A lot of you certainly didn't like NPR preventing Jaune from killing Neo, I see. Certainly, it was a bad move on their part considering Neo's personality and actions. However, while Pyrrha is certainly naïve, Ren and Nora do have their reasons, reasons that will be explained soon enough. Now, whether or not said reasons are justified is entirely up to you guys. That said, please note they're not actually taking Pyrrha's side per say but rather that they're all 'on the same side' simply because that's just how things worked out.
On another note, even if Jaune had been able to kill Neo, this wouldn't have prevented the missiles from being fired at the residential area – that was always going to be Roman's response to seeing Jaune again.
That all said, glad that the last chapter provoked such a response! And with any luck, this chapter should do the same, but hopefully for the better.
Now, let's begin!
Chapter 17
Roman knew well before he'd even fired the missiles how this was going to go down in the end.
As stylish and masterful a thief as he may be, he was still ultimately a thief in the eyes of the public. No matter how many thefts and assaults and other petty crimes he added to his name, people were never going to hear his name and be scared out of their minds.
But working with the White Fang for any length of time? Firing missiles at residential areas? That was straight up terrorism at its finest and definitely not some small-time act. If he wasn't a wanted man already, he definitely was going to be now that he's fired the missiles.
This wasn't something he really wanted to do, to be perfectly honest. But he really didn't fancy his odds against that blond force of nature in another bout. And besides, what little he could gleam about what Cinder had planned for later down the line was going to undoubtedly be just as bad if not much worse than blowing up some parts of a residential area. Assuming he'd be able to even survive that long, he was going to end up one of the most wanted criminals anyway.
If anything, he was just getting a headstart on that front, weird as that sounded.
Oh well, if nothing else, the looks of horror on those damned brats' faces as the missiles flew through the air was cathartic. It made a rather shitty day at least somewhat better.
But alas… the catharsis didn't last long.
Sure enough, that blond freak was the first to react. "Team RWBY!" he suddenly called out, making little red and the three other super colorful girls nearly jump. "Go stop the missiles! My team and I will deal with Roman now!"
"R-Right!" Little red said that with a stutter before getting her game face back on and taking off at ridiculous speeds, her team following right after her.
Sheesh, Roman huffed, they were damn fast. They may very well catch up with the missiles. But can those four girls actually stop them? Meh, not his problem.
For his 'problem' lied right before his very eyes.
"Nora, fire!" the blond commanded and the auburn-haired girl wielding a ridiculously large hammer switched it into a much more compact form before firing several grenades at him and Neo.
Roman let the grenades hit, confident in the paladin's toughness as he stepped forward in it and raised its chaingun up as quickly as he could.
But as the grenades struck and exploded, he could just vaguely make out the sound of the blond teen's voice yet again, issuing more orders. However, the explosions were just loud enough to drown out what the teen was saying.
No way that was just bad timing or something – that shit had to have been intentional. And it only made Roman that much more desperate.
He opened fire with the chaingun in the general direction of the four teens, unable to see through the thick cloud of smoke settling around the paladin, not even its radars able to see past the smoke cloud.
He did, however, pick up two faint signals coming from his side and from within the cockpit, he physically turned to try and see who it was.
He'd feared it was the blond freak, but instead it was the hammer girl and the sole other guy within the lineup just now, some punk with completely black hair barring a strip of pink. These two circled right around him and out of his field of view, but the girl's battle cry and subsequent swing of her hammer striking at the ground told him that they just tried targeting Neo, who naturally dodged.
Roman grunted in mild annoyance but focused back on the now dissipating cloud right in front of him. Neo could more than handle herself against most people.
He kept firing his chaingun and now swung said weapon left and right as quickly as he could, trying to hit the other two teens just in case they'd dodged the initial burst. He even activated the missile launcher in the paladin's other arm and fired haphazardly ahead of him.
The following explosions naturally created more dust and debris, but it blew away the rest of the smoke that had been directly in front of him and he saw the blond teen and that redhead weren't there.
"Shit," he murmured. Activating the paladin's air cannons to clear away the rest of the smoke for good, he immediately spun the paladin around, looking for his targets.
Unfortunately, they found him first, just off to his other side, practically glaring at him.
