Guardian of Nothing

by Apply Water Directly to Burn

During a routine Vanguard operation, a Guardian is sent across time and space to the world of Remnant. With no way back, and no responsibilities in this new world, what is a Titan to do? Why, enjoy his vacation, of course... and perhaps solve the planet's Darkness problem in his spare time.

1. Chapter 1

A/N:

Hello again everyone. I have a lot to explain before we get into this, so let me just begin:

First, The Darkness Inside is hereby cancelled and discontinued. There are multiple reasons for this, and I'll list some of them here: one, I lost all of my notes on the story and my progress on the rewrite of the second chapter, due to accidental file deletion, so I wasn't feeling very motivated to continue writing it. Number two, Beyond Light happened, and before that Shadowkeep and Season of Arrivals, and basically destroyed a lot of my headcanon on how a Darkness subclass would work. No spoilers for the story or anything (yet), but basically Stasis is vastly different to how I envisioned a subclass using Darkness to express itself, so anything I wrote would be heavily AU (more so than before, anyway). Three… the lack of versatility bored me a bit, especially in a crossover with a game where the gameplay is heavily influenced by your ability to swap weapons on the fly to deal with enemies. There's only so many times you can write "and then he fired the Ace of Spades yet again" before you want to say screw it and bring out a different weapon, or a Super ability or something. Those are the main reasons that the story has been discontinued.

However, I still remember the most important plot/story beats I wanted to hit, and a lot of those will be included in this story (minus the ones about the Darkness). To those who care, however, be warned:

SPOILER ALERT FOR DESTINY 2 CAMPAIGN/STORY/GAMEPLAY/ETC.

Obviously, I will be including a lot of that content in this story, and will be adding new weapons/armor/gear to this story as more is revealed in-game. Also, I have created a vaguely-defined "power" system of RWBY vs Destiny that I'll be listing at the end of this chapter, so please don't argue in the reviews about power matchups or whatever.

With all that said, let's get into things.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own RWBY or the Destiny franchise. Please don't sue, I'm out of money after buying Beyond Light.

-{O}-

{THE GLASSWAY, EUROPA}

-{O}-

"Houston! On your left!"

"Shit, look out! Wyverns!"

"Does anyone have a visual on the small one?!"

Kyle ignored the panicked shouts of his fireteam members, leaning out of cover and lining up a shot on the larger Vex Mind with his rocket launcher. The rocket impacted the Mind's chassis, scorching the metal and knocking a few armor plates loose. The Mind turned its attention to the Guardian that shot it, letting out a roar of screeching binary and grinding metal, and fired its Aeon Maul at the Titan.

Cursing, Kyle ducked further into the corridors of the Vex structure that he and his fireteam were hiding in, swapping his rocket launcher with the No Time To Explain as he attempted to clear out the Vex blocking his path to where his other two teammates were hiding. Goblins and Hobgoblins fell like wheat under the concentrated firepower of the exotic pulse rifle, and the extra fire that poured from the time vortex that opened next to him took care of whatever he didn't personally destroy. Sprinting around the corner to where his fireteam hid, he was just in time to watch a shot from the smaller Transcendent Mind blow the Warlock apart, and a line rifle shot from a Hobgoblin pierce the Hunter's skull.

Their Ghosts appeared, floating above their bodies, and Kyle cursed again as he ran forward to stand between both of their corpses. The Vex turned their attention to him, and the Titan threw his arms out to both sides as multicolored firepower rained down on him.

The world was tinged purple as his Ward of Dawn activated, protecting the three of them beneath an invulnerable spherical shield long enough for the Sentinel to reach out to both Ghosts, jumpstarting their revival process with an infusion of his own Light energy. His teammates both appeared next to him in a burst of Light, taking a moment to reorient themselves before turning to look at him.

"That… was unpleasant," Houston-7, the Hunter, drawled in his robotic voice, spinning his hand cannon around his finger as he looked out towards the enemies that waited outside of the Void shield.

The Vex had seen this particular trick many times, from multiple different Guardians, and knew better than to try entering it while the Guardians were inside. Instead, they simply decided to wait it out, and shoot the Guardians if they attempted to leave the shield before it dissipated. Unfortunately for them, Kyle had taken a page out of Saint-14's book, and was wearing a copy of the legendary Titan's helmet, one that he retrieved from an alternate timeline where the Exo had died fighting overwhelming numbers of Vex.

