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-CHAPTER START-
Realm R38Y
YANG:
Taiyang Xiaolong let out a soft sigh as he looked out the window at the front yard, where Yang was running through basic drills. Her two recently-acquired Pokémon, Torchic and Tyrogue, shared a look with each other as their Trainer's focus on her training couldn't completely eclipse her dimmed, morose demeanor. When they'd both been informed of being able to meet a girl whom they'd be a good fit for, they had been given outdated information describing the "old" Yang, brash and joyful and loving the thrill of battle. But the girl they were introduced to was a burnt-out shell of that, and they quickly learned of the Fall of Beacon and the disastrous "fight" against Adam Taurus.
Yang's arm may have been successfully reattached with no long-term effects, but her fighting spirit had been all but completely extinguished, the spark of joy and enjoyment of life was now a weakly smoldering ember, her love of fighting had been virtually erased, her faith in her fighting abilities had been utterly destroyed… The two Pokémon (along with everyone else) were able to look objectively at things and understand that Yang shouldn't be so devastated over losing to Adam Taurus – a high-tier threat who'd killed dozens of people, many of them of better skill & experience than her, who'd just savagely beaten and stabbed one of her precious teammates right in front of her to emotionally unbalance her and lure her into his attack, and had a devastatingly powerful Semblance that she'd been completely unaware of – but she couldn't see that, couldn't see that she could still be strong…
Might Guy and Taiyang were doing their best to retrain her, slowly repairing her broken confidence as best they could, and teaching her a new fighting style that mixed Taiyan's more advanced techniques with Might Guy's "Strong Fist" style, with additional focus on speed, evasion, tactical flexibility, and blitz attacks. She was doing quite well, proving to be a quick learner, but could barely perceive her own growth and development. At the beginning, her utter loss of confidence led her to not use any offensive maneuvers at all, even under threat of serious harm, focusing entirely on evasion and defense. Guy and Taiyang eventually managed to convince her to start (re)learning how to actually hit back again, but she was still far more passive and defensive in a fight than she used to be, to the point of being detrimental to the fighting style she was being taught.
In addition, although Yang grasped that giving in to her rage and her Semblance had led her to charging in and getting crushed by Taurus, she had learned another "wrong lesson" from this and gone too far in the other direction. Namely, she now refused to let herself feel anger at all, forcing it down and suppressing it whenever the emotion tried to make itself known. She was also rejecting and suppressing her Semblance, connecting it with the rage that got her maimed as a symbol of the anger she couldn't let herself feel; if, in training, she took enough damage to trigger it, she forced it down, restraining and repressing the Semblance and its power.
-Break-
Still, eventually Yang was spurred on by one of her most powerful and fundamental urges: her duty to protect and assist Ruby. The ever-growing need to not only be there to support her little sister, but be capable of actually pulling her weight against whatever nefarious enemies Ruby & JNPR were up against, pushed Yang to try to get her act together so she could get back in the field. No matter what happened to her, she couldn't leave Ruby hanging any longer… With this impetus, she tried to up her training and also participate more actively in training her two Pokémon.
"Are you sure about this, Yang?" Taiyang asked as his eldest daughter readied her black & gold motorcycle.
"I have to be" she replied. "I can't stand not knowing Ruby is okay, when I could be out there helping her."
"…Ruby has Team JNPR with her, and Qrow's shadowing them. You don't have to force yourself if you're not really ready."
"I can't call myself her sister if I don't do everything I can to help her! Weiss is training and going on missions for the DDF, Blake is in Menagerie getting extra training from her mom & dad while she helps with politics, Ruby's out in the field… I'm gonna fall too far behind if I don't get my ass in gear. Helping Ruby is… it's all I have left now. I have a duty. …I'll do my best to get myself and Ruby through this in one piece, okay dad? We'll be… We'll be alright…"
Her reassuring smile didn't really reach her eyes. None of her smiles did these days. Taiyang sighed, knowing he couldn't stop her from leaving without doing so by force. "Just… be careful."
Soon, with her gear stowed and her two Pokémon in their Pokéballs, Yang rode off down the forest road, bound for the port…
-Break-
WEISS:
A wave of Ice-type Sagitta Magica crashed into a pack of Shadows and Soldiers, cutting many of the Heartless down and freezing a few more of them solid. In the wake of Weiss' attack, Weiss' Eevee hit a frozen Shadow with a Tackle, shattering the darkling, and then kicked a Sand Attack into the face of a Soldier, leaving the Heartless flailing blindly until Weiss cut it down. Weiss' other partner for this little op quickly dealt with the remaining Heartless before they could regroup or free themselves from Weiss' ice, dispelling her 'Sweet Memories' Keyblade once the coast was clear.
"I think that's that" Naminé said. "I don't sense any other dark presences; this area is clear."
Weiss nodded. "That was quick and easy" she said. "The low-level Heartless we had to deal with here would be no match for even a pack of Beowolves."
The ex-Nobody nodded. "Speaking of, weren't you planning on heading back to Remnant soon?"
"Yeah. Ruby's off adventuring with JNPR, and I promised to join up as soon as I was able."
