Chapter 23
Bloody Mary Bloody Mary
XXXXX
Winter glared at Anna, who happily returned it with one of her own. It was the beginning of their third day as captives of the Scattered, and while the experience hadn't been torture, it had been tedious and a violation of their rights. Overall their imprisonment had involved little outside of James and her being left to their devices inside their cell, except for when they were fed. The accommodations were high quality, their beds comfortable, their food and water hot, and fresh clothes had been provided while their dirty ones had been washed, but it was still unlawful imprisonment. If they had been alone, it would've been torture via solitary confinement. All in all, her goodwill to the Scattered was nonexistent, except for a minor kernel of sympathy for Róta. A very minor kernel.
She and James were being escorted through the halls of the Scattered's base, all five of them surrounding them. Anna was to their left, Wiglaf the right, Jane behind them, and Róta and Han in front of them. They were being taken on an "expedition" to Earth, to be shown the "good work" the Scattered did. They weren't holding their breath.
"Question." Winter broke away from her glaring contest with Anna to glance at James. He was looking up at Wiglaf, who had now returned his gaze with polite curiosity. "Unity. Is that the same Unity that fought for the Master?" Winter's attention moved up to the word painted on Wiglaf's chest. Unity, with a simple white line through it.
Wiglaf grinned widely. "I most certainly was. We were going to make the world a better place. One order of superior beings, no more disease, no more dying of old age, with a brilliant mind at the front of it all." Leaning down, he gave James a playful fist bump in his side. Winter idly wondered if Wiglaf was maintaining his Aura at this moment. If he wasn't, James's pistol would make quick work of his unarmored head. She squashed the thought. "I saw you holding out against someone with a Maiden power. Imagine what you could do after a dip in FEV. You'd be part of something superior, stronger. I mean, you already are now that you have Aura, but these matters are multiplicative. Look at me." He slapped his armor. "FEV, Aura, and power armor all on the same being. Someone like me only falls short of the Maidens themselves when it comes to one on one affairs."
"Wiglaf, can you please not give us the supremacy speech today?" Anna said, sounding as if she was fighting back a groan.
"You know it's true," Wiglaf said playfully. "Look at us. Cyborg, Ghoul, Super Mutant, and machine. Róta is the only one of us that's a normal human, and even she has Aura. And we all fought off a Maiden. We're living proof of what can be achieved when you push beyond normal human limitations." So, one of their captors thought she and James were inferior to him. Lovely.
"Wiglaf, are you still certain you wish to use the term Super Mutant?" Jane asked from behind. "Not only is mutant an inaccurate term for a condition that was intentionally engineered, the word itself has...pejorative connotations. I recommend another term. Meta-Human is more accurate and holds less baggage." Winter glanced back at the hulking war machine. It was disorienting to hear such a massive robot that had been cold at best hesitate. Her eyes drifted to the E circled by stars on Jane's chassis, the same white line crossing it out.
Wiglaf, however, laughed. "You mean well Jane. But running and hiding because uneducated wastelanders like to scream "mutie"? I refuse. Let them scream their ignorance. Meta-human may be accurate, but it's a sterile, sanitized, and safe name. It lacks teeth. Super Mutant is a raw, impactful term, but more importantly, it's our name. It's who we are." Wiglaf was beaming with pride now. James had given Winter a brief rundown on what a Super Mutant was: a Human that had been exposed to a Forced Evolutionary Virus and turned into a behemoth like the one before her. They were as strong as they looked, immune to disease and the radiation that was common on Earth, and biologically immortal. They were also sterile, completely lacking in genitalia and any potential replacement for reproduction. According to James, they had tried to force a takeover of Earth, only to be stopped by someone called Albert Cole. Even a century later, they were still a semi-common sight.
The thought made Winter feel uncomfortable. More radical Faunus and Humans liked to claim they were superior to the other, often backed up by quackery. Faunus had night vision and occasionally useful traits, but both species were on relatively equal footing. With these Super Mutants, however, the superiority was much more objective. The sterility was the only thing truly holding them back. It didn't make Wiglaf's proclamations of superiority any less self-serving, but he and other Super Mutants who thought like him had natural abilities with which to better enforce their toxic beliefs.
"The debates can wait," Han said, shooting Wiglaf a look. Wiglaf nodded good-naturedly. They continued forward until they stepped through a doorway at the end of a hallway. The room they entered was mainly featureless, aside from some ancient-looking computers, terminals, and a large, silver archway. Said archway wouldn't normally draw much attention from Winter, but that changed when a sharp gasp came from James. His eyes locked onto the archway, his hand reaching up without obvious conscious thought. The connection was easy to make; this was the same kind of portal that had brought him here.
