RWBY: MRRN

Volume 6, Chapter 32: Under Siege

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY. All rights go to Rooster Teeth.

Author's Notes: I've officially removed my Fire Emblem story. I'm just not inspired to do it anymore. I'm sorry if I've disappointed you, but I'm not continuing my Fire Emblem story.

On a side note, I hope everyone around the world is staying healthy with the Coronavirus going around like a plague. Make sure to wash your hands, stay clean and look after yourself. Let us hope that this pandemic can be controlled soon enough. Until then, stay safe everyone.

Raven knelt at the tombstone of her late friend, Summer Rose. The sun was just about to dip below the horizon, signaling that nighttime was only mere minutes.

Raven had no words to say at this moment, her throat lumped and choked with tears, her face stained and her eyes red. What if Summer had seen what she had done? No matter what her reasons were, she had sold out her own family to save herself, knowing that Salem's forces wouldn't care about who dies. Yang could've died at Haven and Ruby almost did when Cinder pierced her with a glass and fire javelin.

She had absolutely no one left to help her. Qrow had disowned her as his sister and family. Yang had denounced her as her mother, claiming to be the child of Summer Rose instead. Tai had discovered the truth about her involvement in Haven and reacted with rage and anger, ultimately resulting in her being kicked out.

"What do I do?" she asked, looking at the rose symbol upon Summer's grave. "I…I cannot change who I am. I've always been Raven of the Branwen Tribe. I wasn't raised to be a hero or a protector, I was raised to be a killer, a bandit, a…" She buried her face into her hands, unable to describe her current feeling; the only words that could suffice were absolute loneliness.

"We couldn't trust Ozpin, you knew that," she insisted. "He constantly lied to everyone, kept important information from us, threw away the lives of those served him. I…I wouldn't throw my life away for him."

She knew she was right about Ozpin, even if some people claimed the contrary. Whatever crimes she had committed, she was certain Ozpin had done much worse and he had used his war on Salem as an excuse. Then again, what room did Raven have to speak? She too justified her crimes, her victimization of others. Just as Ozpin hid behind his war on Salem, she had hid behind the philosophy of 'Survival of the Fittest'.

For many years, she behaved selfishly, irresponsibly, hypocritically, and it was all coming back to bite her hard. She had no family to help her, no home to go back to…she had absolutely nothing.

The Branwen Tribe wouldn't accept her back after her failure at the Battle of Haven. Not only did she get Vernal killed, but she had failed to get the Relic of Knowledge. She had sided with the enemies who had destroyed their camp, slaughtered their comrades, and she had nothing to show for it; they'd most likely cast her out as she had done to many of them before.

Taiyang and Qrow had watched her descent into the selfish lifestyle she had been living for years. During her time at Beacon, she learned to open up, to be more social and open with others; she had even found love with Taiyang, who was initially an egotistical womanizer, but grew into a much more mature and responsible young man.

Why did she throw it all away? The answer was simple, but up until now, she was too proud and stubborn to say it. She didn't want to admit it so she could appear strong just as she was taught to be. That answer was one word.

Pride.

She was raised to believe 'strength is virtue, weakness is sin', a philosophy that stuck with her for years, even into her time at Beacon. When she became a member of Team STRQ, it appeared that she could find the strength to let go of that philosophy as she developed friendships with Taiyang, Summer and Team FRST.

But as her distrust for Ozpin grew, her former mindset reemerged, leading her down this path. She had gone down a path where her pride pushed her to use her philosophy to justify her decisions, to make her look strong, to hide her cowardice with a façade of intelligence and pragmatism.

"I don't know what to do!" Raven cried out, falling onto her hands and looking down at the ground. "I…I lied to Tai because I was scared of how he'd react. I knew he'd be angry, but…but not like that. I know…I can't change."

At this moment, Raven believed that there was no hope for herself. She was ostracized, hated, and mistrusted by everyone. She was a pariah among those who knew her.

"What?" Summer asked a younger Raven, who had just told her of her time at the Branwen Tribe before coming to Beacon. Their second year had just concluded, leaving them with only two more years before graduation as formally trained Huntsmen and Huntresses.

"It was our ways back there," Raven explained. "We had to grow strong to survive. If we weren't strong-"

"That's not teaching you to be strong, that's just straight up abuse!" Summer interrupted. "How can you honestly think that it's in anyway affection!?"

"It's not affectionate, but-"

"But nothing!" Summer interrupted again. "Can't you hear yourself? That's what abusers do to you; they hurt you and they make you believe it's justified, just like you're justifying it. Did you like being pushed around? Being starved and mistreated as if you were an animal?"

