As the bright flash that lit the room faded, a familiar group of people made no real protest and took their seats, this time joined by a few extras..
Teams ABRN, NDGO, and SSSN, along with Penny, who immedietly clung to Ruby and vice versa. Qrow sighed like a working person sitting down to relax..
"Let's see what crazy things we have this time." Glynda nodded, actually enjoying the times things like this happen to them..
"Let's hope it's something interesting." Ozpin said, taking a sip from his mug..
The static in the screen cleared up to reveal a nearly empty, white appartment, with only a single brown table in the middle..
"Well this is depressing..." Weiss spoke, feeling something not quite right with the scene..
"It's just the start, maybe it'll get better." Sun's enthusiasm was apparent. It wasn't every day he was included in one of these clips, so he was hoping to see some action that included him in a way..
Jaune walked, or more accurately dragged, himself into frame, the only items in his hands were a pistol, and his scroll.
Sun's smile was gone in an instant. "Oh play me sideways..."
"W-wait, what's Jaune doing!?" Pyrrha was panicked, as well as everyone else.
"Wait, what's happening here!? Who's that!?" Dew asked, obviously puzzled as to what was happening.
"That's our leader!" Nora shouted, the panic in her voice more noticable than anyone's.
He sat down, placing the scroll in a sitting position, and played the instructional video Pyrrha had made for him. He stared at the screen until the video ended and reset itself, but he wasn't listening.
The soft droning in his head, he hasn't heard it since he waa four. They told him to just ignore it. Replace it with something; comics, movies, books, tv shows, sports, anything to make it stop. But what was the use? It didn't matter now.
"Jaune... are you thinking of killing yourself?"
His breath became shaky and labored as he ran hus fingers through his hair.
"Do you have a gun?"
He nodded. They always waited for a response. So kind of them.
The heavy realization that this was happening, and very much real and before the audience, made the tension in the room skyrocket.
Ruby's fingers dug into the fabric of Penny's clothing as the robotic girl attempted to calm her. Pyrrha had silent tears forming in her eyes along with Nora, as the rest of their friends held their breath, begging Oum to stop him.
He slowly placed the gun under his chin. They didn't need him. She didn't need him.
"I'll walk through it with you, Jaune."
His breaths were shallow and raspy, and tears fell down his face. Then he heard a voice be didn't think he'd hear again; his therapist was trying to stop him again.
"It's not your fault."
"Pull the hammer back." click
"You sew how wrong you were, now think."
He nearly pulled the trigger, when his scroll rang.
Ruby let a waterfall of joyful tears fall from her face, her mother, father, sister and fiend each comforting her, and even crying with her.
Pyrrha wiped her tears away, silently crying in joy as Nora hid her face in Ren's chest. Glynda bent forward, catching her breath and relaxing as Ozpin actually wipped sweat from his forehead.
Sun was unknowingly holding Blake's hand, who held his so tight her knuckles were white. His tail brushed against her back, gently comforting her as their hearts calmed.
Neptune found himself in a similar situation holding Weiss closely as he closed his eyes tightly. Slowly but surely, the heartbeat in his ears faded away into a calm state.
Soon all eyes were back on the screen.
Jaune gasped and caught his breath before quickly grabbing the scroll and answering, not bothering to check the I.D.
"H-hello?" A second of silence, and then a voice.
"Jaune, when I went to a real prison for the first time, my mother passed away." Jaune's eyes widdened slightly.
"Torchwick..."
"Among her positions was a shoebox I had given to her as a child. It was full of items from better days; the odd news paper headlines, spent shells... and the hammer." He paused. "She had kept the instrument of my father's death."
"Well, that was unexpected." Even Raven was taken by surprise by this. But she couldn't help but feel jealous of him. Her and Qrow's parents weren't exactly the best parents.
Qrow noticed the look in her eye and said nothing, knowing he couldn't do much to change his sister's mind.
