DISCLAIMER: This Chapter contains a lot of swearing and some stuff that isn't fluffy like I normally do, anyway, you know what I mean.

  ----------------------------

  “Please, I’m sorry, it was all a mistake!”

  “Mistake, you say?” Roman Torchwick gnced at the man in front of him with a smile. “Mistake… how I’ve heard that plenty of times. Honestly, it's getting a bit outdated, to say the least.” He sighed, rubbing his forehead. He then pnted his cane, Melodic Cudgel, firmly on the ground, earning a loud snap that reverberated throughout the room.

  “Neo.”

  At his call, a girl wearing a white cropped wide jacket with a pink interior while wearing skin-tight brown leather pants appeared by his side instantly. The girl was wearing a sweet, innocent smile while holding an umbrel. The pink-haired girl merely tilted her head at the mention of her name.

  "As usual, if you would."

  Neo blinked before her smile grew as she nodded and stepped forward towards the man, who stepped back with a frightened look.

  “Wait—Please—AHHH!!!”

  Roman barely reacted to the gruesome scene dispyed in front of him. He turned his head to the group of people who had fallen in line, their heads hung low. If one looked closely, they were basically shivering.

  “As for the four of you…” Roman began tapping his cane, appearing to be thoughtful.

  “Sir... I mean, Mr. Torchwick, it was a mistake, please! We didn't know there would be... we didn’t expect that girl to have a sembnce,” one of the four guys raised his voice, stepping forward.

  Roman merely chuckled. “You lost to a single girl. That's what you're telling me. Right, Kai?”

  The man, Kai, gulped as he mustered all his strength to gaze evenly at him. “Yes... but—”

  “No buts.” Roman Torchwick raised a finger, silencing the man with a simple gesture. “You know how much dust we lost because of your mistake. Do you know how much we can suffer from it? Don’t you realize it, or do I have to spell it out for you here from Neo?”

  The pink-haired girl in question simply gazed at the group, who tensed under her stare.

  Roman sighed, lessening the grip on his cane. “Tell me this. I’ll give you all a chance. Expin to me in every detail how you—the four of you, the only five who came out alive—managed to lose to a girl. So, are there any volunteers?”

  Before the group could respond, Roman added, “It better be a good story or else…”

  He gnced at Neo, who smiled. “She’ll be the one to take over. Understand?”

  “Yes, sir!”

  Roman nodded. “Good. Now, you may begin.”

  Seeing the group hesitate, unsure of who would be the one to expin, a connection seemed to spark between the three as they looked at a singur person simultaneously.

  “Seriously?” The person they were looking at was Hans, who looked exasperated but complied. After all, he cherished his life.

  “Alright,” Hans mumbled as he raised his hand. “I’ll be the one to expin, Mr. Torchwick.”

  Roman gestured his hand. “Please.”

  The man cleared his throat before expining, “It all began when we were driving down Highway 47B...”

  ++++====++++

  Exactly 4 hours earlier…

  Location: Highway 47b going to the City of Vale

  Hans looked at the road in front of him in boredom. For thirty minutes, they had been on the road, transporting the illegal import of dust into the warehouse located in the city. They had two vehicles. He was situated in the first vehicle where only he and his companion were seated. In the back was the other part of the crew consisting of 5 personnel and held the rgest storage of dust with a rger vehicle.

  Hans yawned, feeling sleepy. His eyelids felt heavy as he began closing them but only snapped awake after feeling a prickly pain from his arm. He turned to whoever it was who did that with a gre, “What?”

  “Don't sleep. We're on a mission,” the man on the wheels with red gsses spoke sternly. It was his companion Kyle. They were both wearing the same uniform, but Hans took off his gsses as he grew annoyed at seeing things in red all the time. Kyle was someone he deemed as less friendly than a regur person. His overall personality was keen on the mission and would use rather forceful and deadly methods. He was wary of him, especially his background of murdering people and faunus alike without any good reason at all, and mostly his emotions, mainly anger, clouded his judgment most of the time.

  “Seriously? We’re nearly there. What's there to be worried about?” Hans argued as he pced his feet on the dashboard.

  “We're still twenty minutes away,” Kyle reminded him.