So, when the three Guardians burst out of the shield, surrounded by blue light as their shields were overcharged by the residual Light from the Ward of Dawn, the Vex were taken by surprise. Before they could do more than refocus their weapons, the team opened fire, precisely aimed rounds tearing through the Radiolarian fluid containers on each Vex platform one after another as the Guardians methodically cleared the area of enemies. Unfortunately, in the process of taking out the smaller Vex, the fireteam had lost track of the larger Transcendent Mind.

That Mind made its presence known by emitting a large shockwave from directly behind the group of three, throwing them across the open room. Two of them, the Warlock and Hunter, managed to catch themselves using their abilities, taking minimal damage and turning back to open fire on the massive Vex Hydra that had come through the Glassway portal.

Kyle, however, wasn't quite so lucky. Having just used a large amount of Light energy in an area heavily saturated with Darkness, he was a bit too slow to activate his Lift ability. Being at the epicenter of the shockwave, closer to the Transcendent Mind than his teammates, he was sent flying at a higher speed than both of them, and on a different trajectory; almost straight forward, in fact.

Straight towards the Glassway portal, a portal which was in the process of activating once more to allow more Vex troops into the room.

His surprised scream was cut off suddenly as he entered the portal just before it had finalized its destination. A split-second before, and he would have impacted the unforgiving metal of the portal frame, and likely been revived by his fireteam a few moments later. A split-second after, and he would have been sent to the same place that the Vex had come from, trapped in a time and place far beyond the Vanguard's reach, forced to fight as Saint-14 had in that changed timeline. One thing was for sure, however: he would have died if either of those two things had happened.

However, due to his incredible luck, whether good or bad, he survived. A Vex portal would have been finalized before activating, but the Glassway's portal was not made by the Vex. Instead, it was made by an arrogant human, years before the Collapse, and therefore had several flaws; the biggest of which was that, before finalizing its connection, it had to cycle through multiple locations in different timelines before finally locating its true destination. So, instead of certain death, he was transported across dimensions and timelines, and the portal had just cycled to a planet that could support human life.

Of course, Kyle did not know any of this. Instead, as he was thrown across space and time, he only had a single thought: 'Should have just shot Variks when I first saw him, back in the Reef. Would've saved me a hell of a lot of trouble.'

-{O}-

{OUTSIDE KUO KUANA, MENAGERIE}

-{O}-

Kyle awoke suddenly, which surprised him as he thought he wouldn't wake at all, and he quickly stood from his sprawled position on the ground and looked around. His first thought was that he was no longer on Europa; the large tropical trees and lack of a frozen hellscape gave that away pretty quickly. His second thought was that he didn't recognize the area; he had been to several exotic locations over the years since he had first risen, but all of them carried the scars of the Collapse. Ruined Golden Age buildings, Fallen or Vex structures standing out like the eyesores they are, overgrown vegetation and skeletons littering the landscape. This forest, instead, looked like a standard tropical forest, with no signs of battle or human habitation for as far as he could see in several directions. It was… a surprisingly nice change of pace from the death and destruction that he had seen and caused for years.

"Ghost," he spoke, his voice a deep baritone that his helmet only barely inhibited, "Where are we?"

The floating Light construct appeared next to him, its shell spinning as it scanned for local radiowaves and communications. The shell was inspired by the one that Sagira, Osiris's Ghost, had used, with four large points and several smaller ones floating around the center sphere that was the Ghost's core. Colored black with gilded golden designs and bright blue lights, the shell was a work of art to behold. After a few moments of scanning, the Ghost turned back to Kyle.

"Well. I have good news, and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"

Although he wouldn't admit it to anyone but Ghost, Kyle felt a shiver run down his spine at those words. 'Bad News', to a Guardian, involved incredibly bad scenarios. For instance, the discovery of Oryx's Dreadnought was 'bad news'. The breakout at the Prison of Elders was 'bad news'. Hell, the discovery of Stasis and Eramis on Europa was 'bad news', and according to the Exo Stranger (Elisabeth, he mentally corrected) that very news had destroyed countless timelines as the Darkness corrupted Guardians and brought about a second Collapse. So, the words 'bad news' did not inspire confidence.

"… Tell me what we're up against, Ghost," he finally said, his tone betraying his reluctance.

