A/N: Usual disclaimer of not owning Toaru and RWBY, but I do own the very very few OCs, though there hasn't been one in a long while. Special thanks to Furaiz for the beta-reading.
Combat was a field every huntsmen, soldier and various groups of people knew about intimately. Tactics, firepower and various aspects were hammered into each of them in combat school as a single mistake or missed opportunity could mean the difference between victory or defeat, or in more extreme circumstances, life or death. Whether one side had the first strike, the positional advantage or just more fighters on their side could be the tipping point and that didn't even account for weather, location and various factors that could alter the outcome.
Weiss knew this. Her sister, an accomplished soldier, would try to instil knowledge into her regarding the art of combat. Whether it was something as basic as footwork, swordplay or something more subtle like body language and control, Weiss tried to be the knowledge sponge for everything Winter had lectured about. However, nothing Winter could teach appeared to have prepared her for this situation.
Sure, she could see the sheer disadvantage her team and Touma were in when Motoharu and his team popped out. She could accurately list everything that worked against them and everything that worked for him, the differences between the two was palpable and she had almost resented the fact that her mind failed to figure out any solution to escape the situation.
Within those seconds of watching Oriana's tag glowing red, Weiss flared her aura and her glyph spun right underneath RWBY and Touma as she flicked on her rapier. An ice barrier popped around them as the light collided into it, shaking enough that Weiss felt the strain of the sudden attack.
Before any of them could comment, a small tube materialised right above them, detonating and blinding all five of them. Weiss lost her focus as all the attacks on her senses made her slip on her control of the barrier and at that moment, she knew she would be knocked out or attacked, however, nothing happened.
As she regained her senses, the first thing she noticed was that her whole team was still standing, bracing for impact and in defensive stances, but Touma was pinned down by Motoharu a few metres away from them, the blonde boy had a handgun out, trained on the unfortunate boy's back. Immediately RWBY pointed their weapons at Motoharu; Ruby's scythe clicking into a sniper, Yang and Blake employing their ranged weapons and Weiss's glyph spinning in front of her. However, Awaki and Stiyl aimed their weapons at them, a corkscrew and a shotgun that seemed to have blades tucked beside the barrel respectively.
Weiss's eyes narrowed, it was strange that none of them apart from Touma were knocked out or even disarmed. Motoharu just took Touma and pinned him down, that's it and strategically speaking, Weiss would expect severe damage from an assault while they were stunned by the flashbang they had somehow managed to throw in. Her stomach dropped as she noticed a playful grin on Motoharu's face, if he and his team decided this was adequate, then something about this whole setup will not fair well for them.
"The Schnee girl had a pretty sharp reaction," Stiyl muttered, but his voice lacked an inflection that made it hard to tell if he was impressed or mocking.
"Pfft, yeah right, I made her drop it with the flashbang, easy," Awaki retorted and unlike her male team member, was more honest in the response Weiss made.
"Either way, it wouldn't have mattered," Oriana replied, a little muffled as she had another piece of paper dangling from her teeth. Weiss made no outward reaction, but her ice barrier was her most reliable defensive tool and she grumbled silently at how easily it was dispatched.
"Let him go," Ruby demanded, so strongly that Weiss almost raised an eyebrow. Despite Ruby's friendly demeanour, all of that was replaced with cold focus.
"Don't think I will, Ruby," Motoharu replied lightly as a grin danced on his face, "Instead, how about you all drop your weapons? Then, no one will get hurt."
Weiss shook her head, this wasn't the first time she had been in a situation like this and Winter's lesson had proven true to her, never surrender a weapon if there was an avenue out of it. "We're not idiots, I'd suggest that you free him unless you want to be riddled with dust rounds," Weiss coldly replied with narrowed eyes, however, she'd rather no one shoot as she couldn't imagine herself killing someone else.
"That's… pretty violent," Oriana sheepishly muttered while Stiyl snorted but said nothing.
"Hmmm… Nah…" Motoharu refused with a small shake of his head.
Touma struggled but the blonde boy didn't budge, "Guys, don't worry about me, just get out of here, tell Ozpin what's happening!"
"Not gonna happen either, Touma, just sit tight, we'll get you outta here in no time," Yang replied with a confident grin. Weiss's lips twitched upwards as she silently agreed with her boisterous friend, there was no way they were going to leave him there with these four.
"Heh, as if you green as grass rookies can do anything," Awaki snorted as she held up a single corkscrew and shot a glare at Motoharu, "Hurry up or I'll just beat'em all down."
"I'd rather we didn't," Stiyl muttered, unlike the rest of his team, he simply stood there and flicked his cigarette to the ground, quickly extinguishing it before fishing a fresh one and lighting it up.
"Hmm… either way, we aren't letting Kami-yan go," Motoharu said, "But I'd suggest you drop all your weapons now before we all do something we regret."
"You're not going to shoot him, you need him alive," Weiss called out on his bluff and Motoharu's grin dropped.
Team RWBY tensed at his reaction and as his grin returned even wider, they gripped onto their weapons tighter as they felt like they set off a timebomb to an impending explosion. He tilted his head and admitted, "Yeah, you're right, we need him alive… but I never said what state, just… that he needed to be alive." In one swift motion, team RWBY heard a crack followed by a cry of anguish.
"NO!" Ruby roared and another resounding crack echoed through the canopy of the Emerald Forest, her Crescent Rose's barrel smoking from the recently discharged round, but she baulked in surprise as Motoharu's grin persisted as something translucent shimmered in front of him as if there was a clear barrier in front of him. Touma writhed as much as he could under Motoharu while panting desperately to end the pain.
