Here's chapter 101, everyone.
Winter looked down at the woman who was literally a bear that attacked her and the soldiers she was with hours ago. "She's still unconscious… Where are the others?" Winter asked the two soldiers she was with while they were on the airship that brought them to the island in the first place.
"They should be here soon, Ma'am. Some of the others ended up running into more Grimm more than likely." The female soldier answered, and Winter simply nodded as she checked on the woman's pulse, feeling it was a lot steadier than before.
"Make sure that the outside is well guarded. I'll speak with her once she wakes." Winter ordered, and the two soldiers nodded, heading outside the airship with rifles in hand, while the pilot looked back.
"Sorry to ask, but who exactly is that woman? When you brought her in, I couldn't really ask you anything." As the pilot asked, Winter had to debate on what to tell him.
As an Atlas Specialist, she couldn't lie about her mission to those who were given clearance to know. "It's who we are tasked to investigate. I plan to interrogate her once she is awake. For now, make sure that you keep in contact with the other teams."
"Yes, Ma'am." The pilot looked forward and worked on contacting the other soldiers, while the unconscious woman was snoring softly.
Winter sighed to herself, as she felt more stress was going to befall her. "This is more than what I bargained for, but I suppose now it makes sense why this kind of sighting was reported. Still, this woman does what Weiss can do. A semblance? But what was that she could do with those spikes on her body…"
The Atlas Specialist sighed to herself, while looking out one of the windows. It was clear in the night, but the sun was beginning to rise. If the remaining teams showed up soon, Winter knew by the afternoon, she'd be back in Atlas with the unconscious woman, though when she would wake would be the real point of seeing how tedious it would be to deal with her.
"Maybe we should attempt to wake her now. She was clearly scared of this Relentless group."
Instead of hesitating, Winter started nudging the woman, and she stirred in her sleep. "Exhaustion. Possibly aura depletion as well… I suppose we can give her some time before returning to Atlas."
As she said that, she heard her scroll go off. When she checked what it was, she was surprised to see General Ironwood was requesting to speak to her. She had no reason to deny his request, so she began to call the General.
After seeing the call was connected, Winter spoke. "Sir."
"Winter, usually I hear a report from you by now. What's going on?" Ironwood inquired.
The Atlas Specialist looked down at the unconscious woman. "It seems that the sightings were true, sir. But I've come across something strange."
"Is that so? Well what is it exactly?" Ironwood asked, as he could hear in Winter's voice that she was very confused about the situation.
"The animal that we encountered was a large bear, over ten feet on just all fours… But it was able to speak." Winter explained, and before Ironwood could question her further, she continued. "Not only that, but it changed into a human woman."
The General was dumbfounded, though one thought crossed his mind. "That sounds similar to your sister's semblance."
"I don't believe so, sir. The woman claimed that she was a bear that could become human, not the other way around." Winter explained, and Ironwood was confused by that.
"Clearly that woman is delirious, so make sure to bring her in for questioning. If this semblance of hers is out of control, then we'll figure out what we can do with her." James ordered, while Winter wasn't sure she was comfortable with that course of action.
Remembering how distressed the woman was already was a sign that bringing her somewhere else, and interrogating her would be hard to cope with. "Sir, I believe it would be best to bring her in when she is in a more calm state of mind. There is less of a risk in her using her semblance that way."
"Hmm, fine, but I want you to find out more from this woman before bringing her here if that's the case. Semblance use like this is just as dangerous as even Grimm if the reports are to go off by." James remarked.
"Yes, sir." With that, the call ended and Winter honestly felt conflicted, but that would have to wait, as she began to think of the questions she'd ask the woman. Mostly ones about what she meant about becoming human.
Torn looked around, hoping to find where the gunshot was, and the Beacon students had their weapons ready. "That shot came from the south of town." Ruby stated, and Torn only hoped that his friends were okay.
As they all took off, Weiss was doing her best to keep herself calm, especially since she knew the risks of letting emotions run wild in battle. "I need to remember everything we've learned so far… If there's an enemy here, I have to set aside my feelings and focus on the task at hand."
Ruby glanced at Weiss from time to time as they ran, seeing the conflicted look on her face, but she shook her head, since she too knew that focus was key, and not letting personal feelings get in the way.
Weiss, you're with me. Blake, Yang, try to use the houses as cover. Ren, Nora, I know Jaune is your leader, but I think you two could split off and try to meet us in a pinching formation. If the south is where that shot came from, then Weiss and I can take the east side." Ren and Nora weren't about to argue with Ruby, simply nodding to her as they split off and took the west side.
After everyone split off, Torn was happy to see the Beacon students not ignoring the possibly danger that could befall them, as he had a bad feeling that his companions were the ones being targeted.
"Nel, if you're in the middle of a fight, at least inform me. Is it them?"
"Ugh! I'm trying to focus, damn it! Yes, it's them! YOU SAID NOT TO WORRY ABOUT THEM!"
"I thought it was secured. Just hold on."
Torn wanted to chastise himself for making a mistake, one that caused The Relentless to sneak by, but then he thought of something with Weiss and began to contact her.
"Lazuria's daughter… I mean, Weiss, if you can hear me, you musn't use your wolf abilities. Do I make myself clear? The Relentless are here, and if they know you're a Hidden, they will mark you for death."
Weiss bit her lip, having her worries confirmed, so she simply had to listen, or else she'd share the same fate as her birth Mother.
It didn't take much longer for everyone to get to where the fight was, as Nel was bleeding from her left arm, and she was shaking lightly while holding her spear. "You animals really do enjoy parading around and thinking you're like us…"
The Relentless member with green highlights in her black hair smirked as she pointed her blade at Nel. "And you enjoy parading as a huntress… When you're nothing but a failed good for nothing murderer."
