[Static burst, suggesting bad connection.] "Am I speaking to Lieutenant Yale, officer at Onyx Academy?"
"You've been sending people to tail me for the past two days. You know who I am. What do you want from me? Is it worth the risk you are taking in calling me?"
"I have heard of the success you people have been having at dealing with organized crime…like the White Fang. And Roman Torchwick…who, I have heard, is active in Vale."
"You did not call me to talk about our operations now did you? What do you want?"
"It's concerning…someone close to me. Her name is Penny and she has been attacked by Roman Torchwick and his allies. Onyx was right, you know? Concerning the White Fang? Anyway, I need her protected. Nothing serious, just an escort for when she wishes to visit the city again. I can't bear having her run into those thugs again on her own…you see, Penny is…different."
"We are aware of the situation at the docks and thus far, the girl has proven capable enough to hold her own. We are no escort service, mister-"
"I can help you. I can offer my services as a scientist-"
"-We have enough scientists-"
"-and as a politician."
"…I see. What do you need?"
"A soldier with experience. Someone who isn't as ruthless or trigger-happy as this Greystone on the news. Someone who can interact with Penny…without getting frustrated by her habits."
"I can assign one soldier currently positioned at Beacon to escort her whenever she heads into the city, but be advised: any and all attempts of anyone of your organization excluding 'Penny' at communicating with our asset will be interpreted as an initiation of hostilities."
"Uhh…meaning?"
"Meaning measures to prevent information from leaking. At all costs. I will contact you within the hour with further information and an official dossier. Then we shall discuss your end of the deal."
"Yes…yes, thanks."
Conversation between Onyx representative Lieutenant 'Yale' and ██████, known associate of code-name "Penny". Warning: clearance level Beta required to continue. Report to your superior officer for further clarification.
Day 56, Friday, 9:15 –Beacon dormitories.
Ruby slowly opened her eyes, groaned softly and slowly pulled her blankets over her head as a lonely ray of sunlight managed to hit her directly in her eyes during the brief opening. That was one way to wake up…
"Ruby?" Blake softly whispered at her from the opposite bed. Yang lay sprawling on the lower section of the bunk-bed, having decided in her sleep that she would only use half of her bedspreads and Weiss was not visible at the moment. "Are you awake?"
Her mind was not, but her body was. "Yes." And it seemed that her mouth was also awake. She hadn't really had a good night's worth of sleep; her dreams had been plagued by some unseen person whispering at her and right at the moment where she had been about to see who it was that had been taunting her, a fire had broken out in some old house and she had woken up by means of direct application of sun to eye.
"I don't get it."
The redhead opened her eyes again removed the blanket from over her head, only to run into the exact same problem again. So she decided to move her head an inch to the right. That seemed to work.
What didn't work was her brain trying to think of a way to make her friend happy again. Blake's pain at having been found out as a Faunus had only been topped by her relief at finding out that nobody hated or disliked her for it. But that relief and happiness in turn had been surpassed by her sheer outrage and hurt at having found out what Will had done to her in the past. Well, not to her but…sort of.
But why? Why hadn't the soldier told them that? Why hadn't he been honest with them? Was he ashamed? Or had he seen it as unimportant? No, that couldn't be it. Will had truly been distraught…perhaps the timing had never been there?
"What don't you get?" She then asked Blake, already knowing the answer.
"I should have realized earlier, but…it seems that so much has happened in just a few years. Beacon being founded in Vale…the Vacuo murders…the Death-War…the Final Solution killings…"
"Don't forget that thing the soldier told us, about having met Will two years ago," The muffled voice of Weiss sounded from underneath Ruby's bed. It appeared that little sleeping beauty had also woken up.
Yang continued to sleep.
"And…" Blake then hesitantly said and looked up, meeting her leader's gaze, "…two years ago…just a week before I split with the White Fang…a partner and I were sent on a mission. We were supposed to…steal something…but we were stopped."
"By who?" She asked.
Yang continued to sleep.
"By two people clad in black armour, just like a certain group of people that I know of," The Faunus then bitterly replied. "And I think that I know who one of them was. The other one was larger than both Greystone and Mantis were…but the smaller one was him. And Onyx is also connected to all of these events."
"You're right," Ruby muttered and reached for a reserve-pillow that she had stored just in case. This was all just a bit too convenient to be a coincidence. "And I think we should go have a talk to people who will be able to talk back to us having a talk. With them. And us."
"Not following you, Rubes…" Weiss sighed, her statement then quickly being followed by the sounds of a person standing up from a bed.
And Yang was still sleeping.
"You want to go to those four soldiers?" Blake asked, not sounding genuinely surprised.
"Yes," She confidently stated and then aimed her pillow at the older sister that was taking too long to wake up. "And after yesterday, I don't think that they will be able to resist us."
The pillow flew straight and true and impacted with a dull "thud" on Yang's head, just as Weiss started a more sensitive subject. "Did you...were you close to the White Fang that were murdered that day?"
As Yang squealed and reached for the pillow that was suddenly hugging her face, Blake solemnly answered: "We knew each other by division names, but I also knew some by their real names too," and got up from her bed as well.
"Division names?" Ruby asked as she carefully watched the blondest girl of their team tearing the pillow away and rising in all her angry glory. "What's that?"
"Like nicknames…but then official. To recognize each other in shared operations," Blake sighed and then frowned, staring at a spot on the floor where really nothing interesting was going on. That was a subtle way to say 'I just realized something but I don't want to say it'.
It seemed that nobody wanted to mention that that sounded a lot like 'callsigns ad designations' that involved numbers. And the word Lima.
As soon as Yang had properly woken up and shaken off the bloodlust that came with doing so, the rest of them quickly refreshed themselves and donned their combat gear, preparing for what was going to come that day.
"Where will we find them?" Weiss asked.
Ruby secured her Crescent Rose to her back and crossed her arms, feeling confident that she was going to take the proper choice of finally confronting the people that were causing so much harm. "I think that they will be in the gardens again."
`Why that?" Cheerful and not murderous Yang asked, having recovered from a totally not chaotic waking-up.
"Because that was where they were the last time…and considering the impact that last night's news-broadcast had, I doubt that they will want to be near the castle," She rapidly explained and started down the hallway after having quickly locked their dorms. "Plus just a feeling."
"What sort of feeling?" Weiss asked her.
"The serious funny kind," She replied.