"Oi… he's going to bleed out like that," Stiyl commented airily with a hint of annoyance while Awaki just stared blankly at the blonde boy, "I get that Oriana and I can fix it, but don't end up killing him just to make a point." As if to make that point clear, Touma's blue jacket began to darken from the blood.
"Don't worry about it Stiyl, and thanks, Oriana," Motoharu dismissed just as lightly, Oriana lowered her flashcards as the one in her mouth crumbled to dust and shook her head in exasperation.
Yang's hair glowed yellow as her confident grin twisted to a snarl while Blake's eyes narrowed and grew an edge while her face darkened. Weiss pursed her lips in disgust as the glyph in front of her fizzled spun even faster but at the same time, it shook. She took a deep breath as Winter's lessons about their semblance echoed in her head and her glyph stabilised. She couldn't believe how brazen Motoharu was, she had never liked how he carried himself when they first met, and now this whole situation just made her disgusted off him.
"Ah ah ah, try not to get violent or we're going to have dead bodies here," Motoharu chided while maintaining his hold on Touma who squirmed, his right hand scrunching the dirt leaving finger claw marks, "Now, I'll ask one more time, drop your weapons slowly, or Kami-yan will suffer every time you refuse to follow the order and we all don't want that, most of all me. So, work with me, yeah?"
"Fuck you," Yang spat at Motoharu, despite her venomous retort, neither Weiss or Ruby made any attempt to stop her.
"Shame…" Motoharu replied and he pushed the gun into the wound on Touma's back, forcing the captor to choke in pain as his body jittered. Despite the struggle, Motoharu lazily pointed a look at the team of students and said, "Surrender or we might end up killing him on accident."
The girls trained their weapons on Motoharu, unable to answer as he scanned at them, waiting for them to make a move. After a prolonged staring contest with Touma's grunts of pain and Awaki's impatient tapping of her foot, the blond boy continued, "Well, we'll have to…" he moved the barrel of his gun to Touma's shoulder with his finger on the trigger.
"Okay! Okay! Stop! You win, no more," Blake blurted out with her hands in the air, her weapons dangling from her fingers. Her face was no longer held a grim determination, but a look of defeat and fear, "Just… don't hurt him anymore, please."
"Blake?" Ruby and Yang echoed in surprise while Weiss watched her carefully. They didn't expect their most stoic team member to suddenly surrender.
"He'll shoot him again, and if we don't get him medical attention, he could end up...," Blake attempted to explain with her hands still in the air.
"But they just said they wouldn't kill hi-" Weiss was about to argue but Blake glared back at her, the golden eyes seemed to flash with a sense of urgency.
"It doesn't matter, they can do other things than just shoot him and I… I don't want that," Blake whispered before she turned to Motoharu, "Besides, even if we beat them, we have to carry Touma to the campus, he could bleed out by then."
Weiss's eyes widened as she forgot about one critical detail, Touma didn't have the protection of aura, as a result, his body was far more exposed to all sorts of dangers. She closed her eyes as she silently cursed at the situation they were in, Blake was completely right. There was no guarantee they could ensure Touma's survival even though they could stabilize him to a point. Her outstretched arm slowly lowered to the ground, the glyph disappearing as she sighed in both disappointment and defeat.
Ruby followed suit, lowering Crescent Rose to the ground and stood up with her eyes lowered, but Yang glanced at her teammates, disbelief plastered on her face as she spluttered before landing her eyes on Touma who stopped struggling but remained breathing heavily with his eyes closed. Yang grimaced and as if she had some kind of internal battle, she muttered, "Damn it!" Her arms dropped to her sides as the gauntlets receded into bracelets and she placed them at her feet.
"Good… Oriana, Stiyl," Motoharu then relinquished Touma who remained still as the blonde woman and red-haired man headed to him, ready to attend to him and they heard the shirt ripping and clinks of what looked like a medical kit in Stiyl's hands. He twirled his gun as he placed it back in its holster and with a nod to Awaki, the two of them fished out what looked like large cuffs and began placing them on team RWBY.
As Motoharu reached Ruby, the girl wordlessly held her hands out but she shot a glance at the blonde boy and asked as if defeated, "Why? Why are you doing this?"
Motoharu clicked on the cuffs, bulky but sturdy enough that not even the most seasoned Huntsmen could break free out of them. He stepped back and rubbed his chin before he shrugged and answered, "Sorry, Ruby, as far as I can see it, it's not your concern."
"It became our concern when you threatened and… shot Touma," Blake replied evenly, but everyone knew there was a bit of steel in her voice. Weiss had to agree as well, the fact that they were threatened and even injured Touma willingly was enough for them.
Awaki rolled her eyes and pushed Blake and Weiss forward while Motoharu answered, "Well... I guess I owe you an explanation, but I'm afraid this isn't the time."
Weiss narrowed her eyes as she turned her mind to the very beginning of their encounter. While it wasn't exactly hidden, there was a sense of urgency behind Motoharu's actions and the fact that they were originally going to take Touma to Mistral meant something happened in that area. She wasn't a fan of Mistral City as it had a reputation for housing some of the crudest minds to walk on this planet and the fact that the destination had already been declared, she could only dread what comes next.
"Will… will he be alright?" Ruby asked, almost scared of the answer as she watched Touma being worked on.
Stiyl glanced back, watching the girls in cuffs and sighed with a shake of his head as he stood up, smoke trailing behind his mouth steadily as he moved, "He'll be fine, Motoharu didn't shoot anywhere vital. Just need several hours and a good night's sleep and he'll be good," he said gruffly.
