Jäger Chapter Four: Teams
"For the love of…" Jake mutters as another one of his precious tungsten cored bullets bounces off of the extremely thick exoskeleton of the massive ancient Death Stalker closing in on him and the others. They had come across more ruins near a cliff. There was also a thick fog/mist present. The Jäger had climbed up one of the arches on either side of the area before an ancient stone bridge. Nora, Jaune, Ren, and Pyrrha are also currently engaging the over-sized Grimm scorpion. Ruby, Weiss, Yang, and Blake were fighting the massive Nevermore across the bridge. Jake has a clear line of both monsters from where he stands.
"Why did I have to be captured?"
That question has come up one time too many in the past couple of hours alone. He still finds it hard to believe that it was only two days ago that he had been on the brink of killing Roman Torchwick, and then those stupid Hunters had to interfere. Well, at least his unofficial partner, Ruby, is certainly a very skilled fighter. Of course, she is no killer….aside from Grimm, of course. Personally, he isn't sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Only time will tell, most likely.
Though why does he care? He barely knows the girl. HE shrugs his shoulders slightly, ending that particular train of thought while his mind returns to another line. A much more business-like one.
"Speaking about criminals and killers, I need to visit Junior soon. He might be my loyal eyes and ears of the underground, but if he would sell me out in a heartbeat if he thinks that I'm done with my work. Maybe he will even have some news on the Torchwick radar." With that final though, Jake fires his rifle one last time. This time, he is partially successful. Whether it is due to skill, luck, or both, the bullet manages to find a weak spot in the giant scorpion's tail. The bullet cracks the exoskeleton ever so slightly, weakening the area right behind the stinger.
Having depleted three-quarters of his already limited anti-Grimm bullets he had brought for today, the teen decides that it would be best to switch targets. He shoots the Death Stalker one last glare before turning around. As his left hand operates the lever and then inserting a new round, Jake gets down on one knee. He briefly glances at his well-used brown cloak. In the past, he had used the tattered article of clothing as a type of wind gauge.
After observing the torn fabric, Jake quickly adjusts his aim as he points the barrel skywards. He takes in a deep breath and holds it as he slowly leads the iron sights on the massive winged form of the ancient Nevermore. The Grimm is in a middle of a fight with Ruby, her sister, and their partners, and thus already making wild movements. But the Jäger isn't intimidated by this. He had spent years hunting Grimm, Humans, and Faunus to know all the tricks of sharpshooting and sniping.
Once he has properly adjusted his aim, Jake half-exhales. As he does so, he lovingly squeezes the trigger gently. A large cloud of white smoke, with a brief glow of partially-burnt gunpowder illuminates the cloud as the tungsten and lead bullet rushes skywards. This time, Jake is rewarded with success.
With a sickening crack, the bullet hits the right ankle of the massive raven-like creature of Grimm. The Nevermore squawks in pain as the bullet enters the leathery leg. The penetrator doesn't lose any of its energy once it makes contact with the hollowed bones that composed the winged demon's body. Instead, it simply shatters the bone into fragments, crippling both the leg and the bird. The dented, slightly misshapen, blood-soaked bullet bursts out of the leg. Still screeching in pain, the Nevermore looks at its assailant with unbridled hatred. While it won't lose any of its lethality in the air, it will still be in immense pain, thus weakening the concentration of the Grimm.
Of course, there is another, more detrimental result for the shooter. The Jäger now has the dubious honor of being the sole attention of the massive Nevermore. Its red eyes narrow in rage as it opens its beak. This time, the screech it emits is not one of pain, but of pure, unadulterated hatred at the reluctant Beacon student. It breaks off of its fight against the three seventeen and one fifteen year old girls as it wheels around in the sky. The only thing it leaves behind is a hail of large feathers, delaying its previous quarry from distracting it. Now, it flies off towards its land-bound ancient counterpart and the foes the Death Stalker is engaged with, and more importantly, the Jäger.
Jake doesn't focus too much on this, however, as he finishes reloading. He quickly fires again. This time, the bullet hits the chest of the Nevermore. The bullet travels deep once more, causing a shower of blood to hit the ground. To his mild dismay, the bird continues to move forward. A third shot shatters the other ankle, and a fourth shot narrowly misses the beaked head. Jake maintains his cool, however. He can't afford to panic. A lesson drilled into his head when he was learning to fight.
