Have been told to put this in because incase of confusion.
"blablahblahblahblahblahblahscienceblahblahblahblah" - Normal speak and often the only thing my ears interpret when I attend lectures.
Pfffff hahahahaha! - Thoughts.
"Ha, he's having his butt handed to him. Ha ha!" - This is for telepathy/A.I. inside peoples skulls that should be quiet every once in a while if it doesn't want me to put a bullet through my eye because I know that isn't bullet proof. Unless this is inside the A/N section in which case we're quoting something.
"Sending them down to you. Over." - Speech through the walkie talkies or as normal people call them, a Comm. This is also what is often said when I go to work and my colleagues are lazy.
"During the flames of controversy, opinions, mass disputes, conflict, and world news, sometimes the most precious, refreshing and peaceful words to hear amidst all the chaos are simply and humbly 'I don't know." - Criss Jami. (I could've used this earlier today.)
Carrie Frances Fisher, October 21, 1956 – December 27, 2016. May her spirit join our ancestors and guide us for our coming lives, the coming battles, the coming peace, the coming rain, the coming blizzard, the coming drought and the coming seasons. May she know love and gain peace in the embrace of the Goddess. My condolences go out to her friends and family. Be at peace.
So, you must be wondering: "Hey, Tim, why did this take so long to write?" Truthfully it's been difficult finding time to write recently as well as a few personal things that are making it a little difficult for me to write, but I'll get through it, after all, it's what I've been good at for as long as I've lived, surviving.
And most recently my Laptop has decided to die :'( RIP Laptop. 2006 - 2017
And even MORE recently (Literally today, the day I've updated.) my phone has died so I have only one way of writing that I rarely have access to...FUUUUUUUUUU-
So! I have good news for you! Since I'm so late, I've actually finished this chapter and am very close to finishing the second part of this short but sweet set of chapters where we confuse and terrify Atlas. Totally not because the only guy I (L not so much.) really do like in Atlas is Ironwood, despite his...mindset he's a good man that knows he can do nothing in a world literally filled with man eating monsters. Well, he tries to be.
Also, quick note, what did you think about the end of Volume 4? Neat little ending on a cliffhanger, eh?
Anyway! Enjoy!
"Atlas." Sigh. "Technically the youngest kingdom there is on Remnant and arguably the most technologically advanced Kingdom on the planet." He puts emphasis on 'kingdom' and gives a short pause for effect. "Look, the thing is with Atlas, they may have some of the most advanced technology of any of the kingdoms but there's something that develops if left unchecked and unfortunately I see it all over Atlas and no I'm not talking about the same man as my Uncle would despite my...distaste, of the way he runs things."
"And that is?" "Military and corporation dominance and as a side annoyance, idiots. As stupid as it sounds, Atlas is a haven for the higher class, as a result the place has a higher margin of wealthy people in the population. Don't get me wrong. There's a large amount of people in the middle class, but they're still living a fairly good standard of living compared to most middle class in other kingdoms. The only thing I actually have a problem with in Atlas is the amount of corporations that have a sway on the civilian council and the fact that most are 'corrupt' and how blind most people are. Or in more blunt terms: Idiots."
"Would you do something about it?" "Only if it became an actual problem and by problem I mean a Plutocratic Oligarchy. Besides, it wouldn't be worth my time in this circumstance, this is just minor stuff comparative to what we're going to be dealing with. For example the most well known and number one business in the Dust industry is the Schnee Dust Company and they're on a hot plate for controversy with their labour forces right now, they're also the primary target for White Fang attacks. Back on my world called Laat, labour forces and stuff of the like were common, my planet was a mining and major fortress world known for being rich with a range of metals, minerals and most famous of all, a crystalline substance called 'Caerulium'." (Say-roo-lee-um.)
"Did it function like Dust does for us?" At this L chuckles. "You don't know how far you are from the truth. Caerulium is Much rarer than Dust but the stuff used to 'grow' in their deposits like a plant, both scientific and magical elements of our society couldn't figure out what reason it would have for this, other than how it accomplished this. One things for sure though, when you have a Caerulium deposit, it won't run out if you treat it right and when you treat it right...it'll propel your civilisation forwards by ages."
"Have you found any on Remnant?" "No, otherwise I wouldn't be limited to this star system and the people of Remnant would know about us a Lot quicker...well...maybe, but we'll talk about that more later." "You mentioned a type of government, I'm interested in finding out about yours." L lets out a breath and thinks back to lord knows how long ago.
"Well, as our species became able to use interstellar travel efficiently and started creating worlds as well as creating species of animals sentient or not for those worlds, we kind of evolved to be a mixture of a military, spiritual and scientific democracy run by a council similar to the ones here on Remnant. Only case and point is that all areas of society were placed into the three categories I mentioned previously, there are crossovers between each part of our society though few in number. I was one of them, due to my unique abilities in harnessing both Psionic and Shift energy at the same time. That, and I was one of the greatest strategic minds in the Navy of my time as well, I just couldn't outsmart a hive consensus, at first anyway...then I started coming back to life after having a shouting session with my actual father...I think it was karma, heh, how ironic..." L pauses as he began hearing distant echoes of his name being called. "That's my cue, we shall speak soon professors."
At this, L opens his eyes to reveal Summer who is sitting next to him waving her hand in front of his eyes, leading L to smile a little. "I ain't blind yet." At this Summer sits back into her seat again with a roll of her eyes revealing a whole different area outside the windows of the taxi they are residing in for transport.
Currently L and the rest of his family, Qrow included, are in the midst of being driven to their Hotel, they 'won' tickets to YCON from a recent contest with only one recorded contestant. You can guess who.
When they arrived at Atlas, the first thing they saw were the outer residential estates and Atlas Academy itself before they ended up underground where they encountered a spectacle that they'd never seen before, an underground city.
Atlas truly looks like it's the most successful kingdom on Remnant from this standpoint, the metropolis reminded L oddly of New York, well, without the Statue of Liberty out in the distance. But all in all, L had seen bigger and more impressive sights, though the reason he's here differs from others, as you may well know.
"L your luck is probably the best I've ever seen someone have." Taiyang quipped as he stared at a skyscraper they were passing. "Nah, I just know when my odds are good." L says with a small smile before they arrive. "That'll be 44.56 Lien." The taxi driver says with a tired voice. "Pull an all nighter?" Qrow asks as he hands the driver the money L gave him to use, at this the driver gives him the look of 'you've got no idea.' before giving the change, helping out with the bags and driving off, hopefully to go home.
The Hotel sparkled white, silver and gold everywhere they looked as it towered to almost the tippy top of the man made cave, they each felt incredibly out of place as the wealthy stared at each of them with different expressions, everyone felt and reacted differently to the stares they were being given. Thankfully without violence or words.
L however wasted no time looking at the civilians around him, he wore his neutral expression like a mask or placeholder and set to work getting everyone up to the top floors penthouse. Yang and Qrow frowning in the background, their suspicions and concern growing as they watched L and felt the weight of the suitcases L brought with him.
