Chapter-15
Sigurd
"Ah, hello, my fellow servants." Ruler spoke as he stood among the crowds of huntsmen moving out of Beacon to assemble at their posts, constituting the second group of huntsmen who were assigned to search for the white fang bases while the first group had already began their patrols the day before.
"Another servant?" Cú asked. "How the…?"
"I am servant Ruler. I was there at the docks when the shootout happened."
Sigurd narrowed his eyes. While Ruler could not have been the one who killed the police officers in Nepotain harbor, it did not eliminate the possibility of Ruler being an accomplice of Rider.
"I can understand your distrust, after all, you also must have heard of Rider and his role in the shootout. As of now, the only proof I have of my innocence is the eyewitness account of one of your students."
"So Ruler, what're you doing here? Are you like…a part of this operation?"
"Yes, I am. I was approached by the deputy headmistress of this institution who later took me to the Headmaster."
"So what happened to you before that?"
"Like you, I was summoned into this world which has no holy grail war. As a ruler, my entire purpose is regulating the holy grail war I am summoned to. So, my situation is similar to that of a wind blowing without a sense of direction. Finding myself in this dilemma, I travelled to the capital city of this kingdom, hoping to find some means of accommodation. During that, I was dragged into the shootout at the harbor. That's what has transpired."
Sigurd stared at Ruler before nodding. "I see. But why wasn't I informed of your induction by Ozpin?"
"Hm, the headmaster hasn't informed you? Very strange. But oh well, all that's done is done. You can ask him yourself."
Sigurd pulled out his scroll and called up Ozpin
"Saber?"
"Ozpin. Did you meet a man named 'Ruler'?"
"Ah, yes. Glynda brought him to me, saying he was the man who saved the life of Blake Belladonna at the docks. Since he is the only one who knows what rider looks like and was able to drive them off, I decided to assign him to you two."
"And I was not informed of this?"
"No…you were not. Truthfully, even I don't understand why I didn't inform you. That's strange."
"Oh. Well, that's all. Thank you for clarifying my doubts."
"You are welcome." Ozpin spoke before Saber cut the call.
"It checks out. Then you are on our side. If so, then would you be willing to let us know your true name?"
Ruler went silent at that, taking a contemplative look. Huntsmen walked by as Sigurd and Ruler stared at each other, before Ruler spoke his response.
"I am…" Ruler hesitated.
"…Amakusa Shirou Tokisada."
Sigurd let out a faint sigh. "The leader of the Shimabara rebellion? It feels…odd that you would be helping us."
"Well, the White Fang, even if I understand their cause, are heartless, willing to even attack innocents for doing what is expected of them. That, I cannot accept. Hence, I shall be your ally."
Cú looked towards Sigurd. "Well, he seems pretty genuine. What do you think?"
Sigurd put a finger to his chin. He still had not gotten anything out of Ozpin yet. And it was getting clear that Ozpin already knew something was off about him, Cú and Shirou. But if bringing and cooperating with more servants was what Ozpin expected of him, then Sigurd would have to go with it.
He extended his hand. "Then I look forward to working with you."
Shirou smiled back. "Likewise."
As the three servants sat in a bullhead Ozpin had provided them flying towards their post, They had noticed the telltale signs of people marching in certain areas of vale with signs saying
CLEAR OUT THE ANIMALS
THERE'S NO PLACE FOR THE WILD IN CIVILISATION
BREAK THE FANG
"It's very bad." Sigurd noted.
"Yeah," Spoke the pilot from the cockpit. "With the first group arriving yesterday, the situations lessened a bit. Otherwise, many protestors had broken into the Faunus slums and attempt to kick them out of the city limits. Thankfully, the huntsmen groups had finally diminish the severity, but people still want faunus to be expelled from Vale."
"At least they are doing something." Cú spoke with a grunt.
"Well, despite their inferior power to us servants, huntsmen and huntresses are quite formidable forces to normal people. If huntsmen are involved, the people would be less rebellious." Shirou spoke as the bullhead landed on a rooftop near the Industrial district.
