Chapter 12: Robyn

"Uhh…" Oscar started to wake up. Looking around, he saw that he was in a hospital room. An IV tube was to his right, along with Ruby and Neo. Hearing him wake up, they jumped out of their chairs and ran up to him.

"OSCAR!" Ruby yelled hugging him.

"Ruby…you're squeezing me." Oscar said.

Ruby pulled away. "Sorry. Are you okay?"

"A little sore, but I'm fine." Oscar replied.

"What happened?" Neo asked.

"I'm not sure." Oscar said. "Back in the warehouse, someone grabbed me and threw me across the room. Last thing I remember was a sharp pain in my side." Oscar looked down to see a bandage around his stomach. "What happened?"

"That was Tyrian." Ruby said. "One of Salem's followers. He attacked the warehouse and framed Penny. We've been trying to find him, but we haven't made much progress."

"Wait, how long have I been here?"

"A few days." Neo replied for Ruby. Suddenly, Ruby's Scroll vibrated. Looking at it, she saw it was a text from Nora. "The General wants to see me. Neo, could you-?"

"Don't worry, I'm not leaving." Neo said.

"Thanks." Turning back to Oscar, Ruby gave him another hug. "I'll be back." she left the room.

"So, you were out for a while." Neo said. "You in a lot of pain?"

"Yeah, feels like someone's been twisting my insides." Oscar replied. "Then again, I'm pretty sure this the first time I've been hurt like this."

"Well, you know what they say, Oscar." Oscar looked confused at this. "You never forget your first time." Neo made a joke to lighten the mood.

Oscar chuckled at this, but quickly grabbed his side in pain. Neo's face changed to one of concern. He might be on the sidelines for a while.

"THIS IS THE WORST CASE SCENARIO!"

Ruby, Ren, Nora, Winter, Qrow, Clover, and the Mandalorian were all standing in Ironwood's office. General Ironwood was staring at his computer, watching a recording of Penny in Mantle.

"More people are dead, Penny's been framed, and somehow, Jacques Schnee is sitting on the Council!" Ironwood yelled.

"That's the second shipment for Amity that was hit today." Clover included, referring to the fact that Robyn and her huntresses had resorted to stealing Amity supplies and redistributing them to Mantle. "It seems election night was the push Robyn needed to go from 'Hometown Hero' to 'full on vigilante'."

"I'm afraid the problem is more complicated than that." Winter said.

Ironwood walked away from his desk and towards the window. "It seems Robyn has emboldened our suppliers in Mantle." he said. "They're refusing to sell us provisions until the city is adequately repaired. With Robyn redistributing the goods her team has stolen, the Amity Project is completely stalled."

"But we're so close!" Ruby said. Turning to the Mandalorian, she asked him "Can't you send supplies in your ship?"

Djarin shook his head. "The tower's almost complete, but Robyn ambushed a truck carrying an essential piece. A long range transmitter, one of a kind. Without it, the tower can't broadcast anything. Making a new one would take months."

Ruby turned to everyone. "There has to be some way we can finish the tower."

"There is." Winter said. "Declaring martial law."

Ruby, Ren, and Nora were shocked to hear this. Ironwood said nothing, thinking about the possibility.

"General, are you actually considering that?" Ren asked. Ironwood still said nothing.

"Don't make it sound trivial when you know it isn't." Nora said. "You keep talking about how we just need a little more time, but you're not the one having to struggle."

Ironwood looked at Nora. "We have all had to make sacrifices for the greater good. Mantle has had to bear a lot of the burden, yes, but-"

"THEY'RE BEARING ALL OF IT!" Nora yelled. "The longer this waiting game goes on, the harder each day gets for people down there and now you wanna send in more soldiers? You can't just force people to fall in line. If you do that, you'll just be trading all of these problems for the Grimm!" Nora then turned to the Mandalorian. "Mando, you know I'm right! You can't force people to fall in line. This is the Way!" she yelled at him. Everyone looked at Nora, unsure of what she meant.

"This is the Way." Djarin agreed. "General, let me and Neo take care of Robyn." Ironwood looked up at him. "Send out two more trucks carrying supplies. I'll take care of the rest."

"Alright." Ironwood replied with a sigh. "But while you're at it, there's someone else you need to look for."

Clover took over. "The reason we called you is to ask you something. You're sure this was the man you saw?" Clover was holding a Scroll with a picture and report of someone named "Tyrian Callows."

"Tyrian Callows was accused of murders all across Anima." Winter said. "A homicidal maniac who escaped justice when his prison transport was attacked by Grimm. After that, he was never seen again."

