Maderfole – thank you for the perceptive and supportive review. I have some ideas on fleshing out Jacques and Willow which I hope will work. I also now understand why writers say that their characters or the story takes over, I am now down for a three-part prologue to what was originally going to be the main story.
For new readers, this is an attempt to do the backstory infodump in a way which means you do not read to the other stories while also illustrating character.
Yang and Weiss had arrived in Atlas at around midnight. Yang had extensively sampled the drinks on the airship but had avoided drinking significantly more than Weiss. She had also snacked on the exquisite canapes which Yang referred to as nibbles.
Weiss had encouraged Yang to brush her hair and freshen up generally before they landed. She explained that she suspected that the SDC publicity department would have been asked to ensure that her arrival back in Atlas was recorded.
On the final approach they had been allowed into the cockpit and Yang had commented how the lights shining for the city in the clouds had made a memorable sight. Of course, Yang explained that while she had seen images in films previously, it had not prepared her for the actuality.
They had been whisked past the customs officials and border control. Weiss had expected a solitary photographer to have been waiting outside the exit from customs and to take some photographs of the two teammates. Instead of which there were around seven and a film crew from Atlas news. Weiss deigned to smile thinly at the camera and made polite noises along the lines that it was good to be home again and to excuse her as she was tired after the long flight. Yang enjoyed herself more, but it was still a novelty to her rather than a chore.
A more genuine smile was granted to Klein, and she introduced him to Yang. The man greeted them warmly and then drove them to the Schnee mansion. He apologised for the media ambush but explained that that in Atlas the fact that Weiss had shared a dorm with the daughter of the ex-leaders of the White Fang had taken everyone by surprise and was the subject of much discussion. He hinted that her father was pleased with the publicity and that he was better disposed toward Weiss than he had been a few months ago.
Klein had checked whether either of them needed anything to eat and then he and Weiss had then shown Yang to her room. Yang's commented that her room was larger than the dorm at Beacon and the bathroom was the stuff of dreams. She expressed delight at the fact that her favourite haircare products were in the room.
Weiss awoke at the normal Beacon time in the morning. Ruby's enthusiasm for pre-breakfast training or exercise sessions meant that early rising had been drilled into her body clock. While Ruby had accepted that the whistle was anti-social after the first day, it would in any event have been superfluous after the first four days
She was looking forward to showing Yang the Schnee mansion in the daytime and indeed to wandering about Atlas generally. She had a shower and then checked her scroll. Ruby had left messages saying that she was fine but would be off-line for the rest of the day as she, her dad, Coco, and Velvet had been co-opted by Jaune's mother to protect a Faunus village.
She then received a message from Klein. Yang had also woken early and had made the mistake of going walkabout. Klein was going to rescue her and enquired whether he should bring Yang to Weiss's room. She said yes and five minutes later Klein arrived accompanying Yang who had dressed in her hunter's outfit.
Klein asked, "Will you be joining your father and brother for breakfast or will you have breakfast in your room."
Weiss looked at Yang, and said, "If you don't mind, we will have breakfast and introduce you to my father and brother. Don't mind my father too much, but we will not see too much of him most days."
She had not been looking forward to the reunion, but Klein had convinced her yesterday evening that it was better to get this meeting out of the way early so that she was not perceived as avoiding her father. She and her father may not like each other much, but they did try and manage a certain surface politeness.
Yang said, "Fine by me. Is the dining room the same size as the one at Beacon?"
"About two-thirds. For really large occasions we use the ballroom."
Yang had an attack of the giggles as Klein asked what they would like for breakfast. Weiss asked for coffee, an omelette. and toast. Yang asked for a full Vale. Klein smiled and said, "I suspect that is the same as a full Mantle here. Sausage, eggs, bacon, baked beans, fried egg, fried toast, ordinary toast, mushrooms, and black pudding?"
"That's the ticket. Perhaps kidneys rather than black pudding."
"No problem, Miss Xiao-Long."
Weiss said, "Thank you, Klein."
The man nodded and as he left said, "My pleasure, Miss Schnee. Good morning, Miss Xiao-Long."
"Thanks, cuddles" replied Yang.
