RWBY: MRRN

Volume 6, Chapter 33: Breached

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

Author's Notes: Good news. I got Word Document on my new MacBook Air and I'm loving it so far!

"How…how could this be?" Cole gasped as he looked up at his brother, Ebon Stone, who was now the Iron Knight, Renegade. Words couldn't describe how the leader of Team COAL felt about this revelation. "I knew you were alive, but…you're with them. How long?" Ebon didn't answer; instead, he leapt down from the balcony and slashed at Cole, his face filled with anger and rage.

"WHY!?" Cole shouted as he clashed his scimitars with Ebon's kopises. "Why would you do this? Why would you betray everything you stood for!?"

"Because those ideals were lies!" Ebon shouted angrily, pushing his brother away. "The Huntsmen don't protect the world, they only protect those who pay them the most."

"You know that's not true!" Cole insisted.

"Is it?" Ebon questioned. "If we truly fight for justice, why don't we protect those who need protection? Why do we allow people like Jacques Schnee and Darren Moss to remain in power, knowing that they victimize innocent people? Darren Moss got what he deserved when Adam Taurus butchered him like a pig!"

"How…how are you alive?" Cole questioned. "Even though your teammates said that you-"

"They abandoned me when we were ambushed by Grimm!" Ebon shouted, gesturing to the respirator around his neck. "If the Iron Knights hadn't found me, I would've died. They showed me the truth about everything."

"No, Ebon," Cole denied. "They showed you hate and spite against those they call their enemies."

"Really?" Ebon questioned. "I've seen Huntsmen and Huntresses who sell themselves to the highest bidder, not caring what the contract was. I've seen Huntsmen and Huntresses who victimize those who cannot defend themselves, either through extortion, abuse…or worse. The ideals they preach are nothing more than lies that they use to justify and excuse their atrocities."

"That's the case for some Huntsmen and Huntresses," Cole agreed. "But not all of them. I've never used my ideals to justify atrocities or excuse my actions."

"You're still on the wrong side," Ebon stated. "Call us whatever you like: terrorists, murderers, zealots, psychopaths…but the truth of the matter is that the Iron Knights wouldn't exist if power was not handed to those unworthy of it!" He pointed one of his kopises at his younger brother, who was still reeling from the shock of this revelation.

"Stay out of my way or I'll kill you too."

"Ebon…you don't mean it," Cole denied. "You can't mean that! You just can't! Please tell me this is just some sick joke!" Ebon's angered scowl softened a bit as he saw Cole's face slowly break.

In Cole's mind, this had to be a joke. He knew his brother was strong, idealistic and caring towards others. He'd never consider the idea of joining a terrorist group bent on destroying society, a group that was responsible for countless casualties.

"All this time, I knew you were alive! I wanted to find you, to bring you home. Everyone told me I needed to let go and accept that you were gone, but I KNEW you were alive! But this…this!? You and I both know that what they're doing is wrong; worse than wrong, it's vile hypocrisy!"

"And what the Huntsmen do isn't!?" Ebon barked. "Was it not hypocrisy for my teammates to abandon me when they swore to stand by my side, no matter what? Is it not hypocrisy for the Huntsmen to call themselves protectors, yet only protect those who pay them? You call us hypocrites, yet the Huntsmen are just as guilty of this!"

"Maybe," Cole confessed. "But we're not the ones terrorizing innocent people. We're not the ones working to destroy the Kingdoms."

"Enough talk! Stay out of my way or I will kill you!" Cole shook his head mournfully, wishing desperately that this was a terrible nightmare.

"I won't let you do this," Cole refused. Ebon sighed heavily.

"Then…you must die," he reluctantly replied. The two charged each other and clashed blades once more.

-0-

"Hrah!" Math let out as he struck down another Iron Knight with Dochas-Mhadaidh before throwing Torrach to take three more down. From the look of things so far, the Iron Knights' numbers were dwindling and not one had made it beyond the three members of MRRN.

"Keep it up!" Nasser called out as he cleaved Hafashahn into an Iron Knight before using his Semblance to slam two more into the side of a building. He was about to charge into another Knight, but was slammed to the ground by a Manticore Grimm with its front paw.

"Nasser!" Ruo called out. He activated the Lightning Dust in Huzhao and lashed out his chains at the Grimm. When the claws pierced the Grimm's body, Ruo activated the Dust and electrocuted the Grimm with ease before leaping over it and tearing it apart easily.

"Why does this feel familiar?" Ruo questioned as he helped Nasser to his feet.

