Disclaimer: Still don't own it
I want to first apologize for my long absence but a recent string of health and family issues has not made things too easy for me. I am not abandoning the other two stories and I am working on them; this fic was just written as a means to get back into writing and I have a number of chapters finished; though I will only release them every couple of days. If you guys want me to continue then please leave reviews. This is a Whiterose fic as well as a Bumblebee one though other pairings will be shown.
He watched her as she left the train.
After finding out where she was due to depart, the man had taken a faster means in order to lie in waiting once she had arrived.
Given who his target was, the assassin was surprised that the young woman was not better protected; especially with what was going on. While he wasn't into much politics or even cared about the business world in general, the target was just about the most talked-about person in all of Atlas right now. With her status, it would have been expected that she would have been surrounded by a team of bodyguards though she was more than capable of handling anyone on her own. After all, this was an individual who was a trained Huntress as well as a war hero if one believed the stories about all that went down four years ago. He couldn't tell if it was a belief in her skill that the target chose not to walk around with an escort or that she was simply arrogant; that not being surprising given her family name. It was well known that the entire family was arrogant and prideful; which was why they were hated as much as they were admired.
Following her, he could see the rapier at her side and while he was confident that he might be able to take her by surprise in a fight, the assassin knew he couldn't risk it. It was also risky given that there was too few people on the street right now, being so close to evening, thus it would be hard to escape via his usual method; blending into the crowds. It was always hard to operate in Atlas, more so after the conclusion of the Great Grimm War, because of all the surveillance that the Kingdom was now under. His usual theatre of operations was usually in Mantel but work was starting to dry up now that the upper class were no longer shooting eachother in secret; even the gangs were playing nice nowadays. When he was contacted with the contract, he had no choice but to jump on it even though he was a bit apprehensive; especially once he found out who he was hired to kill. Word was that a previous attempt had failed a week ago and the one who carried out that attack was dead because of it; executed by the client from what the rumors said.
It took him three days to come up with a plan to take out the target without risking his own life as well as his identity; having to rely on more dubious methods. Unlike other assassins, the man preferred to have a more personal touch when killing his targets; preferring to get up and personal when they least expected it. Sometimes this involved breaking in their homes in the middle of the night or ambushing them when they were alone; which would have been ideal now if it weren't for the cameras everywhere right now. After watching the target and learning her little quirks, he had lured her back to her personal office which lay in a more modest section of the city; a border between the middle and upper class. He had been surprised that she placed her office in this area of the city since it would have been more logical for it to be at the SDC Headquarters; though given what she was doing, he should have expected it. He couldn't help but smile at the lax security when he had broken in for the first time though it did seem that she kept all of her files on her person at all times; not that he was interested in them anyways. All that mattered was her death which was what the client, who he still didn't know for sure, wanted right now.
As she turned a junction with him some distance behind, the assassin pulled out the remote with his finger on the trigger. The bomb he placed in her office was ready to detonate the minute she walked in; having set it up a little more than an hour ago. It was easy to lure her back with a simple phone call, claiming to have information that she would be interested in, which he had done while monitoring her movements. Peaking around the corner of a grey-bricked building across the street from where she was, the man watched as the silver-haired target pulled out her keys from the dress she was wearing. While he wasn't a fully trained Hunter like she was, he knew combat attire when he saw them; thus he knew that the white dress with black trim was more than able to be fought in. Even her white heels seemed unlike those worn by upper class snotty brats; even showing signs of wear; as if she used them regularly out in the field. He found it both funny and interesting that she now no longer hunted Grimm and traded them for opponents in the boardroom; from one set of beasts to another.
As the young woman walked into the building and had closed the door behind her, the assassin flipped the switch.
The building exploded with such a fantastic display that he could feel the heat even from across the street. The sounds of the explosion were so loud that his ears were slightly ringing; making him think that he might have used a tad too much in setting up the bomb. He had gotten the materials from a buddy that sold surplus military equipment on the black market; this batch coming from Vacuo rather than Atlas. Ever since the war and the various betrayals that had happened from the top, the military here and been clamping down on a lot of its products thus it took a while to bring something like this into Atlas through all the security points. Even with the White Fang no longer around, having been wiped out in the war, the military was still making sure nothing got in that wasn't supposed to; which was why he had to dish out a little more in bribes than he usual. As flames erupted from the remains of the building, the adjacent buildings starting to catch fire now, people were starting to flood the street to view the action. No one else appeared to be hurt by the explosion with the sounds of approaching sirens, the man turned to leave and make his escape.
That was when he spotted her emerging from the building; singed and covered with wounds but alive. As she struggled to walk, the assassin just stared and was completely flabbergasted on what he was seeing; not believing his eyes. As his shock wore off, it turned to fury as he refused to let this mark get away like this; especially given all the effort he went to making sure the bomb would kill her. Even though the back of his mind was telling him to run, the assassin charged forward to pulled the large hand cannon from his shirt; the gun more than capable of taking down the huntress. As she fell to her knees and seemed completely out of it, he stepped forward and pointed his weapon at her; pulling the trigger ever so slowly. He must have been seen because there was shouting and calls for him to stop, which he just ignore and focused solely on his prey. The gun let loose and the bullets flew at the young woman with her unable to dodge them; though she was still out of it.
Unfortunately for the assassin, the bullets slammed into a large white glyph that appeared in front of the woman; preventing her from coming to harm. That was she came out of her gaze and stared at the man, realization of what was going on. Before she could draw her own weapon, which was still at her hip for some reason, the man opened fire again and forced the woman on the defensive. The bullets he was using seemed designed to deal with hunters and huntresses given that they were enhanced with a special dust type alloy; sold all over Remnant because of the war which saw many hunters side with Salem. As he stepped forward and kept firing, trying to break her defenses, another large white glyph appeared on the ground; different than the one she was using as a shield. That was when a bright glowing knight appeared in front of him; brandishing a large sword. Before he could react, the summon brought the blade strait down onto the assassin; using the flat part of the blade. Instead of slicing the man in half which it would have easily done, the sword smashed the man into a pulp; leaving him a stain on the street.
