If You Want Peace, Prepare for War.

AN: Thank you all for the responses so far!

Superjoeyf721: Yeah I still enjoy volume 4 despite the flaws I see with it. It's interesting to see the girl's on their own since we've only seen them as a team until that point. But there's just some stuff that personally peeves me off.

Dcraus: Yes I've heard of Gatchagame Impact, joking, joking, yes I've heard of it but not the other. Though I don't really have much interest in them.

TwinGamers011701: Yeah Jonah is deep down a good guy…..I mean he's also an asshole but that balance is when he's at his best. As for the symbiote, yeah there's no real subtlety when the black suit is the cover of this volume, I'm excited. Traditionally the symbiote actually doesn't change Spidey that much in terms of an actual person, but I know that a lot of media has tackled it changing his personality and I'm actually looking forward to getting there.

pyrojack25: Frank will be in this in a….very fun way actually. I can't wait to get into it. In fact….you'll probably see him sooner then I planned!

pervy sage: glad to hear!

RWBY Fan: Honestly I thought the same thing for a while until I read how Sun's behavior trigged someone who had been stalked IRL and it made me sorta re-evaluate it.

I mean….he does follow Blake without her knowing for presumably months without reaching out to her and watching her. I mean we all thought that it was a White Fang spy for a reason when we first saw a cloaked figure hiding. Sun had good intentions for sure but I mean…dude couldn't have said "Yo Blake! I'm here to help!"? I mean that's not too hard, it's one of the parts of volume 4 that's weirdly written, it's mainly so that we can have someone that Blake can exposit exposition to when they get to Menagerie since Sun's never been there.

And it being Sun makes sense since he's been involved with the WF storyline since volume 1, but there's a better way of going about it.

As for your volume 1 response, I'm pretty sure EVERYONE was sad to see Pyrrha die, myself included. But having MJ be family to her, family that like everyone else saw the 'celebrity' of Pyrrha but like Jaune started seeing her as a person and grew closer to her because of that, and then to have her taken away both reflects our grief over losing Pyrrha.

And as I've said so before, it's Peter and Yang's lives that push them apart, she's a huntress who is basically a superhero, Peter has part of his life like that but he's also Peter Parker. It's the same reason why Spider-Man can't have a lasting relationship with a hero like Mockingbird or Captain Marvel.

MJ however, is Normal, and she knows both sides of him and that's what makes them work. I'm not saying that he and Yang would never work out, obviously that's just wrong, but Peter's lifestyle just doesn't work with Yang's. That's just it.

Also, if you wished that I ended this fic series after volume 1 then please don't leave that at the first volume, I understand it if you don't like where the fic is going but I put a lot of time, effort, and love into these. There's a difference between criticism and just being mean and that crossed it for me, and please don't leave it in the first part of this fic ALONG with spoilers.

And while I don't think Ozpin is a bad guy, I mean he's obviously nowhere close when you look at Salem, you're approaching it from your POV instead of Peter's. A bunch of teachers are taking a friend of his and grooming, for lack of a better term, her to become the Fall Maiden with technology that is highly experimental which will also end the life of the pervious Fall Maiden. I mean Pyrrha's biggest fear is that she won't be herself after words and we still don't even really know what would have happened if the aura transfer was a success.

I mean that's not evil or anything but that's pretty Sus.

Yes. I have read Spider-Man, I have the omnibus of stan lee and Steve Ditko, I have the Epic collections of volumes 17-19 covering his Marriage, Venom, and most stories from the 1980's. Along with the Death of Jean DeWolf (uhhh…..not spoilers?) the death of the Stacys, I think most of the Venom stories too. I have Maximum Carnage but I Haven't read it, the first third of the JMS Amazing Spider-Man run, the entire FNSM by Peter David collection, I have the Back in Black trade.

