Beta: Dark Whisper
The Fall Project
War
The Siege of Mistral
Milo stared at the fading light of the starry sky as the sun crept it's way over the horizon, marking the dawn of a new day. It was a peaceful morning, with a virtually cloudless day of early spring. The gentle air flowing against his wings felt chilling as he soared ever onward, a few dozen feet above the treeline.
Suppressing the growing anxiety in his chest, he angled himself downward and dove below the forest ceiling, immediately pulling his wings taught and dodging the oncoming pillars of wood at breakneck speeds. Upon reaching a small clearing, he somersaulted forward and slid to a stop, coming within a few inches of several painful-looking thorn bushes.
The taunting sound of slow clapping came from behind him, and he rolled his eyes in annoyance as he turned toward the source of his disdain. Sitting down on a fallen log was the grey-haired menace known as Mercury Black.
"It's about time you showed up," the twisted young man tested.
"Let's just get this over with," Milo grumbled.
Mercury was the kind of man that Milo would've hunted down if he still worked for Atlas. Apparently, the young man had already garnered a reputation in the ranks of the White Fang as a cruel individual. He disliked Milo, mostly due to jealousy of all the attention he so easily attained.
Milo could feel the corruption in his aura. Mercury was a malevolent creature that held profound darkness in his heart, guaranteeing he would eventually get himself into more trouble than he could handle, whether it be by Milo's own blades or someone else's.
As for the others in the clearing, it was less clear. Emerald, leaning against a nearby tree trunk, was only doing any of this because she was promised a life of wealth and prosperity. Her strong instinct of self-preservation would likely force her to bolt if the slightest thing were to go wrong with the White Fang. She seemed indifferent toward him, and he was just fine with that.
Adam Taurus absolutely, positively, hates Milo. The man believed that skirting the boundary of friend and foe was beyond cowardly. To extend the matter, he thought Milo's methods were extreme and too often went at odds with the goals of the White Fang. Then again, Adam seemed to hate just about anyone that even slightly differs from his perspective, so Milo paid no heed to the bull faunus' opinion. That didn't stop him from taunting the man, of course...
The White Fang leader breathed deep, pushing all his qualms aside. "We are ready. Do you have any new information?"
"Well for one, you idiots are too late for an easy operation. They've organized a street-to-street defense that rivals Atlesian military doctrine," Milo explained. "Getting through on foot won't likely work in your favor, even with the Grimm backing you up."
"They don't have enough air defenses for what we're bringing," Mercury laughed. "We'll dive in at the center of the city while the borders are distracted and break through one of their lines. The chaos after that will leave the city in shambles."
"We took them by storm before and we'll do so again," Adam declared. "Even with only a small portion of our forces, the city should fall quickly enough. What of your teams?" he questioned. "You promised information, now it's time to deliver."
Milo thought for a moment, choosing his words carefully. "There are three leaders, two of which are barely combative but rather strategic. Each team has a fighter, a defensive specialist, a fast-moving striker, and a tactician," he explained. "Jaune is forcing everyone to stay close together, which makes them a force to be reckoned with."
"I'm not fighting blondie again. She hits like a truck," Mercury blurted.
"Perhaps we should simply avoid them," Adam considered. "Anything else?" he asked, but Milo shook his head.
"Nothing..." the red-haired man hesitated. "Nothing about Blake?"
"That depends. What, exactly, is your interest in her?" Milo teased, chuckling to himself as he earned yet another hateful glare. "She's doing just fine, last time I checked. Although I noticed she seemed rather distracted. Would I be correct in assuming that you two have recently spoken?"
Adam frowned, giving him a harsh glare. "That's none of your concern."
"Everything is my concern," the avian declared, condescendingly shaking his head. "If you can't keep yourself away from Blake, then maybe you should relax for a minute and let go of this ridiculous 'down with the humans' campaign and go talk to her."
"You of all people should know what crimes humans are capable of," Adam hissed.
"I won't judge millions because of the actions of a few," Milo countered, his teeth clenched.
"Yet you would condemn anyone for the sake of a mere handful of stupid teens!" the man shouted.
Milo's golden eyes flared. "You don't know anything about me. I do have my own goals, and they are far more important than 'a handful of stupid teens,' as you say."
A moment of silence passed before the young avian recollected himself. "Are we done here?" he asked.
"We are," Adam answered.
"Stay alive," Milo said, but the bull faunus laughed.
"I won't be fighting today. I need to be in Atlas tomorrow to plan the offensive against Ironwood," he announced.