"Oh, shut up," he groaned.

"There's more of them!" Math pointed out as the Manticores started to land within the city streets.

"Why hasn't the shield been reactivated yet?!" Nasser barked. "What is taking them so long?"

"They'll get it reactivated," Math assured as he stood face to face with a Manticore. When it appeared more were going to land, they were blasted apart by what appeared to be a machine gun; Math looked over his shoulder to see the Atlesian and Mistrali ships in the air, taking on the hordes of Manticores.

"The cavalry is here!" Math grinned before raising his shield to block the Manticore's bite. He then countered by throwing Torrach at the Grimm's face, stunning it and allowing him the opportunity to cut its head off with one fell swoop.

RRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!

"What was that?" Ruo gasped from the sound of the deafening roar. The three members of MRRN looked back to the ocean to see a colossal aquatic Grimm walking towards the city.

"What Grimm is that?" Nasser questioned. "I don't think Professor Kura ever told us what that is."

"That's…a Leviathan Grimm," Math answered. "I've never seen one before, though I've heard of them when I trained with Forest and Glaucus. That…that is much bigger than I thought it'd be."

"They better get that shield back online or we're screwed!" Nasser responded as more Manticores descended upon the streets of Argus.

-0-

"What…was that?" Ruby asked after slashing another Manticore in half, having heard the roar from the ocean.

"Leviathan," David whispered under his breath before activating his commlink. "Argus Mech! Mobilize! I repeat, mobilize! A Leviathan Grimm is approaching Argus!"

"Understood. Argus Mech moving out. Over."

The mountain in the Argus Base slowly started to open, causing rumbles throughout the city. In minutes, the mountain opened up and revealed a colossal brown mech with a three fingered hand on the left arm and a cannon on the right; it appeared a bit smaller than the Leviathan, but it was the only chance the defenders had in stopping the giant Grimm approaching the city.

"Holy…" Grayson spoke softly as he watched from the wall. "That's one big Grimm." He recollected himself to view another Manticore land near him, letting out a loud roar before clawing at the Silver Eyed warrior.

There were so many of them coming to Argus, so many that they could possibly overwhelm the defenders and leave them vulnerable to the Iron Knights. There was no other option except to use his power, a power that had caused him so much suffering ever since the day his parents died.

He let out a shout before his eyes started to glow, then a white light burst from his eyes, enveloping the area. When the light passed, all the Manticores on the wall were disintegrated, nothing more than ashes.

"What…what was that?" an Atlas soldier questioned. "How did you-?"

"My Semblance," Grayson lied. "It's very effective against Grimm."

"Whatever it is, keep it up," David stated. "Keep the Grimm at bay while we…" He looked over at the Grimm ship to see that the large red eye was starting to glow with a faint light. He didn't know what it was about to do, but it certainly wouldn't be good for Argus.

"Manual turrets, fire on that Grimm ship!" David ordered over his commlink. "Take it down!"

"It's out of our range, Commander!" one of the soldiers answered.

"Then send our Scorchers to destroy it," David commanded. "I don't know what that ship's doing, but I'm not waiting to find out. Send what Scorchers we have to destroy it."

"This is Scorcher 2-3. Moving out to attack enemy vessel. Over." The Scorchers then flew over the wall and towards the Basilisk as ordered; as expected, they came under heavy fire from the enemy artillery and ships, forcing them to make evasive maneuvers so they could approach the Grimm ship.

"Come on," David whispered under his breath, hoping that they'd be successful in destroy the Basilisk.

The remaining Scorchers that managed to approach the Grimm ship opened fire with missiles, exploding upon impact. The pilots and gunners looked closer to make sure that the Basilisk had taken damage; to their shock, the areas that had been hit by the missiles started to regenerate in a slime type of substance.

"Commander, the ship didn't take any damage!" one of the pilots explained. "I repeat, the ship-!" The Scorchers were suddenly swarmed by Manticores, clawing and biting into the ships. The remaining Scorchers tried to fall back, but the Manticores prevented them from doing so, making them explode or crash into the ground.

"No…" David gasped. "But if that ship can't take any damage…"

"Are all the Scorchers destroyed!?" Qrow gasped as he watched the aircraft outside the wall fall to the ground in flames.

"Maybe we can damage it," Ruby insisted. "But we have to hurry. We have to-"

"Guys!" Saf called out as she reached the top of the wall, immediately sighting the glowing red eye on the Basilisk that was now very bright. "We have to destroy that ship!"

"The Scorchers were sent out, but they're all destroyed," Weiss inform. "How can we-?"