I also have the entire Saga of Kraven's Last hunt, Soul of the Hunter, Grimm Hunt (god knows why) and Hunted. Got the Return of Anti Venom, Big Time Spider-Man, and Spider-Verse, even the last arc of Superior Spider-Man despite my hatred for Dan Slott's writing! I own every single issue of Nick Spencer's Spider-Man, the first two trades of Renew your Vows, a….very weird and odd number of Ultimate Spider-Man volumes now that I look at them (3, 6, and 8?).

I also have the Spider-Girl collection which please someone make that a crossover with RWBY!

Oh! And Spider-Man 2099 by Peter David.

And I've seen every episode of RWBY, read the manga anthology, own all the RWBY comics made by DC (I will have the Justice League Crossover Day fucking 1) and have watched all BTS stuff I can get my hands on.

So yeah. I know both properties very well. However just because I have my view of them, doesn't mean they are the same as yours. That's your interpretation and this is just mine. I just ask that you be respectful.

Guest1: I mean RWBY is mostly at Beacon for the first three volumes, granted I try to make them cross over when I could like with Kraven, the Lizard, and the sinister six. But to be completely honest it's hard for me to write Fight Scenes with multiple people in it. I wanted to have the Sinsiter Six fight the RWBY and students in volume 2 but honestly by the time I got to it I was just so…..mentally tired that I went with Mysterio using them as hostages.

And yeah, I understand that people liked having Peter and Yang together but it just felt like the same character talking to one another with how I wrote it. And ultimately, and I've said this before, Yang being what is basically a superhero for her normal life clashes with the split lives that Peter has by beign both Peter and Spider-Man. It's like how Spider-Man pushes Peter away from Betty Brant in the comics, or better yet Gwen Stacy.

Plus, I like MJ, I had some moments of her and Peter sprinkled throughout the first few volumes, and while I had them date other people I had them come together because MJ at the end of the day is a support for Peter. I'm not saying that Yang couldn't be either but MJ is right there while Yang is across the Kingdom at Beacon while Peter is still living at home with his Aunt.

And Origin of the Species was my take on the RWBY video game plotline but leaning more into the horror aspect while delving into more dark subject matter. Which was fun to explore.

Spider-Man Fan: I'll be honest I thought you were RWBY fan when I started this until I double checked. Anyway:

Your right that none of them are wrong for having their own opinion of the fics, but I don't think I've done anything 'weird' per sae. I've been really upfront about this since the beginning, this isn't a rewrite of RWBY, this is supplementary. RWBY's story goes from A to C, I'm just adding B. For all intents and pourposes this IS a Spider-Man story set in RWBY. He does cross over with them but not all the time because that's not what Spidey does.

RWBY is more then the characters as odd as that may sound. Like there's no doubt that after RWBY ends, we're gonna get some sort of series that looks at Remnant. In fact the original title was going to be Remnant but was changed to RWBY.

And granted you could be right, obviously I welcome criticism but there's a line between that and just not enjoying something. I'm not forcing anyone to read all of this but…..it's just fanfiction.

And I'll admit I am defensive about my writing, I put a lot of time, thought, and effort into these and when it's challenged I can get defensive. And If I come off as a jerk then I'm truly sorry, and you have every right to call me out on it. I'm trying to be better with that and that means I need to be more receptive. So your right, I need a new, better way of answering them.

awesomerebel55: I mean we sorta got Peter's reaction last volume, but we'll see when we get there. And Peter questioning where his responsibilities end is something we never really see I think. I mean he's a street level hero, if he sees a problem he tries to fix it, but he's not going to go all the way to like Latveria to fight Dr. Doom for no reason. What makes Spidey interesting is that he has a normal life that he needs to balance with his superhero one.

Like Spidey has fought Doc Doom, but there's a reason to it that makes sense.

TheImpala97: Thank you!

CalvinFuji: I mean the cover is the black suit so…also I never expected Riot to be a well known symbiote out of all of them. Like he's one of the spawns Venom had aside from Carnage, and only one of them was interesting, and I'll tell you right now it wasn't Riot XD.

Gamelover412592: Well it's more inadvertent then directly XD.

