"Miss Schnee! Are you alright?"
Ajax would not fail his blank check task on the first day. Not only would he be down an exorbitant amount of money, but the humiliation. Fortunately, the girl in question was still standing, albeit very ashy.
"I'm fine, just annoyed. Just wait till father hears of this, there will be a complete overhaul of our packaging staff"
Sure enough, the packaging had been completely destroyed in the dust explosion not thirty seconds ago. A few cases remained intact, but most were charred and frayed around tears from exploding Dust.
"I don't think that's necessary. That boy over there, who I am kindly asking remain a little farther," he made a very obvious signal to Bennett and Ruby to go without him, "has a rather interesting semblance"
"Spontaneous Dust Ignition?"
He laughed a little at that.
"No, though it may as well be. Bad Luck"
The Schnee cringed a little.
"Please keep him away from my belongings. I don't need his luck polluting the rest of my Dust"
"I'll try. Here, let me help you with some of that"
Ajax grabbed the few remaining suitcases and stacked them onto the ashen trolley. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed quite a few onlookers. One was doing a very poor job of hiding her interest behind a book. It looked like it was open just for cover, and flipped to some random page near the middle. She dropped her eyes back to the pages when he made eye contact with her.
"I'm certain the Headmaster has a safer place to store Dust, if you don't mind waiting I can check," he offered reassuringly.
She haphazardly looked up from brushing the dust and ash off, "Yeah, that works. Thanks for the help," then went right back to it.
Guess she doesn't know. Would've been awkward if Jaques spilled the info.
Ajax searched the directory downloaded on his scroll. After about ten seconds, he found it. "Alright, the map here says student dust storage is in the locker room. More of an armory at this point"
The girl looked very surprised.
"That was fast. You know where it is?"
"Yes, and I aim to do my work well. I'll lead the wa-"
"Work huh, didn't realize the Schnee's had students working for them now. You her chauffe-" The book girl from earlier looked Ajax in the eye and paused briefly, "uh, chauffeur? Or is bodyguard more accurate?"
Too accurate. This girl placed herself #1 on the clear and present danger list for no reason other than to spite the heiress. Play it cool to undermine her, and deal with it later.
"No, just someone trying to help. Although I'm not opposed to the idea of cash. Miss Schnee, your thoughts?"
"First off, call me Weiss. Second off, if you think lifting a few bags warrants a pay raise, you're dead wrong. Try again in a year or five"
He turned back to the other girl.
"Well, guess I'm in it for the long haul. Pay raise awaits!"
He snapped his fingers into a finger gun and pointed upward.
"As I was saying before one of your fans interrupted, the locker rooms are this way"
Said fan looked incredibly offended at being labeled as such, but otherwise said nothing. She just walked off, mumbling something or rather. Weiss turned to face Ajax.
"Lead the way"
The walk took all of five minutes. It would have been faster, had Weiss not literally stop to smell the flowers. The sign marked them as Snapdragons. They entered through the back entrance, which was luckily unlocked.
"Here's the locker room. When you find your locker and finish stowing your dust, just exit that door," Ajax pointed to the main door just across the room, "turn right, and head straight. That should take you to the auditorium"
"Thank you very much. Oh before you go, I never got your name"
Ajax pondered if she'd notice his last name. If she asked for it, he'd just claim 'Specialist Akva' was a brother.
"Ajax. It's been a pleasure"
They shook hands.
"Likewise"
And off they went. Crisis averted.
Before Ajax went to the greenie meeting for opening remarks, he stopped at his locker to grab a little… tool: his Specialist Magnum, a .44 magnum magazine fed pistol, still in its carrying case. Inside were a few empty magazines and cases of 240 grain Dust rounds. He prepared a few magazines by filling them, then stuffed a couple into his pockets. Fortunately, concealing it would be easy because Ironwood had provided him with a non-print holster. Hopefully he wouldn't need it, but his plan somewhat (entirely) required intimidation.
