A chapter from the point of view of Mercury. It is shorter than normal in part because I will be busy for the next week and also because a short additional POV would have read as an afterthought.
"We're 24 minutes from Kulsa" said Neptune. Emerald groaned at this which meant that Mercury decided to join in and to reply, "We'll soon be living on Kulsa time." Neptune started humming the tune and then Sun joined in with the lyrics.
Mercury smiled at this. He enjoyed encouraging the geeks and mildly infuriating Emerald. Emerald was in a bad mood anyway because she had seen hardly anything of Cinder for fifteen weeks and was currently feeling guilty for letting her idol down. Distracting her was fun and being a good teammate.
Emerald had been looking forward to spending a month with Cinder, but that had not happened because she had inadvertently thrown a spanner in the works of the plans in Vale. She had sought to please Cinder by killing a Faunus bookshop owner who was on the White Fang hitlist as a Belladonna loyalist but had ended up messing up a White Fang assassination plot against Kali Belladonna. This had indirectly led to the massacre of the White Fang veterans who had been carrying out the dust raids in Vale at Junior's Club Mistralian.
While Adam Taurus and Cinder had been prepared to agree that the fiasco had been down to a series of unfortunate accidents, Cinder had privately blamed Emerald and Mercury for the fiasco and had punished them by sending them back to Haven. While the knock-on consequences had been plain bad luck, she was right to be annoyed about them undertaking impromptu undercover operations when they were planning to arrive in the city as Vytal festival contestants and without checking in with Roman or her before carrying them out. Getting them out of town quickly had made sense especially as Sun had also returned home when it became clear that as a result of his heroics it was not possible to replace him as leader of Team VBES with Neptune.
Agreeing that it was a cock-up for which Torchwick bore the least responsibility was clearly a sensible political compromise as he was working day to day with the White Fang. While Roman would presumably eventually be eliminated he was necessary to keep around for the time being and Adam Taurus needed to be persuaded to continue to work with the human criminal. Besides which getting rid of Torchwick would also mean taking on Neo and as far as Mercury was concerned disposing of parasol girl was work for Cinder, Tyrian, or Adam and not him or Emerald.
Another worry for Emerald was that Roman's sidekick was almost certainly a more dangerous fighter than her and in many ways her semblance was more useful as it could fool more than a couple of people at a time. It had not helped Emerald's self-confidence that Neo had been the one who had been sent on the mission with Igor to sabotage the Atlas warship carrying the one White Fang survivor of the fight at the night club. That had apparently been a success according to what reports there had been in the Mistral press.
Both of them had been surprised by how agreeable their time at Haven had been. Most of the students were not jerks and between them Teams ABRN and VBES had persuaded those who were to be very circumspect. Some early skirmishes had been needed but the lesson had been learned quickly.
Mercury had decided that he was dealing with it better than Emerald. He accepted that he rather liked his ridiculous team members and a fair number of the other members of his year. It did not mean that he would not kill them if ordered to. He was aware that his father had taught him that being an assassin did not require you to hate your targets and that you should never underestimate them. Besides which it helped to rub along with people if you were an assassin or a traitor. If you needed to get close enough to someone to kill or betray them, it helped if no one thought you were suspicious. He also had no problem with cheerfully admitting to himself that he was working for the bad guys.
Emerald had greater problems acknowledging that the people she would be required to betray were often decent people. As an orphan on the streets and an occasional inhabitant of orphanages it had been easy for her to think that all well off people were cruel and deserved everything they got. She had problems accepting that her job involved killing inoffensive or positively pleasant people. Perhaps another concern for Emerald about Neo was that the small girl was less squeamish about mayhem and fundamentally more ruthless.
Because they had been sent back to Haven they had been around when Lionheart had needed a team to send to Ansel to reinforce the LGDF as part of his efforts to undermine the Mistral ruling class. In some ways it was a good thing as having things to do distracted Emerald from obsessing about Cinder's view of her all the time.
