Chapter 11: Justice
Sipping his coffee, Ozpin looked through the news. Naturally, the recent bombing in Vale had made the headlines. At least thirty confirmed casualties. No suspects had been arrested.
I see…so just as I suspected. Ozpin reflected sadly on the lives that had been lost in the explosion. He wondered if it was possible that they could have been saved somehow. Even with all the Huntsmen in Remnant, evil could never be fully vanquished. Ozpin knew this better than anyone.
Team STRQ had done well-significantly better than he'd expected, considering the circumstances. A few days after the incident, Miss Rose, Miss Branwen and Mr. Xiao Long had come to his office to report.
"…And that's the gist of it," Raven had concluded. "We were unable to apprehend the culprits, I am afraid. We are sorry for this failure."
"There's no need to apologize." Ozpin had assured her with his usual smile. "You all did your best, including your brother-who, I assume, is not too hurt?"
"He will recover, hopefully, by the end of the week."
"I am glad to hear it. In the meantime, get some rest and return to your studies. When the time comes, I may ask for your assistance again. Please, do not tell anyone else about this matter."
"Very well." "Got it." With that, Raven and Tai had left.
"But…!" Summer wasn't satisfied. "What about the syndicate's members? We ran into Buck, and their leader, 'R'…and they mentioned the 'Grandmaster'. We still don't know anything about them, and-"
Ozpin raised his hands. "Please, Miss Rose, now is not the time. I hope you will not lose sleep over this incident. That wouldn't bode well for your studies, would it?"
"…Okay," she sighed. "I just…I don't want them to get away with what they're doing."
"I understand," Ozpin replied gently. "But for the moment there is nothing more you can do. For now, all you can do is continue with your life as a Huntress-in-training. Do you realize that?"
Reluctantly, Summer had nodded, and followed her teammates out of the office.
Now, Ozpin was sitting in his chair, his mind filled with the events of that night, his thoughts filled with sadness and apprehension.
She is strong. But not strong enough. Not yet.
Indeed, she has a difficult path ahead of her. And it is something she must face, eventually.
But today, she is still a child. And so, I must leave her to live as a child…for now.
The streets of Vale were as busy as they always were on a Sunday noon. Several months had passed since the terrorist bombing of the Low-Go Department Store, and life was back to normal. Among the masses was one individual, indistinguishable from everyone else in the crowd. No one could have known that this person, from time to time, donned a white mask, a red wig and a dark robe, and called themselves 'R'.
At the moment, however, they were someone else, living an entirely different existence. They walked up to a food stand by the pier and ordered a hot dog. The owner recognized her regular customer and smiled.
A minute later, they were walking downtown, eating lunch like any normal, law-abiding citizen. They looked around the city, admiring at what a beautiful day it was. People really do thrive most in times like this.
Suddenly, their ears picked up. A rather heated argument was taking place someplace to their right. They couldn't help but listen on what they were discussing. Hmm…perhaps …?
They walked towards the alley near a small weapons shop, and hid behind a nearby wall. There was no one nearby, save for two men just outside the doors.
"I can't do that!" An old man in an oil-stained uniform, likely the shopkeeper. "I've got a damn business to run, y'hear?!"
"Sorry, sir, but we can't just ignore this," the other man, a young police officer replied calmly. "We've received too many complaints from your workers claiming you're overworking them. If you don't adjust their workload accordingly-"
"Like hell I will! My business is fine the way it is! They're just whining because they're ungrateful bastards who wouldn't find a job anywhere else!"
"Please, sir…" the officer paused. "…Does this have anything to do with that some of your workers being Faunus?"
"What about them?" the shopkeeper snapped. "They're just animals, so what if they work a little more than normal people, huh? It's what they're made for! Besides, I bet the Schnee Dust Company does this shit too!"
"Please, calm down, sir," the officer wrote something in his notebook. "You have three days to comply with their demands, or you will have to appear in court. With all the criminal attacks against Faunus lately, I'd advise you not to start any trouble. Good day." Without waiting for an answer, he walked away.
