Primula - 1
Summary: She was created for this mission, to make sure it succeeds, no matter the cost.
This is what happens when I stumble across pairings I wouldn't have thought of myself. I have to figure out dynamics cause Curiosity said so. Now, let's begin this weird journey. Oh, and play a game of find-the-bunny-references 'cause while I was writing they kept sneaking their way in.
Her gloved fingers dug into the coffee-cream colored fur of her skirt as she waited, one heel tapping repeatedly against the floor as her mind raced.
It would be at least another minute before he entered the office, judging by the silence that had descended over the courtyard from outside after the speech was done. She could just leave before then, he said he would understand if she decided she couldn't go through with this. But this is the sort of thing she had trained for - partially, anyway. The Academy trained hunters and huntresses - who went out on a variety of missions, - not spies; she certainly hadn't taken any special training in that department. She wasn't entirely sure how many students did, it's not the sort of thing they were usually asked to do. Especially by the-
The sound of the elevator sliding open made her freeze for a moment. "You came." A voice filled the now silent room, foot steps echoing soon after.
Velvet took in a breath of air as she uncurled her fingers from her skirt, settling them in her lap, and stopping her foot from resuming it's former thumping. "Yes." She watched as Ozpin sat in the chair behind his desk, clasping his hands together on top of the wood as he faced her, before speaking,
"You came prepared." He gave a small inclination of his head, obviously referring to the outfit she had made after accepting this mission a few months back, along with the new weapon she currently carried on her back. Not that anyone would give it a second glance or think for even a second that it could do anything harmful to them; which would be a fair assumption, unless she was 'wielding' it. "I know I gave you ample time to get everything ready, but if you still need more time or have decided you don't want to do this you may leave. I won't hold it against you."
Had he heard her from inside the elevator? Or did she still look nervous? It didn't really matter, since he had seen through her supposedly calm demeanor anyway. Still, this was something she had to do, for all the faunus out there. "You said if I were to take this mission that it would start today." Though, he had told her about the mission months ago, half way through her second semester at this school to be exact.
"I did. I wanted to check that you were still up for it first, though. Before I completed the last arrangement for your long-term assignment, to insure that nobody will know about your connections to the Academy. That's not including your team of course, but all the missions they receive should keep them away from your own."
Velvet gave a nod of her head, confirming that she understood. He had explained the mission in detail when he first suggested it to her. Unfortunately none of her team would be joining her, this was going to be a solo mission; something that had concerned Coco when she brought it up with her leader. She had left out many details though, considering the nature of the mission. It was covert, so all she really told Coco beyond the basics is that when she saw her next after today was to treat her as whoever she appeared to be, rather than a teammate; not to use her name.
And when she left this room Ozpin would destroy her individual documents concerning the Academy, strike her name off others, replace them with another; the name of an exchange student that would be joining her team while she was away. She was actually rather curious about them, but she didn't think it would be right for her to ask. Ozpin would make sure they fit in with the team, and that they were a faunus so not all details had to be changed in the team's papers. He would be the only one that knew her true mission and that she was connected to the Academy still, as her teachers were more-or-less given the same info as she had given Coco.
As for the students she had attended the Academy with... she doubted they would remember her. She had pretty much melted into the backdrop, even with her bunny ears. Velvet had only ever had significant interactions with her team. Besides, she would be wearing a mask soon enough; that's why she hadn't bothered to cut her hair or get colored contacts.
"I'm fully prepared and ready to infiltrate the White Fang. Once I'm in I'll give you any information I have access to regarding their movements, and anything else that will help neutralize the terrorist organization as quickly as possible."
There was a moment of silence before Ozpin gave a nod of his head. "Have you already said goodbye to your team, then? I trust you know that you can't be friendly with them after today. You're going to have to create the illusion that you are dedicated to the White Fang."
"I understand. I won't do anything that would compromise the mission."
"Good." Ozpin gave another nod of his head. "I'll take care of everything on my end. The White Fang are actively recruiting tonight with one of their events. I trust you know where to find them and will figure out the exact time they are holding it."
"I'll be there," she assured him.
"Right. Thank you for taking on this mission. I know it's not the most luxurious for someone in your position. Just trust your judgment and if things get out of hand know that you can come back here at any time. Good luck."
"Thank you, sir." Velvet stood up shortly after the words left her lips, turning and walking to the elevator. Once the doors shut behind her however -the elevator moving down without her pressing a button - Velvet's gaze moved up to the hatch above her. With a few well-placed jumps and a kick the hatch was open and she was out of the elevator, the small tunnel it traveled in creating a effect similar to a vacuum around her. So her hair flew out around her as if she was caught in a strong wind. She closed the hatch, making sure it was secure before turning to face the east wall.
