Chapter 2

Exhibition I

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or any of the Metro games or books.

Dialogue in bold is in Russian.

A/N: If the weapon's name looks real, it probably is. Google if you want to find out, I'm only going to explain Metro stuff. Also, LASERS! SO MANY LASERS! YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE HOW MANY LASERS!

Anon: I'll reveal their past in due time. As to the whole de-aging thing, Miller's leg regeneration and Ulman's resurrection, I was aiming for that "different circumstances" portion of Artyom's wish. Also, Khan died in D6 in the C'est la Vie ending. He only disappears in the Redemption ending. Also, you're right about Khan not being fully affiliated with the Rangers, but I can't see anything that would describe him as a hands-on learner other than Artyom's description of him as "...a man of his time, moving between the dark and the light, searching for answers underneath the rubble." Even that's a stretch. The only things that are clear for Khan's personality are that he is charismatic, capable of convincing almost anyone, and a spiritualist. And for the fighting part, he would probably just fight the Grimm like mutants. Also, Artyom was born in 2009, (at least, according to the Wikia) so fast-forwarding to 2033 or 2034, assuming the events of Last Light were a year after 2033, making him at least 24.

The four Rangers woke up the next day, and performed their morning routines, with the addition of a hot shower. Showers in D6 were just as cold as the snow they melted it from. They didn't have a change in clothes on hand, so they were still in their Spartan uniforms, except for Khan in his regular attire.

"So, did anyone lose any of their gear when we get here?" asked Artyom, as a whistle chirped in the room next door. "Ah, the memories of basic training," said Ulman in a wistful tone.

The other three shook their heads. "Though it has been a while since we maintained them," Miller said.

"Looks like you three have some maintenance to do then. I already did it before we fended off the Reds," replied Artyom.

"I think it would be a good idea to do that after breakfast," Khan proclaimed.

"I agree. After all, we feed ourselves first, then we feed our guns, then we feed their shit to the monsters," Ulman responded.

Miller sighed. "You're doing the Strugatsky name proud, Ulman," sarcasm overflowing from his voice. The four were about to walk out their dorm room, when four girls ran past them, one with short dark hair with red tips, one blonde with straight, waist length hair, one with white hair in a sideways ponytail, and one with long, black hair with a bow on top. "Hey, wasn't that the girl who guided us here? Wasn't her name Blake or something?" questioned Artyom.

"Yes, I believe that was her. Looks like she's a student here," Khan answered. The four felt their Scrolls vibrate. There was a message for all students saying that classes were cancelled for the day for one more team to go through initiation. It also stated that students can watch the initiation at the ampitheater at their own choice. The four kept walking as Ulman stated, "Well well, looks like we might have ourselves an audience. Let's show these kids what Rangers can do, huh?"

Meanwhile…

Team RWBY skidded to a halt to check their scrolls."Attention students: All classes are cancelled today, as we have one more group of students to be initiated. All who wish to watch the initiation may go to the amphitheatre at 11 AM," Ruby read out loud.

"I thought all the teams have been assigned yesterday. I wonder what's going on?" asked Yang.

"Well, whoever they are, they have a lot of gall to show up a day late," Weiss scoffed.

Blake remained silent, when she picked up a familiar voice. "…what Rangers can do, eh?"

"And what's this about having the gall to show up a day late?" questioned Miller, with an ever so slightly threatening tone his voice the deepest that he can go. The three girls, except for Blake, jumped back in surprise. 'Who are these four?' Weiss thought to herself.

"Oh, hello there Blake. You didn't tell us you were training to be a huntress," Khan said in a cheerful tone.

"Blake, you know these four?" asked Ruby.

"I found them in the Emerald Forest last night," Blake replied.

"You went to the Emerald Forest alone? Why didn't you wake us up?! Who knows what these four could have done to you!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Well excuse us, Anastasia," Ulman replied, the other three chuckling a little at the reference, "but us common rabble have SOME honour."

"What did you just call me?! How dare you talk to me like that? Do you have ANY idea who I am?" Weiss angrily shouted.

"Then let us find out. I am Khan."

"Artyom."

