Hello! Sorry for the long delay on this chapter, finals and working retail this time of year has really prevented me from getting any writing done. But I'm back and we're now on Vol2! I hope you enjoy it!
It was a beautiful summer day in Vale; idle chatter filled the air as citizens walked the streets and airships soared through the air. Cars drove down the roads, honking at tourists as they darted through the streets in the unfamiliar city.
A woman with dark skin and mint green hair found herself standing in the line of a hot dog stand, the greasy smell from the stand making her mouth water. The line was short and she was next to go but she tapped her foot impatiently as the man made his order.
The man got his hot dog, smiled and thanked the vendor, and left. The woman stepped up to the vendor and smiled.
"What'll it be?" he asked.
"A large with everything on it," The man clacked the tongs as he threw the dog on the grill.
"Coming right up," he said.
She rocked back and forth on her feet with her hands resting behind her back as she waited on her food. After a few minutes the vendor handed her the food; a foot long hot dog covered in chili, peppers, pickles, tomatoes, onions, and mustard. She threw some lien onto the counter and left, biting into the messy dog. She walked down the street and turned a corner. A man in gray clothes with gray hair stood at the corner, his arms crossed.
"That stuff is gonna go straight to your thighs Emerald," he said with a grin. Emerald walked past him and swallowed.
"Can it Mercury. You get the address?" He followed after her.
"Yep. It's a few blocks away." They walked in silence, stepping past people as they walked down the crowded street. Emerald finished the rest of her hot dog by the time they got to the building.
It was a small building sandwiched between two other buildings. A 'going out of business' poster was in the window. Mercury opened the door and motioned for her to go in.
"Ladies first," he said. She ignored him and walked in. The building was poorly lit and shelves full of books were organized neatly throughout the room. She heard the door lock behind her as she strode to the counter. Mercury lingered near the front of the store. Books were piled on the counter and a single bell sat in the center. A door was behind the counter. She hit the bell, the sound ringing throughout the room loudly.
"I'll be right there!" A ruff, masculine voice called out. The door opened and a burly man with short dark hair and sideburns walked out, carrying books in both arms.
"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade! How ma-" he stopped for a moment, his hazel eyes darting between Emerald and Mercury. He smiled at them and cleared his throat as he set the books down. "How may I help you?" Emerald smiled at him.
"We saw you're going out of business sale and wanted to check this place out." She said. Tukson looked at her before giving a wary smile.
"So what I can get for you?"
"You have any comics?" Mercury shouted from behind a shelf.
"Yeah, to your left." A thumbs up appeared above the shelf.
"I was wondering if you had a copy of the Thief and the Butcher, Violet's Garden, and Third Crusade. Preferably in paper back."
"They should be near the front," he said.
"Thanks." Emerald smiled at him, left the counter and started to walk over to the shelves. She stopped and walked back to the counter. She pulled out her scroll and held it up to him, a picture of a girl with black hair, black bow, and amber eyes was on the screen. Tukson looked at the picture before looking at her.
"You wouldn't happen to know this girl, would you?" The edge of his lip turned downward as he said
"No, I don't."
"Oh, well that's odd." Emerald flicked her thumb, switching the picture. It was a security photo from Tukson's store. The girl in the photo was buying books and talking to Tukson. They were smiling.
"She's a wanted by the White Fang you know. For desertion." She heard Mercury step out from behind the shelf and start walking towards her. Tukson's face betrayed no emotion.
"May I ask why your store is going out of business?" Emerald ask.
"I'm moving to Vacuo to get a fresh start." Emerald cocked her head.
"You wouldn't be trying to leave the White Fang here in Vale, would you?" He glared at them. "Why didn't you let Adam know where she was? We wouldn't be having to do this now if you had just told us."
"Blake was right to get out while she could. Adam's a monster and he had no right betraying Leader Khan to help you human scum," he said, a growl in his voice. Mercury made a tsk, tsk noise with his tongue.
