The Mandalorian: The Sin
"It ended with an electronic razor." Weiss deadpanned before giving a shiver of disgust. "I need to wash out my ears."
"I don't know what you're complaining about. That outro was pure art." Roman mischievously chuckled.
"Immensely disturbing was what it was." Cinder remarked as she rubbed her forehead with her fingers. "So... what's this next universe? I remember something about space and someone named Mando before I heard that nonsense of a song."
"The short of it is that Renny's an intergalactic bounty hunter from a warrior race called Mandalorians." Nora jumped in to explain all to eagerly. "He fights all sorts of aliens and killer beasts while flying around in his spaceship."
"And with all sorts of cool weapons." Ruby added in with a giddy smile.
"Sounds like something out of a sci-fi tv show." Mercury commented.
"And it's awesome!" Nora said with stars in her eyes.
"As long as it gets rid of that outro song from my head, I'm all for it." Emerald said with a sigh.
"Just getting to it. Don't rush me." Vortech waved her off.
"Why not? You rush us." Yang replied with crossed arms.
"Do as I say. Not as I do." Vortech replied as he slammed his staff onto the floor, activating the viewing screen.
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The viewing screen opened up to show the same red and blue lights shining over helmets and metallic heads in darkness once again.
STAR WARS
The viewing then showed the empty, vastness of space, filled with stars before the Razor Crest came flying out of hyper space as it flew towards Nevarro.
Within the cockpit of the Razo Crest, Mando Ren, his armor still roughed up from the Mud Horn, quietly flew his star ship. Doing nothing else but flip a switch, Mando flew towards the volcanic planet in front of him.
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Mercury gave a small whistle in appreciation towards Mando's helmet. "Nice helmet. Really digging the shiny black pain job. I like the t-shaped visor too. Not sure about the pink though."
"That's Ren. But everyone calls him Mando." Nora explained as she had her eyes glued to the screen.
"What happened to the rest of his armor?" Cinder asked, quick to notice how everything other than Mando's helmet and right pauldron was damaged. "I take it he was in quite the fight."
"He tussled with something called a Mudhorn." Ruby explained. "It was a like a giant rhino covered in wool with a really big and sharp horn."
"Why was it called a Mudhorn?" Emerald asked.
"It lived in a burrow filled with mud." Weiss said with a grimace. "Believe me. Mando looked far more dirtied from that fight then he does now."
"Sounds like a fight I would have wanted to see." Mercury remarked.
"Mando really got his ass handed to him with that Mudhorn." Yang said with a shake of her head. "If it wasn't for the Child, he wouldn't have made it."
"Is there something special about this Child?" Cinder inquired. "It's been mentioned before."
"The Child's definitely special." Ruby smiled with a firm nod. "Just wait and see."
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Behind him, the Child popped his head up from within his metallic, silver cradle, cooing as it looked around before starting to climb out.
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Immediately everyone who had seen the Child before smiled when he made an appearance.
"Awe. There he is, the little guy." Yang cooed at the screen.
"It's felt like ages since I last saw his adorable wittle face." Weiss cooed as well.
"Woah... anyone else feel like they're getting diabetic from looking at this thing?" Mercury asked aloud as he shied his eyes away from the screen.
"Diabetes of adorableness." Penny swooned with a smile.
Cinder and Emerald both found their eyes glued to the screen. Both of them found they couldn't look away.
"Can't... look... away." Cinder grunted within her mind as her eyes fixated on the Child. "Have to think of something else. Something I hate. Like my time at the Glass Unicorn."
After breathing through her nose a bit to calm down, Cindef relaxed herself so she could talk. "So... I take it this is the Child."
"Uh-huh." Nora said with a nod. "He's the bounty for Mando's initial mission. Isn't he just the cutest thing in the multiverse?"
"Disturbingly." Emerald replied as she felt her heart flutter at the sight.
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As Mando kept his vision forward, he failed to notice the Child quietly exiting his cradle. A device beeped, further drawing away Mando's attention and prompting him to click several switches.
A trilling sound was heard before a small hologram of Greef Karga appeared on the dashboard.
"Mando." Greef began to speak. "I've received your transmission. Wonderful news. Upon your return, deliver the quarry directly to the client."
As Mando paid attention to Greef's hologram transmission, the Child had moved his way over the right side of the Razor Crest's cockpit control panel, reaching out for a lever that had a shiny, metallic ball screwed onto it.
Greef chuckled as his transmission continued. "I have no idea if he wants to eat it or hang it on his wall, but he's very antsy. Safe passage! You know where to find me."
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"He better not try to eat him or hang him up like some trophy." Ruby said with a scowl.
"I'll hang him on a wall first." Neo thought to herself as she narrowed her eyes at the screen.
"Well, most of us know that Doctor Pershing wants the Child alive. Despite the client's offer of a dead or alive contract." Ironwood pointed out. "Given what happened last time with the Child, I have half a mind to guess as to why the client wants the Child."
Pietro shook his head as he understood where Ironwood was going. "Science is a cruel mistress. In some cases it helps people. In others, it their downfall."
"Evil experiments." Nora crossed her arms with a pouting glare.
"The worse kind of science." Jaune added in agreement.
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With Greef finished talking, Mando shut off the hologram transmission in time to notice that the Child had unscrewed the little, metal ball from the lever and was now holding it in his hands.
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Most of the women in audience all cooed at the sight. Some of the few less rugged men smiled warmly at what the Child was doing.
"Is there anything the Child can do that isn't cute?" Pyrrha warmly smiled.
"Someone likes shiny objects." Nora said with a giggle.
"It's like watching Yang and Ruby as babies again." Tai sighed with a smile.
"The curiosity of children will never cease to amaze me." Ozpin chuckled a bit.
"Dammit. Why does this thing have to be so cute?" Cinder thought to herself as she tried to look away from the screen.
"I'm going to have a heart attack." Emerald muttered to herself as she felt her heart rate speed up.
"Wow. This kid really knows how to steal a crowd." Roman said as he looked around at the lovestruck looks that most in the audience had.
'He's already stolen my heart.' Neo signed with a swooning smile.
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"It's not a toy." Mando told the Child as he took the little ball from his hands and set it further up on the dashboard.
The Child then cooed as Mando hoisted him up by his cloak and gently put in back in the cradle before focusing his attention forward. Mando Ren then glanced back at the Child, the Child glancing up at him as he continued to cooed.
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"Oh, come on, Mando. Don't be like that." Ruby complained a bit.
"Let him be a kid." Blake voiced in agreement.
"My counterpart shouldn't be too restricting with the Child. It's only a metal ball. Not the whole lever." Ren said with a frowning look.
"Touching dangerous and important stuff was always something Ruby did when she first started to walk." Qrow reminisced a bit.
"Despite the harmless action, I get the same feeling Mando does whenever the students get into trouble." Glynda stated with crossed arms. "Though with the Child, it's understandable."
"Children will be children, Glynda. Until they are adults, they will always make some form of mess." Ozpin told his right-hand woman.
"A mess I'll undoubtedly have to clean up." Glynda muttered in reply.
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Mando then looked back through the cockpit windshield again, flicking a switch above him before pushing the controls forward as he directed the Razor Crest towards Nevarro.
The viewing swiftly cut to the Razor Crest landing at the docking ports, just outside of the town, everyone going about their day. The front, left side door opened up, allowing for Mando to walk out with the cradle floating beside him, the Child looking around in curiosity at his surroundings.
As Mando and the Child moved towards the archway entrance of the town, the Child cooed as he looked up to see another landing, the wind of the ship's reverse thrusters blowing up wind as it landed, causing the Child's long ears to flutter about.
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"Awe. Look at how his ears flap in the wind." Nora cooed at the sight.
"It's both goofy and adorable at the same time." Yang said with a warm chuckle.
"His curious look also helps to sell it." Weiss added as she practically had hearts in her eyes.
"Someone's outta make merch out of this kid, if these are the responses everyone has." Mercury remarked with a raised brow.
"They'd sell like hot cakes." Jaune agreed with him.
"And make just about anyone rich." Roman added in.
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Everyone in the town indistinctly chattered with each other. The Child looked around to see all sorts of droids and various alien species go about their day. The Child looked over to spot two Jawas trying to sell trinkets to a potential customer before looking to the opposite direction to see a very short alien with a red helmet that had a gold visor.
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"That's a lot of aliens and robots." Mercury commented.
"Still can't top giant transforming robots." Emerald said.
"No. Definitely not." Mercury nodded in agreement.
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The Child cooed as he then looked up at Mando, who kept walking alongside the Child's cradle. Getting no response from Mando, the Child looked back forward as they continued to move through the bustling streets.
The viewing cut to Mando Ren leading the cradle down the stairwell in the alleyway where the client resided within.
Mando walked up to the door as the cradle stopped. The Child cooed as he watched Mando knock against the metal door several times before walking back. The Child then watched at the tattle-tale droid extended out from its hole, speaking in an alien language as its single optic looked at Mando.
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"Well that's an odd looking droid." Ilia commented.
"It's... certainly unique." Penny said with a tilt of her head.
"What is that?" Emerald rose her brow.
"Vortech said it's called a tattletale droid. Otherwise called a gatekeeper droid. They're basically security guards that tell you who's at the door." Ruby explained. "Well... except for the fact that they don't really protect you other than keeping the door locked if need be."
"Ah." Emerald replied with a nod.
"It's an odd design for a security system." Pietro said as he held his hand to his chin.
"A robot eye that stretched out on an eye stalk." Qrow commented. "Odd feels like an understatement."
Mercury stared at the tattletale droid for a moment before voicing his thoughts. "...Why do I have the urge to rip it out of its socket?"
"I actually have the same feeling, if I must admit." Sienna regarded as she looked directly at the screen.
"You're not alone." Yang said with crossed arms. "Me and Nora felt the same way when we first saw it."
"It just looks so annoying." Mercury said with furrowed eyes.
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Mando held up the chit he was given before by Greef, allowing the tattle-tale droid to scan it with a beeping noise. The droid spoke in an alien language once again before it receded back into its hole as the door unlocked.
The Child watched the metal door automatically slide open as two sand-caked Storm Troopers walked out, turning their heads down towards the Child, whom cooed at the two of them.
Mando looked at the two Storm Troopers as they eyed the Child. One of them then looked back up, motioning with his head for Mando to come inside before going back in himself.
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"Who are these bozos?" Mercury asked.
"Vortech said they're called Storm Troopers." Blake answered. "Soldiers for a galactic government called the Empire that had been dethroned from power."
"Cool name. They don't really look intimidating though." Mercury replied with a shrug.
"They may not look intimidating, but Vortech informed us that the Empire ransacked the Mandalorian homeworld. Leaving them to scatter." Blake explained with a dour look. "The Storm Troopers may not look like much, but the Empire they served were clearly a threat."
"And right now, they're the flunkies of the client. A representative of what's left of the Empire." Nora added in with a frown.
"What exactly did this Empire do to the Mandalorians?" Sienna asked. Given how the last time she was informed about this universe, she had learned she was once their race's leader. The fact that this Empire, whatever it was, brought ruin to her counterpart's world did not settle with her all too well. Far from it.
"In the words of a famous bounty hunter: they turned the planet to glass." Vortech told her. "Figuratively speaking, of course."
Sienna scowled at the words Vortech spoke. They were few, but their meaning was enough for her to catch the drift on the destruction this Empire brought down upon her counterpart's people.
"What bounty hunter said that?" Roman opted to ask.
"One who's father was a Mandalorian foundling." Vortech stated. "His name is Boba Fett. Remember it well. You'll see and hear more of him and his father later on."
"Another Mandalorian bounty hunter?" Ruby asked. "What's he like?"
"All I can say for now is that he's... far more neutral in his morality." Vortech said. "He's honorable, but he usually went into a job with the mindset that it was just a job. No strings attached. Nothing personal unless it was made personal."
"Sounds like the perfect bounty hunter." Cinder thought within her head.
"He sounds to be very efficient." Ironwood remarked.
"Believe me. You wouldn't know the half of it." Vortech replied back to him. "Well... except for like one or two times, but other than that he was widely known for his skill at getting the job done."
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The Child gave a short whine to Mando as he looked up at him. Mando Ren gave no response other than walking forward into the building as he activated for the cradle to go in before him. With Mando and the Child inside, the second Storm Trooper walked in behind them, allowing for the door to close.
As Mando and the two Storm Troopers walked along the halls of the building with the cradle, the leading Storm Trooper grasped onto the front of the cradle, jerking it a bit forward as he made sure it was following him.
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"Hey! Watch it!" Ruby shouted.
"He's a child, you don't need to drag him like a prisoner." Winter stated with a glare.
"Probably wants to show his authority or make himself look good in front of his boss." Qrow shrugged. "Either way, it's sad. Given that he's dragging in a kid."
"Pathetic's a better word for it." Sienna added in.
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"Easy with that." Mando told the Storm Trooper.
"You take it easy." The Storm Trooper shot back as he dragged the cradle forward with him.
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Nora scowled at the screen with narrowed eyes as she muttered to herself. "Jackass."
"I can't say I blame Nora for her language. I have a similar feeling with him too." Ren thought to himself with narrowed eyes.
"I really want to bash his helmet in." Yang calmly stated with a bland look.
"I'd hold him for you, if he was here." Ilia admitted with a similar look.
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The door to the client's room opened up, the Storm Trooper walking in first with the Child and cradle behind him.
Doctor Pershing and the client looked towards the cradle, and the Child within it as the client smiled.
"Yes!" The client calmly and excitedly stated as he arose from his desk.
