We're back with chapter 2 of Wings of Chaos!
Sorry for the delay, but both of us had a busy week. We'll try to push the next one out a bit quicker.
Until then, thanks for all of the reviews! We've read everything and taken everyone's thoughts and opinions into consideration. Both Karma and I are listening to you, and we thank you for telling us your thoughts.
Also, catch the OC of this chapter! Compliments of Karma!
We hope you enjoy, and we hope everyone had a Happy Memorial Day!
"Colonel Port, was it?" Weiss asked, keeping her cool. The mustached man stared down on her, glaring through his glasses. "Allow me to explain... On one condition..." He raised an eyebrow quizzically, "You close the door, and keep both guards outside."
"I'll close the door but at least one of my MP friends here has to stay."
"Fine." Weiss accepted, knowing it was better than letting the entire infirmary listen to her. "Pull up a chair, this is going to take a while."
Port did so, ordering one of the guards outside and closed the door. He sat next to the bedridden pilot. He gestured for her to begin.
"Right. As you know, I am Atlasian. I know, when you hear that you think 'Madman' or 'Bloodthirsty', or 'War driven'. Well, not all of us are. The new generation of Atlasians have accepted our defeat from the war twenty-five years ago. Our parents may not have, but we do... I digress. My father, as you probably know, is the top ace in the Atlasian Air Force." Port nodded at the fact. The Schnee family has been in the military, fighting for their country for decades. Regardless of who they fought for, the reason was the same:
Honor.
"To get to that position, my father made... enemies... He was great to his trainees, although a bit reluctantly with faunus..." She held a bit of malice to the last word. "They're all bad, you know. No good trouble. I'm amazed our militaries accepts those... beasts."
Port sighed heavily, "I know you're feeling as I feel the same. However, man power in the military is man power and we're not going to deny anyone who wishes to serve. Now, if you don't mind, please continue your story."
Weiss gulped, "Right. Well, my father wanted me to lead the last mission I was just on... It was just a patrol near the water. We've gotten reports of odd sights, you know? We were sent to make sure nothing was wrong." She sighed, "Seven of us went in... One came out..." She turned to Port, "I can't go back. They'll kill me."
"Who will, girl?"
"Adler Schwarz. An Ace in Atlas, and my father's rival. Always living in his shadow, Schwarz had enough, I guess. They ambushed us... I lead all of my father's men to their deaths..." She began to choke up, until Port stepped in.
"Calm down, child," He beckoned, putting a firm hand on one of Weiss' shoulders, "Start from the beginning."
Kalte Schnee. The top scoring Ace in all of Atlas. Fighting for honor and integrity, he now flew as a flight instructor for new pilots. Since the war, he had trained over seventy four pilots personally, teaching each one how to fly, fight, win, all with honor. That was his motto.
When the war ended, he and his wife had chosen to settle down, and build a family. First, came Weiss. After two years, another girl, Winter. Kalte always stated with a hearty laugh "I always fought with my men, I guess the Gods on high thought I should live civilian life with some women." He wasn't upset, he loved his daughters. Especially when Weiss made the decision to be a pilot, just like her father.
Kalte had retired from active duty, but so long as his military needed him to train new pilots, he would. The Schnee family lived on bases all around Atlas, making any relationship with anyone impossible. The military was his family's life just as much as his. Weiss had witnessed flying first hand and loved it. The sky was hers. Kalte even had her run the show on base every now and again, cracking the metaphorical whip on his recruits and other on-base personnel. Winter hated the military, she hated moving. She hated flying. But Weiss was military at heart.
When she made her decision, Kalte had decided to put in for retirement for after Weiss' graduation into the air force. "It's time for the next generation to take the mantle." He would say, "Us old folk have to move aside, as our parents did. And their parents before them." Weiss was honored, truly.
One month. That's all they had. Kalte Schnee's trainees, the best of the best, one month before becoming official pilots. Kalte, wanting his daughter to take his mantle of leadership, personally trained her to be a leader; though never let her lead the squad...
Until this very day…
"C'mon princess, wake up! We got work to do!"
