(AN: The semesters have started up once again, so I'll be squeezing chapters between classwork, lab work, and work work. Thank you for your patience and I will keep continuing to do my best on this story.)
"Just for the record, I hate this," I said quietly as I leaned back in my seat.
"I dig this," Liya said, not at all sounding excited, rather just mildly excited.
"...I...hate this," Winter said. I didn't blame her as I looked over to where we were heading.
The three of us stood outside the Schnee Manor, which was just as massive as it was in the show. The massive driveway surrounded three large pillars holding up the Schnee snowflakes, and the sight of large Roman style buildings with pillars all over greeted us as we pulled up to the massive manor.
Winter Schnee, Liya Eyla, and I were inside a large limousine on the way to this Schnee Dust Company hosted event. Winter wore a fancy white ball gown that only went down to her ankles, unlike those other over the top dresses that tended to go past the feet. She wore white slippers and stockings. The dress was tight around the waist thanks to a snow white sash tied neatly with a bow as the knot on the side.
I wore a simple gray suit and tie, and my hair was combed as neatly as I could think it was possible, by Winter of all people. I had black dress shoes as well, and I left my belt in the dormitory guest room Liya and I had been assigned back to Atlas Academy, mainly to avoid having Jacques Schnee attempt anything to get his hands on it.
Liya wore a dress sort of similar to the white one Yang wore in the original dance back in Volume 2, except it was black and much less flowy. The skirt was tighter and fit seamlessly to showcase Liya's thighs and hips while still being loose enough to move around in. She also kept her mask on, and kept her hair tied up the way she normally does. Despite Winter's "suggestions" - more like insistences - to dress more formally to show our seriousness, Liya and I would collectively say "Nah" every time.
We exited the limousine as a trio, with Winter between the two of us. Many rich couples and their kids - around our age or a few years younger - were already entering, all with the stature of how those extremely snooty characters tended to be in television shows.
"I'm dreading this," I mumbled. "I don't like parties like these."
"If you're worried about being treated over your Faunus status, you need not worry," Winter quickly assured. "No one is stupid enough to speak up over a few physical animalistic traits."
"But they will judge. Stare and talk," I said. I'm all too experienced over that kind of stuff growing up back...back at home, and it sucked. And I was talking about home as in where I came from. I shook down the feelings of longing and depression and sighed. "Just bringing back memories."
"Just follow my lead," Winter said. "And follow your lessons."
We'd gone through lessons such as how to stand, how to dance if there was such a thing at this party, what silverware to expect for dinner, where to set them on the table, the order of which utensils to use for each course, how to greet people, how to start up conversations with rich people, and so much more. It was hard to concentrate in the first place due to being out of recovery so soon as well. I won't go over the details of everything that happened, mainly because thinking about it again made me feel sick.
The three of us entered the building, where we were greeted by a well dressed bouncer with sunglasses and an earpiece. He let us in no issue when Winter Schnee gave her name and business, and I was able to see the massive grand staircase, flanked by two large suits of armor that looked like the Arma Gigas. There were couples and groups of well dressed people here and there, alongside several Faunus butlers serving drinks and little fancy snacks.
"What now?" Liya asked.
"Mingle. There will be people willing to ask you about the Breach," Winter said. "So be kind and answer any questions they may have."
Indeed, a few people noticed and recognized us, and decided to come over. "If you'll excuse me, I have some other business to attend to," Winter said.
She left, leaving Liya and I to be intercepted by several guests, all willing to talk about the Breach, mainly disguised questions over concern of the city, as well as overloaded compliments about how well Beacon fought, and if they could support us in any way.
It was all fake, all they wanted was to look good in front of the other families, as well as gain favor and a good outlook among the rich. Liya knew this thanks to her family, and I knew this due to watching the show, as well as reading books. Still, we wore equally false smiles and answered back as best we could. It was well over fifteen minutes before a man in a suit himself came out of a room left of the staircase.
"Will all guests follow me to the dining room for our banquet?" he said. We all did so, having cut off any conversations to follow the man to the room. We entered to see a massive open room with several dozen circular tables each able to seat eight people. There were several fancy folded napkins, an ornate vase with flowers, as well as a massive Schnee snowflake logo on the tablecloths of the circular tables. There were chandeliers hanging around, and there was even a stage at the very end of the room with several classical instruments.
