A little info before we start.
This takes place about one week after last chapter.
This arc will focus on multiple stories, the present and some in the past. It should be easy to tell which is which.
After killing Night, Onyx has mentally separated himself into two entities, Onyx and the Rider, besides personality which you will see, the only noticeable difference in the two is the voice. As the Rider his voice grows deeper and rougher to disguise his own, while as Onyx his voice is as it was described in Chapter 1 . So pay close attention to which one I say does what.
Act 2: Beware the Rider
It's the middle of the night. Onyx run across a rooftop, stopping at it's edge, he overlooks the alleyway below. Onyx pulls up his black scarf mask and puts on the hood of the tattered black cloak he is wearing over his overcoat. Onyx then perches on the rooftop and waits.
The back wall of a shop is blown open. A thug carrying a bag runs out into the alleyway behind the shop. He takes out and looks looks at his pocket watch.
"Right on time." The thug says to himself.
The pocket watch is shot out of his hand.
"Sure about that?" The Rider's voice echoes throughout the alley.
The thug drops the bag, takes out a pistol, and remains on guard.
"Who's there!? Show yourself!" The thug shouts.
The thug hears a footstep and fires in it's direction. Each shot misses, but gives him a small glimpse of Onyx.
"Two shots left. Make em' count." The Rider says.
The thug shoots in the direction of the voice, missing both times still only getting a glimpse of Onyx. One of the shots hits a pipe, filling the alleyway with gas.
"You missed." The Rider states from behind the thug.
The thug turns around, backs away, and tries to shoot. Onyx was right, he had no more ammo.
"Forget reloading." The Rider says.
The thug throws the gun to his side. He puts his hand in the air.
"Okay. You got me." The thug says.
The thug looks down and back as he lifts his right leg to reveal an hidden knife sheathed on his boot, hoping the gas would conceal his actions.
"No knife. Best bet is the backup piece." The Rider states.
"How did you...?" The thug begins.
He then grabs the backup gun from his back pocket and aims it at where Onyx was. But Onyx was gone. As the gas clears, the thug can see that Onyx is no longer in the alleyway. Onyx drops on top of the thug and throws him into the side of the alleyway.
"You said the backup gun was my best bet." The thug states.
"I lied." The Rider responds.
Onyx is interrupted by a large safe. It crashes into him from the side, dislocating Onyx's right arm.
Damn it, I let my guard down, Onyx thinks to himself.
A second thug stands, wielding two grey gauntlets.
"What's that they say? Oh yeah! Beware the Rider. Funny, I don't see nothing to beware off." The second thug taunts.
Onyx smashes his arm into a wall to pop it back into place. The second thug charges at Onyx and unleashes a flurry of blows. Onyx effortlessly dodges them all, waiting for an opening. Onyx spots one when the first thug tries to help, he shoots at Onyx but ends up hitting the second thugs gauntlets. The second thug angrily turns to his ally, who puts his hands up to apologize. Onyx then launches fires two shots at the first thug, using a black pistol with a crimson blade underneath the barrel and a front guard to cover his fingers. One of the shots disarms the thug and the second one knocks him out. Onyx then punches the second thug in the face knocking him out. Onyx groans as he holds his injured shoulder.
"That better be it for this evening's surprises." The Rider says to himself.
Onyx gets out of his bed, wearing only his grey tactical pants and black boots. A large bruise has formed on his shoulder due to the attack from last night. He wasn't sleeping, the Rider can't sleep. He had relocated to Red's apartment. It is a large two floored highend one. Obviously gotten through ill-gotten gains. Red stands at the door expectantly.
"What did you find?" Onyx asks.
"Not much, no more than the other thugs you've brought in." Red responds.
Red grabs Onyx's injured arm as Onyx tries to walk past him. Onyx groans.
"Your lack of rest is affecting you in the field." Red warns.
"I'm fine!" Onyx insists.
"Really!? Your aura should have protected you from that attack, so why didn't it?" Red says.
Onyx stares at Red.
"You haven't slept in days. Your aura is low and your weak." Red explains, "Normally, you'd be in the Shadow Zone so it would replenish your energy and aura at an accelerated pace, but ever since you've killed Night you've been avoiding it."
"I didn't ask for your medical report!" Onyx states.
Onyx pulls himself away from Red and enters an empty room. Red follows behind Onyx. Once inside Onyx grabs his cane, which was resting next to the door. Onyx taps the ground with it three times and a large container similar to the lockers at Beacon arises in the center of the room. The container opens, revealing Onyx's cloak, overcoat, grey tactical vest, scarf mask, and black tactical belt placed on a grey mannequin. The belt had many pouches and cylindrical containers on it, and the buckle and buttons are gunmetal grey. On the door was a bunch of gadgets and ammo, including two of the pistols the Rider had used. Onyx puts on his gear and walks to Red.
"It's ready, by the way." Red says.
Red takes out a small white box and hands it to Onyx. Onyx opens it and pulls out a pair of black tinted glasses. The glasses were designed to work as a tactical HUD. Onyx puts on the glasses and calibrates them to his liking.
"You know, even though we aren't criminals, we can still get locked up for this." Red warns.
"We are criminals, Red, you're still one too. The only difference is you have a boss." The Rider states.
"And you answer to no one. This is why we were on bad terms when you left." Red says.
"Make sure the others are ready." The Rider orders.
Red nods and leaves the room.
Team RWBY is in the library in Beacon Academy. They are sitting at a table playing games when Team VIRG walk up to them.
"Guess what!" Rusty shouts.
"What!" Ruby asks excitedly.
Rusty places his scroll on the middle of the table, projecting an image of the scene of the crime. The blown open wall was boarded up and police were at the scene.
"The Rider strikes again." Viridian comments.
The image cuts into a news report. Lisa Lavender's face appears next to images of the crime scene.
"The Rider has struck again, this time stopping a dust robbery. Once again there is no evidence to figure out what exactly happened. The only witness was the shopkeeper, who reported that the hooded man attacked the criminals before fleeing from the scene with them. The stolen dust however, was left at the scene of the crime. Whether the Rider is a vigilante or just aiding in criminal escapes is still up for debate." Lisa reports.
Ruby's face gets filled with disappointment.
"What's wrong?" Rusty asks.
"It's nothing." Ruby lies.
"It doesn't look like nothing." Indigo states.
"You always act like this whenever we bring up the Rider." Viridian states.
After a short moment of silence, Ruby speaks up.
"We know who the Rider is." Ruby admits.
"And..." Viridian says.
"He's Onyx, the guy we told you about." Ruby finishes.
"Hmm." Grey reacts.
Ruby had explained the events of the previous chapters to Team VIRG. They weren't sure how to react considering Onyx murdered a man in front of Team RWBY. Little did they know, that decision has continued to haunt Onyx and influenced every decision he's made. But most importantly, his vow to never take another person's life ever again.
The beginning of the second arc of Ghosts of Onyx has begun. If you want to know who Team VIRG is, read VIRG: Project Eclipse by Anonymous Fanz, the two stories take place in the same modified RWBY verse while not being directly connected, yet.
