A Changing World

Act 2

Chapter 11: Wonderful News

Toothless and Stormfly landed before Ozpin, who was waiting for them in Beacon's courtyard.

Hiccup dismounted first. "Any good news?"

"If you're hoping that our guests have dispensed information, then no such luck I'm afraid. They seem quite unafraid of fire."

'I wonder how well they would handle the high altitude.' Pondered Hiccup.

"What about the Fall Maiden, Arslan? Is she coping with your training?"

"Yes, she's headstrong but a fast learner. It's just as well, as her aura control is some of the best I've seen, similar to Master Ren."

"Good, now for the main reason I'm here. I'd like Astrid to question them."

"Are you sure Hiccup? You were quite angry before we left." Commented Astrid.

Hiccup looked at her. "That's exactly why I'm not doing it myself. If I did, neither would remain uninjured most likely. So for their sake, you should try first." Astrid conceded with a nod.

"If you're sure about that, then follow me," Ozpin told them.

The door to the long white-tiled room opened and Astrid entered, carrying a chair.

She placed it a metre away from the two faunus and sat down.

Observing them, Astrid noticed their hands were bound by a rope behind their backs.

"Who are you?" One of them asked, his voice revealing him to be male.

"It doesn't matter who I am. What matters is what you can tell me." Said Astrid.

"We won't tell you anything about the White Fang, human." The other, a girl, sneered.

"I'm starting to suspect cloning here. You all say the same things. Anyway, what are your names?"

"Why would we-"

"So I can call you something other than faunus. I'm trying to be nice here, which is more than you deserve, recent events considered."

"I'm Sophie, that's Jake. What recent events do you mean?"

Astrid responded with a question. "Are either of you uncomfortable seeing raw flesh?"

They stared at her oddly. "Body parts that have been cut off." Astrid elaborated with a scowl at the thoughts her mind conjured up.

She took out her scroll and stood up, holding it before them and pressing play.

When the video ended, she continued. "I happened to know this person. If there's anything you know that could help me find him, let me know now."

"Do you expect us to just tell you? If we did that, the White Fang would find and kill us." Said Jake.

"There is a group of huntsmen and huntresses in training at Beacon, not counting myself. Not to mention all the qualified huntsmen and huntresses who live at Patch, only an hour's flight from here. I'm sure we'd be able to protect you two if need be."

"The White Fang would still win. We've been winning every battle so far."

Astrid sighed. "Listen, just tell me what you know or my best friend will come in here to deal with you and trust me, you don't want that."

"I'm sure we can handle some human," Sophie said confidently. "Especially one as pathetic as this friend of yours is likely to be."

Astrid's eyes grew cold; resembling blue chips of ice. "Alright, I can't do this anymore. That was me being nice, but my patience is gone."

She stood up. "Now, I would usually twist your arm in a situation like this, but I'll let the person you insulted handle this."

Astrid then turned to face the door. "Hiccup, you're up!"

Hiccup entered the room shortly after that, where he immediately strode towards Jake.

"W-what are you doing?" Asked Sophie.

Hiccup ignored her, laying a hand on each of Jake's shoulders and pulling him to his feet. "You and I are going on a little flight together."

Jake struggled in Hiccup's grasp, only for the faunus to be kicked in the direction of the door.

Stumbling, Jake looked back to see an axe pointed at himself and Sophie by Hiccup, his eyes resembling green chips of ice.

"Recently a friend of mine died. She wasn't a close friend, but she was killed by you monsters. As a result, my patience is hanging on by a thread. So unless you want to be riddled with armour piercing bullets, you-" Hiccup turned and looked over at Sophie. "-Will stay where you are and you-" his gaze returned to Jake. "-Will get up and leave the room. Now."

Jake opened his mouth to protest, but a shot at the ground near his feet discouraged the notion, and he fled.

"Look after that one Milady, while I go on a flight with our guest."

"His name is Jake, babe. Also, she's called Sophie."

"Good to know. Good luck Milady."

"You too babe." He left and Sophie spoke up again.

"Seems like your friend is more than a friend." She sneered.

A throwing knife came to rest an inch before her throat. "You will keep quiet or my hands may just slip. Got it?"