All of this was making me incredibly nervous, with all the expensive everything that surrounded me. How did Pyrrha handle this? Weiss was born into it, so I shouldn't be too surprised or incredulous over it. I only wish she were here - or if Winter stuck around - so I didn't feel so awkward. Liya didn't seem too awkward or nervous as I was. In fact, she seemed bored. She didn't like this life after all.
We sat down after being shown our table a minute later, alongside six others. Two of them were a couple chatting pleasantly, with one other being well dressed bodyguards allowed to attend with them. The fourth was an older suited blonde man with a stubble, and the fifth was an equally blonde boy - likely his son - a few years younger than I am. He sat next to me on the right, and Liya sat on my left.
The sixth was...someone I'd never expected to see so soon. Robyn Hill herself sat across from me at the table, holding an equally "as bored as Yang would bein this situation" expression on her face. She was wearing a simple green dress without much in the form of decoration as well. I guess she was still a politician at this time. I wondered when she decided to form the band known as the Happy Huntresses.
Then the owner of the Schnee Dust Company came over. Like in the original show, he had the snooty behavior of a billionaire businessman with that stupid looking mustache and overly expensive suit. "Thank you all for coming," he said in a voice of grandeur. "I'm sure we're all heartbroken by the vicious and monstrous attack on Vale from the White Fang. Which is why I took the time and money to set up this event."
"Ugh," Robyn and Liya muttered at the same time. I snorted in quiet amusement, disguising my snort as a cough behind a closed fist.
"Your funds will inevitably serve a greater purpose to help the less fortunate in Vale, as well as repair any and all damages that this terrorist action has created! Thanks to you all, we will be able to raise 28.2 million Lien for the repairs to the city, as well as the complete and proper sealing of the tunnels between Vale and Mountain Glenn, ensuring that the White Fang may never use them again!" Jacques Schnee said.
"Not like they'll use it again," I thought to myself, thoughts of Beacon and the entire city of Vale falling to the hands of the White Fang, the Grimm, and Cinder Fall herself. "Not on my watch," I added to my afterthoughts.
"Now that we are all here, we may now introduce our guests of honor!" Jacques said, snapping his fingers. The lights went off, and a spotlight from one of the chandeliers - how the hell does that work? - shone down atop me and Liya. "Liya Eyla and Markus Onissa from Beacon are fighters and survivors of the Breach. Huntsmen who fought alongside the mighty Atlesian military to protect the civilians. We are all honored to have them here, are we not?"
We received meaningless applause and mutterings of "congratulations" and "well done" from around us. The only one not applauding who wasn't Liya and me was Robyn, who simply looked at us with interest.
"Now that that is done, let us continue our event. Miss Eyla and Mister Onissa would have the chance to say a few words before we have our twelve course dinner," Jacques said, clapping his hands. The lights didn't come back on, and I realized that we'd have to speak.
Standing up, I cleared my throat and avoided looking around at the expecting eyes. I was never good with public speaking, so I made things simple. "I appreciate the contributions you have all made for the sake of Vale and its people," I said nervously, though barely managing to hide it behind an attempted stone cold expression. "It means a great deal that you'd be willing to donate so much to help us, and something like this won't be forgotten."
Liya stood up and we both bowed. We were hit with applause, and we sat down as the lights came back on. Liya removed her mask and I looked at her. "Seriously? Didn't say a word," I said, a bit petty over her letting me have the spotlight.
"You didn't say much. Besides, you had things under control," Liya said, rolling her eyes. The kitchen doors opened at the end of the room, revealing several butlers wheeling in carts of appetizers, mainly the Hors d'oeuvres course. We were given a rundown of all the courses that we would be expecting.
It was a small fancy basket of small crab cakes drizzled in a spicy and savory sauce. Specifically five small crab cakes stacked in a tiny pyramid atop a small bed of lettuce. While not filling at all, they looked incredibly delicious, and they tasted so as well. They were bite sized, only about two inches in diameter and a few centimeters tall. I ate four before wrapping the fifth in the lettuce and consuming that.
