After all conversation with her team petered out into nothingness and Pietro started to work on giving Maria's eyes the maintenance they so desperately needed, Opal's mind became quick to wander. Despite the myriad of topics she could've chosen from to occupy herself in the brief interlude between their arrival at Pietro's clinic and his imminent reveal of more information to the gang, she found that her thoughts most easily drifted in the direction of her parents. They'd been long since departed from the face of the world at this point, but Opal couldn't help but ponder what it meant to her that she'd been able to meet at least one more friend of theirs out in the wide-open world of Remnant. She wasn't naïve enough to think that they didn't have friends outside of the clan since before she'd been born, but the last thing she expected to find in Atlas – let alone Mantle – was someone who seemed to hold them as close to their heart as she did.
Yet even though she'd fully expected Pietro to mourn the loss of the light they brought to the world for hours on end after having been informed of their demise, the elderly scientist had done no such thing; instead, he'd even apologized for having the strongly sullen reaction he did, as if he had no right to feel sorrow when she was standing right in front of him. That facet of Pietro's personality alone tugged at Opal's heartstrings almost as strongly as the reminder of her parents' deaths demise. Had she been merely another Huntress-in-training and not a member of the faction responsible for the preservation of the world, she could've easily imagined herself doing everything in her power to try and set Pietro's soul at ease. Her parents and the inner council had taught her well to respect her elders, especially when they were amid such emotional distress.
Perhaps there'd be more time down the line for Opal to learn more about the man that was Atlas' finest mind down the line, but for now, she didn't have any such luxury. She and every other able-bodied fighter in the room right now had the prior commitment of securing the Relic of Knowledge to see through first before they could even dream of pursuing even any of their comparatively minor personal goals. The time would come when they'd have a second to themselves, though – that much was inevitable.
Outside of the isolated bubble of thoughts that Opal chose to contain herself in, for the time being, her feline ears kept her informed of the fact that the snacks B-Bot had brought out a few minutes ago had been finished. So far as she was aware, given she'd never heard any of her teammates get up off the floor to go get some themselves, no one on her team had been so bold as to do the same.
Not that it surprised her. She'd lost her appetite the same second that the first homeless faunus on the streets had come into her periphery, and she couldn't imagine that her teammates wouldn't feel the same way. If there was one thing she knew, it was that Team Iridescence felt more strongly than anyone in their little faction of fighters about the faunus' plight than almost anyone else. The observation had always struck Opal as odd, given how Blake was outright part of the White Fang at one point, but the difference in the strength of her team's hearts concerning this one issue wasn't a cause for concern to her for one simple reason.
The other members of their group still cared. Perhaps not to the same extent as Iridescence, but none of them were blind to how the faunus were treated in many parts of the world. Opal had always figured that it was only logical that her team was more emotionally invested it all anyway, since their team was the only one that was comprised of fifty percent faunus members. Furthermore, of the two human members of their team, both of them were steadfast allies of the idea that faunus should be treated equally, and one of them was the genetically-rare – but not improbable – human twin brother to a faunus sibling.
With all that in mind, Opal probably would've been more concerned if her team wasn't more emotionally invested in everything faunus-related than everyone else in their not-so-little party – where all this investment of theirs would be directed, however…
That one was anyone's guess.
One of her feline ears pricked in response to the sound of a final metallic click coming from the direction of the examination table. Pietro let out a soft hum of approval, which led Opal to assume that his work had been complete alongside the sound of some tool being placed gently back into the box he'd brought with him. Opal opened her eyes to see the scientist orient his quadrupedal chair in such a way that'd grant him access once again to the portion of Maria's prosthesis that remained attached to her face. At the same time, each member of Iridescence slowly rose back onto their feet.
Pietro leaned in. "Now Maria, all I ask is that you hold still for just one second – maintenance and cleaning went swimmingly, so all that's left to do now is reattach your optical implants proper and you'll be good to go! If you'd turn my way..."
"Pietro…" Maria deadpanned.
"Oh! Right, right! Apologies!" Pietro chuckled and tapped her on the shoulder to provide her a hint as to his location. Only a few seconds later, he leaned in and successfully snapped the front segment of her prosthesis back into place.
Maria's eyes then slowly flickered back to life. "Ah! There you all are! You know, you forget what color vision is like after spending so many months with a blue tint on everything. I fall over once, and this thing goes haywire! Technology is such a fickle thing."
"Only when you don't have a helping hand nearby," Pietro mentioned.
"I can count the amount of 'helpful hands' I've met back in my day on one hand, old friend, but point taken."
Qrow stepped forward. "Alright, I think I speak for all of us here when I say we appreciate the hospitality and all, but now that Maria's eyes have been fixed, do you think we can get back on track?"
"Of course!" Pietro paused, a pleasant smile on his face. "What were we talking about again?"
Jaune sighed. "Oh boy, here we go again…"
"The situation in Mantle," Qrow reminded. "You were going to tell us more about it."
"Right! Wow, that slipped my mind entirely! Guess I really do have a few screws loose these days!" Pietro lifted his cap to momentarily scratch his head, but a more coherent look appeared on his face when he regarded Qrow again. "But, yes… the situation in the kingdom is far from superb. Even if you all traveled here from the nearest potential landing zone, I have no doubt that you've probably been able to see the state of affairs down here in Mantle. I don't personally go out too often, and even I can practically feel the unease in the air."
"Yeah, we gathered that much, but that doesn't explain the heavy military presence here in the city," Qrow mentioned, his expression serious. "I've been to Atlas and Mantle a few times over the years, and I know for a fact that the amount of military personnel that's usually deployed in Mantle is just enough to police the area. Even with the entire air fleet called back, there's no reason for such a heavy military presence to be put in the city."
Pietro hummed. "You'll find no arguments from me, there. From what I understand, the general deployed so many of his available forces into the city as a precautionary measure. Thanks to the embargo, the potential for protests and riots are higher than ever, and so he's chosen to try and dissuade such incidents from happening as best he can."
"But doesn't he see how this is hurting the people of Mantle?" Pyrrha asked. "The longer he encroaches upon the freedoms of those he's sworn to protect, the more liable he is to foster the growth of negativity in their hearts himself."
"Why I'm sure the general's aware of the consequences of what he's done, but…" Pietro lightly shook his head. "I'm afraid that he sees the actions he's taken as the only possible way he can assure the safety of the kingdom."
"Is safety worth oppression, though?" Aurora asked.
"That, my dear,is up for debate."
"And personally?"
"Personally, I don't think it's my place to say," Pietro answered simply. "I've never been one to keep up with the fine politics and motions involved in running a kingdom, but what I will say is that the effects of the actions the general's taken are very tangible."
Qrow stroked his chin. "I suppose we can't fault you for that. Ethics of the general's decisions aside, my biggest concern is if he's mentally well enough for us to talk to him. We have… business, with him."
"That concern of yours is certainly understandable, but I can assure you that while Ironwood might not be at top form, he's still himself." Pietro keyed his chair to carry him and the toolbox he'd placed in his lap back over to his desk. "He's scared, yes, but you'll be able to talk to him without fear of being thrown in a cell on a whim. Thankfully, he isn't that far gone."