  “I said nearly,” Hans emphasized but was only met with silence.

  Hans drew a sigh. “Fine, okay. I won't sleep.” He crossed his arms and looked directly at the road. “See, I am looking.”

  “With those feet of yours on the dashboard, I doubt.”

  Hans sent him an annoyed look before putting his feet back on the ground. “Happy?”

  “Better. If we stray away from the road for a single second, who knows what could happen.”

  “I know, I know,” Hans grumbled. His eyes were on the road firmly before widening as he saw a figure in the distance. “Wait, stop!”

  “Huh?” Kyle quickly pushed the brakes. “What?”

  “A girl. There's a girl in the middle of the road,” Hans squinted his eyes to get a better look, and surely, there was a girl standing ahead of them.

  Kyle, who looked doubtful, peered in closely before muttering out loud. “Huh, would you look at that? There is a girl.”

  “See? I told you,” Hans shrugged as he stepped out of the vehicle.

  “What are you doing?”

  “What else? I’m here to get that girl out of the way.”

  “We could just honk, you know?”

  “I know, but a little exercise wouldn't hurt.”

  “Alright. Be quick, Mr. Torchwick doesn't like te packages.”

  “I know,” Hans shut the door.

  “Hey, Hans, what's the hold-up?!” one of the crew, named Dale, shouted at him.

  “We’ve got a small problem! But it will be quick, I promise!” Hans yelled back and proceeded to approach the girl. As he neared her, he noticed her bright orange hair was hanging loose, at a length past her shoulders. She was wearing brown pants and a green shirt. That was all from looking at her backside.

  “Hello, miss, but could you do me a favor and step out of the road, please?” Hans said as politely as he could. He guessed that the girl was as young as his daughter.

  In response to his question, the orange-haired girl simply turned her head to meet his gaze. There he saw her emerald-like eyes which captivated him for a moment.

  “Was I bothering you?” the girl asked softly. Hans quickly took notice of what was in her hand. It appeared to be raw meat.

  “Yes,” Hans answered after a moment, shifting his focus back onto the girl. “You see, we’re in a hurry.”

  “Ahh,” the girl nodded. “Sorry, I was hunting for some food.”

  “Food?”

  “Mhm,” the girl nodded. “See this pork chop? It was all thanks to my great bow skills that I managed to kill one of the pigs that ran away, but I was fast, so everything went well.”

  “A-Ah, I see. Good for you,” Hans smiled faintly. He didn’t know what the girl was talking about. “So, can you please move out of the way?”

  “Okay!”

  “Thank you, young miss.”

  “Okay!”

  Hans breathed a sigh of relief. Good. At least she was an understandable type of person, albeit she was weird. As he began turning away, he heard a loud gasp from behind followed by a shout.

  “WHAT IS THAT?!”

  Hans felt a gust of wind passed his shoulder, prompting him to turn around and saw the girl was nowhere to be found.

  “What is this? So cool! It looks like a minecart but bigger!”

  That voice. He recognized it. He snapped his head at the location of it and found the orange-haired girl near the side of the truck.

  ‘How did she get there?’ Hans began questioning himself. She was behind him a moment ago, and it wouldn't make sense how she could go past him without him noticing. He shook his head and began walking toward her. The least he could do was to keep her away from trouble, that trouble including his companions. They wouldn’t like her being so close to the package. Thankfully, they hadn't done anything yet or maybe they hadn’t noticed her.

  “Hello again, but could you please step away from the vehicle?” Hans softly asked the girl, whose head snapped at the sound of his voice.

  “A vehicle? Is this what this thing is?”

  Hans' brows furrowed. Why does she seem ecstatic? Also, what’s that question? It’s like she never saw one before.

  “Uh yes. Could you please step away? We’re about to leave,” Hans tried to expin the second time, but the girl's attention seemed elsewhere as her head went back to the back of the truck.

  “Uhm, miss—” Hans' words were caught in his throat after he saw the girl’s hands glow for a moment, and something extraordinary occurred. She was now holding a rge iron pickaxe. He was frozen in shock and most importantly went into panic and confusion when the girl attempted to mine the truck.

  There was a cnging sound before a metal part of the trailer was suddenly gone. It felt like a dream. That was Hans’s feeling at the moment.