The second course was an Amuse-bouche, a small piece of salmon wrapping around some avocado, which seemed a bit tame. Delicious, nonetheless. Next was a small bowl of sweet onion soup, this time a bit bigger than the last two courses. And it tasted nice enough to eat slowly.
"Fancy foods are nice and all, but I don't like how the money in this event goes to helping the 'people' first of all things," the boy next to me said. He sounded much older yet more spoiled than I thought someone of his age could sound. "It should go to the governments and the repairs of businesses in order to keep more money flowing for more repairs in the long run."
"The kingdom needs people. Not economy or infrastructure," I said. I knew I'd caught Robyn's attention the way her spoon froze in her soup. "Businesses need people to work in them. Money needs people to spend it. Repairs on the tunnels prevents any more tragedies like this."
"But nobody died," the boy said back at me. I held back the my tongue from making the remark that three soldiers died in the event.
"And we won't take the chance of the tunnels being the cause of people dying if they're used a second time. There's Grimm overflowing down there, right under our homes," Liya chimed in.
"And there was still plenty of property damage," I added. "Not that that's more important than the tunnel situation, but it's still important for many people. The safety of the citizens come first, no matter the kingdom."
"I suppose you have a point," the boy said after a minute of consideration. The soup coruse was completed, and the next course, the appetizer, came in. It consisted of a small cut steak atop a soft and fluffy bed of mashed potatoes, and surrounded by roasted greens. This course was particularly larger than the other courses, but I savored it slowly nonetheless. I didn't understand why these dinners were so precariously long, since it made all the lessons on rich people dinner etiquette all the more difficult to handle.
After eating that admittedly "better than the steaks in Vale" steak and meal, we got to our fifth course, a small fruit and chicken salad with a dressing that I'd never heard of, much less tasted. It was nice and sweet, but the sixth course, the light fish dish was even more so. A grilled garlic and lemon filet served alongside some greens added a bit more to our stomachs.
Course number seven was the first main course, a fileted chicken breast glazed in a savory and sweet honey seasoned sauce with fried potato cubes. Liya ate this particularly faster than I did, and I couldn't blame her. According to her, this kind of glazed chicken was incredibly rare due to the glaze recipe being incredibly hard to perfect due to it requiring certain aged ingredients.
The eighth course was somewhat of an intermission, a sweet light wine that I butchered in drinking. Mainly because I guzzled the whole thing in one go. Those at my table looked at me in shock, and I blushed nervously. The only ones who didn't look like I swallowed a canary and started tweeting like one was Liya who giggled, Robyn who smirked, and the couple's bodyguard who maintained a straight face.
The second main course was a few cuts of savory, juicy, and tender venison with creamed spinach and more mashed potatoes. Liya ate like a savage, apparently trying to one-up me on how we can further horrify these people. I just sighed and ate normally as the horrified gazes turned to my partner. It was amazing how rich people tended to get worked up over the littlest things.
The cheese course about twenty minutes later was a small platter of a dozen kinds of cheeses and crackers for each of us. Liya and I compared different cheeses and we eventually devolved into a lighthearted argument over which cheese was better. Robyn was actually grinning as she watched us act unlike everyone else at the party.
Dessert was a small ten flavored cake with coffee and dessert wine, and the last course, a Mignardise, was a flaky cheese puff with more dessert wine. Liya and I practically inhaled the last two courses in seconds of receiving them, much to Robyn's amusement and the clearly uncomfortable sight to the others.
Dinner had lasted a whole whopping two hours, and we were finally free to walk around as we were dismissed from the dining room. I didn't expect to feel full after that, but I'd gained a newfound appreciation for the many smaller courses on the menu tonight. I must've had thirty different kinds of food at that dinner.
Though, I'll always appreciate a good greasy burger now and then. Liya and I chatted for a while, among the dancing individuals, enjoying the calm atmosphere before we were approached by the big man, Jacques Schnee himself. "Ah, Mister Onissa, Mister Eyla," he greeted. "Welcome to the Schnee Manor."
