Just a Slight Change of Plans

Kuo Kuana Streets

Come on, thought Aegis as he continued wandering the town, you've been following me for at least the last hour, what's the deal? It had been difficult keeping track of the girl tailing him, especially when Aegis figured out she could change colors to blend into her surroundings. Should've figured the White Fang would be in Menagerie, thought Aegis, but there's no way they could've known I'd be here. So the only possible explanations I can think of are either they have spies all over here or this one just so happened to spot me on the way into town, which I guess isn't so surprising considering how conspicuous I was arriving.

Aegis continued discreetly checking over his shoulder, noting that the girl was still behind him and maintaining a certain distance to avoid being completely seen. Good news is, thought Aegis, she doesn't seem to have caught onto the fact that I noticed her. Aegis shifted around a group of three Faunus as he continued to move through the crowd. Bad news is, there are way too many people here for me to start a fight using my weapon, heck I'd have a hard time just using my fists right now without hitting someone else on accident, so what to do?

Aegis continued glancing around the market place as he tried to find a less crowded area to move to. She'll keep the same distance so long as I stay on the main streets, thought Aegis, but if I managed to slip out of sight around a corner. Aegis checked a nearby window to make sure he was still being followed as he approached what looked like a small alleyway. Let's see what we can do with this, he thought.

Just as he was passing by the alleyway, Aegis jumped sideways and began running before he leaped up and kicked off one wall, then the other as he climbed up onto the roof of one of the small buildings. As he looked back, he caught sight of the chameleon girl running into the alley in too much of a hurry for her to glance up as she stopped at the other end, looking around frantically as she tried to figure out what just happened. Watching all those spy movies finally paid off, thought Aegis as he dropped down behind his confused pursuer, speaking of which.

The chameleon girl turned around just as Aegis tackled her and pinned her to the wall with his elbow. "Who do you work for?" Exclaimed Aegis. "What seriously, you're actually asking that question?" grunted the chameleon girl. "No, I've just always wanted to say that," Replied Aegis in a far less hostile tone, "But seriously, who are you and why the heck are you following me?"

"My name is Ilia if you must know, and you're the suspicious one, showing up in town from out of nowhere covered in blood," answered the chameleon girl, "Everyone else is curious too you know, I'm just one of the ones who was interested enough to try and find out." "Yeah sure," said Aegis, "And you just happen to be wearing a White Fang mask, who I've had some less than pleasant encounters with recently."

"That's not my fault," said the girl innocently, "There's a splinter group in the Vale faction of the Fang, a very violent splinter group who doesn't follow the rest of the Fang's ideals, those of us in Menagerie and the rest of Remnant are believers in the path to peace!"

"That is a compelling argument," said Aegis thoughtfully as he increased the pressure of his elbow against her, "Except for one problem, I never mentioned that I encountered the White Fang in Vale."

Oh crap, thought Ilia as she avoided Aegis's gaze, he's not as thick-headed as I thought, I guess that means plan B. "Alright, the truth then," said Ilia as she discreetly reached behind her, "I know who you are, and I might even know why you're here, but I'm telling you now it's all pointless."

"Why's that," asked Aegis, "Is it 'cause I'm up against forces I can't possibly comprehend or something like that?" "That, and the fact that your journey is ending," said Ilia as she withdrew her weapon and pointed at Aegis's chest where he couldn't see it easily, "Very soon."

Aegis, realizing what was happening quickly moved to the side as he was forced to release his grip on his prisoner to avoid the electrified end of an extendable metal whip. Okay, she's not just an average spy, thought Aegis as he avoided another couple of swings from his enemy's whip before charging right at her, forming glass gauntlets as he did so. Ilia spun around and swung her whip directly at Aegis's head.

The whip flashed yellow as it struck against Aegis's left gauntlet, shattering it completely as Aegis barreled into Ilia, knocking her off her feet. Ouch, thought Aegis, even with glass armor that still stings A LOT. As he thought this, Ilia managed to roll back up to a half-kneeling position as she swung her whip horizontally, aiming for his torso.