"They sent a couple hundred of us through in 2076," Han said, running his hand down the side. "Things started ok. We set up, dug out this base, got going on basic research. Grimm stalled colonization efforts, we were ordered to hold position while a solution got worked out. Then the bombs dropped." He sighed before moving to a control panel on the side of the portal, typing commands into it. "We tried to go back, but we couldn't find a single place that was safer than here. A dozen guys died jumping into radiation hot spots or panicking mobs. We had to stay put through the fallout. Morale hit rock bottom, at least three people killed themselves. And that brought the Grimm down on us something fierce. Only a few of us survived the swarm that hit us, me and five others. Of the five, one died of her wounds. One ran off in the direction of Mantle; I don't know what happened to him. I doubt he made it. The other three decided to take their chances on Earth and jumped back. They headed for South Africa, signs pointed to it not being hit as bad. I stayed."
Punching in one last set of commands, Han looked up. A white, shimmering portal appeared between the archway. Vaguely, Winter could see a blurry landscape on the other side. "I wandered for a long time after the initial chaos of the bombs died, jumping to Earth before making my way back home. Eventually, I found the others and we started our work." Smiling at them, he walked through the portal. It rippled like the surface of a pool before stabilizing, Han nowhere to be seen.
"Jane, you have the fort, we'll keep an eye on the boss," Anna said. The robot nodded, wheeling back. Ròta gestured to Winter and James. James stepped forward and through the portal. Reluctantly, Winter followed.
To her surprise, stepping through the portal didn't feel like anything. All that happened was that a bright, white light temporarily blinded her. After a few seconds, it faded. She wasn't in the Scattered base anymore. She was outside, standing in the middle of a barren landscape, dead and burnt remiss of trees surrounding her. They looked as if they had been this way a long time, the few that weren't scorched were petrified. It was a gloomy, miserable place. The outlines of a city were vaguely visible in the distance, with half of the skyscrapers crumbled.
Wherever they were, it was rather hot. She could already feel a blanket of heat starting to press down on her. "Where are we?" she asked, tugging at her collar, feeling sweat starting to form on her neck already.
"The Nigerian Lowland Forests," Han said. "Or what's left of them. They were struggling before the war. And while Africa was mainly spared from the bombs, war still gripped the continent after the rest of the world collapsed, countries scrambling for resources after the interconnected world fell apart. Much of the forests were burnt down in the resulting conflicts." He pointed at the outline of the city in the distance. "Ibadan is around five miles in that direction. I've been there before, tens of thousands of people live in the ruins of the city. It looks like it was sacked sometime after the war. By whom and why I couldn't tell you. They're doing all right for themselves, but they're struggling with famine from their last harvest going bad. They aren't starving, but their stores are running low. So we've been giving them nudges. Anna? Remind me where we are."
"We did cassava two weeks ago, jollof rice one week ago, and we're due for yams this week. We were talking about plantains next week," Anna listed off with practiced precision. "May I?" Han nodded. Stepping forward, Anna knelt and planted her hand on the ground. The effect was instantaneous. Before Winter could blink, the soil shifted all around them. The stalks of yam plants shot up in every direction that she could see. Within a minute, the clearing that they were in was covered with them, most of them either mature or on the verge of it. Grabbing one, Han uprooted a yam and examined it. "Perfect," he said, dropping it back on the ground.
Winter had to admit, she was impressed. It looked as if Anna had managed to fertilize and grow crops in hundreds, potentially thousands of acres of land. Glancing down, she nudged at the soil with her foot. Before it had been dark and hard, now it was a healthy brown, soft and loose, looking far more fertile. It was a very impactful Semblance. Though, it was a taxing one. Anna had slumped to the ground, panting heavily, as a bright red Aura flashed to life around her before breaking. Róta was already helping her to her feet, offering her a bottle of water. The tattooed woman had been even quieter than usual, and her body language was rather stiff as she helped Anna up.
"Well that's peculiar," Han said. Walking to the middle of the newly grown yams, Han stopped in front of a cluster of around a dozen trees. Winter didn't recall seeing these trees before. They rather stuck out, not just in that they were healthy and strong, they simply appeared to be a different type of tree than the ones in the forest. Bright red fruit adorned the upper branches. Han looked amused. "Anna? Apples aren't a Nigerian fruit. Back in the day, it was an exotic import. I'm not sure nowadays many Nigerians know what an apple is."
"Sorry," Anna said sheepishly, lowering her bottle of water. "Still trying to get this thing under control, it's a recent acquisition after all.
"Well, hopefully, it'll be a welcome luxury," Han said. "This looks like it should do the job. Enough to keep them going for now, and with fresh fertile land they can grow fresh crops in the next wet season."
"Anna, can I ask you a question?" James asked. Practically every head, Winter's included, snapped onto James. The Atlesian woman blinked, looking surprised and nearly choking on her water.