The morning was young and most of the students at Vale were still trying to sleep. Ruby didn't know whether they had all heard the news or if most of them were still waiting for an unpleasant surprise. It had been so unexpected, too. And why had the newscast chosen to broadcast such a painful subject so openly anyway? As part of an anonymous hint? Who had known of that operation?
And more importantly still, why had Will done it? Was he simply following orders or had he snapped, having seen too many horrors and tortures in the Death-War? But…the Schnee Dust Company murders had been before the war. Did Will hate the Fauna so much? Or did he hate the White Fang? Had the organization done something to him in the past? But what could justify murder on such a large scale…a scale that wasn't even clear?
"I think I can hear them," Blake stated once they had left the main building of Beacon Academy. The gardens lay dead ahead and after just a few dozen more meters, they would stumble upon the pretty garden. Where a very ugly situation would be resolved if everything wen according to plan.
And she still had to get used to her teammate's animal-like traits. Fauna had sharper senses, she knew that much, but it was still a bit weird to actually see Blake using them.
"You sure?" Yang asked. "Cause I don't hear anything."
Blake gave her a deadpan-expression, twitching the hidden ears underneath her bow in annoyance.
"Right. Sorry."
"What are they saying?" Weiss asked and gripped the hilt of her rapier with her left hand, showing that she was nervous.
"There are three of them…and one of them is upset," Blake replied. But as they approached the place where Fireteam Lima was most likely going to be found, the sounds of people shouting at each other became a bit too loud for only Fauna to hear.
Ruby, for one, could hear them perfectly. It was the sound of a boy –or teen- being very distressed with something. And the closer they got to the origin, the clearer they were able to hear what was being said.
"I can't do this! I can't deal with it!"
"Calm down!"
"They're going to find out! They'll find out about Vacuo!"
"Ash, listen to me! Listen! There's nothing to be found out! Nobody will know unless you want to tell them!"
Team RWBY rounded the corner and stumbled upon a very strange scenario: Velvet Scarletina was sitting at a table with Lima Two-One, while another soldier was standing a few feet away from them. The standing one wasn't wearing his helmet and Ruby could see that he was extremely distressed by something even without looking at his face. His rather young, pale face made him look no older than Jaune. And for some reason this one looked even more…well, helpless. He had a certain quality that made him look like he didn't really belong in that unit.
Velvet immediately noticed them and nervously waved at them, but the soldier was sitting with his back to the four of them and was unaware of their approach. And if the helmetless soldier had seen them, he didn't do anything to acknowledge it.
In fact, he pretended that they weren't even there and continued. "I couldn't help it, I tried to protect them! I-I did! I tried to save them!"
Ruby soundlessly gasped when she saw that there were tears on the face of the gray-haired kid. The only states she had seen these people in were either calm, stoic or –in the case of Will- wounded or mildly distraught. She had never, ever seen someone from Onyx get emotional…not like this. Not in the helpless, dejected state that this soldier was currently in. That made it hard for her to be angry with these people…it made them look more human than anything ever could.
She silently wondered why the boy hadn't taken his helmet off sooner. He wasn't exactly unpleasant to look at.
"Ehm…what's going on?" Yang bluntly asked, making it impossible for them to turn back again. But from the looks of Velvet, it was probably for the best that they interfered.
The nervous kid's eyes shot up to meet them and he stared at them, in no way looking embarrassed or humiliated. There was a haunting expression hidden within his eyes…one that Ruby was sure that the rest of her team could also see.
And she instinctively knew that breaking down in front of strange girls as a soldier was the least of this poor guy's problems.
The other soldier –the one with his helmet still on- sighed and bowed his head, as if silently whispering "I knew it".
Then he turned around and faced them, allowing the young-looking soldier to sit down on the grass with his arms wrapped around his knees.
"Hey," He said with a hint of annoyance. It was meant as a greeting, but it didn't sound particularly greetful.
"Don't hey us," Weiss snapped at him and crossed her arms. It seemed that she had chosen to not be bothered by the sight that lay before her. "You've got some things to explain!"
"Do I now?" The soldier replied. Velvet was looked back and forth between him and Blake and then a sudden light entered her eyes, making her look as if she had just realized something. Had Velvet seen the news too? If so, then why was she sitting with these soldiers? Was she trying to get answers too? It didn't look like she was being kept against her will, but neither did she look very comfortable. "I thought that you weren't with the White Fang?" He asked.
How did he…?
"Why does Onyx hate Fauna?" Blake then brusquely asked, ignoring the soldier's previous comment. Her reply seemed to shock Velvet, but it didn't come as much as a surprise to the bunny-Faunus either.
"Onyx doesn't hate Fauna," The soldier replied without standing up. His tone made it sound as if he were explaining what one plus one was to a child and that did not amuse Blake.
"No?" She asked him, her voice increasing in anger and volume as she stepped closer to the guy. "Then why did Onyx suddenly decide to slaughter an entire group of protesting White Fang members? I'll ask one more time! Why does Onyx hate Fauna?"
Ruby made a silent reminder to herself to never piss Blake off and watched in awe and a mild form of dread how the cat-Fauna intimidated the solider enough for him to stand up and take a step backwards.
"Weiss," She softly asked her partner, "how did he know that Blake was a Faunus?"
"Onyx doesn't hate Fauna," He replied and brought his hands to his helmet, pulling it off with one smooth movement. Velvet smiled briefly as he did, which proved that this wasn't the first time she had seen him without his helmet. That sort of proved that she had the same thing with this soldier as RWBY had had with Will…until the news came out. Bonding and getting them to open up.
Two-One tucked his helmet underneath his arm and wryly smiled at them. His hair, just a bit shorter than Jaune's, looked like a mixture between black and blue…and rather messy from being kept underneath a helmet for so long. His eyes were as sharp as his features and he looked rather striking. But what struck Ruby as a surprise –mildly spoiled by the guy's suspicious remark against Blake- were the two fox-ears that protruded from his hair.
Lima Two-One was a Faunus.
"Hello, I'm Cal," He introduced himself anew and his smile faded as he assumed a serious expression.
Cal was a Faunus.
Yang looked back and forth between the small frame of the soldier called "Ash" and the newly-presented Cal and sighed explosively. "Things were so much easier when you guys were just the asses that could be blamed, you know?" She then said, probably making the one point valid that Ruby had wanted to address. Things were rarely black and white around Onyx, just like with Blake. She had been with a terrorist organization that has committed several crimes, but they still cared for her as if that hadn't happened. These four soldiers were with Onyx, a military organization that has committed several crimes, but they had all been seeing them as the bad guys. Even though they had come to assist them when they needed help.
