Chapter 26: Embers
"You motherfucker!" Tyrian screamed through gritted teeth. He lunged forward, gripping Bertilak's vest tight in his fists, and slammed him into the wall. Bertilak raised a fist.
"Knock it off, both of you!" Carmine shouted.
"There's no need for violence!" Dr. Merlot said.
"Oh, there's plenty of need!" Tyrian growled. "Terrorists, snooping right under our noses. In our high council. I ought to paint these walls with both of you!" His scorpion-like Faunus tail raised behind him, preparing to strike.
"Bring it on, bug!" Bertilak hissed, cocking his fists.
"That's enough!" Lionheart shouted. "Tyrian, release him now." Tyrian hesitated and grumbled, but dropped Bertilak and stepped back.
Hazel sighed. "You must understand that this is difficult news to hear," he said.
"We understand that," Carmine said, Bertilak walking back to her side. "But we mean it when we say that we've had nothing but goodwill. We consider ourselves a part of both causes. At least for Bertilak and I, we see both the Crown and the Resistance's end goals as the same."
Lionheart rubbed his temples. "And you claim the Vale group knows about this?"
Then, a ringing sound made him jump. His Scroll was vibrating and ringing next to him.
Carmine shrugged. "You can ask them, I guess."
Lionheart picked up the Scroll. "Lionheart," he stated.
"Leonardo," a familiar voice came from the other end.
"Miss Fall," Lionheart replied. "Hold on, let me put you on speakerphone. We're all here." He pressed a portion of the Scroll, then set it down. "We're listening."
"I assume Bertilak and Carmine told you everything?" Cinder asked.
Lionheart nodded, only realizing she could not see him. "Yes. It is… distressing, to say the least."
"Please…" Carmine pleaded.
"I don't think we have reason to worry," Cinder replied. "We just got some help from Junior and the Malachite sisters here in Vale. They saved our lives. We believe they can be trusted."
"Are you certain?" Lionheart asked.
"Almost entirely," Cinder said. "And what little doubt I have I've elected to ignore. Listen, all of you. We're going to take advantage of this opportunity. We're going to attack Beacon Laboratory in three days."
"Three days?" Dr. Merlot asked. "Why the haste?"
"I'm choosing to move while everyone is still willing and able," Cinder said. "We were jumped by bounty hunters the other day. All of Remnant is after us. If we wait, they're just going to keep coming. And if we keep letting that happen, we'll never be ready. We need to move while we're all still alive and together. We can't risk anymore time."
"I understand where you're coming from," Hazel said, "but are you sure we shouldn't prepare some more?"
"Lionheart, are you and the people Haven ready to fight?" Cinder asked.
"Of course," Lionheart replied.
"Have we figured out a way to stop Lord Ozpin's forces from communicating with Beacon?"
"We have," Watts replied. "Dr. Merlot and I have developed a hack that will redirect all outgoing communications from Haven to an outside source."
"An abandoned communications relay, at an old place called Brunswick Farms," Merlot added. "The place fell to the Grimm ages ago. If anyone in Haven tries to call out, or if anyone from Beacon tries to call in, it will just redirect their communications there instead. Where no one will answer."
"There is a downside, however," Watts said. "When we say all communications, we mean it. Even our communications with you will be removed while the hack is active."
"We'll have to risk it," Cinder said. "Carmine, Bertilak. Will the Crownsmen be ready to move in three days?"
"You give us the word, we'll get them moving tonight," Carmine said. "We've prepared for this."
"Then it sounds to me like we have almost everything prepared: fighters, supplies, and defenses," Cinder said. "The only thing left is for my group to plan our infiltration, and we'll be set. There's no better time than now."
"I suppose that makes sense…" Lionheart pondered.
"We'll call back on the night before the battle," Cinder said. "We'll confirm that we're ready. Lionheart, I'd suggest you start getting your sick and wounded, as well as the children and elderly, out now. Carmine and Bertilak, have your Crownsmen march on Beacon Laboratory in three days. We've got a chance here to cripple Lord Ozpin's forces badly, and I'm not going to let it go to waste."
"What about the rest of us?" Tyrian asked.
"Lay low," Cinder replied. "We'll do the same here. We don't want to provoke Lord Ozpin if we don't have to."
"Understood," Hazel replied.
Cinder sighed. "We've worked hard, and sacrificed a lot to get to this point. Let's make it all count."
Lord Ozpin walked over to the desk, sitting down in the chair. The green light flickered around him, along with the occasional blue light of the relics behind him. Aside from the faint sound of a breeze, the only sounds were those of of Vernal's faint, strained breathing in the nearby pod.