"This penthouse is our best, often reserved for council members, high ranking military officials as well as CEO's of the many corporations in Atlas, as you can see the rooms are adorned in neutral tones, plum splashes and dark wood." The bellhop explained as she dragged in the several heavy carts of luggage, struggling with Qrows and Ls. As everyone walked in they immediately recognised how spacious the place is.
On the right they had an open kitchen with a bar which Qrow sort of gravitated towards like a moon along with Summer who went immediately into the kitchen to make sure everything is where she wants it before starting to make lunch for each of them, it'd been a long journey after all. Off to the left there's a giant 152 inch television on the wall, large enough to make the couch be several meters away from it.
In the centre is a general living area, a couple of couches and a stylish coffee table is all that sat there. But the main feature would definitely be the open windows to the rest of Atlas below ground. As confusing and contradictory as that sounds. "The four Bedrooms are on either side, just head to the top of the room and turn right for the right side and left for the left side, there may not be enough beds for all of you but if you wish we can bring up a cushion and duvet." The bellhop once again sounded before L stepped over to her.
"No, thank you, we'll be fine." He says as he gives the bellhop a single plastic note which she stared at with wide eyes. "Go get yourself something nice." He says before having to gradually guide her out of the room with a small smile on his face, holding back a chuckle at her awestruck expression.
As he closes the doors behind her and turns around, with raised hands, that same smile, he starts off with his usual piece of showmanship with a charismatic bow. "Welcome to Atlas." His expression showed amusement but also mischievousness. "Leanardo...win these competitions more often." Taiyang says as he looks out at the rest of Atlas with wonderment eliciting L to roll his eyes. He looked over to Qrow who was looking over each piece of alcohol with a keen eye as if examining a diamond before testing them like...alcohol...yeah there was no other comparison.
Summer just started making the sandwiches and other savory treats for the lunch they'll have. Ruby is setting up the YBOX with the huge television and tuning it, as he expected. Yang has disappeared, likely claiming a bedroom for herself and catching a few z's before she heads out at night like the nocturnal party person she is.
That just leaves L, he immediately starts moving the coffee table and couches out of the way with one arm as if they weighed nothing. As he finishes, he starts taking out different gadgetry that no one recognised, but as they each started turning on they knew what they did. L stuck four projectors in a 4x4 rectangle in the centre of the room creating a holographic grid on the floor, then he stood in the centre and shot a hook into the ceiling, letting himself being carried up to it upside down.
He started inserting what looked like a disco ball, editing the circuitry and adding a miniature fission reactor in the ceiling to compensate for the extra power to it and the rest of the building whilst trying not to cause a power surge in the process. He then dropped to the floor, landing on his feet perfectly. He proceeded to press a button on his scroll, making the projectors start to scan him and calibrate his movements. Everyone in the Penthouse watching in interest.
After a minute of fiddling with his scroll a holographic shape of a Beowolf appeared, the textures along the skin of it gradually starting to appear as well. At this L smiled as it harmlessly stood on its two hind legs and looked around as if alarmed by something. He slowly stepped forward until he stood in front of it, waving a hand past its snout eliciting it to growl and look around faster.
L then turned around and started to walk away normally, as L reached a meter away, everyone's eyes widened as it pounced at him only to be met by a fist that caused it to shoot back to the edge of the projectors with a pained whine, L then grabbing seemingly nothing but it looked like he grabbed his revolver. His index finger squeezed an inch as the Grimm got up and his hand jolted backwards slightly at the invisible recoil, a bullet hitting the holographic Beowolf, killing it instantly as it let out its last growl of defiance.
Afterwards, the projectors shut off and L looked around without moving his head. "Well, that works." He says with a smirk. "What. Was. That?" Ruby says with wide eyes and agape jaw. "Combat simulator, I'll teach you guys to set it up soon, much better in open ground, though any physical objects in the way that aren't Grimm or people are interpreted as cover." He explains calmly once again. Everyone nods in understanding, not wanting to even begin to understand how it works due to them knowing it will be an overly complex explanation that apparently 'is the dumbed down version'. Even if they ask politely.
"Everyone to the kitchen, grubs up!" Summer says as she presses her new favourite button under the counter that makes Yang wake up and grumpily march towards the kitchen area along with everyone else who are less grumpy. Likely because they didn't hear an annoying sound wake her from her slumber.
Soon enough everyone sat at the dinner table beside the open kitchen and raised a glass of their preferred drink, Qrow starting to speak. "A toast! To the guy that's paying for all of this!" At this everyone laughs and continues to have lunch, only one thing on L's mind as he let his body refuel, though he'd have to find a volcano within the next few weeks for his arm, besides that, only words formed in his mind. So, where do I start?
A few hours later.
L sat on the couch in the centre of the living room as Qrow spun and danced in the combat simulator, Qrow being unable to perceive anything L is doing due to his mind only seeing what the computer projects into his brain whilst still letting his body move in a certain area. He opened up his scroll and looked through his list of encrypted contacts stopping at one marked 'Blizzard'. He stared at the name long and hard whilst weighing his options before looking up at Qrow once again, deciding it would be best for a more...direct approach on this occasion. "Time to go to work." He whispers to himself with a tired expression.
He gets up and grabs his duffel bag which lay directly next to him, containing all of the equipment he needed. He left a polite note where he was sat before exiting the penthouse, Yang starting to follow him, all dressed up in her usual revealing garb for her own night out. "Hey!" Yang says as she manages to jump into the elevator before it closes. "You going out?" L asks with an unchanging expression.
"Yeah...you okay?" Yang asks with slight concern, only ever seeing that look when 'work' calls. "Yeah, yeah, just, tired, don't know how that's even possible." L remarks with a slight chuckle. "What are we really doing here?" Yang asks with a slight parental tone. At this L deflates as he let out a breath, his expression also faltering. "Why do you all know me so well?..." L asks rhetorically.
"You haven't answered my question." Yang says in a sing song voice, still not losing her parental edge. At this L hoped the elevator would descend quicker, why is it always the elevators? "Don't watch the news and for the love of God, keep safe. All of you." L says in a commanding tone. But Yang knows he wouldn't say it unless he were concerned. "Why?..." Yang leaned into L with her eyes gradually narrowing more at him.
L only remained silent as he subconsciously started pressing the button for the ground floor over and over again hoping it would make the elevator somehow go faster. "Leanardo..." Yang says with her arms crossed and an impatient tone, though behind it L could see the worry for her family and for L, though he came under the family category in Yang's eyes, in everyone's eyes, can he keep lying to his family? Truly? I'm not lying, I'm withholding information. He thinks before letting out a sigh of defeat.
"It's complicated." "How complicated?" "An Agents family member has been kidnapped so I'm dealing with it whilst I'm here." Yang raises an eyebrow at L. "Is that it?" "As far as I know. It might escalate into something more knowing my luck." At this Yang gives off a sigh and hugs her brother tight, despite being a forehead shorter.