"Well, lemme know if you guys need any extra help. Not sure how much help I can be, with how new I am to fighting, but…"
The white-haired girl smiled. "You'll do fine. If I need you, I'll call you. Anyway, since Ruby is heading for Mistral, I'll have the DDF drop me off there; either I'll beat her there and be waiting when she arrives, or she'll beat me there and be waiting for me."
-Break-
BLAKE:
The DDF, especially the volunteering Krogans, had been a big help in improving the quality-of-life of Menagerie's population – improved technology and technical knowledge, improved security against sea-going Grimm, an intercontinental transmission tower was well into construction, and the mixed-clan Krogans provided additional security, mechanical skill, commerce, and were working on taming bits of the dangerous Menagerie wilderness to make it more suitable for Faunus expansion and colonization so the locals would have a little more breathing room on the continent. (It helped that the Krogans, thanks to their own history of being marginalized and subjected to racism, sympathized with the Faunus and thus put a lot of heart into helping them. In fact, Urdnot Wrex and Urdnot Bakara, the de-facto heads of state for the post-Reaper War Krogans, had formally declared Menagerie and its inhabitants to be under Krogan protection.)
The head engineer and administrator of the small Krogan colony on Menagerie, Nakmor Kesh, got along well with Chieftain Ghira, she and her botanist boyfriend Vorn being occasional guests at the Belladonna household. (On one occasion, her veteran grandfather Drack swung by to check up on things, and showed himself to be a fantastic cook, another buck to the old stereotypes of their species; he also pitched in to help a little with Blake's guilt over the whole Adam Taurus situation.) Most of their clan had apparently been planning on going on the "Andromeda Initiative", but then the Council had revealed the Reapers' existence and approach to the public, and the Initiative got shelved so any able-bodied personnel could help in the war. Pretty much everyone important from the Initiative had survived the Reaper War, but the Initiative was being postponed and reworked thanks to the Dimensional Defense Force's plans to create intergalactic Mass Relays; already they were hard at work making a Relay to link to the Large Magellanic Cloud, and if that paid off they'd set up a Relay link between Milky Way and Andromeda, which would turn a 600-year voyage into a 20-minute one (Mass Relays were absurdly fast compared to every other FTL method used by the DDF, hence why the ability to build new ones thanks to data found in Reaper databanks after the war was such a big deal).
On the balcony of her lavish home, Blake gazed worriedly up at the clear blue tropical sky. The abundant help and presence from the DDF and the Krogans had weakened the White Fang's position on Menagerie, taking much of the wind out of the radicals' sails by weakening the base of their isolationist, racist, "Faunus can only depend on Faunus" rhetoric. However, Adam's hardliners weren't going to give up so easily, and it seemed they still had some plans in motion. Just last night, Blake and Sun – who was currently here helping her – had chased a spy from Adam's faction… who was revealed to be Ilia Amitola, and old friend of Blake's who was driven to radicalism by the systemic racism in Atlas/Mantle that culminated in Hunter-trainees laughing about the brutal death of her parents in a mining accident, leading her to snap and maim them and join the "Bloody Fang". She'd rebuffed Blake's attempt to talk her down and stabbed Sun before escaping, but accidentally left her CCT scroll behind.
One of her father's most trusted tech-heads had cracked the device's encryption overnight, revealing plans to attack Haven Academy in Mistral. Now, they had to figure out what the hell they were going to do in response, with intercontinental communications still spotty and thus warning Mistral a difficult prospect (and then they'd have to get Mistral's council to believe them, which wasn't all that likely since Mistral was right up there with Atlas in regards to anti-Faunus racism).
A soft meow distracted Blake from her turbulent thoughts, and she turned and looked down to see her Purrloin looking up at her, the feline Pokémon sensing her Trainer's negative mood and wanting to comfort her a little. The little purple cat-mon had proved herself to be an effective & efficient fighter and a good companion for Blake, and their training together was going well.
"What do we do now?" she wondered aloud, petting the cat-Pokémon in her arms.
-Break-
Some [Undetermined] Time Later
Mistral – White Fang Headquarters
"Adam…" Sienna Khan glared down at the figure kneeling before the steps to her throne. "I'm not going to repeat myself, so I want you listen when I tell you that the White Fang will not attack Haven Academy."
"High Leader Khan," he replied, "I am begging you-"
"You should beg for forgiveness and nothing else!" she snapped. "The assault you led on Beacon was not the 'great victory' you clearly think it was, and you should be more grateful your punishment for that calamity was not more severe. You are a symbol for many in our organization, but that doesn't make you infallible."
"I was merely trying to follow your example, High Leader."
She quirked an eyebrow in disbelief. "And what example might that be?"
"Strength. Strength and unwavering conviction. The humans have seen that strength now."
Sienna let out a weary sigh. "I was one of the first to suggest violence where violence was necessary. Peace bred complacency and acceptance of our place in the world. I will not allow humanity to push us down without pushing them back. But the destruction of the Hunter Academies crosses so many lines! The loss of the CCT has brought global communication to a crawl! And the White Fang is more of a target now than ever before! You have justified Remnant's campaign against us, and for what?! Empty promises from a group of humans? Humans we still know nothing about, and come & go as they please! Plus, with the Dimensional Defense Force's member-states, human and alien, freely giving aid to our people and Remnant's humans, even vocally campaigning for better treatment of Faunus-kind by our world's 'natives' to solid effect due to their superior position, the need for White Fang's more aggressive actions is decreasing fast. Why do you think I've been scaling back our operations since they found our world?! But this group you've been working with have not shown any degree of trustworthiness or good will; in fact, since they were the ones behind the Fall of Beacon, they are a grave threat! Your talents are being diminished by your aggression and shortsightedness."
