The Blue huntsman

by LogBook27062000

Born in Remnant and forced to attend Beacon, join Mega Man in his adventures alongside his friends as he battles evil, learns to be human, and hopefully earns a happy ending. Can he and his friends put a stop to Dr. Wily and the evils that plague Remnant? Read to find out. Slight AU after volume 2.

26. Chapter 26

RWBY is owned by RoosterTeeth and was created by Monty Oum

Mega Man is owned by Capcom

"Speech" = Normal talking

"Speech" = Thoughts

"Speech" = Demonic speaking

Speech = narration or description

Pre chapter author note: So I usually don't do this, but I felt that this is the right thing to do. A quick trigger warning goes out for this chapter, there are mentions of abuse both psychical and mental. And there is some general dark stuff included in this chapter, so read at your own risk.

But with that warning out of the way, please enjoy the chapter. It's a long one and I hope you'll enjoy it.

---

Volume 2 Intermission

The next day

Ozpin was sitting alone in the early morning with the sun barely being up in his office, hands over his head and tired from the lack of sleep he had gotten over what had happened the previous day. With what he had been told playing through his mind over and over again, and trying to think of ways to solve the situation.

He sighed and then thought to himself "What am I going to do? Vale is still being repaired by Professor Goodwitch, most of the students are in the infirmary and Rock has been arrested. What am I going to do?"

He stood up from his desk and walked over to the nearest window and proceeded to stare out of it while thinking "Why did things have to get more complicated than they already were, Salem is making her move but now it seems that extra players on the battlefield."

He closed his eyes for a bit, took a few seconds to calm his nerves and then whispered "I need more time."

His mind then flashed back to the end of the previous day and what he had witnessed.

The day before

Ozpin had just arrived in a bullhead at the now fixed crash site of the train that was used by the White Fang and saw Team CFVY and the uninjured members of Team JNPR tending over Pyrrha, who they had brought back after she had become stable and stopped bleeding. Then he saw that some more injured students were lying around the open area. He was then approached by Professor Goodwitch who said "Ozpin, thank goodness that you got my message and that you got here in time."

Ozpin looked over to Pyrrha as well as the other injured students and asked "What happened here?"

"Students were injured, but sir..." Professor Goodwitch was about to say, only to be stopped by Ozpin who called over Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck.

The two teachers walked over to the headmaster, to which Ozpin said "Take all the students in this area back to Beacon and have the injured ones stop by the infirmary."

"Well will, they'll be safe with us." said Professor Port.

Doctor Oobleck then turned to the students in the open areas and yelled "Students, get into the Bullhead. We'll be taking you back to Beacon."

The two teachers then went off to help any students who couldn't move very easily, make their way over to the bullhead. After a few seconds of coordinated planning the students had left the area and entered the Bullhead. Which then took off, leaving only Professor Goodwitch and Professor Ozpin behind.

Ozpin then turned to Professor Goodwitch and asked "Now, what did you want to tell me Glynda?"

"Rock got hit by a capsule with that virus from a couple of years ago, and it turned him evil. Unfortunately, while his team is trying to turn him back to normal, James is now after him and intends to arrest him for taking down several Atlas Airships." Said professor Goodwicth, with a serious tone in her voice.

Ozpin got a shocked look on his face and replied "Do you have any idea where he might be?"

"I don't, I didn't keep contact with the girls. I tried to get in contact with you, while also keeping the injured students safe." said Professor Goodwitch.

"Then I might have an idea of what to do." said Ozpin as he grabbed his scroll and opened an application on it.

"What is that?" asked Professor Goodwitch.

"It's a tracker that Thomas build into Rock, and that he gave to me when Rock started to attend Beacon." said Ozpin as he activated the tracker and immediately got a signal. Ozpin looked at the location of the signal and said "He is nearby, lets go save our students before it's too late."

Professor Goodwitch nodded and then two then quickly made their way to the location of the signal, but when they got there they saw an Atlesian airship take off. While the remains of Team R_WBY looked on in horror and sadness as their teammate was being taken away.

The two Professors dashed over to the girls, after which Ozpin exclaimed "Girls what happened?"

There was a bit of silence before Weiss, the only one who could utter a single word, spoke up and said "We cured Rock, but then Ironwood came. Threatened to have us arrested or shot if we wouldn't let him arrest Rock. He knew we would fight to the bitter end to keep Rock safe until you guys came, he knew we were too tired to fight and he used that to his advantage."

Back in the present

Ozpin was taken out of the haunting words and memories of the previous day when a knock was heard on the door, to which Ozpin replied "Come in."

Professor Goodwitch then came in through the door into Ozpin's office and said "I was able to fix the damage sustained to Vale, how are you holding up?"

"Not too great, I haven't been able to sleep. I feel like a failure, I've spend thousands of years battling evil in a game of chess. I mean both sides lost pieces, but I promised Thomas that I would keep Rock safe. I don't know why, but for the first time in ages I feel like I have actually lost. I feel that this situation can't be solved. I've also been mentally preparing myself for the meeting that I'm supposed to have with the Vale council in a couple of minutes." said Ozpin.

"I think it will be alright." said Professor Goodwitch "Just tell them what happened, and hopefully they'll be on your side."

"Thank you Glynda, I can always count on you." said Ozpin, Professor Goodwitch nodded but then also let out a yawn. To which Ozpin said "Get some rest, I'll deal with the council."

Professor Goodwitch nodded and then left the office, leaving him alone to wait for the appointment. Ozpin sat down behind his desk and waited, after a few minutes of waiting a call appeared on the screen on his desk. Ozpin accepted the call and was met with several disapproving glares from the Vale council.

To which Ozpin said "Councilmen, thank you for your time. As you know the situation is urgent and a quick decision needs to be made."

"Yes, we agree on that." said the first councilman, with a serious tone of voice.

"Ozpin, we won't lie to you. We're not happy with the way things have been going." said a second councilman.

"And how is that?" asked Ozpin.

"Vale has become unsafe, crime has increased, dust robberies are rampant, the White Fang has increased their activity and then there was yesterdays incident. Do you want us to continue?" asked A third councilman.

"No, I completely understand where your coming from with this." said Ozpin.

"Good, then I hope you'll understand that we have reached a unanimous decision to cancel the Vytal festival." said the first councilman.

"What! You can't do that! Most of the participating students are already here, more students will be coming. We're already busy with the preparations and Amity Colosseum is already on it's way to Beacon." said Ozpin with a frustrated tone in his voice.

"That is a problem, but not our problem. Find a way to fix the problem, we expect you to release a press statement by the end of the day." said a fourth councilman.

"Yes councilmen." said Ozpin.

"Now, about yesterday. Because that is what you wanted to talk to us about, what happened?" asked the first councilman.

"So during the incident, or the breach as we decided to call it, Rock Light was hit by a capsule containing the roboenza virus and it turned him evil. From witness statements the virus made him act against his programming and did things that were out of control." said Ozpin, who then paused as one of the councilmen was going to speak up.

"What is this roboenza virus you speak off?" asked the first councilman.

"Uh sir, that was that virus that was causing robots to turn evil a couple of years ago. Made by that evil scientist who has been trying to take over remnant for the last decade and a half." said the assistant standing behind the first councilman.

"Ah right, that mess. Continue Ozpin." said the first councilman.

"Anyways, Rock shot down a couple of Atlas military airships and was then arrested by General Ironwood. But witnesses claim that Ironwood claimed that he was given jurisdiction to do that by the Vale council." said Ozpin.

There was a bit of silence amongst the councilmen, but then the first one spoke up "Ozpin, none of us ever gave him that kind of power. So either he is lying or there is a traitor in our midst."

"I have been fearing the same thing." said Ozpin.

"In that case we will make this our top priority, and we'll have this investigated. We promise you, we'll have your student back at Beacon as soon as possible, none of that bureaucracy nonsense that makes things harder for everyone." said the second councilman.

"Thank you councilors." said Ozpin.

"You're welcome Ozpin, make sure that you have a statement ready by the end of the day." said the first councilman, after which the screens turned off and Ozpin was left on his own to think.

---

Later that morning

In the dorm room of Team R_WBY, Ruby just woke up to find that the entire room was empty, so she got out of bed. But upon doing so she felt a stinging pain in her back and neck and thought to herself "Gah, why I'm hurting from yesterday."

She then walked around the room for a bit and saw the pets sleeping on the floor, she thought to herself "Better keep quiet, I wouldn't want to wake them up."

She then walked around the room in silence and then found a note on her desk that read;

Ruby,

we let you sleep in cause you were really tired after yesterday. We're having breakfast in the common room, come join us when your ready.

Yang, Blake and Weiss.

Ruby smiled, and thought about her teammates. But then a tear dropped down her face when she remembered that Rock wouldn't be there today or ever if things didn't get resolved. She dried the tear off her face, she then grabbed a jacket, out it on and made her way to the common room of the dorm building. Once she got there she saw her teammates sitting at one of the tables enjoying their breakfast.

