Disclaimer: Neither the Editorial nor I own RWBY or any related products. All rights to RWBY goes to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum.

Purity Destroyed

Making his final checks on his inventory, Drake de Alexander Venari prepared himself for the mission ahead. He had received a mission to rescue a girl being held by an amateur group of kidnappers now demanding money from her parents.

Ransoms…Never the most efficient crime, and never the most successful.

Drake didn't really even think it was worth his time, but the payment was high, so he was going to get the job done. It helped considering the girl's parents were rich noblemen that owned a large area of land, but after this was all said and done, he was going to go back to more…important matters.

He could practically feel the sound of the door being bashed into. His father, taking up a defensive position, held an arm out to tell him and his mother to stay back.

Drake blinked the memory away, cursing himself under his breath for not checking whether he had enough medicine to deal with the Recall Syndrome. Ever since the incident four years ago, he has been haunted by the vivid memories provoked out of the recesses of his mind.

Checking his outfit one more time, he stalked out of the shadows of an alley and onto the near-deserted streets of south Vale. This was the part of the city where people were either too poor or too rich; making it clear that it wasn't as safe as it should be out after dark. To the few onlookers he passed, he didn't seem like the type of person that should be troubled.

Under the streetlight, Drake wore a worn, black set of robes and pants, along with thick leather black boots. Leather and Velcro straps adorned his body, holding dust-infused throwing knives, as well as a halberd strapped to his back. Along his waist, Drake wore a belt on which two bulky revolver-like weapons that had blades that reached from the hilt of the weapon to the bottom of the end of the barrel, as well as several pouches that held his spare ammunition.

Drake didn't enjoy being under observation as he worked, so while he could, he clung to the shadows of the alleys for the next two blocks to the tall office building. This was where he was told by a "friend" of the kidnappers where they had taken the girl. Arriving outside it, he stopped to marvel at the construction, half-worn from use and half-still a bright light among hundreds across Vale. After he spent less than ten seconds admiring the building, he pulled off the deep-red metal mask that hung on his belt and pressed it to his face. A second after he did so, he could feel the bits of metal concealed behind his cowl snap forth to form attachments to the mask itself, holding it in place as the inside lit up with a Heads-Up-Display. Wearing the mask, he was no longer Drake. This was his business face, and his business name was Sabre

'I hope you know what you're asking for by signing up for this lifestyle.' His mentor had told him.

Yes, and I'm ready.

Shaking the fragments of the memory away, Sabre found himself agreeing with Drake yet disagreeing with the decision he made all those years ago. Yes, he had been ready for this lifestyle, just not to its fullest extent. Sneaking by the night-guard on duty, he passed through the sliding glass double doors of the building. Sabre was met with no resistance, and immediately began searching for the elevator.

I'm not walking up…twenty flights of stairs. He thought to himself as the "friend" had the generosity to tell him which floor they operated on. It made sense though, this building was only being half used. All the floors between the roof and the fifth floor were unoccupied and empty, giving whoever could enter the building at this time access to seven floors of hiding space.

He snuck by another guard as he found where the elevators were built, only to find them guarded by two more guards. Thankfully, they didn't look too physically fit and had drowsy expressions on their faces.

He walked around the corner of the pillar he was hiding behind before walking up to the two guards. One of the tensed up before he drew his companion's attention towards Sabre.

'H-hey! You can't be here.' One of them said, while the other pulled out a baton in anticipation.

Sabre said nothing as he continued to approach them, flexing his fists encased in his leather gloves before taking off in a burst of speed straight towards the guard with the baton. He immediately struck the man in the joints in his weapon arm before twisting his wrist, causing him to drop his baton.

The other guard came up behind him with a taser, causing him to let the first guard go to use both of his hands to grab onto the arm that held the taser. The two tussled for a few moments before Sabre was able to take a kick in the man's left knee, causing him to buckle slightly, which gave Sabre the height he needed to strike the man in the head, knocking him unconscious.