Perhaps it was just so much easier to blame someone when said someone was wearing a helmet and never interacting with anyone? But that had been the same for Will and they had still accepted him. Why weren't things simpler? And what was the difference between these people and the Operative?
"I wanted to ask the same thing, about the White Fang," Velvet calmly explained as they all took their place around the large table. "Cal then showed that he was a Faunus too and took me and Ash here to start and explain a few things, but…"
She nervously eyed the calm form of Ash and Cal took over. "But while I had heard the news, Ash hadn't. Neither of us knew about Greystone's mission, but as soon as the kid heard that someone had leaked that well-kept secret, he became harder to talk to."
"So you guys didn't know about what had happened?" Blake asked, having calmed down somewhat. The fact that the source of her anger had turned out to be a Faunus too made that easier for her.
"Sucks when people keep you in the dark, doesn't it?" Yang teased the soldier. Ruby knew that her sister could be a flirt with handsome people, but this wasn't exactly the ideal moment to hit on people. The scary thing was that Yang knew that. So she was probably preparing to pull a Junior on him and rough him for information. That would be an amusing sight. Did these soldiers wear crotch-plating?
"No," Cal then replied, much to her own frustration. "Onyx has many dozens of Fireteams all around Vytal. The reason why we were so successful is secrecy. Any of us are captured and tortured, the enemy won't learn a thing. And the three Operatives are masters of secrecy."
"Whoa whoah whoah," Yang then called. "You want to dial back on that one? You guys are prepared to be tortured?"
Ruby nodded, agreeing with the point that her sister was bringing up. The mere mention of something so brutal and inhumane was enough to make even Blake and Weiss pale and poor Velvet had obviously not been expecting to hear that remark, as she too gasped in surprise.
"Yes," Cal replied, looking puzzled. "In our line work, such things happen."
"Who would want to torture you?" Velvet asked.
"The White Fang isn't very fond of humans. They capture an enemy soldier that isn't a Faunus and things get nasty."
Blake frowned in disapproval, but she didn't correct Cal.
"And I've seen crime organizations use electricity, knives and guns to torture their victims. For information…and sometimes for fun. Once, during an operation in Atlas, I saw two guys threatening a mother to rape her teen daughter if she didn't give them the information she had. Which she didn't have, because she was a civilian."
Ruby grunted in disgust. "What happened?" She asked the fox-boy.
"I had Lily –that's Two-Four- with me. The criminals ended up getting interrogated themselves. And Onyx knows how to make people talk," He grimly added.
She didn't need any additional information.
"So you didn't know about Will and the operation against the White Fang?" Weiss then asked, trying to change the subject.
"We didn't know…but apparently someone did," Cal replied, leaning forwards to look them in their eyes for a few seconds. "There was a leak. Such an Operation as Greystone undertook is classified beyond belief. The fact that someone leaked it to the media is…troubling."
"You can say that…" Blake muttered. She looked down for a few seconds, looking tentative to continue. But then she raised her head again with new resolve in her eyes. "I want the truth. Yesterday-night I learned that the White Fang are working with Roman Torchwick, the guy you have been after for a long time. I may have cut ties with the White Fang, but murder is never acceptable. Do you know why he did what he did?"
"Well, because he was ordered to. Back then, not a single Operative acted without consent from Onyx. I don't really know about the thing you know as the Final Solution Killings, but I do know that the White Fang had been planning lots of violent actions. That wasn't the first time an Operative foiled one of their operations…but it was the first time that it turned to bloody."
"The news said it was forty Fauna," Ruby asked him, remembering the strange things that Will had been trying to tell them. "But Will said that it was twenty. And that they were going to kill people. Why does this information clash so much?"
"Probably just Onyx trying to save face…" Blake muttered and crossed her arm, throwing Cal a stern look.
"Yeah, we're sitting right here," The fox-Faunus retorted and gestured with his thumb to the place where Ash had been sitting.
Only Ash wasn't sitting there anymore, he was now gone. And the place was empty.
"Ehm…" Velvet started and the soldier sighed.
"He's gone, isn't he?" He asked, probably already knowing the answer.
"Jup."
Cal sighed and buried his face in his armoured arms. "Why…" He muttered.
"What was going on with him?" Ruby asked, feeling worried for the wellbeing of the young soldier. He hadn't looked very happy…more like a traumatized child instead of a warrior. She had sort of forgiven the four for their actions during the battle for Beacon, but their presence was still very haunting. "He said something about Vacuo?"
"Please…don't me that it is what I think it is," She replied, linking the words Vacuo, murder and fault together and forming a very, very nasty conclusion. The White Fang was one thing, but innocent people?
"No," Cal very decisively. "It's not like that. I can't say anything about it, but Onyx did not commit those murders."
"Which one?" Blake sarcastically said, "At Vacuo or at the Schnee Dust Company? Onyx isn't exactly innocent in all of this."
"Like I said, only the higher-ups of Onyx knew of that and if they judged the situation demanded an Operative, the situation must have been desperate. The news said that they weren't going to do anything, but who could know that for sure if not the White Fang?"
"Those members had been told to protest peacefully! And he murdered them! What kind of a person kills so many harmless people purely because of an order?" Blake shouted at the soldier, who didn't cringe one bit.
Ruby had to admit that the Fauna of Beacon were no pushovers. Velvet was the first one to get close to the soldiers formerly known as murderous sociopaths, Blake was mad enough to shout at said murderous sociopaths and Cal was in turn badass enough to look in the eyes of an angry Blake without fear.
And the tension in the air was getting a bit noticeable.
"Well, trained people," Cal then said. "I am not happy with the path that Onyx has been taking lately…I can get fighting and dying to serve mankind, but throwing away your own humanity? That's where I want to draw the line."
"Comes from the guy who's willing to be tortured…" Yang muttered.
"None of my team has had to do that, if it helps," The soldier then smiled.
Blake averted her gaze uneasily, confirming Ruby's own problems. It was very hard to blame a person that you could identify with. So far, it was very easy to deny the humanity of Fireteam Lima. But now? After having seen Ash' problems and Cal's Faunus heritage? Things weren't as easy anymore.