"Well…no," Raven admitted. "I didn't like a moment of it at all. I-"

"Family treats each other with respect and love, not with contempt," Summer stated. "I know the difference, Raven."

Would Summer know about that topic? She wasn't raised outside of the Kingdoms like Raven was; out there, people struggled much harder than those who lived in the safety of Vale, Atlas and Mistral. Out there, it was kill or be killed.

She couldn't argue with Summer's words, however. Deep down, she knew that it wasn't necessary training to teach her how to be strong, it was cruelty as they beat her, deprived her of food, love and respect, and left her to fend for herself.

"Are you just afraid to leave that lifestyle behind?" Summer questioned, making Raven raise an eyebrow. "Do you really just want to be here to learn how to kill Huntsmen and Huntresses rather than pursue your own path?" Before Raven could answer, Summer held up her hand.

"And don't say how the tribe depends on you to do so. This isn't about them, this is about you."

Raven couldn't give a satisfactory answer that day, which caused some tension between her and Summer for a while. In truth, Raven didn't know if she could pursue her own path beyond the tribe that cruelly mistreated her. She felt it was inevitable that she returned to the Branwen Tribe, no matter what points were brought up.

"I'm sorry, Summer," Raven apologized, putting her hand on the gravestone. "I don't know what I can do. I'm…I'm not a Huntress, I'm not a protector. I'm…I'm nothing." She hung her head, praying for some kind of sign to help her.

Suddenly, a white rose petal landed on her hand, landing gently as it did. Raven watched as it flew off again, in the direction of west…towards Vacuo.

The most lawless land in Remnant, where rules and authority were mostly nonexistent. Vacuo was truly a land of survival; those who could survive the harsh environment was welcome, regardless if one was human or Faunus.

"Vacuo…" Raven quietly spoke. "Why there?"

She had only been to the Kingdom of Vacuo a few times; she hated the heat there, but enjoyed the great sense of freedom. No rules, no restrictions, no law enforcement…anyone there could do whatever they wanted, but as long as they didn't piss the wrong people off.

Raven sighed heavily, wondering what she'd find there. If anyone could show her unconditional kindness and support, it'd be Summer Rose, even if she was gone from this world. She stood up onto her feet and looked in the western direction.

"I can take a hint," she spoke before turning into a bird and flying off.

-0-

"They're sending transports into the walls!" Silvio pointed out as Iron Knight transports flew over the walls and into Argus as they managed to dodge the turrets.

"All militia, into the city! Iron Knights are inside the walls! Make your way back now!" Silvio pulled out his rifle and led the Bushi militia on the wall down to the streets of Argus. He then turned on his scroll to speak with his uncle.

"Uncle Benjamin, they're sending transports into Argus! Are you seeing this?"

"I am. My Elites are heading into the city to help as we speak. It appears that the Iron Knights are landing near the park and market; those two areas have the most routes to spread out and quickly take the city."

"Ruo, Nasser, let's go!" Math told his two present teammates. They equipped their weapons and hurried down with the defenders to take down the Iron Knights who were now deploying into the city's streets, Safirlas joining after them.

"Manual turrets, fire on the airships!" David ordered on his commlink. "Automated turrets, aim for the tanks! They must not destroy the walls!"

"What about the transports?" a member of the crew operating the automated turrets asked. "They're deploying into the city as we speak."

"The Bushi militia will take care of them," David assured. "Focus your turrets on the Iron Knights' artillery! If they breach the wall, Argus will fall!"

"Grimm!" another soldier on the wall shouted as the flocks of Manticores flew towards the city, having been attracted by the negativity of the battle and skirmish. Many of the defenders looked on in horror as they approached their city.

"Don't panic!" David shouted, equipping his longbow/ rifle weapon. "Shoot them down!" He loaded a magazine of sniper bullets into his weapon, pulled back the string and fired, taking down one of the Manticores. Qrow, Forest, Sterling and everyone with ranged weapons joined in shooting them down before they could land into the city, not bothering with those flying towards the Iron Knights.

"Ruby, Jaune, you and your teammates deal with the ones who land!" Glaucus instructed. "Make sure to keep them away from the city!"

"Got it!" Ruby complied as she activated her weapon's scythe form. Several Manticores landed onto the wall, letting out bestial roars at the defenders, but one was immediately silenced by a strike of Luna's kamas.

Aria twirled her whip sword and lashed at one of the Manticores before leaping over it and slamming its head onto the wall. She then retracted her whip blade and impaled it on the Manticore's face, killing it instantly.

