I apologize for the last update and hope this fairly lengthy chapter makes up for it. If it doesn't, well I tried.
Disclaimer: RWBY and related franchises belong to their respective owners
Legal Disclaimer: Any reference to real world organizations in this story are used for entertainment purposes only, and shall not be used as a judge of character.
Chapter 8: The First Day
Beacon amphitheater
"Hey guys, over here!" Ruby waved over to JNPR. Jaune and his team navigated their way through the sea of first and second year students over to their friends and sat down. The amphitheater was filled with the murmurs and conversations of the students, anxiously waiting for the start of the new classes that Alex and his squad would be teaching. The general attitude amongst the student was overall intrigue at the unknown. By now Alex's squad was already known throughout the school and most of Vale as the heroes of Oxford, and those said heroes were actually part of a new secret special purpose unit that Ozpin and the top officials of the police force created. At least that's what was released to the public. They were told that unlike Huntsmen who primarily fought Grimm, these guys dealt with their fellow Humans and Faunus who've gone down a darker path. Not much else was said, but the message was clear: these guys take care of the trash and they do not fuck around. Again, half-truths.
"So, what do you guys think these classes are going to be like?" Ruby asked the group.
"It's hard to say, but one thing for sure is that these classes sound more…serious." Ren answered trying to find the right word. When the students received the notification of new required classes, they were not sure of what to make of the courses. Phrases like Terrorism-Awareness, Asymmetric Warfare, Counter Terrorism and Counterinsurgency were seldom used in Remnant and sounded completely foreign to the Beacon students. On the other hand, combat conditioning, decision making skills and leadership development sounded more familiar to them.
"Well no matter what, Teams RWBY and JNPR are up to the challenge!" Ruby exclaimed being the little motivator she is.
"And we're not?" Ruby turned around to see Coco, followed by her team, pretending to be offended.
"Oh, ha right. Can't forget about CFVY." Ruby sheepishly replied while Coco just chuckled while she and her team sat next to the first years.
"Do you guys know anything about these classes?" Jaune asked Coco, who only shook her head.
"The only thing I know is that third and fourth years only have to take about half of these classes. Something about them being grandfathered in or something." She answered.
"Really? I thought you of all people would know something, considering you and Alex seem to hang out a lot." Yang teased. In reality, it was just Alex asking Coco about places in the City or directions around the school and other stuff he didn't want to bother Ozpin with. But in a school full of hormonal teens, perception is reality and to the uninformed, it did seem like Coco and Alex had something going on.
"I'm not going to dignify that with response." Coco calmly answered.
"Nothing wrong with being into older men." Yang said with a grin. Before anyone could respond the lights suddenly dimmed and the large projector in the room began to power on.
"Enough, class is starting." Weiss shushed to Yang. As soon as the video started, many students were taken back as the first image was the flag of the White Fang hanging in a dimly lit room. Three White Fang grunts came into view dragging behind them tied up hostages with burlap sacks over their heads. A closer inspection revealed them to be SDC employees. The lead Fang member reached to remove the sacks covering the hostages to reveal two men and one woman who were gagged and severely beaten.
"This is a message to the Humans from the Fang." The lead member said into the camera. You could feel the sudden shift of mood in the amphitheater. Everyone was focused on the video of the Fang member ranting about the crimes of Humanity and that their time was up while he waved a knife in front of the tied-up hostages. Finally, the lead member finished his rant and signaled to the other two in the room, who pointed their guns at the male hostages.
"Don't look Ruby." Yang said as she brought Ruby close to her. Ruby didn't see anything, but she heard two gunshots and the sounds of gasps and small screams from the other students.
"Yang?" Ruby weakly asked.
"Not yet." Yang replied. She remembered hearing about a White Fang video that went viral and how it ended. Obviously, this was it.
"This is only the beginning!" The lead member shouted before he took his knife to the female, who pleaded with tears in her eyes. More screams filled the room as the lead member slit the woman's throat and the life left her eyes. The feed ended and switched over to a montage of video clips and news reports of various acts of terror throughout all of Remnant by the Fang and other groups like the Anti-Faunus Action group or ANTIFA for short. Many students had vague memories of those stories in the news, but paid no heed to them. Needless to say, the entire audience was in a state of shock after seeing these horrible acts that they practically ignored back then. Ruby was still huddled with Yang, who was shaking from both shock and rage of the videos. Weiss was already having bad flashbacks of her childhood and held back her anger. Like Weiss, Blake also was having bad flashbacks of what she has done for the White Fang. Jaune looked like he was going to throw up but held it down while Pyrrha wrapped her arm around him. Under normal circumstances she would be enjoying to close physical contact, but not this time. Nora was leaning closely to Ren while he held her tight. Velvet was using her rabbit ears to cover her eyes while Coco held her in a tight embrace. She looked to see the male members of her team had blank neutral expressions, but could see the anger seething. Finally, the lights came on and everyone saw the Russians front and center in their uniforms, with very serious faces. Alex then stepped forward and did quick scan of the crowd. Other than the occasional sob, there was total silence as the students turned their attention to Alex.
