Chapter Beta - DioRezi


"How are you here?" the Specialist asked through her teeth after she regained her composure. That little falter was not only irritating to the fair haired woman, but also picked up on by the dark haired woman. "More importantly," she added after receiving nothing from the intruder, "why?"

"I'm surprised, most people usually ask who I am first."

"I already know that. Raven Branwen, brother of Qrow Branwen, leader of the roaming Branwen Tribe that slaughter village upon village in Mistral for their own personal gains. Now, answer my questions."

"I must admit," Raven mentioned, dodging both questions like they were nothing to her and digging out one of the graves, "I never expected to run into yet another Schnee in such a short amount of time, particularly one far more knowledgeable of me than the other. It's almost like you all want to be caught at the moment."

"Choose your next words very carefully," the Specialist informed her, "for if you don't hold your tongue, then I will gladly remove it for you."

Raven yawned at the threat. "Recycled trash talk from when you fought my brother back at Beacon; with someone like Jacques Schnee at the helm, I would have imagined that he'd spend more time ensuring that his daughters were better prepared for all aspects of battle." The bandit saw what she was searching for, picked it up to inspect, then placed it back in the ground and covered it up once more.

Confused by the bandit's actions but not showing it, Winter continued on. "My father had 'no time' to work on such 'trivial things', so if we wanted to follow the path we did, it was off our own backs."

"It shows. Your sister nearly died a week ago." Ice blue eyes hardened as they glared into eyes of crimson red.

"What do you know of my sister?"

"She was in Mistral, along with her friends, on a fool's mission to stop the end of the world." Raven played the storytelling up for the fair haired woman in front of her, because for her it was exactly that - a fairy tale. A grim one at that, with an unhappy end for all involved, and even those who weren't. "It's an inevitability, and I tried to reason with them all, but their heads were clouded, and they refused to budge. Because of that, your sister was impaled."

Winter seldom expressed any extreme emotions - as a Schnee, she had it drilled into her at a young age that doing so showed weakness, that whoever they were talking to was getting through to them with their words. But in this case, her body reacted before her mind had the chance to stop herself. She gasped at the revelation, her eyes widening in shock.

"Your sister had the same look on her face when I first found her. She'd been in a crash, and I'm honestly not sure what scared her less, the crash itself, or the fight against a Queen Lancer some of my men claimed to have seen her be in. So, to give her some rest, I found her, and took her in-"

"I refuse to believe that," Winter uttered, centring herself once more. "I know who you are, Raven Branwen. And I know that you wouldn't hesitate to trade us in for a reward at the drop of a hat."

"Observant one, aren't you?"

"I pride myself in that fact."

"Ah, pride. Your sister's downfall. All because she seemed too reliant on her ace in the hole, my associate managed to deplete her Aura entirely before another landed a spear right through the gut." A slick silver saber was unsheathed and levelled right at Raven's neck, the darker coloured woman unflinching at her aggressor's action.

"I do not want to hear another word about my sister. I know that she is safe, so whatever happened at Haven with your 'associates' did not appear to go in your favour. Your threats and your words all mean nothing to me."

"Then why such an aggressive reaction?" she replied. Raven was right; if she wasn't affected by the words, then why did she do what she did? Surely no reaction would have been the better reaction. Realizing her mistake, Winter lowered her sword once more, but not putting it away on the off chance they were to come to blows.

"Why did you come here?" the Schnee asked again, unsatisfied by her lack of a response.

The bandit rolled her eyes before answering. "I came here for a reason that is of no concern to you. All I ask is that if you find Adam Taurus, you bring him to me."

"And why should I do that?"

"Because I wish to kill him."

"Well, this puts us at an impasse then. Adam Taurus is going to be returning with me alive so that the Atlas Military can interrogate him and so that we can begin to end the White Fang's reign of terror on the people of Remnant."

"See, I was under the impression that killing the boy would achieve the same results."

"We would be without valuable information were we to just kill him outright," the soldier reasoned, "he could give us locations, members, plans, anything that will speed up the dismantling of that group."

"And you think that he wouldn't be keeping something like that written down somewhere that we could take for ourselves?"

"This is a terrorist organization; I doubt they have a register of who attended any given meeting or rally."