"No need to be rude Tukson." Tukson yelled and leapt at them, his hands turning into claws. Emerald and Mercury stepped out of the way, smiles on their faces. Tukson spun around and his eyes grew wide at the sight before him. Emerald snickered as he looked around in confusion.
"Where'd you go!" he said, his head swiveling to and fro. Mercury kicked at Tukson, a shotgun blast firing out of his greaves. Tukson shouted as his aura broke, yellow energy shimmering around him. Emerald unsheathed her sickles and walked forward as Tukson spun around, facing them. She thrusted, her sickles stabbing up into his stomach. Tukson gasped and looked down before looking Emerald in the eyes. She smiled and retched her arms up, ripping Tukson's torso open, blood spurting onto her face.
Tukson's body slumped to the floor, blood pooling around him and his entrails spilling out. Mercury started to walk towards the exit, grabbing a comic off the shelf before unlocking the door. He opened the door and walked out. Emerald followed after him.
"You're gonna want to get cleaned up before we report back," he said as they walked down the street. Emerald snickered.
He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before looking back at the screen. The members of the Council glared back at him.
"It isn't that we distrust you Ozpin, we just believe that it would be best if we had a more stable security force in Vale during the Vytal Festival." The Vale Councilwoman said.
"The Hunters in Vale and the VPD should be more than enough to keep the peace during the Festival."
"We do not doubt that. But we have seen an increase in activity in the Vale branch of the White Fang. Rumor has it that it has become a splinter group with a more radical anti-human sentiment than the main branch. I do not think it would be out of line to assume that these terrorists would use the festival as a chance to attack." The Mistral Councilman said.
"We will be sending General Ironwood and a small security force to Vale to help oversee preparations for the Festival." The Atlas Councilwoman said.
"Meeting adjourned," the Vacuo Councilman said. The screen went dark and Ozpin leant back, sighing. Glynda stood in his office, waiting on Ozpin. She was scowling.
"Of all the people to send," she said.
"It cannot be helped Glynda." He said. "Is Coco here?"
"Yes sir, I had her wait outside while you talked with the Council."
"Send her in." Glynda nodded and went to the door, opening it. Coco strode in and stopped in front of his desk.
"You needed me Oz?"
"I did. I have a mission for your team." Coco crossed her arms.
"This a school assignment or a favor?" she asked.
"A favor."
"What will we be doing?"
"You will be going out to a small farming village outside the city and protecting it."
"Supplies?"
"Whatever you can carry."
"Our classes?"
"You'll be exempt." Coco uncrossed her arms.
"And the dance that I was in charge of organizing?" Ozpin linked his fingers together.
"I'll let you take care of that." He said. Coco nodded.
"Alright, when do we leave?"
"Tomorrow morning." Coco turned away from the desk and left the room.
The pencil danced her in her hand as she drew in her notebook. She narrowed her eyes as she concentrated on his eyes, they were always the hardest part to get right.
"You draw?" a voice said. Blake slammed the notebook closed and looked at the owner of the voice.
Weiss' face was close to hers, her icy eyes looking at the closed notebook. Blake dropped her pencil on top of the notebook and flicked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Yes," she said.
"What of?" Weiss asked.
"Oh just… things from when I was younger."
"Laaame." Yang said, popping a grape into her mouth. Ruby groaned as she looked up from an abnormally large binder overflowing with papers and dividers.
"Ugh, this is so boring. I can't believe we have exams on the first day of the semester." Weiss looked down the table at Ruby. She stared at the binder.
"Is that my binder?" she asked.
"You can't prove that it isn't yours," Ruby said. Yang snickered and Blake looked away as Weiss started to scold Ruby for stealing her binder. She saw teams JNPR and SVDJ playfully throwing food at each other.
"Hey Blake." Blake swiveled her head to the new voice. Coco stood next to her, chewing on a piece of gum.
"Oh hey Coco, what brings you here?" Blake heard Ruby ask. Coco popped the bubble she was blowing before she answered.
"I got a favor for you guys. We'll talk about in my dorm room, 'kay?"