"Terrorism: the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to instill fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological." His voice was clear and powerful. "There are three key elements of terrorism: violence, fear and intimidation." He scanned the crowed again and saw he had everyone's attention. "As of now, the Kingdom of Vale has no current policy on terrorism, seeing as it hasn't been a problem before. But the world is changing." Greg then stepped forward.
"The videos you just saw are real events that occurred within the past few years. There is more to these attacks than the immediate victims, as terrorists commit acts of violence to draw the attention of the local population, the government and the world to their cause. Remember, a successful attack is not the one that causes the most casualties, but the one the gains the most publicity." The crowed remained deep in thought as Ivan stepped in.
"Publicity is important for rallying others to their cause. We can look at the three perspectives of terrorism: the terrorist, the victim and the general public. Ironically the terrorist's view themselves as heroic, fighting for a worthy cause. The victim obviously disagrees and view them as criminals with no regard for life. But the general public can be swayed in either direction." The audience looked surprised at the thought of the public supporting terrorists. Finally, Nick stepped forward to conclude the intro.
"Think about it. One man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter. If a group is able to win over the local populace, then their cause would be aided and much closer to reaching their goals. Take for example the White Fang. Their overall goal is Faunus equality, so they obviously have a large channel of support. On the flip side though, ANTIFA was created in response to the White Fang's violence and they also have a large support group. But since both of these groups deliberately target civilians, neither can gain full public support and often clash with governments, law enforcement and more recently the Huntsmen." Everyone now had a look of dread and concern on their faces. No longer was the world black and white. No longer was it people versus the Grimm. They realized that there was evil in the world and it was more complicated than just petty criminals.
"There's more bad news unfortunately. When acts of terrorism occur, what else happens? They create fear, panic and other negative emotions. And what does that do?" Alex asked the audience. A lone hand went up and he realized it was Ruby's.
"It attracts the Grimm." She answered flatly.
"Then you're out of the frying pan and into the fire." He noticed how everyone looked like their view on the world just got shattered. Well they did. A very small part of him felt guilty for breaking their innocence, but these kids are training to be warriors and they'll need to grow up eventually. Another hand went up and Alex identified it as Pyrrha's
"Um Professor Volkov, what exactly is the purpose of this course?" Pyrrha asked.
"Okay first off, do not call any of us 'professor' or 'doctor' or any title that teachers normally go by. You can refer to us by our rank and last name. I'm Sgt. Volkov, the head instructor. I am assisted by Sgt. Fedorov, Cpl. Stepanov and Cpl. Sokolov. We're not regular teachers. We don't give out homework or make you guys feel like special flowers. If you suck at life, we'll call you out on it and tell you how to un-fuck yourself. Another thing is, we curse and use a lot of profanity. If any of you feel offended by it, well that's too fucking bad." As far as Alex could tell, it didn't look like anyone had a problem.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Pyrrha replied with her catch phrase and a look of embarrassment for some reason. "What exactly is the purpose of this course, Sgt. Volkov?"
"Good question. I suppose I can make up some bullshit about how this course can build you up as Huntsmen and be better people and what not. But honestly, I think it's whatever you can take away from the course and apply it. We'll go over terrorism as a whole including types, motives, and tactics but more importantly we'll also go over how to be aware of potential threats, how to respond and prevent attacks and even going on the offensive to stop attacks from happening in the first place. How you learn and apply the knowledge we pass, is entirely up to you guys." Alex addressed to the crowd. Greg stepped forward to speak again.
"Furthermore, we'll be focusing on strengthening the relationships between you and your team members. You'll be given various tasks, and challenges that can only be completed as a team. Additionally, we'll teach everyone the skills to think critically and make tough decisions. I'll give you guys a hint; sometimes you'll have to choose the lesser of two evils. And while we're strengthening your team bonds, why not your leadership skills as well? You fight as one team, but you're still individuals. If something happens to your leader, someone needs to step up, right?" There were murmurs of agreement from the audience as Ivan stepped forward.
