Chapter 1: Oxidization

"This is not a tragedy. This was not an accident."

The crowds gathered in Vale's public spaces had their eyes glued to the holographic screens spread throughout the city. Not a minute ago, they were all cheering and watching in anticipation as one of the most intense fights in Vytal Festival history was happening before their very eyes. Then, dismemberment. Destruction. A girl - no, not a girl, something made of metal, some sort of machine under the guise of a student, sliced into pieces. And at the other end of the arena, one of Beacon's finest, who had just done the deed. Then, the screens went red, and that voice started talking. The emotions that found their way onto people's faces were clear enough. Shock. Confusion. Fear. What was going on? As the feed cut out, there was a moment of stillness as everyone processed what was happening. Nobody moved. Nobody made a sound. Everything was quiet.

Except for the sound of metal bouncing against concrete.

Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. A rusty pipe bounced its way up and down the sidewalk, its bent end scraping and scratching against the cement. On the other end of that pipe was a hand, an arm, and a girl wearing a long, thick coat, walking down the street as she bounced her pipe along. Her gaze shifted over to the crowds watching the holographic screens. Well, the screens were gone now. Most everyone was still frozen.

"Alert. Incoming Grimm attack. Threat level: Nine. Please seek shelter in a calm and orderly manner."

The alarms blared. The people were frozen no longer. Threat level nine? Probably big. The crowds rushed out to where they thought the nearest shelter was. Their home, their school, that new mall that opened up two weeks ago. Many different options. And they ran. After all, the Grimm were coming. The Grimm were coming. Don't get eaten!

The pipe stopped bouncing. The girl raised it, holding it above her head like a baton. Like she wanted to be a lightning rod. It hovered for a moment. Then, with a slight tug, pulled her arm gently downwards. Towards the east. Towards that great, big complex built on the cliff overlooking the city. Towards Beacon Academy. Within sight, but a long walk away. The girl sighed.

No matter. There was time. There was always time.

Alarms blared. People screamed. Gunshots rang out. Was that the cry of a Beowolf, in the far distance? Maybe. Threat level nine, after all. Amidst the noise, that sound started again. Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting. Metal bouncing against concrete. The girl with the rusty pipe started making her way up to the school on the cliff.


The road up to Beacon Academy had been chaotic. Vehicles trapped in traffic jams and abandoned. Grimm pouring in from the surrounding forest, overwhelming the efforts of soldiers guarding the road. Atlesian Knights glowed red as they turned on their former masters, shooting them in the back and allowing even more Grimm descended upon the chaos. Those who were unlucky would end up being eaten or torn apart by Grimm, or perhaps blasted by a robot that was supposed to protect them. The luckier ones managed to find a moment's reprieve from the chaos, but where would they go? Both the academy above and the city below were swarming with Grimm.

The girl with the rusty pipe paid it all no mind. Her destination had presented itself. She needed only follow.

A shriek. The girl turned. One of the Grimm had shifted its attention to her. A two legged creature with bone-white armor, a large jaw, and a thick skull. A Creep. It charged, surprisingly fast on its two legs. The girl stared at it as it closed the distance. Twenty meters. Ten. Five.

C-CRACK!

The pipe came up, then down, smashing right into the Creep's skull and sending it to the ground. It wasn't dead yet, though. It tried to push itself up -

C-CRACK!

Another blow to the head. It didn't get up again, opting to disintegrate into the wind instead, as all Grimm eventually did. The girl nodded. The pipe tugged at her grip, in the other direction. She turned, following the pull until she was facing a trio of Atlesian Knights with glowing red visors. They scanned the area for targets. Things to kill. No, not Grimm; their new software dictated that they killed people instead. Their sensors picked up a few. An injured man stuck in a car that had crashed by the side of the road. A target, but not an immediate threat. A girl walking up the road towards them, carrying a rusty metal pipe. A weapon, maybe.

The robots prioritized the immediate threat. They raised their rifles. The girl raised her pipe.

Bang!

The first shot flew. The girl swung the pipe to meet it, bouncing the bullet back and straight through the head of the Atlesian Knight that fired it. Before it could hit the ground as a now-inert pile of scrap, the other robots had already opened fire, but the girl had already closed the distance, smashing her pipe into the closest Knight with enough force to blow its head cleanly off. Said head struck the last Knight, knocking it off balance as its shots went wide. Before it could right itself, the girl kicked it in the chest, sending it toppling against a nearby car. Then, she brought her pipe up, slamming it down onto the Knight's face and caving its head in. After a few sparks and mechanical sputters, its movement ceased. All three Atlesian Knights lay on the ground in various states of disrepair.

"Oh, t - thank you! Those robots... I thought I was gonna - "

The girl with the rusty pipe looked up. Saw a man sitting in the front seat of the car she had just knocked the Atlesian Knight into. His leg was bloody and broken, mauled by... something. Probably Grimm.

"Please, you gotta help me, I can't move. You're a Huntress, right? Or a student? I need to get out of here, my wife is down in the city and I need to - "

The girl's stomach rumbled. Her eyes shifted past the man. She yanked the door open and reached past the man, grabbing a partially-eaten burger resting on the center console between the driver's seat. Then, she turned, taking a large bite from the burger as she walked away.