'In a gunfight, he, or she, who keeps their cool will be the most likely to win. Sure, raw aggression and luck are both useful, but those who develop a dependency on it will be limited. But one who uses their brain in every situation? Keep a level head, my little Jäger.'
"JAKE! LOOK OUT"
Suddenly, the ancient Nevermore breaks off at the last minute. The confusion this creates for the 17-year old teen is quickly resolved as he spins around. While well-meaning, Ruby's shout of warning is too little, too late. His brown eyes widen in alarm as he sees the large, glowing stinger descending upon him. He has only time for a single thought before the Death Stalker's attack makes contact with the aged stone he is standing on.
"Clever bastards."
Then the giant stinger smashes into the stone. Weakened by countless centuries, the pitted stone smashes into jagged shards and dust as the ancient Death Stalker tries to kill the insolent rifleman. Thanks to the single second gained from Ruby's cry of alarm, Jake isn't skewered to the spot. It is, however, very close for comfort.
Too close, in fact.
A piece of debris zooms towards the Jäger. He doesn't notice it until the fist-sized piece of rock slams into the side of his head. The world quickly goes black for what feels like merely a few seconds. With a groan, Jake opens his eyes, coughing slightly. He takes a second for the ringing sound in his ears to clear slightly before deciding to observe his surroundings and find out what the hell happened.
He looks around to discover that he has woken up on top of a pile of rubble. He shakes his head slightly, dazed. A fine layer of stone dust covers his cloak. He groans internally, knowing just how much of a pain it will be to clean the semi-shredded brown fabric. He feels a slightly warm liquid move slowly down his forehead. One hand quickly grabs his unintentionally (and fortunately nearby) discarded rifle, the other hand presses lightly against the liquid.
Jake already has an idea about what the substance in question is. The sight of crimson on his palm merely confirms the fact that he is bleeding slightly. He wipes his hand against the grass, smearing the vibrant green area with smudges of scarlet. Then he looks back at the cliff. His eyes bulge slightly. His brain rapidly processes the sight in front of him, and then reprocesses it again, not quite believing his eyes. The rarely-stunned fighter mutters two words under his breath as he continues to stare at the cliff.
"Holy shit…"
Lying against the face of the cliff towards the ground is the ancient Nevermore. Or rather, the body of the massive flying Grimm. The severed head is all the way at the top of the cliff, along with a certain silver-eyed, red-and-black haired teenage scythe-wielder. To his surprise, the body hasn't begun the usual process of dissolving. Probably due to the sheer size of the fucker, the Jäger reasons. He looks around some more, searching for the hated ancient Death Stalker. To his mild frustration, it appears that the four other teens have managed to defeat his recently-acquired (and extremely short-lived) nemesis.
Suddenly a loud gunshot echoes throughout the area. Jake feels the uncomfortable sensation of being shot at, something he hasn't experienced for a while thanks to his increased skill with stealth in his last few kills. The ones that weren't linked to him, to be more precise.
"If this is the end…fuck it," Jake mentally grumbles, having harbored a very remote expectation for Ozpin or one of his targeted groups to have secretly ordered his death or something similar. He feels some blood splatter his back, indicating that the bullet was not for him, however. The loud whimper behind him confirms it. Readying his rifle, Jake spins around, ready to resume fighting, only to watch as a large Beowolf collapses onto its back, a bullet hole going straight through its head. The Jäger quickly recognizes the person responsible for it by merely observing how accurate the bullet was, and the distance of the closest weapons of the same caliber as the wound. His brown eyes lock on to the young girls face as she holds Crescent Rose in its sniper mode, the distinctive curved blade folded up.
Once more a slight smile fights its way to the surface, briefly appearing before being suppressed by the typical dour expression of the Jäger. "Maybe dealing with Ruby will be bearable after all."
Later…
Jake yawns as team after team is formed, with various names being assigned and team leaders chosen. After the two ancient Grimm demons had been dealt with, it was a relatively uneventful and fast trek back to the starting point. From there the group had gone in two different ways. Jake went off alone, searching for a bathroom while the others did who-knows-what. Thankfully, the young rifleman quickly found his objective. He had used the sink to first clean off the dried blood from his superficial injury before attempting to remove at least some of the dust and debris from his old cloak. He had been only partially successful, but he had felt that it was good enough for the time being.
After all, he can have access to all the school's cleaning facilities soon.
