At the mercenaries' base in the village, one of the tank engineers walked up to Commander Lazu's quarters and knocked. The commander had taken up residence in the study on the second floor of the building. "Sir? I have the report you asked for from the garrison," the engineer said. There was a moment of silence and the sound of metal boots booming on the wooden floor. The two oaken doors opened with Lazu standing behind them. "What do they have to report?" Lazu said sternly. Even without the helmet, his voice was intimidating when it needed to be.

"They say that the Venarox will be ready in at least two more days sir," the engineer replied. Lazu sighed and rubbed his chin in thought.

"One more day...they get one more day to live."

"Sir?"

"Inform the Jaeger. He has four new targets to deal with in one day's time. Leave no bodies."

The engineer nodded and left to convey the message to the Jaeger. He went back downstairs to the communications room, set up in the third guest bedroom. He pressed a few buttons and brought up a hologram of the Jaeger. It was still surprising the mercenaries could keep in contact with the CCTs down. The Jaeger himself was in a full suit of plate armor, mostly jagged yet smooth in some places, and it also seems to resemble a skeleton (A/N: Think the armor of Zobek's Lieutenant from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2). "Jaeger, I have news for you. Direct orders from the Commander," the engineer said as he saluted to the armored warrior.

"He wants me to kill someone right? Alright, who is it this time? Atlesian Specialist? A reporter or private investigator who got too nosy? Or did we finally get a lead on that traitorous bitch?" The Jaeger said with a metallic voice.

"To answer all your questions at once: no. In fact it's not even a single target. It's four." The engineer placed a scroll in the console and pressed a few more buttons. "I'm sending you the intel we have on them." The intel was sent over and Jaeger was silent for a minute before he facepalmed with an audible clang.

"What the HELL is this?!" he said, gesturing to the four images that appeared on screen with a small summary of information beneath them. The images were pictures of Ruby, Nora, Ren, and Jaune. "These are kids. THESE are kids. THESE. ARE. KIDS! How are these PRIORITY ONE TARGETS?!"

The engineer flinched at the outrage the Jaeger was expressing. "You must understand sir; these four are veterans of the Vytal Disaster and now they seek the truth. Which means they seek our master. For the time being, he wishes to remain hidden, as I'm sure you're aware."

"Don't f*cking lecture me on this. I KNOW that he wants to stay hidden. But...kids? Oh for fu-" he stopped himself as he noticed Ruby's and Nora's weapons. "Ok...I take back what I said. These kids have a scythe...that turns into a sniper and a hammer that becomes a grenade launcher. That brings a horrifying image to mind." He shivers at the mere thought of it. "When did he want them dead?"

"He wants them dead by the time the Venarox is prepared."

"Ah. So tomorrow then. Right. We'll be there soon. The huntsmen will be dead by dawn and the test will go as planned. Tell him that."

"Understood, Jaeger." The engineer cut the feed and went to go report to Lazu.

Meanwhile on the Jaeger's end he turned to his "partners" and said"Alright. We have our targets. Once we're ready, we do this quickly, cleanly and quietly. No evidence of what happened. That means...no bodies either. Understood?" His "partners" responded with low hisses of affirmation and the sound of blades being slashed against metal, sending sparks flying. The slashes though didn't have the familiar clanging or ringing sound of metal on metal, but instead a rough screeching noise was heard, like a Grimm ripping through steel. But these creatures were not Grimm and they certainly weren't human. The Jaeger walked past them all and began to gather up equipment he would need to deal with these huntsmen. Shurikens, flashbangs, and of course, his weapons: a simple revolver that he loaded with some kind of special rounds and his sword, the blade was jagged at the hilt but smoothed out all the way to the tip of the blade. He didn't have a sheath for it, or at least it seemed that way. "Now then...let's kill some huntsmen."

The next night, after the four of them were out gathering more supplies for the overseas part of their trek, the door leading out to the balcony was opened from the outside. Through it, stepped the Jaeger and his nightmarish partners. The beasts crawled on all fours, their arms resembling those of a praying mantis. Their eyes glowed with primal fury as they inched towards the beds that the members of team RNJR rested on. The Jaeger raised his hand, signaling the beasts to raise their own blade-like arms and he balled it into a fist. The creatures then swiftly lowered their arms but their targets rolled out of their beds and grabbed their weapons. Each of them-Ruby, Jaune, Nora, and Ren- were still clad in their pajamas.

"Interesting choice of attire huntsmen," the Jaeger said with a sinister chuckle.

Ruby blushed for a moment but shook it off quickly and got to the real problem: the assassin. "Who are you?" she asked, pointing Crescent Rose at the assailants.