One more toy, Huntsman-grade handcuffs. Just in case things went south.
The hunt begins.
A proper hunt, one that isn't just hiding in a blind until the prey walks in front of you to a feeder, starts with tracking the prey. After the frankly boring opening statements, Ajax stopped the Headmaster on his way out.
"Mister Ozpin, sir"
"What is it?"
"I need a little information on a student, but I only really know what she looks like. You should have photo IDs for all the Freshmen, right?"
"Yes, I do. I can forward it to you, but keep me updated and keep everyone else outside of the file. Out of curiosity, is this personal, for our friends up north, or the other party down south?"
Ah, codewords. Not his favorite aspect, but it was deemed necessary.
"North"
Ozpin breathed a sigh of relief
"At least you're doing your job. Keep an eye out"
He hit a few buttons on his scroll, and a few seconds later, Ajax's own scroll pinged.
"There you have it. Good luck"
Ajax curtly nodded, and went to the locker rooms.
Looking to make sure nobody was peeking, he checked the alphabetized list. Surprisingly, the girl in question was near the top.
Belladonna, Blake
17, Female
Faunus Trait (if applicable): Cat ears
Addendums:Former White Fang Member. Left with her parents (current leaders of Menagerie, ex. White Fang Leader) when it went extreme.
Still doesn't explain how she recognized him. Perhaps the file is outdated… or falsified.
He deleted the files from his scroll. Pulling up his contact list, he sent a few messages to Ruby to briefly explain the situation.
"You understand what's happening?"
"Make her uncomfortable so she moves out of sight, then you'll make sure she's not a threat, blah blah blah. Being a Specialist sounds boring"
"Eh, you haven't seen the paperwork side yet. Then again, neither have I. They didn't trust a minor with legal issues"
"Big surprise"
They made it to the ballroom. The inside had been converted into a big slumber party, sleeping bags and all. One girl was sleeping in a cardboard TV box and eating chips from one of those cereal bowls with straws on them like what he got Teucer last year.
Ajax spotted his prey against the wall, reading the same book as before. Her eyes were scanning the room, and the page she was on was very clearly near the start. She was faking something.
The plan was simple. Slowly start walking towards her, while slowly implying more and more about a connection to Atlas or something that she might find incredibly insensitive. Enough so she'd need to leave the room to not blow up on someone.
They were now in earshot. The initial script started with Ruby, but it was more for an idea of how to start a possibly offensive conversation than a step by step how to anger a Faunus Rights Activist. Ajax didn't know how tight Blake's lid was, so he couldn't script the whole thing.
"So Ajax, I've, uh, heard you've been busy working with the… SDC. Yeah, them"
What was that about slowly? Eh, Ajax was never really subtle. Theatrics and extravagance came down his alley much better.
The ravenette's bow twitched ever so slightly, and she slowly started to face the approaching duo.
"Not me really. My father works with them. He deals with the worker's conditions side of things. He has this whole graph set up, pricing to productivity, kinda like supply and demand right," he motioned a scale with his hands for the eavesdropper's reference. Ruby nodded, so Ajax continued, "Like how much to spend on workers' comforts to make the workers work the fastest. He tested it on a huge number of those Faunus mines, right? Then he did the same for human operated ones. As it turns out, and trust me this is crazy, humans work better when given extensive comforts, while Faunus work most efficiently with none"
"Nothing?!"
"Yeah, no money spent on Faunus working conditions has the best results"
Blake wasn't even trying to hide it now. The two had her full attention.
"Can you guess what they do instead?"
Ruby shook her head, maybe a little too intentionally expressive, but it gets the job done.
"Well, instead they go down to Mantle, or even hit up Mistral, and find new Faunus workers. They're all mostly street rats to keep wages low. The ones that can't keep working are let go without any of the employee benefits that all these activist groups have been pushing through the courts. They're nothin' but trouble and red records"
Belladonna looked murderous, seemingly eminating pure hatred. Hook, line, and-
"It's almost sad that the workers don't get a pension, but it's only thanks to their hard work I can live in the sky and dine in the clouds. You should come visit me so-"
"excuse me"
Sinker.
