Defanged II
Eight hours earlier
Below a small brick building on the outskirts of Vale, a dozen faunus gathered in the basement.
It was a family-owned restaurant like many others in the city, closed for maintenance at the moment. Or, at least, that was what it was supposed to be. Though it did operate as a restaurant, customers would find the prices high, service mediocre and food lousy. The "restaurant" was in fact a cover for a White Fang base of operations. Hiding out in the Grimmlands didn't work as well as it used to, and they had been forced to adapt.
"Today we will strike the conference in the heart of Vale," Adam Taurus announced. "Security will be heavy, but nearly all of our sworn enemies will be represented here. It's a risk with a great reward. The symbolic value alone will be tremendous for our cause."
The rest of the group nodded approval. Some of the faunus were dressed like him in White Fang garb, with visible weapons. The others were much more inconspicuous, wearing the usual brightly-coloured clothing of Valic citizens. All were hand-picked members of the White Fang.
He tacked up a series of pictures to a well-used corkboard. Scrolls could be hacked and tracked, and he didn't trust them. Not after what that creepy bitch had tried to do.
"Councillors Ciera and Berry." He pointed out a face for each name. "As much as I hate to admit it, Ciera is the closest thing we have to an ally on the Vale Council. Kill her if you must, but try to avoid it. Berry I won't shed any tears for."
One faunus laughed quietly. The rest muttered agreement.
"Lieutenant Colonel Andres Schultz, United States Air Force." He spat the words. "We know what this bag of trash is responsible for. He may be a Colonel, but he's Terran. I bet he'll splatter like a jar of jam."
This time, the laughter was more prominent.
"Professors Oobleck and Peach." Adam paused. "They'll try to stop us. Avoid them. There's no love lost between me and Beacon Academy, but we all know how powerful hunters are."
"Weiss Schnee." He slammed his fist against the table. "I'm not entirely sure why she's there- perhaps some sort of publicity stunt. We all know what the Schnees stand for. Kill her if you have the chance, but be careful. She's well on her way to being a huntress."
The faunus under his command laughed and smirked wickedly. It was rumoured Weiss Schnee was more sympathetic to the faunus than her father, but it didn't matter. The only good Schnee was a dead Schnee.
"Blake Belladonna, the star of the show." Adam growled, a low, dangerous roar. "Our target. She's mine and mine alone."
He received a murmur of reluctant agreement in response.
"For too long, we have watched as our brothers and sisters were struck down mercilessly by an enemy that claimed they wanted peace," the bull faunus concluded, his voice controlled again. "Today, we strike back. Today, the New Fang rises."
"Looks good," Agent M. Royce Payton said to his counterpart, switching off his flashlight as they finished their rounds of the darkened facility. "I still have a few concerns about the screening, but there's nothing that can be done about that. If there's nothing else, I'll contact my superiors and let them know the good news."
"I can't help but ask why this is necessary," the security chief complained. He was a professional, and he didn't take kindly to having his work second-guessed by someone who had no idea how this world even operated. Why couldn't he just admit he was out of his element and let the experts handle it?
"I don't mean to question your work," Payton excused. He had immediately taken a disliking to the security chief, finding him irresponsibly arrogant. Still, he seemed to know what he was doing. "You have to understand my government has had a... storied history with events being interrupted. We're very careful, maybe even a little paranoid."
"As have we," he snapped. "We are familiar with terrorism, Mister Payton. It does happen here. We are also very careful."
"I'm not saying you aren't," the DSS agent backpedalled. "Look, I'm just doing my job."
"And so am I."
The Terran spent a moment trying to figure out what his counterpart was implying before shrugging and getting on his radio. "The site looks good. We have a go."
"...and that's why we must continue to fight terror at the source, in our own backyard. Thank you."
As Blake finished her speech, a round of quiet applause echoed through the room. She turned away from the dormitory mirror and frowned. "Did I do okay?"
"Why do you keep asking that?" Weiss asked from the corner of her bed. "You did great. Just like you did last time and the time before that."
"Sorry, it's just... I really want to get this right," the faunus excused.
"You will," she answered. "Just speak from the heart. You can't go wrong with that."
"You've changed."
"We've all changed."
"I thought you've done this before," the blanchette prodded, changing the subject..
"Interviews and streaming aren't the same as actually delivering a speech in front of people," Blake reminded her.
Weiss reflected briefly on her own experiences before agreeing. "True."
"What if something really bad happens?" Blake asked, quieter this time.
"I'm sure it's going to go fine," Weiss huffed. "People love you."
"Not everyone." They both knew she had a list of enemies a mile long.
