CHAPTER 10:
MAIDENS AND MEDIA AND MAYHEM
Team HPIN, along with Blake, peered at the brown-haired girl lying comatose in a tube, her only concessions to modesty being a tube top and a miniskirt. Part of her face was scarred noticeably. "The Fall Maiden," Blake murmured. "Amber, you said her name was?"
Ozpin nodded. He was standing nearby with Glynda Goodwitch, the seven of them standing in a vast underground chamber beneath Beacon. "James knows about her. Indeed, what you are seeing here is top of the line Atlas technology. Someone stole half of her powers, and we believe that person to be Cinder Fall. How that happened exactly, I don't know, but I have suspicions based on what Qrow told me."
"Poor sod," Harry said. "Rusty only told us that the Fall Maiden had her powers stolen. What of the other Maidens?"
"I'm keeping the identities of the Summer and Winter Maidens secret for now. As it is, I am trusting you with a lot more than I normally would," Ozpin said, taking a sip of hot chocolate. "As for the Spring Maiden…I don't even know if she is still alive, the last one I knew. James would call her AWOL. The reason why I am showing you this is that James and I have been discussing bringing you further into our group, and James has updated Penny's software to prevent hacking. You already know that this group works to prevent Salem and her forces from causing chaos. We also safeguard the Maidens, albeit by keeping a discreet eye on them. What they do with their power, as long as they don't harm others, is their business, but in times of crisis, they may be needed to combat the Grimm, and Salem's forces. Sometimes, I take teams of note at Beacon and bring them into the group. Team STRQ was one of them. Unfortunately, it did not go well for various reasons."
"Raven Branwen, right?" Ilia asked.
"Yes, but not in the way you may think," Ozpin said. After a moment, he asked, "How old do you think I am?"
Harry blinked at the unexpected question, before he walked over to Ozpin and peered at his eyes. "That's a good question. Why do you ask that?"
Ozpin eventually said, "James spoke to me of the man you faced on Earth, Voldemort, a vile man who desired immortality. I am cursed with it."
"Cursed?" Blake asked.
"It's a very long story. I am old enough to remember a time when Salem was still human…and how she fell into darkness. I had my part to play in that fall, and as punishment for failing to stop her, the gods cursed me with immortality. Whenever I die, my soul and memories are reincarnated into another person, usually a boy. I merge with them. I am the sum of scores of lives and lifetimes, made to oppose Salem time and again. You have heard of the tale of how the Maidens came to be. I am the old wizard of that myth. It's part of the reason I feel responsible for them. I gave them a power that others covet, though this is the first time one of Salem's agents have tried to steal that power. Usually, Salem prefers to sway a Maiden to her side. It has happened before. Or she has them killed to deny her opponents their power."
Ilia peered at the grey-haired man, and remarked, "So that's what you meant when you told Ruby you've made more mistakes than anyone alive on Remnant. You've been around long enough to make a long list."
"It's not an achievement to take pride in," Ozpin said solemnly. "Neither is my immortality. Those I love and cherish grow old and die if they're lucky, while I live on. On my better days, I view it as a necessary evil. After all, I know Salem and her methods better than anyone, save Salem herself. I also have forgotten more about the history and relics of Remnant than anyone could possibly learn. And Salem may never be vanquished for good: I have tried time and time again, and she always comes back."
"Rusty knows about this?" Harry asked.
Ozpin nodded. Glynda cleared her throat, and said, "Obviously, this is not something you should speak of publicly. Neither Professor Ozpin's immortality or the presence of Amber."
"Neither would go down well," Harry mused, before going back over to the life support capsule containing Amber and rapping on the glass. "What are you going to do about her?"
"For the moment, nothing. Her powers are bifurcated. Should she die, the remainder of them may yet pass to Cinder," Ozpin said. "However, we do have experimental technology that can transfer the rest of her power into another. The problem is finding the right candidate. Cinder Fall aside, how the Maidens gain their power is somewhat tricky. The Maidens, in a way, choose themselves, in their suitability for the role. Unconsciously, yes, but they choose themselves. But more to the point, the new Maiden is also frequently the last person in the dying thoughts of the previous Maiden, as long as they are a young female. Otherwise, they usually go to someone suitable. Given that Cinder Fall, the woman who stole part of her power, would be probably in the last thoughts of Amber…"
"That would be problematic," Blake said. "You risk Cinder gaining the full Fall Maiden power."
"Indeed. That is why I want to try transferring Amber's remaining power once we find a suitable candidate. A number of them include members of RWBY and JNPR," Ozpin said. "The truth is, it's the secret duty of every Hunter to be prepared to oppose Salem, though as Salem is the enemy of all humanity, even the Faunus, this is a matter of course."
"So why not expose her existence publicly?" Ilia asked.