L gave Yang a one armed hug back. "Be careful alright? Advanced stuff or not I want my brother back whole." At this L smiles in amusement. "You know I can just re-attach my limbs right?" He quips, to which Yang replies. "I'll unscrew your nuts if you're not back in one piece, re-attach those." Yang says with a punch to the arm that made Yang think twice about doing it on That arm in the future once again though she didn't show it, L chuckling in a tune similar to the elevator music playing in the background. "So harsh." L dramatises making Yang smirk and shake her head.
A silence followed for around half a minute before L said. "I did leave a note." At this his grandiloquent younger sister rolled her eyes, the elevator making a dinging sound as the up/down machine stopped moving and the doors opened shortly after, eliciting the explosive siblings to step out. "Where are you off to?" L asks hoping he won't regret the question.
"Clubbing. duh." Yang says nonchalantly, at which point L gives Yang quiet a bit of Lien which she just stares at. "Shut up, take my money and have fun." L says before patting Yang's back and leaving the building. "Where?...How?..." Yang asked herself uselessly as she was just handed enough Lien to buy the Atlas military and possibly an army of Hunters...That's a thought. Yang thinks as she smirks at her imaginings of topless men. Which was promptly disolved as out of nowhere she felt someone smack her around the back of the head lightly, but when she looked, no one was within arms reach.
A Taxi drive later.
The drive to the Schnee Mansion had been fairly nice, the area reminded L of a more white version of Beverley Hills, white meaning snow. And Ice. Things that L never really did well with seeing as his home world was mostly made of lava and rock, though wildlife did exist, you can understand his hesitation of something below 100 degrees C. You can also imagine everyone's reaction to sunburn on his home world, laughter.
Each Mansion that they went past gradually got bigger in size as well as the estate itself. From what L knows they'd left the underground city and gone to an area still underground but partially overground. From his scans of the area he is currently a few feet underground still but in a protective case off sorts.
On the roof there's a sheet of metal that likely acted as shutters that closed whenever a snowstorm occurred, which would mean that they could open at some point, likely when there isn't anything lethal that may or may not freeze the ground solid as well as the Grimm that had adapted to the cold, though not common, they still exist and are growing ever so numerous by the day. Smart.
Eventually they started reaching the tippy top of the place, the smallest estate being made of around 70-80 football pitches, at maximum being around 3 miles by 5 miles. That's the maximum size of the smallest estate. (British Football Pitches by the way. Not American version of Rugby. Yeah I said it!) (L: You're an idiot Kei.)
Eventually however the Taxi parked outside a large wall surrounding (Get Trump out of your head.) what L had guessed is the Schnee estate, construction workers commencing repairs all over the place. He paid the cab driver, watching as the vehicle turned around and drove off. L started walking through the dented front gates and around the battered and bruised place, without the guards and construction workers seemingly noticing, inspecting the damage and what has remained of the security.
From what L could see, the place had been assaulted fast and hard. But also shabby and unorganised, the White Fang had nowhere near the discipline of a real military force, but it was enough to get the job done apparently. It was that, or it wasn't actually a planned assault. There were still a few bits of explosive residue that were being cleaned up making L spare a quick prayer for those hurt or fallen in the line of battle. Oh how Fate could be so cruel. He knows, he's met the guy. Moody Bastard.
L ended up being stopped at the front of the Mansion entrance by the armed and armoured security guards, a hunch coming into his head that made his eyes narrow. "Sir, I'm going to need to see some ID and a reason for your arrival." At this L rolled his eyes and shot the two in cracks of their body armour with tranquilliser rounds of Pantheon, the stopping power of the weapon being enough to launch them into the pillars they stood respectively in front of.
The two barely drew their weapons before they both fell limply to the ground with a mildly noisy clunk. He hid them behind the pillars outside the front door before scanning the hardware they had on them as well as their ID's, his hunch coming to be reality, much to his distaste.
"PMC's..." L murmured with slight disgust before stealing their communication frequencies and heading inside, letting the camera see exactly what he just did before shooting it. Each of the security forces being alerted to his presence in the instant he shot the two men outside, which is exactly what he wanted now. As you can probably tell, he dislikes PMC's. Just a bit.
L entered through the front door to be met with abandoned construction equipment and a very large Hall, it went on for several meters, doors at each side appearing every so often as well as the pillars more for aesthetic design than structural importance, at the end lay a staircase that curved around to the next floor. At the top of the staircase sat a long line of marble bars that would act as mediocre cover in a firefight. Funny thing about it is that he could see nothing but black between the bars, he could hear the trained hearts of multiple men and women in the room.
He whistled the tune of a Starling and his friend hacked into their communications faster than the speed of sound. The sounds of PMC's screaming or growling at the high frequency noises going through their comm units echoing down the hallway filled L with predatory satisfaction. Each of them revealed themselves from behind pillars on his right and left as well as behind the solid marble bars at the top of the staircase that formed a natural choke-point.
"Clever. But not clever enough." L comments as he draws an exact copy of the revolver in his other hand and starts firing at each PMC that has managed to remove their ear piece from their ears and come to their senses before shooting the rest, his lil friend switching off the incredibly annoying sound as L jumped to the top of the staircase and over the railing to be met with a corridor that held more decorative whites and blues on the purely decorative furniture and patterns on the floor and ceiling.
The comm soon crackled to life, the sound of a computerised voice filling his ears. "Intruder has gotten past the first ambush, who is this guy!?" L could only chuckle at their confusion as he listened in. "We're on our way to intercept at second junction." At this L looked to the top of the Hall and simply waited. He didn't have to wait long.
Soon enough L found security guards to the opposite end of the hall, each carrying stun batons and stun guns in a diamond formation, though severely under-armed. He smirks. "Halt! Put down your weapons and you'll be treated fairly and allowed to live." The lead guard of the group says with a neutral expression. Only to have a hand fall on to his shoulder and silently tell him to calm down before stepping forward. This one is different. More...Experienced.
"The guards have spoken, they swear not to kill you. I'm not making any promises." The man says, L could hear the deep baritone as well as almost tennor level voice but also slight hoarse notes in it suggesting practice in using his voice often. His hair is brown but slightly faded into the grey area as well as the very short gray pointed beard on his features, his brown eyes spoke of experience and confidence, but also suspicion. From biological markers he appears in his early to mid forties and under a lot of stress at the moment.
He wears a navy blue formal shirt that has the texture of silk as well as a black waistcoat with its bottom two gold buttons undone revealing a brown leather belt with a silver buckle and the bottom of another seemingly smaller purple'ish blue waistcoat with gold intricate patterns on it. The collars on his formal shirt being unfolded, covering his neck along with his shirt. His trousers are the same colour as his shirt, his belt holding a single sword on the left and a fairly modernised flintlock styled pistol on the right. Black boots with two buckled straps going off in diagonal angles making a clacking sound as he slowly walks to the 8 meter mark of a duel back in L's time.