Yang noticed that Ruby came into the room and signed for her to come over, Ruby walked over to the table with her teammates and saw that they had made toast with bacon and eggs. She smiled, sat down and began eating her breakfast in silence.

After a while of silence Weiss spoke up and asked "How are you doing, dol... Ruby?"

"I'm in pain." said Ruby.

Yang pulled her sister into a hug and said "Oh Ruby, it's ok to be sad about this. But we'll get him back, I promise."

Ruby released herself from her sisters bearhug and said "What, no! I'm in literal pain, I woke up with such a pain in my neck and back."

"That's understandable, we did survive a train crash and fought for most of yesterday." said Blake, after which she took a sip of her tea.

"Ruby, other than the pain in your neck and back. How are you really feeling?" asked Yang.

"I'm fine, really." said Ruby, which made Yang give her sister an unconvinced look. Then Ruby looked around the room and said "Hey, where are Jaune and the others?"

"They spend the night in the infirmary, keeping a watch over Pyrrha." said Weiss.

"Is she..." Ruby started, but not finishing the question as she was too afraid of the answer.

Realizing what Ruby was about to ask, Weiss quickly replied "Don't worry she is fine, last we heard she is stable and resting in the infirmary."

"If it wasn't for vomit boy unlocking his semblance and healing her she wouldn't have made it." Said Yang, in a somewhat disgusted tone.

"You guys really need to let go of your anger towards Jaune, it's not healthy. He has been improving, he really has. I mean he unlocked his semblance and saved Pyrrha with it." said Ruby in an annoyed tone, most of that annoyance being targeted towards Yang and Weiss.

"He lied and cheated his way into Beacon! We worked our entire lives to get to that position, and he just treated it like it meant nothing!" Exclaimed Weiss, causing Blake to get an annoyed look on her face and starts to hold onto her tea cup a lot tighter.

"You know Yang, you might say that I tend to bottle up my emotions. But you tend to hold onto grudges for far too long!" Yelled Ruby, after which Blake put an even tighter grip on her tea cup causing it to shatter to pieces. With some of those pieces getting lodged in her hands.

The sudden act startled the rest of the team, causing Yang to exclaim "Blake, holy shit are you alright!"

"I'm fine." Muttered a now annoyed Blake, as she picked the pieces out of her hands. After which the wounds were healed by her aura.

Weiss was about to speak up, but then the attention of Team R_WBY was taken away when they saw Team CRDL eating popcorn while watching their argument. Yang turned to the other team with her eyes flashing red out of anger, while asking "Can I help you?"

"Oh don't stop on our account, it was just getting good." said Cardin, as he put a mouthful of popcorn into his mouth.

"Whats that supposed to mean?" asked Weiss, with skepticism in her voice.

"You know, it's just really enjoyable to watch your team argue about this. If I had known that Arc was going to clear his conscious, and that this was going to happen as a result. I wouldn't have blackmailed him for nearly as long, I mean this even better than blackmailing him. So thank you ladies, thank you for creating such fun entertainment to watch." said Cardin, as the rest of his team snickered along with his comments.

"Cardin, from one leader to another. I'd be careful if I were you, your team is already on thin ice." said Ruby as she stood up, after which Cardin stood up to face Ruby and stared into her eyes.

"Is that threat, little girl?" asked Cardin, as he gave Ruby an intimidating glare.

Ruby was about to cower in fear over the much taller student, but was saved by Yang who grabbed Cardin by his collar and slammed him into a nearby wall. After which she sneered at him and said "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't beat the faces of you and your entire team in!"

Cardin chuckled and replied "You and your entire team would get suspended for a month, you wouldn't want that would you. Would make it really hard to get your teammate back."

Yang's hair lit on fire out of anger and then yelled "I don't care how long they suspend us, when I'm done with you you'll be pooping out your own teeth for months!" She was about to punch his face in when she got stopped by Ruby and Weiss who held her arm back.

"Yang don't, he's not worth it!" Yelled Ruby, as she held onto Yang's arm to prevent the punch.

"Yes Yang, listen to your sister. After all she is your leader, must really suck. Being the older sister, yet having to listen to the younger sister." Taunted Cardin, after which he was dropped to the floor by Yang who then returned to their breakfast table.

Cardin let out a chuckle, but stopped when he got an icy glare from Weiss who along with Ruby returned to the breakfast table. Leaving only Blake to stand over Cardin, who then asked "So anything you want to say, kitty cat?"

"You are a soulless human being, who doesn't deserve the chances he has been given. Jaune might have faked his way into Beacon, and they might not want to accept it, but he is improving. But what have you done, you've wasted your and everyone else's time at Beacon with your action. You've squandered every opportunity you have been given." Said Blake as pure anger flashed across her eyes, she then whispered "It's people like you who the White Fang protests against."

Cardin then stood up, chuckled and then replied "I have wasted every opportunity I have been given, the Faunus... those animals know about nothing but murder and destruction."

"That's not..." Blake was about to say, only to be shushed by Cardin.

"Ah, ah, ah I'm telling a story, you'll get your chance to talk. You see there once was a man who owned a small supply store in a village where most of the income came from hunters and huntresses passing by to get more supplies for missions. The entire village was able to survive on the money made from those sales."

"Then one night the store was robbed and lit ablaze, by who you might ask. Why the White Fang off course, the people in the village spend most of the night trying to save the store. But come the next morning and it was all for nothing, the store was gone. So was the only income of the village, people tried to prevent the village from falling apart. But remember negativity attracts the Grimm, and it wasn't long before the village collapsed."

"In the end, that storeowner was left with nothing but a few hundred lien. That was my grandfather, his entire life destroyed because of those animals. Nearly destroyed my entire family as a result." said Cardin, finishing his story.

"I didn't..." Muttered Blake.

"Off course you don't, none of you ever think about the consequences of your actions. So why should I?" asked Cardin, as he then signed to his teammates. After which he said "We'll be leaving now, enjoy your breakfast."

Team CRDL then left the common room, after which Blake returned to the breakfast table in silence.

Once she got there Ruby asked "Blake, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just something to think about." Said Blake.

"He's such a hypocrite." said Weiss with a hint of disgust in her voice.

"I know, but there is not much we can do about it." said Blake in a defeated tone.

The group continued with their breakfast in silence, but after a while their attention was grabbed by the television that was turned on in the common. Which was in the middle of a broadcast, "...The remains of White Fang member Adam Taurus have been found at the crash-site within the emerald forest..."

The last part got Blake's attention, but she didn't say anything as the broadcast continued "...Finally, we now cut to a live broadcast held from Beacon, by it's headmaster."

The feed then cut to show Ozpin sitting behind his desk looking serious, and then he spoke up "Citizens of Remnant, as most of you have heard we are living in a time of chaos. Crime is on the rise, violent White Fang activity is up and I'm sure that yesterdays event shook most of you to the core. So it comes with a heavy heart that I must announce the cancellation of the Vytal festival this year, and that the next one in two years time will be held in Atlas."

Ozpin paused for a bit and then continued "I'm sure that most of you will be upset over this, and trust me when I say this it wasn't an easy decision to make. However, we have something that will act as a replacement for the Vytal tournament. It's a small tournament that will be held during the winter solstice festival to celebrate the end of the year. Anyone can join, the battle's will be one on one fights until only one person is left standing."

"Sign up sheets will be ready soon, I just want to say I'm sorry to everyone who came this way for the Vytal festival. However I would like tell everyone to stay strong, even in these difficult times." Said Ozpin, after which the feed cut back to the news broadcast.

"Strong words of encouragement from headmaster Ozpin, now to the weather..." said the news broadcaster, but the sound was tuned out by Team R_WBY excitedly talking about the announcement.

"A fighting tournament at the end of the year, sign me up!" exclaimed Yang as she punched the air in excitement, as she forgot about her previous anger.

"It's unorthodox, but also an interesting way of honing our skills." said Weiss.

"But we won't be able to fight as a team." said Ruby somberly.

"Sometimes fighting on your own isn't that bad, it gives you an opportunity to learn new skills." said Blake.

"Hmmm, you're right. I just hope we can get Rock back before that happens." said Ruby.

"I'm sure Ozpin will sort it out soon enough." said Weiss.

"So we're all in agreement, all of us are going to take a shot at the tournament?" asked Yang, to which the rest of her team nodded. She then got a smirk on her face and exclaimed in excitement "Then lets win it!"

But she didn't get a response from her teammates, instead their eyes were glued to the television once again. Cause the broadcast had changed from the news to a hooded figure.

A student tried to change the channel, but the image stayed on. After a few seconds the image spoke up with a distorted voice "This is the White Fang, as you all know Adam Taurus is dead. We are now under new management, now no one is safe. Any Faunus not with the White Fang will be deemed a traitor and killed. Taurus was an example, don't become the another one."

"Oh, and those who think they are safe inside of Beacon. You're not, you'll be tracked down and killed. Although a former member of ours is already in your walls."