Ghost's shell spun a bit, the points betraying his emotional state. Surprisingly, Ghost didn't seem nervous; instead, he almost seemed… excited? "Well, the good news is that we aren't dead. Even better than that, I doubt we will be any time soon; this planet, Remnant as it's called, is untouched by the Darkness! No pyramid ships, no Taken, no House of Salvation, no Hive, nothing! The closest they have are these creatures called the 'Grimm', which seem to be a natural phenomenon on this planet."

That was… incredible, actually. All he had ever known was warfare, against the Darkness, against its minions, against gods and monsters alike, all to keep what little remained of humanity alive. The idea of just… not fighting anymore… Kyle didn't know how to feel about it. Guardians were literally made for war, for battle; without that, what purpose, what use did he have?

Ghost's voice broke him out of his thoughts, "Of course, there's some bad news as well… this planet's people have not even achieved spaceflight. It's likely that we will never be able to return to the Sol System."

The words hit him like a Striker's shoulder charge; he was alone, and so were his friends. Saint-14 would try his best to move on, but the bond they shared, one forged of trust and brotherhood, would hurt them both for years. Zavala was a commander, but to lose another of his friends only two years after Cayde… Ikora would take it hard, and would force herself deeper into her work without him to take Cayde's place of forcing her to interact with the world. Shaxx would be fine, with his Crucible to play with, and so would Ana with Rasputin. The Drifter… well, who even knew with him, though Kyle at least would miss the shady man's hairbrained schemes. His fireteam, however… Houston-7 and Liam, the Hunter and Warlock who had been with him ever since his original fireteam had been killed during the Red War… and even Crow, the resurrected, amnesiac Uldren Sov. Once a dangerous madman corrupted by hatred, despair and Ahamkara visions, now just an innocent child hiding behind a mask of cold aloofness. To be taken away, right as the kid was starting to come out of his shell and make his first real friend…

He would miss them all. More importantly, however, he had no idea if they would survive; after all, although he had stopped Eramis's so-called 'House of Salvation', the Darkness had still somehow taken several planets and moons from the solar system, and Stasis had just begun to spread amongst the Guardian ranks, a thing that had caused their downfall in countless timelines before. Only time would tell how things would go in the future, but now, trapped on a planet that was many dimensions and timelines removed from his original…

Kyle felt the overpowering pang of loneliness far more strongly now than even during the Red War, where for all he knew, he was the last living Guardian in existence. The relief and hope he had felt, hearing Zavala's message… but there would be no miracle this time. He was alone, the only one of his kind in this strange new world, with only his Ghost for company.

"… Ghost. Thank you… for staying with me."

His thanks was heartfelt; during his time on Europa, Kyle had been forced to delve into the Darkness, using Stasis to defeat Eramis and her subordinates. Ghost, despite his misgivings, had stayed by his side through it all, even as he began to reach deeper into the Dark than he truly should have. Ghost had kept him sane, kept him firmly in the Light even as he delved into the Dark, and his gratitude could not be overstated.

Ghost's shell spun lightly, and when he spoke it was much softer than before, "Of course. You are my Guardian, after all. I told you, years ago, that I chose correctly when I revived you; that hasn't changed, and it never will."

The two shared a moment of silence, and for a while, Kyle felt the loneliness fade, if only a little. Then, Ghost spoke up once more, "Let's go meet the locals, shall we? I've marked the nearest city on your HUD; it's about three miles northeast of here."

So, with a new goal to work towards, Kyle shouldered his pulse rifle and began the long trek to this city; Kuo Kuana, as Ghost said the locals called it.

-{O}-

{KUO KUANA, MENAGERIE}

-{O}-

"Ghost?" Kyle muttered under his breath as he walked towards the city gates, making a mental note of the very visible (though shoddily made) defenses that lined the walls of the city.

{Yes, Guardian?} his Ghost responded in his mind, from where he had hidden himself inside Kyle's armor.

"Is there a reason you forgot to tell me about the animal features that this world's people have?" Kyle asked, making sure to keep his voice down so as not to offend said animal-people.

{Ah. Right… Sorry about that. To answer your unasked question, these people are called 'Faunus'. None of the articles I have read on their version of the internet have any real information on how they came about, other than racist ideas about… bestiality. Mentally, they seem to be almost exactly the same as humans, but physically they have several advantages including enhanced eyesight, night vision, and abilities that come from their animalistic traits, such as hidden claws or an extra limb in the form of tails, or even things like spinnerets and wings. Some Faunus are even rumored to have gills, although I haven't found much proof of those claims yet.}

"While this is interesting, Ghost, is there anything I should know before I go into their city?"