"Well, he works for Salem and he's here." Ruby confirmed.

"We'll worry about him later. I'm finding Robyn first." Djarin said as he walked out of the room.

"Mando-" Qrow called out, but Djarin continued to walk.

The Mandalorian and Neo were getting ready to head to Mantle. Ruby had offered to watch the Child and would be staying with Oscar to keep him company. As they were about to head out, Yang and Blake ran up to him.

"Mando, wait!" Blake called out. Stopping, the Mandalorian and Neo turned around. "We need to talk to you."

"What is it?" he asked.

"We want to come with you." Yang said.

"No. What we're doing only needs two of us. We don't need any help."

"But...wouldn't you need help with the Happy Huntresses?" Blake asked.

"No, we'll be fine." Neo replied. "Thanks anyway."

"But...Clover asked us to be your support." Yang took a minute to think.

Before Djarin could reply, Neo spoke up. "I get the feeling there's something you're not telling us."

Sighing, Yang replied. "Blake and I were talking. And we don't think what you're doing is the right thing to do."

"What do you mean?" Djarin asked.

Blake spoke next. "Ambushing a Huntress who's just trying to help isn't an option I'm thrilled about choosing."

"...Blake, you have to understand there's a bigger picture here." Neo said. "Robyn may be trying to help, but she doesn't know that she's hurting herself in the process."

"Then maybe she should know." Yang said. "If we just tell her what we're doing-"

"We can't." Djarin cut her off. "Yang, I know you want to help, but word travels fast. Once Salem's forces, who we know are in Mantle, learn about Amity, they'll do everything they can to sabotage it. And we don't know how many there are."

"But I feel like we should take that chance." Yang said.

"...We all need to take chances in life." Neo continued. "But you need to know which chances are worth taking."

"But we do." Blake said. "If we just come with you and convince Robyn-"

"I SAID NO!" the Mandalorian yelled, catching everyone off guard. "Now drop it, you're wasting our time." he started walking away.

"What's up with him?" Yang asked.

"I think I know." Neo said. "I'll talk to him." Catching up to Djarin as he entered an airship, Neo tried to talk to him. "Mando-"

"WHAT?!" he yelled at her.

"...Nevermind."

Ruby was holding the Child as she watched Oscar try to walk. "Oscar, I'm not sure this is such as good idea."

"Ruby, I've rested enough." Oscar said. "It's time I get back on my feet. I need to- AHH!" he held his side after feeling a rush of pain.

"Oscar!" Ruby placed the Child in her chair and rushed to him. "Okay, you're going back to bed." she started guiding him back to the bed.

'Ruby, I can do it." Oscar said.

"No, I can-"

"Ruby, I can do it myself."

"Oh." Ruby said, surprised to see she upset him. "Sorry..."

"Ruby, wait. I'm sorry I shouldn't have said it like that." Oscar quickly apologized.

"No, it's fine. I know you can take care of yourself." Ruby said. "I just, need to make sure everyone's doing fine."

"You really shouldn't." Oscar said.

Ruby was confused by this. "Uh...what?"

"Crap, sorry. That also came out wrong." Oscar realized what he just did. Seems like it was now or never. "Ruby...do you know how great you really are?"

"Aww, thanks Oscar." Ruby said.

"No, I'm serious. Ever since I met you, I've always thought you were special. You carry the world's problems on your shoulders, you seem to neglect your own needs so you can take of everyone around you, and you helped me get where I am today. Even after what happened in Argus, you still had that mentality." He turned away from her. "But, I don't want you to think we take you for granted. I think...you need someone like you. Someone who cares and does everything in their power to make sure you're holding up okay. And...I want to be that person. No matter what, I want to be with you, and-" he stopped talking as he felt someone kiss his cheek. Turning around, he saw Ruby staring back at him.

"Thank you Oscar." she said, holding his hand. "I think you're right. Maybe I do need someone like me. And if you want that person to be you...nothing would make me happier." She leaned on his shoulder, still holding his hand. Oscar was stunned, but he was also very happy. The Child looked at him and smiled.

Robyn and Fiona Thyme were standing outside an Atlesian truck. Robyn was still wearing her green Mandalorian armor, and after taking care of the robot driver, she was helping Fiona distribute the goods inside. Pressing the side of the helmet, she contacted her other Huntresses. "May, Joanna, the goods in this truck are almost distributed. How are you doing?"

"We took care of the other truck, but there's a lot more supplies in here than we thought." May replied. "We're gonna have to take them back to the warehouse on Sherwood Avenue."