"The people who don't like you are the ones who won't be there."
Blake chewed her lip. "Yeah, I guess."
Weiss hopped off the bed. "Three hours to showtime. Better get dressed or we're going to miss the flight."
Professor Bartholomew Oobleck found many things interesting. History, of course. The story of mankind and its endless struggle against the Grimm. And the next generation, what they needed to learn and what could be learned from them. If he didn't have those interests, he wouldn't be teaching, would he?
He also found the people filing into the auditorium interesting. Moreso even than the auditorium itself, which he understood had quite a storied history.
Ahead of them was a man in the uniform of the United States Air Force. A fascinating organization. They had rough equivalents on Remnant, of course, but how important the air was to Earth armies really spoke to the vast differences in doctrine. The Major- or was he a Lieutenant Colonel?- was surrounded by several others in black suits, one of them speaking quietly into an invisible microphone. The Secret Service, he surmised. No doubt there was a story behind that name that he would have to pry out of an Earther someday.
Splitting off from the slow-moving queue behind him was a group of faunus. Probably the Faunus Liberation Front, though they could be members of a different movement. He could also see the suspicious eyes of some of the humans in the room. No doubt the White Fang had not made things easy for faunus who genuinely wanted change through peaceful means.
He caught a glimpse of a few Councillors in the corner of his eye. Politicians were the same everywhere, a wise man had once said, and he was inclined to agree. It was amazing how their attitudes toward politicians were so similar to those on Earth despite the vast differences in government. Although sometimes he did question how many Earthers really saw politicians as nothing more than functionaries.
A tall woman wearing the uniform of the Royal Vale Army crossed the aisle in front of him, exchanging a few words with the American Major. He wished he could make out the words. The woman was wearing the wings of a pilot, so perhaps they were discussing aircraft. The vast technological differences and their consequences. Or perhaps something far more inconsequential.
"Interesting crowd today," Oobleck remarked to his companion.
"It's an interesting event," Professor Peach replied. The short, bright-haired woman darted forward, selecting a seat near the front of the section.
He was tempted to complain about the sub-optimal positioning, but instead nodded agreement and took a seat beside her. It would be interesting indeed.
In the dark maintenance shafts, the two faunus were invisible to those beginning to fill the building above. They couldn't stay down here forever, but soon it wouldn't matter.
One of the pair was a deer faunus, a now middle-aged woman who'd seen the Fang rise and fall again and again. She was one of the oldest, most reliable soldiers in the group. The other was a young woman with the tail of an otter, their foremost bomb expert in the Vale region since the last had been killed in an airstrike.
The young bomber clipped the last wire and twisted it together before surveying her work. "Done."
"Good." The deer faunus nodded. "Do you know when to hit the detonator?"
"Yeah, that's the one thing I'm worried about," she admitted.
"From the speech." The older faunus repeated, "Mass shooting with 191 deaths. This one-"
"-was our fault, in a way. It was the work of the White Fang." she finished. "I know what it's supposed to be. Blake sometimes ad-libs her speeches, that's what I'm worried about."
"You'll know when," the old soldier told her confidently.
The bomb master poked the connection again, frowned, and redid it.
"Should we really..." She trailed off, took a deep breath, and started again. "I've just- Isn't Blake one of the most outspoken advocates for faunus rights?" She let the question hang.
"Belladonna made her choice long ago, and so did we," she replied firmly. Her voice softened, and she clapped her hand on the young woman's shoulder. "Trying to take a third path is how we got here in the first place. She wants the same thing we do, sure, but she's not willing to do what needs to be done to get there. This is how we free our people."
She bit her lip. "Right. Sorry."
"You're nervous." They both knew it was a convenient lie. "You have every right to be, but you're the best we have. You know what you're doing, and you'll get it right. For our people."
"For our people."
Blake paced back and forth behind the stage, unable to contain her nerves. What if she froze up? What if she said the wrong things? What if someone tried to stop her? What if it was all a ploy to-
Weiss's ice-cold yet sugary sweet voice interrupted, "Blake."
"I know, Weiss, I know," she replied, stopping in her tracks. "I know it's silly, because I used to be at the front of every rally, but that was a long time ago, and it's different this time. I just don't want to get this wrong."
"Do you know what you're going to say?" Weiss asked firmly.
She replied, "Yes, but-"
Weiss cut her off. "Do you know how you're going to say it?"
Again, the faunus began to reply, "Yes-"
"Then you'll be fine." Weiss gave her hand a squeeze, the former heiress's skin cool against her own. She leaned forward and pecked her on the cheek. "Knock 'em out, Blake."
Posted without comment, because I am very tired right now.