"Y-yes." Sophie stuttered, scarcely daring to breathe under Astrid's thunderous glare.

She retracted the knife, returning it to her forearm before sitting down on her chair and focusing on Sophie. "Good. I think we'll get along great that way."

"Okay! I'll tell you what I know!" Cried Jake.

Toothless caught him a mere five seconds before he hit the ground. As a result, Jake fainted following his introduction to sky-diving.

Toothless dropped the unconscious faunus on the ground and Hiccup dismounted.

Jolting Jake awake with a slap to the face, Hiccup spoke again. "I'm not done with you yet. Where are the White Fang headquarters?"

"South Mistral! My boss went there not too long ago to receive orders about my next mission."

"You went all the way to Mistral for a chat. You know, there are these things called scrolls, right?"

"The huntsmen and huntresses in Vale have been doing their best to track us down when we use our scrolls. We can't call anyone outside of Vale unless we want to be found."

"And I'm guessing this mission was to sneak into Beacon."

"Something like that," Jake said cryptically.

"If I were to go to Mistral, how would I know what you told me isn't a lie or trap?"

"There's a hideout by the docks in Vale with ten faunus there. You'll catch them unawares if you attack now."

"That could be a trap, and I'm frankly sick of my friends getting hurt."

"Well, you'll just have to trust me. I've told you everything I know. Now go do your thing, just keep my sister and me out of it."

"Sister?"

"Sophie is my sister. We're orphans."

"I know someone else who's an orphan. Sorry, you had to go through that." Despite the situation, Hiccup meant it.

"We didn't know them. They died when we were still young so spare me your pity, human. Take me back to Beacon."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, proceeding to shove Jake closer to Toothless. "My name is Hiccup. Start using it please."

Back at Beacon, the group stood in the cafeteria, discussing what Jake had told Hiccup, minus Arslan, who was off guarding the occupants of the white-tiled room where Hiccup's training had begun in years past.

"By the docks? I'm sure that's a trap. He gave out that information a little too easily." Said Taiyang.

"I agree. I also think he'll try to escape with his sister when we're not looking." Added Hiccup. "What do you think?"

The question was posed to the rest of the group, with Weiss not present physically, but listening in through a call taking place via Nora's scroll, the device on speaker mode.

"Definitely a trap." Confirmed Blake. "The White Fang has more members than that. The only reason they haven't attacked already is they don't see a need to, with Beacon down. They're more than likely waiting for reinforcements before attacking somewhere with more people, like Patch."

"Then we should bring everyone we can and strike before the White Fang does. They may be caught unaware if we made a move now." Said Ren.

"Maybe we can use Jake and Sophie to draw the White Fang out. Let's not forget, we still need to find Merlot." Added Hiccup.

"I've spread the word to Shade Academy about Merlot already. Also, Haven and Atlas Academy, however unlikely Merlot will show up in Mistral or Atlas." Said Ozpin.

"Speaking of the other Academies, wild idea, but why not ask them to help us deal with Banesaw?" Suggested Hiccup.

"That will take some convincing. The Atlas council will try to stop Ironwood from sending Huntsmen to help out." Ozpin told them.

"Leave the Atlas council to me. They require me to supply the Military and Huntsmen with Dust. If I were to stop, they would be forced to do what I say." Cut in Weiss. "It's how I got General Mondschein to travel to Mistral and help out there."

"We know Mistral can't help out much, having the largest territory and the lowest amount of Huntsmen and Huntresses among all of the kingdoms. That just leaves Vacuo." Stated Taiyang.

"What about Roman and Neo? Could we get them to help? Roman did work with the White Fang back before this all started. Maybe he knows where other White Fang bases in Vale are." Suggested Hiccup.

"Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope!" Protested Ruby. "He shot at me, back when I was looking for Blake with Penny."

"He did what?" Demanded Taiyang, turning and scowling at Hiccup for suggesting the idea.

"Just a suggestion, Taiyang. We don't need to do it." Hiccup hastily said, raising his hands in a placating manner.

"I want them to come here." Said Ren.

"Yeah! We should have our fearless leader back here by now." Added Nora.