When she heard that, Blake's mind began to race.

"Former White Fang member..."

Blake's heart began to beat at an alarming rate.

"...Blake Belladonna is among you, and not even she is safe. Death to all traitors!"

The feed then cut off, and then returned to the news channel. The news broadcaster looked stunned, but when she realized that she was live again she said "Sorry about that viewers, technical difficulties..."

The rest of the broadcast was tuned out when Ruby turned to her side to see how Blake was doing, only to find that Blake had stormed out of the room. Ruby looked over to Yang and Weiss, and the three immediately ran after their teammate.

---

The RRWBY dorm room

Blake ran into the room she had been calling a home since the start of the year at Beacon, a place she felt truly safe at. She caught her breath, closed her eyes to calm herself down. When she was able to do that she opened her eyes and saw that the one person she had never hoped would find her standing in the dorm room.

Inside of the room stood a very much alive and mask less Adam Taurus, reading one of her books and stopping at one of the more interesting parts of the book. Adam heard her gasping, turned around and said "I see you're still reading these books."

Blake didn't respond, instead she looked at her former partner in fear. Wondering if he had faked his death in order for him to come and kill her, or if he had come to kill Weiss or her entire team.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the rest of her team run down the hall and into their dorm room. Only to come to a stop when they saw the unknown person standing in front of Blake and the pets sitting in one of the closets in fear.

"Hey Blake, who is your friend?" Joked Yang to alleviate some of the tension, as she then closed the door as she saw that Weiss had a look of pure anger on her face.

Weiss was indeed less happy about this and screeched "MURDERER!" at the top of her lungs and almost lunged at Adam, only to be held back by Yang.

"Weiss, what's wrong? How can that guy be a murderer?" asked Yang.

"He's with the White Fang." said Weiss with disgust in her voice.

"What?" asked Yang in confusion.

"That's Adam Taurus." said Ruby with a quiet tone in her voice.

Yang's smile dropped and got into a fighting position, but Adam didn't care and said "Nice to see that someone recognizes me, nice to see you as well Little Rose, you too racist." Causing Weiss to get a look that was a mix of shock and anger on her face.

Yang turned to her sister and asked "Rubes, how does he know you?"

"He... I... met him earlier." said Ruby, causing Yang to stare at her in disbelief.

Adam facepalmed and said "Little Rose you can tell her how we know each other, it's not that exiting. At least not as exiting as Blake's books."

"Ok, when I fell down the hole yesterday he found me and kept me safe from the rest of the White Fang until Torchwick got a hold of me. He may have been a bit scary towards me." said Ruby, with a bit of fear in her voice. Fear at the possible reaction of Yang.

"You bastard!" Yelled Yang, who flew at Adam and tried to punch him in the face. Only for the punch to be caught by Adam.

"Pretty good punch yellow, now before anyone else tries to attack. I would just like to say that I come in peace, and I just want to talk." said Adam.

"That's all?" asked Weiss with skepticism in her voice.

"Yeah, I came to see Blake. But I'm sure this conversation can be held in front of her entire team." Said Adam.

Weiss then grabbed a rope from a nearby closet, as well as a chair and put the chair down in front of Adam. "What's this?" He asked.

"You'll be seated, while also being tied by this rope the whole time and no funny business." Said Weiss, and to her surprise Adam complied. He sat down in the chair, while Weiss tied his torso to the chair leaving his arms free to move around.

There was a bit of silence, but then Adam turned to Blake and said "So, this is not how I imagined our reunion to go."

Blake turned away from him out of shame, Yang noticed and faced Adam with an angry look on her face. Then she said "Don't you dare even look at her, we saw her memories we know what you did." with venom in her voice.

Adam chuckled darkly and replied "You shouldn't treat Blake like she is made of glass, after all she is just like me."

"She is nothing like you." Replied Weiss with venom in her voice.

"I beg to differ, after all she has also killed people. She's a murderer, just. like. me." Said Adam, causing Weiss, Ruby and Yang to get a shocked expression on their faces. While Blake didn't say anything, instead staying silent.

"You lie, Blake may have been part of the White Fang but she wouldn't got as far as to kill people!" Exclaimed Ruby, not believing for a single second that he teammate would be capable of such a thing. Yang's eyes turned red and she was about to lunge at Adam but then she was stopped.

"He's right." Said Blake, causing the rest of her team to look at her in shock.

"Bl-blake, you didn't... you wouldn't... Please, tell me he's lying." Said Ruby with a somber tone in her voice.

"I'm sorry Ruby, he's right. I have killed people." Was all that Blake said in response, causing tears to start dripping down Ruby's face.

"Did he put you up to it?" asked Yang, pointing at Adam to show her point.

"Yang, what do you mean?" asked Blake in confusion.

"Did he tell you to kill those people!" Exclaimed Yang.

"Oh no I didn't tell her to kill anyone, I'd say that they were accidents. No, she... she fought for the cause. But she never wanted to kill anyone." said Adam from within his seat.

"Blake, what happened?" asked Ruby, with the somber tone of her voice feeling like a stab through the heart for her.

Blake stayed quiet for a bit, thinking about what to say, but after a while she replied with "I... I was send on missions to retrieve targets, so the White Fang could intimidate them. Sometimes, things went wrong. Either the target got killed in the kidnapping process or civilians got killed as collateral damage from those extraction missions."

"How many people have you killed Blake?" asked Yang, without much emotion in her voice.

"I don't remember how many people died indirectly because of my actions, but there were at least twenty people from which I know that I had killed them." said Blake, causing Yang to give her a shocked look. While Ruby just turned away from her teammate, unable to process what she just learned.

The room became silent, no one could utter a single word from the shock. After a while of silence Adam turned to Weiss and asked "You've been silent this whole time Schnee, want to share with us all what you think. Or are you planning on calling daddy and have him get you teammate arrested."

The breaking of the silence shook Weiss out of her thoughts, she ignored Adam and instead turned to Blake to ask "Blake, did you enjoy killing?"

"Wh-what?" asked a confused Blake, who was shaken out of her shocked state.

"Did you enjoy killing, did you after you killed those people want to kill more people. Did you at any point that you were at Beacon think of killing anyone, including your teammates?" asked Weiss.

"Does it count if I wanted to beat up Cardin and his team?" asked Blake.

"Answer the question Blake." Replied Weiss.

"No... No, no, no, no, no. Never. I hated it, I wanted to change the world. I wanted to save the faunus, I never wanted to kill anyone!" Exclaimed Blake.

"That's all I needed to hear." said Weiss, as she then pulled Blake into a hug. Feeling Blake's shocked expression, Weiss replied with "You shouldn't let yourself be defined by your past mistakes, just like I shouldn't be defined by my family name."

After that Yang and Ruby joined in with the hug, and the team stayed like that for a while in silence. The silence was then broken when Adam spoke up.

"I have to ask, how did you see her memories of me?" asked Adam in confusion, making the members of Team R_WBY break up their hug and then separate from each other.

"Through a special meditation technique we had to do to understand our teammates better." said Weiss.

Yang then turned to Ruby and asked "Are you feeling better?"

"Somewhat." Replied Ruby, she then turned to Blake and said "You were right."

"About what Ruby?" asked Blake.

"The world isn't like a fairy tale, it's harsh and things sometimes just happen." said Ruby.

Adam let out a dark chuckle, causing Weiss to snap at him by saying "And what is so funny this time!"

"Nothing really, all though what you girls learned today doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the harshness of reality." said Adam.

"And what, pray tell, would a murderer like you know about the harshness of reality?" asked Weiss with a snippy tone in her voice.

"More than you princess." said Adam as pulled up his sleeves to reveal two messy SDC burn marks on them, one on each arm.

Weiss stayed silent, Blake growled out of frustration, Yang looked at the marks in horror, while Ruby gasped at the reveal of the two marks. To which Adam asked "Does this answer your question, princess?"

"Those are slave marks from the Schnee Dust Company!" Exclaimed Ruby.

"How do you know that, little rose?" asked Adam.

"We learned about them in Doctor Ooblecks history class, the burn marks were given to Faunus slaves. But they are supposed to be banned." said Ruby.

"Oh so the one time you decide to pay attention in class it was about burn marks!" Exclaimed Weiss.

"I do pay attention in class Weiss, just because the rest of your team doesn't score perfect marks on the test doesn't mean we don't pay attention in class." Snapped Ruby back at her partner.

Ignoring what Ruby said, Weiss replied with "How did you get those marks, father said they weren't used anymore in the mines."

"Well, as you can see. Dear old dad still uses them in his company." said Adam, as he waved around catching Weiss's attention on one of the marks.

Weiss grabbed Adam's left arm, looked at the mark and then said "That's a thief's mark, what did you do!"

"Oh yeah, that's what they are called. They hurt like hell when I got them." said Adam.

"Tch, you probably deserved it." Said Weiss with disgust in her voice.

"You know, you shouldn't judge other people. Especially when you don't know what they went through!" Exclaimed Adam with pure hatred in his voice.