"When your post's done, inform Professor Ozpin! I'll pick up all of you when he sends me." The pilot spoke before flying away.
"Yeah, the rebels would be less rebellious…Oh wait! I forgot to ask! Do you know our true names?"
"I do. Cú Chulainn, Ireland's child of light, and Sigurd Sigmundsson, the great hero of the Scandinavian people. Knowing your names, I feel a bit…overwhelmed."
"Eh…don't be too hard on yourself. You being a ruler gives us a great advantage over the bad guys with your little trick."
"Speaking of which, did you find out Rider's true name." Sigurd asked.
"I did. Rider's identity is Perseus, the slayer of Medusa and founder of the Kingdom of Mycenae. I do advise caution"
Sigurd and Cú exchanged looks. Perseus was not a strong fighter, and his noble phantasms, which were his greatest strength, wouldn't work due to the whole mana problem.
"Uh, he's really got some serious odds stacked against him. I mean, he isn't a powerful warrior and his noble phantasms won't work. So, he's essentially powerless. Why would we be…?"
"From what I understand of his legend, Perseus' greatest strength has always been his cunning. Without it, he wouldn't be able to effectively use the gifts he received in his quest. So even without his noble phantasms, Perseus would still be someone to be wary of."
"Is that so? Then thank you for your advice." Sigurd spoke.
"So, where should we start? We've got to gather some clues as to where we're going to find the white fang bases?"
"For that, let's analyse what we know. The White fang is stealing a lot of dust. So they would require a large place to store the dust."
"Which would mean the warehouses of Vale." Shirou spoke. "I'm sorry but some of the huntsman patrols have checked warehouses. All of them are owned by a legal business."
Sigurd drew more from his crystallised wisdom to think of the possibilities.
Warehouses? Shirou says no.
Docks? Unlikely
Through this, he discarded a few more possibilities before arriving at a plausible conclusion.
"Maybe one of those companies provide the white fang with support?"
Shirou nodded in agreement. "Yes, that could be true. Any other location would be too inconvenient for the White fang while despite being obvious, a warehouse would be easilt capable of storing shipments of dust stolen in the past few weeks."
"If that's the case, then how're we going to figure out which company is it?"
"Simple. We'll go around asking dust shops about the companies they provide services to. That should be a good start."
With that, the three servants started going to dust shops, asking the shopkeepers and not getting anything that resembled a clue. After hours of searching, they reached a small yellow building with the shop's name displayed in lightning above the glass doorway.
There were police guards standing at the doorway with rifles in their hands.
"Hey! Who are you!" One of the guards exclaimed pointing their gun at Sigurd. "It is alright, I am a huntsman." Sigurd replied showing his license to the guards who looked at the other two. "What about them?"
Cú and Shirou showed their licenses as the police officer nodded convinced. "Alright. You can go in." He spoke as the three servants entered the shop, whose owner was a middle0aged man with short brown hair and a brown beard and blue eyes. He stood inspecting a dust jewel when the three servants entered.
"Good evening, sirs. Are you looking for some dust to refill your ammunition?" The shopkeeper asked as Sigurd looked at the dust crystals being displayed with prices ranging from 60-80 lien per gram.
His eyebrows raised. "Those crystals are a bit expensive?"
"Yes, it is." The shopkeeper spoke with a sigh. "Ever since the white fang stole a bunch of dust from an SDC shipment in Nepotain harbor, the company's cut down the dust supply. The shortage has inflated dust prices to double their original price. People are turning up less and less to mine and the shops of many others since the dust inflation and the cops setting up security details at our shops. You are the first customers in a couple of days. So, what can I do for you?"
"Could you give us a list of all the companies that deliver your dust?"
"Well, there are a lot. There's DevCop, SDC-DB and a whole lot more."
Shirou raised an eyebrow. "Do they all provide good services?"
"Yep, not a single one of them has disappointed us so far. Always delivering the dust at the right time and in good condition. Although, FlamWheels is really shady. We know almost next to nothing to how they work and they never pick up our calls."
"Do you have any idea why is that?" Sigurd asked.