"…If you want to know more about my allies, then why not talk to one of them yourself? Hazel!"
The room's doors swung open, admitting a muscular giant of a man. Sienna snarled.
"You brought one of those terrorist humans here?"
"Ma'am, please" Hazel took a respectful nod. "I'm just asking for a moment of your time. I don't want any blood spilled here today."
"The longer you stay here, the less of a chance you have of leaving alive."
"I'll take those chances, if you don't mind." He stood as Sienna's guards stepped back. "You don't like me. You have no reason to like me. But you don't have to like me to get the results you want."
"I'm starting to doubt either of you fully comprehend what it is that I want. I want humanity to treat the Faunus with dignity and respect, as equals. If that respect has to come from fear, then so be it. But I do not want to start an unwinnable war!"
"That's where you're wrong" Adam cut in, slowly ascending the stairs. "We can win a war against the humans. Not only because we have the support of Hazel's wise and powerful master, but because the Faunus are the dominant species of this planet. We're better than humans. We have everything humans have and more. Humans shouldn't just fear the Faunus; they should serve the Faunus. And the support of Hazel's master can make that happen."
"And just who is this mysterious master? No human or Faunus could wield that much power."
"Our Queen is neither human nor Faunus" Hazel replied. "She hasn't been human for hundreds of years, at the least." He withdrew a small holographic projector, which displayed a static image of an unmistakably Grimmified human. "I serve Lady Salem."
Sienna's eyes slowly widened with barely-concealed horror. "The Grimm have… a queen… You serve the Grimm Queen…"
Hazel nodded. "She will bring about a new world. A world without kingdoms or Hunter Academies, where children's lives are not willfully thrown away by the leaders and Headmasters against an unstoppable force of nature. Those who follow Salem will receive their hearts' desires. Cinder has power, Tyrian has meaning for his existence, the Doctor will achieve vengeance against Atlas' leadership for betraying him…"
"And she can help the Faunus reach heights we've never even imagined" Adam added with a sharp grin.
After a few seconds, Sienna shook her head, shock in her expression giving way to angered disgust. "You're both insane. To willingly serve the master of those hellbeasts, the enemies of all other life on this planet… Guards! Get these traitors to humanity & Faunus-kind out of here!"
The guards remained stationary.
"I said, take them away!"
"I will admit, Sienna…" Adam grinned again. "You were right about my popularity. My followers in Vale already see me as the true High Leader. And many here in Mistral feel the same."
Four White Fang soldiers came in through the main doors, joining the guards in pointing their weapons at Sienna as she stood.
"Taurus, what are you doing?" Hazel growled.
"What's right for the Faunus" the young man replied. "From this day forward, I will be the one to lead the White Fang."
Sienna glared. "…In our most recent correspondence before I called you here, my 'pen-pal' warned me you might try something like this. I didn't want to believe her, but again you have lived down to my expectations." She took a stance, drawing her rope-dart. "It's clear that you're more concerned about personal power and the opportunity to shed others' blood than about Faunus rights and safety. Siding with the Queen of the damn Grimm is proof enough of that. For the sake of Faunus-kind, you must die."
Adam smirked. "Funny. That's my line."
He dashed forward, drawing and swinging his blade in a single motion, only for his opening strike to be deflected by Sienna's rope-dart. She made several quick stabs with her weapon that he blocked with his, and then hopped back to dodge a low swing aimed at her legs. Growling, she prepared to counterattack, but then two of her traitorous guards came at her from behind. Dancing around their attacks, she beat them back with blows that knocked them senseless, the damage to their Aura Barriers making her Semblance give her a bit of a boost, but this moment of distraction gave Adam the chance to close in, pushing her back with a flurry of blows. She noticed Hazel was standing back and staying out of it, just palming his face at Adam's "antics"; apparently this coup was not part of Salem's plans for the Fang.
Adam and Sienna appeared to be evenly matched if they were one-on-one, but the other traitors helping him made things harder for her, distracting her and forcing her to fend off simultaneous attacks from multiple directions. He was steadily wearing down her Aura Barrier, blocking or dodging her attacks with steadily-increasing ease. Finally, Adam made a slash that Sienna couldn't entirely dodge that overpowered her taxed Barrier, and she cried out as a sizable gash was cut into her left side with a spray of blood. Staggering back, she was now firmly on the defensive, trying to get distance and evade Adam's continued attacks and those of the other traitors, with no chance to try and stem the blood loss, and adrenaline could only do so much to keep her going for only so long.
"Don't worry, Sienna" Adam said as he pressed his attack. "You will be a martyr for our cause – killed by a human Huntsman, to spur our people towards vengeance and victory."
"You're going to lead our people to annihilation!" Sienna snarled, a hand to her wound. "And before you die, you will lose everything."
He laughed. "And who's going to take anything from me? Certainly not you. After I've dealt with you, I will bring Blake to heel – kill her so-called 'friends' and family, break her until she again sees the way things should be. And with Salem's support, I will destroy the remaining three Academies, and bring about a new world – a world where Faunus reign supreme!"