"Hey? Where are you going? Don't leave me! I can't move, are you just going to leave me here to..."

The man's screams faded out, mixing in with the rest of the night's chaos and confusion. The girl with the rusty pipe continued on, taking another bite of the cold, half-eaten burger. She raised her pipe into the air. It tugged her forward. Towards the school. Towards the great tower attached to it. In the distance, a guttural roar ripped through the air as Mountain Glenn fell apart and a giant dragon-like Grimm flapped its wings for the first time in ages, making its way towards Vale.

The girl with the rusty pipe paid it no mind. She lowered her pipe, letting it drag along the asphalt as she made her way towards the school.


Beacon Academy. Arguably the most prestigious of the Huntsman Academies. The birthplace of many legendary warriors. Perhaps the greatest concentration of combat talent in a single place on Remnant. On most days, it was all this, and more.

On this night, it was a battlefield.

Grimm roamed the grounds, looking for people to prey upon. Squads of White Fang extremists and haywire Atlesian Knights ambushed those who tried to clear out said Grimm. Students, both individually and in teams, attempted to clear out the attackers and restore order, but for most of them, their training hadn't prepared them to take on hordes of Grimm, terrorists, robots, and even giant mechs all at once. And that wasn't even considering the pervading negativity that brought more Grimm still. An unending, unrelenting tide of black creatures, backed by their faunus and robotic co-conspirators.

The girl with the rusty pipe paid them all no attention as she made her way through the school grounds. She walked down stone paths, around dormitory buildings, and past the shattered windows of classrooms as she made her way towards a destination only she knew. Occasionally, someone or something would notice her.

"Hey! Are you a civilian? You need to evacuate back to the city or - "

A student shouted at the girl as she held back a pack of Creeps with some sort of shotgun-mace. The student tried to reach out to her, but she was interrupted when a Beowolf jumped onto the student from the roof of a nearby building, pinning her to the ground and knocking her weapon from her hand. The girl with the rusty pipe ignored the student. Continued onward. In the direction the pipe was pulling her.

"Grrrr..."

The girl with the rusty pipe turned. There was that Beowolf again, its maw stained with blood. It looked up from the student, who now lay still beneath it. It pounced, leaping through the air at the girl with its claws up and ready to strike. The girl leaped to meet it, swinging the pipe down towards the Beowolf's skull.

C-CRACK!

The Beowolf's head split open and it went limp, landing in a disintegrating heap against the ground. Meanwhile, the girl with the rusty pipe turned in midair, facing back towards Beacon Tower as her feet touched the ground once again. Without missing a beat, she continued her walk towards the tower. She was getting close now. Speaking of getting close to the tower, the dragon Grimm was also there. The girl with the rusty pipe watched as it smashed into the tower, sending its top hurtling down to the ground.

No matter. Destroyed or not, the destination was still the same.


"You Huntsmen only enforce and uphold the society which oppresses us! Today, the White Fang will - "

The girl with the rusty pipe paid no attention to the faunus' words as she smashed her pipe into his rifle, breaking it in half. The next strike smacked the terrorist over the head, sending him tumbling to the ground. Before he could get up, she raised her pipe again with both hands and smashed it onto him. His Aura broke, and he lay still.

One more obstacle down. The tower was close now. Just across the courtyard. As she made her way forward, she saw two girls, one in red and one in white, fighting their way towards the tower as well. The girl with the rusty pipe paid them no mind as she kept moving on. Sometimes, a creature of Grimm would spot her and attack. Or an rogue Atlesian Knight. Either way, all they would get was a pipe through the skull. Or a bullet smacked back at them, also through the skull. All were just obstacles on the way to the girl's destination.

As the girl found herself at the entrance to the tower, she raised her pipe. It pulled again. Up, this time. She looked up and saw a silver flash that engulfed the top of the tower, as well as the Grimm dragon that was now perched upon it. It was bright, brighter than anything the girl had ever seen, to the point where it nearly blinded her. She looked away for a moment to shield her eyes.

As she peered back up, the light was gone.

The girl with the rusty pipe looked down and made her way inside the tower. The elevator was obviously broken, its doors ripped open by force and the shaft empty. She looked around. Every building in Vale had to follow fire regulations, and as prestigious as Beacon Tower was, it was no different. Finally, she spotted it. An emergency staircase. It went up. Maybe to the top? Only one way to find out. She kicked open the door to the stairwell and started up the steps, her pipe bouncing against each step along the way as she dragged it behind her.

Step.

Ting!

Step.

Ting!

Step.

Ting!

The process repeated with each step. Over and over. The girl paid no attention to the sound as she ascended up the long stairwell. How long? Hard to say. But after a very large number of steps, the girl with the rusty pipe found herself standing at the top floor of the tower. Or at least, what was now the top floor; the rest of the tower had toppled to the ground, knocked off by the Grimm dragon.