"Well then, even with your military background, you clearly misunderstand how the mind of a radical like Taurus works. When he killed Sienna Khan, his goal was power through absolutely any means necessary. Even Sienna had limits and things she wouldn't do, even if she was stubborn. Adam is set on one thing, and that's Faunus' being a stronger force against humans. To overthrow Sienna, he would have needed people on the inside here who trusted him enough to not defend their current High-Leader. And I know from experience that trying to remember everyone's names by heart is a difficult task, especially on such short notice."

"I still highly doubt that," Winter countered. "In fact, I just think you're trying to find some sort of justification for killing him. Although I will admit, everything right up until the last part seems to line up with what research I did for planning."

"Well, it helped to have had that mindset once or twice in my life." She was vastly underplaying that, but for the sake of this interaction she didn't need to spill her life story to the Schnee.

"Then I propose an alliance."

Now, Raven liked to think that there weren't a lot of things on Remnant that could render her speechless. She liked to believe that the list was small and manageable. Sadly, Winter Schnee just added to the list.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

This time it was the fairer of the two who held the upper hand of the conversation. "An alliance. If you claim to have been in the same mindset as Adam at some point, then your aid would be much appreciated."

"I fail to see how your mind is working right now; what do you think you offer that would be of any benefit to me?"

"If you must have a reason, consider this as a way for atoning for kidnapping the only member of my family whom I truly care about. After that, we can call it even."

Naturally, the Ōdachi wielder scoffed it away. "Teaming up with a Schnee is by far one of the lowest things on my list of things I would ever do in my life."

The back and forth between the pair continued for a few minutes, with Raven giving many weak reasons against the idea. But the fact that Winter was refusing to be swayed from her argument at all, even in the face of threats with next to no substance behind them, eventually broke the battle-hardened bandit's resolve and she caved.

"Fine, if that's really what you want, then I accept your alliance proposal." The ravenette extended her hand towards the Schnee, a hand that was taken in a firm, but not overly so, handshake. That polite firmness gave Raven the opportunity to tighten the grip, asserting her dominance over the Specialist. "But by no means does this make us friends. We are temporary allies, fulfilling a means to each other's end; once this is over, we return to neutral standings."

"I can agree to those conditions." The handshake was released, and the two women turned towards the entrance of the base. "Now, how are we going to get him out of here?"

"And why am I going to agree to help you do that?" Raven shot back immediately, not even shifting her gaze.

"Because while I will stop you if you try to take his life, I may or may not turn a blind eye should some slightly over the top harm come to him." The crimson eyed bandit glanced at her new temporary partner from the corner of her eye. "Of course, that's all in theory, I have no idea what will happen when we actually get to him."

"Never would have expected that sort of response from someone like you," the portalling woman admitted.

"I am serious a lot of the time, but I can jest when I so desire. And besides, it's hardly going to dissuade people from the argument that 'all Schnees hate Faunus' if I go around voicing all my opinions. This is an extreme case; he helped destroy Beacon, stole Atlas Tech time and time again, and frankly has been an angsty pain in mine and Atlas' side for far too long."

Raven had to admit, she definitely felt the smallest tug on the corner of her mouth, her body willing her to smile. She ignored it, remaining straight faced and staring towards her goal.

"So, what was your plan for getting into this place?" she asked, avoiding how her lips kept trying to force her into a smile.

"From intel I gathered-"

'Oh yeah,' she thought with a mental eye roll, '"Atlas Specialist"; has a plan for everything, with all details jotted down to the most minute of degrees and is as boring and far from spontaneous as you can get.'

"-there should be an entrance used only on rare occasions off to the Eastern side of the cliffs. Approaching from there means we have the most amount of time we can have to get as deep into the base as we can without being spotted, and subsequently more of a surprise when we do eventually attack." The fair haired woman indicated over to their right, to the far side of the cliffs. "The entrance is over that way, so we need to make our way through the front of this forest to keep it in sight while we keep out of sight."

"Alright." Raven started walking.

"I said we go right," she corrected, "not left."

"I heard, I'm just ignoring that order on the grounds that there are more traps over there than they let on. And even if they're nothing to you, the guards that are stationed in hiding nearby aren't going to take lightly to someone trying to approach from an angle that only those who have been inside the Headquarters are supposed to even know exists, much less use." She slipped on her mask. "Besides, you need a distraction. Wait for my signal." Raven sauntered off, knowing she had this in the bag and knowing that her cryptics would have left the Specialist confused.