The relief on their faces was evident immediately, and Ruby collapsed to her knees as if her legs simply no longer had the strength anymore. Yang immediately knelt down to comfort her sister while Blake and Weiss carefully observed Touma whose breathing evened out, however, his eyes remained closed.
"Alright, then everything's in order, yeah?" Motoharu asked rhetorically as he placed a finger to his ear and continued, "Etzali, prep the airship, we got the package plus a few extras." He then turned to team RWBY and ordered, "Okay, get up let's move, Awaki, double back and make sure Ozpin's cameras are still on loop. Oriana, take point… and Stiyl, wake him up."
Awaki grunted as acknowledgement and marched away from them immediately while Stiyl confiscated Retterhand, pulled out a pair of cuffs and placed them on his hands in front of him. He then pulled out a medical pen and jabbed the boy with it, in a second Touma gasped awake and immediately groaned in pain.
Stiyl huffed in annoyance and hooked his hand under Touma's shoulder and hoisted him up, "Alright, you'll live, get up." Touma stumbled as the smoker threw the bloodstained jacket over his bandaged bound body, his chest rising up and down from the drug he had been administered.
"Touma!" Ruby scampered towards him and attempted to get a closer look with worry in her eyes, "Are you alright? I mean, you got shot and I thought you were going to die and-"
"He'll be fine," Oriana calmly replied as she picked up Crescent Rose and Gambol Shroud, placing them into their inactive state and winked at Ruby, "We were never planning to kill him, though shooting him… that was all him."
She shot a glance at the blonde boy who simply shrugged and replied, "Haven't got a choice, by the way, Kami-yan, no hard feelings."
"Yeah… I-I think I'm fine," Touma croaked with an assuring grin as he ignored Motoharu, but as his eyes fell to Ruby's hands, and then the rest of the team who were looking at him with worry, he hung his head, "I'm sorry, if it weren't for me, you guys-"
"It's okay! You're okay, don't worry Touma, we'll get out of this," Ruby assured, but everyone knew that wasn't going to happen, but Touma couldn't stop his lips from twitching upwards at the younger girl's optimism, fake or not.
"What matters is that you're okay," Blake agreed as she stepped forward as she eyed at the bloody stains on his jacket and his shirt that peeked under it had some stains of its own. Weiss and Yang nodded, both just glad that Touma seemed alright for now.
"That's the spirit!" Motoharu chimed in as he waved Weiss's Myrtenaster at them while clipping Yang's Ember Celica to his belt, team RWBY and Touma's mood taking an immediate nosedive, "But, we got an airship to catch, so let's get going, chop-chop!"
With a little bit of resistance, everyone began marching their way through the Emerald Forest, though Touma winced from his healed wounds as it was still tender from the treatment, with Oriana occasionally dispatching a Grimm with all sorts of attacks that made her look more like a witch than huntsman whether it was with fireballs, bolts of lightning or spears of earth, she seemed to have an answer for every situation. After several minutes of trudging through the forest, Awaki had returned with a smirk and a silent nod to Motoharu and the group continued their journey, eventually reaching a large and sleek airship that looked like a fish made out of wood and metal.
At the side of a ship there was a pale girl with blonde pigtails sitting on a rock and playing on her scroll while a bubble of pink grew out of her mouth. She looked no older than Ruby, yet her attire was something anyone would expect of a middle-aged person. A grey suit complete with a tie and leather shoes, what's weirder was that the outfit seemed a little loose on her as well.
"Etzali, c'mon let's get going," Motoharu called out and the girl perked up and zoomed right up to them.
"You guys finally made it~ I was getting scared, you know~," the girl exclaimed alarming team RWBY and Touma, and as her blue eyes fell on the latter, she smiled and hugged Touma's left arm as she sang, "You must be Touma right~? Tsuchi told me all about you and you are cuter than he makes it out to be~. Hey, hey, none of them are your girlfriend or anything, are they?" She nodded to team RWBY, all of them flabbergasted at the girl's perky behaviour while Touma blushed as he felt the softness of the girl glomping onto his arm. On top of that, the gentle smell of lavender assaulted his nose, this Etzali girl was definitely what you'd expect of an outgoing girl.
Despite that, Motoharu and Oriana were sniggering, while Stiyl completely ignored what was happening and entered the airship without another thought. Awaki sniffed in distaste and said, "Really, Etzali? You don't even swing that way."
Etzali pouted as she hugged Touma tighter and replied, "Well, I like him! And there is nothing you can do about it!"
"Yeah, yeah, speaking of which, you understand what this means, right?" Motoharu asked as he gestured at Touma and team RWBY. Etzali sighed and let go of Touma, much to the relief of everyone and folded her arms.
"You're no fun," she answered as she stepped back and reached for her face. What Touma and the girls didn't expect was when she grabbed onto her face and ripped off her skin, almost like paper. As she did, she grew in size, under her pale skin was brown skin, her blond hair was peeled off revealing a scruffy brown hair. Her body quickly changed from the feminine curves to a more rigid and masculine frame. Her suit was more form-fitting as she grew, after the metamorphosis, she was revealed to be more masculine than ever.
"Well… that was a lot of fun," 'she' or rather, he commented lightly in a masculine voice.
"What the fuck!?" Yang exclaimed and Ruby didn't bother to berate her sister as she was just as shocked, her eyes bulging out of her sockets. Weiss couldn't believe her own eyes as she witnessed a young man emerging out of a girl's body, it just didn't seem physically possible. Touma, however, looked like he had the soul sucked out of him, as he realised that the girl was completely fictional and Etzali could be anyone, that crept him out a little too much.
