Snow piled up in drifts, feet deep in some cases, but it wasn't all snow, some of it didn't melt and was more grey than white. Everyone knew that the ash falls were getting worse. It was an unspoken fact and one that Blake acknowledged from the cafe window. Gazing out on the neon lit streets she seemed to be deep in thought but that was just to distract people from the fact that she was waiting for something.
"He's running late, I wonder if Ilia is holding him up," her thoughts were interrupted by a brief red flash from the tenth floor of an abandoned server building across the busy intersection from the cafe.
"About time."
She quickly left the cafe, the brisk air causing her cat ears to twitch beneath the bow she wore to hide them. Ducking through traffic she made it to the building and scaled the fire escape in the back alley too quick for the eye to follow almost leaving an after image behind her.
"What took you so long?" Blake demanded of her partners in crime as she burst into the room the signal had been sent from.
"Sorry, traffic was a bitch," Ilia spoke nonchalantly from a folding chair in the corner.
"And if by traffic you mean yourself then you're exactly right!" Sun groaned.
"Just tell me what happened so we can get on with this mission," Blake sighed having had to deal with the two other Faunus's antics since they'd been transferred into her command almost a year ago.
"I grabbed a bagel," Ilia said holding up one of the breakfast pastries.
"She didn't have breakfast yet," Sun added.
"That's why I got two bagels," Ilia said pulling out another.
"Whatever, we're still on schedule for the mission," Blake dismissed the argument.
"I wouldn't call it a mission per se, more like internalized sabotage."
"She's right about that, we're literally stopping a supply convoy of our own people."
"It's for the greater good, things will only get worse if Adam gets his way."
"And why's that again?" Ilia asked.
"Because he wants to wipe out humans and use the firepower that Atlas has stockpiled to finish what the Great War started."
"How do we even know the other kingdoms are still out there? This global cutoff thing has been going for longer than we've been alive," Sun shrugged gesturing in the general direction of the massive walls surrounding the city on all sides.
"Because we wouldn't still be exporting what little industry we have and there wouldn't be any economy to speak of, it's only us lower classes that can't access the outside world. I'm sure Ironwood is up there in his penthouse chatting it up with some rich folks from Menagerie or Vale."
"Pfft, Menagerie? That's a myth, a whole kingdom for the Faunus could never happen with the way humans treat us," Ilia shook her head.
"It exists, I'm sure of it."
"Whatever, back to the mission, sabotage, whatever we want to call it," Sun said impatiently.
"We're blowing up the convoy, make it seem like an accident. They'll be going straight over a gas main as they pass the SDC office building around the block, that's when we'll hit them. Cause as much collateral to the building as possible, but no civilian casualties if possible."
"When do I have to place the charges? It's always me that places the charges," Ilia muttered.
"Not today, I already handled it last night," Blake said reassuring Ilia she wouldn't have to go back in the sewers.
"Thank Oum."
"If that's it can we suit up now? My tail is freezing off."
"Fine, get out of here Sun, no peeking," Blake shooed Sun out of the room as he grabbed the modified infiltrator suit that they'd stolen from the White Fangs stash which they'd stolen from a military research lab.
Once the three of them met up in the hall all wearing the sleek, black armored suits they made their way to one of the many smashed windows leading out to the lower rooftops. Making their way from building to building they heard the radio chatter of the White Fang convoy through the suit's radio as the trucks grew closer.
"Now we just wait for them to get here," Blake said once they reached the rooftop across the street from the place she'd set the bombs.
"Let's hope this works," Ilia muttered.
"It will, so long as nothing unexpected happens."
The trucks rolled down the street, minutes from the target location their drivers and occupants completely unaware of their eminent betrayal.
Blake put her hand on the bombs trigger.
Click
"Crap," Ruby complained realizing her rifle had jammed.
"You havin some trouble there sis?" Yang asked from a station down at the firing range where she was looking down the sights of her own gun.
"I hate these mass produced pieces of garbage, the ones we'll be assigned once we report for our first assignment as members of the Schutz!"
"You know it, you're guaranteed designated marksman for sure," Yang praised her sisters markmanship skills.
"Yeah but you'll definitely be our enforcer, nobody else could handle close quarters like you," Ruby said complimenting Yang's ability to handle an armed target in confined areas.
