Disclaimer: Still don't own it
This chapter was a little hard to write since it was intended to be two instead of one; however, it would have meant two very short chapters thus I sort of combined them into a single chapter. One of you also inquired if Whitley and the Schnee Mother will be making an appearance; my answer is no since at the time of this story, I assumed there was just Weiss and Winter. I had already planned out this fic and Whitley's appearance now would alter too many things.
Again, thanks to all those who continue to read and please comment on what you think; also, still looking for a Beta for editing.
They were all meeting underground.
Given that the old palace had more or less been reduced to rubble by the Imperial Fleet in orbit, this was the only location that was safe at the moment.
Doctor Watts sat in his chair while his colleagues did the same; though there was a general lack of communication going on. The table was long, rectangular, and black; occupying a space comprising of stone with the light coming from crystals in the ceiling. The room which they were in had only one entrance with a single large archway currently guarded by two alpha ursas; it being large enough for plenty of space for all of them. Across from him sat Cinder Fall with her servant Emerald standing at her side; looking like she was angry with the green-haired woman obviously nervous. Next to Cinder was Tyrian Callows with a giddy smile on his face like always; his scorpion tale waving about behind him. Every time their eyes met, the Faunus's smile became more crazed and Watt's hand almost went to the blaster pistol he had hidden at his side. Next to Watt's sat Hazel Rainart who had his eyes closed as if he were meditating; a deep scar on his neck that he had gotten from an Imperial squad some time back. The final person at the table was acting as a representative for Adam Taurus; who could not make the meeting due to recent events. The bat-eared Faunus looked a little too nervous and almost seemed like he was trying to be as invisible as possible.
He had arrived just an hour ago, having to travel via an underground network that his Mistress had set up some time ago; dug by an ancient alpha worm Grimm. Watts had come straight from Mistral when Salem had summoned all of them; having to head to an area that wasn't under the observation of Imperial Authorities in order to access the network. While his presence wasn't going to be missed that much by his students at the Haven Academy, there still might be questions from the Colonel in charge of the stormtrooper garrison in the city. While he had tried his best to become friends to the Imperial Officer, the man was too much of a professional to be wooed by Watts. Often that older man would find his offers as well as his gifts rebuffed by the younger officer thus they had at best a working relationship. It seemed that he had no problem flouting the fact that Haven and it's Hunter Academy was under the control of the Empire; thus the staff and students were at the Empire's whim. There had been times that Watts had to smile and appear submissive when the Colonel visited the school; often to recruit students for the Imperial Army or even the promise of assignments off world. It was becoming increasingly difficult to create his own powerbase within the academy; especially with the staff so suspicious of him after Professor Lionheart's disappearance two years ago.
In fact, all of them were having difficulties of late when it came to their assignments from Salem; which was starting to take their toll. In the past, their only worry had been Ozpin trying to thwart their activities; which had happened more than one occasion. Their attack on Beacon with the help of the White Fang had managed to catch the old wizard by surprise and things had been looking good; with Cinder's capture of the Fall Maiden's powers as well as the horde of Grimm now unleashed into the school. Things changed when the Empire had arrived; screaming down from the skies with their advance technology. Out of nowhere, their forces had descended onto Beacon fighting alongside Atlas troops as well as the surviving hunters; Tie Fighters scouring the sky in support of the Atlas airships. The White Fang had to retreat in a hurry though the survivors had been hunted down by the white-armored stormtroopers with no quarter given; many of Adam's best people being lost to blaster fire. In the months that followed, many of their lesser associates had been removed as the Empire began purging Remnant of anyone thought to have worked with Cinder and the White Fang; by then becoming fully knowledgeable of certain things once those in the upper echelons of Atlas had cozied up to the new occupiers.
It was lucky that Ozpin had disappeared by then; having to retreat from the world to nurse his injuries after battling Cinder. If he had been captured by the Empire or even decided to cooperate with them, there would have been a good chance that Watts as well as the rest of Salem's group would have ended up in an Imperial prison; or simply just executed. It was because of the old wizard's decision to stay away from the Empire that allowed them to move freely across Remnant with the authorities none the wiser; though they could not do much to further their mistress's cause. Everyone was being watched these days and so Watts and his fellows out in the field had to be extra careful without attracting attention from the ever increasing surveillance in the four Kingdoms. Things were especially difficult for Salem since her palace as well as the surface of the badlands had been bombarded from space by the Imperial Fleet in orbit a number of times; forcing her to go below to escape the energy fire from above. Grimm were able to be replenished easily so all invasions had been thrown back with ease which was the only bright spot in this whole affair. There were also still bands of the creatures that roamed large parts of Remnant that the Empire didn't bother with; which helped Salem keep tabs on things when her minions could not.
