AN: Hey everyone! So it's been a long time since I posted anything on here. Long story short, in high school things started getting busy and fanfics had to be put on the back burner. However, now I'm in college and have become a far better writer than I was before, which has made me realize a key truth: most of my original fanfics were not going to work the way I intended them. Basically, it's safe to finally call the old ones dead, even if I'm not going to delete them (I may go back to my Dead Rising 2 fic, but that's a big "may"). However, I never could let the nugget of this fanfic go no matter how hard I tried and it eventually blossomed into a story I can actually work with. So, I present the successor to "RWBY Knight", the "RWBY: Arkham Series", kicking off with "RWBY: Arkham Origins"! Please feel free to leave comments on your thoughts and follows/favorites are always appreciated!
Excerpt from "The Age of Heroes", by Weiss Schnee
It is odd to hear that horrible year discussed as an "age", as though it lasted for hundreds of years and not only for a little less than one. As though there are not plenty of people alive right now (including myself) who lived through all of it. Humanity hasn't yet recovered from all of the damage we endured during this "age", yet we've already begun romanticizing it and remarking on the "good times" of hero vs. villain conflicts.
For those of us who were at the center of those conflicts, this time was anything but enjoyable. It was not an age of heroes for us. Instead, it was an age of suffering, sacrifice, and moral compromises. It was an age where we did not know if we or those we cared about would still be alive by the end of the day. It was an age where the line between "hero" and "villain" blurred to the point where there was no longer a line. But, above all, it was an age of adaptation, as we all struggled to change while the world around us gradually became more and more unrecognizable.
How does an age like this come about? Most people never learned the truth. Many think it started with the emergence of the Scarecrow, who would go on to create so many others. Others go further back and decide that it began with Mr. Freeze, the world's first "super". Still more attribute it to the Joker, the most memorable and terrifying of the supervillains. The more pessimistic of us argue that it began with the first superhero: Batwoman. Pyrrha Nikos, the savior of Vale, and a woman I'm very proud to call a friend.
I, however, know the truth. I know where the Age of Heroes truly began - and it began in the unlikeliest of places. It began with a man that no one expected would drastically change history in the way he did, for better or for worse. It began with the death of a man named Jaune Arc.
It had been six months, and yet somehow she could still remember every single detail.
"Pyrrha, we can't both make it. You have the best chance if I stay behind."
"What are you talking about? We can do it, I know we can!"
"No we can't, Pyrrha! I'm your leader, and I'm ordering you to run!"
The anger and stress in his voice mixed with the desperation in her own as they both begged the other to reconsider.
"Jaune I'm not leaving you! We stay and fight together, we can make it out alive!"
"Damnit Pyrrha, run!"
The chaos that ensued, the confusion she felt in her entire being, and finally the basic survival instinct that forced her to follow his order and run for her life. The confusion on her teammates' faces when they were leaving without him, and the shock and horror they all were feeling when they realized one simple truth.
Jaune Arc had sacrificed himself for her, and now he was gone forever.
The gravestone in front of her always brought back every single detail all at once, never giving her the mercy she sought from it. It glared back at her with the anger she was feeling inside, the anger she could never get away from.
But just like always, she forced herself to get in front of it and talk to him. She owed him that much.
"Hello again", she said. The stone, as always, offered no response. "It's been a while since I came here, I know, but with exams and missions this past week… I couldn't afford to be distracted.
Ren and Nora still miss you. They said they came out here yesterday to talk with you, but it's not like I can ask you. They just weren't gone very long, so I wonder if they really did come to see you. Ruby comes out here all the time, of course, we see each other every now and then…"
Realizing she was rambling, she refocused herself. "I think we all did well on the exams, and missions are going pretty well, but… well, we still tend to stay out of villages. They don't send us out of the city anymore, not after what happened to you."
The memories slammed into her head once again, the yelling and the Grimm growling and the adrenaline-
She forced herself to calm down.
"We still miss you, Jaune. Every day, I wonder what we would do if you were here. I think we all do, even Team RWBY. They miss you just as much as we do…"
Pyrrha felt the tears coming again, but she tried her best to hold them down.
"I still miss you so much Jaune. Every time I think I've moved on, something happens and it all comes rushing back to me. I remember your smile, your laugh, your voice, and it all comes back at once."
By now she was openly crying, her attempts to hold her tears back in vain.