"And where is that exactly?" Weiss asked.
"Two eighteen, second floor in the dorm room." She smiled. "I still owe you guy's drinks. Don't keep me waiting." She left them then. Blake looked at her teammates, who were looking at one another.
"What do you guys think she wants?" Weiss asked.
"Maybe she just wants to pay us back for Blake helping Velv last semester." Yang suggested.
"Better go see what she wants." Ruby said, standing up.
"It okay if I sit this one out?" Blake said. Weiss looked at her.
"You sure Blake?" Blake looked at her notebook.
"I'm pretty sure. I'll see you guys in class." Blake grabbed her notebook and left. She could feel a set of eyes watching her as she walked away.
Sun walked through the courtyard of Beacon, Neptune beside him. The sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.
"Man, you'd think this place would have better security. They just let us walk right in." Neptune said.
"Yeah." They continued to walk through the courtyard, uniformed students walking past them, giving them odd looks. "You hungry?" Sun asked, stopping and looking at Neptune. Neptune shrugged his shoulders.
"Eh, I could eat. You think they have any good grub here?"
"I hope so." He stopped a student walking past them "Hey you know where the cafeteria is?" She looked at them before looking back and pointing at a large building to the left of the tower in the middle of the courtyard.
"Yeah, it's that building over there. You guys transfer students?" She asked. Sun scratched the back of his head.
"Yeah, we're from Haven. Just got here today." Neptune said with a smile. The girl smiled back.
"Oh cool. Hope you like Beacon!" She walked off, heading to the large tower. Sun smiled at Neptune and they started to walk towards the building that the girl pointed at. Students walked past them, chatting idly as they made their way to the building.
It was a long gray hall with tall windows, and tall wooden doors. Neptune opened the door for Sun, doing an exaggerated bow.
"After you," he said. A white pie hit Sun in the face, sliding down and falling to the floor. Neptune stared at Sun in shock.
"Dude, did you just get creampied?" Sun wiped the pie from his eyes, flicking it to the ground.
"Gross dude." He said. Sun ducked out of the way as a sub sandwich flew past him. Neptune poked his head around the door.
Inside a mighty war was being waged; tables flipped over, stained with condiments and bits of food, and students hurled food at one another. An Amazonian girl with a long crimson ponytail dueled a large dark skin manned; a swordfish was in her hand, a baguette in the man's hand. Food flied around them as they dueled, focused solely on the enemy before them.
A girl with short orange hair laughed manically as she launched soda can's behind the enemy's defenses, exploding and spraying its fizzy contents all over the students. A purple haired dog Faunus tossed a cupcake over the table, hitting a man with black and pink hair square in the face. He fell back behind the table, dropping the zucchini in his hands.
A blonde haired boy struggled to lift a watermelon and hurl it over his table. It splattered in front of the table. A man with gray hair and a moose Faunus grinned at the blonde boy before throwing pie at him. He 'eeped' and ducked down below the table, the pies hitting a tall man with short auburn hair behind him. He sputtered and fell to the ground.
Sun stood staring as the war waged, Neptune ducking back behind the door as a turkey leg went flying past where his head had been previously.
"Wow," Sun said. An angry looking blonde woman in a white blouse stormed past him, a riding crop in her hand. She flicked the riding crop, the tables being enveloped in a purple light and being levitated into the air. The students looked at her, fear and shock on their faces. The Amazonian and the large man stopped their duel, the amazon biting her lip.
"Students, please do not play with your food." She set the tables upright and lowered her arm to her side. "Who is responsible for this?" The students pointed at the amazon, large man, orange haired girl, moose and dog Faunus, black and pink haired man, gray haired man, and the blonde boy. Sun saw her tighten her grip around her riding crop, her knuckles turning white.
"JNPR, SVDJ, my office, now." She spun on her heels and stormed off. The forsaken students trudged out of the cafeteria, bits of food stuck in their hair and covering their clothes. Neptune peeked out from behind the door. He watched the students walk off before looking at Sun. He gave a cheeky grin.