"Nice one," Luna complimented as she turned her kamas into shotguns and started firing at one of the Manticores, killing it with a few shots.

BOOM!

The whole wall shook from the impact, undoubtedly coming from one of the Iron Knights' tanks that were now within range of doing serious damage to Argus's wall. Most of the tanks had lined up and were preparing to unleash a barrage on the front wall.

"Automated turrets, take down those tanks quickly!" David commanded over his commlink as he shot down another Manticore.

After killing another Grimm with her twin blades, Pyrrha sheathed them and hurried to the front of the wall, looking for the tanks. She saw one of them lining up to fire at the wall, prompting her to extend her arms and use her polarity on it; to her shock, nothing happened to the tank. Even with the major distance, she should've been able to at least knock it over with her polarity.

"They must've demagnetized the tanks," Pyrrha guessed before backflipping to dodge a Manticore's bite. She pulled out Ekdikeo and impaled the Grimm's head with her spear, killing it instantly.

There had to be something, perhaps a weak spot on the tanks, some kind of vulnerability; Argus's wall was strong, but it could only take so much punishment before it fell. If the Iron Knights were successful in destroying it, Argus could fall within a matter of hours.

She looked over to see a stack of javelins with Dust spearheads. They must've been brought with the militia, considering that normal Atlas Military often do not utilize the use of such weapons. She held out her hand and used her Semblance, hoping they were magnetic.

To her luck, they were as one of them flew right into her hand, equipped with Fire Dust. Pyrrha held up her thumb and lined the javelin up with it, aiming for the barrel of one of the tanks, but this was made difficult due to it now being nighttime and leaving her with limited visibility. The only sources of light that were helping her at all were the lights on top and aside the wall.

When she was certain she was aiming right, she used her polarity on the javelin and threw it straight down the tank's gun barrel. A few seconds after doing so, the tank blew up from the inside, smoke rising from the hatch and air vents.

"I'll need to use them sparingly," Pyrrha stated, noticing that there weren't many, so she had to make every last one count.

-0-

"Move out!" one of the Iron Knights shouted as several dozen Knights leapt out of the transports and into the Market Square. Suddenly, one of them fell dead, having been shot by a rifle.

"Militia!" one of the Knights called out, prompting them to immediately move to cover. To their shock, it wasn't the Bushi Militia, it was the Steel Elites, led by Benjamin Steel.

"Attack!" he commanded, opening fire on the Iron Knights and then throwing a Fire Dust grenade at them, killing three of them. The Steel Elites took up firing position at the stalls and roofs and started gunning down the Iron Knights as they moved to cover.

"Hey!" a voice cried out from above, belonging to Philip Grunaugen before he flew down and slammed the ground, sending several Iron Knights flying. His helmet on his face hid the immense anger he showed towards the terrorists, still remembering their part in the death of his best friend, Copper Hanks.

"You killed Copper, you bastards!" He activated his hard light shield to block the bullets before charging forward and slamming a Knight into the wall before knocking them unconscious with an armored fist.

"Keep firing!" Benjamin ordered his Elites before putting his rifle away and unsheathing a thick katana. "Ten of you, melee weapons! Press the enemy!"

As ordered, ten of his Steel Elites put their rifles away and unsheathed their katanas, then rushed to attack the vulnerable Iron Knights, forcing many of them to resort to melee combat as well.

"Knights in the square, melee weapons!" the leading Knight commanded. "The rest of you, shoot down those other soldiers!"

-0-

Yang threw punch after punch at Dagger, who dodged the attacks and then lashed her chain at the sun dragon; instead of dodging, she grabbed the chain and used it to pull Dagger forward, then dealt a powerful punch to her stomach. When Dagger recovered, she fired two shots at Yang, who moved to avoid the bullets. She then rushed to get in close and slash at her with her knife gun.

"You just don't quit, do you?" Dagger questioned Yang before her attack was deflected, then was kicked by Yang.

"Not when innocent people are in danger," she replied sternly. "Too bad the same can't be said for you."

"What does that mean?" Dagger questioned, twirling her chain. Yang scoffed in disbelief.

"We're not the ones endangering and slaughtering innocent people! You say you're fighting for a better world, but you're not saving it, you're destroying it!"

"Easy for you to say, blondie. You weren't victimized every day just for being who you are; you'll never understand why we do the things we do." Dagger lashed her chain at Yang again, but she dodged and leapt at Dagger, but was knocked aside by the Iron Knight assassin using her weapon to hit her from the side.

"I've seen enough," Yang claimed as she recovered. "I've seen enough hate towards the Faunus and I never condoned it."

