This is a bit of an experiment of me. This chapter is going to be a little like a film when an official starts briefing the heroes and the film moves to the villains performing their heist. In particular, I will be cutting between POVs more quickly than I would normally do. If you have seen Volume 7, I trust that you can fill in the visuals.
Two hours later Jaune was seated in front of Dr. Oobleck with his point man Fox Alastair and his favourite technical support person, Velvet Benjamina Scarlatina. They were his core team who worked on virtually every mission he carried out.
From the man who had looked so delighted at the success of the mission in the vault two hours ago, it was clear that whatever had happened had hit hard.
"We have been requested to assist the Ace-Ops in a search and recover operation for Atlas. What I have to tell you is top secret and only the three of you are currently authorised to know the full details. I know this is unsatisfactory and I will do my best to persuade General Ironwood to authorize you briefing any other members of the IMF you may need to involve."
"Anyway, this is what happened according to the General…."
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A grey-haired man and a green haired woman are walking quietly through the halls of the Atlas military headquarters. They are dressed in Atlas military uniforms and have earpieces. They are listening to instructions from a man with a condescending voice.
"Wait here." A delay and then the voice said "Forward. The two relief guards are on their way. There is an empty room ten yard in front of you and the door is now unlocked. Enter and wait for my instructions."
The two figures move into the room. They reach into the uniforms and each of them draws out a blowpipe, check that there is nothing in the pipe, place a dart in the pipe and nod to each other.
"Ten yards" whispers the voice in their ears. "Now."
They step out of the room and fire the guns into the back of the neck of the two guards. The darts stick in the necks and the two guards fall to the floor. The two intruders pull the stunned guards into the room, remove the guards' weapons, means of communication, identity tags and a special entry card. They then handcuff their hands and gag them. The woman stares closely at their faces. This takes less than two minutes
They nod at each other, and the woman says, "I assume that nothing was spotted."
The condescending voice says, "I built this security system and they have not discovered my backdoors. The operatives are still watching last night's footage for the corridor. There is no one in the corridor outside. Let's go."
The two figures move out and jog up the corridor to the next junction. They resume a brisk walking speed as they cross the junction. The voice says, "The coast is clear."
They then jog along the corridor before the voice says "Stop. You are now where you should be if you were the real guards."
They reach another junction and the voice in their ears says, "Showtime, girl." The woman nods and begins to concentrate. The man puts another dart in his blowpipe
They reach the security desk outside the complex. The man at the desk lifts his head and says, "Good, you are on time for a change." He then looks at their faces and said, "It was meant to be Arnold and not you Thompson tonight."
The grey-haired man says, "Arnold is on the sick list."
"Fine, but no one told me. You know the protocols; I will need to check with the specialists' office."
The voice in their ears said, "Eliminate him. If he makes the call someone may notice the discrepancy between the footage and the call."
The grey-haired man swings his leg round and stuns the soldier. He fires the gun into the back of the man's neck. The woman stares at the man's face and nods. The grey-haired man thinks about it and brings his foot down on the man's neck. then bundles the body under the desk.
The voice in their ears says, "We are on plan B. I have alerted your colleague. You are going to have to kill the two other guards."
"Emerald, I hope the old lady is not going to be at her most alert."
"I've got it. I can deceive any one individual"
They both checked that the guns that they had taken from the first guards were loaded and the safety mechanism was off.
They use the entry card and then walk towards the door at the end of the corridor where the two guards who are expecting to be relieved are standing.
They reach the guards and exchange salutes. They both draw the guns and shoot the guards in the face at point blank range. The guards had no time to activate their auras. The man moves the bodies, so they do not obstruct the floor.
The voice says, "The command centre accepted the recordings, we still have at best twenty minutes before they know something is wrong. At worst five minutes."
The woman nods and concentrates hard. The man stares and says, "I can't see the bodies and I know they are there. Maybe a little more concentration on the smell."
The man taps a thirteen-digit code into the entry device and breathed a sigh of relief when the door clicks open.
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The old lady blinks as she is awoken. She can hear alarm bells in the background and stares at the two figures before her. She recognises the tall woman dressed in white. It is Winter Schnee who is her designated successor. She agrees with the choice and is close to letting go of life. Still as a child she had been taught to do her duty and there are sacrifices to being a maiden which she does not want Winter to have to go through yet. Next to Winter is a Faunus dressed in an Ace-Ops uniform.
She has seen him before but has not spoken to him. Winter says to her, "Fria, we are under attack. After what happened to the Fall Maiden, the General does want to take any chances. Marrow and I are here to take you to the vault."
The old lady nods. While she thinks that she could still take on any intruder, if James thinks taking cover is for the best that is what she will do. She just hopes that she can stay awake.
She gets up and moves towards the door. She is still powerful and can still walk quickly, "No dawdling, Winter. Let's go"
She walked into the corridor passing the two guards outside her door and went to the lift door. She placed her hand on the door in the palm print, allowed her eye to be scanned and her finger to be pricked for an instant blood test.