"Commander on deck!" The firing instructor ordered the recruits in the firing range to attention as none other than General Ironwood himself entered along with his attendants and guards.
The row of young soldiers turned from the firing tables and stood at attention as the general strolled down the line inspecting each of them individually.
"Tight groupings Rose," the general commented barely glancing at the target that had just been pulled in from the range.
"Thank you sir," Ruby said as she stood rigidly.
The greying haired general stepped back to the center of the room facing the recently graduated recruits.
"At ease," the recruits relaxed but remained alert, "I know that many of you have been awaiting this day for years, some of you only enlisted because it was your only option, but know this: if you weren't the best of the best you wouldn't be here, you'd be working private security instead," the generals joke got chuckles out of some of the recruits, "If you received a notice from me within the past two weeks step forward."
Ruby, Yang, and five others of the three dozen recruits stepped up as ordered.
"No get out, wait in formation outside."
Ruby's mind raced, "What did we do wrong, why aren't we being promoted, are we doomed to wall patrol?"
"Relax sis, I'm sure there's a good reason for this," Yang whispered setting a gentle hand on her nervous siblings shoulder.
Inside the firing range the remaining soldiers cringed as Ironwood snarled at them for their subpar performance since their graduation, half of them having boasted about it, others using it for their own gain. He called out specific examples and scolded them for their shameful behavior.
"You are undeserving of the stature that being a member of the elite Schutz unit brings, you are all dismissed to base duties, you will recieve your permanent unit assignments next week and you will not be promoted to Schutz status," Ironwood turned sharply and marched out of the room leaving the disgraced cadets to think on what he'd just said, some were in tears, others were still at attention determined to redeem themselves.
In the hall General Ironwood stopped in front of the seven other recruits.
"You all passed with flying colors, congratulations on your admission into the Schutz unit. You know where your barracks are. You will recieve your assignments in two hours. Dismissed," Ironwood proceeded down the hall and once out of sight the just promoted soldiers cheered and celebrated their new position in the elite of Atlas's military.
"Yeah! We did it Yang! Time to finally make a difference," Ruby embraced her sister.
Yang pulled Ruby in for a tight bear hug, "We sure did Rubes, we'll fix this place eventually."
"Yeah, now lets go check out these new barracks!"
The barracks were a fairly spartan affair, small but still comfortable enough for the four people who would be staying there and with significantly more privacy and space than the basic barracks, a luxury when compared to their old place. A delivery drone arrived at the door with four crates stacked into its hollow chassis.
"These must be our uniforms," one of their barrack mates said taking the box addressed to him.
"Nice, we're gonna look so cool," Ruby said opening the large but light box.
Inside were three things, a stack of three dress uniforms in the style of the Schutz, a stack of active duty uniforms, and another box beneath the clothes.
"Ah, these will be our armor and weapons," Yang said as she cracked open the case with a hiss.
Within Yang's case was a set of thick white armor similar to the designs the riot patrol squads wore, beneath the armor was a specialist issue automatic shotgun complimented by a baton and a standard sidearm. Ruby's case held lighter armor unique to the marksmen of Atlas's military, beneath the armor was a heavy designated marksman's rifle designed for medium to far range with high accuracy along with a small knife and a machine pistol for close quarters. After donning their new active duty uniforms Yang and Ruby admired themselves and each other in a small mirror mounted in the shared bathroom of the barracks room.
"We look good," Yang said twisting to see how the built in ammo pouch fit against her hip.
"Ooh, there's a magnetic clip on the back to remove the need for a sling," Ruby said feeling around the slightly bulkier back portion of her tactical chest plate.
"This is decent armor, I could probably take a couple direct shots from my own shotgun before it gives out."
"I could take some shots in the back but the rest is better suited for small arms fire and less actual assault weapons," Ruby muttered feeling the thin alloy making up the armor.
"You won't be right in the action though, I'll be handling the closer stuff like breaching, you'll be covering my back, or if you're staking our an enemy position I'll be watching yours."
"I guess it just depends, let's just hope."
Ruby shrugged and clipped the new rifle onto her back and slid the machine pistol into its holster on her left shoulder and her knife into its sheathe at her waist. Yang did the same with her own weapons and stretched briefly to get a feel for the new uniform.