Well, the blond was, but the redhead had her hands raised for some rea-.
The paladin suddenly lurched despite his expert handling and that was all the sign he needed to know something was up.
"What the-?!" he cried out now as the paladin's arms, which he'd tried to aim at the teens, moved slowly and clumsily. It was as if some invisible force was preventing them from fully doing so.
And to add to his worry and horror even more, the blond hadn't simply been standing there – there, within his twin swords, a truly scary amount of aura was gathering within them.
Flashing back to what had happened at the docks, Roman's eyes widened in pure fear as he struggled to move the paladin.
Fortunately for him, whatever force was acting upon it hadn't quite been able to keep him from maneuvering the massive mech to his right and back.
But thanks to its sheer size and affected speed, he hadn't quite been able to get out of range when the blond freak swung his blades.
Pure aura, backed by the teen's freakish strength, was unleashed and it crossed the small distance between them in an instant. Forming an x-shape due to how he'd swung, Roman simply wasn't able to do anything in response to guard and he could literally feel the attack cut into the paladin's body.
"No, no!" he now screamed as the sound of steel and wires were cut, the sound audible even over the sounds of explosions and fighting going off somewhere near him – those two punks and Neo were really going at it.
This paladin may only really be a prototype, but it was still made from some incredibly tough stuff, tougher than any bullhead and ship out there barring those ridiculously and obnoxiously large ships that make up the Atlas fleet. For sure, the materials it was made out of should be much, much tougher than anything the blond had ever cut through before…
And yet…!
The paladin reeled out of control and Roman hammered at the controls frantically to try and get it to stop stumbling back, but the force of those swings had been immense. Even though the aura had dissipated on impact, Roman himself could still practically feel the swings cutting into it.
However, the swings hadn't fully cut into the paladin; its limbs and more essential wiring were still intact. But moving it like normal still wasn't quite possible.
His mind working at greater and greater speeds now, Roman took one look at the redhead and it came to him – she was causing this somehow.
The fucking bitch…!
Yelling in frustration, he decided to open up the additional missiles compartments on the paladin since its arms were currently being restrained and fired several missiles, all of them aimed directly at the redhead.
Her look of intense concentration was broken and replaced with shock upon seeing the missiles come her way and as she instead gestured towards a few of them, Roman felt his control of the limbs return to him.
Even as the girl now worked her mysterious power upon the missiles, halting some right in their tracks while simultaneously trying – and more importantly, failing – to divert the rest away from her, Roman stomped forward and raised the chaingun.
But just before he could fire, the blond went into action. And oh boy, what speed he demonstrated as he did so.
The blond teen's entire body was literally radiating aura right now, not much, but enough for an intimidating golden glow to surround his form as he leapt at an angle and effortlessly sliced through the missiles that the redhead couldn't deal with.
Roman could only gape now even as he tried to pull the trigger from within the cockpit – only for there to be no response to this action. For as soon as the blond had dealt with the missiles the redhead couldn't focus on, he'd suddenly swung upwards upon landing on the ground and cleanly sliced off the paladin's chaingun, which had then fallen to the ground with a soul-crushing thud.
Then, as his right eye now seemed to glow and pulse with that same golden shine, the blond ran towards the paladin.
Roman tried to kick forward with the paladin's left leg in the heat of the moment and he did indeed feel it connect with the teen – except, instead of sending the teen flying a damn mile, the blond monster had spread his arms wide and fucking caught the kick!
Impossibly so, the blond had stopped the paladin dead cold simply by catching its leg. And when Roman immediately tried to wiggle free, he found himself unable to do so. The blond teen's strength was now even more immense than it had been at the dock!
No, no, that wasn't right, Roman realized within his subconscious. It wasn't so much that the blond freak had gotten stronger, no, it felt more as if he was finally really cutting loose now.
…
…Firing those missiles at the residential area may have been a bad move, if this was the result of angering him.
He was roused from his stupor when the creaking of metal was heard as the blond squeezed the spots he'd grabbed that much more tightly, warping the very steel itself. And with a roar, the blond then proceeded to do something even more insane.