The client then began to walk towards the cradle, a tracking fob in his hands that beeped more and more as he got closer to the Child. "Yes, yes, yes!"
"Yes." The client spoke again as Pershing walked over to inspect the Child as well.
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"Someone's ecstatic about the kid." Roman remarked.
'Do we need to put him on a list?' Neo signed with a bland look.
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The Child gave a curios whimper as Pershing brought up a small scanning device that gave off a red glow as he inspected the Child, all the while Mando Ren stood by and watched.
The Child whimpered a bit again as he shied away from the scanner's light, turning his head away as he squinted his eyes in slight agitation.
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"Take that light out of his face. You're agitating him." Glynda chided Pershing.
"And I thought Pershing was supposed to be on the Child's side." Nora frowned at the sight.
"To be fair, Doctor Pershing is just a scientist. One who has restraint in what he does." Weiss said in defense. "Otherwise he would have been fine if the Child was brought back dead... though that doesn't mean he should place that scanner so close to the Child's eyes."
"The client did say he was excitable." Blake added in.
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"Very healthy. Yes." Pershing smiled as his scanning devices beeped before shutting off.
Mando turned his head towards Pership and the client, the latter of which rising up to look at the bounty hunter.
"Your reputation was not unwarranted." The client complimented Mando.
"How many fobs did you give out?" Mando questioned the client.
"This asset was of extreme importance to me." The client explained. "I had to ensure its delivery."
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"So in other words, a really expensive baby." Mercury reinterpreted in observation.
"That definitely explains why there were other bounty hunters going after Mando, even when he retrieved the Child." Yang said.
"How much money did this guy offer to make getting a baby so important?" Emerald asked.
"Less in the terms of money, and more so in the terms of an extremely valuable and rare metal." Ren replied as he stared towards the screen.
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The client then started to walk back over to his desk, the Child watching him as he did so. "But to the winner... Go the spoils."
Out from under the desk, the client lifted up the camtono of Beskar, setting it upon his desk.
Mando watched as the client clicked a few button on the camtono's lid, prompting the tiny red light on it to beep and turn green. The client then twisted the handle on the top of the lid, causing the sides of the camtono to open up with a hissing noise.
Mando stared intently at the stacks of Beskar ingots as he slowly walked over to the opened camtono. Looking down at the Beskar ingots, he took out two with his left hand before spreading out to two ingots, inspecting them through his black t-shaped visor.
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"That metal?" Emerald asked with a raised brow. "What special about it?"
"From what we have seen and been told, this metal, Beskar as it is named, is a very durable metal that can withstand many blows." Oobleck stated. "Strong enough to withstand a blaster bolt, which could be equated as a stronger form of fire Dust condensed into an energy bolt."
"It's also the metal once found on Mandalore." Ren added in as he looked towards the metal. "My counterpart's people once used that metal to make some of the strongest armor around."
"So Mando took the job in the name of his culture and race." Cinder observed. "All in order to get back what rightfully belongs to him and his kind."
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"Such a large bounty for such a small package." The client remarked.
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"But is it worth the cost?" Ren thought to himself with a unsure face.
"I don't like the way the client refers to this as some mere transaction." Pyrrha soured at the sight. "It's one thing if this was some criminal. But it's an innocent Child."
"And Mando handed him over, just like that." Ilai dourly spoke.
"Don't make it seem like Mando's a bad guy." Blake scolded her old friend. "He was only doing what he did for his people... you and I both know what that's like."
"Not when it comes to children." Ilia shot back. "Never with children."
Ren sighed when hearing Ilia's words, looking towards the screen with a downtrodden glance.
"Don't listen to her, Ren. She's just being crabby." Nora said, trying to alleviate her partner. "We all know Mando's a good guy. You're a good guy."
"It still doesn't make this right." Ren calmly replied, looking back at his partner.
"Well... I mean... I'm sure Mando will find another way." Nora replied, trying to hold certainty within her tone. "He may be a more stern you, but he's still you. And I know you always protect the people you care about."
Ren gave a sad smile in response to Nora's words. "I truly hope it turns out the way you envision it. I truly do."
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Mando then looked up, peering over the client's shoulder as he watched Pershing lead the cradle, and the Child by proxy, into another room. The Child turned his head over to Mando, giving out a crying a bit as he was led into the room. Mando held his eyes on the Child the entire time as Pershing led the cradle into the other room. The moment Pershing brought the Child into the room, he closed the door, prompting Mando to turn his head away.
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"No." Weiss said with a saddened tone.
Ren sadly sighed again as he lowered his head. Nora responded to this by rubbing her hand on his back in an attempt to try and soothe him.
"This isn't right. There has to be another way." Ruby said in concern for the Child. "Maybe... maybe Mando can steal him back while getting the Beskar."
"Even if that were to happen, Miss Rose, the client would likely send more bounty hunters after Mando and the Child. Making them both targets." Port grimly explained to Ruby with a shake of his head.
"Even in terms of bounty hunting, it would be the equivalent of a hunter running off with the reward and the criminal they caught." Ironwood reiterated. "I despise this outcome as much as you do, Miss Rose, but who knows how long Mando would be able to protect the Child for before a group of bounty hunters get the drop on him."
"But... it can't end this way." Ruby retorted back. "Mando cares for the Child. There has to be something he can do."
"I'm afraid, Ruby, all we can do is wait and see what happens." Tai told his youngest daughter with a solemn look.
Ruby looked to her father before looking down with a sad appearance, Yang gently patting her sister's back in sympathy for her plight.
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Mando then looked back to the Beskar ingots in his hand, speaking to the client as he did so. "What are your plans for it?"
"How uncharacteristic of one of your reputation." The client told Mando. "You have taken both commission and payment. Is it not the Code of the Guild that these events are now forgotten?"
As the client spoke, Mando watched the door to the room the Child was taken into open up once more, revealing two other Storm Troopers exiting it. They both looked Mando Ren's way as they walked behind the client.
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"I think Mando just overstayed his welcome." Roman observed from the sudden appearance of the Storm Troopers.
"One of the reasons I don't like bounty hunting." Ironwood shook his head. "You're contracted to keep quiet about your job without ever being able to question it."
"And the fact alone that the client wants to ensure what his plans are for the Child are unkown tells immediately that the outcome is worrisome." Ozpin said as he looked to the screen with a thoughtful look. "I sense a long-run play here that won't bode well for anyone, save the remnants of this dethroned Empire."
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"That Beskar is enough to make a handsome replacement for your armor." The client told Mando, his tone having an underlying threatening feel to it. As the client continued to speak, Mando put back the two Beskar ingots into the camtono. "Unfortunately, finding a Mandalorian in these trying times is more difficult than finding the steel."
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"Is that a threat?" Nora asked with a stern look. "That sounds like a threat."
"It's underlying, but it's definitely a threat." Weiss confirmed. "Believe me. I have my father as a rubric for both underlying and direct threats."
"I'm guessing the translation is: you got your reward, not quit asking questions before you lose more than what you just gained." Yang surmised.
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Mando and the client eyed each other for a moment before Mando twisted the top of the lid, causing the panels to close back up with a hiss before taking it in his hand.
_____The_____
MANDALORIAN
Chapter 3
THE SIN
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"I can already take a guess why it's titled like that." Ilai said as she crossed her arms.
"My counterpart, in essence, struck a bargain with the devil." Ren said with a gloom look. "A Child for my counterpart's ancestral metal."
"Sheesh. You make it sound like a human sacrifice when you put it like that." Mercury told Ren with a raised brow.
"With what we've been told about the Empire, that might as well be what had happened." Ren replied back with a shake of his head.
"Don't be too hard on yourself, Ren. It not you're fault." Pyrrha tried to consul her teammate. "We... we knew this would be the end result of Mando's mission."
"Perhaps I was just hoping that he might do something to stop the transaction." Ren replied with a sigh.
"I mean, it's not too late for Mando to do something." Jaune optimistically said. "The viewing just started, and it's still going. Let's see what all happens and go from there."
"Yeah. Jaune's right." Ruby said in agreement with his optimism. "Mando wouldn't really let something like this slide. He's a good guy. Even if he's a bit brutal."
"Well, like you're friend said, we'll just have to wait and see." Ilia replied to Ruby with crossed arms.
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Mando was back outside in the dirt streets of the town, now walking by himself.
As Mando walked with the camtono of Beskar in his hands, everyone continued to indistinctly chatter with each other, selling goods to others while some of the cooked food to sell. All was quiet for Mando though as he walked into the a corner of the streets, passing into a curtained doorway.
Mando Ren walked down the stone, spiral staircase that led into the tunnels where other Mandalorians resided. As Mando walked through the tunnel, other Mandalorians looked up to see him go by, their visor-hidden eyes looking towards the camtono in his hand.
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"More Mandalorians." Sienna said, making an internal observation about how they were all living in a tunnel.
"Looks like Mando's people just got real interested in what's in the camtono." Roman remarked.
"Twenty lien says they're all about to follow him." Mercury offered up.
"Who's gonna bet against the obvious?" Yang asked him.
"Eh. Worth a shot." Mercury shrugged in response.
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As Mando continued to walk down the tunnel, he made his way to the Armorer's forge, the audience seeing the same metallic skull of a Mythosaur over the doorway to her forge.
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"That's an interesting skull." Cinder commented. "If I can get a full image of whatever this creature's entire body looked like, I can give Salem a new idea for a Grimm."
"It's based on the skull of a Mythosaur. The symbol of the Mandalorians." Oobleck explained. "From what we've learned, it was a large reptile that ancient Mandalorians once used as mounts."
"The skull alone makes it seem it was quite the intimidating creature." Sienna remarked with an interested glint in her eyes. "And I can only wager quite the formidable one as well."
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Within her forge, the Armorer idly sat at a short table as Mando walked up to her, placing the camtono onto the table and opening it for her to see.
The Armorer looked towards the many ingots of Beskar before turning her attention to Mando Ren, whom sat at the other end of the table. The Armorer then took out of quarter of the Beskar ingots, setting them to the side as she inspected them.
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"That is a very nice helmet." Cinder thought to herself. "I especially like the horn aesthetic."
"Now, who's this?" Sienna opted to ask.
"We only know her as the Armorer." Ren found himself replying as he looked at the screen. "She's the chief of my counterpart's tribe."
"The blacksmith's the leader? That's a new one." Qrow remarked. "Usually the position of leader and armorer are separate roles in a tribe."
"She may be the most skilled among the group." Sienna suggested. "Sometimes the position of leader is given to those who are respected and more favored."
"Or take it by force." Qrow added in. "I know that's exactly how Raven took leadership of the old bandit tribe. Gutted out whoever was last in charge the moment she left Tai and Yang."
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As she did so, several other Mandalorians started to walk up to the Armorer's forge, all of them looking towards the camtono of Beskar.
"This amount can be shaped many ways." The Armorer told Mando.
"My armor has lost its integrity. I may need to begin again." Mando calmly stated.
"Indeed." The Armorer agreed as she continued to inspect the ingots. "I can form a full cuirass. This would be in order for your station."
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"Well at the very least Mando gets a new set of armor to replace what was damaged." Blake said.
"Yeah... that is a pretty good prospect." Nora said as she begun to imagine how an upgraded Mando would look like. "We already saw how cool just his new pauldron was... still doesn't mean I'm okay that Mando could only get the Beskar by trading in the Child."
"We were definitely more accepting of this bounty hunting mission before we knew the Child was the one to be brought in." Pyrrha said with a solemn look. "We wary of the client from the beginning, but we had yet to figure out the full mission until later on."
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"That would be a great honor." Mando replied as the other Mandalorians continued to walk up behind him and the Armorer.
"I must warn you. It will draw many eyes." The Armorer stated to Mando.
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"You don't say?" Mercury rhetorically asked.
"Mandalorians must really like Beskar." Emerald said as she observed just how many Mandalorians walked up behind Mando Ren.
"Like bees to pollen." Yang added.
"Crooks to lien." Weiss then said.
"Cats to fish and mice." Blake spoke.
"Dogs to squirrels." Ruby stated.
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As she said this, a heavy infantry Mandalorian who's armor was grey and pale blue, his helmet squarish yet round with a blocky antenna on the left side of it, walked up behind Mando, grunting as he picked up a Beskar ingot.
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"Who's this guy?" Jaune asked, feeling slightly intimidated by the bulkier Mandalorian.
"Whoever he is, he's packing some serious heat." Ruby said as she observed the the pack on the Mandalorian's back. "At least I think he is."
"That is Paz Vizsla. A heavy infantry Mandalorian who has ties to Clan Vizsla of House Vizsla." Vortech stated.
"I knew he had something to do with heavy weapons." Ruby said to herself.
"Some of us have heard of the clans before, but what of the houses?" Oobleck questioned, holding his notebook and pen out.
"In Mandalorian culture, a house is political faction. From these factions are whom the Mandalorian clans serve under." Vortech told the bespectacled history teacher.
"How many houses and clans are there?" Sienna found herself asking while Oobleck continued to write in his notes.
"As of current, there are several clans that respond to specific houses. Clan Khan serves under House Kahn. Your house." Vortech told to Sienna before continuing. "Clan Rook serves under House Kast. And the third and most famous of the clans, Clan Vizsla, serves under House Vizsla, allied with Clan Saxon and Clan Politan."
"Interesting. Very interesting." Oobleck uttered as he continued to write.
"I never would have imagined my family name would be a political faction in another universe." Sienna said as she mused over the prospects of these houses and clans.
