Chapter 8: Light The Fuse
(White Fang Headquarters, Vale)
Most of the time, Neapolitan loved deep cover jobs, sneaking into the target facility with a disguise that was quite literally undetectable. However, the White Fang's insistence on verbal passwords made this very annoying, and dangerous. The dumber guards had been fooled pretty easily, but the dumber guards weren't guarding the war room.
Which was where she needed to be.
Finally, the guards were called away, along with everyone else in the war room. Something big must be happening, which made it all the more important for her to figure out what the White Fang's plans were.
Because she wanted amnesty, courtesy of the Vale Council. No other reason, not at all, no sir.
Maybe this was why they relied on verbal passwords so much, because the White Fang's actual physical security was just about as effective as a broken lock pick. The petite master criminal slipped inside, and began the task of finding out what the hell was going on.
A lesser thief would've taken too long, or gotten distracted. A Hunter would've gotten detected by the White Fang long ago. Not Neo, she was an artist. Then she found it, what the White Fang was planning.
There weren't many times that Neo wished that she could speak, in was a fact of life that she couldn't.
Finding the White Fang's plans had made her want to swear. Loudly. She had to settle for internal screaming.
Destroy Dust shipments, ransack Dust stores, harass Hunters, cause Grimm invasions... all to...
Her eyes went wide.
All to destroy Beacon Academy.
It all clicked into place, deny Hunters the tools they needed to keep fighting, run them ragged, then sooner or later... they'd start dropping.
Neo went through the plans again, taking pictures as she went, no way she was going to risk a file upload. There had to be a date, when were they starting this... this war?
She found it.
Tomorrow night.
With an attack at the docks, they were going to destroy a SDC ship coming with a massive shipment of Dust. Not steal, like Cinder had Roman doing, just let it all burn.
They were going to be indiscriminate about killing. Any Faunus killed would be propped up by the White Fang's propaganda arm as martyrs, killed by the SDC and wicked humans for being what they are. The truth wouldn't matter, public perception would feed the chaos.
That chaos, in turn, would bring the Grimm.
Neo quickly put things back the way they were before she snooped around, and left as quickly and quietly as she could.
She didn't drop her disguise until she was a mile away, afterwards, she broke into a run.
I have to warn Roman!
I have to warn him so he can warn Ozpin and his-
Neapolitan almost tripped, when did she start caring? About those kids? Roman was the one thing that had ever mattered so why-
She'd have to ask Roman, after she dropped the bomb.
She burst into the safe house where she was meeting Roman and slammed the door, resulting in Roman being on his feet in a flash.
"Neo, what's wrong? Were you followed?" Roman asked.
She shook her head, "No, I wasn't followed." She said using sign language.
That put Roman on edge, Neo only used sign language when she was distressed. "Neo, tell me you have something."
"I do, but you're not going to like it." She signed.
"Neo, I need to know."
She told him.
He didn't like it.
Where... where am I?
Jaune appeared on a field somewhere he couldn't place, a brief look around revealed a figure in the distance that could only be Pyrrha, he'd recognize her anywhere. Weiss was next to him, smiling softly at him.
"Jaune, I'm sorry, I have to go, please be strong." Weiss said.
Weiss started to walk towards Pyrrha.
"Wait, don't go! I can't do this without you!" Jaune cried out.
He tried to follow, but found himself held back, he looked, and saw that Adam and Cinder were holding him back.
"What's the matter, Arc? Don't you want to save her?" Cinder taunted.
Adam laughed cruelly, "Are you kidding? He doesn't have it in him."
Jaune struggled against Adam's grip, getting his arm free after elbowing him in the face.
He reached towards Weiss, and pled with her to come back, "Not again, not again! I can't lose anyone else!"
His outstretched hand began to glow with golden light...
(Ozpin's Office, Late Night)
Jaune was in a remarkably good mood for someone who had just been woken up from a nightmare by a stampeding Ruby Rose at two in the morning.
"Roman, what's this about?" Ironwood groaned. "It couldn't wait until morning?"
Present in person were Jaune, Ruby, Ozpin, and Roman. Ironwood and Winter were in attendance via Scroll video call. Jaune figured that whatever was going on was serious if Roman had come to Beacon in person.
"It is morning, Jimbo." Roman deadpanned.
"Miss Rose?" Ironwood asked, "Could you please shoot Roman?"
Ruby pantomimed shooting Roman with Crescent Rose.
"Gentlemen, are you done?" Winter asked.
"Me? Done? Never." Roman quipped.
Ironwood cleared his throat, "I apologize for my lack of decorum."