Aegis managed to block the whip with his right gauntlet, doing his best to ignore the burning sting from the shattering gauntlet as he hit his opponent in the stomach with a left upper cut which caused her to cough in pain as she was sent another few feet away.

"This can go one of two ways," said Aegis, "You can just tell me what you're really doing here or I can beat it out of ya, and just so you know I'm always up for a good fight." A look of anger and annoyance crossed Ilia's face as she stood back up and swung her whip across the ground, kicking up a dust cloud which temporarily blinded Aegis as she turned and ran. "Oh no you don't," said Aegis as he ran out of the alley after her and into the town streets.

Atlas: Weiss's Room in Schnee Manor

"That has to be the most complicated shower I have ever used," said Wayne as he stepped out of the bathroom, currently wearing a spare shirt and black pants he'd brought along with him, "I was afraid I was gonna need a manual to figure out all the buttons." Weiss had had some of the staff come by to take his combat outfit to be washed because, according to her, they were 'riddled with dirt, grime, and smelled absolutely terrible.'

"I've never had a problem with it," said Weiss as she sat on her bed, Myternaster resting right next to her. "Well the shower I grew up with had one knob for hot and cold," said Wayne as he sat down in a nearby chair, "Your shower has buttons for temperature, spray pattern, pressure and there's even a suds option for # # 's sake, and speaking of problems, did a bunch of guards stop by here earlier?"

"Not hardly two minutes after you went in to shower," said Weiss, "They told me some dangerous guy in a ratty coat was loose in the mansion, it took me at least five minutes just to apologize to them for you beating them up, but at the very least I've managed to convince them that you aren't here to cause trouble, which reminds me, you haven't told me how or why you're here yet."

"Ah yes, where to begin, well the gist of it is I got in here with some help from a huntress who can create portals with a really big sword, popped up in a bathroom of all places," said Wayne as he leaned back in the chair, "And the reason why I'm here is because Haven Academy is in really, really big trouble and we kind of need your help to find your sister Winter and give her some data on the White Fang." "Where did you get data on the White Fang," questioned Weiss.

"Well it's kind of a long story, and gosh this is a comfortable chair," said Wayne as he pulled out his scroll, "You remember that panther Faunus guy from the Vytal festival, Drake Beller, well he gave it to me and Aegis." "Wait Drake Beller," said Weiss with a note of surprise in her voice, "The guy who tried to kill you twice and gave you those scars on your left arm, gave you that data?"

"I know it sounds really, oddly, incredibly weird," said Wayne as he pulled up the files on his scroll, "But apparently me beating him a second time made him rethink his life a bit, when we met him he'd left the White Fang, and he even has a 'human' girlfriend now." Weiss tilted her head in confusion for a moment before responding.

"So wait, you're telling me that the guy who spent a good deal of his life hating humans and tried to kill you, in the span of a few months managed to change his ways so much so that he actually welcomes having a human companion?" Said Weiss, disbelief somewhat evident in her voice.

"Well I mean look at you," said Wayne, "I'm sure not so long ago if I'd walked in here unannounced you'd probably threaten to have security throw me out before listening to what I had to say, or at least given me an earful."

"I'm not sure I would've gone that far," said Weiss, "But you definitely wouldn't have gotten a hug, so I suppose I see your point." "And take a look at this," said Wayne as he tossed the scroll to Weiss, who caught it in her hands, "If even half of that data is true, we can't afford to ignore it."

Weiss was silent for several moments as she read through some of the data, a look of concern crossing her face. "You're right," Agreed Weiss as she tossed the scroll back to Wayne, "We need to get to Mistral as soon as possible."

"Any chance we can't just contact Winter from here?" Asked Wayne. "I'm afraid not," said Weiss, hanging her head a little, "Father won't let me contact anyone unless he approves of it first, and he's not on the best of terms with my sister right now, especially with Ironwood blocking dust exportation out of Atlas."

"Geez," said Wayne, "What's the guy got against you talking to people, I mean I know me and everyone else at Beacon might not have made the best impression when he showed up, but this seems a little extreme?"

