Jäger Chapter Thirteen: Highway Showdown
Hello again! Finished typing this chapter today and so I decided to post it even though it has only been (barely) two days since the previous chapters! Also, the vote is in.
Yes pairing: 2 votes (50%)
No Pairing: 2 votes (50%)
So I have decided to go ahead with the pairing of Neo and Yang, which I think would be a great one to have to build up considering their canon-rivalry. It isn't going to be for a while, or a large focus of this story. Most likely I'll make a second sister story that focus on the two. Anyways, on with the show! I hope you enjoy and please feel free to leave reviews, thoughts, comments!
With one last, somewhat-reluctant look at his newly-built and proven armor, Jake Torchwick silently closes the door to his room. He has already activated his stealth semblance as a precaution. The gun-and-sword slinger is dressed in his old street clothes, as today's task would require that very element. The reason for this secrecy was simple.
Team RWBY would be trying to find Roman Torchwick and the White Fang today and tonight, along with the Jäger, the monkey Faunus from the docks known as Sun Wukong, and his friend Neptune Vasilias, a blue-haired teen. They had eavesdropped on the four girls and offered their assistance, which was accepted. Teams were then formed.
Blake and Sun, who would be attending a White Fang recruitment rally in secret tonight. Jake would be accompanying them for part of the way. The tall teen's plan was being to be dropped off at the central highway system in case the two Faunus students had been detected and were being chased, to provide support through his beloved rifle.
Ruby and (to her disappointment) Weiss would search the city, starting around the CCT tower so that the Schnee Dust Company heiress could contact her family's company and examine dust shipping records and the like.
Yang and Neptune (to Weiss's despair) had been partnered up, and were planning to go to Junior's club for any information the club owner (and Jake's secret info broker) might know. Jake remembered what had happened the last time the blonde brawler had a chat with Junior, and so had discreetly given him a warning/heads-up about who would be visiting his establishment, and also a reminder to not mention the fact that he worked for Jake. In return, Jake had learned that Junior's secret mole in the White Fang, a puma Faunus and then briefly a bookstore owner named Tukson, had been killed by the silver-haired male and the nearly-topless mint green-haired female.
The girls were in different clothes than either their normal combat dresses or school uniforms, even Yang opting to wear an outfit that exposed only some of her cleavage. But they all are carrying their weapons, including Jake's typical arsenal. His ammo belts all hold his special tungsten-cored, anti-Grimm rounds only. He isn't sure why, but he just has a feeling that he will have need of them today. And he rarely ignores his gut feeling. After all, there had been countless close-calls that should have killed him, but didn't due to acting on these said feelings.
The small group quickly moves out, not desiring to waste a single second of time on their task. All have their own goals, hopes, and desires that may be fulfilled by tomorrow's sunrise. But only one has the plan of delivering death. More precisely, to a white coat and bowler hat-wearing, cane-wielding, orange-haired and green-eyed man who was his father. And maybe, just maybe, find his beloved twin sister.
The Jäger is once more on the hunt.
Later…
About an hour and a half has gone by since they left the grounds of Beacon Academy. Most of the assigned teams have arrived or are nearing their destinations. One of them prepares to spend a long amount of time in his position, having been just arrived.
Jake stands on one of the many iron beams that are beneath the massive roads of Vale's highways. His Scroll is in his left hand, and the Jäger is holding the device to his ear. "Yes, I'm sure. Just don't forget about me if you start a party," he says, half-jokingly.
"Alright. Good hunting, I guess," Blake says as she hangs up, the cat Faunus and her friend already on the move once again. Jake puts the Scroll into his pocket, having set it to vibrate, and even then only briefly. Jake sighs, stretching his body before readying his single-shot rifle, already feeling at ease with the environment Jake will be working in for a while.
"Once more unto the breach," Jake mutters quietly, looking down for any signs of trouble. A little-known fact about the underground crime element of the Kingdom of Vale was that one of the most vile practices took part, day and night, near the base of the solid concrete blocks holding the roads in the air. Child trafficking; one of the worst crimes, or at least, in the Jäger's opinion. And there was only one suitable punishment for it: Death.
Another hour goes by, filled only with aggravating boredom. Then Jake detects a small movement from the corner of his eye, and he readies his rifle. Like a shadow, the killer moves closer, still retaining the high ground. What he sees causes a snarl to form on his lips, and his brown eyes blaze with utter disgust.
A group of around twenty-five to thirty rope-bound children is being lead by six traffickers. As the feeble youths are forced forward, any who the slavers deem to be too slow are given an 'incentive' to move faster. To be more specific, stragglers are whipped.
Suddenly, the lead adult orders a stop. Probably for a break, maybe for an exchange that they had arrived at early. Regardless, for the six gunmen, this would be their second-to-last stop.
Their very last stop would be in Hell.
The Jäger would be providing them a one-way, free-of-charge trip to there.
Jake calmly moves his rifle, already loaded with a round, until the iron sights line up with the head of the obvious leader of the slavers. He inhales and exhales slightly as he lowers himself to a kneeling position. His trigger finger gently squeezes the trigger.
The death of their leader is unexpected and shocking for the other five child slavers. One moment their leader is preparing to make contact with the others involved with the exchange using his Scroll. The next, his head explodes in a gory mess of scarlet blood, white bone matter, and grey brain tissue. A loud bang is heard, slightly muffled by the sounds of cars and trucks that are moving overhead, oblivious to the horrors and death going on below. The terrified group of children screams at the ghastly sight. One of the gunmen turns around, preparing to beat some of his 'charges' to silence them.