Winter, on hearing Raven's odd words of… were they encouragement? It didn't feel like encouragement. Whatever they were, she was left confused as the darker haired woman walked away from her, disappearing into the trees. 'I never imagined Raven Branwen to behave in such a manner,' she wondered to herself as she headed off towards the hidden entrance.

Her reputation painted her as a fierce and relentless warrior. There were definitely glimpses of that in their conversation, but that was not 100% the person Winter just interacted with. 'Then again, I have met that drunken fool of a brother she has on multiple occasions, and I saw Weiss' teammate Yang, who I assume is her daughter.' She glanced after the woman once more. 'With that hair, there's no mistaking it.' "Stubbornness and unkempt hair must be prevalent traits in the Branwen family," she finished out loud before finally unrooting herself and heading towards the East.


"I'm telling you," the guard mentioned to his colleague, this Anglerfish Faunus antenna dangling in front of his face and illuminating some of the area surrounding them, "I saw it right over there. Right where Boris was patrolling."

"…Rick, there's nothing there."

"I'm telling you Emi, bright red eyes on a bird is weird and there was one right there! And we've heard nothing back from him, something's wrong!" He pointed once again to the tree he saw the bird in. Rick's Wolf Faunus partner stared out into the darkening trees once more, seeing no bird of any kind, let alone one with red eyes. "I promise…" he added, almost downhearted at the lack of this mysterious bird.

"It's fine Rick," she mentioned, patting him on the shoulder, "these long shifts can really mess with you."

"Don't be so sure," a new voice warned, bringing the two guards' attention up away from their moping / comforting. "Those birds can be pretty deadly, even against those who are pretty alert of their surroundings." The two guards raised their weapons and shuffled forwards away from the door, aiming out into the newly christened Mistral night. Emi's hands were shaking, Rick's were too, albeit less noticeably.

Suddenly, a shadow appeared above Emi. She only managed to shift her gaze partially skyward before the secret Maiden crashed her boots into her head, knocking her to the ground with a surprise attack. Rick, equally as startled as his now unconscious partner, dropped his weapon and ran straight to the door to sound the alarm. Under any normal circumstance, Raven wouldn't have even let him get five steps away from where he stood. But in this case…

~000~000~000~000~000~

*Intruder! We have an intruder at the main gate! All guards, I request immediate assistance! Please respond!* Winter was far enough away to not be seen, but still near enough to hear that call through the radio. On cue, the two guards grabbed their weapons and ran back through the White Fang base, leaving the entrance completely open.

'Not bad, Branwen,' Winter thought as she advanced on the opening presented to her, early night time setting in behind her.

~000~000~000~000~000~

The one who called for assistance didn't last much longer after his mayday was sent out. He had played his part, so delivering a strong blow to the back of his head and then tossing him back out into the night removed him as an obstacle for later. Besides, she was merciful for him, he'd done her a favour. Everyone else mightn't be as lucky.

Oh, who was she kidding? They won't be as lucky at all.

The doors flew open, and three more masked guards were already prepared and firing immediately through them. Expecting such a tactic, Raven dodged the bolts fired at her with minimal effort, promptly removing those that fired them from the battle with quick stabs and slices to vital areas.

"Shut the doors!" one of the guards shouted on seeing his comrades killed with next to no effort in front of him, "don't let them in!" The tactic worked for all of 20 seconds, as Raven - sheathing her sword and calling on her Maiden powers with no one around - slammed herself into the large doors at the front of the Faunus activist's complex and knocked them right off their hinges and they broke into pieces, despite being nearly 10ft tall and incredibly durable.

Those guards who weren't immediately crushed by either falling wood or the splinters of the shattered door raised their guns and other weapons towards the woman in front of them. They all feared her, it was evident with the way they were all hesitating to even move, all while she stood there nonchalantly. Once again, this wasn't like her. "Get it done, and get it done quick" was always a preferred method, but with Winter infiltrating from the rear the longer she could keep the fighting here and the more guards she could draw her way, the less of a challenge the Schnee would have in finding Adam in the catacombs of this place.

"If you won't attack," she mentioned, drawing her Ōdachi once more and pointing the blade towards the Faunus clad in black and white, their masks obscuring the utter terror that must have been in all of their eyes, "then allow me to start."

