Gray Fringes Ch. 11 A Turning Point.
Richard sat wide awake in the middle of his bed staring at the ceiling. He had been able to sleep for a little while but woke up and couldn't fall asleep. It seemed like both the lecture Ozpin gave him and a feeling of strange paranoia was keeping him awake. He was interrupted by the faint sound of footsteps near his door. He feigned sleeping as he grasped his swords ready to strike. He heard a door open and immediately jolted out of bed swords flashing to a surprised Blake.
"What are you doing Richard? It's just me. What are you so worried about?"
"Blake is that you? I couldn't sleep and I just think something is going to happen to us. Why are you here anyway?"
"I just can't seem to sleep in that room with the rest of the team."
"Come on then maybe I can get some sleep too."
Pretty soon Blake was snoring softly as Richard lay still looking up at the ceiling. He tried to close his eyes and sleep but he just couldn't go to sleep.
"Why is it so important for me to have to show mercy when I know they would never do the same to me? If I'm not fighting to avenge my friend an settle my past then what am I fighting for? How can someone just let a known criminal and murderer go without some form of retribution? Can I even control myself in that moment to do the right thing? What would everyone think of me if I can't do the right thing?" he thought to himself as he lay there awake. He looked over at the clock and realized it was already two o'clock.
"Damn I've got 5 hours until everyone is awake and getting ready for class and I still can't get to sleep."
Even though he was awake now he could slowly feel the tiredness in his eyes and realized he would fall asleep out of sheer exhaustion soon. He suddenly heard faint almost inhumanly silent footsteps coming down the hall.
"Who the hell is awake at two in the morning?" He thought as he immediately closed his eyes and feigned sleep.
Suddenly a strange figured slowly opened picked the lock on his door and opened it.
"Would you look at that, two of em in the same bed this will be easier than I tho-." He was interrupted by a small knife piercing his throat and a fully awake hunter sitting up.
Richard immediately sprang out of bed waking Blake up and launched into the hallway where he met two more strange men each in front of team RWBY and JNPRs doors. He struck first at the man in front of JNPRs dorm stabbing him in the back with his left sword. In the other room Ruby drowsily opened her eyes until she saw the 6 foot tall man standing over her with an assault rifle. Before she could even react a shot was heard across the room and the man fell with pistol round in his back. Richard rushed in a moment later making sure no one else was threatening them and yelling at his team:
"Everyone get the hell up we have to get out of here someone is trying to get rid of us." He yelled as he fired another round in the air causing both team RWBY and JNPR to jump out of bed and Blake to run to the door.
"Richard what is going on here? Why is there a dead guy in our room and in the hall?" Yang asked clearly shocked at the events that just transpired.
"We've got a problem a very big problem. Those aren't normal mercenaries. Those guys work for the White Fang which means that there is probably a good many attacking the school right now."
"What are we going to do though? We can't just sit here and wait for another group and we can't do anything without our armor."
"Which is why we are going to make a break for the locker room and get our gear then we are going to take the fight to the White Fang Weiss." Richard replied.
He walked over to one of the soldiers and took his knife out and cleaned it on the man's shirt.
"Each White Fang soldier has a rifle of some sort and a sword. You should all arm yourselves with one of those until we can get our gear. It's likely that we will meet opposition along the way; get ready for a fight." Richard commanded to both teams.
They all did their best to find a weapon and make sure everyone was armed. Jaune was the only person without a weapon.
"Here Jaune you can use one of my swords. Press this button and it transforms into a .45 caliber pistol now is everyone ready to move and one more thing these guys will not hesitate to end your life I suggest you all take that into consideration."
"Richard you can't be serious right now. It goes against everything we've been taught to ruthlessly kill human beings." Ruby replied shocked.
"I understand that Ruby and hate it as much as you but the fact of the matter is we have no armor and don't have our weapons. If we are going to get to our gear alive we can't take any risks right now."
They all nodded and stealthily walked down the hall and out the door. As they reached the front lobby the door was blown apart and a group of at least 40 White Fang guards burst through the door weapons flashing. Ruby and Blake struck first using their speed to dodge attacks and counter with the swords they picked up taking down at 15 guards. Pyrrah, Nora and Ren both stayed back using the cover of the doors and couches to pin down a group of guards with assault rifles distracting and taking out at least 10 guards. Jaune and Richard had teamed up to take on a group of about 10 guards using each other as support and alternating targets to confuse the guards. Juane was surprisingly cool under fire yelling orders and dodging attacks while letting Richard move from guard to guard ending most of the group. They moved on to help Yang and Weiss, who were having trouble adjusting to the completely different style of fighting and weapons. Richard went through the group slashing and stabbing each soldier. He looked around and realized the rest of his team had already cleaned up and took out the rest of the guards.