Said dragon was now looming right over the girl with the rusty pipe. Fortunately, it was petrified. Unmoving. Not a threat, probably. The girl paid it no mind. She looked around. She was in the office of Beacon's Headmaster; or at least, what used to be his office, since it was now completely ruined. Debris and broken furniture scattered everywhere, entire areas scorched and cut through, and oddly giant gears splayed around. A cold wind blew through, now that the office was exposed to the surrounding air. The girl turned. There was that girl in red she had seen earlier, the one who had been with the girl in white. She was face-down on the ground, unmoving. The girl with the rusty pipe didn't pay her much mind. Her pipe pulled much more intensely than before, this time in a different direction. Towards the other side of the ruined office.

There, sitting against a mostly-destroyed wall, was a lady with long dark hair and a red dress. The left side of her face was mutilated in a way that wasn't quite discernable. Burned? Maimed? It was hard to say. Her left arm hung limply at her side, bearing similar injuries. She looked up. She had anger in her eyes; well, her one visible eye. Rage. Pain. Hatred. But not towards the girl with the pipe. The lady was looking at the girl in red, the one unconscious on the floor.

Then, the lady looked up at the girl with the rusty pipe. Her expression shifted. Still anger and pain, but with a hint of confusion mixed in. She shakily pushed herself to her feet and raised her working arm, launching a great torrent of fire at the girl with the pipe. But her aim was off. The girl simply ducked to the side, letting the flames pass harmlessly by her.

The lady in red tried to say something, but no words came out. Meanwhile, the girl with the rusty pipe launched herself at the lady in red, closing the distance with a single bound as she raised her pipe to bring it down on her. The lady raised her arm, forming a blade of glass and fire that came up to block the pipe. She held the pipe back, but in doing so, faltered slightly, stumbling back for a moment. The girl gave her no time to recover, raising her pipe and smashing it down again. The lady in red stumbled back, her grip faltering. She was weak. Much weaker than she had been minutes prior.

One more swing of the pipe and the glass sword was shattered. The pipe struck the lady in the shoulder, sending her tumbling to the floor. Before she could recover, the girl slammed the pipe down again, this time into her chest as she knocked the wind out of her. She brought the pipe up and, in a last-ditch effort, the lady in red brought her working arm up, trying to block or catch the pipe. It didn't matter. The girl kicked the lady's arm away before bringing the pipe down on her head, shattering her Aura. She grabbed the lady by her hair and pulled her up, looking into her one working eye.

The eye that stared back was full of hatred and pain, both in equal measure. The girl with the pipe nodded. That was good. She held that gaze between her and the lady for a few seconds. Made sure that the stare was unbroken. Made sure they committed each other's faces to memory.

Suddenly, the girl dropped her back to the ground. She raised her pipe with both hands over her head. Then, she brought it down.

C-CRACK!

Metal smashed into bone as the pipe bounced against the lady's skull, causing it to smash violently into the ground. That look in the lady's eye became dazed, unfocused. The girl brought the pipe up for another swing. Brought it down again. The metal smashed through bone this time, leaving a grisly wound on the lady's head as her eyes started to glass over. Blood began pooling beneath her head. The girl brought the pipe up again, its bent end now stained with blood.

C-CRACK!

Another swing. Another crack. More blood pooled under the lady's head. Suddenly, the girl with the rusty pipe felt something different. Something unfamiliar. A surge of power coursed through her body, through her veins. It flowed into her soul, the power overwhelming all of her senses as her eyes started glowing with power. She raised her pipe up into the air -

Bang!

- and turned, batting away a few pellets from a shotgun blast. The rest either bounced off her now-supercharged Aura or flew harmlessly around her, striking the rubble around her. She looked up to see a man with spiky black hair and some sort of large shotgun-blade pointed directly at her.

"Who the hell are you?" the man asked, standing protectively in front of the unconscious girl in red. "What did you do - "

The girl with the rusty pipe didn't wait for him to finish his sentence. The task was done, and the only thing left to do was move on. She ran to the edge of the tower and launched herself into the open air. As she hurtled towards the ground, she held her pipe out. It tugged at her hand. Tugged away from Beacon Academy, from Vale. The girl nodded. That was fine with her. Probably somewhere far away again, but she had time. There was always time.

The girl with the rusty pipe crashed into the ground, landing unceremoniously in a heap. Her Aura shimmered, but didn't break. She pushed herself up and turned towards the direction her pipe had pulled. Screams and the sound of fighting still echoed through the night, but none of that mattered. None of that concerned her.

With that, the girl with the rusty pipe began walking towards her next destination.


A/N: Thanks for reading up to this point! This chapter, and this story as a whole, was basically a sort of improvisation exercise, as well as a way to get several ideas that have been floating around my head onto paper. I haven't really planned much beyond this point, so updates may be infrequent or even nonexistent, but I thought I'd at least put it out there for people to read. Let me know what you think!

By the way, if you're waiting for more Journeys of a Mercenary, it's still coming; I've written 8 chapters into the 4th arc so far, but this arc is really important, and planning it through has been more difficult, so it's been slower going. It'll happen eventually, I assure you!

Anyways, thanks for reading, and have a nice day!