Meanwhile, Neo had rose her brow towards what Vortech said at the end of his explanation. "House Politan? As in... me?"
____________________________
Mando watched Paz Visla pick up the ingot, the heavy infantry Mandalorian scoffing as he spotted the Imperial stamp imbedded in the corner of it. "These were cast in an Imperial smelter. These are the spoils of the Great Purge."
Paz held up the ingot for the others to see before looking back over towards the Armorer and Mando. "The reason that we live hidden like sand rats."
____________________________
Sienna scowled again at the mention of this Empire.
"So the Beskar was stolen from the Mandalorians by the Empire." Cinder surmised.
"And they branded it as if it were their's." Ren added in with a furrowed look.
____________________________
"Our secrecy is our survival." The Armorer told Paz. "Our survival is our strength."
"Our strength was once in our numbers." Paz retorted. "Now we live in the shadows and only come above one at a time."
Paz then tossed the ingot back onto the table before setting his focus on Mando, pointing his hand towards him. "Our world was shattered by the Empire with whom this coward shares tables."
____________________________
"Well, that's a little unfair." Jaune said with a frown.
"He's not a coward!" Nora suddenly shouted at the screen. "He got the metal back for you!"
"He's pissed that Mando had to work for the Empire in order to get it back." Ilia stated. "Paz sees it as an insult and a betrayal."
"I can't say I'd fully blame him. The Empire ruined our-their home." Sienna said, slipping up a bit in her words. "For Paz, any Mandalorian that strikes a bargain with the Empire, even its remains, is a traitor."
"Which Mando isn't. He doesn't want the Beskar for himself. Only what he needs." Glynda stated as she cast Paz a stern look. "He's more than willing to give what's left to his tribe. He did it before with his initial down payment of Beskar for the mission."
"Paz is too prideful to see that, though." Ironwood said.
"His pride will undoubtedly stir up issues for Mando within the tribe." Ozpin said in observation.
____________________________
Paz then walked over to Mando, promptly placing his hand under Mando's helmet as he prompted to take it off, only for Mando to quickly grasp Paz's hand, preventing him from doing so.
Paz grunted as he then grasped the other side of Mando's helmet, from which Mando replied by grasping with his other hand as he stood up against the heavy infantry Mandalorian. All the while the Armorer continued to inspect the Beskar.
____________________________
"Well, that happened quicker then I expected." Ozpin admitted.
"Mando on Mando. I wonder how this is gonna go." Roman said as he brought his full attention to the fight.
"Kick his but Ren!" Nora cheered Mando on.
"My lien's on the big guy." Mercury said.
____________________________
Both Mando and Paz as they struggled in their shared grip. Quickly enough, though, Mando freed up his left arm, slamming it against Paz's in order to release the grip he had on him.
Swiftly, both of them pulled out their vibro blades from their boots. Mando slashed his blade across Paz's cuirass, causing the heavy infantry Mandalorian to groan as he stumbled back. Mando went in for another swing, only for Paz to block the blow with his left arm. Paz then went for a strike from up underneath Mando's cuirass, only for Mando to catch the swing with his left hand.
____________________________
"Ooh. Knife fight." Roman gave a short chuckle.
'Go for the jugular, Mando!' Neo signed with an excited smile.
"It's like two Death stingers duking it out with one another." Port said in observation. "Sharp, slashing weapons and sturdy armor."
"I'm suddenly being reminded of an incident with Mr.Winchester and Mr.Daichi." Glynda said. "It was remarkable how Mr. Winchester was able to hold his own with such a tall and strong student, and yet couldn't win a four on one fight of his team against Miss Nikos."
"I saw that fight as well." Oobleck admitted. "You we're actually watching it before your intervention of it?"
"Mr. Winchester started it to begin with. He needs to learn a lesson here and there." Glynda replied to her colleague. "Besides, I was trying to eat my lunch."
____________________________
Both of them continued to grunt as everyone watched on, with the Armorer eventually standing up from her seat.
Mando and Paz grunted as they freed themselves from their respective grips. Both of them then went to swing their vibro blades within their respective necks, only to be halted by the Armorer's voice.
"The Empire is no longer." The Armorer stated, everyone watching as Mando and Paz held their vibro blades at each other's throats. "And the Beskar has returned. When one chooses to walk the Way of the Mand'alor, you are both hunter and prey. How can one be a coward if one chooses this way of life?"
____________________________
"Ended it just when it was getting good." Mercury said with a rueful snap of his fingers.
"Mando was just about to win too." Nora said with a shake of her head.
Neo pouted as well that the fight was called before it could be finished. She crossed her arms while looking to the side. "Why couldn't you have just focused on the Beskar for a few more seconds?"
"Paz's blade was closer." Mercury said in rebuttal.
"Mando is Mando." Nora shot back.
"At least the Armorer knows when to stop a fight before it gets too out of hand." Ruby said with a sigh of relief.
"Being a proper leader does require one to be the voice of reason." Winter stated. "But she also does bring an excellent point. One that could also be applied to being a huntsmen or huntress."
"It can be applied to anyone that fights for a living." Pyrrha added on. "There a probability of both victory and defeat in any scenario."
"I couldn't agree more." Cinder said with a calm smile. "Though I'll be certain to rise above both hunter and prey."
____________________________
"Have you ever removed your helmet?" The Armorer then asked Mando.
"No." Mando Ren calmly stated as he and Paz continued to eye each other.
"Has it ever been removed by others?" The Armorer then questioned.
"Never." Mando stated again. This time, in a more firm tone.
"This is the Way." The Armorer then said.
""This is the Way."" The other Mandalorians all stated in unison.
Paz and Mando then lowered their vibro blades, stepping back from each other.
"This is the Way." Paz stated as he looked towards Mando.
____________________________
Ren rose both his brows in both confusion and intrigue at what his counterpart's fellow Mandalorians all said.
"Well there's the catchphrase of the day." Yang said with a surprised look.
"It sounds like less of a catchphrase and more of a code." Blake analyzed.
"They said it more like some biblical scripture." Emerald said with a raised brow.
"Whatever it is, it seemed to calm everything down." Jaune said. "Even got Paz to back off."
"Most likely a saying in their culture." Oobleck surmised. "One taken to heart."
"Sounded a bit cultish." Roman admitted.
"Well, every religion and culture has its differences." Oobleck replied. "This just seems to be the Mandalorians'."
____________________________
Mando gave no response other then to turn back towards the Armorer.
"What caused this damage?" The Armorer asked Mando, motioning towards his bartered armor.
"A Mudhorn." Mando answered.
"Then you have earned the Mudhorn as your signet." The Armorer stated. "I shall craft it."
____________________________
Nora gasped a bit in response to this as a smile grew on her face. "Does that mean Ren finally gets his own clan?"
"I take it signets determine the construction of new Mandalorian clan." Sienna surmised with a raised brow at Nora's excited manner.
"Yes. Though not anyone can get a signet. It signifies a feat or kill achieved by a Mandalorian. And even then, you have to get to a certain point in your line of work in order to be eligible for it." Vortech explained to Sienna.
"I see." Sienna nodded in understanding.
"What's his clan going to be called though?" Ruby asked. "Clan Ren?"
"What about Clan Mudhorn? It is the creature Mando slew." Penny suggested.
"Now that has a nice ring to it." Yang pointed to Penny in approval.
____________________________
"I can't accept." Mando replied as he walked a bit closer to the table before taking his seat again, alongside the Armorer. "It wasn't a noble kill. I was helped by an enemy."
"Why would an enemy help you in battle?" The Armorer asked.
"It did not know it was my enemy." Mando answered.
____________________________
"So I guess Ren isn't going to get his own clan today." Nora sagged a bit as her shoulder slumped.
However, that was not what Ren was focusing on at the moment. "I... He thought the Child was an enemy?"
"To be fair, you're counterpart has been raised in a warrior life style. He wouldn't have the same views as others." Pyrrha told Ren.
"But he was only baby. A baby is far from an enemy." Ren said as his brows furrowed.
"Hey. It was a target to him. A bounty he had to turn in to get a reward." Mercury said with a shrug. "Usually when you're paid to capture someone, they're technically an enemy."
"Just because you make it sound simple doesn't mean it's right." Ren replied as he looked back to the screen.
"Right and wrong is a relative term in bounty hunting." Mercury stated. "My old man should know. Well, knew. The again, that bastard was always in the wrong."
____________________________
The Armorer tilted her head at the response, but replied nonetheless as she picked up two Beskar ingots. "Since you forgo a signet, I shall use the excess to forge whistling birds."
____________________________
"Whistling birds?" Ruby piqued up in interest.
"Give it some time. Give it some time." Vortech told Ruby to simmer down.
____________________________
"Whistling birds will do well." Mando replied as the Armorer set the two ingots to the side. "Reserve some for the foundlings."
"As it should always be." The Armorer warmly spoke. "The foundlings are the future. This is the Way."
""This is the Way."" The other Mandalorians spoke in unison again.
"This is the Way." Mando said this time with a nod of his head.
____________________________
"This is the Way." Ren repeated the words in his mind. "But what about the one child that was traded for all of this?"
"I swear they are not helping themselves in not looking like a cult." Roman said as he rose his brow at the screen.
"All it is, is dedication to their culture." Sienna said in defense of the Mandalorians.
"This is Way," sounds like something a cult would say." Roman retorted back. "I don't care if it's dedication. It's weird."
____________________________
The viewing cut to show the Armorer setting most of the ingots into a metal box, setting them in one by one in rows.
Mando watched as the Armorer then used a large carrying fork to lift the box of Beskar ingots upon the forge, which burned a bright blue from the flames.
As forge's flames burned, Mando could hear distant screams within his mind.
____________________________
Ren closed his eyes upon hearing the screams, remembering back to when his counterpart had flashbacks to his past when they first saw this universe.
"What's this about?" Sienna asked as her faunus hearing more than caught the sound of screams.
____________________________
Soon enough, the Beskar metal started to melt. Mando watched as it did so, all the while the Armorer began to speak.
"Whistling birds are a powerful defense against multiple enemies." The Armorer stated as she held a tong within her hand, which held within it's a grasp a small bullet-like object with a tip that glowed blue. "Use them sparingly, for they are rare."
She carefully placed the whistling bird into a firing mechanism onto a newly crafted Beskar vambrace, where several other whistling birds had been shown to all ready having been loaded in.
The vambrace then powered on, causing the whistling birds to recede into the holes of the half cone-line firing device.
____________________________
"Huh. Those are some tiny bullets." Ruby said with squinted eyes. "I wonder how these things work."
"From how they're loaded up, they most probably launch out as if they were tiny missiles." Pietro analyzed as he adjusted his glasses.
"Then that begs the question if they all go into one direction when fired, or if they go into multiple directions." Ruby then said. "Though the latter could probably only work through heat seeking."
"I would wager it spreads out in multiple directions." Penny said. "If it's meant as a defensive mechanism against more than one person, then they would have to spread out and lock onto those within the area."
"I guess we won't fully know until we see them in action." Ruby replied with a shrug.
____________________________
Mando then watched as the Armorer pulled up a blue print hologram of Mandalorian armor, causing a large, hydraulic press to recede upwards as slab of smelted Beskar was soon hovered up by the platform it sat upon.
The Armorer then went over to the hydraulic press, activating it and slamming it down onto the slab of smelted Beskar.
As the clang of the press rang out, Mando was within his thoughts again, thinking of the past. With each slam of the hydraulic press, he was reminded of when he was a child. Smoke and blaster fire everywhere as people screamed and ran.
____________________________
"Oh. This again." Nora said with a wincing look.
"Is... this his past?" Ilia asked.
"Yeah. We saw it the last time Mando watched the Armorer make him a new piece of armor." Yang said with a sullen look.
"It looks as though they're being bombed." Ironwood observed with a serious look. "Some sort of invasion."
"They're practically being razed to the ground." Winter said with a sour expression.
"You only see stuff like this when Grimm attack villages." Qrow stated with a frown. "Except Grimm can't use explosives."
____________________________
A group of people in Mando Ren's old village were shown running away from an HMP droid gunship, it's optics glowing red as it's fired down upon them in a drive by.
____________________________
"What kind of airship was that?" Pietro asked with wide eyes.
"An airship with glowing red eyes." Tai said with a wary look.
"It looks scary." Penny said with an apprehensive look.
"It looks like if someone tried to make a bulkhead into a Grimm." Cinder commented.
"That is and HMP droid gunship. Also known as a Predator gunship." Vortech began to explain. "The heavy missile platform gunship is a model of repulsorlift airspeeder with an integrated droid brain. They were primarily used by the Confederacy of Independent Systems, CIS, otherwise known as the Separatist Alliance, towards near the end of a wide-spread galactic event known as the Clone Wars."
"That gunship can think?" Ironwood asked with wide eyes.
"It has a brain?" Ruby asked in equal shock.
"Yes. An advanced droid brain. I just said this." Vortech said with a bland look.
"So this "Clone War" is the reason why Mr. Ren's Mandalorian counterpart lost his family and home?" Ozpin asked.
"It's why many lost theirs homes. And how the Empire rose to power." Vortech stated.
"Does this have to do with the war you spoke of, last we saw this universe?" Oobleck asked.
"You would be correct." Vortech replied with a nod.
"What happened?" Blake asked.
"For the time being, I can only divulge in the summary of the events. Two sides. The Galactic Republic and the Separatists. Both didn't trust each other, and both were on the verge of war." Vortech explained to the audience. "The Separatists used an arsenal of varying droid types and droid-operated vehicles. The Republic responded with an army of fast-grown Clone Troopers created from the DNA of an infamous Mandalorian bounty hunter."
