Outcasts and Outlaws

Chapter 13

Grimm VS Everyone

Fun fact: This chapter was originally intended as a New Years Special, as I first wrote it at the end of 2014. This one's full of action, but might also be on the short side, so I'll upload one more chapter later tonight.

Opening Music: RWBY OP 1

(Music starts, shows Connor in a red shirt kneeling behind a tall figure in a green cloak in front of him) (Connor raises his hand, a depressed look in his eye)

THEY SEE YOU AS SMALL AND HELPLESS!

(The figure's green cloak flaps in the wind)

THEY SEE YOU AS JUST A CHILD!

(Dark clouds start to form in Connor's eye, it being zoomed in on until he evaporated into dark clouds)

SURPRISE WHEN THEY FIND OUT THAT A WARRIOR WILL SOON RUN WILD!

[OUTCASTS AND OUTLAWS]

PREPARE FOR YOUR GREATEST MOMENT!

(Shows Ruby in a training room with her scythe)

PREPARE FOR YOUR FINEST HOUR!

(Shows Connor standing in a tree wearing a long black coat)

THE DREAM THAT YOU'VE ALWAYS DREAMED

(Shows Yang on her bike)

IS SUDDENLY ABOUT TO FLOWER!

(Shows a horde of Grimm advancing)

WE ARE LIGHTNING!

(Shows Damien with Brook standing on one side of him, a shadowy figure on the other)

STRAYING FROM THE THUNDER!

(Connor looks behind him as a Grimm drops down and charges, but slashes past it)

MIRACLES OF ANCIENT WONDER!

(Shows Connor, Yang and Ruby charge in)

THIS WILL BE THE DAY WE WAITED FOR!

(Shows Connor standing in front of Beacon looking apprehensive)

THIS WILL BE THE DAY WE OPEN UP THE DOOR.

(Connor starts to fall forward)

I DON'T WANNA HEAR YOUR ABSOLUTION!

(Ozpin catches him and pulls him back up, then Team JNPR come to stand with him)

HOPE YOUR'E READY FOR A REVOLUTION!

(Shows Ozpin walking away from Connor with his Kane over his shoulder)

WELCOME TO A WORLD OF NEW SOLUTIONS!

(Zooms in on Ozpin's eye as a gold gear spins around in it)

WELCOME TO A WORLD OF BLOODY EVOLUTION!

(Shows Ruby, then Yang, then Ozpin, then a shadowy figure)

IN TIME, YOUR HEART WILL OPEN MINDS!

(Connor steps through the shadowy figure and draws his arm blades)

A STORY WILL BE TOLD!

(He does an epic pose)

AND VICTORY IS IN A SIMPLE SOUL!

[END]

It had been a few weeks since the incident in Vale, and everything had returned to normal, or at least as close to normal as possible. Connor continued to hang out with Team JNPR and Ruby, and Yang continued to hate his guts. Ozpin kept a close eye on Connor, and he noticed. He'd see Ozpin standing at the back of classrooms or in the lunch hall, he even ran into him in the hallways where he made excuses. Connor wasn't fooled, he knew he was being observed for signs that Kane was breaking through. Ozpin thought that because of what happened that night in Vale, Connor was losing grip on his control over Kane's powers, but he was wrong. For the first time ever, he had been completely in control, perhaps because he and Kane had both been targeting a similar objective and so they worked in unison. He tried not to dwell to much on this however, and just concentrate on enjoying his time with his friends.

The day was New Years Eve. Teams RWBY and JNPR had gone into Vale for the night and Connor had promised to catch up with them later, after he had done some work. On the rooftops of Vale, looking over the city of Vale, stood a man in a black cloak with his face hidden in the shadow of the hood. He looked down upon the city, scowling, waiting for his man to arrive. When his man finally did arrive, climbing into the rooftop via a ladder, he was holding a small black box with a dial on it.

