A.N. (6/23/21) - Here's another chapter! Make sure that you've also read the last one if you haven't yet.
Argus (24) - Sanctuary
"Are you sure it's here Robyn?"
"Yes, this should be the place." The white-haired woman nodded before smirking. "Besides, I doubt you'd bring all your troops here if you didn't believe me."
"Hah," Clover laughed at that. "Well, maybe it's just because you've never steered us wrong in the past."
Currently, they were staring at a large warehouse standing alone in the middle of an open field. Several robots were walking about, patrolling the area around the perimeter of the building.
Clover gave the area a curious look. "The testimony from Huntsman Rhodey said that faunus labor was being used to build structures. This doesn't match what he said."
"Yeah," Robyn agreed. "Then again, the robots aren't doing anything but keeping guard. Maybe the captive faunus were being used for labor, but right now they aren't being used at the moment."
"So they're probably inside then," Clover said with a sigh. "Judging by the size of this building, I doubt we'll expect a lot of numbers. Right, let's head back and tell everyone it's go time."
"You sure about that?"
Both of them turned around in alarm as a voice spoke behind them. Upon seeing who it was, Clover's shoulders sagged in relief while Robyn glared at the person who surprised them.
"Qrow, I thought I told you to stay with the others."
The raven-haired man just shrugged. "Hey, I wasn't exactly getting comfortable looks from our mutual buddies." He jerked a thumb in Robyn's direction. "Specifically, her teammates."
Robyn rustled at that but soon calmed down. "Again, I'd like to apologize for how our first encounter went. Please forgive my teammates as well if you can."
It was certainly quite the surprise for her and the rest of her girls to learn that the drunken huntsman they fought the other day would be working with them. Sadly, tensions between him and her teammates were only inevitable with how things went.
"No worries," Qrow replied. "But forget about that, let's talk about this place. It's not what it seems."
Clover gave the other man a curious look. "What do you mean?"
"I mean there's no way this is the main base of the supremacists," Qrow answered back. "From what I've learned so far, the guys we're looking for are connected to this Merlot guy, right? If you both don't know, then let me tell you a story."
He sat down on the ground and began to explain. "Merlot Industries was a Valean corporation that fell during the events of the fall of a settlement called Mountain Glenn. The guy in charge was - you guessed it - some guy named Doctor Merlot. Dude was infamous for his obsession with two things: his experiments with the Grimm, and his idea of augmenting others using robotic prosthetics."
Robyn interrupted. "What does that have to do with our current situation?"
"I'm getting to that," Qrow said with an annoyed look before continuing his story. "So the guy lost it all, but it was never confirmed that he actually died during the fall of Mountain Glenn. Now, the official story is that it was a random mass Grimm attack that was the reason for the fall. But the truth is, people figured that it was Merlot's fault that drew in all the Grimm. I'm not too sure about the details of how or why, but that's not important. Anyway, the part that's relevant to us is that in the past he also used to partner with Atlas a couple of times."
"Now that I think about it," Clover said. "I might have heard the name before. I'm pretty sure he used to have a couple of old facilities in Atlas. All of them were based out in areas devoid of people because they often conducted dangerous experiments."
"Not only that," Qrow added. "But some of his more illegal ones weren't usually out in the open like this. When word got around that Merlot might have been the cause of the Glenn incident, I heard that old Jimmy raided a few of his old places in Atlas to see if he could find anything. What he found was that Merlot liked to keep his more immoral stuff under wraps. So what the guy would do is have someplace act as his operations on the surface… while the real good stuff would be hidden away."
Robyn raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying this warehouse is only a front?"
"Precisely," Qrow said before gesturing towards the warehouse. "This? No way this is one of his haunts if he is working with the Allies as I suspect. Most likely, he has an underground base or something with an entrance leading there hidden away."
"And that's probably where the rest of the faunus are," Robyn realized. "Do you think that everyone's underground?"
"Yup," Qrow agreed. "Them, and who knows how many other guys working for the Allies. The thing about underground places is that it's hard to tell how big they are without some specialized equipment. For all we know, they could have hundreds of robots and guys patrolling the place."
"This has all been quite an interesting theory of yours," Clover began. "But the thing is, do we know for sure that he has a secret base underground?"
His ear suddenly began to buzz before Vine's voice spoke. "Boss, you'll never believe what we just discovered. Several robots are entering and exiting a separate entrance. I believe that they have a base underground. We're sending the coordinates your way."
"Scratch that," Clover sighed. "Looks like there really is a secret underground lair."
Robyn rolled her eyes. "Sheesh, you think these guys would have better taste than to go with the standard villain lair package."
"Welp, my job here is done." Qrow stood up. "Guess we're headed back to the others so that we can change plans."