"I loved you. You were the best thing that had ever happened to me! And now? What am I supposed to do?! I have a team to lead and you're not here…"
As it always was, her emotions were drained by this point. Reduced to the tired shell she had become known as, Pyrrha stood up.
"I'll still keep them safe for you. All of them. I know that's what you would have wanted."
And so, with everything she could think to say said, she turned away from the grave and walked back to campus.
As always, the grave was left in its normal state: quiet and empty, as it was intended.
As cocky as they always were, Team CRDL knew this mission was going to be easy.
It was such a pointless mission, too. If it had been because of a Grimm problem, then at least it would've made sense to send them, but "raising morale"? Cardin could've sworn that bastard of a Headmaster actually had a smirk on his face when he sent them here.
It was absolutely enraging, but it wasn't like there was anything they could really do about it. After their first year, they were on thin enough ice as it was.
And that's how they ended up in a worthless village in the middle of nowhere, largely just standing around doing nothing instead of actually getting anything done.
This was the absolute last thing any of them needed. They were Huntsmen, not PR tools, they needed to be out there doing something instead of being cooped up in villages helping old ladies cross the street.
It was a waste of time and they damn well knew it.
"Can't believe we're stuck in the middle of nowhere", Dove said. "What, did we draw the short straw or something?"
Sky scoffed. "Please, as if we ever had a shot at something good. Everyone thinks we're just dumb brutes they can throw at someone to shut them up."
Russel, meanwhile, stayed silent. It wasn't that he didn't have anything to say - far from it, in fact - but he knew that disagreeing with the rest of his team would only start a fight, and he wasn't in the mood for another pointless argument. Beacon didn't trust them, and they had given them plenty of good reasons in their first year. At least this time they even got to go on a mission - last time their mission to "shadow a Huntsman" consisted of following Professor Port around Beacon all day. Even now, just imagining his voice was enough to almost put him right to sleep.
Cardin also didn't reply, but for a different reason - if he said anything, it'd degenerate into another rant, and he just didn't have the energy to scream about the unfairness again. It wouldn't solve anything at this point, and everyone was already angry enough as it was. Instead, he changed the subject.
"Look, whining won't change anything. Let's just do what we came here to do, get back to the hotel, and do whatever else we want before we get shipped out in the morning. At least we get to sleep well tonight."
The mission in question was simply a patrol of the village's wall. Not standing on the wall looking for Grimm, not standing guard at the gate - walking around the inside of the wall and checking it for holes. They weren't architects so it wasn't like they could do a damn thing about the holes, but they needed to let the mayor know if there was anything that needed fixing.
If this was how the village chose to use four Huntsmen-in-Training, then they could all become Grimm food for all they cared, they just wanted to get the job done and get back home.
The four settled into an angry silence after that. There was nothing more to add, so they wanted to just get the job done and go back to their motel to rest. Luckily for them, their circle finished half an hour later, with no other spots they had to mark on the map.
The job was done, now they had nothing to do for the next eight hours.
As they walked back to their motel room, their anger boiled over once more, and despite Russel's best efforts, they started shouting again.
"So that's it then, huh", Sky said. "We do the most asinine shit they can hand us and then just leave? How is this supposed to help us? Why did Ozpin agree to this?"
Russel, as per usual, tried to be the reasonable one. "What's he supposed to do, say no? If a village needs help, they need help."
"But they didn't even need our help", Cardin complained. "They got tired and wanted some extra hands. It didn't have to be us, they could've gotten help from the village".
At that exact moment, the quartet heard a gunshot. None of them were fazed - walking right beside the wall meant they were hearing gunshots regularly from the guards as Grimm and wild animals were approaching nearby, even if this one was a little louder than others. The conversation continued as though nothing had happened.
"How lazy does the mayor have to be to not just get a few people to volunteer", Dove asked angrily. "Just throw in a little cash bonus to walk around town for a day and you'd get the same thing."
It was only then that Cardin, Dove, and Sky noticed that Russel was no longer at their side. Cardin turned around first, a sarcastic question sitting on his tongue, only to be shocked into silence by what he was seeing in front of him.
Russel was freezing.
Not just freezing cold, though that would have been just as suspicious in the middle of such a warm autumn day.
Russel was literally freezing solid.
Ice was slowly creeping up Russel's legs, forcing him to stand still once he could no longer move them. The look on his face was one of fear and terror, but the shock of the situation prevented him from even making a noise.