The ever-so unpleasant voice of her roommate quickly jolted Weiss awake. Briefly opening her eyes, she stared face to face with another pilot assigned to Schnee squadron.
Rolling over and away from the nuisance and shutting her eyes once more, Weiss was only met with a constant kicking against her bunk. "Go away Vanille, we don't have any flights scheduled for today, and I would very much like catch up on my sleep."
After that remark Weiss soon found not only herself, but her mattress as well, on the floor with a tall, pale woman standing over her.
"Up and at 'em Schnee! Yer old man's waiting for us in the briefing room, and he's expecting us in 15 minutes!" As her roommate gleefully ran off, Weiss stared in awe at the audacity of this girl. "How can she be so energetic and happy at the thought of flying at… how early even is it?" At this point, Weiss realized that the morning sun wasn't burning into her eyes as usual.
When the clock was no longer a blur in her vision, Weiss had read 0500 hours.
"Why the hell are we being woken up at five in the morning!? We were on a flight not three hours ago!"
"Because we finally got a bloody mission!" Vanille yelled,
"Would you quiet down? You'll wake up the whole damn barracks!" Weiss was fuming at this point. "And what do you mean we have a mission!?"
It was pointless though, she had already disappeared. Probably heading for the briefing room.
Groggily standing, she made her way over to the bathroom to wake herself up. After splashing cold water on her face, Weiss saw just how much of a wreck she was in the mirror. Being in the air force, she expected to have to be up at god awful hours, but that didn't make her a morning person. The room wasn't a pretty sight either, fluorescent lighting, dull grey everything, standard utilitarian barracks now with a wrecked bed on the floor.
Opening up her locker, Weiss began to don her flight suit just as she had hundreds of times in the past. Grabbing her helmet and a glass of water, she made her way down the hallway towards the hangar assigned to Schnee Squadron.
For such an early time, the base was unusually active. Several helicopters could be heard flying over, and the ever so familiar smell of jet exhaust filled the air. Out the window, a line of eight MiG-31 Foxhounds eased their way down the taxi lane. Their deep black and red paint scheme, coupled with the sickening medusa emblem gave them away as Schwarz Team, a band of immoral pilots looking for nothing but cash.
Scoffing at the ugly aircraft, Weiss made her way further down the hall and into the briefing room. Inside sat the rest of her wing, along with her father and mentor, Lieutenant Colonel Kalte Schnee.
Turning to Weiss, his own icy blue eyes met hers. "Nice of you to finally join us, Marmor please fill her in on the previous details. Now…"
Sitting down, Weiss was quickly skimmed through her wingwoman's notes. Nothing was out of the ordinary. They would be flying their usual aircraft in standard formation, armed with an air-to-air load out.
"At approximately Zero-Four-Hundred today, our radars began to pick up a large anomaly out at sea. At first, we thought it was a bird migration, but it appears to be loitering around above the sea. We're the only available squadron with flight experience, so we're going to investigate." He turned around to face his team. Seven pilots, including himself, made up Schnee Team. His wingman, the number seven craft, was Weiss Schnee, his own daughter.
"Any questions?" He asked. It was a pretty straightforward mission, so he wasn't surprised to see too many hands up. There was one, though. Weiss' hand.
"Are we clear to engage if we find anything?"
"Only if fired upon first." He more ordered than answered. "Anything else?" The rest of the crew shook their heads, signaling full understanding. "Good. Schnee, stay here for a moment. The rest of you, load up!"
As Weiss walked over to her mentor, his expression seemed to change. Typically Kalte Schnee radiated with confidence and pride, but now his face wore a mask of doubt. The young pilot even began to question this mission. Why are Kalte's trainees being sent to check out a radar discrepancy? Risks in national security are usually taken much more seriously.
"Is something wrong, father?" Weiss became concerned with her leaders sudden change in expression.
"That's exactly the problem," His voice was now a solemn whisper, nearly overpowered by the ticking of the rooms clock. "This mission doesn't seem right, but we can't necessarily turn it down either. This briefing came directly from the General…"
"What are you worried about?"