"These courses are more hands on than classroom based. About 20 percent will be classroom work and the rest is all practical application. There will be one written midterm and final. Both are multiple choice and open book. We're more concerned with if you can apply the techniques we teach rather than memorize answers for a test. You'll be doing stuff like what to do in hostage situations, conducting recon and surveillance, planning a raid on a compound, offensive and defensive strategies, unarmed and close quarter engagements and much more." There was now visible excitement amongst the students. To them, this stuff sounded cool. It was now Nick's turn to speak.
"Let's not forget there's going to be spars just like with Goodwitch. But unlike her class, you won't always use your weapons." That got a few gasps from the crowd, especially from a little red reaper. "Don't tell me you fuckers bring your weapons with you everywhere, because I know you don't. There's places in the city that won't let you take weapons with you and you guys just leave them in your rocket lockers. What are you going to do if you're in a bar fight or someone's trying to mug you or maybe you get disarmed in fight? I'll tell you right now that the answer is not to give up, because I know your enemy won't stop just because you don't have a weapon. In essence, you're going to learn fight dirty. In this class, forget everything Goodwitch taught you about fighting etiquette and tournament rules, and throw that shit in the trash because there is no mercy in this classroom and you don't stop until we tell you to stop." Some of the students cheered at the idea of rule free fighting, while some had worried looks on their faces. Poor Jaune was only alive because Professor Goodwitch stopped fights before he got really fucked up.
"But when we say stop, you better fucking stop!" Alex shouted, causing some of the students to jump. He had to get his point across and kindly remind them that they are in charge. "Now that you know what to expect from this course, here is what we expect from you: There is zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind. That includes, but is not limited to, discrimination towards Faunus, Humans, gender, age, race, nationality, sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs just to name a few. You are a select few of the population that everyone looks up to. You are what stands between them and the Grimm. You are all on the same team. And I don't know about you, but I think it's fucking bullshit that here we all are, fighting every day to survive and not get overrun by the Grimm, and there's still assholes who think of other's as beneath them. I'll make this simple. If any of us see that shit, you're dealing with me personally, then I'm sending your ass to Headmaster Ozpin where I guarantee you'll be on the next airship out of Beacon and then you're dealing with me again only this time you're not protected with student status. Do I make myself clear?" He made himself crystal clear. A collective of head nods and replies of "yes" made sure of that. He then turned towards Greg and gave him a nod.
"Moving on, some other expectations we expect are showing up to class on time, participating, listening to our instructions and doing the work. You know, the usual. And finally, grading. You'll be graded on previous mentioned expectations. Easy enough?" Once more, the crowed agreed.
"I think that covers everything. Are there any questions?" Alex asked. Almost instantly, Weiss shot her hand up. "What a fucking surprise." He thought to himself.
"Sgt. Volkov sir, I…"
"I'm not a 'sir'. I work for a living." Alex quickly interrupted, catching Weiss of guard.
"Uh, Right. I just want clarification, this course is more focused on combat against other people, not Grimm?" She asked.
"I thought it was pretty straight forward, but yeah. Port and those other guys can teach you about Grimm. I'm here to teach about the other monsters that plague Remnant." Alex replied. Another hand went up, this one belonging to Blake.
"You talk a lot about dealing with other people and focus on fighting them. I'm just wondering, have you guys killed before?" She asked. Alex was wondering when that question would come up. Lucky for him he was ready.
"Yes, we have." He answered. Many students now had a concerned look on their face, being in the presence of people who've killed before. Blake raised her hand for a follow up question.
"Did you feel anything when you…killed?" She asked with a hint of worry.
"Yeah, recoil from my rifle." He dryly answered. Almost everyone in the room gasped at his answer.
"How can you say something like that?!" Coco shouted to Alex.
"Because like it or not, sometimes taking a life can save hundreds or even thousands. Tell me, have any of you seen a school full of children get firebombed? Or heard the stories of women who were sold as sex slaves to fund a terrorist organization? Have you seen people leaving everything behind and run for their lives to avoid execution by death squads?" No one said anything. "I have seen the awful things people are capable of and I will not sit idly by, while scum like the White Fang or ANTIFA or any other lowlifes that don't value life, live to see the next day. So long as I'm alive, I will fight to protect those who can't protect themselves. Be it Human or Faunus, I will fight to my last bullet, my last ounce of strength and my last drop of blood so that peace and freedom shall prevail!" The crowd was in awe of Alex's speech. He spoke with such passion and power that some students gave him applause. RWBY, JNPR and CFVY at first were at first apprehensive towards Alex's response, but now they had a better understanding of where he was coming from and felt empowered by his words. Well most of them anyway. Blake felt uneasy with Alex's attitude towards the White Fang and yet she admired his apparent nonjudgmental view towards the Faunus. She needs to confront him in private sooner rather than later. Her instincts told her Alex was being genuine, but those same instincts were also telling her to watch out for him. She was brought out of her train of thought when Nick stepped forward to address the audience.