"You never get tired of doing that, don't you?" Oriana asked rhetorically as Etzali just shrugged with a smirk and followed her into the ship.
"Alright, alright, the show's over, get inside," Motoharu herded team RWBY and Touma into the ship and as he climbed in and placed the weapons away, the ship began to hum into life, closing its doors and taking off from the grassy meadow. Weiss noticed that her weapon along with her team's and Touma's was gathered in one corner of the hold with Oriana and Awaki watching over them while Stiyl and Etzali had already disappeared into the cockpit
As team RWBY and Touma sat at the back, side by side, Motoharu swaggered towards them with a lopsided grin and asked, "Comfortable?" He was met with five pairs of glares.
"Alright, alright, you asked for an explanation and I came to deliver," he said as he held up his hands in surrender but the students of Beacon didn't lower their glare and he chuckled sheepishly. "How about we let the past be the past and start anew, yeah?"
"Why should we?" Weiss sniped venomously, "You kidnapped us and even shot Touma."
"Point taken," Motoharu conceded with a sigh as he knelt down with a shake of his head, "But let me ask you this, would you have come willingly with me if I hadn't shot Touma?"
After several seconds of silence, Ruby ducked her head and muttered, "I don't know."
"Well, that is no longer my concern. What concerns me, is what is going to happen next," Motoharu stated as his grin faded away, "And you are going to have to trust me, whether you like it or not. Because your survival depends on it."
Yang snorted and rolled her eyes as she muttered, "What? So you could shoot us as well?"
Motoharu sighed and replied, "No, but I'm sure you understand what Mistral is." He was met with more silence, but that did little to deter him, "I'll tell you what, I'm going to give you a rundown of what the mission is, then you can decide to either get locked up or help me deal with the problem, yeah?"
Deciding that the silence was the go-ahead for his quick briefing, "I'm sure you all heard about this 'quarantine' the Mistral Council has declared in the city." Weiss narrowed her eyes as she had heard about it on the news, but there was something strange with what Motoharu implied underneath.
"I don't see how it concerns Touma, or yourself," Weiss replied, "Last time I checked, these kinds of issues don't fall under the purview of huntsmen at all."
"Right you are!" Motoharu agreed with gusto, "Unfortunately, that is just, well… propaganda, what lies underneath it is why I am in need of Kami-yan." Touma and team RWBY stared at him, distrust danced in their eyes but they waited for Motoharu to continue his story. He grinned and said, "Instead of diseases, we have a particular type of Grimm that had made it past the walls and into one of the 'quarantined' districts.
"I could give you a rundown of what we suspect the Grimm to be, but we got someone back at home way better than I am at explaining it. What I can tell you though, is that this nasty Grimm is not something that can be taken on conventionally, therefore we require an…" Motoharu then turned his gaze to Touma as his grin grew wider, "...unconventional method to take it down. So, Kami-yan, I'm sure you understand what this means because we have Grimm in the city. Just a couple of million lives resting on your shoulders… no pressure."
"...a couple of million lives!? With Grimm in the city!?" Weiss repeated in shock.
"We… we can't let that happen, right guys?" Ruby asked, sure she didn't trust Motoharu with anything right now, but as far as she could see it, there was no point in him to lie to them right now.
However, Blake disagreed with her leader, "I find that hard to believe Mistral City would have a security breach from Grimm. For all we know, he could be lying," she stated as she glared at Motoharu, but his grin didn't falter at all as he kept his focus on the other male in this meeting.
"Well, lucky for me, your opinion isn't the one that I need. Kami-yan, will you help me eliminate that Grimm?" the blonde boy asked.
Touma's gaze remained on Motoharu as he considered what he said. He had no reason to trust him, especially since the blonde boy had shot him and even considered to shoot him again. However, he couldn't ignore the fact that there might be Grimm inside Mistral City, a place he was unfamiliar with, but it had people who had no business in fighting Grimm themselves. He knew Motoharu was a strong huntsman and he had no doubt that his colleagues and friends were just as good, but if they came to him for help to protect their city, then he would do it.
"Fine… but I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing this for the people," Touma stressed the last part. After all, this was the right thing to do, eliminate the Grimm to make sure the city and people were safe.
"Me too!" Ruby blurted out, drawing the attention of everyone.
"Rubes?" Yang poked, her eyes wide as she tried to figure out why Touma or her sister would agree to this. Her partner and Weiss also seemed to share the same thoughts as they stared at the two with raised eyebrows.
"If there are people in danger, then it's our duty as huntsmen to help," Ruby declared as she turned to her team, her silver eyes were brimming with determination and her fists clenched, "And Touma's right, we're not going to be doing this for Motoharu, but for the people of Mistral City."
"But can you believe this guy?" Yang asked as she jabbed her cuffed hands at Motoharu's way, "He shot Touma, how do we know he isn't just making it up and getting us killed?"
Ruby shook her head and replied earnestly as she stared into her sister's eyes, "It doesn't matter, if it's to get rid of Grimm to help people, then I'm going to help Touma do it."
"Hmmm, well… I'm not going to say no to having an extra hand in this operation," Motoharu chimed in as he rubbed his chin, "But… if you want to help, then both of you will follow my orders to the letter, okay? Do that and I'll make sure you'll stay alive."
Touma and Ruby glanced at each other, they both decided that they were doing this to help those who needed it and they turned to Motoharu with a firm nod. Motoharu's shades glinted as he motioned to their hands to which, they held it out.
As Motoharu unlocked their cuffs, they immediately rubbed their wrists as the blonde boy said, "Good, I'm not going to put you at risk if I can help it, but no promises, 'kay?"