"I-me?" she said, pointing to herself. James nodded. "I suppose?"
"That armor of yours is Enclave, right?" James asked. He pointed at the thick suit.
"Yes, it is. I'm surprised you know what Enclave design looks like, they haven't been active on the West Coast for nearly half a century. We salvaged this from the East Coast. They ran over there to try and start over, only to meet a Brotherhood of Steel detachment. The resulting war finished them off for good. We got in there and grabbed what salvage we could when no one was looking." She tilted her head. "Then again you look like you might be old enough to remember them. No offense."
"Vaguely, I was a kid when their oil rig went down. But I've been wondering. Is that Hellfire armor? A duraframe design?" Winter was privately growing very frustrated at listening to a conversation where she only understood half of what was being said. The Enclave she understood, but he had only mentioned a Brotherhood of Steel once or twice. As she silently tried to piece everything together. "Ah. Gotcha. Thanks for telling me, I was just curious." Despite the fairly convincing good-natured tone, his voice didn't make his eyes. There was a sour tinge to them.
"Well, I think that's been a rather good demonstration," Han said, looking back and forth between James and Anna. He looked just a tad uncertain at what had just happened. Slowly, the formation reversed and James and Winter were escorted back to the portal.
As they went, Winter shot James a look that she hoped would convey a general feeling of "what was that all about?" Thankfully, he noticed and leaned in. "I heard about the Hellfire armor being developed and about the resources they were diverting for it," he whispered. "Specifically, I heard about how they were going to scrap their duraframe eyebot project."
"But what does that-'' she began. And then understanding struck her lighting bolt. "ED-E is Enclave?"
"Yup. He got sent over from the other side of the continent, his creator was trying to save him. Someone must've shot at him on the way because I found him in a junk shop with a couple of holes in him. Had to stitch him back together."
"Ah," Winter said. James's firm defiance against ED-E being disassembled, while never something she had found that peculiar or needing elaboration, now had some context. It was...admirable. Before too long, they were back on the other side, Jane still standing at attention.
"That's only a small part of what we do, James, Winter," Han said, turning to look at him. Winter folded her arms and glared. This again. "We repair power plants, we take out Raider bands, we purify water supplies. And you can both be part of that with us."
"And our families?" Winter said. "Are we allowed to go back to see them? Or does being part of this paramilitary group exclude having meaningful contact with anyone outside it? I ask because I struggle to see this as something where we can just moonlight, particularly when it would be considered going AWOL for some of us. If I didn't know any better, I'd think that this was a desperate, clumsy idea thought up by someone who acted without thinking and has put himself in a situation he doesn't know how to deal with. That's most likely why we were stuck in a cell without any plans for what would be done with us outside of asking us to join forces with the people who kidnapped us! What did you think we would say and do?"
Her temper had reached a boiling point. Everything about this was insulting. She didn't care how many hungry people they fed or whatever other good deeds they had done. The five of them had kidnapped her and James and were now blackmailing the two of them. Effectively their two choices were to join up with their captors or be kept prisoner forever. Of course, she doubted that Han wanted to keep them forever, but in the hole he had dug for himself, it was either that or kill them if they refused to join up.
"And while I'm speaking my mind, a thought has occurred to me." She had been given plenty of time to think, and while she had been doing that, something rather peculiar had occurred to her. "This one's Semblance copies the Semblances of others, correct? Wiglaf can convert metal into a liquid and manipulate it, Róta goes berserk, and as a machine, Jane doesn't have a Semblance. So Han, unless you have a green thumb-related Semblance, which I doubt because you would've helped her if you did, she got it from somewhere else. You never told us where that was. May I ask?"
A cold, heavy silence fell over the room. Han wasn't looking at her. James's eyes were wide and his mouth opened wide as Winter's words hit him. Anna broke the silence. "Han. She's right for the wrong reasons. This isn't working. It's not your fault, but this plan was always a little hair-brained."
"Sadly, I think I'm inclined to agree," Wiglaf said, frowning in disappointment.
Winter paid them no heed, focusing her glare on Han. The cyborg sighed. "I need to think. Jane, Wiglaf, can you take them back to their room? Anna, drop off your armor at the armory, I'll recharge it when I get a moment. Hand rubbed his temples, looking exhausted. Winter found herself unable to spare an iota of sympathy for him. If he had just driven them back to Mantle after going back on his promise to James, then maybe she would've been able to find it in herself to forgive him. But not after everything he had done to her and James.
