There's A War To Fight
"Aura penetration, huh?" Yang idly wiped the blood from her arm after her aura finally finished healing the surprise cut across it. "Shouldn't you take me to dinner, first?" She nudged Adam's side with a wide grin. He only rolled his eyes in response.
"This is serious, Yang!" Weiss exclaimed. "This has been outlawed for over a century! Where did you even learn this, Adam?" she demanded to know.
"I don't get it, what's the big deal?" Ruby inquired before Adam could give an answer.
"How many Grimm have aura?" the heiress shot back.
Ruby's eyes briefly widened in surprise as it clicked in her mind.
It was now that Adam decided it would be best if he reentered the conversation. "You are correct: it is an entirely illegal art, which is exactly why we won't be speaking of it outside this room, or using it against anyone other than Cinder's forces. Its only purpose is to disable and kill, and even before the Great War, its ability to cause unspeakable casualties was well-documented." Adam made no efforts to sugarcoat the truth: it would be something they would need to recognize if they wanted to fight against humans in the first place. He flicked the blade away from Wilt and slowly sheathed his blade. He continued when only an uneasy silence replied back from the three.
"It is not a perfect art: to think you can force someone's soul into total submission beneath your own is folly. Expect to inflict only bruises. Gashes. Cuts. Only at its strongest can you push past another's aura enough to inflict grave injury in one blow... but make no mistake. This is dangerous. This is brutal. This is 'wrong'. But it is something that will save your life."
"And just how will a tool of murder allow us to do that?" Weiss was simply full of questions and, for once, Adam was glad for it.
"It is just as much a tool of murder as the very blades in your hands! Do you really believe that a Huntress battles only the Grimm?" That did not mean, however, that he wouldn't strike back. "Even without the White Fang, you would have found yourself against your own kind, and try as you might, those blades and bullets of yours would not stay free of blood for long." It was a sad fact, but sooner they got past this, the sooner they could instead focus on striking down Cinder. By now, the air had grown tense: Ruby's eyes stared not at the ground but simply through it, her mind occupied with whether or not this as wrong, Yang's energy had slowly become suspicion, and Weiss... in a strange way, Weiss was the only one listening.
"Adam, I don't mind learning from you, but I came here to learn how to defend myself, not how to kill others. Just... text me when it's Ruby's turn." And, unfortunately, that made her the first to leave.
Now, there were three. Ruby looked back at Weiss leaving, and turned to look at Adam, clearly trying to form words of protest. Having one of them outright leave left even Yang looking uncomfortable. Adam sighed and closed his eyes: they were still young. Determined, yes, but in no way as fanatical as White Fang members joining at their age.
His grip on his blade tightened. They were innocent: they'd come here to become heroes and legends, not soldiers and murderers. He needed to remember that. He was training defenders, not killers, and only as Adam looked upon these two teenagers did this finally take hold in his mind. If he treated them like the White Fang, he would get the White Fang. He would corrupt them. Even if he believed it necessary to survive and so, with great reluctance, Adam let another piece of his former self go.
"Not all of it is about assault. It's about willpower. Even without turning it into killing instinct, just having the will to win can deflect those who use it for less than heroic purposes. You will only need to know that much: I won't make you into killers, I promise," he said with a thin smile.
All the strength in the world would be pointless if they were left hollow at its end. If push came to shove, he would rather do the killing himself and tarnish his hands further than to let even a speck of blood mar their own.
A glimmering, ivory spire standing taller than even Atlesian skyscrapers, the central tower of the Cross Continental Transmit System stood tall above all other buildings in Beacon. Connecting all of Remnant together for decades, the communications within the tower were the most affordable and quickest in the world, so long as you were willing to make the walk and as long as the tower wasn't down for routine maintenance. It was Atlas' gift to the world, both to bring it together during some of its darkest hours, and to also assure the kingdoms that it was on their side after taking the crown from Mantle. Of course, some suggest an ulterior motive: Atlas kept its position by forcing the four kingdoms to work as one. After all, if one CCT tower goes down, they all do.