As Pietro stowed away his tools for the time being, Oscar approached him. "Well, since you're one of Atlas' big scientists, do you think you could personally get us escorted to see Ironwood? I know it's a lot to ask, but-"
Alarms. Louder than those of any that would indicate the presence of a fire or some criminal activity, and beyond unsettling given the atmosphere of the city in which they sounded. Oscar stopped himself the moment they bled into increasing audibility, while everyone else found their eyes drifting in the direction of the door.
"That's got to be trouble!" Jaune exclaimed. "We have to help."
All able-bodied fighters present stood, and those who had set their weapons aside during their brief respite brought them right back onto their persons. Opal was extra careful to make sure her quiver was strapped on tight for what action would inevitably follow. Qrow threw a look toward the leaders of the three full teams in the room and made his way out the door. Not a moment later, everyone else jogged outside to follow him. Opal followed up the rear, though she paused at the threshold to the streets of Mantle when she felt eyes on the back of her head. She turned around to find Pietro looking worriedly at her.
"I won't stop you," he said. "But be careful out there."
Opal only nodded at him before she left.
The once-comforting blue streetlamps that had been evenly dotted along the streets of the city had abruptly snapped into a harsh, ominous red by the time Opal got outside. Her hand rested on the hilt of Emerald, the screams of people running past her or somewhere nearby doubly as intense for her on account of her more sensitive set of ears. The constant wail of the sirens didn't help the stress she felt at entering a situation such as this subside, but she wasn't worried about her safety. She had her friends, team, and training to help her make it through this next crisis alive – it was the safety of the helpless citizens of Mantle that she felt so strongly about. Racist bigots though many of them might be, she didn't have the right to pick and choose who she saved while chaos reigned supreme.
A few more civilians ran by and everyone drew their weapons. Tenebris unlatched the magnetic seal Boomstick possessed on the back portion of his armor to heft it into his hand. Aurora trained Sapphire in its assault rifle mode down the street. Lux spun Wiz around on its strap to rest comfortably in his hands. Opal's grip on the hilt of Emerald tightened, her fingers ready to draw her masterwork of a weapon at a moment's notice.
Her ear twitched to the sound of a roar. Grimm.
"I guess the city defenses aren't doing too much," Oscar commented.
Nora huffed. "Somehow, that doesn't surprise me."
Another roar erupted down the street, and everyone's instinctual reactions to tighten their grip on their weapons and tense in preparation for action assured Opal they'd finally heard the same thing she had. In the distance, an Atlesian Knight's shredded metallic chassis was thrown like a softball up against a streetlamp with a resounding clang. After that, another four robots backed up into view as they fired back at Grimm assailants of the city, who in response came out in droves to rush them.
Sabyrs. Bodies like a nightmarish tiger's, incisors the length of daggers, and bony spikes protruding from their spines distinguished them as one of the few forms of abominations that could hope to make it so deep into Mantle so quickly. Patches of frost had accumulated on their impossibly black fur, though other than that and what it took to identify them, Opal was unable to get much clearer of a look at the creatures.
It certainly didn't help that they tore through the four remaining Atlesian Knights in ten seconds flat. The only silver lining in the machines' performance was that they at least took down a good four of five Sabyrs out of the imminent horde of Grimm before they were torn apart. A second or two after the last line of defense available on the street fell, well over two dozen Sabyrs came out from around either side of the street ahead and barreled down toward the assembled fighters.
With a flourish, Ruby slammed her scythe into the ground and took aim. "Well, we didn't come this far to fail now! RWBY, get ready!"
Her team did as they were told, while Opal took only one step forward before she looked back over her shoulder at hers. "I'm going in. Tenebris?"
Returning his weapon to its magnetic seal on his back, Tenebris smirked as the tail end of it sputtered flame in preparation to augment his speed. He then cracked his knuckles. "Right there with you."
"I'll support you two from range," Lux added.
Aurora shrugged. "And I'll be wherever you guys need me."
"Okay." Opal's legs tensed, and her eyes seemed to flash a determined green as she returned her attention to the fight ahead. "Then let's do this!"
She sprang forward with a swift use of her semblance to augment her speed and ran in first, the sounds of Tenebris, Yang, Ren and more all bursting into action simultaneously ringing clear in her ears. The Sabyr at the head of the pack charged straight at Opal and leaped into the air with a ferocious snarl, her grip on the hilt of her weapon tightened, and she saw her opportunity.
Without so much as breaking her stride, she amplified her speed for one more burst and ran underneath her adversary. Finally, her katana was unleashed from its sheathe and in one fluid motion through the soft underbelly of the Sabyr, the monster was bisected. It disintegrated into hideous ash before it even hit the ground, and the unmistakable sound of Tenebris' approach augmented by the thrust of his weapon came ever closer.
He sprinted past her with a wicked grin on his face. With all the weight of his body, armor, and weapon he tackled one Sabyr like a quarterback. The sudden impact sent his foe onto its side, and Tenebris wasted no time before he delivered a devastating curb stomp to the back of the monster's skull, destroying it. As a second Sabyr jumped onto a building before bounding toward him, Tenebris switched off the thrust of his weapon to plant himself firmly into the ground. A brutal right hook connected with the side of the Grimm's face before it could touch Tenebris – who then followed up the attack with a quick swing of Boomstick around into its chest to finish the beast off. A third member of the pack ran toward him then, and Tenebris spun around once to reorient his next strike as the creature committed to the same mistake all its predecessors made and pounced toward the brute force powerhouse of Iridescence.
Tenebris' attack connected with its chest and the Sabyr was sent into the air, but before he could take aim and launch a rocket to finish off his opponent, Aurora emerged onto the scene. Her cables wrapped themselves around streetlights and any available leverage nearby with practiced grace and efficiency, only for her to slingshot herself toward the airborne target the second it came into view. Sapphire swapped from its assault rifle mode back into a naginata, and Aurora killed the helpless Grimm with a deep stab into its throat. She launched another cable out from the apparatus on her back and continued down the street without even touching the ground, with another switch of her weapon's mode enabling her to rain down death from above on any other Grimm that dared enter the fray.
"Alright Aurora!" Tenebris cheered, starting to run after her. "That's the spirit! Whoever kills more Sabyrs gets to brag about it later!"
Opal couldn't help but feel the corner of her lip tug upward, but she stayed focused on the task at hand as another Sabyr came into view. She sheathed her katana and paid close attention to the speed at which it ran toward her, prepared to pool the power of her semblance in any given part of her body at just the right moment…
An instantaneous kick to the head of the Grimm sent if off-course, its claws unable to even scratch a hair on Opal's head with how quickly it was cast aside. Exploiting the time it took for the beast to recover, she gently unsheathed her weapon and held it out in front of her. With the press of a button, a similar segmented version of her katana blade came out from the hilt and the tips of either blade folded forward. Hard light filled the gap to form the vital string of Emerald's bow mode just in time for Opal to fetch an arrow from her quiver. The Grimm before her shook its head and its legs moved to try and close the gap again, but the faunus proved faster, and an arrow pierced its skull before it even moved an entire foot.
There was no time to celebrate – one of Opal's ears flicked in the direction of another source of sound, and she whirled to face yet another Grimm. She was about to swap her weapon back to its melee form when the beast pounced at her, which left her no other option than to dodge.
But there turned out to be no need. The loud crack of a familiar musket being fired caught her attention from behind, a single bullet blasted the skull of Opal's assailant into ash, and the rest of the Sabyr's body followed suit. She harbored no doubts as to whose handiwork that kill had to have been done by.