"What? That doesn't make sense," the avian said with confusion. "You trust your lieutenants to get the job done?"
The man let out a slight chuckle. "Perhaps we are simply 'testing the waters.'"
Rather than question him further, the avian scowled at him and took flight with a beat of his stretched wings.
Milo sighed, releasing the tension in his shoulders as he made his way through the forest once again, trying to alleviate the growing stress before he returned to Mistral. A sudden movement in the corner of his eye caused his heart to lurch in fear, and he snapped into action.
He dove on the figure hiding below, his hand moving in a blur as he snatched the white collar of a very small woman and pulled hard. His other hand instinctively drew one of his swords as he lifted her off the ground and pinned her against the tree, tip of the blade aimed for her throat.
Neo let out a soundless gasp, desperately holding out her hands to stop him. He blinked in surprise once he realized who it was that had been spying on him.
He reared back, poised to strike. The woman's multi-colored eyes went wide and she redoubled her efforts, kicking and clawing at his arm in an attempt to get free.
Milo knew he couldn't hurt her. He sheathed his weapon and gripped her collar tight so she couldn't run off or teleport away.
"Neo, I need you to stop and listen," he hissed.
She ignored him, tugging at his arms. The way she panicked, thrashing about in a frenzy, told him that she knew. She saw him talking to Adam and his cronies, and she heard him share information with them.
"Listen! I made a deal with Adam to protect our friends. I give him little bits of information every now and then, and they don't get targeted," Milo explained. "If they know I did this, they'll never trust me again, but I had to, Neo. I had to protect them at any cost! Understand?"
Neo gulped, her eyes wide with fear as she tried to squirm out of his powerful grip. He knelt down, putting their eyes at equal level.
"Calm down. I'm not going to hurt you," he reassured. "I just need you to promise me you won't tell anyone, okay?"
Slowly, she nodded.
"You promise?" he warned, the harsh grip making her wince in pain.
She nodded her head again and mouthed 'promise.'
"Thank you," he said, letting her go and standing up. "Now get back to Mistral," he ordered before taking flight once again.
Neo stood, trembling as she tried to catch her breath and process what she had seen.
Milo was aiding the enemy. But just how much did he reveal?
On a day with crystal clear skies and a silent breeze, the White Fang made their move.
Jaune was nervous, but not worried. He had spent months planning for this, making certain that everyone was prepared for anything the radical group could throw at them. He studied past attacks, analyzed their varied patterns and tools utilized in each attack.
Using that data, he created a system of defense that should be sufficient. With aid from Winter Schnee, he had the Mistral military conduct drills to practice his strategic placement of weapons and ordinance, and managed to keep his overall plan a secret.
Dozens of weapon stations littered the cityscape, all pointed outward for the sole purpose of shooting down anything that comes in their path. Each emplacement was supported by two military squads and a pair of seasoned huntsmen, along with supplies being run by the city firefighters and Academy trainees.
The 'inner ring,' as Jaune described it, was guarded by full teams of Huntsmen and Huntresses, where most of the White fang were expected to land. The city's center was to house the hiding populace and be guarded by the overwhelmingly large number of Academy trainees and staff members. Should the White Fang come close to breaking into the center shelters, the Huntsmen were to close in from the outer rings and capture as many as they could.
The young leader asked Professor Ozpin to relay his instructions to the Huntsmen, saying they were supposed to overwhelm the white fang before they had a chance to break through the military lines from behind. Once the White Fang is defeated, then the Huntsmen are supposed to turn their focus to the city walls and reinforce it against the Grimm.
With all his plans finally in place, he waited until the scouts reported that the radical faunus' forces vacated their base in the east while the Grimm surged. Once he got word, Jaune went straight to the spot he had discussed with the Spring Maiden a few weeks before; on one of the high balconies of Haven Academy.
He wasn't sure what he expected when he met the woman, and was a bit surprised to see an average height blonde-haired, blue-eyed, middle aged woman with an air of formality about her. She was obviously tired of being kept away from contact for so long, having little more than Rey as company. As a result, when Jaune asked her to aid in the protection of Mistral, she was more than eager to comply.
She and Rey were waiting for him when he made it to the balcony with Pyrrha acting as his shadow. Even from their high position he could hear the frantic noise of a city in motion, feeling pride in the fact that they were prepared this time around.
"Are you ready?" he asked the Maiden, hoping she would be able to pull off the seemingly impossible task he'd given her. At least he thought it was impossible. If magic was real then he would have to seriously rethink a large number of his strategies.