"No, sir. As I said before, they hardly give any information about themselves. Just a bunch of faunus workers showing up in the morning to unload the deliveries and leaving. They've always been cold to me whenever I talked to them."
"Very well. Thank you for your cooperation. We shall take your leave." Sigurd spoke.
"FlamWheels is the White Fang, isn't it?" Cú spoke as the three servants came out.
"Well, we still have little evidence regarding that piece of information. But it is a start. So, we shall head to the FlamWheels warehouses to check for the presence of the White Fang. Now, let's…"
"This is squad 21 to all units and huntsmen. We have engaged the enemy. I repeat, we've engaged the enemy. There's some giant ro…AGH!" A voice spoke before screaming.
Sigurd, Cú and Shirou heard faint sounds of gunfire coming from the downtown district and sounds of explosions.
"Come on!" Shirou spoke. "That's where Rider must be!"
"Oh man, our first servant battle!" Cú spoke in excitement. "Finally, we get to the interesting part!"
The three servants headed towards the direction where the gunshots were happening, where they would encounter rider. While Cú charged with excitement, Sigurd was worried.
Ozpin did tell him Team RWBY would get themselves involved. And he hoped the commotion hadn't been caused by them.
Pipsqueak and her friends aren't doing too bad. Qrow thought watching Ruby talk with Blake Belladonna and the blonde-haired monkey faunus who was called Sun in his bird form. Ruby was wearing her signature red cloak along with her 'stealth outfit', also known as the black skirt Tai gave her for her birthday without the loud red tones and a grey rose symbol embroidered on it. Qrow always thought it was silly, but Ruby, being her mother's daughter, thought it was cool.
Blake and Sun were dressed in the outfit of a white fang grunt with the sleeveless white jacket over a black hoodie and black trousers. Unlike Ruby, they were better equipped for a stealth mission.
Firecracker, Ice Princess and the kid named Neptune had split off the group soon after they'd snuck out of Beacon and avoided the huntsman patrols in the streets. Qrow wasn't that concerned since Firecracker could take care of herself and the other two just fine. Besides, Qrow could see they were going to meet old Junior, who was much less dangerous than who Ruby was headed towards.
"Blake, are you okay?" Ruby asked the other girl who had a frown on her face.
"Yeah, I'm just thinking about what Torchwick said at the docks. About him and the White Fang being forced to work for a 'Creepy Fire Lady'."
Definitely the Salem acolyte that attacked Amber… Qrow thought. But Ozpin had already gotten a read of Torchwick and the White Fang. What he still needed to know was more about these strange guys who've been popping up lately.
Qrow was a bit wary of them. Saber had won his trust, but he had shown how strong his kind are, being able to fight monsters that could kill elite huntsmen in moments. And with it being confirmed that Salem had a weird magic-wielding fighter of their own, the stakes had gotten significantly higher.
He had to keep his niece safe, but he was worried if he would be able to do it if the guy named 'Rider' showed up.
"Creepy fire lady? That kind of sounds like the fire-wielding criminal me and Ms. Goodwitch fought."
"You think she's behind this?"
"I mean, Torchwick works for her. And if he says the white fang also works for her, so she has to be the mastermind."
Mastermind of the happenings in Vale, but still an underling of Salem… Qrow mused.
"Does Ozpin know of it?"
"No, I haven't told him. First, we'll find out what the white fang's endgame is. Then, we'll go to Ozpin." Blake spoke before looking at Qrow with narrowed eyes. Qrow cawed and flew off the lamppost.
"Uh, Blake?" Sun asked. "What's the matter?"
"That crow…" Qrow heard Blake muse but wasn't that worried. She would be suspicious of him, but his identity would be safe.
"Blake." Ruby deadpanned at her. "I think getting suspicious of a little birdie is a bit too much."
"Yeah…you're right. We're getting closer, so split off, Ruby." Blake spoke as the group neared the warehouse with the FlamWheels logo on it.
Of course it's FlamWheels… Qrow thought. FlamWheels was a company that had given very little information about itself to the government. Ozpin was always suspicious of them, but the council's approval of what little details the company gave had tied up his hands.