"It wasn't because of you," said Weiss, a note of sadness entering her voice, "I had a bit of an outburst at a fundraiser for Vale, one of my summons got out of control, and now father has forbidden me from leaving the mansion, cut off my communication from the outside world, and-," Weiss took a deep breath before she continued, "He's revoked my claim to the Schnee Dust Company, I am no longer the heiress to the family business."

Wayne felt his hand tighten on the arm of the chair as he listened to the news, "So that little dipstick brother of yours really is the heir now?" "Yes," replied Weiss sadly. Wayne remained silent for a moment as he fought down the anger within him, "Anything I can do to help?" he finally asked.

"It's a problem for another time," said Weiss as she sat up straighter, "Right now we have a much bigger problem, and I won't sit by and let Haven become just like Beacon." Wayne nodded his head as his grip loosened on the chair, an imprint of his hand still remaining, "Alright then, first things first, we need to get out of here."

"I've already got a plan for that," said Weiss with a slight smirk, "Though we're gonna need something to keep the staff a little busier now that you're here." "I think I may have a solution for that," said Wayne as he withdrew the marker and spray paint that Aegis had given him from his coat, "I think some of the artwork around here could use a little sprucing up, and tell me, how big of a summon can you create?"

Instead of answering, Weiss picked up Myternaster as she slid off her bed. Twirling gracefully, she jabbed her weapon into the floor. In another moment, a large, glowing, white glyph appeared. As Wayne watched, a glowing blue form rose from the center of the glyph, causing the room to shake a bit as some of the books fell off of the nearby shelf. As the figure took shape, the glyph was released, forcing Wayne to protect his face with his arm as the force released shattered the large window in Weiss's room overlooking the mansion grounds.

As Wayne lowered his arm, he saw a large, blue glowing knight with an enormous great sword standing before him and Weiss. "Okay, I think we can work with that," said Wayne as the door to Weiss's room was suddenly flung open. "Miss Schnee are you alright," questioned a worried, balding butler with short brown hair, freckles and a mustache, wearing a fancy blue vest.

"Yes," said Weiss with a slight smirk as the glowing blue knight bowed to her, "Klein this is Wayne Ursario, one of my friends from Beacon, he's here to help, but for him to do that I'm going to need a favor." Klein looked at Wayne for a second before nodding his head in affirmation.

Kuo Kuana: Some Time Later

Will this guy not quit, thought Ilia as she moved through the crowd, he's been chasing me for what feels like hours. She checked over her shoulder again, noting that her bear-eared pursuer was, again, behind her. She'd managed to lose him a couple times by slipping through the crowd, but she'd underestimated his tracking skills, and his tenacity. Now she was gonna have to get creative if she wanted to lose him.

This is really starting to get old, thought Aegis as he moved closer to his prey, I've wasted a good bit of time chasing this girl, but if I can't catch her now we could have the White Fang breathing down our necks by tomorrow. With this in mind, he approached carefully, trying to hide behind some of the larger civilians. He'd managed to get within a few feet of Ilia when the girl suddenly swung her weapon out at several bags of stacked flour, creating a smokescreen of white powder.

Aegis coughed as his vision was obscured for a moment before he started pushing through the crowd at a more hurried pace. I guess she noticed me after all, thought Aegis as he wiped the flour from his eyes before noticing that a good bit of his armor was now white. What is it with today and me getting covered in random # # !

Several surprised gasps came from the crowd as Aegis increased his pace, closing the distance between him and Ilia as the path sloped uphill. As he approached the top, Ilia ran alongside a cart filled with assorted fruits and vegetables pulled by some kind of mule. Or at least it was until Ilia used her whip to cut through yoke, releasing the mule as the cart began rolling downhill, quickly picking up speed.

Oh you have got to be kidding me, thought Aegis as he noticed a small, lizard Faunus boy had fallen trying to move out of the cart's path. Moving quickly, Aegis braced himself as the cart slammed into his outstretched hands, its momentum causing it to lift off the ground as Aegis balanced it with his arms. "You alright down there," Asked Aegis as he managed to turn his head to look at the lizard boy.