"Cutting it a bit close, huh?" Opal asked, turning around to Lux where she saw another pair of ashen corpses near him being carried away by the wind.
Lux looked up from the smoking barrel of his weapon to give her a clever smirk. "Nah. It's just that you guys must've been slacking off – a few Grimm actually got through to me."
Without warning, a compressed column of gale-force winds summoned by his semblance blasted him forward to meet her. As he flew through the air, he flourished his musket in his hands to begin its transformation. The stock of his weapon collapsed and straightened, a series of wooden parts sealed off his barrel from the outside world, and the entire length of Wiz extended into its full quarterstaff mode. Only then did Lux cut off the acceleration his semblance provided him.
He rolled along the ground and landed into a low posture. Carrying his momentum with a twist of his foot, he successfully focused all the energy he'd endowed himself with into a brutal thrust of his weapon into the jaw of the Sabyr that had sped toward them beneath Opal's notice. It flew back through the air in what felt like slow motion, not even seeming to register the hit until it turned to ash in the breeze. Lux smiled.
"And don't forget, I'm not a slouch in close quarters combat anymore." Lux pointed with two fingers at the next Sabyr that lacked any sense of self-preservation and curled his digits upward, causing another use of his semblance to launch their quarry into the air.
"You haven't forgotten how much you like to show off sometimes either, I see," Opal quipped.
Lux returned a shrug. "It's in my blood."
A grunt of exertion down the street drew the pair's attention forward. Tenebris tossed one young Sabyr into the one Lux had just knocked up, the force behind his throw so powerful that both of the Grimm were crushed into ash on impact. He then delivered a backhand to another juvenile Sabyr and lifted it by the throat while it was still stunned, only to then drop-kick the thing so hard it practically exploded into ash.
"I think you guys both forgot who the king of close quarters here is, though!" Tenebris called out, a confident and toothy grin on his face so bright it put Lux's to shame.
Aurora spun through the air and landed beside him. "You three are exhausting and your ability to banter in the middle of a battle is often the bane of my existence. Can we focus, please?"
"Who says we aren't?" Tenebris questioned.
Her only response was to point lazily back down the street. Another Sabyr, larger than all the others distinguished itself not only by sheer size but by the way it stalked toward them, as if it was gauging its chances of success before it engaged. The spikes on its back were the length of short swords and its incisors were stained a red so deep that it could've only been the blood of some of its previous victims from a time long since past. It tilted its head when it caught wind of Aurora's gesture.
"Well, shit. Alpha Sabyr, incoming!" Lux announced.
Opal trained her ear behind them to check on the others, only to be unsurprised when she heard them still amid combat themselves. "Everyone else is still busy with the rest of the Grimm. We can handle this one, we just need to work together!"
"And not give it any more time to study us," Aurora added.
"Then I'll go in first – hold it still for as long as I can while you guys make use of the opening," Tenebris suggested. The Alpha Sabyr lowered itself into a stance that suggested it was about to move, perhaps having identified the danger it was now in but preparing itself to fight back anyway. "Alright big guy… let's do this!"
No further words were exchanged between the four fighters, and Tenebris broke out into a sprint to intercept the apex predator at the same time it sprang into motion itself. The former let out a war cry of excitement, the latter a deep roar to try and inspire fear in the heart of its foe, but neither combatant strayed from the path they'd set themselves on. One last second stretched on before either of them reached a good striking distance, and the Alpha Sabyr was the first to act. It employed a mighty leap toward its target with its mouth opened wide, but Tenebris stopped himself short in time to prepare himself to catch the Grimm by surprise.
Thrusting his armored hands forward, he caught the Alpha Sabyr by both halves of its large jaws and held on for dear life. Despite its intimidating size and strength, Tenebris' semblance proved superior, and the Grimm was forced to try and triumph in an encounter that had turned into a seemingly unwinnable contest of strength.
"Now!" Tenebris shouted.
Opal had already started sprinting toward her teammate before he and the Sabyr ever even clashed. Now that the time was right, though, green flame emanated from her shoulders and upper back for the briefest of moments as she pushed her semblance to its limits, delivering a blindingly fast series of slashes with her katana to one of the exposed sides of the beast.
It roared bloody murder, and Tenebris grunted in exertion while the asphalt under his feet cracked slightly under the pressure, but he held strong and didn't budge further. Aurora then launched herself forward. Her arrival was punctuated by a hail of bullets pelting the Grimm in its uninjured side before she flew by completely, and Lux jumped in to complete the trio of attacks with a follow-up strike to the top of the Sabyr's head before he landed further forward alongside the mobile members of the team.
The three turned around in expectant anticipation of the Grimm fading into the wind like all those that had come before it, only to find that the beast still stood. Tenebris strained against a now-wounded and immensely aggravated Alpha Sabyr, though he protected himself from being mauled with a preemptive kick to its belly. Letting go at the same time his attack connected, the Grimm's efforts mixed with Tenebris' kick sent it flying just far enough above his head to prevent it from being able to claw at him.
Tenebris backed up and rejoined the rest of Iridescence. "Looks like it doesn't want to go down easy."
"You think?" Opal quipped. "It almost bit your face off."
"Keyword there being almost," Tenebris argued.
"Well it's taken a bunch of solid hits from us, so it has to be on its last legs by now." Lux swapped Wiz back to its musket mode and chambered another round. He raised his weapon and aimed at the heavily breathing beast. "So come on, then! We don't have all night!"
Lux's last words appeared to have gotten a rise out of the Alpha Sabyr, causing it to bellow a loud growl toward the team of four. Its eyes seemed to burn an even fiercer shade of red as it prepared to move, each member of Iridescence prepared themselves to finish the beast off, and the Grimm ran forward with reckless abandon for one final, frenzied assault-
Only for Qrow to dash by with his scythe and cleave it clean in half.
He didn't even give the teens a chance to react before he flashed a subtle smirk back their way, still in a needlessly showy pose where he'd stopped. The sounds of gunfire and combat all around them started to fade into nothingness, and the streetlights returned to their prior blue coloration not too long after. The Grimm had been vanquished, and Qrow had punctuated the beginning of the end of the battle.
"Boo! That was our kill!" Tenebris protested.
"That? Oh, sorry, thought you guys were struggling a little there so I came in to help." Qrow collapsed his weapon and placed it back on his belt, only to then walk by and deliver what Opal could only describe as the most self-satisfied shrug she'd ever seen. "Bad luck, I guess."
Tenebris shook his head. "Oh, you coy bastard…"
He moved to follow after the professional Huntsman, only for Lux to latch onto his arm. "Hey man, let him brag for now. We put in work, and that's what matters. Don't give him any more fuel to gloat about this later."
"Yeah, yeah…" Tenebris rolled his eyes. "But we would've been able to brag about taking down the boss Grimm ourselves if he didn't run in…"
Aurora planted the shaft of her naginata onto the ground. "I thought the purpose of the Sabyr kill competition was to earn bragging rights?"
"Yeah, how many Sabyr did each of us kill, anyway?" Lux asked. "I got like, five."
Opal sighed. "Two."