"We should be getting our assignment any time now," Ruby said stifling a yawn of boredom.
"There it is!" Yang said as the notification hit her commincator.
"I just realized we didn't get helmets," Ruby said as Yang read through the mission assignment.
"It says we'll get them when we report for transport to the target location. Our mission is to provide escort and protection for a valuable VIP moving through the south eastern sector on a tour of industrial locations. The target is Weiss Schnee of the Schnee Dust Company, she'll be doing a survey of the factories and offices in the area."
"Eh, not exactly my first pick for our first mission as the Atlas elite but at least it's easy, not like a bunch of White Fang are going to attack, right?"
"Leaving so soon?"
Weiss turned to see her brother Whitley coming from around one of many pillars lining the halls of the massive Schnee family manor.
"And what exactly is your reason for delaying me, Whitley?" Weiss said through gritted teeth already annoyed by the fact that she was running two minutes late.
"What? I can't see my dear, beloved, sister off on her first official work for the company?"
"You can but I would much rather leave now and get it over with."
"If you insist sister, if you insist," Whitley cooed and backed away allowing Weiss to exit through the doors of the main hall and enter the waiting limo outside.
Weiss continued out through the doors and entered the pure white limo awaiting her. Inside the limo was only one other person, an assistant who would be answering any questions she had during the inspection.
"You can go now driver."
"Yes ma'am."
They drove on in silence until they reached the first building halfway across the city.
"Here she comes," Yang whispered to Ruby as the limo they had been instructed was carrying their target rounded the corner.
"Got it," Ruby nodded.
The limo pulled up the curb and parked, the driver stayed inside as Weiss and the assistant exited.
"You're our escort?" Weiss asked knowing that she had been provided an escort for the trip through the less orderly areas of the city.
"Yes ma'am, Private First Class Xiao Long reporting for duty!"
"Private First Class Rose reporting for duty!"
"Schutz unit correct? I was assured I'd be provided the best protection available."
"Yes ma'am, we graduated this morning."
"Explains the rank, you'll do for today and if you do well I might request you specifically next time."
Weiss's offer was a big deal as getting requested as an escort could easily help you climb the ranks and pay grades, corporate sponsorships had helped many of their commanding officers land their positions this way.
"Understood," Yang nodded.
"Good, now I'm sure you're aware of our schedule for today?"
"Yes, tour three different locations until two then lunch until four and lastly four more locations until six at which point we will escort you to a meeting with your father at which point we will return to base and your fathers private guards will take over," Ruby recited.
"Perfect, now let us begin," Weiss led the way towards the towering office building's entrance with the two sisters on either side and the assistant behind her.
Ruby turned to adjust her new helmet and seeing a flash of darkness across the rooftops across the street she activating the magnifier on the holographic visor and seeing nothing upon inspection continued on. Reaching the door the assistant stepped forward to open the door with her employee keycard, the voice activation didn't work however as the noise of a group of delivery trucks passing drowned her out. The next thing any of them saw was flames as the gas main beneath the street exploded turning the trucks into thousands of chunks of torn metal and shrapnel, Yang and Ruby instinctively dived on top of Weiss covering her from the flames and shrapnel flying overhead. The flames died down leaving a crater in the street and three of the six trucks mostly intact. Looking up Yang saw that the assistant had been blown through the window and shredded against a wall inside by a truck door sent flying by the explosion. Ruby staggered to her feet and checking Weiss's pulse determine she was okay despite being unconscious.
"She's good but this could be an attack we need to get her to safety!" Ruby said to Yang.
"Yeah, I'll carry her you cover me!" Yang said lifting the frail heiress and carrying her through the shattered glass doors.
Ruby looked around and saw that the doors of the remaining trucks were opening and armed men wearing the uniforms of the rebel faction called the White Fang were spilling out. Aiming down the scope of her rifle Ruby prepared to take a shot on the leading member of the group but he was shot before she could pull the trigger. Looking around Ruby saw a group of three people wearing modified infiltrator suits attacking the White Fang. Not caring about it Ruby turned and ran inside after her sister as their primary concern was defending the assigned target.
"Ruby! In here!" Yang shouted from down a dimly lit corridor before ducking inside a small room.