"You think that just because you see it that you understand what we go through!?" Dagger shouted angrily. "No! My sister and I knew nothing but contempt and hate from the world just for being who we are, for being Faunus! I will do whatever it takes to keep her safe, no matter what!"

Dagger fired several shots at Yang before leaping up into the trees and disappearing out of sight. Yang looked around for her, but the nighttime and the cover of the trees made it too hard for her to see the Lynx Faunus.

"Man, I wish Ruo was here," Yang whispered, keeping an eye out for Dagger.

The mention of her sister immediately made Yang feel some form of sympathy for the Iron Knight assassin. From what Ruo said and what she saw, being a Faunus in Mistral was a guarantee of being hated and mistreated; the Kingdom's mistreatment of them was harassment at best and murder at worst.

What if Yang and Ruby had been pushed into that position, a position where they were hated and mistreated for some reason? No doubt Yang would be ready to do whatever it takes to keep Ruby safe, no matter what it entailed.

Yang heard a branch move, giving away Dagger's position. She rushed to the tree and was to deliver a powerful punch, hoping to knock Dagger out of it. The Lynx leapt out of it and onto the next one; as soon as she did, a great impact made her lose her balance and made her fall onto the ground, landing on her feet.

"Not bad," the Lynx admitted before slashing at Yang again.

-0-

Robin swung his bow at Emerald, knocking aside one of her kamas and punching her in the side of the head. With her caught off guard, Robin nocked an Ice Dust arrow onto his bowstring and shot at her foot, trapping her to the ground. He slashed at her with the blades on his bow's limbs, but she dodged and used one of her weapons to break the ice trapping her foot.

"I honestly thought I'd never fight you again after what happened at Beacon," Emerald taunted before lashing one of her chains at Robin, which he easily dodged. "You looked better without your eyes."

"Well, at least that I don't have to look at your ugly face," Robin shot back. "You think Cinder cared about you? You were just on her leash like a dog."

"Shut up!" Emerald switched her weapons to gun mode and fired rapidly at the archer, who with his echolocation, easily dodged the projectiles before leaping into the trees and disappearing from sight. Emerald used her weapons to bring herself up to the branches and looked around for the blinded archer.

"You're just as delusional as she is," Robin called out, managing to remain hidden. "Cinder was convinced that she was some kind of Goddess when in reality, she was just a parasite who wanted everything for herself while making others suffer."

"No," Emerald denied. "You're wrong about her."

"Wrong!?" Robin barked. "How many people are dead because of her? Hundreds? Thousands? How many lost their lives during the Fall of Beacon?"

"We did what we had to," Emerald replied, silently moving from branch to branch to find the blinded archer.

"Oh, shut up," Robin groaned. "You did whatever Cinder told you to do. If she wanted you to take your own life, would you do it?"

"She wouldn't ask that of me!"

"Really? You honestly don't think that a psychopath like her wouldn't order you to take your own life if she felt it necessary? Or even just for satisfaction?"

Emerald jumped to the next branch, immediately hearing a thunk. A grapple pulled the branch from the tree, making Emerald fall; she used one of her chains to try and grapple up, but a Fire Dust arrow exploded on her, making her fall to the ground.

"You know, I realized that I did something wrong at Beacon," Emerald admitted as she got onto her feet. "I should've killed you when I had the chance."

"Too bad you're not getting that chance again," Robin responded, leaping down and twirling his bow.

-0-

"Hrah!" Cole shouted as he slashed his scimitars at Renegade; while he was attacking from the front, Cole summoned his doppleganger again to attack from behind, dealing more damage to Renegade's black Aura.

"I've seen that Semblance before," Cole spoke as he clashed blades with the Iron Knight lieutenant. Renegade used his speed once more to circle around Cole, but his attack was immediately blocked by Cole's black Aura doppleganger. The leader of Team COAL then activated the Fire Dust in his scimitars and unleashed a wave of flames on Renegade, an attack he easily dodged.

Cole couldn't help but notice his familiarity with Renegade's Semblance. Who was he? He knew him from his past somehow, but was uncertain of who he was; all he knew was that he had a black Aura just like him.

Suddenly, booming sounds were heard in the distance, meaning that the Iron Knights were firing on Argus's wall; if the wall was breached, Argus would fall. He had to reactivate the shield before it was too late.

Cole used his doppleganger to attack Renegade from behind, taking the Iron Knight by surprise and knocking his helmet off as the leader of Team COAL hurried to reactivate the hardlight shields. When he looked over to make sure Renegade was still down, Cole stopped dead in his tracks…as did his heart.