She didn't need two sets of ears to hear Tenebris suppress a short huff of amusement. "Ok, those are rookie numbers, but I guess not everyone call kick ass as much as me," he said in a confident tone. "While you two lovebirds were busy with your banter, I wrecked ten of those bastards' days. Feel free to rain praise down on me at your leisure."
"A lot of those were juvenile Grimm, Tenebris," Aurora pointed out.
"My statement stands."
"I don't think it does." Aurora shifted her hip and let her other hand rest on it, a small smirk on her face. "Thirteen."
Tenebris' face dropped. "How?"
"Because I focused on the task at hand."
Lux snorted. "Ha. Guess Aurora's bragging rights, then."
His brother looked at him, a slightly uneasy look on his face. "Can we do a recount?"
Opal's expression conveyed her incredulity. "Of corpses made of ash that have already scattered in the wind. No, Tenebris, I don't think we can. Aurora won, fair and square."
"Not that I was focusing on petty competition…" Aurora trailed off.
"Mark my words, next time I'm going to blow all three of you out of the water," Tenebris said.
Lux nodded. "I'll be sure to remember that."
"Hey!" Ruby shouted loudly enough to draw everyone's attention to where she and her team were gathered. "Is everyone okay?"
Jaune gave a thumbs up. "JNPR's all together and just fine!"
"Iridescence is the same," Opal answered, only to hear one of her teammates huff in exaggerated annoyance under their breath. "Give or take a little bit of wounded pride on Tenebris' part."
"Hey!"
"Like a few Grimm could take me down, kiddo," Qrow chuckled.
"I'm okay too." Oscar meandered closer to JNPR. "It's still going to take me a while to get used to the idea of doing stuff like this every day, though."
Nora hooked an arm around his neck and dragged him close to her chest. "Don't you worry, cute boy Oz! So long as we're all together, nothing's gonna happen to us! Promise!"
Oscar blushed and lightly pushed away from Nora to escape his awkward prison, only to take two more steps away for good measure. At the same time, Ren either didn't notice the accidental infraction or didn't care, his expression thoughtful as he holstered his weapons. Opal was quick to notice his unusual lack of perceptiveness, though Pyrrha was the first to approach and ask him about what was on his mind.
"Ren?" she started. "What is it?"
His gaze didn't come up from the ground. "We emerged victorious in this battle, but I'm merely concerned as to what the Grimm's ability to make it this far into the city might mean for Mantle. Oscar was likely right in his assumption that, for whatever reason, Mantle's city defenses aren't enough to keep the Grimm at bay, but that doesn't explain how such a large, coordinated pack of them can be found here on Solitas in the first place."
Weiss hummed. "Come to think of it, you're right. Grimm sightings have been lower on Solitas than any other landmass for as far back as when Mantle was first established on the continent. The cold's simply too inhospitable for most Grimm to even stand a chance of surviving long enough to pose a threat to people."
"Except for the Grimm that have either endured the weather long enough to become so strong it doesn't affect them or were old enough upon arrival to Solitas that it didn't pose a threat to them from the start," Lux continued, reminding Opal once again of the almost encyclopedic level of knowledge about the Grimm he'd always possessed. "Most of the ones we fought were either juvenile or adult Sabyrs with one leader among them. Even if we assume the adults and Alpha Sabyr were all old enough to have adapted, which is unlikely given how easily all of them went down, I think it's safe to say that there's a mass exodus of Grimm coming into Solitas because of the negativity here. Flood a continent with enough Grimm, and no matter how dangerous the weather is to most of them, a few are bound to beat the odds. The ones we faced could've just been one wave out of a bunch the city's had to deal with lately."
"Add in our 'package' and the one that should be up in Atlas Academy, and we've probably only made the situation worse," Qrow observed. "Damnit."
"That's why we need to talk to Ironwood or Winter as soon as possible!" Weiss declared, one of her hands balled into a fist at her side as the other pointed behind her up to Atlas. "The only way we can have any substantial impact here is to talk to the people whose duty it is to protect the kingdom first."
"Guys…?" Blake warily said.
As everyone's attention was drawn to the feline faunus of RWBY, only then did Opal notice the sound of an approaching trio of police vans back the way their group had come. They came into view only a few seconds later, lights on and their advance swift before each vehicle came to a halt a short distance away from the group of fighters. Out of each van emerged a pair of officers decorated in Atlesian uniforms, and although they were all only armed with simple rifles and were outnumbered three to one, any intimidation they may have felt was hidden masterfully behind the practiced, dutiful expressions on their faces.
"Great, Atlas police. Just what we needed…" Qrow grumbled. "You kids stay behind me and stay quiet. I'll handle this."
All the assembled fighters other than Qrow closed the gap between themselves to form a small crowd behind the Huntsman as he walked forward. Out of the middle van of the three, an Atlas official wearing a black trench coat instead of the typical uniform stepped into view. She had deep orange hair that was short from all angles save for a portion that hung long enough over her face to obscure her right eye, only adding to the unreadability of her demeanor and intent. One thing was for sure, though – she had to be the superior of the other armed officers that had assembled on either side of her.
"Halt."
Despite the oddly thick nature of her accent, Qrow easily interpreted the unspoken warning in that single word and stopped halfway between either assembled party. Wisely, he kept his hands in the air slightly in front of him in a placating fashion to avoid coming across as forceful. "Am I right to assume that you're the one in charge here?"
"I am," she responded simply.
"Got a name?"
A slight shake of the head. "My name is unimportant to you. If you must refer to me as anything, you may call me what my comrades do – sergeant."
"Okay. Sergeant. Can I ask what brings you to this part of Mantle?" Qrow continued, his tone as conversational and easy as he could manage. "If you're here to deal with the Grimm, we've already taken care of that issue."
"Our business here concerns you and your group. Atlas HQ detected the flight path deviation of an unannounced Manta airship and scrambled all available forces to locate those who had been flying the craft." Her eyes scanned like those of an emotionless machine over everyone behind Qrow. "Additionally, merely an hour after the disappearance of said aircraft, an incursion of Grimm occurs in this sector followed by the unauthorized use of weapons by very-clearly unlicensed Huntsmen. Do you deny these statements?"
Qrow tensed only slightly. "In part. If you'll allow me to pull out my scroll, I can show you proof that I'm permitted to defend the people here."
The sergeant pulled out their scroll with one hand, the other still behind her back. She tilted it toward Qrow and nodded. "You have my authorization to do this. Move slowly and there should be no issue. If all of your party members have scrolls as well, they are to display identification and activate free sharing of their information so that we may discern their validity."
"Alright guys, you heard her. Scrolls up."
Slowly but surely, everyone heeded the Atlesian official's command. Displaying their IDs and turning them around, all it took was for each of them to press a button to transfer copies of the information on their screens to the sergeant. Her scroll beeped when the copies had all been received, and for some reason, Opal felt her blood run a little colder as the stoic woman slowed to inspect a few names on her assembled list in particular. The sergeant's facial expression didn't budge when she put away her scroll and regarded Qrow again.
"Your credentials check out as genuine." She stood up a little straighter. "Answer this next question carefully. Regardless of your reasonably assumed connection to the issue of the unannounced Manta airship, do you take responsibility for the actions all trainees present in the defense of the city?"
"I do."
"Then given your suspected connection to the recently-arrived Manta and the unrequested deployment of your party to this sector of Mantle, you will all be brought in for an interview with General Ironwood directly," the sergeant said. "He has requested firsthand participation in any and all potential international issues, and you will be provided an armed escort until your time of arrival at his office. Any arguments?"