Inside Yang had Weiss propped against the wall directly across from the door. Ruby turned and locked the door behind her and crouched beside her sister to check the girls pulse again.
"Her heart is going kinda fast but she should be fine, some minor head trauma maybe, there'll definitely be bruises but nothing major."
"That's good, didn't want to fail our first mission ya know?"
"That would suck."
The gunshots began to die down outside and Ruby moved to check the door and heard rushing footsteps outside.
"Let's just stay here for now," Ruby suggested.
"Good idea, backup will get here eventually," Yang said.
"There were at least forty guys out there, all armed, we can't take on that many and I'm guessing those people in infiltrator suits got taken out too."
"Infiltrator suits, aren't those like top secret?"
"Yeah but a lab that was developing them got attacked by the Fang a couple weeks back so anyone could have the design now, and those guys definitely weren't White Fang."
"Duh."
More rushing footsteps were heard outside then gunshots and slamming doors.
"I wonder what's happening out there."
"Don't know Rubes, but we're not supposed to get involve, Weiss is our only priority right now."
"Yeah but people could be getting killed!"
"We have to follow orders."
"I know but orders are stupid sometimes."
Outside the flames of the burning trucks had begun to die down, their cargo of dust and weapons having been burnt to ashes moments ago, and through the fading smoke a foreboding figure stepped, Adam Taurus leader of the White Fang in his usual suit slightly burnt and tattered by the explosion but the rest of him unharmed. Stepping over a body belonging to one of his former allies he continued inside and cut down a staggering security guard with a lightning quick strike of his sword.
"Shit, Adam's here!" Sun said ducking behind a desk.
Blake peeked around a doorframe she was using as cover and saw that the bull Faunus was indeed there to ruin their plans.
"Back off, we can't take him," Blake said rushing down the corridor with Ilia and Sun right behind.
"Scared of your ex?" Ilia taunted.
"Ilia, you don't know what he's capable of, you don't know the things he's done."
"Blake, I'm sorry, I didn't realize.."
"No you didn't."
Blake saw a door that looked secure enough and slammed it open only to see two soldiers crouched on the floor guns at the ready.
"Oh shit!" Sun said bringing his shotgun to bear.
"Sonuva!" Yang shouted pulling her shotgun from her back and pointing it to her shoulder and aimed at the three unidentified and armed people at the door wearing infiltrator suits.
"Hands up!" Ruby said drawing her pistol and moving in front of Weiss, "Drop your weapons!"
"Fuckers, this is not how I'd like to die so how about you drop your weapons?" Ilia snarled.
Blake slowly closed the door behind her before turning back to the two soldiers in the room.
"Look I'm sure we can work something out because there is someone out there who would gladly kill all of us," Blake said hesitantly.
"Yeah, you three put down your guns and we take you in for questioning and most likely life incarceration!" Yang shouted.
"Because we're Faunus and the system is biased against us we're a lot more likely to be killed before even getting a fair trial much less actually getting to jail," Blake said.
"This is the exact problem we planned on fixing by signing up but no, our first mission we just had to end up encountering a couple terrorists!" Ruby groaned.
"At least we'll get arrested by some cops with a conscious?" Sun suggested as he slowly set his gun on the floor.
"Pick your damn gun back up!" Ilia snapped at Sun who did as she said.
"What's going on?" Weiss muttered drowsily as she pushed herself up off the floor.
"Shit, nope keep lying down you took a nasty hit back there," Ruby urged and settled Weiss back onto the floor.
"What happened?" Weiss asked touching a hand to her bruised forehead.
"There was an explosion and now we're stuck in a standoff against these White Fang scum," Yang said.
"Now that's just insulting, just because we used to be with them doesn't mean we are anymore, and we didn't even mean to blow you up we were trying to avoid civilian casualties with that bomb, just hit the convoy," Ilia explained.
"Wait, you bombed us?" Ruby asked.
"Maybe," Sun said.
"What the fuck?" Yang asked.
"We're not saying any more!" Blake said before Sun could spill any more of their plan.
"We're obviously not going to shoot each other so why don't we just put our guns down, my arms are getting tired," Ruby said.
"Seriously what the hell is going on?" Weiss asked again struggling to sit up.
"Weiss just stay calm, we've got this handled," Ruby said laying the white haired girl back on the floor.
