Alright, so people were pretty torn on whether I should use V1 or V2 Denji, but ultimately there was a slight leaning towards the latter. I took that in mind when writing this chapter, but I'm also debating on just sticking to V2 and making some V1 Denji 'non-canon' segments. We'll see.

Also, I put up a poll on my fanfiction profile asking who you guys want as the main love interest. Over in spacebattles the current vote is on Velvet with Winter just a few votes behind. Poor Blake has the least amount of votes. Maybe this chapter will change that.

Oh, and Yang isn't a love interest. Thought it'd be funnier if she was the one and only person freaked out by Denji's Chainsaw Man form while everyone else is weirdly cool with it.

Blake had always ran. She ran away from her parents to join the White Fang, she ran away from the White Fang to go to Beacon, and almost ran again when she'd stupidly exposed her past to Weiss. If her team hadn't caught up to her she would've been long gone by now, trying to survive outside the kingdom because she'd burned every bridge she had. Because Blake Belladonna was a coward.

That was why when Adam attacked again she refused to turn her back. Even if she failed, even he killed her, she wouldn't run again.

It was how she ended up here, face down in the dirt of some abandoned warehouse his branch of the White Fang used as a base. She was alone. Her teammates, her friends, were busy elsewhere trying to save as much of Vale as they could from his mad plans. She refused to let him escape, let him hurt anyone else, even if it meant having to stop him herself.

But determination didn't amount to much compared to skill and experience. She put up a good fight, better than when she worked with him, but ultimately she couldn't last. Blake looked up and glared hatefully at the man she once loved as he sneered down at her, the tip of Wilt's blade right between her eyes. She still had some Aura left so the stab wouldn't be fatal, but he didn't want to kill her. Not yet. Adam wanted her to suffer, the bastard.

"You won't win," Blake spat, "My team's already stopping those fanatics you unleashed on Vale."

"There will always be more believers, Blake. More people willing to sacrifice themselves for the cause." Was he even hearing himself? He didn't even pretend to care about the Faunus anymore. All he wanted was to make people hurt. She was about to tell him to just get it over with when she heard it.

The sounds of a chainsaw revving.

Adam heard it too and just looked up just in time to see a bladed monstrosity cut through the roof and crash down them. His eyes widened and he dodged to side, barely avoiding the twin chainsaws that slashed through where his head just was, "What in the...?" Adam was a fearless man, or so he presented himself but Blake could see that even he was in shock at the new arrival.

Blake let out a little sigh of relief.

"Looks like I'm just in time." The chainsaw on Denji's right hand retracted and he offered it to her. Blake took it despite the blood that covered the limb and he pulled her up.

"H-How did you..."

"You should thank Yang. She was screaming about how you needed help and shit. She'd come here herself but apparently she ran out of that Aura thing you guys have."

"So not only do you enslave yourself to humans, but monsters now too? You've fallen far, Blake." Adam grit his teeth.

"Yeah, yeah, can we stop with the gloating or whatever? I gotta get back home quick," Denji said.

The tide of the fight had turned in their favor, but that didn't mean victory was guaranteed. A cornered animal was more dangerous than anything, and much as she hated thinking of that saying in this context, Adam had more than proven it true. He fought like a feral beast, using every single bit of Aura and skill he had to to, if not win, then at least make them bleed for it.

Blake was backhanded and, with that last blow, her Aura sputtered out. She flew through the air and crashed against the ground, feeling the pain in full with nothing to cushion her. She stood up shakily and gasped when she saw Adam sheath Wilt in preparation for a moonslice. This was it. Adam was going to die and he was determined to take her with him down to hell.

"Look out!"

Denji shoved her out of the way seconds before the wave hit. Blake crashed into the ground again and screamed at the sight of Denji cut in half at the waist, his upper and low halfs on the ground in a rising pool of blood, 'No, no...!' She bit back her tears. Someone had died for her. Why? She swore to herself that she'd never let anyone be hurt for her sake ever again and now she broke that promise.

Grief turned to anger when she saw Adam's Aura sputter out as he fell on one knee. He'd used everything he had with that last attack.

With a scream of utter rage, she tackled him the the ground and hit him with as much power she could muster. Adam was bigger and stronger, but rage and adrenaline allowed her to push through all the pain and fatigue. Her fists collided with his flesh and she didn't stop even as the blood caked her knuckles and Adam stopped had passed out from the damage.

Blake punched him one last time and, after making sure he was restrained, walked back to Denji's bisected corpse. Tears fell from her eyes as she knelt beside him, "I'm so sorry..." she whispered. It wasn't supposed to be like this. She was supposed to be the one to pay that price, not him. If only she could-

"Ugh...man, this sucks."

Blake shrieked and stumbled back as Denji, still in his monstrous form, propped himself up on his elbows and looked down at his torn lower half. And then, with far too much nonchalance, he turned to look at the unconscious Ada, "Hey, you won! Cool."

"H-How are you alive?!"

"Pfft, like this is the first time this happened." It's happened before?! "Listen, could you do me a favor? I know it's kinda gross, but could you feel around my pants pockets? I stuffed some blood packs in there to drink. Better than having to drink from those Grimm things."

"Uh...sure." Blake felt like she was half awake as she rummed through his bisected lower half and pulled out a couple of blood packs; the rest had torn open in the fighting. Ignoring the fact that she was now covered in a mix of all three of their blood, she gingerly handed him the wrapped fluid.

"Alright, this shouldn't take too long." He crouch-hopped his way to his lower half, spilling more of his guts in the process, and drank the blood as soon as both ends of the body touched. Blake watched with morbid fascination as the two halves reattached themselves and he turned back to his human form, looking none the worse for wear outside of the blood coating his body.

