Chapter 14

A wanted faunus terrorist walks into a school and is greeted with smiles and handshakes.

"You must be Miss Shae Quinn." The man who shook her hand was handsome enough that even she noticed, with bright lavender eyes and blonde hair. "Welcome to Signal Academy!"

"Thank you." Illia replied, "You're Professor Xiao-Long?"

"That's me, call me Tai."

"Call me Shae." She smiled back. She couldn't help it; for a Human the man had an infectious grin. "And thank you again for letting me use your forges."

Taking the ferry out to Patch Island to visit Signal hadn't been her first idea, or even her second, but for once things had actually seemed to work out for her.

While the police had found what she'd done and the news was going crazy over her follow-up attack on the Winchesters, evidently Torchwick's partner had either shut down or destroyed the security cameras. Since she'd had to use her distinctive weapon that had been good news, and even better had been the nearly million lien a rich Mistrali businessman had paid online for the Winchester mace.

The combination of humiliating a hated Human family and the massive wealth influx had done what she'd needed it to do; everyone had simmered down a bit, content to follow her lead once more.

Even Adam had grudgingly approved, though he'd warned her that he wanted more action sooner rather than later. Sienna had been more effusive in her praise, and it had been the High Leader's idea for Ilia to pay a visit to Signal Academy. She'd recommended it when Ilia had been detailing the damage Lightning Lash had taken, and the difficulty in finding a Huntsman supplier who would actually let her do her own repairs in their shop.

Sienna had told her to simply ask a Huntsman Academy to use their equipment. Most were fairly open about lending their facilities to professionals, provided they got permission first. She'd also noted that Ilia could mingle with the students and staff, maybe locate a few potential recruits while she was at it. Just to scout them out, mind you. Active recruiting would wait until they'd graduated. Not that Sienna had any compunctions about recruiting young, Blake and Ilia herself being prime examples, but the White Fang had learned their lesson about how hard it was to train up young Huntsman.

Better to leave that to the schools, to recruit from graduates or at least from the second level academies. Ilia had agreed that it was a good idea, and she'd dug out her old fake identity as a huntress from Vacuo.

Though I could have gone without having to pretend to be Human... again. At least the Winchesters are in Vale on some kind of stupid speaking tour. She didn't think either would recognize her, not in casual clothes without a mask, but it was better to avoid the risk.

Tai chuckled, motioning with a broad arm and bringing her back to the present. "It's not problem at all. Come on, they're right this way. What happened if you don't mind me asking?"

She didn't have to fake her sigh as she thumped the bag containing Lightning Lash's bent and broken form. "Got in a fight with a criminal with a brain. They did something I didn't expect and broke it in more ways that I want to count."

"You catch them?"

"No." It was a fight to keep her skin or eyes from rippling, lowering her voice when she noticed several students go running by on a morning jog. "In all honesty they might have been better than me, with a nasty semblance. It was close enough that I didn't waste time sticking around."

"We can't get them all, and at least you're alive and healthy." A gentle pat on her shoulder was probably supposed to be reassuring, but he had enough strength that it nearly made her knee buckle. "Are you going to need a room for the night? We've got spare dorms."

Ilia blinked in surprise. "I... ah, I don't know. Depends on how long it will take to fix everything. How much would it cost me?"

He grinned. "A couple of spars in front of my combat class tomorrow afternoon. Maybe stay late to go a few rounds in front of the other groups and we'll cover any parts you use too."

More blinking. "That's... I mean, seriously? I have plenty of lien. I don't need charity."

"It's not charity." Another wave of his hand. "Consider it a favor going both ways. Lot of our students... well, I think some of them are getting a little too used to us teachers. They could use a demonstration from someone they don't think is old and out of touch. If you're up for it, I mean."

Well it wasn't what she'd expected but she supposed it could help her check out the student body for any faunus. It would probably be a lot better than trying to find an excuse to eat lunch with the students, or to give a lecture on a subject she wasn't actually qualified in.

Then again, fighting one or more Huntsman who'd lived long enough to retire probably wouldn't go well either... but maybe she'd learn something while getting punched in the mouth.

"I think I can manage that much, if you don't mind waiting until my weapon is fixed." She felt her smile returning. "I'm not bad at hand to hand, but I don't think that would be enough against someone your size."

He let out a genuine laugh. "Great! Come on, forges are right here. I'll help you get set up and then go talk to the Headmistress about a room."

The Forges were far enough way to give her enough time to look around as they headed for the reinforced building set aside from the school proper.

Signal was... nice enough, she supposed, but there wasn't any disguising that it was a school. It had the same look as several other old buildings she'd seen around Vale, though unlike the city proper its ground had plenty of trees and open space. Apart from the early morning joggers, only a few others were enjoying the pleasant weather to eat their breakfast outdoors.

Ilia looked them over as they noticed her walking beside their professor, ignoring their stares and gossiping in favor of trying to see if any were faunus.