"Did you know Will?" Yang asked. "Personally, I mean? Did you know how far he was willing to go?"
"He used to be different. I only saw him before the war, after the war and recently. Even the Death-War did not change how he was: calm, skilled and…well, nice. But something happened between then and now; something that changed all of the Operatives, but most noticeably him."
"I knew those people," Blake then told him and stood up from the table. She looked more sad than angry and her previous fury had disappeared, making place for a deep melancholy. "Perhaps not by first-name, but still by face. We cared for each other in the White Fang…then one day, we heard that forty of our brothers and sisters had been killed during a protest. Forty. Killed by humans. And yesterday I found out that you were responsible for that. Not you or your team, but your people. The same people you work with ordered the death of my people."
Cal looked at her and his expression softened. "For what's it worth, I'm sorry. I don't know who sat behind the desk at that day, but you should know that every single decision that Onyx has ever taken has always been for the sake of peace and mankind. Which includes Faunus-kind. It doesn't excuse what Greystone did…but I doubt he had a choice in the matter. I don't know a thing about the Operatives, you should talk to Lily for that. "
"This means war between the White Fang and Onyx, right?" Velvet unhappily asked after a moment of silence.
Cal nodded. "And they will hunt Will down now. Torture him…and probably burn or hang him."
"They won't do that!" Blake snapped at him, clenching her fists. Ruby didn't know whether the White Fang would go as far as to torture someone, but she knew that Blake was the one who was being ignorant instead of Weiss. Weiss was blind to the good sides of the organization as Blake was blind to the bad sides of the organization.
And they weren't called terrorists for nothing.
"The White Fang has killed its share of humans too. I have seen what they do to soldiers they capture first-hand, Blake. I've seen them crucify innocent people just because they were humans in the wrong place at the wrong time. If I can, I will try to find a file in that Operation. See if I can't shed some light on this mess."
"Why would you do that?" Ruby asked him, feeling shocked that the soldier was more on their side than on the side of his own people.
"I have sworn to serve and protect…but I don't feel like I am doing a lot of protecting lately. If I'm right, Onyx prevented something much worse than the death of forty or twenty White Fang members. But if I'm wrong…I don't want to be wrong."
As Blake remained silent and Yang stared at Cal, the soldier sighed and got to his feet. "We should probably go and find Ash. Wanna come, Velvet?"
Velvet nodded and handed Cal his helmet, while Blake unhappily wrapped her arms around herself. She seemed lost in her thoughts and didn't notice the careful attempts courtesy of Weiss to cheer her up.
Yang watched the two disappear and sighed again. "So just to be sure…the people we came here to blame are in fact completely innocent…the White Fang aren't the complete victims here and Will is a brainwashed idiot."
"Don't say that," Blake then softy replied. "People have a choice, Yang. He had a choice…and he chose to murder my people."
"Now I don't know what to believe anymore…" Ruby told her team. "I have heard the White Fang were the innocent victims and I have heard that they were the bogeymen. Same goes for Onyx."
"Will said that there were only twenty of them and that they were all armed," Yang then tentatively said, looking very uncomfortable. "Think he is…you now…really brainwashed? The war happened after those killings, but…he should have been as old as you are now, Ruby. I just can't see a kid killing so many people for no reason."
"It's Onyx," Weiss hesitantly said, not sounding very sure of herself. "They would be capable."
Ruby felt nauseous and while she looked up, staring at the dark and cloudy air, she realized that nothing was as she had thought it to be. She wanted to protect the people that could not protect themselves; those who were too weak to protect themselves. She wanted to make the world a better place. But the organized crime-strike couldn't have been dealt with without violence…and the White Fang themselves had chosen violence of diplomacy. And a small part of her told her that somewhere, somehow, there could not be a simple solution to the problem she was facing.
She trusted Blake. But the girl had cut ties with the White Fang for a reason.
Day 56 Friday, 15:37 – Beacon Academy
Lisa groaned in frustration as she yanked open yet another door that did not reveal her brother to her. Math had sent her a message saying that he had important news for her and her team, but the guy was simply nowhere to be found. Nowhere!
She opened her scroll again and sifted through the messages until she found the one that was so annoying. "Hey Lisa, big stuff. Important stuff. Come to hallway D and find me there."
She WAS in hallway D and there was NO Math anywhere. She had checked every room twice, because her brother had the strange habit of hiding in small crooked places to do his things there. But she could not find him anywhere and that was very, very annoying. Her team was still waiting for her in the dining hall, where she had left them about twenty minutes ago, and if she didn't come back soon they might think that she had gotten lost again.
"Math!" She yelled, losing what little patience she had. "Where are you?"
In frustration she kicked against the door of the janitor's closet and it flung open wildly, giving away underneath her mighty boot.
And as soon as the door opened, she spotted her brother sitting on an upside-down bucket, holding a book in his hand.
She raised her eyebrows and skeptically looked through the closet. It was approximately one square meter large, allowing for only one crazy-ass professor to sit in it. Why was he sitting there when there were ten perfectly fine and EMPTY rooms scattered all throughout the hallway?
"Morning," He said as he switched a page.
"It's afternoon…" She muttered.
"Is it now? All right."
Why, why in the name of our hairy grandfather, are you sitting here?" She asked him loudly.
"It's cozy. People don't disturb me here with their stupidity."
There they went again. Math had slipped into his 'look-at-me-I-am-clever' mode again. There wasn't a single person at Beacon that was stupid. "What happened this time?" She inquired.
"Nothing yet. I'm busy. Go away."
Something twitched on her forehead. "YOU asked ME to get here, remember?"
"Did I now? Why was that again?"
"Big stuff, important stuff?" She reminded him.
"Ah yes, that. It can wait."
She sighed and resisted the urge to steal his bucket. Then her eye fell on the title of the book he was reading: 'Detecting early signs and other ways to deal with High-grade Dementia'. "Why are you reading that?"
"Research…" Math muttered. And flicked another page. That guy seriously burned his way through books. "Important research. Now then…serious things. Yes. When I am done here, I want to have a talk to your team."
"About what?"
"Quite possibly the future of Beacon and Vale. The ties are hitting the fan, Lisa. Remember the Black Angels? At the criminal compound?"
She scowled and remember her most recent scar. "I do. Bunch of bastards. Are we going to take the fight to them?"
"Not necessary, as Onyx has already murdered most of them," Math replied and flicked another page, frowning at the contents.