"Roman, tell them what you told me." Ozpin said. "Quickly."
"Okay, there's a big dust shipment from the SDC coming in via the docks tomorrow night. The White Fang is going to destroy it."
"That doesn't make any sense, though!" Ruby protested, "Their whole MO is to steal dust, because they see it as taking back what's rightfully theirs from the SDC."
"Didn't let me finish, Ruby." Roman said.
Ruby was so shocked by Roman using her actual name that she didn't protest.
"In addition, they're going to kill everyone at the docks, human or Faunus, any Faunus killed will be propped up as Martyrs killed by the SDC and the evil humans who only see them as animals."
Winter narrowed her eyes, "The truth won't matter, public perception will take over, they'll cause chaos, probably with more and more attacks..."
"And that chaos will bring the Grimm." Jaune finished, "Without dust, most Hunters won't be able to fight back as effectively, we'll take losses. Those that can keep going will be run ragged trying to keep up with the White Fang, sooner or later, they'll fall too, Vale will call on Beacon for support, but then we'll be the ones taking losses. Then we'll be at the White Fang's mercy, or lack thereof."
"Jaune, while your tactical assessment is correct, I'm curious, how long did you spend coming up with it?" Winter asked.
Jaune shuddered. "I have spent an uncomfortable amount of time trying to get inside Adam Taurus's head, for obvious reasons. He's actually doing exactly what I predicted he'd do. I don't know what that says about me, and I'm not sure I want to know."
Winter was about to speak but thought better of it. He needs reassurance that he's nothing like Adam, but this isn't the place for me to do that.
"It says that you're a damn fine strategist, Mr. Arc." Ironwood said, "It doesn't mean that you're anything like him."
"That's all well and good," Roman said, "But, what the hell are we going to do?"
That was the million lien question, wasn't it?
Winter was the first to suggest something. "Me and my men could go in."
Ozpin shook his head, "No, Atlesian troops versus the White Fang, with Faunus killed in the crossfire? You may as well write the White Fang's propaganda for them."
Roman was next, "How about we send in the kids? This is going to be a war of public opinion more than anything, and there's nothing more cozy to public opinion than Hunters in training saving people."
Jaune was the one to shoot that one down. "No, there's a million ways that could go sideways. If one Faunus dies, the White Fang will brand me and Weiss as Faunus killers. Plus, if Adam's there, you may as well hand me and Weiss to him on a silver platter."
"What if we just send Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked.
"Elaborate, if you would, Ruby." Ozpin asked.
"Well, Uncle Qrow could probably handle the White Fang grunts easy. Adam too, if he shows up."
Ironwood nodded, "It makes sense."
Roman hesitated. Was he about to say what he thought he was?
Damn it, just do it, Roman.
"Me and Neo will go too." Roman said.
Ozpin raised an eyebrow, "What happened to staying off the radar, Roman?"
He pointed at Ruby and Jaune, "Because I care enough to remember their names."
"I don't follow, Roman." Ironwood said.
"It's pretty simple, I'm really bad at remembering names. It's why I give people nicknames, you see. Look, the point is, if I can remember someone's name, that means I'm willing to put myself in harm's way for them." Roman explained.
"Roman, you do realize that this will mean that... Cinder will know that you are alive, and that you have betrayed her." Ozpin said.
"I'm in for a penny, might as well go in for a pound." Roman said.
"Roman... why? What happened to you'll lie, cheat, and steal to survive?" Ruby asked.
"Oh, don't you worry your pretty little head about it, Ruby. I'm still going to do all of that, but I'm going to make sure all of you kids do too." Roman said.
"Well, this is heartwarming, but I have preparations to make. General, everyone." Winter said, her picture winking out as she ended the video call.
"Ruby, Jaune, I believe your part here is done." Ozpin said, "Please go get some more sleep, and notify your teams of these developments."
Ruby and Jaune nodded their assent, and proceeded to the elevator. On the way down, Jaune spoke his mind.
"Ruby, I'm scared."
Just like that night all those months ago, when Jaune had believed that he didn't have what it took to be a leader, Ruby somehow knew exactly what to say.
"Because of Adam?" She asked.
"I had this nightmare before you woke me up for the meeting. Pyrrha was off in the distance, unreachable, Weiss was next to me, but she started drifting away, towards Pyrrha. I tried to catch her, but Cinder and Adam were there holding me back." Jaune explained.
Ruby thought on it for a moment, then asked, "How did it end?"
Jaune looked at Ruby, "I don't know. You woke me up, remember?"
