Of Blood and Bronze (RWBY x Vigilante Male Reader)

Prologue (3/5)

It's been five years since my adoption day. I'll never be able to thank my parents enough, I spend every day thinking of ways to thank them. I've spent weeks at school making a sculpture in art class as a thank you to them. It wasn't good by any means, but the thought was there, or at least I thought it was.

The more I stared at it, the more I began to criticize it. 

Sloppy.

Ugly.

Disgusting.

I was contemplating throwing it away. I pictured my mother's face as she saw it. 

I quickly shook my head. She would never do such a thing, she loves everything that her kids bring home for her.

But you aren't her child.

I shook my head again, my levels of self-doubt have been steadily rising over the years. There wasn't a reason for it, my mother and father have been amazing parents to me, and my sisters were the same.

Yet there was always that feeling in the back of my mind. It might be from my past trauma, but it's never been this bad. 

I decided to continue on, if I waited any longer, I'd miss the airship. Normally I'd be walking home with Yang, but she suddenly got sick in class earlier today and Dad came by to pick her up. He offered to take me home early as well, but I insisted on staying because I would miss art class.

Before I could take my first step, I felt a person grab me from behind and start pulling me along. Before I knew it, I was thrown into the back of a car. The door was slammed and I was able to hear the hissing of something coming from a vent. 

I wasn't able to react and was quickly unconscious.

I awoke again an unknown amount of time later. I frantically began looking around and tried to get up, before realizing that I was tied down to a table.

I quieted down as I heard humming from across the room. A bald man was mixing some kind of ungodly concoction. He heard the ruckus I was making and turned around. I could see a smile forming on his face.

Man: Ah, you're awake. Wonderful, we may now begin.

He pulled a syringed off the table in front of him and used it to suck up what he was mixing. It had a bright green color. 

He squeezed some out of the syringe and it began sizzling on the floor. 

My heart sank as I saw that. If it was sizzling on the concrete floor, then what would it do if it went into me? 

Me: Woah Woah Woah! What is that?

He began approaching me slowly. 

Man: This is what will make you reach your true potential. This will make you the perfect killer. You are a wolf Faunus, yes? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to become one with your inner animal?

Me: No! You're insane, keep that away from me!

The man clenched his hand tightly on my arm and brought the needle close to my vein, but wasn't able to line it up due to my resistance. 

He was rapidly losing his patience and let go of my arm before bringing the back of his hand down on my cheek.

Man: Stop moving so much you filthy little shit!

The pain rushed through my face, and for a second, it felt like I was back in that orphanage. It was just long enough for the man to get the syringe into my arm. 

The pain was instant and immense. It felt like hot lava was being shot through my veins. I immediately began screaming. It was the worst pain I'd ever felt.

The only thing I was able to think about was why I hadn't gone into shock yet. I saw the man with a clipboard in front of me.

Man: The subject seems to have a much better reaction to the formula than any other I've tested. This may be the first successful subject I have.

The next few hours were absolutely grueling. The man injected many things over the course of the rest of the night.. Each injection was more painful than the last. By hour two my vocal cords had torn, and all that was able to come out was a whisper.

I kept holding out hope that it would end. That someone would find me, yet the pain killed any hope I had, one injection at a time.

Eventually, the man finally let me sleep, he told me to get a good night's rest, because we had a "big day tomorrow."

It took two hours, but I finally fell asleep, and the pain began to subside. The sleep was dreamless, it almost felt like I was in a state of perpetual sensory deprivation. But sensory deprivation was preferable to what I endured the next day.

The "tests" started early and were even more grueling than yesterday. 

At some point in the tests, the man noticed that gangrene had started in my right arm. He started rapidly scribbling on his clipboard and mumbling to himself, but because of my Faunus ears, I could hear what he was saying.

Man: The patient is showing early signs of gangrene in the right arm. This could be the result of the solution burning the veins shut in the arm. This was not one of my hypotheses, but the tests must continue. This is my most successful patient yet, the only way forward is amputation. He must live.

The man threw the clipboard down on the table and grabbed a large cleaver knife. He was over before I processed the words, and before I could even react, he brought the cleaver down on my arm just below my elbow.

The pain was excruciating, but nothing compared to what I had already experienced. The cut was clean, but the healing process would be long, and the experiments would no doubt continue.

Man: This is merely a minor setback, my boy, you will be perfect soon enough.

I passed out from the blood loss, but the man would no doubt save me. Please, mother, father, please save me.