"Right. So that's taken care of?"
"No, it's not," Math then notified her without taking his eyes off of his book. He hadn't seen fit to look at her once during their conversation and it was seriously bugging her.
"Math, eyes up here," He growled at him.
Her brother's head slowly moved up, quickly followed by his gaze. "Yeah, sorry. I seem to be preoccupied lately. I think Johnson can bring you up to speed too, as I won't be joining you tonight."
"You JUST told me that you wanted to talk to LACG!" She called him out on his bullshit.
"Yes…like I said, change of plans."
Was it her, or did Math seem more preoccupied than normal lately? Hell, he was walking with his bowtie in the skies every damn day but this was just being silly. Why did he insist on acting so…so…"Math, did you see…the news last night?"
The news of Will having murdered two dozen White Fang protesters in front of a Schnee Dust Company factory had hit them all like a sledgehammer to the face, but rumor had it that Roman Torchwick had also been involved last night. Her brother was…fixated on the guy, to put it mildly. She had never truly found out just what had happened between them, but she had accepted that it was Torchwick's fault and not Math's. Nevertheless, the normally cheery Adamant was acting rather down lately. And it had gotten considerably worse ever since they had found out more about Onyx.
Lisa couldn't shake the feeling that Math was keeping secrets even from the Headmaster himself. And him keeping secrets usually ended in a lot of stress. "Ehm…Math? You seem…stressed. Perhaps you should take a break?"
"Breaks bad…" He muttered.
Oh no he wouldn't. She saw what he was going to do and it would not work. When Math set his mind to be extraordinary stubborn, he would enter a series of phases. Phase one involved steadfast denial. "You are stressed."
"I'm not stressed."
"You are reading a book on Dementia, sitting in a Janitor's closet and you look like you haven't slept in two days."
"Every Professor does."
"Your bowtie is upside-down."
Gotcha. He reached for his clothing accessory and sighed. "Yes, well…everyone is stressed these days."
Phase two involved wrong and twisted generalizations. "No, not everyone is stressed. Everyone is working together with the people they love and care for. RWBY is hanging out, making connections to the soldiers from Onyx and JNPR exists out of two love-hooked couples that don't realize it. Grace is actually making Alessa have FUN and Cho is…well, he and I hang out. Braunschweiger and Johnson are spending more time than ever and both Ozpin and Goodwitch are seen having more coffee-breaks than normal together. Port and Oobleck enjoy long, philosophical conversations and even CRDL is slowly becoming nice. You are the only one who refuses to contact anyone outside of loose limbs of Grimm or your contacts."
Phase three involved taking advantage of age and experience. "Lisa, I am twenty-three by now. Soon to be twenty-four. You are seventeen and a half. I think we both know which one of us has more-"
"-more experience in life, yeah yeah blablabla. Stressed."
"I have a lot of things to do young lady. Hunting down Torchwick, figuring out what Onyx has done and will do, fixing the problem with the Lonely Angels and my disappearing contacts and taking care of the problem concerning the Grimm. And that is not to mention the normal responsibilities of a Professor and Huntsman. I've got plenty of things to do."
"And Ozpin has fewer things to do? And Goodwitch? Or even the soldiers working in Beacon? "
And then there was phase four: hollow promises and lies. "Yes, I will get to it soon."
Lisa groaned loudly and dropped her head. She had yet to think of a way to get him to actually keep his promises.
"Are you sure that Johnson will talk with us tonight?"
"You can get him to do it as soon as he has finished preparing. The schedules for the lessons are…chaotic at best. I have discussed several things with Ozpin and we have both concluded that the survival and stability of Vale as a nation are more important. Can you now close the door?"
She complied with her brother and closed the door to the janitor's room, shaking her head all the while. Until very recently, it had been Math taking care of her. But now she had the feeling that it would be her taking care of Math. She was the person he trusted the most outside of his Johnson…and if he kept three years of his life a secret from her, very nasty things had happened during those years.
But as long as his hidden past did not involve mass murder of innocent people, it was alright with her. And Johnson was going to talk to LACG about something important, so things were going to be alright again. Johnson could generally be trusted to cut the crap and work his way towards his goal without incident. So either way-
Running footsteps shook her out of her thoughts and she turned around, spotting someone coming running towards her.
Multiple someone's, really. It was team JNPR.
"Jaune?" She cried out in surprise and quickly pressed herself against the war to let the four running students pass. "What are you-?"
"Johnson and Peach are having a fight! We're going to watch!" The blonde boy replied as he ran past her.
"Purely educational!" Lie Ren added as he too passed her.
"Want to join us?" Pyrrha asked her before the group had officially left her sight again, disappearing around the corner of the hallway.
"But…Johnson talk to us…" She muttered in defeat and then shrugged. Johnson having a fight with Peach was also interesting.
As it turned out, the fight between the two Professors was less impressive and more dramatic. Johnson and Peach were situated in the middle of the main Dining hall, as if they welcomed the extra drama. As Lisa opened the door the large room, she spotted her team already sitting near the front of the spectacle. CRDL was sitting there as well, along with Velvet's team, RWBY and as of recently, JNPR.
Everyone was sitting and watching the two fighting teachers, but it looked as if those two had worse things to worry about. The orange-haired teacher with her long hair and glasses was practically red with anger, but her voice was calm and controlled. That was in direct opposite to Johnson, who looked completely under control but sounded like he was very mad.
"What's going on?" She asked Cho as she sat down next to him.
"Johnson was here ten minutes ago. Peach entered five minutes ago. Started shouting," the Cho then explained and shrugged. "They were unfortunate that it was dinner-time, otherwise nobody would have been around to watch. But now…"
Lisa looked around briefly, eyeing most if not all of the students who were currently attending the spectacle.
"And that is exactly the point I am bringing up!" Peach shouted at Johnson, who eyed her with calm disdain. "Soldiers are only conscripted for war! Their duty lies with killing people and destroying materials. The only way for a soldiers to win, is for the enemy to die. "
"She has a point," Pyrrha pointed out to Jaune. "A soldier is trained to kill."
"And take a look at the difference in operations!" Johnson then replied, "Huntsmen and Huntresses are send to deal with cases where they can either use their full lethal force against an enemy that cannot be felt guilty for, or a scenario where they can employ man's innate resistance to Aura and Dust to overcome a situation without killing. Their fields are different!"