"Alright, let's lighten the mood in here, shall we? I'm thinking we start off with a little spar, what do you guys think?" That got a positive reaction from the room.
"Do we have any volunteers?" Ivan asked.
"Oh, oh right here!" Ruby waved to get the attention of the Russians. Alex watched with amusement as Ruby was jumping up and waving both of her hands in the air.
"Alright Rose, thank you for volunteering your team." He said to her.
"All of us?" Weiss asked.
"Well duh, this a team spar." Alex replied. Team RWBY just shrugged and made their way to the center. As RWBY made their way forward, Greg pushed a button on his scroll to reveal the sparring ring. However, this one was different. Unlike the clean one in Goodwitch's class, there was broken glass, furniture and other forms of debris all over a dirt covered ring.
"I think you guys forgot to clean the ring." Yang joked. Alex just smirked at her.
"Nope, it's supposed to look like that. Anyway, let's go over the rules." He replied.
"Wait, who are we fighting against?" Ruby asked.
"Isn't obvious? You guys are going to fight us." Nick answered her. That definitely surprised RWBY, but they looked determined and ready.
"Alright ladies first off, combat spars in this class is more focused on technique and your overall physical strength, stamina and abilities. So, unless we say so, no semblances and no weapons."
"What!? How are we supposed to fight?" Weiss asked. Alex just scoffed at her.
"We did tell you that we're going to train you to fight without weapons, right?" She nodded. "As for the semblances, you're telling me you guys rely on them so much, that without them, you're useless in a fight? And here I thought you all were badass Huntress's. Maybe I was wrong." He casually remarked.
"Well we'll show you! I can take you guys on with my eyes closed! Team RWBY can do anything!" Yang exclaimed. Alex just maintained a smug grin that was starting to antagonize RWBY.
"All right ladies, get in combat gear and meet in the ring. Everyone else can take a 10-minute break." Alex addressed to the rest of the students. As RWBY left to get changed, the Russians went into a back room to get in their combat gear.
"Nice job with the video Greg, you scared to shit of everyone." Alex complimented Greg while reaching for his assault vest.
"Thanks. I was trying to go for shock and awe." Greg replied as he was putting on his elbow and shin guards.
"That was a beautiful speech towards the end, almost made shed a tear." Nick commented while pretending to wipe away a tear.
"You guys, I'm okay with fighting girls, but they still have their auras. Doesn't this seem dangerous?" Ivan asked while putting his gloves on.
"Don't worry Ivan, based on the notes we have on aura, they can still feel pain and can get hurt. Plus, it does nothing for choke holds and pressure points. So long as we can incapacitate them, I think we'll be fine." Greg answered.
"Besides, the kids are reckless. They're just going to charge straight for us in an all-out attack. Just a few counter-moves and they'll be down." Alex said.
"What makes you think they'll just charge head on?" Ivan asked.
Meanwhile with RWBY
"Oh man, what are we going to do? I can't fight without my baby." Ruby cried out.
"Calm down Ruby! You're the team leader for Pete's sake." Weiss retorted.
"Don't worry guys. Just charge them head on. We're fighting up close, so close the distance as fast as you can, then start swinging. After all, they did say we can fight dirty." Yang reasoned to her teammates. Considering she was the only one who had any experience in fighting unarmed, they were inclined to listen to her.
"I don't think that's a good idea Yang, I'm pretty sure Alex and those guys know how to fight and counter people like you." Blake said.
"Trust me guys, charging them at full speed is a full proof plan." Yang assured everyone as they made their way back to class.
Back with the Russians
"Trust me, they will." Alex assured Ivan.
"Something tells me I'm going to end up fighting Weiss. I'm fairly confident she's still pissed at me from the other day." Nick commented as he put on his balaclava.
"You'll be fine, I'm more concerned about Yang. She actually knows how to fight unarmed." Greg said.
"She knows how to throw punches and fight offensively. She doesn't know any counters." Alex replied.
"I'll take care of her." Ivan said as he put on his helmet.
"Remember what her file said." Alex commented.
"I know. Don't fuck with her hair." Ivan replied.
"Seriously man, I don't think you're going to get a third chance at life." Nick joked.
"I'll take Blake. I feel like she has some hidden tricks up her sleeve." Greg said.