Roman lurched back and forth within the cockpit as a sense of vertigo came over him. Very vaguely, he was reminded of when he was just a young boy, a perfectly normal and happy boy, specifically when his parents would lift him up off the ground and above their eye level.
Why was he being suddenly reminded of these almost long forgotten memories, some part of his brain asked itself? Why, the answer was obvious, it was just that his mind was refusing to accept what was going on-.
This blond monster was lifting the paladin up.
And not just an inch off the ground or so, no, this teen went the extra mile and practically lifted the entire damned thing as much overhead as he could.
Roman could only freeze within the cockpit, unable to believe for even a second what was happening. Out of the corners of his eyes, he could just barely see the redhead sporting what had to be the same exact expression he must be making right now. And judging by the lack of fighting and yelling that could be heard, Neo and those other two teens must have stopped to watch in shock too.
He and this blond monster were undoubtedly the center of attention and for all the wrong fucking reasons as far as he was concerned.
Up in the air, he could only flail the paladin's one intact arm around pathetically, its entire shaking form making it impossible to safely launch any missiles at anything without risking hitting himself somehow.
But he didn't give a shit about his safety anymore – he just wanted to get as far away from this teen as was possible and he wanted this now.
"Come on, come on!" he yelled as he tried to aim the paladin's missile launcher at the ground below. Any spot near the blond monster would do.
But just before he could fully take aim, the blond monster took a few shaky steps forward, throwing off Roman's aim. For a split second, Roman almost smiled uncertainly, believing that perhaps the blond monster's strength was faltering – except he couldn't possibly be more wrong.
The teen had simply been steadying himself.
And the next thing Roman knew, the blond monster ran forward with the paladin still being held up, smashing into and through the nearest buildings that had still been standing throughout all the fighting so far.
As this happened, with old plastering and worn-down bricks and rotting wood collapsing all around them, Roman was being violently thrown around within the cockpit from the sheer force of each building they smashed through.
He tried to protect himself as best as he could with aura, but the collisions were taking their tolls on him.
And sure enough, as he was being dealt enough damage for him to suffer injuries even with his aura still remaining relatively intact, Roman could only scream in horror.
This was not how he wanted to die…!
Team RWBY rushed as fast as they could towards the residential area, Ruby naturally taking the lead thanks to her semblance. Traversing the rooftops with every last bit of agility that they could all muster, they finally came to a halt atop the tallest one around, which wasn't really saying much. Still, it would serve its purpose.
In any case, they'd been able to get ahead of the missiles without too much trouble, but now the residential area was dangerously close by and they'd yet to even figure out a way to deal with the missiles.
Yet even so, Ruby didn't waiver. She wanted to become a huntress in order to help others. Now was as good a time as any for her to live up to that dream of hers.
She'd considered perhaps getting Blake to use her semblance to detonate the missiles once they got within range, using those shadow clones of hers as sacrifices – but she'd ultimately decided against it. Given how her friend's semblance worked, that would put Blake too close in proximity to the missiles themselves when they go off.
And Ruby wouldn't sacrifice any of her friends either.
In which case, all that could be done was to shoot them down.
And in that particular case…!
"Weiss, how far away can you make a glyph?!" Ruby demanded of her partner as they all glared at the approaching missiles. And no, Ruby nor her friends were deaf to the morning crowd on the streets below, all of whom could obviously see what was heading their way.
"Far enough! What are you thinking?" Weiss replied.
"Try making glyphs in their flight paths! The black ones!" Ruby cried out as she readied her baby.
Weiss complied and with a single arm movement, two glyphs for every missile appeared high in the sky, appearing just as the missiles passed right by the spots they now occupied.
The missiles were fast and were already several yards away by the time the glyphs even took effect – and for a split second, Ruby worried it was all for nothing.
Then thankfully, the function of the black glyphs kicked in, the combined gravitational pull of two glyphs working in conjunction proving more than enough to affect the missiles.
They didn't actually manage to drag the missiles back or anything, but it was enough to slow them down noticeably.
And now it was just up to her. Given the distance, neither Ember Celica nor Gambol Shroud had the range to accurate shoot at the missiles. Only Crescent Rose had that kind of range due to being a rifle.