One guard, a large Buffalo Faunus with the horns to match, ran through the crowd of his Faunus kin. In his hand he held a single bladed battle axe with what appeared to be a trigger near the blade, indicating a gun barrel on the other side. With a cry, he aimed a swing at Raven's head, but the masked woman raised her red blade up to parry and knocked him away with a swift kick to the gut.

Once more, she would have just killed him straight away were she doing this on her own, but working with Specialist Schnee meant that she needed to draw this out for as long as possible. Having a prime source of not only entertainment, but also a great stalling tactic, killed immediately wouldn't be in either of their best interests.

The first shot was fired, one from a little Fox Faunus off to one side of the pack. The bandit leader sliced the air, intercepting the bolt mid-flight and parrying it straight into another guard with precision accuracy, then ran towards her second aggressor.

As she came in, other Faunus decided to start moving in for the attack, swinging their own weapons at her in an effort to inflict some damage and feel somewhat useful in this situation. Raven took a swing at one White Fang member with a sword, her red blade cleaving through the weaker metal with very little resistance, and the arm of the same person with just as little effort.

A couple more members charged in, one holding a sword and another a spear-like weapon, and Raven decided to let this one drag out a little longer; Winter wasn't going to be able to get deep into the heart of the complex with zero problems if she finished what she was doing here in record time. Sure, there'd be no one else around to cause problems, but where's the fun in that?

The spear toting Faunus thrust her weapon at the bandit leader, who sidestepped the bladed pole with ease and knocked her off balance when she spun and landed a hit with her gauntlets to the Faunus' shoulder. In that time, the sword wielding Faunus took a swipe at her, but that attack was also stopped with her gauntlets, leaving her own sword out for a counterattack as he tried to re-centre himself. Raven kicked out and landed a heeled blow to the female attacker's back, then thrust her blade forward into the man's abdomen. As he coughed up blood at the sudden strike, the avian bandit was struck aside and winded by the Buffalo Faunus from earlier, having recovered from her earlier attack, but still feeling the pain that it brought.

"You're gonna pay for that," he promised threateningly, raising his battle axe to her. She brought herself up from the floor, wiping away trace amounts of blood that came with the attack.

"At least you're putting up a decent fight," she commented, "these others are doing nothing more than blunting my blade."

The Buffalo grunted. "I'll make you suffer!" Under her mask, Raven rolled her eyes at the insult as the larger Faunus charged at her once more, his weaker and far less intimidating kin joining him.


It wasn't exactly labyrinthine by any stretch, but the corridors and hallways of the White Fang base were certainly difficult to make her way around, even with the floor plan memorized to a decent level of detail by the Specialist.

What Winter discovered upon entering via the secret back door, which in retrospect really isn't secret if you keep a handful of armed guards stationed outside it at all hours, was that it lead straight into the sleeping quarters for the higher ranking members of the Mistral branch of the Fang. It seemed almost cowardly in the icy blue eyes of the soldier; why would you have an easily accessed hidden exit in what was the Officers' quarters? Surely they should be on the front lines with people if ever invaders entered.

She had to move past that though, these weren't soldiers like Atlas, or even Huntsmen. These were normal Faunus men and women who had been led astray by an extreme individual, with extreme methods of getting what was right, and apparently extreme 'secret' escape plans too.

Once or twice she had to duck behind a support beam to hide from approaching guards, no doubt heading towards Raven's distraction. And only once did she have to double back on herself after taking a wrong turn down a path that lead to a dead end room.

But her trekking paid off and finally lead to her destination. And fortunately for her, her target was here too.

"High-Leader Taurus, what you are asking us to do is suicide!" one member protested. "She is cleaving through our men like they are nothing, we can't keep throwing ourselves at her in an effort to snuff her out."

"When I took over, I was under the impression that my orders would be followed without question." The redhead rose from his throne, making his way down to the subordinate who was challenging his authority. "Why is it that you feel to question them so much?"

"Because it is an insane proposition," he countered, "this woman is very easily taking out even our most skilled and highly trained warriors here, and with our dwindling numbers ever since Haven, we can't aff-ack!" Winter and a few other members in front of Adam recoiled slightly as the man found his chest pierced by Wilt.

"It's funny," the Bull Faunus commented, lifting the man off the ground, "you were always so loyal to Sienna when she was alive, I honestly found it surprising when you defected and decided to side with me. But it seems her method of thinking has settled deep in your mind. It's fitting that I kill you the same way I killed her."

