Ch 24: A Change In Mind Part II

"I'm glad to see you arrived here without any trouble." I glanced at Ozpin as he said this, we were inside a secure room in Fort Winter, high in the mountains in the Mistral Region.

"Trust me, I'm just glad to be far away from that blasted WF prison." I responded to his comment.

"I know you just got back Mako, but did you interrogators mention anything useful that could point us towards what they are planning to do?" Ozpin asked with curiosity as he sat behind a desk.

"Torchwick and his associates are planning to capture Professor Port, apparently he knows the location of some artifact that goes by the name "The Horn of the Grimm". Is the Professor here at the Fort?" I asked this as a change of expression ran across Ozpin's face.

"Professor Port was originally here at Fort Winter with the rest of us as we waited for the military to retake Vale. As the time dragged on and the conflict drew into a stalemate Port insisted on going to his home in Eastern Vale to retrieve some of his work on Grimm studies. Since then we haven't heard of him." This is not good at all, I wonder if he let the Professor go alone?

"Did you let the Professor go by himself to Eastern Vale?" I asked, worrying about the aged Professor.

"You really think we would let him go alone?" A third voice mutters as I recognize who it was, Commander White.

"Oh I didn't know you would be here sir" I said attempting to hide my feelings towards him. He and I are going to have a talk about what he has really been up to.

"I deemed it necessary for myself to attend this debriefing, you never know what kind of intel you can get out of it. I assigned one of the best mercenaries in all of Remnant to accompany Port, along with a squad of Elite soldiers from the GICD, many of whom are ex-military." He added as he looked at me up and down. Something doesn't seem right about the commander.

"Who is the mercenary?" I asked trying to change the topic so he would stop staring at me in a weird fashion.

"He is a highly dependable asset, he in fact helped us hold Beacon longer so we could evacuate and he also discovered your location before being assigned to go with Port. His name is Devin Cross, the men around here like to call him "The Spirit". Never understood why."

"So what are supposed to do, let the WF control Vale City and Beacon?" I asked, puzzled why this conversation wasn't going anywhere.

"Once again we know you just got back but we were hoping you could try and find Port. Of course you wouldn't be doing this alone, we would let you take 2 students who you feel you would work best with." Ozpin answers my question, and stands up to look out the window behind him and takes a sip of coffee from his mug. "When you find Port, you will bring him back here, then hopefully we can attempt to take Beacon back and then Vale."

"That's an ambitious plan Professor, what kind of support would I have on my own little mission?" I started to think about the other missions I had been on and how they turned out.

"The GICD would provide air support if you need it, hopefully you won't. We will drop you and your two selected students off near Port's last known location; his home in eastern Vale. Do you know who you want to bring with you on the mission?" Ozpin says this and takes another sip from his coffee.

I know Ren has just got back from retrieving me, but I feel he works really well with small groups, so he is a must have. Weiss would be helpful since she can use her glyphs in various ways. Then again Ruby would be able to provide an added bonus of speed and range to the team. I guess its Weiss though, I don't want to put Ruby through this, and she is only 15.

"I think Lie Ren and Weiss Schnee will be very suited for this assignment that you are giving me." I turn around getting ready to walk out of the room.

"That sounds like a plan, your team will leave tomorrow night. Get some rest Mako you deserve it." Ozpin states this as he motions for the commander and I to leave his office. Which the two of us do. Guess it's time the commander and I have a little talk.

As we leave the room and shut the door behind us I quickly pin the commander up against the wall. He is surprised by this and attempts to push back, but I wanted to know if what Torchwick told me was true. Damn, he is taller than I remember. "Mako! What the hell are you doing?" He yells at me as he starts reaching for what I guess was a knife holstered to his chest.

"Operation Nightfall, did you or did you not order me to attack a compound that watched over a Faunus village?" My grip tightened as the words came out of my mouth. "Also don't bother reaching for your weapon." The commander relaxes and takes a deep breath.

"Let go of me and I will tell you what happened." I comply to his order and release him. "Thank you, you didn't have to do that to get my attention. Okay, Operation Nightfall, I ordered you to attack a WF compound which it was, never in my report did I tell you that it was guarding anything. Who told you it was guarding a village?" He asks as he puts his arms on his hips.

"Doesn't matter, what does matter is the truth. Was there an innocent Faunus Village in close proximity to the compound?" I yell at him, growing impatient with him and start reaching for my revolver.

"Relax Mako, I said I would tell you the truth. The truth is there WAS a Faunus village near the compound. When I mean WAS I mean that it is nothing but rumble now." He smiled as he said this. "It seems that our airstrike that hit the compound also may have accidently hit the village as well. Oops, didn't mean to do that." His smile grows as the last few words leave his mouth.

"YOU BASTARD! You used me!" I yell once again, now un-holstering my revolver and putting it into his chest.

"Your right, we did use you. But the WF is known for using their own villages as shields so we wouldn't attack them, even though they harbor weapons caches and other resources used by the WF. That's why I ordered the strike. We human's need to make sure that those second class beings don't rise up, and what do you know they rose up. They took Vale from us." He knocked my revolver with a quick movement down to the floor.

"You racist piece of shit" I mutter as I pick up my revolver and turn around and begin to walk to the quarters to where I was supposed to sleep.

"I did what any other man would do for his species" He yells at me as I continue to walk away. You may have, but was it worth it?