"Miller."

"Ulman. Damn, Khan, you make for a good ambassador."

"Always happy to prevent wars or fights of any kind," Khan bluntly replied.

"Well, I'm Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the biggest manufacturers of Dust in Remnant." Weiss replied, in her usual smug tone.

"I never thought I would see the day a man would pay for a whole bunch of dirt. Ah, how radical a change of setting this is," Ulman responded. He was packing on the sarcasm today.

"How can you call yourselves 'future huntsmen' if you don't know what Dust is?!" Weiss screamed. She then went on a tangent about it, but when she realized no one else was paying attention, she stopped.

"I'm Ruby," the red-haired girl stated.

"And I'm her sister Yang," the blonde chipped in.

"Strange, you don't look like sisters," replied Artyom.

"Yeah, we get that a lot," Ruby responded as she gazed down at Ulman's uniform. "What does that say?" she asked, pointing to the letters on his vest.

"That says 'Sparta,'" Miller replied.

"What is that language that you speak? I've never seen nor heard it before in my life," Blake casually asked.

"Let's just say it's mine and my comrades' 'secret code,'" Ulman replied.

Ruby gasped. "GUYS! WE NEED OUR OWN SECRET CODE!"

"Nah, too much work," Yang replied.

"Agreed," said Blake.

"Besides, it's highly unnecessary," deadpanned Weiss.

"So, will you be watching our initiation later?" asked Miller.

"You're the group that's going through initiation?" asked Yang. "On behalf of Team RWBY, and all the other first year teams, we thank you for cancelling classes."

"Well gentlemen, I think it's best that we get going," Miller stated.

"Well girls, we have to go. We can't go through this initiation on an empty stomach, no?" Khan said.

"Alright, good luck!" Ruby replied as the four walked towards the cafeteria, and started telling her team about the intricacies and coolness of a secret code. The other three just groaned.

The Rangers headed over to the cafeteria, and had their breakfast. They were overwhelmed at the menu, and their minds were blown at the sheer flavour of their food and the cleanliness of the water. Someone from the Metro would pay a large heap of bullets just to have this experience, and said experience was nigh impossible. Such is the life of the man who lives on nothing but pork and mushrooms which were the only things that people were really able to fully cultivate in the Metro. Other ingredients were rare to nonexistent. The water on the other hand, was radiation free. Not one day in the Metro passes without a Geiger counter ticking ever so lightly on a glass of water, determining whether there is enough radiation to still be in the safe zone.

After their meal, they headed off to the armory to perform maintenance on their weapons and stock up on ammunition. Their jaws almost dropped to the ground when they saw the ammunition storage. Most of the bullets they saw therein probably didn't even exist in the Metro, if not the world, anymore. Artyom was genuinely surprised as they actually had 15mm steel balls for his Volt Driver. The variety of ammunition they had at Beacon was astounding. After they had collected their fill of ammunition, Artyom asked the three as they prepared to clean their weapons, "So, what did you take to defend D6?"

Khan spoke up first, cleaning away. "Well, I took an AKS-74U and a Lolife. I prefer to pack light." The Lolife is a fairly new handgun in the Metro, known for its high rate of fire to the point that with the right modifications, it may as well have been an extremely light submachine gun, which was exactly what Khan wanted. It had an extended magazine, an autofire adaptor that gives it full auto functionality, reflex sight, stock and foregrip, an extended barrel and a laser designator. "I've also got my Hellsing." The Hellsing is a pneumatic revolving crossbow, relying on air pumped into a small tank with the stock built around it, a gauge attached to it sticking out a bit to the side, right next to the firing mechanism, which measured the air pressure. The cylinder is composed of eight thin, long tubes, which fired steel bolts. Under it is the foregrip, which doubled as its manual air pump. He had it customized with an airtight valve which prevented air from leaking out the tank especially when over-pressurized, a 2x optical sight and a laser designator.

"What about you, Colonel?" asked Artyom.