"Alright. I'll send Fiona to help you."

"...Say that again?"

"Fiona and I are just about done, I'll send her over to help you."

"What are you talking about?"

Robyn suddenly got a bad feeling. "May, what's wrong?"

"Fiona came to help a minute ago. She's with us now."

"No, she's with me. Wait a minute, if there are so many supplies, why didn't she use her Semblance to make the work faster?"

"...Fiona, why can't you use your...Wait, what you doing? Stay back!"

"MAY!" Robyn yelled. But there was no response. "Fiona, someone who looks like you is attacking May and Joanna! Go to the warehouse, I'm gonna go help!" Robyn then flew in the air on her jetpack. After a minute of searching, she found Joanna and May with their weapons out.

'You okay?" Robyn asked as she landed in front of them.

"We're fine." May replied. "That girl has some sort of transformation Semblance, she can change into other people."

"Where is she now?" Robyn asked.

"She ran into that alley." Joanna pointed to an alley in between two houses. "We stayed with the truck, she may have been trying to lead us into a trap."

"No, you did the right thing." Robyn replied. "Come on, we can take this truck back to the warehouse."

After driving for five minutes, the truck parked in front of a warehouse with a metal door. Lifting the metal door, Robyn turned on the lights, expecting to find a stockpile of supplies waiting to be given to the people of Mantle. What she found was nothing. The entire warehouse was empty.

"What the hell?" May said.

"Where is everything?" Joanna included.

Remembering she sent Fiona back to the warehouse, Robyn got on her radio again. "Fiona, what happened to the supplies?"

"They're safely on their way to Atlas." a voice called out. Looking deeper into the warehouse, all three Huntresses saw Din Djarin walking towards them, dragging an unconscious Fiona.

"You!" Robyn yelled. "But...how?"

"All Mandalorian helmets are linked by a common radio frequency. I could every word you all said tonight. I knew exactly where you were hiding everything. Of course, you could deactivate the frequency anytime. But since you're not Mandalorian, you had no idea it existed in the first place."

"You're one to talk, Garbage-Can." Robyn replied. "Children of the Watch aren't true Mandalorians."

"What?" Djarin asked.

"When we first met, you said I wasn't like you because I didn't hide my face. Only Children of the Watch are like this."

"The Watch?"

"Yep. Children of the Watch are a cult of religious zealots that broke away from Mandalorian society. Their goal was to re-establish the ancient way."

"There is only one way." Djarin said. "The Way of the Mandalore." Removing his rifle and changing it into a staff, he got in a fighting stance. "Lay down your weapons, take off that armor, and surrender."

"Now where's the fun in that?" Robyn replied. Just then, May and Joanna felt something hit them from behind. Turing around, they saw Neo with her umbrella pointed at them.

"Time to show our teeth." Joanna said as she and May charged towards Neo.

Djarin charged towards Robyn with his staff. Unfolding her weapon into a shield, Robyn lunged towards him and blocked his strike. Djarin turned around and swung his staff again and again. Robyn was able to block every strike, and sent her weapon straight into the Mandalorian's helmet. After hitting his helmet again, Robyn saw the Mandalorian fall to the ground. However, Djarin swiped his leg and caused Robyn to fall off her feet. Djarin took this opportunity to plunge his electro staff right into Robyn's armored chest.

Using her Aura to block out most of the shock, Robyn kicked the Mandalorian in his chest, which caused him to move backwards a few feet. Changing her weapon into a crossbow, Robyn fired three metal bolts at her opponent. However, they simply hit his Beskar armor and fell to the floor. Robyn changed her weapon and charged again.

Neo was enjoying herself. She always loved a good fight, especially ones she knew she could win. The Happy Huntresses were good fighters, but they made one fatal error. Their weapons were impressive, but they were the same weapons; a staff with two crossbows on each end. Since they had the same weapons, that meant they had similar fighting styles. That made them predictable. Neo was able to block each bolt that came her way with her umbrella and dodge each strike. At one point, she was able to use the curve at her umbrella's handle to hook onto Joanna's weapon and toss it out of her hands. Distracted by her flying weapon, Joanna failed to notice Neo's umbrella make contact with her face. Neo was then able to hook her umbrella on Joanna's ankle and throw her off the ground. Sending another strike into her chest, Neo saw Joanna's Aura break and Joanna lose consciousness.

Turning around to face May, Neo was surprised to see nothing. Lowering her guard, Neo looked around for her other opponent. Then, she felt two strikes to her face. Looking around, she still saw nothing. Taking a swing, she made contact with nothing but thin air. Three more blows hit her face and stomach. Neo was starting to get annoyed.