  Not before long, dust began to flow out from the hole in the vehicle.

  “Oh, ores!”

  ‘NO!’ Hans' eyes widened in horror. Before he could say anything, a voice from behind stopped him.

  “Hey, Hans, what took so long, and what’s this kid doing here—WHAT THE FUCK?!” Kyle, who was curious about what was happening outside, turned to see a rge hole on the side of the truck with dust falling over to the ground. What’s worse was there was a kid near the dust.

  “Kyle, wait!” Hans quickly saw Kyle pull up his pistol from his pocket. He immediately stood in front of the two. “Stop! Don’t do this.”

  “Get the fuck away, Hans. Unless you want to be killed,” Kyle gred at him.

  “She’s a kid, around my daughter’s age. You can’t—”

  “She knows what she shouldn't know,” Kyle said somewhat calmly.

  “I know, but...” Hans tried to reason but a heated gre stopped him.

  “Enough. Step aside,” Kyle ordered.

  “No, you can’t just resort to guns. I won’t stand for it,” Hans firmly stood his ground.

  Both eyes met each other, and then Hans saw Kyle’s eyes drift away elsewhere. He then saw his expression shift to one of surprise.

  “Wait, what the—”

  Hans, who was curious about what he was seeing behind him, couldn’t help but turn as well. There he saw the girl before wearing a satisfied grin for some reason.

  “The dust… she took it,” Kyle muttered in total shock, disbelief spreading across his features. The gun in his hand was faltering, if not shaking, as he struggled to grip it.

  “Took it?” Hans couldn’t help but question. He looked down below and saw the dust that was overflowing before suddenly disappearing. “H-how?”

  “Oh! I never expected to get this much loot,” the girl cooed with a happy smile. “This must be a chest.” Her head snapped in their direction. “A vehicle is a chest, right?”

  Before any of them could respond, the girl added, “Uh no, how about a minecart with a chest? Am I right?”

  Hans didn’t know what to say. He didn't even know what to feel right now. However, that all came to an end as he heard a gunshot from his side.

  “Fucking bitch!”

  Hans' eyes widened as he saw the girl immediately drop to the ground after getting shot in the head. He grew horrified. His companion had just shot her in cold blood!

  “Fuck. It’s her damn fault. Acting all happy after what she’d done,” Kyle raged. “How are we gonna expin this to him?” He gestured to the now already-gone dust.

  “Expin it to him… You just shot a kid!” Hans snapped back.

  “You—” Kyle was attempting to argue back but was stopped as a voice came over them.

  "Hey, what's going on in there?”

  Four men, wearing the same outfit as they were, stepped out from the second vehicle.

  “Did you just shoot the girl?” Lance, the guy without a hat, asked, turning to Kyle who was the only one holding a gun. His face was contorted in disgust at what Kyle had just done. “Man, that’s messed up.”

  “She stole our dust!”

  “How? She didn’t have a bag?” the guy named Kai questioned.

  “I don’t fucking know, but I saw it. It disappeared in her hands as soon as she grabbed hold of it,” Kyle tried to expin but was met by a furious grunt on his end at how absurd the scene he had just witness.

  “Kyle, I think you may need to tone down your drinking,” the shortest of the group, named Mark, said, shaking his head.

  “I’m not drunk!” Kyle argued back.

  “Seriously, Kyle. Sigh, come on, let’s pack up her body and clean Kyle’s mess.”

  “You—” Kyle began but stopped.

  “That stings...” The girl's voice silenced us all. Even Kyle, who looked enraged a moment ago, shifted to pure surprise.

  “It really stings...” The girl groaned as she stood up without a problem. She rubbed her head. “That took quite a bit of my health.”

  Hans couldn’t help but step back a little. How? Didn’t Kyle shoot her in the head? Where’s the blood? Why is she still alive?

  “Kyle, how is she still alive?” The rest of the guys up front spoke in total shock.

  The girl's curious eyes went up to us. “What did you do? And what’s that in your hand?”

  “How did you…” Kyle mumbled, his expression was that of pure disbelief.

  The girl blinked and tilted her head.

  “Kyle...” Hans began.