"Does it have to do with whoever this Boba Fett is?" Sienna asked.
"Close. His father. Jango Fett." Vortech answered her. "Back to the topic at hand, the war lasted only three years, but the damage was great."
"Whatever this Clone War was, it sounds like it could have out-shown the Great War." Weiss said with a wary look.
"Especially if it somehow led to the Empire." Glynda added with crossed arms and a concerned look.
"It seems we learned two things as of this moment." Ren said.
"Yeah. Gunships with brains and a galaxy-wide war." Yang voiced out.
"No. The gunships are apart of the Clone War. One thing." Ren said as he looked to the screen with a harrowed expression. "The second is why my counterpart is opposed to droids... They're responsible for the death of his family."
____________________________
The Armorer was then shown with the slab of Beskar as she started to use her hammer to shape it.
Back within Mando's mind, his father and mother were shown running with him, his father clinging to him tightly as they tried to evade the slaughter, blaster fire in the background. The Armorer continued to clang against the Beskar, continuing to shape it. Mando was continuously reminded of that fateful day as people continued to run and scream.
Mando Ren as a child watched from over his father's shoulder as a super battle droid broke through a wall, gunning down innocent civilians.
____________________________
"So much death." Glynda said with a shake of her head.
"I take it this is one of those droids the Separatists used." Ironwood observed.
"B2 series battle droid. Otherwise called the super battle droid." Vortech said. "They're strong and have a thick armor casing. Built in with wrist blasters."
"It's an imposing design." Pietro said, though he did not appear to show any joy or intrigue with the B2 battle droid. It didn't help that it was slaughtering people.
"And you said using tin cans as soldiers is a good thing." Qrow dryly remarked to Ironwood.
"When they're used to protect people." Ironwood retorted back. "They reduce casualties. Only in the wrong hands can they be used to such a devastating affect."
"Well you better make sure none of your's end up like that." Qrow shot back with a snide tone.
____________________________
Mando then watched as the Armorer used a pair of tongs to set the newly forged Beskar cuirass within a vat of water, the heat of the metal sizzling as steam rose from the water.
Mando Ren's parent were then shown running up to a cellar, opening it up for their son as the Armorer continued to work on the cuirass. Giving their last goodbyes with sad and tear-filled looks, Ren's parents set him within cellar. Young Ren reached his hand out towards his parents as they closed the cellar doors. Then, a loud thud rang out as an explosion hit the area near the cellar.
____________________________
Ren flinched at the explosion that hit his counterpart's parents. He was visibly shaking. Memories of his mother dying from their house's roof collapsing on top of her, along with the last image of his father fending off a Nuckelavee Grimm so Ren could get away flooded into his mind.
Nora grew a concerned and worried look just like before. Without saying a word, Nora placed her hand above Ren's. Ren responded by numbly grasping her hand in return, holding onto it tight.
____________________________
People continued to scream as young Ren watched one of the attacking super battle droids open up the cellar, readying to fire upon him.
Back in the present, the Armorer slammed a hammer into the ceramic crucible the cuirass had been covered in, revealing a sleek, new piece of armor.
____________________________
"Poor kid." Emerald said with a wincing look.
"Orphaned via war." Mercury commented. "That's gotta be tough."
"And yet from that war, a future warrior was born." Cinder thought to herself, her expression schooled. "Sometimes, greatness can only be achieved through the harshest of experiences. I know well of what that's like."
"And to think, through all of that, he survived." Ilai said with wide eyes, a sympathetic look upon her face.
"Someone had to have rescued him. That battle droid was ready to shoot him." Pyrrha said, though her eyes were sad.
Ren breathed through his nose for a moment, taking in deep breathes as he started to calm down. Closing his eyes for a few seconds, he opened them again, his anxiety slowing down to a more serene atmosphere. "...It's most likely a Mandalorian that came in and saved him. My counterpart said it himself that he was a foundling."
"I'd like to hug the Mandalorian that saved him. Or whoever did for that matter." Nora said.
Ren glanced over to Nora for a moment, noticing that he still held onto her hand. He cleared his throat a bit, getting Nora's attention.
Nora looked at Ren before looking down at her hand in his before widening her eyes a bit and retracting her grip. "Oh. Sorry."
"No. No. It's okay." Ren quietly replied back. "I, uh... I just wanted to say thank you."
Nora, in response, warmly smiled at Ren before muttering back to him. "Of course. Any time."
"And to think, this must have been something that happened on every planet the Separatists attacked." Blake said, her bow flattened against her head.
"It's tough to imagine. It's like with the Cybertronian civil war." Weiss said with a sullen look. "That war sounded arduous because of how long it lasted, and was still going on for. This Clone War wasn't restricted to one planet."
"Well... it's all in the past now." Yang said, trying to alleviate some of the tension. "All we can do look towards what's going on right now."
"I get that... but it's still such a hard thing to think about." Weiss replied back.
____________________________
Back outside, the town's people continued to indistinctly chatter amongst themselves. Within the bar of bounty hunters, everyone drank and converted with one another.
"Look, I told you. Im not interested in your excuses!" Greef Karga spoke to masked bounty Hunter that wore a metal hat.
The bounty hunter complained back to Greef in Huttese.
"You had your shot, dust breather, but you failed." Greef retorted back to the bounty hunter. "No pucks for you. Now get outta here."
____________________________
"Sounds like someone screwed up a job." Roman remarked.
"And it sounds like someone's out of the job too." Qrow added in as he took a swing of his flask. "Unlike with being a huntsmen, bounty hunters can't fail too many times. Otherwise they get kicked out. Far easier to kill a Grimm then be successful in a retrieval mission for who knows what."
____________________________
The bounty hunter grumbled in Huttese as he began to walk off.
The door to the cantina slid open, prompting every patron to look upon who was entering the establishment.
There Mando Ren stood, wearing a full set of newly forged Beskar armor. The set of which included a cuirass, a left pauldron, new vambraces, and new cuisses. All of them had been cleanly painted black with pale green and magenta detailing outlying parts of each armor piece. Mando's armor shined under the lights of the cantina as he walked in, the door sliding closed behind him.
____________________________
"Oh... Now that is a nice armor set." Mercury said with a nod of appreciation.
"And they say a man only needs a suit and tie to look sharp and charming." Emerald said with an interested gleam in her eyes.
"That Beskar really did wonders for a complete makeover." Qrow said with an impressed look.
"The Armorer is excellent in her craft." Sienna complimented to Mando's tribe leader.
"Hello knight in shining black armor." Cinder thought to herself with a small smirk as she stared at Mando's new look.
"Momma likes..." Neo thought with a smirk as well, placing her chin within her hands.
"I must say, Mr. Ren, you look like quite well in black." Ozpin complimented his student.
"I... can't say I've ever thought of a wearing a mainly black colored outfit for my usual look." Ren said, though he himself also felt a hint of pride and impression at his counterpart's new look. "And tuxedos don't count."
"You should try it." Nora told Ren, though she wasn't looking at him. She was more so focused on Mando Ren, giving a giddy smile at the thought of her Ren being in such an outfit.
"It's like a video game armor upgrade." Jaune said with a very impressed look. "It's awesome. I'm actually really jealous."
"Like Professor Ozpin said, it's a good look for you, Ren." Pyrrha smiled to her teammate.
"The magenta and pale green accents help to sell the look as well." Weiss said with an appreciative nod. "And it's more uniform than what he originally had."
"Ooh, I can't wait to see Mando going into battle like that." Ruby said with an excited look.
"Yes. Mando's armor is very stunning." Penny nodded with a smile.
____________________________
As Mando walked through the cantina, most of the patrons eyed his new Beskar armor with jealous looks.
Greef, who was still a bit cross with the conversation he had with the other bounty hunter, looked up to spot Mando Ren, smiling as his most efficient bounty hunter walked up to him.
"Ah! Mando!" Greef called out to Ren as he laughed. He then pointed to the other patrons in the cantina, who stilled eyed Mando as Greef began to explain. "They all hate you, Mando. Because you're a legend!"
____________________________
"He definitely looks like a legend with that shiny new armor of his." Roman said with an impressed chuckle.
"He successfully completed the mission, where none of them could." Ironwood said. "I wouldn't be surprised if some of them get antsy and try and steal the armor from him."
"It really is a great set of armor." Winter said to the General. "I wager my grandfather would be jealous of it, if he could this."
"With that said, it has to make you wonder if Mandalorian Ren is only so proficient because he's the best bounty hunter there, or if all the other hunters there are lacking in skill." Glynda said with a raised brow.
"Why not both?" Tai offered.
____________________________
"How many of them had tracking fobs?" Mando asked Greef.
Greef scoffed as he motioned to everyone. "All of them. All of them! But not one of them closed the deal. Only you, Mando. Only you."
A bounty hunter who sat at the bar, wearing helmet with a disk shape atop it scoffed as he looked away from Mando and Greef.
"And with it, the richest reward this parsec has ever seen." Greef then stated. "Please sit, my friend."
____________________________
"He's definitely in a better mood then when we first saw Mando with him." Yang said.
"Greef is really happy that Mando got the job done." Ruby said with a small smile.
"And quite boastful about it." Weiss added. "Mando's success is Greef's success. Proficiency with bounty hunting guilds makes them more famous, and gives them more credibility to be given jobs."
____________________________
Detaching his Amban rifle, Mando set it off to the side as he took at seat at the other end of the table Greef sat at.
Greef softly chuckled as Mando sat down. "They're all weighing the Beskar in their minds, but not me. No. I, for one, I celebrate your success. Because it is my success as well. Hell! Even I am rich."
Greef glanced around before chuckling, revealing to Mando that he had two Beskar ingots hidden within his coat.
"Now, how can I show my gratitude to my most valuable partner?" Greef asked Mando, making his voice clear to everyone as did so.
____________________________
"Of course he even got paid in Beskar." Roman said with a short chuckle.
"Makes sense. Greef's inadvertently also the reason the client was able to get his hands on the kid." Qrow said.
"Yeah, that's not a fun thought." Nora said as she shook her head. "But at least Greef's trying to be a good friend."
"It's nice to see, but I doubt my counterpart will be all too welcoming to it." Ren said. "Greef's making the whole thing out to be a major success. And while that is true to some extent, I can tell that my counterpart still has reservations about the whole endeavor."
____________________________
"I want my next job." Mando succinctly stated.
____________________________
"Sounds like someone's a workaholic." Mercury commented.
"He must like to keep busy." Emerald said.
"He's trying to take his mind off giving the Child to the client." Ren stated, keeping his eyes on his Mandalorian counterpart.
"How can you tell?" Ilia asked with a raised brow.
"Because I know myself." Ren replied. "Even if this isn't exactly me."
____________________________
Greef had took a sip from his drink tilting his head in confusion. "Next job? Take some time off. Enjoy yourself."
Greef then glanced around again before speaking to Mando in a lowered tone, a smirk on his face. "I'll take you to the Twi'lek healing baths."
____________________________
"I take it that's some form of spa." Weiss guessed.
"Sounds like something I could use right about now." Roman said as he rested his arms behind his head. "I doubt Mando's gonna take the offer though."
'All work. No play.' Neo signed.
____________________________
"I want my next job." Mando Ren stated once more.
Greef gave Mando a look before relenting. "Sure. Fine. You hunters like to keep busy, right? Well, these are all far away."
Greef then took out several bounty pucks from his small pouch, setting them onto the table.
"The further, the better." Mando replied as he went to inspect one of the pucks.
"Well, take your pick. You've earned it." Greef told Mando.
Mando then set down the puck he was holding, activating its hologram as the image of a Mon Calamari was shown.
"Ah. That's the best one of the lot. A nobleman's son skipped bail." Greef stated before giving a chuckle. "Looks like you're headed to the ocean dunes of Karnac."
____________________________
"Someone wanted to be free a little too soon." Qrow remarked.
"Is that an alien fish?" Tai asked.
"Mon Calamari." Vortech stated.
"Ah. You told us about that species the first time we saw Mandalorian Ren." Oobleck said. "Well, those of us that were originally brought here."
"He's got some really big goldfish eyes." Yang commented. "What's your take on this, Blake?"
Yang then looked over to her partner, only to see that she was staring at the holographic image of the Mon Calamari with a line of drool leaking from her mouth.
"Blake." Yang said as she tapped her partner's shoulder.
"Huh-uh, what?" Blake asked as she was brought out of her trance.
"You got a little something right here." Yang said as she pointed to her own lower lip for example.
Blake then looked down to her own lower lip, widening her eyes a bit to see that she was drooling. "Oh. Uh... thanks."
Blake then promptly wiped away any drool that was on her face before holding a small blush of embarrassment.
"You have got to relax with your thing for fish." Ilia then told Blake.
"I can't help it." Blake muttered back as she still look embarrassed. "I just... I really like fish."
____________________________
Mando Ren gave no reply other than taking the puck, getting up from the table, and grabbing his rifle as Greef went to pick up the rest of the pucks.
Before Mando went on his way out of the cantina, he stopped. "Any idea what they're gonna do with it?"
Greef glanced up at Mando as he put away the rest of the pucks. "With what?"
Mando turned back around to face Greef. "The kid."
"I didn't ask. It's against the Guild Code." Greef replied back.
____________________________
"Why can't they ask about the missions they're taking?" Ruby asked with a confused look.
"It's all in order to make sure the bounty hunter taking the mission doesn't reject the mission if it interferes with their moral compass." Port said with a frowning look. "It keeps the integrity of the guild, and ensures that the jobs get done. It can be a nasty business, believe me."