"Guess that leaves me with the kid." Alex commented. All four of the Russians were fully geared up, minus their weapons. It was now time to test their abilities against four teenage girls. As they stepped out of the back room, they saw RWBY eagerly waiting for them in the ring while the rest of the students waited for the fight to begin. The class was surprised to see the Russians in their full combat gear. As they stepped into the ring, they could tell RWBY looked a little nervous. Then again, they only wore their everyday clothes, while the Russians were decked out in their assault vests, guards for their joints and shins, protective gloves, their helmets with the protective visor for their eyes down and of course the balaclava's concealing the lower halves of their faces. Just to fuck with their heads even more, they were cracking their knuckles and stretching out their necks.
"You guys seem nervous." Greg commented to RWBY.
"Don't worry, we won't use our semblances." Ivan reassured the girls. "Considering we don't have any." He thought to himself.
"It's not that, it's just that we don't have any of that protective stuff you're wearing." Ruby commented.
"Aww, well it sucks to suck." Nick taunted. That got some mean glances from the girls.
"Hey girls, how about a little bet?" Alex asked.
"What kind of bet?" Yang asked.
"If you beat us, class is dismissed early." He replied.
"Deal!" Yang hastily replied.
"But if we win, the entire class is going for a little "fun run". The girls didn't like the way he used that phrase.
"You're on!" Yang decided to speak for the team.
"All right ladies, it's a deal." Seeing as how the whole class was involved, they were already cheering for RWBY to win and defeat the Russians. Both teams went towards their starting positions in the ring.
"Come on team, we got this." Ruby said in an attempt to build up confidence. Whether it was for her team or herself, she didn't know.
"Remember, the goal is to incapacitate or get your opponent to tap out. Got it?" Alex shouted to RWBY.
"Got it!" They replied. Both sides were lined up on opposite ends of the ring. Coincidentally, Ruby was across from Alex, Weiss faced Nick, Blake was centered to Greg and Yang was targeting Ivan. The excess debris that littered the ring would prove to be a hinderance to both sides. Or it could be used to one's advantage.
"Team RWBY! Are you ready?" Alex shouted.
"Ready!" They shouted back.
"Fight!" Alex shouted, starting the match.
Just as Alex predicted, Team RWBY was rushing their position in an attempt to close the distance on them. All four Russians got into a defensive stance and kept focus on their opponents who were closing in. True to her character, Yang was in position to make the first strike on Ivan. She reeled back her fist and took to the air in order to get the drop on Ivan. Ivan watched her preform the predictable move and readied himself. Yang's over-confidence has proven to be her downfall when right as she was about to strike Ivan, he stepped in and reached around her waist, essentially "catching" her in mid-air. The next thing Yang felt was Ivan using her own momentum to hip toss her to the ground. There was a loud "thud" when she hit the deck and hit her head on a pile of rocks. Even with Aura, that still hurts. She was brought out of her momentary daze by a sudden weight on her and a constricting pressure around her neck. In a split second, Ivan was on top of Yang and had her in a deadly choke hold. Yang did her best to try and loosen Ivan's grip or shake him off, but to no avail. He had his arm wrapped tightly around her neck and was using his other as leverage to increase the pressure, while driving his knee into her back and keeping his foot on her calves, preventing her from standing up. Yang kept struggling to try and break Ivan's hold, but it was getting harder for her to breath. Eventually, everything started to go fuzzy and she couldn't focus. Her face started to turn red, then blue, and was starting to turn purple as the blood flow to her head was being stopped. She managed to barley hear Ivan shouting something to her.
"Tap out!" He shouted. Her pride was telling her "no", but her body was saying "yes" just to end the agonizing discomfort. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and reluctantly tapped on Ivan's arm for him to release his grip. The second he did, she almost cried tears of joy over a simple thing like being able to breathe again. "Sorry Yang, but you're out." He calmly stated. But she didn't care. Never had she felt such pain. Never had she felt so close to death. The audience on the other hand, was in total dismay. Yang Xiao Long was one of the best fighters among the first years, and yet she was quickly eliminated with minimal effort on Ivan's part. They watched as Ivan carried her out of the ring and set her down on a bench to catch her breath.
"Yang!" Ruby shouted. She wanted to rush over and make sure her sister was okay, but was suddenly stopped in her tracks when she felt a powerful force tug at her neck.