"Once, I did so, but Salem exposed my immortality. This was a very long time ago, but many people turned on me. This was some time before I gave the Maidens their power. It was the people turning on me, you see, that had me exiling myself from society, embittered about humanity. Should I try the same thing again, Salem will, through her agents, expose my nature again. Her goal is not necessarily to wipe out humanity. Her goal is to cause suffering. And she knows that disunity is an excellent tool. It's one of the reasons I feel the fragmentation of STRQ acutely. It's partly my fault. I granted the Branwens powers beyond their Semblances. Raven, however, viewed it as a curse, and she detested what she considered my manipulations. Then again, considering that she and her brother joined Beacon to learn how to kill Hunters…" Ozpin shook his head. "I trust Raven enough that she would oppose Salem, even if she refuses to ally with me. But the actions she undertakes with her tribe's help…"
Harry nodded, thinking to Rusty's reports on her, on how her tribe raided villages and left them vulnerable to further attacks by Grimm. Apparently, she didn't care, claiming the strong survived and the weak left to perish to survivors. Once, when he had discussed such an attitude with Hermione, she had called it 'Social Darwinism'. Yang was better off not knowing her mother: if Raven actually cared about her daughter, she would have either stayed to raise her, or else would have raised her in the tribe. Being strong was a necessity in the lands Raven's tribe roamed, true, but to have such apathy to the plight of others, especially those whose plight you caused yourself…
"If Rusty trusts you, knowing this, we trust you," Harry said. "But if you give us an order relating to anything like this or Salem, we don't follow blindly. We want to know why."
Ozpin nodded. "Very well. You are all very mature for your age. I lament the loss of your innocence…but I commend your maturity."
"That being said, I do have another question," Penny said, holding up a hand. "You said you brought in Ruby because of her eyes, that silver-eyed warriors are feared by the Grimm. Is there a power involved there, too?"
Again, Ozpin nodded. "The power harms the Grimm or those tainted by them…but can only be unlocked in extremis, and takes time to master. In legends of yore, it is said that a single look from a Silver-Eyed Warrior, as they were known, could kill a Grimm. I know that a Silver-Eyed Warrior, at the height of their powers, can stop the strongest of Grimm. But they are not invincible by any means. Salem knows how to deal with them by dint of experience."
"Is there any way to unlock the power without, well, traumatising her?" Harry asked.
"None that I know of. It will be in battle, I am sure. I wish it weren't so. Well, I think that's enough of a history lesson for the day. We should start preparing Blake to meet the press…"
Ozpin's revelations were still sticking with Harry as he watched Blake, dressed in Beacon uniform, sit opposite Lisa Lavender in a VNN studio the next day. Security was tight, understandably. While anti-Faunus fools who'd want a piece of a former member of the White Fang were a potential problem, the main concern was the White Fang itself.
Anyway, Harry had to wonder, how much could they trust Ozpin? True, Rusty trusted Ozpin, or at least mostly did so, but Harry knew that the two men still had some trust issues. Talon being sent over was meant as an attempt to bridge that. And he understood why Ozpin didn't disclose the full truth, if he had been telling anything of the truth about his history with Salem.
But Talon was not merely a military unit. They didn't obey orders blindly. They questioned, they disobeyed, they objected. It was part of the reason why Rusty and Winter found them so frustrating. At best, they were called mavericks. At worst, they were called insolent.
But they also tried to do what was right. And Harry had to admit, if Rusty and Ozpin were telling the truth about Salem, and he was fairly sure they were, then he would oppose Salem and her forces with everything he had.
"Do you think the White Fang will attack?" Ilia asked quietly as they stood in a corner of the control room, watching Blake on one of the monitors.
Harry chewed his lip. "Adam's obsessed with Blake, but he's not stupid. If he is working with Roman Torchwick, he'll know attacking will jeopardise their operations, at least while Blake is here. But I can't say the same for any of his underlings. Fanaticism and intelligence don't tend to go hand in hand. We've got Neo on standby in the studio proper, ready to use her Semblance to get Blake and the others out of there. It's either going to be White Fang, or else rioters stirred up by anti-Faunus fanatics."
"…Is because the White Fang has changed," Blake was saying. "I fight for our equality, and I refuse to condone the actions of the Schnee Dust Company. But I also refuse to harm people whose only crime was to be human."
"Do you think that your fight is harder within the Atlesian military?" Lisa asked.
"Yes and no. General Ironwood doesn't care if you're a human or a Faunus, only that you're skilled at what you do. But by the same token, both my status as a Faunus and as a former member of White Fang does make it more difficult. Even those who believe in me still keep an eye on me out of caution, and others look on me with contempt. If it weren't for my friends, it would be a lot harder. Harry Potter, Neopolitan, Ilia Amitola, and Penny Pollendina. And I'd like to think that I have made new friends, both on my new team, RWBY, and on another team, JNPR."