She only took her glare off of Han when Wiglaf and Jane both escorted the two of them away. "He saved us, you know," Jane said in her mechanical voice. "Han. Every last one of us. He pulled me out of the ruins of Camp Navarro and patched me back together. He found Wiglaf after the survivors he had been leading were massacred by the Enclave's pet mutant and it nearly killed him. He found Anna nearly dead on a battlefield after the Great War, and Róta-,"
"I don't. Care," Winter said bluntly. "Spare me the sob stories."
"...We'll talk tomorrow," Jane said coldly. They were at the shared cell. Without much of a word, even Wiglaf had gone rather quiet, they opened the door. The second she and James stepped inside, it closed behind them. Winter was certain she could hear angry muttering on the other side.
"Well, fuck, you just gave them both barrels," James said, sounding overwhelmed as he turned to face her.
"I told them the truth, and in the process, I suspect I ripped away a couple of the comforting lies that they were telling themselves," Winter said. She was still fuming. She was sick of it. Sick of the self-congratulatory pats on the back they gave themselves, sick of the impotent hand wringing, and sick of their self-righteousness speeches on how they were doing good. James and she had been doing plenty of good working with Ironwood and Ozpin, but a quintet of outlaws were supposed to be a trade-up? No, she wasn't having any of that nonsense.
"Maybe," James said, looking around the room. "You're right though. Everything you said was right. And frankly, I think we've both spent enough time here."
"Have you come up with a plan yet?" Winter asked. The past couple of days had been long and tedious. When they weren't sleeping, exercising, or eating, the pair of them had been granted far too much time to themselves. Dancing and small talk could only eat so much of it up, so much of it had been granted to brainstorming potential escape attempts. None of their ideas had borne much fruit, simply because of how little they had to work with.
"I think I may tell them I'm interested in joining," Shock flooding her, Winter opened her mouth to protest. "Not sincerely, of course," he added hastily. "But I think I'll be able to sell them on it. If I can get enough trust from them, I can use it against them."
"That may be rather hard to do after what I just did back there," Winter said. A slight trace of guilt fluttered into her. If she had known James was considering the duplicitous approach, she would've kept quiet.
"Actually I think we can use that," James said. "When I say I want to join them, I want you to clock me."
There was a pause. "I beg your pardon?" Winter said. She must've misheard him.
"Punch me in the face, really hard," James said. "If I end up hitting the ground, kick me in the stomach a few times to drive the point home. From their perspective, I just left you out to dry. They don't want you to ever see Weiss again unless it's under their terms, so it'd be natural you'd be pissed at me. They strike me as the type of people who have seen more than their share of violence, so you can't hold back. After that-," but Winter interrupted him.
"I'm not hitting you," Winter said firmly. "That's an absurd proposition. You've done nothing to deserve it and I'm not going to willingly hurt you. If you want me to yell that you're a traitor, I can manage that."
"Winter, it's ok," James said. Winter had expected him to be annoyed and impatient, the way most people were when she planted her feet to the ground. To her surprise, his voice was calm, comforting even. "I've taken punches in the past, and most of them from people who want me dead. I'll know you don't mean it. And if it gets us out of here, I'm more than happy to take it."
"You shouldn't have to," Winter said stubbornly. Bad memories were starting to float to the forefront of her mind. A stinging pain on her cheek, hot angry tears leaking out of her eyes, a dismissive comment from her father, "you'll thank me when you finally grow up." She had spent her entire adult life getting away from that nightmare, and now James was just asking for the type of abuse she had spent so long trying to escape? No. She refused. "I will go along with your plan. But I can't bring myself to hurt you. And I'm not sorry for that." She braced herself for the usual retorts. Everyone always got angry with her when she stood her ground: her father, Whitely, Qrow, she was used to it by now.
They never came. Instead, James put a comforting hand on her shoulder, smiling as he did. "Ok. If you're that uncomfortable with it, we'll find another way. Sorry, I didn't mean to push you like that."
It took Winter a second to find her voice. This wasn't how these things normally worked. She couldn't remember the last time she had been apologized to when she refused to cooperate. It was disorienting, but not unwelcome. "You're a rather odd man, James. You make small talk with your captors, you pseudo adopt a young adult from a hate group, and now this. Though I do admit, it's a charming change of pace at times. I give you credit, not many men are comfortable dancing with a woman taller than them."
James looked at Winter, unblinking. "Sorry, could you run that last bit by me one more time?"
Confused, Winter repeated herself. "Not many dance with a woman who's taller than him."
James stared. Then a soft smile broke across his face. "Uh, Winter? You're not taller than me. We're around the same height, maybe I'm a smidgen taller."
Oh, so he wanted to play that game? "We were nose to nose, and my nose was a full inch above yours. Look." Striding forward, she stopped in front of James. Sure enough, she was an inch taller than him, not a wide margin, but his eyes noticeably moved upward to meet hers. "See?" She couldn't help herself, a cocky smile slid across her face.