Ruby took aim on the nearest one and fired three shots. All of them missed. Ruby growled dangerously – her aim was still off a bit. Didn't help that the missiles were still moving forward.
"Can you make any more of them?!" Ruby asked desperately.
"I could, but it's already taking effort to maintain the ones I already have up!" Weiss replied, her delicate features straining. "Those missiles aren't exactly light, you know!"
Ruby gulped. If Weiss' glyphs faltered, the missiles would quickly speed back up and shooting them down before they get too close would be nearly impossible. Even if letting them get closer would make locking on easier, the sheer size and power of the explosions would still put a lot of people at risk.
"Blake, Yang! Go down to the crowd and try and get them to move away! If this goes wrong, we need to minimize casualties!" she ordered.
"Right!" both replied before leaping down – though not without looks of frustration on their faces. It was obvious they didn't like not being able to do anything directly about the missiles.
Ruby reloaded Crescent Rose, swapping out her usual rounds for more explosive ones. These rounds were rarely used since she never quite imagined needing them to blast through anything too thick. But against the relative thinness of the missiles' heads compared to that paladin of Roman's, these rounds may finally find some use today. It was a good thing she'd decided to come prepared.
"Weiss, can you just make a single glyph over the barrel of my baby? If my shots are made faster, I can hopefully shoot them down before they build up too much speed again," Ruby explained.
With a huff, Weiss waved another hand and a glyph appeared right over Crescent Rose's barrel. "Try not to cut things too close, like in those stupid action thriller movies of yours – I don't think I'd be able to handle that kind of stress."
Despite the current pressure she was feeling, Ruby laughed a little. If Weiss could make a simple joke like that right now, then surely things can't be that bad, right?
"You got it!"
Taking aim once more, Ruby prepared to fire.
This time, she resolved to not miss. The lives of others were depending on it.
Using too much of his full strength wasn't something Jaune had ever thought he'd have to do this early on during his time at Beacon, but alas he'd been proven wrong.
In order to ensure Roman couldn't fire anymore missiles at any nearby populace, he had to take down the paladin as quickly as possible, render it as obsolete as could be.
Unfortunately, it wasn't as if he could actually use all of the power currently at his disposal – to have that much aura flowing through him at once would do his body far too much harm and leave him unable to move properly, which is the last thing he could afford right now. More importantly than that, however, that much overflowing aura would also damage his surroundings, which would include his friends and that wasn't a risk he could take still.
Thus, he still had to limit how much power he could use.
As it is, the mere fact he was able to lift the paladin and slam it through multiple thankfully abandoned buildings was enough as it is. He felt bad doing so, collapsing buildings like this, but better the loss of old buildings than lives.
Speaking of which…
He slammed the paladin through an eighth building just now and as he did so, his grip began to falter on it. Not because his strength was failing him – it could never fail him – but rather that all that running and smashing around just now had naturally caused his grip to slip little by little throughout the process.
Rather than allow his grip to naturally slip entirely off his foe, Jaune instead slowed down and then chucked the paladin with a grunt. Through the air, it flew albeit only several meters before crashing into the ground with a most audible thud.
His blades, which he'd sheathed hastily just before he even lifted up the paladin in the first place, were now drawn once more and he proceeded to dash forward and cut at the spots that had been the most banged up as a result of his running around.
As his aura surged through his very insides, strengthening his bones and muscles to the point of nearly breaking and tearing them apart, his strength increased just that much more and so he cut through the otherwise tough steel with ease.
Roman tried to move the paladin as soon as it had even landed, but his initial swing just now prevented that from happening, for he'd cut into the paladin's right leg, severing the 'foot' of it and making it stumble in mid-movement.
But of course, Jaune wasn't done just yet.
He kept on swinging and swinging, advancing forward with every attack. He cut into its legs, then the lower torso and just kept working his way up. He switched to the arms and hacked them up before they could even move, rendering the weapons hidden within them utterly useless.
The compartments around the cockpit, where there were other missiles stored, opened up however and prepared to fire – but he moved faster than they could even be fired and he unleashed a downwards swing that sliced through the perfectly aligned row of missiles before any of them could be activated. Doing this kept them from exploding and thereby from grievously injuring him, not that such a thing would've slowed him down much.
