XxX-XxX-XxX Official Supporters: Grand Priestess,
High Priest, Alvelvnor
Priest, The Impossible Muffin, Priest, Xager the Chaos King
Acolyte, DigiDemonLord, Acolyte, Stonecold, Acolyte, Espacole
Initiate, Final Heaven 63, Initiate, Greg Gibson If you want to be on the Supporter list, PM one of us for details or join our discord. Server ,.for details. Hope you enjoy reading my stories, and remember to post a Review/Comment to let me know what you liked and didn't. So, Fanfiction will not let me link to discord. So, I apologize to every single FF reader for this, but please PM me for a join link. And please consider doing so, I enjoy chatting with you lot. On AO3, the link is viable :
If I could trick FF into thinking this is not a link here it is (delete the spaces and turn):
D iscord . gg (slash) kfhkfUb
Betas for This Chapter :
XxX-XxX-XxX
"It's down there, Gnarl?" Jaune asked, standing at the top of a high cliff on the other side of the mountain from the ruined Portal-Shrine, kneeling at the cliff edge and looking down at the ledge below. "It's the only thing I can see for, like, miles around that isn't just the cliff for a thousand feet or more. Little ledge, with a tree beside it, albeit a hell of a lot bigger of one than your scroll said. And the only cave entrance looking thing for miles."
"Are you certain, my Master?" The Head Minion asked gently, sounding unsure himself after the description Jaune gave him. "It sounds like the location, as my notes here describe it, but… It's so much further down now. I'm unsure, truly, my most darkest Lord."
"I think that was wrong grammar…"
"Master, that would be improper grammar. If you're going to pedant, at least pedant properly, instead of like an uneducated peon." The Head Minion snarked idly, enough so that Jaune growled in agitation. "Fine, fine… Just trying to lighten the moment."
"Don't." He snapped, "Just read back the directions again, and be specific. Make sure I'm in the right place before I try and find a way down there."
"The Shrine faces the opposite direction, overlooking the valley below, where the Overlord's settlement plans were to be put into place." They never had been, though, Gnarl had said when he asked. The Overlord in question had only just found the location when he died, and no one else had taken the mantle until Jaune himself had. So there went any claims of ownership over Ansel, even if he had wanted them, which he really didn't. "Hike around the peak just above it to the cliff edge beyond, directly north of the Shrine, and find the small footpath over the enchanted tree that marks it to get down."
"This is the place then, definitely. There's the tree but the cliff doesn't have a footpath down, Gnarl, and stretches out on either side far enough for this to have to be the place. I would see any other options." 'Far enough' in this instance being about a mile to either side, the top of the cliff rising and dipping with the curve of the mountains. "But all I see is more cliff, and no paths anywhere on it."
"It's possible that it may have weathered away, Master." Gnarl suggested, "I would suggest maybe seeing if you can see anything else?"
"I already-"
"Please just look so I can think…"
"Fine." He sighed, rolling his eyes tiredly, "I'll look around a bit more."
At the base of it, the green forests the region was known for began, stretching on to the distant sea, and atop the cliff were sparse smatterings of the same trees. The cliff face was barren, mostly, all the way down though. Aside from a scant few wiry, spindling trees clinging to small protrusions of rock, their roots spiraling through the stone around and below them for anchorage, with curved trunks that reminded him oddly of snakes. On top of the mountains, though, more 'normal' pines stretched, the spiny trees climbing the steep incline not ten feet behind him towards the peak above, boughs laden with frost and snow as they climbed higher.
It was beautiful, really. The kind of scenic ideal he saw in fables and fairy tales all the time, when he was younger, depicting the arboreal forests fantasy seemed to love.
Unfortunately, he wasn't here for the view right now.