"You are no warrior for Faunus-kind. You're a bloodthirsty, obsessed villain driven solely by spite, lust for power, and the desire to kill. You'll bring ruin to us all, and to yourself!"
He chuckled. "We'll see…"
Readying his blade, he prepared to rush in and deal a killing blow. But just then, with a burst of blue light, something crashed down through the roof from above, a mass of blue energy that slammed into the ground between Adam and Sienna, knocking the former back. While the villain was stunned by the Biotic Charge, the newcomer hurried over to Sienna, supporting the wounded Faunus with one arm over their shoulder.
"Not how I… wanted our first meeting to go" Sienna remarked weakly, a little relieved smile on her face. "How did you even get here?"
"I have connections" Aria T'Loak replied. "When you told me you were planning on calling Taurus out for his foolishness, I had a bad feeling, so I hurried over. …Damn, you're not looking good; you've lost a lot of blood. Time to go."
"You're not going anywhere!" Adam shouted, dashing in with blade drawn.
Aria used her free hand to hit Adam with a Biotic Lash that hurled him back. Then, she pulled a Biotic Charge straight up, taking Sienna with her, emerging up through the hole she'd made in the roof. With a roar, Adam leapt up at them, only for Aria to hammer him back down into the throne-room with a powerful Biotic Push. A UT47 Kodiak was waiting, antigrav engines thrumming, and Aria pulled Sienna inside as the doors closed.
"Punch it, Bray!" she shouted to the cockpit.
Her loyal Batarian assistant complied, and the dropship zoomed off into the sky, heading south.
"Where to?" he called back to the cabin.
"Menagerie" Sienna replied weakly as Aria started working on stemming her bleeding. "The Belladonnas. They need to know-" she winced "what Adam's planning."
-Break-
Ghira Belladonna had been trying to convince the people of Menagerie to help him & his allies put a stop to Adam's plot, but convincing anyone to do much was proving difficult, especially with Ilia and the other White Fang representatives trying to sow discord amongst the populace. Ghira had sent a messenger out to warn Mistral, but they'd never reported back.
Out on the patio having lunch, the Belladonnas and Sun were surprised when a mass-effect dropship flew in overhead and set down right next to the property. As they approached, they were even more stunned as an Asari came out supporting Sienna Khan, who had a blood-soaked bandage on her left torso below her ribs and looked weak & pale.
"I've been trading emails with Sienna for a little while now" Aria explained to them. "When she mentioned planning to take Adam Taurus to task for his idiotic decisions, I had a bad feeling in my gut, so I crossed Realms and came here as quick as I could. I showed up right before he could deal a killing blow on her as part of his coup to take over the White Fang. I've done what I can, but she's lost quite a bit of blood."
Ghira took charge quickly. "Bring her in. I'll call my most trusted doctors to tend to her."
-Break-
While the doctors further patched up Sienna's wounds (claiming that Aria's efforts to do so on the way to Menagerie kept Sienna from being in even worse condition) and provided a needed blood transfusion, Aria told of what little she could. By her own estimate, she had more combat experience and raw power than Adam Taurus, but he could move and attack faster than her; her experience, in turn, might be able to compensate for that and let her beat him, but not while protecting an injured and bleeding Sienna at the same time, and so she'd decided to prioritize getting Sienna to safety and medical attention. Soon, Sienna was stable enough, and emerged to provide additional details.
"He doesn't care about the rights and equal treatment of Faunus-kind anymore" she told them all. "He just wants conquest and bloodshed. I've been stepping back the Fang's activities thanks to the DDF providing support to our people, but Adam doesn't think that's anywhere near enough. He wants to conquer and enslave humanity beneath the Faunus… and he's made a deal with the devil to make it happen." She sighed. "I'm not sure if you'll believe me, but… it turns out that the Grimm have a leader – a Queen. And Adam's working for her in exchange for her & her monsters' help in achieving his goals."
Sun, Ghira, & Kali looked stunned at learning what Adam had planned, and at the thought of a Grimm Queen.
"He's… working for Salem?" Blake said with muted horror.
"…How do you know her name?" Sienna asked.
At everyone now looking at her, Blake told what little the DDF had discovered – the centuries- (possibly millennia-) old Grimmified human who was the secret leader of the Grimm, who also had human & Faunus agents working for her, and who now had teamed up with two other evil sorceresses from elsewhere in DDF space.
"Fortunately," she said, "Salem doesn't have some mystical telepathic connection and control over every Grimm on the planet. She has to relay orders to them via her agents or by specialized long-range communication Grimm, and the younger, dumber Grimm aren't guaranteed to follow her directions properly or rein in their destructive impulses. That's why she also uses human and Faunus agents, as well. The four Headmasters – well, three now – are aware of her, along with a select few of their trusted subordinates, including Qrow Branwen, my teammates Ruby & Yang's uncle."
Sienna nodded in approval. "Despite his… issues with the bottle, Qrow Branwen's probably one of the best Huntsman on Remnant. I'm glad to know he's in on this whole mess so he can help. …Wait, two of your teammates are his nieces?"