"Shad up ya bitches! The next one of yousas ta screa-" He never finishes his threat. Nor while he ever be able to make good on it. For a brief second a startled look appears on his face. Then his head also explodes. The children huddle closer to one another, some of the unfortunates having some of the organic debris on their tattered and filthy clothes. A second bang follows.
"What the fuc-" a third gunman, his head moving all round in a panic, starts to say, his gun at the ready. His stupidity is rewarded with a swift death. As the two surviving gunmen start an attempt to find some cover, the third slaver stumbles backwards slightly. He drops the gun as his numb hands move towards his chest. Already a bright red stain has appeared, and quickly spreads. Still lacking an understanding of what the hell had just happened, the dying scum falls to his knees, and then slumps over onto his side. The body twitches briefly before stopping.
One of the two surviving gunmen, who have taken cover behind a column, pops out and fires a short-burst from his dust-powered assault, aiming wildly as the third bang dies out. "Can you see him? I thought the Jäger was fucking out of the game?!" His companion shouts, fumbling for his Scroll.
"He's up above somewhere!" The assault gun-wielding slaver replies loudly. His gun makes a loud click. "Shit, I'm empty! Reloading," He says. Suddenly he feels a warm splatter hit the back of his sleeveless shirt, another of those damn sounds of gunfire quickly following. He turns around, stunned by what he sees.
Somehow, their tormentor was able to fire a bullet straight through the concert slab the slavers had thought impenetrable to firearms. Apparently, the slack-jawed man thinks stupidly, they were so very wrong. A massive hole exists in the slain slaver's throat. A second bullet pierces through both concrete and flesh, and a final, loud crack signals the end of six more of Vale's hidden slavers.
The group of children have stopped screaming, their already-parched throats now sore from doing so. A few still whimper, and more join in as they see the one who must be responsible for the deaths of their captors approach them. The gun used to kill said men is slung across his back. A cowl hides his face as the tattered cloak dances ever-so slightly in the wind. He stops before the children, drawing a short blade.
"Easy now. You're all safe now. I'm just going to cut these ropes. Then I will make a call to the Vale Police Department to pick you up," He says gently. The children all exchange wide-eyed glances, then one of the older and braver youths steps forward. Her arms trembling, the twelve-year old watches as the sinewy rope binding her wrists is severed by the male's weapon.
The next few minutes are filled with a tense silence. Jake quickly slices the ropes until all are freed. Then he walks over to the slain and now-headless leader, his left hand still clutching the Scroll. Jake plucks the device without a second thought before dialing the police.
"I saw a group of children being trafficked by six men. Then someone or thing killed the adults and freed the children. You should pick them up, and have people to help them ready to do so," The Jäger says gruffly. Then Jake gives the directions, before hanging up. Someone tugs at his pants. The first girl he had freed looks up at him with awe in her eyes.
"Thank you mister," She says meekly. A smile twitches at the corners of his mouth, the only part of Jake's face visible to the children. He saves children like her to try to atone for these long years of not being there for his twin sister, Neopolitan. The Jäger also wants, desires, to spare as many young and innocent souls from experiencing his fate.
"You are welcome. Stay safe, and may the heavens protect you from now on." Then Jake departs, creating a false impression of moving away from where he had been waiting. He silently returns to his original position on the iron beams above. When he does so, he sees (to his immense relief) that the children are gently being led away from the scene and back to the city. It would take some time, but hopefully one day they would all recover and go on to live happier lives.
The police also leave quickly, taking only the six bodies and the now-ownerless weapons. Once more Jake is the only soul present beneath the roads. He re-loads his faithful gun in silence. Once he is finished, he lets out a long sigh, the thrill and excitement of the one-sided shoot-out now gone. In its place has returned that damn irritant known as boredom.
"At least I got some live-fire target practice," the Jäger mutters to himself darkly. He doesn't regret killing the slavers, only the fact that they and countless others exist in the four kingdoms of Remnant. Maybe one day, he could erode this ignored issue. But that is not of his objective for the near-future.
The sky turns dark as the sun sets and night arrives. Jake rests against one of the columns, resting. Then he feels his Scroll vibrates, fully awakening him. He pulls it out and sees a text message from Blake. As he reads the words, a cruel smirk appears. Apparently the cat Faunus member of Team RWBY and Sun are being chased by a hijacked Atlas Paladin. The source of the smile, however, is the identity of its pilot. To the Jäger's pleasure, it is none other than Roman Torchwick himself.
Even better, the two Faunus hunter- and huntress-in-training are heading directly in Jake's direction. Jake swiftly stands up, quickly stretching his back. He starts to feel giddy in anticipation of (hopefully) killing the monster that killed his mother, took his twin, and ruined most of his life. All he has to do, for now, is wait.
"I'm ready for you, fucker."
And done! Originally I was going to include the fight scene against Roman Torchwick in this chapter, but I decided to split this chapter in two. Next chapter will be a longer fight scene, with (hopefully) a surprise or two in store for you guys. Also, as of this moment (which will probably change soon) I have the same number of followers as one of my lucky numbers, eighty-eight! This story is also now officially my most viewed story of all time! So thank you guys and girls so much! You are all awesome! Until next week (or maybe even sooner) my readers! Next time: I Really Hate Machines