And all of this rich architecture, technology, history and rumors did not faze Weiss in the least. Why should it? All it did was remind her of the Atlas CCT always looming above the Schnee manor, enticing her with the world outside her golden cage. As heiress, she was forced to learn everything about it, from her company's predecessors working on it to the exact amounts of Dust necessary to run the nodes. It was a tired, ancient subject, but it was one Weiss knew well.
She had no intentions of simply going back off to their dorm and pouting until Adam's murderous lessons were over: Weiss refused to give them—especially Adam—any ammunition to call her petty. So, while they were busy, Weiss decided that now would be a wonderful time to get some information on just where these Dust robberies were taking place from her company and how much they were taking. From that, she might be able to find out where the next ones would be taking place. If she was lucky, she'd be able to figure out their objective from it!
Yet, as she calmly strolled through the massive lobby and into the elevator, Weiss found herself wondering if this was the best decision to take. There was no danger involved, yet she had not dealt with her father or the SDC in weeks.
"Hello, and welcome to the CCT. How may I help you?" inquired a robotized, female voice just natural enough to pass as human without thought.
"I'd like to go to the communications room, please." Weiss tried to keep her voice and smile as pleasant as possible. Winter always suggested to simply fake happiness, even when she felt down: she'd trick herself into forgetting those negative thoughts eventually.
"Absolutely. Could you place your scroll on the terminal to verify your identity?"
She obliged, and waited for the artificial assistant to respond. Weiss tried to follow Winter's advice as much as she could, but it just never truly worked for her. All she could do was craft a mask.
"Thank you, Miss Schnee!"
Especially when she was reminded so often of the very problem that loomed over her. Weiss' smile broke back down into a solemn frown, and all her attempts to force that calm happiness back onto herself resulted in a crumbling mask that would barely even fool Ruby. By the time she'd taken a seat at one of the many terminals on the transmit tower's upper levels, at least, Weiss had at least pasted that mask back into usability. It was better than nothing.
In front of the spinning snowflake logo of the SDC, a secretary's face appeared on-screen with a plain smile all too close to Weiss' own. "Thank you for calling the Atlas—" It lasted for barely a moment before who was calling registered to her. Her eyes widened and her smile became wide and brighter, yet no more genuine. "Oh, Miss Schnee! Good afternoon! Would you like me to patch you through to your father? I think your sister is here, as well."
"No, thank you," Weiss dismissed the thought without further explanation. "I was actually hoping you could find some files for me. I've compiled a short list." She hooked her Scroll into the terminal, wasting no time. Short and quick. The sooner she was out of here, the better.
"I see..." The young secretary arched an eyebrow, curious. "If I may ask, what is this for?"
"School project," Weiss lied through her teeth with a shrug.
The woman's smile faded. "There are some sensitive documents on this list, ma'am."
"Then I will be sure to treat them with care." She put a little force behind her facetious comment. Just enough to get the point across of who this secretary was talking to. It succeeded: while nervous, the secretary glanced down and clicked away at something.
"Very well, I... hm, this is odd. It says that you do not have the proper clearance."
Weiss barely hid her sharp gasp. "I-Is that right? Well, I recommend you look into that. As heiress of the company, it wouldn't do to be unable to study my own future workplace."
The secretary gave a nervous smile and reached for a Scroll. "O-of course, ma'am. One moment, please." The screen became a spinning symbol of Atlas. Weiss glanced about nervously: she could do without money, but being cut off completely from the company? What was her father thinking?
Such a question, at least, would be easily answered soon, for it was Jacques Schnee who appeared on the screen.
"Again!" Adam's call was the gunshot starting the session once more.
