CHAPTER 11:

DISCORD AND CONCORD

Adam Taurus felt many causes for anger. The way his people were treated by the humans. The way Sienna Khan did not go far enough. The way his love betrayed him for a mere human. The way those burn scars that human inflicted on him itched and ached, even years after they were inflicted on him. However, that particular event had taught him patience. Revenge was a dish best served cold, as they said, and Adam intended to wait for the right time to strike. Talon's transfer to Beacon made his love and those he would destroy to punish her for hurting him easier to access.

But there were two things trying his patience at the moment. The first was that, despite his explicit orders, some of his underlings got it into their thick heads to attack the VNN studios to try and capture or kill Blake, and while he rewarded initiative if it was applied intelligently, he also knew that to act precipitously in this manner was to jeopardise things. There had been discontent amongst his brothers and sisters about working with (NOT under! NOT for!) Roman Torchwick and Cinder Fall, but Adam was confident that, once he got what he wanted, he would deal with them both.

The second was that Torchwick was jeering at Adam for this failed attack. Torchwick may be skilled, but he made his contempt for Faunus clear (though Adam also knew Torchwick was a misanthrope in general: he held almost everyone in contempt), and his contempt for Adam's leadership skills even clearer. Like now. "I mean, I can get how you are capable of waiting, but it says a lot about your little petting zoo that they won't listen to your orders," Torchwick sneered. "What those two foxes see in you, I dunno."

"It's the fault of the soldiers for not listening to their commander," Adam said, forcing his tone to stay calm, despite the jab at himself and the Albains. "Should they escape or be liberated, I will make an example of them. I made it very clear that Blake was not to be touched until either the assault on Beacon began in earnest, or another opportunity arose. They seemed to believe that the latter was the case here, despite my repeated orders on the matter. What of your agent?"

"She's probably had to capture them alive to keep her cover. They haven't seen her with me, have they?"

"No. Only a few of our brothers and sisters have seen Neopolitan. None of those were involved in that farce."

"Good. As it stands, we'll probably have to close down the base they used. Thankfully, we didn't use it for storing Dust or anything that could be linked back to us," Torchwick said. "But Ironwood and Ozpin will find out that you're in the Vale."

"That will be a moot point," purred a voice, the source of which entered the room, strutting on high-heeled shoes of black glass. Cinder Fall, a woman of indeterminate but young age with black hair, pale skin, golden eyes, and wearing a red dress. She was followed by the silver-haired Mercury Black, and the green-haired, dark-skinned Emerald Sustrai. Brats, but capable brats for humans, though their mistress was the truly dangerous one. "I took action to deal with them. Emerald here used her Semblance to cause the driver of the prison vans to crash at high speed, and I destroyed the vans using Dust, along with all of those inside them. Every cause needs martyrs, I am sure."

Adam nodded reluctantly, but he was still angry with this witch. "You killed them without consulting me."

"Those fools took action despite your orders to the contrary," Cinder retorted.

"And the members of Talon?"

"They were talking with Qrow Branwen, one of Ozpin's pawns if you don't know," Cinder said. "But even that fool Ozpin will see this as a need to tighten security, even if only discreetly, around Beacon. It means our attempts to infiltrate ahead of the Vytal Festival will be made all the more harder. He may even agree to have Ironwood come along to bolster it. Incidentally, Roman, has Neopolitan gotten more information from Beacon?"

"Well, it seems that Red was brought in by Ozpin early. Ruby Rose, daughter of Summer Rose and Taiyang Xiao Long, and sister to Yang Xiao Long. Oh, and her uncle is Qrow Branwen. Must be who taught her that scythe-fighting style," Torchwick mused. "Ruby and Yang, along with Schnee's brat, are on a team with your runaway pussy, Adam."

Adam grinned painfully beneath his mask. Well, not only do I get Blake back, but I can torture Weiss Schnee and mail her back to her father in little bits. Still, patience. Use the time to think of what exactly you will do to them. Including these fools who think I'm their attack dog on a leash.

"Make sure, Adam, that you keep your brothers and sisters in the Fang under control," Cinder said. "A reckoning is coming to Remnant, and it will all start with the fall of Beacon…"


"You remind me a lot of my godfather," Harry said as he sat opposite Qrow Branwen at a café near the VNN studios, his comrades in tow.