"Wait Weiss? As in Weiss Schnee?" Ilia asked.
"Who's asking?" Weiss said straining her eyes to see without raising her head.
"Don't say anything," Blake hissed, "She's obviously the Weiss Schnee, the scar and white hair give it away plus she's got two Schutz guards which is more than most CEOs can afford."
"We should kill her, right here right now!" Ilia snarled realizing that Blake was right.
"No killing, you agreed to that when you joined me in this."
"She's Weiss Schnee, her name alone is cause enough to kill her! Her family has tortured and killed thousands of our kind in the sheer basis of the fact that we're Faunus!"
"It's because you're criminals," Weiss hissed through gritted teeth as she managed to stand up with Ruby's help, "Almost every single one of you has lied, cheated, or stolen. I've lost family and friends to you monsters."
"You've been fed propaganda your whole life leading you to believe that we're nothing but scum that deserve what we have coming but little do you know that outside your glass towers everyone living outside the luxury of military work and higher positions is a poor miserable wretch! Every on of us, Faunus or not, would be glad to see this corporate empire your father helped build come tumbling down on top of him. The only reason Faunus are blamed is because there's always a scapegoat," Blake snapped.
"We've built something great and you're jealous you couldn't do the same for yourself!"
"Jealous? No. We are resentful because you've taken away all opportunities to do such a thing, we're taxed within an inch of our lives, slaughtered for the most minor of transgressions, and any chance of a proper education is either through the military or a massive pay wall."
"She's right," Ruby said agreeing with Blake.
"Yeah," Yang said deflated, "We've lived through it. Our dad had to join the military to have a chance of supporting us before he could get a decent academy position. My mother left when I was born and Ruby's died when she was only a toddler, she died in a firefight between union workers and the so called peacekeepers. We joined with the military to make a change. The system is heavily biased against the Faunus and the lower class, the slums near the wall are a borderline war zone and nothing is being done."
"Bullshit," Weiss spat, "There's no evidence of these claims."
"You want evidence? How's this for evidence?" Blake said pulling out her phone and flipping through hundreds of videos of police beatings and poverty throughout the city.
Weiss looked on in horror as scene after scene played out before her. A begging child with horns growing from her head was kicked out of the way of a pair of officers who laughed at her. An elderly woman taking shelter in a cardboard box was shot for refusing to leave the area. A couple jumped from a skyscraper along with thousands of bills and court orders. Graffiti stained bodies of Faunus left in the streets to be picked clean by the vermin. Shanty towns of the homeless being cleared out with flamethrowers to make way for a new factory. Flames flickered in the heiress's pale blue eyes, orange sparks contrasting against the lighter color. Sparks of a revolution being stomped out.
"These were the things that drove the White Fang to their current actions, they have been driven to believe the only option is human genocide. We don't want that, we just want equality."
"Is it really that bad?" Weiss asked watching the flames of meager lives continue to burn on the screen.
"It's much worse, the snow falls have become more and more so made of ash lately because they burn our bodies to provide power and they experiment on the few who survive to reach prison."
The conversation died down as gunshots broke out around the room they were in and they became aware of sirens in all directions, Ruby and Yang's backup had arrived.
"We've got to go!" Ilia shouted ducking out into the hallway.
"Don't worry we won't tell anyone about you," Ruby said to Blake with truth in her voice.
"Thank you, keep trying to change things," Blake said following Ilia with Sun in tow.
Ruby helped Weiss stagger to her feet and began in the opposite direction down the hallway towards an emergency exit. Yang stepped out behind them and looked back in the direction of Blake to see a confrontation.
"Blake, what are you doing here?" Adam growled through his mask.
"We were in the area, decided to drop in," Blake said standing up taller as Adam stepped up to her.
"Is that so? And are those the missing infiltrator suits?" Adam said eyeing down the sleek black suit.
"Perhaps."
Adam pulled his hand back to slap her but as Blake braced for the blow nothing happened and the only sound she heard was the blast of a shotgun. Glancing down Blake saw that Yang had run down the corridor and slid between her legs firing her shotgun at Adam as she came through sending the White Fang leader flying despite not doing much damage.
Yang winked and slipped a scrap of paper under Blake's bow before putting another slug into Adam and running after her sister who had gotten Weiss outside and into the waiting arms of a medic.