"Does anyone know why we were called?" asked the bat-Faunus with nervousness in his voice; looking around the table sheepishly. While Hazel and Cinder just ignored him, Tyrian gave him a sadistic smile with Watts just sighing in irritation.
"WE were not called; Adam is supposed to be here and not you," Watts pointed out before Cinder could get a word in. While he wasn't sure what Hazel thought, he knew that Tyrian was just as annoyed as himself with the White Fang's leader as of late.
"Brother Adam could not be here because of the threat to his leadership of the White Fang; I was sent in his stead out of respect," replied the Faunus with a mix of politeness and apprehension; whose name Watts had forgotten. His face was still covered by the mask that all White Fang members wore and was also in their standard garb.
"Adam would not have threats to his leadership if he would just follow orders; all these unsanctioned attacks are becoming a problem to all of us," Cinder shot back at the young man; her eyes flaring in rage. She was in her long red dress though her hair had been shortened for some reason; not that he cared.
"You mean a problem for you since your people are the ones being picked off along with his. My subordinates face no such threat," Watts countered with a smug grin at the Fallen Maiden. While Cinder shot him a sharp glare; her companion kept her face blank.
"Even got the speedster captured and probably being tortured even as we speak; a real shame," Tyrian stated with a grin of his own before breaking out with sadistic laughter; almost mocking the young woman. This time Emerald did react with a look of rage and took a step forward before being stopped by a hand raised by Cinder.
Before anything else was said, the doors to the room opened which prompted everyone to rise to their feet.
"Be seated," Ordered Salem in a firm voice as she practically glided across the floor; as if her feet were not touching the ground. In the years that he had served her, Watts could not remember if he ever saw anything underneath the long robe she wore.
"You called for us Mistress?" inquired Tyrian as if he were in awe in being in her presence; as if she were a deity. Out of all of them, the Scorpion Faunus was the most submissive and obeyed orders without question; though he did so a little too enthusiastically sometimes.
It was in Watt's opinion that Salem's attitude had changed a great deal in the last four years; becoming less patient and more vicious. Before the Empire arrived and their plans starting to come to fruition, she had almost been motherly to the group; only becoming angry when they attacked one another. After the disaster at Beacon which resulted in a great deal many Grimm being wiped out, she had been angry for months with her acting out on any person who spoke the wrong thing; which had often been Tyrian. It also seemed that her mood was affecting the Grimm given that the surviving bands that still wandered the wilderness were now even more aggressive; even attacking those on sight that could best them easily. This was one of the reasons why flights of nevermores were often wiped out without effort by the Empire since there was no longer coordination within the Grimm themselves; which was why he and the rest of his colleagues were now having to pick up the slack so to speak. Of course it was hard to command large hoards of Grimm to do anything meaningful when they can simply be taken out by the enemy fleet in orbit.
"Given the state of things, it is becoming more and more difficult to go forward with our plans; thus I called you here to discuss options that could be beneficial for the future," stated the Queen of the Grimm in an almost neutral voice. While she was stating the obvious, it was her tone that caught Watts slightly off guard; it being more collected than in previous meetings.
"Things would be easier if there was some way to deal with those ships in orbit; we could handle the rest more efficiently if they were gone," Hazel commented gruffly; getting to the meat of their problems. Though the Imperial Army and their Atlas allies were a threat, they could be swarmed if it weren't for the air support.
"I believe that was Cinder's and Adam's role in all this; though we have yet to see any results coming from them," Watts observed while smirking at Cinder and her subordinate. While the White Fang representative looked embarrassed and looked away, the Fallen Maiden just glared right back at him.
"You were supposed to have provided us information about Imperial troop movements so that we could avoid detection when we moved our goods. We cannot proceed if we are unable to know ahead of time that we are to be attacked," Cinder countered angrily as her eyes flared at the older man.
"It doesn't help when the White Fang launch petty raids against Imperial patrols; my people say that there is a full on purge going on in Vacuo," Hazel pointed out while giving Cinder a look of his own.
"That was done against Brother Adam's orders; there will be punishment for the insubordination. That Adam has promised," assured the Bat-Faunus in an effort to alleviate the mood in the meeting; though he seemed to be failing.
"Silence whelp; this is talk for those better than you," snarled Tyrian as he gave the White Fang representative a dark look. Both he and Adam had been butting heads the most lately which was starting to get on everyone's nerves.