But also Jonah won't make complete BS up to sell papers even when Spidey is involved. Like at one point I think someone suggests that Spider-Man might be a mutant and that gets people hating him more. But Jonah is like, "Now listen, I hate Spider-Man, but it's because he's a menace! Not a mutant!"

I could be wrong on that but I think that's hilarious.

Guest2: There's Hating and there's Criticism, there's a line between them that can sometimes get blurry but other times is clear as day. And I'm extremely grateful for all the love and support I've gotten from all of you.

I know that times have been really hard lately, I think it's been affecting me more then I've realized, but writing these fics honestly really help and seeing all the people like it outweighs the baseless hate I rarely get.

Crossing continents had been…..an experience to say the least for Ruby, Jaune, Ren, and Nora. Originally their plan was to take an airship from Vale to Minstrel, which was a sound plan considering that there were evac ships going there anyway. However what they didn't account for was the airship they were riding to be ambushed by a flock of Nevermore and force the ship down on the coast…..the exact opposite of where they were they needed to be to be in spitting distance of Haven.

So they walked…and walked…and walked…..it's been a lot of walking.

Ruby watched the ground in front of her as she let out a bored sigh, "Ok, would you rather…give a King Taiju a dental cleaning. Or…..keep a Nevermore inside a giant bird cage?" Nora asked as they walked along the dirt path with Jaune leading them forward with the map. He had recognized one of the upcoming towns as some place his family had visited before, which led to him telling some stories to his friends that made the journey at least a little more enjoyable.

Ruby cupped her chin at the question, "How big is the nevermore?" she asked.

Nora beamed as she raised a finger, "It's the size of a minivan." she replied as Ren seemed to consider the options she presented.

"Doesn't a Taiju only have fangs?" he asked, recalling running into the creature of Grimm during his first day of initiation. He actually used one of it's own fangs to destroy it's head.

Nora hummed, "Yes. But! You have to do it while it's awake." she added, Ruby and Ren both winced at the idea.

"So…..either take care of an abnormally large bird, or be eaten." Ren surmised. "If that's the case, I'd probably choose the nevermore."

Ruby nodded in agreement, "Same. Plus you don't need to feed Grimm." she added.

Nora looked at both of them like they were insane, "What?! But you have to take care of it for the rest of your life! Sure the King Taiju is a pain but it's only for like….a day." she retorted. She looked between the two and saw that they weren't considering, she looked to Jaune, "Alright you two are insane, fearless leader! What do you think" she asked.

Jaune lifted his head up from the map he had been reading intently, "I'm sorry, what Nora?" he asked, having been making sure that they were on the right path the entire time as…..the last few maps were…misplaced.

"Would you rather own a giant Nevermore for the rest of your life, or give a king Taiju a dental treatment?" she asked again.

"Oh King Taiju easy." he replied.

Nora leapt into the air with a laugh, "Haha! See! Fearless!" she praised as she grabbed Jaune's shoulders and gave them a shake of encouragement. Ruby and Ren shared a look before they both chuckled to each other.

Ruby was admittedly scared when the rest of JNPR agreed to accompany her on her mission to Haven, RWBY was…it was her family. But with Weiss at Atlas, Blake….gone….and Yang recovering, she knew that she couldn't stay on the sidelines while Cinder was out there planning who knows what. And while at first she felt like an intruder to the grieving team, none of them made her feel out of place. She was grateful beyond words for how welcoming they were of her. They're great friends…and I'm so happy to know them. she thought gleefully.

That wasn't to say that she didn't miss her team, but it was beyond her control.

She remembered when she first woke up after Beacon, and Peter had come to see her along with Mary Jane. The redhead had wrapped her up in a bone crushing hug, the kind that reminded her of her mom, saying how happy she was that she was ok. She felt horrible to learn that she had missed Pyrrha's wake, but they both assured her that it was perfectly fine.

