RWBY: Shadow Company
Chapter 24
They dragged the four huntsmen across the street, not caring if the hard stone floor was scraping them. The crowd watched, and not one had decided to stop them.
Clouds gathered and darkened the skies. The rain poured down on the streets below. It's always the coldest when it rains in Mistral.
People came out to see what was going on. What was making all that noise?
"This isn't right. What's going on?" Said one of the bystanders.
"I don't know. Maybe these guys did something to piss them off?"
"What did they do that was so bad then?"
He shrugged his shoulders, "The heck if I know. But whatever it is, they are in deep shit now."
They continue to watch the scene in front of them. You can hear the screams while being dragged off, "Please, I had nothing to do with them! I'm innocent!" One of them cried.
"You idiot! Do you think you can lie your way out of this!? Let go of me, you bastards! I'll let the council know about this!" He yelled.
But they were dead silent.
He yelled again, "Let go of us! I demand you to let go of us! Hey, shadow!" But he was hit in the back of his head, knocking him out.
"M-my leg. It hurts. Please, it's s-still bleeding," Begged the third.
"..."
The last one was already unconscious.
They were fish in a barrel with no way out.
But then, a lone huntress came out on the street, standing in front of them. "Stop right there!" She command.
The shadows stopped, and the leader looked at her. He placed his hand on his pistol in his holster.
"Let them go." She said firmly. Her weapon is gripped tightly in her hands.
"Huntress, move out of the way." Said the shadow.
"Not happening." She glared at him.
The shadow aims his gun at her. "That's not a request, move."
"And who do you think you are? Those are huntsmen you're dragging!" She pointed out.
"We're shadows, huntress. And this is our job. Unless you want to be a part of them." He said.
"You can't do that!"
Two more shadows pointed their guns at her. She was startled but stood her ground. She'll try and save them, whoever these huntsmen are.
She looks around her. But she was shocked to see that no one would stand with her.
Not even her fellow huntsmen would want to join in.
"You got guts, huntress. Step. Aside."
"Your threats won't scare me, mercenary. Let them go, now." She said.
"Go away!"
That sounded like a child.
The huntress smiled. Did a brave little child come to support her? It doesn't look like she's in the crowd.
She smirks, "Looks like the child doesn't want you here either."
"No, not them! You! Go away!" Shouted the child.
"Huh?" She said.
One of the shadows comes up with a crying child in his arms. The huntress didn't notice the child, "They killed my family! They destroyed my home! I saw them do it! They were with the bad men!"
"Bad men?" She asked.
"Bandits." Said the shadow, his gun still aiming at her. "Last warning, move aside!" He demanded.
With that, she moved out of the way. She didn't know what to say as she watched them walk by her. She didn't know what to feel at that moment.
Sick? Ashamed?
"Hey, where were you?" Her teammate asked.
"I was talking to the shadows just now."
"What!? Are you crazy? Do you know who you've just talked to?" He angrily whispered.
"Hey, what's going on? What did you do?" Another teammate asked.
"I've confronted them, so what?" She said.
"You absolute idiot. That was Black Delta. And you almost picked a fight with them."
"Who the hell is Black Delta? Aren't all the shadows the same?"
He shakes his head, "No, far from it. You're lucky that it wasn't Black Water. They would have killed you right then and there."
"Oh please, no one can kill me, not them."
"Have you not seen the four beaten huntsmen earlier? You were right there." He said. "I heard that these guys are hardcore. They were the ones that dealt with the horde a few weeks ago."
"Don't forget, Black Water was there too."
She was starting to feel a bit scared, "Wait. Do you mean it was them who killed them all? I thought it was our guys."
He shakes his head again.
"No one is crazy enough to deal with a horde. It's a death mission. And they were both called at the last minute. Reports showed there were a ton of Grimm spotted in the valley. Some towns would've been a loss if they didn't deal with them."
"There's no way."
He pulls out his scroll and shows her the report, "Take a look. What you see here is real."
She took his scroll and flipped through the photos. At first, they didn't seem that scary, but when she noticed the amount of Grimm, it was something she had never seen before.
The pictures showed massive piles of dead Grimm slowly fading away. There were so many that they made small hills of them all over the place.
"That is a lot of them. How many did they kill?" She said.
"Keep scrolling. That's not the end of it."