(Beacon Academy, Common Room, After Class)
It was an awkward fact of life at Beacon that if you didn't get to the second floor common room before team RWBY and team JNR, you should just find somewhere else to be.
Especially when Ruby put the "Team meeting, stay out!" sign on the door.
"This is..." Yang started, "Why? What does Adam get from all of this?"
Ruby and Jaune has just told them about the impending attack on the docks.
Blake and Ilia looked at each other, "I'm not exactly sure, Yang." Blake said.
Ren spoke up, "Well, Cinder must have promised him something he wants. So, what does he want?"
Since they were technically in public, they swapped Salem's name for Cinder. It wasn't elegant, but it worked.
"Me dead." Weiss said bluntly. "Jaune, too, since Adam is apparently a big fan of guilt by association."
"You can add me and Ilia to that list, once Adam finds out that Ilia actually left and isn't just undertaking her mission to kill Weiss." Blake said.
Jaune flinched, and Weiss reacted immediately, taking his hand.
"Okay, so we know who he wants dead, big whoop." Nora said. "What does he want?"
Jaune raised a finger, "Also, remember, the docks attack is just the beginning. He'll keep going, attack after attack, until he destroys... Beacon..."
"Jaune, what is it?" Weiss asked.
"He's trying to get the Crown of Choice." Jaune realized.
"What's the problem, then?" Ilia asked, "We have all the time in the world, he can't get to it without the Fall Maiden, right?"
"Cinder is the Fall Maiden." Jaune said, his voice heavy with grief.
"So, what do we do?" Nora asked.
Ruby stood up, "We take a stand."
"I'm sure that given our status as guardians, as Ozpin called it, will ensure that we'll be given priority missions." Weiss said.
Blake clenched her fist. "We show Adam that we won't run and that we're not afraid."
"And we show him that even if we are afraid, we will hold the line." Jaune said.
"Blake, I know this might be difficult for you, but we need to know how Adam fights, just in case." Ren said.
"Like a damn edgelord." Yang quipped.
Blake giggled at Yang's joke, "Yang isn't far off. His weapon is a katana and sheath. The sheath can mechashift into a sawed off shotgun, and he can use pull the trigger to launch the sword. They're called Wilt and Blush."
Ruby's face twisted in anger, "A jerk like that doesn't deserve that weapon. It's too cool for him."
"What's his Semblance?" Jaune asked.
Blake frowned, "It's called Moonslice. He absorbs energy through his sword, stores it up, then sends it back when he's ready."
"So, he gets to dish out damage without having to feel it." Yang deadpanned. "Pretty cheap, huh?"
Jaune hung his head. "So, what you're saying is that he's effectively my worst possible matchup."
You could cut the tension in that room with a knife.
"While that might be true, Jaune," Blake said, "You're also his worst possible matchup."
Jaune looked at Blake like she had just suggested that Cinder had done nothing wrong.
"How do you figure that, Blake?" Nora asked.
"I think I know." Ren said, "It's his aura, isn't it?"
Blake nodded. "That and more, he specializes in duels, dealing with two or more relatively equally skilled opponents is annoying to him, and the angrier he gets, the sloppier he gets.."
"And if you think I'm letting you ever fight Adam alone, Jaune, then you're insane." Weiss said.
"Thanks, guys, I really..." Jaune started.
"Jaune?" Ruby asked, "What's wrong?"
"We all need team attacks. We don't know who we're going to have to fight beside, we could be in any combination." Jaune explained.
Ruby's face lit up immediately.
"Oh, gods, I know that look." Yang grumbled.
Indeed she did. That was Ruby's Oh Boy It's Team Attack Training Time look.
"To a training room!" Ruby exclaimed.
Jaune grinned. "No time like the present."
Technically they had a history paper due the next day, but having the right team attack could be the difference between life and death.
It wasn't a hard decision.
(Vale Docks)
It was a quiet night, some would say too quiet.
Qrow counted himself among them.
"Is Neo in position?" Qrow asked.
"No, she left to get ice cream." Roman deadpanned. "Yes, she is. Same as the last ten times you've asked."
Qrow winced, he was doing it again. "Sorry, I'm used to working alone."
"Why's that?" Roman asked, "Your semblance make you a walking bad luck charm or something?"
Qrow was speechless for a moment, "I'm actually impressed."
Roman blinked. Wait, seriously? That was supposed to be a joke! "So that's why you were so insistent on me not fighting near you."
"Yep." Qrow muttered, taking a swig from his flask.
Roman checked his scroll, "We got incoming. The trucks to pick up the dust, right on time."
True to Roman's word, trucks pulled up, ready to be loaded up to take the delivery of dust to the dust shops.