Klein laughed and replied, "My Uncle was the actor. I apparently take after him. It is rare for the younger generation to watch the old black and white films."
Yang clicked her tongue at Klein who laughed.
After Klein had left, Yang said, "Hey, he's a nice old boy. He found me lost in the corridors and offered to escort me here."
"He is, isn't he. He saw you on the surveillance cameras."
"Surveillance cameras?"
"I am afraid it is a necessity. I had also had my aura unlocked when I was seven during a kidnapping attempt. Mother and Klein fought them off. Someone tipped the kidnappers off that I was leaving a birthday party."
"Your mother's a badass?"
Weiss grimaced, "I suppose she was. Klein is also a combat school graduate."
Yang looked as though she wanted to follow up but decided not to. Instead, she said, "Let's meet the family Schnee.
At the head of the table Jacques was reading documents and sipping coffee. Next to him was Whitley. Weiss had forgotten how much he was trying to model himself on father.
Jacques looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Weiss, clearly Beacon has had some beneficial effects on you."
He turned to Yang, rose from his seat, and said, "Miss Xiao-long, it is a pleasure to meet you. Forgive my surprise, but generally the ladies of the family do not breakfast with me and Whitley. Whitley, do greet our guest."
Yang had clearly decided that she may as well go all in and grabbed Jacques' hand and shook it. "Thank you for having me to stay."
She turned to Whitley and also shook his hand, "Delighted to meet you, Whitley." She was wearing her huntress outfit and Weiss was amused to see that Whitley was finding it hard to make eye contact with her. Yang had spotted this and decided to push things by winking at him. Whitley was sixteen and would not have met anyone quite like Yang before.
Whitley seemed a little surprised, "It is an honour to meet you. Can I say how impressed my friends and I were by your fighting prowess during the White Fang terrorist attack in Vale. No doubt my sister would also have bought honour to Beacon and to the family had she had the opportunity."
"Well, she did have six men on top of her at the time doing their best to stop her joining in." Weiss decided that Yang had toned down the double entendre just enough not to make Weiss regret inviting her.
Jacques nodded, "The Atlas Diplomatic Protection service are understandably risk adverse. Not people I would want as business managers but excellent at providing security. I gather that they had a collective nervous breakdown when they realised the real identity of Blake Nightshade and that they even needed reassurance about you and your sister, Miss Xiao-Long,"
Weiss said, "I have never felt in danger from Blake Belladonna. I knew her identity from early on that term."
"As indeed I gather did your sister. Commendable dedication to duty has our Winter. I do not think that I would have made the call she and Ozpin did even if they thought the risk was small. Still, it all worked out for the best." Weiss noticed the dig at Winter, but by her father's standards he was being subtle.
"Weiss and Blake are the best at politics and history in our year at Beacon" volunteered Yang. "They have even got me and Ruby to take an interest."
"Indeed," replied Jacques, who continued to address Weiss. "The press here are full of quotes from your fellow students saying how constructive and forthright your discussions are. Actually, dear, for the first time in years a Schnee is getting positive coverage in the liberal Faunus rights media. They are even printing T-shirts with the two of you hand in hand with the phrase "Stronger together" underneath."
Just then the doors of the dining room opened, and to everyone's shock mother entered. "Miss Xiao-long, I am Willow Schnee, Weiss's mother. I had not expected that the two of you would be up so early after your long flight. Forgive me for my tardiness. Please call me Willow."
Yang got up and said, "And please call me Yang, Willow. I can certainly see where Weiss got her looks and sense of style from."
Jacques looked at Yang, "You are indeed honoured, Miss Xiao-long. I cannot remember the last time I had breakfast with my wife, son, and daughter."
Whitley looked particularly taken aback. He was used to compartmentalising his parental relationships. Breakfast with father, lunch with mother and avoiding having to take sides. Luckily both mother and father were on their best behaviour and did not take pot shots at each other or their children. Mother when sober was good at not washing the dirty sheets in front of non-family members and besides which had clearly decided to like Yang for being a friend with Weiss.
Mother said, "Weiss, it is a lovely surprise to have you back earlier and bringing one of your friends as well. I gathered from Klein that something is happening in Mistral."