The ledge Gnarl was asking about sat about forty feet below him, barely a foot wide at the widest, ended on one side in a gnarling, twisting tree as large as an oak in direct spite of the difficulty of growing there, the highest boughs reaching up to brush against the cliff only a couple feet below him on that side. This cliff, he knew, stretched mostly naturally around the entire northern section of the mountain range, the reason Grimm didn't hoard over the peaks around Ansel and swamp it. Nature's bounty gave everything, including walls sometimes, if one was willing to look and work to shape it to your needs his father had always said.
Now, he could actually see what he meant, because nothing could ever even dream of scaling these mountains except avian Grimm. And those would be battered and broken by the updraft, a consequence of the wind coming in off the distant ocean he was certain, that intermittently and unpredictably spiked upwards hard enough he'd already lost one Guard-Minion to it, the poor creature screeching as it fell to the woods far below. A shame, really.
Their armor was expensive to make, relatively speaking, and they were even trained somewhat.
"So… This is a bit of a pickle, I guess." He sighed, taking a seat at the edge of the cliff with his axe behind him, unafraid of falling with the knowledge he could just teleport back to the weapon at will. "So falling isn't a problem, but teleporting back up here doesn't accomplish anything at all."
"No, Master, it does not."
"Do you think the Greens could scale this, Gnarl?" They were adept climbers, after all, he'd seen as much. Regularly, he saw them climbing trees around the Tower, either to get something done or just to heckle the Browns who weren't as good at it.
"Not with that wind, no, Master, but…" The Head Minion paused for a long moment. Long enough that Jaune began to grow impatient, flicking stones off the cliff top with his clawed Gauntlet and enjoying the solid 'thunk' the metal made when it hit. "Okay, my most benevolent and tolerant Master, so I might have had an idea…"
"Yeah, and the phrasing of that isn't inspiring a deep seated fear in me or anything." It came out far more barbed than he meant it to, kind of, and was low enough that the creature didn't respond to it. But in all fairness, he'd thought that the damn cave entrance would be as described. A small path leading down a couple feet to it, and a tunnel winding around to the little lagoon the Minions were kept in. "Of course, nothing ever comes as it says on the tin…"
"Pardon, Master?"
"Just give me your idea." He ordered quietly, shaking his head and at least enjoying the view in front of him while the Minion sighed dramatically.
"Well… I believe it's time our guest earns her keep."
XxX-XxX-XxX
"B-But I don't… I can't! I mean he's, he's…" Gnarl didn't know whether to be exasperated and agitated at the young woman's anxious rambling, or proud his master had inspire such pure and unbridled fear in the Faunus curled up on Blake's bed. Head between her knees, she gave her small frame a shake and almost shouted at him, anger and fear mixing together in her tone, "No. I won't go out on some mountain with that… That Human! He'll just kill me out there, where Blake can't find out!"
"Child, listen, you need to take a long and deep breath and cease your snivelling." He growled, wishing not for the first time his master hadn't ordered them to be gentle with the likes of the waif before him. In the old days, the things he'd have done to extract obedience… "We only wish for you to assist our master, the Dark Overlord, on an errand, of sorts, that has run into a snag."
"I'm not stupid." The girl countered, actually looking at him for the first time since he and the two Guard-Minions behind him had come into the room and she'd taken to hiding on the bed. As though fur and sheets would somehow protect her from them, amusingly. "I'm a terrorist and have been for years. Blake wants me safe. I go out there, though, he can say whatever he wants after he's killed me, and Blake is more likely to believe it."
"I believe you over value how much my Master cares for Mistress Blake's opinions, beyond how they affect Mistress Ruby's happiness." And she over estimated grossly how underhandedly clever his Master was as well, even if he'd had a couple strokes of genius with the bullheaded young man and the woman in their dungeons.
Two didn't make a pattern, though, he knew from past experience with Overlords he gave the benefit of the doubt and then buried.
"I gave my answer, and you can't force me to do anything but what I say." She responded stubbornly, dark eyes hard with spite, fear and obstinance.
In a way, the ludicrously old creature appreciated all three of those things in their own right, but right now they were quite simply in the way of his Master's wishes.