{Well, in this world, Faunus are discriminated against by humanity, so… try not to offend them, even if they act a bit rude to you.}

'Wonderful,' Kyle sighed, resigning himself to the suspicious glares that he could see the guards shooting his way. Ignoring the inhospitality, the Titan removed his helmet, magnetically locking it to his armor's waist as he turned to look at the guards. "Salutations, gentlemen. I have business inside the city."

"And what business does a human have here?" one of the guards spat, raising his rifle threateningly.

Kyle, deciding to trust in Ghost as he always had, used the story they had created on the way to the city. "I'm a mercenary, here to offer my services against the Grimm. I lost my scroll on the trip over, but I have an electronic ID card with all the relevant information, if you'd like to check."

This was, of course, a lie; having only just arrived in this world, Kyle had never possessed a 'scroll' device. He did, however, have an abundance of Glimmer, and a Ghost that could shape it into a multitude of different devices and objects. A simple Remnant-tech ID card, with forged documents, was child's play for a supercomputer as advanced as the A.I. was.

The guard snatched the card from Kyle's hand, scanning it and checking over the information thoroughly, as if hoping to find even the smallest imperfection. Of course, there were none, as Ghost wouldn't make amateurish mistakes when he had access to every internet-capable system on the planet. Remnant's tech was centuries behind Golden Age technology, which Ghost hacked regularly, so there was no real issue with creating the Titan's identification in this world.

"… Looks to be in order, but let me tell you something mercenary. If I find out that you're doing anything shady, I'll shoot you myself. Understood?"

Biting back a scathing retort, Kyle simply nodded, taking the ID back and placing it in a pouch that he had attached to his belt. The armor he wore, while visually impressive, was not incredibly practical in that regard; though it didn't need to be, when his Ghost could store any item he needed anyway. Due to this, Kyle had decided to go for visuals over utility, so long as it did not interfere with his armor's effectiveness. The Helm of Saint-14, customized with the "Fourteenth Anamnesis" ornament and carrying the scars of battle usually covered his head, but was currently attached to his belt. The gauntlets and greaves of the Iron Truage armor, awarded to him by Lord Saladin for success in the Iron Banner, coated his arms and legs, and the chestplate of the Empyrean Cartographer set covered his torso. The Virtuous Mark half-skirt that hung from his waist completed the ensemble, and the armor had been coated in the shifting oil and gold of the Calus's Elite shader, awarded to him by the Cabal Emperor himself. To Kyle, the armor told a story of his achievements, and had the added effect of being visually impressive enough to attract enemy attention, therefore keeping the fire on his more durable form and away from his teammates. He had other armors, of course, but this one held a special place in his heart.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Kyle stepped through the gate, placing his helmet back on his head in order to obscure his lack of Faunus features. Hopefully, it would help him blend in enough that the average Faunus on the street wouldn't pick a fight with him.

The city of Kuo Kuana was incredibly strange to him, he decided as he walked its streets. Disregarding the Faunus, as animal people were far from the strangest thing he had seen in his lifetime of fighting against gods and aliens, the idea of a city that wasn't made of scrap metal, glue and hope was interesting to a defender of the Last City. The closest he had seen to such a thing was the Dreaming City, but given it was crawling with Taken and Scorn by the time he arrived it didn't really count. Other than that, every dwelling he had come across had been one part ruins from the Golden Age, one part scrap and salvaged materials, and two parts hope that the jury-rigged structures wouldn't just fall apart around the residents. Truly, a city like Kuo Kuana was an impressive sight to a man who had almost exclusively seen ruins and destruction.

He attracted a few gazes during his walk, mostly curious stares drawn by his archaic-styled armor, but no one approached or accosted him, which he considered a win. "Ghost," he muttered once more, "where do I go now?"