Ruby launched herself at him with a shot from her scythe and spun it into a wide arc at his chest. He hopped back and began drawing his blade to retaliate, but a flare of fiery gold just out of the corner of his eye forced him to turn and deflect the incoming punch. Flanked by the two sisters, Adam's only saving grace was the sheer firepower behind their guns made it a poor choice to fire them at such close range. His own blade was little more than a bright-red blur as it bounced from weapon to weapon, target to target.
"Focus!" was Ruby's only warning when Blush was pointed right at her, and Adam's aura took corporeal form around it, ready to pierce through hers. With a squeak, Ruby brought her scythe up to protect herself, but the shot still grazed by and bit into her side. Ruby's aura flared up in a valiant defense, but just couldn't stop it from slicing across and leaving a cut. She winced and retreated to let her aura patch herself up.
Yang, on the other hand, rushed in, sisterly instincts raging and setting her hair aflame. Throwing her defense aside and going all out, Yang cocked her fist back and lunged at Adam. With a deadly glare, he whipped around in the blink of an eye, ducked and flicked Wilt up in a single strike, raking the tip across the length of her arm. With a shout of pain, she collapsed, and Adam advanced, eyes burning with fury.
"Do not ever throw your defense aside like that against people like them! Had I been fighting to kill, I could have cut your arm off! Your aura is not the only thing you should depend on!" He sheathed his blade and prepared for a second strike. "Never expect your opponents to fight clean, Ya—" Adam's legs were painfully swept out from under him by Ruby's scythe, the sharp sting across his entire aura distracting him too much to do much more than block when she immediately followed it up by snapping Crescent Rose into its polearm form and slamming it down on him.
Ruby's heart was racing: she knew that this was only a training match, but it all felt so real: from the force Adam threw behind his attacks to Yang's blood. She'd fought against criminals, Grimm and other students, but she almost always had the upper hand against the first two, and the last only fought to win. There was a big difference between avoiding swings at the legs or stomach and dodging slashes at her neck or stabs at her chest. The actual threat of being hurt threw aside rational thought, and the desire to learn became the desire to protect.
And from the determination in Ruby's eyes, Adam realized just what he needed to do to force her willpower to truly take form. He snapped a kick into Ruby's shin, snatched Crescent Rose and used her brief weakness to curl up and slam both his feet into her stomach to send her reeling.
"Think on why you fight, why you want to live!" Adam advanced not on Ruby, but on Yang, who was still recovering. She rose up in time to block the first strike, but one after the other, they came quicker. "Your sister, your search, think on them and focus!"
Her defense was finally being overwhelmed, strikes barely visible as anything more than a flash of red cracking against Yang's aura. The next blow was heavier, his aura not just gathered like liquid, but beginning to trail off from Wilt's edge.
The only thing Yang was focused on was the adrenaline. As a thrill-seeker, for all the threat that this fight had, there was just as much excitement! With a roar full of the will to fight on, she swung for Adam's blade. Her aura flashed to life when Wilt struck her gauntlets. His blade drew sparks as it ran up the metal, but her aura managed to hold on, forcing Wilt to glide across her arm. Her fist struck him at the same time his blade hit her cheek, and the two were sent flying back.
Adam and Yang skid to a halt on opposite sides of the room, and Yang quickly brought a hand to her cheek. She felt only a thin scratch, more like she'd been struck with a branch than the edge of a blade. Her aura had held up.
"I'm really getting a hang of this! Ha, more like a Yang of this, right—" Her eyes rose up to Adam just in time for him to have closed the distance, the point of his glowing sword driving up straight towards her stomach.
Now, it was Ruby who was taken over by adrenaline. For only that moment, all she saw was someone about to stab her sister. In the blink of an eye, Ruby scooped up Crescent Rose and rushed forward. She felt her will gathering somewhere, but couldn't think clearly enough to even recognize where as she swung with a defiant shout.
Adam's eyes widened, and he abandoned Blush to raise a desperate hand up in defense. He caught the heavy weapon—still in its halberd form—but it wasn't enough to keep him from being thrown backwards into an overturned table. He flipped back up to his feet and rolled Wilt in his hand, watching Yang and Ruby as they readied themselves for another clash.