Blake had stood up, and was very angrily walking toward the exit.
Ajax and Ruby looked at each other, smiled a little, and nodded to each other. Once Blake was a good few steps ahead, Ajax began to follow.
Blake had barely left the room and rounded the corner when Ajax wrapped his arm around her neck. The barrel of the very identifiable, large bore pistol pressed into her temple.
"I'm going to ask you to please not struggle too much, as I'd hate to have to wash the floors of brains tonight"
"Wh- who are you?!"
Blake was hyperventilating and clawing at Ajax's unwavering arm. Her nails scratched, but barely ticked down his Aura.
"You know who I am, I know who you are, and we can go on our merry ways once I know you're not a threat"
"I- I've done nothing! What do you Specialists want with me?!"
"Nothing. Yet. And unless I'm certain that won't change, you aren't off the hook. Now, I'm going to release you, you are going to walk peacefully to the interrogation room in the security building with me, or there will be a diplomatic crisis with Menagerie that will almost certainly end in bloodshed"
"You… you're evil. Pure evil"
"Can you agree to these terms?"
She seemed to contemplate that. Very hard. Somehow, she came to the conclusion that her 'diplomatic immunity' would stop Ajax from killing her in the padded room, or that he cared for Atlas's international image.
"Alright"
He released his hold and holstered his pistol.
"Follow me"
Reluctantly, the girl followed.
"So, care to explain your previous… affiliation with the White Fang?"
Both sat on opposite sides of the table. Ajax had his back to the door, just in case she tried to run. As a sign of 'trust', he left her outside of cuffs.
"I was in it because my father started it. When he left, I left too. That's all there is"
Whelp. This is certainly going to get interesting.
"Now, I was worried you'd say something like that," Ajax started. He whipped out his magnetic cuffs, throwing them with practiced perfection that bound Blake's hands to the table, "I'm not sure you quite understand what situation you are unlucky enough to find yourself in. If I kill you, Menagerie is forced to take action against Atlas. Beyond any doubt, Menagerie gets crushed. I walk away a free man, and nearly every Faunus dies, because you were oh so dedicated to the cause. It is in your best interest to tell the truth of the situation. Because I know with absolute certainty that Ghira left the Fang before I joined the Specialist ranks. How did you recognize me? Atlas's file on you claim's you haven't left Menagerie since you 'left the White Fang'"
The air quotes seemed to piss the kitty off.
He stood up a little straighter and leered over her sitting, bound form. Any hatred she was feeling quick have way to one of the most powerful survival instincts: fear. Time to capitalize. He pulled out his Magnum and pointed it at Blake's forehead.
"Please, do be cooperative"
Then it all went wrong. She spat at him. A cornered animal, and all that. He really should take advice to heart.
"I'll never tell you anything!"
He sighed. Internally, every fiber was roaring for war. He pulled the trigger.
Bang!
A yellow round struck Blake between the eyes. Lightning Dust.
"Oh, looks like I loaded the wrong round in. How many lives are you down now? Was this your first, or are you down eight now and on the last leg?"
She couldn't speak with the tazing from the pistol round.
To prove her possible demise, he showed her replacing the magazine with one clearly labeled for Burn dust. He cocked the slide back, and a Lightning Dust round fell out the slide. Ajax ripped the yellow dot off Blake's forehead.
"Racist asshole! Are you seriously going to start a war over some schoolgirl?"
He laughed. Heartily, right in her face. Doubling over, he caught his breath after about a minute.
"War?! No! It would be a slaughter. A war had two or more competing enemies. There are war crimes you can commit in war. I certainly won't be charged with anything after what happens in your hometown. Menagerie would be so quickly and efficiently butchered, Kuo Kuana would have a river of muddy blood running to the sea. Who knows, you might watch from the afterlife and see me at the helm, swinging swords through those sacrificial lambs. Hopefully I'd get to end that Adam Taurus fellow"
She had a visibly stronger reaction to Adam's name.