Lord Ozpin ran his hands over the two maps. He stared briefly at the one with the large landmass with an almost whimsical look in his eye before pushing it aside and centering the one of Remnant in front of him. He reached over and grabbed a series of small pins, as well as a long ink pen. He ran his finger over the map, pointing at the spot where Haven Penitentiary was located in Mistral. He angled a pin, and pushed it down in the location, making it stick upright in the map. He then placed four more pins on various places on the map: Signal Academy in Vale, Atlas Compound in Atlas, and Shade Academy in Vacuo. He then used the pen to draw a series of lines and circles on the map, connecting the points together and to a central point. His fingertips flickered with electricity as he set down the pen and looked over the map. Soon. Soon he would have all the power he needed. What he had been denied so long ago would now be his and his alone.
"So," Emerald said, sitting cross-legged on the cold floor, "what's the plan, Cinder?"
Cinder set down the Scroll and crossed her arms. "It won't take long for Lord Ozpin's forces to start moving on Haven," she said. "Once they start their 'uprising', if all goes well, Lord Ozpin's forces will be in Mistral, assuming they use Bullheads and tanks, within hours."
"Then what?" Roman asked.
"That's where we come in," Cinder said. "We work our way to Beacon Laboratory. I know they have an entrance to just that portion of the fortress; we won't have to go through the rest of it. Then it should just be a matter of stealth. Take down any remaining guards if needed, and make sure no one sees us. Once we're inside, we find where they're building the firebombs, where they're building the robots, and where they're bringing back corpses. The latter two are the priority; even if we fail to take down the bomb manufactory and some of the other labs, we absolutely cannot fail in destroying those two departments. Or else we'll be dealing with P.E.N.N.Y.s and corpses for the rest of our days."
Mercury raised an eyebrow. "So that's it? We just grab a few firebombs, make sure the places we want to be destroyed are destroyed, and then set off a chain reaction to hopefully take down the rest?"
Cinder shrugged. "That's just about the size of it."
Roman glanced at his shoe. "What if we get caught?"
Cinder sighed. "We won't. We can't. And if we are, then at least we'll have gone down fighting. We need to plan, practice, and prepare. We'll draw up a plan and run it through a few times. I want everyone to have supplies with them: medical stuff, ammo, Dust. Whatever you think will help, as long as its essential. I also want all of you to mentally prepare. We'll be under a lot of pressure to do everything perfectly and as quickly as possible, and I don't want any of you cracking out there." She shot a sly smile at her team. "That part I'm less worried about." Emerald grinned back and Mercury smirked.
"Alright," Roman said. "I've had worse odds. We'll plan who will do each job. Which one will stay here and look after Salem?"
Cinder's smile faded. Her eye moved down as her arms slumped slightly. She began breathing deeply. She did not speak.
Emerald cocked her head with a concerned look on her face. "Cinder?" she asked.
"We're not going to watch Salem," Cinder muttered.
Mercury's brow furrowed. "You mean-?"
Cinder nodded, slowly. Her head felt full of rocks. "We need everyone on this. Everyone. We can't let anything hold us back." She glanced sorrowfully over at Salem. "Not even the ones we love."
An uncomfortable silence filled the room, save for the unaware Salem's sleeping breathing. It was as if a fog of iron had settled in the small basement.
"So… we just leave her here?" Adam said. He did not know Salem like the others did, but he understood what they were all feeling.
Cinder wished she did not have to answer. "No," she said, her voice cracking. She cupped her hand over her mouth and cleared her throat. "We… we… we're going to let her go. We can't help her anymore. We'll let her out into the wastelands. She'll have to take care of herself."
"Cinder…" Mercury muttered, trying his best not to lose his cool, "don't you understand? She can't take care of herself."
"Well we can't take care of her either!" Cinder yelled. She wiped away the tears that were beginning to form in her eye. Salem stirred. "I hate to do it. You know that. Salem was more like a mother to me than anyone I've ever known. But that woman is gone. And we can't stop planning, can't stop preparing to stop and try to extend her misery longer. I don't want her to hurt anymore, Mercury! And letting her go… it's the only way I know to help her now." Cinder sniffled. "As horrible as it might be to say, we have more important things to worry about. And I believe that, if Salem were herself, she'd want us to prioritize all of Remnant over her. And I think you all believe that too."
There was silence, but it was a silence that spoke volumes.
"When?" Emerald asked, wiping away a tear.
"Tomorrow," Cinder said. "We'll take her over to that small wooded area northeast of here. There are trees, so she'll have shelter, and I know there are wild berries, edible flowers, some herbs…"
"Grimm…" Mercury muttered.
Cinder heard him, but elected to act as if she had not. "We'll leave her with a blanket and a canteen. That should help her." She turned her back to her allies, placing her hand on the concrete wall. She sighed.
"Get some sleep," she said. "We have a lot to do tomorrow."
It was twilight when the White Fang reached Forever Fall. Blake was tired, both physically and emotionally. If it were not for her stiff walking and the worried chatter of the rescued slave Faunus behind her, she probably would have collapsed to sleep right there on the cool, red-tinted dirt. However, she pushed forward, knowing that their camp was only a short distance away, and soon enough she would be able to fall onto her soft cot and give in to its calming embrace.