"I'll help too," Blake chimed in as she held out her hands, but Motoharu simply turned to her with a raised eyebrow.
"Blake, wah?" Yang sputtered in disbelief.
"... Ruby and Touma's right, whether we trust him or not is irrelevant. If there are people that are in need of our protection, we should provide it," Blake elaborated, but she kept her focus on Motoharu.
"Oh? That's your only reason?" he asked, almost as if he was challenging her. She didn't answer, but her eyes seemed to flash in response and Motoharu shrugged as he reached for the cuffs, "Well, I'm sure you'll get what you want."
Yang's eyes darted between her three uncuffed friends, her mouth opening and closing as if she was trying to churn out words until she heard another voice chimed in, "Me too, I'll help, same reasons as Ruby and Touma."
Yang turned to Weiss, completely not expecting the prim and proper Weiss Schnee willing to work with someone like Motoharu, "Ruby is our leader and she, along with Touma, has put forth a very important point. She stated the reasons already and she has proven herself," Weiss answered the unspoken question.
Ruby looked at Weiss with a smile and cooed, "Aww, Weiss, you are the best friend-" Ruby started.
Weiss, however, continued on as if she hadn't been interrupted by her partner, "Once you get over her reckless, dim-witted and childish behaviour."
"I'll still take it as a compliment," Ruby said as she sat back with a satisfied grin, earning a chuckle from Touma and Blake.
Yang sighed, hanging her head and held out her hands as she muttered, "Fine… geeze, what kind of sister and friend would I be if I'm the only one who doesn't do it? I'll help."
"Oh?" Motoharu raised an eyebrow as he just finished uncuffing the young Schnee.
Ruby hugged her sister with a big grin, "Yes! This is going to be the best!"
"I'll help," Yang reiterated as she shook a little from her sister's weight. Motoharu snorted but reached for her cuffs regardless, "But I'm watching you, I'm only doing this because of my team and Touma, you try anything on them, you'll answer to me."
Motoharu smirked, his sunglasses glinting as he clicked the cuffs open and stood up, stretching his neck as he replied, "I wouldn't expect any less from you. Anyways, you guys might want to get comfortable, it's gonna be a fairly long trip to Mistral City."
Death was not a concept foreign to Roman, in fact, he would argue that he was quite intimate with it, having murdered men and women both directly and indirectly. Despite that, he was strict about who he killed and who he didn't kill, he was a professional and he didn't see the point in killing anyone without an expedient reason to. Tonight, unfortunately, was different as he glanced down at a female Faunus corpse in the slums of Mistral City, cigar hanging loosely from his lips. The body was barely illuminated by the flickering light above and Roman produced a small torch as he grumbled under his breath.
It wasn't uncommon to have missing or dead Faunus littering the slum streets every once in a while and the cause of death was usually something simple as getting shot or stabbed, starved to death or some kind of disease as the government mostly turned a blind eye or that they were an unfortunate victim of a Kihara experiment. However, this corpse was very different and even Roman found it borderline unnerving and he didn't even need the light to know how unusual it was.
The woman, probably around her mid-thirties if Roman had to guess, was pale and rigid, her face petrified into an abject state of fear. Her eyes were wide open and glossy, with tear tracks running from them through her cheeks. Her mouth revealed her yellowing teeth and as he tapped on her hands, they were rock solid as if they were frozen in place in an attempt to defend herself in her very last moments and even after she had died, her rabbit ears were just as frozen still on top of her head. It was a strange corpse, despite the dirty appearance of her rags and greasy stains on her skin, she was fairly healthy for the most part, but her petrification into this state was completely abnormal.
"Seriously… death by cardiac arrest?" Roman murmured as he shook his head and clicked the torch away.
"It was not the first victim we've found in this state," Sister Agnese said from behind him as she knelt down and clasped her hands. Her whispers of prayer filled his ears as he stood up and waited for the nun to finish her duty.
While he would rather not waste time for them to start a prayer and take away the body every time they found one, they were his benefactors and he could tolerate it for a time. Besides, this was a crucial part of their operation, he needed as much information as he could get and knowing the White Fang, there are just some tasks that he would rather handle himself to make sure things were going as smoothly as possible.
As Sister Agnese stood up and nodded, a few Faunus entered wearing white and gold with the necklace of the Church hanging from their necks as they began to take away the body, no doubt for whatever ritual that they plan to do.
Roman stepped in and asked, "So that makes it, what? The sixth victim by a heart attack?"
"Yes, and the total deaths of Faunus is rising far too fast," she replied distastefully, "This Grimm is vile and the Government has yet to make any moves apart from this 'quarantine' that sealed us off." She then scoffed and folded her arms as she surveyed the area around them, just run-down buildings and grimey places surrounded them, a stark contrast to the pristine condition of the holy areas, "We've been trying to harbour refuge for the Faunus, but even then…"
"Huh… I would think your church would have the resources for that," Roman muttered as he extinguished his cigar under his foot.
Sister Agnese's lips hardened to a line, though Roman could imagine that her eyes behind her mask were anything but annoyed or angered look, "The Church in the city is the main branch, our Cathedral houses most of our followers which is outside the city… speaking of which, we have another team heading from there to help us out?"
"Oh?"
"I assure you, they are as competent as us and will be an asset," the Faunus nun said.
Roman shrugged but didn't complain, at least the Church had the assertiveness to bring in more resources and he would never complain about having some extra resources at hand. That said, the Church was far more effective than Adam's Loyalists, he had been provided with all sorts of assets such as maps, reports and various other documents in order to help him get an understanding of the city, Lien to undertake the operations and of course, a lot of Faunus willing to work with him, despite their misgivings of him and Neo.