"Winter, you're wearing goddamn high heels!" James said in exasperation, pointing down to her heeled boots. "That doesn't count!"
"And? You're wearing boots," Winter said, folding her arms and attempting, unsuccessfully, to suppress her grin. "They add height too."
"I'm not wearing freaking cowboy boots, just combat boots, they don't add an inch the way yours do, shorty," James said. There was a smug grin on his face now too. And like that, the gauntlet had been thrown.
"I do believe you're challenging me, Mr. Walker," Winter said confidently, "You'd be wise to not start a fight you can't win."
"Is that right?" He took a step forward, their noses practically touching now. There was a challenge in his eyes. "Well, buck up Schnee. Kick those heels off and tell me what the view is like down there."
She was going to destroy him. "Take the boots off first. Unless you're scared." He took the bait like a sucker. Rising to the challenge, he dropped to one knee and began to undo his laces. Frantically, a plan had formed in her head, but she didn't have much time. Reaching down, she hastily undid the straps to her heels, sliding them off. Taking great care, she tossed them in a way that directly crossed his line of sight. Hastily, she then put her plan into work, straightening her back out.
After a minute of work, James only had a double layer of worn socks covering his feet. Standing up straight, James came up just short, an inch below Winter. Her grin widened. "Like I said, don't start fights you can't win."
"Uh-huh," James said, unimpressed. "Winter?"
"Yes?" she said, putting on an air of faux innocence.
"Everyone looks taller than they actually are when they're ON THEIR FUCKING TIPPIE TOES!" Winter couldn't help it, a laugh that was more of a wheeze leaked out of her like she was a deflating balloon. Like James had said, she was balancing herself on the balls of her feet, effectively mimicking the advantage of her high heels.
Playfully, James shoved her in the shoulder, sending the off-balance Winter sprawling onto her bed. Every step of the way, Winter's dry, shallow laughter continued to tumble out of her. This was so stupid. This could easily be the stupidest thing she had done in her entire adult life. But she couldn't stop laughing.
Chuckling himself, James sat down next to her, looking down at where she lay. For a moment, the two of them still sat there, laughing. "I think we both needed that," he said. "So. We're gonna go with you yelling at me that I'm a traitor?"
Half-choking, Winter forced out a nod, pulling herself into a sitting position as the two of them slid their footwear back on. "But that's still a baseline idea, we need to iron out the fine details," she said, finally forcing her laughter down. "When it's done though, we'll have something I think will work."
"Or I could just open the door and let you both out, doesn't that sound better than you both doing your best drama club impression?" a voice from behind the door said. It didn't belong to any of the Scattered.
Both Winter and James jumped out of the bed in a panic, any comfort from their shared idiocy long gone. "Winter, gun," James hissed, holding his hand out. She was already one step ahead of him. Ripping the pistol from the concealed holster, she pressed it into his hand. As he aimed, she held out her hands to her side, glyphs appearing in the palms of her hand. It it wasn't the Scattered, Cinder and her lackeys must've tracked them down. Except, now that she thought about it, hadn't she heard that voice before? No. It couldn't be.
The door slid open, revealing the unshaven, ragged man on the other side, a massive sword leaning in his shoulder. "Qrow!?" At once, James lowered his pistol, gawking at the other man. "How did you-where did you come from? Did the Scattered see you?"
"Uh, you're welcome," Qrow said, walking into the room with a cocky swagger. "Took me a couple of days to get a feel for the layout of this place without being spotted. Bad news, we're underground. Good news, I know where they're keeping your gear. We'll stop by there, arm up, then head for the entrance. I'm sure they won't mind if we borrow their van." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a pair of keys, dangling them idly. Winter hastily put out her glyphs. Her personal disdain for Qrow didn't matter here, she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Well, let's go! Gotta act before they realize what's going on." And with that, he turned, moving down the hallway. Winter and James barely had time to glance at each other before they were forced to chase after him. Winter's heart was in her throat, and whether it was due to excitement or nerves, she couldn't tell. They had an opening, but if they were caught, it might push the Scattered over the edge into taking more radical solutions for dealing with them.
The base was huge and winding, far too big for the five people who called it home. Eventually, thankfully, they came to a heavy metal door. A primitive-looking computer, very similar to James's Pip-Boy, hummed next to it, giving off a dull green light. "They were smart enough to have their password be a random jumble of letters instead of their cat's name. But I saw them punch it in enough times to learn it." With that, his fingers danced across the keyboard before hitting enter. With a light-hearted chime, the door slid open. On the other side was a room packed to the bursting point with weapons. Every wall and table was stacked with guns, blades, boxes of ammunition, and armor. Some of them she recognized as being of Remnant make, but most of them were of the old, worn models she had come to associate with Earth. Quite a few of the weapons were the same strange design as the handful of energy weapons she had seen from Earth. On the far side of the room, she spotted Anna's armor hooked up to some kind of rig, along with half a dozen other sets of similar armor in identical situations.