"Something doesn't feel right." Qrow muttered. "Where are the guards?"
Roman studied the scene in front of him for a minute longer, then it hit him.
He mentally kicked himself for not realizing it sooner.
"They're in the trucks. The White Fang is in the trucks." Roman said.
They both started running, straight towards the ship. Hopefully they wouldn't be too late.
Gunfire obliterated the silence of the night.
Now that Roman was closer, he could see the situation more clearly.
The White Fang was attempting to take the dock workers hostage, undoubtedly to slaughter them to suit their narrative.
Even though Roman was fighting on the side of the angels now, he could still appreciate a good heist.
This was an abomination.
It didn't matter who was fighting for who now, he'd kick their asses on principle.
Qrow and Roman rounded the corner, now in full view of the White Fang.
Roman raised Melodc Cudgel, and fired, scattering the assembled White Fang, allowing Qrow to sow chaos.
"Traitor!" Yelled one of them, a hyena Faunus armed with twin cleavers. "I'm gonna skin you alive!"
I almost miss fighting team RWBY. Almost.
The hyena Faunus attacked, his twin cleavers flashing in the moonlight as he charged at Roman. Normally at this point, Neo would yank him out of there with her semblance,
But she wasn't there, as she was watching their backs, to make sure White Fang reinforcements didn't sneak up on them. So Roman did something he rarely, if ever, did.
He stood his ground.
He twirled his cane, deftly deflecting the cleavers from ruining his suit, then used the crook of his cane to sweep the would-be butcher of Roman Torchwick off his feet and dump him into the drink.
Roman moved through several more White Fang, skillfully introducing them to nap time with well placed strikes from Melodic Cudgel.
Seeing that Qrow had attracted the rest of of them, most likely through a combination of bad luck and being more threatening, Roman moved to free the hostages.
"Alright, the way behind us should be clear, get-"
"H-hands up! Don't move!"
Damn it. All of these heroics are making me sloppy.
"Turn around!"
Roman turned around to see a White Fang member with his gun trained on him. His hands were shaking. He's just a kid.
"Kid, you don't want to do this." Roman said.
"Yes, I do!" The boy said, "We're going to free the Faunus from centuries of human oppression!"
"And you're going to do that with a massacre?" Roman asked.
"Fear is the only way they'll ever understand!"
"That's not- Look, kid. You know who I am, right?"
The White Fang member nodded. "You're Roman Torchwick."
Gotta keep him talking, this kid isn't as far gone as the rest of Adam's fanatics. "So, you could say that I might know a thing or two about changing hearts and minds, yeah?" Roman asked.
"I don't care!" He said, "Now surrender, or I'll shoot!"
So much for that. "Safety's still on, kid."
As the White Fang member fumbled with his gun, Roman shot him in the chest with Melodic Cudgel.
"Alright, let's try this again." Roman said, turning to the hostages, "Get out of here, come on let's move it!"
They all left as quickly as they could, except for one man, dressed in an SDC uniform that looked rather bulky...
"What's the matter, leave!" Roman barked at him.
"I'm afraid I can't." The man said, "They strapped a vest on me, handed me this device, and forced me to push the button. They claimed that if I try to leave or let go of it, both the vest and the bomb that they've planted in the cargo bay will explode."
"Shit." Roman said. "How much longer do you think you can keep that held down?"
The man's expression fell. "Not much longer, I have arthritis, and it's starting to hurt."
Qrow came over after dealing with the last of the White Fang. "What's going on, Roman? Why isn't this guy out of here?"
Roman told him about the bombs.
"Shit. Can we disarm them?" Qrow asked.
"Normally? Sure, but they're on a circuit with a dead man's switch already activated. We start cutting wires and the bombs will think that the switch was released, and..."
He didn't need to finish.
"Gentlemen, please get clear. I can't hold it for much longer."
"Well, alright then. Good game, everyone!" Roman said angrily as he walked off.
Wait, why am I angry? Because I couldn't save everyone? Damn, Ruby must be rubbing off on me.
Qrow knelt down next to the man, "Do you have any family that we should notify?"
He shook his head, "No, none that would care anyways."
"I'm sorry." Qrow said.
Qrow walked off, heart heavy with yet another innocent life lost because of his curse. After about a minute, the night was shattered by fire and the stench of failure.
A/N: It begins. Going forward, I'm going to be less exact about keeping track of the timeline, to show how the war with the White Fang is causing time to blur together for everyone.
As always, please read and review.
Next Chapter: Teams RWBY and JNR enter the fray, and Ruby's favorite dust shop comes under fire in the process.