"Alright then, tell us. Tell us what happened." said Yang.

"That's surprising coming the one with the temper." said Adam nonchalantly.

"You want to be on the receiving end of it!" Exclaimed Yang as she got ready to lunge at Adam.

"Oh no I wouldn't, although I do wonder. Would you guys believe my story?" asked Adam, causing the room to go silent.

"We could do the memory link and experience your past memories alongside you." said Ruby, with a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"If that were to work, I suggest you sit. The things I experienced are not for the faint of heart, I question if your leader has to see this." said Adam, to which the rest of the group nodded.

"I can handle it." said Ruby, with determination in her voice.

"Alright if you say so, we should probably get ready." said Adam.

Team R_WBY then sat down onto the floor in a meditating position, they all interlocked their arms and closed their eyes. They then began to focus their aura and after a while the girls found themselves floating through the darkness of Adam's mind. They were then greeted with Adam's aura manifestation of himself.

"Welcome to his mind." Said Adam's Aura manifestation, he then made his way over to a ball of light and added "This is what you're looking for, I'll explain what happened in the memory. Just grab onto the orb and you'll find out what happened."

---

Inside of the orb with the memories

The four girls found themselves looking at a dust mine owned by the Schnee Dust Company, and then saw a younger version of Adam come out of the mine carrying dust crystals along with several other Faunus workers.

"When I was a child I was orphaned at a young age, and lived at an orphanage. But the caretakers were corrupt, not bothering to take care of us and selling Faunus orphans to the dust mines for a quick lien."

"It happened I was either nine or ten I can't remember. But it was after a long day of work, we returned to the barracks near the mine with what little food the overseers would give us and then I could have sworn that I saw something."

The memory cuts to Adam walking slowly, but then being passed by two smaller Faunus children who were running back to their barracks. One of which had bear claws, while the other was horns like a rhinoceros. He then thinks he saw some food sticking out of one of the children's pockets.

"I could have sworn that those kids had taken some food from the fridge in the wardens office, and honestly I don't em' They barely fed us anything, and would have been fine with letting us starve. Depending on their moods off course."

"But unfortunately those slobs noticed, and the next day there was hell to pay for all of us."

The memory then cuts to the next day, with Adam and all the other workers being forced to stand outside in the freezing cold and being forced to watch the warden and the guards eat their meals for the day. The four girls couldn't get a good look at them, as the guards and warden looked more like shadowy figures and less like humans.

"I thought that was going to be the worst of their punishment for us, I was wrong."

The memory shifts to show the wardens walking around the group and picking random Faunus from the group and bringing them to the front. The guards then pointed their weapons at the small group, while the warden spoke up "Alright you bunch of animals, I will give whoever decided to be a thief one chance to come forward and confess to their crimes. Otherwise this group will be send to the slaughter house."

The guards loaded their weapons up and pointed them towards the group of Faunus that they were holding hostage, the warden then spoke up again "I will give whoever did it ten seconds to come forward and confess to their crime."

The warden then began to count down from ten, with each count the people grew more nervous. When the warden got to three, he was stopped by Adam yelling "I did it!"

The warden stopped counting, looked upon the group and said "Child, why don't you come forward so I can get a good look at you."

"Looking back on it I should have ran, I should have done something other than approach that monster."

Adam walked over to the warden, who looked at the younger version of Adam and said "So, you're the ungrateful child whole stole some food. Want to tell your friends why you did it?"

Adam hesitated for a bit and then replied "I was hungry." With a timid tone in his voice.

"Hunger, how interesting." said the warden as he then grabbed Adam by his arm and dragged him towards the main building where he and the guards would stay.

"You'll spare them right?" asked younger Adam "I confessed to my crime, you let them go back to work right?"

"Off course, I always keep my word." said the warden, as he then gave his guards a sign and dragged Adam into the building.

"I would later learn that the warden still had the group of randomly chosen Faunus killed, the two kids who had only stolen a loaf of bread were among them. But I didn't know, so I prepared myself for what was about to come. A week in the hole, a week without food or a week in the hole with no food. But it was much worse."

The memory then cuts to Adam being placed in a chair, with both of his arms now having been placed in metal chains in order for his forearms to be exposed to the warden and his lackeys.

Adam looks at the metal rod that is placed on a nearby workbench, the warden notices and says "Child, I'm sure you know what this is seeing as your right arm already has the mark. But this thing is different, this one will mark you as a thief for life."

"You can't do that!" Exclaimed the younger Adam.

"Oh, I can't. Lets see, you're chained up in that chair, you're a Faunus and I'm an adult human with all the power. Lets see you try and stop me." Said the warden with an evil tone in his voice, as he then grabbed the heated rod and branded Adam's left arm with it. What followed were several minutes of agonizing screams from the child. "You can scream all you want, no one will come and save you." Said the warden as he continued listening to the screams.

After a few minutes Adam stopped screaming and started sobbing to himself. Then warden then looked him in the eyes and asked "Now, why did you steal the loaf of bread again?"

"Please, let me go. I learned my lesson." Whimpered the younger Adam.

The warden pressed the newly made burn mark on Adam's left arm and said "Answer the question, brat."

"I was hungry." Was all that the younger Adam said.

"Ah, now don't you worry child. You'll never go hungry again, now open wide." said the Warden with a sadistic glint in his eyes.

"I was tormented by the Warden and the Guards for months, until one day I found the power to escape from the camp. I ran for days and days, eventually I was able to stow away on a boat. I was eventually discovered on the boat and throw overboard the moment we docked on land. I was forced to flee once again, but eventually I couldn't run anymore and I collapsed on the ground."

The memory then shifts to the younger Adam being discovered by a younger Sienna Khan who was in her early twenties.

"I was saved by Sienna, and nursed back to health. And the rest is history."

Team R_WBY were then thrown out of the orb and out of Adam's mind.

---

Back in the real world

Team R_WBY awoke with a shocked look of horror on their faces on what they had just watched. Yang looked over to her sister, saw that she was shaking and asked "Rubes, are you alright."

"Yeah... just... give me a minute." said Ruby, as she had a traumatized look on her face. Yang didn't buy it for a second, went over to her sister and pulled her into a hug. Reassuring her that everything was going to alright and that nothing could hurt her.

Adam, who was still tied to the chair, looked upon his shaking hands and said "I'm sorry if this traumatized you, but I felt that you needed to know what happened."

Weiss had some issues breathing due to an incoming panic attack, but she took a few deep breaths and calmed herself down. She then turned to Adam and asked "The memory cut away before we could see anything, did... did the warden... do... you know what?"

"Yes." Replied Adam.

"This doesn't change anything, you are still a horrible murderer." said Weiss.

"And you are tied to the family who is mostly responsible for the subjugation of the faunus, so you aren't any better." said Adam with hatred in his eyes.

"Still doesn't excuse the abuse you put Blake through." Said Yang, as she kept holding onto Ruby to calm her down.

"I know, and I didn't come here to ask for forgiveness. I came here to warn all of you." said Adam.

Ruby having now calmed down, freed herself from Yang's embrace, and asked "What are you talking about?"

"Diablo Scorpio, one of the most violent sociopaths I have ever encountered and the one who had me killed." Said Adam, upon hearing that name Blake felt memories coming back to her and she almost began to hyperventilate.

Yang noticed, held onto her as she shook Blake lightly and exclaimed "Blake! Blake calm down, you're here. You're safe with us, whatever happened it can't get you! Breath Blake breath!"

As Yang was calming Blake down, Ruby turned to Adam and asked "Who is this person that is causing Blake such distress?"

"He's a snake Faunus, he joined the White Fang a couple of years ago after escaping from a dust mine. I took him into my faction because I related to him, I felt that I could help him heal from his trauma. That was one the biggest mistakes I ever made." Said Adam.

"What makes him so dangerous?" Asked Ruby with genuine interest in her voice.

"His semblance allows him to create poison at rapid pace, faster than anyone else who can do that. His weapons are all blades and knives coated in poison, and he takes delight in killing others."

"Big deal, you've killed countless people. What makes him so different from you?" Asked Weiss with disgust in her voice.

"The fact that he enjoys killing, when I kill someone I make it quick so they won't suffer. He ensure that anyone he kills will suffer in their final moments, the poison he uses causes the bodies of his victims to start shutting down one organ at time. His poison has so many side effects you'll never know what happens when you get stabbed. Your blood could cloth, your organs could fail or your lungs could shut down making you gasp for air in your last moments." said Adam.

"How... How do you know this?" asked Yang, feeling fear at the description.

"He kept a diary on the effects of his poison on his victims." said Adam.

"You haven't even mentioned the worst part." said a still shaking Blake.

"Oh that's right I forgot about that." said Adam, as he thought back to the past "Whenever there were training sessions in the White Fang, he wouldn't hold back. He'd go as far as to poison his opponents in order to win. Blake, me and a few others have felt the effects of his poison."

"How are you two still alive!" Exclaimed Yang.