The ice soon consumed his legs, and at this point, Cardin realized he needed to do something. He had no idea if it would work, but it was better than nothing, so he ran toward Russel while dismantling his weapon. He made it to him as the ice was crossing Russel's torso, with his legs completely frozen solid.
Cardin's hands were shaking in terror, but he managed to get the cover off of the mace and expose the fire Dust within. The issue now was making sure he didn't accidentally cause an explosion with a volatile crystal - and in the meantime, the ice had crossed Russel's stomach, and he was beginning to say something.
"Cardin…", he tried to say. The problem was his teeth were chattering from the cold and, with his lungs starting to freeze, he could barely even get the word out before he ran out of breath. Upping his pace, Cardin threw his Aura to the forefront and yanked the crystal out, explosion be damned. Luckily, the crystal didn't explode, and Cardin did the only thing he could think of: he started striking the Dust against Russel's body, hoping to get a spark and halt the ice, which had finally reached his chest. In a few more seconds, Russel would be completely frozen.
Striking the Dust against Russel did nothing to stop the ice. It created the spark Cardin thought it would need and even caused a small flame a few times, but the spark never stuck or made a dent in the ice. With no other ideas and with the ice reaching Russel's neck, Cardin did something he never thought he'd even consider: he flared his Aura and squeezed the Dust as hard as he could.
The main explosion was contained within his fist, but Cardin had to put all of his efforts into not screaming and dropping all of the shards he had onto the street. As the shards started evaporating, Cardin dropped them over Russel's body, hoping that spreading the heat would do anything.
Just as before, his efforts were for naught. The Dust made clear burn marks on his skin, but rather than the fire melting the ice, it was like the ice was extinguishing the fire. Whatever was freezing Russel, it was stronger than fire Dust.
Not that it mattered anymore, because by now, Russel had finally frozen completely solid.
With his weapon dismantled, his Dust destroyed, and now a teammate frozen solid, all within about 45 seconds, Cardin had no idea what to even say or do. One second everything was fine, and the next his team was down a member for the rest of their careers. Part of him wanted to rage at the sky, while another was on the verge of crying.
Dove and Sky had finally snapped out of their stupors and slowly approached, just as shocked as Cardin was. Their mouths were open in anger and terror, wondering what the hell had just happened.
But before Cardin could even begin to talk to them, a second gunshot rang out. This time, with the trio on high alert, they could tell it had been directed at them - this wasn't exterior security, this wasn't defenders targeting some Grimm, someone had shot at them.
And this second shot ripped Russel's frozen body apart, all but detonating him on the spot.
As ice shards went everywhere, the trio flinched back to avoid being covered in anything Russel left behind, and in the distance no longer blocked by his body, they could see a man standing there, a gun outstretched.
Cardin didn't even know how to describe the man. He was well-armored in military gear, with a utility belt around his waist and black and red armor all over his body. The only exception was his mask, which even from a distance was a luminescent blue, as though it was less of a mask and more of a screen. Completing the image were two knife-like pointed ear pieces on the sides of his head, and the outstretched arm pointed towards them with a pistol in his hand.
Before Cardin could react, the man put his gun down and started walking into the building he was standing in front of, as though he was simply going home after a long day of work and not like he'd just murdered his teammate out of complete nowhere.
This was the last straw. He could hear Dove and Sky talking, asking him what to do, but he could hear no words, only the ringing in his ears as the rage overtook him. He had no idea what was going on, but he knew one thing: that man had just killed his teammate, and he was not going to take that lying down.
So, disregarding his ruined weapon, his damaged Aura, and his burned hand, Cardin stomped towards the building the man had gone in. Sky and Dove rose their objections, but Cardin didn't care. All he saw was tints of red on the outside of his vision and the image of the man with his gun. He would make him pay, no matter what it took.
The man couldn't help but give a sardonic smile underneath his glowing mask. Knowing that everything was going to plan gave him a genuine joy unlike anything he had felt in the past year, even if murder was the cost.
What better way to prove what I'm capable of than against those assholes?
After all, it's not like anyone would really miss them, right? Their loss was his gain.
As he entered the warehouse, he immediately took in his surroundings for the best vantage point. There were rows of shelves in front of him but basically nothing on the balcony surrounding the shelves, which could be a good or bad thing, but given CRDL's skill level he didn't think it would make much of a difference. Pulling out his grapple hook, the man shot at the balcony and retracted the line, pulling himself to the second floor right as the front door exploded once more.