Ruby dashed away to a building near the warehouse and laid down to be out of sight. Qrow flew to an alleyway beside the building Ruby was on to avoid getting spotted by her and pulled out his scroll.
"This is Qrow Branwen." Qrow spoke in the common intercom channel. "I've found one of the hideouts. It's a FlamWheels warehouse at the border of the residential district and Downtown. Requesting backup."
"Roger, sending units to your location." The VPD HQ responded back.
Qrow sighed and put back his scroll. Now, all he had to do was make sure Ruby and her friends got out of here before the VPD arrived and things get bloody.
The faunus guards at the warehouse stopped Blake and Sun, both of whom had pulled up their hoods to avoid identification.
"Stop, what's the password?" One of them asked.
"Nature cannot be shackled by its creatures." Blake responded.
They shook their head. "That was the previous password. But now it's changed. Are you both new recruits?"
"Uh, yeah?" Sun asked.
"Are your names on the list?"
"No. We did not apply through the list procedure."
"So, not there. Then you'll have to answer some of our questions. What are your names?"
"Jasmine Nightshade."
"Huang Wukong."
"Faunus type?"
"Cat."
"Monkey."
The guards noticed Sun's monkey tail and stroked it. "Well, Huang checks out. As for Jasmine…"
"I have cat ears." Blake spoke tensely. Even if she wore a mask, she had been seen by the members of the Vale branch many times. There was a high chance they could figure out her identity if they saw her other features.
But she had no choice but to let the guards check.
Blake gulped as the guard removed her hood and checked her cat ears. They tilted their head to stare at her before nodding.
"Alright. Just to let you know, our password is 'Praise be to the Flame of Progress' now. Once inside, go to the podium and wait for the special address."
Blake and Sun walked into the warehouse. Blake felt uneasy looking at the new symbol of the White Fang. It was no longer the white docile beast that had been derived from her father's emblem, a symbol meant to be a counter to the racist cartoons depicting faunus crawling on four legs alongside the grimm and calling them 'beasts', but now a snarling red one with claw marks, as if the White Fang embraced the monstrous nature those cartoons had given them.
Blake no longer felt a sense of nostalgia walking through the warehouse, but a sense of disgust at the corruption of her father's work.
They stood in front of the podium, where Blake noticed Torchwick twirling his cane with a bored expression on his face and Perseus, who had his eyes closed.
Blake suddenly wanted to get out of here. After watching his diamond blade cut through the aura-resistant armor of police officers like paper, she did not want to know what his blade would do to her if it hit her. Blake focussed back to the stage.
Perseus opened one eye, its slit pupil sweeping across the warehouse at the crowd of White fang soldiers. His eye stopped on the new recruits and he stared at Blake and Sun with curiosity before letting out a hum and closing it again.
Soon, Blake noticed Banesaw walk onto the podium.
"Who…"
"Banesaw. Adam's right hand man. He's usually the one giving all the speeches at these rallies."
"Welcome, all of you." Banesaw spoke. "To those who are here for the first time, allow me to explain. Every once in a week, we hold rallies to discuss our plans and a check on the status of our ongoing ones. Now, we have stolen the dust we require. We shall be proceeding to the next phase, transporting the dust to our main headquarters in mount Glenn."
"But you still haven't told us why we're doing this, Banesaw." One of the high-ranking members spoke, echoing Blake's own thoughts.
"Yes, and it shall all be revealed."
Finally. Blake thought. Now she was going to get to know why this was happening.
"But not by Banesaw. I shall tell you of our plans to bring about change." Another voice spoke as Adam Taurus walked into the podium.
Blake's mind came to a halt.
Wait…WHAT?!
"Adam Taurus is here?" Sun whispered to her as Blake's mind went into overdrive. How was Adam here? He knows how risky it is for him to be in Vale. The council had already signed an agreement with Atlas that if Adam was spotted, then it would allow Atlesian troops to operate in Vale's territory. Was this plan important enough for Adam to take a risk?
