Remnant's Angel of Death

Vol. 2

I do not own RWBY or Hellsing.

" + " Iconic Hellsing smile/eye glow/shiny glasses

*, ** etc. are annotations. Located at the bottom of the chapter.

~ Vale City, Mercury Black, Emerald ~

Mercury walked with a lazy swagger as he took in the sights, sounds and scents of Vale City. It was so different from the many frontier towns he used to travel with his father and then eventually with with Cinder and Emerald.

He found Vale City incredibly boring.

The lack of alertness, in any form, of the cityfolk spoke volumes of how safe they felt behind their walls and guards. In contrast people from outside the city lived a life on the edge. While not necessarily a barebones lifestyle, the ever present danger of a Grimm attack and the fact that their work was harder and more time consuming clearly differentiated them from the sight around him.

"I got the location!" A voice called out.

Mercury turned to see a dark skinned girl approach him.

"And our lunch money." She waved a small wad of money before quickly pocketing it.

For a brief moment Mercury wondered who she stole it from but quickly dismissed the thought. It didn't matter. Few things mattered to him.

"Right, let's go then." He said, "Which way?"

The girl gestured in a direction and began to walk and Mercury quietly followed. He was always the kind of guy who followed.

After about an hour of walking they passed a bookstore with a sign that declared "Clearance Sale!". The girl stopped and seemed to peer inside.

"C'mon Em," Mercury said not bothering to look inside. Books never interested him as he was never around a place for too long to able to read anything voluminous. His education was a bit more...practical, "She gave us very specific instructions."

"Just taking a peek," Emerald answered before moving on.

A few minutes of walking and the number of people in the streets lessened. Part of the reason was the time of day and the other was because of the area of town they were now in.

"Okay, what's wrong?" Emerald slowed her pace so she could get a look at her de facto partner, "you've been quiet lately - not that I'm complaining. You didn't even try to tempt me back there at Tukson's Bookstore, orders or no."

"Oh, you mean how we're in a bit of a snag right now?" Mercury responded, "or that 'thing' we saw the other night? I saw a lot of things before I met you and Cinder Em, and I definitely never saw anything like that before."

"Scared?" Emerald teased but got no reaction, "Look, as freaky as that was our backers aren't pushovers either. We could get a new ally in all this so try to be positive."

"Whatever," he grunted.

Emerald continued to walk towards the nightclub, the potential leak that was Tukson already forgotten. She saw the mark in an alley as she passed by. To others it looked like a cat was trying to sharpen its claws on the wall. For her, a thief by trade, she knew a group mark when she saw one.

An hour later they arrived at the place their informants said was one of the best places in Vale to obtain information. Well before opening time.

Junior fixed his tie as he prepared for the evening rush of his nightclub. Finally, after calling in some favors and putting his employees on overdrive, he himself had helped, the nightclub was ready for business. A day, or this case a night, without customers was a night of lost income. As he settled on the bar to relax a bit he heard angry voices coming from the entrance. He sighed. It was too early for this shit. Junior was a bout to signal Melanie and Miltia to see what the commotion was about when the front doors slammed open.

For a moment Junior feared that "Blondie", a nickname he had given to Yang Xiao Long, was back for whatever reason but neither of the silhouettes of the two people who entered the room matched the blonde troublemaker.

When they walked up to him he could see one was a girl with emerald hair and a boy dressed in silvery gray and black.

"Look, we're not open yet," Junior ground out, annoyed that kids kept coming to his establishment.

What would he do if it got the cops' attention? Dealings with the police he could handle, not the media attention it brought though. On its face Vale was a pretty safe and boring place to the average citizen and thus there wasn't much that could serve as fodder for the news.

"Hi there, we're looking for someone," the green haired girl said casually.

"Well they're not here," Junior said brusquely, "try some other place."

"But we know he stopped by here," the boy in gray said breezily, " 'cuz our boss said so."

Emerald simultaneously fought the urge to smack her own face and gave Mercury a look.

Let me do the talking.

"As he said he stopped by here," Emerald continued, "You probably remember him, white coat, cigar...bowler hat."

"Yeah I remember him," Junior was careful not to give any names, "That little shit only paid half the amount we agreed on and none of my guys came back. Tell him if he ever shows his face here aga-"

Something dropped lightly on the counter. Using her Semblance, Emerald turned over the small bag she carried for the trip to show its only content, making the move seem faster than it had to be to maximize the effect of the action.

Junior stared at the item. It was a bowler hat, only it was charred and had some unidentifiable brown smudges on it. He had a few guesses as to what it actually was. He looked up to see the smug smirk on the boy's face that confirmed the worst implication.