Taking the taser from him as the man collapsed, he quickly turned to face the second guard, who had gotten back to his feet and was preparing to take a swing at him with the baton. He twisted around and fired the taser at the guard. The two prongs hit the man in the shoulder, and in a few moments, he was a twitching, paralyzed, unconscious body on the floor.

Content with his work, and assuming that by the time the other guards found out what had happened that he would be done, Sabre stepped into the elevator and hit the button for the tenth floor. Standing in the white-washed elevator, he felt reality start to slowly crack in his vision. He leaned on the walls of the elevator for support as random memories flooded his mind.

You might have to get mixed up with innocent lives. He remembered his mentor tell him. And when that happens…

I'll know what to do. He replied, earning a smile from the battle-worn man who gave him a pat on the shoulder.

Next came the memory of his first kill. His first Human kill. It was when those men had barged in through his front door. He quickly scrambled for cover behind a wall, the twelve year old boy he was, panicking and cracking under a situation like that.

His father had rushed to confront the men, while his mother moved to protect him, reaching for her own weapon. The sound of gunshots rang through the corridors of the house as Drake and his mother made a push for the back door. She stopped before a cupboard to find something, and that was when the man appeared. Drake never found out his name, but as he approached his mother with his gun raised, Drake did the only thing he could think of. He tackled the man square in the chest, as he did not notice the boy. They both fell to the floor, but because the man had absorbed the bulk of the fall, Drake scrambled for his weapon and fired off four shots into the man's chest.

With the sounds of the shots echoing in his mind, Sabre returned to the current situation. He turned his head to look at the panel which indicated what floor he was on, just as the elevator stopped on the tenth floor.

Sabre's hands went for his halberd, The Nightingale, as he slung it off his back as the doors to the elevator opened. Meeting with no resistance, he proceeded to sweep the tenth floor for the girl. It didn't take long before Sabre's mask began to pick up voices from one of the office rooms. As Sabre approached, he noticed that this was the only room that was illuminated-though faint. Preparing to enter the room, he pressed his back against the plaster wall and flipped open the iron-sight on top of the halberd.

Keeping himself as close to the wall as he could, Sabre peered around the corner of the opened doorway to see how many enemies he was dealing with. The mask quickly marked six, well-armed men as Sabre took a quick peer around the corner. He also saw the girl, who was bound by her hands and feet to a chair with a gag over her mouth. She had platinum-blonde hair and wore a silver-coloured shirt with the word "YOLO" on it, as well as a pair of grey jeans. She looked to be about the same age as Sabre, which wasn't much considering that he was only sixteen years old. That alone was enough to raise eyebrows at the efficiency of a sixteen year old in his line of work, which is why he chose to wear the mask.

The room was quite large, albeit having been stripped of its contents aside from the chair in the center of the room. Seeing no other way to approach the situation, he pulled out a small canister from a pouch on his belt and pressed the button on top of it. The light began blinking as he threw it through the doorway. It hit the ground twice before exploding in a bright light.

Sabre quickly moved through the doorway, one hand on the end of his halberd, while the other rested on the bolt-action mechanism of the halberd. He fired on one stunned man at the end of the room, the round bouncing off his head but sending him to the ground before he fired a second round that penetrated his skull.

Pulling back on the mechanism, Sabre swung his weapon at a man on his left, rubbing the flash of the flashbang out of his eyes. The blow from the curved, axe-like blade knocked the man unconscious as Sabre turned his attention to the others. He swung at another man to his right, who had enough instinct returned to him to raise his sword to block the strike. It was a weak attempt as Sabre quickly jabbed forward with his weapon to get around the sword. However, Sabre used the other end of the halberd, which had a V-shaped blade, to pin the man to the wall.

The other's in the room had regained their senses and drew their rifles on him, but Sabre quickly pushed back his robes to reveal the two large guns he wore, The Ursa's Claws. Drawing them faster than the men could load their weapons, Sabre fired two shots into two of the men's chests, splattering blood on the walls.