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In the Ace-Ops control room a dark-skinned young woman with a platinum blonde tuft sticking out of otherwise short brown hair is watching the screens. It is her turn to oversee the night shift. Nothing seems to be happening. One of the men at the screens says, "Specialist Bree, the guards and the desk officer have confirmed that the change in guard has taken place."
"Good. Let me know when the old guard checks in here."
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The thin tall man in the airship with a luxuriant moustache stared at the screens. He has practiced making certain that he does not confuse the screens showing what is actually going on with what the monitors are showing in the Atlas control room.
He always expected to have to go with plan B. The street rat was still a little scrupulous for his taste in relation to unnecessary deaths, but the punk had no problem with accepting killing to improve operational safety.
He looked with surprise at the pace which the old lady moved. He was glad that he had been able to plan a route which had the minimum of chances to encounter others.
The lift which went directly from the corridor outside the old lady's room to the floor leading to the escalator to the vault was only used by her and responded only to her biometrics meant that he did not have to worry about guards apart from the last two hundred yards to the gate guarding the escalator.
He double checked the surveillance cameras and there was a clear run to the gate. He activated the microphone to the two minions and said, "Go, the coast is clear. I am ready to unlock the gate."
He then activated the microphone to the getaway pilot. "Miss Harker, be ready for my signal."
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The old lady and the two young people were standing on the escalator when the old lady said, "No time to waste, Winter let's walk down."
The young woman grimaced. She had to be careful and concentrating on the escalator steps and maintaining the illusion including the siren sounds and imagined orders was challenging work. On the other hand, reducing the time the mission took was all for the best.
The young man looked around. The vault was impressive and the blue flames coming from the bowls on the pedestals gave it an eerie feeling. To his relief the floating planks around the platform and walkway had already started to move as soon as the old lady had set foot on the escalator.
Eventually they reached the bottom of the escalator. The old lady ran across the walkway. Her timing was excellent as the levitating planks had reached the front of the vault and had created a hovering staircase
The three of them walked down the staircase and the lady put her hand on the door of the vault. It swung open slowly to reveal a green meadow bathed in sunlight. In the middle of the meadow were two stone pillars between which stood a glowing staff.
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In the security centre the young Ace-Op said, "Have those guards reported in yet?"
"No. Sergeant Renton has stopped to go to the bathroom."
The young woman grabbed the intercom, "Sergeant Renton, I told you last time that you should have better self-control."
The man replied, "Sorry mam. I was thirsty just before I went on duty."
"That is what you said last time, I also told you to refer to me as specialist. You are on a charge. Do you understand."
The man said nothing for a few seconds and then replied, "Right away, sir."
The woman stared at the screen in disbelief. Just then another soldier said, "Specialist Bree. I have received a report that the Maiden's lift is on the vault level."
Bree hit the emergency link to the general, "Sir, we have a possible code red in the vault."
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The old lady sat down inside the vault. She said, "I just have to close it behind me."
Winter said, "You have already done so, Fria."
The woman looked around and saw the door closing. "I am getting so forgetful these days. We should speak to James tomorrow about passing on my powers."
Winter said, "Hush, you have done well. Time for you to rest"
The old lady said, "Perhaps you are right Winter."
She lay on the grass and closed her eyes.
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The man with the moustache cursed and said a message to the two minions in the vault, "They have spotted something is wrong. Time to take it away."
He watched the real screens showing General Ironwood, Winter Schnee and Clover Ebi all dashing towards the vault with around sixty soldiers. "Two minutes maximum. Miss Harker, prepare to start taking your revenge."
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Inside the vault the grey-haired man took the staff from between the pillars and placed a card with the picture of a chess piece on the ground together with a scroll with a post it on it.
He took out a small device and crossed his fingers. "Let's go Emerald."
He then started running towards the entrance and was joined by his accomplice who was still concentrating hard to maintain the illusion in case the old lady woke up.
As they exited the vault, they saw the woman they had been impersonating and General Ironwood charging down the escalator. They breathed a sigh of relief. The intelligence had been correct that Specialist Vine was on leave.
The General drew his weapon known as Due Process and aimed it at them, "Put down the staff and put your hands in the air."
The two culprits stepped forward to the edge of platform raised their hands in the air and fell forward into the abyss.
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Beneath the hovering city a fast aircraft which had been circling the city turned inwards and started racing towards the bottom of the city. The pilot checked the targeting mechanism and pushed a button.
A missile fired, it hit the foot of the floating rock and removed it. The pilot concentrated and somehow the debris avoided the airship.
A hatch in the roof of the airship opened wide. Beneath it was a pile of foam mattresses.
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The two criminals counted to five before activating the devices in their hand. The rate of acceleration of their fall slowed and they positioned themselves to fall through the hole in the floating island beneath them.
Above them they could just about make out the outline of the General and his right-hand woman stirring at them. A flock of white birds appeared out of nowhere and headed towards them.