"Here it is sir." He said walking forward with the box outstretched. "What's this thing gonna do?"

The cloaked man took the box from his man and looked closely at it, rubbing the dials with his fingers before responding in a deep voice. "When this dial is turned, a set of bombs in the city will explode, giving passage to the Grimm to enter the city and kill the boy."

"But sir." The man protested. "Wouldn't that kill everyone else in the city too?"

"I'll do anything to get that boy. To kill him." The cloaked man explained maliciously. "I don't care if the whole city dies along the way." He then held the box out to his man, signalling that he was to be the one to detonate the bombs.

"Sir...no." He protested. "I won't do it. I won't take all those innocent lives. Just let me kill the boy myself."

The cloaked man stared blankly into the distance, thinking over what had just been said. After a short silence he replied, "Your choice." Before cutting the other mans throat. As he fell to the ground clutching his bleeding neck, the cloaked man simply stood over him and said, "Can't get the staff these days." He reached down to the mans dead body and took the box, then stood overlooking the city once again as he stroked the dial with his fingers again.

"I wasn't even paying the poor bastard." He stated before grinning evilly and bursting into maniacal laughter and turning the dial.

As Team RWBY and JNPR came out of a shop, the ground began to shake. The force of an underground explosion shattered the street, leaving a gaping hole. More holes soon appeared across the city plaza and the surrounding streets and Grimm of all shapes and sizes filed out of them, ready to feast on the innocent.

The two teams drew their weapons, as Connor had recommended to carry them at all times in case Brook or Damien turned up. Ruby, Yang, Weiss and Blake stood in a circle wit their weapons raised and the Grimm charged.

Without hesitation, Ruby rushed forward, swiping at Grimm with her scythe. Yang followed up, firing shotgun shells through the air and punching away any Grimm that got too close. Weiss jumped from glyph to glyph, slashing and stabbing at passing Grimm and Blake cut the beasts into ribbons with her duel blades.

A Beowulf came charging out of the crowd at Jaune who raised his shield to block its claw. Pyrhaa jumped from the side and ran it through with her spear, and Nora smashed its skull with her sledgehammer whilst Ren held off another Beowulf coming up behind.

Damien and Brook walked through the streets of Vale, weapons at their sides. They hear screaming and see Grimm running down the streets in mass.

"What's he gone and done now?" Damien muttered, dreading the carnage to come. As Grimm approached them from the left, Brook charged at them, making clones of himself. The clones slashed and shot at the Grimm, quickly eliminating them. Damien walked forward casually until a trio of Ursa surrounded him. He put his hands on grips of his flintlock pistols, pulling them out slowly and pointing the sword end at the Grimm. When the first charged he pointed his gun at it, firing a gunpowder powered steel ball into its skull. Another charged on the other side and he ran past it, cutting with his katana blades. He then backflipped up to the Ursas head and cut its face into ribbons. The last charged at him and he shot it with both of his guns, then jumped up and speared its eyes with his swords, piercing its brain.

Back at Beacon, Connor was about to get on the airship to travel into Vale when the pilot told him of the attack and said it was unsafe. He thought of Ruby and the others and, knowing they needed help, told the pilot to fl him in.

Team RWBY once again stood in a circular formation, defending against the surrounding Grimm. A Grimm came down from the sky, smashing into the centre of the circle, separating the team. The Grimm was an enormous creature with no arms and massive legs and jaws. It walked towards Ruby with its mouth open, the rest of the team powerless to stop it.

A black streak in the sky, falling like a meteor. Fast, with no intention of stopping. It smashed into the ground between Ruby and the Grimm just as it lunged forward with its jaw. Ruby looked up from cowering behind the hands, searching for what had fallen from the sky.

As the dust cleared, the image revealed shocked Ruby. Connor had landed in front of the Grimm and its jaw had bitten down on his arm, which he held up in front of his face. Despite this, he didn't even wince. Like total badass.