"Head of security? I'm ashamed you've had to have stooped so low as to hire PMC's." L says in an almost monotone, a hint of abger tracing his lips. The man draws his sword and looks it over. "It wasn't my choice in the matter. Mr. Schnee found current security measures lacking, so he took matters into his own hands." He says with regret, at this L puts himself into a more lax standing position.
"No. He's wrong, the White Fang may have accomplished their objective but they didn't injure anyone else and the structural damage was only superficial from the looks of it. The attack was sudden and from what I've seen outside poorly planned, they used most of their explosives in one area." At this the Head of Security looks up at L with slight surprise before going back to seriousness.
"Thank you for the words but that doesn't change the fact you've killed a lot of men to get here." He says with a growl. At this L points absent mindedly points with a thumb behind him. "What? Those guys? Nah, tranq rounds, they're unconscious." At this the security forces behind him look at each other with confusion.
"Then you're not here to hurt anyone specifically?" He asks cautiously. "Do you really think someone like me who can get through armies would get caught if he wanted to kill anyone?" L asks rhetorically but with a more serious tone to emphasise his point. At this there's a several minute tense stare off before the Head of Security puts away his blade with a slight growl. "If you so much as lay a finger on a weapon. I will kill you." He warns with a deadly serious tone. L making his own weapons disappear as a sign of good faith.
"Well you won't exactly be doing me any favors but thanks for the consistency anyway." L responds with immediate sass. At this his opposite grumbles something along the lines of "Smartass." and starts walking towards L, the other guards putting their weapons away to but remaining tense. At this the pair shake hands, both of them measuring their strength from it, L wining by a large margin, not enough to hurt though. Much to the mans subconscious surprise.
"Call me Fade, I'm here on business." He says with a his usual upbeat monotone. "Corvo, Head of Security and Bodyguard for the Schnee family as you can probably tell." He responds in kind. "I'm here to see Winter and I know she's here, we spoke yesterday'ish sort of, I've still got jet lag." L explains eliciting Corvo to nod in understanding. "As a precaution I'm going to need to take your weapons Hunter." At this L mentally facepalms. "Well done for the assumption. I'm not a Hunter. And it's kind of impossible to give you my weapons but at the same time it isn't." At this Corvo raises an eyebrow.
"Part of my Semblance is to convert solid matter into energy that I can just take out of thin air so even if I do give you my weapons I can just get copies of them anywhere at any time, like a 3D printer." At this Corvo nods, believing the pseudo lie. "That sounds useful." "It is, if you remember which weapons you have." At this Corvo gives off an amused smile and pats his left arm, luckily not the right one and escorts him through the entire complex, security standing down as Corvo radio's in, each PMC getting looked at for treatment.
"So, where are you from? Your training suggests a Hunter, Military or Intelligence." Corvo's curiosity getting the better of him as always. "Heh, well, technically I will be a Hunter in training next week, looking forward to seeing if there's anything new I can learn. As for training well...a little bit of everything." L explains at which point Corvo just gives off a sharp breath and a chuckle, L could see the neurons in his brain sparking in an interval that suggests pain, which is probably why he chuckled, but L didn't mention anything for the moment.
"Excuse me if I sound blunt or if I'm intruding but I'm intrigued by your eyes." At this L gives off a smirk of his own, noting the mans attention to detail since L's eyes currently rest in their borwn'ish grey form. "Secrets a secret, but technically I'm a Faunus." At this Corvo gives off an 'ohhhh' before nodding in understanding. "Here we are." He says he stops in front of a door.
Corvo knocks at a plain white door with the words 'Winter Schnee' on the door. "Miss Winter, a friend is here to see you." Corvo says, at this Winter responds with. "Enter." Her voice displaying her still flaying yet subtle anger, Corvo opens the door and bows slightly to Winter who is still wearing her uniform as she stares out her window. "Apologies for the intrusion but a friend shot half the PMC forces trying to get to you." Corvo says with a hint of amusement, or was it thankfulness? Surprisingly lax speech to one of the people you were hired by... L comments in his head.
At this, L takes the time to look at the bluey white room seemingly made of ice, unsurprisingly playing along with the joke in their name as existence sometimes does. There's a queen size bed with white drawers at its end. A wardrobe to the right of the bed as well as a changing area for privacy despite being in a bedroom. Beyond that there are a few ornaments that aren't really noteworthy, the room didn't seem personalised at all. But being honest that sounds like Winter, L really did have something in common with her.
"And who might that be." Winter responds, anger still present in her voice. "Attention Agent." At this Winters eyes widen before she snaps to attention out of instinct. "About turn salute." L commands. Winter doing a complete one eighty, facing L and giving a crisp salute. "Sir." she says. Formal and filled with natural iron conviction, the very foundations of a soldier. Before it's torn down and rebuilt several times over. Corvo, standing behind L with raised eyebrows, feeling ever so slightly awkward but definitely surprised in this situation.
"Stand at ease." Winter spreads her feet by about twelve inches, by lifting her thigh parallel to the ground, whilst bringing both of her arms behind their back and interlocking her hands. "You're still angry, aren't you." It wasn't a question, L's persona completely changing to that of a commanding officer, his rightful position in this situation. Winter didn't dare move as L made complete eye-contact with Winter, face inches from each other as L's eyes shifted to their colourful purple once again.
"Do you know what I see Agent?" At this Winter responds immediately. "No sir." At this L gives off an evil chuckle as he starts circling her. "I see someone who's been compromised, hurt, a weakling made weaker because of their inability to control themselves properly and conduct themselves in the proper manner a soldier should." L says, raising his voice slightly at the last few words whilst walking back towards Corvo, Corvo subconsciously standing a little more straightened up himself due to his previous military background, which L is still reading through in his head.
L turns around to face Winter with a less cold expression. "Do you know why I'm here Agent?" At this Winter can't help but let the fire in her eyes spread to create hope in her mind. "To help with the kidnapping of my younger sister, sir." Winter responds with only tiny traces of emotion. At this L smiles slightly. "Time to complete my part of the bargain, eh Agent?" L says with an ever quieter tone. "Permission to speak freely, Sir?" "Granted." "May I suggest we talk to my father? He's consulting General Ironwood on the matter and I think the Atlesian Government and The Network can find my sister faster if they work together." She says as L gives her an uncompromising stare.
"And why do you think I'm going to deny that the Atlesian Government and The Network work together?" "But sir I-" "But?" L raised an eyebrow as Winter tensed, at which point Corvo decided to slowly take his leave from the room. "I didn't say you could leave." At this Corvo freezes and turns to face L's back. "But. I will be speaking to your father." L says in a monotone before leaving the room. "At ease and let's go." L says in his usual chipper tone, his personality completely changing. (Nice pep talk.) (L: Can you not?...)