Weiss replied, "Yes, Mother. Originally I was going to spend the entire week training with my team for the Vytal Festival. Blake reuniting with her mother slightly upset that plan, but when Ruby left for Mistral I decided that it was time to come home and to bring my similarly deserted teammate with me."
Jacques nodded, "My people in Mistral are saying that things have got worse overnight. We are pulling out all the Ansel province-based executives to Mistral city or Argus and the families of the other staff are being moved to Ansel itself if they want. Of course, there are fewer than there were three years ago."
Yang asked, "Why is that?"
"No secret. We and the other Multi kingdoms have relocated most of our Mistral operations to Argus and have beefed up our operations in Vale rather than Mistral."
Yang followed up on her original question, "There must be reasons for that?"
Whitley looked at his father who nodded, "The White Fang is highly active in Mistral and executives are reluctant to be posted there. Also, some of the middlemen in Mistral have become a little greedy."
Weiss chipped in "Taxes may be higher in Vale, but fewer people demand additional payments for merely doing their job. Also, it has become clear that public expenditure and taxes will have to rise in Mistral. They have neglected their military and infrastructure. I expect that one of the reasons that Ozpin sent students to Ansel in that the government is reluctant to properly fund the Local Grimm Defence Forces or to deal with bandits in the less important parts of the kingdom."
Whitley piped up, "Look at the Branwen Tribe, they actually control around one quarter of the kingdom, and no one has tried to take them on in five years."
Father coughed, "That is a subject that would take up hours. I must admit that for a bunch of bandits you can rely on them to deliver on their promises as well as their threats." Clearly he knew who Yang's mother was even if he had not warned Whitley. "I gather you and Weiss share friends and a teammate who have travelled to Ansel to assist the LGDF there. As I said earlier, things have worsened overnight. If I hear any more about the situation there I will let Klein know."
After breakfast was over and Jacques had left for the office, Whitley had gone to see some classmates (Whitley used the word friends but having made friends herself this term Weiss judged them to be more like competitors to whom you had to be polite). Willow had chatted for some time but had a charity committee meeting to attend in preparation for the SDC winter ball which was only twelve days away.
She and Yang did their exercises, she showed Yang the mansion and the gardens and then they sparred in the gym and practised team attacks. Seeing whether Yang's glyphs could be combined with Yang's power was something which interested them, and Ruby had said that even if you could not take it for granted you had to practice on the assumption that you would reach the third round and fight in doubles.
While they were showering afterwards, Yang said, "Weiss, you clearly know something about my egg donor. No one in the family talks about her and Vale is not that interested in Mistralian politics. It's just your father seemed to treat her with respect and as someone he can do business with rather than simply a cowardly criminal."
Weiss looked at Yang and said, "First, whatever else she is, she is a Vytal festival champion and a member of a team which won it twice."
"Yes, mum the first time and the egg donor the second time. Uncle Qrow told me that they tossed a coin during the first festival; Dad says that Uncle Qrow was almost as good as mum and that he was a tad behind Uncle Qrow. Mum said in her letter that she and the egg donor were about as good as each other. Suspect mum was better,"
"The Atlas Diplomatic Protection service let me see a redacted copy of their file on your biological mother. When she left your father she returned to Mistral where the Branwen tribe were struggling for survival. Within three months she had become the chief of the tribe, within three years the competing tribes in their part of Mistral had either been eliminated or owed allegiance to the Branwen tribe."
Weiss felt uneasy about the message she was conveying to Yang. While less idealistic than Ruby Yang had a sense of right and wrong. Weiss was telling her that her mother was a competent criminal. She desperately looked for a way of making the message more palatable.
"Look my family is hated by many but is one of the top ten employers in all four kingdoms. We have around two hundred thousand employees and sub- contractors working full time for the SDC and whose families depend on the SDC for their wages. Your mother is the most successful bandit queen in a century and is rumoured to be richer than anyone else in Mistral."
"So, she is a competent murderer and thief who works with the White Fang."