"That would explain why Greef doesn't look worried about what might happen to the Child." Jaune said with his own frown.
"If he actually spent time with the Child, he might change his attitude." Pyrrha suggested. "But I don't think that might be possible anytime soon."
____________________________
"They work for the Empire." Mando then said. "What are they doing here?"
____________________________
"It's good to see that Mando doesn't trust the client's presence on Nevarro." Ozpin said with a nod.
"Now it all depends on how far he's going to do something about it." Ironwood said to Ozpin.
____________________________
"The Empire is gone, Mando." Greef said, trying to reassure the Mandalorian bounty hunter. "All that are left are mercenaries and warlords. But if it bothers you, just go back to the Core and report them to the New Republic."
"That's a joke." Mando plainly retorted.
____________________________
"What's the story with that?" Winter asked.
"The New Republic is the most recent galactic government. Right off the heels of the Empire's downfall." Vortech explained. "Let's just say that right now... there's a bit of chaos in getting everything in order."
"As is to be expected with newly established governments." Oobleck nodded. "It especially makes it more difficult depending on how many planets this New Republic reaches out to."
"If Mando did go to this New Republic, they'd probably be too busy to place a warrant of concern towards what the client's doing." Qrow hazarded a guess.
"Or he just doesn't respect them." Sienna added in.
____________________________
"Mando, enjoy your rewards." Greef told him. "Buy a camtono of spice. By the time you come out if hyperdrive, you will have forgotten all about it."
____________________________
"Except I don't want to forget about it." Ren thought to himself with furrowed eyes. "And I don't think my counterpart does either."
"I doubt anyone could just forget about a child." Weiss crossed her arms. "Especially one that cute and precious."
"I know I couldn't." Cinder admitted. "Seriously, how do I get that child out of my head? That image of him is fermented in the back of my mind, and I can't seem to replace it. I don't even flinch in awe at the sight of a kitten, and yet I can't help myself with an alien child bright brown eyes, a cute green face, and long pointy ears that flap in the wind. Dammit!"
____________________________
Mando then turned away, walking towards the door of the cantina as Greef watched him do so.
The viewing cut back to the docking yards. A ship had just landed in as Mando made his way inside the Razor Crest.
Getting up to the cockpit, Mando flicked several switches, powering in the engines before clicking several buttons on the dashboard and overhead.
As Mando prepared to fly off, he reached his hand out towards the lever from earlier, only to pause when remembering the Child had taken off the ball from it. Mando lowered his hand before looking over to where he had set the small metal ball of the lever. He picked it up examining it in his gloved hands before screwing it back onto the lever.
____________________________
"The last thing the Child played with." Nora said with a saddened expression. "Gah! Why did he have to take him to the client?"
"I'm sad now." Yang slumped her shoulders with a pout.
"You can tell he's still thinking about the Child." Blake pointed out. "We can't see his face, but his actions tell it all. He's feeling guilt and regret."
"Here's to hoping this is the moment he does the right thing." Pyrrha said with a worried look. "I can't stand to think as to what the client has in store for the Child."
____________________________
Mando held his hand on the lever for a moment before pushing it forward. He then receded his hand, leaning back in his seat a bit as he continued to stare at it, the viewing panning closet and closer to his helmet.
____________________________
Ren stared towards the screen, and directly into the helmet-covered face of his counterpart. He looked towards the visor that covered his counterpart's eyes, and imagined as if he could see the magenta eyes they both shared. "Come on... don't let it end like this."
____________________________
Mando Ren then promptly pulled the lever back, powering down the engines as he flicked off buttons and switches. He then turned around in his seat, getting up to exit the cockpit while grabbing his rifle.
____________________________
"Wait, does that... does that mean Mando going back for the Child?" Ruby asked, her eyes sparkling with hope.
"Yes! Yes! I knew he wouldn't abandon him." Nora cheered as she threw her hands to the air.
Ren smiled as well. "I knew you had it in you."
"He's... actually going back." Ilia said with a surprised face.
"It's ass-kicking time." Yang said with an excited grin.
"This should be interesting." Cinder said as she lightly tapped her fingers against her cheek.
"It will undoubtedly be a difficult task. But given Mando's previously shown skills, he should be able to make it work." Ironwood said with his hand to his chin.
"He's righting his wrong." Ozpin said with a small smile. "Something not many over the years could ever do... I should know."
____________________________
Mando was then shown walking through the streets of the town again, making his way into the same alley where the client resided in. Soon enough he made his way towards the door. Pausing to look around for any potential trouble that would be in his way, Mando then proceeded towards the right, walking down another alley way before coming up on a dumpster. Mando looked within the dumpster to find the Child's robes and cradle amongst the other garbage and scrap.
____________________________
"Oh, no." Penny said with a worried look.
"It's just the cradle and robes. We don't know anything yet." Nora said with a stern look, her words sounding to be more as a hope than a fact.
"Doctor Pershing did say he wanted the Child alive." Pyrrha said. "He doesn't strike me as the type to simply discard the Child."
"Mando has to get into the building first." Blake pointed out. "But I'm hoping Mando isn't too late."
____________________________
He stared at it for a moment before raising his head up to the building the dumpster stood beside.
Mando was next shown atop the roof of the building, lay down near the edge of it with his rifle pointed outward. Activating a scanning device on his helmet, Mando looked around from the outside of the client's building before he was able to pick up something on comms.
"I don't care." The client's voice was heard as Mando positioned the rifle over to the right, where two heat signatures were seen from within the building. One of which was the client's. "I order you to extract the necessary material and be done with it."
____________________________
"That-that must mean the Child's still alive, right?" Jaune asked as he looked around for confirmation.
"It indicates that Pershing hasn't completed his task for the client, so I'd heavily wager that as a "yes." Ren told his team leader.
"Looks like Mando came prepared to scope the place out." Mercury observed. "Thermo scans and a comm scanner. That's a useful combination."
"It would definitely work well in espionage." Blake said. "In most cases, you'd have to be near an intended target to listen in on them, or try and hack their scroll."
"Yet this way of doing it offers both discretion and efficiency." Cinder said with a small smirk. "I like this Mando's style."
____________________________
For a moment there was static on the comms, making the conversation inaudible before Mando changed the settings on the rifle's scope, zooming on the frequency.
"He had explicitly ordered us to bring it back alive." Pershing was heard replying to the client.
"Finish your business quickly, as I no longer can guarantee your safety." The client told Pershing.
Mando then shut off the comm scanner on his helmet and rifle as he started to pull back.
____________________________
"He?" Pershing definitely isn't referring to the client." Ruby said with furrowed eyes of confusion.
"This entire time, we thought the client was in charge." Blake said with a curious look.
"That must mean the client is only a representative." Ironwood surmised. "Meaning we've yet to see the man responsible for this operation."
"And that leaves the question of who the man in charge is." Ozpin told his old friend.
____________________________
Mando Ren was then shown walking up to the door of the client's building, knocking on it as he waited. The tattletale droid then poked out from its hole, only for Mando to promptly grab it by its stalk. The tattletale droid gave a garbled scream before Mando ripped out it's eye, deactivating the droid as sparks went flying.
____________________________
"Thank you!" Yang shouted out while throwing her hands forward.
"I wish I could have done my self." Nora said with a pleased sigh.
"It's probably be almost cathartic to tear one of those things out of its socket." Mercury said with a smile.
"You have a strange definition of what's cathartic." Emerald told her partner.
"Well, the security system's now been disabled. It will most likely alert the Storm Troopers." Ilia said.
"Which distract them for Mando to make his move." Blake said, following Ilia's trail of thought.
____________________________
Mando then promptly walked away from the destroyed tattletale droid as the door opened up to reveal two Storm Troopers promptly walking out with their blaster at the ready.
"Check the perimeter." The first Storm Trooper ordered.
Both Storm Troopers exited the building, aiming their blasters out as they cautiously searched around the alley.
While the Storm Troopers were kept busy, Mando snuck around the back of the building, setting an explosive charge upon the wall. The explosive started to beep in a rapid motion as Mando quickly walked away and hid behind another wall, waiting for the explosive to blow up.
Soon enough, the explosive exploded, blowing the wall out into debris and dust. Alarms started to bore from within the building as Mando walked towards the blown up wall.
____________________________
"Sends the Troopers out front so he has more room to work with from the back." Qrow said as he nodded in approval of the plan. "Smart."
"Maybe, but that explosion is going to draw the Troopers back in." Winter pointed out.
"But they'll still be too distracted from what happened out front to properly turn back around and deal with Mando." Qrow replied back.
"All I really care about us that he's making an explosive entrance." Nora said with a giddy smile.
"And usually missions like these go out with a band." Yang commented with a smirk.
____________________________
From within the building itself, two other Storm Troopers walked into the area where the explosion occurred. They turned on the lights on their blasters as they began to search through the darkened room, whom's lights started to blow out.
The electricity from the blown out lights crackled as the two Storm Troopers walked towards the blown up hole in the wall.
Just as the two Storm Troopers started to inspect the damage, Mando shot them both in their backs with his blaster, causing the Storm Troopers to groan as they hit the floor, dead.
____________________________
"Clean kill." Mercury muttered quietly to himself.
"Mandalorian Ren most likely has a better visor than the Storm Troopers." Penny surmised. "That way, he can better use the dark to his advantage."
"At least we get to see Mando take down some Storm Troopers." Yang said with an eager smile.
"How many do you think is going to be left after Mando get's the Child?" Weiss asked.
"It all depends on their skill in a fight." Pyrrha replied back.
"I say the client, or whoever is in charge, is going to need to bring in more guys." Nora stated. "Mando's gonna mop the floor with these guys."
____________________________
Mando then turned his head when he heard the door to the room open up again, revealing a third Storm Trooper that entered in.
The Storm Trooper searched around the darkened room, quick to notice the dead bodies of his fellow Troopers, from which smoke rose from their corpses.
All was quiet for a moment as the Storm Trooper searched around. Soon enough though, Mando came out from the Trooper's left, beating him with the butt of his rifle several times as the Storm Trooper grunted and groaned before falling to the floor.
Mando then promptly tossed away the Storm Trooper's blaster. As he made his way towards the door, he shot the beaten up Storm Trooper for good measure before continuing onward.
____________________________
"Execution style." Ironwood regarded.
"Make sure the enemy can't get up again." Qrow elaborated. "I can tell all ready. There's gonna be a lot of bodies dropping tonight."
____________________________
Mando quietly roamed through the halls of the building, his blaster still out as he tried to search for where the Child might be being held within.
Mando soon came upon a hall where a Storm Trooper stood within, oblivious to the bounty hunter behind him. Crouching down, Mando activated his fibercord whip, sending it the Trooper's way. The Storm Trooper grunted and groaned as he was suddenly pulled back by Mando's whip. Once in close range, Mando swiftly stabbed his vibro blade within the Trooper's neck, prompting the Storm Trooper to give one last groan before dying as he was tossed to the floor.
____________________________
"I applaud the use of the whip." Sienna said with a nod of respect.
"Reeled him in and slashed his jugular." Emerald commented. "He really knows how to kill."
"It is in the description of being a bounty hunter." Yang told her. "You should have seen him cleave an alien in half with an automatic door."
"Sounds gruesome." Mercury plainly remarked. "I'd put lien on this guy being able to take out my old man. That is if I didn't beat him to it."
"Remind you of any of our missions?" Ilia quietly asked Blake.
"Yeah... but I can't say they're fond memories." Blake quietly replied back.
____________________________
Mando then went back on his mission to search for the Child, aiming his blaster at another nearby door that was closed. He fired his blaster into the door's terminal, causing it to open.
From the other side of the door, another Storm Trooper stood within. Though this time, the Storm Trooper was quick to spot Mando. The Trooper fired at Mando, only to hit his left Beskar pauldron instead. Mando grunted as the force of the blaster bolt pushed his shoulder back.
From within the same room, Doctor Pershing was revealed to be in it as well, his attention quickly drawn to the sounds of blaster fire.
Mando Ren retaliated by firing a blaster bolt into the Storm Trooper's chest, sending the Trooper back with a groan as he was killed.
____________________________
"Took that blast like a champ." Mercury commented.
"That Beskar armor will definitely prove useful in Mando's mission to take back the Child." Cinder stated.
"Speaking of: looks like he's found Doctor Pershing." Ruby pointed out.
"And where Doctor Pershing is, the Child shouldn't be too far away." Penny added.
____________________________
Pershing moved back in fear, resting his arms on the edge of an examine table. Mando saw Pershing, and was quick to walk towards him.
"No, no, no, no, please. Please. No. No, no." Pershing quickly pleaded to Mando with his arm out.
A probe droid, that had been hovering near the doctor, had been beeping rapidly the entire time, getting ready to potentially attack Mando, before Mando quickly fired onto it, destroying the probe as Pershing gasped.
Mando then aimed his blaster towards Pershing, who held his hands up in plea again.
"No. Please don't hurt him. It's just a child." Pershing pleaded with Mando.
____________________________
"He thinks Mando's there to kill the Child?" Nora asked with a befuddled look.
"In his defense, Mando just walked in and shot everyone in his path." Jaune pointed out. "That, and Pershing is probably afraid of him, so he doesn't register that Mando's there for anything other then hurting people."
"At the very least, despite his orders, Doctor Pershing does show that he cares for the Child." Pyrrha optimistically said.
"I can't say that's an exact excuse for his role in this." Ren said. "Then again, Doctor Pershing could be being coerced into doing this."
"Has to make you wonder who the Imperial's actual boss is." Ruby said.