"I don't know, darling…" Kalte sighed, "Enough of that, though. It's just an old man's paranoia getting to him. Weiss," he turned to face his daughter, "You do know how proud you have made me, right?"
Weiss looked to her father, concern in her eyes, "Yeah… What are you…"
"Weiss, listen to me. I have trained you personally to be as good of a leader as I once was. Today, I want you to prove to me what you can do." Weiss looked at him, wide eyed, "I'll switch positions with you and let you handle this operation."
Weiss was baffled, dumbfounded even. Kalte had let her be the flight lead other times in the past, but always had it planned. This was completely impromptu, which was the reason for Weiss' surprise. "F-father… are you sure?"
Kalte smiled, "More sure than I've been in my life. Now come on, let's go show those Schwarz guys how real pilots fly."
Weiss nodded as they exited the room. The duo made their way to the hanger where they found the squad at attention next to their planes, which were currently being taxied to the runway.
"Gentlemen!" Kalte called, "Oh… and ladies… Sorry Marmor," Vanille nodded it off, "Are we ready to fly?" All pilots nodded. "Good. Weiss will be taking over as flight lead today. You will obey her commands as you would me. Clear?"
"Clear!" His trainees shouted in unison.
"Good! Load up!" The trainees entered their respective aircraft as the maintenance crews helped the pilots get situated. The sun was barely breaking over the horizon when they finally got lined up to take off. Weiss, being the flight lead, was up first. Not far behind her was each other aircraft. Weiss put her bearings to one-six-zero, per the ground controls orders, and headed west.
All seven aircraft were up. Their base was strategically placed in the mountains from the last war and had been used in service ever since. The installation itself was all tunnels and a runway on the outside. Very intricate, hard to find, which made it a must have for the military to keep in use.
Weiss led her father's trainees west, towards the coastline where the disturbance was discovered. It was a mostly cloudy morning, with the sun just looming over the horizon. The few breaks in the cloud line had given off an absolutely beautiful view; rays of light poured through the gaps in the sky and onto the earth. From above, it was majestic.
"Schnee seven," Vanille called over the radio, "Look at that view, eh? Beautiful."
"Yeah…" Weiss affirmed, "It really is."
"Schnee six, Schnee seven! Cut the chatter!" Kalte shouted. "Admire the sky from the ground! We need to stay focused here." He took a deep breath to calm down. "All Schnee planes, listen up! We're approaching the source of the disturbance, which is still interfering with radar. Keep your heads on a swivel, and stay in formation."
All planes had given a collective 'roger' as they proceeded forward. Weiss glanced at her radar and noticed it was blank. "Whatever's blocking out the radar is right on top of us…" She called, "And yet I'm not seeing anything out there… I don't like this…"
Kalte agreed, "Yeah, something isn't right. Schnee seven… what do you want us to do?"
Weiss thought for a moment. Despite the eerie feeling, she didn't want to put her team into a combat position. Yet if she didn't and they were attacked by… anything… then they would all be easy targets. "Take the safe route," She made her decision, "All planes, assume combat formation!"
Her squad did as they were ordered, spreading out a marginal distance from each other. Four planes took the lead while three others had trailed. It was a strategy that Kalte claimed to have worked time after time in the war twenty-five years ago.
Schnee Seven, Two, Three and Four was in front, whilst Schnee One, Five and Six were behind them. Kalte, being in Schnee one, had taken his daughter's former position, just to the left of the secondary squad. Schnee Six, which sat Vanille, was in the middle, right behind Weiss. Schnee five was on the right. Everyone was in the place, keeping track of one another all while making sure nobody was sneaking up on them.
Weiss' heart raced. Her first time leading the squad and she wasn't sure what to do, let alone what was going to happen. They flew beyond the coastline, when a voice broke over the radio.
"Kalte, can you read me?" A dark, raspy voice called. Just the sound of whoever this man was made Weiss' blood run cold. "We've come to pay you back a debt, old man."
"Schnee Seven to Schnee One, what is this guy talking about?"
Kalte paused, not knowing what to say. He knew that voice, and he knew what the strange man was referring to. "Alder, is that you? Heh, about time you showed up. We missed you at the reunion last year? Where were you?"