The shopkeeper spat at the ground. "Pheh…if they weren't working for me, I'd wish they'd all just die…" he walked back indoors.
In the shadows, R smiled. What a perfect opportunity. They reached into their pocket and pulled out the rat Grimm. "Time for another mission," they whispered.
Immediately, the Grimm melted into a thick black fluid, which flowed through the front entrance of the shop, and was gone.
Now…to wait and observe.
"Heads up!" Tai yelled at Qrow. "On your right!"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Qrow grumbled, blocking a flurry of knives with his blade. "This stuff is nothing."
"Hey, do you have any idea how expensive these things are?" Regal replied indignantly, producing more combat knives from his pouch with a flourish. "Each one is crafted by hand in the most prestigious factory in all of Atlas, and each is adorned with the feather of a rare breed of swan! They're my pride and joy!"
Qrow sighed. "Save me the details, pal. Can we just get on with this?"
"If you insist." With five knives in each hand, Regal charged at him, and practice continued.
Summer leaned back on the grass and sighed contentedly. It really was a beautiful afternoon. The last few months had been rather uneventful-no word from Ozpin, nor any activity by the syndicate. It meant they could go on with school life as normal. And Qrow's injury had healed quickly. That was nice too.
Right now, it was just what she needed. All her worries about the Revenants seemed like a thing of the past. Taking a step back and focusing on her school life really had been the right choice.
After all, the students were in the middle of their break-it would be another week or two before second term began. It was a time for some students to relax and enjoy themselves, and for others it was an opportunity to train even harder than before in preparation for the Vytal Festival Tournament.
On this day, Team STRQ and Team HTHR had met up at a park close to Beacon Academy for some snacks and games. They'd sat down on a grassy green hill spacious enough for combat practice, or a friendly (and friendship-breaking) game of cards.
Qrow and Regal had scoffed at the idea of playing Grimm-VS-Hunters Trading Card Game ("It's for freaking ten-year olds!" and "Why would I play something that I can buy for two Lien at the local bargain store?") and were dueling near the bottom of the hill.
"C'mon Summer, time for Round Two!" Tai called to her. Sitting up reluctantly, she picked up five cards from her deck and glanced at them. One Archer, two Swordsmen, a Nevermore and an Ursa.
That's an okay hand, she decided. She didn't play board games or cards much, but this was one she was typically good at. The concept was simple: take out the other players' cards, losing all cards in your deck results in elimination, and the last man standing won.
"Let's begin." Heather adjusted her glasses, smiling. "I'm going first-I put down two Beowolves." She placed the cards on the table. "Since I have two of the same Grimm card, all Grimm get a 25 point attack boost on their first move."
"But…" Munching on some potato chips, Tai put down a Swordsman and a Soldier card. "Swordsmen are super-effective against Beowolves, and mine gets a 2x attack boost because of my Soldier's support ability!" He grinned. "Beat that!"
Wordlessly, Torrence played two Gunners. That was a particularly deadly combination-Gunners were the strongest class, and having two at the same time halved damage done to them. Summer cringed, remembering the various games she'd lost at the hands of that combo.
Harriet shuffled her cards uncertainly. "…My turn." Hesitantly, she put down an Archer and a King Taijitu. Oh, crap! That's a rare Level 3 Gold card! It gets two attacks per turn!
Summer looked down at her own cards. I'm going to have to play this right. "Okay, I'm going next." She placed a Swordsman and the Nevermore. The Nevermore was her strongest card, and the Swordsman had an advantage over its weakness, the Archer.
"…" Raven was still staring at her deck, confused.
"Rae? You playing?" Tai inquired.
"…I don't quite understand this game. Why are Grimm and Hunters fighting together? Why do certain cards have stronger stats? None of it makes any sense."
"Lighten up, Raven!" Heather laughed. "It's just a game, there's no need to take it so seriously. Here, let me see…" she looked through her deck. "Hmm…, you've got a Faunus card, they have the highest accuracy out of all classes, though they're rather fragile. Ah, you've also got a Creep and a Solider, they're the weakest classes, but they have extremely useful support classes-for example, the Creep halves damage done to the other card."