After doing this, the paladin finally seemed to throw in the towel, whatever other parts of it that had still been active now falling permanently silent – the damage he'd just inflicted had finally proven too much for whatever backup systems it had to keep operating, it seemed.
Paying no heed to anything else, Jaune then silently marched up to the cockpit, the sole part of the mech that had been left untouched, and promptly kicked at it, knocking the lid or whatever it's called right off…
…And in doing so, exposing Roman Torchwick to him.
The thief simply remained rooted in place and looked up at him, positively terrified.
"W-Well," the thief began. "Uh, guess this is where I turn myself in?"
Turn himself in? If Jaune's psychological state wasn't so messed up because of his own semblance, he might've laughed at the man's audacity.
Instead, he merely raised both swords, preparing to swing them down.
Roman's eyes widened now in completely unhidden terror. "Hey, hey, hey! I'm surrendering here!" he yelled out almost shrilly, whatever composure the man normally had nowhere to be found.
"I can see that," Jaune responded seriously. "But if given the chance, you'll just break out of prison and head elsewhere to continue your life of crime. You'll just keep on hurting innocent people for your own sake. I can't allow that to continue."
He gave Roman just the briefest of chances to try and prove him wrong, to say otherwise, to say he'll turn over a new leaf. But instead, he watched for just a second as the man gaped, unable to say anything to refute what had just been said.
As always, Jaune's instincts were right – those such as Roman, who would so easily escalate their actions like he had just minutes ago couldn't be allowed to keep on roaming around.
He swung his blades – only to miss.
Something hooked around his feet and tugged, the suddenness of this throwing him off balance. Even so, once committed to an action, getting him to not follow through on it was difficult for even himself to stop.
Rather than cut Roman vertically down the middle, his now stumbling self threw off his own aim just enough to instead cut into the side of the cockpit – along with the entirety of Roman's left side, dangerously close to Roman's neck and head.
But even as Jaune instinctively corrected his posture immediately thereafter, he didn't bother following up with a proper finish – even if he'd missed his intended target, he knew for a fact his swing had just cut through a solid portion of the man's heart and other organs. There would be no coming back from that. Whoever had thrown him off balance just now had accomplished nothing other than ensuring Roman a quick but all too painful death rather than the instantaneous and painless one Jaune had intended.
Jaune didn't like inflicting pain on others, even those like Roman, but there was no point in trying to correct this now; the man would be dead within a minute at best, seconds at worst.
Instead, he swiftly turned to see who'd thrown him off balance.
It was the woman from earlier, the silent one.
Only she wasn't so silent right now – the woman was practically crying out at the sight before her. She'd clearly intended for Jaune to miss his attack entirely, but he'd proven too fast on that part.
Jaune looked down at his right foot, where the woman's umbrella had been left, the hook of the handle around his ankle. He silently shook it off, but in doing so, he drew the woman's attention.
The shock and horror in those mismatched eyes of hers now gave way to pure rage and hatred in mid-motion, but upon fully looking up at him and into his eyes, the rage faltered and her hatred diminished. Jaune knew not what she was seeing as she looked up at him, but his own gaze must have really been intense too.
In any case, he swung his left blade at her face, with every intent on killing her. Much like the now dying Roman, this woman was not someone who would ever stop hurting the innocent to get what she wanted.
The woman threw herself back, using that semblance of hers to try and take her previous place. However, that would no longer work on him; he made sure to swing as far out as he could without losing his current footing this time. As a result, he cut through not just her fake but also right at her, digging ever so lightly into the spot just above her breasts.
Aura was shattered. Clothing was cut as was her flesh, blood being drawn. Even so, it wasn't that deep a cut and the woman continued to draw back as far as she could from him even whilst hissing in obvious pain.
Jaune merely followed up with another slash, this one a diagonal one. But even with his increased speed, the woman was able to dodge, having obviously anticipated this action. She ducked even as she threw herself to the side and promptly did a backflip that propelled her a fair distance away.
Jaune channeled some aura into his left sword and swung it, unleashing an aura wave that quickly reached her. And this time, when the woman attempted to dodge, she wasn't quite fast enough.