Peter had also caught her up on what had happened, Weiss had been taken back to Atlas by her father only a week before she woke, Blake had left the night of Beacon, and no one had any idea where she was, and Yang…well she saw Yang first hand. It broke her heart seeing her sister, one of the strongest people she knew so….wounded. But their dad assured her that she would be fine, Dad….

It took a lot of time, thought, and conviction before she knew they needed to leave for Haven. And leaving the way she did made her feel awful, she didn't want to but…..she had to. She had a responsibility….a duty to do this, not just for Pyrrha but for everyone in Vale who had been hurt by Cinder. She really hoped that her dad could forgive her, she planned to write him when they got to Haven and tell him that they made it there safe and sound.

Continuing along the path, Ruby turned her blank stare up to the sky, by now she was used to the absence of tall buildings and the familiar foliage that was around Vale but it still took her by surprise when she awoke at night under the stars instead of her own bed at Beacon or Patch. Wonder how Spider-Man would get around here? she pondered. There had been little news of the webhead since they reached Anima but they would hear the odd rumor that he was still in Vale doing what he could.

It always made her smile to hear, that despite all the chaos, Spidey was still there helping out. …what if he had a spider car? No, wait, there's no roads….you'd need a spider buggy! she thought in amusement. However her thoughts stopped when she saw a black plume of smoke. "Guys…" she trailed off, the other three looked up and their expressions turned to concern. Dropping the map the team took off running towards the village.

Readying their weapons they ran down a hill to find the small town with a large fire burning in the middle of it. From their vantage point they could see the village wasn't in pristine condition, "No…" Jaune said in fear as he booked it ahead of them by a few feet.

Reaching the gate however, he was shocked to find people, villagers, walking around. Jaune let out a breath of relief, this place had been a happy memory for him, and for a brief moment he feared that would be all it would now only ever be, a memory. Ruby, Ren, and Nora caught up to him, the latter of which setting a hand on his shoulder in a assuring manner as Ruby stepped forward and looked around.

The Anima style homes, which were much more different then what she was used to, had been damaged, there were collapsed railings where Grimm had fallen, claw marks on screens from where they tried to get in, but more so then not there were an egregious amount of bullet holes littering the area. "Are you huntsmen?" Ruby turned to older man with a bandage covering his bald head who was carrying a basket of food.

"I….yes, we are." Ruby replied, while they technically weren't, they found out that people didn't care if you were licensed or not, as long as you were able to get rid of Grimm, you could be considered one as far as they were concerned. "Is there anything we can do to help?" she offered. Thought Haven was their target, they wouldn't just leave people in need to fend for themselves if they could help it.

The older man let out a relieved breath before smiling, "Well, we need to clear the waterway so we can get fresh water, aside from that just helping clean up would be most apricated." she replied. Ruby looked back to her teammates who all seemed ready to help.

Nora and Jaune happily helped clear the rubble from the water way that connected to a nearby river, and it was thankful that Jaune was there because Nora's first solution was to use her grenade launcher to clear it but Jaune instead said it'd be safer to do it by hand as the walls surrounding the town were still standing all around and damaging them further wouldn't help anyone.

After they joined Ruby and Ren who were helping make repairs to buildings so that while not perfectly restored, people could still sleep in them tonight. "I didn't know that Huntresses and Huntsmen doubled as carpenters." the man, whose name he told them was Vernon, complimented them as he set down a tray with a few bowls of soup before them in the town square where a large fire pit was located. The area was being used as a gathering place for all inhabitants of the village while repairs were made, as some buildings weren't completely sound and ready for being lived in.

One of them looked like it had something crush the roof of the place, "We're just sorry that we couldn't get here sooner, and stopped this from happening." Jaune said sadly. On their journey they had come across those who blamed the fall of Beacon on the Huntsmen and Huntresses in charge, their words mirroring Cinder's lies that were fed to everyone. But Ruby was adamant to put those lies to rest, they were Huntsmen and Huntresses, they saved people who needed it, didn't matter if they were grateful or not.

Vernon waved his concern off, "Not your fault for Bandits or Grimm." he replied simply as he handed them their food.