And that was a poor place to put oneself, unless one had the very best health insurance to market.
"If we wished you dead, I can assure you quite readily that we wouldn't need some underhanded scheming to get it done." He growled under his breath, tired by now of playing with his food, even if it was fun. He did have business to see to, after all, and this child was in the way. "You do not want to test my or my master's patience, girl. The consequences will be most unfortunate if you do, I assure you."
"I'm not afraid of your threats." The girl clearly was, but she asserted it all the same, forcing herself to relax at least visibly and cross her legs under her. Thumbs twiddling anxiously, she tried her bluff regardless, nearly impressing him for the second time that day. "You want my help, go get Blake, and she can come with me. Watch me climb down the cliff, since your giant Dust damn spiders apparently don't exist."
"They're too large, the sudden changes in the wind would rip the rocks free under their weight. I considered the young ones, but sadly they are too… Excitable and distractible." He sighed, headache threatening to form just at imagining trying to get a trio of the young spiders to ferry their Overlord down the cliff.
"I mean, I guess that makes sense…"
"Of course it does, you twit, because we aren't trying to kill you! Or threaten you, for that matter." Pinching the bridge of his nose, he sighed and grinned, baring his fangs for the girl who flinched in response, "Minions, if she continues to ignore my commands, be ready to pin her down and call for reinforcements. If she doesn't behave and quit the back talking, we will have no choice but to cut out her tongue and see how her attitude fares then."
"W-What?!" She stiffened and he smiled ever wider, sharp teeth bared threateningly as she stammered, "W-What are you saying?"
"That, my insufferable little prisoner, was a threat. I just threatened you. Specifically, I threatened to have my Minions hold you down while I rip your tongue out." He grinned, taking a wonderfully sick and twisted amusement in the way her eyes widened and her bottom lip quivered. Not terribly, of course, but just enough to tickle his evil little heart. "Now do tell, do you see the difference?"
"But I-I didn't-"
"Know before? Oh do not fear, I know you were ignorant, and I forgive you. Don't worry though, child, you just had a learning experience." He interrupted her, stepping close to reach up and pat her thigh confidently. Grinning all the while, he turned to leave and tossed over his shoulder, raising fingers to count out his points as he walked. "First, you learned what it really feels like to be threatened! How exciting! And you, more importantly, learned to obey your Overlord."
"B-But I don't serve the Overlord…"
"Oh, your third lesson!" He cackled at he door, turning and scraping his claws against the stone, letting out a painful screeching tone. Grinning ferally yet again when she flinched at the sound, he explained simply, "Everyone, every single person on this pitiable rock, serves one of two ends. Serving the Overlord's interests, or giving him a wonderfully uncooperative plaything to take out his aggression and more… Base desires on."
"So," he finished, "decide which you want to be. Servant, coming with me to the Portal-Pool, or a plaything, to be stripped and used to practice my torture methods on."
When he left, he barely made it around a bend where he could no longer see the cat Faunus' door before he heard it bang open. Behind him, he saw the woman following, pulling on her coat as they went and staring at the ground defeatedly. Cowed properly, then, like a proper servant ought to be. He'd need to press the importance of keeping her under yoke and quivering in fear on his Overlord, of course, but he was already making progress in breaking the young Faunus in.
Now she'd seen the stick, he could try and come up with a proper carrot to reward her obedience, if she returned from a successful outing.
XxX-XxX-XxX
"I'm grateful you agreed to help, Ilia. I know we don't get along all that much, so..." Honestly, he had been surprised when Gnarl suggested her, and even more so when she agreed to help him.
Overhead, the sun was beginning to dip past the apex of noon now, the girl standing behind him mutely, hands clasped in front of her stomach anxiously and dressed in her Fang uniform. For comfort and climbing, he supposed, looking at the textured gloves and knowing she'd been some kind of infiltrator for them. Hence their meeting, on a rooftop she'd had to have climbed to get onto, since it only had one entrance and he'd had an eye on it.