"With my Silver Eyes," Ruby interrupted. "Mine and Grayson's. If we can get in close before-"

"TAKE COVER!" Grayson shouted as the red eye on the Basilisk grew bright enough before unleashing a powerful red blast…aimed right for Argus's wall.

-0-

Oren and Mercury traded blows with one another, but Mercury's Speed gave him an edge over the shield user, often using it to take him by surprise. Whenever Oren was attacked, he made sure that Mercury's kicks landed on his shield, which allowed him to charge up his Semblance.

"Geez, and I thought you'd be a challenge," Mercury taunted the Lynx Faunus.

"Says the guy who got his ass kicked by Yang and I," Oren reminded the assassin as he blocked one of Mercury's kicks and then countered with a charged attack, sending Mercury flying into one of the trees. Before Mercury could recover, Oren slammed him again into the tree before punching him up into the air and then blasting him with the shotgun in Rouge Paragon.

Mercury groaned in frustration; he was certain that from his last encounter with Oren, he'd be easy to defeat as long as he remained mobile, which was made easier with his Speed Semblance. Unexpectedly, Oren was holding his own against him, even managing to land some major hits on him.

But as their fight continued, Mercury noticed something: Oren made sure his strikes landed on his shield. Under normal circumstances, Mercury wouldn't care, but he realized that his Semblance was connected to his shield, working similarly to Yang's. He had to make sure that his blows didn't land on Oren's shield or else he'd risk helping him with his Semblance.

When Oren shot at Mercury, the assassin used his Speed once to more to avoid the attack, then landed a barrage of kicks on the Lynx Faunus from different directions. When Oren caught onto his strategy, he used his Semblance again to unleash a wave of orange Aura energy, which Mercury dodged by sliding underneath it. However, this left him open to getting attacked by Oren leaping onto him and slamming his shield onto his chest.

Mercury let out a cry of pain before shooting his gun greaves at Oren's torso, knocking him off. The assassin groaned before deciding to jump up to the balcony of the generator; with a sadistic smile, he unloaded a round into the controls, destroying them.

"No!" Oren cried out as he saw what Mercury had done. "Mercury, you bastard!"

"Me?" Mercury smirked, feigning innocence. "You're the one who failed to stop me. Now there's nothing to stop this city from being destroyed."

"And what do you have to gain from it?" Oren questioned, picking himself up from the ground.

"Hey, the less Huntsmen, militia, and Atlas Military, the better," Mercury replied shamelessly with a shrug of his shoulders before jumping down and preparing to continue their fight.

BOOMMMM!

"Huh?" Oren gasped, using his night vision to look into the distance. To his horror, there was smoke…coming from the wall.

"Well, I'm out of here," Mercury responded before running off.

"Mercury!" Oren shouted, but was unable to catch up with him. "Dammit!"

-0-

Dagger once again lashed her chain at Yang, aiming for her feet to trip her, but Yang dodged it and fired two incendiary rounds at the Iron Knight assassin. Dagger avoided the bullets and got in close to Yang, slashing away at her with her knife gun before her arm was caught in Yang's hand.

"You really think you're protecting your sister?" she questioned. "All you're doing is massacring innocent people!"

"Like you did in the Paladin Incident?" Dagger questioned before headbutting Yang and freeing her arm from her grasp. "You criticize us for-"

"And I regret it every day!" Yang shouted, having enough of that terrible tragedy thrown in her face. "What we did was a horrible accident; we didn't mean for those people to die! But you're the ones who murder without discretion and justify it as if you're saints or whatever!"

"I know I'm not a saint," Dagger responded before shooting at Yang, missing her. "I've stolen, I've killed, but I did it all to protect my sister. I will do whatever it takes to keep her safe!"

"This isn't protection, this is terrorism and genocide!" Yang retorted. "You're not making the world a safer place, you're just burning it to the ground!"

"What do you know?" Dagger challenged.

"I have a sister too," Yang claimed. That statement caused Dagger's expression to soften a bit, though she still remained on her guard.

"Odds are, if I was in your position, I'd do whatever it takes to keep her safe too. I'd be willing to steal, to kill…I'd do whatever it takes to ensure she can live to see tomorrow." Dagger's expression softened more and more, feeling that the words coming out of Yang's mouth were genuine and not some means to trick her.

"But this is not protecting anyone, not even her. The Iron Knights aren't liberators or heroes or saviors, they're killers and terrorists. They're not going to stop until this whole world's on fire and everyone is burning with it."