"I thought she threw it away, but she kept it. There was a note inside, and it expressed how proud she was of me. How proud she was of what I have become, without question, or condition."
Jaune pushed the hammer on the gun back in place.
"That's what you truly want, right? To have someone accept and be proud of you, unconditionally? I know about your forged documents, Jaune. And I'm proud of you because of them."
"H-how..." He didn't continue and listened.
"I can give you what you want Jaune. I can give you just what you deserve. Not like that so called "friend" of yours, Pyrrha, was it?" Anger began to bubble inside of him. "If you accept, I've sent something to you. Something that will let you be your true self, unchained and free from self doubt."
His eyes slowly went to the door just ahead. Underneath, in the opening, something was set down that blocked the light coming from the hallway.
"And unlike everyone else, I and everyone with me, will never abandon you. But the choice is yours." A click and dial tone.
"J-Jaune... please don't..." Ruby, who was still quite shaken up from what her friend was going to do, begged for him to just let it go.
Ruby's wish went unanswered as the door slowly opened. The camera slowly looked down to reveal a simple box, with Jaune's name written on it.
Opening the door completely, the former Beacon student grabbed it and shut the door. He quickly opened the box, finding a dart board on the top with a small pile of pictures on top. Pictures of his friends.
The droning returned, but he shook it off, concentrating. He moved the board away, finding himself looking at crimson red chest armor. He clenched the edge of the box tightly, and closed his eyes. The droning became louder by the nano second, and when he opened his eyes, he'd made up his mind.
The screen suddenly cut to black.
Nora was quietly outraged, as was Yang. How dare they leave them without explanation? It's like watching a David Fynch film, but without everything else!
They remained quiet as the black faded away, and revealed a Beacon hallway.
Ren slowly made his way towarda the cafeteria for dinner, chatting with Nora to pass the time, and fill the awkward silence that surrounded them. If they said nothing, the tension between them and their new leader, who trailed behind, would've hit a boiling point.
It had already been a week since Jaune's expulsion, yet it was still too tense for anyone of them to bring it up, let alone reference it. The odd thing was the mutual feelings RWBY had. Although Jaune was really only friends with Ruby, the reapers team knew well enough to not shamelessly bring it up, especially Weiss who was threatened several times by the angry big sister that was Yang.
"Yes he was a fake. But if you make my sister cry, I'll do worse to you, princess."
Weiss shuddered, feeling the glare through the screen.
Something to note was the faint scar on Ren's forehead. The injury had been stitched up, due to his low aura at the time, but was gone by now. He never revealed just where he got it from though, claiming it to be a 'special secret'.
And quite a secret it was; Lie Ren himself, the quiet friendly lotus of Beacon, had a secret double life, one that even Nora wasn't privy to; he was a superhero.
"Wow, really?" Weiss groaned and rested her head on her palm, an annoyed look already on her face. Although Neptune didn't show it, he was exited about this version of Ren. The real one was cool, but this was even better.
"Wow! A superhero! Do you have any powers!?" Nora shook the poor boy, disorienting him, but luckily Pyrrha stepped in.
"Nora, it's just the video!" She managed to pull the hyper bomber off her teammate before she could do any serious harm.
"Are we just going to ignore the fact that Mr. Arc almost took his own life, or has possibly joined the most dangerous criminal in Vale?" Glynda spoke up, catching everyone's attention.
"Meh, probably." And qrow broke the attention.
Key word, was. Just three months ago he'd been injured enough to make a sane man stop, but he battled through it, going until just two weeks prior when he lost his suit in a building collapse. Nobody was hurt, but the media was relaying the news of the missing vigilante, even now.
But that was fine with him though, he needed to rest for a cool while. Besides, with everything that had been going on, especially his friend, he needed a break.
"So, Renny! Are you busy later?"
"Mph, bed. Tired." He chuckled with her, but stopped when all the lights went out, leaving everything illuminated by the moons natural light.