"Look, tell me if something is wrong, okay?"
"I-I'm fine, Overlord." She rushed to say, flinching when he stood and turned to her, bringing the haft of his axe down on the stone purposefully.
The action drew, as always, that satisfying 'clang' noise and she flinched slightly at it. For a moment, he saw her eyes flicker past him, to the cliff behind him, before she stepped back and away towards the steep incline that began only a couple feet behind him and rose to the cap of the mountain above. Once again, he looked up to it, breathing in the cold air and enjoying the sight like he always had as a child.
And that gave him an idea.
"I used to love looking up at these mountains as a kid." He droned gently, putting an effort into making it sound distracted and not reacting when she blinked and looked up at him. Turning, he took a seat on a rock at the edge of the cliff, axe laid across his legs comfortably. "I used to look up here when I was little and imagine fairies, playing in the snow."
"F-Fairies?" The mention of something as ridiculous as that was enough to shock her out of her fear of him.
Just like he'd hoped, if only for a moment.
"Yeah, I was… I was a dumb kid, but we all are at one point or another." He laughed and, if only just a little, he saw her relax at the warm sound. Shaking his head, he waved back the way they'd come and explained, "Ansel, that's the town you saw. I grew up there."
"It looks nice…"
"It is. It's a good place, where people can go to… Forget who they were, what they've done, who they did it for. Where race doesn't matter, as long as you do your share for the community." He trailed off for a moment, meeting the woman's confused stare with his own, eyes glowing through his helmet. Gently, he waved again, this time gesturing at her. "A place I would protect at all costs, and never risk. And where I could use a good woman, to watch my family for me."
"Y-You have kids?"
"What?" He blinked, the serious moment he'd worked so hard to cultivate broken in an instant at her surprised squeak. "No! I'm only eighteen, almost. I meant, like… My dad, my mom, my sisters, that kind of family."
"Oh…" He saw her scales flush cutely, then, and the woman blinked anxiously. Quietly, she murmured, "Yeah, that makes sense, I'm sorry…"
"It's fine, Ilia, it's… Fine." He sighed, rolling his eyes behind his helmet. An air for theatrics was something he had in spades, he knew, but apparently it didn't always work out. His mistake, lack of talent that he'd thought he had, or maybe just Ilia throwing it off, he couldn't be sure. "The point I was getting at was, once the Fang are dealt with… Ansel will be a safe place for you to settle."
"You'll… Let me go?" He could hear the disbelief in her voice and see it etched into her face and body, tense even when he nodded. Laughing weakly, barely more than a stunned guffaw of exhaled air, she gasped, "J-Just like that?"
"I reward those who serve me loyally and successfully, Ilia. Human, Faunus, Minion, you do your job and you get what you earned." His answer was simple, but seemed to motivate her well enough. When she nodded, he lifted the axe from his lap and held it out towards her, keeping the blade facing him to further sell that it wasn't a trick or trap of some kind. "Take this, tie it to your back, and climb down to the base of that tree. There will be a cave. Get inside with this and whistle, I will be there once you do."
"Magic, right?" Unasked was the obvious, if he was using the same ability as he's used in their fight. He nodded and she sucked in a breath, nodded as much to him as to herself, and reached out to take the weapon. He let it go and she clutched it to her chest in both hands, marvelling at it and murmuring, "It's so light…"
"It's enchanted to be lower weight, so I can fight longer and move with less hindrance. And so I can throw it, like you saw in our… Yeah." He explained, the woman holding it horizontally in a single hand and spinning it idly, like a baton. Tapping his chest, he added, "My armor has the same, as does my cloak. It should make it easier to climb down with it."
"I was worried about the weight, yeah." She nodded, still quiet but either less afraid of him now he'd joked with her, and given her a future out, or just hiding it better with a job to do. "I'll whistle when I get there, and give you some space to, er, magic your way down."