Connor looked up at the creatures maw and said, "You can kill me, you can destroy this whole goddamn city...but you won't touch Ruby!!!" He yelled as he pushed his arm out of the grip of the creatures jaw, releasing a burst of energy as he did so, reducing the creature head to mush. He stood in front of the corpse for a while, breathing heavily and eying the rest of Team RWBY, then he turned to Ruby and embraced her in a tight hug. This supposed Ruby, but once again she returned it, both of them glad of each other's safety. After a short while of this, Ruby let go and looked at Connors arm, seeing that he was wearing his gauntlets. He'd protected his arm with it, otherwise he would've been mauled.

"I'm all right." He told her sincerely. "You?" Ruby silently nodded in reply. Connor had risked his life for her again. Looking up him, she felt a sudden urge to kiss him, not knowing where it came from. She put her hand on the arm she had assumed to be injured and stared up at his eyes.

"This is kinda awkward." Kane said to Connor, not having a clue what was going on. Connor didn't respond. He couldn't, he was paralysed with fear.

Yang saw the two looking at each other and walked over, feeling less mad than usual that they were together. As she strolled over, a Beowulf swung at her from the side and she knocked it out without even turning her head. When she reached the two, Connor expected her to throw a punch but instead she approached looking quite emotional.

She looked at Connor said, "I'm sorry. Ozpin talked to me about the thing and he convinced me it wasn't your fault."

Connor looked back at her, Ruby letting go of his arm and responded, "Ozpin talked to you?" What was the old man doing?

"You can hang out with Ruby now, I don't mind." Yang told him. "But no funny business." She snapped, pointing a finger at Connor.

"Got it." He responded. "No funny business." He then turned away and walked to the centre of the plaza, into the middle of the circle being formed by Teams JNPR and RWBY.

"So...a lot of Grimm here today." He said casually, acting cool even when the hundreds of Grimm closed in on the circle. "We should do something about it. Don't you think Kane?"

"Why should I care?" Kane questioned harshly, he didn't see any reason to get involved.

"Well, unless you want to die..." Connor muttered, convincing Kane otherwise. He immediately felt a surge of power going through him as the dark aura surrounded his body, stronger that ever before.

"What are you doing?" Weiss asked, slightly unnerved by the darkness surrounding Connors body.

Connor closed his eyes and then opened them again, brimming with darkness and said, "Keeping us alive."

He then smashed his hand into the concrete beneath him, creating a small crater around himself and sending hundreds of dark tendrils up into the sky. Each tendril bore down upon the body of a Grimm, killing them instantly and quickly moving onto another. Within minutes, the bodies of all the dead Grimm scattered the city streets.

Connor slumped down onto his knees, exhausted. Ruby and Yang walked out of the circle and stood on the edge of the plaza, looking out onto the sea of corpses.

"If he can do this, how can he not be dangerous?" Yang asked Ruby, interested to hear her opinion, but not angry.

"He in control of it." Ruby replied, looking up at her sister with tears in her eyes. Yang couldn't tell if they were tears of joy or sadness. "I...trust him with my life."

Either way, the tears broke Yang down. She submitted to Ruby's words and accepted her opinion. "Ok." She said quietly.

As Ruby and Yang stood there in the cold, Connor came up behind them and wrapped his arms around each of their shoulders, supporting himself on them. He hung his head down, panting, still tired from the excessive effort.

"Kane." He said out loud. "What time is it?"

Kane replied immediately, "It is exactly 23:59 PM."

Connor smiled and looked at Ruby, lifting himself up slightly but still supporting himself on the two girls shoulders. "It's about to be the new year." Ruby returned his smile and he said, "Happy new year Rubes."

"Happy new year, Connor."

And starting in the next chapter is the final stretch for this volume! I think there's about 3 or 4 chapters left. Looking back, I'm worried the ending isn't as well written as it could be, but I've decided to post it as it was originally written so I can work on brand new chapters.