Beat that Rubes." I said cockily. The cockiness was meant for Kale and Shauno, but we had to keep up the charade that we didn't know each other.
Ruby stepped up her weapon out in its rifle mode. I looked at it curiously, as did the snipers all of us coming to the same conclusion: She was at a serious disadvantage. No bipod with such a large calibre round, a very small scope for such a long range. 'I so got this shit' we all thought simultaneously. Ruby stepped up to the mark and took careful aim, firing her weapon Ruby skidded backwards across the range floor, nearly hitting the back wall. Looking through my scope I saw that Ruby had hit about 50mm from the bullseye.
"Pretty good Ruby for what you've got, but not good enough to beat me." I said cheekily as Ruby huffed and went to stand by Weiss.
Turning to the snipers who had already set up at their rifles. "What do you think Smyth, he put it at 15mm from bullseye... I think I'll get 14mm." I heard Shauno say in a most cocky tone.
"If you get 14mm Morgan, I'll put it 13mm from the bullseye." Came Kale's arrogant reply to his buddy.
I rolled my eyes as the snipers fired in sync. I looked up to the screen where a ballistics computer calculated the hit down to a millimetre. Morgan: 14mm from bullseye. Smyth: 13mm from bullseye.
'Oh you cheeky fucking pricks.' I thought as the scores came up.
"you're up mate." Kale called out in a smartass tone.
'Oh you guys are sooo going down!' I thought as I took my place once more.
90 minutes later, Simon's PoV:
It had been an interesting hour and a half, Yang had left, probably to find Blake about an hour ago, which the snipers and I both seemed glad for. In the standings: Ruby had bowed out, realising her rifle had no chance against the more accurate firearms that the snipers and I used. Kale was in the lead and I'd managed to leapfrog Shauno into 2nd, something that he was very pissed off about right now. It Kale and I's last shot each to decide the winner.
Kale lined his shot up and fired, hitting right in the middle of the bullseye. "Well, I guess I win then aye!" came Kale's cocky statement.
'Yeah, nah... fuck you.' I thought as I took my place, but not before giving a thumbs up to my teammates who had been just chatting to Ruby and Weiss, mainly Ruby to grill her for info on how she knew the snipers, I listened intently to the red reaper's answers between shots.
I laid prone and got comfortable in the way I held the rifle and lined up my shot, taking my sweet time to line it up. Once I was satisfied with my shot I squeezed the trigger. The rifle jumped back, but in the periphery of my vision I saw Shauno also taking a shot 'What in the hell is he doing?' I thought as I continued to look through my scope to see if my round hit. But to my amazement I saw a flash in my scope about 100m short of the target. I racked the bolt to eject the spent round and then safed my weapon before standing up and looking to the screens to find out what had happened: I saw Shauno's bullet hit my own and a fused bullet now lay on the ground, it was a 1 in a trillion shot to do that. I looked to my friend who had the smuggest grin on his face as he walked over to me and whispered "Never challenge mine or Kale's shooting ability again mate" before walking over to congratulate Kale on winning and to pack up their gear to leave, I now had a hunch on why I was needed by them tonight... I hoped I was wrong but I'd have to wait until later to find out what was happening.
I wanted to be angry at the cheating, but I was just too damned impressed with the skill it required to pull that shot off. Walking back over to my team, Ruby and Weiss. "Sorry you lost Simon, but hey it was fun... I never knew those guys could shoot so well." Ruby said in a consoling tone.
"Yeah, well something tells me I'll have another crack at them." I chuckled.
"So Simon, now that you've successfully wasted like two hours of our weekend... I reckon you owe us some pizza." Nyanza asked, obviously hinting that he was hungry.
I raised an eyebrow at my teammate but relented "Fine you little scabber, I'll shout you guys pizza again. Ruby, Weiss you're welcome to join us if you'd like." I asked, hoping to be able to spend a bit more time with Weiss, I disliked not being able to see my friend as much as I'd like.
Ruby seemed quite excited for a pizza night, but Weiss reacted exactly as I'd expected her to: with a light scoff and a look of indignation. Ruby turned to her partner and gave her a puppy dog look, I had to turn away lest I be brought under the power of just how adorable Ruby looked when she pouted "Bu- But Weiss, you dragged me to that icky fancy restaurant that only rich snobs go to the other week... why not let me take you to try some real tasty food with our friends." I turned back to look at the scene, Ruby's eyes were almost impossibly big and Weiss' scowl melted away against the Heiress' will.
"Fine Ruby, I'll come along... but try to not be as hyperactive of fidgety as you were last time." Weiss replied exasperatedly. Ruby jumped for joy and dashed off towards the exit, a trail of rose petals behind her.
"I swear I want to know how she does that." I asked as I grabbed one of the petals out of midair.
"Who knows, we always assumed it was a semblance thing." Nyanza replied as he began to follow Ruby.