"Let's go there are probably more guards along the way we have to move now." Richard said as he suddenly caught a glimpse of something in what looked like an officer's pocket. He picked it up and realized it was an unscathed tablet that had their complete strategy and communication system. He quickly stowed it away and moved on to the shattered doorway. Outside was a scene of complete and utter chaos. The once peaceful and tranquil school was now a warzone between what looked like over 200 White Fang guards and the complete Vale police force which had just arrived in force. They were all either fighting in hand to hand combat in the main courtyard or using fallen pillars and rubble for cover in medium range gunfights. In the sky above both White Fang and Police gunships were flying around engaging against each other in ferocious dogfights.
"We're going to have to go into that aren't we." Jaune asked with a slight quiver in his voice.
"No we'll let the police handle the bulk of the force. We have to sneak around to the east building where our lockers are then when we have all of our gear we find whoever orchestrated this attack and end it." Richard replied grimly.
They used the chaos around them to sneak around the edge of the courtyard and to the east building where the lockers were. They slipped into the entrance unseen and began to navigate through the hallways silently taking out any guards they encountered. After a few turns and hallways they reached the doorway leading to the locker room. The only other people in there were a small group of guards trying to figure out the code to launching the lockers away. They were dispatched quickly without anyone else noticing.
"Ok everyone get to your lockers and get your gear and Juane I need my sword. I'll keep watch of the door while you guys get ready." Richard commanded.
He took his sword from Juane and loaded a fresh round of slugs to each weapon. He walked over to the door and looked in the hall to make sure no one was approaching. He heard footsteps from what he guessed to be about five people and hushed voices.
"Hurry up you idiots before they can regroup and get their armor." Came an unfortunately familiar voice.
Richard immediately shut the door and waited on the balls of his feet ready to take the ambushers by surprise. Just as the rest of them were getting their lockers open Adam kicked the door open but was immediately tackled back through the door way. Richard kicked him away then stood in front of the doors both swords raised and ready to defend it.
"Well Adam why am I not surprised to find you here trying to ambush us before we can be at our full strength? Is it perhaps a desire to defeat us when we don't stand a chance against you or maybe I detect a hint of fear and knowledge that you couldn't beat us any other way?"
"Such arrogance especially from the man who decided to charge headfirst singlehandedly into a fight against five of our finest warriors and myself. Now we're going through those doors regardless of what you do."
"The only way you're going to get into that locker room is over my dead body."
"I was hoping you'd say that." Adam smirked as he and two guards charged simultaneously swords flashing.
Richard paused a moment then rolled forward under their attack before kicking Adam square in the chest sending him into the opposite wall. The next instant two guards lunged and tried to attack from the left. Richard quickly used his left sword to catch both the blades and the right to attack upwards hitting them across the chest and knocking them out of the fight. He rolled back and got on his feet just in time to see Adam charging him at full speed. Richard was immediately put on the defensive having to defend against Adam and three guards. He reacted on pure instinct dodging and blocking strikes until he managed to stop two attacks with both swords and leaving his side open for the third person. He was struck in the ribs and lost nearly a quarter of his aura in the resulting aura in the impact with the ground. He immediately got up only to see them charging at him again. Before he could even react a streak of red and gold caught one of the guards in a corner of his armor and pinned him against the wall. Pyrrha immediately knocked out the pinned man with a swift punch and grabbed her weapon.
"I'm sorry I took so long Richard everyone else is nearly done."
"Actually Pyrrha I couldn't have asked for a better time for a little help now for the matter at hand."
Richard charged directly at Adam taking the offensive while Pyrrha went to work against the last two guards. Pyrrha used her shield to block the first one's attack before dodging below the second one and hitting him across the head with the butt of her spear knocking him unconscious. She then turned on the last guard and launched several attacks with her spear which were blocked until he accidentally reached too far with an attack leaving his right side exposed for a split second. Pyrrha immediately used her shield to knock him across the room and unconscious. Meanwhile Adam and Richard were engaged in a fierce back and forth fight throughout the hallway. They both attacked and counter attacked but couldn't seem to be able to land any substantial blow. Richard would attack with one sword while using the other sword to strike from a completely different direction but he wouldn't be able to land a blow large enough to take Adam down. Adam would counter with a series of lighting fast strikes in every possible directions but Richard would be able to block each one with his swords. One strike did connect however sending Richard skidding five feet away. As they sat there staring each other down, beads of sweat starting to form on their foreheads, Adam tried to take Richard by surprise by firing his sword out of his sheathe at him. Richard was expecting something like this and managed to move his head to one side and catch the sword by its handle. Before Adam could recover from the shock of losing his weapon Richard shot forward and kicked his sheathe out of his hand and raised the now pistol level with Adam's forehead.
"Go ahead Richard I know exactly what you're thinking. This is your best chance to avenge your little friend you know."