"It might be pretty obvious but a lot of people were disappointed with him." The girl still kept her pleasant demeanor.

Of all the days for Melanie and Miltia to be not early.

"So we're here to clean up his mess," she continued after a heartbeat passed, "You can start with the juicy stuff in Vale."

~ Beacon Academy ~

"No! Why must we play these games that exploit our emotions!"

"Stay strong Weiss! Our people are counting on us!"

Despite the numerous signs around them Team RWBY had somehow taken it up upon themselves to liven up the library by playing a card game that quickly escalated in stakes in more ways than one.

Walter tried to tune out the noise behind him, instead looking out the window. The airships over the horizon had certainly cut an impressive sight. No doubt it was loaded with Atlesian troops and candidates. Stopping by what he assumed to be the city limits the ships slowly drifted in a holding pattern resembling a school of fish. Whatever message Atlas was trying send was at the very least hard to miss.

The gibbering finally stopped when two unfamiliar figures approached the table of RWBY. One was a blonde monkey Faunus while the other was a blue haired youth. From what Walter gathered they were acquaintances of Blake, at least the blonde was.

"Finally they stopped," Walter muttered, he turned the page of a book on the topic of weapon creation.

"Yes, they were on the verge of trouble if they kept that up in the library," Pyrrha agreed.

"Libraries are supposed to be for studying," Nora said to no one in particular as she flipped the page of a book she was reading. The pink wearing girl continually surprised Walter. One moment she completely carefree and the next she was serious. Not for the first time did he wonder what her true personality was.

On the other hand, his partner sat next to him, dressed in her school uniform. Pyrrha had recently seemed more lively. Walter surmised she was probably just opening up to her new team and he couldn't blame her on that regard. Caution was an admirable trait after all.

A silence fell on the other table as Blake got up to leave. Half hearted attempts to stop her fell on deaf ears as she walked away, clearly bothered. She passed by team PRWN's table without so much as a "hi" before disappearing down the stairs.

"I thought she got better after the food fight..." Ruby walked up to PRWN's table.

Ah yes, the food fight.

"You mean she was moping even before this?" The monkey Faunus asked out loud, "well, no use in getting infected with the frowns. Let's go follow her."

"Dude, I think this is a bit personal for her," his blue haired fried said.

"Which is why friends exist!" The blonde responded, "You don't strangers barge in on personal matters like this!"

Everyone nearby suppressed a groan.

"Maybe you can ask Wally to break the ice," Yang suggested, "I mean if you think about it, he's pretty much the Blake of their team. Quiet, wears dark clothes, reads a lot of books..."

Her voice trailed off as she fixed Walter another one of scheming looks.

"Blake and I are quite different," Walter huffed, "While reading is good for you, I do so out of necessity as I have a lot to catch up on."

Walter showed the book's title to emphasize his point.

"I was right...he's giving in! Tehee!" Ruby giggled before slapping her own cheek, "Ack! Focus! Blake issue!"

"My, my your little sister might outpace you soon Yang," Walter smirked.

"Yeah, I'm not too worried about that," Yang flicked her hair, "So back to our Blake issue?"

"We could corner her in the room tonight," Weiss suggested, "Even she would need to sleep sometime, plus she left her stuff there."

It was true. All of the team's weapons were kept in their rooms when not in their rocket lockers.

"Sounds like a plan."

~ Several days ago, Dr. Watts ~

"I didn't think I'd be saying this," Dr. Watts hit the final keys somewhat forcefully, "but I'm actually happy you were sent along. This little diversion has kept me from my work far longer than I would have hoped."

"Ehe hehe, oh but it's so much more fun when more people are involved doctor!" Tyrian giggled.

"No. Not in all cases." Dr. Watts kept this opinion to himself, however, as he surveyed Tyrian's handiwork.

"Well we did what we came to do," the exiled doctor brushed his coat of imagined dust, "it's up to the new hired help now. Honestly, can't that woman do anything right?"

To think that an Atlesian scientist who once commanded an entire research division was reduced to performing chores such as this galled Arthur Watts to no end. However, the fact that the objective of his mission was directly related to Atlas brought him some grim satisfaction.

A large robotic hand lowered itself to give Watts a comfortable ride. He had refused to ride inside the blatantly uninspired machine developed by the Defense Division. Tyrian hopped on the shoulder of another machine, looking decidedly lazy now that there was no one around to stop them. The other machines in the cargo hold also rose, gathering up crates of weapons, ammunition and other miscellaneous equipment. It had been a simple thing to program the Paladin's internal A.I. to follow his commands. Arthur had warned the committee that their over reliance on cross compatible technology would come back to haunt them.

And it did.