"Don't pretend to understand what we've been through," Dawn replied with some hostility. "You don't know what's like to be victimized just for being who you are."

"Maybe not, but I know many people who know how you feel," Yang responded. "Why are you so loyal to the Iron Knights? Do you truly think humanity is that evil?"

"Not all of them," Dawn claimed. "But Nachtfel's right about one thing: this world needs correction and society is blind to that. He's promised us a-"

BOOOOMMMMM!

"What was that!?" Yang gasped. She and Dawn looked over to see smoke in the distance, coming from Argus's wall.

"Dawn!" Cloak shouted over the commlink. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she replied. "What was that?"

"Nachtfel blew up Argus's wall and…he killed some of our Knights."

"What?" Dawn gasped. "He…he wouldn't do that. He would've called the retreat first before…"

"He's a man taking his anger out on the world, all the while pretending to be a saint about it while destroying millions of lives."

"Guys!" Oren called over his scroll to Yang. "Mercury's destroyed the controls to the generator! We can't reactivate the shield!"

"What!?" Yang gasped. "He destroyed the controls?"

Dawn's eyes widened in shock at what she just heard Yang say; against Nachtfel's orders, the controls for the Force Field generator had been destroyed. Odds are, it had to be Mercury; Renegade wouldn't dare betray him.

"Dammit, Mercury," Dawn growled before running off. Yang didn't care about going after her; the wall had been breached and her teammates may need her help.

-0-

"Ugh," Jaune groaned as he shook his head to get rid of his dizziness. All he could hear was a loud ringing in his ears as if all sound had been silenced abruptly. He leaned against the wall, trying his best to balance himself and look ahead at what had happened.

"The wall…" he groaned, noticing a very large gap in the wall everyone was standing on. "What…what happened?"

"Jaune!" Pyrrha called out, helping him stay balanced. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Jaune assured. "What about Ren and Nora? Where are they?"

"They're on the other side," Pyrrha pointed out to her team leader. "They're unconscious, but I checked their Auras on my scroll. They're okay."

"Good," Jaune spoke before looking down to see around fifty Iron Knights rushing to the breach in the wall.

"Oh, no," Pyrrha gasped in horror. "They breached the wall."

"Why are they only sending a few?" Jaune questioned.

"All soldiers, to the wall!" David commanded, coughing from the dust and smoke. "To the wall! The wall's been breached!"

-0-

"The wall…" Math gasped in shock, Ruo, Nasser and Silvio following suite. "Let's go. We have to join the defense!"

"We'll take care of things here," a militiaman informed Silvio. "Go help defend the wall." The four fighters hurried to the wall, the breach clear in sight as well as soldiers hurrying to help defend it. Upon arrival, several soldiers were already in firing positions, prepared to unleash a barrage upon the attackers.

"Hold on," Silvio spoke, noticing that only fifty Iron Knights were approaching the breach. "Why are they sending so few?"

"They're only sending a few and they're armored," Ruo confirmed, his night vision giving him a perfect sight of the Knights coming. As they rushed forward, they pressed devices on their arms that were connected with tubes. Ruo's eyes widened in horror as he recognized who they were.

"Berserkers!" he called out.

"Berserkers!?" Math gasped before the Knights started transforming. Their bodies grew larger in a grotesque manner as they let out bestial, savage cries; the soldiers were terrified by what they were hearing, as if they were listening to the cries of Grimm.

"Brace yourselves!" Silvio cried out before holding his rifle and preparing to fire.

"What are you waiting for?!" Nasser cried as he activated his axe's Fire Dust cannon. "Shoot them!"

"Don't!" Ruo argued. "They're wearing armor! You may just end up wasting your bullets!"

RRAARRR!

"Here they come!" Math called out as the Berserkers charged in, roaring bestially as they did.

-0-

"Move it, move it!" a Militia commander told the Bushi fighters as they hurried into Mistral ships and flew off in the direction of Argus, now under attack by the Iron Knights. They had managed to scramble all the forces they had, including the Huntsmen sent from Atlas, and were now on their way to get to the city on the coast.

Nine Huntsmen started making their way to one of the Mantas on the far side of the airfield, where there was lots of foliage.

"Let's go, let's go!" one of them hurried the others. "Argus is under attack! We need to move!"

"Really?" a voice asked, belonging to Rufus Egern. He stood at the entrance to the Manta, smirking.

"What are you doing here?" one of the Huntsmen questioned. "Unless you plan on coming to Argus to help defend it-"

"We're not going to Argus," Rufus replied. "But we are taking this Manta."

