Need one more vote for Conduit Vs Criminal RWBY male reader. Will be gone for next week and will not be able to write.
"So what was that about getting along, Ruby?" Yang asked, annoyance and sarcasm in her voice. By this time, the lunch room had cleared and the students were going to their classes. Professor Goodwitch had team CRDL take their crippled leader to the infirmary. She had also asked the witnesses what had happened, though she hadn't stayed for long. The rabbit faunus that CRDL had been picking on was perhaps the most scared of them all, though it was unknown if it was for her safety or Cardin's. True, Velvet had wanted someone to stick up for her, though she never expected anything. To have someone she didn't even know come up and defend her like that was possibly the one of the biggest shocks she had felt in a while.
"Well-I... what do you mean?" Ruby gave her sister a nervous questioning look.
"What do you mean 'what does she mean?" Weiss appeared by Yang. "(Y/N) just mutilated Cardin. How can you not know what she means?"
"Oh. Well-I... uh." Ruby tried to come up with answer.
"I really don't see what the big deal is. Cardin obviously deserved it." Blake walked up on the other side of Ruby.
"How can you say that after what he did? He's a maniac. Yet here we are going to school with him because Ozpin saw it fit to send a terrorist to Beacon with us." Weiss said.
"But he stopped Cardin, right? That's a good thing." Ruby tried to sound hopeful.
"I think what Weiss was trying to say, is that maybe (Y/N) took it a little too far." Pyrrha said, walking up next to them.
"A little is an understatement if you ask me." Yang frowned.
"Yeah. He continued to hit Cardin even after he went down. It was straight up ruthless." Weiss reasoned.
"I don't know if it was ruthless, Weiss. I'm sure he had a reason." Ruby said, hopefully.
"Yeah, and I bet it was something a long the lines of 'I'm a crazy sociopath that likes to torture living humans as a hobby." Weiss replied. Ruby looked down in slight sadness. Her friends were divided between opinions, as was she. (Y/N) had helped her, she hadn't forgotten. Weiss and Yang were also right to some degree. He had beaten Cardin to the point where he couldn't stand on his own. But he also did it for a good reason. The pilot was still largely a mystery to her, as all she knew about him was his name and that he controlled a giant robot. Ruby made a mental note to ask him about it later.
Your running act had worked for the time being. Glynda did not chase you, much to your surprise. In all honesty, you didn't care what Goodwitch thought. Everyone in that lunchroom knew Cardin deserved that. You were simply the one who had the balls to do what had to be done. Not everyone shared your opinion, however. You titan included.
"Pilot, you should not have done that."
"Oh come on, Osiris. You know he deserved that."
"While that may be true, threatening with violence in the school is an effective way to get other students to dislike, or in some cases, fear you. I estimate this would be counterproductive."
"Well it's not like anyone else was going put a stop to it. And we should both know by now that using words is just about as effective as hitting him with a fly swatter."
"Pilot Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Goldblum killed a pilot with a fly swatter in under sixty seconds."
"You're missing the point, Osiris."
"Negative. I understand the point you are trying to make, pilot. I am only suggesting you be cautious when dealing with problems involving other students."
"Whatever you say, buddy." With an audible sigh, you walked over to your desk to look over some school related items when, as if on queue with your previous conversation, your scroll buzzed. It was Ozpin. (Y/N), please see me in my office. "Of course he would. I hope it's something important."
"Good luck, pilot." Your titan said.
A few minuets later, you stepped onto the top floor of Beacon Tower. In front of you stood two large double doors. Muffled chatter could be heard from the other side. Whoever it was talking didn't sound happy.
Pushing open the doors, you found that the voices belonged to Goodwitch and Ozpin. "Ah, (Y/N), you're here. Please, take a seat."
"You! How dare you-" Glynda's would be angry rant was cut off when Ozpin spoke.
"Now, now, Glynda. I will handle this." He reassured her. Her face grew a scowl as she walked out of the room. "So. I here you caused quite a bit of trouble during your lunch today."