~ Beacon Academy, Dorms ~

Blake moved silently through the hallway partially out of habit and partially due to her feline heritage. Her mind was random raffle on how to obtain other sources of possible White Fang activities in Vale. Her search using the internet had yielded some possible activities but nothing concrete. Those recruitment drives in the chat rooms didn't sound urgent or even forceful, having the tenor of teenagers daring each other to do some stunt. This meant that the arrests of members in the docks were either from a cell or were simply those who chose to act independently. Either way, it was a good enough indication that the White Fang was not officially working with Torchwick.

Blake was relieved that she could avoid having to confront the White Fang command structure and instead expose the scam Torchwick had which involved using the White Fang as scapegoats. Aside from looking for indications of White Fang activities, Blake had also researched Roman Torchwick's history. What she learned, aside from that of the news, was that the man was consummate thief, through and through. Short of murder, no act was beyond him as long as he got what he wanted and Blake theorized that fooling the rank and file White Fang members and then leaving them to take the fall just before the authorities apprehended him was just an ordinary day for Roman.

Once Blake arrived at her team's room she paused to listen. Excited voices floated outward as she strained to hear the subject. It sounded like Yang decided to tease someone again and it (once again) escalated to involve the entire team. Though she normally disliked the noise, this time Blake prayed it would actually mask her presence long enough to retrieve Gambol Shroud and then exit without any questions.

Blake steered to the side to avoid Ruby and Weiss, who were both taking turns to try shut down whatever Yang had instigated prior to this. Despite herself Blake smiled at the scene. Long ago she had thought that all Schnees were out to squeeze the lifeblood out of its workers, with the most hazardous of work and environment happening to be the Faunus. However, Weiss seemed to be alright, declaring her intent to improve her family's reputation. Normally Blake wouldn't be so trusting of just words but the Schnee heiress was slowly warming up to Ruby had proven Blake that she could work with others of a different background or maybe Ruby's refreshingly goodhearted outlook had melted the team's Ice Queen.

Whether it was one or both, the scene only strengthened Blake's resolve to stop Roman Torchwick as quickly as possible. Any possible progress for a future where the Faunus were no longer discriminated would be set back by years if the White Fan's name would be connected to criminal activities. Simply typing the organization's name brought up several rumormongering websites about their involvement in the string of robberies. She opened her footlocker and took out Gambol Shroud.

Got it.

Turning around as casually as she could Blake didn't realize the arguing stopped and found her team surrounding her in a half circle. Yang stood to the side beside the window, no doubt anticipating it as an escape route. Unless she used her Semblance, Blake would have little hope escaping that way as Yang was decently fast and could carry two members of the team over shoulders if she had to.

"Hey guys," Blake said as nonchalantly as she could, "don't mind me. Just picking up a few things."

"Stop right there!" Weiss commanded as Blake began to move past them.

"Lately you've been moody, distracted and anti-social - "

"The Defense offers that that is not 'un-Blakey'" Yang chuckled out loud.

"So, Blake Belladonna, what's wrong?" Weiss continued as if Yang didn't speak up, "I thought we were going to try to be a better team?"

"I-It's just, I don't understand how people can be so relaxed after the docks!" Blake finally cried out.

"What are you talking about?" Ruby asked, "we stopped Torchwick's heist. He should be laying low for quite some time."

"We caught White Fang members," Blake explained patiently to Ruby, "not Torchwick. Without him, the blame will fall on the White Fang as a group, maybe even for the entire string of Dust Robberies. I...know how the leadership right now works. They'll try to strike a balance between making demands and action, but they will always be ready to do violence if ever they feel threatened enough."

"A major incident like a White Fang attack could set back any progress that took the Faunus years to build," Blake continued, "You don't know how far some members will go to make a statement."

"I do," Weiss interjected, causing Blake to flinch, "So if it's such a Red Dust keg, why haven't you told someone like Ozpin? The police I can understand but surely the word of Beacon's headmaster won't be easily ignored."

"We - had a talk a couple of days ago," Blake revealed, "he asked me if something was wrong but when I gave a hint of my problem I realized he was the type to watch and react, not prevent a problem. It works some of the time but I have a feeling this isn't one of those times."

"I see, and you think you can do better than trained Huntsmen and Huntresses?" Weiss crossed her arms.

"Weiss..." Yang said in a warning tone. She had an idea of what Blake was planning and while she disagreed on the methodology, Yang preferred action and found it got results.

"What are you going to do if you find Torchwick? What would you do if he was surrounded by White Fang members who are willing to fight even a fellow Faunus?" Weiss made sure to make her voice challenging but not condescending.