Despite the abundance of assets at his fingertips, he had dispatched Neo to scout out the city and the Church as he followed the old adage, 'better safe than sorry' and his long-time partner was the best at doing that.
Roman leaned on his Melodic Cudgel and asked, "So, what can you tell me about them?"
"The team? From what the heads have told me, young and inexperienced… but highly talented. The Church intends them to be placed into anti-Grimm teams to protect Faunus settlements," Sister Agnese explained before she sighed and glanced at the poorly lit alleyway her fellow nuns and priest had disappeared with the body, "But with all the recent abnormal deaths… They are planning to throw any Priest and Nun that could fight the Grimm here or at the Cathedral."
"...I see," Roman nodded and strolled towards the alleyway with Sister Agnese following closely. He had more or less expected this, with the 'quarantine' placed by the government, it was to be expected that the Church would use their own forces to ensure the safety of their charges. Considering how they hired him, increased their patrols and even had their combatants armed during those patrols, they were desperate.
It could be both a good and bad thing, but this was something he could use. However, until Neo was ready to tell him everything he needed to know, he would simply have to work with what he has for the time being.
"Hmm… that won't get anywhere with solving our problem," Roman said, almost disdainfully as his eyes focussed on Sister Agnese, who spotted his smirk and snarled in response, "But I have an idea. I'll need… all reports of every casualty, Faunus and human, most importantly… their location and time of death… if possible."
"...Fine, I'll see what I can get," Sister Agnese bit out, but Roman highly doubted she could, regardless it wouldn't hurt to try and Neo could still verify things for him if need be.
"Good, you guys are already a major upgrade compared to our associates in Vale, now… what of the Kihara's? Are they coming to the meeting?" Roman asked, but he was met with silence and he craned his neck over to see Sister Agnese's head slightly bowed.
"... They won't be coming… at least not officially," She answered softly, almost forcing Roman to lean in to catch it.
"...Explain."
"Well, all Kihara's that the government and the church have reached out to all declined our invitations to the meeting," she said before sighing and strolled past Roman, allowing him to follow, "We expected that to be honest, but… one of the Kihara's had responded to the government's call through… covert means and said that he would participate in our meeting as himself, not a representative of the Kihara's."
Roman rubbed his chin as he thought of all the individual Kihara's he knew, but as far as he could see, he could not identify who as all he heard were either rumours or stories and if he didn't know any better, each Kihara was more or less the same as each other. "And tell me, dear, who might this… Kihara be?"
"We-"
Suddenly, an ear-splitting scream shattered the relative silence of the street, Sister Agnese snapped her head towards the sound and without a single word, dashed towards the source and Roman could only mutter, "Oh for crying out loud!" and dashed after her. The two of them dashed to the source, bypassing onlookers that stared at the direction they were heading.
"Sisters! Brothers! We have an incident at the Old Wilkin's District, around the South West of the Market Square, bring every available person there, now!" Sister Agnese commanded into her scroll and clicked it away. Roman snorted as he almost decided to call Neo as well, but there was no way she could make it on time.
As they approached the estimated location of the scream, the streets seemed more shadowy as fewer people were wandering about to see what was going on, until they reached a street where it was completely deserted. There were a couple of lights still operational at the very least, but Roman knew that whatever was going on warranted caution. Roman and Sister Agnese could only sense two things, strange unintelligible noises and a stench, that would make anybody's stomach turn.
Roman frowned as he followed the nun, who peeked around the corner before stepping back and pressed her back against the wall. He added two and two together, he slid next to her only giving her a stare before raising his Melodic Cudgel. Sister Agnese nodded and crept around the corner as she twirled her staff at the ready, with Roman close behind.
The two were greeted with a sight that reminded Roman of those horror flicks, and if it wasn't for the fact that blood was splattered across the walls and ground as well as a couple of bodies lying motionless on the ground, he would be laughing at the cliche. Instead, his free hand quickly covered his nose at the foul smell, almost completely disgusted by the whole thing. It made the body they found earlier seem so tame compared to the scene before them. Even without a closer look at the bodies, he could see the corpses had blades sticking through their torso
What concerned the two more was the clothes the bodies were wearing, white and gold robes completely stained in red. Sister Agnese gasped lightly, her grip on her staff tightening as she dashed to the bodies and fell to her knees as she immediately began checking the bodies. Roman followed, more alert with his weapon raised just in case, but apart from the smell, he couldn't see anything but shadows of litter and abandoned crates.
However, in his line of work, he knew that carelessness was a quick way back to the slammer or in this case, in a coffin. Sister Agnese's actions didn't inspire a lot of confidence and normally, he would cut his losses and run, but the consequences were not something he wanted to face and even with this Covenant Grimm, he had a good feeling he could handle the situation.
After a few minutes of keeping an eye out, Roman's ears picked up footsteps from one of the alleyways and a curtain of white and gold, illuminated from the light, came rushing forward with their weapons raised. As soon as they saw Sister Agnese, they lowered their weapons as they surveyed the area as they murmured in shock of how bloody the scene was.
"All of you," Sister Agnese announced as she stood up, her head still bowed down over the body but everyone could hear her, "Please, give them their rites and send them to their last resting place." Each masked priest and nun wordlessly looked at each other before they moved into action over their fallen comrades and quietly begun their prayers.
The short Faunus turned to Roman and nodded her head, away from the scene and he returned it, the two of them stepped out of earshot from the working White Fang and without wasting time, Roman remarked, "I'd honestly thought you would be more upset by this… you know, what with the dead priests and all that." Sister Agnese's lips curled to a snarl as her head turned to him and Roman held up his hand in defence, "Sorry, sorry. So… What is it?"