"When we first learned of his poison, Sienna had some scientists, who felt sympathetic towards our cause, create an antidote." Replied Adam as he then pulled out a small vial out of the pocket in his jacket and handed it over to Ruby. "The recipe should be on the label."

Ruby looked at it and exclaimed "He's right! It is there!"

"How do we know you're not lying to us?" asked Weiss with skepticism in her voice.

"Cause we are on the same side right now." said Adam.

"Explain." Demanded Yang.

"I'll keep the explanation short, you see my faction of the White Fang is working with the people who attacked Vale yesterday. I had a sneaking suspicion that I was going to be betrayed by them when they stopped telling me things and didn't inform me of any meetings that were held between them and our employers. They made a bunch of decisions without me knowing of the decisions." said Adam.

"So why come to us, why not the Atlas military or Ozpin?" asked Weiss.

"Because Blake was right." said Adam, causing him to get looks of shock from the people in the room. Causing Adam to add "Don't give those looks, she was right ok. I realized it after she left me behind on the train, I didn't want to accept it. But she was right, the White Fang was becoming less about fighting for equality and instead we were turning into the same monsters who had been oppressing the Faunus for years. Also my methods were attracting sociopaths like Scorpio to the White Fang."

"Ok, say that you're right. Say that we believe you, why didn't we see anything about this Scorpio in Blake's memories?" asked Weiss.

"I don't know, but I assure I'm not lying. This time." said Adam.

"He's telling the truth." said Blake, who had calmed down from her panic attack. "You didn't see anything relating to him cause I locked away the memories of him to deal with the trauma of nearly dying from his poison." She then walked over to Adam, looking him in his blue eyes and said "He can be trusted."

"He still killed Rock!" Exclaimed Weiss, not wanting to trust the person who had caused her family so much trouble over the years.

"Rock?" asked Adam in confusion, but the remembered what Ruby had told him the previous day and said "Oh Mega Man, no that was Scorpio. He disappeared for a few days and then I learned that he, on an order from our employer, went to Mantle and killed him while the professor got away with some important stuff. I wasn't happy when I learned that days later."

Weiss stayed silent, thought for a moment then swallowed her pride and said "Fine, I trust you. Doesn't mean I have to like you."

"I don't need you to like me, I need you to trust me." said Adam.

"I trust you." said Ruby.

"I'll trust my sisters intuition." said Yang.

Blake stayed silent, thinking about what to do. Was she really going to trust the one who had given her so much pain over the years, she was then snapped out of her thoughts when Adam spoke up "What's it going to be Blake, are you willing to trust me?"

Blake closed her eyes, took a deep breath and replied "You get one chance, break my trust and I'm ending it."

"I understand." said Adam as he grabbed scroll from his pockets and placed it on a nearby table.

"What's that?" asked Ruby.

"It's a scroll I'm giving to you four so I can stay in contact with you, it can't be traced and is completely off the grid." said Adam.

"Why what are you going to do?" asked Weiss.

"I'm going to keep a watch over my former faction and maybe learn who our employers were. Then I'm taking them down." said Adam.

"Why the scroll?" asked Ruby.

"So if I find information or you find information that might help the other party we can give it to each other easily. We won't be at risk at being taken down by the employers if we were to meet in public." Said Adam.

"Makes sense, that always happens in those action movies." said Yang.

"Yes, but this is the real world. If anyone gets caught by them, it's over. There is no surviving an ambush." said Adam, as he then stood up from his chair and let the rope that tied him tot he chair fall to the ground.

"How did you..." Exclaimed Weiss, only to be answered by Adam.

"The rope wasn't tied very tightly, now I'm leaving does anyone have any more questions they like to have answered?" Adam asked.

"Yeah when we met in the ruins of that city, you said that my mom and Dr Light were on the no harm list. Who else are on that list?" Asked Ruby.

"Lets see." said Adam as he thought for a moment and then replied "Well other than them, you due to the legacy of your mother, Mega Man due to his heroics and the four headmasters of the academies due to actually striving to make a difference for the Faunus."

"Wait why am I not on that list? I was also raised by Summer." said Yang.

"Oh... we did not know that, we had a run in with the leader of the Branwen tribe a couple of years ago. And due to their leader being your mother you weren't put on the no harm list." said Adam.

"She isn't my mother. She left the moment I was born, my mother is Summer Rose. She raised me and took care of us, Raven will never be my mother." Said Yang with anger seething out of her mouth.

"That's unfortunate, but it won't matter anymore." said Adam.

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby.

"With me gone, the Vale faction of the White Fang will just ignore the list and attack everyone. I mean Scorpio has been going around killing Faunus who aren't part of the White Fang." said Adam.

"Wait a minute how did you know I was related to Raven?" asked Yang.

"Simple, if we want it the White Fang can get any piece of information that they need. It's how found out that Weiss was at Beacon or that someone with faked transcripts was able to enter Beacon." said Adam as he began to walk to the door, but then he turned around and said "I'll be taking my leave, we'll keep in touch through the scroll I gave you."

Adam then left the room, and Team R_WBY then heard his footsteps go down the hall as they stayed silent. Once they were sure that Adam was gone, Ruby turned to Blake and asked "Blake, how are you feeling?"

"Not very good, I feel like running away from it all. You guys aren't safe, I can't stay here." said Blake as she was eyeing the opened door, which was then closed by Yang.

"You're not leaving." said Yang, with an authoritative tone in her voice.

"But, you're all in danger. They'll come for you to get to me." said Blake, with fear in her voice.

Ruby put a hand on Blake's shoulder, and said with a reassuring tone "Blake, the four... no five of us when we get Rock back will face whatever they send after us together. We're a team, were supposed to have each other's backs. We signed up to become huntresses at an academy that specializes in hunting down creatures of pure evil. We signed up to put our own lives in constant danger, so please don't run. We'll be there to help you every step of the way in taking down that monster."

Blake wiped a tear from her face and replied with "Thank you."

"Don't worry about it, it's my job as leader to take care of my team." said Ruby.

"So what are we going to do now?" asked Weiss.

Ruby looked at the clock in their room and replied "We still have some time before visiting hours in the infirmary start, how about we just stay in the room and do our own thing until then."

"Sounds like a plan." said Yang.

---

Meanwhile in Salem's lair

It had been a good couple of hours since Ozpin had made his announcement on the cancellation of the Vytal festival, and the queen of the Grimm had not taken the change of plans well. Unleashing her anger by unleashing beams off energy into the sky.

While she was doing that Hazel and Tyrian were watching the chaos unfold from inside the castle's meeting room. Tyrian had been laughing gleefully for a bit and then exclaimed "Oh my, heheheheheh, I should join our queen, hehehehehehe."

But before Tyrian could jump out of the window he was stopped by Hazel who said "Tyrian, behave. You're not out in the field, so behave yourself."

Tyrian pouted for a bit, but then let out a sadistic chuckle and replied "Oh your no fun." He sighed and then added "I wish Watts was here, at least he lets me some fun. You're no fun, smile."

"I'll smile when I watch Ozpin take his final breath." said Hazel with a dark tone in his voice.

Then the doors to the meeting room opened and Salem walked into the room. Looking a lot more clam than she did before, she looked at her two henchmen and asked "Hazel, Tyrian did anything happen while I was airing out some of my anger?"

"Two seer Grimm were trying to make contact with us, I think one of them is from Watts. I'm not sure who send the other attempt at contact." said Hazel.

"Thank you Hazel, you two are dismissed. But I have a feeling I might have to call on both of you at some point, be ready for that moment." said Salem.

"Yes, my queen." said a giggly Tyrian as he and Hazel left the meeting room so Salem could be alone with the two calls.

She sat down at the table and answered the first one. Which caused her to come face to face with Watts, "Ah Watts, do you have any news that could make this day better?" Asked Salem.

"I have some good news and some bad news, my queen." said Watts.

Salem got an annoyed tick on her forehead and said "Out with it, just tell me what you found."

"So the bad news is that I hacked the Vale council to see if there was any way of reversing the decision, but unfortunately this seemed like a decision that won't be reversed. No matter what we do." said Watts.

"Hmm, that is problem. What is the good news?" Asked Salem.

"Right the good news, listen I was able to learn that Wily's nemesis got arrested after he took down several Atlas airships and took down the general." Said Watts.

"Watts, you disappoint me. You said you had good news, what your telling me doesn't interest me. Mega Man is not a threat to me, so why should I care?" Asked Salem.

"I was getting to that, he was hit by that virus Wily created out of that little project you send into space centuries ago." said Watts.

"Now that is interesting." Said Salem "I think we have a traitor in our midst."

"I would say so as well, because thanks to him our plans are getting derailed. What do you want me to do, cause I checked his lab and he was gone. So should I simply kill him or bring him to you for his punishment?" asked Watts.

"Get him to explain the situation to you, after that you can decide what to do with him." said Salem.

"Wait, you're letting me handle it?" asked Watts in confusion.