'So Taurus was responsible for Sienna Khan's death,' Winter thought to herself, making a mental note of it so that she could use that knowledge against him at a later date.

"Let this be a lesson to you all once more," he continued, letting the man slide off his blade, now dark crimson once more instead of its brilliant red, "going against me in any way from this moment on will be signing your own death warrants. Go forth and take this woman out. If she has found out where we operate from, then letting her go only risks more people being brought here against our will. They will come bearing weapons, and we won't be able to stop them if they come. So, we stop them now." Those around Adam now, three men and a female in masks of their own, nodded and turned to leave. That was, until Raven made her way into the Great Hall the meeting was taking place in.

"You really need to invest in better men, Taurus," she quipped, almost strutting towards them, "all of them had no clue what to do, and next to none had Aura. Even non-Huntsmen and Huntresses could take them down with ease."

"Raven Branwen, what a pleasant and unexpected surprise."

"Spare me the niceties; we all know you'd much rather have Grimm rampaging through your halls than have me in here," she scoffed.

His expression turned sour the moment she acknowledged his disdain for her presence. "Well, if you're so aware of that, why don't you turn around and we'll let you walk out of here with your life." Raven just grinned, advancing still as his threats fell on deaf ears.

"You and I are both alike in some ways, you know. One of those ways is how we can treat our enemies, not giving them a chance to stand against us, even if they are seemingly presented with such an option."

"If you know this, then why do you still come closer?"

"Well, that would be telling." Her red eyes shifted over to the corner, spotting a streak of snow white hair that could only belong to a Schnee. She smiled, her expressions hidden by her mask. "But if you must know, I get closer because my associate needs to say something to you."

Hearing her cue, like a true actress who had rehearsed her part a thousand times, Winter emerged from the shadows and raised her blade to him.

"Adam Taurus, on behalf of the Atlas Military and Police Force, you are under arrest. You will be coming with me where you will undergo trial for what you did not only aiding in the Fall of Beacon Academy, but of attempting to copy such a disaster at Haven Academy, along with many other minor and smaller scale things that I really do not have the patience to rattle off to you."

"Talk about a lucky day," he declared, his effort to disguise his fear failing with a tiny crack in his voice, "not only do I have a bandit leader in my midst, but we have the eldest of the Schnee children as well. Killing high profile targets such as yourselves will prove once and for all that I deserve to rule this organization."

"Are you forgetting that these two people have made it into the Great Hall?" one of the high members reminded him.

"What better place to end their existence? On ground that truly belongs to us as Faunus!"

"Urgh, this self-righteous bullcrap his getting on my nerves now," Raven charged. Adam remained on the high ground, not wishing to lose that tactical advantage he currently held over her; Raven was known for her brilliance on the field and in battle, so tactics were his only method of potentially winning this. He did have a home field advantage, so maybe he would use that.

A few of the White Fang members besides Adam went to intercept, but found a black Schnee glyph blocking their path. Some barely even had the time to turn their heads as Winter threw herself at them, her boots colliding with one of their faces and sending him straight into one of the support beams for the grand room.

"I wish for them to have a fair fight, so you shall be battling me," the Specialist informed the remaining three.

"I don't see how this is a fair fight, it's three on one!"

"You seem to have been woefully misinformed about me, how tragic. Allow me to make things clearer for you all." Winter didn't give them a moment to compose themselves as she shot forward, her form perfect as she took the first swing, her blade colliding with the female member's dual sai.

Raven and Adam's red blades clashed with one another, the Huntress turned bandit leader possessing just a fraction more force behind her strike than the red haired High-Leader and shifting him back slightly with the impact, despite his feet digging into the ground as best as he could manage. Wilt hummed with a soft glow on the strike, one powerful enough to charge his semblance significantly. A small smirk grew on his face as he noticed that, but Raven matched it with a larger, also hidden, grin. Their blades still scraping against one another, the dark haired woman relented and drew her blade away from the clash suddenly, making the boy tumble forward into her rising knee.

"Pathetic," she taunted, "this is what classifies as a Huntsmen level fighter nowadays?" She sighed. "I don't know why I am even bothering with you." The Bull Faunus grunted and took another swing at Raven, who was already adapting to the little titbit of information she got from the previous attack.

"I've defeated Huntsmen before," he groaned through the pain in his chest from the knee, "I've killed and maimed them, and I haven't even broken a sweat. I can do it again here."

