Chapter 72

"Come one, come all! Free food right here!" Ruby called out with a smile on her face, beckoning to any who came near. "We've got bread! We've got soup! We've even got some fruit! Come and get some!"

She's really getting into it. Yang thought with a sense of pride. But instead of focusing on her sister becoming more confident, Yang focused on moving the last of the full pots out of the Manta they had used to transport the food and placed them onto a table. Nora smiled and moved one onto a different table, where Ren began to use it to fill up bowls that Jaune and Pyrrha then handed out to those who came for them.

At another table, Blake and Ilia were doing the same while Adam was doing the ladling. Weiss and Oscar meanwhile were dealing out the bread and fruit. All in all, their pop-up soup kitchen was going pretty smoothly.

After a month of missions and training, it's good to come down and help people directly. Yang chuckled to herself. They'd all been starting to feel the drain of mission after mission, training after training. And then Adam had this idea: to come down to the Mantle Crater with food and clothes and blankets to give to those living here.

So here they were, helping out the needy. It wasn't normally the job of Huntsmen and Huntresses, but so what?

It feels like he's done this before too. I guess they must have done it in the White Fang, huh. Yang glanced back at Adam and Blake, who were smiling as they handed out food. They worked with practised motions, as if they'd done it dozens if not hundreds of times before. Yang couldn't help that small burning ember of jealousy that flickered within her. Blake's only just joined really but there they are…

Logically she understood. The two had been around each other for years, and together-together for a good portion of it as well. But emotionally… He and I haven't had a lot of time together since Haven. Is it wrong of me to want to hang out more? It couldn't be. They were partners after all.

But what was she supposed to do?

Yang let out a sigh and kept working, pulling out the last of the food before moving on to the blankets.

"There you go. Please enjoy." Blake smiled as she handed a bowl full of soup to an older man, whose mole-like hands wrapped around the wooden bowl almost reverently. He, like so many others here, was extremely thankful for the sudden charity. From what she knew the nights in the Mantle Crater could be very cold, and Atlas was too busy setting its sights elsewhere to notice.

So nothing out of the ordinary really.

As they worked, Blake glanced at Adam beside her. How long had it been since they'd done work like this? The last time… would probably have been before her father stepped down. Though this is far more than we ever could do back then. The White Fang used to do a lot of charity work for disadvantaged Faunus, but they never had big backers or anything so they couldn't do very much.

To be able to provide so much food and supplies now was… stunning to her. An organisation with hundreds of members wasn't capable of this, but a group of teens that a country leader wants the favour of is. What a world… Blake let out a sigh in between people, drawing a glance from Adam.

"You okay?" He asked, handing her another bowl.

"I think so." She replied, passing the bowl on to a fox Faunus. "Just thinking about how much we're doing now compared to back then."

Adam hummed in response. "It is quite a bit more. The advantage of resources I suppose." He sighed. "One thing to be thankful towards Ironwood for…"

Blake scoffed. "It's immediately countered by the fact we have to do this. He could have been doing this himself for years."

"Got that right, kitty cat." A feminine voice said from behind them. Blake and Adam turned to see a popular woman, one of the candidates for Mantle's seat on the council: Robyn Hill. The smile on her face was disarming in a good way, like she was trying to put them at ease. "Ironwood doesn't care about Mantle. Never has. Not really."

Adam shook his head. "Ironwood cares. Just not as much as he should."

Robyn hummed. "Interesting. I never would have thought that Adam Taurus would give Ironwood the benefit of the doubt." She was still smiling, but something about her eyes felt more… accusatory or suspicious to Blake.

"People can change." Adam said with a shrug and turned back to dealing out soup.

"That they can…" Robyn's voice grew quiet as she watched Adam. Her eyes soon switched to watching Blake, who had yet to return to handing out bowls. "What's up, kitty cat?" Blake folded her arms and raised her brow questioningly. Robyn sighed in response. "Okay, not that nickname then. I'll go come up with something else."

"You don't want to take Adam or me down?"

"Hm? Nah. I can tell you both are former members. The real members were all chased out after the Fall of Beacon. I don't take kindly to people who threaten this city." Robyn's eyes turned sharp. "Take that as both advice and a warning. Don't screw with Mantle."

Blake nodded. "We didn't intend to, but noted."

"Good. I'll see you around, shady." Robyn smiled once more and left. Blake took a deep breath and let it out slowly before returning to her job here.

That was… interesting.

"Today we're sitting down with Mantle Councilman Candidate, Jacques Schnee. Mr Schnee, there's been many asking exactly what your platform is based on and what is your main concern leading to your candidacy. Could you shed some light on that for us?" The reporter, a young and beautiful woman, spoke with a clear and soft voice.

"Of course. It's quite simple really: many of us have suffered under General Ironwood's latest decisions. From the Dust embargo to the closing of the borders, he's made us isolated from the rest of the world. I intend to reverse these decisions. That is both my platform and my concern." Jacques smiled. To any who didn't know him, it looked kind or soft, but some knew that it was the smile he used when in complete control. It was a smile of hidden arrogance and contempt.