"Yes, although if you mess it up or something happens that causes your choice to be the wrong one and it messes with our plans be warned that I will make the rest of your miserable life a hell. Am I understood?" asked Salem, causing Watts to get a look of fear and horror on his face.

"Yes, you are clear. I understand completely." said Watts, after which the connection dropped.

Salem sighed and said "It's so hard to find good underlings, now onto the next call." She then made connection with the second call and then came face to face with Cinder. "Ah, I was wondering when you'd come calling for me. Are things falling apart, child?"

"Yes, the breach was a failure. It went off to early, things didn't go as they were supposed to go, one of the students got arrested and now the tournament is cancelled." said Cinder with panic in her eyes.

"Calm down child, tell me what you need." said Salem.

"I need orders, I need you to tell me what to do!" Exclaimed Cinder with desperation in her voice.

Salem sighed and replied with an annoyed tone "Do I have to everything for you? Look just stay at the school, and wait for further orders. Stay in contact with the White Fang and Wily's robot."

"That's it?" asked Cinder.

"Yes, now thinking about it. This might actually be beneficial." said Salem.

"How is that?" asked Cinder.

"You and your little underlings can now gather more data on our opponents. I know this because that's all you're good for." said Salem.

"Yes, off course." said Cinder, with a hint of sadness in her voice. "One more thing..."

"No I'm not letting you take control of the old man's toys again, you messed up the first time. So like any good mother I took away your toys, let this be a lesson for you." said Salem as the connection was then cut.

Salem then stood up from her chair and walked to a nearby window to look outside. She then said to herself "You think that cancelling the tournament is going to stop me Ozma, it will only delay the inevitable."

"Don't worry, you will win." Said a demonic voice from within Salem's mind, startling the queen of the Grimm.

"Who are you, show yourself!" Exclaimed Salem as she started to power up in case she had to fight.

"Do not be afraid, I mean you no harm." Said the demonic voice.

"What are you, where are you!" Exclaimed Salem.

"I'm nowhere, yet everywhere at the same time." Replied the demonic voice.

Salem looked around the room and couldn't find anyone, she then said "You're in my head, aren't you?"

"Perceptive, I like that." Said the demonic voice.

"Why did you attach yourself to me?" asked Salem.

"That's a secret, but what I can tell you is that I have plans for this world. Plans that align with your goals of taking over this realm." Said the demonic figure.

"So why don't you have a physical form?" asked Salem.

"I lost it in battle, now listen I heard the last conversation. That scientist you have working for you, he seems to know what he is doing and is too important to get rid off." Said the demonic voice.

"You think so?" asked Salem, with a hint of skepticism in her voice.

"I know that for sure, me being stuck outside the realms of time and space has allowed to view all possible outcomes of a decision. You keeping him around will be instrumental to your victory." Said the demonic voice.

"Victory you say, say that we work together is there anything you want out of this partnership?" asked Salem.

"I don't think so, lets just say that with your victory will benefit me as well. So I'll be here to give you advice if you need it." Said the demonic voice.

"I can work with that." Replied Salem, she then felt the presence of the spirit leaving her mind. Salem then looked out of the window with an evil smile on her face, but unbeknownst to her in the reflection of the window next to her the reflection of the spirit was shown. All that could be seen of the reflection was a cloud of dark energy, red glowing eyes and the head of a pig.

---

Meanwhile somewhere in the skies above Vacuo

A blue pod like object was flying through the skies of Vacuo, this object belongs to Dr Wily who was on the inside making sure that nothing was disturbing the flight path of his flying machine.

While steering Wily was looking at the maps and the locations he had to travel to in order to reach his destination. He looked at one of his maps and noted "Lets see, no Grimm in the immediate area, no clouds or rainfall to be expected and I still have enough fuel to fly to the destination and then return to my castle. Hmmm, says here there still is about three hours of flying left."

Wily kept flying for a while while making sure that he wasn't spotted by any huntsmen or got into the flightpath of any winged Grimm. After about an hour he suddenly noticed that his flying machine had deviated from it's original flightpath and began to fly above the ocean instead of the desert.

Wily tried to fly back to his original flight path, but saw that he was unable to do anything. Causing him to exclaim "What is going on here!"

He then heard a familiar voice chuckled over the intercom, which then replied with "What is going indeed Wily."

"Watts, why did you take over my machine?" asked Wily.

"Don't act like you don't know that, traitor." Replied the emotionless voice of Watts, causing Wily to get a look of shock on his face which Watts didn't see on his end.

"But I didn't do anything!" Exclaimed Wily.

"Really, you expect me to believe that." said Watts as he lowered the flying machine closer to the ocean and added "Take a good look outside Wily, see the Grimm sharks. They are quite hungry, we wouldn't want them to starve do we?"

Wily looked outside through a window and saw that an entire group of Grimm sharks were swimming underneath his capsule. He then exclaimed "But I didn't do anything, why are you doing this to me!"

"You really don't know, do you?" asked Watts.

"No, I don't know what is making you do this. I have been working with you and Salem for a while now. I don't know what I could have done to anger her!" Exclaimed Wily with fear in his voice.

"You don't know?" asked Watts with skepticism in his voice. "You really expect me to believe that you didn't follow the news and learned that the breach happened too soon!"

"I did know that, I told Cinder that Bass would be leading my troops after she lost me too many of her robot masters." said Wily.

"Oh so you do know, then maybe you can explain to me why your roboenza virus wasn't just found in Vale, but it also caused your nemesis to become evil and attack the Atlas military. Which also led to the Vytal festival getting cancelled, derailing our plans!" Yelled Watts.

"Wait, I didn't know that! I didn't do any of that, I was making preparations!" Lied Wily, not wanting to reveal giving a capsule of the virus to his master.

"May I ask, and please tell the truth I hate to have to let you get eaten by sharks, why exactly are you flying above the Vacuo desert?" asked Watts.

"I found a signal in the desert, then I send out a small drone and that drone found ancient ruins. It peaked my interest, so I decided to check it out seeing as Salem had nothing else for me to do." said Wily.

The line on the other end stayed silent, leaving Wily to wonder about his fate for a while, but after a few minutes Watts replied "I thought it over, but what I don't get is why this virus you created somehow ended up in Vale. Even though you said you didn't have anything to do with it. So would you care to explain that, and remember your life is on the line here."

Watts expected Wily to not respond immediately to his question, but to his surprise he did. With Wily saying "I can explain that, see a couple of years ago when I did that plan those capsules were thrown onto the ground and upon shattering they released the virus on the nearest robot. I never bothered to have them cleaned up, so it's more than likely that someone picked it up and recreated the virus for his own evil intend."

"Huh, for once in my life I don't know what to say. I believe you Wily, for now." Replied the voice of Watts, sounding bewildered. He then added "Listen, good luck on that expedition and be sure to keep anything that allows for communication on you. In case I need to talk to you or if I need to pass a message along from the queen." After that the communication's device in the capsule turned off and Wily felt his control return.

"That was odd, but I should continue with my journey." said Wily, as he then returned to fly over the mainland and then continued making his way to his destination.

---

Meanwhile in Watt's lair

After ending the conversation with Wily, Watts thought to himself "Hmmm, ruins in the Vacuo desert. But there are only ruins of old villages and castle's there. What could he possibly find there that could help him? Maybe I should ask Salem."

He then turned to the Seer Grimm floating behind him, and gave it a signal for wanting to communicate with Salem.

After a few minutes of waiting, he was then greeted with Salem's face who asked "Arthur, that was quick. Did you find Wily?"

"I did my queen, I was able to take control over his capsule through a bug I planted on it when I helped him reprogram all those robots." Replied Watts.

"Did you find something?" asked Salem.

"I didn't, he had nothing to do with it. He said that someone could have recreated the virus from the virus capsules that were left on the streets during that plan of his." Replied Watts.

"I see, anything else you found out?" Asked Salem.

"He told me that he had found some ruins in the Vacuo desert and that he was going to check it out. Which confused me, cause there is nothing but abandoned villages and castles there." said Watts.

What watts had told her caught Salem's attention, who then replied with "The Vacuo desert you say." Salem was silent for a bit, thinking and digging through her memories of her entire immortal existence on Remnant, after a bit she replied with "He must have found an old project of mine."

"A project, what kind of project?" asked Watts.

"Some sort of evil super computer meant to create an army of robots, I had some scientists working on it hundreds of years ago. But the project was a failure, so I had the scientist killed and sealed the project away under some ruins in the desert of Vacuo." said Salem.

"Seems like Wily found your little project." Said Watts.

"It would seem so." Replied Salem.

"What was the name of the machine?" asked Watts.

"I don't remember, something with the name of a god and a celestial body." Replied Salem.

"Do you want me to tell him not to waste his time on it?" asked Watts.

"No, I want to see what he can do with it. He did the same with the evil energy I send into space all those centuries ago, so we let him have his fun. I have faith that he won't screw it up the way Cinder has been screwing things up lately." Said Salem, there was a bit of silence but then she added "I believe this was all you had to tell me?"