"Shut up!" Adler called, "It's time you payed, Kalte! You sold out your country for nothing more than pitiful honor. Where has that gotten you?"
"A pretty comfy life training recruits."
"You old smartass. I heard your retirement is near. How would you like to have it come early?"
Weiss broke over the radio, "Father, what is her talking about?"
"Schwarz Nine… Do it."
"Wait, Schwarz team is supposed to have eight members…" Kalte thought aloud.
"Not anymore."
Weiss tensed up. "V-Vanille…?"
"You think for a second that we could be friends? The infallible Weiss Schnee, the daughter of the top scoring hypocrite of our nation! Hah! Our friendship meant nothing!"
"Vanille, please don't!"
"I'm sorry, Weiss. But you… And this squad… Cannot stay. Our new world cannot fit you!" She found radar lock with Weiss, her thumb over the trigger. "You are a danger to our country! DIE!" She fired two missiles towards her interim leader, to which Weiss responded with a swift dive, avoiding both.
"Schnee team, engage!" Weiss ordered.
"Schwarz, destroy them all!" Adler shouted over the radio. Without any other warning, Schwarz team appeared, firing everything towards Schnee team. Schnee two, Four and Five went down before they could even break formation. Weiss saw nobody bail out from any of them.
Kalte was currently being trailed by Adler and another aircraft, easily maneuvering around their gunfire, and effortlessly weaving through their missiles. Weiss, herself, was being trailed by her former friend Vanille and one other. With each turn she made, Weiss saw another of her teammates fall, their planes burning. No parachutes were seen.
"Weiss!" Kalte called. "How are you holding up?"
Weiss broke a hard right turn, changing to turn left, while rising in altitude, "Other than the fact that we've just lost our entire team, I can definitely complain!"
"Weiss… I'm sorry…" Kalte's voice was… breaking… Like he was crying. "I- I have to do this… Turn your bearings to Two-Eight-Zero, and head northwest… I'll cover you."
"Father… Wait!" Before Weiss could argue, she could feel her plane being ravaged by gunfire. She could hear Vanille laughing. She knew who was firing at her, but not why. Before she could do anything, more gunfire broke out. However, this wasn't aimed at her, this was aimed at her aggressors.
"Flee, Weiss! Get out of here, now! Don't worry about me, I'll take care of them."
Weiss, reluctantly, agreed, and turned to the bearings that her father told her about, and fled the battle zone. Behind her, she could hear more fighting; explosions, gunfire, all break out. Her radar was still blank. Whatever they did, they had planned for this.
She had mixed emotions; she was angry, sad, confused, relieved and stressed, all at once. Her plane was unresponsive, mostly, unable to turn hard. Raising her altitude was possible, but she wasn't sure how long she would be able to keep that height.
"Weiss," Vanille sing-song called, "Did you forget about me? I'm not gonna let you get away." Vanille approached rapidly. A cynical smile grew across her face, she gained target lock. Weiss could hear the warning, knowing she couldn't break at all.
"Schwarz Nine, don't worry about it." Adler called, "You shouldn't waste your ammo. She's heading out to sea… She's already dead." He laughed sadistically, as he too approaching the chase. "Leave her to the fish."
Vanille agreed and broke off, leaving Weiss a goodbye present.
"Give the team my regards when you meet them in hell, Weissy."
Weiss sat back in her bed, closing her eyes, trying to repress the memory she just told. "After that, I flew northwest. I didn't know where I was going, but I knew something had to be there. I tried to keep the plane up as long as possible, and I think I did a good job. I passed through a mountain pass, surprisingly not making contact with anyone until I saw ocean again…" She turned her gaze to Port, "Then I made contact with one of your ground control personnel, and I dropped my craft in the water. I bailed out, waited, then I was picked up."
"And now you're here."
"And now I'm here… I don't want my country to know I'm alive, Colonel. Schwarz may come after me again if he finds out… Regardless of where I am. I seek asylum here… I'll fly for you when I'm better, I'll help train recruits! I'll do anything! Please, just-"
"Calm down, child." Port ordered, "We won't send you back to Atlas until you're ready to go. We will grant you asylum, and try to figure out something for you to do as payment. Until then, get some rest. We will send the doctor back in for you." Port rose from his seat and turned to leave. "This will be our little secret, Miss Schnee. Not a word will be spoken."