"I like him." Corvo comments as L exits the room. "Be quiet Corvo." Winter says with a light glare at her Actual father figure eliciting him to give off a chuckle as the two followed L down the corridors to Mr. Jacques Schnee's office, timing it so Ironwood leaves just far enough so that he wouldn't notice L enter but by the time he'd turn around, he'd spot Winter and Corvo only, a shorter and more scrawny male watched him enter however with narrowed eyes.
L won't be using Jacques name formally. Ohhh no, he has a few things to say on behalf of an Uncle.
Several miles away.
Two cloaked Bullheads are flying out to the north-eastern part of Solitas where one of many hidden structures in the continent lay underground, the same as Atlas's own sub-city, but hey, who doesn't want an underground base? The only other place to hide something you don't really want people to find is, well, up. And we all know what L put up there.
"How long until we ping the beacon?" The leader of Metal team asks the co-pilot in the cockpit, his green visor being the only visible part of his body. But you could hear the Brit London accent almost clearly. "2 mikes until dive, kids." The co-pilot responds from his seat, at which point Metal lead nods to the pilot and steps back into the hold of the Osprey lookalike and addressed his four other team members along with Blake who each sat in their own seat.
"Prep for jump, we're 2 mikes out." At this everyone checks their weapons and supplies before pinging green on his HUD. Blake giving a simple thumbs up. Being truthful, Blake felt slightly uncomfortable but at the same time at home, she wasn't a soldier by any stretch of the imagination, but she enjoyed the quiet and mechanical nature of it, each and every one of them knew their role and played it to their best. The team functioned as a single fluid motion, like a Shaolin monk in meditation, or Red Sparrows flying overhead.
It felt...right. "Blake, you're going to be our Psi-operative as we operate in this continent with Rubebr team." Blake nods as a response, still quiet as a mouse. Metal lead sits next to Blake and takes his helmet off, revealing a man of African-British decent, blue eyes showing ones of experience and as you'd expect for a jar-head, an almost bald haircut for his black hair. "You okay?" He asks Blake as he looks down at her, being taller inside his armour, his voice all the more caring. "Yes, just feeling a little out of place is all." Blake replies honestly.
At this Metal lead chuckles. "I know that feeling, I'm ex-military, no family, no girlfriend or anything, just myself and my skills. When I was honourably discharged I felt lost outside of the military, there was no order, no..."At this he gives off a sigh before he gets back on track. "Anyway, I was contacted by one of the spooks at The Network and he or she offered me a place here, I wanted to have just a taster. I automatically felt like I was walking into a snare, I didn't like it, it felt too simple, my instincts were going off like firecrackers. And this is the scary part, then I met Commander Fade." Blake makes eye-contact with Metal lead, now paying rapt attention for any new information on the strange boy that is her age but seemingly a born Soldier, also a certified and listed smartass.
"Now the Commander, he's a freaky guy, he's a spook and a Hunter but he's a soldier and that's normally impossible. I only had to look at him to see it. But you know what, ever since I met him and went on my first op under his command. I've felt at home. I cannot describe a stranger feeling than at one moment thinking that everything was too good to be true and feeling in danger, to feeling like I've come home from a decade long holiday. It's been 4 years since then and right now, you're stepping into my shoes." At this Blake hesitates but looks thoughtful.
"I'm not a soldier." "I know, but it doesn't matter who you are. Because the Commander is raising you up personally. That means you have some sort of potential beyond your abilities, maybe he'll tell you, maybe he won't, but I want to tell you something. So long as you're the Commanders Student, you'll grow to be a Master that is his Equal." The words Metal lead provided struck a slight cord in Blake.
It made her wonder, did everyone feel the same instinctual distrust as Blake does? If so, then why did L seem to put those feelings to rest? And did Metal lead know about the short extent of her abilities? If so...then what could he possibly think L see's in her? Blake saw herself as weak willed, running from every problem that came her way, even her Semblance is based off this fact, she didn't have the confidence to stand up to anyone besides in a fight or the ehhh...'touchy' subject, but even still...Blake gave an exasperated sigh before the lights switched to red signalling 'get ready'. Which everyone certainly did.
"All units, sound off." Metal lead called into his comm as he put his helmet back on. "Metal 0-2, Katcha Check." A Swedish accented male rung. "Metal 0-3, Thane Ready." a deep seemingly computerized rumble resonated from the voice of the man. "Metal 0-4, Jackal is ready to kick ass sir!" A man accented from the United States Ozarks region spoke."Metal 0-1, Metal lead Ready." The old fashioned British Londoner says.
"Rubber 0-2, 30k Ready to drop the heat." "Rubber 0-3, Z Ready." "Rubber 0-4, Gray, all systems green." "Rubber 0-1, Rubber lead, ready to run n' gun." Both 30k and Z seemed Australian accented but Gray and Rubber lead seemed more Washington accented, it's hard to tell from the radio interference due to the snow storm outside.
"Blake, check in." Metal lead says through the comm. "I'm fine Metal lead." Blake says, though she always feels odd when she calls him that. "Ooooo someones got some fire!" Jackal says with an audible smirk eliciting Blake to make a flicking motion at Jackal as her eyes turn a dark purple for a split second, his head hitting the hull behind him, disorientating him slightly.
"Cut the chatter because this will only be said once! Rubber lead, you have the floor." As Metal lead finishes talking, Rubber leads voice fills the comm. "We're going to be setting up at this base in case of a suspected incursion by the White Fang, teams will always be on standby for the Commanders call. You heard me correctly ladies, the Commander, as you've probably heard, is coming personally. That means this isn't an op where we can walk around with our pants dragging on the floor, time to put on our big boy diapers. Let's get this done, any questions that aren't brainless in origin?" Rubber lead asks.
"That means 30k can't say anything." Z quips eliciting most of the two squads members, besides 30k who is giving Z a glare, to laugh. "Clear the line, let's move out!" Metal lead says as the lights turn amber, the ramp doors opening, everyone standing in an orderly line which Blake is at the head of. "On my mark." The pilot says, everyone tensing as they prepare to do the craziest thing Blake has ever done.
Jump out of a Bullhead in the middle of a snow storm with nothing but her instincts to guide her.
Remember what L said. Blake thinks to herself as she takes a deep breath. "3..." The countdown begins as what L said to her springs to mind. "2..." "Don't think, do. Or you'll die, both begin with d, which one you do is your choice." "1..." She rolled her eyes at the fresh memory. "Mark!" The pilot says before Blake jumps out of the Bullhead, letting her mind go blank as she simply followed her instincts.
She couldn't feel the cold, she didn't see the world at all, she only saw white. Until the world appeared in a way only a Psionic can look at it. Swirls of colour twirling and dancing around everywhere, appearing and disappearing like a painting by Van Gogh. she followed the one that coloured itself purple, her objective that L had set, she let herself fall as she followed it, not noticing the eight soldiers behind her staring at her in slight wonderment. "Sarge, I'm not feelin' too good about this." Jackal says whilst gradually turning as green as his visor.