"...I…see." Raven still looked flabbergasted, but she put down her Faunus and Creep.
"Excellent," Heather smiled. "Then, shall we begin? I'll go first. I send my Beowolf to attack Harriet's Archer. Super effective and a 25 point boost. 150 points of damage total."
"Heyyy, no fair!" Harriet pouted, wagging her tiny tail indignantly.
Now his turn, Tai, with a truly sadistic grin on his face, proceeded to take out one of Heather's Beowolves in one hit with a strike from his Swordsman. Heather scowled. "Now that is just disgusting. I hope they nerf Swordsmen in the next update," she complained.
And so, the game continued. Raven and Heather were the first to get taken out. Raven in particular didn't seem like she had any idea what she was doing.
"…Rae, you can't attack three times in one turn," Tai told her, trying not to smile.
"But why?" Raven grumbled, eyebrows twitching in anger. "Why would these fighters stand there and wait for their opponents' turn? This game is utterly ridiculous!"
"You're…actually serious." Tai sighed.
Meanwhile, Summer took another card from her deck to replace her fallen Nevermore. Yes! She whooped internally. A Gold card! She'd drawn the Level 3 Archer, the legendary Huntress Diana Crescend, one of the greatest fighters Remnant had ever seen. She'd supposedly had superhuman powers that exceeded Dust and Aura. And her card granted a support ability of a x3 attack bonus to Archers.
"So you guys ready for the school dance?" Tai asked, drawing another card. "Shame it got delayed till after the assignment, but hey, it's still gonna be awesome!"
"…Yup," Torrence nodded. It was always a surprise to hear him actually talk. "The refreshments will definitely be top-notch."
Heather glanced at him, exasperated. "You really just use that mouth for eating, not talking, don't you?"
"Haha…well, he's probably right," Harriet laughed. "I'm…looking forward to it, too, since I've never gone to a big dance before."
"What, didn't you go to the dance back at Signal?" Tai inquired.
"No…I wasn't there for much long. I jumped from school to school a lot before I settled on Beacon. All those academies looked good on my transcript, I guess…" Harriet sighed dejectedly. "It meant I didn't get to make many friends, though…"
"Well, you've got them now," Summer reassured her. "Oh, and by the way, we're all waiting on your turn."
"Ack! Oops, s-sorry!" she stammered, fumbling through her deck.
The game went on for about five more minutes. There were lots of close calls (and plenty of screaming and complaining) but Summer ultimately emerged victorious with a boosted attack from her Archer on Harriet's Nevermore.
"Aww…" Harriet sighed. "And I was so close last game, too…"
"Hey, just because your start off strong doesn't mean you win!" Tai (who'd won the previous round) laughed. "Good game, everyone!"
"I still don't get what's so fun about this game," Qrow grumbled, walking over to the group.
"I don't see how your violent video games are any better," Summer countered.
"Hey, don't compare your lame cards to Immortal Killers!" Qrow said while wagging his finger. "You don't get to see people ripped to bloody pieces while their entrails spill out in any other game, okay?"
"That's totally barbaric!"
"Wimp," Qrow sighed. "I bet you wouldn't beat me a game like that! Not even Sis can beat my high score."
Raven shook her head with a cocky smirk. "Don't you think you're overestimating yourself, Brother?"
"What's that, a challenge?" Qrow returned her look. "I'd like to see you try."
"Well, this sounds interesting," Heather said, interest piqued. "How about we return to the dormitories and try this new game out?"
Tai looked skeptical. "Uh, you sure about that? That thing's banned in two Kingdoms for a reason."
"Of course! Trying new things is the most important part of being a Huntress!" she smiled. "Come on, everyone, let's go."
About an hour later, all eight of them were crammed in Team STRQ's dormitory. Regal was passed out on Tai's bed, having stuffed himself on Tai's hidden food stash. Harriet was looking through Raven's novels, her face flushed an impressive shade of red, and her eyes fixated intensely on the pages as she flipped through them with lightning speed. Torrence, Qrow, Raven and Tai were taking turns playing Immortal Killers: Ultra-Violent Brutality Mode, while Heather was retching in disgust into a nearby trash can. Turns out the young Vacuo champion was extremely squeamish.