"I don't have a name. I am a Jaeger. And these," he motions to the creatures beside him, "are my Wraiths." One of the Wraiths roars at them, its jaws opening horizontally as it does.

"That's not right," Jaune said as he grabbed a scroll to see how much Aura this guy had. Except the bar was already empty. "What the...my...my scroll must be glitching or something."

"Why's that?" Nora said as she readied Magnhild.

"This guy doesn't have Aura!"

"I don't? Well look at that. That must mean I lack a soul. Take them!" The Jaeger said, signaling the Wraiths to rush each of them.

The first Wraith swung at Jaune, who blocked the attack with his shield. The Wraith continued its relentless assault, sending sparks flying with every hit against his shield. The second locked blades with those of StormFlower and made rapid snaps at Ren's face, trying to bite him. He kicked it back and began firing at it, but it dodged all of the shots. The third was practically dancing around Nora with its speed, avoiding every crushing blow that Magnhild delivered. "Stand still you stupid bug!" she shouted in frustration. The fourth locked blades with Crescent Rose furiously, strike after strike was countered perfectly by Ruby. The Jaeger and the fifth Wraith simply watched the fight unfold.

"There's not enough room in here to maneuver!" Ren shouted as he blocked another strike from a Wraith.

"I got an idea!" Nora said as she purposefully missed the Wraith occupied with her and hit the one Ren is fighting, sending it flying into the one trying to attack her and sending them both out of the window. Ruby got the idea and loaded in a clip of gravity dust rounds and prepared herself for the recoil. She always hated this part. She fired and sent both the Wraith and herself flying but the Wraith joined its comrades on a flight out the window and over the balcony it seemed. Jaune kicked the Wraith he was dealing with away and right into another of Nora's hammer swings.

"So...you wish to die under the stars. I can respect that. Let's continue this outside shall we?" the Jaeger said. He then chuckled, ran back to the balcony and jumped back off of it, followed by the fifth Wraith.

Ruby rubbed the back of her head as she got up from the recoil of the gravity blast. "Come on! We got a baddie to deal with!" Nora said as she ran to the balcony, followed by Jaune, Ren and Ruby. Nora then propelled herself forward with a blast from Magnhild and tried to bring the massive warhammer down on the Jaeger's head. He drew his sword and blocked the crushing blow and with his free hand, he drew his pistol and fired off a shot. Nora's eyes widened in shock as she was knocked back and her Aura was instantly broken.

"Nora!" Ren rushed to her side as she flew back.

"I-I'm fine," Nora said weakly, "but that shot...my Aura's broken. In ONE shot! How?!"

The Jaeger laughed sinisterly and responded, "It's a specific anti-human weapon. Special rounds designed specifically for the purpose of shattering Aura. It's AMAZING what can be accomplished with one of the planet's greatest minds when it comes to Aura."

Ren aimed StormFlower at the Jaeger and opened fire but the armored assassin either dodged the shots or deflected them. The assassin pointed his blade at the four and his Wraiths charged forth once again. However, before the first Wraith could land a strike, it jerked to the side as black blood erupted from its skull.

"WHAT?!" the Jaeger said turning to see where the shot came from.

"I had a feeling you'd need some help," the shooter said as it's revealed to be Malcolm clad in the armor of an Atlesian soldier.

"Malcolm?!" Jaune exclaimed.

"I told you earlier that I knew that pain from personal experience. Just didn't say how. "

'How did you kno-", Nora tried to say but was cut off before she could continue.

"Well you guys weren't exactly quiet. Which is saying something when an assassin and Wraiths are involved."

"You know what these things are?" Ruby asked.

"An old Atlesian legend. The Wraiths were said to be hellish creatures that would come after Huntsmen if they strayed too far into the mountains. They were thought to be a legend…"

"Until now," Ren finished.

"Oh so THAT'S where they ended up!" the Jaeger said with an unusual joy. "But...enough of the small talk. It's time to do what I came here to do: kill Huntsmen. And if a damn mongrel Faunus wants to get in my way and join them, so be it," the assassin turned to the fifth and final Wraith, "You handle the mongrel. The kid with the scythe is mine." The Wraith nodded and jumped down to the street level to face Malcolm, who drew an Atlesian collapsible sword. The monster roared at him and rushed the Faunus. As the Wraith's natural blades swung down at Malcolm, he blocked both strikes. The Wraith then unleashed a flurry of strikes at its opponent, each of which was perfectly parried. The remaining three Wraiths and the Jaeger rushed at team RNJR. Similar to their first encounter, Nora, whose Aura had recharged just in time and was back , had difficulty with the Wraith's speed but manages to get a few good hits in this time. Jaune is in a duel with the second beast, each of them exchanging strikes but neither really getting an advantage. Ren's fight is going much like Jaune's but Ruby's battle is much different. Ruby's opponent isn't some beast; he's a trained assassin with anti-human weaponry.