Anyway, they were in for an interesting time today. Team VBES together with Team JNPR were on their way to Kulsa on two bullheads with Nicholas Arc, Amber Arc, Professor Pink from Haven and four members of the LGDF reserve who had been mobilized to deal with the emergency. They would join the team of hunters who were now based in the city as well as the human second in command of the LGDF in Ansel province. In addition, Lisa Lavender and her team of journalists were travelling with them. Team Juniper were on a different bullhead with Amber Arc and Lisa Lavender and her team
The Vale professor with the implausible moustache, Roman's least favourite student, her dad, Team CFVY and another group of the LGDF reserve were being sent to a mixed border town. Team ABRN together with the Arc twins had been sent to a mostly human town. The common factor about all three towns was that there were concentrations of Grimm outside the towns and there was a perception that either morale was low or internal tensions were high.
However, Kulsa was the place which the stressed LGDF chief was most concerned about as the reports she had received last night had indicate that the town was becoming a Grimm magnet. The woman had the look of someone who had decided to roll the dice because she had to do something but with no huge confidence in the result.
Professor Pink who taught history and hand to hand combat at Haven had explained to them the background and why the LGDF chief was so worried. The truth was that it was a destination to which refugees from Kurohari were heading, there were historical problems between Faunus and humans, recent economic issues, and a paranoia about the White Fang among the humans and about the intentions of the humans among the Faunus both of which had more justification than usual. Not only was the place a maelstrom of negative emotions attracting the Grimm, but there was also a real chance of a rerun of one of the most notorious incidents of the Faunus Wars before the Grimm even arrived.
Chief Arc had assigned her husband and daughter to the mission' and they were clearly the people she trusted most. So far Mercury saw nothing to indicate that she was wrong about that. While Mercury could see that there was some tension between them, they did not doubt each other's abilities. Nicholas Arc was primarily in charge of dealing with the human authorities while Amber was to direct the fighting of the Grimm. Professor Pink was to be based in the Faunus quarter and Mercury bet that the intention was that team VBES and, in particular, Sun would be deployed alongside him.
The daughter Amber Arc had had a word with them all before the bullheads departed and had asked questions about how they all fought. She had been particularly interested in Emerald's convertible revolver sickles and Pink's commendation of her ability to use them.
Neptune was briefing the rest of Team VBES on some peculiarities of the city which made it such a tinderbox. Nicholas Arc and Professor Pink seemed happy to let him explain it, only occasionally interrupting to explain a nuance. Kulsa had been the site of one of the most notorious incidents of the Faunus wars which everyone tried to pretend had not happened.
It was also an old mining town which had fallen on hard times as the mines around it had gradually been exhausted. Around the same time improvements in geology and science had resulted in the Atlesian multi-kingdoms discovering sources of dust and metals in Vacuo which had previously been unknown or too challenging to develop. A lot of the inhabitants of Kulsa had moved to Vacuo to be employed by the multi-kingdoms. The climate in Vacuo did not appeal to most Atlesians and in practice senior and middle management at the Atlesian mines had tended to be from Vacuo and a significant percentage from Kulsa.
Neptune had spent six years in Vacuo as his father had been posted out there to run the family business out there. Vassilias Transport was one of the biggest industrial transport businesses in Remnant. Neptune's father had been heavily involved with the Atlesian multi-kingdoms and had clearly passed on his observations.
Neptune said, "My father said that in practice it was possible for the married men to send most of their salary back to their families and for the unmarried to both save some money and have an enjoyable time in Vacuo City on their days off or vacations. The holidays were generous and provided the mines were profitable, head office left them alone to run the mines."
Nicholas Arc said, "In addition, it meant that there were jobs available for the Faunus back in Kulsa. Admittedly they were mostly service sector jobs, but at least they were there. It meant some Faunus started to move back to Kulsa."
Professor Pink said, "I know that there was a scandal a few years back about the compliance with the rules by the Atlesian multi-kingdoms and that the White Fang launched a major attack on an SDC mine. Did that effect Kulsa?"