"Well, only Yang is his biological niece; her mother, his sister, couldn't handle the responsibilities of parenting and the fear of Salem, and abandoned Yang & her father, Taiyang. Qrow was disgusted by his sister's selfish cowardice and disowned her, stuck around to help Taiyang and their other teammate Summer raise Yang. Taiyang and Summer eventually fell in love, had Ruby… and then Summer was KIA. Qrow still stuck around to help raise both girls and help Taiyang recover."
"Her fourth teammate" Ghira chimed in "is Weiss Schnee, and after a little 'rough path' or two at the start, she's well on her way to following Nicholas Schnee's example instead of Jacques'."
Sienna sighed. "Here's hoping. Nicholas Schnee was a decent person; it's a damn shame his daughter had such a terrible taste in men… Salem's agent sent to negotiate with me was a big, musclebound, quiet human man named Hazel, and he claims that Salem has promised to bring about the end of Hunter Academies. From how he was preaching, I think someone precious to him was a Hunter or Huntress who met an untimely end, and he blames the Hunter system for their death instead of, y'know, the Queen of the murderous hellbeasts who killed them. Besides him and Cinder Fall, he mentioned 'the Doctor' who wants revenge against Atlas' leadership as a follower of Salem, along with 'Tyrian', who I'll bet is the infamous serial killer Tyrian Callows."
"Did this 'Hazel', or Adam, let slip any other useful information?" Ghira asked.
"Hazel didn't say anything more, and I'm pretty sure he wasn't in approval of Adam's coup against me. But Adam…" She turned to look at Blake. "He's fixated on you. He wants to kill everyone you care about and 'break' you until you see things his way."
Kali hugged Blake protectively, not knowing what else to upon learning that one of the most dangerous and unstable murderous psychopaths on all of Remnant was dead-set on breaking and claiming her baby girl as property after killing everyone she loved.
-Break-
That evening, as Blake prepared to head out with Sun on another recruiting drive, she found a note taped to the wooden railing of the balcony; Ilia seemed to be doubting her choices, and had asked for a secret meeting. Sneaking away, she made her way to a darkened alleyway.
"Ilia?"
"I'm here" the chameleon Faunus emerged from shadows, hands up as she dropped her camouflage.
"Ilia, I know you're scared, but you don't have to be. My family and I can keep you safe."
"I'm sorry."
"You can make it up to me by helping us stop Corsac and Fennec."
"No…" the girl's tone changed to a hostile one. "I'm sorry."
As she clenched a fist, Blake heard footsteps from the nearby rooftops. She looked up just in time to see a male bat Faunus fly down and land on her back, forcing her to the ground and knocking her Gambol Shroud out of her hand. Stunned, she struggled to get free as the man pushed his foot down into her back to pin her. He suddenly stepped off, but the moment she shot to her feet she was ensnared in scaled-up spiderweb silk, projected from the wrists of a silver-haired girl.
"Well done, Sister Trifa" the bat Faunus said to the spiderweb girl, while tossing Ilia her weapon. "And to you, Ilia."
"Ilia!" Blake shouted, looking hurt. "What are you doing?!"
"I tried to warn you, Blake" the chameleon girl said softly. "I'm sorry."
"Don't tell me you're sorry!"
"But I am. I'm sorry it has to be this way, but you and your family are holding the Faunus back!"
"Because we're trying to protect people?! In what world do you live in where attacking the innocent is the right thing to do?!"
"The same one as you!" Ilia snapped. "There's no such thing as 'innocent'! There's no right thing to do! Only what's best for us! There's the humans who still hate the Faunus, and there's the others who stand by and let the hate happen! Even a collection of intergalactic superpowers isn't managing to make most of Remnant's humans change their minds! But you know what snuffs out hate? Fear. I don't like hurting people, but I'll tell you this…" She pointed her whip-sword at Blake. "It's gotten us results."
Blake looked at her betrayal and disgust. "I see where it's gotten you."
Ilia looked hurt for a moment, but then shrugged it off. "We all have to make sacrifices for the greater good, no matter how much it hurts."
"And you think killing me is for the 'greater good'?"
"No. But getting rid of your parents is."
At that, Blake looked shocked and afraid. "You wouldn't… You can't! I won't let you!"
"I know. That's why you're being sent to Mistral. To Adam."
Now, Blake looked nearly terrified, tears beginning to build in her eyes. "Ilia, please! You don't have to do this! This isn't you!"
"Yes, it is! But I guess back then you were too busy falling for Adam to notice! I was always jealous of the way you looked at him. …I wanted you to look at me that way. But we never get what we want! …Yuma, with me. Trifa, get her to the docks."
Ilia and Yuma left, but when Trifa pulled on the silk 'rope' holding Blake, the cat Faunus stood in place. Then, Blake looked up and whistled, and Sun dropped down on Trifa from above, knocking the spider Faunus out cold before she knew what hit her. He ripped the webbing off Blake, freeing her.
"Thanks for the invite" he said.
"Thanks for the save" she replied. "We need to move; the White Fang's going after my family! Call the police and let's move!"