Weiss nodded in thanks, and leaned back in her bed. She found her new home.
But for how long? That thought lingered through her mind.
Qrow sat in front of the remaining trainees, watching them walk in. The meeting was supposed to start in less than five minutes. One of the first ones there, of course, were Blake, Ruby and Yang. Qrow expected that out of Ruby and Yang; his nieces couldn't stop themselves from something like this. But Blake? That was surprising to him.
As the last of the trainees entered, Qrow motioned one to close the door. "Alright," He spoke, his tired eyes stared, almost uninterestedly, to his recruits. "I know you're all not going to like this, but we're short on people." He sighed, "All of you nuggets will be sitting alert. That means if we go up, you stay with me."
He turned his attention to Blake, "Belladonna!"
"Sir."
"You're flying number two tomorrow. I gotta keep an eye on you or who knows what you'll get yourself into."
Blake understood why Qrow said that, but it hurt no less. She did what she thought was right, and a recruit made it back alive because of her. She was stone faced, but yelling on the inside.
Yang leaned in towards Ruby, "That was a little harsh…" She whispered. All Ruby did was nod.
"Xiao Long!" Qrow growled, snapping Yang's attention back to him. "Something you'd like to say?"
Yang's only response was quick shake of her head. "Good. Because you and your sister are both flying with us tomorrow."
Qrow received a surprising reaction from both sisters. It wasn't excitement nor glee, rather one of surprise. Yang appeared to want to say something, but no words formed. Ruby just stayed straight faced.
Taiyang would want to hear about this. He was sure that both of them would be elated about flying tomorrow, considering Qrow basically just said that they were a part of his chosen three to be his squad until they graduate.
Qrow shrugged it off for now, "As for the rest of you, stay prepared tomorrow. Just because you're grounded doesn't mean you'll stay that way. Any questions?" No words were spoken, "Good. Dismissed."
Every rookie that was in the room collectively got up and began to file out. Even Yang and Blake. All made their way to leave, except Ruby, who had remained seated, staring into the distance.
Yang took notice, soon followed by Blake, but both left when Qrow began to eye them. The look he gave… Not a word was spoken, nor did one have to be. The duo left and waited patiently outside. As for Qrow…
"You ok, kid?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah… Why?"
Qrow sat in the chair next to hers, "Cause you had a good case of the thousand yard stare… What's up?"
"It's noth-" She gave up quick, knowing she wouldn't fool Qrow, "I- Uhg… It sounded like you said you wanted me up there with you tomorrow…"
"I did… Thought you'd be ecstatic?"
"I… I don't know what to say…" She finally made eye contact with the older man, "... Do you really think I've earned it?"
Qrow gave a soft smile. His little 'ace', as he called her all throughout her childhood… Was she really doubting her own ability? "Out of all of my pilots here you're the only one who I'd trust to fly with. I want you up there, mainly to show all the others how it's done." He leaned back in his chair, "Now get out of here, you're sister's waitin'." Ruby nodded, hugged her uncle, and left the room, leaving the rugged captain alone with his thoughts.
Well that was a lot of dialogue, wasn't it?
We got to see a little bit of everything here, especially Weiss' story. That was something we both enjoyed working on the most here. We also got to properly set up the next few chapters, which is the 'Training Arc'.
So what did you think? We understand there was a bit of a pacing issue to start with and we're doing everything we can to slow the story down a bit. The one thing you're going to see is a lot of 'off time'. It's not going to be all "Fly here, now go there, now here." You're going to get a glimpse of what the team does while they aren't in the sky.
Like I said before, we thank you all for your reviews! Your thoughts are what keeps us pushing with this story! Please tell us your thoughts, your theories and concerns, we'd love to hear them!
For now, we hope you enjoyed. We're going to try to work a bit harder to get that next chapter out over the weekend.
From Karma and Myself,
Until Next Time.