"What?" one of the Huntsmen questioned. "Who are you?"

"That doesn't matter," Rufus responded. "So, here's the deal: let us take the Manta and we'll let you live. Fight us and we'll kill you. What do you say? Feel like cooperating?"

"Move aside," one of the Huntsmen demanded, brandishing a blade. Rufus sighed in response as he pulled out a recently bought SMG.

"Oh well. I hate Atlesians anyway." Before he could fire a single shot, an explosion occurred, luckily leaving Rufus unharmed as he was out of the blast radius.

"Come on, Eneas!" Rufus angrily shouted. "You could've killed me, you aristocratic asshole!"

"Then stay out of my way, you unrefined animal!" Eneas shouted before throwing another explosive, this time killing two of the Huntsmen as their Auras were down.

"Enough," Redd stated before walking into the open with his blade, standing alone against the seven remaining Huntsmen. He smirked, feeling his Semblance go to work simply from viewing the warriors in front of him.

"What the-?" Redd let out a cry before swinging his blade at two of the Huntsmen, dealing tremendous damage to their Auras. One of them tried to attack again, but Redd knocked his weapon upward and drove his blade into his torso, nearly cleaving him in half.

"Oh, nice one, Redd!" Rufus complimented before joining the fight and threw a grenade at two of the Huntsmen carrying ranged weapons; the explosion quickly depleted what Aura they had left, allowing Rufus to easily kill them with his SMG.

"Where'd they come from!?" one of the Huntsmen shouted in disbelief.

"It doesn't matter," Ketseuki responded as he appeared as well, unsheathing his katanas and engaging the Huntsmen in combat. He twirled his katanas as he blocked their attacks and struck them, depleting their Auras bit by bit.

"Need some help?" Olivia asked as she pulled out her revolvers and started shooting at the remaining Huntsmen, taking them by surprise and easily wearing down their Auras.

"Wait…who threw that grenade?" Rufus questioned as he noticed one was near him. "Oh, shit!" He grabbed the grenade and threw it so it exploded upon some of the Huntsmen, depleting the last of their Auras and allowing Olivia to kill them.

"Such beauty!" Eneas cried out in bliss after watching the explosion.

"Dammit, Eneas!" Rufus shouted. "Stop trying to blow us up, you pyromaniac!"

In a matter of minutes, all nine Huntsmen were dead, courtesy of the group of Rufus Egern, Olivia Cassidy, Eneas Bleu, Redd Edge and Ketseuki.

"Well done," Cinder congratulated her subordinates as Shoal walked alongside her. "Had I known how deadly of a group you'd be, I would've you sought you out years ago."

"We have the Manta," Olivia responded, putting her revolvers away. "We should leave before more Huntsmen arrive."

"Let them come," Ketseuki insisted. "My blades thirst for their blood."

"Well, tell them to go on a vegan diet," Rufus snarked. "Let's get out of here." The group hurried onto the Manta, Rufus taking the pilot seat and starting the ship up.

"When did you learn how to fly a ship?" Olivia asked as she sat in the co-pilot's seat.

"I was part of the Atlas Military, remember?" Rufus reminded Olivia. "Okay, city of Atlas, city of stuck up snobs, city of crappy people and racists…here we come!"

Rufus lifted the ship off the ground and flew off in the direction of north towards Solitas.

"Odds are, they'll report the ship being stolen after seeing the dead bodies," Rufus brought up to the group. "Unless we want the entire Atlas Military on our asses when we arrive, I suggest going to Mantle."

"Why there?" Cinder questioned, rising from her seat.

"Each Manta has an ID number," Rufus explained. "Once the ID number has been reported stolen or missing, they'll know exactly which ship we have. Speaking of which…" He activated the autopilot and went underneath the main panel.

"So, Olivia, about those busty blonde-"

"I should throw you out this Manta," Olivia responded with annoyance. "Stop mentioning those women, you pervert."

"Why would I?" Rufus responded. "I'm a pervert. Here it is: I found- huh?" He sniffed several times, smelling smoke from behind him. He looked back to see that the smoke…was coming from his behind.

"Ah!" he shouted as he patted the small flames, quickly extinguishing them. "What the hell?!"

Cinder chuckled quietly before lowering her hand, satisfied with inflicting some pain on the red squirrel Faunus.

Sooner or later, she'd see Ruby and Pyrrha again in Atlas; she craved the chance to fight them again. Only this time, she'd make sure they suffer as much as possible for their transgressions towards her. Underneath her mask, she smiled monstrously and sadistically.