Chapter 6: Bullies and Mercenaries
Author's Note: Hello guys, I'm back with a whole new chapter. We will be seeing some Deathstroke action, but it will be a surprise of who he faces first. We will be also seeing Ren and Nora interacting with the rest of the RWBY gang, or in this case, Team RBYN and RWNJ. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter.
I do not own RWBY. It belongs to Monty Oum (R.I.P.) and Rooster Teeth.
I do not own Batman. He belongs to DC Comics.
Deathstroke was looking at his two new targets. He was observing them through the scope of his sniper rifle. The two targets are not Batman and Robin. In fact, these two targets were teenagers that Roman told him would be bonuses if he killed them. Since they were in fact teenagers, Deathstroke wanted to get them out of the way. However, that required him to go all the way to the Kingdom of Mistral.
The two targets are a male and a female. The female has medium-brown skin, dark-red eyes, and light, mint-green cut hair. Green doesn't sound weird as anyone would think since colorful hair is popular in society. She's wearing an intricate, exotic-looking white top and olive shallow-cut undershirt. One the back of it is a cut gem, which seems to be her emblem. She's wearing white pants and brown chaps at the end of her calves and an overlong belt which is also where she is keeping her weapons. She's also wearing two bronze-colored rings on her middle fingers and a pair of high-heeled shoes.
According to Roman, the girl's name is Emerald Sustrai. From what Roman said, she's a former street rat and thief. Deathstroke have had no problem dealing with people like Emerald. However, it's her semblance of perception manipulation was what made the mercenary a bit more careful but only a bit. Then, there was her partner.
Her male partner is a pale, well-built man around her age with silvery-gray eyes and hair. He's wearing a gray and black two-tone partial-zip jacket that covers his upper body. He's also wearing a belt with a sash draped over it and rerebraces and vambraces to protect his arms. According to Roman, the boy has prosthetic metal legs which are also his weapons as well.
Deathstroke was intrigued by the boy because he is Mercury Black, the son of the infamous assassin Marcus Black. The mercenary had one encounter with the assassin. Deathstroke was hired to protect a wealthy man from assassination. Marcus was the one who attempted the assassination. The mercenary brutally defeated Black, who managed to escape. Deathstroke was wondering how skilled Mercury is compared to his father.
The mercenary pulled the trigger and shot at the two. Mercury, trained for such situations like this by his father, heard the gunshot and reacted quickly. He quickly tackled Emerald to the ground, causing their attacker to miss.
"What the hell was that for?!" Emerald shouted at her partner in anger. Mercury didn't respond as he found the person who tried shooting them. Instead of feeling anger, he felt fear. His father once told him of a man who defeated him. While Mercury knew that his father wasn't invincible, he always saw Marcus as difficult to beat due to the abuse he suffered from him. However, the man who was shooting at them matched the descriptions his father gave him.
"We need to go," Mercury quickly told Emerald.
"What are you talking about?" the green haired girl asked. Mercury realized that the man who attacked them was gone.
"There was someone attacking us!" the silver haired boy told her.
"Oh yeah, who?" Emerald asked.
"That would be me," said a voice behind them. They turned around to see the mercenary.
"Who are you?" Emerald asked him. Meanwhile, Mercury was too frightened at this point to say a word.
"I am Deathstroke. I will be the last person you'll ever face," the mercenary answered. Now Emerald was a bit scared. This person is trying to kill them, and she doesn't even know why.
"Leave us alone," Mercury growled.
"I'm afraid I can't do that. You two are bonuses of job I just accepted," Deathstroke replied. He pointed his two submachine guns at them. "If you want, I'll make this painless for you two."
"Yeah, not going to happen," Emerald replied. She took out her weapons, which were a pair of kusarigama. They can also transform into a pair of dual-wielded pistols. Roman Torchwick gave Deathstroke a lot of information. Mercury loaded his legs. While he was scared, he wasn't going down without a fight.
"Very well, you two have just sealed your fates," Deathstroke said. The mercenary shot his guns at them. Emerald and Mercury quickly dodged to avoid being hit. Emerald shifted her weapons into pistol mode and shot at her opponent. Deathstroke effortlessly dodged them and ran towards the duo.
"Take this!" Mercury shouted as he made a jump kick at the mercenary. Deathstroke twisted his body to dodge Mercury's attack and slammed one of his submachine guns on his face. The silver haired boy was knocked down to the ground.
"Mercury!" Emerald shouted. The mercenary turned to her. The green haired girl needed to think of something. She knew that she couldn't beat this Deathstroke guy in a one on one fight. She decided to use her semblance.