She yawned, closing her eyes as she did so. She scratched at the edge of her mask, eager to take it off after having worn it for so long. As she slowly and reluctantly opened her eyes again, looking ahead, she saw colors. Colors that did not belong. She stopped in her tracks, her tiredness flashing away and now on animalistic alert. She threw her left arm out horizontally, signaling the group behind her to halt. Ilia was the first to see, and helped quietly inform everyone to stop moving. There were murmurs from the new recruits.
Among the red and black of Forever Fall, Blake noticed bright blue and yellow up ahead, at their campsite. She grabbed the hilt of Gambol Shroud, and slowly walked forward. Ilia instructed a spike-covered Faunus to keep order, then hurried forward to help her leader, pulling out her whip as she hurried to Blake's side.
"What is it?" she asked.
Blake narrowed her eyes. She recognized the shades of yellow and blue she saw. As she got closer, she recognized the people they were attached to. She sighed in annoyance and, keeping her hand on her weapon, moved quicker to the clearing with Ilia beside her.
The yellow bastard saw her first. "Ah," he called out, "there you are. I was thinking you'd never be back. I was just ready to go home."
"If only," Blake called back. "This had better be good, Wukong. You better have found Taurus. Otherwise you have no reason to be here."
Neptune crossed his arms, and Sun Wukong's sly grin faded. He bit his cheek, and began to pace. "Oh, we found him. There was just a teeny-tiny little issue."
Blake and Ilia were now close enough, and stopped walking. Blake gripped her weapon tighter. "And what issue would that be?"
"You forgot the mention that he was WITH THE FUCKING RESISTANCE!" Sun suddenly shouted, whirling to Blake and gritting his teeth. Ilia stepped forward to attack, but Blake raised her arm and held her back.
"What does it matter?" Blake sneered. "Your men can't handle a few dusty humans?"
Sun cleared his throat and adjusted himself. "The Resistance I can handle. Their allies are bit more of an issue, especially when we didn't know they were coming!"
Blake raised an eyebrow, but realized Sun could not see it under her mask. "Allies?" she asked. "What do you mean?"
Sun stepped forward, his hand curled into strained claws. "The Crown!" he said. "Don't tell me you neglected that little tidbit as well?"
Blake huffed. "The Resistance and the Crown have allied?" she said, more to herself than her peers. "That's a new development."
"I'd like you to know that we had Mr. Taurus," Sun said mockingly. "Him and a couple of his Resistance allies. They were ready to be shipped right over until the Crown and a fucking Wendigo bust in and tore up my club and killed a good deal of my hunters. All because you had to keep secrets!"
"I just said I didn't know about the Crown," Blake hissed.
"Well here's the deal now, sweet cheeks," Sun said. "A hundred thousand Lien isn't gonna cut it anymore. I'll just be nice and consider that payment for the damage to my club and reputation. I'm gonna need a more substantial payment if you want this little favor to continue."
"You have some nerve talking to her like that!" Ilia spat.
Blake was equally as angry. "You're insane," she said. "What else would you want, anyway?"
Sun sighed. "Well, considering bounty hunters are in shorter supply now and the job just became much more dangerous, I think you and your group doing some of the work of the people you indirectly killed would help even things out. This is what the job now costs: some manual labor, some supplies, a couple thousand more Lien, and my own shot at the Resistance/Crown for making it personal."
"You're delusional," Ilia barked. "The White Fang aren't goons for hire, and we just freed many from slavery. They're not going to turn around and work for the likes of you, nor are we going to stoop to your level by giving you our time or supplies."
Blake exhaled, getting ready for a fight. "I couldn't have said it better myself," she said, readying to fight Sun and Neptune.
To her surprise, Sun just stared at her. Then he spoke. "I want you to think for a moment," he said. "Just how badly do you want Adam Taurus?"
Blake froze. She quickly and quietly pondered the question. How badly did she want him? Ever since he betrayed them, he had consumed her every waking moment… and even her non-waking dreams. Even as she led the White Fang into battle, she was fueled by her rage against him. What was more important: a temporary loss of her and her group's integrity or finally getting Adam, finally having him before him, so she could do with him whatever she pleased?
Blake stood upright, relaxing her hold on Gambol Shroud. She breathed deeply, unbelieving of the words that were about to come out of her mouth. "Deal."
Ilia audibly gasped. "Blake!" she shouted. "What are you-"
"It's a minor setback," she explained. "He's still our best shot at finding Adam. A partnership, even with some costs, is worth it."
Ilia eyed her leader uncomfortably under her mask. "Is it, though?" she murmured.
Blake huffed and reluctantly extended her hand. She would get Adam, whatever it took.
Sun laughed and grabbed Blake's hand. "Here's to vengeance," he grinned.