"Yes but she does not participate in their attacks and acts as a go-between on releasing low level captives and ransoming executives. Whatever the morality the fact is that the Mistral government does not have the political will to go after her and them in their strongholds. "
Yang looked puzzled and Weiss explained further, "As far as the Mistral central government is concerned although her existence is an affront, they do not want to spend the money to confront her head on. The last time they sent in the troops they were heavily defeated. Assassination has been tried and failed and she responded to it by taking out the chief assassins in Mistral and the head of the Mistral secret service."
Yang looked thoughtful at this, but before she could say more, a scroll message from Klein was received strongly recommending that they watch news channel on the TV as there was going to be footage from Mistral.
It was the fourth item in the news which was quite high for a story from Western Mistral. The news anchor looked quite excited as he said, "In Ansel province in Mistral the Grimm incursions in the aftermath of the fall of Kurohari in the neighbouring province to the Branwen tribe and White fane have intensified. The humans fleeing afraid of the White Fang and the bandit tribe committing atrocities are understandably a huge source of negative emotions. The Mistral government has been criticised for failing to properly support the Kurohari defence forces and a lack of urgency in addressing the refugee and Grimm problems. Sources close to the government have refuted these accusation sand have expressed faith in the Local Grimm Defence Force,"
"We have some extraordinary footage from our friends at Vale Network One and their reporter Lisa Lavender which suggests that the Grimm incursion is more serious than the Mistral government has admitted. A refugee convoy had suffered mechanical problems and were stuck miles from Kulsa with a legion of Grimm catching up with them."
They then when watched with a mixture of admiration, delight, and envy as Team JNPR plus two members of a Haven team strutted their stuff. Nora and one of Jaune's sisters leapt from their bullhead at an absurdly high height. They took out a King Taijutu in two hits, Nora crushing one hit and the Arc sister decapitating the other. Pyrrha was then shown taking out an Alpha Ursa in a matter of seconds without it having an opportunity to respond, Yang high fived Weiss and Weiss went along with it.
Still Weiss knew how destructive Nora could be and how technically proficient Pyrrha was. She also recognised the Arc sister from the two Vytal festival semi-final matches she had fought with Winter. What really impressed her was how well Lie Ren and Jaune did.
She and Yang had heard from Nora how Lie Ren had saved both their lives by hiding their emotions from a prowling Nuckelvee and keeping his semblance going all night until at last a bullhead from Mistral could be bothered to look for survivors. The overhead shot showing the effect of him activating his semblance on the charging Grimm prove that she had not been exaggerating. Instead of having to worry about attacks from the side or behind, the civilians now only had to worry about the few hundred Grimm charging down the road at them.
Jaune had been a nuisance last term. He just could not take no for an answer. She accepted he was not a bad man, but he did not appeal to her. At least Lydia found him amusing and could say it only happened when he was drunk. Weiss had to deal with the man sober and also had to invoke those aspects of her personality which she wished to downplay at Beacon.
In addition, the man had struggled for most of the term. She accepted that Ruby was being fair when she said that he was having to catch up on nearly four years of training in a term. Still, she had had to hide a laugh when Russel had passed on Cardin's suggestion that Jaune's plan to win fights was for his opponent to deplete their own aura by hitting him.
The joke had now turned into reality. The overhead footage showed Jaune kneeling in the middle of the road with his shield in front of him and a body language which suggested a fully activated aura. The two Haven students were behind him. She recognised them from the night at Junior's when they had turned up just after the fight had finished. Actually, they proved themselves worthy by clearly trusting in Jaune's aura to knock the Grimm off balance and for them to then take them out by a mixture of shots, knives, and kicks.
When Nora, Amber arc and Pyrrha joined the convoy defenders it clearly became more of a massacre especially as it was clear that Ren's semblance hid the civilians from the Grimm. For a few minutes before it had been the case if either of the two Haven students had failed to take out a dazed Grimm before it recovered from bumping into Jaune's aura then the civilians may have died.
They then showed a scene from what was said to be Kulsa airport with Pyrrha standing on a table to talk to the people there, saying the right things and pulling Jaune on the table to take a bow with her.