Deathstroke suddenly heard police sirens. He looked up and saw a couple of police cruisers coming by. Deathstroke made sure that he and his targets were alone yet the police were already on their way. He looked to see his two targets being gone. That's impossible. They couldn't have gone too far. When the mercenary looked back at the cruisers, he saw them at the same distance as before. He realized something. This is a hallucination! Deathstroke shook his head, and the police cruisers disappeared along with the sound of the sirens.
"Come on Mercury!" Emerald told her partner. Her partner was still a bit groggy from being hit by the mercenary's took out his broadsword. He's going to enjoy this. When Emerald turned around to check on their opponent, she saw the mercenary charging at them. Dropping Mercury to the ground, the green haired girl took out her weapons in kusarigama mode.
Deathstroke swung his sword at the girl, but Emerald was able to block them at the last second. However, the mercenary kicked her at the gut causing Emerald to stagger then gave her a roundhouse kick that sent her to the ground. During the process, Emerald lost the grip of her weapons. When she tried to regain them, the mercenary kicked her across the chin.
"Just like every other street right, always relying on luck and instinct," Deathstroke muttered to the girl. He raised his sword to the thief's neck. Emerald was filled with fear. She was going to die. Her life flashed through her eyes. She remembered living on the streets and stealing from others before she was taken into Cinder's wing. She failed Cinder. Before Deathstroke could make the kill, he was hit on the back.
"Get away from her you son of a bitch!" the mercenary heard someone growl. He turned to see Mercury standing. The silver haired boy began shooting rounds of Dust into the air. After shooting more rounds, Mercury began to spin the projectiles into a cyclone. Deathstroke was impressed at what he saw. Maybe this kid was good as his father.
Mercury then directed the projectiles towards Deathstroke. The mercenary was given a direct hit by the blasts. Mercury watched as smoke was created because of his assault. He was wondering if Deathstroke was down and out. Suddenly, the silver haired boy was hit by a blast of red dust from the smoke. Deathstroke walked out from the smoke cloud, holding a metal bo staff.
"No, that's impossible," Mercury told himself in shock. This man was unstoppable. Mercury knew he couldn't win. However, if he kept fighting, maybe Emerald would be able to escape. Maybe she could tell Cinder what happen so she can take care of this bastard.
"I expected more from the son of Marcus Black," Deathstroke said. Mercury growled in response. How dare this man mention his father?! Mercury rushed towards the mercenary and performed a spinning kick. Deathstroke immediately blocked the kick with his staff and punched the boy across the face. Mercury got up, only to receive a kick to his stomach by the mercenary. Deathstroke then gave a hard hit to Mercury's head with the bo staff. The mercenary used his staff to blast red Dust at one of Mercury's legs, disabling it.
"Get away from him!" Deathstroke heard Emerald shout. She slashed her weapons at the mercenary, only to hit his armor. That was a big mistake for her. Deathstroke whacked her before switching back to his broadsword. The mercenary then grabbed her by the throat and slammed her to the ground hard. Emerald then felt all of her aura drained. She then screamed in pain shortly after. She looked up to see the sword impaling her stomach. This is it. She saw the blood flowing from her like a river. She felt her life fading away.
"Emerald!" Mercury shouted. He tried to get to the two, but he can only hobble. Using his good leg, Mercury shot another blast of Dust, but Deathstroke was able to easily evade it. The mercenary ran towards the silver haired boy. Mercury tried to get away, but Deathstroke sliced of the disabled leg. Unable to support himself, Mercury collapsed onto the ground.
Mercury Black knew this was the end. He couldn't escape and Emerald is already dead. He could see her body on top of that large puddle of blood. He and his partner were needed for Cinder's plan. Mercury wondered that when Cinder learns of their deaths, would she abandon her plan or simply replace them. She'll probably go with the second option. After all, he and Emerald were pawns to the fire user. Mercury looked up only to see Deathstroke looking down at him through his dual colored mask.
"Go ahead, finish me. You won," Mercury said to the mercenary. He knew that he lost and he admitted it. To be honest, he always felt that there would be someone who would eventually kill him just like how he killed his father after years of abuse. Deathstroke stared at his opponent and raised his sword towards the fallen boy. Mercury's life ended when the sword was driven into his chest.
Deathstroke looked at the two fresh corpses. He would need to bring the bodies to present them to Roman in order to receive his bonuses. After that, he would go after his true targets: Batman and Nightwing and Cinder Fall. The mercenary picked up the two corpses and headed back to the airship that he came from.