{Take the next right, then a left, then two rights and you should be at the local bounty association. Unlike official capital cities, Kuo Kuana doesn't have a Huntsman Academy or Office to give out official work to Huntsmen, so they make due with open offers for any capable of completing them. A few Faunus from Menagerie manage to obtain entrance to the larger academies in the Four Kingdoms, and a few others here manage to train themselves or learn enough to have their Aura unlocked, so there's an existing but limited work force that can handle Grimm or overly-ambitious human racists. The White Fang also helps out, though that seems to mostly be for PR reasons, very few of the members seem to care about helping non-Fang Faunus more than hurting humans and the Schnee Dust Company…}

"Ghost. You're rambling."

{Ah, yes, my apologies. As I was saying, you can register at the Bounty Office as a mercenary willing to work, and they'll offer you jobs to complete. They may send you on more dangerous ones, since you're human, but something tells me you aren't worried about that.}

A grin split the Titan's face, a bright smile that was hidden under his plumed helmet. "If I was afraid of punching a massive beast to death, I wouldn't have been revived as a Titan. Now, let's get this done, shall we?"

-{O}-

{KUO KUANA, MENAGERIE}

-{O}-

Thanking the receptionist, Kyle grabbed his new Menagerie-specific bounty hunter ID and the information document on his new line of work, before picking up his chosen bounty and registering for it. The receptionist, despite her clear distaste for him (or more likely, humans in general), happily registered him for the high-level job, likely hoping he'd get himself killed by a Grimm and save the world a bit of trouble.

Were it so easy to kill a Guardian, he wouldn't have made it out of the Cosmodrome in the first place.

Ignoring the subtle bit of racism with a practice born from years of working with the Awoken and superstitious non-City groups of survivors, Kyle left the building, not even bothering to read over the documents and instead listening to Ghost's summary of them.

{Alright, ignoring the list of requirements such as age, the document is mostly a formality and waiver wrapped into one. It states that any and all contracts taken out must be completed or returned before another can be taken, and returning a job will cost the bounty hunter both Lien and standing with the association. By gaining reputation, bounty hunters can take on more difficult work for better pay, although the bounty association takes a flat ten percent of all rewards in order to sustain itself. Brushing past all the legalese they use to justify that, we get to the waiver section, which basically just says that in the event of injury, maiming or death, you and your family can't sue them for it because you knew what you were getting into. All in all, fairly standard contract from what I can tell, nothing unfair or discriminating.}

"Well, that's good at least," Kyle replied mentally, focusing on the map he had received with the documents and trying to figure out the best path to his destination. Maybe if he took a left here, and a right there…

{The bounty you chose is also a fairly simple one. Similar to the Vanguard bounties you've done, you need to clear out a pack of around three-dozen Grimm Beowolves, lead by an Alpha. They've apparently been migrating a bit too close to one of the farms that supplies Kuo Kuana, and both the farmers and the city's leaders want the threat gone as soon as possible. Reward is ten thousand lien, which is roughly equal to a high-end, customized Huntsman weapon in value, or a small vehicle.}

"How strong are these Grimm, and do they have any special abilities? I'd rather not go to punch a Colossus, and find that it explodes like a Cursed Thrall," Kyle joked, exchanging his No Time To Explain for the Hawkmoon hand cannon, hoping the added impact would handle the strange bone armor he had seen in the provided pictures.

{From what I can tell, smaller calibers bounce off their armor, but can still deal large amounts of damage when shot into weak points such as eyes or the inner mouth. Rifle-caliber bullets will sometimes be deflected; against a standard Beowolf they'll punch through more often than not, though against Alpha Grimm they become much less effective. Hand cannons would punch through all but the toughest Alpha Grimm with ease, but would prove less effective against Elder Grimm. Sniper calibers would pierce through smaller Elder Grimm, though you may need to use a heavy weapon or fusion rifle to burn through larger Elders. The Sleeper Simulant would likely work against any Grimm with armor less thick than an Elder Goliath.}

Kyle nodded at that, taking another turn down a small alleyway and coming out into a busy street. "So, I should be able to deal with any Grimm I need to, but I might have to dip into my Light abilities or more Exotic weapons to take out the stronger ones. At least there's nothing like Oryx controlling the damn things, if they're a natural phenomenon…"

With that last thought, Kyle turned another corner, only to come helmet-to-mask with a man standing over a crying woman in shredded clothing. The woman's dress was in tatters, and her snow leopard ears were drawn tight against her skull. The man was burly, caught somewhere between muscled and obese, with a single large horn jutting from his forehead, and held a lightly-bloodied knife in his hands, paused in the process of cutting down towards the woman. A strange mask covered his face, greatly resembling a Grimm's skull mask in shape and design. Both Faunus were staring at the newcomer, as if afraid of what he would do.