Lisa noticed that Johnson was trying to cool off the argument instead of escalating it, but Peach's anger made it impossible for him to do so.
"Like the Final Solution Killings? Were forty of those poor White Fang members were slaughtered without hesitation just for protesting? Some use soldiers have," The female Professor scowled.
"Lady," Johnson started and started fumbling with a pocket on his torso. "Those 'poor' White Fang members were part of just that. The White Fang. Bunch of extremist idiots that use violence to get what they want. A hate for humanity as a whole and not afraid to use violence to reach their goals. Now I ain't saying that they deserved what they got, but-"
"-But they had it coming? Are you agreeing with this needless usage of violence?" Peach angrily asked.
"No. But the White Fang see mankind as a blight that needs to be cured. They see their victims as something lesser than them, which enables them to kill without guilt. That's just one of the ways soldiers use themselves nowadays."
"It's a part of their ruthless conditioning!" Peach added, "Soldiers need to be put through severe mind-altering indoctrination to even work properly! It is your most basic brainwashing that is done and it is inhumane!"
Lisa overheard a conversation between Yang and Weiss, hearing how Weiss pointed out that Will was indeed completely brainwashed and how Yang pointed out that there is a reason for such brainwashing and that the methods are still unclear.
She, who had come from a rather unconventional family as well, could actually understand the need for soldiers and Hunters equally. Her brother had acted like a soldier plenty of times. There was problem, however, with the line of sacrifice. What could a human being sacrifice as a soldier? And how?
"Soldiers need a more thorough and complete mental training as well," Johnson started, but the other Professor did not allow him to finish.
"Is that supposed to be an argument for or against you, Johnson?" Peach asked.
"Woman, eagerly biting at every bit you can chew won't work. Let me finish!" The man growled back and fished his magical cigar out of his pocket. And as he continued talking, he used that brown appendage to put accent on his words. "You are right. There is a difference between soldiers and Hunters. Hunters can cheerfully slaughter dozens of Grimm without hesitation, but soldiers ain't so lucky. They gotta deal with human targets. Want to know how many soldiers go nuts after having killed their first human without proper conditioning? Nine outta ten."
"That only proves that soldiers are forced to commit atrocities without any humanity present! Ask yourself this: if ninety percent of the soldiers break down mentally after doing what they were trained for, after doing their so-called 'job', isn't there something wrong?"
Once again, Peach had a point.
"All fine and dandy, but she doesn't explain the core reason for soldiers being there," Grace then softly told Alessa. "Why are soldiers trained so differently? Why is it that they even have a different job?"
"Alright, I'll bite," Johnson replied with a scow, as if he had heard Grace talking. "Take a look around. At these students and at yourself. We are ALL trained to kill. There is a difference however between killing a mindless monster of Grimm or a fellow human. And of the both of them, I know which one is more dangerous. Soldiers lose their shit if they miss a vital part of conditioning and training. And they require such training to keep functioning, because their jobs are so damn important." He finished that impressive explanation with a flick of his cigar, which was somehow burning.
"Did anyone see him actually light it?" Lisa softly asked Cho, who shrugged.'
"Guess that last point was a burn," He replied without humor.
"Don't point at me with your cigar!" Peach hissed. "And damn important? Even if what you are saying –that soldiers require honest indoctrination and brainwashing to do their duty- is true, that doesn't explain their duty itself. I can accept an extraordinary training or conditioning –not brainwashing, but I shall address that later. Look at these Final Solution Killings! One soldier murdered forty civilians because they were part of a dangerous-or-not organization. There is no proof for their violence and no proof for their allegiance. Just dead bodies and a life-long trauma for their families."
The White Fang has been murdering and destroying blatantly throughout their bloody history, lady," Johnson scowled and took a long puff from his cigar. Then he exhaled the smoke and continued without missing a single breath, as if he had never stopped to inhale that cigar in the first place. "And I got a surprise for you. I got access to military dossiers, which in turn are connected to the dossiers made by the police…and Onyx themselves."
"Meaning?" Peach inquired rather rudely.
"Funny thing how the Police, the military outside of Vale and Onyx all point at a body-count of twenty instead of forty."
"And that is prove? The Police Department is incompetent, the military is misinformed because of a lack of proximity and Onyx is out to cover their own dirt. That proves nothing!"
"But every rumor is based off a truth –every myth has grounds and reasons, which are solid facts. If there is a reason for three groups to say twenty and one group to say forty, one has to wonder where each piece of information is coming from. Incompetent as they may be, the VPD is still more credible than a terrorist organization, wronged or not."
"It changes nothing! A mistake in counting the bodies can be accounted for in the middle of the chaos. The fact is that the Fauna there were harmless and murdered!"
"On whose account?" Johnson said and somehow managed to simultaneously take a puff of his cigar and speak another sentence. "Onyx might have reasons to understate the incident, sure. I don't trust those shady sonsofguns either. But the White Fang has equal interests in exaggerating the details. Ever imagined what would have happened had those Fauna actually gone unopposed and they had been intent on killing?"
"Is this a different way of saying better safe than sorry concerning civilian lives?" Peach asked.
"It's a way of saying to keep an open mind. In this time and state, we cannot say for certain that one event has transpired with a hundred-percent rating of correctness. Right now, there are equal chances for the Schnee Dust Company murders to have been a proper military intervention as a needless and cruel waste of life. Just consider, shall we?"
"Indulge me."
"Had those twenty or forty White Fang members made their way into the factory, which was processing Dust of all things, they would have killed off every single worker there like they had done in the past, before blowing up the entire facility. Not only would that have been a complete and utter bloodbath, it would have also been devastating to the war-effort on other fronts against the Grimm. Their actions would have resulted in hundreds of deaths."
"Only if they had been carrying the intent to kill, which can not be proved in any way whatsoever," The orange-haired teacher replied calmly and seemed to relax a bit, thinking that she was winning solid ground.
When Lisa had heard that Johnson and Peach were fighting, she had instantly felt the desire to root for the man. But this was so much more than simply a fight; this conflict was based off of the most basic clash of feelings that the students were having. A student of their own –a person they had accepted even after the things he had done- had been involved in what was clearly a bloodbath. He had shot and killed either twenty or forty people just because he had been ordered to. Now she wasn't a big fan of Fauna and she downright despised the White Fang, but at least she could sympathize with them. She could understand them.