"And I will be waiting." He nodded, standing and asking, "Do you need rope or anything? Gnarl can-"
"I got it. I've climbed everything from Kingdom Walls to mountains, this is cake for someone like me." She assured him, stepping past him to the cliff edge and leaning over, arm outstretched to feel the breeze for several seconds.
Satisfied, she twisted at the waist and tugged at the back of the straps around her chest, pulling them free and sliding the halberd into place. Then, she took a couple steps back, and leapt off the cliff, twisting in midair like a cat as she fell. Surprised, to say the least after how scared she looked of the cliff before, he ran to the edge and looked down to see where she'd landed.
All he caught of her was a glimpse of her ruddy colored hair disappearing into the tree below.
"Well… She was an infiltrator, from what she explained to me." He shrugged, hearing her whistle a moment later and rising, raising his Gauntlet beside him and taking a deep breath. Fingers pressed together, he snapped theatrically, vision blurring and soon replaced by the dark interior of a cave.
"Good work, Ilia." He nodded, standing beside the shallows of a pool that led in, deepening, until the water turned a dark blue. In the water, he saw the flitting shapes of fish flicking and twisting, rushing away into the blackness as he stepped to the edge and peered into the short, long cave.
He couldn't see in the dark, but he knew Faunus could, and turned to give the woman a look. "See anything?"
"I see rocks piled into little walls, and…" She swallowed anxiously, but added, "And yellow… Yellow eyes. A bunch of them, staring out from the very back of the cave at us. Too far for even me to see in the dark."
Knowing what that meant, he ginned and raised his hand high into the air, the glowing gem facing into the cave and burning a bright red that lit the water a ruddy red in front of them, and bellowed, "To me, my Minions! Your master has come calling, at long last! So come to me, and serve!"
It only took a moment to hear his very favorite sound, echoing loudly from the back of the cave and out to them, "The Overlord!"
It took a few hours to pull the Hive from the water and haul it to the edge, after which he sent Ilia right back up the cliff with his axe in tow. Another whistle and, a hand on the Hive, he teleported himself - and it - to the top of the cliff, leaving his newly acquired Blues to climb up on their own. A demand they seemed surprisingly adept at, given their aquatic origin, but he supposed adaptation was a king among the court of skills to have.
Like the Hive itself, the Blues were smaller than the others, pale like water and covered in clusters of scabby spots like barnacles on a ship. Unlike the Browns who wore leathery coverings and fur wraps, or the Greens who wore old, tattered cloth wrapped around their frames when he found them, these were mostly naked, with simple loincloths hanging off their waists and nothing else. That would change very soon, he was certain, given how cold it was at the Tower. But he doubted they would care, too dumb to mind anything more than the access to the ocean they would have and the Overlord they could serve.
Finally, with Ilia beside him and three dozen spindly blue Minions hoiting the Hive behind him, he ordered them home.
"-she at, Gnarl!" He heard the sound before the crackling of the Portal faded and his vision returned, swiftly feeling something his size slam into him and shove him bodily out of the pool and onto his back beside it. Blinking, he caught a sight of amber eyes before he felt something press against his helmet, covering an eye. "Where is Ilia, Jaune? If you hurt her, I'll put a round right through your eye!"
"Blake, it's not what you think, okay? Just-"
"Why does anyone say that?" She asked, pressing the barrel of Gambol Shroud against his head roughly. Sensing his Minions' panic and anger, he held up a hand, curled into a single fist ordering them to 'hold'. She either didn't notice, or didn't care, straddling him and leaning down to hiss into his face, "People that say that are typically doing exactly what it looks like!"
"Blake?" He heard the Portal die a moment before he heard the chameleon's words, a moment before he felt the weight on his waist shift.
"Oh, hi, Ilia, funny you should show up." He sighed, fighting the urge to shove Blakeoff him and instead waving a hand easily. "Please tell your friend here I did not, in fact, hurt you at all. And that you still have a pulse, preferably."