There weren't any.

"How many students?" She asked.

"Almost three hundred." There was a trace of pride in his voice. "Our first two years are larger than usual. Plenty of foreign students applying lately. We've got a good reputation for getting kids into Beacon or Haven. A couple even made it into Shade. Almost a hundred percent entrance over the last few years."

She nodded agreeably, trying to keep him talking. "Mostly from Mistral then?"

"About half of the non-Vale group." Tai shrugged. "Most of the rest are from Vacuo and then a few from Atlas. Their parents all emigrated, the island's mayor is trying to bulk up the population a bit."

"Any from Menagerie?"

If he was surprised by the question he didn't show it. "Only one. Nice kid in second year, his parents got jobs at the dock. And all of the Atlesian kids are faunus who were sick of living in Mantle if that's what you're really asking."

Careful Ilia. He's cheerful, not stupid.

"You caught me." She did her best to keep her smile going. "I visited Kuo Kuona once with a few other Hunters from Vacuo. Kind of... fell in love with the city. Wished that I could stay longer, and I try to keep an eye out for faunus orphans. Help them when I can."

Tai's smile was practically radiant. "Good on you. Gods know that they could use someone to look out for them, especially lately."

Ilia slowed to a stop outside of the Forge. The lights were already on inside and she could hear someone moving around... and it was just a gut instinct, but something told her the teacher would rather not have this kind of discussion in front of students.

"You mean with the White Fang?" She asked quietly.

His smile faded into a serious expression, his own voice lowering. "Yeah. Was your 'criminal' one of them?"

No, but the criminal's opponent had been. "No, but I've run into a few of them. You?"

"No, thankfully." Tai shook his head. "Right now we've got the opposite problem. A couple locals got boozed up and tried to go after those families who fled Atlas. My old teammate stopped them before they even got close, but I'm worried. They're meeting up every other night. Supposedly it's just a drinking club but... well, I think we both know what they talk about while they drink."

She again had to fight the urge to flinch, to change color. What they were doing was supposed to help faunus, not inspire humans to go after them.

Tukson is going to be insufferable when he finds out.

"You think the White Fang will set them off again?"

"Seems like it's just a matter of time with how active they are, and how little they seem to care about collateral damage." It was another fight not to flinch. "Patch usually doesn't have any problems with that kind of thing, but... well, until recently there weren't all that many faunus residents."

That was a more familiar story. It was easy to not notice racism when there weren't any Faunus around, when the angriest Humans didn't have a target. But once a family moved in next door... "Is there a lot of them?"

"Of Faunus? Not more than three or four families, plus a few more students here whose families live in Vale." His thick arms crossed as he glanced over his shoulder, as if he could see the island's moderately sized village from here. "The idiots who think the world is ending because a few people with extra ears moved into town? Half a dozen, ten at most."

Which didn't sound like all that many but then Patch didn't seem to be that large of a community either. "Other teachers?"

"No, thank the gods for that." He turned back to her, his expression serious. "We do our best to help keep the peace but, well, between school, our own families, and the Grimm we can't be everywhere at once. I don't suppose I can convince you to stick around in case they try again? There's always Grimm to kill, and the Mayor pays for it."

Ilia hesitated. The idea... appealed to her a bit. She could make excuses to Perry, Tukson, and Adam, it wasn't like they'd be all that upset for her to be out of the picture for a while. She could stay on Patch, get out of the city, even do the work of a real huntress.

...and maybe beat up some racist thugs on the side.

Tai tried to make it even more tempting. "We could get you set up at the inn, or here at school. Patch could really use a full-time Huntress that doesn't have to spend nine hours a day here in Signal. Just for a few weeks, you know? Cut down some of the Grimm building up on the far side of the Island, help keep the peace, easy work."

It would be easy work compared to what she was used to. It would be the kind of work she'd wanted to do when she was a little girl dreaming of moving up to Atlas, attending the Academy.

It would be peaceful... and all I'd have to do is pretend to be Human again.

The very idea nearly made her shudder. Made childhood memories that she'd done her best to bury to come bubbling back to the surface. A stupid little girl trying to fit in, mocking her own species just to make the people around her think she was one of them.

"I'm sorry." And she surprised herself by meaning it. The man in front of her may have been Human, but he was at least trying to do something. That put him in the slimmest of minorities in her experience. "I'd love to but I've got commitments. I can leave you my scroll number though. If they cause problems I can try to get back in time to help, or see if any of my teammates can get here in time to help."

Tai looked disappointed but not surprised. "Thanks, I know it's a sudden ask. Come on, let's stop standing around when there's work to do."

She nodded and followed him inside.

The forges in Menagerie had been pretty rough. All of the various pieces of equipment had been old, arranged in an open air market loosely protected from the weather by awnings. The few bits of good components they could import were horded for the best of the best, leaving everyone else to deal with second or third tier parts. There might have been three or four people in the entire White Fang who actually owned a real Huntsman grade weapon, and even then none had more than the most basic of mecha-shift functions.