She also found it interesting to see the differences between the Vale and Atlas take, Lisa Lavender while emphasising that Team JNPR was a Beacon team also had no problem in pointing out that all the team members came from Mistral and were defending their kingdom. The Atlas talking heads focused more on the fact that the best Mistral team was attending Beacon and what that said about Mistral. Having been away for nearly four months, the fact that Atlas rather despised their oldest ally was suddenly noticeably clear.
She turned to Yang, "I wish we could both be there. Whatever happens now Team Juniper knows that when the excreta collided with the wind turbine, they have the right stuff."
"I know. It's great to see them doing so well, but …"
"Precisely."
"Don't suppose Jaune has a chance now?" Weiss decided that this was a simple tease and semi-ignored it.
"I think Pyrrha is ready to lay claim to him."
Yang laughed, "It was good seeing her not apologising for living, but just being the hero people needed."
They then had a late lunch and discussed what they had watched on TV. They both agreed that Nora was the scariest fighter. There was somehow something personal about how she had taken out her head of the King Taijutu. Weiss also told Yang what she knew about Amber Arc and how she had been the only opponent who had challenged Winter in her Vytal festivals.
What really came as a shock to her was when mid-afternoon Klein informed them that the SDC office had let him know that Mistral had implanted a news blackout in relation to Kulsa although were happy for the networks to recycle the earlier coverage of the convoy rescue. Weiss knew the logic that negative emotions which built up over time were more potent than ones which resulted from a mere telling of sad news which had already happened. However, the Mistral authorities must be really frightened that something could go horribly wrong in Kulsa.
When this was followed by father returning to the mansion three hours earlier than expected using a helicopter rather than a car and then the people she recognised a being the main spin doctors working for the SDC arriving by car, she realised something bad must be happening somewhere. Father often preferred to deal with real crises from the mansion because he could ensure that he was not distracted. She tried to hide her anxiety from Yang who seemed to accept without question Weiss's suggestion that father had merely ensured that he was home early so that he could have dinner with his family and Yang.
It did not ease her mind when they watched the early evening news. They used the same footage as lunchtime plus additional interview footage with Pyrrha and Jaune. She tried telling herself that city walls were designed to prevent Grimm getting in and that compared with the pre-lunch fight scenes, sniping at Grimm from on top of the walls was boring.
Shortly before dinner was due to be served a military helicopter landed on the lawn. She stared out of the window and saw two members of the Ace-Ops disembark. Clover Ebi who was the chief of the Ace-Ops and indeed of all Atlas special operations was first out and was followed by Marrow Amin. He was the dog Faunus who had served with Winter in Vacuo when she had helped expose the immoral treatment of Faunus by the multi-kingdoms. Her heart was in her mouth, had something happened to Winter? The relationship between the SDC and the military leadership was not an easy one and these two were too senior to send on a courtesy call.
Even Yang was getting the message that something was up. Just then Klein arrived and asked them to accompany him to the library where they would be updated on the situation in Ansel. They rushed there to find the two Ace-Ops with mother, father, and Whitley. Mother was clearly not entirely sober and was looking even more anxious than normal.
Clover Ebi greeted Weiss who he had met before and introduced himself and Marrow to Yang. Father said, "I thought that I should save time by asking Mr Ebi here to brief you all about what he has told me."
The man nodded at them. He said, "General Ironwood has authorised me to update the Schnee family on the present situation in Kulsa. Under the circumstances, the spirit of my orders involves briefing Miss Xiao-Long as well, although it should be understood that what I have to say must remain secret at least tonight and maybe beyond.."
Yang said, "I understand. If anyone asks you never said anything to me."
Clover smiled at her and said, "The situation on the ground at Kulsa has deteriorated over the last six hours. This is looking like being the worse Grimm attack in Mistral since the Faunus wars. It is worse than Kurohari, but they had been relying on the city walls to prevent the Grimm entering the city. This afternoon a deliberate explosion resulted in a gap in the walls of Kulsa through which the Grimm could enter the city. The Local Grimm Defence Force has instigated an urgent plea for reinforcements and dust, Colonel Schnee had volunteered to help defend the city and all but two of the volunteers from Beacon and Haven have been reassigned to Kulsa this evening. Miss Xiao long, this includes your father and sister."
Weiss asked, "Are my classmates OK?"