Qrow hid his surprise. "No, ma'am. I don't think you'll find that we have any."
The sergeant's lip tugged up into a ghost of a smirk, and Opal felt her heart drop. "Good. Blake Belladonna, Lux Griseo, and Opal Malachite – step forward for summary detention and observation, for the time being."
"Wait-"
"Excuse me?!" Yang suddenly shouted out. "Why do our friends have to be taken away if we're just going to see Ironwood?"
Weiss stepped up beside her. "I agree. We've met the general – there's no way that he'd have someone operate that way."
"You are correct," the sergeant said. "These are not his terms. These are my terms. There are some in Atlas HQ that would place their trust in the judgment of a faunus, such as the general himself, but in situations such as the one we find ourselves in, I am the one who has the authority to make the calls. Should you protest this decision of mine to ensure the safety of the general, I can easily call in reinforcements to take in your comrades by force. What is your decision?"
Qrow turned around, his eyes alternating between the three faunus of the group and very clearly struggling to hide his disgust at the sudden turn of events. "Hey. It's your guys' call. I won't argue with whatever you want us to do."
"I say we fight these bastards and bail," Tenebris spat, looking pointedly at Lux. "We can always find another way to get to the general now that we have Pietro on our side."
"But there's no guarantee he'll be able to do that for us, and we can't afford to make a scene in the middle of Mantle," Lux wearily pointed out. "We might have to go with them."
To everyone's surprise, Blake emerged first and started to walk toward the sergeant, her eyes squeezed shut as if each step was an ordeal. "Then let's get this over with."
Opal shared a look with her faunus partner. "I'm not leaving her alone."
"Neither am I," Lux said, and they followed after her before anyone else could protest.
When they stopped in front of the sergeant, Opal's stomach twisted into knots as the other woman's visible eye then conveyed the only obvious emotion she must have felt since she emerged from the van.
Satisfaction.
"Comrades. You know what to do."
The process of their 'detention' was everything Opal feared it would be like. Their weapons were confiscated, they were scanned for any hidden items, and their hands were cuffed in front of them with needless haste – but that wasn't the worst of it. As if being rendered helpless and arrested for no other reason than being a faunus was enough, the handcuffs proved to be only one of the 'precautions' for transport the sergeant wished to employ. Shock collars with a thin band of electric dust in the middle of the metal restraint were snapped onto each of their necks, and never before had Opal felt more degraded in her life.
An officer climbed back into the middle van and turned it around so that its doors could more ominously face its soon-to-be prisoners. It wouldn't have been an exaggeration to say that Opal felt her soul dim as she was unceremoniously guided into the back of the van. Her boyfriend and her closest friend from Team RWBY then joined her, and by the dark looks in their eyes, she could easily tell they felt the same way.
She then noticed the tension Tenebris seemed to radiate as of now. After being forced to watch his loved ones be treated like animals, it appeared as though his strong heart would guide him before his head, and a dangerous glint appeared in his eye as he stepped out of line. Before he could come close enough for anyone to comment though, Aurora latched firmly onto his arm and Lux quickly looked at his brother, Tenebris' expression making it clear that he was on the verge of going ballistic.
"Don't," Lux tiredly warned. "We'll be fine."
"Fine? You're in cuffs and collars and you're going to be fine?" Tenebris stressed. "Don't lie to me, man. Say the word and-"
Opal shot him a pointed look. "And what? You guys fight for our freedom and we all become enemies of the state? We can't afford to do that. Trust us."
"But…"
Squeezing his arm to signal for his silence, Aurora answered on his behalf. "For your guys' sake, we'll try our best, but we're still going to worry about you. I think I speak for all of us when I say none of us like what you three have had to do."
The faunus leader of Iridescence returned an appreciative nod to her friend, trying her best to put on a brave face for her allies. Four of the Atlesian officers then returned to the vans on either side of the one the faunus trio had been placed in, and Blake shrank further in on herself, ears wilting as she looked numbly at the floor. None of her teammates appeared to miss her reaction.
"We'll get you guys out as soon as we can!" Yang called out.
Blake looked at her.
"And that's a promise."
"Thanks," Blake quietly said.
Signaling the last pair of officers near the van with a nod, the sergeant marched back toward the front of the van, and the doors of the van slammed shut without any further notice. The vehicle's engine rumbled back to life not too long after that, and the Atlesian officers set out with their impromptu prisoners in tow. Without the need to keep up appearances for their friends, the three faunus slowly deflated in their seats.
Amidst the dim light in the rear of the van, Lux's eyes seemed to glow amber. "Well… this is more like the warm welcome I was expecting."
Opal nodded at him in agreement but said nothing. She glanced at Blake, who had her knees tucked up to her chest in one corner of the van away from Lux and herself and let out a sigh. She had lived many of her formative years slightly removed from the unbridled and illogical racism that most of her kind endured, but now that she'd been forced to suffer through it herself… the issue hit far closer to home than she would've liked. In the absence of her most basic freedom of movement and the weapon she considered to be the greatest thing she'd ever forged, there wasn't all that much she could do.
So instead, to pass the time until they were inevitably thrown in some sterile cell alongside one another, Opal closed her eyes and tried to ignore the cold sensation of the metal that hugged all too tightly against her flesh.
The sergeant, living pile of trash molded into the vague shape of a self-satisfied bastard of a woman, was true to her word. Shortly after her departure, several more police vans came along to take the rest of the gang up into the clouds. One swift ride in the vans followed by a smooth and efficient flight into the city of Atlas proper later, and they'd arrived at Atlas Academy without any issue. Despite the constant, vigilant presence of armed guards on all sides as they were brought up to the level of the academy that housed Ironwood's office, they were even allowed to keep their weapons on them. The technological grandeur of the city laid itself bare in all its glory everywhere one looked when they first landed, but Tenebris paid none of it any mind whatsoever.
Instead, when the door to Ironwood's office came into view, he focused all of his energy into each step he took at the head of the pack, eager to unleash his wrath on whatever unfortunate soul he had to so that his friends would be freed. The escort around the group eventually slowed and allowed them to move the rest of the way to Ironwood's office themselves, and Tenebris took advantage of this freedom to stalk directly up to the pair of guards stationed on either side of the office door. They wore identical armor with helmets that obscured their faces, the only difference between the two of them being the red and blue stripes on their respective suits of armor. It'd be a lie of Tenebris said he didn't feel some satisfaction in how they tensed slightly when he approached.
The red-striped guard recovered first. "We've been made aware that the general has been expecting your group, so I'll make this brief. Both your armed escort, myself, and my colleague here will remain outside the office – as per the general's request –to offer you privacy, but we will not hesitate to come to his aid if you try anything. Show respect to him and you may be able to escape the charges you've potentially incurred. Are we clear?"
"Crystal," Tenebris bit out. "But we're not going anywhere until our friends are right here with us. You couldn't make me step into that room until they're set free."
"Excuse me?"
Aurora stepped in front of him. "What my friend here is trying to say is that we came here with three more friends of ours, but they were detained for completely unjustifiable reasons. We want them to be let go and with us before we see the general."