A Few Days Later
After stopping a few minor robberies from the White Fang (no appearances from any majors) and minor thugs as their vigilante counterparts, Ren and Nora were having lunch with their teammates and friends. Ren noticed that Juane was in some sort of depression for reasons he didn't know. Though, the magenta eyed boy could guess a couple of reasons why.
"So, it was the middle of the night," Nora said. So it seems that Nora was telling them that story. That was alright for Ren. It was a true story after all, and it didn't involve their alternate lives. Most of their friends were pretty interested in the story. "We were surrounded by Ursi. There were dozens of them. After killing the Ursi, Ren and I made a boatload of Lien by selling their skin as rugs."
"Did all that really happened?" Ruby asked in awe.
"Yes, though the difficult part was skinning the creatures since they disintegrate after they die," Ren answered to her.
"That's pretty awesome," Yang said. "I could see why you two are together. You guys make a pretty good team." Just like Ren has planned, everyone bought the act that he and Nora are a couple. It's the best way to divert them from their alternate lives.
"Juane? Are you okay?" Pyrrha asked her partner in concern. During the whole time, the blonde boy was just picking at his food. He snapped out of his thoughts in response.
"Huh? Oh, yeah! Why?" Juane replied.
"It's just that you seem a little…not okay," Ruby told him. Everyone began to stare at Juane.
"Guys, I'm fine. Seriously! Look!" the blonde exclaimed as he holds up a thumb while laughing nervously. Meanwhile, his attention is focused on the members of Team CRDL, standing around a girl Faunus with brown rabbit ears jutting from her hair as Cardin Winchester laughs at her and Sky Lark holds up his hands to his head in a mock interpretations of her unusual features.
"It's about Cardin, isn't it?" Ren deduced.
"What are you talking about?" the blonde responded.
"Juane, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school!" Pyrrha told her partner.
"Cardin Winchester? Nah…He just likes to mess around! You know, practical jokes!" the Arc said.
"He's a bully," Ruby replied.
"Oh, please! Name one time he's 'bullied' me," Juane scoffed.
"Let's see, there's the time he knocked your books out of your arms, he turned on your shield and made you get stuck between the doorway, and lastly he pushed you into your locker and launched you outside the school," Ren stated. After hearing all the evidence, the rest of the group was now fully focused on the blonde.
"I didn't land far from the school!" Juane replied as he tried to laugh it off.
"Juane, you know if you ever need help, you can just ask," Pyrrha said to him.
"Yeah, how about we go teach Cardin a lesson?" Yang suggested.
"Guys, really, it's fine! Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me. He's a jerk to everyone," Juane responded. They look over to as the laughing grew louder, mixed in with the cries of pain from the rabbit girl when one of her ears are tugged on by Cardin.
"Ow! That hurts!" the rabbit Faunus cried out. She then stops struggling and grimaces. "Please stop." Cardin continues laughing.
"I told you it was real!" the leader of Team CRDL exclaimed to his cronies.
"What a freak!" Russel Thrush, Cardin's partner, shouted as he was still guffawing. The group didn't notice Ren leaving the table with Nora following him. It wasn't until they arrived behind Team CRDL's table that the group finally noticed.
"Hey, what are Ren and Nora doing?" Ruby asked. The rest of the group couldn't answer the girl as they were wondering the same thing. Ren tapped Cardin on the shoulder. When the orange haired boy turned around, he received a punch from the leader of Team RBYN. The hit caused Cardin to let go of the rabbit Faunus' ears, allowing her to escape.
"Holy shit," Juane muttered.
"What the hell was that for?!" Cardin asked Ren angrily. The rest of Team CRDL was gathering behind their leader while Nora stood firm with her partner.
"I don't like it when people hurt those who can't defend themselves. You're one of those people," Ren replied sternly.
"So what, you're a freak lover?" Cardin growled. Ren shook his head.
"No. The only freaks I see are you and your cronies," Team RBYN's leader responded. That comment caused Cardin to see red.
"Why you…" Cardin growled. He threw a punch, but Ren easily dodged it. Ren kneed Cardin in the stomach, causing Team CRDL's leader to gasp for breath. Ren grabbed Cardin and slammed him onto the table. The rest of Team CRDL went to go help their leader, but Nora held them off.
Nora kicked Russel's face before slamming it onto a plate of food. Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark charged at the ginger haired girl, but she performed a flip and landed behind them. Nora did a leg sweep on them, causing the two males to fall onto the floor. Nora wasn't done yet as she grabbed Russel and tossed the boy towards his two team members. Russel landed hard on the bodies of Dove and Sky. Ren grabbed Cardin by the neck of his shirt and held him close.