"The last we heard they were all alive and healthy. However, while I expect it to remain that way, there are real risks."
Yang eyes blazed, "This is all because my egg donor had to capture another city and cause the humans to run away in terror. Why on Remnant has no one stopped her before now?"
The dog Faunus looked at Clover. Clover nodded, "Miss Xiao-long while that is a very good question for the Mistral government to answer, it appears that your mother is not really at fault here. Her standard operating procedure in recent years has been to persuade the authorities to surrender a city or village to her without bloodshed and to minimise negative emotions within the settlement. The real problem is that a trainee huntress chose to weaken the defences to the Faunus quarter of Kulsa and had been using her semblance to stoke up negative emotions in Kulsa for the last three days."
Weiss, "You say had- does that mean she has been caught?"
Her father replied for Clover, "She is dead. It appears one of her fellow students from Haven killed her after she had surrendered."
Mother glanced round. "You seem remarkably well informed, dear."
"She was in receipt of a SDC bursary. She was the niece of a man just about to be made a main board director killed by the White Fang, and it was felt appropriate to be generous to his family. Anyway, that aspect is a company problem not for discussion outside the family."
Clover coughed, "Actually, the good name of the SDC is important to Atlas and the General would be grateful if you could coordinate your response to this event with the government."
"Ah you serious? Well suppose that there have been so many hands in the composition of the press release that another pair of eyes won't hurt. How hard can it be to convey that we were not responsible for her actions without sounding callous or to express the view that killing Faunus indiscriminately is wrong without it sounding like we thought they had it coming. Besides which we also do not want to remind people about the whole Vacuo fiasco."
Mother said, "I understood that it was Adam Taurus who claimed responsibility for his death and disfigurement. I thought that she could have targeted him."
Father replied, "While that may be true, I suspect that she really wanted to go after the Faunus who passed himself off as an Atlas officer and separated him from his bodyguards. He has never been identified so she lacked a focus. Besides which going after Sienna Khan and Adam Taurus is seemingly beyond the capabilities of the Mistral government, so she looked for an easier target."
Clover raised an eyebrow. Father said, "We received various letters from her expressing her anger and hatred for that individual. She was the only one she saw, and he fooled her uncle Umber and the security chief looking after him."
Specialist Ebi said, "She wrote to you or to the SDC?"
"Apparently to me, but my office quite rightly keeps the crank letters from me. She went on about all sorts of wild conspiracy theories that the White Fang and General Ironwood were conspiring together against me and the SDC and that the Atlas special forces had arranged for her uncle's death."
Weiss wondered if she was hallucinating, but the dog Faunus's tail seemed to droop as her father talked about the conspiracy theories.
Mother asked, "What did the company do with them?"
" No one showed them to me, and I would have furious if anyone had done so. Someone in Sentient Resources did write to her tutor at Haven to check that all was well with her and enclosed a copy of the letter. He thanked them and said he would talk to her. She reverted to more pro forma acknowledgements of receipt of her bursary instalments afterwards."
The two specialists exchanged a look, "What was the name of her tutor at Haven?"
Father checked his file and said, "Professor Aqua."
The dog Faunus tensed up a bit while Clover Ebi said, "Interesting. I would be surprised if the General would object to the SDC showing that it had raised concerns with the appropriate person."
Mother who had been steadily sipping at her wine said, "Now she is dead are the Grimm going away."
Specialist Ebi said, "No. The city is full of scared people broadcasting negative emotions. They no longer need the amplification she gave those emotions to feel them."
"But my daughter will be fine."
"If anyone can survive a Grimm attack it will be Colonel Schnee."
Father said, "She will fight on obstinately and refuse to accept that she is beaten. Still if the worse happens she can summon that manticore of hers and fly away."
Weiss thought of something and blurted out, "Amber Arc is there."
Father and mother looked puzzled. Mother recovered first, "Was that the girl she beat in the semi-finals of the Vytal Festivals she won?" She then remembered the TV footage and got the point. "She does not look like the type of women to tactically withdraw from a fight. Winter will not retreat before she does."
Father said, "Ebi, I know the General and I are not close, but he will have my full co-operation this evening if he promises to order my daughter to get out alive while she still can if this looks like being a rerun of Mountain Glenn."