Renegade's face without his helmet showed jet black hair, blue eyes and tanned skin, just like Cole. Cole's face was filled with shock, horror and confusion at this moment, almost wondering if he was in a dream or not.

"Ebon!?" he cried out, leaving him open to an attack that knocked him off the balcony and onto the ground, causing his black Aura to shimmer from the impact. Renegade stood and looked down at Cole, who looked right back up at him.

"No…" the leader of Team COAL quietly spoke, hoping that what he was seeing wasn't real.

-0-

"Move out!" another Iron Knight leader shouted as their forces deployed into the park.

"No, you don't!" Math shouted as he threw Torrach, taking down three Knights before using his gauntlet to retrieve it. He then drove his sword through another Knight's torso before pulling it out and slashed another's stomach, killing them instantly.

"Surround them!" Silvio called out to his Militia as they took cover and opened fire at the deploying Iron Knights that were pouring out of the transports. Several of the Knights immediately fell dead as they were killed by the Militia's weapons.

Before some of them caught on, Ruo appeared from the darkness and pounced onto one of them before clawing his throat open. He looked up to see another Knight lining up to shoot at him; he responded by lashing his chained claws at the Knight's weapon, tearing it from his hands before jumping forward and kicking him in the head with his clawed boots.

Nasser lined up his Fire Dust cannon at one of the transport's engines; upon firing and impact, the engine burst into flames and the ship fell to the ground with a boom; luckily, due to how close it was, it didn't do much damage to anything or any of his allies.

He switched Hafashahn back to its great axe form and swung it at two Iron Knights who were charging him, killing them instantly as his axe cleaved their torsos. He then blocked an Iron Knight's weapon with a defensive stance of his great axe; Nasser then used his Semblance on his fist and delivered a powerful punch to the Knight, sending him flying into the side of one of the transports.

"Don't let them escape!" Silvio warned everyone, noticing some Iron Knights managing to escape the park and make their way into Argus.

"We'll take care of them!" Math assured Silvio as he knocked a Knight down with Torrach, then looked back to his present teammates.

"Nasser, Ruo! Some of them are escaping! Let's go!" Math, Ruo and Nasser hurried out of the park to take care of the Knights that were escaping. Upon seeing one in view, Ruo lashed one of his chains at him, caught him by his shoulder and slammed him into a tree.

"Don't let them escape!" Math told his teammates. "We have to keep them contained!"

"We got it!" Nasser assured, grabbing his teammates by their shirt collars and using his Semblance to launch forward, landing them outside of the park.

"A little warning next time?" Ruo asked, shaking his head from the unusual experience. The three present members of MRRN moved to attack the incoming Knights to prevent them from getting into the city and wreaking havoc.

Back in the park, Safirlas twirled Himmelkanten with speed, taking down three Iron Knights that surrounded her. She then leapt over another one, then threw a knife at their neck, killing them instantly. She then used her Semblance, Prediction, to determine which Knights were trying to escape; when she saw some of them, she pulled out two knives and threw them at the fleeing attackers, taking them down.

Upon looking in the direction of Argus's wall, which was visible from the park, her Dark Herald power activated yet again, somehow triggered by negative emotions. She witnessed Argus's wall crumble into debris and ruins, but what caused it was not shown.

From what she saw, the blast appeared focused on one spot, causing the wall to crumble. None of the tanks appeared strong enough to take down the wall in one hit, even if it was weakened. What could do it?

"The Grimm ship!" Saf gasped.

"Saf?" Silvio addressed after shooting another Iron Knight dead.

"I have to warn the fighters on the wall!" Saf insisted. "That Grimm ship…it may destroy the wall! I saw it!"

"Then get moving! We'll take care of them!" Saf nodded her head and hurried off back to the wall to warn David Brownwood.

-0-

Nachtfel watched from afar as his tanks fired repeatedly at Argus's wall; they were doing some damage, but not enough to breach it in time before they were all possibly destroyed. Even with the Grimm and the transports of Iron Knights to deal with, the city's defenders were holding out against the attackers.

"No…" Nachtfel growled. "The wall must fall, no matter what." He looked up at the Grimm ship that he was keeping elevated with his mind, courtesy of Salem. She claimed that the Basilisk would be a great asset to his campaign against the Kingdoms of Remnant; it was time to prove it.

He focused on the ship, specifically the large red eye in the Nevermore's head. It slowly started to glow with a faint, dreary red light, meaning that it was building up power. In a matter of minutes, when fully charged….

Argus would fall.