Hey Guys.

Here is a continuation in this AU I guess. Be warned this chapter gets a little gruesome so if you don't like gore then I would give this a miss.

If there are any questions leave them in the reviews and I will try to get back to you.

Ladel

The warehouse looked as his contact said it would. Left in disarray from the years of poor care and bad weather, slowly falling apart from the inside. Much like the whole of the old industrial sector of Vale the buildings were slowly being reclaimed by the land over the years since the city itself moved away from the areas close to Mount Glenn and chose to relocate the important industry to other side of the city.

The area became a cesspool in the years since the move. Criminal gangs now roamed into the area to pick the already threadbare buildings apart in hopes of cashing in some forgotten machine parts. The other dregs of society made it their home. The addicts and dealers came after the vultures left and made the already decrepit area worse, to the point where the council all but forgot about the area and left it to become a lawless waste.

It was also the perfect place for a person to hide. The police wouldn't step foot inside the area, uncaring about the people that lived there and the people that prayed on them. Only in the rarest of occasions will a Hunter or Huntress enter, and never for long. Long enough for whatever reason they were there for, never longer.

He was here for information. That's what Jaune told himself. He hated the place as much as the next person but he knew the place to be a goldmine of privacy and if the need arose it was also the perfect place to lay low and vanish when the heat died down. His contact in vale had told him that something was going down in the warehouse. Criminals with military tech, enough for a small army and enough to do some serious damage.

Jaune didn't care for the city or its possible problem. He needed to resupply. And stolen military tech going missing again after it had already been stolen wasn't going to attract too much heat. If anything they'll blame it on rival gangs for the blood he was willing to spill.

As he walked around the area Jaune kept his head down. The warehouse itself was covered in windows, anybody could see him coming, he needed to get closer and find an entrance without alerting the occupants before he was ready. Quickly crossing the street and entering an alleyway he noticed the sever lack of people around. The last few minuets of walking he had seen a total of 3 people, a couple junkies shooting up in a back alley as he crossed into the heart of the area. But from there he hadn't seen a soul. If there really were no people in the vicinity then these guys must have had some serious hardware, and if they did then he was looking at a hefty upgrade to his arsenal.

The alleyway was full of debris from the surrounding factory's and buildings. The dumpsters full and overflowing from years of disuse. Finding a door to the warehouse he tested the door, gently pushing the door open. The door opened with a minimal squeak, Jaune slipped into the building and left the door ajar in case he needed a quick getaway. He didn't notice the hooded cloaked figure across the rooftops watching him.

The building was as trashed as the others. Chairs and tables strewn about the rooms, rotten floorboards already given way above him, the smell of years of rot and decay filled his nostrils and permeated every surface. As he slowly crept through the remnants of peoples offices, he didn't hear anything. As unnerving as the building was the lack of sound was even worse, if there were people here he should be able to hear something other than the light footsteps from himself and the rats that scurried across the floor.

As he got to the doorway to the open warehouse floor he noticed the vast array of weapon caches littering the area, but also again nobody here. He was getting suspicious now. If there was this much tech in one place they surely would have someone at least guarding the area in case a stray junkie or hooker finds there way in here. He opened his jacket and slowly drew his sidearm from the holster, keeping the sword in its scabbard for the time being. Nobody is going to care about gunshots in this part of town, probably another dealer getting their money back. A good cover in case he needed to be louder than he expected.

He slowly entered the room, his gun firmly in hand and settled at his side as he walked into the centre of the room. His eyes fanning the entire space, looking for a possible ambush or trap left instead of a guard. Getting to the first case he peered inside and found an assortment of ammunition followed by various handguns. He removed the bag from his back and shoved a couple of boxes of ammo inside before moving on to the next couple of crates.

The others bore less useful fruit. Various small arms and ammunition, grenades of all kinds, a couple he took for himself. The last was empty but that didn't bother him too much, perhaps they had left to try there new toys.

As he turned to leave his foot knocked a piece of wood across the floor, a sharp screech barely a second echoed out into the empty expanse of the room. Jaune looked at the room again, standing as still as possible, his breathing slow and light. He looked down at his foot, then slowly and deliberately pulled the hammer back, the distinct click reverberating around him as his eyes scanned everything in the room and again for a second time.

Blood. Fresh Blood on the floor with a clear attempt to try to hide it. As he scanned the room he slowly looked around the floor around him and found a familiar object amongst the dead leaves and broken wood. A shotgun shell. He knelt down and picked it up, using the crates to block his form from anybody watching from in front of him, he brought the shell to his nose and could smell the recent discharge of gunpowder.

Jaune slowly took the bag off his back and placed it at his feet, propped up against the weapon crates and removed a couple of grenades from the few he took. He put his sidearm away in its holster and placed a grenade in each of his coats pockets. He stood and looked around the room one last time, smiling to himself when he heard a light scrape of metal against stone coming from above him in the offices overlooking the warehouse floor.