She nodded eagerly, the three of them watched in awe as she cupped her hands together and blew into her closed hand. Tiny sparks of light started to spill over as her hands filled with a glowing fluid energy, then she threw it into the air, casting it toward the skies. Jaune felt something that made the hair on his arms stand on end and was nearly thrown off his feet when a rising wind blew fiercely upward.
Lightning crackled high above as dark, rolling clouds billowed outward from nothing. After mere seconds, the sunlit sky was darkened by thick clouds, heavy rainfall pouring down along with stunning gusts of wind that tore them in all directions.
As the thick droplets of rain started to soak deep into his clothing, Jaune silently prayed that his plan would work. If he failed, the consequences would be devastating.
Yang was carrying a large crate of dust when she first saw the enemy aircraft peek over the horizon. At first it looked like nothing more than a flock of nevermores; a cloud of tiny black specks approaching slowly from the distance.
As they neared, however, she looked more closely and could see the warping shimmer of heat around each one, a telltale byproduct of the crystalized propellant they used as fuel. She moved quicker, picking up a large machine gun and slinging it over her shoulder to run it to the specific position she was told.
When she eventually reached the spot, she handed the large weapon off to two Mistral military personnel, who quickly finished setting up the emplacement. They took their places behind the gun, one of them operating the weapon while the other steadied the belt of ammunition that fed into the side.
As Yang watched the bullheads came closer and closer, a nervous anticipation grew in her belly. The young blonde's concerns shifted to her friends as she turned to run back toward the center of the city. She sincerely hoped Jaune's plan would work.
Yang ran through the abandoned streets of Mistral when lightning suddenly cracked across the sky, nearly making the young woman trip in surprise. Her eyes widened as a dark cloud billowed out from above the center of the academy, growing into a raging storm within seconds. The tearing winds and heavy rain felt like icy needles pricking her skin.
Shielding her eyes from the downpour with a raised arm, she looked up at the sky just as another flash of lightning arced outward. The bolt lanced through many of the White Fang's bullheads, causing brilliant flashes of white followed by several balls of fire descending from the skies.
The buildings around her shuddered as a powerful gust of wind curved down, forcing her to brace herself on a nearby railing to keep from being blown over. The bullhead fleet of the White Fang had no chance against the fearsome gale, with many of the aircraft dropping from the sky in uncontrolled freefall.
Yang was shocked by the sudden turn in the obviously unnatural weather, marveling at the absolutely stunning amount of dust that must've been used to localize a storm over the city.
The shriek of twisting metal punished her ears, making her cringe as a bone-jarring crash tore the warehouse to her right to pieces, a large bullhead coming to an abrupt stop beneath the shattered building. Yang whistled, amused by what was essentially a close call.
Her smile disappeared, however, when the rubble began to shift. A side hatch of the bullhead flew open, held up by a masked young man gritting his teeth to combat the strain.
"Go, go, go!" he ordered, pushing more than a dozen masked White Fang soldiers out of the small craft.
The young brawler was about to charge in and start knocking heads, but remembered the instructions Jaune had given everyone. She was told to try and avoid fighting them outright, give them every chance to put their weapons down and surrender. He said it would help all of us if we show mercy.
After a few moments of deliberation, Yang agreed to follow his instructions. While she liked to fight, spurning unnecessary hatred was no way to end the war.
"Drop your weapons and surrender," she demanded, readying her gauntlets and raising her fists in defense. "No one needs to get hurt."
Ignoring her, they brandished their weapons and charged forward. Yang met their charge with her own, but slid at the last moment to trip the first few attackers.
When she rose to her feet she was surrounded, but as the attacks came Yang simply swept them aside or dodged out of the way with ease. It felt strange, as if the insurgents were moving much slower than they should be.
She used that to her advantage, quickly incapacitating one soldier after another with precise jabs and punches. Somewhere along the way she got lost in the fighting, letting her mind drift as her instincts fought for her.
There were others who arrived; a huntsman or two that Yang noticed taking down a few stragglers at a time in the chaos.
When the last White Fang member fell to the ground with a pained yelp, she came swiftly back to reality. She glanced around her feet at the dozen groaning soldiers, her eyebrows raised in surprise and her lips slowly curling into a prideful smile.
"That was some fast moving," a familiar woman's voice announced. "Good to see that new arm of yours is working well."
Yang turned with a half-cocked grin, mildly surprised to see the woman from the blacksmith shop smiling back at her. The woman who infuriatingly interrupted her kiss with Milo! The red-eyed huntress stabbed the tip of her large sword into the ground and leaned against the hilt, completely ignoring the glare she received from the brawler. Behind the woman, a Samurai-looking huntsman was tying up the unconscious attackers.