"The problem is that we are dealing with an enemy that is far more advanced that us, can bring more troops to reinforce their numbers at any time, and even if we deal with the fleet in orbit, the Empire will just send more ships. This is a losing fight," Emerald announced to the group with a good amount of frustration in her voice. Everyone turned to look at her and Cinder was not happy that her subordinate spoke up.
"She is right," Salem suddenly said calmly as she leaned forward and all eyes once again gazed upon her. There was about a minute of silence as it appeared that the Queen was in deep thought; thus no one was sure whether it was appropriate to speak up.
"As long as our presence in the galaxy is known, then nothing we do is of consequence. Thus, Remnant will have to be removed and hidden for us to achieve victory," the Queen of the Grimm put forth and her words were met with only stares; no one having the courage to state how crazy that was.
"How would we go about accomplishing such a feat?" Watts asked as politely as he could; wondering if the old being had finally snapped. Looking around quickly, he saw that everyone else was curious as well.
"A long time ago, another Galactic Power had arrived on Remnant in order to conquer it. There was a relic used to not only defeat these invaders, but to make this world invisible to the eyes of the rest of the galaxy. We just need to get ahold of this relic so that it could be used once again," answered Salem in a thoughtful tone from her deep thinking.
"And where would we find this relic? I can go with my people and retrieve it immediately," Cinder said to her mistress rather quickly. She suspected she might know where it is given what she now knew about Salem; wanting another match.
"It's hidden; possibly by Ozpin thus we would need him so that we could find out where it is," replied the older woman with bitterness in her voice; almost glaring at Cinder. The Fallen Maiden slightly cowered before her; much to the amusement of Watts.
"That's not going to happen anytime soon" Watts thought to himself though it was hard not to say the words out loud. While he wasn't privy of the details, he knew full well that Salem had already rebuffed Ozpin's offers for an alliance rather violently; thus burning that particular bridge.
"I can find his cabin; just send me after the old man and I'll bring you the relic," Tyrian stated crazily; practically laughing maniacally. His tail was now out and wagging like a dog was when he was happy.
"His area hides itself from the world and there is no way in without him letting you; thus any attempt to go after Ozpin by force is doomed to fail," the Queen informed with bitterness once again in her voice. She was inwardly regretting her previous actions given that she was resentful towards the older man; thus she blew a prime opportunity to gain the upper hand over after all these centuries.
"Maybe we just need to draw him out then," suggested the Bat-Faunus in an effort to make himself relevant. He slightly shriveled under all the looks he was getting; going from annoyance to mocking.
"Nothing we do is going to get the old man to come out of the blue; he is likely to just sit back and let the Empire deal with us so he doesn't have to," remarked Tyrian as he just rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair.
"Unless we do something that will force him to come out," Salem said quietly as an idea suddenly popped into her brain. It was something she never would have considered in the old days but desperate times called for desperate measures.
"There isn't much we can do ma'am; the Empire has us boxed in. Even if we had thrown everything we had at the Empire and managed to defeat them, then he'll just finish us off," Hazel pointed out respectfully. Unlike the others in the room, he knew full well of how powerful Ozpin was and considered Cinder's victory just a fluke.
"Unless someone else draws him out? We can't be the only ones fighting against the Empire and maybe we should let them do the job for us," the White Fang representative proposed and there were nods of agreement from around the table this time.
"I may have a way of accomplishing that; it has come to my attention that Yang Xiao Long is gathering Hunters together for some unknown reason. I do not believe the Empire knows about this and she could be creating some sort of resistance on behalf of the Hunters of Remnant," Doctor Watts informed the group; having heard about it on the grapevine through his sources among the Hunters. He knew that many of the older ones were angry with the new rules that the Imperials were implementing; thus it wasn't surprising that more than a few were willing to do something about it.
"Yang Xiao Long is the partner of Blake Belladonna; who is the one challenging Adam for the leadership of the White Fang. That cannot be a coincidence," Cinder said as she glanced at the Bat-Faunus; who was nodding his head in agreement.
"Then that will be our way in; we will use Ozpin's own students to draw him out. Once they organize and began their own resistance against the Empire, he will have to come to their aid; then we will strike," Salem said and she smiled for the first times in a long time; which seemed to put her minions at ease.
"Maybe we could also find ways of aiding them; we could get them to do things that we couldn't," Hazel recommended to his mistress; feeling that relying on Cinder and Adam was no longer feasible.