"If you wanted to meet up Yang all you had to do was call me."

Jaune waited if she would take the bait or not. She wasn't as hotheaded as she was as a teenager but if you push the right button you can get her to act without thinking.

"So if your here then that means Ruby is probably here as well? Most likely covering the exits in case I get through you, probably put a couple rounds in my legs to keep me down so you can catch up?" Jaune kept talking as he slowly moved his hands into the pockets of his coat. His index fingers hooked inside the grenade pins.

"And I guess Weiss pulled some strings to get the weapons here? But too busy to come in person, and with Blake in Menagerie that leaves it pretty even. But from what I've heard around is Team RWBY has lost its touch, and you Yang have lost what it takes."

Jaune heard the low growl before the office wall above him exploded and a silhouette of a very angry Yang Xiao-Long falling to the warehouse floor red eyes burning in the dim light of the building. Jaune kept his hands in his pockets and started to walk backwards, closer to the only solid wall on his side of the building.

"Still easily rattled huh? I expected better from you." Jaune said as he stopped, a few steps from the wall.

Yang didn't talk only cocked her gauntlets and charged. Jaune dropped just in time to avoid having his head popped against the wall behind him, he heard the impact of fist hitting solid concrete and said concrete being smashed to pieces opening a hole in the wall.

Quickly turning to avoid the follow up strike Jaune backed away from her as he drew the grenades from his pockets and rolled one at Yang as she removed her arm from the wall, turning to see the devices coming her way before the blinding flash of light and loud boom took hold of her senses. The ringing in her ears was disorientating just enough for Jaune to close the gap and retaliate with his own punch to her temple. She felt the blow and the pain rung in her head, her fist launched forward instinctively and met Jaune's chest sending him back a few steps before she swung out again, blindly hoping to deliver another hit.

Jaune noticing the wild swing ducked and pulled his gun from the holster before firing. The rounds caught her in the kneecap and brought her down, low enough for him to deliver a kick to the head. Putting enough of his aura into the strike he brought his leg back and struck with the tip of his boot. Hard enough to keep her down but not enough to do lasting damage to his friend.

The blow hit Yang in the cheek and staggered her as she tried to get back on her feet. Her vision slowly coming back to her, her ears ringing loudly. She looked up blinking wildly trying to focus on the man in front of her, as her vision returned to her she saw the other grenade coming her way, blocking her eyes from the device and turning away it went off with a bang again.

Yang struggled to stand after the second boom and before she could regain her senses she felt an arm around her neck and a cold sensation under her chin. Slowly blocking her airway as she tried to struggle out of the hold on her she felt a hard stomp on the back of leg, bringing the arm tighter around her throat as she dropped slightly.

Her vision was coming back slowly, the ringing in her ears drowning out most noises, she could hear her heartbeat as a dull thump in her ears as her vision focused at the figure in front of her. Ruby stood in front of her Crescent Rose aimed her way, barrel pointed her way and a fierce look on her face as she saw her mouth moving.

"… let her go now Jaune."

"…. the gun down Ruby"

The conversation drowning in and out of focus as Yang's hearing slowly came back to her.

"I'm not letting you leave here Jaune. You need to come back with us." Ruby said, aim steady.

"You're not in the position to make demands here Ruby. Unless you want to see your sister loose her face in front of you I'd let me walk out of here and we'll call this a friendly exchange". Jaune said, pushing the barrel of gun harder into her chin.

"After what you did in Menagerie you think I'm going to let you go? You killed people and then claimed you were working for Atlas, which wasn't true was it? I know they were bad people but we don't execute people when we feel like it." Ruby said slowly taking a step forward.

Yang felt the barrel push into her again and felt herself being dragged. Jaune was making his way to the closest door, slowly moving back to the exit her left for himself. Ruby following until he stopped as close to the door.

"You think I don't know that? But you expect me to just sit back and allow bad people to live on as they take life away from innocent people? The system you so proudly advocate for, the one that lets murderers live, the one that lets predators walk the street because there isn't enough evidence to put them away. That system? I knew you were naive but I didn't take you for a fucking idiot Ruby."

Yang saw her sister bristle at the cold words from her former friend before steeling herself again and attempting to step forward again. Jaune pulled his arm tighter around her throat slowly squeezing her airway closed.

"One last time Ruby. You come after me again and I'll do worse to you than Yang here." Jaune said.

Yang felt his grip around her throat loosen slightly before she cried out in pain. Her knee exploding in blood and shards of bone. The pain making her cry out as the ground came toward her as she crashed into it. Looking back to where Jaune was all she saw was the door with a couple bullet holes in it. The man already gone before her sister can try to retaliate.

As Ruby held her sister close and called for backup, Yang knew that if they ever encountered Jaune again, then he will make due on his promise to them. The thought scared her more than she thought it would.