She let out a loud gasp, probably the closest thing to a scream she could make, as the aura wave, vertical in nature, sliced off her right hand as she'd tried moving to her left. The sheer intensity of his aura cauterized the wound so there was no blood, but it was clear the shock was getting to her already.
Even so, it wasn't enough to keep her from using her semblance yet again despite having her aura completely shattered – perhaps the result of some adrenaline spike or something. In any case, she managed to make not just one or two, but nearly a dozen fakes of herself that were all spread out.
Taking them out in a single attack was impossible, so instead, Jaune simply pounced forward and headed for what he believed to be the real one. Except, as he cut into it, it shattered like glass, proving it to be a fake.
"Hmm?" He couldn't help but blink in genuine surprise. He could've sworn that was the real one. Perhaps he could still be fooled by the woman's semblance after all.
That said, as he shattered the fake, the other fakes promptly shattered too, revealing to him that the woman had somehow escaped.
He was tempted to pursue, but before he could act on such an urge, his team came running up to him.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha cried out. "A-Are you okay?! I'm sorry, that woman slipped past all of us and-!"
"It's fine," he answered before she could potentially start rambling. In any case, her concern was appreciated. Far better to have her concerned than upset at him like earlier. Seeing Pyrrha and Ren and Nora angry at him like before… it had hurt a fair bit.
Alas, he may have thought that too soon – for after looking him up and down to make sure he really was okay, Pyrrha then looked past him and spotted the ruined paladin.
…and the blood that could be seen on the cockpit's sides couldn't be missed.
She tensed up as did Nora and Ren.
"Did… did you…?" Amazingly, it was Ren who asked this.
Jaune inwardly grimaced, bracing himself. "…Yes. He won't be hurting anyone ever again."
"…I see," Ren said before letting out a long sigh.
Pyrrha and Nora looked ready to say something, but before either could, the beeping of their scrolls interrupted.
Jaune was the quickest to pull out his and looked to see he'd received a message, which his friends had also no doubt gotten too.
It was from Ruby.
Missiles were stopped!
This straightforward message was accompanied by several emojis that Jaune couldn't really identify – he was still out of touch with certain things thanks to his travels – but those words were more than enough to cause relief to flood through his very being.
Sure enough, when he turned to look in the direction the missiles had gone in, he could just barely see several large puffs of smoke and debris, where the missiles had detonated upon being shot. He must have been so caught up dealing with Roman and the mystery woman that he hadn't heard the explosions, he reasoned.
But he didn't let himself fully relax just yet.
They still had to locate the White Fang, after all. Surely, there was no way in hell they could've been idle during all this.
"Come on," he said quietly. "We still have something that needs to be done."
With his swords sheathed once more, he quietly motioned with his hands for them to follow him. If they just followed the general path Roman had taken while in the paladin – given its weight, it had left noticeable imprints in the ground – then hopefully they can follow it back to where their base was at.
…
…
…
Ten minutes later, they'd reached the building that was undoubtedly their new base… and it was now abandoned.
Looks like in the amount of time that had been spent dealing with Roman, the woman and the missiles, they'd been able to get the hell out of dodge.
Alas, they hadn't taken everything – there was still plenty of boxes and equipment left lying around. If Jaune had to guess, the sounds of all that fighting must have really terrified them, to the point where they clearly had felt fully packing up wasn't worth the time or effort.
The White Fang cell Roman had been working was clearly still out there… but at least Jaune could somewhat content himself with knowing they'd left behind quite a lot in the process. He would have to count that as a small victory.
He sent Ruby and the others a quick message stating just as much. And he received a reply quite quickly.
Ok. That really sucks, but it's way better than nothing! Police showed up like five minutes ago too – they noticed the missiles and us blowing them up. Will send them over right now, so just message me back the location! Uhm, and professor Goodwitch is on the way too, but she didn't sound all that mad when she called me so that might be a good sign! Just thought you should know! Oh, did you get Roman by the way?
Reading over that message, Jaune paused for a long moment before texting back a very simple reply – the location of the now abandoned White Fang base along with him quite cryptically saying that Roman had been 'taken care of' in addition to the location of where they'd left him 'hanging' and that he and his team would be with him until the authorities arrived for pick up.
