A Changing World

Act 2

Chapter 10: Situational Awareness

Blake walked down the moonlit pavement that ran beside the streets of Atlas, the weapon and body armour shop where her friends were at the moment, getting further and further away with each step she took.

Slipping away had been easy, helped in no small part by the energy and enthusiasm of her team leader and friend expressed.

Ruby had acted as an unwitting distraction, inspecting every weapon and attachment that was on display just like a child on Christmas day.

With the staff trying to handle the girl that was two years the junior of every teenager present and Taiyang, Ren and Nora used to the behaviour and therefore not helping, nobody paid the cat Faunus any attention as a clone of her figure suddenly vanished into thin air, when the real Blake reached the door.

There she had stopped and gave a final look back before allowing herself to melt into the shadows.

Some time had passed since then.

Minutes?

An hour or more?

Blake didn't know, but she knew it was a significant amount.

It had to be.

Her feet had started aching at any rate.

As she was starting to consider turning and heading back to the shop, her scroll started ringing.

She slowed to a stop before drawing her scroll and holding it to her human ear while her cat ears moved of their own accord. "Hello?"

Hiccup's voice greeted her. "Blake, what would you say if I told you that I have two possible leads?"

"I'd be suspicious and think it would be a trick to stop me from running away."

"It is a trick to stop you from running away. Running away somewhere I can't find you that is. Our possible leads await us at Beacon in the form of two captive White Fang members, according to Ozpin."

"Where's the catch?"

"Our friends come with us back to Beacon and then to go rescue our other friends."

"No Hiccup. Not after you got hurt. Who's to say one of our friends won't get hurt much worse than last time?"

"So you plan on fighting the White Fang with a bad leg and pair of crutches? Great idea, it's bound to work."

"It's better if I am the only one who gets hurt."

"Blake, you know I can-" The girl didn't wait to listen to him, opting to hang up at that moment.

"The Schnee Manor is just up ahead sir." Said the driver, glancing back at Hiccup as he pocketed his scroll.

"That's good." Replied Hiccup when the vehicle stopped by the gates to be waved through by the guards before heading to the Manor itself.

'You hired huntsmen as guards, Weiss?' Thought Hiccup, observing the heavily armed men as they peered inside the car on both sides. 'Negotiator should be your middle name. It seems quite fitting.'

Finally, the car completed the last part of the journey, passing by the gates to come to a stop in front of the steps to the mansion.

Thanking the driver, Hiccup got out of the car and closed the door behind him before he climbed a few of the steps.

"Alright," Muttered Hiccup, taking his scroll out of his pocket and focusing on it as the car pulled away. "How did Roman say to do this again?"

After a minute of trial and error, he ended up with an indicator of Blake's location that would update in real-time as long as it was connected to the CCT.

'Thank Thor you like to slip away often Neo, otherwise, this would have been much harder. Now to get Toothless and head over there.'

His plan of action decided, Hiccup turned and made his way up the Manor's remaining steps.

"This is Specialist Leon. On the orders of General Mondschein of the Atlas Military, anyone spotting a pair of bullheads flying towards Mistral from Atlas should report it immediately."

An hour after Banesaw's bullhead had entered Mistral airspace, the message had started playing on the cockpit radio of the aircraft.

Ignoring it, Banesaw had ordered the pilot to land in the forest where they had continued their journey via the truck that had been loaded into the rear of the Bullhead.

Overhead the town of Mistral to the north-east, which was still quite far off, the Atlas airship resided still, shining bright in the light of the shattered moon.

The group reached the headquarters of the White Fang some twenty minutes later.

Yuma and Trifa were waiting just inside the building to greet them all, alongside the White Fang goons already present.

"Boss, the Faunus I told you about is inside," he said when Banesaw and his entourage climbed out of the truck they had brought.

"Alright, lead the way. The rest of you, get everything settled in. Tomorrow, you will proceed to find anything we can use to strengthen the base and increase our numbers. Also, someone should go back to either tow the Bullhead we came in over here or destroy it if it can't be moved with our truck. Either way, we can't let Atlas find it. Lastly, some of you will be coming with me to track down the Branwen tribe in a few days."

"Deal with the Bullhead now." He added.

"Yes High leader Banesaw." everyone present chorused before a portion of the group headed over to the truck to follow his last order, recognising the urgency of the matter.

Satisfied, he turned to Yuma and Trifa again. "Take me to this rabbit Faunus woman you found."

The SDC headquarters had just come into sight when Blake felt a strong grip on both of her shoulders and found herself suddenly being lifted into the air, her crutches pressing painfully against her forearms as she ascended into the sky; obsidian black but streaked with silver.

Predictably, she screamed; the sound a mixture of shock, surprise and fear at the sudden act.

"Calm down Blake. Let's not draw attention to ourselves." A nasally voice intoned, a great deal of amusement present in it.

"Hiccup." She hissed, ironically not unlike a cat. She glared up at him. "Get me down from here!"

'Really Blake, first you hiss like a cat and now you inspire memories of déjà vu?' Thought Hiccup.

"No can do Blake. I gave you the choice to let me help you. You chose wrong. Now I'm intervening."

"I chose wrong?! Hiccup, you used your dragon to pick me up!"

"Yes, with the goal being to stop you getting yourself killed."

"I can take care of myself."

"With a sprained ankle that slows you down? Sure thing Blake. If you died during your self imposed mission, how do you think the rest of us would feel?"

"Put me down and we can talk Hiccup."