He looked down at his still-stinging hand and frowned. Before that could be caught by his two new students, he clenched his fist then, with a nod and slight smile, looked back up to them.
"You're catching on a lot quicker than I expected," he admitted.
Yang and Ruby, just as tired, crossed their arms with looks of smugness and pride.
"Let's take a break, then it's your turn, Ruby. And, just for the record, that fight doesn't count."
Adam's aura went to work healing the cut left across his palm.
"Well? Do you not have something to say?" Jacques asked with a casual nature barely hiding the demand behind his tone. He was calling from his office. His blue eyes pierced through her.
Her mouth opened, yet no words came out.
"Hm. An entire month of this childish tantrum and you cannot even manage an apology. I suppose that was to be expected."
"No! No, I simply did not expect to see you at this hour, Father. It's wonderful to see you again!" Weiss chirped with a false smile, coincidentally failing to apologize as well. Jacques noticed.
"I don't know how else I would contact my own daughter, since she has been avoiding every call made from the Schnee Manor." Disappointment oozed from his voice. "But I suppose if you cared for family, we wouldn't be needing to have this conversation, now, would we? So let's cut to the chase: why do you want these documents?"
The world was getting colder to Weiss. Jacques' words always found a way to weigh on her very soul. She hadn't even had a chance to defend herself. "A school project..." She wouldn't have been able to fool herself.
"Don't lie to me. Is this another one of your 'extracurricular activities'?" The only reason he was playing coy was to avoid drawing attention. Weiss' silence and lowered gaze was taken as an affirmation. "I guess I wasn't clear enough about this: they are to cease immediately if you wish to remain at Beacon."
Her head bowed, Weiss knew there was only one answer to give: "Yes, Father, I will." She knew that she would not, but, Weiss just could not stop the guilt her father always inspired from trying to sap away her will.
"It is good to know we can agree on something." It wasn't much of a surprise to Weiss when her Scroll pinged: the documents were sent anyway. It was one of her father's favorite little tricks: dangling what he just said not to do just within reach to make sure his children would listen. A door unlocked when they were told to remain in the room, a cooperative butler when they were told they were not to have dessert before dinner. He claimed it was to prepare them for a life in power, where the option to do ruinous things would always a word away no matter what. Weiss knew it was just an excuse to dangle his power over them. To bait them into inevitable punishment.
At least he would leave it at that. Still, all she needed to do was stay out of notice, and she could use this info however she wished. She wouldn't let her father or any of his strategies hold her back any longer.
"However, I have been hearing a number of negative things about the Kingdom of Vale. Combined with your refusal to so much as call your mother and I, I believe it is time we made a personal visit." And now the world was gone, reduced only to the screen. "I just so happen to have a meeting lined up during the beginning of the Vytal Tournament. A good time to evaluate your performance at Beacon, wouldn't you say?"
He was met with silence.
"I'll see you there, Daughter. Please do try to keep our name clean." He hung up.
Weiss moved mechanically, standing up and walking back to the elevator in a daze. She gave greetings and nods, but the words themselves were nothing to her. Jacques would be in Vale. Her family would be at the tournament. Watching. Judging. The only one who wouldn't was the one she wanted to see: her sister, Winter. Without warning, the path her entire life would take now came down to a single week. Fail then, and she'd be torn away from every friend she had. At best, she would be forced into Atlas as a stranger amongst already-established teams. At worst? The end of being a Huntress.
The world twisted and turned in Weiss' vision, and the happy chatter of the people of Vale turned into a thunderous din in her mind. She wasn't ready, yet! She needed to summon, she needed to perfect her time dilation, she needed... she needed so much! What would her friends think when they find out just what her family is really like? A sudden fear struck her heart: would Jacques recognize Adam? Or Blake? Could she feign ignorance? What if she failed during the tournament? One fear struck another, and like dominoes triggered countless other awful possibilities until Weiss' dead walk had turned into a panicked jog.