The blue-striped guard looked at her. "Under whose authority was the arrest made? And you mentioned unjustifiable reasons – we need further elaboration before we do anything to help your friends, ma'am. I highly doubt that they were placed under arrest without good cause, as you seem to believe."
"Good cause?" Yang echoed, crossing her arms. "So I'm guessing that you two goons must hate faunus as much as that sergeant lady who arrested our friends, then. Great."
"Sergeant…" the blue guard exchanged a brief look with his colleague. "Oh, gods, your group had a run-in with her? My apologies, but I'm afraid that the officer you're referring to has a bit of a track record for overreacting when it comes to incidents involving those she assumes to be dangerous. It just so happens that her definition of 'dangerous' tends to include most faunus she encounters. As a member of the general's honor guard, I'd like to extend my apologies for the treatment of your associates."
"Yeah, thanks," Tenebris deadpanned. "But it'd sure be a lot better if they weren't arrested in the first place."
The red guard nodded. "Which is why we'll personally deliver your request to the general. With any luck, your friends will be released without any further delay and brought here as soon as possible. Now, if it's alright with you, we'll be right back."
Both of the formal pair stood up straighter, their rifles held close to their chest and their movements perfectly synchronized as they turned on their heels and entered the mostly moonlit office. Had Tenebris been more perceptive or in the mood to pay attention, he could've caught a glimpse of the general himself, but instead his gaze remained intense and stuck firmly to the pair of guards as the door sealed shut behind them. He wouldn't let himself relax until his brother, Blake, and Opal were all standing right next to him.
And even then, he wouldn't let his guard down. He wouldn't let bygones be bygones – not here in Atlas. Not where such discrimination was implemented with flagrant disregard for human decency nor respect for others.
"Well… that went better than expected, heh," Ruby idly mentioned, trying to diffuse the tension that hovered over everyone in the hallway.
"You could say that…" Weiss hesitantly agreed.
"Sure, you could." Tenebris crossed his arms. "You could also say that those two honor guards are just playing damage control for that asshole down in Mantle. They can apologize all they want for what happened, but the fact of the matter is that it did happen. I won't forget that any time soon."
Aurora's expression became warped with concern. "But they're going to be set free now. Do you really think that letting this much bitterness fester is anything but a bad thing? Mantle is probably in enough danger without us adding any more negativity to the mix."
He let out a grumble. "You aren't wrong, but everything about what they've been put through is outright sinister. If people are treated like criminals after fighting to protect the people of Mantle all because they're faunus, then maybe there's a reason why the White Fang became as violent as they were. Five minutes in Atlas and I already hate this place. The technology's great and all, but this kingdom's rotten."
"No arguments there," Weiss said.
"Tenebris."
He turned his attention back to his teammate. "Yeah?"
"Once they're back and with us again, hopefully unharmed…" Aurora paused. "We will let them make the calls about this kind of thing in the future, right? We can't decide on their behalf how to handle these things all the time. Not when we can't really relate to what they've had to go through as faunus."
He took a moment to compose his answer. "Sure. I'll follow their lead so long as they want to take us in a direction that I think I can follow."
"They haven't let us down before," Aurora gently mentioned.
A short breath punched out of his nostrils. "Yeah. You've got that right."
Within the cell she'd been placed together in for 'observation' for an undefined period, there wasn't all that much for Opal to look at. Blake and Lux were nearby, both as miserable and disheartened as she was – the former on the opposite wall of the rectangular cell and the latter a few feet to her right. Neither they nor Opal herself had spoken a word since their arrival. The rest of the cell was a collection of dark metal flooring, bars, and an uncomfortable bench no one wanted to sit on fixed to the wall with both bolts and metal chains at an angle. There may have been a metaphor Opal could've made between the sterile yet sleek nature of their cell and the utterly hideous reason they'd been brought here, but she was in no mind to waste her breath mentioning it. Idle conversation wasn't something she'd indulge in while she was being constantly reminded of her race's institutional oppression by the shock collar around her neck.
Not even a few hours ago Opal had decided that she'd approach the situation the faunus in Atlas faced as each situation demanded it. Now, with an all-too-present understanding of how much a faunus could expect to suffer in Atlas based on traits they never decided to have, she understood that her previous plan could be properly pronounced dead. She didn't know what she'd do when she was freed and with her friends again, but she'd think of some way to help the faunus in the twin cities of Solitas. She didn't harbor any delusions of grandeur, and thus didn't expect whatever she did to help to gain as much traction as the White Fang had in any of its incarnations, but she had to at least try to do something.
One more look at Blake and Lux convinced her again of that. Never before had she seen them so devoid of their typical, distinct demeanors. When Blake had been elbow-deep in her obsessive investigation of the White Fang in Vale, she'd still been thoughtful and poetic to a fault when she could be found with her team – now she'd curled up in a ball, desperate to try and block out the depravity of their situation. When Lux had been on his knees pleading for Opal to return to her normal self after months of depression and secretive training, he'd still been considerate and even somewhat charming despite his sadness – now he sat stock still, a stoic look on his face as his eagle eyes burned a hole in the floor in front of him.
Opal didn't even want to consider how drained she too must have looked, right now. That said, she did know of one thing that she wanted to do while they all waited for their hopeful release.
Break the silence of their cell. "Blake? Lux?"
They tilted their heads in her direction.
"We'll get through this. Yang, Tenebris, Aurora… I'm sure all of them are fighting to get us out of here right now," she offered. "And once we're out of here, we'll be with them again, and be back on track to making sure our mission gets done. Maybe after that, we'll be able to… I don't know, maybe even help the faunus in the kingdom here, somehow."
"Maybe…" Blake murmured; her arms still wrapped around her knees – their handcuffs had thankfully been removed when they were put in the cell. "But even if we are let go and allowed to see Ironwood with everyone… we still might be the lucky ones, being here."
Lux glanced at her. "How do you figure?"
"Well, think of it this way – we're being held in a cell that's probably heavenly compared to the living conditions faunus miners and laborers live in, waiting to be released. Most faunus that end up being 'detained' in Atlas end up financially ruined and left with no other choice than to commit to backbreaking labor just to survive. And that's just one example of the injustices faunus have to face as the 'lesser race' of the kingdom."
"If what we're experiencing now is the best treatment we could've expected to get…" Opal paused, eyes darting around in thought. "I don't want to think of what the worst possible scenarios could've been, for us."
"Indentured servitude?" Lux suggested. "Atlesian bureaucrats and businessfolk love to have a bunch of faunus serving them hand and foot."
Blake shrugged slightly, but her expression remained bleak. "That's one possibility. Another, Opal's already encountered firsthand. Faunus that step out of line are often written off as 'problem individuals' that needs to be taught a lesson. I don't think I need to describe what one of those lessons might be."
Images of the brand Adam had borne during her desperate clash against him flashed to the forefront of Opal's thoughts. Even then, the sight of the SDC snowflake burnt eternally into the flesh over one of his eyes had been enough to make her stomach sink and her blood run cold. Being reminded of the thing that had thrown her off and spelled the start of her slow defeat at Adam's hands less than a day after the incident had occurred still easily incurred a similar reaction in Opal's chest. Lux hadn't even been there to see the brand firsthand, and even he paused when he realized the implication behind Blake's words.