"You've done enough talking tonight Blake. I'm bringing you back to the Schnee Manor. You can do all the talking you want tomorrow - when Weiss and everyone else gets back. Consider me putting my foot down now."

He stopped talking after that, and a tense silence fell between them for the rest of the journey.

Violet felt the black sack be removed from her head suddenly, causing her to blink heavily as her eyes adjusted to the light of the room she was in.

Before her stood three figures, the Grimm mask typically worn by the White Fang concealing their features.

"You were reported to be rather curious about us by one of my men, so you are now here. Welcome to the White Fang. I go by the name Banesaw, and I am your end." Said one of the three figures, standing closest to Violet.

"T-this is a mistake. You're confusing me for someone else." Protested Violet.

"Kinda hard to do that when we've been keeping an eye on you for days." Scoffed one of the other figures.

"Not to mention the Faunus operatives you've sent to Vale and Mistral to find out about us in the past."

"Operatives?"

"We know who you are, Violet Peach, and about your band of spies as one of them defected to us." Said Banesaw.

Her eyes widening at his words, she bowed her head. "What are we going to do to me then?"

"We will make the White Fang infamous and you are going to help with that. Yuma, hand me her scroll."

Violet looked back up at him, curious, as the figure who had spoken before placed the device in his boss' waiting hand.

"It seems in addition to your band of spies, you know Ozpin and the recently installed headmaster of Haven who replaced Lionheart. This was rather useful in deciding what to do to you so for that, I thank you."

Banesaw turned to the figure who had yet to speak. "Bring in the camera, Trifa, before you and Yuma make her appropriately presentable."

The pair grinned cruelly at their captive. "Yes, High Leader."

Hiccup dumped Blake unceremoniously on the bed in the first bedroom he found back at the Schnee Manor.

"Goodnight Blake." Hiccup smirked as he turned away.

"Can you bring my crutches over here? Just in case I need to visit the bathroom over there."

Hiccup glanced at the door to the bathroom. "Will you try to escape again?"

"No, why would I do that?" Hiccup stared flatly at her.

"Can we pretend I didn't say that?"

Hiccup ignored the question. "You so much as move and I will tie you to the bed. Clear?".

"Yes." Blake took her weapon and handed it to him. "Here, this time I mean it. Can't exactly go and fight against the White Fang without my weapon now, can I?"

Hiccup took it. "True. You know, when I added guns to my axes, I thought I was being somewhat original with the idea of adding a blade to a gun. Then you, Pyrrha and Ren show up, in addition to Ruby, where I got the idea to add a gun to a blade. A scythe and sniper rifle combo that she really shouldn't be able to carry at all if you ask me."

"Maybe it's a genetic thing?" Suggested Blake. "She is related to Yang after all."

"Maybe. Goodnight Blake."

"Goodnight Hiccup."

Stepping out of the bedroom, Hiccup encountered Weiss in the hallway.

"Hello." She greeted him. "Why do you have Blake's weapon?"

"Precaution to make sure she doesn't run away again. It was her idea."

Weiss gave a nod. "The staff at the shop told me your armour should be ready by the end of the week."

"That's good. Where's Astrid and everyone else?"

"In their rooms. Astrid is waiting for you in your room at the end of the hallway and Gobber opted to work in the workshop some more. We did see Ren lead Nora away however."

Hiccup smiled. "Tell them I said congratulations."

"You can do that yourself Hiccup. I'm certainly not going to do it while they're busy. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to talk to Blake. Goodnight Hiccup."

"Goodnight Weiss." Hiccup stepped aside to let her past, before heading to his assigned room.

Entering his new room, he closed the door and felt two arms wrap around his waist. The arms spun him around and pulled him into a kiss.

"Milady." He greeted her, parting after a long moment that both enjoyed. "What's the occasion?"

"Hush. Don't speak, just do what I tell you to do. And right now, I want you out of those clothes."

"As you wish Milady." Hiccup dropped Blake's weapon and complied.

The next day, Hiccup was awoken by a scroll call. "Hello?" He murmured drowsily.

"Hiccup, there is something you should see. It may be prudent to not eat anything just yet." Said Ozpin.

"What?" Hiccup got no answer as Ozpin hung up on him. A few moments later, his scroll received a video file.

Equally confused and curious, Hiccup played it, placing the scroll on his lap just before. It featured Violet, seriously injured, with two black eyes, blood streaked hair and two lumps of raw flesh where her rabbit ears used to be. There was also a gun pressed against the side of her head.

Then Banesaw came into view and started speaking.

"This Faunus is a traitor to her race, snooping around for the sake of the humans who oppress us still. The SDC, the Atlas military, the academies throughout Remnant, they are equally guilty of this. Well she will snoop no more."

At this, a gunshot was heard.

"Her death is on your hands, huntsmen and huntresses." Said Banesaw before the video ended.

The words and the arrogance with them, set Hiccup's hands alight. "Right, enough is enough."

"What is it Hiccup?" Astrid muttered, stirring awake and moving beside him in their bed.

Hiccup quickly snuffed out the fire that was surrounding his hands before passing her his scroll and playing the video.

"Violet is dead now." Astrid stated when the video ended, an edge coming into her voice as she spoke.

"Yeah." Hiccup's voice was just as cold as hers. "Get dressed. We're going to Beacon. Tell the others to come if they want."

"Why?" Asked Astrid.

"Ozpin told me that he captured two Faunus who work for the White Fang. We're going to go there, talk to them and hopefully end this mess."