"Yes, speaking of which, how did it feel being on the same team as the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company?"
"Odd. She accepted me enough despite her attitude to Faunus, but she was understandably wary. She may have grown up in a life of privilege, but it doesn't necessarily mean that her life was perfect. She came to Beacon to make her own name, away from her father's company, and I understand that ambition. When my former membership of the White Fang was exposed, she was understandably upset. But we have come to an understanding."
Blake would have continued, but the building shook, and Harry was on the alert. He took a walkie-talkie from his belt, one he had asked for, and activated it. "Potter to Security, what happened?"
"Some bastard's ram-raided the doors!" yelled a guard. "Three Faunus wearing Grimm masks are engaging our men in Reception. Three of them are heading to the studio."
Harry nodded, before he turned to Penny. "Penny, assist security in Reception. Ilia, let's stop these idiots. Capture protocols, lethal force only if necessary. Rusty and Ozpin'll want to question them…"
Harry and Ilia managed to enter the studio in time for the White Fang members to rake the studio in machine gun fire…only for Lavender, Blake and the crew members to seemingly shatter like glass. "What the fuck?!" one of them snarled. Harry knew that Blake and Neo were busy escorting Lavender and the others to safety.
"Freeze!" Harry snarled, readying Walter, while Ilia readied Crossland. "Drop your weapons!"
It almost never worked, but protocol required it. The intruders whirled, only for Ilia to snap Crossland into whip form and lash it at one of them. As her target convulsed under the effect of Lightning Dust, Harry was already using Walter to snatch the weapons from the others. One of them showed claws from her fingers. "Atlas scum!" she roared, before leaping at him.
Harry fired a Stunner at the furious woman, only to realise too late that her momentum sent her crashing into him, even unconscious. As he tried to get the woman off him, dazed, he saw the final Faunus approaching, only for Ilia to hit him with Crossland. He roared in pain, but unlike the other one, didn't fall down. "You traitorous whore," he snarled, snatching Crossland from Ilia.
Harry managed to roll the body off him in time, only to realise, Ilia didn't need help. She could handle herself, but things had become moot with the sound of shattering glass.
The Faunus heard it too, and whirled to find the Pernicious Parasol meeting his face. Neo, her face twisted in fury, attacked the Faunus time and time again, not even stopping when he fell to the ground, his mask half-shattered with shards stuck in his face. Even when she realised he was unconscious, Neo merely sneered, before sliding the hidden sword out of the Pernicious Parasol, and raised it, about to gut the Faunus.
"Neo," Harry slurred slightly. "Capture protocols…"
His little sister looked at him, her eyes begging for him to allow her to do this, in revenge for hurting her friends. But he shook his head woozily, so Neo contented herself with kicking the Faunus viciously in the ribs, hard enough for at least one of them to break, given the sickening snap Harry heard. "Neo," Ilia said. "Are the others secure?"
The pink and black-haired girl nodded grimly. She mimed a pair of cat ears, then held the Pernicious Parasol like a gun. Harry got unsteadily to his feet. "Blake's guarding them," Harry said. He held out his hand, and used a spell Sirius had taught him. Magically-conjured ropes wrapped themselves around them. "We need to find out Penny's status."
"Her status is that she's alive, well, and kicked ass," drawled a voice they didn't expect.
Harry and the others turned to face the entrance, where Penny and another man was, an older man, dressed in grey, well-worn clothes with a cloak, a sword-like weapon in his hand. His features were handsome, but had a lazy set to his expression, red eyes peering out at them. "So, you're Jimmy's kids. Sorry we met like this, but I was in the area when this went down. The name's Qrow…"
CHAPTER 10 ANNOTATIONS:
So, Qrow's on the scene. He's only making a token appearance for now: he's still on his missions for Ozpin, but he was visiting Vale, having enough time to see Ruby and Yang this time (unlike in canon, where he's struggling to find concrete info on Cinder, Emerald and Mercury, as thanks to Neo, he has more leads to follow), but next chapter will be him and HPIN meeting, as well as Adam, Roman and Cinder discussing the fallout of the attack.
If you're wondering why Ozpin is letting them in on the stuff about Amber and his immortality so early, well, they know in broad terms about the former already, thanks to Ironwood. Ozpin's revelation about his immortality was a test of their trust. They're wary, but Ironwood presumably knows about it (Qrow did, given his reaction to Oscar).
BTW, it's worth pointing out that one of the inspirations for the press conference was Bad for Business by RumbleintheDumbles. Also, with the revelation of Jaune's Semblance at long last, I'm going to try and integrate that.
No numbered annotations this time.