Suddenly, she had an idea. Extending the blade out of the umbrella's tip, Neo cut her hand. Waiting a few seconds, she turned around and threw some blood out in the air. Which made contact with an invisible figure in front of her. Seeing her opponent, Neo felt her umbrella make three slashes against the invisible figure. Deactivating her Semblance, May charged at Neo. Who was able to dodge under the staff and open her umbrella, which made May crash into a wall. Before she could recover, Neo hit May with the end of her umbrella three times. Seeing her Aura break, Neo hit May again, this time knocking her unconscious.

Seeing that her work was done, Neo called for an airship to come pick up the Huntresses. When she looked back to see how the Mandalorian was doing, she saw a disturbing sight.

Djarin had managed to lure Robyn out of the warehouse and break her Aura while Neo was still fighting the other Huntresses. However, Robyn was still fighting, throwing strikes and kicks at the Mandalorian. Seeing that she wasn't going to give up easily, Djarin realized he would need a new strategy. Kneeling on the ground, Djarin struggled to get up. He grabbed Fiona's staff and faced the end towards Robyn. He fired the remaining bolts, which Robyn deflected easily. However, Djarin kept the end sticking out, towards Robyn. Seeing this, Robyn charged towards the Mandalorian. Just as she was about to hit him with her weapon, Djarin quickly dodged and hit Robyn's jetpack with the staff.

The jetpack activated, and Robyn flew out of control. As it flew, it was also picking up speed. Unable to stop the jetpack or steer properly, Robyn crashed through a brick wall. Her Aura couldn't absorb the impact, and Robyn had crashed her legs into the wall. Struggling to get up, Robyn felt a staff hit her head. The Mandalorian picked her up, tore off her helmet, and threw Robyn outside. Walking over, the Mandalorian knelt down and punched Robyn in the face.

"You call me a false Mandalorian, yet I just proved I'm better than you."

He punched her again. "Do you truly believe you deserve to wear it? YOU!?"

He punched her again. "You have no right to wear it! You are not Mandalorian!"

He punched her again. "You are not a Huntress!"

He punched her again. "You are an arrogant child!"

He punched her again. "You are a fool!"

He punched her again. "You! Are! FILTH!"

He punched her again, again, and again. Just as he was about to punch her again, he felt his arm caught in something. Turning around, he saw Neo had caught his arm in her umbrella.

"Mando. That's enough." Neo said.

"Neo, let me go!" Djarin yelled.

"No, Mando. Please. You have to stop."

"Why?! She dishonors my people wearing this armor! I can't let this go unpunished!"

"So you're going to kill her?"

"Yes!"

"No, you're not."

"I'm warning you Neo!" the Mandalorian stood up. "Don't interfere!"

"I won't stop you Mando. Because I know you won't kill her."

"And why's that?!"

"Because you're going to do something else. You're going to live on."

Djarin was about to yell at her again, but stopped. She was using his words against him.

"You were right. You just proved yourself to Robyn. Someone who took something important to you. Now, you can live on and still prove yourself. You're not going to kill her out of a want for revenge. Otherwise, you'll be digging two graves."

Djarin looked back at what he did to Robyn. Neo was right. He was so angry at Robyn that he was about to do something he would regret for the rest of his life. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he turned to face Neo. "This is the Way." Neo told him.

"...This is the Way." Djarin repeated.

An airship had arrived and three soldiers were taking the unconscious Huntresses inside. "Is that everyone?" a soldier asked.

"We have one more." Djarin replied, picking up Robyn and taking her to the ship.

"Alright, thanks. We can...Holy shit." the soldier said as he got a look at Robyn. Her face was covered in blood, one of her orbital sockets looked like they were broken, and she was missing most of her teeth.

The airship took off, and the Mandalorian looked at Neo. "That was easier than I thought." he said to her.

"Yeah. It's too bad, though. Easy is never usually fun." Neo saw the Mandalorian look away. "You okay?"

"...Thanks to you." he said.

"Yeah, well. I'm pretty great." Neo said with a smile.

"Neo." the Mandalorian said with an extended hand. "You're a good friend." Neo looked down and slowly shook it. "I'm sorry about before. And thank you."

"Mando, don't worry about it." Neo replied with a smile. "I'm just glad you're okay."

5 years ago

"Robyn, we need help!" Fiona yelled.

Looking up, Robyn saw the Happy Huntresses carrying someone. "Clear that table!" Fiona yelled.