As Sun pulled out his scroll while he & Blake leapt across rooftops, he grinned; the Belladonna house's esteemed guest was still present, so the attackers were in for a bad surprise…
-Break-
One of the attacking White Fang soldiers screamed as he was sent flying, only to be cut off as he slammed into a wall, the blue glow around his body dissipating as he fell limp and broken to the floor. The rest of the White Fang soldiers focused their fire on Aria, only for their bullets to be deflected by the Biotic Barrier that surrounded her as she stood there, looking annoyed and unimpressed. Kali Belladonna came at one of the attackers from the side, catching him off-guard and quickly pummeling him into unconsciousness, and when another tried to sneak up on her, Sienna's rope-dart lashed out, wrapped around his neck, and was used to slam him face-first to the ground, knocking him out cold; the tiger Faunus, although still wounded, was nonetheless able to handle small-fry like this. Yuma flew down at Sienna from above, only to be grabbed by Aria's Biotics and then Slammed to the floor hard enough to crack bones and crater the wooden floor paneling, putting him out of the fight.
A rumble shook the house as Ghira sent a hapless White Fang goon through a wall. When another one charged at him with a spear, he grabbed her weapon, lifted it – and her – into the air one-handed, and hurled her at Fennec. Corsac charged and launched a fireball at him, but he threw the spear, which pierced straight through the fireball and pinned Corsac to the wall by his fancy red hood. Fennec got back to his feet and fired a blast of Wind-type Dust, and Ghira shielded his face and planted his feet as the focused gale shoved him back a foot but otherwise did little.
Sun busted through a window to take down another White Fang goon, and in response the Albain Twins fired a combination wind/fire attack at him & Ghira. Sun twirled his weapons, generating a spinning shield that deflected the attack, and then Blake landed right between the evil twins. Reflexively they tried to stab her, only to be caught in a Dust-enhanced Ice Clone that snagged their weapons and the hands holding them, allowing the real Blake to join her father and her friend.
"Dad! Where's mom?"
"I'm not sure" Ghira replied. "I got ambushed right away. I think she's with Sienna and Aria, but I'm not certain. Hurry and find her!"
"Huh? But-"
"We got this, Blake" Sun reassured her. "I've wanted to sock these creeps since the day we met!"
"You'll have to get in line" Ghira remarked, seeing Corsec using his weapon to free himself & his brother. "Go, Blake!"
Nodding, the catgirl took off, making her way through the family estate turned battleground. As she crossed through a large two-level room, however, movement above caught her eye, and she looked up to see Ilia looking intently down at her, Grimm-mask in place. The two girls drew their weapons, staring each other down; Blake's Purrloin emerged, hissing at the chameleon-girl.
"Did you come here to hide?" Blake asked.
"I told you," Ilia replied, "I didn't want this."
"And yet you're still here!"
"I don't have a choice!"
"Of course you do!"
Ilia averted her gaze.
"Just… stay out of my way" Blake sighed.
Stowing her weapon, she turned and began to walk away. Ilia responded by leaping down and charging at Blake, only for the catgirl to vanish with her Semblance to dodge and reappear a few feet away, weapon raised in a defensive stance. Ilia went on the attack, thrusts and swings of her battle-whip being skillfully evaded by the acrobatic Blake. Blake's Purrloin used a Fake Out to make Ilia flinch, and then a Quick Attack tackle to knock her back. Blake and her Pokémon dodged another wide swing of Ilia's weapon, and then Blake snagged Ilia around the waist with her Gambol Shroud's ribbon and yanked her into a kick. Ilia sprang to her feet, and the two girls locked blades.
"Why do you feel like we have to hurt people to get our way?!" Blake asked.
Ilia growled as she pushed against Blake. "Because it works!"
"That doesn't make it right!"
Ilia triggered her weapon's electrical charge, shocking Blake's weapon out of her hands, and then kicked Blake over a nearby desk, and then was in turn hit by a Cut from Blake's Purrloin that made her Aura Barrier flare. She whipped at Blake again, only for Blake's Semblance to take the hit and let the catgirl get into cover.
"Stop lecturing me!" Ilia tossed her Grimm-mask aside and then hit the lights, plunging the room into darkness. As Blake retrieved her weapon, she and her Purrloin went on alert, listening hard. The creak of a wooden floorboard alerted Blake in time to partially block a hit, but her return fire was evaded in the dark shadows.
"Why couldn't you just leave?!" Ilia shouted.
"Because I've done too much running in my life" Blake replied, pulling out a Fire Dust cartridge for her weapon. "Sorry, dad…"
She fired at some decorative shrubbery in a top corner of the room, setting it ablaze; the fire's light quickly revealed Ilia's location. Ilia was forced to stop hiding and come at Blake head-on, the two girls' weapons clashing. Blake dodged a heavy blow and opened fire, but Ilia deflected the rounds with her whip.
"Quit taking potshots and fight me like you mean it!" Ilia snapped. "You used to see things the way I did! The way Adam did! If no-one's going to do anything to actually stop the humans that attack us, then the only choice we have left is to hit them back!"
Blake reloaded and fired several more shots that Ilia deflected… and the Ice Dust rounds encased her weapon in frost, locking it in place. Blake snagged Ilia's weapon with her ribbon and tossed it away, and then kicked Ilia to the ground and got on her, pinning her down.
"You're wrong" Blake said to the struggling girl. "There's always another choice. Ilia… Please. You're a good person, but you're making all the wrong decisions!"