"...They had their hands on the blade," Sister Agnese hissed.
"Come again?" he asked, perplexed with that information.
"Their hands were on the blades, like as if they stabbed themselves," she clarified, "It's likely, they committed suicide."
Roman peeked at the scene and the White Fang had already begun to wrap the bodies in a white linen cloth, in preparation for taking them away, "... How can you be so sure?" It wasn't like he was sceptical of her claim, but he was cautious, that's how he survived this business after all.
"Because those blades are standard issue used by the Inquisitors," the Faunus replied, "Every combatant is issued a standard sword or mace as they are charged with protecting each and every Faunus."
"Hmmm… and what of you, dear? Your staff is anything but 'standard issue'," Roman pointed out as he gestured his cane to her staff.
"Every leader of a group is granted their own personal effects as it is the symbol of their group," Sister Agnese answered as she tilted her head upward, "My staff was granted to me after years of serving the Church, and her Holiness has deemed me worthy to lead a group to serve and protect."
"Wonderful," Roman muttered under his breath, "Getting to the point at hand, you mentioned they killed themselves, yes? How is this relevant? Because if I were to stick around in this dumpster of a place, I would kill myself too."
Sister Agnese clicked her tongue in disgust and replied, "Because the Covenant's way of killing may be different from most Grimm, but those men and women we found all fit their methods."
"... So you're saying… that they… scared them to death?" Roman asked, his voice riddled with a threat to laugh at the incredulity of the situation, "That doesn't explain your buddies shanking themselves, dear."
Sister Agnese grimaced as she turned away and headed back to the scene, just as her colleagues began vacating the area, "We don't have an explanation, but this wasn't the first time we have seen Faunus suiciding when the Covenant is around."
"Circumstantial at best, huh?" Roman muttered as he fished his pockets for another cigar, this was going to be a long night.
"Gah!" Touma flinched as Blake poked the bandages, quickly grabbing over the irritated part, "I know you're worried, but is that necessary?"
Blake sat back, her eyes still fixed on Touma as he shifted himself to sit comfortably again, "Just making sure they treated you properly."
"I got shot before you know, it isn't as bad as it looks," Touma joked with a chuckle that quickly died down as he noticed her glare.
Blake sighed as she shook her head and muttered, "I'm sorry, you don't deserve the blame, if anything, we should've surrendered earlier-"
Touma waved his hand dismissively and replied with a small smile, "It's my fault, if I avoided getting caught, none of this would've happened."
"It's not like we expected them in the first place," Blake countered, her eyes still on the bandages, "If anything, they probably have planned this."
"Yeah, guess, that's just my luck right?" Touma asked rhetorically with a shrug.
"Still, why agree to help them?" Blake asked, "You know they can't be trusted."
Touma's smile fell as he leaned back and the hum of the airship filled the silence, Blake didn't mind the wait, after all, it wasn't like they could go anywhere as their weapons were confiscated. While there was certainly an issue of trust in this ship, her team had more or less grew somewhat resigned with their position after Yang failed to reach out to anyone with her scroll.
Out of the corner of her eye, Blake could see Ruby and Yang leaning against each other while napping, whereas Weiss sat nearby and kept an owlish stare at their 'kidnappers'. As for said, kidnappers, three of them were huddled together, speaking in hushed whispers but even her ears couldn't pick up what Motoharu and the two women were talking about.
"...I know, it might sound far-fetched, but the moment Motoharu said that they needed help, I decided I will," Touma answered, drawing Blakes attention back to him, "I mean, you're right, it's hard to trust him right now, but what else would he do with me?"
"I don't know," Blake conceded but she shook her head and continued, "But for all we know, he could be trying to use your Semblance for his own gains."
"Then why would he come to talk to me?" Touma replied, "I mean, yeah, he shot me, I doubt anyone would trust him if he shot them, but if he said lives were on the line, who am I to say 'no'?"
"It would make you normal," the black-haired girl replied quietly, "there was virtually no reason to go along with this at all."
Touma turned his attention to Motoharu's group, his face completely neutral as he replied, "But this isn't about being normal, this is about protecting those we can. We're huntsmen, right? Isn't it our duty to protect those that can't fight against those dangers?"
Blake pursed her lips at Touma's question. He was right that huntsmen were supposed to protect the public from the Grimm threat and she even intended to become one partly for those reasons in addition to how she would be viewed as an individual. Even then, Motoharu's actions were difficult to come to terms with, even when she knew that Touma had worked with him, there was just something about the whole situation that felt unnatural.
"I mean, huntsmen were never normal in the first place, so I'm just going to have to roll with it and if it were an all big trick that he made up… I'll cross that bridge when we get there," Touma reasoned with a nod to himself.
"... You and Ruby are somewhat alike," Blake remarked as she glanced at her slumbering leader, her team had basically interrogated Ruby about her decision to join Motoharu, "She almost said the same thing as you."
"Yeah… had a feeling that would be the case," Touma chuckled lightly as he turned back to her, "Besides, didn't you join us as well? You said it's about saving people too."
"I did, but I wasn't completely telling the truth," Blake admitted as she avoided his glance, "I joined so that in case it was a trap, I can help you, better than to be cuffed all the way. You two needed someone to watch your backs."
"Yeah, I've figured that might've been one of your reasons," a familiar voice chimed in, by none other than Motoharu as he knelt down beside them with a grin, "Regardless of your reasons, glad to have you onboard."