"I like this place," he said. Sun rolled his eyes and walked into the cafeteria.
"Let's see if they have any food left."
She lightly knocked on the door, and waited for a response. Yang side eyed her before banging on the door.
"Come in!" Coco yelled from behind the door. Yang gave Weiss a smug grin, and opened the door, walking in.
The room was slightly larger than their own dorm room and was incredibly messy. There were bean bag chairs were scattered across the room and a variety of alcohol bottles were organized on a table in the back of the room. Two of the beds in the room were nice and tidy while the other two were a mess, the blankets haphazardly thrown on top of the mattress. The room reeked of gun oil, cigarettes, and alcohol. There were oil stains in the wood flooring.
Coco was sitting in one of the bean bag chairs, Velvet in her lap, a bottle in hand. Her signature beret was resting on one of the messy beds. A large man with short black hair, olive skin, and dark eyes sat on the floor playing cards with a brown skinned Fox Faunus with red hair covered head to toe in scars.
The fox Faunus looked up from the card game, staring at Weiss as she entered; his eyes were entirely white. His eyes unsettled her and she stood off to the side. Ruby entered the room and closed the door.
Coco looked up from her seat and smiled at them, waving them into the room with the bottle. Velvet looked at them, scrunching her eyebrows.
"Where's Blake?" she asked.
"She said she wasn't feeling well, and couldn't make it." Weiss said. The fox stared at her a little more before setting his cards on the ground and standing up. The large man stood up as well. Coco motioned towards them.
"Meet Fox and Yatsuhashi." Yang held up a hand in greeting.
"Hello," Ruby said.
"Nice to meet you," Weiss said, flashing a smile.
"You are the ones who helped Velvet with that bigot are you not?" Fox asked.
"We are!" Yang said. Fox smiled.
"I have been waiting to meet you. Coco has talked about drinking with you for months. It is always nice to have new drinking buddies around here."
"Pull up a seat and grab a glass." Coco said. Yatsuhashi walked over to the table covered in bottles, pulled up several before deciding on one and grabbed several shot glasses. He handed one to Fox, one to Velvet, two to Yang, and one to Weiss. He filled each glass. Yang looked at the two glasses in confusion.
"Why do I have two?"
"Ruby looks a bit too young to be drinking. You look like you can handle your spirits rather well." Yang shrugged and smiled. Coco raised her bottle.
"To racist assholes, may the Grimm give 'em what they deserve." She said before starting to guzzle down the drink. Fox and Yatsuhashi clinked glasses with Yang and Weiss. Weiss hesitated, the glass on her lips, before downing the shot. She started to cough, the alcohol burning as it went down. She grimaced and set the shot glass on the floor. One was more than enough. Yatsuhashi and Fox downed the glasses. Fox smiled and licked his lips as Yatsuhashi sighed and closed his eyes. Yang downed one glass and then the other and shook her head, scrunching her nose.
"Holy shit that's strong," Yang said. Velvet handed her glass to Coco who downed it with ease. Ruby watched them all, arching an eyebrow at them.
Coco gave Velvet a kiss on the nose, causing her to giggle, before situating herself in the bean bag so Velvet was next to her instead of on her.
"Alright, now that the formalities are out of the way let's get down to business." Yang sat on the floor and Ruby sat in one of the bean bags. Weiss continued to stand. "My team and I will be going on a mission for Ozpin and we're leaving tomorrow. We were in charge of the summer dance but with us leaving there won't be anyone to plan it." Weiss gently clasped her hands together, watching Coco. Planning? A dance? A smile flickered on her lips.
"We were hoping you would be willing to take care of that for us," Velvet said.
"We understand if you would not want to do something so short not-" Yatsuhahsi started.
"We'll do it," Weiss said. Everyone looked at her.
"We will?" Ruby asked. Weiss nodded her head, the smile on her face growing.
"Oh this is absolutely marvelous. What kind of dance is it going to be? Black tie? Ballroom dancing?" Coco snorted.