"I helped myself to one of our secret weapons. A VSSK Vykhlop. You know how I called Anna the best sniper in the Order? Well, someone had to teach her. This is one of the rarest weapons in the whole Metro. It took a lot of bullets and a highly skilled gunsmith to outfit this thing for semi-auto fire. I also have a revolver and a Saiga-12" Miller showed the rifle off, and proceeded to strip it, loud "Whoas" emanating from the three. He had the Saiga outfitted with a twenty round drum, bayonet and laser designator. The revolver was left vanilla.

"Ulman?"

"I've got my trusty silenced VSV with laser and reflex sight, as always, along with a silenced Lolife with an extended magazine. I also have…THIS!" He flashed a grin and showed off his third massive weapon, dwarfing the other two in size. The three Rangers' eyes widened, shouting "OH MY GOD!" as their usually stealthy court jester was sporting an Abzats. "BEHOLD, MORTALS!" Ulman cried. "You just HAD to one-up me, didn't you, Ulman?" Miller groaned. This monster of a shotgun was originally a mounted machine gun, but with the powerful sorceries of their friend Andrew the Blacksmith, it was outfitted for 12 gauge shotgun shells. It was customized with a muzzle brake, an autofire adaptor, a forty round ammo box of a magazine, and a laser designator.

"Well, at least we're equipped for any situation we land ourselves in," chided Artyom.

"We should also take a look at this 'Dust' stuff that bitchy Anastasia was talking about," Ulman commented.

"From what I've read beforehand on my Scroll, this 'Dust' appears to be used for energy. It also seems to be used as a sort of elemental magic here. Even bullets can be imbued with this. I wonder how long it will take for them to think of something like the nuclear missiles that have ravaged our world…" Khan replied as he finished up.

"Maybe we can take some and put them in our explosives?" asked Artyom.

After they had finished their maintenance on their weapons, and receiving a crash course in Dust from the quartermaster who also gave them a few of the pipebombs they were used to using filled with Dust, they exited the armory. The room was silent once more, with all the students who were in the armory at that time speechless, wide-eyed and completely confused as to what events have just transpired.

Beacon Cliff, 11:00 A.M.…

Ozpin paced back and forth in front of the Rangers, with Glynda Goodwitch standing behind him. "Your mission is to head to the northern end of this forest and retrieve a relic. You will meet opposition on the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die."

"Not that we've never done that before," Artyom muttered under his breath.

Ozpin gestured the Rangers to huddle up with him, whispering to them "I will have to have you stand on those plates with the Beacon insignia you see on the cliff, so that the other students wouldn't know that something is out of place. Those plates are made to launch those who are standing on it hundreds of metres in the air, having to land of their own procedure."

"So how exactly do you wish to have us survive a six hundred metre fall, sir?" Miller asked.

"Simple. I will have Professor Goodwitch here help you. She will slow down your fall, and the students will be none the wiser. I have already told her about your…conditions, and she has agreed to do this. Also, try to refrain from talking in Russian. I want the students to learn from your examples, communication-wise, plus, I don't want to confuse them. Are you ready?"

"Yes," the four simultaneously responded.

"Good. Take your positions." The four started walking towards the plates.

"Gas masks on," commanded Ulman.

"Why? It seems unnecessary," replied Khan.

"Well, since our gas masks are completely rendered useless with this nice, clean air, I thought that we could use it for style points."

"How have I been putting up with you all these years, Ulman?" asked Miller.

Artyom put on his gas mask. "Well, the gas masks we have attached to our helmets have our radios on them, and Vladimir built one in on Khan's mask."

"If that is one purpose, I can't see why not," replied Khan, putting his mask on.

Miller sighed and put his mask on.

The Spartans did as they were told, and were launched off the cliff. Despite the forewarning by Professor Ozpin, the marvel of flight was still fairly new to them, flailing and screaming in mid-air.

Meanwhile, in the amphitheatre…

Team JNPR had just arrived in the amphitheatre, when Yang called them over, claiming to have saved them some spots.

Nora was the first to speak up, as always. "Ooh, more people! More friends! Are they gonna be our friends? I really hope they do!"

Ren remained silent, a smile on his face. Nora was hyperactive, but her bubbly attitude is one of the things that made her more tolerable.