With that thought in mind, the Jäger exited the bathroom and had hidden himself near the back of the assembly area, using his semblance, drawing nearly zero attention to Jake. Even Ruby Rose and the others fail to notice him as they enter. Then Ozpin appeared and started to assign teams, which was when Jake had tuned him out. There were only eight people he had any amount of interest in seeing whose team they would be one, and they have yet to be called on.
The key word being in that sentence being 'yet'.
"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR," Jake rolls his eyes as he thinks back to the golden chess pieces. "Yeah, cause gold and white are totally the same," He scoffs as Nora hugs Ren. Then the grey-haired headmaster continues. "Led by, Jaune Arc. Congratulations young man," Ozpin says to a startled Jaune…who is then knocked to the ground by a 'playful' slug to the shoulder by his redheaded partner, Pyrrha. Jake maintains a stoic appearance while others laugh at the blonde as the second-to-last four-member team leaves the stage. Four distinctive girls then step onto the stage.
"Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY," At this pause, the Jäger arches an eyebrow at that fact that Ruby's first name is also the name of her team. "Led by, Ruby Rose." A stunned Ruby is hugged by an ecstatic Yang.
"I'm so proud of you!"
Ozpin quickly clears his throat, indicating that he is not finished yet with the creation of the teams for the latest batch of students of Beacon Academy. With a sigh, Jake straightens his body as he secures his rifle, having slung it over his back just before he had left the bathroom. As he walks to the stage, a wave catches his eye. He nods his head ever-so slightly as a way of congratulating the red-hooded team leader as he approaches the stage with the greatest amount of (barely) hidden reluctance.
"This year we have a unique occasion. A last-moment applicant was accepted but this made the number of students entering their first year of training an odd number. With his consent, I have assigned him the distinction of being Beacon's only one-member team, and possibly the only one within at least a century, probably more. Jake, you shall be Team JÄGER." Jake nods his head slightly to the (at least in his opinion) annoying coffee addict as the room is filled with an awkward silence. In fact, only one other person makes a sound.
"GO JAKE!" An energetic Ruby shouts. WBY, and Team JNPR, quickly follow up her example with an energetic round of applause. The action is quickly copied by the other students, though it is at best half-heartedly. Jake ignores it, not giving a damn about the whispers. He had done more for Remnant than most of them combined. He doesn't need their approval, only his own. He barely hears Ozpin's final words.
"Looks like things are shaping up to be an…interesting year."
That night…
Jake hangs up his finally-clean cloak on the hook attacked to the back of his dorm room. He had been given a standard-sized room, with three other beds that will be empty for the next four years. He had also gathered a fair amount of his stored bullets, including the rest of his precious anti-Grimm rounds. His supply had taken a severe hit today. At least it resulted in a lot of dead Grimm. Unfortunately, the Jäger is now left with eighty-eight such bullets. The fact that Ozpin had ordered a large amount of tungsten (free of charge, thankfully) mitigates this, but only slightly as it will still take time to craft more bullets.
In the meantime, he has about four hundred regular bullets, and a little over a hundred of his early ammunition, low-lethal 'training' rounds. These ones will be the ones Jake plans to use whenever he is sparring against non-Grimm foes. His saber rests next to the window, his beloved rifle and its sword bayonet close to it. Aside from weapons and bullets, the room is almost entirely barren. Since Jake had nothing but the clothes on his back when he was captured, the school had given him a pair of sleepwear to make due for now, in addition to his school uniform. At least the clothes are plain.
It is late and the Jäger is finally starting to feel the effects of today's adventure in full force. However, there is one last thing he desires to do. Going over to the small cork board he had requested, Jake quickly pins his nearly-undamaged collection of photographs back up, hiding the small board underneath his bed for safekeeping. Finally finished with his goals, the captured assassin lays down on his bed, closing his eyes. As sleep overtakes him, one last thought flashes through his mind.
"I'm still coming after you Torchwick. Once I have set my sights on you, only death will stop them. And the only death I have planned is yours, and soon, your associates, whoever the hell they are. Beware."
And done! Wrote most of this in the early hours of this fine morning of the eighteenth of January! Hope you enjoyed, and as always please leave a review, favorite, or simply follow my story. Can't believe that I have 30 followers and 19 favorites, you guys are the best! Until next time! Next chapter-First day of school, when Jake meets Team CRDL…what could possibly go wrong?