"Someone that clearly wants the Child for something probably not good." Weiss said with a frown. "I know that's basically what's all ready been said, but it's also all we know for the moment."
____________________________
Mando gave no reply, other than walking up to Pershing.
"Please. No. No! Please. No. No. No." Pershing pleaded more as Mando grabbed him and pushed him out of the way.
Mando had his blaster trained on Pershing, causing the doctor to cower away. Mando then looked to the right, taking notice of the Child upon the examine table, currently asleep as he was being scanned by a device.
____________________________
"What did they hook up to him?" Nora said more so in a demanding tone.
"Doctor Pershing is scanning the Child for something." Pietro observed. "Perhaps whatever scientifically allows the Child to use this Force phenomenon."
"Force?" Cinder thought to herself with a raised brow.
"It's looks like something cruel to hook a kid up to." Yang said. "Then again, the device is colored black and red, and looks evil."
____________________________
"What did you do to it?" Mando demanded Pershing to answer as he readied his blaster to fire. "What did you do to it?"
"I protected him. I protected him." Pershing said in broken down and fear-filled voice as he continued to cower in the corner, trying to shield himself with his arms in case Mando fired at him. "If it wasn't for me, he would already be dead! Please! Please. Please."
Mando watched Pershing whimper in the corner as he lowered his blaster. Pershing continued to whimper with his head lowered, before taking notice of how quiet Mando had been. Looking up, Pershing saw that not only was Mando gone, but the Child as well.
Seeing that he was no longer in any imminent danger, Pershing fell back a bit, panting as he did so.
____________________________
"Looks like Pershing dodged a bullet." Jaune said.
"Or a disintegration bolt." Ilia muttered.
"Well, Mando's got the Child. Now he has to escape the facility." Ruby said.
"Time to mow down some more Storm Troopers." Nora said as she rubbed her hands in excitement.
"Now with the added difficulty of making sure the Child doesn't get hurt." Blake stated.
"Yeah. Fighting people with an alien baby in your hands wouldn't really be the easiest thing to do." Yang said with a nod.
"I think leaving him alive was a mistake." Mercury muttered between himself, Emerald, and Cinder.
"You needn't always kill in order to succeed in a mission." Cinder muttered back to him. "Mando got what the Child, and now only has to deal with those in his way when making his escape. The only real issue is dealing with the client."
"The client's the one that put the bounty out on the Child in the first place." Emerald followed Cinder's train of thought. "If he's still alive, he'll put a bounty out on Mando too."
"I still think he needs to take out everyone." Mercury crossed his arms. "Now Doctor wimpy is most likely gonna report to whoever is actually in charge of this whole operation."
"Something I'm certain we'll have to wait and see for." Cinder replied back to him.
____________________________
Back with Mando, he carefully walked through the halls of the building, blaster in one hand while carefully holding the sleeping Child in his other.
A door opened, prompting Mando to quickly hide behind several containers near a wall, watching as two Storm Troopers exited out of the door. Once the two Troopers walked off, Mando then walked towards the door at the end of the hall, ready to fire at anyone who got in his way.
Walking into a larger room, Mando looked around a bit before another door to the room opened, revealing two Storm Troopers that were quick to spot him.
"Look, there!" The first Storm Trooper called out, firing towards Mando.
Mando ducked and ran for cover as the two Storm Troopers fired at him. Mando chose to hide behind a crate as the two Storm Troopers began theirs search for him.
"Split up. We'll flush him out." The second Storm Trooper stated.
"Copy." The first Storm Trooper replied as he turned on the flash light on his blaster.
____________________________
"Another game of hide and seek the Mandalorian." Qrow commented.
"Those Storm Troopers are doomed." Tai replied to him.
"For sure." Qrow nodded in agreement.
"Mr. Ren's Mandalorian counterpart has skill, very sturdy armor, and a wide range of weaponry." Glynda listed off. "The Storm Troopers can only hope to capture him if they all go at him at once. But when they only go in at two or three at a time, they set themselves up for failure. Especially considering Mr. Ren's counterpart has more experience in fighting, given what we've seen thus far."
"Just because they know military protocols and positions does not mean they have the capability to succeed with their job." Ironwood said as he crossed his arms.
____________________________
The two Storm Troopers began to try and search for Mando in the darkened room, Mando watching them as he continued to move around and hide.
"Give it up." The second Storm Trooper called out to wherever Mando may be. "There's nowhere to—."
Mando then promptly came out of hiding, knocking out the Storm Trooper, who fell to the floor with a groan.
____________________________
'You were saying?' Neo signed with a sly smirk, a hand on her hip.
"Yeah. Mando isn't hiding in a room from you, you walked right into a room with him." Yang said with a short chuckle.
"These Storm Troopers are gonna regret underestimating Mando." Nora said with a firm nod.
"No opponent should ever be underestimated." Ren sagely spoke. "Regardless if you have the numbers, or if the enemy doesn't appear as an immanent threat."
____________________________
The first Storm Trooper took notice of the noise and moved towards his fellow Trooper's last know position. However he was caught off guard when Mando suddenly popped out and knocked him back into some crates.
"Hey!" A third Storm Trooper shouted as he walked into the room.
Mando quickly turned to him, pulled out his Amban rifle before thrusting the prong of the rifle onto the Storm Trooper, activating its taser function. The Trooper groaned in immense pain as electric shocks were sent throughout his body before falling down to the floor.
____________________________
"That looked painful." Emerald said with a smirking wince.
"So it triples as a taxing rod." Mercury said with an interested look. "That seems to be a very useful rifle."
"You should have seen Mando use it on this large, crocodile-walrus creature called a Ravinak." Ruby told him. "That rifle has a large shock radius."
____________________________
Mando looked around the room one last time before walking through the door where the Storm Troopers came out from.
Walking into another hall, Mando searched around for any more potential threats. Another Storm Trooper came walking in from another doorway, quickly firing at Mando, who dodged and shot back at the Trooper, killing him.
Mando then dodged his head again when blaster fire came shooting at him from behind. Quickly turning around to spot another Storm Trooper, Mando activated his left vambrace's flame thrower, setting the Trooper ablaze as he gave deathly scream, the noise causing the Child to stir awake.
____________________________
"Beautiful." Cinder thought to herself with a small smile. "Absolutely beautiful."
"Oof. I don't think we've ever actually seen Mando roast someone before." Yang said with a wince.
"It definitely isn't a pretty sight." Pyrrha said with a perturbed look.
"Absolutely brutal is what it is." Roman commented with a bead of sweat. "That's exactly my fate if I cross Cinder."
"Just so long as he's careful at not waking the Child." Nora said with a motherly tone. "A man burning to death and screaming is not good for a baby that's sleeping."
"You're oddly calm about a man dying via flame thrower." Weiss told Nora with a raised brow.
"I mentally prepared myself for something like this. Sure it's disturbing, but we all knew Mando was going to kill someone with that flame thrower eventually." Nora replied back. "There's no denying it."
"Just because we can expect it doesn't mean we can always be prepared for it." Ren told Nora as he too gave a slight flinch at his counterpart burning the Storm Trooper to death.
____________________________
The Child cooed as the crisply burnt Storm Trooper fell to the ground, dead, before Mando started to walk away.
Entering into the large room where he first met the client, Mando carefully walked forward, scoping out the area with his blaster still pointed out. Mando, however, soon halted when another door to the room opened, revealing two Storm Troopers that walked out from it with their blasters aimed at Mando.
"Freeze!" The first Storm Trooper ordered Mando.
"Don't move." The second Storm Trooper said as well as two more Storm Troopers came up from behind Mando.
"Hands up." The first Storm Trooper ordered as the four Troopers had surrounded Mando.
"Drop the blaster." The third Storm Trooper ordered.
____________________________
"Ah, crap." Ruby said with a slump of her shoulders.
"Well, Glynda, it appears the Storm Troopers somehow took your advice." Ozpin told his right-hand woman.
"They have him surrounded on all sides." Winter said. "While we are rooting against the Storm Troopers, at the very least they're properly strategizing now."
"I'm suddenly having deja-vu to the first viewing." Jaune said with a blinking look.
"They have him four to one." Yang reiterated.
"With the Child in the middle." Blake said with a concerned look.
Ren stared towards the screen, tilting his head a bit as he tried to ascertain what his counterpart's next actions would be. "Somehow... even with the Child in the potential crossfire range, my counterpart might like those odds."
____________________________
"Wait." Mando calmly stated as he rose his blaster up, looking between the Troopers. "What I'm holding is very valuable. Here."
Mando slowly crouched down to the floor, placing his blaster down as the four Storm Troopers had their blasters trained on him the entire time. Mando then placed the Child carefully onto the floor next.
"Now turn and face me." The first Storm Trooper ordered Mando.
Mando, who started to slowly get up, activated the firing mechanism on his right vambrace, readying his whistling birds.
____________________________
"The whistling birds." Ruby said with a starry glint in her eye.
"Like I said: never underestimate your enemy." Ren said with a nod.
"It appears we get to see how they fully function during this viewing." Penny said with her own interested look.
____________________________
"Stand up!" The second Storm Trooper ordered.
Mando no movement from his crouched position. Quickly enough, the whistling birds all shot out from his vambrace, all of the rapidly firing into the Storm Troopers like miniature rockets. The Storm Troopers all groaned in pain as they all fell to the floor, dead.
The Child cooed as Mando looked around the room, checking to see if all the Storm Troopers were dealt with. Picking the Child back up, along with his blaster, Mando rose to his feet as he began to try and find his way out of the building again.
____________________________
"Okay. That was awesome." Mercury admitted.
"Very versatile." Cinder commented.
"So I was right. They spread out when fired." Penny nodded in observation.
"Talk about T.K.O." Yang remarked.
"Now that's how you take out multiple enemies at once." Nora said with an awed smile.
"I'm getting a few ideas." Ruby said with a giddy look.
"Doctor Polendina, do you think you can recreate these whistling birds?" Ironwood asked his chief scientist in a lowered tone.
"Well, it would take some time to try and at least produce one prototype bird, especially since I don't have the blueprints or a bird to reverse engineer." Pietro muttered back while rubbing his chin in thought. "But that doesn't mean it's impossible. It will just take some time."
____________________________
Exiting through the front door that led into building, Mando looked around before bolstering his blaster. The door closed behind him as he walked off into the alley.
Back within the cantina, everyone indistinctly chattered with each other, undisturbed. However, their attentions were soon all divided by each of the their fobs all rapidly beeping. Every bounty hunter in the cantina picked up their fobs, all of them looking towards each other.
Even Greef's fob was beeping as well, all the while he held a knowing and dread-filled look as to what was going on.
____________________________
"Uh-oh." Nora said as her pupils shrank.
"That's... that's not good." Jaune said with wide eyes.
"Double crap." Ruby winced.
" I do not like what this entails." Ren said with a deadpan.
"Looks like Mando didn't kill the client." Cinder quietly remarked.
"I was worried about this." Ironwood said with a frown.
"Shit's about to hit the fan." Qrow said with a knowing look.
"Those small amount of Storm Troopers were one thing, but all those bounty hunters?" Port shook his head. "This has turned into a dangerous affair."
"Rescuing the Child just became much more difficult." Oobleck stated.
____________________________
The time was closing in on night. Mando walked through the somewhat deserted streets of the town, the Child still held in his hand. As he continued to walk, a bounty hunter, whom hid in an alley, had his fob out, tracking Mando and the Child.
Mando subtlety glanced around, his hand near his holster blaster as more bounty hunters with fobs all started to walk up behind him.
Mando soon came upon the entrance to the town, quickly noticing that the entire area was swarmed with bounty hunters whom all had their blasters raised towards Mando. Mando stopped in his tracks as he found himself surrounded.
____________________________
"Surprise?" Yang said with a nervous look.
"It seems we're about to get another Vacuoan shoot out." Roman remarked.
"Yeah, but this time Mando doesn't have an assassin droid to have his back." Blake said in regards to when Mando and IG-11 first found the Child, a look of concern growing on her face.
"Mr. Ren's counterpart is going to have to be exceedingly careful and precise with this situation." Glynda said in wariness. "One wrong move, and the Child will end up back in the client's hands."
"The odds are stacked against him." Sienna said with a furrowed look. "My guess: He's not going to give the Child up so easily."
"One last stand." Ren calmly regarded.
Nora gave the screen a worried look to the screen, worrying about the safety of Mando and the Child. "Please, let this go right."
____________________________
"Welcome back, Mando!" Greef called out as he walked into the open, standing in front of the archway that led to docking yards. "Now put the package down."
"Step aside." Mando Ren calmly called out, still ready to pull out his blaster. "I'm going to my ship."
Greef chuckled softly as he looked directly at his best business partner. "You put the bounty down and perhaps I'll let you pass."
____________________________
"So much for being Greef's most valuable partner." Ilia dryly remarked.
"Can't really blame him." Roman shrugged. "It's not like he's honor-bound like Mando. He's just doing his job."
"By stealing the Child, Mando made himself a target of the client, thereby making him a target of the other bounty hunters." Ironwood stated.
"Who are more than willing to kill Mando for the Beskar." Qrow added in.
"It's like all of your coworkers turning against you all of you sudden." Yang said.
"It's hard to imagine those you see as colleagues or allies suddenly ready to kill you." Weiss said with a frown.
"Oh, the irony." Cinder inwardly remarked.
"Regardless, now, Mando has to deal with every one of them if he wants to escape with the Child." Pyrrha pointed out with a wary look. "The thought of it is a bit nerve-racking."