"Thank you for having us. It's a lovely place," I said, not bothering to extend my hand to shake his offered one. He didn't seem to mind, likely passing off my apathy towards him as disdain for the SDC's Faunus treatment.
Not that it wasn't a partial reason. I didn't like him in the show after all, and I doubt he'd change here.
"Thank you," Jacques said as he shook Liya's hand. "I heard of what happened in Vale. Such a tragedy."
"No civilians died," Liya said.
"Which is a miracle and...quite the feat performed by the military of Atlas," Jacques continued, scowling a bit at the mention of the military, and by association: Ironwood. "I meant the fact that the White Fang would orchestrate the arrival of Grimm, as well as the damages that the crash and the Grimm caused."
"Ah," I said. "Yeah, that was really bad. But we persevered, even more so with what you're doing for us. You're a good person, Jacques."
I winced at my own words, and Liya gaped at me for a second. Jacques just laughed lightly. "I'm not a good person, I simply try to do what is best for the company and the people," he said. I was a bit confused at that, considering what he did in Volume 7.
Then again, the elections hadn't come up, so maybe his "need" for power hadn't quite gone up yet. "Well, I guess no one's truly a good person," I conceded, not acknowledging his addition of 'the people' in his statement. "We're all selfish in our own way."
"I won't deny that," Jacques said, laughing. "I understand you have a special type of weapon. An entire belt of neural Dust, to be precise. If I could be so forward as to ask you-"
"Sorry, but it's...personal to me," I said, easily stopping Jacques's request...or demand. "And dangerous to so many others. I'd rather not risk it."
"Well, surely you know the advantages to such an amount of Dust. One ounce...no, one speck of it is worth thousands," Jacques continued. "And you know the amount of people its mass production can help."
"I also know how dangerous it is. Not to mention it kinda got crammed with about six other kinds of Dust for an experiment by my friend back in Beacon. I doubt that's any sort of useful," I said.
"He said no," Liya said, hopping in to defend me. "And we were under strict orders by Ironwood to keep that weapon safe. It's just a precaution, I'm sure you can take it up with him if you're looking for permission."
Jacques scowled. He knew he wouldn't be able to convince the general, and that we wouldn't say yes as long as Ironwood said no. We would've said no regardless if Ironwood gave us permission, which he absolutely wouldn't.
Luckily, we were spared any more questioning from the owner of the Schnee Dust Company when Robyn Hill came up. "Excuse me, may I have a dance with the gentleman?" she asked.
"Of course," Jacques said graciously, accepting defeat - probably the one good thing he knew how to do - and backing off. No doubt he was planning another way to get his hands on my weapon. "Miss Eyla, Mister Onissa."
He walked off and I looked at Robyn. "What's up?" I asked.
"Nothing much," she said. "Just wanted to ask you about Ironwood."
She must've heard Liya mention Ironwood's orders, no doubt distrustful. If I recalled, Robyn and Ironwood had never seen eye to eye. "What about the general?"
"What is your relationship to him?" Robyn asked as she put one hand on my waist and another on my shoulder. "I heard that it was under his word that you come here, not an invitation by this gods forsaken company."
"Heh, you aren't wrong," I said as I began to dance with her, following the lead of the woman of similar height. It was clear she was always a take-charge person, not over personal pride or anything similar to such - but to her being a natural born leader in many things. "Ozpin recommended me to him due to some of my skill sets," I explained. "It's been a thing for a few months now."
Robyn frowned. "Then you should know how Ironwood's been doing things," she said. "Brand new weapons outside of Mantle. The airship armada is getting more and more weapons and craft. I saw massive turrets all over Atlas as well. Mantle is being placed under heavier guard, more of those damn Atlesian Knights."
She was also straightforward as well. Makes sense, politicians tended to beat around the bush. Maybe the lack of "to the pointedness" types of politicians pissed her off enough to become a vigilante.
"Yeah...there's a reason for that," I said, thinking about whether I should tell Robyn about everything planned. Given her semblance and my knowledge of Robyn in the future, it should be no issue convincing her what was to come.
The only issue was Ironwood. Unless...