"Suck it up! I'm havin' a blast! Woooooooo!" 30k says as he spins in circles, enjoying the feeling of falling from stupid heights. "How does she even know where she's going? She's got no tech!" Gray exclaims before Blake puts the comm on silent to concentrate better, missing the entire argument between normal people and the people who think psi-operatives just use fancy light shows or are a Semblance. Coincidentally, the comm unit is a collar connected to her ear. Totally not done on purpose by L.
She stared and stared into the white abyss, right up until it started staring back..."Now!" Blake says as they each fall into a giant grey pit made seemingly of metal, the eight soldiers using their fitted jet packs to slow their descent enough that when they land on the grey landing pad they don't end up with completely broken bones.
Blake however slammed into the landing pad with full force, a mixture of Psionics and Aura allowing her to be completely unscathed, a dull dark purple glow surrounding her. "Well, that's different from other Psi-operatives." Katcha comments. At this Blake gives off no response as she walks forwards. "This way." At this everyone looks at the person next to them before following her with rifles or melee weapons drawn in a lax guard, power starting to be fed to the entire facility as their presence was detected by motion sensors.
As Blake stepped off the landing pad, the lights turned on to reveal a micro hanger with a single smaller Atmosphere-variant-Galaxy Dropship, several Sparrow fighter craft and the hangar bay doors test opening enough for their Stealth-Variant Bullheads to enter and land, having been waiting for them to turn the power on before entering. The entrance they came through didn't seem big enough for any of the ships but none of the troops openly said anything about it. "I know what Z's going to be working on all day everyday." Gray idly comments, which the rest of Rubber team silently nods to.
Blake then lead them all to a door that opened when the sensors detected them in the proximity of it, revealing a living area off to the right that looked big enough to house each of them. It had a plasma television for entertainment as well as video games, having a double benefit that Blake didn't really get all that much. The lounge was mostly cream coloured, the leather sofas and soft fluffy carpet and walls being that cream, though the colour was restricted to the living area.
The rest of the place had walls that are a steel grey as always instead of cream, the floor being the very same grey. "Further onward is the kitchen as well as the dinning table, on the left are the doors to the tech lab, the science department, gym, armoury and further on from that are the bedrooms, upstairs is operations and the communications hub. There's a staircase to up there in every room besides the living room." Blake explained. "Neat lil' place we got ourselves here!" Jackal nods to himself as he cradles his LMG in his arms.
"Don't get too excited, you're living here with me. Everyone get situated, I wanna know how secure this place is, the equipment we have on hand and how we can resupply if need be." Metal lead exclaims to all the men and women in the room, at which point everyone gives off their own version of a salute or 'Yes sir' as they grab a bunk and re-activate all of the equipment. At this Blake starts heading into the kitchen area and up the staircase to the Comm hub where a hologram of an office containing L and a few other people, some Blake didn't recognise, others she definitely did.
"Blake, I moustache you a question. How's everyone getting settled?" He asks with his neutral CO face and voice on, Blake rolling her eyes at his pun. (CO - Commanding Officer.) "We arrived two minutes ago, pilots had to be sure that the engines wouldn't freeze over in the snow storm upstairs." Blake explains, at which point L just nods in understanding. "This is Winter Schnee, Security Chief Corvo and CEO Jacques Schnee, I'm guessing you know the moustached male here a bit more...personally." At this Blake gives off a glare at L as the CEO also gives L a glare.
L shrugs with a smirk. "I don't care who you've tried to kill in the past, you were manipulated into doing it so I can forgive you. I hope Mr. Schnee can do so sometime in the future." At this Blake crosses her arms with the same glare. "Have you done what you needed to or not?" At this L nods. "I believe we've come to an agreement." Mr. Schnee starts. "An indefinite and paid supply of Dust from our company and a connection to General Ironwood as well as the services of my daughter Winter. In exchange the Dust shall be paid for and I shall gain a favour from an organisation that is obviously much more powerful than Atlas as a whole. Also, I promised not to tell Ironwood." He lists off idly with a smirk.
"You forgot something." Winter gives off a glare to her father, inwardly surprising the cat eared Faunus. "Oh yes, and rescuing my daughter Weiss." He mentions dismissively, seemingly only interested in the business side of things. Blake could feel the hidden anger of the three others in the room being radiated towards her, which isn't so bad considering the heating in the base hasn't turned on yet.
"Winter here will be with you momentarily along with another Agent you will be familiar with. Don't try to kill him immediately even though he'll try to." At this Blake gives off a silently confused nod before everything in the hologram besides L disappears. "We're on a private channel, you can speak freely now." At this Blake gives off a sigh. "Are we really doing business with Him?" Blake asks, putting emphasis on Him to allure to a certain Asshat.
"Unfortunately so. Hate to break it to ya Blake but my organisation needs Dust based munitions, they're too unique to pass up. My Engineers can work wonders with the stuff." At which point Blake sighs but nods in understanding. "Who's Weiss?" Blake asks. "Jaqcues second daughter, Weiss Schnee's the hieress, it isn't public knowledge that she's been kidnapped by the White Fang so it doesn't surprise me that he isn't concerned about it at the moment." Blake frowns before asking. "Any new information?" L was about to respond before a ringing sound started occurring and a familiar face appeared next to L. His serious expression and tone instantly being clear as he appeared. "I've found her."
The next day. 00:30 AM The White Forest. A few hours until the First Event. 00:31 AM
"So, how's it lookin'?" Z's voice came through the comm quietly. He received no response as the person he was talking to is laying partway up a mountain of ice and snow, camouflaged, looking through the scope of a sniper rifle to spot as many guards as he can as well as Prisoners. That's right, plural. "Keep quiet, he's concentrating, thermal imaging is difficult to use when spotting people in a camp this small with a lot of heat signatures." Katcha scolds quietly from his prone position.
"Why can't we just use Blake's psionics to take out all the guys that we know are bad and just move in and take out the rest?" Jackal asks with an almost bored tone. "A. My psionics can't do that, I'm more Control and Defensive based. B. We don't want to let the enemy know what Psionics are, don't reveal all your weapons to your enemy at once. C. If I could and did, I may kill a prisoner and the men that we mistake for prisoners can turn this into a hostage situation or kill the prisoners." Blake lists off as L smirks.
"I only taught you for a total of 16 hours in two days and you know your limits. I'm almost impressed. Now clear the line, we almost have everyone tagged." L finally says into his comm before anyone says anything else. As he finishes though, a pair of trucks with a company logo that resembled an red outline of a plus sign with a silhouette of an eagle behind it, with the words: Miles Medical. on the side of the trucks.
"Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?" Z asked quietly. "Looks like the White Fang have some trucks with the Pharmaceutical giants name on it." Katcha says with an obvious frown. "Metal Lead I want you to get someone to dig into this, how copy?" L says with a monotone, watching as the White Fang unload medical supplies as well as weapons and food but the more common thing among them are Explosives which caused L to frown.