Neptune said, "The Multi-kingdoms were forced to change their working practices and to improve security. To reduce the reputational impact, they blamed the managers from Mistral and sacked almost all the senior managers, most of the middle management and replaced the senior managers with Atlas born staff, middle management with staff born in Mantle and some locals from Vacuo. They also made a display of promoting local Faunus to supervise the remaining Mistralians."
Sun said, "Within six months, 80% of the Mistralians were gone from Vacuo City. Many who were not sacked chose to leave of their own accord."
Nicholas said, "The effect was to cause most of the expatriates to return to Kulsa without a job which crashed the local economy. Some other factors meant that tensions between humans and Faunus were heightened, and the tourist industry was badly hit by the fact that visitors from Atlas were made to feel unwelcome."
Mercury suspected that there was rather more behind things than had been said but decided that as he was fighting Grimm today and was keeping up his cover as a hard-working student, he would avoid winding the locals up. He showed willing by saying, "I presume that Chief Arc would prefer us not to get into a debate with the locals on ancient or recent history."
Nicholas said, "Exactly. We are here to fight Grimm and to encourage the locals to believe that they have not been abandoned by the rest of Mistral and that it would be a bad idea to start killing each other."
Nicholas received a message over his headphones. He said, "Understood Amber, I will tell them."
He then looked at them said. "There is a convoy being attacked by Grimm to the north of Kulsa. Amber and Team Juniper are going in now. Lisa Lavender will film the fight from their bullhead, so it needs to go well. There are rather too many Grimm down there for comfort including some unusual ones for this area. Amber, Pyrrha Nikos and Nora Valkyrie will deal with the larger Grimm and then join the defence of the convoy. She has asked if Emerald and Mercury could join Lie Ren and Jaune in defending the convoy."
Mercury exchanged glances with Emerald who nodded and then said, "That will be fine for us."
Nicholas Arc said, "Emerald and Mercury, if we take you to thirty feet, will your landing strategies be fine to allow you to land safely."
Nicholas turned to Neptune and Sun, "The fact that you are not been asked to fight is no reflection on you, but you are needed in the city to accompany Professor Pink and to improve morale in the Faunus quarter."
Mercury agreed with the analysis that Neptune and Sun would be better with the civilians then him and Emerald. Neptune was from a wealthy Mistralian family and Sun was as acceptable as any Faunus would be to the humans. The local Mistralian networks had played up the participation of a Haven student curb stomping the White Fang and his interview had made it clear that he was not a White Fang supporter.
Nicholas asked for the camera coverage from the lead bullhead to be put through to the main cabin. It appeared that the lead lorry had collided with cows which were being driven to a stockyard behind a nearby village's defensive walls. The crash had put it out of commission. Unfortunately, the road was narrow and the cars, vans, and lorries behind it could not get past. While in theory the others could have tried going round it, the surrounding area was farmland, and the sides of the road consisted of strong fences and hedges. In addition, most of the vehicles were clearly not suitable for off road travel.
The Grimm below mainly consisted of Boarbatusks, Beowolfs, and Creeps. Individually they were not a threat, but the numbers meant that they were a threat.
There was also an Alpha Ursa and a King Taijitu which really were a long way from their forest home and suggested how strong the negative emotions generated in Kulsa must be. These two were about five hundred yards in advance of the other Grimm. Mercury wondered whether that was because they were faster or because the other Grimm feared them.
Luckily, the area was not one which was normally frequented by Lancers or Nevermore and no doubt the bullhead would head for Kulsa if any appeared. The LGDF personnel on board could in any event use the machine guns on board to discourage smaller flying Grimm if they appeared.
Mercury guessed that Amber Arc had been told by her mother not to allow Lisa Lavender to risk her life while enabling her cameraman to take the best pictures possible of Pyrrha Nikos in action.
The crazy red head was first out of the bullhead followed by Amber Arc, and both jumped from an absurdly high height. They targeted the King Taijitu and the passengers on the second bullhead cheered as Nora's hammer crushed one of the heads and Amber used her longsword to take the other head clean off. Pink patted Nicholas on the back, presumably to congratulate him on how good his daughter was. Mercury amused himself by shipping Tyrian and Nora in his mind. They really did have the same maniacal delight in carnage.