The young Faunus nodded as Aegis moved the cart off the road and set it down as gently as he could, doing his best to insure that it couldn't roll down the hill any further. "Thank you," said one of the owners of the cart. "If you were chasing that girl, she went down that alleyway," said the other owner as he held onto the mule they'd almost lost.

"Thanks for the tip," said Aegis as he started in the direction the owner indicated, "Good luck with the cart." "We'll take care of it, just catch that wench," said the other owner. Not like I needed any more reasons to go after her, thought Aegis as he headed into the alley, following what he hoped was her scent.

After another minute of tracking, Aegis turned a corner and stopped, more than a little surprised at the site that greeted him. There was Ilia, being held down by two Fox Faunus, one with ears and the other with a tail, wearing identical black and white robes with red hoods.

"Good evening young one," said the Fox-eared one as he pulled Ilia up to her feet, holding her arms behind her back, "It's a bit late in the day to be causing trouble, wouldn't you agree Corsac." "I think it's merely a simple misunderstanding Fennec," answered the one with the fox tail, "But I think it best we hear his side first, Mr.-," "Aegis," he answered cautiously, "Aegis Ursario."

"Well Mr. Ursario," said Fennec, "What seems to be the problem here?" Aegis thought for a moment, wondering how much he should tell them. "The White Fang girl here was spying on me," Aegis finally said, "I'm fairly certain she wanted to off my $$." "Dear me, whatever for?" questioned Corsac.

"I've just had a couple run-ins with the White Fang's more violent members," said Aegis, "I thought it'd be bad if some of them heard I was here."

"Well there's no need to worry about that now," said Fennec, "We can escort her to the nearest station, then Menagerie's local law enforcement can take it from there, after all, she did endanger some civilians today in her attempt to escape." "An act which does not go unpunished here," added Corsac.

Ordinarily I'd be suspicious of two random strangers conveniently showing up to deal with a problem, thought Aegis, heck I'm still fairly suspicious as it is, but I've wasted enough time already. "Alright you two do what you gotta do," said Aegis as he turned to leave.

"Are you sure you don't want to accompany us," said Fennec. "I imagine the authorities would want to hear your side of the story," Corsac added. "I'd love to," said Aegis, "But I got some place I need to be as soon as possible, so thanks for the help and all that, and have a good day."

With that last statement, Aegis walked out of the alley and back into the street. Really don't like this, thought Aegis, but right now getting to Blake is more important than dealing with some random spy. As he mulled this over in his head, he noticed another problem which hadn't occurred to him until now. Great, I'm completely lost, Aegis realized, now which way do I go?

"You really should be more careful," said Fennec as he released Ilia, "Ms. Belladona has made some skilled and dangerous friends during her time at Beacon." "And they are not to be underestimated," said Corsac, "Tell me, what would you have done if we hadn't shown up?"

"I would've thought of something," said Ilia, "I just didn't expect a seeming brute like him to spot me so darn quickly." "Then you'd best start thinking about what you want to do now," said Corsac, "If your current goal is still the same, then you will very likely encounter the Ursario boy again."

"I know that," said Ilia, "But I have to check on Blake, and I have to get that scroll from that monkey friend of hers." "Then you'd best be extra careful now," said Fennec, "I would recommend going in a little later when the sun has set." "And should something happen, you'd best have an escape route planned," added Corsac.

"I got it," said Ilia as she checked her weapon before slipping it back on her belt, "But if all goes well, Blake won't even know I was there." "Then we wish you luck on your mission," said Fennec as he and Corsac bowed, before turning and leaving. Luck, right, thought Ilia, if I were truly lucky, Blake wouldn't have come back at all.

Who will reach Blake first, Aegis or Ilia, and what does Weiss have in mind for escape? And for those of you wondering, since the official time line of volume four wasn't all that well established, I decided to do some tinkering of my own, hope it's not too confusing. And as always, a big thank you to my reviewers, followers and viewers, whose input and support have kept me going up to this point. So be sure to drop by next time as Wayne demonstrates some of his artistic skills, and Aegis's exploration of Kuo Kuana brings him to a couple of interesting places. 'Til next time.