"You're still in the middle of a fight Rose!" Alex shouted to her. To her horror, Alex had a firm grip of her red cloak and was reeling her in like a fish. She did her best to try and run away from him, but it only caused more pain in her neck. Alex meanwhile, was disappointed that Ruby hadn't considered un-doing her cloak to break free. He managed to rope her in despite her attempts to flee. Fearing for her safety, she sent a flurry of poorly coordinated punches at Alex, which he effortlessly blocked or dodged. He finally decided that he should end this quickly. He gave her a swift knee strike to her gut which caused her to double over. Then he reached around Ruby's neck and felt for the hood that attached to her cloak. After finding the hood, he pulled it up over her entire head and tightened the draw strings, completely enclosing the hood over her face. It was almost sad watching Ruby try and open up her hood only to fail miserably. She then felt a sudden pain directed at her face coupled with a taste of blood, and next thing she knew, she was on the ground lying on what felt like broken glass, with a bloody nose. The shards from the glass on the ground started to dig further into her back as she felt the weight of Alex's boot press down on her chest and she felt his grip around her throat. Knowing she was out-matched and out of her comfort-zone, she did the only thing she could do.
"I give." Ruby weakly said. Relief swelled through her as Alex released his holds over her body and helped her to her feet, brushing off some the dirt on her clothes and freeing her from her hood.
"You may want to rethink the cloak. Go ahead and take a seat by your sister. Also, tilt your head back to help that bloody nose." He said in a friendlier tone. Ruby could only weakly smile as she made her way over to Yang. With half of Team RWBY down, the students were now worried. Not so much at the thought of a "fun run", but at how fast and ruthlessly they got eliminated. Their Auras barley took any hits and yet they down for the count. The new collective thought was that if these guys were this effective unarmed, then what are they like when they're armed?
"Man, I'm so glad we didn't volunteer to fight." Cardin said to the rest of Team CRDL, who nodded in agreement after watching how brutal Alex and Ivan were to Ruby and Yang.
The monochrome pair of RWBY could only stare in awe at how fast Ruby and Yang were taken out. They were now fully aware of how the Russians fought: with brutal and deadly efficiency. At least Weiss and Blake had enough sense to not charge head first at Nick and Greg, seeing as how it worked out so well for Yang and Ruby. They huddled close together in a pitiful attempt to try and keep the Russians from getting the jump on them. Unfortunately, they were outnumbered 2 to 4 as Alex and Ivan circled behind them, but kept their distance as to keep the girls from falling back. Greg and Nick were slowly closing on the two, while not dropping their arms and maintaining their fighting stances. Seeing as they were surrounded, the girls knew they had to fight their way out.
"Come on snow cone, let's dance!" Nick taunted to Weiss, who was visibly pissed at that nickname. She was still angry at him and wanted to put him in his place.
"Don't do it Weiss, he's trying to get you to attack him." Blake reasoned to her while watching out for Greg.
"I know you want to get back at me for the other day snowflake. Go ahead, punch me in the face, I'll even let you get my good side." He was now openly mocking her, indicating to wear he wanted her to hit him. She was doing her best to maintain her composure, but she could sense that stupid grin under his balaclava mocking her and it was driving her mad.
"Weiss…" Blake tried to calm the heiress down but knew she was about to lose her temper. Blake had to admit, taunting Weiss to attack is a very effective, but underhanded strategy.
"Come on Snow Angel... come to daddy." He mocked to her while motioning his hands towards himself. That was the last straw for Weiss. Ignoring Blake's cries of protest, she closed in fast on Nick and was ready to strike… until she got stopped by a round kick to her left side and a follow up punch to her right side causing her to lose her balance. Before she hit the ground however, she was stopped by Nick painfully grabbing her pony tail to catch her. Weiss then felt herself being yanked up by her hair and was forced up to eye level with Nick, forcing her to stare into his brown eyes. He gave her a quick wink before lifting his head back and having his helmet get acquainted with her forehead. A rapid succession of knee strikes to her mid-section followed by an uppercut to her jaw caused our dear Weiss to fall to ground, face first into the dirt. She groaned as she attempted to lift herself up from the ground, but fell flat when the sudden impact of Nick breaking an old wooden chair across her back stopped her from getting up.
"No mercy!" Nick shouted as he tossed aside the remains of the chair to the ground. Considering Weiss wasn't going to get up anytime soon, it was safe to assume she's out. Being the gentleman that Nick was, he reached down to pick up Weiss and hoisted her up into a fireman's carry to set her with the rest of her team. All that remained of RWBY was Blake who was trying to hold her own against Greg. Though Blake had experience fighting other people from her time in the White Fang, she was having trouble against Greg. Both combatants traded blows against the other, but Greg's training was proving to be more effective. The few times she did managed to land a hit on him, it was at the areas where he had the most protection. If it wasn't for her Aura protecting her, she knew she would've broken her hand after punching him dead center into his chest and the protective plate inside his vest.