Winchester, Bronzewing, and Lark stormed in, with the latter two having their weapons drawn, and took in the surroundings much like he just did. As expected, they were far less thorough about it, missing him crouched just behind the walled banister on the balcony even as they realized they were clearly not alone. Their footsteps stopped for a brief moment before starting up again, this time going in different directions.
Winchester must have told them to split up, cover more directions. From the sound of it, two of them are staying on the ground floor, while the third is coming up the stairs to look here.
It would be a pretty smart plan against literally any other opponent, but against one who had already proven he could break through someone's Aura? How on Remnant did it make sense to split up instead of cover each other's backs?
No matter, it made his job much easier. Wanting to stay quiet, the man waited until the footsteps on the second floor seemed about fifteen feet away, staying crouched at the corner of the banister. Then, without any warning, the man shot out from behind the corner, shot his grapple hook at the chest of the boy walking towards him, and retracted and yanked as hard as he could.
Only as the boy was being thrown towards him did he realize it was Sky Lark he was pulling, so caught off guard he could barely make any noise. As he was dragged to the corner, he finally started to make a noise, but the man forced him around the corner before putting a hand over his nose and mouth. Though Lark struggled briefly and quietly, the man put a stop to that by grabbing his head and quickly twisting, snapping his neck.
That was a second one down, only two more to go - and he was gonna have fun with this one.
Quietly lowering Lark's body to the ground, the man stood up to observe the remaining two. As expected, they hadn't noticed anything amiss and were patrolling the aisles of shelves, unaware that their teammate was dead one floor up.
The man smiled once more under his mask and pulled out his gun, taking aim at Bronzewing's head and pulling the trigger. As before, thanks to careful Aura manipulation, the shot penetrated his Aura immediately. The back of his head exploded before he even knew what hit him, and as the shot echoed around the room, team member #3 fell over dead. Winchester, not knowing about Lark's death on the second floor, was the only one left.
Time to move in.
Winchester started shouting in fear, screaming for a teammate he didn't know was already dead, as the man jumped over the balcony and landed directly behind him. The noise made Winchester turn around sharply, and before he could react, the man reached out to grab the boy by the throat. With his weapon already destroyed, there was no threat to worry about, and Winchester instinctively reached to his hand, trying to pry the man's hand away.
As Winchester stared at the mask of the man about to kill him, he still rasped out a question, asking "Who are you?"
But the man would not indulge him, even though he desperately wanted to. He had left the cameras in the building intact on purpose, so he couldn't risk showing his face yet. His identity needed to remain secret, but he could still smile underneath the mask.
The one he actually wanted to target was now in his grasp.
It was time to introduce the world to the vengeance of the Arkham Knight.
The official story goes something like this.
In our first year at Beacon Academy, Team JNPR, consisting of Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren, is sent on their first official mission to a village just outside of the city's limits. Because it's within 10 miles of the Kingdom walls and the mission is only assistance in local matters rather than anything related to Grimm, Professor Ozpin decides that they don't need a Huntsman shadowing them; instead, they'll be shadowed by the local chief of police, who will provide feedback to the Beacon staff.
About one day after their arrival, the village comes under attack from a horde of Grimm unlike anything that had been seen before. Though the village manages to call Vale and Beacon for backup, most of the village has been destroyed before bullheads can arrive. The backup helps lessen the casualties involved, but the village has to be evacuated and the horde is so large that there's no way to wipe it out without destroying the infrastructure.
While attempting to evacuate, Team JNPR is separated - Jaune and Pyrrha stay together within the village, while Nora and Ren make it to the evacuation and provide support for the bullheads. By the time the final bullhead is flying away from the city, Pyrrha has made it safely, but without her partner Jaune, who sacrificed his life holding back the horde to ensure she could get away alive. With no other option to counter the Grimm, the village is bombed to the ground as soon as the evacuation has fled, destroying the horde, the infrastructure, and though they would never admit it, any survivors that might have still been left.
The loss of life that day was horrific. Hundreds died to that horde before the Valean backup could arrive, and even after the evacuation started hundreds more couldn't escape to the bullheads before they had to flee. Overall, whether they were killed by the Grimm or simply didn't make it in time, about 900 people were killed in the chaos.
And yet, at the risk of sounding callous, it's not the ones who died that made that day so pivotal to our history - it was the one who survived. The moment the Valean government decided to bomb the village instead of search for survivors, they began a chain of events that condemned millions to death, torture, and nightmares.
And yet, as much as I would love to blame them, I simply can't. They couldn't have known the monster they would create that day.