Blake simply couldn't believe her eyes. She'd been so sure that this couldn't be true, and yet here it was right in front of her.
Down below them was Roman Torchwick, working alongside the White Fang as they stole a dust shipment.
To her left, Sun gave her hand a gentle squeeze; clearly he had been hoping the same thing she had. He'd been the hardest to convince to come with her, but he had caved in when he saw just how desperate she was to prove the Fang's innocence.
To her right, Yang cocked her gauntlets, clearly readying up for a fight. Weiss, meanwhile, was trying to stop both of the sisters from going headfirst into the raid to try to stop it. She was having difficulties before Yang noticed Blake's distress and tried to comfort her instead.
Not that she could hear her; her mind was too far gone to hear any of the brawlers words and encouragement. Instead, she started listening to the people below her, hoping to hear any valuable information. Sun closed his eyes as well, apparently getting the same idea.
"Listen up, you animals! We're on a tight schedule and we can't afford to be late. So move your asses and get it done!"
Just hearing Torchwick speak, especially with that condescending tone of his, was enough to make Blake's blood boil. She wanted nothing more than to go down there and put him in his place, but luckily enough Sun was there keeping her calm. Yang was also holding her in an attempt to soothe her anger, not that it was working.
She noticed a commotion behind a container, and when she turned to look she noticed a White Fang grunt who had to of been a rookie struggling to hold his container of dust. Unfortunately, Torchwick noticed too. Blake watched as he got a malicious smile on his face while walking towards the new recruit, twirling his cane on the way.
"Well, what have we here? Another incompetent animal?"
"I'm sorry Mr. Torchwick! I'll get this container-"
He didn't get to finish, seeing as Torchwick hit him with his cane and knocked him to the ground.
Blake's blood started boiling as anger took her over. Torchwick wasn't even close to finished as he started beating the Faunus with his cane while screaming obscenities at the recruit, the Faunus's screams being heard loud and clear even from the distance they were.
Ruby looked like she wanted to commit a murder, and Weiss seemed to honestly be considering letting her go. Yang and Sun, ironically enough, were the only ones that were keeping level heads in this situation.
Blake had officially lost all patience at this point and was finally about to intervene when she heard another voice. A voice that, despite being spoken through a voice modifier, was still enough to send chills through Blake's very being.
"Now now, Roman. That's no way to treat your underlings."
Out from the bullhead Roman arrived in came another man. Based on appearance, he seemed to be human as well, but past that Blake couldn't see anything thanks to his full body armor.
From his neck all the way down to his combat boots, he was wearing black armor with red tint on the arms. His armor seemed to have enough padding in an attempt to be as bulletproof as possible. He had a pistol holstered on either side of his hips, and if Blake had to guess they seemed to be able to combine to form another weapon that Blake couldn't analyze.
His helmet was a completely different shade of neon blue, with symbols floating all across it. It seemed to act as a sort of heads up display, as Blake could see a map of the district on it, but other than that it seemed to be random symbols.
But it wasn't the armor that made Blake tense up and Yang's temper flare, nor was it the armor that made Ruby gasp and Weiss officially let go of her. It was the symbol on the man's chest; the symbol of Arkham.
This was the man that killed Team CRDL, using the village that Jaune died in as an alias.
Torchwick seemed to melt in the man's presence, immediately hiding the cane behind his back like a child with his hand in the cookie jar. "Ah, I didn't expect her to send you here. How've you been?"
The so-called Arkham Knight chuckled darkly, clearly affecting everyone there, even Torchwick. "You've never been one for pleasantries, Roman. You're either scared or happy." He started walking towards Torchwick, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere except for where he was. "And you certainly don't looked happy."
The Arkham Knight and Torchwick were right in front of each other, and the Knight towered over Torchwick. He had to be at least seven feet tall. Both Torchwick and Sun audibly gulped.
"Well, of course I wouldn't be happy when I have to work with these incompetent animals, would y-"
This time it was Torchwick that was cut off as the Knight slapped him across the face. Yang almost snickered.
"You're not the one working with an incompetent animal, Roman. That's me."
"What did you just call me?!"
"I called you an incompetent animal. Now get out of my way."
Torchwick looked like he wanted to fight, but decided that that wasn't the best option to take. He stepped out of the way before angrily storming back to the bullhead.
The Knight walked over to the Faunus that Torchwick had hit, who was clearly terrified of the man approaching him. "You had one simple job. You had to carry a container around 100 feet. You managed to make a mistake. Do you believe this organization has a place for someone like you?"
The Faunus shook his head immediately. "Good. Now, give me your mask and I'll give you a ten second head start."
The now former White Fang recruit tore his mask off and ran as fast as he could away from the docks. The Knight merely stood there for what was actually four seconds before simply saying "ten" and shooting the fleeing Faunus in the back.
Team RWBY and Sun sat on the warehouse, completely shocked at what had just happened. This man was as ruthless as he was intimidating, and he was clearly not afraid to kill his own men if they failed him. This was someone that required caution.