The other faunuses also whispered in surprise as Adam raised his hand for silence. "I shall come straight to the point. Our plan is to bring down Kingdom of Vale itself."
Sun gasped beside Blake as her own mouth fell open. Just how insane had Adam become? Even if Vale does not have a military as powerful as Atlas', it has an army of huntsmen ready to be mobilized against threats if necessary. And Blake was well aware just how skilled Vale's huntsmen were in combat. If the white fang were to go to war with Vale, its huntsmen would crush it.
"Now, I know you all are skeptical of this plan and rightfully so. After all, our force wouldn't be able to stand up to the Huntsman's association of Vale. But, that will all change." Adam spoke as Perseus came up beside him.
"You all know of Rider. He has been aiding you in your dust raids for a few days now. Rider is from a faction whose goals align with ours and who have the resources we need to achieve success. He has come to show you the might we will have at our disposal. Rider."
Perseus nodded and typed something into a scroll. Soon, a massive cage was brought in containing…
What is that? Blake thought in terror at the mechanical monstrosity. It was massive, even bigger than the creature she and her team had fought during initiation, but it's body was completely made out of metal that had a bluish tinge to it with dark-blue bands of glowing yellow letters on its plating. It was completely naked, with a single glowing red mechanical eye on its face and on its center were words in an unfamiliar language…
'ΠΥΡ ΚΥΚΛΩΨ - ΠΡΩΤΞΤΥΠΞ'
"This is the currently the prototype and hence much weaker than what we expect. For us to be able to create more powerful versions, we will be requiring you all to uphold your end of the deal. If you do so, then we will be able to bring success to our sides."
"And so you can see! All they demand of us is results, and they will deliver us freedom from discrimination! For years this kingdom has tried to maintain the mask of equality and freedom, yet torturing its faunus citizens underneath that mask without any consequences. The time has come to make this accursed kingdom pay for its crimes! Ghira belladonna was wrong about our rights as living beings! They can never be given to us as long as we breathe! SO WE SHALL TAKE IT! WITH OUR BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS! WE SHALL TAKE BACK OUR RIGHTS IN THE SECOND FAUNUS REVOLUTION!" Adam bellowed as the crowd erupted in cheers to his inspiring speech. Perseus noted the scene with silence while Torchwick kept his arms crossed.
"This is bad…" Blake muttered.
No, not bad. This is catastrophic…
This machine was a weak prototype, but look even more dangerous than the Trolls RWBY and JNPR fought. And Adam…
Blake remembered the eyes of the veterans of the revolution in Menagerie. Never had she seen people so mentally broken in her life. And Adam…Adam wanted to recreate that trauma again in his hatred for humanity.
"We need to get out of here." Blake told Sun who nodded. But as they turned to leave…
"But, I also have grave news. Our enemies have discovered this location and are coming to surround us." Adam spoke before the faint sound of sirens sounded.
Blake turned back, her eyes wide. The VPD was here already? Just when did they get so competent?
Of course, it has to be Ozpin… Blake thought. Clearly the old man was freakishly good at doing this and had already trapped the Vale branch's leadership in this warehouse with a horde of police officers and huntsmen.
She pulled out her scroll and texted Ruby to come to the roof.
"I want the new recruits to be escorted into the secret bunkers. Banesaw, tell the other branches to start transferring the dust shipments to our base."
"But, Adam…" Banesaw tried to speak up but was silenced by Adam.
"As much as I hate to admit it, Ozpin is too smart for us to keep this location secret for long. Now that he's sent his pawns, we cannot afford to waste time."
"Very well. New recruits!" He yelled as the new recruits stepped up.
"We're in a pickle, Blake…" Sun spoke in alarm as Blake noticed Ruby had come up and was waving at her.
She let out a sigh of relief and texted Ruby her instructions.
"Alright, Sun." Blake spoke before pointing gambol shroud at the power box of the warehouse and firing.
"What the…?!" Someone exclaimed as Blake grabbed Sun, running to the nearest Window and jumping out. A single red eye in the darkness focused onto the two
"Someone's running!" They heard someone exclaim behind them as a red blur brought them away from the warehouse.