"Woah, blackout. Never thought that'd happen here." Ren closed his eyes and listened. Something wasn't right at all, he knew it.
"What do you think it is?" Octavia asked, only getting a 'shh' from Velvet, who handed her a popcorn bag from nowhere.
"Oh cool! You got anything else there BunBun?" Coco grinned as she was handed her own bag, and began munching happily.
It was a faint scream, but enough to get his attention.
"Someone's in trouble. Nora, go get a teacher!" With that, Ren shot down one of the pitch black halls, leaving Pyrrha alone as Nora ran off to get help.
"What do you think P-Money did to make them shun her like that?" She received several shrugs.
"Who knows? But it needed to be really bad for me and Ren to do that to her."
In one of the nearby classrooms, students of the human variety barely stumbled about, getting used to the darkness of the room.
"Maybe it's a fire drill?"
"I'm just glad these computers have a battery life."
"Yeah, it would've... hey, who the hell are you?"
A student, often seen by the majority of the viewers around campus, stood up, glaring at someone. He was suddenly fell to one knee, a faint and brief clang ringing through the air. A gloved arm wrapped itself around his neck, moving his head out of the way for a small, red metal batton, to suddenly be stabbed about a quarter in, killing him.
"Monty Fuckung Oum!!" Nobody bothered to reprimand Qrow for his language, as everyone was shocked at the sudden, and bloody, violence on screen. Raven, however, narrowed her eyes and looked closer.
"Wh-what the hell was that!?" Nebula jumped back in her seat, nearly spilling her popcorn.
The gloved arm threw the batton at another student, once again stabbing right through their aura and piercing their chest and killing them. Pulling out another twin batton from a holster on his left thigh, the assailant smacked another student in the neck as they ran to him, smashing his Adams apple. A third victim came when one of the remaining students attempted to attack him as well, only to find the small metal pole around his neck.
Nora burst into the room as the crack rang out, stopping her in her tracks. The lights suddenly came back, but very, very faintly. The room became clearer and the bloody trail she followed with her eyes, led her to seeing the back of a six foot tall man in a crimson red suit.
Velvet's jaw dropped, as did everyone else's. Ruby and NPR were hoping this was a joke. Ozpin feared it wasn't. Qrow gritt his teeth, knowing it wasn't. And a grin formed on Raven's face as she saw the display of brutality.
"This boy has potential."
His gloved hand reached down and pulled his batton out of the chest of the student he had thrown it to, leaving the carcass to bleed as he slowly turned around, revealing a devil themed mask that prevented anyone from seeing his face.
The droning was louder than before.
"We've prepared for this."
"...Molded you into something to world could tolerate!"
"People just like you. Like us."
"The real you."
A toothy grin formed on his face as he reveled in his kills. The droning stopped finally, and ge caught sight of Nora.
Ren's eyes widened immensely, and he felt the urge to jump in ad save her. But the real Nora was next to him, gripping onto his arm like a vice.
"Nonononono" Ruby repeated as Penny patted her head in comfort, and her mother held her hand tightly.
Suddenly, he threw his batton, not thinking twice about who it was. For a moment, Nora's life flashed before her eyes, when a hand suddenly flew out in a blur and caught the baton, just as it was about to hit.
Ren let a shaky sigh of relief, knowing this wasn't over yet.
The hand, partially gloved by a neck tie, twirled the batton slowly as the camera zoomed out. The hand slowly revealed it's owner; a tall boy wearing a black jacket, one size bigger, with a beanie pulled down over his eyes.
Although it wasn't clear at first, due to him jutting his chin out in a form of irritation, it was known who was underneath that disguise.
Ren looked on as his counterpart circled his opponent, and vice versa, questioning just what was going on.
"Ren, you're going to fight Jaune..." Nora didn't seem to like that.
"Yes..."
"H-he just killed a bunch of people..."
"I know, Nora..."