"...What are you?" She'd never seen something like this. The transformation was odd enough - Yang still kept going the other way as soon as she spotted him walking in their direction - but surviving fatal injuries by drinking blood?

"Kind of a long story." He stood up and cricked his neck, "You alright?"

"Y-Yeah, just got some scrapes." And broke her knuckles. Adam always was hard headed... "Thank you."

"Eh, it was nothin'."

They stood guard and waited for the police and the Huntsmen to come collect Adam. The rest of team RWBY were alright, though they'd all been injured and ran out of Aura in the fights. It was nothing serious; a few days of bedrest and they'd be good as new.

Adam woke up shortly after and, of course, opened his big mouth, "Do you feel proud of yourself, Blake?" he spat. She stubbornly faced forward and tried to ignore him, "You can pretend all you like, but you can never-"

"Hey, shut up for a sec." Denji grabbed the two drained blood backs, crumpled them up, then shoved them into Adam's mouth as a makeshift gag. It was horrifying, but Blake had no sympathy, "So...what's the deal with this guy anyway?"

"He's...my ex-boyfriend." Blake took a deep breath. He deserved the truth, she owed him that much.

"Damn. Must've been a really bad breakup."

"It's not that." Not that she doubted Adam would do this even if she had just broken up with him, "I...need to start from the beginning."

So she told them everything. Her time in the White Fang, the fights against oppression, the doubts about the cause, how she ran away to Beacon and met those she considered her closest friends. Adam tried to interrupt with something hateful but the balled up gag kept him from speaking.

"Huh...that sounds stupid." Stupid? Her cheeks flushed and she felt a swell of indignation despite her gratitude. She was about to reply when he continued, "I mean, you guys have honest to God catgirls and the humans spend god knows how much trying to keep them separated? What the fuck? Back home people would kill for someone like you!"

"I...what?" She blinked, and even Adam looked confused at the response, "Aren't you from Mistral? They hate the Faunus there."

"You know everyone keeps saying my name's 'Mistrali' or some shit, but I don't even know where that is on the map." He shrugged, "But no, this is so dumb. You got people who can see in the dark and have extra parts and they go 'we gotta keep em on one island away from us normal people!' The fuck's wrong with em? And the fuck's wrong with that guy for somehow fumbling the hot catgirl?" He jerked his thumb to a very offended Adam.

She didn't know whether to be offended or flattered to be the 'hot catgirl' in question.

"So besides the stupid racist shit, that guy's kind of an asshole, huh? He's actually kinda pissing me off with how he thinks he's still right." Blake nodded. She understood his anger, but nothing could justify his actions, "...I got an idea. It was a game I played with...a friend back home. Little tournament between just the two of us." He ungagged Adam and looked back at her with a grin.

"What do you mean?"

"We're gonna kick him in the balls. Wheoever gets the loudest squeal before the cops come wins. You in?"

The both of them looked at Denji in utter surprise. Adam, for the first time in his life, actually looked contrite and quickly spewed some bullshit about how they shared too much for her to subject him to such a thing. She'd almost agreed - if only because she was training to be a Huntress and they were better than that - before she thought, fuck it, Adam didn't deserve anything from her.

"...What do I get if I win?" Adam's eyes widened at her response.

"Heh. His balls, of course."

The next few minutes were spent in utter bliss as the two took turns turning Adam's junk into mulch. Blake laughed, both in relief and the utter absurdity of it all. Weiss would've been affronted if she saw what she was doing. He was helpless and already beaten and yet they were literally kicking him (in the balls) while he was down. But she didn't care. This was fun.

Adam's screams echoed throughout Vale and by the time the police had come to arrest him with a weepy, whimpering mess. He didn't even muster up a single barbed word as he was hauled away into the squad car.

"...Thank you," Blake whispered.

"Eh, he deserved it." Denji shrugged.

"That's not what I..." She took a deep breath, "Just...thank you."

"You're welcome." He grinned, and despite his sharp teeth and the blood that covered him the word 'monster' was the last thing in her mind, "If you wanna pay me back maybe you wanna hang out sometime?"

"I'd like that." Blake smiled, fighting against the blush on her cheeks.

"Great. I gotta introduce you to Meowy. She's my pet cat." Oh, he had a cat too? Consider it a stereotype, but Blake loved cats, "Oh, and the rest of that gang's gonna love ya. Tiramisu loves new people."

"Oh, more cats?"

"Nah, seven dogs."

...

What?

"Yeah, they've been cooped up a lot cause of classes and shit, so they're gonna love getting to stretch their legs again," he continued on, oblivious to her mounting look of horror, "Trust me, you're gonna love em! Guys are super affectionate. You couldn't get away from them if you tried."

...

She changed her mind. He was a monster and she needed to the hell out of here now.

Ooh so close, Denji! You nearly scored the hot catgirl but then you had to mention your doggo horde. Oh well. I'm sure Ruby and Weiss will appreciate the dogs. Especially Ruby.

Next chapter will be either Ruby to round out the team or Winter because Denji with authoritative older women just works. That and Weiss would freak if Denji somehow manages to charm her older sister.

Questions:

1. Would you guys want the other CM characters showing up? Aki, Power and Himeno ending up here after their deaths could lead to some really funny and lighthearted segments. Or do we stick to just Denji and Kobeni to avoid bloating?

2. So what do you guys think of Denji this chapter? I tried to base him more on his V2 version who's much more charming in a way. Guy was absolutely smooth to Asa at the end of the latest chapter. Also, penguin.