Welcome to Ch 40 of TPA
The first sign that something was wrong appeared on Wednesday. Some people came to Vale from surrounding villages, reporting that they couldn't make contact with their families. Not many people paid much attention to it at first, saying it was probably a temporary network failure. But when more and more reports started to come in, and from many different villages, some of citizens of Vale started recalling the tragedy of Spring Valley. There wasn't any panic yet, people were more curious that scared, but everyone knew that something must have happened.
On Thursday, around three p.m, the first Atlesian ships showed u[ at Vale's borders. Five ships carried a contigment of fifty soldiers and two hundred Atlesian Knights, lead by General Ironwood himself. Of course, the sudden arrival of such force instantly grabbed everyone's attention. One hour after the ships docked at Beacon's air docks, the press conference was organized. Both General Ironwood and Headmaster Ozpin were present to answer questions. They assured that no, this was not an invasion, and yes, the arrival of Atlas forces was planned beforehand. Atlas had come on the direct invitation from Vale's council as added security for the Vytal Festival. No, it's not a sign of the Council not trusting Ozpin to be able to handle protecting the event. Yes, the recent spike in criminal activity was one of the determining factors in making this decision.
Jaune, unlike almost every other student in Beacon, didn't care about the interview, the Atlesian soldiers that took their residence in Beacon, or any of high-tech equipment they brought with them. To every student's delight, classes were suspended, so everyone took the chance to take a look a representative of the world's strongest military.
Jaune and his friends, used this opportunity to prepare. For what, he wasn't sure, only that it would be something bad. Very, very bad. This morning, just before classes, he saw Leon leaving Ozpin's office. He went to say hi to his old teacher. The older man shot him a single glance, and spoke only two words before marching off towards the air docks.
Those words were, "Get ready." Jaune didn't ask for details - judging by his looks, Leon had just recently come back from a job. And was immediately heading for another. Given the latest rumors, and what Leon told him earlier about his investigation, Jaune had a pretty good idea what he was supposed to be preparing for.
So, ever since morning, both JNPR and RWBY had been preparing. Ruby and Pyrrha went to the armory to run checks on their equipment. Ren stayed with Jaune, to help him with Elixirs. The rest of them went to Vale to stock up on Dust, ammo, and anything they though they might need.
Jaune sighed, retrieving a half full bottle of dark-red liquid. He inspected it for a moment, then put it in his Elixir box. Fourteen Healing Enhancers for his friends. Weaker than what he usually used himself, but he wanted to minimize the chance of side effects. Four… Owls, as Nora demanded they be called. Three strengthened Healing Enhancers for himself. Five Heart Enhancers. Four Dawns and two Dusks.
Will it be enough? He had no idea.
Probably not, if what he feared was true. A hand landed on his shoulder, and he looked up at his friend. Ren sent him a reassuring smile and nodded once. Jaune nodded back, and stretched out. He'd spent nearly five hours making not only Elixirs, but also salves and simple Dust bombs. Just as he wondered what to do, the doors to classroom they'd adopted as their 'base' opened and two people walked in.
"This is all we managed to get." Said Yang, placing a paper bag next to him. Jaune nodded and took out its contents. Several types of herbs and Dust. Not much, but he should be able to make a few more Elixirs.
Without a word, Ren started preparing the aperture.
"Need help with this?" Asked Nora, looking over his shoulder. Jaune shook his head.
"No, I got it. But I think Ren could use some help with cleaning those vials."
Nora nodded and marched off. Everyone in the room was busy with their own thing, preparing for the incoming storm. Each one of them asking the same questions. When will it hit? And how hard?
'Soon', and 'very hard' were the correct answers.
It was Friday afternoon, when 'the video' was published on several of the most popular news sites - just some festival in some frontier village. It was perfectly normal thing, such festivals happened all the time, so not many people paid too much attention to it.
That is until the celebration turned into scene from some cheap horror movie. One moment there was a dancing, cheering crowd, the next, over three fourths of the people on screen started convulsing and screaming as if they were being skinned alive. Not even one minute later, they died, and then rose again, as black, deformed monsters. Hordes of ghouls didn't waste a second in tearing into the disoriented and frightened crowd.
Soon after, several humanoid figures appeared, each in full armor, with ornate helmets covering their faces. A few remaining survivors rushed to the newly arrived, looking for salvation.
They found only death, at the tips of their swords and spears.
Soon after, the camera started shaking, there was a pained scream, and the video ended.
It was taken down after just half an hour, but it was already too late. Too many people had seen it, some of them downloaded it and were publishing on the private side. Tension was skyrocketing, everyone was demanding answers.
Then the CCT went down, and after a few moments, every scroll, telephone, and Tv started broadcasting the same message. First, the familiar image of the red head of snarling beast appeared. Then the face of a lion Faunus, dressed in similar armor as the people from the first video appeared.
