After leaving Sierra's house, Roy spent the next few days walking to the headquarters of the nearest branch of the White Fang.
At the moment, Roy was lying shirtless on his cot, reading a news report on a scroll he had borrowed. The headline was a report on several Schnee company executives going missing, the article strongly suggested that the White Fang had something to do with it, if not directly responsible for the disappearances.
Roy snorted, "Ridiculous" he thought, the notion that the White Fang would stoop so low as to abduct people was enough to make him smile and shake his head.
Suddenly, a whistle sounded through the camp. The whistle was the signal to assemble at the center of the camp to receive orders and go out on assignments.
Roy got up carefully, his wounds hadn't quite healed completely yet and his broken rib was still sore. Reaching over, he grabbed his new white fang uniform. Slipping it on, Roy half trotted, half limped to the center of the camp for the assignment.
He arrived to find his new comrades gathered around a large dust crate, standing on the crate was the leader of the local branch: Lennox. He was a raccoon faunus, with a large ringed tail and dark shadows around his blue eyes.
"Listen up people!" Lennox barked, capturing everyone's attention. "The target of tonight's raid is this guy!"
Lennox held up a picture of a man. He looked to be in his 40s he had short white hair and gray eyes.
"This guy," Lennox continued "Is a Schnee company executive, we are going to have a word with him about his affiliations with Schnee and Ironwood."
Roy grinned to himself, "having a word with someone" was a tongue in cheek way of talking about what the White Fang called a "Rough and Rob."
The White Fang would normally rob an exec's house while it was empty, but sometimes to send a louder message, they would break in while the house was occupied.
The meeting over, Roy headed back to his tent to grab his gear.
Lifting the flap, he stepped inside and went over to his cot. Bending down, he reached under the small canvas and wood bed, pulling out a long object wrapped in a cloth. Sitting down on the bed, he unwrapped the object and held it up.
It was the plasma blade he'd taken from the warehouse. Somehow, he'd kept a death grip on the weapon as he'd fled the warehouse. During his recovery, he'd cleaned the blood from the handle, resharpened the blade and restored it back to its former glory.
The blade was 6" in length and black in color. The handle was rounded and wrapped in blue cord which was interrupted by an activation button. When activated, the blade was surrounded by a border of red plasma hot enough to cut through most materials.
He'd fashioned a leather arm sheath for it and slipped it on, adjusting the straps until it was bound tightly to his left forearm. Slipping the knife into the sheath, he rotated his hand and arm to see if the sheath impeded his movement at all. Satisfied that he could move adequately, he raised his hood, put on his mask and returned to the transport.
The trip to the executive's house took about an hour and by the time they landed, Roy's legs had started to fall asleep. As he stepped out of the transport, he breathed a sigh of relief as the tingling in his feet subsided.
Looking towards the mansion, he took in the sight of the tall three-story house, with large swooping gables and a blue shingled roof that offset the white siding nicely.
He turned to the squad leader Garrett. "What's the game plan?" Roy asked in a whisper.
Garrett turned and gave him a look of disdain, "Is that all this is to you, a game? Gods, you new guys make me sick." he snapped.
Turning swiftly away from Roy, he stalked away.
"As for the "game plan"…" he scoffed over his shoulder, "You'll find out with rest of your group" }
Roy's "group" as it turned out was in charge of moving the stolen goods out of the house and into the transport, meaning that Roy wasn't actually a part of the initial entry. He simply sat and waited until Garrett signaled Roy's group to come forward.
"Get in there and pack up the office," Garrett growled at the group of faunas, "Grab as many files and dossiers as you can. The Atlas security forces will be here in 4 minutes, you have 2. Go!"
Roy bolted into the house, through the foyer and took the second left into a grandly furnished office. Embers glowed faintly in a small fireplace, above which was a large portrait of the executive and his family.
A large desk took up the center of the room, and was covered in files and other pieces of stationary. a wooden name plate sat front and center with the name "Matsudo Shino" embossed on it.
Running over to the desk he pulled open a drawer and started emptying the contents into a box. Once it was full, he picked the box up and turned to one of his comrades,
"I'll take this out to the transport," He said. All he got was a grunt in return.
Shrugging, he exited the office, turned left and entered a hallway that lead down to the backdoor.
Exiting out into the backyard he started jogging toward the transport.
A terrified cry stopped him dead in his tracks.
Turning to look into the yard, he saw several White Fang savagely beating the executive. His wife and two daughters were forced to sit and watch as their loved one was beaten. The wife suddenly sprang up and tried to stop one of the faunus who'd just dealt her husband a savage kick.
The faunus turned and, without hesitating, backhanded her across the face, Roy heard the smack from where he was standing.
Something inside him snapped and he dropped the file box he was carrying. Sprinting forward, he grabbed the Faunus by the shoulder, "Hey! That's ENOUGH!"
The large faunus growled and shoved him away. Roy stepped forward and suddenly he was standing between the two Faunus and the rest of the target's family.
The second of the faunus stepped forward. "Move it pipsqueak! We want to have some fun!"
Roy drew the plasma blade and activated it. "Over my dead body!" he stated cooly.
The plasma blade buzzed and hissed in his hand as he struck a ready stance. The two Faunas shot each other amused looks, one was a bull faunus, very hefty with a scar along his chin. The other was a Lemur Faunus with a large tail. They were both taller and broader than the younger cat faunus. He would be no challenge.
The Lemur grinned evilly and swung his foot into the executive's stomach once more, causing the man to cough and wheeze roughly.