"Copy that Commander we've sent the info to The Network database for Agents to look into." Metal Leads voice crackled through the comm. L had now marked each and every single person there is on the site that he can see since there doesn't seem to be any sign of the trucks moving anytime soon. "Just give the word Commander, when do we move in?" The familiar voice of Winter voiced ever so slightly anxiously. But L didn't respond for a good two seconds so he could think up his plan.
"Katcha, Blizzard, I want you both to get as close as you can to the tent with the hostages are without being detected, no kills, I want this to be a clean mission with plenty of men left to interrogate." L starts, receiving a pair of green signals from the pair, knowing Winter would work better with someone like Katcha. Calm and Serious in combat but a damn good marksman with his crossbows. Despite them being tiny and wrist mounted, they still hit with the force of a bullet and this isn't including the hidden blades he has.
L felt a silent thank you come from Blake's dark purple signature up in the trees very close to the camp where she watched with interest, only for her voice to suddenly come through. "There's a Lieutenant here, in the command tent." At this L hums as he moves his scope to where Blake sends a tag to everyone's HUD. "He's hidden behind someone else from my perspective, get a clear tag on the guy for me and check if there's any others I've missed." L says, several more tags appearing around the camp site and in the core of it.
"Danke." L let out a mental smirk, he knows not to view the world from one perspective despite him being on the high ground anyway, he had another trustworthy pair of eyes. "Blake keep overwatch on the area, if you spot one heading towards Katcha and Winter that they won't be able to get in time, hit em' with tranqs and move the body out of sight." He receives a green signal in return. "Z, Jackal, head to the way the trucks entered, set motion censors down the road in case someone else comes looking around then Silently place charges under the trucks and await further orders." Putting emphasis on silent, he receives green lights in return.
L lets his breathing calm for a few moments, exercising his trigger finger, everyone checking their weapons in that time. "Looks like lucks on our side, once you two secure the Prisoners tent the others won't be able to see inside because the lights are being blocked by the trucks. Move to the tent and secure it in your own time, preferably quickly this is a stealth op. Okay? On my mark you two." L says with slight positivity.
He adjusts his aim for the third individual of the three in the tent, completing advanced trigonometry and ballistics to find where exactly he'd need to aim in order to score a clean hit. "3." Winter checks her dust reserves and pistols, tugging at the skintight fabric like material of her Infiltrator armour, despite wanting to kill all of them, orders were orders and she'd follow them to the letter, which is why she was given pistols. "2." She spared a quick prayer to every deity she knew of that this would go smoothly, despite not being overly religious. "1." She wondered what 'Danke' meant. "Mark."
The two fully suited and booted individuals start rising from the snow like zombies in a horror movie, around a first tent with sleeping members inside, then the second containing the prisoners, a single poff being heard as a guard hits the snow floor behind them and moved into the ditch they came out of, smoke rising from Gambol Shroud's barrel above the camp.
Once Katcha and Winter made it to the front of the slightly larger tent, they checked their opposite, nodding in sync 3 times as a countdown before entering the tent and firing one shot each at two goons before the final was about to grab his weapon and alert everyone, he falls backwards limply to the floor with a dull thud, little did the two Agents know that there's a tiny hole in the tent just above the entrance from where L had fired a single shot from 2,000 meters away with a smirk. I still got it. L thinks with a grin. "Tfft, Old man my ass." He comments aloud from someone else's fun poking.
"Targets down, all 6 prisoners secure." Katcha says with a Swedish monotone. But there was a brief silence, one that for most of the people listening felt like it lasted hours. "She's not here." Winter says with slight panic. Making L growl to himself, half spoiling his once good mood. They've already moved her then, huh? L thinks to himself. "Be calm Blizzard. We might get a location out of the men we interrogate." Winter silently nods to herself at this, re-solidifying her Will. "Interrogate?" Blake asks, L knows what she's asking.
"The only difference between an interview and an interrogation is that in one of them we're asking nicely, the other one, we're using psychological tactics to break you." L says with the same monotone. "SO the job interview is the second one then?" Z asks with amusement. "Then you'll hate what I do in interrogations." L responds immediately with an amused edge. At which point there's a small huff of amusement from almost everyone before they focus on the job at hand once again.
"Secure the site silently, we'll load up the Bullheads with them and make our way back, destroy the camp as we leave." At this he receives a dozen green lights. Blake looked over the camp whilst Katcha and Winter began moving the freed prisoners away from the camp but ended up sighing with a bitter expression as she started to feel the branches she perched herself on give way to her body weight.
So in the seconds she had to react, she launched herself upwards and used her Aura to slow her descent slightly for a course correction, aiming her landing on to someone carrying a box by the truck closest to the exit road, luckily enough it was a Fox Faunus so she didn't exactly land on anything hard, using a shadow clone to spring herself upwards and her Aura to slow her descent once again as another Faunus came to check on her unconscious comrade, then three others.
Blake used a shadow clone to shoot straight into the ground, making a psionic shockwave and a small obscuring cloud of snow which knocked out two of the closest White Fang members as they slammed into the truck nearby, the other two being stunned for only a second before they charged the barely visible silhouette of Blake. Unluckily enough for them, they were both unarmed.
The first, a Wolf faunus, attempted to swipe down at the turned away Blake only for his arm to be held in place in the air from Blake's right hand much to his shock before he processed Blake backwards kicking him across the face with enough force to knock the senses out of him for a second and a half, still holding his arm in the air Blake proceeded to launch a kick into the side of his rib cage, shattering a couple of them before freeing himself from her surprisingly strong grasp.
He grabbed what he thought was Blake's head before feeling someone kick him in the face, not realising it was in fact a shadow clone that he was holding as he was sent stumbling backwards whilst dazed. The second one charged at her with a crowbar attempting to give Blake a good pummelling only to be countered by the katana blade of Gambol Shroud, using the cleaver half to swipe the female faunus into the air and firing two tranq shots into the Wolf charging at Blake once again, the first shot shattering his Aura and the second driving him into the realm of unconsciousness as the extremely effective chemical ran through his veins.
The Faunus currently suspended in the air got slammed into the ground hard enough for the snow to melt upon impact, her second opponent becoming unconscious. However, Blake couldn't react in time to the strength of a kick that sent Blake into the truck a few meters in front of her, but not enough to knock her out as she quickly got to her feet, her Aura holding steady as it had become reinforced from her psionics.
Standing around 4 meters away from Blake are a very well built White Fang Lieutenant and two goons with single handed swords on either side of him. They each smirked at the fact they outnumbered her before frowning as they saw her face. "Belladonna?" The Lieutenant asked with disbelief in his voice before it turned to anger along with the expression under his unique horse shaped Grimm mask with four glowing red eyes.
"TRAITOR!" He shouts as his two goons charge only to be frozen in place besides their heads as Blake's eyes glowed a dark purple, her face showing exactly how much she is seething with anger from one itty bitty word. "Blake." At this she turns to see a heavily snow covered L holding his sniper rifle that looked more like a railgun in a lax position staring at Blake with a neutral expression, snow camouflage face paint adding to the effect. "Calm." He says, which elicits Blake to take a few breaths. Ignoring the shouts of the Lieutenant and the two common fodder.