"And?"
"Care to explain why?"
"Care to explain why I had to do it for you?" Your used a semi-accusing tone. Ozpin heard it too. He sighed.
"You know I cannot have you harming my students. I am on thin ice already with keeping you here. Hurting other students is-"
"Then maybe you should stop the students from harming each other. This school teaches its students to take action if they see a problem. I saw an issue, I took action, so why is this my fault?"
"You should have waited for a professor to come and resolve the problem."
"Bull. Shit. I have been waiting for someone-anyone to step in and stop Cardin but no one's done a damn thing. And there was no way I was going to stand there while he hurt a student that wouldn't fight back."
"That doesn't change the fact that you-"
"That I what? Hurt him? Taught him a lesson? What would a teacher have done? Given him detention? No. You want to solve a problem, you do it right. Cardin wasn't the kind of person to 'see the error of his ways' and simply stop."
"I understand that, but you should not have been so brutal."
"Brutal's the only way I know."
"I see." Ozpin took another sip of his coffee and looked out the window. "Just refrain from doing this again. Now go to class. You've already missed one." You turned around and walked out, now confirming the suspicion that this encounter was, indeed, a waist of time.
Ozpin watched as the pilot walked through the doors to his office and back into the elevator. He sighed, thinking about what (Y/N) had said. "Brutal's the only way I know." This boy clearly comes from a troubled life. Undoubtedly one at war. Ozpin understood what war did to people. He had, after all, been around for almost all of them. So he knew why (Y/N) resorted to violence. It was because there was no reasoning with an enemy on a battlefield. He simply needed to understand that Beacon wasn't a battlefield, but breaking habits of war can be difficult, Ozpin knew this as well. He had sent the video recordings off the day of the initiation. Both the Vale council and Ironwood received a copy. The general was still skeptical. Ozpin figured he might be. Thinking that he could use the skill to kill everyone if he wanted to. The Vale council was split. Some of them thought they could use the pilot's skills, while other's shared ironwood's ideals.
It would have been better had (Y/N)'s existence been more discrete, or, at all in this case, but the whole world saw the large machine gunning down Atlas Paladins like they were nothing. Remnant was currently in the dark, the last thing anyone on TV saw was the robot getting hit by the EMP before the cameras were cut. There would come a time when the headmaster would have to explain to the world that there was no threat. I only hope that it won't be too late when that day comes, he thought.
When you walked out of the elevator and back into the school, your HUD had highlighted your current class, as well as some basic information. Class- Remnant History. Professor- Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck. Warning- never enter classroom with any coffee of any kind. What's with the last one? Upon entering the classroom, you could see it was another lecture hall type room, with students scattered about the stands. Among the most notable were Blake, Pyrrha, Jaune, and Cardin, much to your disliking. Weiss was there as well. At the bottom, however, you noticed the faunus girl that Cardin was picking on earlier that day. The students, as well as Oobleck looked over at you. "Ah, Mr. (L/N), happy you could join us. Please take a seat." On your way down, you made note of the looks people were giving you. Jaune and Pyrrha both had somewhat awkward looks that looked as if they didn't quite know what to say. Cardin, as well as one of his teammates that sat behind him looked somewhat scared. Blake looked a little more interested than she did before, happy almost. Weiss, being Weiss, looked disgusted at you, not that you really cared what the brat thought. After you sat down, the lesson started up again.
"Yes, yes, prior to the faunus rights revolution more popularly know as the "Faunus War," human kind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing faunus population in Menagerie. Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events. Why the... repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day." As he said this, he went zipping around the classroom at a speed where you could barely catch any movement at all. It looked as if his feet were glued to a railroad track and it was moving him back and forth at Ruby levels of speed. The heads of the students were moving back and forth constantly, trying to keep up. Must be horrible on the neck.