Ruby took it as Nora took a spoon and tried some, giving a satisfied hum she began to dig in, "Bandits did this?" she asked.

Vernon's expression turned solemn, "They came at night, wanting everything we had. We refused, and they started to attack…but then he showed up." he started.

The tribe had broken down the gates to the village easily with some fire dust, as they flooded the town square, their weapons lit up the darkness as their guns of all shapes tore into the buildings around them. Raxton, the leader of the raid party, with his revolver pointed up at one of the villagers on their roof with a rifle, fired, ending the man's life with his body tumbling down the slanted roof and falling to the ground with a wet 'THUD'.

Raxton smirked to himself, there were two dozen of them and these villagers were easy pickings. "Alright boys! Take everything you can carry! We'll be back for seconds!" he yelled out, his men cheered into the night. And that's when the heard it, the roar of an engine.

At the gate, a van tore through the wreckage of the wooden barrier, running over one of the bandits whose carcass tumbled out behind the van as the bandits unloaded their weapons onto it. The Van skidded across the stone ground to the center of town towards another bandit by the heart, his head coming off as the front of the car pushed hi neck back into the ring of the hearth, knocking over the fire pit and the ashes inside it as bullets riddled the sides of the van. However when the orchestra of gunfire stopped, the sides of the vehicle were dented and singed, but not pierced.

"What the hell?" one of the bandits asked before the rear doors of the van wee kicked open and the bandit's head was displaced with a shotgun blast. The bandits scrambled away to cover as an assault rifle took down three more of their numbers. The driver rolled behind the hearth for cover. Raxton, hiding behind one of the stone half walls that surrounded the town square, gestured for a group of four to circle around their attacker's position.

"Whoever the hell you are you picked the wrong place to play huntsmen!" Raxton shouted as he and two of his men provided covering fire for the four to go around.

A pair of grenades flew over the hearth, "I'm no Huntsmen." a even, devoid voice replied before a loud bang and a bright flash blinded the shooters. The bodies of the two men on either side of Raxton recoiled as bullets tore through them, one of them hitting him square in the shoulder and making him drop his gun. He hit the ground as the driver bolted off towards the buildings for cover as the men who were on their way to flank him opened fire.

"After him!" the four men shouted as they ran into the village after the sound of precise gunfire. As the group ran through the streets of the town, there was the roar of an explosion nearby. Piling up against the wall of a building, the leader of the group peeked around the side to see one of their men on the ground, clutching his stomach in pain. "Marco!" he ra out with the other three behind him.

Rushing to his side, the man tried to stop them as the leader of the group pulled his hands away to inspect the wound, only to see a grenade with the pin pulled roll out of his grasp. The explosion drowned out their screams as two of the bandits made their way towards a house where the villagers where hiding in. They watched as the shadows of the two approached, only for a third to appear and run up behind them, blood splattered against the white paper wall as he plunged a knife into the throat of one of the bandits.

Swinging the body to the other one, he usd the dead bandit as a shield from his friend until his weapon 'clicked' empty and he dropped it, pulling out a sidearm and blowing a hole in his head as he dropped to the ground. "When the gunfire stops, count for ten minutes before coming out." the driver said to the villagers before storming off, reloading the pistol in his hands.

He counted eighteen now dead, the group he had been tailing had reported about two doezen so there were a handful left.

Reaching back, he pulled out his assault rifle with shotgun attachment, kneeling behind a well to safely reload his weaponry while his ears were keen to pick up any of his targets. Sliding the bolt into place he peered up over the side of his cover before standing up with his weapon at the ready just as a bullet whizzed by his head. Spinning around he saw his attacker as he got a shot off at his chest, the armor he wore held however and he returned the favor with a shot through the bandit's heart.

The AP rounds he had picked up worked well for the lightly armored bandits.

Nineteen dead, five left.

"There he is! Waste his ass!"

And there were the other four.