"Let's go!" Blake said running past Adams prone form with Ilia and Sun in pursuit.
A few bullets ripped past the fleeing splinter cell members. Glancing back Blake saw a couple of Adams goons shooting at them before lifting up their unconscious leader and carrying him away as a squad of soldiers came down the corridor from the emergency exit. Once to relative safety Blake managed to still her rushing heartbeat and looked to Sun and Ilia with a grin.
"That may have been more successful than originally intended but Adam still killed civilians, that's not happening next time."
"I still think we should have killed the heiress," Ilia snorted.
"Did you not see her face? That was the face of someone who's been convinced. Give it some time and she'll be on our side sure enough," Sun said confidently.
"It's not likely but she definitely had a different attitude after I showed her that video. Maybe we should use it as recruitment footage? Adam knows we're against him now so we could use all the help we can get," Blake suggested.
"Two rebellions and a totalitarian capitalist government, what could go wrong?" Ilia shrugged.
"Hey how about we go relax, drinks on me?" Sun said.
"Sure, you guys can crash at my parents place once we go back and get our stuff from the server building," Blake said smiling a bit wider at the days successes, "We're off to a pretty good start with this whole splinter cell thing."
Blake remembered the scrap of paper in her collar and pulled it out to read it. It was folded by the outside had the roughly scribbled words "call me" on it, unfolding it Blake found a phone number that she could only assume was Yang's.
"What's it say?" Ilia asked trying to get a look at he paper.
"Just a way to contact those two if we need some help."
"You trust those two?" Sun asked pointin a thumb back at the flashing lights of dozens of emergency vehicles surrounding the building.
"Did you see what she did? Yeah I do. Their hearts are in the right place."
"You'd better hope so," Ilia mumbled.
"You think she'll call?" Yang asked her sister as they waited for the commanding officer of the relief squad to finish filing their situation report.
"Maybe, I just hope we're not doing the wrong thing here."
"Illegal? Maybe. Morally wrong? No. It's the right thing."
"I hope so."
"Uhm, hi," Ruby and Yang turned to see Weiss wrapped in a blanket walking towards them from the ambulance, "The medic says I'm clear and before I get taken home I'd like to thank you for what you did for me. I'd have died in that first explosion if it wasn't for you. I'll make sure to request you next time I need bodyguards. Maybe put in some good words to the commander of the Schutz. I know her personally."
"How do you know Commander Winter?"
"She's my older sister."
Ruby and Yang were screaming internally realizing they'd been chaperoning the second highest ranking officer in the military's younger sister.
"Oh man, if you got hurt she'd have our heads," Yang said running her finger across her neck for emphasis.
"Good thing I didn't," Weiss said, "Thanks again you two," Weiss turned and strutted away towards another limo that had pulled up.
"She's kinda cute," Yang said nudging Ruby's side noticing how her younger sister traced the rich girls walk.
"Gross, Yang!"
"Winter," Ironwood spoke to his second in command when she entered his office as he'd requested.
"Yes, sir?"
"I suppose you've learned of the incident downtown?"
"Yes, I've been informed my sister made it out uninjured thanks to two of the new recruits."
"Yes, Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long, I'm watching their helmet cams and it seems now would be a good time to get involved in stage two of our plan."
"Helmet cams sir?"
"Something I had installed on the helmets of promising recruits in hopes of finding some to assist in our plan, these two definitely fit that description. I want their phones tapped and I want them under remote surveillance that leads directly to me at all times when they're off duty."
"Understood, would you like me to speak to my sister?"
"Yes that would be good, she may prove to be a valuable asset along with them. And how's your acting?"
"Sir?"
"You're going to be doing some arms dealing."
"Ah," Winter nodded in realization as the general turned his computer monitor to show surveillance cam footage in the office building of Blake confronting Adam and running off after Yang shot him alongside footage of the sisters speaking to the White Fang splinter cell.
"Prepare a delivery of weapons and inform your most trusted men of our intentions, I want them ready."
"Understood."
Winter turned and marched out of the generals barren office.
Speaking to himself Ironwood turned and looked down on the city from the office atop the massive central military and government building, "Soon, soon those walls I helped build will be torn down. Soon this city will be free. But first, the more immediate issue."