For some reason, he just couldn't bring himself to tell Ruby that the thief had been permanently dealt with. He knew it wouldn't be long at all before Ruby and the others and indeed the rest of the kingdom would learn of Roman's death, but he couldn't imagine just telling her that through a simple message or call.
No, he'd much rather do that in person… though he didn't look forward to doing that either. Nonetheless, they deserved the truth from him and he would not hide it.
But before that… he and his team would have to go and collect the body.
"We should head back to where… to where Roman's body is at," he said to the others as they all stood around, waiting for him to finish messaging Ruby.
The expressions on his friends' faces were most severe, but they silently acquiesced to his command.
Even for him, it was a tense jog back to where Roman's body had been left, one of complete and most uncomfortable silence.
Even so, he knew what had to be done. He sighed in preparation as he then spoke. "So," he began. "Whatever it is you have to say, please say it."
"Was it…" Pyrrha started, only to hesitate as he patiently looked to her. "Was it really needed to kill him?"
"Yes," he answered after staying silent for just a second or two. He spoke the word with such certainty that it was enough to make his partner slightly recoil, as if punched. "It had to be done, Pyrrha – the likes of Roman Torchwick never would've given up his ways, never would've changed. He'd have kept on committing crime after crime until he was physically incapable of doing so. And by such a point, just how many people would he have hurt by then? How many people could've been spared whatever pain and suffering he'd caused? The very fact he was even remotely willing to fire those missiles earlier at residential areas spoke for itself just how far he'd go if it meant achieving something he wanted."
Pyrrha took a second to look down, even looking in the general direction of Roman's body, only to practically flinch away upon seeing the body. "Even so, he could've been held in prison."
Surprisingly, it was Ren who spoke up now. "That would've only done so much good," he replied quietly, the black-haired teen shaking his head a little. "Prisons are constantly under siege from Grimm due to all the negativity the inmates and guards release. Putting someone like Torchwick in prison would only risk him escaping during any single moment of chaos."
Jaune blinked in mild surprise, having not expected Ren to support him like that. Nonetheless, he'd said more or less what he'd been intending to say. "Not only that," he began, picking up from where Ren ended. "But out there in the frontier, there aren't exactly many places where the much more dangerous criminals could be safely locked up until the kingdom's authorities can come and pick them up, not unless whoever captured them in the first place is willing to stand guard the entire time… and that won't always be possible for one reason or another. And unlike the kingdoms, the frontier doesn't really have any real defense against the Grimm – no walls or barricades to keep out the ground-based ones, no mounted turrets or safety nets to hold back avian Grimm. If there's enough negativity about, then the towns and villages out there will be attacked. Keeping bandits and thugs secure under such risky conditions isn't feasible. In some cases, they may very well be the source of the negativity to start with and draw the Grimm anyways."
Jaune let out another sigh. "And besides," he continued, closing his eyes for a second. He knew what he was going to say wasn't really going to sit well with Pyrrha. "Sometimes, there are people who are simply better off dead… for the sake of the greater good."
Sure enough, the redhead looked as if she'd been struck and hard at that too. She clenched a fist tightly but didn't say anything in response. Jaune could tell by the conflicted look on her face that on an intellectual level, she understood all this, but her heart was saying 'no' nonetheless.
He wasn't angry at Pyrrha – that was not an emotion he was really capable of anymore. Even if he could still feel such an emotion, he probably wouldn't be upset with how Pyrrha had acted earlier either. For he understood far too well the burden that came with being in a position such as this, which is to say, a position that could do some good. Even back before the bandit attack on his family, his father had often told him and his sisters of the dangers that were always threatening others, from bandits to con men and terrorists and so much more. Admittedly, having been such a young boy at the time he hadn't truly understood everything his dad had explained, but he'd still understood that the world wasn't so pure a place.
That said, it was one thing to know that things weren't always black and white, but another thing to be put in a situation where one got to see that up close and personal.