He rolled sideways until his chest was against the ground, he scrambled onto his feet and sprinted towards a restaurant as bullets tore up the ground. Breaking down the paper and wooden door he leapt across the room and dove down behind the counter for cover as bullets shredded the front of the restaurant. As the driver hid behind cover, glass bottles and plates blasted apart, showering him in sharp debris that rained down across the entirety of the small restaurant. When the gunfire stopped, he took a deep breath and listened as the footsteps of the bandits grew closer. When he heard the grading of ceramic against wood, he raised his rifle up and blindly fired.

Hearing two loud thuds and someone cry out, he pooped up from cover and saw someone scramble behind the wooden frame of the door. Idiot didn't consider the walls were thin as the attacker unloaded on the part of the wall where they where hiding until his clip ran out. Quickly drawing his pistol he trained it on the three on the floor, seeing one of them move slightly he shot twice for good measure.

There was only one left now.

Raxton held his shoulder wound as he leaned back against cover, it was bleeding profusely and he couldn't lift his left arm, which was a damn shame because he was left handed. Hearing footsteps approaching him calmly, the bandit leader realized it wasn't one of his boys. Seeing his dropped pistol a foot away, he reached out only to have a boot crunch it against the ground, "AGGHHHHH!" he wailed as the heel grounded against his knuckles.

"Quite the gang you had Raxton." the man said with calm fury. The bandit looked up, ready to spit out a insult. But he paled when he saw it.

"Oh brothers."

"No. They're not here, I am. And I you have something I need Raxton. Names, locations, intel." the man said as he knelt down to look the man in the eye, applying more weight to the hand he had pinned and making the man wine.

"Listen! Listen! I didn't know! None of us did!" he tried to say before the man grabbed him by the shirt collar and hoisted him up.

"Why are you bothering lying to me?" he asked. "You know how this will end. You know what I'll do. How much your going to suffer if you make this more difficult then it needs to be." he replied as he dragged the man across the ground towards the van.

"Pluh-please! I'll tell you everything! Just-Just let me live!"

The man threw him into the back of the back of the van. "I can't do that Raxton." he replied evenly, "You and your friends? You opened my eyes to the hard truth." he said as he climbed back into the Van and walked over to one of the drawers that were drilled into the wall and pulled out a few more magazines. He could hear the howling of Grim in the distance. The chaos these men caused meant they would be here soon, but he wouldn't leave these people to fend for themselves.

"In certain…..extreme situations…..the law in inadequate. Extreme situations where innocents are slaughtered beyond the reach of the Kingdoms, beyond the law." he said before grabbing a knife that was stuck into the side of the Van. "In order to shame this inadequacy, one must pursue natural justice." he said as he looked over at the bandit. He stabbed the knife through his leg, making him scream, "Don't pull, you'll bleed out. You try and run and I'll cauterize it shut."

Raxton spat out blood from the new cut he had on his lip from biting down too hard, "You sick bastard! You just want revenge!"

"No…..this isn't Vengeance. Revenge isn't a valid motive, it's an emotional response." he said in a dead voice as he reloaded the assault rifle and took a small submachine gun off the wall where it was mounted and hosted it on his hip strap. He stepped out of the van, the half moon above illuminating the driver's long trench coat with the top portion of a pure white skull underneath on a black shirt, the teeth elongated to cover the abdomen. "Not Vengeance…Punishment."

"-he slaughtered every Grimm that came through the town, by the time the gunfire finally stopped, he found he was gone." Vernon explained to the group of young huntsmen and huntresses who were in a stunned silence.

"That…..that's horrid…" Ren said lowly.

Vernon looked down, "They were bandits. Brothers help me, I'm not sorry they're dead but…that man. Whatever he's doing to the leader…..I pray it ends quickly." he said.

Ruby's lips pursed together as a nearby crow landed on the roof of a building. "Do you know where he went?" she asked.

Vernon cupped his chin, "If I had to guess? South, the road out of town heads that way and it's the only way out with that Van of his." he reasoned as Ruby stood up. The man's eyes widened, "You're not thinking of going after him are you?"