"All in all, the purpose of the soldier is naught. Hunters hold the future and soldiers only cause death and misery."
But Johnson was not yet done and she knew that. "Is that a thing? Let me remind you Peach, that without the interference of soldiers here at Beacon, students could have gotten killed. Organized crime coming knocking at the door, ready to shoot and kill kids who are learning how to be the future. And what comes swooping in here to save some asses? Soldiers. What happens when they kill the bastards that were going to murder these kids? They nearly get prosecuted."
"In no small amount due to the ruthless and cold-blooded disdain to human life they have shown in executing all those people."
"The people that were ready to kill a bunch of kids just for convenience? Big waste of life. The problem here lies with duty. It is the duty of both the Hunter as the soldier to protect those who cannot defend themselves. However, the Hunter must deal with super-powered individuals who possess equal power. The soldiers have to deal with ordinary humans: they have to stare their fellow man in the eyes and kill them, something which a Hunter does rarely ever have to do. "
"Then tell me Johnson. Where does duty lie with the Final Solution Killings? What greater good does that serve?"
To protect all, sacrifices have to be made. The same sacrifice a fireman brings when he has to charge into a burning building to save a trapped civilian, or a Police officer makes when he has to charge in a warehouse filled with criminal scum. They fight, knowing that they could be forced to give their lives for their goal. And that is what few people understand."
"Training people to willingly die in order for their goal to be achieved is wrong. We train Hunters just so that others don't have to make that sacrifice! It is no good dying for your mission unless there is no other way."
Exactly. And often, there is no other way. Both hunters as soldiers are willing to lose their lives, but that is where the differences come looking around the corner. Just suppose that the White Fang were planning to murder all those factory-workers, effectively stopping the supply of Dust to distant war theaters. What would you do to stop that?"
"It is our duty to protect the innocent. If we allow ourselves to choose who lives and die, we might as well stop protecting altogether. "
"And to protect, we must stop the wicked. That is the sacrifice soldiers have to make, Peach. They need to be "brainwashed" as you call it, not to learn how to sacrifice their lives, but to sacrifice their humanity."
"That is not something to be proud of. Training a man or woman not only to die but to kill? You effectively destroy them as a human being."
"Indeed. I have spoken to generals that saw their men as weapons and tools to be discarded and I have spoken to generals that loved their troops like their own beloved children. Both have needed to knowingly send their troops to their deaths. Guess which one was more effective."
"The sacrifices you speak of-"
"Are knowingly made and necessary for our civilization to continue as a whole."
Peach sighed and crossed her arms. She looked weary and tired, but so did Johnson. "The raw conditioning that it takes for a soldier to be effective is inhumane. That kid, Will was his name? He's as old as the people here. I too have spoken to officers in command. They told me that, in order to build a man, you must first break him. It is so easy to tell yourself all of this, Johnson. But the thing is that, at the most basic core, we are talking about humans killing other humans and humans killing monsters. The first group requires psychological conditioning and breaking to function, the second one is hailed as heroes by all people. I refuse to believe that both groups are necessary for our survival. Any soldier who has murdered a fellow human in battle just to serve the greater good cannot be called a proper member of society. Those in command merely device a way for people to kill without being frowned upon, without feeling guilty themselves.
"Have you ever killed a human being, Professor?" Johnson then directly asked the long-haired woman, taking another puff of his cigar.
"I am proud to say that I belong to the group of nonkillers," The lady replied.
"Then you and I cannot come to a proper agreement," Johnson decided.
And the students were all silent. It was obvious who among them agreed with whom. The Professors had somehow managed to create an even split in opinion among the students and Lisa could clearly see that the only ones who were really doubting were Velvet, Ruby and Yang.
Before Professor Peach could reply to that argument-ender, a different voice spoke up. One that she recognized and instantly angered her.
"But, in order for life to continue in any way, a perfect balance is required. Too much water and you drown –not enough water and you die. Hunters face Grimm and those humans that cannot be dealt with by ordinary warriors and soldiers deal with the human face of evil. It's always been like that and a change in the pattern is less desirable."
It was Math. Wasn't that idiot too busy with reading his book? Or planning things? Or was this some grand scheme of his to deal with the ruckus in Beacon?
"Johnson, would you kindly take team LACG and bring them up to speed? Peach, could you be as kind as to take team JNPR and talk them about the upcoming even? RWBY, you are with me. CRDL? Professor Port will be waiting for you. Those whose names I haven't said will just have to go with Professor Goodwitch."
After a brief moment of confusion and processing, all the named parties got to their feet and moved towards the exit.
Lisa took her team and started moving towards Johnson, who was enjoying his cigar in peace. That had been one hell of an argument there and she had found herself agreeing with both parties at several points.
"Professor Johnson?" Cho asked.
"LACG! Good. I have important things to tell you. There's been an important development."
And as the Professor proceeded to lead them out of the Dining hall, Lisa threw a quick look at her brother. The timing-sufficient Adamant did not look remotely at ease. Had something else happened again?
What could it be this time?
22:14, near main entrance of Beacon.
Blake sighed in frustration and sat down against the nearest tree, where she tried to ease the tension that had formed in her body. The sky was dark, gloomy and wet and the occasional droplet of rain fell through the top of the foliage, hitting her on her hair. But she was alone and finally she had time to think over what had happened.
After the confusing and chaotic argument in the dining hall, Professor Adamant had taken their team for additional briefings. He had spoken about signs of increased Grimm activity in Vale, near the borders to the north. He had told them that the Grimm were pushing into their kingdom and that soon, they would be facing the naturally-roaming parties.
As if the completely gray day she had been having wasn't bad enough. First, Ruby had taken them to meet up with the soldiers from Fireteam Lima where they had talked about things that she had not thought possible to discuss with them. Their humanity and honesty had...surprised her, to say in the least. She had expected them to be the same as Will –stoic, unemotional people with no hint of humanity left. But they had been the same as they were. They cared for each other, talked and felt emotions just like they did. That boy, Ash, had to be younger than Weiss and Yang and the sheer distress that he had felt for some reason had been saddening to see, even though he was with Onyx.