"SHUT UP!-!"
"Is this hatred and bloodshed really what your parents would've wanted?!"
"I don't know what else to do!" Ilia stopped struggling, tears beginning to build in her eyes. "I don't know… what else to do…" she sobbed.
Suddenly, a rumbling thud preceded Corsac Albain being thrown through a wall, dropping his weapon. Ghira leapt in after him, letting out a deep, lion-like growl. He and Blake caught sight of each other, and then Fennec Albain used that moment of distraction to stab Ghira in the upper back, the chieftain cried out in pain and slumping toward the ground. This in turn distracted Blake, allowing Ilia to kick her off and into a nearby chair, stunning her.
Ghira grabbed Fennec off his back and hurled him away, then reached back and pulled out the knife, focusing his Aura there to heal the wound faster. He met Corsac's incoming punch with his own, the two men's hands interlocking as they pushed against each other; Ghira, being huge, started winning rather quickly, with Corsac trying his best to anchor himself in place. Ilia just stood and stared, the sheer carnage all around her starting to sink in.
"Ilia!" Fennic shouted. "What are you doing?! Fight!"
He pulled out another dagger-wand and charged at Ghira, who shoved Corsac back and dodged Fennec's swipes. Even when both evil brothers took the chieftain on at once, he appeared to be holding his own. Knocked back, Fennec charged at him with a battle cry, weapon charging with power, but Ghira grabbed him by the wrist and pointed his weapon at Corsac right as it fired, blasting Corsac back and knocking him out.
In a rage, Fennec attempted to attack Ghira again, only for Sun to jump in and kick him away. Sun caught sight of Blake struggling to get back on her feet, and then went on the attack against Ilia. His fast and ferocious assault quickly overwhelmed her, pushing her back, soon pinning her against a pillar, pressing enough that the pillar began to crack.
"Stop!"
The two looked over at Blake, who was horribly distraught to see two people she cared about in a death-battle.
"Please…"
Ilia managed to push Sun off her, falling to the ground as his transferred force hit the pillar. Unfortunately, this pushed the pillar beyond the point of no return, the balcony above starting to give way. Sun immediately dove free, but Ilia froze in fear. It started to fall… and then Ghira was there, lifting the massive balcony with his own tremendous strength, to Ilia's awe.
"Go!" he shouted to her.
Ilia quickly scrambled clear as Ghira fell to one knee from the intense load. Sun formed a pair of Light Clones to help the chieftain, while Blake quickly retrieved her weapon. Suddenly, Fennec rushed at Ghira, his & his brother's wand-daggers in hand. Acting fast, Blake snagged her father with her weapon's ribbon and yanked him out just as Fennec made a dive; the White Fang advisor landed beneath the balcony just as the man supporting it was removed, and the multi-ton mass of wood and stone collapsed down on him with instantly-lethal force, with the ensuing detonation of both daggers' Dust charges ensuring his death.
A moment later, Kali walked into the room, along with Sienna and Aria, all three of them dragging some unconscious and badly battered White Fang goons. Suddenly, Corsac got back to his feet.
"You…" he snarled. "What have you done? You've ruined everything… EVERYTHIIING!-!"
Everyone went on their guard, as Corsac prepared to attempt a desperate final attack. Suddenly, an electrified whip grappled him from behind, zapping him unconscious. As Corsac fell, Ilia pulled her weapon back and then collapsed to her knees in tears.
-Break-
In the aftermath, the fire was quickly put out and the surviving White Fang members were taken into custody. A crowd of Faunus gathered around the smoldering mansion, as Blake stepped forward.
"Humans didn't do this" she addressed her people. "We did this: Faunus. We did this to ourselves. We are just as capable of hate and violence as the humans, but I don't think any of us would jump at the chance to point that out. So why are we letting Adam do that for us?! By doing nothing and staying silent, we let others speak and act in our place. And if we're not proud of the choices they make, then we have no-one to blame but ourselves. This is the message that Adam Taurus will bring to the world if no-one stops him. But we can stop him! You have to understand that all of you are looking for simple answers to a very complicated problem. And I can't give that to you. I don't know how to make hate go away. But I know that this kind of violence is not the solution! I understand that to ask you to leave your homes and protect Haven Academy is asking you to put your lives at risk. But that's what's at stake. So I'm going, and I'll stand by myself if I have to."
"I'll stand with you!"
Blake turned, surprised, at Ilia's sudden decree.
"If… If you'd have me" the chameleon girl cast her gaze down in shame.
As some of the crowd murmured amongst themselves, Blake smiled and waved her forward. However, the chief of Menagerie police stood between them.
"You're not going anywhere" she growled to Ilia, and then turned to Blake. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Let her come" Blake said firmly.
"You're just going to forgive her? After everything she helped do?!"
"…Yes."
"Let her go, Saber" Ghira ordered. "Blake has learned a lesson that evaded me until I was much older: There is strength in forgiveness."
Soon, people in the crowd started volunteering, more and more by the second.
"Looks like we've got work to do" Sun remarked. He then turned to Ilia. "You stabbed me."
"U-Um… I- Ow!" He pinched her on the arm.
"Now we're even."
"We have about two weeks before Adam's attack on Haven" Ghira said. "We're going to need shields, training, whatever we can do to protect as many people as possible."