"Maybe I am a bad guy. Maybe I am a sociopath. But right now, all that should matter to you is that I'm capable of ruining everything. Now, unless you want me to write your name down in the history books as the cause and start of this ethnic cleansing, I suggest you start talking"
After a few seconds of silence, Blake took a deep breath.
"...I thought my parents were cowards for leaving the Fang, so I stayed… I stayed and became an operative and infiltrator. I thought I was, no, we were untouchable. We could escape Atlas's finest, steal from under the noses of Specialists, and raid even the most fortified facilities. Who could possibly defeat us?"
She looked him dead in the eye.
"Then I found out whom could; hidden before my own eyes. Ourselves. I-I remember a field of bodies. All Atlesian soldiers, some even Faunus. The future, the Faunus's future, didn't matter to some, only bloodshed. Kind of like you…"
"Keep talking or I'll prove you right"
"I saw my partner die. Ilia. Chopped in half by our so-called leader, Adam, while she tried to stop him. Bloodlust overcame his senses. He made his excuses and said his apologies, but it was too late. We lost- I lost a team member. There was one mission left for us, just us two, here in Vale. We raided a train. After planting a few charges, I ran to the front cars and blew up the rest, Adam included. And now I'm here. A terrorist scared shitless, hiding from everyone I've ever cared about"
"Quite the history you've got. Forgive me for being cautious, but anyone can make a story. I need evidence. Do me a huge favor and send me everything on your scroll"
Blake froze up.
"Wha- what? No! If I do that, you're going to kill so many people"
Tartaglia placed his pistol on her forehead.
"And if you don't, they and so many others will die as well"
"I… ok. Fine. Just, please be lenient. They're just a bunch of kids, trying to be like their heroes from the Faunus Rights Revolution"
Ajax stopped at that. If they were just in slightly different places, Teucer would be in that group. Hell, he himself might have borne the banner.
"I'll see what I can do"
He released her cuffs. Blake cautiously removed her scroll from her pocket, and after asking Ajax for his info, sent him the details.
"Thanks for being cooperative. Though I can't say I'm sorry, because I'm not, I will show you this-"
He pulled the magazine from the gun. Sure enough, it was empty. Blake's eyes widened with realization. Perhaps she thought at that moment Ajax wasn't truly going to start war over some schoolgirl.
"We do whatever it takes to protect what we care for, whether it be lying, threatening, or withholding the truth. It would do you well to remember that some people need certainty. You're free to go"
She left. Looking over his shoulder, he made sure she was gone. Pulling back the slide, an armed Burn bullet was ejected. He felt terrible having to use deceit to 'explain' his actions, but as he said, whatever it takes.
Yeah, I know I said Initiation this chapter, but trying to keep writing after this point is just awkward. I wanted to establish Ruby as a kind of motherly figure, especially considering how much time Ajax hasn't been spending with his family, and have her reprimand Ajax for torturing Blake, but I've got nothing as of yet. As a token of my apology, I'm going to bundle Initiation and day one classes into a single, ridiculously long chapter, and I'm giving the good people who review with a rare chance to decide on teams (besides the one already established with Benny, Ajax, Ruby, and Fish)
Teams I like may be featured, provided I don't already have plans for the characters used and isn't currently in a cryo tube under the school (Amber). I can't promise they'll be particularly important, but considering the initiation is students vs students vs Grimm, they'll get some time to shine. Upperclassmen and older characters I'd prefer to keep in the upper class and possibly staff. So have at it.
No, what are you talking about? I'm not fishing for reviews. Shut up.
But hey, exams end next week, so I can finally put some decent time into this.
So, I'm very sorry about delaying such a short chapter. What I've got here was done ages ago, and everything that's been taking time is being shoved into the next chapter. Sorry.
Take it easy.