Ruby frowned, "I know he's a bad person but….I can't sit by and let someone suffer…..no matter what they've done." she replied before looking back to her friends for support. Ren and Nora both nodded while Jaune stood up at the ready.

The plan was to see if they could track the driver down before dark, when the sun began to set they would head back to the town to rest up. Though Ruby hoped that they would find this man before then, thankfully a van on a dirt road eft a pretty clean trail to follow. Easy enough, "If you had told me that Professor Port's tracking lessons would come in handy one day? I would never have believed you...because I'd be asleep." Nora said as Jaune lead in front with his shield and sword at the ready.

Given what Vernon had told him, this guy, whoever he was, didn't sound like a huntsmen, or at the very least wasn't trained as one. But that didn't mean he wasn't dangerous, so they were playing it cautiously, Jaune being their defense for his long range attacks which seemed to be his primary means of attack.

As they continued down the road, the tracks suddenly veered off into a trampled bush, "…..he's not very subtle." Ren commented as he took out his pistols.

The team continued into the brush, it would be a bumpy ride but there was no doubt enough room for a Van to drive through.

Continuing through the bush, Ren suddenly stopped and held a hand up to his mouth, signaling them to be quiet. The three all became silent and heard it, crackling of a fire. Pointing towards the direction he heard it coming from, the four slowly made their way over with their weapons at the ready. Ruby having he scythe ready as the came up to a large rock.

"I can hear you all out there." a calm voice called out.

The four froze, "I'm not going to attack you, you can come out." the man said, Ruby and the others looked amongst themselves and Ruby pursed her lips. If they could talk this out? Then that might be for the best of everyone. Stepping out from behind the rock, they four saw the man which Vernon had described to them, he was middle aged, around Qrow's, with shaggy black hair on his head. His features where squared off sharply but he looked over at them gently.

He sat on a dragged over log in front of a fire, the van which was described was pulled over with the back doors open and a sleeping roll hanging out the back. The man wore the skull shirt which Vernon had described as well. "Huntsmen and Huntresses?" he guessed with an amused smirk and hurt eyes.

Ruby looked at Jaune who was still readying his shield, he nodded to her and she replied, "Yes…..we came across the village that you saved from the bandits." she said slowly as she approached the man. She gestured to herself, "I'm Ruby Rose."

He nodded, "Frank Castle." he greeted as he used a stick to tip over a log in he fire.

Ruby was…not expecting this, Roman was what she pictured when she thought of criminals but Frank was…..sad. "I think I remember you from the Vytal Tournament. Your scythe uses high impact rounds right?" he asked as he tried to recall.

"Um….yeah. Actually." she answered, looking down at her weapon while Nora, Ren and Jaune all shared a strange look. They slowly lowered their weapons but didn't deactivate them. "Um….Mr. Castle…..we're….um…." Ruby was at a loss for words to be honest.

He looked amused, "Your not used to questioning people." he observed before looking back to the fire. Also notice those with you isn't the same from the tournament." he noticed, making Ruby frown. "…..you all lost someone. During the fall?" he asked, though his voice sounded as though he already knew the answer. Jaune looked down in despair behind them, "Yeah…..yeah you have." he recognized.

Ruby found her resolve as she thought of Pyrrha, "Mr. Castle, we're here because you took one of the bandits from the village." she said firmly.

He was quiet for a moment, Ruby felt her hand tighten around the handle of her sniper rifle, she was a few feet away and facing him directly but she knew not to take chances. "When the CCT in Beacon fell, it knocked out comms all across the world." he began. "You know what happened after that?" he asked.

Ruby shook her head, "After the fall, towns and villages all across the Anima got attacked by bandits from various tribes, not every single one of them, but enough here to give it the name Raid Night." he explained. "Can't reach Haven or any law enforcement out here aside from whatever the town has." he explained as he tossed the stick he was using to stoke the fire into it. "My place got hit by three tribes. All at once…I was the sheriff. It was my job to keep the peace. Protect the people…..but these animals, they come in and they…..they do what they want because they can." he said sadly.