"Thanks, uh..." Yang started, quickly realizing she didn't fully remember the woman's name. "Reyna!" she finally blurted, earning a light-hearted giggle.
"You might wanna work on making less of a mess," the Huntress suggested, pointing at the blonde's clothes.
Yang's grin faded as she looked down, letting out a sound of disgust when she saw what mess she was referring to. Her entire body was littered with splotches and clumps of mud and dirt from sliding around on the ground during the fight.
"You better get going," Reyna winked. "Your boyfriend will be worried if you wait any longer."
The blonde sneered at the older woman. "Oh, he hardly ever worries about me," she said dismissively.
"I wouldn't be so sure," she stated, a hint of knowing in her voice. "I think he worries about you plenty."
Yang turned, shocked that this woman would know anything about him, let alone Milo's interest in her. "What are you suggesting?"
"That you should look for him, go! Go!" the woman insisted, waving Yang onward.
She said farewell before she set into a jog once again, contemplating Reyna's words. She knew that Milo did worry about her from time to time, but how would Reyna know that?
The distant crackle of gunfire was very distracting, and although she knew it came from the edge of the city's limits it made her quicken her pace anyway.
A minute or so later another powerful downdraft chilled her to the bone, making her shiver as she heard another, much smaller crash behind her. She stopped and turned around, sighing in irritation from yet another interruption.
Struggling to stay airborne and cursing up a storm of his own was Milo, who was being tossed around by the powerful elements. One particularly strong gust caught his open wings, making Yang flinch as he was remorselessly thrown head first into the side of a building. She considered running over to help break his fall, but stopped when he deftly twisted mid air and managed to land safely.
"Having a little trouble?" she teased, but had to suppress the urge to check his head for any wounds.
"Oh ha-ha," he joked, rubbing his throbbing head. "I wish Jaune gave me a little warning before unleashing some kind of insane super-storm!" Still grumbling to himself, he grabbed her sleeve and pulled her under a nearby awning to shield them from the heavy rain.
"You think Jaune's behind this?" she questioned, holding a hand out to feel the cold rainfall.
"Absolutely," he responded. "The timing was flawless. The Bullheads came in and were all knocked down in less than a minute."
"Maybe we just got lucky," she shrugged, lifting an eyebrow as Milo raised one of his wings and shook it violently. "What are you doing?"
Groaning in irritation, he held the wing outstretched in her direction. "Feel," he ordered.
The young blonde sheepishly extended a hand, brushing her fingers against the dulled golden feathers. Rather than the warm and comfortable softness she had come to admire, she nearly recoiled when she felt heavy dampness permeating every layer. Withdrawing her now-soaked hand, she shook the warm liquid off.
"They soak up water like a sponge," he declared with clear frustration. "No matter what I do I can't get rid of it and flying is completely impossible with how heavy they get."
"That does seem problematic," she jested.
He glared harmlessly in her direction before refocusing on drying his wings. "In any case, we need to find Jaune. If all the White Fang came at us with was a handful of Bullheads and some Grimm, then I think it's safe to assume that this isn't over."
"What do you mean?" she asked, aiding him by raking her fingers through his feathers to loosen some of the water.
"I have to talk to him. This was a pretty small attack, and I think they might be just testing the defenses. Something else at work, whether it's here or elsewhere."
"Then I suppose we should get moving," Yang urged. "Jaune is at the academy, but it looks like you're going to have to walk."
Milo shrugged. "It's not like I have much of a choice."
They both made their way slowly toward the center of the city, doing their best to ignore the slowing rainfall. They spoke only about the battle, until Yang remembered what the blacksmith's daughter told her.
"So when did you talk to Reyna?" she questioned. "She helped me with a few insurgents not too long ago and said you were worried about me."
"Did she now?" he chuckled. "I wonder where she got that idea."
"Well you had to have said something," Yang implied. "And how did it just so happen that she was the one to run into me? Sounds a little too convenient if you ask me."
The young man lifted his hands in guilty surrender, "Alright, you caught me. I wanted someone to keep an eye on you once things started, just to be on the safe side."
"I can handle myself!" she shouted, "I don't need a babysitter, I'm almost eighteen and you put me through hell just to be a better fighter," she said, nudging his arm.
"You're welcome," he replied smugly.
"And while I admit that the training was extremely helpful," she continued. "It was still a huge pain."
"Oh, don't be such a sissy."