"In a good way or a bad way?" Qrow asked, only to laugh when Harry made a 'little bit of both' gesture. "Jeez, I didn't think any kid Jimmy had working under him would be like this. Then again, I hear from Oz that you pretty much give him an ulcer."

"Neither Rusty nor Winter think much of you," Harry said. "Oh, they praise your skills, but they call you a 'drunken old crow'."

"That'd be right. Don't get me wrong, we respect each other's skills, but we have a bit of a clash of personality," Qrow said, pouring a substantial amount from his hip flask into a cup of coffee. He then looked at the others. "Oz has told me about you guys too. Nice to meet you. All of you. I'm guessing you're the one I should thank for the info, right, Neo, was it?"

Neo nodded. Blake, meanwhile, looked pensive. "And your investigation into…?"

"Still ongoing, but I have more info than I would have. Besides, Ozpin might trust you guys, and I like you already, but I don't quite trust you personally yet," Qrow said. "Don't take it personally, I'm just not a fan of…heh, I'm gonna call him Rusty to his face, it's a good name. But yeah, Jimmy and I don't really see eye to eye. Hell, sending you guys to Beacon is probably one of the biggest shows of trust he's ever shown. But for all I know, he's done it for less noble reasons than he claims. Like I said, I like you guys already, but I don't know you guys well enough."

"Understandable," Ilia said. "A bit hurtful, but understandable."

Qrow nodded. Then, his smile became less lazy and more affectionate. "Oz tells me you've become friends with my nieces."

"Yes," Harry said. "Blake is on their team, RWBY, and I have to say, Ruby and Yang are very likeable. Ruby's a bit naïve and Yang needs to control her temper a little better in combat, but I'd be glad to fight alongside them, and I'd like to think we're friends."

"And more?" Qrow asked, with a slight edge to his tone.

"No, no!" Harry protested. "I already have Blake." And Ilia, he added privately.

"Oh, already have a girlfriend? And one with balls, at that," Qrow said. "It takes a lot to do what you did, Blake. Anyway, look, if you were seeing Ruby or Yang…well, Ruby's a bit young for you, but Yang's okay. But if you hurt either of my nieces…" His eyes narrowed. "Rusty'd never find your body."

Blake's hackles rose. "And if you ever harmed Harry, they'd never find yours."

Qrow laughed. "Protective too. You've got good taste, Harry. Speaking of my nieces, are they still at Beacon?"

"No, they were waiting nearby with Goodwitch," Harry said. "Just in case we needed backup, but only six of those buggers were there."

"And they're all dead, along with their escorts," Goodwitch said as she approached, RWBY and JNPR in tow. "General Ironwood is furious, and Ozpin…well, he is angry too. The drivers crashed, and there was an explosion. However, we found traces of Dust. Someone wanted to silence them."

"Great," Ilia muttered. "Not that we would have gotten anything useful out of them."

Any further discussion was halted when Ruby and Yang yelped, "Uncle Qrow!" simultaneously. Ruby used her Semblance to go over to him in a blur of rose petals. Clearly, it'd been some time since they saw each other.


Qrow promised to see them later, shortly before he left to continue his mission, but for now, he wanted to catch up with Ruby and Yang. Later that day, Harry used his Scroll to log onto the chatrooms of Vale News Network, and found a chatroom relating to what happened…

INTERVIEW ATTACK!

Official Lisa Lavender: Doubtless many of you watched the horrific attack on the interview I was conducting with Blake Belladonna, Huntress from the Atlas organisation Talon. Thankfully, due to both special precautions and quick action, none of those present in the studio came to any harm, and our security personnel are in stable conditions at the local hospital. I would like to thank Miss Belladonna, as well as Team HPIN, for their decisive actions, and the intervention of Beacon graduate Qrow Branwen. It's a sad indictment for freedom of speech when armed terrorists attack a news studio. In any case, feel free to discuss matters here.

IScream4IceCream: 1st! Also, best Neapolitan I've ever had was today in the café near the VNN studios.