"Murder? No, I'm making sure that you monsters can't hurt anyone. Just like hunting Grimm." Mia began to run at the weakened woman, but as she slashed at her, Torn dashed in, growing larger than he was normally and ramming into the woman.
Mia gasped as she fell back, seeing the large hawk, so she growled a little.
"W-What are you doing, you old bird? She'll know now…" Nel said of how he wasn't marked yet himself, so he shook his head.
"Letting you die is not on my priority list." Torn responded, and as Mia got up, she realized there were others around her.
Ruby and Weiss were on one side of her, while Ren and Nora were on the other. Blake and Yang stayed hidden just in case, and The Relentless member was taken aback. "Kids? The hell are you doing?"
"What are we doing? What are you doing?" Ruby questioned. "Why are you trying to kill these people?"
Mia looked shocked. "They aren't people! Those are monsters, now stay back, this isn't a place for children. Besides, I have no intentions of harming you kids." She focused back on Nel and Torn.
Nel was too injured to do anything, while Torn had to stay on the defensive to protect Nel. Ren and Nora stayed aiming their weapons at Mia, while Ruby was trying to talk her out of it again. "Monsters? They're nothing like Grimm… We've heard about what's going on between them and the people you work for, but you have to understand that they're not doing anything wrong."
"Kids like you are too ignorant to the world. These 'animals' have something that could end up being an even bigger threat than Grimm. Infiltration. They hide in plain sight, pretending to be human, only to change into giant monstrosities to kill us." Mia stated.
"There hasn't been a moment like that before and you know it!" Nel yelled, and she hissed in pain as she held her arm.
Weiss looked over, seeing her bleeding as her heart began to race, since she was seeing first hand what The Relentless would do to her if they knew what she was.
"Say what you want, but we know the truth. You monsters need to be dealt with before you can truly wipe out humanity!" Mia yelled out, and, as she swiped her sword down, sending a lightning strike at the two Hidden, but Weiss gasped and used her semblance.
A glyph appeared in the way of the attack, stopping it in its tracks, as Mia growled, only for Ruby, Ren and Nora to shoot at her, since she chose to continue her hostile force. The Relentless member jumped back in time, as the explosion of Nora's attack pushed her even further away.
"I can't be held responsible for what happens to you kids if you continue to help them! So drop your weapons and leave now!" Mia ordered, not wanting to hurt anyone besides the two Hidden in front of her.
Ruby swapped Crescent Rose to its scythe form and glared at the woman. "I'm not about to let you murder innocent people… I don't care what your views are, you'll have to get through us if you want them."
Weiss was the only one that was hesitant, as she was afraid the woman would learn of what she was.
"Ugh, you're too naive to reason with either… Very well…" Mia sheathed her weapon, confusing the Beacon students, since they didn't think she'd give up so easily, but a moment later, Nel yelled.
"Get back!" Mia grinned and slid her boot against the ground, as a large circle appeared under her and the Beacon students. "I'm sorry for this, but you left me no choice."
The circle suddenly became empowered with electricity, so Ruby, Weiss, Ren and Nora all screamed out in pain as they were being electrified. "Get them out of there!" Nel yelled at Torn, who was about to fly at the students, but a gunshot hit one of his wings, making his cry out in pain, as Nel gasped and looked over, seeing the grin on Mia's face as she was holding her magnum.
"Gotta pack a punch to break through aura easily," Mia's laughed as she was about to shoot at them again, but was met with a shot against her, as Blake jumped out from one of the houses, and not a moment later, she shot her gun at Ren and Nora, wrapping the ribbon around them both.
She tugged on it, pulling them both out of the circle, while Yang shot out of a house, tackling both Ruby and Weiss out as well, and Mia held her hand in pain, as her mahnum was on the ground.
"Damn kids…" As Ruby, Weiss, Ren and Nora were recovering, Mia looked over at Torn and Nel, both partially injured from her attacks.
"Torn, fly the kids out of here… I'm the marked one, so she can't track you down." Nel quietly said to the hawk, whose right wing was still limp from the shot.
"I wouldn't even if I could…" Torn grunted and as Mia was looking at her options, she realized being outnumbered, even with two hidden injured wouldn't be an easy fight.
Weiss groaned as she slowly stood up, shaking her head a few times as she managed to fully recover from the electric attack. "W-Why won't you stop… Why can't you leave them be… They won't hurt anyone…"
Mia heard her, and as she picked up her magnum, she was about to say something, but one of Nora's grenades from her weapon landed and exploded at Mia's feet, so she screamed in pain as the explosion knocked her into a destroyed house, breaking through the concrete.
Nora smirked. "Don't just stand around in a fight!"
Ren was knelt down still, recovering from the shock as he was a little proud of what Nora just did, only for Blake to help him up. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it, but Nora's right," Blake kept her grip on her pistol. "We can't sit around in a fight. No way is she knocked out from that."
Another circle under them appeared, and they all gasped, but since they knew what it was, they did their best to jump away. Ruby used her speed, Weiss used her glyphs after grabbing Yang, helping her escape the circle, while Blake jumped away and repeated what she did for Ren and Nora by pulling them back with her weapon.
That time several rocks sprouted up, and on top of one of them was Mia, glaring down at the students. "You kids…"
Finally showing The Relentless going up against Hidden. It's always been talked about, but never shown. Now I'm happy to finally able to get to this point.
To JJ- I'm very happy to hear that my stories reached out to you in that way. Weiss is basically saying that she's lived her life without knowing her birth mother, so to her, she has no real reason for her to know much about her. As for Raven and Willow, well, you'll see.
I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 101. Remember, reviews are welcomed, but not required. See you all in chapter 102.