"Says the man who was complaining about how 'his poor wings are getting heavy' because of a little drizzle!" she countered.
He held a hand to his heart in mock pain. "Your words... They hurt!"
The two of them shared a laugh as they neared Haven Academy.
Ozpin stood at the top of the Mistral Communications Tower, an eerie grin plastered on his face despite the battle being waged outside. His gaze followed one individual; a Mister Jaune Arc, who dashed from console to console to answer the raised hands of the Haven students currently working as communications operators.
The young man set up the system himself. Just inside of each five-hundred foot section of defenses, there sat a small 'evaluation center' as Jaune had described them. These points relayed information from the squads below to the Mistral CCT and vice versa. This allowed the commander, in this case Jaune himself, to know anything and everything that was happening on the battlefield at a given time, ensuring that he could respond to problems extremely quickly.
What had Ozpin smiling, however, was the fact that it seemed as though Jaune had already found his position as a military General. He moved quickly around the room, answering questions and asking a few of his own every so often, and before long he had earned the cooperation of everyone in the room.
The work of leadership was too much for any one man of course, but with his acting 'lieutenants', Winter Schnee, Cadence Claret, and to Ozpin's neverending surprise, Cardin Winchester, responding to issues became much more manageable.
"I've just received word that the prison has been overrun," one operator suddenly informed Winter. "Mercury Black led a small team that caused a breakout."
The young Atlesian commander considered her options for a moment before shaking her head and turning to the young leader. "Jaune, the Grimm are keeping my men too busy. Any unnecessary movement could be catastrophic."
He thought for a moment, then looked at Cardin. "Have CFVY move from the south and take on the prison along with two squads. That should be enough."
Cardin couldn't help but express his concern. "But if Mercury tries to hold the prison-"
"Mercury is an honorless coward. He won't stay at the prison," Jaune interrupted.
Ozpin's attention was diverted when the elevator door hissed open, gazing questioningly as Milo and Yang strode in. Moments later, they were halted by Pyrrha. A short, seemingly tense exchange followed, with the young woman eventually pointing them in the direction of the Headmaster.
Ozpin caught the tail end of an argument as the pair approached.
"I told you, I'm over it," he said.
"Then why were you so short with her?" Yang questioned.
The young man rolled his eyes. "She was wasting our time. Should have said 'Jaune's busy talk to Oz instead' rather than try to turn us around."
"That's no reason to get hostile toward someone."
"We'll talk about it later," he concluded, turning to speak the the Headmaster.
"Hello Miss Xiao Long, Mister Aurelius," the old huntsman greeted. "How might I be of assistance?" he asked with a pleased smile.
"I need to inform Jaune that this attack is being carried out by only a small portion the the White Fang forces, and that the rest have moved north."
Ozpin paused, frowning for a moment. "How did you glean this information?"
"I saw them on my scouting mission,' he replied.
The Headmaster thought for a moment, considering the young man's words. "Do you think they are simply waiting to attack again?"
He shook his head. "They were packed for a long trip."
"Then... this attack on Mistral is likely a distraction."
"My thoughts exactly," the avian nodded.
"What are you talking about?" Yang interjected. "You mean to tell me that this wasn't a real attack?"
"I'm saying that most of them left while only a portion attacked here," Milo explained. "If the rest are joining up with another force and moving north while we're holed up here with most of the huntsmen in the eastern hemisphere..."
"Then Atlas will be at risk," Ozpin finished with a concerned expression. "I'll think on this. You two get back to your teams." Milo gave him a stark nod before spinning around and urging Yang back to the lift.
This new information was rather distressing. With the White Fang's intentions so unclear, especially with this new tactic of deception, battling them in the future will be incredibly difficult.
Once this battle ends, there will be little time to deliberate on what to do next.
Mercury shoved one last bit of brush aside as he broke through the dense forest, catching his breath from the long run. He glanced back, counting the remaining three troops of his unit. His jaw dropped when he saw that two of the escaped convicts managed to keep up with him and his troops. Both were wolf faunus with blood red eyes, panting from the strain of sprinting to catch up to Mercury.
"You have our gratitude for freeing us, human," one of them said with a toothy grin. "We shall pay this forward, I swear it."
"Freedom, at last!" the other happily exclaimed. "Free to hunt once again!"
"No problem," Mercury shrugged.
"I am Cerberus, and this is Fenrir," the eldest brother declared. "I sense you have a certain disposition for violence..."
Another hungry grin.
"How would you like to join our hunt?"
The young criminal couldn't help but smile back.
"So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes."
-Ephesians 4:14