Pyrrha Nikos was next to jump from a more reasonable height. This lack of showing off was counterbalanced by her firing accurately at the Alpha Ursa as she fell. She then threw her shield at it, causing a severe injury to its chest. To Mercury's disbelief the shield then flew back to her. While this nonsense was playful fun in TV series and films it did not happen in real life and Mercury decided that this must be something to do with her semblance. The fight at Junior's had suggested a telekinesis semblance but he wondered whether it was either a weapon linked semblance or a polarity semblance.
She finished the Ursa off by changing the rifle into a spear and throwing it through the Ursa's neck. He would have to watch the footage in slow motion, but he could swear that it changed direction when the Ursa stumbled. Again, the spear behaved weirdly as it also flew back to Pyrrha Nikos. He grinned and thought about Reese's reaction when she saw the footage. She liked to claim in the bar that Pyrrha Nikos was merely of use in arena fights and would be ineffective against Grimm.
After that his attention turned to Jaune Arc and Lie Ren who had jumped from about fifteen feet off the ground and joined the convoy. He noted that Jaune's landing had been inelegant but functional while Lie Ren had a certain style. Jaune Arc deployed his shield and seemed to anchor himself in the middle of the road just behind the last vehicle in the convoy which happened to be a large coach. Lie Ren ran to the convoy and seemed to be talking to the civilians.
Pink asked, "Nicholas, do you understand your daughter's reasoning?"
Nicholas Arc said, "Her experience is that if you knock out the larger Grimm it discourages the smaller ones and encourages the civilians. Besides which those two could have caused trouble at the city walls and taking them by surprise increases the chances of a quick kill. She also hopes that Lie Ren was not exaggerating about how his semblance works and that the civilians obey his instructions. If so we may only need to worry about the Grimm on the road or close to the convoy."
The Grimm which had been chasing the convoy were close to catching up. As Mercury and Emerald got ready to jump, they saw that the civilians had been corralled by Lie ren into the coach at the end of the convoy. Lie Ren was perched on the top of the coach with one hand on the roof and another hand holding a weapon.
He and Emerald landed in the field close to the convoy and raced towards it. He wondered what Lie Ren's semblance could be. The only think which made sense was an illusion semblance which would hide the civilians from the Grimm. However, invisibility would not work as Grimm could sense fear at a long distance so he wondered what it could be.
While most Grimm could leap over hedges and fences and Boarbatusks could destroy them, the ones which would reach the convoy first were those using the road. These were likely to be the Beowolfs and the Boarbatusks.
He was right about that as just as they reached the convoy the first Boarbatusk rolled down the road at the back of the convoy. Jaune's shield was obviously dust enhanced as its effective range was greater than its actual size. To Mercury's delight the Boarbatusk hit the shield and rebounded leaving its soft underbelly exposed. Emerald fired at the Boarbatusk, and her shot took it out immediately.
Mercury cheered and then said to Jaune, "You knock them over and we'll disembowel them."
Over the next ten minutes the combination of Jaune's aura and the shield aspect of Crocea Murs was effective at knocking the Boarbatusks and Beowolfs off balance. They were concentrated in front of the shield which allowed him and Emerald to make short work of those using the road while Jaune stabbed the occasional one which got close enough with his sword. Amber, Pyrrha, and Nora soon joined them, and the massacre of the Grimm continued.
Amber commented that Ren's semblance was even more effective than he had claimed as the Grimm had lost interest in the convoy and were instead heading for the city. This had the advantage that it was only the Grimm using the road which had to be dealt with. After quarter of an hour there were no more Grimm within quarter of a mile.
Amber contacted the bullhead and asked for it to prepare to land. She then said to the six hunters and huntresses in training, "Well done, you were all better than I hoped you would be."