Below they saw the hovering airship getting closer and focused their auras at their feet. Suddenly they felt themselves in the grip of a force and were drawn towards the hatch. They both tensed themselves and bent their legs. The woman landed first and rolled to the side of the cabin. The man carrying the staff then also landed.
The hatch closed and the two braced their auras, headed to the seats, and sought to fasten their seat belts as the airship suddenly accelerated to its maximum speed.
Outside the white birds exited the city but then gave up the chase. The patrolling air ships of the Atlas air force were slowly reacting to the incident, but in the absence of orders were uncertain what to do.
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Inside the vault the tall woman dressed in white checked on the old lady and held her tight wondering how to get her back to her room without telling her what had happened.
The General picked up the card and the tape recorder. He looked at the card and saw a picture of a black queen chess piece. He clenched his other fist.
Over his own earpiece he heard the woman in the security room tell him about the aircraft which had intercepted the two falling figures and the missile which had taken off the tip of the rock. He ordered a pursuit of the aircraft but with a view to forcing it to land.
He looked at the tape recorder and pushed the play button.
A voice which he recognised from the past said, "My dear General. As you now know your security is abysmal. I have the staff and I know how to use it. I doubt that you can capture my aircraft and I warn you that if you fire a missile at me, I will order Ambrosius to build something new. You will hear from my mistress in a few days. You will have an opportunity to bid for the return of the staff or at least to prevent her selling it to your enemies. Your bid does not necessarily need to be of a financial nature."
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Jaune stared at Dr. Oobleck and asked, "What is so important about the staff?"
"It has the power to make Atlas fall from the sky and crush Mantle."
"That threat is presumably why we have been called in."
"Yes, the Ace-Ops have the military capability to take on any of the NCS apart from the black queen in battle but are not so good at being sneaky. We need a plan to seize the staff without the NCS activating it. According to Polendina if it is activated, it will take one hour for Atlas to fall. It is apparently possible to reverse the process within that hour if the correct command is given."
"Do they know where the aircraft landed?"
"It disappeared from the radar fifty miles away from Argus after losing altitude in a controlled manner. It took advantage of fog to escape visual contact from the pursuing aircraft and the waiting aircraft launched from the Argus base. There is no sign of any wreckage. The presumption is that if they survived they will be landing in Mistral somewhere near Argus."
"Do we know who was responsible other than that they belong to Salem's Nefarious Crime squad."
"Ironwood has sent two recent photographs taken yesterday of the thieves. He knows who the mission commander was. It is a scientist known as Arthur Watts who Velvet here knows by reputation. "
Velvet nodded, "He disappeared three years ago in an airship crash. Brilliant but arrogant. Like to humiliate my father in public. He makes sense that he was able to hack into their security systems."
Oobleck nodded, "Makes sense. Ironwood has asked Polendina to update the dossier on the ringleader to reflect his potential threat. There is no photograph of the pilot. The view is that they have been well trained. Either the pilot or a fifth member of the team must have some form of telekinesis semblance."
He handed each of them two photographs. "They have been in Atlas for five days. Their cover was mustang applicants for Atlas Academy. According to Clover Ebi they would have been offered places The names they gave were Beryl Voleur and Mars Indigo. These were clearly not their real names."
Jaune looked at the photograph of the young man and said, "That's Mercury Black. My predecessor used him for contract work in Mistral. I do not recognise the women."
"I take it that you have not used himself."
"Correct, he is a good killer, but a little too careless as regards collateral damage for my taste. Not deliberately cruel but does what the job needs to be done with the least risk to himself. No semblance known, but he prides himself on being good enough not to need one. His father was Marcus Black who disappeared about the time young Mercury came on the scene."
Oobleck frowned, "That is a name from the past. I am amazed that his son got through the Atlas security systems without being red flagged."
He then looked at jaune. "Have you met him, and would he recognise you?
"He has not met me wearing my own face and as far as he was concerned, I was a mere a bag carrier and twenty pounds lighter. If I need to go into the field, I will get Velvet to create a new face for me."
"Fine"
Velvet raised a hand, "Can I run the woman through my facial recognition database? She is ringing a bell at the back of my mind."
"Of course, Violet. Try cross referencing an illusion semblance as it makes sense from what General Ironwood deigned to tell me. The old lady was quite clear that she had been told to go to the vault by Winter Schnee."
"Yes, sir."
Jaune said, "I found this on Cinder's body."
He passed over a card showing a black chess queen. "I do not believe that this is a coincidence. I am going to have to speak to Torchwick and offer him a deal."
I will be interested in feedback on this chapter as it is an experiment. Anyway, after two set piece chapters we will have a talking one next probably in about a week's time. Because the pilot needed to have a telekinesis semblance, albeit not as impressive as Glynda's, I have borrowed a character from my main stories, but she will have a different backstory. Obviously, the final part of the heist owes a debt to the end of the Empire Strikes Back.