"Oh yes, I believe you. I've heard stories. But no 'true Huntsmen' have fallen to your blade. You've killed children, inexperienced boys and girls who were still in training to take out pieces of trash like you. You've never even fought a real Huntsmen, have you?"

"I've done more than enough. Beacon fell, and with it were a few of its students."

"But none by your sword." He shouted in anger, dashing at the veteran once more.

Winter was now up against only two of her previous four opponents; the sai wielding woman put up a fair fight, but with no Aura to speak of a strong enough strike to the head was all it took to knock her out of commission, and the first guy she kicked into the pillar hadn't recovered from that attack at all.

One, what appeared to be a Porcupine Faunus if the spiked quills were anything to go by, had a bladed hand cannon that he spent alternating between trying to stab Winter and firing large and fast moving shots to knock her off balance. The other, a Cobra Faunus, tried combining his venomous spit with his two small daggers to cut the Specialist even the slightest and get his venom into her system.

Sadly for them, the gap between the White Fang members and the Atlas Specialist in terms of skill was insurmountable.

Venom soaked metal clashed against Winter's smaller blade, the fair haired woman opting for two sworded combat against a pair like this, as she tried to jab at the man with her larger saber. He barely managed to dodge the bigger blade as his friend fired a shot at the Schnee. Instinctively, she raised a shield glyph to stop the impact, but in doing so left herself open for an attack from the Cobra Faunus. He took a slice at the woman, his blade hitting her chest.

"Got her!" he cried. Winter remained hunched over as he grinned triumphantly.

"Let me ask you," she began to their terror, the clashing of metal still ringing behind her as Adam and Raven still fought, "are you familiar with the concept of Aura? Aura," she continued as she rose to her normal stance and slowly edged towards them with a twinge of malice in every step, "is the manifestation of one's soul. It manifests not only in a semblance, but can also be used as a means to stop attacks such as blunt force trauma of fists, clubs and feet, gunshots and even blades. Each attack diminishes a person's Aura proportionally to the amount of force they had to stop until it breaks. I regret to inform you, but I have barely sustained a single injury since I've been here. As such, my Aura is approximately around 90% full. Your attack did nothing except make me realize that Adam desperately needs to train his subordinates."

Hearing his name, the Bull Faunus turned to the Specialist, only to receive a gloved fist to his mask, cracking it. Winter then used her glyphs to dash straight at the stunned pair of Faunus, knocking them out with precision strikes to parts of their body designed to work even through vast pools of Aura.

Against those who had none? Well, they were out before they even hit the floor.

Adam stood panting at the base of the steps of the hall, his Aura hanging on by threads from the various strikes Raven managed to land on his person as opposed to making contact with his sword and charging his semblance. Raven stood opposing him, with Winter joining her. The bandit leader even removed her mask for the first time since the forest outside.

"This is just sad now." Both women stared down at the beaten enemy, Adam's Aura flickering slightly now. "I never mentioned why I was here, did I?"

"You're trying to bring me in to make me see the error of my ways. But that won't do any go-uff!" A quick kick to the gut stopped his talking, whilst also fuelling his semblance a little more and shattering his Aura in one action.

"No, that is why the Schnee is here."

"Hey, I have a name, I would like it if you would use it."

"Not now," the bandit chided. Winter folded her arms in distaste as Raven continued. "No, I am here because of what you did at Beacon." The ravenette let her statement sink in, but all that did was give Adam enough time to start chuckling to himself, which eventually became a full blown laugh.

"What do you possibly have to defend that place? The once great Ozpin was in charge of that school, that kingdom, and now look at it."

"I am aware of that. I guessed that it was going to happen, and it did. I tried telling people, but no one listened." Winter raised a snowy eyebrow at that. "So I did what was best at that point and stayed away." She clenched her fists, the secret Maiden fighting ever so hard to keep her true trump card hidden. "So not only did you destroy a place I called home for four years and made good friends there, not only did your act of terrorism aid in killing one of the only men who could potentially end this war against darkness, but you also led to an evil greater than you gaining access to one of the four keys to the weapons that would turn the tide in the battle for our lives. Worst of all, you hurt my daughter."

Adam smirked. "So, the blonde one who tried to intervene when I was speaking to my beloved was your daughter?" He scoffed at the notion. "What a fall from grace; aside from her hair there was no resemblance at all. She was a weak and feeble girl who fell to a single strike. Like THIS!" He grabbed the handle of his sword and put all the energy he had in his semblance into this one Moonslice. Raven saw the attack coming, but Winter wasn't as quick on the draw as either of the darker themed sword wielders.