As the last man opened up on him with his rifle, Sabre pulled back one of his hands to throw one of the guns at the man. The large, curved blade at the base of the gun pinned the man to the wall as he walked up to him and put the blade of the other Claw against his neck. His eyes screamed defiance one last time as he slit the man's throat, blood gushing out of the open wound.

Checking that he had incapacitated everyone, he moved over to a chair, where a single, wide lamp cast light down on the girl. She still looked dazed from the flash, but she was recovering as Sabre approached. She looked on with fear, muffled sounds coming from the gag as Sabre pulled out one of his throwing knives, tossing it between his hands, he stood inches from the girl before he brought the knife down, and cut her bindings.

After a few seconds, she opened her eyes and removed the gag as Sabre retrieved his halberd, the man pinned under it collapsing to the floor with a large intake of breath.

'God, you scared me!' the girl remarked, rubbing her sore wrists. 'Did my father send you?'

'That depends, are you Nicole Lunas?' he asked, pulling out a few rounds out of his pouches to replace the ones he used. His voice came out distorted, thanks to a distortion mechanism built into the mask.

'Yeah. Yeah, that's me.' She said, gaining more confidence with every breath. 'Who wants to know?'

'The man your father sent.' Sabre simply replied, turning his head to one of the men he previously thought unconscious, who was now talking into a communicator.

Without batting an eye, Sabre flicked the throwing knife still in his hand at the man, hitting him in the neck and causing him to fall to the floor.

He turned back to the girl who winced at the sight. 'You're not a Hunter, are you?'

'No, I'm not.' He replied, his vision shattering back to the moment he found out that his uncle was going to enroll him into an academy that would complete his Hunter training. He had been…less than excited.

Coming back to the moment, while trying to not give it away to the girl, he refocused on her once more. 'We need to leave, now!'

He crouched down over one of the unconscious men and took his pistol. 'Right, jolly good.' She said with a smile.

Sabre walked over to her and took the gun from her hands. 'No weapons.' He stated.

She frowned and formed her lips into a pout, though it did nothing for him. 'Then what am I supposed to do if they attack me?'

'You don't get attacked.' He said, not turning around a second time as he walked over to the elevator, stopping when he saw the panel indicating that the elevator had reached the fifth floor and was still ascending.

Turning around, he began searching for the emergency staircase. 'Change of plans. Head to the roof!'

After kicking open two office room doors, Sabre found the staircase after Nicole pointed out the sign that identified it. Making a mental note about the setback, Sabre sprinted up the staircase, reaching the roof under half a minute. Trying the door that would open out to the roof, but finding it jammed, he took a few steps back to take a running start against it. It flew open, allowing a gust of the nighttime air to blow over him.

Not wasting any time, he began thinking of ways that they could make it off the roof without dying as soon as he saw the girl pass through the doorway, panting slightly. 'You're pretty fast, has anyone told you?' she commented as he walked back to the door. Closing it, he pulled out a vial of Ice Dust and coated his glove with it. He ran his hand along the door, creating a layer of ice that would hold the door in place for a while.

'How are we supposed to get down from here?' Nicole asked, somewhat skeptical. Sabre only turned back to her after he heard the faint sounds of footsteps approaching.

'We'll have to jump.' He concluded, looking over the edge.

'Jump? Oh, no. No no no!' she shouted, with a look of shock and fear.

'Do you have a better option?' Sabre asked, pressing a button on the side of his mask to calculate the distance from where he was to the bottom, as well as pulling up a map to break away from their pursuers.

'Yes, I can create a rope.' She said, flicking her hand and creating a long, glowing rope of pure Aura. 'If we can secure it somewhere, we can shimmy off the side of the-' she was interrupted by the sounds of something bashing against the door.

'Do us both a favor and do as I say.' He said, a little more affirmative this time, which she responded to with a nod.

Taking three steps back, Sabre tackled the girl, much to her protests at first, over the edge of the roof. For the first two seconds of their descent, the girl screamed in fear, which eventually turned into cries of excitement and joy.