"But-"

"You've got aura, Ruby. We heard that you being shot barely touched it at all. You had plenty left. Not to mention how good Penny is at fighting. We all saw her win against Cardin with ease." Continued Nora.

"That's a bit better at least." Muttered Taiyang. "Bring him, but I'll be keeping an eye on him. I expect you to do the same, Hiccup."

Hiccup nodded. "I'll make sure to do that too."

"Neo and I are a good team." Added Astrid.

"We should also tell Jaune's parents about this. They deserve to know. Maybe they'll even join in." Suggested Ren.

"I'll see whoever's able to come here from Patch and help out as well. Now that that's sorted, what will our plan be?" Asked Taiyang.

"We go in as fast as possible. Part of what went wrong in Atlas is the fact that they had time to get ready after the alarms went off. So if we put Nora and Toothless in front, while having the rest of us coming from another direction, it will get quite chaotic for them, to the point that it would be hard for them to decide what to do." Said Blake.

"That's risky though. I think we should draw them out with our two guests." Said Hiccup.

"Why don't we put it to a vote?" Suggested Ozpin. "All in favour of Blake's idea, raise your hand."

Blake and Nora raised their hands.

"Blake's idea would work even better if team CFVY, Port and Oobleck helped out as well." Commented Weiss. "I vote we go with her idea."

"Very well. Unfortunately, it seems nobody else shares your view. I think you shouldn't be fighting, as you are still using crutches. Nevertheless, Hiccup's idea is the chosen plan." Said Ozpin. "I'll let the other Academies know about this plan and wait to see what they decide to do."

"Good. We've got a new plan and we know where at least one White Fang hideout is. Let's make the plan happen." Said Taiyang.

Blake, Hiccup and Astrid observed the dilapidated building at the end of the docks from the flat roof of another building that was further up the street.

The building had two floors, with the top floor sporting no less than three broken windows and the red stone exterior walls crumbling in places. Not to mention several tiles missing from the roof, leaving a metre wide hole and rotten wood beams within.

Following Hiccup's idea being voted on, the group had spent some more time discussing the finer details, and it was quickly agreed that it would be best for Ozpin and Arslan to act as if they had no backup.

So that had led to the current arrangement.

Ozpin, Blake, Nora and Arslan were walking towards the building with Jake and Sophie, the former shoving them forward every so often. Ren and Taiyang were also present, but hidden.

Across the street from them stood Ruby. She was positioned on the flat roof of a building all on her own. Ruby was tracking the procession of five through the scope of her sniper scythe as they progressed toward the building, with Hiccup doing the same through the scope of his railgun crossbow after watching the building for a moment more.

However, at the back of the building under Ruby's feet stood Taiyang and Ren. Both of the dragons with them happened to be near silent and standing almost entirely still.

"Seems like that vote was completely pointless. We're ready to fight them if this turns out to be a trap anyway." Said Hiccup.

Astrid chuckled. "True. Guess we'll have to wait and see what happens."

The pair waited, watching silently as the group reached the building. There, they saw them come to a stop before Ozpin turned and waved in their direction, a prearranged signal.

"Alright, we head in now."

Ozpin knocked on the door only when all the others had arrived. It was opened by a White Fang goon, while another, who stood beside him, levelled a pistol at Ozpin.

Their jaws dropped, neither expecting to see Huntsmen and Huntresses in training on their doorstep that day.

"We would like to speak with whoever's in charge here. Put the gun down. It won't help you in a fight with me." Said Ozpin.

"W-we can't bring her to see you." Stammered the unarmed faunus.

"Then we'll come to her." Said Taiyang.

"She's not here. She set off for Mistral an hour ago." His gun-toting companion replied, whose voice revealed the faunus to be female.

"In that case, we'll come in anyway. Or at least, I will. Everyone else stay outside, I'll handle this." Continued Taiyang, before brushing past Ozpin and both faunus' without waiting for an answer.

"Hey, you can't come in here! Get out!" Shouted the girl faunus, levelling her pistol at Taiyang.

In the background, a door could be heard being opened, followed by footsteps.

"I just did. But if we're going to go that way, you're going to need a bigger gun."