"Yes my queen." Replied Watts, hiding some irritation in his voice.

"Good, end communication." said Salem as the Seer Grimm then turned off, leaving Watts alone.

Watts then looked at a picture he took with Wily on his desk, grabbed it and exclaimed "So, you think you're suddenly better than me!" He then threw the picture to the ground, causing it to shatter. He then said "If that's how you want to play then let the games begin Albert, lets see who the better scientist is."

---

Later that day at the Beacon infirmary

It was now the middle of the afternoon and Team R_WBY had made their way over to the Beacon infirmary to check in on Pyrrha and the rest of Team JNPR, they were about to head in when Blake caught their attention by exclaiming "Wait, hold on!"

This stopped the rest of the team and prompted Yang to ask "What's wrong Blake?"

"Before we head in, I want to say that I'm going to need you and Weiss to at least attempt to start forgiving Jaune for forging his transcripts to get into Beacon. This has gone on for too long, and he has really been trying to better himself."

"See, I wasn't the only one who felt that it was going too far!" Exclaimed Ruby.

"Why would start forgiving that dunce, he treated Beacon like a joke! Treated something that most people work their entire life for, as a joke! So why should we start to forgive him for his unprofessionalism and nearly putting us all in danger. Ozpin should have expelled him." said Weiss.

"Oh just like Ozpin should have made you the leader instead of Ruby, gods you are still a spoiled brat Weiss. You say are trying to better yourself, but you still pull the same attitude that you did at the start of the year!" Exclaimed Blake with an irritated tone in her voice.

"He could have put us all in danger with his actions Blake." Replied Weiss.

"Could have, yes. But he didn't, none of us have been hurt or injured because of his actions. Instead of getting in our way yesterday, he stayed behind to heal Pyrrha to make sure she didn't die from injuries caused by our own teammate. Sure Rock didn't have control over his actions, but you were still willing to defend him against General Ironwood no less." said Blake.

"But he still lied and cheated his way into Beacon." Replied Weiss.

"So what, just a couple of hours ago you learned that I killed people and you didn't renounce me for it! Get your priorities in order Weiss!" Exclaimed Blake, who then turned to Yang and added "Don't think you're off the hook either, the same goes for you."

Yang scoffed and replied "So he got his semblance and does some extra training, big deal."

"It kind of is, I tend to stay in the shadows a lot and so I notice more things. I was actually able to view a lot Jaune and Pyrrha's late night training sessions, he is pushing himself to become better. The same can't be said for you ms. slacks off in most of her classes." Said Blake.

"Not you too Blake, Weiss getting on my back over my grades is already enough." Said Yang with an annoyed tone in her voice.

"Oh I'm not agreeing with Weiss on that, she has been going too far with it. But Jaune is trying to better himself in his classes, and frankly Ruby is right this has been going too far." said Blake.

"Fine, I'll try to start trusting him again." said Yang.

Weiss let out a huff and replied "Well I won't."

"Weiss is this about the one time he hit on you? Get over yourself, he knew you weren't interested so he stopped trying." said Ruby.

"How do you know that?" asked Blake.

"Oh he told me, Rock and Pyrrha on separate occasions. And lets not forget, thanks to him you actually had a date to the dance." said Ruby.

"How do you know that?" asked Weiss.

"I heard Cardin and his team laughing about it the next day, said something about forcing Jaune to be their wingman if they were still blackmailing him." Said Ruby, causing the rest of the team be silent for a bit. Then Ruby spoke up again and said "You know, Cardin did make it clear that he finds it entertaining to watch teams fight amongst themselves. So I ask Weiss, what's it going to be?"

Weiss let out a huff and replied "Fine, I'll try."

"Good then lets go inside." said Ruby, as she opened the door to the infirmary and then led her teammates inside. When they looked around they were surprised at how empty it was, almost all of the beds were empty save for the bed that Pyrrha was in.

When they walked over to the bed that Pyrrha was in they saw that Jaune and Ren were meditating, while Nora was going through channels on the television hanging from the ceiling. All the while Pyrrha seemed to be asleep.

Knowing that she probably wouldn't get a word out of the others, Ruby turned to Nora and said "Hey Nora, how are you all doing?"

She didn't get a response as Nora was flipping though channels with her eyes glued to the television screen, Weiss then tried to get her attention by saying "Nora, can you hear us?"

When Weiss didn't get a response from Nora, Yang decided to take a more hands on approach with their friend and shook her around for a bit. Causing Nora to take her eyes off the screen and reply "Oh hey guys, when did you get here?" causing Team R_WBY to get a stunned expression on their faces.

Blake was the first one to lose the stunned expression and replied "We came to check on you guys and see how Pyrrha is doing, but I don't know what this is." She then pointed towards Jaune and Ren meditating.

"Oh they, yeah fearless leader had some trouble with activating his semblance to heal Pyrrha a bit more. So Ren offered to train him with his semblance the same way we trained ours while on the road." said Nora, with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Through meditation?" asked Ruby.

"Exactly, Ren said something about it clearing the mind or something like that. I don't know, I never paid much attention to it." said Nora.

"How is Pyrrha doing?" asked Yang with true sincerity in her voice.

"Pyrrha is fine and it's almost like nothing bad ever happened thanks to Jaune healing her." said Nora.

"So, was there any permanent damage done to her?" asked Weiss.

"No not really, the nurse said that she only lost a lot of blood and that the organs that were stabbed had been healed with Jaune's semblance. They had to do a blood transfusion but were low on blood, so Jaune offered to give her some of his blood. And it turns out that their blood types were a match, so right now Pyrrha is just recovering from what happened." said Nora.

"Should she be sleeping? Shouldn't people who had an injury like that be kept awake?" asked Ruby.

"Ruby that's for a concussion." said Blake.

"Really, those medical and crime shows always put it like that." Replied Ruby.

"Yeah but those shows aren't accurate to the real world." Replied Blake.

"Oh yeah that's right, I mean most crime shows make it seem like all the evidence can be found in the first hour of the case." said Ruby.

"Are you sure that you should be watching those shows at your age? You're only fifteen." said Weiss.

"Weiss, we signed up for a school that teaches us to hunt down Grimm and we are already involved with hunting down violent criminals in our first year. What Ruby watches on television won't make a difference." said Yang.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Replied Weiss.

There then was a bit of silence in the room, but then Jaune's eyes opened and a wave of aura released from his body and engulfed the entire. Hitting the people that were inside of the room.

When the aura vanished, everyone gave a confused look towards Jaune. But then Ruby suddenly exclaimed "My back and neck are no longer hurting!"

Yang did some stretches and said "My ribs are no longer sore from yesterday."

"Huh the ringing in my ears stopped." said Blake as she made her cat ears wiggle for a bit underneath her bow.

Weiss felt the scar on her eye and said "Hmmm, my scar stings less now."

"Jaune, what was that?" asked Ruby.

Jaune blinked with his eyes a couple of time and then replied with a sheepish look on his face "I focused enough while meditating to get a grasp on what my semblance allows me to do, but then I got a little too excited and that happened."

No one was able to think of a way to respond to the comment from Jaune, but then Pyrrha's eyes shot open and she gasped for air. She looked around frantically and exclaimed "What happened! Where am I!"

Nora walked over to Pyrrha, pulled her into a hug to calm her down and replied "You're in the infirmary surrounded by your friends."

Pyrrha looked around and then saw team R_WBY standing in the infirmary, Pyrrha gave a weak smile and said "Oh hey everyone, how are you?"

"How are we? Pyrrha we should be asking you that! You really scared us, we thought you were going to die!" Exclaimed Yang.

"But I didn't, Jaune saved me. You guys went after Rock to get him back and I felt that he wasn't holding back. He hit me with the full force of his blaster, so off course I'm going to worry about all of you." said Pyrrha.

"Wait, Rock holds back?" asked Ruby in confusion.

"Yes, I see it in his eyes. He is afraid to use the full power of his abilities. When he was under the influence of the virus he didn't have that look in his eyes." Said Pyrrha, she then looked around the room. Noticing that Rock wasn't there, she said "Where is Rock, if he is scared that I'm mad at him he shouldn't be. He had no control over the situation, I don't blame him for what happened."

"Pyrrha, Rock isn't here." said Ruby.

"What do you mean, you guys were able to turn him back to normal right?" asked Pyrrha.

"Yeah did something happen? We didn't see you guys last night after arriving in the infirmary." said Nora.

An awkward silence filled the room, all members of Team R_WBY had a look of guilt on their faces. "Guys, what happened?" asked Ren.

"Rock got arrested and taken into custody by General Ironwood." said Blake.

"What!" Exclaimed all of team JNPR.

"What happened?" asked Jaune, while still sitting on the floor in his meditating position.

"Rock, under the influence of the virus, shot down a part of the Atlas military air fleet and then threatened General Ironwood. We tried to stand up to him, tried to wait it out. Wait for either Professor Ozpin or Professor Goodwitch to show up, but they came too late. We didn't have the energy to face him, turning Rock back to normal took a lot of energy." said Ruby as tears were flowing down her face.