"You're right." Clover gave the other man a bright smile. "Good job, Qrow. Your intel has been a valuable contribution to this effort."
"Hey," Qrow shrugged his shoulders. "Just doing my part."
Wow, I'm surprised at how well things are going for me, Qrow thought to himself. Maybe my Semblance is finally throwing a bone to me for once.
"Well, I'll call in with Argus and tell them what's up." Clover pressed his communicator and waited a few seconds, only to frown as he received no reply. "That's strange, nobody's answering."
Robyn asked. "Is that unusual?"
"Well, we can't exactly act without approval." Clover sighed. "With how politics work between Atlas and Mistral, there's a lot of red tape that we have to get through to even have a force this big away from the city. Without approval, we can't exactly act."
"Are you serious?" Qrow gave the other man an annoyed look. "Great, so now what do we do?"
"Hm." A concerned look was on Clover's face. "I'm worried that something might be happening back in the city. But I'm not sure if it's wise to abandon our mission this early."
"Then how about this," Robyn began. "Only the military has to worry about regulations. But the Happy Huntresses aren't military, we're an independent group. We can scout ahead while you try and see what's wrong."
Clover thought about it for a few seconds before he nodded. "Alright then, but one condition. Since Qrow's also not part of Atlas, he can go with you all to scout as well. Take him and work together to see if anything is going on."
Qrow's eyes widened. "Wait, you're telling me I have to work with her and the rest of her psychotic teammates?"
He turned to face Robyn, who was giving him the fakest smile he's ever seen. "Oh, don't worry about that. We promise to be absolutely professional and forget about everything that's happened between us. Sound's good?"
She grabbed his hand in a handshake, and Qrow couldn't help but wince as her grip began to crush his hand.
Never mind, he sighed. Guess I spoke too soon.
Was it too late to ditch and hide back at Sanctum?
}-{
"Thank you so much for taking us in."
Rin bowed deeply once more towards the older woman. Professor Burnett only laughed as she waved a hand in dismissal.
"Not at all, it wouldn't be right to refuse those in need from protection. After all, that's why our academy is named Sanctum."
The two were currently walking across campus together as several other teachers led the rest of the faunus children to their new rooms. To the side was Terra in the middle of giving her account of what happened at the Argus base to one of the older huntsmen.
"But it is quite concerning," Professor Burnett mulled. "To think that the local base would fall into enemy hands. With the majority of the troops out of town, the situation is quite dire."
"Yes," Rin nodded. "But so far, it looks like they haven't made any other moves. Though that may change as the day progresses."
The older woman sighed at that. "I'll send a word out to the rest of the huntsmen here to set up a patrol group around the city. This way, if the Allies try anything within the city, we'll be able to act immediately."
"You're not going to try and retake the base?" Rin asked curiously.
"We can't," Professor Burnett answered. "Huntsmen aren't generally allowed to get into conflicts like this. And with Argus especially, since we're technically a Mistrilian group. An attack by us on an Atlesian Military Base might cause things to blow up in everyone's faces."
It was clear that she was oversimplifying for Rin to understand, but she got the general gist. Once again, it looked like politics was the main problem.
"So what, are we just gonna wait for the rest of the troops from Atlas to come back and solve their problems?"
Professor Burnett sighed. "That seems to be all we can do now. If we try to force the issue, the public might become aware that their local military force has been taken over by terrorists. The amount of Grimm that would draw could potentially cripple Argus. That's one other reason why there aren't any plans to charge into their base and force everyone to surrender."
Rin didn't say anything else after that. Her mind continued to play the events of this morning when Winter took her to the frontlines to see how the city protected itself from the Grimm.
Although their current situation was bad, it could have been so much worse. The Allies could have been more heavy-handed in their approach to taking over the base. Had their activities been exposed to the general public, the resulting fear and turmoil could have drawn a large number of invading Grimm. It was already a miracle that nobody seemed to have so far noticed the three airships crashing when Rin and the rest fled across the sea.
"All we can do right now is wait," Professor Burnett concluded.
"But what if the troops outside Argus are in trouble?" Rin asked. "If the Allies are acting up here, then that might mean the military's headed for a trap."
"That's possible," the older woman agreed with a frown. "Communications only work in range, and the base is the only place where the military can communicate over longer distances. I doubt that they'll even realize that anything's wrong until it's too late."
Rin later learned that apparently, communications were still working for the rest of the city. It was only at the base that communications were down, something she learned when she touched down on the campus and received a radio transmission asking to identify their ship.
Still, that didn't exactly help their current problem.
"Come on, Miss Tohsaka." Professor Burnett smiled at her. "How about you leave this to the adults this time. From what you've told me about your day, I think you deserve a little rest and relaxation until we figure things out."