So enraptured in her thoughts, Weiss was, that she didn't notice what was in front of her until she ran face-first into what felt like a steel pole and was knocked clean onto her back. With an admittedly unladylike groan, she sat up and glanced around in embarrassment, hoping no one saw. At least running into that knocked the borderline hysteria out of her. Yet, she saw not a pole or a wall, but a person, turning and offering their hand to her just as Weiss looked up.
"I'm sorry, Miss. I was not paying the correct amount of attention," she apologized in a monotone, her eyes widening briefly in recognition before her expression swiftly became plain and blank once more.
Weiss blinked a few times in confusion, even as she accepted the girl's hand and pulled herself up.
"Penny? Is that you?"
"... No. You must be confused." With a sudden hiccup, Penny accidentally dropped Weiss right back to the ground.
Mint-green lines of light coursed across a simple, gray prosthetic arm akin to that of a puppet. In the age of machinery that could link to everything from your nerves to your soul, something this lackluster would and should be considered obsolete. The world was on the brink of commonplace cybernetics, and yet he chose something all but worthless. Less intelligent minds would ask why. Only the wise could understand: it was a reminder of what he had lost! Some would seek to emulate what their arm was like in a futile attempt to seek the past, but not he! He embraced the progress made in any direction! He sought only the future!
"Hey Merlot, you've been fiddling with that stupid arm for the past ten minutes: is the operation going smoothly, or what?" Came an agitated voice at his side. Torchwick. He had no appreciation for science or the arts both.
"Have some patience!" Merlot barked, but reluctantly turned his attention ahead. The two were just outside the heavy, steel gates of one of the SDC's more hidden facilities in Vale. Paranoia pushed them to take their research and development far outside Atlas to prevent any competition from even standing a chance at putting their noses here they didn't belong. Little did they know, by moving here, they'd invited just that to their very doorstep.
He closed one eye, and let the cybernetics of his second go into overdrive. More information than any mere human could ever hope to process flooded into his mind: diagnostics of not just himself but the machines he was connected to, camera systems hacked into, blueprints and code all laid bare.
"Humph! This is absolutely ridiculous!"
"What, don't tell me you screwed up your first mission! I'm the one who's going to get the flak for it!"
"What? No!" The gate buzzed and swung open. "We're already done!"
Torchwick blinked in surprise and looked around. Numerous human-sized machines just humanoid enough to be mistaken for organic soldiers from afar were walking around the grounds with their guns at the ready. He instantly raised his cane up to fire... but none of them responded.
Merlot had already begun strolling towards the main building. "Well? What are you waiting for! Honestly, the nerve of that Pietro, using the very code I invented," he muttered under his breath as the door opened for him.
Torchwick warily followed behind, keeping a distrustful eye on each machine he passed by. Their visors, once blank, now carried a dim, red glow.
The inside was a warzone: SDC workers and scientist laid in splashes of crimson, bullet holes riddled the stark-white walls, and the hallways had the scent of rust. There was no resistance, here. It was a massacre, plain and simple. Torchwick grimaced as he stepped over a body. Merlot peered into a camera, and a final door opened, revealing a grand garage.
Torchwick raised a hand to his ear. "Yo, Cindy," If there was one good thing about being promoted, it was that he just so happened to cross the line right into 'too important to get rid of'. "Send the animals in to mark the place."
Lines of massive, mechanized suits stood before him. Bulky, blocky and probably weighing as much as three cars a piece, but with enough armament to turn a hundred cars into scraps. Paladins. Almost a hundred of them.
"We got the goods, alright." Screens lined the walls, their original purpose unknown. All they displayed now was a black chess piece. As Merlot went to work opening another section of the garage, Torchwick tapped one of the screens.
"And Merlot's little program is working ju~ust fine..."