The specialist said, "Perhaps we can both talk to the General." The two left the room.
Mother turned her attention to the young Faunus officer. "Lieutenant Amin, it is good to see you again. I know the drill in these situations. Nothing will be said to the public until the morning and then it will be given as positive a spin as is possible or swept under the carpet. I will be up all night worrying about Winter and Weiss and Yang here will be worrying about their friends from Beacon as well as Winter."
Marrow replied, "This is a Mistral operation being run on a shoestring by a local. They have made it clear that they are focused on fighting the Grimm and not on providing ablow by blow commentary."
Yang who had been thinking (and Weiss tried to keep down the instinctive remark that it made a change) piped up, "Is that leader called Arc by any chance?"
"Yes, it is actually." The Faunus looked as though he could think of no god reason to lie but was conscious that he had probably made a mistake.
"She will have the bullheads recording the fighting and will be sending it back to their base in Ansel."
Everyone looked at Yang and Weiss said, "How do you know that?"
"One of the times when jaune had too much to drink he told Lydia how much she reminded him of his mother and how capable and organised she was. He then gave details."
Even mother looked taken aback, "Was he trying to woo her?"
"I'm afraid so, but it got side-tracked into saying how wonderful his mum was."
Lieutenant Amin said, "That is interesting."
The others all stared at him, and he said, "The information about the footage. I assume that she used it for training purposes."
Yang said, "Suppose so. I'm afraid me and Nora were doing our best not to break out into hysterical laughter while being ready to break things up if Jaune got a little too handsy."
Weiss desperately wanting to deflect the conversation before anyone involved Whitley said, "And what about Lisa lavender's film crew."
"Obviously, they are not broadcasting live." Specialist Amin had clearly prepared the line.
Mother said, "But I presume they are filming and streaming the coverage back to Vale."
It was now close to midnight. Father was locked in with his team of spin doctors and the Atlas academy nudge team.
She, Yang, mother, and Whitley were in the war room at Atlas academy watching the incoming raw footage along with the ace-ops, Professor Scarlatina and most of the time General Ironwood. Apparently Ozpin had already commandeered the vale network footage and had agreed to share it with Atlas. Scarlatina had hacked into the Mistral network and had access to the footage from the mistral bullheads.
Mother had somehow got her act together enough to bully father and Ironwood into letting them watch the footage live. Father could not face it - he preferred to distract himself while it was happening and then hear the outcome.
Weiss was between Yang and her mother. Weiss was not certain whether her mother had been right to insist on being allowed to watch the footage live. Perhaps it was right for her, but for her and yang it was agony not being there with their friends. It was bad enough wishing that Coco had also been pulled into the defence.
Still her mother was right on one thing. Whatever happened tonight, she would remember how fearless her sister was. She, Amber Arc and Nora focused on taking out alpha Grimm. The problem was as they fought off each wave of incoming Grimm the defenders got more tired, and the Grimm did not seem to diminish.
There had been one inspiring moment when the bullheads of Mistral had carpet bombed the incoming Grimm with an unbelievable quantity of dust. It had cleared the battlefield and Winter, Nora, and Amber had picked off the survivors.
She also watched Ruby in full throttle. She tended to hold off on fighting with people and Weiss knew that what she had done to the White Fang terrorists had caused her nightmares. Grimm disappeared, humans and Faunus left entrails and blood behind.
Pyrrha had been magnificent and Yatsuhashi and Team ABRN from haven had also distinguished themselves being led by two woman who Weise presumed must be two more of jaune's sisters
She noticed Yang deliberately remove Ember Celica from her arms and Yang whispered that she was doing so in case she accidently started firing while watching the footage.
They had grasped each other's hand as Ruby had charged the oncoming Grimm on multiple occasions. While she could travel so quickly that it would be pure bad luck for one of the Grimm to hit her, there were so many that eventually a 1% chance would come off,
She was puzzled by the footage of people coming up to shake Jaune by the hand and then go back into the fight with renewed energy. It also surprised her the number of people who came up to Fox and shook his hand or gave him a hug. The man was behind the lines and had not been involved in the fighting, but he must be doing something of value.