Amber jumped on top of the coach and spoke to Ren who showed her his aura counter. She shrugged and patted him on the back. The civilians then got off the coach. Mercury was amused by the variety of reactions. Some hugged any of their saviours they could find and even kissed Mercury. Others went straight to Pyrrha and asked for autographs. A few complained about the fact that there had been a cow on the road and what Amber was going to do about dealing with the blockage.
Amber talked to the people who considered themselves to be the leaders of the convoy and then spoke into her headset. The Bullhead which had carried Team JNPR and Amber then landed and Lisa Lavender interviewed Nora, Jaune, and Pyrrha. At the end of the interview the cameraman and Lisa moved on to speak to the civilians. The director stopped and spoke to Nora, "I would suggest you ask Pyrrha to put you in touch with her agent. Once that footage is shown you will be bombarded with offers of sponsorship."
Amber then got on top of the coach and said, "Three bullheads are on their way here. These will take you to Kulsa where there are two airships available to fly you to Ansel. The airships have been requisitioned by the Ansel provincial governor and will be free. From there you can take flights to Mistral City at your expense. The journey to Kulsa will take around fifteen minutes and the flight to Ansel will take about one hour. You can take one large suitcase and one small piece of hand luggage with you. For those of you who want to stay in Kulsa and have somewhere to stay there this bullhead and the other one will take you there. Unless you have somewhere to stay, you should go on to Ansel. In Kulsa hotel rooms and guest houses have been requisitioned to house members of the Kingdom Guard and huntsmen who are being sent here."
It turned out that ninety per cent of the refugees wanted to go to Ansel and then elsewhere in Mistral. They grumbled about the luggage restrictions, but eventually accepted that was the only deal in town.
Amber then spoke to the trainee hunters. "It is going take around one hour to shuttle all of these people to Kulsa. Pyrrha, Jaune, please could you travel back in the bullhead along with the journalists. You will be of more use there than here. Ren, Nora, Emerald, and Mercury. We have reports of more Grimm in the area, and it will be for the best if you stay here with me until we have evacuated all the civilians. Now we know how good Ren's semblance is, the five of us will be good enough to fight off any Grimm likely to arrive down the road."
She paused and said to Ren, "I will keep the civilians in whatever radius works for you. In the absence of any Faunus in the immediate vicinity, you can keep your semblance at a low intensity to preserve aura for the time being. They are now all expecting to live and are concentrating on ensuring that they have everything they absolutely need in their suitcase and hand luggage."
She turned to Jaune and said, "What have you done to Crocea Mors? I do not remember it being that effective."
Jaune said, "Ruby upgraded it with some help from Velvet and we bought some hard light dust to let me make full use of the enhancements."
"Good work in any event. Is Velvet the rabbit Faunus who arrived with Coco Adel last night?"
"Yes, she's a second year."
Mercury smiled to himself, it helped to place people and deciding that the Rabbit Faunus was a humble Watts made sense. The sombre Green Giant was clearly their team's Hazel. He stopped there – comparing the fashionista to Cinder or Salem and the blind guy to Tyrian pushed the analogy too far.
Amber took Mercury and Emerald to one side. "Sorry about giving you the unflashy but important job, but I had a better idea how good Nora and Pyrrha were than you two. Professor Pink was complimentary about you, but still undersold you. Perhaps like me you are better fighting Grimm than sentients."
Mercury restrained himself from giggling and instead said, "It is more real when lives are at stake including my own then fighting in an arena."
"Exactly. Anyway, I will be reporting favourably to Professors Pink and Lionheart. I am afraid that you will have more work today and especially this evening so I would recommend that you get as much rest as possible this afternoon. I have asked Team Juniper to let me know how much dust they need to replenish what they have used this morning, and you should do the same. We do have some stockpiled in Kulsa and my mother is authorized to order that it be released to hunters including hunters in training assisting the LGDF."
For those who have not read Learning to Lead, Learning to Follow chapters 16 to 22 describe the fight at Junior's which in that story replace the dockyard fight as the curb stomping of the White Fang. Chapters 16, 20 and 22 are of most interest as regards Mercury's and Emerald's involvement