  “Shut up.” Kyle gritted his teeth as he aimed the gun at her again. “You, step back or I’ll shoot again.”

  “Shoot?” The girl showed no hint of fear even when a gun was pointed at her. “Is that a bow? A bow made out of iron? But it doesn’t look like a bow.”

  What is she talking about? Hans couldn’t help but wonder.

  “You—I said step back!”

  The girl merely stared at Kyle, whose threat appeared to be empty, as she hummed a tune on her lips. She turned her head behind her. “Oh, there’s more of you.”

  “Damn it!” Bang!

  A gunshot rang out, followed by another, and another, and another.

  “Fuck!” Kyle yelled as he panted, lowering the pistol in his hand. “That should do it, right?”

  “....” Hans gave no reply as he was fixated on the girl's body. From there, the wounds that Kyle inflicted on her began to regenerate or heal themselves instantly. Hans couldn’t help but be terrified at the sight of it. A sembnce? That was his guess.

  “What?”

  “She...”

  “Owie, that hurts! What’s wrong with you?!” The girl stood right back up like the bullets didn’t affect her whatsoever. “You.” She pointed at Kyle. “Can you stop that, please? It’s really taken a lot of my hunger bar, and I don’t want to waste any more food, or else Steve would be angry at me.”

  “You... aren’t normal.”

  “She’s a huntress,” Hans whispered for only Kyle to hear.

  “What?” Kyle turned to him.

  “Her wound regenerated. It must be a sembnce,” Hans shakily expined.

  “You’re telling me that this girl is a huntress?” Kyle sounded in disbelief.

  “Could be,” Hans replied, unsure.

  Kyle seemed hesitant to give a response. He eyed the girl with gritted teeth. “Shoot her!” he shouted.

  Hans was surprised at his decision. Didn’t he see she wouldn’t be affected by it?

  “Are you serious?!” the guy ahead of them shouted back.

  “Just fucking shoot her!”

  The girl merely raised a brow at the mention, but then a loud bang erupted and the girl was dropped down to the floor in an instant.

  “There, we shot her!” Mark shouted as he held a shotgun in his hand.

  Kyle and Hans watched in silence. The former hoped the girl would stay dead, while the tter looked on with pity. However, it seemed their hopes and worries were all for naught.

  “Okay...” The girl's voice sounded yet again. Her arms pushed her until she managed to stand on her two feet. Her eyes now gazed at them in a different light. “I told you to not do that! It stings, you know!” She cried out, stomping the ground. “Alright, if that’s what you want then,” on her wrist appeared what seemed to be a wooden shield.

  Hans took a step back. “How did she—”

  “Fire! Shoot her again, all of you!” Kyle ordered.

  Hans felt a hand pulling him away. It was Kyle as he led them to the front of the truck. A series of gunshots reverberated through the air.

  “What did you—”

  “I’m saving your life, dumbass. We’ll get caught in the crossfire if we don’t,” Kyle grumbled as he reloaded his gun.

  “Not that, why did you just order them to fire at that girl again?”

  Kyle shook his head. “Are you dumb, Hans? She saw us, took our dust, and even had the audacity to not be ashamed of her actions. She has a sembnce, a strange sembnce that somehow prevents her from dying, and most importantly, how are we going to expin this to Mr. Torchwick? Huh?! How are we going to expin the amount of dust that we lost?!”

  Hans fell silent. His companion did bring out some good points, especially regarding their boss.

  “Ahh—my hand!”

  Kyle and Hans stopped whatever they were doing and quickly turned around to see what was happening on the other side. There they saw the girl holding a sword, standing over Mark, whose hand was cut off.

  “What the—”

  “There! I told you guys to stop using that on me,” the girl grumbled out loud, clearly annoyed by whatever they were doing to her.

  Bang! Another gunshot resounded through the air, but the girl just raised her shield to block it. The bullets turned to sparks after making contact with the shield, surprising both Hans and Kyle, who looked on and wondered, “How can a wooden shield be so durable?”

  They were using dust bullets for goodness' sake!

  “That’s it!” The girl shouted angrily, and they could see her body blur.

  “Ahh!” A scream followed.

  Hans felt his entire body shaking. Damn it, they had to leave!