{Judging by the elevated heartbeat of both, and the distress of the woman, it is likely that-}

"Yes, Ghost, I have a good idea of what was happening here," Kyle bit back scathingly, before calming himself, offering a silent apology to his partner and turning his head to glare at the man.

Although the glare was hidden under his helmet, his outfit screamed "Huntsman" to anyone with any sense, and the man was practically a step away from pissing himself in fear. "What were you doing to this woman?"

The man jumped slightly, startled, before visibly trying to calm himself. "I… we, we were just, uh… roleplaying, sir! Yeah, that…"

Twirling the Hawkmoon in his hand, Kyle watched as the man's face paled to an even whiter shade. "And if I asked the lady?"

Said lady crawled closer to her newfound savior and away from her assailant, and that was all the confirmation Kyle needed. Unfortunately, Ghost had updated him on the laws of this world; unlike the Last City, where criminals were punished severely for rocking the extremely rickety boat that humanity was floating in, this world simply locked them away, and required substantial proof for even that. An optimistic system, though also a kinder one than his own.

What this meant, however, was that Kyle couldn't just shoot the man and be done with it. Instead, he had to perform a citizen's arrest or contact the local law enforcement, provide proof of the man's misdeeds (luckily, his helmet had a built-in camera), and find a way to protect the woman from reprisal.

The alternative option, of simply leaving the woman to her fate, never crossed his mind.

And so, Kyle chose the easier option; rather than waiting for law enforcement to arrive, he simply stepped forward, planting his armored fist in the man's face. A strange effect surrounded the Faunus, like shattering glass, but he maintained consciousness despite the force Kyle had put into his blow. Unfortunately for him, the next blow hit soon after, breaking his strange mask, knocking him unconscious and removing a few teeth for good measure.

With that unpleasantness taken care of, Kyle threw the man's limp form over his shoulder, before turning back to the woman. At this point, she was staring at him in awe after watching him break a man's Aura in one punch and throw the massive mound of muscled fat over his shoulder like it weighed nothing. "Come with me, ma'am. We need to drop this waste of space off at the law enforcement office, and they'll probably want your statement as well."

The woman looked down at her tattered dress, conflicted, but Kyle simply held out a long cloak that he had "borrowed" from Liam's stash once, when the Warlock wasn't looking. It was a simple thing, colored with a dark grey and white pattern and with one armored leather pauldron covering the left shoulder. All in all, it was something he wouldn't miss, and would cover the woman adequately enough to hide her form but not to the point that she would overheat in the high temperatures of Kuo Kuana.

Said high temperatures didn't bother him; he had walked across the Almighty's surface while sunflares rained down upon him, and he had made many trips to both Mercury and Europa, so extreme weather conditions or simple temperature changes were barely noticeable to him even without his temperature-regulated armor. He had, however, seen many of the people in the city sweating heavily or hiding in the shade of trees and the like, and he assumed that the woman in front of him was closer to those normal people than to an experienced Guardian.

Shaking himself from the tangent his thoughts had gone on, he noticed that the woman was dressed, having done so behind his back and returning to his sight once finished. She stared at him, pensively, before speaking softly, "Lumi."

"Hmm?" Kyle hummed questioningly, confused by the woman's single-word sentence.

"My name. It's Lumi. Thank you for… helping me…" she trailed off, seemingly at a loss for words.

{'Lumi'. In a pre-Collapse language, it means 'snow'. Fitting, I suppose, given…}

Ignoring Ghost's musings, Kyle reached up, removing his helmet and placing it on his belt once more, before addressing the Faunus woman. "It is good to meet you Lumi, regardless of the circumstances. I am Kyle."

"Are… are you a Huntsman?" the woman asked, and Kyle paused, thinking.

After a few moments, and with a bit of help from Ghost, he had a story prepared. "Not… quite. I am currently registered as a bounty hunter with the Kuo Kuana Bounty Office while I work to save up enough money to travel to one of the main Kingdoms and hopefully become a fully-licensed Huntsman."

The excuse seemed to satisfy the woman, and the rest of the trip to the local law enforcement offices was a quiet one. The reaction of the police upon their entry, however, was anything but silent.

"What the hell is a human doing here?" one of the officers spat, and Kyle was forced to hold back a sigh.