The moment she saw the top of the vent, she jumped for it, sliding in hands first - which was the only way this could have possibly worked. She really should have put more thought into how she was going to get from Ozpin's office and Vale without being detected considering the poof-like effect of her skirt. But she had made it to the office just fine in her new outfit; so she hadn't considered that getting out would be more difficult.
Velvet crawled through the tight space easily enough, as she did becoming more concerned with the belt than the skirt; but she couldn't exactly leave it out of the attire when it was the one place for her to store her dust. She finally stopped when she came to her destination after traversing the maze of vents. With one gloved hand she used her aura to knock the bolts from two of the corners, before slipping out and falling to the ground beside the building.
She stood up, dusting off the bits of grass from her clothes before turning to the vent and shooting the bolts back into place with the force of her aura. It's something she had experimented with for a short time while making her new weapon; to test what effects would work best with it. Though, it hadn't really made it onto her potential forms of attack or defense for that matter.
Velvet took a moment to look at the back of the Academy before turning and disappearing into the forest before she could be spotted by some bored student listening to a lecture or anyone that might happen to look out a window. She ran through the forest until she reached the city of Vale, slowing down her stride to a more casual walk.
It was still bright out, too early for the White Fang to begin to gather. Though, she would need to go and figure out the exact time to be there so she wasn't late. She had a pretty good idea of where they would be holding such an event, but she wanted to confirm that first as well. If she missed the meeting just because she didn't know where it was being held... well, that would be a pretty crummy way to start her mission.
All of this would - thankfully - require that she goes to a section of town where no one was likely to have seen her before - not that she thought that anyone would really recognize her. So she could begin to use the background she had come up with for the mission. That she was new to the area, the town, had been living in small towns outside of the cities for most of her life. It was the sufficient basic details most people asked about in casual conversation, and would begin to paint the new image she had made for herself effectively.
So she traveled to the part of town that was known to house mostly faunus; the poor side. Or as most cops called it, the bad side of town.
The bell sounded when she opened the door to a small cafe, eyes turning to her and staying for another second or so before the customers turned back to whatever they had been doing: sipping coffee while reading the news, eating a pastry, or talking with 'friends' in hushed voices. She ignored the looks she was given for her outfit - looking expensive compared to their own clothes - walking up to the cashier, a pilchard faunus. "One order of Galão Coffee, please."
The gills just beneath the faunus' jaw opened for a moment even though there was no water in the air. After that one second of silence though he nodded, and the group to her right resumed their conversation.
Velvet gave a smile, handing over the money for the coffee before finding an empty seat - not a terribly difficult feat. She sat next to a window, looking out at a few young faunus playing across the street. They seemed to be pretending that the cracks in the sidewalk spewed lava or something, as they were avoiding them as they hopped around, as if playing hopscotch. Even though they were smiling she could feel her lips curling down into a frown.
They were growing up to be hated or feared thanks to the White Fang. It was hardly surprising that they weren't playing with a single toy. An older faunus could intimidate an employee of a human-run store into selling them because of the terrorist organization, but no one was going to take pity on the children and just give them one or let them into the shop in the first place. The White Fang weren't helping the lives of any faunus, they were being a hindrance.
Maybe that's why that group in the cafe had gone silent when she ordered her drink, because they didn't agree with the White Fang. There could be only one other reason why they had stopped in their conversation, which meant she might just see them at the event tonight.
The clink of glass on wood made her turn her head and she offered up a smile to the cashier. "Thank you," she said, before turning to look down at her coffee; specifically at the foam on top, forming the letters of an address and the numbers beneath it showing the time for the event.
Velvet took her straw and swirled it through the foam, so it became a jumble of letters and numbers that no longer made sense after she had the information memorized. She hadn't been far off in her guess at the location, but it was good to know she wouldn't be walking into an empty warehouse tonight.
Once the letters and numbers had completely disintegrated into the coffee she took a sip from her drink, gaze straying back out the window as she waited for night to fall.
If everything went well tonight she shouldn't have any trouble with becoming a member of the White Fang, the sort that was above being a foot soldier or someone that they would need to train. The fact that she could already fight well with - and without - dust were things that she hoped would let her rise through the ranks quickly. So she could get to the sort of information needed to take the White Fang down or at the very least slow down their current plans. Which from the news appeared to be collecting dust.
A store had been hit just last night, From Dust 'Till Dawn. She suspected she would be put on a group that was doing that at first; it seemed simple enough work for a new member, but she would only know about the store she was targeting, and if all the stores she specifically hit weren't coming through with the required dust she would be suspected of treason. So if that was the case-
No. Whether it was the case or not she wouldn't be able to send anything useful to Ozpin until she got to a useful position or was put in a group working on something more secretive then their attacks on Dust shops. One could hope anyway.
She really did want to pull the rug out from the White Fang and watch them fall; so they wouldn't hurt the faunus that weren't apart of their organization so much. So that her species could recreate an organization that was peaceful when it came to their protests. So they didn't make the same mistakes as the White Fang.