"The next time I find you picking on other students, I will have my partner break your legs," Ren threatened. Cardin nodded his head in fear and received another punch from Ren that knocked the brown haired boy out.
"I didn't even break a sweat from fighting them. They're so weak," Nora said. The two headed towards their table where their friends were looking at them in astonishment. They couldn't believe what they just saw.
"What?" Ren asked them. Yang shook her head and became the first of the group to speak.
"That was awesome! I can see why Ozpin made you my team leader," Yang stated.
"You two are going to get in trouble for what you guys did," Weiss told Ren and Nora.
"Well, someone had to put a stop to their bullying," Nora replied.
"How did you guys do that though?" Juane asked.
"Training, something that Nora and I actually do," Ren told the blonde boy, who was starting to become guilty.
"You know, that fight reminds me a lot about…" Ruby managed to say before getting interrupted by the rabbit Faunus. She nervously approached the group, specifically Ren and Nora.
"I…want to thank you two…for saving me," the rabbit Faunus told the two.
"You don't have to thank us. We don't tolerate people like Cardin and their actions," Ren replied.
"Yeah! What's your name by the way?" Nora asked.
"My name? It's Velvet Scarlatina," the rabbit Faunus answered.
"Nice to meet you friend," Nora said.
"Mr. Lie! Ms. Valkyrie!" a female voice shouted. Everyone turned to see an angry Glynda Goodwitch. Most of the students were afraid to see her. Ren kept a neutral face on as the teacher was coming towards them. "Can either of you two explain to me the meaning of you did?"
"I simply stopped them from continuing harassing Ms. Scarlatina over here," Ren told the fuming professor, presenting the rabbit Fuanus.
"Still, it's unacceptable that you and Ms. Valkyrie had to beat the entire members of Team CRDL into unconsciousness," Glynda scolded.
"Now, now, Glynda. While it was a bit excessive, they did it for a noble cause," said a new voice. The voice belonged to Professor Ozpin, who was standing behind the female teacher.
"Four students are injured! While they meant good, they shouldn't have started a fight. They should have consulted a teacher first," Glynda told the headmaster.
"Yes, I know. That is why they're having detention with me," Ozpin stated. He gave Ren and Nora a hidden wink before leaving with Glynda.
"Well, at least it's Ozpin and not Glynda," Yang told her teammates.
"Yeah, it's nothing to be worried about," Nora replied.
"Anyway, we have to go. Come on Nora," Ren told his partner. The ginger haired girl nodded and followed her partner. The two left the cafeteria, ignoring the stares of the other students.
That night, Roman Torchwick was going through tasks sent to him by Cinder. He sighed as he looked at them. He's not going to get any rest. Neo was sitting on the table, watching him work. She was going to help him, but he was in a bad mood considering he has been given jobs nonstop by Cinder lately.
The door to the warehouse they were in suddenly opened, and Deathstroke entered the building and carried two bodies in his arms. He threw them to the ground, revealing the bodies to be the corpses of Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black. Roman stopped doing what he was doing and looked at the corpses with glee.
"Finally, those brats are dead! I'll never have to work with them ever again!" Roman exclaimed. "Thank you Deathstroke!"
"They weren't a challenge. I expect my bonuses for them," the mercenary said.
"Oh yes, yes, your bonus money. Neo be a dear and bring our friend his lien," Roman told his partner. Neo obeyed and retrieved the briefcase for the mercenary. Deathstroke opened the briefcase and carefully inspected it.
"Everything seems to be in order. I will go after my three targets for my real money," the mercenary told the criminal duo.
"Of course, of course, you go do that. By the way, I loved the way how you killed these two. Very creative, very creative indeed," Roman told the mercenary. "I'll see you again after you kill Batman, Nightwing, and Cinder." Deathstroke nodded and left the building. Neo typed on her scroll.
I have to say, he did a pretty good job.
"I know. I told you it was good hiring him," Roman said to his ice cream themed partner.
Yes, yes, you were right.
"Of course I am. Now Cinder wants me to do these tasks, but seeing that these are her final days of living, I say we ignore these tasks and have some fun," Roman said. Neo gave a nod in agreement. Roman laughed as he threw away the list of tasks Cinder assigned him.
Author's Note: There you have it. This chapter is done. As for the reason for why I killed Mercury and Emerald is because I have no use for them in this story. In a story about Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang, they'll have big roles. However, in a story about Ren and Nora being Batman and Nightwing, they have little to no roles at all. For characters who have no impact in my stories, I either give them very, very, very little screen time or kill them off like I did with Emerald and Mercury. Anyway, get ready for the next chapter. Read and Review.