Her eyes were drawn to a table in the corner, ignoring the display that had to be the result of decades of hoarding. Her sword was lying on top of James's weapons, both perched carefully on the table. Rushing over, she grabbed it and affixed it to her side. Relief washed through her. She had felt naked, borderline incomplete, without her sword. Gripping the hilt, she squeezed it. This was where it belonged, not lying around like an expendable rifle.
"Ice Queen," Qrow said, right behind her. And just like that, he was already wasting the goodwill he had built up. "How's Walker holding up? This is the first time I saw him up close. I didn't realize Cinder had messed up that badly. He ok?"
Just as soon as it had come, the tension she had felt towards Qrow vanished. Well, it had mostly vanished. Ice Queen was still a name she felt a healthy level of disdain towards. "He's better now, he was struggling at first," she said honestly. "The Scattered have good medical resources if nothing else. Though they don't seem to have the means to make a prosthetic ear. That's the first thing I'm arranging when I get back."
Qrow let out a laugh that wasn't as mocking as it normally was from him. "Aw, you care." Winter tried to ignore him. She tried. "Well, I'm just glad the both of you are ok. Walker!" Qrow raised his voice. "Grab your guns and let's go already." He turned. "Uh. Winter. What's he doing?" Confused, she turned to look where Qrow was.
James was ducked behind Anna's armor, frantically fiddling with the back. Before Winter could ask, it shifted and opened up wide from the back, not unlike a crab being torn open. Grinning giddily, James climbed inside. As he did, the suit closed around him, sealing him inside. "I think we'll be needing this more than them don't you?" he said, stepping forward. As he did, he reached out and grabbed the heavy, scoped rifle that Anna usually used. "And a gauss rifle? Thank you very much, Ms. Honeycrisp."
"You know how to use that?" Winter said as James approached them. He was moving in the armor with ease, or at least with no more difficulty than Anna had. "Or is it just that easy?"
"I had a friend train me," James said, reaching the table and clipping all of his weapons onto the Hellfire armor. "And as much as I hate the people who made this armor, I'm not about to turn down an edge. Power armor eats up small arms fire like it's nothing. I don't need to let my Aura take it then, the armor can do all the work. And this thing?" He heaved the rifle, "It puts holes in tanks."
Winter nodded, still looking at James as he moved over to another rack, grabbing two bandoliers of those odd, green grenades he had initially shown up with. The armor was, to be blunt, ugly. It was a worn, industrial gray with tinges of black, the eye slots were yellow and beady, and the mouthpiece resembled a piglike snout. But when James's voice came out of it, even filtered through a speaker, it wasn't so bad. "I'll show you how to use it when we get back. Don't take one now, you might not even be able to move it without training." Winter smiled and nodded as he clipped the bandoliers on..
"Huh," Qrow said, sounding mildly impressed. "Ok, we can use that. But we need to get out of here now." Winter and James both nodded at him and made to leave. But before they could exit the armory, something inexplicable happened. A thin, red disc appeared in front of the doorway, much like the portal the Scattered had used, but blood red. As Qrow saw it, he froze. "No," he hissed. "Not now, Raven."
Before any of them could act further, a woman stepped out. She was clad in a dark red and black waist-length kimono held up by a broad sash, with spiked pieces of armor on her wrists. As it stretched downward, it gave way to a short, pleated black skirt and equally black leggings, a pair of shorts vaguely visible between the two. A sword sheath as long as Qrow's blade, but far thinner, rested at her side. A lone hilt stuck out of it, but Winter could see a dozen differently colored Dust blades in a rotating chamber.
That all paled compared to the woman herself. She was the spitting image of a much older Yang Xiao Long. The only difference was red eyes instead of iliac, a couple of inches, and a billowing waterfall of jet black hair instead of bright blonde. Her mind instantly connected the dots. This woman was Miss Xiao Long's mother, and by extension, Qrow's sister. She frowned. Something about this woman was oddly familiar, and ironically it had nothing to do with her resemblance to her daughter. Winter had seen something about her before.
"Qrow, we need to talk," Raven said bluntly. As she did, she blinked and looked around. "Where are we?" Her eyes fell onto Winter. "Is that a Schnee? What have you been up to, little brother?"
"A rescue op," Qrow said bluntly. "And you wouldn't believe what I've been up to if I told you."
"Oh?" A cocky smirk slid onto Raven's face. "How about people from another dimension? A Caesar's Legion? Recruiting allies with, oh what were they called again, Frumentarii? I haven't been skipping idly through fields while you toil in Ozpin's shadow, Qrow."