Rin wanted to argue at that but decided otherwise. Sometimes, she forgot that to others who didn't know her, she was just a teenager in their eyes.
"I guess," Rin said instead. "I should probably head home, I need to pick up some stuff."
While the faunus could stay here, Rin was going to head back to her workshop and prepare for any upcoming conflicts. First, she had to fix her [Wallflower] mystic code and repair its perception filter effects. After that, she was going to stockpile all the Dust she could find. She was running a bit low after all the fights she's been through.
Bidding the older woman farewell, Rin started walking down the hallway and making her way out by herself. Passing by a corner, something caught her attention at the corner of her eye.
Turning in a certain direction, her eyes widened as she took notice of what it was.
"Pyrrha…" she whispered.
Rin forgot that it was still a school day, thus it would make sense that Pyrrha would still be here. The other girl was walking across a courtyard by herself, unaware that Rin was looking in her direction.
Guilt crept into Rin's heart as she recalled the last time they met. Rin had ditched Pyrrha when the other girl had asked her to follow, and Rin instead ran away without saying a word. Awkwardly, she raised a hand and was about to call out to Pyrrha.
She paused as something caused her to stop, her voice dying in her throat.
How can I just talk to her after all of this, she thought to herself. What would I even say to her?
The last time they met, Rin had decided to run away from Pyrrha because she didn't want to get involved in anything troublesome. But that decision was taken away from her ever since she got caught by the military. There was no reason why Rin had to avoid Pyrrha anymore, yet Rin still hesitated.
It was Pyrrha who noticed Rin instead. The older girl looked up and saw Rin standing there, her hand still awkwardly raised in the air.
Green eyes met with Rin's own as they widened in recognition. With a small frown, Pyrrha turned away and began walking faster.
As Pyrrha walked away, she couldn't help it. Rin chuckled to herself as she realized what the other girl's reaction was all about.
"She hates me," Rin said with a bitter laugh. "Of course she does, not like I've given her the best impression so far."
Rin continued to laugh bitterly. What was she expecting? That they would somehow talk to each other and somehow find a way for the two to become friends? That Pyrrha would just magically forgive her for just ditching her for no apparent reason?
It hurt to think that she had messed up badly enough that Pyrrha wasn't even willing to be in the same area as Rin anymore. In the end, they were basically strangers who only met a couple of times. All Pyrrha knew about Rin was that they jogged in the same area and that Rin was avoiding her for some reason. What was she supposed to think other than Rin was rude or that she disliked her?
Well, there was her answer.
There were no more chances. Every time Pyrrha gave her one in the past to become friends with her, Rin had rejected it out of some baseless fear of messing up some nonsensical idea that it would get her into trouble. But in the end, Rin had brought all of her current problems onto herself without any involvement on Pyrrha's part.
"Hah…" Rin slumped against the wall and sat down. "I really am stupid, aren't I?"
Why was she getting her head so worked up over this? Why did the thought of Pyrrha ignoring her hurt her so much? It wasn't as if she was some insecure teenager who needed to survive on the opinion of others.
Maybe she was just lonely. After being stuck on another planet for three years, the only people that Rin could honestly say she considered a friend was her roommate who was twice her age and her fiancée.
She had no friends her age. She had no family. Heck, she barely had a history or a life.
The one thing Rin desperately sought all these years was peace, yet all of her actions up to that point contradicted that wish. Saving others from the Grimm, involving herself in gang affairs in Mistral, getting involved with taking out the Allies in Argus.
And now, that was something she wasn't going to get any longer.
"I'm on the map," she muttered to herself. "I can't hide any longer."
Karma had caught up to her and now, Rin was finally feeling the effects of her actions. Pyrrha didn't want to see her anymore, the military was finally aware of who she was, Terra was in trouble for getting involved with her, and the Allies were now looking for her.
She had no idea how to fix things so that things would become better.
"Hah…" Standing up, Rin pulled out her Scroll and sent a text to Terra explaining that she was going to be gone for a while. She knew that Terra was going to be busy trying to make sure that the children were settling in properly before coming home.
Getting a reply, Rin read the message and learned that Terra was going to be here for the rest of the day. Terra also said that she'll probably be back at their apartment later that night.
Rin smiled at that and pocketed the Scroll before making her way off the campus. As she did, she didn't notice a pair of green eyes staring at her through a window from upstairs.
So yeah, I wrote this one in a bit of a hurry. I finally recalled that Qrow was asked by Ironwood to help out the Ace-Ops in a previous chapter. So after learning that, I made it so that he was part of the Argus raid force.
Rin's not really going to be able to do much at this point. So right now, she's just going to prep her weapons and magecraft so that she'll be prepared for any future conflict.