"Humans!" he roared. "Too long have you plagued this word with your cursed existence. Too long have you oppressed the one, true children of this word. But no more! The time of your reckoning has come! Soon, your cities will fall, and you will be judged for your crimes!" He slammed an armored fist into his chest and grinned viciously. "We are Knights of the Fang! We are sword of justice that will strike down the wicked! Prepare yourselves, for there will be no mercy."
After that the transmission ended. Soon after, recordings of more attacks started to show up.
When the sirens sounded, and his scroll started ringing, Jaune couldn't help but to recall Spring Valley. The same day of the week, roughly the same hour. Coincidence? Almost certainly.
But it didn't stop the cold shiver that ran down his spine when he boarded the bullhead.
Jaune slammed on his bed, not even bothering to change. He was just too tired. And not only him, just about anyone with Aura and at least half decent combat skills had participated in the effort to stop whatever the White Fang was planning. No one called it a war yet, but it certainly felt like one.
Despite their bold proclamation two days ago, the White Fang did not strike at Vale directly. It became apparent that they simply didn't have enough manpower to do that.
Yet.
So far, they'd resorted to attacking surrounding villages, forcing Vale to spread its forces thin. No one knew where the Faunus would hit next, so they had to react to every sign of a threat. Most of them turned out to be false alarms - but the few teams that did encountered enemy come back ragged and heavily wounded. The White Fang 'knights' proved to be formidable opponents, at least for younger students. At first, Ozpin refuse to send anyone from first or second year into the field, but it quickly became apparent that he would have to. So far only the best teams from younger years were allowed to participate in the more dangerous mission, the rest of the student body was working as support.
Jaune groaned, flexing his blackened hand. Another problem were Harrowed. Several villages were completely turned, and to the shock of many, the White Fang used freshly created Ghouls to attack surrounding villages. No one knew how they controlled the Harrowed, but it meant a lot of work for Witchers.
"How are you feeling?" Asked Pyrrha, eyeing his hand with concern.
Jaune shrugged.
"Been better. But I can keep going, at least for a say or two, before it gets really bad. If I get a good night's sleep, it would probably go away, but…" he trailed off and shrugged.
Pyrrha sighed, and sat down on her bed. They all knew that rest was something none of them would get in the foreseeable future. Jaune pulled his scroll out, and started idly browsing the news. Most were the same as the previous day - people panicking and looking for someone to blame for all of this. So far it seemed votes were spread evenly between the Council, the White Fang specifically, and the Faunus in general.
Though there were a few articles suggesting it was all just a plot by Ozpin to take over the Council.
It was a load of crap of course, written by someone who had no idea what they were talking about, but at least Jaune got a good laugh out of it.
The doors to the room opened, and Nora and Ren walked in, carrying trays of food. They ate in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.
"So, what do you think? What is their plan?" Asked Nora finally.
After the initial shock passed, everyone started asking themselves what the White Fang's ultimate goal was. No one believed that they would use so many resources just to attack a few, not very important villages. The day after the first attacks were reported, Ironwood made a public statement, informing the people of Vale that terrorists' origin plan was to destroy several large farms surrounding Vale. It was a sound plan, seeing as Vale was responsible for the majority of the world's food production. Thankfully, the unexpected arrival of Atlas forces threw a wrench into terrorists' plan. Now they were just lashing out, trying to do as much damage as they could.
Most of Vale's population was happy to accept this explanation, along with the promise of more reinforcements from Atlas being on the way.
Those involved in the operation directly knew it is just a load of crap.
The White Fang attacks were too precise, too well coordinated. There were a few skirmishes, nothing serious enough to be called a battle yet, but the Faunus terrorist were probing their defences almost non stop. Their raiding parties were hitting the least defended positions, focusing on doing as much damage as possible and then retreating. At first, those in command were surprised and happy about low number of deaths, but the reason why Fang didn't kill people become apparent very quickly.
More people left alive in a raided village, meant more negativity. More negativity meant more Grimm. More survivors meant they needed more men and means of transportation to get them to safety. As refugee camps grew, so did the amount of resources they needed to keep them secure.. Not only that, these attacks were like the best birthday present for every anti-faunus organization in Vale. So far only a few minor incidents had occurred, but tensions were high.
The whole of Vale was a powder keg waiting to explode.
"I think there is some merit to what General Ironwood said earlier. Their main target had to be the farms, since destroying them would have the biggest impact not only on Vale, but other kingdoms as well. Atlas appearing so suddenly must have forced them to change plans." Said Ren.
"You think it will blow over, like people are saying?" asked Pyrrha. Raven haired boy shook his head.
"I doubt it will be that easy. I doubt they would prepare an operation like that without some countermeasures." He paused for a moment before continuing. "I think they will try to deal as much damage as possible. Increase human-faunus hatred as much as they can."
"Wouldn't that be contrary to their goals? They want a better life for Faunus right?" asked Nora.
Jaune just snorted.
"They don't give two shits about your average Faunus. What they want, is domination. And possibly revenge. Bloody revenge. The more discrimination there is, the better for them."