"Uh...: Hi, Blake?" The smaller Faunus was, as always and of course, nervous at the sudden turn of events. He felt Blake shift to look at her, presumably to see if she'd been hurt, and Ilia explained, "He needed my help with something, so I… Helped him, and now we're back. I'm fine. He just... Can't climb like I can."
"Climb? What does that mean?" She asked, thankfully removing her gunbarrel from his eye, though she stayed on top of him and glared down at him. Like it was somehow his fault she had jumped to conclusions.
Though in annoying fairness, Ilia had seemed to harbo the same fears…
"The Blue Hive was located in a little cave, set into the cliffs behind Vale, facing the ocean." He explained, realizing only now how cruel that kind of was. They loved the water, but were relegated to a small lake in a cave, subsisting on fish, while they stared out at the ocean they would love to swim. "I couldn't make the climb down, but I knew Ilia could."
"Why not just use your Minions?" She asked, the same question Ilia had asked him not an hour previous. Now he thought about it, he supposed it would be obviously suspicious to anyone who didn't know the Ansel Range as well as he did. "Or the giant spiders? I mean, I see them climbing the Tower all the time. With Minions on, and five of them easily equals one of you. You shouldn't have needed Ilia for it."
"Can you please get off me first? I mean, I don't mind a pretty girl on top of me, but you're no Ruby." She blinked, flushed, and then mutely did as he asked, stepping away towards the balcony so she could watch him and the dozen or so assembled Minions warily. Rolling onto his knees he grabbed his axe and used it to pull himself to his feet, dusting off his armor and grunting a short, "Thanks."
Hopefully the comment about Ruby wouldn't get back to Yang, but he hadn't thought about it until now. He'd just wanted to be snippy.
Joy, blonde death was in the forecast for him again.
"Sorry, I just…" The woman sighed and shrugged unsurely, trailing off into silence. "I was worried about her."
"I get it, but I wish you people would trust me. I gave my word not to hurt her, didn't I? And an Arc always keeps his word." Even if an Overlord might not, he knew which order of titles he respected the most. An Overlord second, an Arc first, and always a hero before both. "Anyway, to answer your question, the Ansel Range has sheer cliffs on the opposite side, facing the ocean. Cold air from Atlas hits the warmer sea, and causes high winds along the Mantel Sea, that then comes into Sanus and shoots up the Ansel Range too hard and fast for anything large to climb it."
"And I'm a good climber, he… I guess he knew that, since I climbed up to the roof that night." The specifics of the night didn't need to be mentioned for Blake to flinch, ears flicking anxiously at the reference. "Or maybe Gnarl did, since he's the one who, uh, convinced me to help?"
"Oh yes, I can be quite coercive when I want to. Now, Master- Step aside you asinine oafs, I need to speak to the Master." The Hed Minion snarked, finally arriving, or more likely finally deciding to make his presence known, and pushing through the grouped Minions. Finally clear of them, and staring unamusedly at Blake, the creature asked in a nonchalant, goading way as he tended to like, "Now, Mistress, I have to ask… Do you regularly mount men in full public?"
"Eh?"
"Gnarl!"
"Blake?!" Ilia's shout was the loudest, the girl literally turning a shade of scarlet and stiffening on the spot, looking at the cat Faunus with wide eyes.
"Gnarl, I want Giblet to get to work on a new, enchanted wooden spoon for Ruby." The creature whined, eyes wide in fear and lip trembling as it started stammering protests, and Jaune raised a hand. Smiling under his helmet, he shrugged and simply added, "I hope you enjoyed your joke, Gnarl. Because now Ruby is going to have you slaving to make her the cookies she so loves."
"Master…" The creature whined but, at an angry wave, turned to sadly ord a handful of Minions away towards the Forge to have Giblet set to work. Turning back, and sounding pained as it did, Gnarl sighed, "It will be done, my Lord."