Summer, meanwhile, was sitting alone in the one unmolested corner of the room, trying to concentrate on her writing. It was impossible. To make matters worse, in the past hour, a mixture of bad table manners and sore losers' tantrums had terraformed the dormitory into a landfill. Food containers, books, action figures and more garbage was strewn across the floor. She pitied the poor soul who would have to clean the mess up (most likely herself).
On the TV, Qrow's character sliced Raven's into a thousand pieces, sending blood and guts splattering all over the screen. SOARING NINJA WINS. TOTAL ANNIHILATION, came the announcer's voice.
"And I win again!" Qrow smirked, throwing his hands up triumphantly. "That'll teach you not to challenge my pro skills, Sis!"
"Nonsense," Raven said dismissively. "Repeating the same combo attacks over and over can hardly be considered "skill"."
"Hey, it's a legitimate strategy!"
Tai waved at the girls on the other side of the room. "Summer, Harriet, c'mon! Are you not gonna play at all?"
"…" Harriet was too fixated on her book to reply. Steam was coming out of her ears.
"Uh, thanks, but I'm fine." Summer shook her head. "It's not my type of game."
"Haha! More like you're just too much a wuss to handle it!" Qrow chuckled, still drunk on his victory. "Hey, if you're feelin' sick, join Glasses Girl over there in the trash can!"
Summer glared at him. "…On second thought, I'll make an exception this time." It was true that violence made her feel ill, but she wasn't going to take an insult from her uncouth partner sitting down. She walked over to the TV and picked up the second controller.
"Heh, guess you've got some guts after all," Qrow said with a grin. "Try not to cry too hard when you lose."
Gore aside, Summer had to admit the game was actually really fun. It was extremely satisfying to land attacks on her opponent, and to actually see and hear the impact instead of having to imagine it like when playing cards.
She got the hang of the controls quickly, but she was still no match for Qrow, who soon beat her 3-0.
SOARING NINJA WINS. TOTAL ANNIHILATION.
"Hell yeah! I am freaking awesome!" Qrow pumped his fist in the air.
"Good game," Summer sighed, shaking her sore red hands. "Ugh…that was exhausting."
Tai laughed. "Well, you're not a true gamer till you get your first blisters on your hands. It's an art few dare to master."
"You make it sound so epic," Summer grumbled, "when you're just mashing buttons."
"Ignore her, for she knows not what she says," Qrow grinned at Tai. "You seem to know your stuff, Blondie."
"Eh. I'm not that great," Tai shrugged. "But I do know a lot of great cheat codes that work with these games. For example, the nudity mod is 034369-"
"Alright, I'm glad we are all having fun, but I think that's enough for now." Her face pale, Heather interrupted the gaming fanatics' conversation and turned off the console.
"Hey!" Qrow protested. Heather ignored him, and turned on the news to Huntsman Everyday. "I'm going to check to see if that new pistol model has been released," she declared.
"A crime was discovered in downtown Vale earlier today," the newscaster was saying. A screenshot on the TV depicted a small machinery workshop. "The owner of Festus Gears was arrested on the charge of murdering four workers several days ago. A few hours ago, a customer smelled a foul, rotting scent coming from within the store, and contacted the police. The bodies were discovered in the storage room soon after, and the owner was arrested on the spot."
The news feed switched to several police cars surrounding Festus Gears, the area around the store blocked off with yellow tape. Paramedics were loading four body bags onto stretchers. An officer was handcuffing an elderly man wearing an apron.
"It wasn't me!" The man was screaming. "Please, I'm telling you, I'm innocent! I didn't kill them!"
"Not much else is known about the case at the moment," the newscaster continued. "other than that all four victims were Faunus. No motive has been discerned, though the factory has a history with overworking its Faunus employees."
Summer felt her body going cold. She had a feeling she knew where this was going. Beside her, Harriet had walked up to the TV, staring intently.