UWantAFaceFullOfMace?: Who says they were trying to kill her? Maybe they wanted 2 bring her back where she belongs.

CrescentRose4Life: and where would that be?

FUWhiteFang: The animal pound. Failing that, Menagerie.

MonkeyCMonkeyDo: C'mon, man, not cool. She's got balls to speak out like that.

FUWhiteFang: It's a double bluff, idiot. She's pretending to be a traitor to them.

BushyHairedAthena: *facepalm* Well, this is off to a great start.

Wiz: Welcome to the CCT network, BHA! Warning: Here there be trolls.

FUWhiteFang: It's not being a troll if I'm telling the truth. Once one of the Fang, always one of the Fang.

No1NightshadeNinja: *sigh* And she can fool General James Ironwood because…?

UWantAFaceFullOfMace?: Well, some generals get there cause of connections and money. Like Lagune.

HAMMERTIME1234: OR BECAUSE OF AWESOME WEAPONS!

CrescentRose4Life: yeah!

IScream4IceCream: Or maybe because he has extremely competent yet grossly underpaid underlings? ;)

IBurn: Seriously, are you guys saying she's pulling the wool over the eyes of General Ironwood?

FUWhiteFang: Well, yeah.

MissAnthropic: It wouldn't be too hard.

Nevermore: Indeed. Though the world, and this BBS, are filled with fools. Sadly, I have one as a brother.

BushyHairedAthena: So, is this anti-Atlas, or anti-White Fang, or both?

Nevermore: Good question. And people wonder why the Grimm attack. I have to say, I was mildly disappointed by the skill of Ironwood's toy soldiers. Then again, that's better than the norm. Ironwood, though, is a fool, as is anyone who listens to the Gospel According to Ozpin.

CrescentRose4Life: u take that back!

Nevermore: Funny thing: your mother said the exact same thing under the circumstances.

IScream4IceCream: Wow, seriously? Your Mom comments this early on? Well, Nevermore, I probably robbed your Mom blind.

Nevermore: I doubt it.

NoStringsOnMe: Well, actually, there was an incident involving people who will not be named trying to prank General Ironwood. He not only saw through it, but turned it on them.

BlizzardBeauty: …Seriously?

BushyHairedAthena: Seriously?

RainbowWhip: Seriously. I was there. The General is a major paranoiac, and with good reason.

Wiz: I was there too.

IScream4IceCream: That's not what you said at the time. ;P

Nevermore: Defending against a prank perpetrated by pubescents is different to defending the world. And I've been infected with alliteration.

UWantAFaceFullOfMace?: Oh great, Ironwood's got a bunch of sockpuppets here.

IScream4IceCream: How dare you! I don't have anyone's hand going where only colorectal surgeons dare to go!

Ashes2Ashes: …Thanks for that mental image, IceCream. I now have to go and try to burn it out of my brain.

BushyHairedAthena: Can I have some of that?

MonkeyCMonkeyDo: Me too.

Nevermore: Dammit, I'm going to be picking up my brother's drinking habits now…

MissAnthropic: Sadly, I have too good a memory, resistant to such methods of purging it. You'd think age would hamper that.

HAMMERTIME1234: OOH, SOCKPUPPETS? CAN I SHARE PANCAKES WITH THEM?

FreeOfWrackspurts: Depends on the sockpuppet.

BushyHairedAthena: Oh no. She's discovered online forums. Run for your lives.

Official General Ironwood: I don't need sockpuppets. And those who attempted the prank had the dubious pleasure of cleaning the latrines with toothbrushes. Miss Belladonna has my trust, which is not at all easy to earn, but certainly very easy to lose. This cowardly attack shows just how damaging Miss Belladonna's comments are to the White Fang, and it is only due to timely action that casualties were kept to a minimum. However, associates of the terrorists murdered not only them, but members of the Vale Police Department, whose only crime was doing their jobs.

JusticeIsComing: My darling…remember, you and those you cherish are never safe. You will be punished for hurting me. Savour that thought.

CrescentRose4Life: wow…creepy much?

MonkeyCMonkeyDo: Umm, does Ironwood have some crazy internet stalker?

Wiz: You'd be surprised. But I don't think JIC meant Ironwood.