"Not bad Blake, but it's time we finish this." Greg's attacks started to increase in speed and accuracy as he was striking more frequently on vital areas like her sides or her joints. The increased volume of kicks and punches were causing Blake to give ground and back away from Greg who showed no signs of letting up. Finally, Blake got a break from the onslaught of Greg's strikes as she slipped on a bottle that she failed to notice, knocking her off balance. Greg took advantage of the opportunity and tackled her to the ground, crashing into an old wooden table and breaking it. Both fighters were quick to recover from the fall and get up to face each other. This time however, Blake grabbed one of the broken table legs to use as a make shift bat to use against Greg. Feeling more revitalized with a weapon in hand, she swung towards his head hoping to get a jump on him. Unfortunately for Blake, Greg had very fast reflexes and simply dropped down low, out of the way of the improvised bat. As he shot back up, she didn't notice he grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground and felt the irritation of having dirt thrown in her face. She desperately tried to clear the dirt from her eyes, only to have Greg once again take advantage of an opportunity and wrestle the table leg from her hands. The last thing Blake remembered was the feeling of a broken table leg making contact with her head and the sudden taste of dirt when she face-planted onto the ground and slipped into unconsciousness.
"Don't worry, she'll be alright." Greg reassured to the class, who had looks of horror on their faces. With the last member of RWBY knocked out and being carried by Greg over to her team, the fight was finally over.
"Alright that's enough. Team RWBY, you guys did what you could, but it wasn't enough." Alex said to the girls sitting on the bench, tending to their injured bodies and pride. Greg was also there doing a basic examination on Blake, to make sure she didn't have a concussion. The rest of the class was both amazed and terrified of the fight they just watched. Never had they've seen such brutally efficient methods used to take down an opponent. There was Team RWBY beaten and bruised, and then there was Russians who looked they barely broke a sweat. They now realized that they were not joking when they said the fights were going to be dirty. JNPR and CFVY at the start felt very optimistic about their friends, but it quickly faded as they watched each member get eliminated.
"W-what did you guys think about that fight?" Jaune nervously asked, as he started questioning the decisions he made in life.
"Well, they certainly wasted no time in taking down RWBY." Pyrrha commented.
"That's putting it nicely Pyrrha. They were utterly destroyed! Seriously! Blake is unconscious and Weiss had a chair smashed into her back! The only thing missing was them getting their legs broken. That's what I would've done at least." Nora replied with much excitement.
"Please remember that those our friends you're talking about Nora." Ren commented to Nora.
"Velvet, is this what Alex did to Cardin the other day?" Coco asked her teammate who was already shaking her head.
"Not to this extent. He barely did anything that day and it was enough to take Cardin down. What he did to Ruby, I would call it borderline torture." Velvet replied, still shocked that the guys they were sort of friends with were capable of such things. They can go from nice and funny, childish dumbasses, to cold blooded fighters, severely beating and almost killing their friends in an instant.
"They did say the fighting was going to be… different." Ren reasoned. Before the conversation could continue, Alex stepped forward. He removed his helmet, then lowered his balaclava before running his hand through his hair and scanning the audience once again.
"So, what did we learn today? Come on, you can be honest. You're not going to hurt my feelings."
"That fight was dirty and underhanded!" A random girl shouted. Alex just shrugged at her.
"Yeah, no shit. Didn't we tell you fuckers to forget that shit Goodwitch teaches you when you enter this room?" Alex replied with sarcasm.
"But there's no honor in fighting like that!" Some guy shouted.
"Honor is a fool's prize. Glory is of no use to the dead." Alex replied with a quote by Darth Revan. He hoped Star Wars doesn't exist on Remnant and get called out for ripping off another franchise.
"What do you mean by that?" Pyrrha asked in a calm tone instead of shouting.
"When you're fighting the Grimm, do you show any mercy?" He paused for effect. "No, you terminate with extreme prejudice." He feels like that was a quote from a movie, but he couldn't remember at the moment." You'll do what's necessary to protect your life and the lives of other's. The same mentality can be applied to human opponents. Your enemy is not going to care if you fought with 'honor'…because you'll be dead, and they're still alive to cause mayhem and probably take more lives. But it's okay, because you had 'honor' and the prize you got… is death." They may not have liked that answer, but it was true.
"I'm not sure I follow. Are you saying it's okay to kill?" Pyrrha replied.
"It's never okay to kill. At least give them the chance to surrender. But when push comes to shove, be prepared to. In a perfect world, they'd be no Grimm, no prejudice and world peace. However, we do not live in a perfect world, therefore we must be ready to make the difficult choices." He answered back but Pyrrha had her hand up again.