At least, that's what a person in their right mind would've thought. Unfortunately, Blake was in any mind except for the right one. The sight of seeing a fellow Faunus executed like that was enough to send her over the deep end, and she was jumping off the roof before anyone could stop her.
Roman walked out of the bullhead following the gunshot, wondering what the Knight was thinking, before being greeted by the Knight himself, chuckling about what just happened.
Torchwick scoffed. "So, what's the big difference between what I do and what you just did? Seems like your way's a lot worse."
"Simple. You let them continue to work in the organization. That causes unnecessary problems. One single bullet, and it's all over, not wasting precious energy beating someone to the ground. Conserve your anger and use it against your enemies instead of lashing out against your allies, and nothing will stand in your way. Remember that."
The Knight was about to leave the area, but he suddenly felt a sword around his neck. It didn't take him much time to realize who was trying to hold him hostage.
"Well, well, well. Blake Belladonna. Can't say I'm too surprised. You always tried to make everything about you."
The sword tightened around his neck as Torchwick and the goons pointed their weapons at her.
"How do you know my name?"
The Knight chuckled; just like the normal way he talked, it made Blake more afraid than she'd ever been in her life. Not even betraying the Fang gave her this much fear.
"I know everything."
And just like that, the Knight was gone.
Everything happened too quickly for the others to prevent the Knight's escape, but the moment they saw a smoke cloud completely envelope both him and Blake, they sprung into action. They quickly started working on the goons, with Sun going after Torchwick himself.
Blake, still inside the smoke cloud, ran towards the noises, hoping to get out of the cloud and fight with her friends. Unfortunately, she felt a boot hit her side and knock her over before she could get there. Managing to recover in the air and landing on her feet, she turned towards her attacker and saw none other than the Knight himself, looking like a demon within the cloud of smoke.
Slowly and methodically, the Knight started walking towards her. Blake pulled out Gambol Shroud's gun and started firing at him, but it had no effect: the Knight merely took the shots and ignored them. She couldn't figure out if his aura was strong or if it was his armor, but he was completely unaffected by everything.
As the Knight finally got close enough to fight, she turned her weapon into it's katana form and started swinging at him.
The Knight didn't even pull out his weapons to block the strike, merely parrying it to the left with his arm. Blake compensated by spinning around to strike again, but he grabbed the sword before it could connect.
As she desperately attempted to free her sword, and herself, from the Knight's clutches, he simply tossed her to the side and into a shipping container. The force behind the throw was so strong that she made a dent in the container. As she felt her aura healing her injured body, she watched the Knight take slow steps towards her and begin to pull out one of his weapons. Before she could do anything else, however, she heard another sound that made her blood run cold.
"Get away from her you son of a bitch!"
Yang didn't realize the caliber that this man was. She was getting into a fight that she had no chance of winning. Unfortunately, before Blake could call to her, Yang had already ignited her semblance and used her gauntlets to launch herself forward towards the Knight.
To her horror, it went exactly as she expected: the Knight caught her fist before it could make contact with his face. To make matters worse, it seemed Yang had thrown as much force as possible into that punch, and the Knight didn't even flinch.
Yang seemed to shrink in the Knight's arm before he used his free hand to begin to choke her. As she struggled to breath, he turned them both towards Blake. That's when Blake noticed something that she couldn't see from behind.
The Knight had flames surrounding him that were identical to Yang's, only black.
The demon in front of them chuckled. "Thanks for the power-up." Before anyone could stop it, the Knight punched her in the stomach with what appeared to be the same amount of force Yang put into her punch. The only difference is that Yang couldn't block it like the Knight did, and Blake could both hear and see Yang's aura completely shatter from that one punch.
Blake screamed her name, but it was no use as she crashed into the same container she was in front of and collapsed, completely limp. In the distance, she could see Weiss, Ruby, and Sun all struggling to take on Torchwick, with the White Fang recruits laying on the ground. Sun seemed to realize that Blake and Yang were in trouble, but couldn't do anything to get away from Torchwick.
The Knight gained a deadly aura as he pulled out a gun from one of his holsters. Blake threw herself over Yang's unconscious body, hoping to at the very least save her long enough for one of the others to intervene. However, as the Knight went to pull the trigger, they heard a very familiar noise.
"Nooooooraaaaaa SMASH!"
Nora Valkyrie sailed from a bullhead above them, causing a crater in the ground where her hammer smashed. However, considering she was aiming for the now missing Knight, Blake could only briefly wonder where he had disappeared to before she felt a boot connect with the back of her head.
That was the final straw for her wounded body, and the last thing she saw before she finally passed out was Pyrrha and Ren land on the ground behind Nora.
Roman couldn't help but chuckle as he deflected another hit from the monkey before attacking Little Red. The Ice Queen had been knocked out long ago, but the other two remained too determined for his liking.
At least I'd been prepared. The Knight knows these kids a lot more than I give him credit for if he knew they would show up.