Pyrrha and so many others that applied to the four major academies may have been training for years on end to be huntsmen and huntresses and have therefore received plenty of lessons about what to expect when finally out in the field, but reality was always so much more impactful than anything that could be read about in a book or taught in a lesson. Therefore, it was alright that she'd acted that way; not everyone could just roll with things that easily, not at first anyways. And in any case, killing wasn't always the answer.
"I… I understand," Pyrrha eventually said. "It's just that…! I mean, I've known that we wouldn't always fight Grimm…" She was rambling now, an unusual thing for the teen to do.
Walking up to her, Jaune placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's fine," he responded. "I know it's not easy. It's not easy for me either nor will it ever be easy, but in order to protect the innocent, hard calls will eventually have to be made. Saving literally everyone… that's not possible."
He tried not to sound too bitter at that. He liked to think he succeeded since none of his friends seemed to notice.
Pyrrha nodded slowly, grateful for his understanding if the small and strained smile was anything to go by. "Thank you… and sorry… the woman escaped because of me…"
He shook his head. "If I'd truly tried, I could've killed her in one go, but doing that would've only put you and the others at risk in the process – my semblance is quite powerful in that regard. So it's also my fault that she'd taken off like that. Besides, regardless if she'd been able to make it back to Roman initially, he'd have launched those missiles anyways."
He now backed away from Pyrrha, though not before gently turning her around as to not have to look at Roman's body.
Off in the distance, he could now hear sirens coming. Looks like the police and ambulance were nearly here now.
The sound of the sirens relieved him a fair bit – soon Roman's body would be taken away and he and his team could lighten up a bit more. It was always hard to be around any scene of death, even if it had been necessary. Though people may find this strange if he ever said it aloud, but he hoped Roman got a proper burial. Out there in the frontier… it was always so dispiritingly easy for those that have died to be forgotten at wherever they'd fallen.
That all taken into account, however, he now looked to Ren and Nora in mild confusion. "So, why the sudden support?" he asked Ren, referring to the teen having explained to Pyrrha just now about the prisons.
He'd asked that in a calm manner, but the way Ren and Nora flinched, one would think he just yelled at them in an accusatory manner.
"…Being from a town ourselves, Nora and I know all too well how things are out there. And during our travels from out there towards the city, we've seen plenty of… well, let's just simply call it 'unsavory things.' We've seen our fill of death. And we knew going into this that at some point, as huntsmen and huntresses, we'd have to deal out death… we'd just hoped it wouldn't have to come to that so early on," Ren explained, looking ashamed.
But like with Pyrrha, Jaune wasn't upset and merely nodded in understanding. "I get it," he replied softly and meaning it. "It's not something that should ever be taken lightly or done so easily."
Ren and Nora nodded in complete agreement. "Even so," his fellow male continued. "I'm sorry for earlier as well. I know you have the best of intentions, Jaune, but perhaps we could try and communicate better about that in the future… seeing you just so ready to kill that woman had really rattled us."
Jaune shook his head up and down, pondering on that. "Yeah, fair enough."
As the police finally pulled up to their location, the blond teen took to heart what had just been said. It was easy to forget that he and his friends have only really known each other for weeks on end. To just expect them to roll with whatever he did as their leader would be the very height of foolishness and egotism.
But this didn't discourage him – if anything, it encouraged him.
It meant there was plenty room for growth for all of them.
He could only pray that going forward from here that they'd be able to make use of their potential.
Considering that the White Fang had gotten away again, he had the distinct feeling the terrorist group wasn't going to let yet another loss go like this.
He inwardly grimaced. For also taking into consideration the inevitable escalation, whatever was going to come next would likely make this near-tragedy look like a warm up in comparison.
Though the situation may have ultimately been resolved without much issue for our protagonists, things are going to be spicing up now in all sorts of ways.
Obviously, with Roman dead, Neo terrified, and the White Fang cell forced to relocate yet again and with even more of their supplies lost, Cinder and other powers in play aren't going to take this lying down. Expect the upcoming events to have true consequences now.
The next chapter will also go into more detail about both the exact fallout of this near-tragedy as well as what else is going on in the shadows. And as things advance, Jaune WILL find himself being tested in all sorts of ways, his friends as well as others too.
Hope you will look forward to that.
Until next time, everyone. Take care!