"Now, have any of you been subjugated or discriminated because of your faunus heritage?" He asked. A few students in the class raised their hands. The rabbit faunus from earlier looked somewhat afraid. Her ears drooped and she sat somewhat hunched over, almost like she was in shame. Eventually, she sheepishly raised her hand as well. "Dreadful, simply dreadful. Remember students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence." He took anther sip of his , what you assumed was coffee brewed with stim that had been stolen from your warehouse. "I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to the White Fang. Now! Which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorists believe to be the turning point in the third year of the war?" Weiss's hand immediately shot up. "Yes?" Oobleck turned his attention to her.
"The battle at fort castle." She said in that cocky, rich girl tone that said 'I know everything.'
"Precisely, and, who can tell me the advantage the faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"
"Hey!" Jaune's voice erupted throughout the room. You looked over to see him rubbing his head. Cardin (who sat behind him) was laughing to himself. Looking at the ground between them, you saw a small white triangle. Putting them together, you concluded Cardin must've hit Jaune with the paper football to get his attention. Oobleck, of course, took it as a request to answer the question.
"Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! This is excellent, excellent! What is the answer?" Obviously he wasn't ready for the question, and based on his reaction, neither did he know the answer.
"Uh... The answer... The advantage the faunus had over that guy's stuff." He looked over the professor's shoulder to see Pyrrha trying to help him. You already had your head in your hands. Dear God, boy. How the hell did he even get in here? This is pitiful. Pyrrha had started to gesture towards her eyes which conveniently were green. She then made circles around here eyes with her hands, trying to gesture at some sort of vision. Ah, she means night- "Binoculars!" Jaune made a satisfied smile and raised his arm like he was a college professor imitating Shakespeare. You frowned. His attempt at answering was met only with laughter that filled the classroom. Pyrrha followed suit of you and put her head to her hands and shook it. Oobleck was rather unamused. Taking another sip of coffee, he noticed Cardin's over the top laughing.
"Very funny, Mr. Arc. Cardin, perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject?" The boy band reject had his feet propped up on the table in front of him as he twiddled with his fingernails.
"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier." You clenched your fist, about to go for another pulse blade when OH MY GOD, OOBLECK IS SHAKING HIS HEAD! WTF? So the teachers do recognize the problem and yet they still do nothing about it. And Ozpin wonders why I have to step in myself.
"You're not the most open minded of individuals are you, Cardin?" Pyrrha turned to him, her tone darkening.
"What? You got a problem?" He raised his arms in mock frustration.
"Yeah, my problem is with you and your excuse of a team." You said, gaining some attention.
"No, I have the answer. It's night vision. Many faunus are known to have nearly perfect sight in the dark." Pyrrha said, earning a growl from Cardin.
"General Lagune was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to ambush the faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched and the general was captured. Perhaps if he'd payed attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure." Blake glared at him, obviously upset at him (much like every good natured person in the room).
Cardin stood up, balling his fists. You drew a pulse blade and followed suit. "Mr. (L/N), Mr. Winchester, please take your seats." Jaune could be heard giggling to himself, happy about Cardin's negative attention. This caused the professor to zip up to him. "You and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings." Jaune groaned. "Now, moving on-"
You attempted to listen for the rest of his lecture. Some of it was actually interesting. There had always been racism on the frontier. It had been there since the beginning of humanity, but never had there been a full blown race war. The class ended soon after. Walking out, you heard Pyrrha tell the other two in her team to go ahead while she waited for their leader. Seeing as you had nothing better to do, you waited as well, though you hid behind a nearby wall. When Jaune finally did come out, Cardin thought it'd be nice to give him a proper goodbye. That, of course, meant pushing him onto his face. "You know, I really will break his legs." Pyrrha said. All Jaune did was pout. Her face then lit up. "I have an idea! Here, come with me." When they left around the corner, you left your hiding spot and followed them.
Eventually, Pyrrha led him to the roof of the school. Jesus, didn't think Pyrrha cared about him this way, you thought. They walked over to the edge of the building and looked out to the tower in the distance. "Pyrrha, I know I'm going through a hard time right now, but I'm not that depressed. I can always be a farmer or something." He said. Pyrrha looked over the edge and panicked.