"When I was a part of the White Fang…" Blake continued. "It wasn't all that often that our operations went south, not with Adam or Sienna or Ilia around, but… sometimes they did. Some of our people would be captured, only for us to find them on a completely unrelated operation months later in any number of conditions. Some of them were physically scarred, others were just scared at how alone they felt… more than a few of them had their spirits broken. One of my greatest fears for the longest time was ending up like one of them. And here we are, in the middle of the kingdom that's been the source of so much pain for our people, suffering just as they have. Even if it's in a less severe way than what so many others have had to go through… all of this reminds me why violence became the main goal of the White Fang in the first place."
"I… can't imagine what that must've been like for you, Blake," Opal gently said, her ears slightly wilting in sorrow. "I'm sorry that you're in this situation now."
She looked at the floor. "Don't be. I knew this was what we'd have to do so that we could avoid making a scene. That's all."
"Right…" Opal paused for a moment. "You know, it's okay for you to say that you aren't alright with everything that's going on with us, right now. You don't have to sit on the other side of this cell by yourself. We're your friends. We're all in this together."
Blake's guarded posture relaxed faded somewhat, and her eyes softened ever so slightly as they met Opal's again. She stood and wordlessly walked over to the other side of the cell, letting out a weary sigh as she let herself slide down between her pair of faunus friends. "Thanks."
Opal put on a small, companionable smile. "Not a problem, Blake. Back in Argus, you saved my life by leading Adam away. It's the least I can do to give you a little companionship when you're having such a rough time."
"Look at you, being all nice," Lux quietly complimented.
She shot him a look. "And I'm not normally?"
While Lux chuckled as heartily as he could given their current situation, Opal noticed a ghost of a smile appear on Blake's lips, and thus let the matter die with a roll of her eyes. If she could lessen the burden that weighed so harshly on one of her friends' shoulders for even a moment, she'd gladly endure whatever clever comments her boyfriend teased her with from time to time.
"Hey, guys?" Blake began. "I know this isn't exactly the lightest topic we can talk about right now, but… is it okay if I ask you guys something?"
Lux shrugged. "Sure."
"Of course," Opal encouraged.
"What exactly was it like being faunus where you two grew up?" Blake glanced at both of them as she asked the question. "Most of my experiences with the fight for faunus equality always came from Menagerie, Atlas, and Vale. I've never been to Vacuo, so all I know about the faunus there are rumors, and when we were in Mistral it's not like I was there long enough to get much of a read on things there, either."
Lux gazed at her; his curiosity regarding her question plain to see on his face. "Why do you want to know? If you don't me asking."
"Oh, it's not a problem at all," Blake quickly assured. "I'm just curious, is all. I've always wanted to know as much as possible about how the faunus get along all across the world. Part of me thinks that I'd be able to better fight for the rights of faunus all around Remnant if I better understood how their lives differ. If anyone would be able to help me understand the lives of faunus in Mistral and Vacuo, it'd be you two, and since we have nothing but time to talk… I figured now would be a good time to ask."
He leaned back against the wall. "Good point. I guess I'll start, then. Faunus in Vacuo… all the rumors you've probably heard about back home are probably right. Scoundrels and thieves abound and the only bastion of order in the entire kingdom is Shade Academy itself. To be honest, faunus aren't treated that differently from anyone else there. You have koala ears? Snake fangs? Whoop-dee-doo – the only way you gain respect is if you're strong enough to survive. It doesn't matter what you are. That's all that matters."
"That… almost sounds like a paradise," Blake mentioned. "I wonder why the White Fang never made a base of operations there, then."
"I never really paid attention to them before I met you, but… I think they did, at one point." Lux recalled. "Before my parents even met. The groups they sent ahead weren't too hardy though, so they were sure surprised when they realized how hard it is to get by in Vacuo unless you're prepared for the chaos there. Their operation fell apart hard. Honestly, a lot of faunus end up in Vacuo expecting it to be a less cramped version of Menagerie, but… it never works out that way. Strength is what matters. It's why when a bigot from another kingdom comes walking into Vacuo and pretends they're hot enough stuff to pick on a faunus, eight times out of ten they end up getting beat down and mugged."
"Oh..."
Lux smirked. "It's a hard life. Be sure to have Tenebris or me around if you ever want to get a taste of Vacuo for yourself. That enough information for you?"
"I think so," Blake figured. "All that's left for me to learn a little more about is Mistral now, then."
The pair's attention drifted expectantly to Opal, who hummed thoughtfully as she crossed her legs in a meditative pose under her. "Where to begin… well, making sure you guys understand the class system back home first would probably be a good idea. Even today, there's still a very distinct two-class system in Mistral. The upper class of society is typically known for masterful architecture, theater, fashion, and craftsmanship, while the lower class is commonly composed of the other seventy percent of society… including vast criminal organizations. While it isn't unheard of for there to be upper-class clans comprised of faunus, more often than not, most of the most distinguished clans in the kingdom are all strictly made up of humans. That's why more than a few people often criticized the Malachite Clan – because we accepted people of all races into our fold without question. Faunus aren't inherently seen as strictly worthy of contempt by default in Mistral, it's just that… there's a stereotype for us to be more commonly associated with poverty and impurity than anything."
"More than in any of the other kingdoms, I'm guessing," Blake said.
"Right," Opal confirmed with a bob of her head. "But it doesn't help that a lot of that perception also comes from the large amount of faunus involved in Mistral's criminal underbelly. Before the attack on Haven, it'd be almost impossible to convince a member of an upstanding human clan than the majority of faunus were anything other than dirty thieves and criminals. Now that your parents' part of the White Fang has come along, though… I like to think there's hope for the faunus back home. Things certainly seemed to be looking up when we left, at any rate."
"All that was surprisingly insightful, Opal. Thank you." Blake wrapped her arms around her legs again, though this time she was nowhere near as guarded as she'd been before. "You know, maybe one day I'll turn everything I've learned about the world and turn it into a book. Once we somehow find a way to stop her for good, anyway."
"You have what it takes," Lux observed. "If I remember right, you were always a pretty good student when it came to writing papers. I'm sure you could spin your travels around the world into something useful for the faunus, if you tried."
Opal hummed in agreement. "Definitely."
An unfamiliar voice outside their cell jabbed into their conversation. "Alright, grand aspirations are great and all, but could you guys talk about that kind of dumb stuff when you're out of my earshot?" the male voice questioned. "Seriously, if you faunus want to plan to 'make some changes' in Atlas, great, just don't do it when you're in a holding cell."
Throwing an annoyed glare at the guard, Lux huffed. "Says the military goon who's been posted outside our cell. Something tells me that if your higher-ups thought you'd be more useful out in the field; your bigot ass wouldn't be here."
"Get stuffed," the guard insulted. "As if a dumbass faunus like you could ever understand how the Atlas military runs. Watching prisoners is just something everyone does every once in a while. If I had the remote for your collars I'd teach you a lesson for giving me that kind of lip."
A hiss of air that indicated the door at the end of the hall sliding open prevented any more verbal barbs from being exchanged. A far more sophisticated, mature male voice followed. "I see that your several hours of guard duty has done nothing to tame your temper. For the gods' sake, man, grow a thicker skin."
"Warden!"