"What is going on here?" A new voice asked. "Why is a human in here?"

Both Taiyang and the two faunus present turned to see a woman in her mid-thirties with black hair, white shirt and grey jeans. Her face concealed by a White Fang mask but designed in such a way that her fangs were visible; she was a snake faunus.

"Boss! I, eh-" The pistol-wielding girl began, only to be cut off.

"I am Taiyang Xiao Long. Huntsman. I, and others, want to talk to you."

"My name is Aimee. What others are there? I see only you."

Taiyang pointed at the door. "They're outside. Blake Belladonna is one of them. The identity of one of the others would make you consider me crazy if I told you."

Aimee looked doubtful. "You simply wish to talk?"

Taiyang nodded.

"Really?" Taiyang nodded again.

"Very noble of you, Huntsman. Very well. I shall talk to you and anyone you bring on the condition that you send two of my people back to me. We shall talk outside in ten minutes."

"Do you mean Jake and Sophie boss? They're outside right now. They brought them here for whatever reason." Said the other guard.

"Even better. Now go Huntsman, you have met my terms."

Satisfied, Taiyang nodded again before he left.

When the time for the meeting came, Hiccup, Blake, Ozpin and Taiyang were

Then Aimee arrived, the two faunus who had guarded the door earlier, walking beside her. "If I may ask one question before we begin, where did you find those two creatures back there?"

"You won't believe the answer, but if you really want to know it, then prepare for a long story." Said Hiccup.

Just then, Ozpin's scroll started ringing. "Excuse me for a moment everyone."

After stepping aside and engaging in conversation for a few moments, Ozpin beckoned Taiyang forward. "I have wonderful news for you."

He whispered it in his ear, resulting in Taiyang grinning broadly. "That is wonderful news. Ren, take my place. Ruby, come with me."

"Yes sir." Replied Ren.

"What is the news, dad?" Asked Ruby.

"I'll tell you and the others later. For now, I want to celebrate with my daughter back home."

He then set off, with Ruby quickly following. Meanwhile, Hiccup turned to Aimee. "Shall we begin?"

"Might as well. You were about to tell me where those two creatures came from." She replied.

"I was, but I won't now as I want to keep this brief. I'm curious as to what news Taiyang heard from Oz-Oscar."

"Keep your secret then. What do you want to ask first?"

"Are there other White Fang bases in Vale?" Asked Hiccup.

"There were. They've been cleared out and sent here and then east to Mistral. This base by the docks is the only one left. Be aware that I will answer only one more question."

"Why just one?" Wondered Ren.

"You returned two of my people here, ergo you get to ask two questions. Choose your last one wisely."

"How many bases are there in Mistral and where are they?" Queried Hiccup.

"That's two questions. Let's not sugar coat it. I will answer the first question only. There is one main base, where Sienna Khan was killed, but there are a number of warehouses for storing equipment and smaller hideouts scattered around, some of which act as recruitment meetups."

Hiccup nodded in response. "If you wish to know where the bases are, then tell me where those creatures came from. Dragons are meant to be a fairy tale."

"Rest assured that in this world, they are a fairy tale. They are not from Remnant."

"An answer is an answer, even if a little vague. Hand me your scroll."

Hiccup did so and Aimee handed to him when she was done. "There, I have listed the rough location of the biggest warehouse as a starting point."

"Why help us? You're White Fang. Banesaw is your boss." Stated Blake.

"Officially yes. But I followed Sienna Khan first. Adam and Max have done things that she never would, things that demanded respect, rather than fear. I'm sure you know what I mean, as students of Beacon."

The group nodded collectively before Aimee went on.

"Even more recently, when the SDC tried to begin making amends for what they've done in the past, he denounced them publicly. So I follow him only when he is watching. Things are changing for faunus, but he is too blind to see it, even if his actions are not entirely wrong."

"He destroyed half a street worth of houses in Mistral only a few days ago, including a few faunus who lived there." Retorted Ren.

"Hence why I said not entirely wrong. Tell me, have any of you heard of the Butchering of Stuttgart?"

The majority response was a series of confused looks in her direction, but Ozpin looked away in shame.

"Then I shall tell you all about it now."