Two floors from the ground, Sabre positioned himself underneath the girl and formed a maroon-colored, translucent shield underneath him. They hit the grounds seconds later, cracking it, while remaining unscathed. He quickly pushed the girl off him and stood at attention. Performing a quick sweep of the area and making sure there were no enemies around, he turned to the girl to see if she had been injured on the fall.

Standing over her and offering her a hand up, Sabre watched as her breathing slowed down, and as she quickly beamed at him. 'That. Was awesome!' she shouted, taking his hand.

She's got guts, I'll give her that. He thought with the ghost of a grin on his face, concealed by the mask.

As she continued to babble about surviving the fall, Sabre quickly analyzed the map in his field of vision to find the most discreet and elusive path to his rendezvous.

Grabbing the girl's wrist, he led her down an alley, but not before he heard the shouts of one of the security guards that patrolled the grounds of the office building. She tried to keep up with his pace, reluctant at first, but giving in as the man's grip would not loosen. Barely slipping into the shadows of the alley, Sabre heard the echo of a bullet hitting one of the brick walls that made up the alley, telling him that they would be right behind them.

'So,' she began, trying to break the tense atmosphere. 'What's your name?'

'Sabre.' He said, before taking a left down into a narrower sub-alley, paying no mind to the vagabonds and beggars that lay in the streets, as he knew they would think twice at attacking a man as armed as him. Even thoughts of harassing the girl were quickly snuffed as they saw that she was in his grasp.

Nicole scoffed. 'That's not your actual name, is it?' she asked as she was jerked out of the alley.

'No.' he replied, dragging her along the sidewalk, though she had become less resistant to being dragged along by the wrist and was even keeping up with Sabre's pace.

'Where are we going?' she asked, as they crossed the street into another alley with a wire fence that blocked their path.

'To a rendezvous where I'll hand you over to a contact who works for your parents.' He explained. 'Get climbing.'

Grumbling something that Sabre couldn't hear, the girl nimbly scaled the fence in seconds, which was impressive for an aristocrat in Sabre's mind. 'Come on, slowpoke.' She said while tapping her foot. 'I haven't got all day and those guys are going to catch up.'

Sabre quickly jumped up and vaulted over the fence before continuing at a brisk pace, Nicole trailing alongside.

'So, are you just going to not talk to me the entire time until we meet up with your contact? I mean, thanks for the rescue and all, but all I'm saying is that you're not the most talkative bloke, are you?' she continued her rambles until they made a right in the alley to appear on another street, only this time, there was a matt black car speeding their way down a road.

'Is that-' her question was left unanswered as a man stuck his hand out of the car and began shooting at Sabre. He quickly held out his hand to form another rectangular ward in front of him as he walked out onto the street in front of the car.

Reaching for one of his knives, he grasped it for a few moments, feeling the weight in his hand before throwing it at the hood of the car. The knife stuck to the car, but this time it was missing the ring-shaped end that had dislodged when Sabre threw it.

As the car drove around him to try to get closer to the girl, who had run back into the alley, it swiveled with an ear-piercing screech for a split second before the front of the car exploded in a ball of fire.

He washed as the burnt-out car slowed to a stop a less than two meters away before he turned back to the girl, her eyes wide in awe and her mouth hanging open.

'Now that!' she shouted, pointing at the car. 'That was awesome!'

'Let's go.' He said in a monotone voice, though he was secretly pleased at the praise from the girl. They walked past the wreckage of the car down the street with Sabre leading the way, but not before he slowed down momentarily to draw one of his Claws and firing it at the four men trapped in the car.

Not wanting to waste more than four shots, he continued walking without checking whether the shots had killed all four men or not. Glancing over at the girl to see her reaction, he saw an expression he discerned to be admiration or inspiration. Funny, I thought she'd be disgusted.

But it was not an admiration to the deed, it was an admiration towards him. Towards Sabre.