"You, explain everything to Blake for me. I don't want any more guns in my face, or surprise attacks from your Blake." The Cat woman bristled at the term but Jaune ignored her entirely, instead turning and speaking to the Minions now. "All of you, get to work integrating the new Hive and bulking the Blue's numbers. I want a hamlet built for them, too, by the coast nearby. Something small, easily hidden, you know the drill."
It was what they were used to, he knew, after centuries laying low and hiding instinctively. Already, a handful were turning, heading off to corral Worker-Minions to set to work on either task. Personally, he looked forward to having the healing potential of the Blues on side almost as much as having them around to fish. Venison and forage was good, but after only having that for eight months now, nearly?
He needed some fish around here…
"I'm going back out, now. Half of you," he waved a hand at the Blues, "come with me, we need to see about healing some injuries. If we heal Amber, then Cinder might be able to be ours. And with that, revenge!"
"Er, Master…" Gnarl's words were lost in a resounding, thunderous cheer from his Minions. Most of whom, he knew, had no idea what the revenge was for, but were cheering regardless. For their Overlord, or just because everyone else was, it didn't much matter to him at the end of the day. Once it quieted down, the small creature coughed awkwardly and called out to him, "Master, you have, er, visitors awaiting you in the courtyard."
"Visitors?" He hadn't been expecting anyone, and everyone he was working with would have told him about it. It took him a minute but he blinked, nodding understandingly as he finally recalled. "Ah. Yes. Those two, Qrow should have brought them here. That who is waiting for me, Gnarl?"
"Yes, Master."
"Hm…" That gave him an idea as well, one that held a lot of risks in its own right, but a lot of potential benefits as well. Tapping the base of his axe against the stone floor he finally nodded. "I'll go and see them first, then. Send word to Ozpin that I will be by tomorrow morning to try and heal Amber, and reiterate until you turn blue in the face that it may fail."
"Of course, Master. I will make it very, very clear how our limitations stand." Gnarl nodded, the duo more than aware of how likely them failing really was, as little as they knew about the injuries Amber had suffered.
"Good." He could trust Gnarl to handle Ozpin, the two seemed to get along well enough by what little he'd seen. Or they were both great actors, and despised each other. Regardless, a Jaune that didn't have to deal with ozpin was a happier Jaune. "Send Guard-Minions to retrieve Cinder before you leave, and have her brought out to the courtyard."
"Punishment with her little pets here?" The Minion cackled, shaking its head wryly. "Oh, my Master, how cruel! How evil! How… Nonsensical, you really shouldn't provoke them needlessly. Or do you have a plan?"
"No punishment, Gnarl." He grunted simply, "Rather, negotiation with our enemy, to see if we can't finally make some real headway."
With a little luck, he might be able to find a way to punish Cinder and go after the White Fang at the same time. And do so immediately, without needing to play games with Ozpin to get him and Ironwood on his side. Though really, he might just go to Ironwood directly and ignore Ozpin entirely, working with him to get the Tower recognized properly and destroy the White Fang.
A perfect plan for going forward, fallen right into his lap thanks to Qrow's bleeding heart.
XxX-XxX-XxX
Thank you for all the well wishes. I am doing marginally better, though still not at a hundred, as you may all understand. So if it's a little rough in places, I apologize sincerely.
Regardless, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I reintegrated some ideas about the Minion fetching scene I originally envisioned into this, though I had to streamline slightly, so I hope it works out. Mostly, I just wanted to show some of the process of getting there.
Stay Twisted, my friends~!
XxX-XxX-XxX
Dr. Killinger :
I mean, Salem is immortal, what does she have to worry about if she pisses off an Overlord really? A few decades of annoyance before he keels over and she can mop up his forces, whatever they may be, before any heir imaginable can get everything under control?
So is not a bad plan, though no plan is a bad one when you can't fucking die.
Dirtrevor :
You said that and I just imagined a squadding up scene, where Jaune gets, like, a pep talk from Ruby and then goes marching through Ansel as the entire Arc family just rolls out like some kind of posse ready for a roundup. Beautiful imagery.