She had also been curious when someone came in and tapped Professor Scarlatina on the shoulder and whispered into his ear. The man clearly stiffened and left the room quickly. Ten minutes he came back with tears in his eyes but a sense of pride and relief. He whispered into specialist Amin's ear and the two of them gave each other the most awkward fist bump imaginable.
Towards the end father and Ironwood joined them with the general desperately trying to get the pilot of Winter's plane to patch him into her. Clearly he was not trusting in her sense of self preservation.
The screen now concentrated on the Vale network footage and that from Winter's airship. The bullheads were no longer around having exhausted their supply of dust bombs. It was around eleven at night in Ansel and apparently they had been fighting for around six hours with occasional breaks while the Grimm regrouped.
Everyone in the room gasped when they saw the footage from Winter's jet showing eight ancient Goliaths and four huge Nevermore surrounded by a fresh group of Beringel, Ursas, Boarbatusks and Beowolfs approaching the walls.
Mother shouted, "Get her out of there, general."
Father said, "For frack's sake Ironwood, do you want my daughter to die defending a city which Mistral has left in the shit."
Ironwood was shouting at the pilot to get Winter out of there and to take as many other hunters and huntresses as she wanted out with him. Apparently Winter was saying that she could not hear what her pilot was saying to her.
The Nevermore were destroyed but with collateral damage to the city. Not all Grimm turned immediately to dust, and at least one Nevermore lasted long enough to take out a block of flats.
Weiss watched horrified as the Ancient Goliaths charged the walls and breached them. Ruby fired at one ancient goliath who decided that he wanted nothing more to do with it and retreated. Professor Scarlatina fist pumped the air but everyone else was focused on the remaining Goliaths. Between them Winter and Ruby actually killed another ancient goliath but the other six hit the walls and breached them. Some hunters were down either dead or severely injured with no aura left.
Scarlatina said, "Frack, we are going to have to rebuild the walls in Mantle."
Weiss felt her hand being squeezed by both Yang and her mother and she squeezed back. She saw her father turn his back to the screen yelling at Ironwood that he had let Winter sacrifice herself for nothing.
In slow motion she saw Ruby sink to her knees in despair and then both screens went white. Twenty seconds later the view returned to normal. Everyone gasped. The Grimm were gone or frozen stiff. The few in sight of Winter's ship clearly had decided that running away was the sensible idea.
Suddenly virtually everyone in the room was cheering. Yang and Weiss were not. They were focussed on a small unmoving body dressed in red who had fallen to the ground and Taiyang running at top speed towards her. He reached her and it was obvious from his reaction that she was still breathing. The camera then moved back to the walls, and they watched Yatsuhashi lift huge amounts of wall off Jaune.
Pyrrha then appeared and lifted Jaune off the ground and hugged him. While Weiss was still worried about Ruby, seeing Pyrrha finally make her intentions clear to Jaune did allow some tension to unwind. Clearly the cameraman working for the Vale network had had his or her fill of filming violence as he focused on Pyrrha kissing Jaune and then moved on to Ren being caught by Nora and the two Haven students Emerald and Mercury embracing.
The next twenty minutes she and Yang spent watching the screen. The footage from Winter's airship showed that the Grimm wanted no part of whatever Ruby had done. The footage from Lisa Lavender showed the reactions of those who expected to die realising that they were still alive. Ten minutes in Clover Ebi announced that he had heard from Beacon that Ruby was fine but exhausted. The other huntsmen and huntresses who had been injured at first blush did not have life changing injuries and would be fine with rest, recuperation, aura, and physio.
Weiss breathed some relief at that. She had spoken to Lydia whose brother had never been the same after Mountain Glenn and had died before he was thirty. Yang also grasped her hand at that point.
She saw father and mother have a word and then father approached her and Yang. "I know that both of you will want to be with your sister and teammate. Once we know where Miss Rose will be recuperating the SDC will provide an airship to get you there."
Mother said, "Don't worry. We know you need to be with your friend rather than us."
Whitley remarked, "Besides which it will be good publicity for the family firm."
Mother looked at him and said, "Whitley, while that is true, it is because it is the right thing to do."