Signal's forges were clearly brand new, and even a glance around the room made her realize that Sienna and Ghira would have done anything to get half of the weapon's parts lining the walls. They could have made several dozen weapons from what Signal, a junior Academy, just had laying around.

A single student was sitting at one of the work benches, her feet kicking idly as she carefully worked on a disassembled sniper rifle that looked to be as large as she was. Like the others she was in the dark blue uniform of the school, but she'd accessorized with a bright red cloak.

Tai groaned when he saw the student, raising his voice as they approached. "Don't tell me you broke Crescent Rose already?"

The girl apparently hadn't heard them come in. She let out a startled squeak, trying to stand and push her stool back in the same motion. All she managed to do was unbalance herself, arms windmilling cartoonishly as she fell backwards.

Her professor was there in time to catch her, chuckling as he pushed both her and the stool back into place. "Easy there Rubes."

"Daaaaad!" The girl protested. "Don't scare me like that!"

"We've been talking in the doorway for three minutes before we walked in." Tai replied with a teasing grin, ruffling her hair. "I think someone needs some more lessons in minding her surroundings."

Any further complaints the student, Tai's daughter apparently, had vanished when she spun around and saw Ilia. She promptly squeaked again, face turning scarlet as she tried to jerk her head out from his hand. "Daaaaad! Not in front of a real huntress!"

Ilia couldn't help but laugh along with Tai. "Ruby Rose, this is Huntress Quinn from Vacuo. Shae? My daughter Ruby."

"A pleasure." Ilia smiled, offering her hand.

To her surprise the girl's blush only got worse, but she did manage to snap an arm out to shake hers once. "H-hi!

Tai groaned in the exact same way Ghira had whenever Blake had done something particularly embarrassing as a child. "She's a huntress, Ruby. Not a celebrity, you don't have to be shy."

His daughter apparently disagreed from the way she was trying to tuck her cloak's hood down enough to cover her scarlet face.

"She takes after her mother." Tai confided with a fond smile. "You can use any of the tables you want if you want to get started. There should be a tablet around here somewhere to keep track of any parts you use."

Ilia nodded, still smiling as well. For Humans these two weren't bad. "Thanks."

Picking the nearest table, she got her bag onto it while Tai resumed teasing his daughter. She only half listened as she pulled Lightning Lash out. Her grin faded into a tired sigh at the sight of her weapon. It wasn't the best, she knew that. She'd made it from scraps and second-hand parts... but it had been hers dammit.

She liked it, was familiar with it, knew how to use it. And that little thief had ruined it.

"Is... that a variable dust whip?" The girl's voice came from right by her elbow, and it was Ilia's turn to jerk in surprise. "What happened to it!?"

How did she... Ilia shook her head, "A, ah, a criminal I was chasing smashed it in a door. A heavy door. Several times."

The student scowled. "What a jerk."

"She was kind of a jerk." Ilia agreed, "Your, uh, your father and the other teachers are being kind enough to let me fix it here."

"And," Tai added as he stepped over. "She's going to spar with me and your uncle Qrow tomorrow in front of the sixth years. If you behave today I may even let you out of class to come watch."

Ruby practically vibrated in excitement. "That will be awesome! Do you need help fixing it? I'm great with weapons, I can help! I can show you where everything is! Ooo, looks like it only has two Dust vial intakes right now. Have you thought about refitting it to hold more? Looks like it's got the space to hold five or six. Does it have a gun mode or does it just help you manipulate Dust?"

The sudden shift from 'horribly shy' to 'motormouth' left Ilia blinking with her mouth parted slightly.

"She's a weapons nut." Tai provided. "Who's going to be late for her Dust class if she doesn't go eat breakfast soon."

"But... but... weapons dad! A real huntress's weapon!"

He smiled and gently pried her away from Ilia's table. "No buts Ruby. Let her work on her weapon on her own, you can watch her use it tomorrow."

The girl pouted, looking remarkably like a scowling puppy, then turned and stalked back over to her own bench to start putting her tools away.

Tai waited until he was sure she was actually cleaning up before turning back to her. "Lunch is at eleven thirty, feel free to join us in the staff room. I'll be back this afternoon with a room key for you."

"Thank you." She said, and once again surprised herself by meaning it. "I do appreciate this."

That infectious smile returned as he waved her off. "Don't worry about it. Give Qrow and I a good spar tomorrow and we'll call it even."

Ilia nodded, hesitated, then felt her mouth move without any input from her brain. "I... maybe I can stay one more day. Make a few more adjustments, test it out on some Grimm. Talk to those families from Atlas about what's going on."

He blinked once, then his smile widened further. "Sounds like a good plan to me."

It sounded good to her too.

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