"So, they did reach out to you," Qrow said, his voice lowering. "Raven. Please tell me you didn't agree to join them. These people, do you even know what they've done?"
"I've been tailing one halfway across Mistral as he runs back to his master after I killed most of his envoys, I suspect I know more than you do at this point. And I found an opportunity I didn't think any of us would ever be able to accomplish. A way to get away from Salem for good. They were stupid enough to try and manipulate me into a fight I couldn't win for it. I think I'll just take it from them, instead."
Winter felt like she had been struck by thunder. This woman had nothing to do with the Scattered, how did she know who Salem was? The mistress of the Grimm who lurked behind civilization was supposed to be a lie they had cooked up. At least, that's what she had told herself.
As this horrific thought occurred to her, she idly realized that she and James had been forgotten. "We can't just run away, Raven. There's no place on Remnant she can't reach if she's not held at bay," Qrow said, his jaw starting to clench. "I thought you of all people would've realized that by now."
"Oh I have, little brother," Raven said. "But this Earth sounds different. No Grimm, no Aura, it's fertile ground for starting over." Her face softened. "Qrow. Come back to your family. This is a chance we won't ever get again. We can do whatever we want on Earth. We can make them fear this mask more than anyone on Remnant. Reaching behind her back, Raven flashed a mask at Qrow. A thick, angular Grimm mask, bent in the shape of a bird's skull, with four thin, horizontal eye slits and red lines of war paint.
For the second time, Winter felt like she had been electrocuted. She knew that mask, you couldn't go to a single settlement in Mistral without seeing it on a wanted poster. "You're the leader of the Branwen Tribe!" The most infamous, brutal, and merciless bandit group on the continent of Anima. Of course, Caesar had tried to recruit him. With this revelation, she pushed the talk of Salem to the back of her mind. That could come later, the bandit Queen in front of her was a bigger priority.
Raven gave a mock smile. "Look at that. Take the silver spoon out of their mouths and even a Schnee can form common sense. It only took her a minute to realize what your last name meant, Qrow."
"Everyone just hold on a second," James said, his voice level, though not without some effort. "Let's not do anything too crazy while we're behind enemy lines."
"You did say this was a rescue operation," Raven said, looking around. "This doesn't look White Fang though, does it? Who'd you go and get angry this time, Qrow?"
"Tell you what," Qrow said bitterly. "Open up a portal to Yang and get us all out of here and I'll tell you." So Raven had a teleportation Semblance that was connected to people somehow. "Do a good deed."
"Oh, but we're already right here," Raven said in a faux polite tone. "Why? In a hurry to get me away from here? Is there something you don't want me to see here?"
"Yeah, the twelve-foot giant that would crush your skull if he caught you," Qrow retorted.
"He's not kidding," James said. "Super Mutant in power armor. He'd probably be able to rip you in half without even trying."
Raven's attention focused on James for the first time. "I don't believe I got your name."
"Don't tell her," Qrow said at once. "You don't want my sister knowing your name unless you can help it. Look, Raven, we're in the middle of something delicate right now. If you're not gonna help us, get out. I thought I made it very clear that I don't just give up."
"Because you're willing to get yourself killed so long as you can pretend you're being useful!" Raven snapped, her flimsy facade of manners crumbling and making way. "It's not my fault you mistook a martyr complex for being brave, Qrow!" Winter stayed silent, her hand close to the hilt of her sword. James wasn't aiming his new gauss rifle at Raven yet, but his grip suggested he was ready to do so at any moment.
"You're wasting your time, the Legion was blowing smoke up your ass," James said. "The portal they have between here and Earth? It's gone, destroyed. My friends and I smashed it on the far in, I got sucked through. The Legion is stuck here with no way back home. They conned you. It's what they do. They make promises they have no intention of keeping and weasel everything they can out of you. Look, don't buy their bullshit. The second that you get away from them, the better. Don't let them prey on you."
When Raven had looked at James earlier, it had been with idle curiosity. Now he had her full attention. Winter forced herself not to look at James, to not blink in surprise, or to do anything that might give away what James was doing. Technically, not a single thing he had said was a lie. Technically. Slowly, her lip curled. "You're lying, and you're not particularly good at it," she said. But her voice quivered. There was a seed of doubt. "I know how to read people, the envoys he sent me believe every word they said."
"Caesar feeds bullshit to everyone in his ranks, the Legion worships him, borderline literally," James replied. Somehow, he was keeping his voice calm. Reaching up, he undid his armor's helmet with a hiss and tucked it under his arm. "To him, it's better to just avoid all the complications of low morale by covering up his cavalcade of fuck ups. That's assuming they're alive anymore, seeing as how Atlas launched a massive raid on their camp."