Normally, for a mission like this, he would've only brought a few men, six at the most. However, at the Knight's insistence, he'd brought as many people as he could force onto this mission. The effort had paid off: the majority of the thugs were unconscious on the ground, but at least they had the Dust they needed, and the White Fang would be blamed.
When he noticed the bullhead drop off the other people that the Knight had been worried about, he broke away from his fight to begin the retreat plan. Red and the monkey clearly knew they were outclassed, since when he backed away, they didn't follow.
Although even he had to admit the look of anger on Red's face scared him just a little bit.
Before he could even react, Neo was at his side with her parasol extended towards the other two. Roman couldn't even think about whether or not they recognized her before the sound of glass breaking signaled their departure.
Neo had returned them to their safe house: a comfortable penthouse in a hotel in north Vale. With all the right police officers paid off, he and Neo were safe and sound with no issues in the slightest. With a brush of his coat to clear off all the dust, Roman pulled out his scroll and turned on a timer.
30 seconds.
The Knight will have surrendered to the others. Roman looked over at Neo and saw that she was keeping track of the time as well.
2 minutes.
The Knight will have been arrested and put on a bullhead going directly to Beacon Academy. By now, he has all the intel he needs.
30 seconds.
The Knight makes his dramatic exit.
3...2...1...now!
A cloud of smoke appeared in his safe house, and out from it came The Arkham Knight in all his terrifying glory. However, unlike before where his appearance brought him apprehension, this time it brought nothing but joy. Roman couldn't help but laugh a genuine laugh for once.
"I really need to commend you for that one! Everything was planned out perfectly!"
Neo nodded her head, which was as much as he was going to get from her. If Roman were to guess, the Knight was smiling under his helmet.
"Such a high honor, coming from Roman Torchwick himself. I must be hallucinating."
This time, the sarcasm wasn't biting. It was like speaking to an old friend.
"Now now, Jaune, if you think I'm not going to compliment you then you really have lost your mind."
The Knight took off his helmet, revealing his face to them. A face withered with scars across it, even though his blonde hair was still in it's normal mop, was all that stared back. If anyone else noticed the smile on his face, they would've described it as menacing, but Roman knew that's just how he smiled.
Jaune Arc's voice had gone through an extreme change. Even though his voice modifier more than did the job, he made sure that he was unrecognizable even without it. It was much deeper now, with none of the voice cracks that used to be there.
"Roman, I've gotta say", he said as he took his guns out of his holster and started to clean them. "I've met some pretty good actors in my time, but that was quite the performance you put on. If I wasn't in on it, I'd have thought you hated me."
Roman laughed. "Of course I'm a good actor. You think I got this far on my good looks alone?"
Neo gave him a thumbs up as well.
Jaune looked away from his guns, right at them. "I knew you two were better than they made you out to be."
When Yang regained consciousness, it was with an extreme amount of pain in her stomach. She couldn't help but groan when she awoke, already wishing she could go back to sleep until that pain disappeared. Unfortunately, if there was one person that wasn't going to sleep, it was Yang, seeing as Ruby was not having any of it.
Before Yang could even react, Ruby was latching onto her like it was the only thing keeping her alive. The problem was that only increased her stomach pain, but Ruby quickly let go when she realized the pain she was causing.
It all happened too quickly for her to remember anything that happened in detail, but she remembered bits and pieces. Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch came into her room, with Team PRN not far behind them, and asked what exactly had happened.
Yang told her perspective for the whole thing, ending when she was knocked out. Ozpin looked nervous, and asked if the guy she fought, the Arkham Knight had said anything. When she said that he said "thanks for the power-up", Ozpin fell over and had to grab onto a chair, even though he had his cane.
Goodwitch grabbed him before he could slam into the floor, and Ozpin looked at her with the most fear anyone had ever seen inside him as he said in a whimper, "He can copy semblances". As realization hit all of them, they all started to panic, but Yang could only see the fear in Ozpin's eyes. The fact Ozpin, possibly the greatest Huntsman in recorded history, was so afraid of this person could only mean one thing.
Whatever the Arkham Knight wanted, he had more than enough power to get it on his own. But combined with the White Fang and Roman Torchwick?
He was one of the biggest threats Remnant had ever seen.
Some thought he wore a mask to intimidate others. Others thought he wore it because he didn't want anyone to know his name out of fear. Unfortunately for the skeptics, only one person knew why the Knight wore a mask.
Jaune Arc wore the mask so that when his identity finally did come out, it would be the final straw that broke his former friend's backs.
Team SSSN would go first, an unfortunate necessity to truly break them. The liars on Team RWBY would be next, slowly and methodically to cause as much fear as possible. Nora would be next, in front of Ren in order to get Ren to go out of control and throw himself at him. It would be too simple to end him.
Finally, the backstabber Pyrrha Nikos would die last, after losing everyone she ever dared to care about, just like she did to him. Just before she finally died, he would take off the mask, showing her and the world exactly how much of a failure she was.
From there, no one could stop him from doing whatever he damn well pleased.