"Violet," one of the Crusaders turned to her from peering through the barricades, "do you honestly think the police and STARs will just let us go like that?"
The aforementioned woman had been pacing around the restaurant floor, the remaining Crusaders either holed up behind the makeshift barricades or guarding the terrified hostages, for quite some time. Upon that question, Violet turned to him with a hard gaze.
"No. They won't. They'll never let us go free."
"How do you know?"
"That's how hostage situations work in general." Violet approached the barricades but she did not go any closer, and she stood only at the corner of the entrance. "Once we let those hostages go and we walk out, the first thing they will do is corner all of us and cuff our hands."
The Crusader shook his head, eyes wide. "Then if we're just been sittin' around on our asses delaying the inevitable, what's the damn point? Shit, we should've just shot those furries after we escaped those huntresses."
"Hindsight is always going to look better, Red," Violet said, shaking her head. "Those furries are the only reason we're even still here right now. I've been trying to think of a way out that gets all of us home, but at this point I'm already doubting that. Hell, Patriarch Engberg said he wouldn't be able to cover for us before we started this mission―I guess we should've expected something like this had a good chance of happening."
Red sighed, staring at the floor. "Well, now what? Are we just gonna let these degenerates go and get ourselves arrested, just like that?"
Violet scowled, glaring at the furries huddled in the center of the restaurant, as she picked up her assault rifle. She loaded a fresh magazine into the chamber and gazed at the other Crusaders; they returned the gaze and grabbed their assault rifles as well. Even Red's eyes widened and he grinned, nodding to himself, as he grabbed his gun and joined Violet's side. All the Crusaders soon surrounded the hostages, who all stared at their captors with widening and tearing eyes. Violet trained the barrel of her gun upon the forehead of a child.
"No."
"So the council's just going to let Bloodworth, Silva, and Kikkert out of prison, Commander?" Salisbury gazed at his superior with narrowed eyes.
Commander Indigo shook her head. "Of course not, that's not how reality works. That being said, those bastards are making things a lot more complicated than it should be and at this rate we might have to actually release one of their requested prisoners. We need to keep convincing them that we're on their side and that we're not going to shoot them as soon as they step outside of that restaurant."
"I understand the need to put the hostages' safety above all else, but what if the Crusaders decide to shoot one of the hostages, anyway? Or, hell, even kill them all off for that matter?"
"They won't, so as long as we make them think that they have a tangible chance of leaving this situation alive, which of course, they will, assuming everything goes smoothly―but they'll be spending the rest of their lives in nice and cozy concrete cells."
Salisbury frowned. "And if they decide to gun them down anyway even after all of that?"
"...Then we clean them up."
He shook his head, sighing.
"Lieutenant Salisbury, I understand you think those four huntresses-in-training might prove of some use in this operation, but by kingdom law they are not supposed to be involved in political affairs such as this; that is for the kingdoms to handle and to handle alone. Plus, they're still huntresses-in-training; do you think risking the lives of hostages by sending in four younglings to perform a kingdom's job will work out to the benefit of everyone, especially when the police have reported their failure to rescue the hostages initially?"
"If they were able to take out nearly all of the Crusaders after the initial attack, then they're more than capable of handling them." However, Salisbury sighed. "But I can't ignore the fact they've let a few people die because of their actions. Still, I suppose that's something that's going to happen where they're going, whether they like it or not."
"The life of a huntsman and huntress is relatively different to that of a STAR officer, Lieutenant. I can't trust they'll be capable of gambling with the lives of twelve innocent civilians and successfully pulling off a rescue attempt, not when they're inexperienced in the realm of standoffs and hostage negotiations–"
There was a cacophony of screaming and gunfire crackling throughout the air.
Indigo cursed under her breath as she snatched the radio and screamed, "All units, you are cleared to engage! I repeat, engage! Engage, dammit!"
"Shit!" Salisbury's heart dropped and he found himself barking at the other officers. "You heard the lady, we're storming that restaurant! On the fucking double!"
Reporters and journalists, who were behind the cordons, watched in awe as squads of STARs leaped over the cordons and approached the restaurant beneath the hailstorm of Royal Guard machine guns. Salisbury lead the first squad through the courtyard, leapfrogging from overturned tables to other tables, ordering the entire platoon to surround the restaurant in concealment. The windows of the restaurant flared up like fireworks as muffled screams reverberated out from its walls.
Salisbury raised his hand and the order to fire was about to bark out of his throat, but he froze and watched the flaring windows. "Hold your fire! Hold your fire, now!"
The machine guns fell silent but the gunfire remained inside the restaurant.
"Are you sure, lieutenant?" one of the STAR officers said, staring at him with incredulous eyes.
He pointed at the windows. "Something's not right, those Crusaders wouldn't spend that much ammo killing the hostages!"
And then the barricade was torn asunder in an explosion of wood and splinters, a Crusader flying and screaming as he crashed into the fountain. Twelve faunus civilians and a pale wealthy woman wielding a rapier, shielded by a phalanx of white glyphs, scurried out from the entrance of the restaurant. More screaming and gunfire and several more Crusaders were thrown carelessly onto the ground in front of the restaurant unconscious and broken. Stepping outside were three other young women: the blonde one was cracking her knuckles, grinning and stretching her neck; the bow-wearing one was restraining the lead Crusader on the ground; the scythe-wielder transformed her weapon into a smaller and compact form.
Salisbury stared at the four huntresses, his eyes wide and in disbelief. "It's the huntresses," he shook his head then raised his hand and shouted, "Move it, people! Arrest the terrorists!"
Well, this is the second-last part of An Unexpected Incident. The next part should conclude this worldbuilding fic and hopefully leave you all with something to think about in terms of improving the suspension of disbelief behind faunus discrimination. I hope your reading has been relatively enjoyable and entertaining up to this point.
-Sda.