"Of course not. But hell, if you're that excited about it then have at it." Yang grinned and closed her hand.
"Yeah, this could be fun. I've been to enough clubs to know how to have a good time. You can count on us."
The bell rang, the noise loud and annoying. Yang and Ruby stood up and and Weiss opened the door.
"Woah, hang on a sec." Coco said. They looked back at her. She smiled, shaking the bottle. "The teachers know we're going on a mission. Stay a while, and just tell them you were helping us get ready." Yang shrugged and looked at Ruby. She scratched the back of her head before looking at Weiss. Weiss sighed and said.
"You guys go ahead, I have something I have to go take care of." Coco pouted.
"Ah fine. Later Weiss, let's do this again some time. And bring Blake with ya next time." Weiss nodded her head and exited the room. She shut the door behind her and started to walk down the hallway.
Emerald popped a raisin into her mouth as she walked through the open hanger door, a fork lift carrying a shipment of Dust driving past her. Mercury trailed behind her, his hands behind his head. It was night and the building was illuminated by bright overhead lights. White Fang members shouted at each other as they unloaded Dust from a bulkhead. Emerald pocketed the box of raisins as they neared two men arguing.
"I do believe that I deserve to know why I am gathering so much Dust for you animals!" Adam grabbed Roman by the front of his shirt, lifting him off the ground.
"Us animals?" Adam growled.
"Enough Adam," a seductive and lethal sounding voice said above them. Emerald looked up to see their boss standing above them. She stepped onto a lift and it descend to the ground.
"Cinder!" Emerald said excitedly as she strode forward. Adam dropped Roman to the floor, who quickly straightened out his clothes. Cinder looked at Emerald and Mercury, narrowing her eyes at them.
"Where have you two been?"
"Helping the White Fang out with a would be runaway," Mercury said, crossing his arms. Adam looked at him.
"You what?"
"Tukson Schreiber was in contact with Blake and was planning to desert the White Fang and move to Vacuo. We took care of him for you." Mercury said.
"We're already short on man power, you should have brought him back to me," Adam said stepping towards Mercury.
Cinder glared at them.
"Did I not specifically instruct you two to keep yourselves out of trouble while we are here?" She said. Emerald looked down and rubbed her arm.
"We just thought-"
"I don't pay you to think. I pay you to obey." Emerald hung her head.
"Yes ma'am," she said.
"Won't happen again," Mercury said. Cinder rounded on Roman. He laughed nervously.
"And you, I pay you to collect Dust. Do not ask why, just do it. Understood?" Roman nodded. Cinder smiled, the sight unnerving. "Good. Why don't you go give your daughter a call, we could use her soon." Roman arched an eyebrow in confusion.
"My little Neo? She can't talk and she isn't the best at-" Cinder stared at him, fire consuming her hands. Roman gulped and nodded his head. "Right, I'll get on that." Roman shoved past Adam, pulling out his scroll and starting to text. Cinder turned to Adam.
"Will this be enough Dust to last?" Adam nodded his head.
"We're used to making due with what we can scrounge up. This should last us a few years."
"Good." She said. She stepped towards Adam, getting intimately close. She trailed her hand down his face before grabbing him by the chin, bringing him down to eye level. "But the next time someone tries to run away, you kill them. Understood?" Adam said nothing. She tightened her grip, pressing her face against his. "Understood?" Adam nodded. She let him go. "Good. And if you are so low on men, I'm sure you can hold a rally or two and get us some new recruits." She stepped away from him and turned towards Mercury and Emerald.
"Once young Neo arrives we will begin phase two. Adam," she looked back at him. "Once phase two begins I will be sending you and Roman coordinates. I want the White Fang to clear this building out and move all the Dust to those coordinates." Adam nodded and stalked off.
Cinder looked at Emerald and Mercury, putting her hands on her hips. She smiled at them.
"Now then, let's see how we look in our uniforms."
And that's it! Let me know what you think.