As long as she didn't make any mistakes of her own that is. It's not like she was the only faunus at the Academy. Ozpin could have asked at least a dozen other students to do what she is doing now, but he chose her. Had said so that day he came to her, that she was the one that came to mind for it. Which made sense - she guessed - it's not like she went out a lot. People would believe she was new, that she had never been at the Academy; not everyone learned to fight at them. She certainly hadn't gotten mixed up in any White Fang activity before or even after becoming a student. Unlike some faunus at the Academy... who had ended up in the middle of one of their 'protests' while out in town.
She finished her coffee, leaving the glass on the table when she got up and walked outside, the children long gone now, but even though the sun had slipped beneath the horizon and the broken moon had risen it was still an hour before the meeting would take place.
But there were faunus like her - who hadn't been seen by the White Fang - attending the Academy. Ozpin could have used any of those remaining for his efforts. She may have accepted this mission - and she wanted to succeed, she did; but... there were faunus that had been studying for longer at the Academy. Shouldn't he have gone to them first? One must have specialized in the sort of work this mission entailed.
She just wasn't entirely sure if she could do some of the things that might be asked of her once she was a member of the White Fang. With the new image they had created, they were quickly showing they had no limits. She was really starting to hope she was put on a dust-raiding team and not something more deadly.
Ozpin must have had a reason for selecting her for this mission, for whatever reason; she should just trust his judgement. Like she would need to trust her own for this mission.
"...It is certainly tragic what happened at the Schnee Corporation. Well, we hope to see you again tomorrow with more news. This is the evening night crew, signing off-"
Velvet stopped in her tracks at the voice of the woman coming from the television, sitting outside an electronic store. The evening news was done with? But... Oh, carrot sticks.
She was moving again just a second after realizing she was late. To the meeting, to her goal. If Professor Ozpin ever found out that she was late just because she had been questioning his judgement on her... No; no he would never find out, because she wasn't going to write about it in her report - it would be her first alteration, the only one she ever made, hopefully.
Velvet was walking quickly when she turned into an alley, ignoring the pounding music and flashing lights coming from the building to her right; near the edge of the warehouse district. With hardly anyone out on the street the sound of her heels connecting with the concrete was rather loud in the otherwise quiet night air; that's probably how they first noticed her.
The pair of drunks that had been standing outside the club, she could hear them behind her, thinking they would continue down the sidewalk rather than follow her down the alley. "Hey there!" she stopped and turned at the shout, frowning at the human as they stumbled toward her. "Where you going, hot buns? Back door? If you work here why don't you and me go to the hotel across the street and you can make a few extra for the night?"
She could feel her cheeks burn and only hoped there wasn't enough light for this man to see it; or his buddy that had been attracted down the alley by the sound of this one's voice. It wasn't very difficult to realize they thought she worked at the strip club whose alley she was in. Because she was a faunus, and it was a faunus strip club. She swore these were the only sort of humans she disliked, coming into such an establishment run by faunus and taking advantage of them because they were desperate for the money.
Velvet turned - intent on continuing down the alley - when a hand closed around her wrist, pulling her back towards them. "I was talkin' to you sweet cheeks." A hand planted itself firmly on her ass and she very nearly yelped from the unexpected - and unwanted - attention. "Come on. Don't bunnies go at it for hours? I'm sure you can service me and my friend."
"Please, let go. I'm late, and-"
When she tried to just casually tug her hand away the man's grip tightened. "Well, if you're late there goes your pay for that hour, right? You can make double that with us."
"Triple that meager pay if you can do us both at once," the other joined in now, she could hear him coming up behind her..
Her ears twitched. She could hear two other voices as well, not too far away, in the direction of the warehouses. Velvet breathed deeply through her nose, noting that while one was human the other was a faunus, that could be a part of the White Fang. From the sounds of their footsteps they were heading in this direction. They weren't too far from the corner and-
The other human pressed a hand to her hip, leaning towards her and making some lewd suggestion she decided she never wanted to hear ever again for the rest of her life. If a member of the White Fang saw her in such a position they definitely wouldn't take her seriously if she told them she wanted to join, that she could do more than just load a truck with stolen dust or otherwise. There was really only one thing she could do.
"You listenin' to me, honey bunny?" The man's breath reeked of alcohol as he leaned in closer, mouth maybe an inch from her skin now. Just that fact made her skin crawl, a shiver running down her spine before she reminded herself that she needed to act, not be disgusted by what these two were saying.
Velvet leaned forward just enough to get some distance from the one that was closer before ramming the back of her skull into his face. There was a shocked yell filling her ears immediately afterward, that turned quickly into a pained scream as she grabbed his hand from her ass, twisting his arm around before shoving him to the ground - he had let go of her wrist the moment she struck him.