He had removed his helmet in compliance with the officers' demands, and the moment they saw his complete lack of Faunus features they had become hostile towards him. Not aggressively so, perhaps, but certainly discriminatory in their own ways.

"I am a mercenary, come to offer my services for the Kuo Kuana Bounty Office in order to earn enough monetary assets to make my way towards one of the four main Kingdoms. As for why I am here, in this building specifically, I stopped an attempted sexual assault by this man on this woman, performed a citizen's arrest, and brought all involved here in accordance with local law."

"And we should just trust your word?"

"My word and the victim's, but if that is not enough for you I have video and audio evidence, recorded through my helmet's built-in camera. Would that suffice?"

Grudgingly, the officers reviewed the footage before admitting that he probably wasn't lying to them. Kyle was forced to bite his tongue to avoid making a few scathing remarks about the competence of the police force as a whole if they were so willing to discriminate, but he held back, and after a couple of hours was allowed to leave the building to continue his bounty.

At this point, the sun had set, plunging the streets into darkness that was interrupted only by the occasional street lamp. Switching to night or thermal vision would be a trivial thing for Kyle, but he opted to continue normally and save those options for when he would truly need them; it wouldn't do to ruin his night vision so early on, after all. Unfortunately for him, the Faunus had no such low-light limitations, and he soon found himself turning into an alley only to find a group of five waiting for him.

"Well, well, well… if it ain't the human tin can. Heard you were here to start shit with the Fang; that true?" asked the leader, a thin man with patches of what appeared to be snake scales covering his skin.

Judging by their masks and prominent weapons, as well as their words, they were clearly part of this 'White Fang' group that Kyle kept hearing so much about. Ghost's opinion, and therefore his own, was mixed on the matter; on one hand, they were fighting for the noble goal of equality, but on the other hand they were terrorists through-and-through, and their confirmed body count included countless innocents, even children.

So, while Kyle hadn't quite decided to attempt taking down the entire organization, he most certainly wasn't going to ignore the members who decided to break the law in front of him. "Gentlemen, I have done nothing illegal, nor have I worked against your group in any way. I am simply here to offer my services as a mercenary and bounty hunter until I have enough money to make the trip to one of the main Kingdoms and start a life there."

"Well, lookie here boys! Fancy-pants thinks he ain't done anything to piss us off. Seems like he forgot something, eh?"

"You damn humans are all the same!" one of the others piped up, this one a woman with some form of antlers on her head that were difficult to make out in the low light, "You think you can just waltz in here and do whatever you want! Well, we're not gonna let you!"

Kyle sighed as the rest of the group began to hurl verbal abuse his way, and rested his hand on his hip. His fingers found purchase on the grip of his hand cannon, the gun hidden under his Titan Mark, and he held on to the reassuring shape while waiting for the group to make the first move.

And they did, the largest member of the group stepping forward with a chainsaw sword of some sort in hand, revving it threateningly. "Don't worry humie; we'll let you live, just with a few missing pieces to remember us by. I'd say that's pretty nice of us, huh?"

The man's swing missed by a mile, Kyle having already ducked under the blade, coming out of his crouch standing face-to-face with the chainsaw man and his hand cannon pressed directly into the man's gut. Three trigger-pulls sent the large Faunus reeling back, and another two quick shots to the head broke his Aura. Kyle simply landed a heavy punch to his face, knocking him unconscious and likely leaving him with an impressive black eye, before turning to the rest of the group.

Three of the others had gotten over their shock and decided to rush him, while the fourth was still motionless, attempting to process the speed and strength the Titan had displayed. Deciding to ignore her for a moment, Kyle allowed his Void Light to recede and his Arc Light to surge forward, and lightning arced up his arms as he focused his power.

The charging enemies halted, sensing danger, and Kyle leaped forward towards them with his fists clasped above his head. The ground shook when he landed, and tendrils of Arc energy lashed out, carefully controlled so as to not kill but rather shock and disorient. Despite the weakened attack, however, the three Faunus were launched back as if hit by a train, slamming into the alley's walls with their Aura drained and their bodies bruised. The last member of the group, who seemed to be a girl barely out of her teens with some form of feline ears on her head, decided that discretion was the better part of valor and began a quick retreat.