Both Touma and Blake glared at him, but he held up his hands as he continued, "Hey now! Let the past be the past and finish the job, yeah? I'll tell you what, we finish this mission, you can do whatever you want after that, no strings attached." The two of them didn't say anything at all, but he grinned and said, "Great! Now, we're nearing the City, but there are a few things I need to talk to you about."
He turned his attention to Blake as he held out a small bag in front of him, "I'm sure you know this already, but your team would be a very attractive find for… the less than 'nice' people of Mistral. Hell, you even ran into one at Vale, didn't you?"
Blake wordlessly took the bag and quickly opened it to reveal a black flat cap and a pair of sunglasses. "Disguises, right?" she asked.
"Mhmm, I mean, think about it, the Schnee is an obvious target and if you think about it, you are too, Blake" Motoharu said and jerked a thumb at Weiss who was already talking to Oriana, "And Oriana's habit of bringing a decent closet of disguises everywhere came in handy this time."
"Why?" Touma asked, a little confused at the whole thing.
"... Because there are those that either want us dead or used for their own means," Blake answered neutrally as she inspected their gear closely. "You remember the assassin sent after me, weeks back?"
Touma nodded as he remembered the time, he fought off the assassin and treated Blake's wounds, in some ways, he just happened to be there at the right time when he found her.
"Kami-yan, Mistral city isn't a nice place compared to Vale. There are those that would take someone like the Schnee for money, her…" he jerked his head towards Blake, "for their messed up sense of justice and even those sisters would make… great prostitutes for the kingpins in the undercity."
Touma eyes hardened in disgust at the suggestions Motoharu made, while he knew Mistral City has its own share of criminals, it sounded far darker compared to Vale, "So these disguises are… to protect them?"
"Oh, not necessarily, I'm sure they can handle a few thugs and low-life pieces of scum, but this is to prevent unnecessary attention that we don't need," Motoharu replied brightly, "But precautions like this never hurt."
"...I see," Blake muttered curtly.
"Good, we should be arriving soon, you'll have your weapons back soon enough," Motoharu announced as he stood up and sauntered off back to his group.
Blake stared after the huntsman before she turned to Touma who was wearing a frown while in thought, almost very uncharacteristic of the boy. "Is something the matter?"
"I don't know, that just felt off," Touma muttered as he looked up.
Blake raised an eyebrow and replied, "He always felt off."
Touma shook his head and said, "No, look. I know him more than you and… well, I just have this feeling that he is hiding something more from us…"
She frowned in confusion, as far as she was concerned, Motoharu had never been straight with her or her team ever since they met. Granted that this whole mission was shady in the first place, for Touma to openly voice how off Motoharu was in this instance was certainly worth noting.
"Alright, I get that you've worked with him before, but what do you mean by that?" Blake asked.
"... Remember my first mission a couple of weeks back?" Touma returned to which she nodded as she remembered how he was stuck in bed as a result of that mission.
"The one where you rescued hostages from rogue huntsman?" Blake recalled the story he had told them. Touma weakly laughed as he scratched his head and her eyes widened at the reaction as if something had just dawned on her, "That wasn't the true story, was it?"
Touma flinched from her half-accusatory tone as she pointed at him with her shades, "Sorry, Motoharu asked me to 'hide' as much as I could from you guys. Said he didn't want information leaking because it would create a mess or something."
Blake pursed her lips, it wasn't like she could call Touma out for something like that. In fact, she was hiding the fact that she was a former member of the White Fang from her own team and she could understand the potential need for secrecy depending on what he was subjected to, but she couldn't help but feel a little annoyed that he had to either lie or omit the truth for whatever reason.
"It's okay, I understand but next time, just be honest and say that he won't allow you to tell us anything," she said gently with a sigh and he grunted in agreement, "So, this mission, what did he do?"
"Well the mission was a security detail mission, officially," he said quietly as he glanced at Motoharu's group. Blake leaned in, her ears twitching inside the cap to pick up what he was whispering about, "Unofficially, the client was actually the target for Motoharu and Winter. I thought we were working for him because he was the head of an organisation that builds cheap but reliable defensive systems for settlements.
"But…They didn't tell me that he was using children as weapons against Grimm, using stuff like experimentation and all… He told me after I finished the mission, by then I sort of knew what was going on when Motoharu went missing," Touma finished.
"Wow… experimenting on children? And he didn't tell you that…" Blake peeked at Motoharu, suspicion clouding her eyes as this could be far more unsettling than she first thought.
"Yeah, and if it's the same as last time… I don't want to think that he is hiding something from us, but it's just weird on why he would give you disguises," Touma muttered before scratching his head, almost irritably, "Arrghh, whatever. I guess we'll have to worry about that later, I'm more worried about that Grimm in the city."
"That's… also, something that worries me," Blake mentioned turning to him, "What kind of Grimm does it have to be that they would need you, out of all people… no offence."
"Uhh… none taken, and… well," he held up his right hand, "I can take out any Grimm with just a touch."
"That's not what I'm worried about, Touma," she rebutted, "Weiss mentioned it to me while you were getting checked out by them, she said that she couldn't imagine what kind of Grimm it has to be for them to call you. It's just fishy."
"What kind of Grimm…" Touma trailed off with a small frown, "Uhh… I don't know… don't really pay attention in Grimm Studies."
Blake would've snorted if it weren't for their dire situation, but she silently agreed that whatever forced Motoharu to kidnap him and by extension, her team, was clearly an adversary that might be out of their league.
A/N: Ah... Finally we hit to the beginnings of this arc. Hey, who knows, everyone might come out unscathed, right?