____________________________
"The kid's coming with me." Mando firmly stated.
"If you truly care about the kid, then you'll put it on the speeder." Greef told Mando, motions to a speeder that was piloted by an astromech. "And we'll discuss terms."
"How do I know I can trust you?" Mando asked Greef.
Greef gave a scoff before giving Mando a serious look. "Because I'm your only hope."
____________________________
"Well at the very least, Greef doesn't want to kill Mando." Ruby said. "That's the only reason he's trying to negotiate."
"But I doubt that's going to deter my counterpart." Ren stated. "He's yet to be deterred from every mission he's taken. I doubt he'll start now."
____________________________
Mando stared into Greef's eyes for a moment before slowly making his way towards the speeder, the other bounty hunters still trained on him as he did. Mando looked at the speeder before looking at the Child, watching as he cooed in his sleep.
____________________________
"That thing has no right being this cute. Even when it's asleep." Emerald thought to herself as she found her eyes glued to the sleeping form of the Child.
Ren sighed a bit before looking back at the screen. "Now for the hard part."
"It's all for the Child." Nora said with a firm nod.
"Let's just hope Mando will make it through all those bounty hunters." Jaune said with a concerned look.
"And if he does, it'll be a hell of a way to go." Mercury said as he awaited for the inevitable shoot out.
____________________________
Everyone was still. Greef and the bounty hunters waited patiently for Mando to place the Child onto the speeder. Then, before any of them could react in time, Mando made his move.
Mando quickly drew his blaster, firing it into one of the bounty hunters, who fell back with a groan. Mando then promptly flipped over into the speeder as the other bounty hunters started to fire on him.
Greef and the bounty hunters all fired at Mando, who fired back at them. All of them took firing positions behind the best cover they could find.
____________________________
'First blood goes to Mando.' Neo signed.
"Mando just stuck himself in a corner." Blake said.
"More accurately: the bed of the speeder." Penny stated.
"That is a lot of blaster fire." Ruby said with wide eyes. "This is gonna be more dangerous than the first shoot out."
"Well, he's got some cover, so that will give him a slight advantage." Tai said. "Add in the Beskar armor, and he's at least better covered than the other hunters."
"That just leaves him the task of shooting down every last bounty hunter without receiving any fatal wounds." Qrow said before taking a swing of his flask.
____________________________
Mando grunted as a blaster bolt hit the side of the speeder. He rolled onto his back, firing into a bounty hunter in retaliation. As the bounty hunters all continued toy fire at Mando, Mando laid the Child onto the bed of the speeder.
Still ducking himself from the blaster fire, Mando ordered the droid to get going. "Drive."
The droid beeped in retaliation, only for Mando to pull his blaster on him.
"Drive!" Mando ordered again.
This time, the droid beeped in a chipper manner as it began to drive the speeder away.
____________________________
"Looks like even droids have survival instincts." Roman said with a chuckle.
"Mando has an escape route. Now all he has to do it cover the droid from getting shot at." Sienna said.
____________________________
As the droid drove, Mando fired at the bounty hunters the best he could while taking cover within the speeder's bed. Mando fired at one bounty hunter before ducking from a shot. Greef took cover in a corner as another bounty dove out of the way of the oncoming droid-driven speeder.
Mando continued to fire at the bounty hunters, killing more of them then they could accurately hit him. As the droid continued to drive, a bounty hunter who hid on the roof popped up to fire down at Mando, only to hit him in the Beskar pauldron. Mando responded by looking up and shooting the bounty hunter dead, the bounty hunter groaning from the shot as he tumbled off the roof.
____________________________
"That Beskar also doubles as a warning to where hidden shooters are." Cinder observed.
"And with how skilled Mando is, he'll be able to dispatch them before they can shoot again." Blake said.
"It seems a few of the bounty hunters got smart and decided to camp out in some rooftops to try and get a better hit on Mando." Winter said. "He's definitely going to need to keep an eye out for those ones."
"So far, Mando's shot everyone that he could fire at while the other bounty hunters keep missing." Ironwood examined from the situation. "The good news of this is that the other hunters are not great shots compared to Mando. But that doesn't mean they won't get lucky."
____________________________
As the others kept firing at the retreating Mando, Greef stood up from his cover spot, taking hold of his blaster in both hands before aiming at the droid. Mando was too busy firing at the other bounty hunters to notice Greef, allowing for Greef to fire straight at the astromech droid, destroying its neural processor and causing it to power down and crash into several barrels.
____________________________
"Like that?" Qrow asked Ironwood.
"Looks like Greef was smart enough to shoot the droid driver." Ozpin commented with a frown.
"Now Mando's stuck again." Ruby complained with a worried look.
"He's been in worse situations." Nora said, still trying to keep a leveled-head. "He's survived the Mudhorn, remember?"
"I don't want to be a Debbie-downer, but the Chikd helped out with that, remember?" Yang replied to Nora.
"Then maybe the Child can help Mando out again." Nora said.
"That's only if he wakes up." Blake pointed out. "Let's also not forget that the Child knocked himself out from using his abilities. Who knows how long he'd be able to last if he did that again."
"Well sorry if I'm making sure to fully rooting for Mando." Nora shot back with crossed arms and a small scowl.
____________________________
Everyone halted their blaster fire as they all looked towards the speeder, some of them cautiously walking towards it. All anyone could see was smoke from the crashed speeder. And yet, from out of the smoke, the pronged end of Mando's Amban rifle poked out.
Mando fired his rifle at a bounty hunter on another rooftop, disintegrating him.
The other bounty hunters started to shout in surprise commotion as Greef looked towards the speeder in alert.
____________________________
"It even has a disintegration function?" Mercury asked with surprised eyes.
"That bounty hunter was just turned to ash." Emerald said in equal shock.
"Yeah, that was our same reaction when Mando first disintegrated an alien bounty hunter." Ruby said.
"And now it's got the other bounty hunters scared." Ilia said with a small smirk.
"Mando definitely knows how to adapt to the situation." Cinder regarded. "Now where can I find a weapon like that?"
____________________________
Mando readied his rifle again, disintegrating another bounty hunter. This had caused the others to clamor as they ran to take cover.
Mando readied his rifle again, spotting the head of a Rodian bounty hunter before firing again, disintegrating him. Mando then looked through the scope of his rifle, trying to find another target, only to find that most of the hunters had all hidden well within their cover spots.
"That's one impressive weapon!" Greef decided to call out from his spot.
____________________________
"You got that right." Ruby stated with a nod.
"Good news is that everyone's stopped firing." Jaune said. "The bad news is that Mando can't get any good shots on them now."
"Maybe this might be a good opportunity for negotiations again." Pyrrha suggested.
"Do you really think that's going to work?" Weiss asked her.
"I hope." Pyrrha replied back in uncertainty.
____________________________
"Here's what I'm gonna do." Mando Ren called out. "I'm gonna walk to my ship with the kid and you're gonna let it happen."
"No. How about this?" Greef retorted as a few bounty hunters started to try and sneak up on Mando. "We take the kid. And if you try and stop us, we kill you and we strip your body for parts."
____________________________
"So much for a second shot at negotiations." Yang said with a shrug.
"And while Greef's talking, other hunters are trying to sneak up on my counterpart." Ren pointed out.
"Yeah, Greef really screwed Mando over by shooting that droid." Qrow remarked.
____________________________
Mando responded by kicking forward a barrel on the speeder, causing it to hit one of the hunters that tried to sneak up on him. Mando then stood up, pressing the prong of his rifle against one of the bounty hunters and tasering him with it, causing the hunter to fall back with a groan.
____________________________
"How'd he know they were coming?" Emerald asked with a surprised look. "They didn't even make a sound."
"Because he's a Mandalorian." Nora said with a smirk.
"He most likely can tell when a conversation is just a ruse, but I guess that sentiment can also work." Blake told Nora.
____________________________
The other bounty hunters started to fire again, Mando responding by firing as well before lying back on the bed of the speeder.
"Don't hit the target!" Greef yelled out as he and all the hunters fired at the speeder where Mando and the Child resided.
____________________________
"Yeah, watch where your shooting!" Nora shouted.
"That whole shoot out's gonna be for moot if they end up killing the kid with Mando." Mercury said.
"I would hope they don't shoot the Child. The murder of a child is a most heinous act." Penny said with an angered look.
"Please keep missing. Please keep missing. Please keep missing." Ruby kept muttering with her fingers crossed.
____________________________
Mando rose up, aiming his right vambrace forward and activating the flame thrower, spreading it around as a warning for the oncoming bounty hunters to back off. The hunters that were closest to the flames groaned from the heat, doing their best to run away and take cover.
____________________________
"Yeah, you better back away!" Yang yelled out with a toothy smirk.
"Building up the defense with the flame thrower. Good choice." Cinder said with a nod of approval.
____________________________
However, Mando soon found that his flame flower out of fuel as started to die out. He tried reigniting it a few times, but to no affect.
____________________________
"That's unfortunate." Cinder dryly remarked.
"Seriously? The fuel runs out now of all times?" Nora asked with a disbelieving look.
"Some of the worst timing I've ever seen." Jaune remarked with a wince.
Ren sighed in slight frustration as he shook his head with his fingertips against his forehead. "This just keeps getting more and more difficult."
"Don't worry. Everyone goes through performance issues." Mercury plainly told Ren.
"I don't think now's a good time for quips." Yang replied back.
Tai rose his brow at the situation before turning his head over to Qrow.
Qrow noticed this, raising his brow back at Tai before he repeatedly shook his head, knowing full well of what his old teammate was thinking of as muttered to him. "Uh-uh. No way. I am not responsible for this. Our semblances are shut off, and I'm not even there."
"Maybe you have a lingering affect." Tai replied to him.
"Yeah, nice try, Tai." Qrow rolled his eyes with a peeved look as he went for his flask. "Lingering affect my ass."
____________________________
With his flame thrower out of the way, Greef and the bounty hunters all started to fire at Mando again, none of them letting up in their assault. As they did, Mando crawled over to the sleeping Child, looking upon his face. The Child cooed as it slowly opened it eyes, looking back at Mando as the bounty hunters all continued to fire.
____________________________
"No... no, no, no. Do not do this to me again!" Nora swore up and down. "This is not the end for Mando!"
"My counterpart's cornered, outnumbered, and outgunned." Ren spoke with a solemn look, almost as if he was accepting fate. "He's exhausted all his tricks. All he can do now is fend them off as best he can. To his last breath."
"No, I agree with Nora. This can not be the end." Ruby said with a stern look. "Maybe Mando has more whistling birds, or-or the Child will do that thing with his hands again. Something!"
"Miss Rose, sometimes... things don't have a happy ending." Glynda tried to consul her student with her own solemn look. "Mr.Ren's... Mando has done the best he could, but he's not invincible. He can't get himself out of every problem that comes his way, all on his own."
"Glynda is right. Sometimes, you just can't win them all." Tai told his daughter with a sigh. "Otherwise, Summer would still be with us."
"Until Mando goes down, I refuse to believe he's going to die and the client is going to get his old man-hands on the Child." Ruby said, still having her same look, yet her lip was quivering.
"I'm with ya, sis." Yang calmly told Ruby, placing her hand on her sister's shoulder.
"Same as I." Pyrrha said to Ruby with a firm nod.
"Me too." Jaune added in.
"I'd say "me three," but I can't speak." Neo thought to herself with her cheek resting against her the palm of her hand, a pouting look on her face. "Can't show them what I write either, since they aren't look over to me."
"I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we hope some miracle will occur, Miss Rose." Ozpin looked over to his silver-eyed student.
"Eh. It'll be disturbing to think what they're gonna do with an alien baby, but since this doesn't personally affect me, I don't really mind either way." Mercury thought to himself. "I mean, I'm still rooting for Mando though."
"I won't admit aloud, but I kind of agree with headmaster's sentiment." Emerald thought to herself with a concerned look towards the screen. "I may not be all lovey-dovey and sickeningly sweet like those Beacon students, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to see a baby become some science experiment."
"I more so care about what happens to the Child." Cindef thought to herself before frowning. "Wait, why do I even care? This Child is messing with my emotions."
____________________________
It seemed as if this would be the end for Mando as he continued to stare into the eyes of the Child. However, to his and everyone else's surprise, a rocket soared off in the air over their heads, hitting against the connecting archway of a building, causing a bounty hunter near it to fall off the roof with a scream.
____________________________
Immediately every blinked in surprise at the sudden appearance of the rocket missile hitting one of he bounty hunters.
"Wait, who shot that rocket?" Roman was the only one to ask.
____________________________
Everyone then looked up to see other Mandalorians rising into the sky with their jet packs, all of them firing down at bounty hunters who surrounded Mando and the Child.
The bounty hunters were completely taken by surprise as they were quickly outflanked. Some of the flying Mandalorians all hovered down into the battlefield, firing at the surprised bounty hunters. Mando watched as his kin fired at the hunters, protecting him.
____________________________
"It's the other Mandalorians!" Nora cheered, excitedly.
"And they have jet packs!" Ruby shouted in glee with stars in her eyes.
"Sensational!" Penny happily cheered on as well.
"How did they know Mando was in trouble?" Jaune asked in awe.
"Some of them must have had fobs too, or they investigated the commotion going on outside." Blake said as a smile grew on her face when seeing the Mandalorian calvary.
"Who cares? We got the answer to our prayers." Yang said with a bright smile. "Mando and the kid are saved."
"They've all come to rescue their brother in arms." Sienna said in awe, a small smile ever so showing slightly on her face. "They truly are a warrior race."