"So little girl...are you ready to die?" the Jaeger says, brandishing his blade.

"I'm not dying. Not today, not anytime soon!" Ruby retorted, getting into a combat stance.

"Are you so certain?" the Jaeger scoffed and threw three shuriken at Ruby, who deflected each of them. Immediately after, the Jaeger was on her, attacking with the massive blade in a downward swing. Ruby managed to block it with Crescent Rose and swung back in retaliation. The assassin dodged and opened fire with his Aura-shattering rounds, each shot missing Ruby by a small margin, even with her speed. The little red reaper returned fire between bursts of speed with her high-caliber rifle. Much like with the assassin's own shots, each round missed by a very small margin. The Jaeger took notice of this and smirked under his helmet. I'll give her credit, the girl's good. It's a pretty even match when it comes to marksmanship, same distance from the target for each shot that misses, the assassin thought to himself as he and Ruby continued their firefight.

Meanwhile, Malcolm had finally gotten the upper hand against his Wraith. A quick upward slice cleaved the blade-like arm of the monster in two, leaving an opening for him. He quickly reached for his rifle and blasted the Wraith's leg, leaving it crippled. It tried to crawl away but it wouldn't get far. One final downward thrust into the Wraith's chest and Malcolm's fight ended in victory for him.

Nora continued to swing wildly at her Wraith but she still only managed to land some minor blows to the monster. She then changed tactics and turned Magnhild into its grenade launcher form but she didn't see the Wraith. During Maghild's transformation it had vanished. "Ok really? Not cool bug guy...not cool," Nora said, annoyed. A small light flashed from behind and the Wraith tried to strike her from behind, only for the barrel of the grenade launcher to be shoved into the agape maw of the Wraith. "Gotcha," Nora said triumphantly and pulled the trigger, blowing the Wraith's head clean off in an explosion of pink Dust.

Jaune was currently struggling as the weight of the Wraith's blades pressed down on his shield, preventing him from taking a swing at it. For a creature so agile and-to be honest- rather spindly, the Wraith certainly had strength. As the natural blades of the creature pressed down on the shield, Jaune tried to muster every ounce of Aura he had, maybe even bring out his Semblance. Without him even noticing at first, his shield began to glow white which caused the Wraith's eyes to widen in shock. Before the beast could do anything, it was sent flying by a massive shockwave of Aura. "Woah," Jaune said silently as he looked at his shield, still surrounded by a white glow. Is...is this my Semblance? , he thought to himself as the glow faded. He tried to summon that same power again as the Wraith regained its composure. This time, he succeeded, not in empowering his shield but his sword this time. The blade of Coreca Mors was illuminated with the same white glow as the shield. The Wraith glared daggers at Jaune and rushed Jaune, its blades aimed for his neck in a wide arc. Jaune swung his blade to meet the two of his opponent. There was the sound of blades clashing and flesh being torn. Nora turned to see Jaune and the Wraith facing away from each other, each in a stance after an attack landed. The Wraith, however, didn't stay standing for long, as both of its arms fell off and a bloody gash was left in its chest. The beast then fell to its knees and then hit the ground with a thud as its blood flowed out from the wound, the same blood that now stained Crocea Mors. Nora's eyes were wide and her mouth agape with shock. "Woah...that….that was AWESOME!" she said as Jaune cleaned the blood off his blade.

Ren, after holstering StormFlower for a moment, delivered a roundhouse kick to the jaw of his Wraith, followed by a series of unarmed punches. He then gave one final open-palmed strike at the Wraith's chest, causing those close to hear an audible cracking noise. "Oooh that's gotta hurt!" Nora said as she, Jaune, and Malcolm watched the Wraith fly across the roof they were fighting on. The Wraith began coughing up black blood as it tried to weakly stand. Ren then rushed the Wraith and landed a bone-shattering kick to the creature's leg. The bone instantly snapped with a sickening cracking noise. Ren then drew StormFlower back out and blasted the Wraith constantly. Small spurts of blood erupted across the Wraith's body and before the body could even hit the floor, Ren used the blades of his weapons and cleaved the Wraith's head from it's body.

With the Wraiths all dealt with, the only one left is the Jaeger. He and Ruby are still engaged in a firefight until the assassin goes to reload again. He tries to grab the next clip but is only grasping at air. He curses under his breath as he hears Ruby load up another clip of rounds into her weapon. "You're out of bullets…" Ruby said as she pointed the sniper form of her scythe at the assassin.