X

The police headquarters was brimming with people. Not unheard of at this time of the day, the evenings always bringing the criminals out from there hiding places before the sunset. Neptune looked out into the sunset and shivered. The past couple hours a blur after he got the call from Ruby that Jaune had escaped the trap they had set up with his help. He felt bad for it but after learning what Jaune had done, Neptune felt that he needed to be stopped sooner rather than later. So he gave him a false piece of info that he knew Jaune would follow and hoped that Ruby and Yang could do the job and bring Jaune in.

The call he got shot that thought process down swiftly and now with a Jaune Arc in the wind and potentially dangerous, Neptune knew he needed to get out of sight and stay safe as a precaution. He had a couple friends in the VPD from his time as a hunter and they assured him he could stay at headquarters until his car arrived to take him to the bullhead station.

A knock at the door broke him from his thoughts as he jumped at the sound. He saw someone he didn't know poke their head through and tell him that his car was here at the back entrance ready for him. Neptune nodded and got his case from under the desk and followed the officer to the car waiting for him.

Neptune entered the car and noticed the same cop enter the drivers seat.

"Chief wanted a uniform with you until you got to the bullhead station. The security over there have been notified and will meet you at the entrance."

Neptune calmed down as the car took off at a leisurely speed to the station. If Jaune really was looking for him then it would be really hard for him to get to him through cops and bullhead security and he knew Jaune wouldn't risk the attention just to get back at him.

The car continued on its journey and Neptune looked out into the streets of Vale, the city had finally recovered after the war and was starting to get back to its former glory. The early evening light still filtering through the streets, reminding him of his time in Mistral when he travelled with Weiss on their honeymoon. The people looked happy and content and Neptune knew that the scars of the war would never leave the city but they could learn to grow with them and embrace the future, whatever that may be.

He felt the car slow as it neared the entrance to the bullhead station, and as the car stopped the door was opened from the outside as he saw the security guard gesture him out of the back seat and into the terminal. With a farewell wave to the officer who drove him Neptune made his way to the check in desk.

"Hey can you look after this while I freshen up? Busy day and all." Neptune said as he gestured to the restroom a couple meters away from him.

"Sure, I'll be outside waiting." The guard said as they made their way over.

Neptune entered the room and found it empty, the room recently cleaned as he made his way to the sink and ran the cold water before running his hands under the spray and bringing the cold water to his face to wash away the days unease and sweat. He heard the door open and close while he relaxed as the cold water ran down his face.

He didn't notice the figure behind him.

Neptune felt his shirt get grabbed and before he could react his face wash smashed against the sink in front of him. Blood began to drip from his nose and his face was again smashed down against the porcelain.

"Hey Nep. Heard you were leaving without saying goodbye."

Neptune went cold, Jaune had found him. He tried to turn but the grip on his shirt kept him where he was and another hand grabbed the back of his head by the hair and roughly yanked him up so he could see his reflection in the mirror. He saw his own face, blood flowing from his nose down him as it began too drain away into the sink.

"You fucked me Nep. You gave me up to them." Jaune said as he started to pull harder on Neptune's hair.

The pain flared up in the base of Neptune's skull. "I had to okay, they told me what you did. They said they needed to bring you in, stop you from doing more damage."

He heard the blonde laugh behind him.

"You think they want to bring me in? For what? To put me in a cell? No Nep no that's not what they want."

"Then what do they want Jaune? Cause all I know is your killing people. Taking the law into your own hands."

As Neptune finished he felt his equilibrium change as his face smashed against the sink again, the blood now pouring from his nose and his mouth as he spat out a tooth into the sink.

"They want the relic Nep. They want the last person to survive wield the Relic of Destruction who didn't die after using it. They want me at there heel, ready to put a stop to whatever they want. They want a guard dog, and I am no ones dog."

Neptune was feeling the effects of having his head smashed repeatedly, his vision began to blur as the blood soaked his shirt.

"So your going to send them a message for me Nep. Seeing as you like talking to them so much."

"Yeah. Yeah Jaune whatever you say. What's the message?"

Jaune smiled and brought Neptune's head up again. Neptune saw his face covered in blood, his nose surely broken and he guessed his mouth missing a couple teeth.

Jaune brought his head down harder against the sink. Again and again each time hitting the porcelain harder and harder eventually breaking the sink with the other mans face. The blood from each hit spraying across the mirror and his clothes. With one final slam Jaune smashed the other huntsman's face down against the jagged glass and left him in the pool of his own blood.

Jaune went to the nearest clean sink and washed his hands of the gore. He turned to survey the room again. The guard slumped in the corner, his neck cleanly broken. And Neptune bleeding out on the floor of a bathroom so close to getting out. As Jaune began to leave the room he heard the ragged breathing coming from Neptune and turned to the unconscious man, before bringing his foot down on the other mans neck, the crack of bone the last sound in the room before silence enclosed the space.

"That's the message."

So there it was.

Hope you enjoyed it.

Let me know if you want to see more from this and I will see what I can do.

Ladel