Robyn quickly pushed off everything from the table and saw everyone lay down a man in golden armor on the table. The man's armor had a sash of bullets on his chest, a red skull to the left of it, and a large scar on his face.

"Who is he?" Robyn asked.

"We don't know, we found him outside the wall." May said. "Watch him, I'll get some medicine."

Robyn looked him over. "You found him outside the wall? Was he carrying anything?"

"Just these." Joanna placed a knife and two guns on the table. "He was also wearing this." Joanna handed Robyn a gold helmet with a black "T" on it. The helmet had horns on its head. Robyn found herself entranced by the helmet, staring deeply into the visor.

A few days later, the man woke up. After calming him down, Robyn talked to him alone. The man introduced himself as Talga Tenau and said he was a "Mandalorian." Not knowing what this was, Robyn demanded to know more.

After he healed, Talga took Robyn and the Huntresses to a giant ship out in the tundra. Robyn couldn't believe it when he told her he was from space and he crash landed on Remnant after he was on the run from a force called the "Galactic Empire."

Robyn saw an opportunity for a new partner. General Ironwood had begun to neglect Mantle, leaving little to no concern for them and focusing on Atlas' military. But Talga wasn't interested. While the Empire didn't know about this planet, it wasn't safe for him to stay at one place for too long. He just wanted to fix his ship and leave.

"Alright, tell you what." Robyn said. "Atlas has enough technology to help you fix your ship. And help Mantle. You help us find out what the General's up to and help us get supplies for Mantle, we'll give you some for your ship."

"...Deal." Talga replied.

"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!" Talga shouted at Robyn.

Their infiltrations of Atlas had been successful, but they were getting riskier. All they knew about Ironwood was that he was preparing for some kind of "war." Against who, they didn't know. However, Robyn wanted to know more. On the supply runs to Atlas, Robyn had started to interrogate guards that crossed their path. That day, Robyn decided to kidnap one to question him. But Talga didn't like that.

"WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?!" Robyn yelled back.

"YOU!" he shouted again. "Do you have any idea of the danger you're putting us in by bringing him here?"

"I have this under control!"

"No you don't! You've gotten lucky, but one day you'll slip up, get yourself in trouble. You're too reckless, you don't even think about what you're doing!"

"I AM THINKING! Thinking about Mantle, about all the civilians Ironwood is endangering! I'm trying to help them!"

"By kidnapping random soldiers? Look at this guy, he's young enough to be a recruit! Do you honestly think he knows ANYTHING about Ironwood's plans?!"

"I don't care what you think! If doing this means it helps Mantle, it's worth the risk!"

Talga was annoyed at Robyn's recklessness, but he had respected her passion and oath to protect Mantle. At any cost. After his ship was repaired, Talga thanked her in two ways. He shared his knowledge about Mandalorian society with her, and gave her a green set of Mandalorian armor.

"It's unorthodox, and I'm not exactly sure if you earned it." Talga said. "But with the work you're doing in Mantle, you're gonna need it."

"Talga, it's beautiful." Robyn said. "I don't know how to thank you."

"I do." he said. "Be careful. You're doing a hell of a job here, but you're still reckless. Don't get in over your head. And more importantly, don't stop what you're doing for this city."

With that, Talga Tenau left Remnant. And Robyn Hill put on her armor for the first time.

"Alright ladies." she turned to the Happy Huntresses. "Time to show Atlas our teeth."

Present day

Robyn woke up in a hospital bed, bandages covering her face. She tried to speak, but her mouth hurt too much. Looking at a TV, she saw a news channel covering a riot in Mantle.

"Once again, another riot has occurred in Mantle, in response to the failure of the Happy Huntresses. Last we saw, the huntresses lost to Atlas officials and were arrested. It seems Mantle has lost its faith in Robyn and her team."

Robyn could see people spray-painting over her campaign signs and signs across Mantle that said "Show Your Teeth". Seeing this made Robyn shed a tear.

"Talga." Robyn said to herself. "You were right. You were right about me."

Author's notes: hope you enjoyed this chapter. I would tell you what's to come and respond to some comments, but it's past midnight for me right now, I gotta get some sleep. Sorry, I'm just really tired right now. If you see any weird mistakes, sorry about that. I'll change things in the morning. Anyways, hope you liked this chapter. See you next time!

Update: fixed all the errors I saw in here, thanks for bearing with me. I read everyone's comments and while I can't respond to them all right now, I want to thank you all who did so. I enjoyed hearing what you had to say.

Also, special shoutout to Mandalore the Survivor for letting me use an OC he made, Talga Tenau.