As Blake calms down the Lieutenant manages to break free of his Psionic bonds and starts charging at Blake only to have an invisible Z with his stun baton slam into the Lieutenants gut then the back of his knees in rapid succession making him kneel before he's paralysed by a Stasis once again, this time not by Blake.
L's eyes glowed their usual purple as he walked over to Blake who felt a bit upset at herself for letting the words get to her. It was still a sensitive subject and one that Blake had only ever talked about with L, but only because he asked nicely and the guy had a damn silver tongue! She mentally prepared herself for being berated, only to find a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You okay?" She looked up at L in surprise, her Amber eyes slowly coming back as the rest of White Fang members were hunted and knocked out all over the camp by everyone else.
"I'm fine." She says with a very light smile, but this was not a smile of happiness or joy, this was a smile that L used to wear all the time when he was younger and still had the depressing mindset of being in a war that he could never win. So he knew exactly what to do to cure it.
The first thing L did was slapping Blake across the face, not enough to hurt but it definitely stung, much to the kitty Faunus's shock, rubbing her cheek before she could ask why he did that with a large amount of annoyance on her face, L explained. "That was for nearly blowing us up, you can make the trucks explode as well as the explosives they brought here you know. And there's enough to level a building." L scolded lightly which Blake nodded at his logic, her previous anger at his action disappearing, now being replaced with the same feeling of vulnerability and regret as before.
"And I'm going to have to take you home with me." At this Blake looked up at L in confusion. "I know that look, I've had it a lot myself and I know exactly how to make you feel better, for once it's not through alcohol because alcohol is a depressant. Anyway! You're going to be on leave tomorrow and today." Blake raises an eyebrow at L. Is this a really poor attempt at flirting? "And no this isn't a really poor attempt at flirting, this is me saying: You need to relax kid, lighten up!" L says in his chipper tone.
Blake's expression then changes to one of acceptance as she walks with L back to the now landing Cloaked Bullheads, Katcha and Winter in tow. Blake looked at each of the Prisoners being treated, only one giving her a hateful glare which was promptly snuffed out as Katcha took off his helmet and had a small word with the guy. "I wouldn't be giving my squad-mate glares if I were you. Especially if the Commander catches you doing it." At this the man looks at Katcha in slight shock before relenting silently.
Katcha sat on Blake's left with a silent sigh. "Nice calm op, maybe I'll get a few hours sleep in before the next one." He says, attempting to start up a conversation, which works. "A few hours sleep?" Blake asks, not knowing what Katcha means by it, leading him to chuckle. "Blake, I'll be honest, its been op after op recently, my team, Metal, and Rubber team got pulled out of the Badlands, it's a war out there." He says as he looks out into the snowy forest.
Blake gives Katcha a confused expression which he just responds dismissively. "Don't worry about it. Can't talk about it in front of civilians anyway." He says as he looks over the ex-Prisoners opposite them, each of them having been battered and bruised, one with broken bones and two with fractures.
"Makes you wonder why these guys actually had them tied up." Blake looked at them again with a regretful frown, feeling like she had some part in the cause of all this before L and Winter exit the vessels cockpit, the ramp closing up and the lights turning on. Blake absent mindedly touched her bow in her moment of insecurity.
Winter took off her helmet and let her hair out before tying it up and styling it back to its normal way. L shaking off the snow from his body revealing his Ghillie suit which he began taking off, revealing a set of armour similar to that of Winters but made more for males and contained several visual holsters for a kukri, multiple kunai, a combat knife and a few bullets for his sniper rifle. As is expected for someone so...eccentric. Though the amount of knives he's carrying is contradictory to being the sniper.
Winter realised something as she slowly turned around to the ex-prisoners. "Did any of you meet a girl around the age of 17, looks like me but with longer hair?" Winter sounded almost desperate. Each of them turned to Winter each having an annoyed expression of boredom. That was a yes.
"You mean the one that would not stop talking?..." One man started. "Constantly moaning and groaning, cursing and shouting useless threats as well as profanity. A mouth gag failed to make her quiet, nearly drove the guards and us insane." At this, L, Blake and Katcha turned their heads to Winter with a raised eyebrow.
Winter didn't care about the stares or the fact that they'd insulted Weiss in a few different ways. It'd meant that Weiss was probably still alive and that she hadn't changed at all. "Do any of you know where she is?" Winter asked once again, hope visibly filling her eyes, but it would be replaced with the despair that already lingers.
"No, they took her away a few hours ago." One replied with a look of slight relief, unknowingly causing the despair she now feels, Winter sat down with a hand to her forehead, a whole list of scenarios running through her head rapidly which instantly evaporated as she came into eye contact with L whose hardened and determined expression alone made her sit a little straighter.
"Don't forget we've got a lot of White Fang members to interrogate for information so we're not out of the game yet." At this Winter nods with a newly steeled Will, L placing a hand on Winters shoulder. "We'll find her and prevent further attacks, that I can promise, alright?" Winter nods once again, fully motivated, eliciting L to stand up again and nod to Blake to follow him which Blake does immediately, both of them turning away from the others to make the conversation at least a little more private, hanging on to the handles dangling on the ceiling.
"How much of a degree of interrogation methods am I going to have to employ to get any information out of any of them?" At this Blake hesitates a bit, visibly frowning at the insinuation. "They're misguided, they're not fanatical zealots..." Blake says insistently, L gives off a deep rumble almost like a growl being held back in his throat. "Wait a little while, that'll change soon...just tell me, do I need to use tools or do I only need to use words?" L murmurs the first part to himself, Blake narrowing her eyes at him slightly.
"Words only." Blake replies whilst trying to keep a neutral tone, mentally wondering why he seemed so touchy on the subject. He doesn't hate Faunus, hell he is one! He may be versing the White Fang but there may be something I'm missing here. Blake kept her thoughts to herself, that being the first thing she learned how to do when L asked what Blake wanted to learn. It was that, then the basics before moving on to a more improvised learning curriculum due to Blake's style of combat focusing more on movement and close quarters based attacks, though her long range more or less incorporated dealing with multiple opponents.
"Very well then, words it is." L says with a distant expression as his eyes turn blue. Blake looked up at L for a few seconds before deciding now would be a great time for a Q&A session. "What's happening in the Badlands?" At this L raises an eyebrow at Blake before shaking his head. "We'll worry about that after we're done getting rested up." L avoided the question, but Blake wouldn't question it. For now. "We'll be taking a portal so be ready for a headache." At this Blake snaps back into reality and nods as a confirmation, watching as the impossible purple tear inside reality opened and surrounded her.
I'm unsure when the next chapter should be up but rest assured that it will be soon, I might even ask L put in a fight between Qrow, Summer, Taiyang and L in there, just as a treat.
But for now I'll see you ladies and germs...in the next chapter, Bai! :D