"Richard, don't do it. The minute you stoop to his level you're no better than this." Pyrrha said as she gestured to the damage around her.
Richard stood there silent staring directly into Adams eyes behind his mask with a grim expression. At that moment the rest of both the teams came bursting through the room but were immediately stopped by the sight in front of them.
"Three months ago I would have pulled this trigger without any hesitation Adam. I should feel nothing but anger and hatred towards you but I can only feel pity. You've let your anger towards those you fight twist and corrupt you. You fought to stop being seen as an animal but now all this anger and violence has done is turn you into an animal with no remorse or soul. Your failure isn't worth me losing my humanity but you don't have to live like that. No one is too far gone and everyone can change if they're given the chance Adam."
Richard put his pistol at his side. Adam immediately lunged forward trying to retrieve his sword. Before anyone else could react Richard swung his let pistol across his head knocking him unconscious.
"I said I wouldn't end him but I didn't say I wouldn't take his freedom. Half of us will wait here to guard him until the police can arrive to apprehend him. The other half will move on to take on whoever started this behind those doors there."
Team JNPR stayed behind while Team RWBY moved on up a few flights of stairs and down the hall at a light jog with Richard in front. Richard paused suddenly when he heard the rumble of a ship hovering near the balcony through the doors in front of them. Richard was the first one to go through the doors and reaching a large balcony with three or four tables used as a dining area. As soon as he passed through the door a wall of pure magical fire enveloped blocked the doorway leaving him alone with a mysterious woman in a flaming red dress standing in the doorway of a White Fang ship. Richard immediately switched to his two pistols and loaded a special magazine loaded with electronic scrambling shells he got from a contract two years ago.
"So you must be this Richard person my associates have been talking about. Hmm you don't look like much of a hero to me."
"I remember you now. You were there at that prison with Torchwick and Adam. You probably don't remember my voice so maybe this will help." Richard said as he threw off his bandana revealing his now infamous burn scar.
"Ah yes another hero out for revenge of justice or some nonsense like that. I will say however you are much bolder than the other fools who've thought to challenge me unfortunately you'll have to die like the rest of them."
She fired two quick fireballs that scorched towards Richard at an alarming pace. She was surprised however to see Richard instinctively roll to one side and come up firing three shells into the cockpit of her craft frying the navigation systems and causing it to fall to the ground. She immediately jumped off onto the balcony just fifteen feet away from Richard. While this was going on Richard quickly switched the electronic magazine with another special magazine that shot compressed air like a bullet instead of a metal slug. He turned his right weapon into a sword and left his other weapon as a pistol.
"I'm impressed Richard but you should know by now that you've only made the situation worse for yourself." She said laughing as she made two more fireballs appear in her hand.
She suddenly jumped in the air launching fireball after fireball a Richard while the rest of his team watched helplessly from the hallway. Richard instinctively rolled past the first one and fired round after round into the center of each fireball causing it to dissipate before reaching their target before he took off into a dead sprint straight at his opponent. As he got within striking distance he was met with a solid wall of fire that he expertly slid under before striking upwards with his sword. He was met by a small force field hitting his sword just before it could connect with her chest. Before he could react a second hand shot a ball of energy that sent him flying away. He hit the ground with his feet and did two rolls before landing in a crouched position and running again at her dodging attacks and getting in close to strike with a sword. He attacked the same way but instead of striking with a sword he kicked her hand away and hit her square in the chest with an airburst causing her to fall backwards. She fired a single attack while falling that hit Richard full bore in the chest nearly melting his armor and causing his aura to hit red as he fell backwards another ten feet on his back. He grimaced as he tried to get up with a small trail of blood running from his mouth to his cheek. He stood up briefly before falling to his knees eyes closed in pain.
"You've given me a better fight than most Richard but just like every hero you will fall alone with no hope and only fear remaining in your heart."
"No you're wrong you bastard. I may fall but not like this." He said, his eyes turning a dull gray and a gray semblance outlining his body. He stood up ignoring the pain and raised two swords ready to fight. He lunged forward with a renewed vigor and determination to win. He relied on pure instinct to dodge and roll around each attack and to strike and counter and feign attacks. He pressed forward ignoring the pain enveloping his entire being as he continued his assault. He feigned left then attacked to her right side but found both swords blocked by one field on her hand. The second hand quickly struck with an astonishing force cracking several of his ribs and causing his swords to go flying to the other side of the balcony under a table. As he sat there on his knees again he couldn't withstand the feeling of death creeping up to him. All of his other emotions and worries disappeared as he was faced with the cold icy sting of death. He looked up at his foe with what little dignity he had left and smiled a sweet taste in his mouth. Suddenly as the final blow was approaching in the form of one last fireball a spectacular flash of purple energy enveloped him. All he saw before finally succumbing to unconsciousness was a streak of blonde and a pair of glasses.