"Do you think you can take him?" He didn't respond, and nobody did it for him. What they had just seen told them that this Jaune was completely different, to the point of not even being Jaune anymore. And with what they say, specifically his throwing skill, it was a safe bet he'd been using the dart board and pictures to their fullest extent.
But who knows what other things Torchwick had put him through in the last three months?
Nora backed out of the room slowly, as the two opponents kept facing each other. Ren spoke as soon as the door shut.
"Who are you?" He smirked.
"I'm Daredevil." Immedietly, both opponents ran at each other. Ren threw the batton in his hand as a distraction, but the imposter dodged it, spinning to his right and swinging out his remaining baton, only to be blocked and quickly punched in the mouth three times. He brought his right arm to block an elbow strike, and hit his opponent's face with the tip of his batton before punching him back.
The assault didn't stop there, as Ren slid back and quickly brought his left leg up to kick the imposter in the stomach, winding him before delivering a powerful right hook into his face.
Jaune glared at the black suited vigilante, and rushed at him again, this time swinging his batton down, twirling it in his hand in a reverse grip when the vigilante dodged, and attempted to stab-strike him before he was punched in the gut, chest and face. He only staggered for a split second as he quickly kiced the vigilante in the chest and smacking him with the batton.
Ren quickly closed the small gap between them and delivered a series of punches and elbow strikes to the imposters chest, bringing a knee kick to send him back.
"Now this is a fight." Tayang leaned forward, already taking the scene in and examining their movements. "Ren's got the advantage here. His skill is much more refined than I expected, while Jaune's using whatever basic skills he has to the fullest." Summer nodded in agreement, and added her own observation.
"I think the armor's some kind of shock absorbent, which explains why he hasn't gone down. But he still has that marksmanship skill. We haven't seen much, but it's clearly deadly. If he gets any distance further than just a few meters, Ren's going to have some trouble closing the gap."
Jaune growled as he got up on one knee, and spat out the blood pooling in his mouth.
"Alright, dark knight, let's get serious!" Aiming at an angle, Jaune threw his batton to the floor, making it ricochet into Ren's face as he ran forward. Jaune took advantage and tackled him, lifting him off the ground and throwing him over a few desks.
Ren didn't hit anything but the ground, but it still hurt. Suddenly, three pencils found themselves embedded into the surface of a desk that had fallen just in front of him. Jaune grinned and threw two more, purposefully missing to get him to move, which he did.
Ducking and weaving, Ren attempted to close the gap between them, failing as a text book slammed into his chest. He tried again, this time catching a snow globe, which shattered as a pencil was thrown into it. A kick to the chest sent him back into the teachers desk, and he stayed down as a pair of scissors were thrown into his shoulder, and three pencils hit his leg.
Everyone groaned in pain, and leaned forward in anticipation. Even Ren found himself invested in the fight by then, not really minding the outcome at all.
"A victory is a victory. Jaune might have been my enemy here, but he beat me regardless."
"Kid, your laying in a classroom full of corpses made by your friend. I don't think praising his skill is appropriate right now." Ren shrugged and chuckled.
"I know. But if this is a superhero story, and I'm at a low point right now, the worst he'll do is knock me out. The third act has yet to come." Everyone nodded, and some were intreagued by how well he knew this story structure.
Jaune sauntered over, picking up his battons and placing them back in their holster. Ren struggled to stand, and fell down, groaning as he tried to pull the pencils out of his leg, before a boot stomped down on his head, knocking him out.
"See?"
Jaune grinned. He really did enjoy himself with the mystery hero. It was such a rush he never knew existed, and he hoped there would be more. But for now, he had to get the hell out, he'd done what he needed.
Looking up at a corner, the image changed to that of a security camera. Jaune grinned sadistically before grabbing a stapler and throwing it into the camera, cutting the image to black.
"That was so cool! I know Jaune's the bad guy here, but he was just-" Nora rambled on, soon joined by Ruby and Penny. Ren chuckles as they talked and watched the screen, already eager for a rematch.
"Can't wait to see what's next."