She turned on her heel to face the other drunk loser just as he snapped at her, "You fuckin' bitch! We're not going to play nicely wit-" He went flying before he could finish his sentence when she kicked him in the chest, colliding with the wall of the J. R. Club.
"I'm going to make you bleed, slut!" The first one was up again, throwing a fist towards her now.
Velvet stepped back so she was no longer in the path of his punch. She raised her left leg, curling it as she turned, striking him in the groin with her knee a second later. He fell to the ground in a groaning heap, clutching at his groin.
She could feel the gaze of the faunus on her, along with whoever their human companion was, but since they weren't shouting for the cops she felt she had made the right choice.
And when one of them spoke - she couldn't tell which from the voice alone - she was positive that the faunus was with the White Fang. "A fitting little punishment for them. You're lucky to have known how to fight, most of the girls working in there probably don't. They would have had to run from not one, but two perverts if their shift ended at this hour, and they probably wouldn't have made it very far." There was a pause. "They're polluting the air, just end them. It's not like this is going to be a lesson for them. Or do you think rage-filled faunus rapists is something the world needs?"
Her ears twitched as she stared down at the human in front of her. Were they being serious? It didn't completely sound like they were; more like the comment was made off-hand. Like they didn't care if she killed them or not, but... he wasn't wrong. When they attacked another faunus later they would be much more violent if she let them walk away. Even so...
"Kill them," another voice joined the first, this time more demanding. As if they were going to kill them if she didn't. "They're vermin compared to the other humans, they need to be exterminated like the pests they are."
That hadn't been a suggestion, and from the tone of his voice he expected it to be carried out right away. Then, that must have been the faunus, and the one that had spoken earlier was the human.
And she... didn't have a choice. Unless she wanted to run back to the Academy without ever really starting her mission. A failure. Something for the others to laugh at.
Velvet barely stopped herself from taking in a deep breath as she bent down, grabbing onto the man's ears so she could bring his head up and smash his nose in with her knee, sending the bone straight into his brain. The body fell to the ground when she let go, turning to face the one still laying against the wall, just coming back to the world as he stared at her.
"No, no. Please no, I won't ever bother you-or..." She blinked down at him as she came to a stop, now standing in front of him. He wasn't trying to run... probably knew he couldn't get away even if he did. "Or any other faunus again! Plea-" his words were cut off for the last time as her heel punctured a hole into his neck, leaving him gasping as blood squirted out from the wound, staining his clothes a dark red. A few seconds after though he stopped moving, his entire body going still even as the blood continued to flow.
She hesitated there. The first one she had managed just fine, but the second... Damn it. She couldn't be screwing up now, but... but this wasn't suppose to happen. If this was going to happen it shouldn't have happened this soon. She should have had more time to-to-
The sound of clapping shatters her thoughts even further. Velvet turns slowly to see the faunus first, wearing a White Fang mask with a pair of wolf ears sticking out from his black hood. Then her gaze lands on the human, the one that is clapping. She recognizes him instantly, as his face had been all over the news just the day before, showing his mug shots even though he wasn't in prison anymore. Roman Torchwick.
"Killed by dust bunnies." She wasn't sure what to make of the smile on his lips. "It could be the headline." Roman paused, taking a drag from a cigar, effectively ceasing the clapping that had thrown her off just a second ago. Her mind remained as clear as the sky above her, though. "If you were coming to join the White Fang you're late, darling. Not to mention you missed my speech. I practice it, but no one ever seems to appreciate it."
What? He's part of the White Fang? Or sponsoring it?
The faunus next to him finally spoke up, "You came to join the White Fang? Just how were you hoping to help us in our goals-"
He was cut off by Roman's hand waving in his face. "You're done tonight, remember? She's late." That hand was now pointing a finger at her. "Besides, you're suppose to be working for the White Fang right now." Somehow it sounded more like he was saying, you're suppose to be working for me right now.
An irritated growl came from the wolf faunus, but he turned away a moment later, glancing back at Velvet once before a turning a corner to head back to the warehouse district.
Roman turned back around to face her, taking another drag from his cigar and then blowing the smoke out a moment later. "You hesitated earlier." She couldn't stop her ears from twitching at this remark, especially on something she had hoped no one would notice. "Were those men the first humans you killed?"
She didn't say anything as her mind finally caught up to the current situation. Roman Torchwick had just ordered a member of the White Fang, so... he had to be with them, at least in some capacity. Velvet gave a nod of her head to his question. "Yes. That's correct."
"Hmm," the sound slid around the cigar in his mouth for a second, before he was throwing the stub onto the ground, leaving the embers on the end to glow against the concrete. "What's your name?"
"Primula."
I do not own Velvet's chosen outfit, it comes from the competition for her battle gear. Which can be seen [partially] on a pic I made for these two on my DeviantArt account (because I have to make things for rare pairs, apparently)