"Typical. Ironwood holds two seats on the council," Robyn mumbled. "Of course he'd have any pull he wanted over military operations. He could declare martial law and not have to explain himself at all."
"You seem pent up," I muttered. She raised an eyebrow and I quickly amended my statement. "You seem stressed. Is it the politics? I can help you."
"What do you mean?" Robyn asked, a hand clasped around mine as we shifted dance moves like the other couples around. Her hands were soft and warm, which surprised me over the gritty combat she liked to do.
"I can talk to Ironwood, get him to be a bit more open. He'll understand," I said quickly. "I can't explain here, though."
Robyn awaited further explanation judging by her silence. "You care about Mantle, right? I have ways to get them involved, to have Atlas's power back off and focus on a greater threat. One I've seen all too well. The more trustworthy people who know, the better."
"And you promise you can get the general to see me?" Robyn asked.
"Yes. I know you want what's best," I said. "And I can help the general bring that."
Robyn narrowed her eyes as we continued to dance, and she sighed. "Alright. You've proven your honesty to me, kid."
"Honesty-" I was about to ask before looking down. I frowned upon seeing the green glow our hands had. "Wow."
"I'm not sorry," Robyn said cheekily, still holding my hand.
"Well...Ironwood should be coming back soon," I said. "I can convince him that you're trustworthy enough to tell you the plan. Provided you can keep a secret."
"Why?" Robyn asked. I just handed her my scroll with my information on it for her to copy down with my other hand, breaking up the dance.
"I need to explain with Ironwood around. It won't work otherwise. Text me at noon tomorrow," I said. Judging by how our hands stayed green, she was convinced: albeit reluctantly. We exchanged a few words, mainly Robyn making me promise not to go back on my word, which I promised I wouldn't. After the dancing was over a few minutes later, Liya walked over. "What'd she wanna talk about?" she asked.
"Just something over Ironwood coming back to Atlas tomorrow," I said. "I'll ask Winter if she's ready for us to leave."
"I am," Winter said. I turned and saw her walking down the stairs. "Preferably before my father decides to come back."
"Where were you?" I asked.
"Dealing with some...personal issues," Winter said. Likely Whitley or Willow. I didn't ask, and neither did Liya. We left the dance, our limousine pulling out of the driveway of the Schnee Manor before Jacques noticed we were gone, and went back to Atlas Academy. After a few more conversational topics with Liya, we decided to wash up for the night and go to bed.
Or...Liya did. The moment I got out of the showers, I'd asked Winter to use Atlas's design studio, which was mostly used for weapons. I told her about the call I made to Ironwood, and she agreed to supervise me as I planned what I was preparing to present: the Insight Helicarriers.
Like in the original Captain America movie they starred in, they had guns: a lot of guns. Like in the movie, they were 1,400 feet in length (or 426 meters) and carried eighteen triple cannons. I later modified them to have quad cannons, with six on each side of the large airship and six on the main deck. Slots for missile launchers and point defense guns were added, and I spent several hours, way into midnight, building up what I suspected the interior looked like.
Some differences I made involved removing the large sets of long ranged precision guns on the ventral hull of the design - opting to plug in a handful of point defense cannons as a versatile alternative. The massive glass bubble under the ship was removed to make the thing more streamlined.
Winter was a bit confused as I put all this together, and I said that I would explain in the upcoming meeting with General Ironwood tomorrow. I was doing some math as well, and I managed to find ways to fit at least 36 Manta dropships alongside 36 Bullhead dropships and 20 of those smaller Mantas - which I'm pretty sure are light fighters - atop the main flight deck and in the main hangar underneath the flight deck, with enough room on the diagonal aligned runway for other craft. Since none of the craft Atlas had were fighter jets that needed takeoff or landing runways, the extra space allowed me to cram more fighters and supplies into the design.
I would later make a note to include questions on whether conventional explosive or armor piercing shells were allowed. I'd made the six turreted quad barreled deck guns to be able to support 254mm - or 10 inch shells - with the broadside quad guns able to support 16.51mm - or 6.5 inch - shells. In the movie, the ship also came equipped with fourteen Phalanx CIWS guns: and considering I haven't seen any point defense system that relied on fast firing rotary cannons, I slipped in ten more slots for point defense guns.