I shrugged and returned to my rifle to pack it back into its carry case and put the bucket which had the spent shell casings in a disposal area. Once I was satisfied that the area we had occupied was clean I jogged to catch up with the group. Falling in next to Weiss I couldn't help but start sniggering and giving her a massive grin "You lied to me Weiss, you totally did take Ruby out on a date. To a posh upper class place no less." I said tauntingly.
Weiss turned to look at me, a stern look upon her face. "Simon, It WASN'T a date... say that once more and I swear I'll slap you." Weiss rebuked, holding her palm threateningly.
I chuckled, "I bet I know somewhere on Ruby you'd much rather use that slap on." I replied, moving out of Weiss' reach as a precaution.
Weiss' face went blood red and her look was one of pure fury, the Heiress stepped right up to my face "Care to repeat that Simon?" She said threateningly.
I threw my hands up "Whoa there Snowflake, don't get so close... Ruby might get jealous if she sees you cracking onto me like this." I said in my most smartarse tone right before I ran away at a speed that could rival Ruby.
"I'll get you Simon! I know where you live!" I could hear Weiss yelling to me, however she didn't chase after me because I knew she wouldn't act so childishly in public, which was fine by me as it would let her temper cool before we arrived at the pizzeria.
6:30pm, Papa Ackbar's Pizza Shop. Simon's PoV:
"See Weiss, it wasn't so bad." Ruby beamed as she essentially force-fed Weiss a slice of pepperoni pizza while everyone watched on amusedly.
"I suddenly feel like some sort of tortured babysitter." Weiss groaned in frustration, probably regretting letting Ruby bring her here.
"Well Weiss look at the upside of being the 'tortured babysitter', if you eat like Ruby, maybe eventually you'll get a bust like hers." I whispered into her ear, ensuring Ruby and Nyanza didn't hear my lewd comment.
Weiss huffed indignantly but then looked very self conscious, crossing her arms over her nearly flat chest.
"What did you say to her Simon?" Nyanza asked me, a devilish smirk upon his face obviously wanting to get in on the Weiss-bashing.
"Something that you'd probably get neutered for saying to her." I replied knowing that I was flirting with danger myself.
Nyanza nodded understandingly before turning back to look as Ruby laughed at Weiss' scowling face. I looked over the scene, I couldn't help but be happy: My team and the White Rose pair of Team RWBY seemed to get along quite well and despite her scowling I could see a glint of enjoyment and softness in Weiss' eyes.
As happy as I was to see SNST get along during our free time, we still had ways to go before we were an effective team in combat or anything that put the slightest stress on us. Looking at my watch I knew that we'd have to leave soon, I had places to be and I had to lose my friends before then. I pushed aside my thoughts of how to make SNST a more effective team and loudly clapped my hands together. "I'm sorry to interrupt your conversations of force feeding, but last shuttles back to Beacon leave soon and anyone not staying in town probably should get going towards the landing pads." I could hear Sienna, Teal and Ruby all grumbling as they begrudgingly stood to leave.
Weiss looked relieved to finally be free of the greasy peasant food as she had called it more than once tonight. I guess she was more used to the higher quality food served in White Castle or Beacon's cafeteria. As we exited I began slowly letting myself to drift behind the main group and quietly slip into the shadows. But unfortunately Weiss noticed me slowly dropping behind and dropped back with me.
"And just where do you think you're going to sneak off to? I've heard rumours you're getting involved in some pretty unsavoury things outside of Beacon." Weiss accused disapprovingly.
"Weiss, it isn't anything you need to be worried about... I'll be fine." I replied reassuringly.
"I've heard you come back to Beacon the last two weekends very bruised, bloodied and battered... I've got good reason to worry about you." Came Weiss' caring reply, her softer side showing... the side her father had tried so hard to destroy but the Heiress defiantly let flourish in secret.
I stopped to face Weiss "Snowflake, you know the things I've been involved with... let's just say that what I'm doing in my spare time is to try and make right what I've made wrong." I replied in yet another half truth.
"So this is about what happened after the first weekend you came into Beacon?" Weiss managed to piece together the puzzle in record time.
'Damned Weiss' intelligence... damn it to hell' I thought frustrated. "Yeah, It's about that. Weiss I can't say too much about it... But I need you to trust me on this and not tell the others anything." I ordered firmly.
Weiss nodded but leaned in and hugged me, a very rare thing for Weiss to do. "You get back to Beacon safe after you take care of whatever needs taking care of ok, I don't want to lose my closest friend." Weiss whispered to me before letting go and strolling off towards the others who had disappeared around the corner and hadn't seen this exchange. "Also don't die because you still owe 500 Lien Simon!" Weiss called back at me just before she disappeared from view. I chuckled then sighed before turning to walk down another street towards Vale's Red Light sector.
A/N: Not my best work I know but I just couldn't get my usual rhythm going when I sit down to write. I hope you all enjoy this regardless and I'll endeavour to have the next chapter out within a week. -CC Signing off.