"No!" She pushed him away. "That's not why I brought you up here! Jaune, I know your having a difficult time in class, and that you're still not the strongest of fighters, so I wanna help you!" You hid in a box that was to the left of the door. Snake ain't got shit on me, you thought.
"What?" He sounded worse than he did before, somehow.
"We can train up here after class where no one can bother us."
"You... think I need help?"
"No! No, that's not what I meant." She tried to reason with him.
"But you just said it." Meanwhile, you were there, hoping to god this wouldn't become a big drama fest.
"Jaune, everybody needs little push from time to time. It doesn't make you any different from the rest of us. You made it to Beacon. That speaks volumes of what you're capable of." Pyrrha said.
"You're wrong. I-I don't belong here."
"That's a terrible thing to say, of course you do."
"No I don't! I wasn't really accepted into Beacon." From there, the two of them went on. Jaune admitted he lied about the entrance. He talked about how he never went to combat school or anything like the other students. Somehow, you weren't surprised. What did surprise you, was that Pyrrha still offered to help him. But of course, he had to go on a rant about him being the hero. People talking like that pissed you off somewhat. Poor fool, Jaune. There are no heroes. There's just men fighting with two different philosophies.
Being the idiot that he was, Jaune pushed Pyrrha away, saddening her. "Pilot, I am detecting a life signature coming from directly below you. Schematics show they are at a window." Your titan said. Pyrrha had just walked down the stairwell. Before you could ask anything, Cardin appeared from the edge and climbed up. "Oh Jaune."
"Cardin?!" He turned around to see the delinquent behind him.
"I couldn't help but overhear you two from my dorm room. So you snuck into Beacon, huh? I gotta say, Jaune, I never expected you to be such a rebel." He crossed his arms, the same smug look on his face.
"Please, Cardin, please don't tell anyone." Jaune was panicking at this point.
"Jaune, come on. I'd never rat out a friend like that."
"A friend?" Jaune slightly relaxed. Big mistake. He then found himself in a headlock with Cardin.
"Of course. We're friends now Jaune-y boy. And the way I see it, as long as you're there for me when I need you, we'll be friends for a long time." He then released Jaune, who fell to the ground, struggling for air. "That being said, I really don't have time to do to those extra readings Dr. Oobleck gave us today. Think you could take care of that for me, buddy?" Jaune, who was still on his hands and knees, nodded. "That's what I thought. Don't worry Jaune, your secret's safe with me." With that, he dropped back into his dorm, leaving Jaune by himself.
When you were sure Cardin was gone, you emerged from under the boxes, slightly startling him. "So! What are you going to do now, chief?" You asked, walking towards him.
"(Y/N)? You heard that? Listen, please don't tell anyone-" You cut him off.
"Zip it, Jaune-y boy. It's not my place to decide weather or not you get to stay. But you need to acknowledge that you fucked up. You shouldn't have said that to Pyrrha. Little in life does free help come."
"Yeah? Well what was I suppose to do? I lied my way into Beacon and have no idea how to fight. What other way is there to do this than alone?"
"A certain crimson haired spartan just gave you an out."
"Pyrrha? No, you don't understand-"
"I understand fully that you think you need to be the hero and put the world on your shoulders and carry all the burden on your own, but-"
"No, you DON'T understand. Who would I be if I didn't do-"
"Human." Was all you said.
"What?"
"You would be human, Jaune. You can't take nothing and magically make it something. The same goes for your fighting skills. You don't have to listen to me. You can stay here and run your school career into the ground for all I care. Succumb to blackmail and let Cardin make you his bitch. None of it matters to me, but it should matter to you. You wanna be a hero, Jaune? Drop the act and grow some balls." Turning away from him, you went down the stairwell yourself. You didn't plan on going to bed yet, however. You had learned that apparently, a string of robberies had been committed all around Vale, and you were going to find out why.