  “Kyle, we need to go.”

  “What? Are you hearing yourself? We can’t—”

  “Kyle, trust me on this. We already provoked her, and she’s angry. You’ve seen how she took on our bullets, can’t you see? We’re basically pying with fire,” Hans tried to reason with him, hoping he’d finally realize the situation they were in. Huntress or not, she was dangerous. The scene they just witnessed earlier proved that.

  Kyle gritted his teeth, finding no way to refute it. “Fine.”

  Hans let out a relieved sigh. It seemed he got into his head.

  Without a moment’s time to waste, they both quickly began to approach the second truck, only to be met by one of their men being hurled against the tree on the side. Hans recognized the man to be Lance. Before he could do anything, something shot through the air and nded on Lance's stomach, earning a gurgling scream from him. It was an arrow, a rather rge arrow.

  “Ahh!” Hans winced at his scream.

  “Please...” They could hear his pained voice as an arrow was embedded in his stomach.

  Hans turned to peek from the corner and saw the girl simply holding her bow at him before shooting another arrow right down his chest. There they saw his body start to disappear, materializing into particles. She then turned her attention onto them. This time, Hans didn’t see the bright, cheery smile and innocent face like he did earlier when he first met her. It was now a cold, emotionless expression.

  “Run,” Hans ushered Kyle, who looked frozen at the scene they just witnessed.

  “Run!” Hans shouted with all his might, which finally made Kyle regain his senses.

  “Damn it, go!”

  +++++====+++++

  BACK AT THE PRESENT TIME

  "That's what happened," Hans finished expining. He felt a sense of dread as he recalled the scene. He was shaking as he viewed his hands. "From there, as we began escaping, thankfully she didn’t try to finish us all," he continued, finishing the st bit of the sentence with a gulp.

  Roman Torchwick, who listened to their story, hummed. A silence enveloped them for a short moment before he raised his finger and opened his mouth. "You're telling me that you shot the girl multiple times, and the girl was still alive in the end?" He eyed them sternly. "Your friend, now deceased, Kyle, saw how the girl took the dust and how it was simply gone? Is that what I am hearing?"

  All of them nodded, yet none dared to speak up.

  Roman nodded, then burst out ughing. "Bravo! Bravo! I never expected such a story in my life." He wiped a fake tear from his eyes. "Neo, please kindly rate their story."

  "Hmm, a nine?" Roman stared at the sign Neo just made, with an added smiley face.

  "But sir, we’re telling the truth," Jest dared to raise his voice.

  "I know," Roman softly replied, turning his attention back to them. "That's why I’m giving you all one st chance to correct your mistake today." He smiled as he spread his arms. "Get me this girl. Alive, not dead."

  "But sir—" Jest tried to say, but Roman quickly cut him off.

  "But sir, isn't she durable enough to take on one of our bullets? Is that what you wanted to say?" Roman eyed him, amused.

  Jest nodded hesitantly.

  Roman's smile remained as he said, "Then don't worry. We have enough weapons at our disposal. If the girl can take on dust bullets, well, then we should give her some of our bigger guns! Isn't it simple?" He then ughed wildly before halting, his expression turning serious. "You all have a week to do this. You may use, again, any necessary stuff you want to take this girl alive. So if you fail at this, then..." He gestured at Neo, who waved. "Just for your information, I’m pretty merciful myself—unless you want her?"

  "..."

  With silence threatening the room, Roman smiled in satisfaction. He loved obedient dogs.

  "Understood?" His voice was calm and soft, yet the response he got was firm and strong.

  "YES SIR!"

  +++====++++

  AN: An angry Alex is a scary Alex.

  Anyway, this chapter starts off by introducing Roman! Hoping I didn't make him OOC that much.

  Some background information on Steve and Alex:

  So before they were transported to the remnant, they were stacked. Like really stacked. Armors, weapons, ender pearls, potions, you name it, are all present in their inventory. They even have shulker boxes filled with them! You could already tell what they were about to do with being stacked like that before being sent off to the RWBY universe. Well aside from Food Alex was the one who was assigned to, actually forget and did not pce importance on it since they had a lot of golden apples which was the reason they tried finding food in the earlier chapters.