"Stop!" Roy exclaimed, pointing the hissing bayonet steadily at the sneering faunas.
The Lemur raised his hands, "What? He's just a human."
Suddenly, he lunged forward, swinging a massive left hook, Roy swayed backwards slightly, letting the fist pass by harmlessly. The Lemur over swung, leaving his face exposed and Roy shoved his weaponless hand forward in a palm strike that connected with the Lemur's nose. There was an audible crack as the Lemur's nose broke. He let out a muffled cry of pain and retreated, clutching his nose. The bull waited until the Lemur recovered then they both charged him. Roy dove between the two foes, attempting to roll back to his feet behind them. His side twinged painfully and he fumbled the roll, not making it nearly as far as he wanted.
He felt the bull grab his leg and swing him around. He smashed into the turf, the impact driving all the air from his body.
The Lemur pounced on top of him, "You little shit!" he snarled, "You're going to pay for breaking my nose!"
Roy coughed and gasped trying to get air back into his lungs. "I'd say it's an improvement" he gritted out.
He slashed the plasma blade across the Lemur's chest. The faunus howled and fell back, his hands flying to the wound. The bull swung his fist down, trying to smash Roy's head. He rolled backward just in time, finding his feet once more. Running forward, Roy threw a high kick into the bull's face and knocked him sideways to the ground. He wrapped his arm around the bull's neck, putting him in a headlock. Gritting his teeth, Roy raised the plasma bayonet.
A shot rang out and Roy's shoulder erupted in pain, he yelled and dropped the bayonet. The bull broke out of the headlock and swung his elbow hard into Roy's partially healed rib. Roy heard a snap and his side was on suddenly fire. He slumped to the side, heart pounding in his ears.
"What the HELL is going on over here?" a voice yelled.
Garrett stalked over and stood above Roy, a gun held in his hand. The bull was helping the Lemur up and pointed at Roy, "That little asshole was keeping us from having our fun!"
Garrett face palmed and walked over to the target. Hoisting him up, he shoved him toward the transport, "Our orders," he explained, "Were to kidnap the executive and his family, we were given permission to rough the executive up, but you weren't supposed to harm the women!"
Roy couldn't believe what he was hearing; the White Fang were indeed responsible for the disappearances around Atlas.
Garrett put his hands on his hips, "Now. if you two neanderthals are finished being nearly beaten by a boy, grab the rest of the family and bring them to the transport"
The bull smirked and moved threateningly toward the mother and the two daughters. Roy dragged himself forward and grabbed the bull's pant leg, "No...I won't...let you…"
The bull looked surprised, "Do you want to die, pipsqueak?"
Garrett stepped forward, "We don't like turncoats in the White Fang." he said in a dangerous tone of voice. He pressed his pistol to Roy's temple.
Roy squeezed his eye shut, expecting a bullet at any moment. Several agonizing seconds went by, then the cold barrel was withdrawn.
"But you have spirit, unfortunately you have no place in the White Fang if you don't have the guts to do what has to be done" Garrett turned away, "leave him...and them"
the bull started to protest, "But...our orders!"
"Orders can change, I thought it was dumb to bring the whole family anyway. If anyone asks, the cops showed up early." Garrett said dismissively.
The bull looked torn. then gritted out "yes sir."
Roy heard numerous footfalls as the White Fang filed into the transport. Then came the mechanical whine of the engines and the downdraft of the propellers as the transport lifted off. The whine faded into the night, leaving the air quiet and still. The only sound that could be heard was a quiet sobbing from the smallest Shino girl.
Roy coughed and winced, he was in a bad way. His rib was broken again and he had a bullet lodged in his arm. He slammed his fist into the ground,
Sierra was right, he thought bitterly, The White Fang has...fallen so low.
A soft, gentle hand touched his uninjured shoulder. "Thank you for protecting us."
Looking up, he saw the executive's wife kneeling in front of him. Looking past her, Roy saw the older daughter hugging the smaller daughter who was hiding her face.
Roy's ears drooped with shame "I'm so sorry," he said bitterly, "This...isn't how it's supposed to be."
He looked into the face of the wife and was surprised by what he saw: a quiet, gentle compassion. What had he been expecting to see?
Anger?...Resentment?
But no, this woman who had just seen her husband taken away by faunus was thanking him.
The woman cupped his chin tenderly in her hand, "How old are you?" she asked,
"15" Roy replied.
The sadness became more pronounced on the woman's face, "So young and yet you've already been scarred in so many ways."
She turned and called to the older daughter, "Sasha! help me get him to his feet."
The older daughter got up and ran to help her mother hoist Roy to his feet. His side lanced with pain and he cried out. They paused but he gently removed their hands and stood on his own volition.
The younger daughter who'd been hiding behind her older sister came forward slowly. She had steel grey eyes and dirty blonde hair, there were tears in her steel blue eyes and she was trembling.
Roy sank down to one knee in front of her and looked her in the eyes. The girl reached out a trembling hand to touch his cat ears. Roy shied away from her hand and slowly stood. "I'm so...sorry." he repeated, his voice breaking as his throat constricted. Turning away, he slowly staggered away into the surround darkness.
Wow. I see how it is...Don't you guys hate getting shot in the arm? me too. So...anyways, A Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Quanza. Etc. I love all of you and thank you for your continued support. We just broke 1500 views! I will be taking a short break from posting chapters, I'm going to take a moment to gather my thoughts and enjoy my christmas. I will be back sometime around new years. Do not worry, I have no intention of disappearing, my story is finished and I just have to post it. I hope you guys will stick around! Until next we meet! -Ar3mRising