The warden himself then stepped promptly into view in front of the cell and looked down upon his subordinate. He was taller than the younger guard before him, sporting what looked like a sea captain's hat on his head with the emblem of Atlas emblazoned onto it, a well-groomed beard that had turned white with age, and deep blue eyes that perfectly conveyed the power he possessed. "Say you did shock these faunus for the slightest of infractions. If even one of them has a good enough lawyer to make a stink about their treatment at your hands, I'm the one who gets grilled. Cause trouble for your more permanent superior officer, not me, or there'll be hell to pay. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!" the guard immediately shouted.
He motioned with his chin back toward the faunus trio. "Good. Then without further delay, we'll be unlocking our guests' cell and relieving them of their collars. They're free to go."
Blake, Opal, and Lux let their relief silently appear on their faces. Meanwhile, the youthful guard set to work on punching in a code into the numpad he'd been guarding, his confusion evident in his voice. "Well, that was quick. Who in the gods' names do these guys know to get them out of detention only an hour or two after they got here?"
The guard provided his superior the keys to their collars when he extended an expectant hand toward him, and the warden motioned for his prisoners to rise. "General Ironwood."
"Oh, shit."
"Watch your tongue," the warden warned. Returning his attention to the faunus, he took a few steps closer and unlocked their collars one by one. "My apologies for the delay in the speed of your release. We only recently received word from HQ that the general himself requested your release, but since his honor guard were the ones who notified us of his decision, we merely wanted to make sure the orders checked out."
The elderly man walked back out of the cell to hand off the collars to his subordinate, and Opal massaged the back of her neck in relief. "That's fine. If it's alright to ask, what happens next?"
"What happens next is that you'll be provided an armed escort to the general's office," the warden explained. "Since your IDs checked out, we'll also return your scrolls and weapons to you on our way out. Please refrain from acting in any suspicious manner when they're given back to you, and the personnel I've assembled to escort you shouldn't prove obstructive to your trip. For both of our sakes, I made sure none of them are as, shall we say, 'spirited' as my young friend here."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Lux commented.
"Me too," Blake agreed.
The warden nodded. "Good. Now, if there are no further comments or concerns, please follow me out of the building. I'll be sure to get you all out of here post-haste."
Thankfully, with the warden taking it upon himself to make sure the three faunus were treated as fairly as possible on their way out of the prison, the trio ran into not another single instance of trouble concerning their race. Their scrolls were returned to them first, and their weapons followed soon after upon their boarding the airship that'd take them to Atlas Academy. The warden had stayed behind at his post, of course, but none of the guards he'd left them with on their flight spoke a word to the three faunus on the airship after takeoff. A total of eight guards sat on either side of the seats at the back of the airship and two pilots sat in the cockpit, but with Emerald at her side and her freedom returned to her, Opal felt more relieved now than she'd been at any point since her arrival in Atlas. Judging by the thoughtful yet calm look on Lux's face, he was in a similar state of mind to her.
Blake was another story. On account of their flight taking them on a path through a majority of the city to more quickly reach their destination, everyone on the airship had a clear view of all Atlas had to offer. Pristine skyscrapers stood tall as far as the eye could see, split up only by high-tech modes of mass transit and the occasional mountaintop mansion. Everything seemed larger than life and dazzling up in the city, and the megalithic shield generators that lined the landmass that made up Atlas itself only added to the sensation. Had Opal not been subjected to the discrimination she suffered through such a short time ago, she would've probably seen the city as the sensational superpower the kingdom always wanted to sell itself as being. Blake glared down at Atlas in such a way that made her contempt for the place clear.
"'Behold a city that was built by human ingenuity,'" she recited. "'Utopian by all appearances and the technological marvel of the modern world, Atlas alone has endeavored to set the standard for what all kingdoms should aspire to look like. Yet not all is as what it seems in such a perfect paradise. Beneath every smooth stone block and defensive turret on the border of Atlas lays the blood of unfortunate faunus who toiled to the bone and beyond to complete a project that should have taken generations in mere years, instead.'"
Lux looked at her. "Where'd you get all that from?"
"An old philosophical paper I read when we were still at Beacon." Blake's eyes never left the city below. "It's not too often people write about how the efforts to build Atlas and raise it into the air were completed so quickly because of faunus labor. Not too many people care to read about it, either."
"Doesn't surprise me," Lux commented. "Mantle was the capital of a kingdom back in the day, and Atlas was built practically next door to the place in no time at all. There's no way you can build a city that's going to go up into the sky so quickly in any humane way."
"It makes you wonder if Mantle treated the faunus as badly as Atlas does now," Opal said.
Blake didn't respond for a moment. "Probably, but considering that Mantle's been in a state of decline ever since the first powerful families in Atlas started to monopolize every part of their lives, I can't imagine that their views of the faunus have gotten any better over the years. People always want to direct their hatred somewhere, and the faunus have been easy targets throughout history."
"Hopefully that'll change, someday," Lux murmured.
"Maybe."
Silence slowly returned to the trio after that. Quiet contemplation became the unspoken task each of the faunus assigned themselves in light of the mood shift in the airship, and Opal elected to let her mind wander. Rather than focus her attention inward, however, she let her eyes roam the city streets and the many signs that clung to the skyscrapers of Atlas in search of some stimulation.
Her efforts quickly bore fruit. On one sign, in particular, a young woman with tanned skin and violet eyes was displayed. Her light-blonde hair was tied in a ponytail fluffier than Opal's own, and she had two beauty marks beneath her right eye and another on the left side beneath her mouth. She wore a dutiful yet confident smile on her face, and text above her head read 'Vote Robyn Hill.' Beneath her neck, where the display cut off her body, laid her slogan.
Liberty, justice, and safety for all.
By all appearances, the would-be councilwoman didn't possess any visible faunus traits – and in a place as discriminatory as Atlas, Opal somehow doubted that a faunus would ever gain enough traction in a political campaign to be given a sign with their face on it. That meant that Robyn had to be human. A human whose slogan implied that whatever her motivation was, she wasn't about to let the faunus continue to be crushed underneath the bootheel as they had been for decades in the past. The idea that a political candidate had the explicit intent to fight for her people gave Opal mixed feelings.
On one hand, this Robyn person might very well be the only human – the only person – in Atlas who had the potential to help the faunus. The power that she could gain if she became one of the privileged few who sat on the council could, potentially, change the lives of millions.
On the other hand, her slogan could very easily be a ploy to dupe the faunus citizens of Mantle to vote for her instead of someone else. Experience had taught Opal well that the world of politics was one built upon foundations of deceit and the blatant manipulation of others.
As the large sign faded into the distance behind the airship and Atlas Academy came into view, for the sake of her people, Opal prayed that Robyn would turn out to be as selfless and altruistic and she made herself out to be.
Authors Note: Well, this took a turn, eh? So much for being able to escape the discrimination of Atlas. Anyway! The sergeant and the warden… two characters I had no intent to name, yet still loved to include anyway. For some reason, I felt like throwing in some random characters to flesh out Atlas a little more would be more effective than the mere environmental 'storytelling' we got in Volume 7 of RWBY canon.
Speaking of canon, I'm slowly giving less and less of a toot about the canon Team RWBY as I write this fic. What this will mean in the future is still up in the air, but you can bet your butts that RWBY ain't gonna be the focus of this volume of ToTI, given some of my plans for the future of this volume. Next chapter the meeting with Ironwood happens, and who knows? Maybe something there will change the dynamic the three main teams share.
Maybe.