It was pretty hard considering her father used both tones on her and her private tutors were never too harsh either. Her older sister, Winter, did however, coach her whenever she had time to spare and Weiss tried to draw inspiration from those precious few interactions. On the other hand, she had gotten a feel for Yang's temperament. The blonde had a tendency to be overprotective of everyone close to her but this would obviously lead to people becoming spoiled. Yang in a way, had gotten used to intimidating people with physical strength and so backing down meant that she would not respect you in the long run if it appeared you were complaining for its own sake. Or at least that's what Weiss believed.

"In short, I'm asking her what her plan is." She returned Yang's look.

"Uh, stop the bad guys?" Ruby answered feeling left out of the conversation.

"Didn't you hear any of what we said?" Weiss sighed, "Roman Torchwick is a pretty slippery character and the White Fang aren't a bunch of street thugs. We, on the other hand, while possessing considerable skills, are just kids. We're not ready!"

"And we may never be ready!" Blake cried in frustration, "but they aren't going to wait for us to graduate or even fight us on even terms but we have to do something or..."

Blake trailed off, too caught up in an emotional whirlpool of frustration, worry and despair. Ruby, meanwhile was trying her hardest to think of a plan. It was what good leaders were supposed to excel in, right? Plus Huntsmen and Huntresses were duty bound to help people, but what sort of Huntresses would they be if they couldn't help their own to begin with?

"Hey, maybe," Ruby began, "We don't have to face them head on!" She pounded her palm.

The team gave her different reactions. Yang looked excited, Blake hopeful, and Weiss had a cocked eyebrow.

"If we can find out what Torchwick is planning, or better yet where his hideout is we can have enough info that someone like professor Ozpin will have to take action, or at least tell the Police!"

"There really is no convincing anyone in this room of seeing reason is there?!" Weiss threw up her arms in frustration, "Look! Can we at least agree to tell someone of what we're doing?"

"We can tell Coco or Pyrrha's team." Yang suggested.

"Right, Weiss and I will check out the Schnee Dust Company's records, Blake..."

The evening passed quickly, with girls going over multiple ideas in hushed but eager tones as they refined their plan of action for the next day.

~ unknown location, Tukson ~

Tukson woke up feeling disoriented. Whoever grabbed him did it pretty quickly and with little regard for what method they used to knock him out. Slowly as the rest of his body woke up, he realized his head was covered in a kind of sack cloth used to prevent the wearer from seeing where he was being taken. Plus the thin air inside added to the victim's disorientation. He tested his limbs.

Bound. All four of them.

He tried to extend his claws to try and cut himself loose only to discover a cold feeling on his hands. It was a special type of restraint that prevented Faunus with claws from extending them to use.

Tukson twisted and turned in place as he tried to find some way to loosen the bindings. At the same time he tried to guess as to who kidnapped him. The most likely culprit would be Atlas agents. One of the reasons why Tukson was in a hurry to leave was because he knew the Atlesians would be coming in force for the Vytal Festival under the pretense of "security". It would make sense that they would send advanced agents to scout out Vale. It wouldn't be out of character for them. He also wouldn't be surprised if they had a dossier on him, being a wanted Faunus and all.

There were other reasons to leave of course but...

"Hey! He's awake!" said a voice, "Go get the leader."

Leader? As far as he knew White Fang typically used that designation. Criminals tended to use "Boss" or "Big Guy" or some other slang while the authorities used their rank. If he was captured by the White Fang then it would also make sense. He had planned to leave the organization after all. He took solace in the fact that most Faunus, in an attempt to stay united, typically refrained from violence among their own kind. Still, that didn't mean that there were no incidents among them, especially to those who were perceived to betray their kind. It was this thought that kept hims struggling to find a way to loosen his restraints. Within minutes of fruitless struggling, Tukson heard footsteps approaching and he ceased his attempts to escape to better conserve his energy.

As the set of feet approached him Tukson was lifted up roughly into a sitting position before having the cloth ripped free from his head. Despite initially squinting in order to let his eyes adjust they widened involuntarily, but the pain he received from this action was only a preview of what was to come.

A man with red hair and dark clothes stood over him like a judge preparing to hand out a sentence. Adam spoke in a flat tone.

"Hello, traitor."

Author's note:

Soooo...Its been a while eh? Rather than turn this section into my little journal the only thing I'll say is that work and other hobbies kept me away. The good thing about this hiatus is that it allows me to go over scenarios again until I find a much better one than I originally made. For this arc, many would see that Roman's death has caused some plans to accelerate. As always, major scenarios are more or less ready for typing, its the scenes in between that will take time. For those segments I'll try to focus more on Team PRWN in order to avoid typing up scenes everyone has probably seen twice.

See you all in the next chapter!