"Earlier you said you didn't feel anything when you killed, does that mean you don't have any regret?" She asked.
"Your just full of questions, aren't you Nikos? Anyway, the people I've killed did horrible things for their beliefs, so I don't regret doing it. Does it get easier to deal with over time? Not really, but you can cope with it. Did I enjoy it? No, I do not enjoy killing, but when done righteously, it becomes a chore like any other." Pyrrha for now, seemed satisfied at his answer, despite the last quote coming from Fallout: New Vegas. "I've got to stop ripping off franchises from Earth." Alex thought. The conversation switched to another topic when Jaune raised his hand.
"Are we going to learn, how to fight like you guys?" He asked. Alex couldn't help grinning at the blonde knight.
"Yes, we will. We'll teach everyone how to fight unarmed or with improvised weapons as well as how to execute and counter all those strikes and choke holds. You'll learn how to be aware of your surroundings and even use them to your advantage. Also, you'll learn how not to charge head first without trying to assess your opponent. But most importantly, you're about to learn what happens when you lose a bet." He had a wicked smile on his face. "If I recall, Team RWBY didn't beat us. So, guess what that means?" Everyone inwardly groaned. "Get changed over and meet at the new training fields. If you don't where it is, it's where the Eastern entrance to the Emerald Forest used to be. If you don't where that is, then you need to explore the school more." Collectively, the remaining students got up and left to go change, grumbling about having to go for a run. Alex looked over to see Greg, Nick and Ivan with team RWBY as they were chatting about the fight and looking over their injuries.
"Hey guys, how you are feeling?" Alex asked the girls. Thanks to their Auras, they were already making speedy recoveries but they still had some aliments that Aura can only do so much for. The only one who looked questionable was Blake, seeing as how she was still out cold and leaning on Yang.
"Well it kind of hurts when I breath but other than that I'm fine." Yang commented with a slight rasp in her voice.
"Yanking my hair is one thing, but did you really have to hit me with a chair?!" Weiss shrieked at Nick, who could only smile.
"Not really. But you have to admit it was funny." His comment earned a laugh from everyone except Blake for obvious reasons and Weiss who was glaring ice daggers at him." Maybe it's not funny to you right now, but eventually it'll be something you can laugh about later." She kept up her icy stare. "Or maybe not." Nick commented.
"Sgt. Fedorov, is Blake going to be okay?" Ruby asked, concerned for her teammate.
"She's still breathing and as far as I can tell, I don't see any signs of a concussion." Greg replied.
"Alright, you ladies are going to the infirmary and getting checked out. Greg, take Ivan and Nick and go meet the class at the training field. I'm going to accompany the girls to the infirmary." Alex said.
"Got it, any specific course or distance you want me to run?" Greg asked.
"Nothing crazy or too long. Six or seven miles. Eight at the most." He replied very casually.
"Ah, the usual." Ivan commented. Greg, Nick and Ivan left to change over and meet the rest of the class, while Alex accompanied RWBY to the infirmary. Luckily for him, on their way Blake started to come around.
"Ugh, what happened?" Blake weakly mumbled.
"Greg hit you upside the head with a broken table leg." Alex answered.
"Great." Was all she managed to reply before blacking out again. The rest of the girls looked at Blake, then over to Alex with a look of disapproval.
"Keep looking at me like that, and I'll make you run with the rest of the class."
Meanwhile.
At an undisclosed location, two figures sat in office, looking over confidential files. One of the men looked over the report of Oxford's fate.
"Too bad about Oxford." One of the men said.
"Acceptable losses. Did that Sable fellow manage to get the dust samples that were discovered?" The other asked.
"Yes, and the SDC recovered a substantial amount for experimenting."
"Then I believe now is time to gather the other's and discuss the next phase. Were there any SDC employee's that survived with the civilians that got recused in Oxford?"
"Only Sable survived. Everyone else involved got killed by the Grimm."
"And where is Sable now?"
"Currently he's in Vale. He'll be taking a civilian airship back to Atlas tomorrow. Why?"
"We no longer require his services."
"I see. I'll call my men."
A/N: Was that fight realistic? No.
Would RWBY get beaten that easily? Probably not.
Does this story follow every element of the canon story line? No.
Am I going to change it to appease the hardcore RWBY fans? Do you have even have to ask?
Anyway, I know I say it a lot, but I thank you all for the support.
Question: In general, do you guys like frequent updates and short chapters or the opposite? Obviously you'd rather have frequent updates with long chapters but let's be realistic. Not everyone is like Coeur.
Hawk out.