"Blake! The police are here!" Ruby exclaimed pointing to the police cars and huntsmen standing at the door.
"They are, but they're in deep trouble, Ruby." Blake spoke. "Call the other two!"
Ruby called Yang.
"Yang?"
"Hey, Rubes. Did you get the information you needed?" Yang spoke as sounds of guns firing sounded.
"Uh, Yang?"
"What are you doing, Yang! Focus on the fight!" Ruby heard Weiss scream.
"This was a bad idea!" Neptune screamed as well.
"Yeah, look. Our visit didn't go according to plan. And now I'm trashing up Junior's place again."
"Well, get out of there. Blake says something's wrong and you need to get here now!"
"What happened?"
Ruby looked to Blake for answers before she heard screams within the warehouse as its doors exploded to reveal the machine. It turned to look at the three teenagers before letting out a roar. It ploughed through the police cars blocking it and ran towards the three, it's shoulders flapping open to reveal a bunch of rockets.
"It's coming for us!" Sun screamed as he, Blake and Ruby jumped off the roof which exploded in a giant green inferno.
"What is…" Ruby stammered out as Blake shook her. "Not the time, Ruby! We need to call Beacon!"
Ruby unnaturally snapped back to her senses and scowled. "No, just like the trolls, we won't be able to get the time."
Blake groaned, a familiar sense of déjà vu washing through her. "Not again…We don't have the other two right now!"
"Then we'll have keep away till they arrive. We'll draw it away from the residential district and towards the highways. There we'll be able to fight it without much collateral damage. Ok?"
"Ok!"
"Ok…"
"Cool! Operation Night raid is still in effect!" Ruby spoke before dashing off with the other two with her semblance, heading to downtown with the monster on their tail.
A/N: Well, looks like I didn't deliver that Monday chapter on time and even failed to get yesterday's chapter out. It's becoming a bad habit now. I'm already planning on changing my schedule so that I have the energy left to upload a chapter on friday. Anyways, to those of you who haven't studied Greek, the machine is basically 'Fire Cyclops - Prototype', keeping in theme with the mechanical creatures of Greek mythology (Something that I dislike because of how much it butchers Greek mythology to accommodate the 'Machine Gods' concept). Next up is going to be a big chapter because of the fact that I'll be having three fights. Two are obvious, but the third one is a bit of a divergence from canon again because of a really cool headcanon that makes a lot of sense.
A little bit of an unrelated thing but, jeez. After posting this story I started paying attention to follows an favorites in another stories and noticed that many which have Shirou Emiya as the protagonist get insane amount of followers in a short period of time. Of course, I'm not touching upon a Shirou story until I've gained a bit more experience. Gods know what Shirou fans will do to me if I mess up his characterization.
Hope you guys enjoyed and constructive criticism is appreciated!
Response to reviews:
dragon slayer of death 98: Don't worry about that. I'm not crazy enough to put a Cu/random beacon student ship. Heck, none of the servants in this story will have ships outside of their canonical ones. That scene comes from Maglad pointing out Cu flirting with Rin in FSN and the fact that both Cu and Yang are shameless flirts.
firagadam: Thank you. One of the disappointing things about Canon was how incompetent it made Ozpin. Ozpin's supposed to be the wall protecting humanity from Salem's schemes. If he really was this incompetent and careless, Salem would have won a long time ago. Plus, I developed a dislike for the trend of 'Villainous Ozpin' in fanfiction ever since I read 'Relic of the Future' by Coeur Al'Aran. Brilliant story, but Ozpin's amoral actions stacked upon my disappointment for how Ozpin is treated in canon and fanfiction and one of the reasons I rarely ever get into a Coeur story. I want Ozpin to retain some morals and have lines he does not cross, but at the same time commit morally vague actions like sending children into metaphorical frontlines of war and manipulating his allies for his purposes.
Guest: You got me. It wasn't going to be much of a big reveal anyways. At least this will be a lesson to make surprise events and characters better hidden in the future.