Raven's face was visibly sagging, only made worse when Qrow spoke up. "He's telling the truth, Raven. This is everything he told Ozpin."
Raven snarled, her hand drifting to her sword. "If I find out you were lying to me-,"
"You'll do nothing," Winter said firmly, her hand now firmly on her own sword's hilt. She didn't like the idea of fighting Raven Branwen when they had so much to deal with already. But if she was going to start something, the odds were against her.
"It's three on one, Raven," Qrow said bluntly, echoing Winter's thoughts. "I don't want to fight you, but I spent the last three days busting my rear saving these two idiots. I can't have you go cutting them up. Just walk away, Raven. Please." Hearing Qrow sounding upset and regretful caught Winter off guard. What had happened between these two?
For a second, Raven slackened, her hand going slack. But, at that moment, an explosion rocked the base. All four of them stumbled and regained their balance as an intercom burst to life and Han's voice echoed over it. "Everyone, get up top! We're under attack! Twenty plus hostiles incoming! Prioritize protecting the holding cells and the portal at all costs!" Dread shot through Winter.
Raven's posture changed at once, her eyes narrowing in hatred as she looked at her brother. "So. He's already taking lessons from Ozpin then. And to think, I almost believed him. He's a fast learner, I'll give him that. Qrow, if you're too stubborn to come along with me, be smart enough to stay out of my way." With that, she turned.
What happened next, Winter wasn't quite sure. One second, Raven was there. The next, something has happened, and in her place was a small black bird that flapped its wings as it sped off down the corridor. Winter was baffled by the display. What had just happened? That couldn't have been a Semblance, Semblances didn't just rewrite body structure like that. Besides, Raven already had a Semblance with her teleportation? So what had that been?
"Crap. It was a good idea, but sometimes things just go wrong," Qrow said. "We'll worry about her later. Raven is good, but she can't take these Scattered on by herself, not if they can hold their own against Cinder. Let's focus on getting out of here. That's gonna be hard enough as it is with someone else coming in through the front door." Making a gesture, he sprinted down the hallway, after Raven. James and Winter followed, James's new armor making heavy thuds with each step.
"Is it Cinder?" Winter said as they ran, remembering the seething hatred the woman had shown. "Did she track us down?"
"No," James said. His face was deathly pale. "I know who would go looking for this place."
XXXXX
Servius looked on in awe. The Legate, his muscles so overwhelming that his armor struggled to hold them, pressed his palm on the blast door to the Pre-War base. At once, there was a screech of metal tearing as it went flying backward, its bolts and hinges weakly hanging where they had been broken apart, where it hit the far wall of the inside. Even there, it bit into the wall, pressing into it and slowly indenting it, the steel of the wall buckling under the force. Lowering his hand and walking in, the ruined blast door finally relented, falling to the floor with a clang. In the distance, Servius could hear a voice calling over the intercom, saying that there were intruders.
"The enemy lies before us. Go," Lanius said, heaving his greatsword and pointing it forward. The elite strike team he commanded charged forward. Tullus was to his left and Ilia to his right. Ancus was in front of him, hammer slung over his shoulder. In the distance, Marie F. was already charging into the base, her knives at the ready and a demonic grin on her face. A massive, burly White Fang man with a chainsaw sword was right behind her, his weapon revving. The rest were legionaries and White Fang he didn't recognize. It didn't matter. They had an enemy to defeat.
Drawing his sword and bounding forward into the dark depths before him, he let out a roar from his gut.
XXXXX
Author's Note: A lot of people said that the Scattered weren't very sympathetic despite me saying they weren't pure evil and had redeeming qualities. They said that despite those traits, they were still self-righteous pricks. To those critics, I only have one thing to say. You have a point. And honestly, I want to thank you. I struggled with the Scattered for a while, not in how to write them, no, but in how to think about them. Whether or not they were anti-heroes or anti-villains. Well, with a nice firm kick in the rear from my critics, I have my head on straight now. They're well-intentioned and well-meaning villains. But they are still villains. They strung James along and then kidnapped him and Winter. They're not as bad as the other villains, but that's damning with faint praise. Still, let me know how you feel about them. I want to know if you think they still need adjustments.
Aside from that, it's fun to get back to writing James and Winter after they've been benched for so long, as well as letting Qrow have some fun. Heck, it's nice to let James and Winter have a soft, stupid moment to themselves. The best type of friend is the one where you lose 30 IQ points when you hang around with them.
I would like to thank my legacy Patrons, SuperFeatherYoshi, xXNanamiXx, RaptorusMaximus, Davis Swinney, Mackenzie Buckle, Ryan Van Schaack, ChaosSpartan575, and LordofNaught for their amazing support.