"I can do that; I will entice a few of my students to join this resistance so I can keep tabs on them and provide support if needed. It can also help keep the pressure off of us and allow the Empire to be distracted," Watts said and that earned an approving nod from the Queen of the Grimm; which meant that he had her support.
"Then we will proceed with this new plan; I will expect news when we next meet," Commanded Salem as she rose from her seat. The others rose and bowed; staying where they were until she was out of the room so they could leave as well.
Across the galaxy; other plans were being laid.
Darth Vader stood off to the side of the throne while his master watched the recording of Weiss Schnee's fight with the Inquisitor. Currently in one of Emperor Palpatine's private Throne Rooms which was towards the center of the Imperial Palace, he was silent as the recording was displayed on the massive holo station located in the center the darkened room. The elder Sith Lord had summoned him earlier, which Vader came without delay. He had been in orbit aboard his person Star Destroyer, the Devastator, and came down in his Tie Advance once the summons had come for him. The room was massive like all of the Throne Rooms were with both a private as well as main entrance leading into the room. Aside from the throne itself that was perched so that one could look downwards, small steps leading up to the chair, there were various devices that were used for many things. Besides Vader and the Emperor, there were four Crimson Guards at each corner in the room; with more outside standing guard; their force pikes over their shoulders as usual. They had been present when Vader had appeared in front of his master; on his knees bowing when the Emperor had arrived.
"It seems that these Hunters of Remnant are indeed powerful Lord Vader; though I wonder if they could be considered a threat," said a thoughtful Palpatine once the recording had concluded and swerved his chair to face the other Sith Lord.
"The Force is still more powerful than their auras and semblances; I could have crushed Ms. Schnee easily. These Hunters though could be of use to us; allowing us to not have to rely on the Inquisitors who could pose a risk My Master," Vader said with his head bowed low; trying not to argue with the Emperor but still wanting to make his point.
"An interesting idea; while the Inquisitors have proven useful in the past, there is always the risk of one becoming too ambitious. Are you proposing that we replace them with these Hunters?" inquired the Emperor as he smiled at his apprentice. Vader had long learned not to anticipate his master's intentions when it came to his proposals; instead hoping that they would just get considered and approved.
"I am proposing that we can start using a few of them for missions that the Inquisitors cannot accomplish. Also allowing us to use the Hunters in case we have to deal with them because they have grown too powerful. Since we are already harvesting the substance the planet uses and transporting it out of the system, we can also recruit amongst the more powerful Hunters and have them swear loyalty to you My Master," Darth Vader put forth sincerely; though he also had plans for them as well.
After what had happened to his apprentice Starkiller, Vader had come to realize that it was just too risky having his own apprentice; especially with Palpatine still around. After scrapping the clone project based off the DNA of his former student, he had started to look to the newly discovered Hunters of Remnant as possible replacements for the time being; until he was in command of the Empire and in a position to train a successor. In fact, he had been impressed with Weiss Schnee and had accessed all information gathered about the young woman; having his agents go to Remnant to acquire it. Having her as his temporary protégé along with a few others could provide him with some powerful servants; maybe even able to have them do tasks without his Master knowing. He even had a small list of candidates to recruit that he knew were already fighting for the Empire. While he couldn't be too sure, it was his belief that the Emperor had overlooked the Hunters of Remnant all together; thus the older man wasn't as keen in knowledge about them as Vader was. All he needed to do now was convince the Emperor to approve the plan without risking the Sith Master from seeing Vader's true intentions; which was the risk right now.
"Very well; I will put you in charge of the task Lord Vader. I had already planned to make Morgan Schnee the Moff of the planet anyways given that the man has proven useful to the Empire; I will have you accomplish that task as well," ordered Emperor Palpatine with approval in his voice. Vader once again bowed and accepted his task; now waiting to be dismissed by his Master.
"I also want you to find out more about these Grimm; our Scientists have yet to get any samples of them and I am starting to lose patience. I am curious on how these creatures could exist without us sensing them; or even having any record of them by the Sith or even the Jedi," stated Palpatine as he leaned back in his seat. Vader could sense the genuine frustration in his Master's voice and was surprised by it; since it was a rare thing for the Emperor not to know things.
"I will look into it My Master; once I have accomplished the task of dealing with that rumored Rebel Shipyard, I will head to Remnant," Vader said and the Emperor nodded; finding that sufficient. He then waved his hand to dismiss the Vader; turning his chair to face away from the retreating Dark Lord of the Sith.
As he left the Throne Room, Vader vowed to finish his current mission quickly; he had plans to initiate.
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