In a move that was completely instinctive, she leapt towards Winter and threw her down to the ground under the slice, taking the brunt of it all on her left shoulder and upper back. Her curse in pain rang through the hall, and she stumbled and dropped to her knees as her pain threshold had been passed in an instant. Even with a lot of Aura left to burn, it cut right through it, and that shock along with the sheer force of it all was more than enough for the red eyed bandit leader.

Adam tried fleeing, using the fact the Schnee was off kilter and the bandit was in so much pain to his advantage. What he didn't expect was his leg to suddenly be encased with ice not three steps from where he first stood, his body falling and crashing against the ground with a hard thud. With a groan, he got back up and looked at the two women, now advancing on him once more, albeit with Raven bleeding a lot from her left side even with her Aura working to stop it.

"This is for my arm," she said as she kicked him hard in the gut. "And this," she added with a strong punch to the face, knocking him out completely, "was for Yang."

"Well," the Schnee sighed, "it seems that the mission is complete. We can get… Raven?" The bandit woman fell, unable to keep herself upright through the agony. She screamed and cursed, not helping in any way other than to let Winter know that she was still in pain. "It's okay Raven, I can get a military medic to look at it as soon as possible. You're just going to need to wait it out while I give a call." Raven tried protesting, but Winter had already stood up and paced away.

*Specialist Schnee, how did the mission go?*

"It was successful, sir. Adam Taurus is currently unconscious and awaiting pickup."

*Great work Schnee. Correct me if I'm wrong, but is that… screaming in the background?*

"It is sir. It's why I'm requesting an immediate medical evac on my position. We have one casualty along with the target, she needs urgent attention."

"I don't need that, Snow cone, I need my sword. I can get someplace myself in less time."

*Is that… Raven Branwen I hear?*

"You know each other?"

*You know we are both acquainted with her brother, I happened to know them both for longer.*

"Hey Jimmy," the bleeding woman called out. Winter tried suppressing a grin when the General moaned an almost fed-up *Oh Gods, not this again*, but with no one around to see her besides the party of two on the floor - one being unconscious - she let her mouth twitch upwards more noticeably. "Listen, as much as I'd love to meet up, I need to be somewhere far quicker than your machines can get here." She grabbed her sword, stood and was still thankfully strong enough to active her semblance to tear through reality to open a portal. Sadly, she couldn't stand for long afterwards and tumbled back to the floor.

*This isn't time for your old games, Branwen.*

"I know. How quick can you get your men to Mistral?"

"It would take a team I have stationed in that region roughly 40 minutes to get there if I send them out now."

"You won't have tha-argh!" The pain shot through her arm again. "Adam Taurus will be in Mistral. You might get him back, you might not. Same goes for Winter here." She motioned for Winter to cut the call, which she did.

"Why did you say that about me?" she queried, lifting the woman up to support herself on her shoulder.

"Because I'm not sure Jimmy would want to see his prized pupil kicking the face of the White Fang leader a couple of times."

"I would do no such thing!" she protested.

"Even aft-gg! Even after all of those years hiding away from them? They made your childhood hell, this can be minor payback. And who knows, you might enjoy it so much you get hooked. Hence th-grr! Hence the comment."

She considered it, but declined. That was, until he started moving again. Winter promptly jumped over and landed a heavy heel to the face, knocking him out completely this time.

"That was at least slightly therapeutic, right?" The portal convulsed, not used to being open this long and with an owner who was losing a fair amount of blood. "Quick, chuck him through and then we'll go through ourselves." Winter did just that, following her new friend's request like they'd been partners for years. 'This'll give them something to... to talk... about...' Raven thought as she slipped from consciousness into a void of black.


Chapter Beta - DioRezi


Finally have the two titular characters interacting in a proper way. At best, I'd say their friendship was strained. Worst, it's forced. But we have the beginnings of a story, and I hope you're going to stick with us through this. Speaking of us:

I'm DioRezi and I want you to review this chapter. Liked or didn't like chapter, tell me why. Follow and Fav if you want to see more. PM me if you want to talk about Kenjutsu. I will never tell spoilers though.

As always, feedback - good or bad - is most appreciated