Giant Ursa, Goliaths, and even a Leviathan? How did that get there?
"Holy shit." She hands back his scroll. "They could've killed me too."
"Yeah." He said. "And recently, they even took payment from that little girl."
"How much did she pay them?"
"One lien."
"What? They did all this just for one lien?"
He sighs, "Sometimes, to them, it's not about the money. It's about doing what's right when no one wants to do it."
"And the reason why we don't mess with them."
She stared at the ground, contemplating what had just happened.
"Come on, let's get back to the academy. It's cold out here."
/-/
"That was close, captain." One of the shadows said.
"I know." He said. "I was worried that she wouldn't go away."
"I hate it when they do this, they don't even know what happened, and yet they still see us as the evil ones."
"Sometimes, we have to take the blame. Even if it means to please." Said the captain.
"Please them? We're not here to do that. We helped the frontier, and they think we were threatening them. We assist the huntsmen, and they think we're mocking them. We kill the harder Grimms for them, and no one thanks us for our efforts."
"You're wrong about that last part. We don't take fame or glory. But if it's infamy, then so be it. And at the end of the day, we get the job done and move on to the next. And that they are safe from danger."
The shadow sighs, "Why are we treated like this? We haven't harmed anyone."
"And that's why we wear these helmets."
"What do we do with these guys?"
"Send them to the infirmary. Once these huntsmen are all patched up, lock these guys up. We'll send them to the police. They can deal with them later." Said the captain.
"And the child?"
"Right. The child will be under our care for a while. I don't think she's ready to be all alone again."
"Yes, sir."
The captain's scroll rang.
"That's strange. Who could be calling me at this hour?" He said.
"Who is it from?"
The captain looks at the screen, "It's the General."
"Vitalius?"
"It's from Black Snow."
/-/
"She's asleep." Said Leon.
"At least she stopped crying."
Leon smirks, "It's been a while since I've handled a crying child."
He yawns.
"I think we'll be fine for now." Said Frost. "I went over to your little ambush site, and I had found their camp."
Leon whistles as he tends to the campfire, "A little bold today. And what did you see?"
"Not much, but they got the numbers. You weren't kidding. I overheard their conversation. It's about her." Frost rests his head on his hand.
"Weiss?"
"No, her," Frost emphasized.
Leon looks at him in the eyes, "Oh. That's a problem."
Frost nods, "Yes, fanatics. And this time, for real."
"She has an army? A whole bunch of crazies?"
Frost nods again.
Leon sighs, "We got to train Weiss now. Or else she is never going to make it back to Atlas. Not with these kinds of nut jobs after her."
"And here I thought I would be more worried about her than you would."
"She grows on you. I can't imagine why her old man wouldn't."
Frost coughs.
"Sorry."
Frost sits beside Weiss and looks at her, "She's gone through enough. I want her to be safe and back in Atlas."
"We will, Frost. We're shadows."
"But we can't do it alone. I know what I said, but it's impossible. And I'll admit that."
"Okay. So what's your plan? I call my boys, and you call yours?" Leon asked.
"No, they are too far away. And all that commotion will draw the fanatics to Weiss. I'm going to call someone here for help."
"Woah, wait. You're not thinking about asking for help from Black Water, right? I know I'm a freak, but those guys scare me."
Frost pulls out his scroll. "No. I'm not," he said.
Leon sighs in relief, "Thank the gods."
"I'm going to call both of them. Delta and Water. Those guys can take care of the Fanatics. If it's anyone, it's them."
Frost smiled at him.
Leon facepalmed.
Frost dials the first number and waits for the pickup.
On the other end, a voice speaks to him, "Frost? Is that you?"
"Yes, it's me. Listen, I need your help."
A/N: Alright. The chapter is reuploaded. I've gained enough courage. Thank you.
But I changed it a bit, and with a new small scene with Frost, Leon, and Weiss. I did plan to have the three of them fight the fanatics alone. But I decided that it was ridiculous. There is no way that they can take on hundreds of them. These Fanatics are steps ahead of the White Fang in terms of danger level.
And Black Delta and Water may have been the reason that Remnant sees the shadows that way. Can't blame them for being efficient at their job.
Weiss's Myrtenaster is still in use. It is still a bladed weapon. Her weapons are probably made with the best materials too. Atlas and all.
Thank you for reading.