"But not out of options," the Jaeger said as he drew his sword and rushed Ruby. He started his attack with an overhead swing but Ruby managed to get out of the way just in time. The assassin stopped his blade from hitting the roof they were both standing on and swung to his left, barely missing Ruby. He swung again, only for Ruby to meet his blade with her own, sending sparks flying. The Jaeger tried to break through Ruby's defense with a flurry of sword strikes but the huntress' Aura held strong, as well as her massive scythe. Ruby then kicked at the assassin's leg, landing a hit and making him stagger a bit. However, when Ruby raised her scythe to strike, the Jaeger dodged and threw three shurikens at her. Each one of the bladed projectiles was deflected as Ruby spun Crescent Rose in front of her. Ruby loaded ice rounds into her sniper-scythe and fired, freezing the assassin's left arm. He was shocked at first and, because he let his guard down for one second and focused more on his arm, Ruby was able to land a solid kick to his jaw. The assassin's body spun and was sent flying while Ruby readied for another attack. Though, in her head she was screaming "ow" over and over again due to how hard that armor was. The ice that was encasing the Jaeger's arm had shattered by now and he got back up on his feet. Ok, I thought this was just going to be a little skirmish. Instead this is an actual fight. It's...kind of fun...but screw it...this little game has gone on long enough. I'm ending this now...and her little head is coming off her shoulders!, the Jaeger thought to himself as he readied to rush Ruby head on. Ruby apparently had the same thought as she readied herself to charge. A single moment passed before the two of them rushed at each other. They each seemed to strike and skidded past each other...but only Ruby was left unscathed.

The assassin fell down to his knees as his right leg had been cut by Crescent Rose, armor and all. Blood flowed down his leg as he groaned in pain. Armored boots came into the assassin's vision and he looked up to see Malcolm pointing his rifle directly at the Jaeger's head.

"One shot. One armor-piercing round...and your brains go flying across the rooftop. Now unless you want to die...you're gonna answer my questions. Clear?" the ex-soldier said coldly.

After the Jaeger let out a soft animalistic growl he responded, "Crystal…"

"Now...who are you?"

"I told them already. I don't HAVE a name. I'm a Jaeger, a hunter."

"More like assassin. Who hired you and how in the name of DUST did you get beasts of myth?"

"I'm not one of those...vagabonds who dare to taint the art of assassination, I'm a professional. Expertly trained by the grandmaster. As...for the Wraiths...they're just part of the army."

"Army...you're one of the mercenaries?!"

"It doesn't matter...this little village...everyone in it will be dead by noon tomorrow. The Venarox will vaporize you all!"

"What?!"

"As for me...I'm afraid that's all you'll get out of me. Time to fulfill my vow...as a Jaeger…," the assassin then moved his hand to a small dagger sheathed to his side.

Malcolm was ready to pull the trigger on his rifle but the Jaeger stopped him when he said, "Don't. Save the ammunition...you'll need it." Ruby and the others soon walked up to Malcolm to see what he found out from the assassin, Ruby being the first to get to him.

"Stay back Ruby!" Malcolm said as he kept his rifle trained on the assassin.

"And now...it's time...to say….goodbye," the Jaeger started to chuckle to himself as he brought the dagger to his neck.

"Wait, don't!"

But it was too late, the assassin pressed the blade into his neck and brought it across his throat. Ruby was horrified as the assassin took his own life right in front of her. The Jaeger then slumped forward as his blood began to pool beneath him.

"Ruby! What's going...on..," Jaune's voice trailed off as he saw the assassin lying dead in front of Malcolm and Ruby.

"He...he just...he just…" Ruby was too stunned to find the words to describe what she just saw.

"He just killed himself…," Malcolm finished for her. "We need to get the mercenaries' base in town. Now. They have a lot to answer for."

"What? He's one of theirs?" Jaune said as he looked back to the lifeless corpse of the Jaeger.

"Apparently so...and he said they plan on wiping us all out. We all need some answers, now. Gear up!"

(A/N: An old Atlesian legend working with a nameless assassin. Now the supernatural really comes into play. And yes, these Wraiths are based off the Wraiths of Doom 3 with the whole mantis-like look and split jaw. I've always liked that design as well. Anyway, next two chapter the five of them will finally get the whole truth as to what the mercs plan to do. As to their true identity...well...we've never seen one without their helmet except for Lazu. Also on a writing note, someone pointed out to me that the time frame after Beacon was unclear so I wanted to state here that it's been four months and that a tank would be rather cumbersome to use in a forest which is true but I couldn't really think of a way to change the weapon test. As always read, review and enjoy.)