"We're sorry we couldn't help you." Said Ren, with a somber tone in his voice.

"What are you talking about, you two stayed behind to protect Jaune and Pyrrha. There was nothing you could have done to change the outcome of yesterday's events." said Ruby.

Jaune then stood up from the floor, sat down on a chair next to Pyrrha's bed and said "Pyrrha, I should have gone with you. I should have helped you. I know I wouldn't have been much help against the robot you faced, but I could have helped you against Rock. Maybe then you wouldn't have nearly gotten stabbed in such a fatal position. I'm a terrible leader, I couldn't even protect my own teammate in their time of need."

Weiss was about to respond to the last part with a snide remark, but was stopped when both Ruby and Blake gave her a glare that told her to back off.

Pyrrha put a hand on Jaune's face and said "Jaune, don't ever say that you are a terrible leader. You watch over us, you care about, you make sure that I get enough rest, you make sure that Nora doesn't get too hyper, you make sure that Ren's voice is heard in group discussions. You try to better yourself, you try catch up with the rest of us. And you are succeeding, I couldn't have asked for a better person to lead our team than you Jaune."

Tears were flowing down Jaune's face as he then pulled Pyrrha into a hug and replied "Thank you Pyrrha, you are the best partner anyone could ever ask for." Pyrrha, although initially surprised by the hug, returned the hug. After a while the two broke free from each other's embrace and Jaune returned to his seat.

Back in his seat Jaune dried his tears and then asked "So now what, is Rock going to prison?"

Ruby sighed and replied "I don't know Jaune, he's in their custody. Professor Ozpin said he would take care of it."

"Then we can only hope that we can get him back as soon as possible." Said Ren.

There was a bit of silence, and in that silence both Blake and Ruby were nudging Weiss and Yang to speak up. After a while of that happening, Yang decided to speak up "Listen vomit bo... I mean Jaune, I speak for both me and Weiss when I say this. But I'm sorry for how cold we have been acting towards you and the grudge we held towards you."

"It's fine, I'm glad that you two are willing to move on from what I told you and want to start rebuilding trust." Replied Jaune, shocking both Weiss and Yang.

"What?" Said Weiss in confusion "What are you doing, what kind of reaction is that. You're supposed to be furious at us for how we treated you!"

"Weiss have you been reading those betrayal stories that Blake likes to read on her scroll?" asked Ruby.

"Maybe a couple of them." Replied Weiss with a sheepish look on her face.

"I'm not mad, I learned that holding onto grudges is not healthy. So I won't hold it against any of you." Said Jaune, who then turned to Yang and said "Now Yang, about the nickname."

"Look if you want me to stop..." Yang said, only to be interrupted by Jaune.

"No, it's fine. If you want to keep calling me that it's fine, I learned that sometimes in life things just stick and complaining about them only makes it worse." said Jaune.

"How did you learn that?" asked Weiss.

"Growing up with seven sisters." Replied Jaune, causing him to get several shocked looks from his friends.

"Were you the youngest?" asked Ruby.

"No I'm a twin and the two of us were the middle siblings." said Jaune.

"Jaune I have a question, where did you get those transcripts from?" asked Blake.

Jaune let out a chuckle and then with a sheepish look on his face replied with "Would you guys believe me if I told you that I got it from that Torchwick guy?"

"Wait, you got it from him!" Exclaimed Weiss.

"Yeah I did, I was honestly worried that they would fail due to their cheapness or that he would come back to blackmail me into doing favors for him, but hey he's been arrested so I doubt that would be something to worry about." said Jaune, but then everyone got a somber look on his face as they remembered that Rock was arrested alongside Torchwick.

There was a bit of silence, but then Nora spoke up and asked "So what do we do now?"

"Well with the vytal festival cancelled we should just focus on school and getting Rock back." said Ruby, to which the rest of the people in the room nodded in agreement.

---

In the prison room of the head airship of the Atlas military

Both Rock and Roman Torchwick were in their cell laying on their beds and looking at the ceiling, waiting for the time to pass and both bored out of their minds. Then Roman spoke up "Come on kid, you've been giving me the silent treatment since we got here. At least say something, I'm bored out of my mind."

"I don't talk to criminals." Replied Rock.

"Newsflash kid, right now we're both criminals." Said Roman.

"No! I had no control over my actions, you did what you did because you wanted to!" Exclaimed Rock.

"Alright kid, time to teach you a lesson about the real world. It's not all sunshine and rainbows ok? People die, people are cruel and people will do anything in order for them to survive!" Exclaimed Roman.

"That still doesn't make it ok!" Exclaimed Rock in frustration.

"Oh you're right about that, but people still need to survive." Said Roman, but he didn't get a response to that. So he decided to close his eyes for a bit, after a few minutes he was awoken by a door opening. He stood up and looked through the bars and saw a guard entering the room. Causing Roman to say "Ah is it dinner time already?"

The guard looked startled and asked "Who said that?"

"I did, did you come to bring our food?" asked Roman.

"Uhm, no mr...?" asked the guard.

"Torchwick, Roman Torchwick. Master thief, master criminal and currently doer of all things that are allowed in this prison." Replied Roman.

"Ah right, Mr Torchwick and I assume that Mega Man is in the cell next to you?" asked the guard.

"He is, yes. May I ask what this is about?" asked Roman, getting the feeling that he can't trust the guard.

"I'm here to bring you both to the transfer area, a decision has been made and you both are going to Atlas for your crimes." said the guard, as he then opened the cell doors and then placed shock collars around the necks of both prisoners. The guard then signaled for both Rock and Roman to follow him.

The two complied and they made their way over to the transfer area, on the way their both prisoners were silent. When they got there the lights were off in the transfer area. Causing Roman to get suspicious, but the two of them were moved into the transfer airship, once inside Roman noticed multiple guards being on the ship. After that the smaller airship took off and left the main airship.

The ship took off toward it's destination, and both prisoners looked out of the window as they saw Vale becoming smaller and smaller. The two then sat in silence for the rest of the ride to Atlas. Several hours had passed and Roman and Rock had fallen asleep in their seats, but where then awoken by a loud noise signaling them arriving at their destination.

The hatch to the airship opened and they were lead inside of a large facility. Inside of the facility were multiple people working on machine, the people wore uniforms with a green spears on it as their symbol. His suspicions becoming correct caused Roman to exclaim "Wait a minute, this isn't Atlas and you guys aren't Atlas military!"

But before he could run off he knocked unconscious by one of the guards that was escorting him into the facility, but before Rock could do anything the shock collar on his neck activated and he fell to the ground unconscious.

The guards were then startled when an elderly, yet robotic voice spoke up "What is going on here!"

"Oh Dr. Merlot sir, we brought the prisoners like you asked." said one of the guards.

"Why are they unconscious?" asked Dr Merlot.

"The criminal began to suspect us and the robot would have taken action so we couldn't let him stay awake." said the guard.

Merlot walked around for a bit, looked at the two people on the ground and asked "Xander, why did you bring the criminal with you?"

"He caught us the moment we were going to get the robot." Replied Xander, he then quickly added "But he can give you valuable information, maybe he knows something we don't."

"Yes that is possible, alright then. Take your squad and bring them to their living quarters, I'll deal with them later." said Dr. Merlot.

"Will do sir! Troops move out!" Yelled Xander as he and his group picked up Roman and Rock, after which they left the room. Leaving Dr Merlot alone with one last soldier.

"Harvey, tell me how the preparations are going?" asked Doctor Merlot.

"I'll be happy to inform you that everything is going according to schedule, we'll soon be ready to make our move." Replied Harvey.

"That's good, then I suggest you better get going and continue with the preparations." Said Dr. Merlot.

"Will do sir." said Harvey as he left the room, leaving Dr Merlot on his own.

Dr Merlot let out a chuckle and then said to himself "Watch out remnant, phase two is about to start."

---

A/N: And that is volume 2 done with, I would like to say that I'm glad to see how much the support for this story has grown and I'm happy that people are enjoying it. Now a bit of information on the future of this story, post volume 2 will be going into AU territory, I mean that was already evident with the reveal that the Vytal festival has been cancelled. So yeah there is some fun and interesting stuff planned for the future of this story, so look forward to that.

Anyways I hope I didn't turn too many people away with the content and dark nature of this chapter, but I did leave a warning so I hope you knew what you got yourself into before reading.

Now I would like to thank the following people for favoriting or following the story:

SaberSora

savageboss

BlazesSword2020

Neo-Devil

Now onto the reviews from last time

Jacob9594: Glad you enjoyed last chapter, hope you were able to enjoy this chapter.

BlackSnake4578: I'm glad that you are enjoying this story and hopefully this update was soon enough for you. And as you can see, Rock is as far as free from custody as he could possibly be. So thank you for reviewing.

Now with that being said, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I will see you all in the next chapter.