The hammer wielder looked at him confused.
"How so?"
"The more discrimination there is, the more angry the Faunus become. The angrier they are, the easier they are to recruit. " Said Pyrrha. She turned to Ren. "You think that is their goal? To get more recruits, and then hit again when they are stronger?"
Ren shrugged.
"Possibly. Their initial plan didn't work, so they might be settling for the second best."
Jaune hummed, but didn't comment. Ren's idea was good, but he wasn't convinced. Based on what he learned from Leon, in the short conversation that definitely never happened, the White Fang was planning to hit the Vytal festival. And that was a much bigger target than a few villages. Even if they did manage to successfully destroy a few farms, it wouldn't have as big of a impact. So why do it? Spend resources on something like that? Not only that, they lost the element of surprise. The only reason they managed to cause so much damage is because they caught Vale off guard. But there was simply too big a difference in the resources available for the White Fang to achieve any meaningful victory here. And that's not even counting the reinforcements that were coming from Atlas.
The White Fang had to know this. So why pull something like that? Even if they managed to increase hatred towards Faunus, a successful attack on the Vytal Festival would give them much better results. Why give up on that?
Unless they didn't. This whole operation might have been a distraction from something else. Ozpin apparently thought the same, since he kept several teams of Hunters in Vale at all times, despite Council pressure to send them all in the field.
"So, what do you think Jaune?" Asked Pyrrha. The blond boy sighed and shot her a tired look.
"I think that we all should catch some shut eye while we can. Trying to figure the Fang's plans will get us nowhere."
His partner chuckled and collapsed on her bed.
"As you command, sir."
They all chuckled, and relaxed, enjoying a much deserved rest. It lasted for only two minutes, and was violently interrupted by energetic knocking on the door. Jaune groaned, pushed himself up, and shuffled towards the door with the enthusiasm and grace of a zombie.
"Coming, coming." He muttered when the knocking didn't stop. "I swear, if this is another of your pranks, Yang, I will…" he paused when after opening the door, when he meet with silver, and very serious eyes, instead of lilac and teasing.
"We are getting deployed. There is village that might be attacked soon." Said Ruby.
Jaune sighed. He could hear his team slowly getting up.
"Got it. Let's go."
"Welcome to my humble laboratory, miss Fall."
Cinder smiled and nodded to the older man. Normally, she wouldn't bother coming personally, but this… Alchemist always intrigued her.
Plus, his company was much better than the alternative. She oh so wished she could burn Torchwick to the ashes, but unfortunately, both him, and his little minion still had their uses.
"I must say, I didn't expect you to come over personally. I could have sent you a report on your scroll." He said, leading her down a sizable hall. On both sides, rows of incubators sat, each filled with a greenish liquid. She could see dark shapes inside. Most of them retained their original form, save for the size. Some… well they didn't need to look pretty to do their job.
"I'm aware. But I find your research… fascinating. So, when you told me you perfected the procedure, I simply had to see results with my own eyes."
The older man looked back at her with pleased surprise.
"Miss Fall." He said after a moment. "You have no idea how much that means to me." They eventually stopped in front of a reinforced metal door. The Alchemist taped the keypad next to them a few times, and with his heavy door slowly opened.
The room behind them was mostly empty, save for a few computers, a single desk, and a sizable glass tube, similar to the one outside.
"Is this it?" Cinder asked, a hint of excitement slipping into her voice.
"Yes. The culmination of my research. The first, perfect specimen."
She walked closer and stared at the dark form surrounded by liquid. It was humanoid in shape, and a massive tail she could see revealed him as lizard Faunus. Part of his head was deformed, probably the remains of the wound that killed him. There were several stitches over his body, suggesting heavy damage. But beside that, there was little to no difference between the man in the tube, and the one on the photo next to it.
Besides his eyes. They were half closed, but Cinder could see that they shown with an eldritch, greenish light.
"Is he stable?"
"Completely. He also retains most of his memories from before the transformation. He is sentient, and capable of communication, and much less prone to violent outburst."
The Alchemist walked beside her, a proud expression on his face.
"How do you like it?"
She smiled.
"It's magnificent. How fast can you prepare the laboratory to mass produce them?"
He grinned.
"I already have. The first batch should be ready soon. I also took the liberty of securing suitable transportation to Vale."
Cinder's grin grew even further. Trully, the Alchemist was proving his worth time and time again. Why hadn't she thought of recruiting him sooner?
"I know you are a busy woman, madam." He said, pulling bottle of wine and two glasses. "But would you care for a little toast?"
She idly noted the label on the bottle. Mistralina Sun, her favorite. She smiled coyly, accepting one of the glasses.
"I would love to. And if you could tell me more about your research, I would be most delighted."
Truly, this man was her best investment so far.
So, we closing in on the grand finale. Cinder's plan is coming along, Master has perfected his Harrowed-creation, and things are not looking up for Jaune and his friends.
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See you all next week.