"It seems this might turn out good after all." Glynda spoke with a warm smile on her face.
"Time to teach these bounty hunters some manners." Port spoke with a hearty chuckle.
'Go Mandos!' Neo signed with a wide smile.
____________________________
Greef tried to fire back at some of the Mandalorians, only to find that their jet packs made it difficult to properly hit them. All of the remaining bounty hunters tried to find cover and flee from the attacking Mandalorians, with Mando joining with his brethren in firing at the hunters as well.
Greef took notice that the Mandalorians were overtaking them fast. He started to pull back, taking one last look towards Mando before running off.
____________________________
"Yeah. Probably the smart idea there, Greef." Roman said with a short chuckle.
"He knows a losing battle when he sees one." Ironwood said as he proudly smirked at the Mandalorians' comradery. "At first, they only had to deal with Mando. Now they have to survive the whole tribe."
____________________________
Left and right, the Mandalorians took down the bounty's hunters. Firing from the sky, taking them out face time face, or jumping them from behind. The victors of this battle were more than obvious.
____________________________
"It's very clear who's won this battle." Cinder remarked.
"Those bounty hunters are getting their asses handed to them." Mercury said with an amused smirk.
"If they have brain one in any of their heads, they'll make like Greef and get the hell out of there." Emerald commented with a small chuckle.
"The Mandalorians truly are the force to reckoned with." Weiss said with awed eyes.
"They've got all the right gadgets and skill to win a battle." Ruby said as she cheerfully watched the Mandalorians help out Mando.
____________________________
Quickly enough, another wave of Mandalorians flew in to join the fray. One of which was none other than Paz Vizsla, whom used his heavy blaster cannon to rapidly fire at the bounty hunters, mowing them down one by one.
"Get out of here!" Paz called out to Mando. "We'll hold them off!"
____________________________
"I can see why Paz Vizsla is the the heavy infantry." Pietro said with wide eyes and an interested smile. "That's quite the powerful Gatling gun."
"Very effective as well." Penny nodded in agreement. "The bounty hunters now have next to a zero percent chance of victory with Paz Vizsla now entering the fray."
"I'm getting more and more ideas by the moment." Ruby said as she nearly drooled at the sight of Paz's heavy blaster cannon.
"Oh, that is so cool." Nora said with an awed and slightly jealous look. "Okay. I forgive Paz for what he said about Mando now."
"Coco would be green with envy if she ever saw Paz's weapon." Pyrrha said with a titter.
____________________________
"You're going to have to relocate the covert." Mando told Paz.
Paz merely looked back at Mando, heavy blaster cannon ready to fire as he spoke. "This is the Way."
"This is the Way." Mando answered with a nod.
Paz nodded in return before firing back at the bounty hunters.
____________________________
"This is the Way." Ren quietly muttered to himself as he calmly smiled.
"I can safely say that I feel proud knowing that I was once the Mandalorians' leader." Sienna thought to herself as she watched the entire scene fold out with her proud smile. "The willing to lay down their lives for just one of their kin. It's truly inspiring."
"Looks like Paz and Mando just made up." Jaune commented with a smile.
"And just at the right time too." Yang added in.
"They were quickly able to move past their differences and showed respect for one another." Pyrrha warmly smiled.
____________________________
Mando then promptly picked up the Child before hopping off the speeder. As Paz Vizsla and the other Mandalorians fended off the bounty hunters, Mando ran out of the town with the Child as he made his way towards the Razor Crest.
____________________________
"Finally, they're home free. All right!" Nora happily cheered.
____________________________
Walking up to the back ramp of the ship, which he had activated to open, Mando started to slow in his pace as he went further down into the hull. However, Greef had been shown to have been hiding within the Razor Crest, seating for Mando to enter it as he climbed down from the spot he hid in.
"Hold it, Mando." Greef told to Mando Ren, him him to stand still.
Mando slowly turned around to see Greef aiming a blaster at him.
____________________________
"I just had to jinx it, didn't I?" Nora asked with a deadpan.
"It was too good to be true." Ruby sighed while shaking her head.
"It would seem Greef wasn't retreating only to save his own skin." Ren observed.
"It looks like our shoot out just turned into a stand off." Mercury said.
"And now that's Greef's closer to him, he has a better shot at Mando." Qrow stated.
"Mando's going to have to make a carefully calculated move if he wishes to escape with the Child." Ozpin said as he awaited patiently for the outcome of this new situation.
____________________________
"I didn't want it to come to this." Greef told Mando, clearly unwell with what he had to do. "But then you broke the Code."
____________________________
"It doesn't have to be like this! Just pretend Mando got away and you can call it a draw." Ruby spoke towards the screen.
"Mando has his code of honor, but Greef follows the code of the guild." Weiss stated. "He won't give up so easily in trying to retrieve the Child for the client."
"You can hear in his voice that he doesn't want to do this." Blake said as she looked at Greef. "He sees Mando as a friend and business partner. But the guild code conflicts with his trust in Mando."
"In all seriousness, Greef should choose his friendship over this job." Yang crossed her arms with a frown. "If someone said I had to capture one of my friends or family because they're doing the right thing by breaking some rules, I wouldn't do it."
"Alas, this is the position Greef has set himself up in." Ren said as he calmly sighed through his nostrils.
"It's always bad when friends are forced to turn on each other." Nora dejectedly shook her head.
____________________________
Mando merely replied by glancing to a power line on the side of the hull before looking back at Greef. Mando then promptly activated his fibercord whip, shooting it at the power line and causing steam to shoot out on all side in front of him.
____________________________
"Smart move." Ironwood complimented Mando.
"Now Mando has the advantage over Greef." Glynda said.
"Keep your enemies blinded, and they'll never know what hit them." Cinder thought with a smirk.
____________________________
Greef's vision was obscured by the steam as he fired aimlessly into it, hoping to have hit Mando. Greef was still for a moment trying to see if he could spot Mando within the mist. However, a blaster shot from Mando went straight into Greef with a clanging noise, causing Greef to be tossed back and out of the Razor Crest's hull with a groan.
____________________________
"Well, there goes Greef." Jaune shook his head.
"He was a charming man, for as long as we knew him..." Roman said with a seemingly solemn look before reverting to a more plain face. "Yeah, that's about all I have for the eulogy."
Ren merely sighed again as Greef was shot by his counterpart. "He set the terms. He failed to change them before it was too late."
However, Blake responded to the scene by raising her brow. Her faunus ears quickly shot up as they had picked up a sound that she heard when the blaster bolt hit Greef. "Wait a minute... did anyone else hear a clang when Greef was shot?"
"What clang?" Yang asked her partner.
"I heard it as well." Sienna said as she furrowed her eyes in confusion.
"I can't say I did." Weiss told Blake.
"Okay. I know I definitely heard a clanging noise when Greef was shot." Blake said with a firm look.
____________________________
Mando stop there in front of the mist, blaster still raised from when he fired it before lowering his hand.
Getting into the cockpit, Mando powered on the Razor Crest's engines. The ship rose into the air, its back ramp closing up and its landing gear folding in as Mando began to fly it off, the Mandalorians still fending off the bounty hunters.
Back at the docking yards, Greef's body lie motionless on the ground, smoke from the blaster shot rising from his chest. However, he soon gasped as he slowly regained consciousness.
____________________________
"Wait, hold on, he's alive?" Emerald asked in confusion.
"That blaster bolt should have gone right through his heart, given the position of the hole." Ironwood said with furrowed eyes. "How did he survive?"
"Hold on a second, Blake you said you heard a clang, right?" Ruby asked her faunus teammate.
"Yeah." Blake nodded.
"Heard a clang..." Ruby trailed off, muttering to herself as she tried to figure how Greef was able to survive. Then it hit her. "The Beskar."
"What about Beskar?" Yang asked her sister.
"The Beskar Greef got paid with." Ruby stated. "That's what saved him."
"Ruby's right." Jaune said with wide eyes of realization. "He put the ingots in his coat pocket. Right where Mando shot him."
____________________________
Greef groaned in pain, inhaling sharply his felt the blaster hole in his coat. He searched within the pocket of his coat, pulling out one of the Beskar ingots he had been paid with, noticing that the Mandalorian steel had taken the blaster bolt for him.
____________________________
"Yeah, I was right." Ruby brightly smiled. "The Beskar saved Greef."
"Now that's what you call pure luck." Roman said with a short chuckle.
"Is it luck?" Ozpin asked with a raised brow. "Mando may have remembered about the Beskar ingots Greef had in his coat, and purposely fired there so that he wouldn't kill Greef."
"If that's the case, Mando has a very astute memory." Oobleck said. "Greef's Beskar was such a minute detail. But then again, the smallest things can make the biggest differences."
____________________________
Mando Ren flew the Razor Crest away from the town, flying high into the air as dawn soon came upon the Nevarro. As Mando flew his ship, he looked out the window to see Paz Vizsla flying up beside him with his jet pack. The heavy infantry Mandalorian gave Mando Ren a salute before flying down.
Mando water as Paz flew back down towards the town before looking forward. "I gotta get one of those."
____________________________
"Yes. Yes, you do." Nora said with an excited and firm nod.
"A jet pack would be useful. Especially in terms of battle positioning." Ren mused the aspect.
"That, and jet packs are just plain cool." Yang smirked.
"The amount of Grimm I could kill if I had a jet pack." Ruby sighed dreamily at the thought.
____________________________
Mando then looked down to see the Child cooing as he tried to raise his small green hand up to the lever with the metal ball. Mando responded by looking forward, unscrewing the metal ball and dropping it into the Child's awaiting hands. The Child happily cooed in response as Mando headed for the clouds.
____________________________
Every woman in the audience cooed at the sight in their own ways. Some where more obvious, such as Ruby, Yang, Nora, Penny, and Weiss. Others were a little more reserved, but smiled at the scene, such as Glynda, Pyrrha, Ilia, Winter, Neo, and Sienna. Then there were those who were more inward such as Cinder and Emerald. All and all, they couldn't help themselves but to find the scene adorable.
"Good to see we're back to the disturbing cuteness." Mercury remarked.
"I feel like I'm gaining a pound every time the Child does something cute." Roman said as he shook his head.
Ren merely chuckled a bit in response. "The Child definitely knows how to get a reaction out of people."
"He really is just too cute." Jaune said with a smile. "Adrian might have a rival."
____________________________
Soon enough, Mando had piloted the Razor Crest out of Nevarro's atmosphere, facing the stars before activating the hyperdrive and shooting off into space.
And with that, the viewing ended.
____________________________
"That was perfect." Nora said with a bright smile.
"My counterpart corrected his mistake, and was able to rescue the Child." Ren smiled.
"Of course, now that leaves a lot of "what if's"." Blake pointed out. "Mando's going to be on the run now, since the client, or the client's boss, will be after him and the Child."
"Whatever comes Mando's way, he'll be ready to defend the Child." Yang firmly stated. "That much I'm sure of."
"Well we'll just have to wait and see what happened next with them." Ruby told her sister. "So, what's the next universe about?"
"A familiar one. Though we never expected it the first time it was shown." Vortech said before speaking in a more chipper tone. "And it's a double-feature."
"Ooh. A double feature sounds nice." Penny said with an eager look.
"Well, if there aren't any objections, let's get it started." Vortech chuckled a bit as he set up the next showing.
End chapter_
____________________________
Casting:
Mando(Din Djarin): Lie Ren
The Child: Himself
Greef Karga: Himself
The Armorer: Herself
Paz Vizsla: Himself
Doctor Pershing: Himself
The client: Himself
Jango Fett(mentioned): Himself
Boba Fett(mentioned): Himself
____________________________
Author's notes:
The third chapter of the Mandalorian. You've all been waiting patiently for this, and here it is.
Some notes I'd like to take from this is the information I dropped about the Clone Wars. Originally, I was only going to talk about the very minimum basics of the war when Vortech brought it up, but I decided to go a bit further and name drop Jango and Boba. For starters, I found it fun to mention those two. I really like the Fetts. Secondly, I didn't reveal all too much about the Clone Wars to where it's a straight up spoiler. They'll view the Clone Wars soon enough.
Another thing I'd like to say is that this will be the last Mandalorian chapter for a while. Anything else Star Wars-related will focus on the main saga. NO SEQUEL TRILOGY. Once I get through the prequels, the Clone Wars, Bad Batch, Rebels, and the originals, I'll continued with the Mandalorian. Though I may sprinkle in episode 4 somewhere in between all of them.
Anyways, I have another thing for you guys to vote for, but before we do, here's the puzzle for the next chapter:
9-13 1-4-4-9-3-20-5-4 20-15 20-8-5 13-1-4-14-5-19-19
20-8-9-19 8-15-20-5-12 9-19 13-25 1-20-12-1-14-20-9-19
23-5-18-5 6-15-18-5-22-5-18 7-15-14-14-1 8-1-22-5 1 6-21-3-11-9-14-7 18-5-1-19-15-14 20-15 19-9-14
12-5-20 13-5 12-5-1-22-5 13-25 19-15-21-12 20-15 2-21-18-14 1-14-4 9-12-12 2-5 2-18-5-1-20-8-9-14-7 9-20 9-14
Now that I've typed that down, here's what I wanted to bring up.
In the honor of the Mandalorian and with the Book of Boba Fett closing in on us, should I include this Star Wars video game into the story?
STAR WARS: BOUNTY HUNTER
A.) Should I do it?
B.) Are you fine without it?
As always with the voting, I leave this decision to you guys.
So with all that said, I will see you all in the next chapter. Farewell, Rule Breakers.
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