The knight vanished as Weiss Schnee collapsed into unconsciousness.
The young woman woke up later on a hospital bed; various tubes going into her arm. As she tried to get up, the medical staff urged her to stay lied back as they checked her out to see if there were any serious injuries. While they prodded her, Weiss contemplated on how she got here and started to remember what had just transpired only a little while ago. She remembered having to head to the office and feeling something was wrong as soon as she entered the building. During the war, the Huntress had learned how use her aura to better protect herself despite her limited endurance; having been taught that by Qrow Branwen of all people. Like many times before, it had saved her life by taking the brunt of the damage from the explosion; only causing minor injuries at the time. She then remembered emerging from the building only to find someone attacking her, thus she was forced to use the last of the semblance to protect herself from the assailant. While Weiss didn't remember summoning her oldest protector to defeat the man on purpose, must have done so unconsciously like many times before; especially when she was in real trouble.
It was about twenty minutes before General Winter Schnee arrived in the emergency room; flanked by her soldiers.
"Secure the perimeter," Winter ordered to her men with a firm look and the armored soldiers moved immediately to carry out her instructions. While the medical staff looked a tad nervous with the new military presence in the place, they stayed silent and went about their business.
"Are you okay?" the older sister asked Weiss as the rare look of sisterly affection came to the surface. Many who knew the General almost never saw this from her except for very rare occasions.
"I'll be fine; the doctor said I will be staying the night and probably be released tomorrow afternoon," answered Weiss and she sat up in the bed and stretched her neck. While she was no longer in a real pain, her body was still quite sore.
"I am having you transferred to the hospital on base as soon as the paperwork is filed; you will be there under my escort within the house," informed the General in a tone that made no room for argument. However, like most sisters who felt she was her own person, Weiss still made her objections.
"That isn't necessary; I don't need the protection," said the young woman in an attempted to dismiss to idea. That however only brought a stern look from the older sister while holding up two fingers to make a point.
"This is the second time someone has tried to kill you; I will not stand idly by and let someone try to make a third attempt," Winder stated with as much authority as she could muster. Even if she hadn't been in full military uniform, the older woman always projected a sense of authority as long as Weiss could remember.
"I am not going to walk around with solders following me everywhere; I am a trained Huntress who can take care of herself," Weiss told her sister in a somewhat weak voice as the drugs began to hit her system. While they were nothing but aura boosters to help with the healing, she always had a slightly less than normal reaction to them.
"Against enemies out on the battlefield; whether they be Grimm or Terrorists. This enemy is not known and could strike at any time; therefore you have to be protected until they are dealt with," argued the General sternly with her arms crossed behind her back. Weiss knew that her sister was in full military form now which meant that there was little to fight against.
"What I do now is important to me and the last thing I need is to be distracted by what is going on; I can handle this," countered the younger sister with a sternness of her own, refusing to stand down. She was starting to feel groggy because of the drugs and had to fight to keep herself aware.
"And I fully support you and will do everything I can to help you succeed, you know that full well. However, I will make sure my sister is safe for the time being so this is done. I have assigned a few of my best specialists to protect you until the culprit behind these attacks are rooted out and dealt with; though I like to believe we already know who is behind all of this," Winter said with a slight growl to her voice with Weiss knowing who she meant.
"I don't think Jacque nor Whitley are behind this," Weiss responded softly as looked down and rubbed her eyes. Weiss stopped calling the man her father a long time ago ever since it became clear that he was worthy of being her parent.
"You have been a thorn in their side ever since you seized partial control of the SDC a year ago under their noses. Both of them are prime suspects in all of this," the General pointed out with absolute belief as she noted her sister was starting to tire out; probably due to the fact of the previous events.
"If those two wanted to kill me, they would have done so before I was too well established within the SDC. As it stands, my death would cast too much negative light on the company and they can't afford it right now. Besides, neither one of them would never get their hands dirty like this," Weiss countered again as she yawned and leaned back onto the bed; feeling that she should get some rest. She had a long week ahead for her and knew that she needed all the time she could get for what was to come.
"Exactly; they most likely hired someone to do this all for them which is why I will root them out and deal with those two once and for all," the older sister put forth and Weiss could hear the conviction in her sister's voice.
"You have a kingdom to run and cannot afford to be distracted; I'll use your protection for now though they will stay out of my way but I will handle this," Weiss told her sister in an effort to find a compromise. She knew full well that Winter had a lot to do given her duties and did not want her to start a war with their family; especially given that there was no proof of their involvement in all of this.
"Very well but you will be staying at the base until this is all resolved; I already made sure you get one of the VIP rooms in the officer wing," informed the older sister and she looked over at the time. She wanted to get her sister back at the base since there was a lot to get ready for given all the meetings with the Council she had tomorrow.
"Isn't that a waste of taxpayer's money?" inquired the Huntress as she closed her eyes since things were starting to get a little too bright for her. She knew her body was healing but was still exhausted and needed rest.
"You forget that you are not only a war hero in Atlas but an important asset to the Kingdom; it will not be a problem," Winter answered truthfully though she would not have cared otherwise if there had been objections. It was fortunate that Weiss was well liked by the Council in contrast to the rest of the leadership of the SDC; thus she had a bit of leeway here.
Before she could respond, Weiss fell asleep.
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