Kyle let her go, looking around at the damage he had caused during the fight. Four unconscious Faunus in various conditions (all stable and nonlethal), a fair-sized crater in the concrete, and scorch marks from where the Arc energy had escaped his control for a split-second or two. Strange weapons littered the floor, but despite his curiosity Kyle decided to leave them there rather than try to carry 'stolen' weapons around the city. Ghost could create copies with Glimmer anyway, so long as they managed to find a blueprint for them.

{Guardian, as much as I enjoy our enthusiastic walks together… could you at least try not to get into trouble every five minutes? It does get a bit tiresome to bring you back to life after the fifth time you died while fighting an unending army of Thralls.}

"Ghost, you know damn good and well that Thrall situation was your fault; if you could hack faster than a toaster, I wouldn't have had to fight off the Hive for twenty minutes."

{Oh, so that's how it is? I seem to remember that punching a group of Cursed Thralls was your idea, wasn't it?}

Their light-hearted bickering continued as they made their way out of the city, making their way across the wastelands of Menagerie towards yet another fight. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily depending on who you ask, Guardians are made for war; fighting is in their blood.

Remnant wouldn't know what hit it.

A/N:

So, here's the first chapter, and as promised, here's the power matchups:

1: Shields/Aura

It's extremely hard to measure the actual strength of RWBY's Aura shields, as there really isn't much consistency to how long they last; the main characters can take several hits from sniper-class weapons with barely any damage, while a punch or two can defeat cannon fodder White Fang (who do have their Aura unlocked). Because of this, I have decided that in this story, Aura has about two to thirty times the durability of Destiny shields, depending on if the character has a strong/trained Aura or not (read: depending on if they're an important character or not). While this may seem unfair, please remember: Destiny shields recharge. Fast. And in-game, three well-placed revolver rounds can kill a Guardian, so either the weapon is strong or the shields are weak; or, a combination of both. So, Destiny shields are weaker, but since they recharge when not taking damage a Guardian could fight much longer than a normal Huntsman even without a Ghost. Also, another thing to consider: Destiny shielding is constantly active, while Aura requires focus to activate.

2: Weapons

Building off the last point, Destiny weapons are about as effective as RWBY ones, though they're a lot sturdier (it takes a lot more strength to destroy a Destiny sniper rifle (of Legendary or Exotic rarity) than it would to break Crescent Rose, due to space-age metals and it not having any transforming weak-points). I considered making them stronger, but between Light/Aura shenanigans and Dust, I imagine they're fairly similar in effectiveness, or at least similar enough that a Destiny weapon wouldn't curbstomp RWBY. With that said, Exotic weapons will be considerably more powerful than most of what is shown in RWBY. After all, the Tractor Cannon is a thing, and swords in general are overpowered in game, with alternate attacks that deal an insane amount of damage. So, equivalent weapons (assault rifles, sniper rifles, etc.) have similar effectiveness, but more advanced or magical Destiny tech outperforms RWBY guns.

3: Physical Ability

This is a bit difficult to measure, due to RWBY's anime-like physics and Destiny being an FPS game that doesn't really show your character doing cool things even in cutscenes. However, I'd say that a Titan would have similar or higher strength compared to Yang, but not necessarily as high as Nora (again, depending on shenanigans), but lower agility than most of the canon cast when not using their movement ability. Hunters would be the opposite, with more agility than all but Ruby, but less strength than most. So, going off of this idea, the main character is around Nora's level of strength, perhaps a bit less, but can't move quite as quickly, making up for it in firepower, experience and reflexes.

4: Experience

Hands down, the main character has more experience than all of the RWBY cast except Ozpin and Salem (and even then, in some cases). Guardians are brought back from death and from day one are thrown into fight after fight, spending years honing the art of genocide-ing evil aliens that can use space magic, time travel and orbital drop balls to ruin their day. RWBY's cast, other than Ozpin, fight against what amount to jumped-up animals on a semi-regular basis, and humans/Faunus only rarely. Huntsmen are exterminators, not warriors like Guardians are. Ozpin and Salem, along with the Maidens, are the only real opponents in RWBY that could give a Guardian real, immortal-life-threatening trouble, and even then it would depend on the circumstances.

Anyway, that's all for now. If you have any questions, leave a review and I'll try and answer in a PM or, if a popular/important enough question, I'll answer it at the end of next chapter. Hopefully you enjoy this new story, but for now I must go, for my people need me.

AWDTB, signing off.