IBurn: Still creepy AF tho.

BlizzardBeauty: Seconded. I half-expected him to make some comment about liver, fava beans, and a nice Chianti.

HotCocoa4Eva: I believe it is a case of what is known as the online disinhibition effect. However, I applaud Miss Belladonna's courage in speaking out, and Talon's quick action. Remember that it is negative emotion that attracts the Grimm. Keep that in mind before you post any inflammatory remarks.

Nevermore: In other words, some idiot who thinks he's brave hiding himself and his small pecker behind a computer screen. They wouldn't last five seconds where I live.

UWantAFaceFullOfMace?: STFU and GTFO.

BlizzardBeauty: Wow. Eloquent and erudite response, Mace.

BushyHairedAthena: Agreed. I expected a moderately intelligent discourse.

IScream4IceCream: Meh, you'll be struggling to find that anywhere online. Like looking for a tiny nugget of gold deep within a mine in some frozen rectum of a cave in Atlas. Or a mute switch for Professor Port when he's rambling about some tale from his youth. Incidentally, there's already memes galore on the websites. A lot of it went out live on VNN, after all, until a stray bullet or twenty hit the cameras. I'll post links to the SFW sites shortly.

MissAnthropic: Please do. I get bored easily, listening to my staff jockeying for my favour. When you've lived as long as I have, you need to find humour wherever you find it.

Harry clicked on the links Neo posted. Some he cringed at. A few he snickered at, despite the fact that they were making light of a life or death situation.

Still, some of those messages concerned him. He knew UWantAFaceFullOfMace? was Cardin. He hadn't learned his lesson about mouthing off online. And given the language, he was almost certain that JusticeIsComing was Adam. He had called Blake 'darling' a lot during their confrontation.

Still, today could have gone a lot worse. And while Harry didn't like the fact that someone killed their captives, along with the guards escorting them, it still could have been worse.

The chatroom had devolved into bickering, and Harry had played his part. But still, maybe public opinion could be swayed. And maybe they had struck a PR blow against the White Fang…

CHAPTER 11 ANNOTATIONS:

So, the villains are plotting, Qrow and Harry have met, and some Worm-style or Homestuck-style chatroom fun. Now, keep in mind, almost all of the chatroom usernames have canon characters behind them. Some will be obvious, but others, well…let's just say I had fun thinking of how certain characters would act online.

Incidentally, if Adam seems OOC in his POV section, his injuries at Harry's hands and his inability to track down Blake has basically made him calm, at least outwardly. Inwardly, well, should he come across Blake or anyone she cares about…they're gone. Plus, once he gets a chance, he's going to end Cinder and Roman.

Oh, before I get onto answering the reviews, I've posted the first chapters of a new RWBY-related project…but not in The Cauldron. No, this is not a Harry Potter crossover, though it was originally conceived as an AU to this work, albeit with Harry/Neo and Ilia/Emerald. Yes, you read that right. But after some correspondence with mellra, they allowed me to adapt the idea…with Schrödinger from Hellsing instead of Harry. It's called RWBY: SINS, and the trailers and the first chapter are available in Quatermass' Compost Heap, starting here: s/12506513/25/Quatermass-Compost-Heap

Review-answering time! A number of people didn't realise, but Neo is a triple agent within Torchwick and Cinder's conspiracy. They are well aware that she is a member of Atlas, but they think she has defected to them, as shown above. In truth, her loyalty is purely to Harry and her friends.

Guest (regarding Nora's crash-tackle of Penny): Keep in mind that Weiss managed to knock Penny down in their very first meeting, wholly by accident. So Nora doing the same isn't out of the question, even without Nora's infamously boisterous nature. So yeah, Nora did manage to tackle Penny to the ground. I think Penny was bemused but enjoyed the attention. Penny may be less socially awkward in this story than in canon, but she is still eccentric.

hnh058513: Yes, Raven's status in canon will be the same. Ozpin suspects it may be the case, but doesn't know for sure. He's more likely to consider the Spring Maiden he knew to be still alive, though.

Leicontis: Good question. I'm guessing that, like the Dementors, it'd repel, but not kill, them.

No numbered annotations this time.