"The police also found this graffiti on the side of the factory." The camera panned to a shot of the Revenants' insignia on the factory wall. "Witnesses have noted that a similar symbol appeared on the Low-Go Department Store shortly before it was bombed by currently unknown terrorists. The symbol is also believed to be related to a string of crimes against Faunus that occurred in Atlas a few months ago, though the connection is unknown. In the meantime-"
Heather quickly changed the channel. "Er-I-I think we don't need to see anymore of that," she said, glancing nervously at Harriet.
"…" The rabbit Faunus was silent.
"Uh, so that was, um…" Tai was trying to think of something to say. "Uh, so, let's forget we saw that, eh?" He grinned sheepishly. Qrow shot him an annoyed look.
"Harriet?" Summer asked quietly. "Are you alright?"
"I…don't get it…" she murmured. "Why…does everyone hate us so much?" She looked ready to cry.
No one said a thing. The fun atmosphere in the room had all but vanished. Finally, Summer spoke up.
"Do you really think everyone hates Faunus?" she asked.
"Huh?" Harriet looked at her.
Summer shook her head. "Well, you're wrong. We're your friends, Harriet. We don't care if you're a human or a Faunus. Do you believe that?"
Harriet stared at the ground for a few seconds. "But…it's not just about me. So many Faunus are suffering, every day…and no one does anything about it. It's just not fair," she spat angrily.
"That's why we're here, remember?" Summer replied. "To make things right. We're here to bring justice to people who are wronged-and that includes the Faunus. Remember when I stood up for you against Jin on the first day? I'm not the only one who can do it. Everyone has the ability to help others. And you can help too. We all work together to make the world a better place for everyone. That's another important part of being a Huntress." She turned to Heather. "Right?"
Heather nodded, smiling. "You're absolutely right."
"That's exactly the type of corny shit you would say," Qrow muttered with a smirk. Torrence nodded in silent approval.
Summer felt a warm sensation through her as her friends smiled at her. What she'd just said was something she believed with all her soul, and she was glad to see everyone else agree.
"…Justice, huh?" Harriet was smiling now. "It sounds…a bit too good to be true." She wiped away a tear, looking at Summer. "But…thanks. I…feel better now."
"That's all that matters." Summer smiled back.
A few minutes later, everyone shook Regal awake, and Team HTHR left (without cleaning up their mess, naturally).
"That was some speech, Summer," Tai grinned. "Wanna try out for public speaking sometime?'
Summer shuddered. "In your dreams."
"Indeed, those were uplifting words," Raven said, stretching out her arms. "But some would classify them as nothing but wishful idealism from a fairy tale. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't one of them, to an extent."
"I know," Summer replied. "But it's still something I believe in."
Qrow sighed. "Yeah, this is great and all, but can we talk about the important thing? The syndicate has struck again! We need to do something about it, fast!"
"I don't think there's anything we can do this time," Raven pointed out. "This incident occurred days ago. It's unlikely we'll find any clues."
"Tch…but I still don't like not being able to do anything."
"Well, then we'll just have to wait a few more weeks," Tai said cheerfully. "Soon, it'll be time for our first assignment! I'm sure we'll get a lead then!"
Raven nodded. "He's right. Our chance is coming very soon. But for now, let's enjoy what's left of our break." She pulled out a DVD case from her pocket. "Why don't we continue watching Season 14 of Heartbreak: Ninjas of Love?"
"NO!" Tai, Summer and Qrow screamed in unison.
"Philistines," she grumbled.
This is pretty much a filler chapter. I felt I needed to portray Team STRQ and HTHR actually going about their daily lives and hanging out like friends would (unlike me, since I have no friends). Though it does set up a couple things that will come into play soon.
I made up a fictional Remnant game because why not, it sounded fun.
Diana Crescend is a reference to the Greek Goddess of hunting and the moon, Artemis (whose Roman name is Diana). She may or may not get mentioned again later down the line...
Also, my schedule is pretty much screwed for the next month or so, as I'll be super busy with school. Until probably the end of May, updates will be more sporadic.
With that out of the way, enjoy and leave ad review!