Ruby felt something gather in her throat, "They shot me up….thought I was dead when they did the same to my wife and kids…..but I saw it. I saw it happen and I couldn't do a damn thing about it." he said, his dead eyes glimmering with despair.

"I'm….I'm so sorry." Ruby said sadly.

Frank nodded at her sympathy, it was genuine, he could feel the sorrow from the boy in her group with his semblance. He could feel the anger he had too, Boy is too young to hate…. Frank thought to himself. "…..I went to Argus. I was in the Atlas Military back in the day, thought I could get a team together to hunt them down like we did in Atlas…but they didn't. They said it was a tragedy…but it wasn't their responsibility." he said spitefully.

Nora frowned and creased her brow, "That's not right." she said.

He shook his head, "No…No it isn't…..Raxton was there on Raid night. He's was with the one who killed my wife." he said, making Ruby's silver eyes widen.

"I…I'm sorry…" Ruby said before steeling herself. "I;m sorry about your family Mr. Castle…..I'm sorry that you lost them…..and I'm sorry that no one was able to help you." she sympathized before shaking her head. "But…..I can't let you hurt him…..we can't let you kill people…..it doesn't make things right."

Frank looked up at her and stared into her silver eyes, the stared back into his dark brown ones without flinching. He saw the conviction in her eyes, standing up he patted his hands on his pants, "I respect that Miss Rose. But you gotta choose which one is more important. Me, or Raxton." he said, "I left him gut shot in these woods about an hour ago. He was alive when I last saw him." he said, making the four's eyes widen.

"Where is he!?" Jaune demanded.

"Nowhere close to here." Frank replied dryly. "Now then, four of you split up and search? You might find him. Might even be able to save him. or you can take me back to the village." he said as he held his arms out as though they had handcuffs for him. Ruby looked down at his hands and then back to his face. "I got no reason to lie to you. But I also got no reason to tell you anything else."

"But your telling us that we can either take you in, or save someone." Ren replied.

"A piece of scum, yes."

Ruby gritted her teeth before turning to the others, "Split up and look for him! Radio if you find him." she said, Jaune seemed to hesitate for a moment before nodding and taking off, in one direction while Ren and Nora took off in another. As they left, Ruby turned back to Frank with the same determined look in her eyes, "I really am sorry about your family…but that doesn't make what your doing right." she said before taking off across the ground in a blur of rose petals while Frank lowered his hands.

He sighed in relief, he'd never fight kids like those, there was no justice in that, they were kids trying to do the right thing. Didn't matter if it was misguided or not. Walking into the back of his van, he pulled his bag in before tossing an ice dust crystal in the fire to put it out. Walking up to the front of the van he slipped into his seat.

Looking up at the visor he saw the last photo of his family he managed to find before his house was burned down. His son had his mother's eyes, but the last time he saw them they were dead to the world. Your right little red, doesn't excuse anything. But it needs to be done. he thought as he started up his van.

AN: SO YEAH THE PUNISHER IS HERE!

First time I've written a spidey fic where he doesn't show up at all in it. Also I think this is my first time ever writing the Punisher IIRC.

To be blunt, Frank is a psychopath, he just happens to target criminals. However I like to think that I at least captured what makes the punisher interesting here. Obviously this is a little short but I want to have a couple chapters like this focusing on what the girls are doing in Volume 4 with characters from Spidey showing up. Punisher and RNJR seemed like an interesting mashup here considering they both deal with loss but they handle it completely differently from one another.

I also at one point thought of making punisher cross over with RWBY instead of Spidey because GUNS, but ultimately what I kept coming up with at the time didn't seem to fit.

But I hope I got him down here.

Now no spoilers obviously but the lastest chapters of RWBY have been nothing short of amazing! We got three left this volume! I can't wait for whatever comes next! Also was the chapter length ok? I know it's short but it also feels like the right length to me.

Next time! We see the fallout of last chapter's shocking announcements!