"I see. So one could say you're operating on an 'anti-Ironwood' platform then?"

"You could, I suppose. Really I seek to return to how we were before the tragedy that befell Vale. I believe that it is long past time for us to reopen and work to help the other nations, not isolate from them."

"And what of some people's belief that you are doing this purely out of a desire for more money?"

"Does it matter?" He laughed. "I'm a businessman, so I'm wired to think that way. But even if my focus is on increasing my own wealth, if it helps the common man then does it truly matter? I don't believe so."

"I see. Why is that?"

"Well… if Mantle and Atlas are improved, then my business will be as well. It is in my best interest to help the people. At the very least it's good PR!" He laughed again. "But… there is something else on my radar that I want to resolve if I win."

"And what is that, may I ask?" The reporter seemed genuinely confused. Jacques nodded, his smile gone, swapped for a look of faux concern.

"My dear, that is quite simple. It's come to my attention that our good General has taken in a White Fang commander called Adam Taurus. And when I say 'taken in', I don't mean arrested. The General has hired Taurus!" Jacques allowed some genuine anger to enter his voice as he revealed to Atlas and Mantle just who Ironwood had added to his forces.

"The General has hired a member of the White Fang!? Surely that means this man has made a plea deal of some kind?" The reporter tried to play devil's advocate, but Jacques had none of it.

"Taurus was hired minutes after arriving in Mantle! That man had taken the lives of many in my employ and in the military itself, so for Ironwood to hire him at all is to spit on the memory of so many who have died. The other part of my platform is to arrest him and put him on trial for his crimes. I hope the people of Mantle understand and agree with my desires here."

"I see… Well, thank you for your time, sir. It's been a pleasure."

"The pleasure was all mine."

"How the hell did he know!?" Weiss clutched her head in frustration. "He shouldn't have known how quickly Ironwood recruited us!"

"It is worrying…" Adam trailed off, wincing.

"So what do we do?" Yang asked. The room went silent.

"What can we do?" Ruby asked back. "Go on the news? I don't think that would help…"

"Public opinion would be difficult to turn in our favour." Weiss agreed. "Adam, for as much as he has changed, was a terrorist. Thankfully they don't know about Blake or Ilia, but that may only be a matter of time." She sighed. "I don't think we have the time or resources to combat this."

Jaune was the one to ask the question on everyone's mind. "Which means?"

"We leave it to Ironwood. He can't allow this to get out of hand or else my Father could easily win the election. Which would be quite bad for all of us. Ironwood will have to do something to mitigate this."

"I don't like entrusting this to him…" Blake groaned.

"We don't have much of a choice." Adam replied with a sigh. "I hope my presence doesn't work against us…"

"Damn you, Jacques!" James seethed under his breath. "How the hell did he find out?"

"We don't know sir." Clover answered. "There hasn't been any breach in Atlas security, so we're investigating Mantle's. But to be honest… I believe Jacques got lucky. Had an ally in the right place at the right time."

James clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Clover, I need you working on downplaying this. If Taurus goes down right now, we'll suffer for it."

"Are you certain, sir?"

"Yes. Right now it's public that I've brought him in, so anything he does reflects on me. On us. If I didn't know better, I'd think this was Taurus's plan. It ensures I can't act against him anytime soon after all."

"Understood sir. I have an idea on how to make this work." Clover smiled. "Headmaster Ozpin trusted Taurus, and you two were friends. We can use that as our reasoning."

"Ahhh, claim I'm only trusting him because Ozpin did? Hmm. I think that may be our best way out of this, especially if we make it clear we're using this to keep an eye on him…"

"I agree sir. I'll accept their request for comment and be available if they want someone to talk on air. I'll have to leave the rest of the Ace-Ops to pick up the mission slack though."

"That's fine. Those kids can pick it up instead. This is their fault after all." James chuckled. "Alright, get to it."

"Sir yes sir!" Clover saluted and left.

James leaned back in his chair. Damn it… how did Jacques know? If only Taurus hadn't come with the others. Things would be so much easier…

A/N: So... I return, with the long-awaited soup kitchen episode!.. Yeah... So uh yeah, sorry for vanishing for a month and a bit. Writer's block combined with general exhaustion and a cup of the depresso is perhaps the easiest way for me to describe it. Feeling mostly better. Had plenty of ideas at least, though not for this fic. I can't promise I'll be back to weekly updates yet, but I hope I can be soon. Anyway, for the chapter itself, it's pretty simple. The gang do some charity work and the election kicks off with Jacques revealing Adam's around, damaging the people's view of Ironwood. It's something that I think could have been done in V7 if they'd had more time. Plus a little potential embers of romance begin to flare within Yang. Will it grow, I wonder? If it does, what will happen? Who knows...

I hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll see you sometime soon.