Ruby then piped up. "Those guys are kind of weird, but I think they're pretty cool. They even have a secret code! I wonder what weapons they use…" She then started drooling, letting her imagination go wild as to what armaments these four mysterious boys wielded.

Nora's heart rate skyrocketed at the mention of the words "secret code." Her voice rose to a crescendo. "ohmYGODGUYSWENEEDASECRETCODERENPYRRHAJAUNEWENEEDASECRETCODEJAUNECANWEHAVEASECRETCODEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE!"

Ren simply replied, "Nora, I don't think a secret code is necessary." Jaune nodded his head in agreement. Pyrrha replied, "It's an interesting enough concept, but Ren is right. I can't really see the necessity of a secret code."

Yang then asked Blake of her opinion on the four, skill-wise.

"Well, they seem capable enough. Their clothes may look strange, but they tell me they dispatched a pack of beowolves, including their Alpha, all by themselves."

"Well, I still have doubts about them, especially that Ulman person. We can probably take a pack easily, what makes them special? They didn't even know what Dust was." replied Weiss.

"Why are they putting on those masks?" asked Jaune.

The two groups then watched as the four got catapulted off the cliff, flailing and screaming about.

"Looks like they just copied your landing strategy, Jaune," teased Yang.

Artyom flailed the least of the four. When you take a look at the spectacle that is the four flying soldiers that spent at least twenty years of their lives underground, he appears to be the most composed out of all of them. If you were able to read minds, however, Artyom was probably screaming the loudest in that department. He could not think of anything else but landing on the ground safely, mainly because he was screaming this thought in his mind, blocking out almost anything else. Glynda raised her riding crop, prepared to give them their invisible safety net, when suddenly, the four vanished in clouds of black smoke, and an orange glow where their torsos used to be.

"Ozpin, did you see that?"

"Yes I did. We'll chalk it off as a Semblance for the other students."

In the amphitheatre, the students were surprised to see the four flailing Spartans land safely. "Were they putting on a show or something?" wondered Yang.

"Either way, it seems very unprofessional," Weiss responded.

"Who cares? When are they gonna show off their weapons?!" Ruby shouted.

"Looks like one of these guys has a teleportation semblance, I guess," Pyrrha mumbled.

Nora commented, "Well that was a boring landing strategy. Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be a Remnant-shattering kaboom!"

Ren sighed, and responded, "Maybe next time."

Blake watched the four disappear when she felt a dull headache.

The two teams noticed that Blake was in pain, and tended to her wellbeing.

Back in the Emerald Forest…

Artyom stood in a clearing, his three compatriots close by. 'Is this Professor Goodwitch's safety net or something?' He thought to himself. He dusted himself off, and helped Ulman up. Khan was already standing, over-pressurising his Hellsing, with Miller right beside him, Saiga in hand. Artyom unslung the Volt Driver, charging its battery to maximum. Ulman unholstered his Lolife, cocking it.

"Rangers, let's move out," Artyom commanded. The four stuck to a close knit formation, with Miller and Ulman in front, and Artyom and Khan in the back. After a few minutes of walking, they spot three Ursai in the clearing up ahead. The four immediately got behind some trees.

Artyom carefully analysed their Ursa situation. He was proud of his skills of subterfuge and stealth, almost rivalling Ulman's. Besides, he can speak for the team when he says that they don't want the Ursai's attention. He notices the Ursa on their left appears to be further to the other two.

"Khan, Ulman, take aim at the Ursa on the left. I'll try to lead it away from the rest. Colonel, you and I are on standby, in case we get spotted." Artyom then pulled out a throwing knife. "Ready?" he asked his comrades.

"Hellsing's pumped and aimed for its chest."

"I've got my rifle trained on the back of its head."

"Ready."

Artyom threw the knife at a nearby tree, attracting the Ursa's attention. As it made its way to the source of the commotion, it was greeted with three steel rods to the chest, and two bullets to the cerebellum. Khan and Artyom made their way over to the corpse, Khan retrieving the three bolts, and Artyom his throwing knife. "Now for the other two. We're going to have to take these two down together."