Kesh walked over from amidst the crowd. "Clan Nakmor will assist. We can forge weapons and provide training."
"I can spend a few days pitching in, too" Aria spoke up. "Wouldn't be the first militia I've trained, actually. And I've got another idea as to how we can weaken Taurus' power base…"
-Break-
Across Remnant, the DDF's magitech emergency broadcast network (a temporary measure while a Dust-tech-compatible communication satellite network was being set up) kicked in, showing the famous (or infamous) Sienna Khan seated on the Belladonnas' couch, her torso visibly bandaged. Many Faunus, White Fang and not, were stunned; the White Fang 'leadership' had proclaimed that she'd been assassinated by a human Huntsman…
"You're live, Sienna" Aria said.
"Faunus of the world, please hear me" Sienna decreed. "As you can see, reports of my demise were untrue, not out of mistake but out of a deliberate lie to the people. The Dimensional Defense Force's efforts to champion equal treatment for our race and provide us material support and influence have begun to bear fruit, and in response to that I had already begun plans to scale back the White Fang's activities; we are finally getting what we set out to get, being treated with the same rights and respect as humans.
"However, a sizable number of our people were not satisfied with the gradually increasing rate of progress we are seeing, or with equality. The face of this radical group is Adam Taurus, one of my former generals. He wants to conquer humanity, and to that end he intends on destroying the Hunter Academies – our primary line of defense against the Grimm! When I refused to abide by his delusions and lust for power, he attempted to kill me in a coup d'état, turning many of my guards and soldiers against me, and it was only with the timely assistance of a powerful friend that I was able to escape with my life.
"Adam Taurus does not care about Faunus rights and equality. All he cares about is the opportunity to shed blood, to cause suffering, to kill, and he will use any justification to achieve these evil goals. Just yesterday, his followers attempted to kill the entire Belladonna family and anyone associated with them, because Ghira Belladonna's daughter Blake was his old partner in the White Fang until she saw his evil for what it was and abdicated the organization; he is obsessed with claiming her as a possession and 'punishing' her for seeing reason and listening to her conscience. Adam is driven not by justice or righteous fury or passion, but by bloodlust, spite, and hatred that has twisted and consumed him. So wicked is his heart that in the Fall of Beacon, the accused Grimm helped him and his followers! The ultimate threat to all life on Remnant, the hell-spawned monsters that seek to destroy all, felt the darkness in his heart made him a kindred spirit with them!
"As High Leader, I decree Adam Taurus and his willing followers to no longer be true members of the White Fang. They are murderous traitors against all Faunus-kind, full of toxic hatred and savage cruelty that they will turn, and have turned, against anybody who does not unquestioningly agree with their barbaric ways and delusions of grandeur, human or Faunus. I call upon any remaining members of the White Fang who desire equality and peace to leave while you still can – join the faction that will be led by myself and by Chieftain Ghira, who will work with the Dimensional Defense Force to bring about true long-lasting change. Those who choose to follow Adam Taurus after this, know that you will be branded as terrorists, dangerous zealots, allies to the Grimm, and traitors to Faunus-kind. And you will not be shown any more mercy than what you have shown others."
-Break-
Sienna's broadcast led to a massive split in the White Fang – over 70% of its members left the organization, choosing Sienna and Ghira over Adam, rejecting his plans of conquest and bloodshed, condemning him as a monster as bad as the Grimm. Soon, only the extremists, zealots, and psychos truly personally loyal to Adam's ideals remained, leaving the "Bloody Fang" as an unstable husk of what it once was. Adam was positively apoplectic with fury, swearing to visit gruesome deaths upon Sienna and the entire Belladonna family, and he & his loyalists were already trying to hunt down and kill any of the "deserters" who abandoned him and his cause in response to Sienna's proclamation.
Soon, Ghira and Kali decided that Blake should rejoin her team in Mistral, to catch them up on what was going to happen and warn Headmaster Lionheart. Sun was staying back for now to help the people of Menagerie keep preparing. Soon, Blake and her Purrloin were on a Kodiak bound for Mistral…
-Data-
Dimensional Defense Force Interdimensional FTL/Slipspace Travel Speeds, in Light-Years-Per-Day and in c
Old Covenant Drives (almost totally phased out): 912 LPD (332,800c)
Old Forerunner Drives; Protoss Drives: 2300 LPD (839,500c)
Forerunner Portals; New Forerunner/Protoss Hybrid-Tech Drives (current standard-issue for DDF ships): 9700 LPD (3,450,500c)
Experimental Forerunner/Protoss/TSAB Drive (UNMANNED SHIPS & PROBES ONLY): ~30,000LPD (10,950,000c)
Mass Relays: 207,360,000 LPD (75,686,400,000c)
The plan: in Realm NE-N7, send unmanned, VI/AI-controlled construction drone-ships (30,000 LPD) to the LMC, construct a Mass Relay there, construct a mated Relay back in the Milky Way; if this works, do it again with Andromeda (and onward from there); in addition, attempt similar Relay Networks and explorations in Realms H4-L0 and LN-34; DDF's ultimate goal (likely centuries down the line) is some degree of exploration of the entire Local Group in multiple Realms.
-CHAPTER END-
Next Time: Mistral