Missile launchers were in the form of internal hull slots, where they were fired out of the ship's hull itself like Archer missiles from UNSC ships in Halo. After about four hours, I continued my progress on the extensive 3D model, adding far more detail such as electrical wiring, adding models of existing power sources, and barracks, rooms, storage, the bridge, fire control, and more. I got most of the interior completed, until I saw the time and decided to save my progress there.
Winter didn't ask me any questions when escorting me back. She bid me good night and closed the door as I hopped in my assigned bunk. I had no trouble falling asleep that night.
How could I when I had such an audacious plan in the making?
The next day, Ironwood arrived in his personal flagship, taking a Bullhead down to Atlas Academy. I requested a meeting with Ironwood personally before he could bring me and Liya to go over the specifics of the Breach.
When I explained my request, he blanched. "Winter Schnee and Robyn Hill?" he asked. "Why-no, I assume the original events involve those two?"
"Yes. You tell Winter about the maidens and relics early, and Robyn becomes an obstacle until she learns about them," I said. "She cares for the people, and she becomes a major player in the future of Atlas."
"What happens?" Ironwood asked. I told him everything about Volume 7 and 8, how everyone was originally cooperative, before things went wrong, before Ironwood lost his heart and prepared to doom Mantle, and all of Remnant, by elevating Atlas above the atmosphere and abandoning everyone else to the Grimm.
Ironwood was horrified, but not as much as I'd thought he'd be. "That...that is extremely troubling," he said, clearly deep in thought. No doubt my semblance being a curse in those moments.
"This is why I'm helping you with building up your military. It'll help in the long run and give you less reason for distrust and paranoia if you can handle the Grimm invasion later on," I said as I took the chance to step up. "And that includes building trust with the people. Your original plan involved informing the world of Salem's existence. You said 'hiding the truth from the world will eventually kill us all', in your exact words."
Ironwood nodded. "I've always believed that. Secrecy is one way to limit your options in a fight," he said. "And the best way to handle a war is to fight it head-on, with strategy and clear knowledge of the situation. Our situation leaves everyone exposed. But I chose not to speak out due to Ozpin's experience on the matter."
"You're both right. More people should know, but not everyone," I said. "Ozpin trusted too few people and it led to Beacon falling - I'll explain in the meeting later. You were on the right track when Robyn was informed. Before things went wrong, the two of you worked together protecting the people and luring Salem's agents into traps until Salem's armies fought yours."
"So you wish for me to plan ahead even further," Ironwood said.
"Yeah. Build up alliances between Mantle and Atlas, convince Robyn that we're on the right track. We can tell her the truth of the whole 'former timeline' thing too, her semblance will prove our sincerity," Ironwood said.
The general looked down as he thought this over more. "I see the benefits. But I also see plenty of opportunities for this to fall apart easily," he said. "How do I know this won't end up in a worse state?"
"I don't. But the former chain of events led to you dying, the entire population of Atlas teleported to the deserts of Vacuo, the Relic of Creation in the hands of Salem, and all of Atlas and Mantle destroyed and flooded," I said seriously. "If we have a chance to repel Salem and protect the relic, we have to take it."
General Ironwood coughed and looked aside. "I suppose Ozpin shouldn't know?" he said.
"No, we should tell him...some of it," I said. "I'll have Robyn use her semblance as I tell him about the attack on Atlas. I won't mention any long term plans involving the relics, just that I'm helping to prevent the destruction of an entire kingdom."
"That'll work. And I suppose we can tell Ozpin not to mention the relic since Robyn can't know about that," Ironwood said.
"Uhhh...yeah. We can keep the relics and the maidens from her for now. But Salem is a must-know for her and Winter," I said. Then my scroll rang. Pulling it out, I saw it was Robyn's information. "She's calling me early."
"What do you plan on telling her?" Ironwood asked.
"Nothing that ivolves giving away anything stupid. That's for closed doors," I said. "And thank you for trusting me with this, general."
Ironwood smiled. "For you, after everything you're doing, it's James," he said.