Miller put his Saiga away and unslung the Clapper (as the VSSK was nicknamed in the Metro) and aimed it at the first Ursa's head, Artyom following suit, slinging his Volt Driver and took out his revolver and knife. Khan, Ulman and and Artyom aimed for the second one's spine. Artyom started counting down.

'Three.'

'Two.'

'One.'

'Fire.'

At his command, the four discharged their guns. Miller killed the Ursa easily, showing the world once more that marksmanship and anti-materiel rifles were a deadly combination. Khan let his bolts loose, and Ulman and Artyom started shooting as well. Artyom ran and unloaded his revolver on the Ursa's back, and he was poised to stab it as well, but the damage was enough to kill it. 'If only I could do this back in the park with that mutant bear…well, at least I can trust my companions enough not to eat its corpse and cubs, unlike those Watchmen. Well, at least I still let it live its life in peace,' Artyom thought to himself. The Rangers reloaded their weapons and pressed on.

In the amphitheatre…

"Well, that was pretty good. For a sneak attack," Yang commented.

"Well, it's the approach I prefer. Classic subterfuge," Blake responded.

"Did you hear anything from Khan's weapon? It was so quiet!" Ruby squealed.

"If only you can learn from Khan's weapon, Ruby. They're not half bad, but we'll see how they are when they get into a situation they can't sneak past," Weiss said with a condescending tone.

"Why are you judging these four so harshly, Weiss?" asked Pyrrha.

"Probably because of something they said that wouldn't infuriate anyone but her," Yang replied.

Weiss simply scoffed and crossed her arms.

Nora was shouting at the screen, ordering the four to start blowing things up.

Ren just sighed.

Blake was recovering from her headache. 'Is this going to get frequent?' she asked herself.

Jaune just keeps watching the stream.

Half an hour into the initiation…

The Spartans were running for their lives, the temple in their sights. "SINCE WHEN DID SPIDERBUGS START LIKING LIGHT?! THIS IS FUCKING NIGHTMARE FUEL!" Ulman screamed as a Deathstalker tried to take a swing at him with its claws.

"Well, considering that we are…guests…here, we shouldn't have thought that the same rules apply!" Khan shouted back.

"Hey, what if they are like spiderbugs?" replied Artyom.

"In what sense could that be?!" responded Miller.

Artyom said nothing as he set his last claymore behind him, smack dab into the Deathstalker's path. The claymore was detonated, and the Deathstalker bucked back.

"I have an idea! Distract it and lure it in front of the temple!" Artyom commanded. Khan unloaded his Lolife into the Deathstalker, knowing fully well that he wasn't going to do any significant damage. Artyom took out two of his regular pipebombs, lit one and rolled it under the Deathstalker. The grenade exploded, and the Deathstalker bucked, forming a shallow crater underneath. Taking the opportunity, Artyom sprinted towards the crater and slid himself in. He unsheathed his knife and started punching the tough, bony exoskeleton. After one punch with the knuckle duster, the armor had a fist-sized hole in it. 'I guess I don't know my own strength', he thought to himself as he started slashing the flesh under the armor. The Deathstalker kept bucking, 'Well, it's now or never,' he thought as he lit his second grenade and stuck it on the flesh pocket he had carved out. Then, Artyom crawled out of the crater as fast as he could, running towards his comrades and when the grenade exploded, a half of the Deathstalker's corpse was lying right outside the area with all the pedestals with the relics on it, almost forming like some sort of barricade in front of the Rangers, who then turned around to pick up a relic.

"Well done, Artyom," Khan said.

"I think Korbut was right. You are very resourceful," Miller said, throwing in his two cents.

The four heard a large multitude of howls and roars.

"Anyway, now we are cornered on this little building with pillars on it, and there's an entire horde of Grimm headed our way. Is it just me or does this situation look like what I think it looks like?" asked Ulman.

"I think it looks like what you think it looks like, Ulman. I can see it," replied Artyom.

"Talk about history being able to repeat itself," Khan muttered.

"Wait, what does this look like?" asked Miller.

The three simultaneously responded with two words that sent a chill up the group's spines.

"D6."