And she had never expected to see that one of them was a Faunus. Cal was his name…and he had been a Faunus this entire time, while working for Onyx. It was painful to think about it, but Onyx was not the villainous organization that she had expected them to be. They had ordered the death of her brothers and sisters, sure. But she had never actually seen that group depart or protest, so she couldn't be sure of their ways. And if one Faunus like Sun believed the White Fang to be a bunch of psychopaths and if one Faunus like Cal could even work for an organization that directly combatted them it was possible that her own ways were
And Blake knew that she had cut ties with the White Fang for a reason: her partner had at one point attempted to murder all the humans in a Schnee Dust Company train by blowing the train up. And she had only told him "goodbye", even though his plan had even been more degenerate than Will's atrocity. Both of the warriors believed that their enemy was evil and both of them were ready to murder a group of them when their hostility was doubtable at best.
But she had forgiven her partner through time because he had just been that: a partner. A mentor and a friend. Someone who had looked after her for a long time. He was misguided and blinded by his hatred or the Schnee Dust company.
And Will was simply a soldier following orders; lacking the ability to reason for himself, brainwashed by Onyx and obviously ready to sacrifice everything for what he had believed to be right. That much had been proven when he was willing to throw away all his friends at Beacon and even hurt them just to gather a scrap of information on some criminal that he didn't even remotely know.
But that was the difference –and the key element that Johnson had touched with his discussion. Blake could agree on his opinion; that sometimes, people had to sacrifice things to gain other things. The White Fang had sacrificed many things for Faunus-kind and she had also sacrificed so many things just to be recognized. But she knew when to stop and that was where her partner had failed…and where Will had lost sight.
A soldier could sacrifice themselves for their mission. She understood that. A soldier had to kill for their goal. She understood that. And that was where things ended. Whatever happened, nobody should ever have to sacrifice their own humanity. That was not done.
She had long ago learned to never allow anything to compromise who you were and Will had no grip on who he was. He was, for all intents and purposes, a weapon. A weapon with its safety permanently flicked off. A weapon that would discharge and kill those who wielded it just as easily as those it was pointed it. If he wasn't stopped soon, he would snap and end up killing more people.
And even though she had been a member of what people thought to be a criminal and terrorist organization, she still wanted to become a Huntress. A person that fought for what was right; someone who protected those that could not defend themselves.
And Will –Operative Greystone- was a threat to the peace and sanity of Vale as a Kingdom. One organization might deem mass-murder acceptable, but for one person to think the same thing…that was unacceptable.
So after everything had been discussed and stuffed away for later, she had excused herself from RWBY's dormitories and left the school property, to find a place where she could think about everything that she had heard. One side of her wanted to hate soldiers and work to the best of her capabilities to bring them down and the other side of her took pity on their plight, wanting to put a stop to the cruel cycle of indoctrination and killing that they were forced to undergo.
As she felt another droplet of rain hit her on her nose, she was suddenly aware of someone watching her. It was a nagging sensation that prickled the hairs on her neck; one that she had felt time and time again when her animalistic senses warned her of danger.
But she hadn't heard anything and neither had she smelled anything. It was dark and rainy, so nobody that wasn't a Faunus could sneak up on her. It had to be a mistake of some kind –perhaps some discharge in the air? Electric currents?
Blake tried to relax, but couldn't. She could not shake the feeling that someone was watching her and it was unnerving.
A twig shattered a few meters behind her and she jumped to her feet, pulling her Gambol's Shroud out of its sheath.
"Who is there?" She called, but there was no reply. Of course there was no reply; no stalker would alert their prey like that.
And then she felt someone standing really close to her, right behind her. She spun around and swung her sword, knowing that no human could sneak up on her like that. It had to be a Grimm, or a different Faunus. Perhaps an assassin or even someone working with Onyx, sent to kill her.
Her katana was intercept on an armoured forearm and her sensitive eyes managed to make out who was standing in front of her. The first thing she noticed was the armour, which was sleek and as dark as the night in which it appeared. Blake saw that it was similar, but not completely identical, to the armour that the female soldier called Lily wore. This armour looked more detailed and refined and, judging by the various curved sections and smooth waist, the wearer was female.
Then Blake's eye was drawn to the face of her unknown assailant and she was surprised to see that she was surprisingly young. The girl couldn't be much older than the rest of the students at Beacon…and Blake had to admit that her face held a rough beauty. Her black hair had been grown to her shoulder at one side of her head, while she kept it shaven short on the other side, just above her ear. There were no Faunus eyes or horns anywhere, indicating that this strange girl was in fact human.
The realization was enough for Blake to step backwards and prepare her weapon for a follow-up strike. She knew of no humans that were able to sneak up on a trained Faunus like her and the fact that she was capable of blocking her sword-strike with just one arm and no apparent effort was mortifying.
Just who was this girl? Was she with Onyx too? Her striking features weren't contorted in an angry expression or anything like that, so she wasn't there to harm her.
But Blake wouldn't lower her guard. She had had enough problems as it was and this soldier would not get the jump on her. "Who are you?" She demanded, not lowering her katana. This human looked strange…too strange. She carried herself with confidence and a hint of arrogance, but there was also a soldierly element in her stance that marked her as a soldier.
And she knew of only one organization that used such armour. This girl was with Onyx.
"You probably know me as Operative Mantis," The girl replied. Her voice was unlike the voices of Will and Cal; charged with an unknown emotion and disdainful attitude. There was something else though, something that Blake couldn't identify.
The Operative looked intimidating, but also very…intriguing.
"What do you want?" She asked the soldier, noticing how she was basically unarmed.
"I'm not here to hurt you."
Blake was not convinced. She wanted to believe that the unique individual in front of her was not there to hurt her, she really did…but she couldn't. She had been hurt by humans too often to allow herself to trust one of them that easily. And Onyx' history was filled with violence –Will was the walking example of what their true intentions were. As such, she would not lower her guard one bit. She continued standing there with her blade held by her side and her legs spread out for combat. "You're with Onyx. Give me one reason to trust you!"
Mantis' expression softened and she started to walk towards Blake, her shoulders relaxed and her hips swaying subtly with every step. "I understand you're scared. I know of your past with the White Fang…and abuse at the hands of humans."
The Operative talked as if she wasn't a human herself…but even though her voice betrayed zero intent to harm her, Blake still did not trust her. She felt her heart clench at soldier's words, but she would not give in. "Stay there! I know of you as well; do you think I would trust another Operative again? Another human?"
Mantis stopped approaching her and placed one hand on her hip, as the other one wiped a strand of hair out of her dark-green eyes. "I'm not with Onyx anymore. I left. I escaped. Just like you left the White Fang. Did you regret making that decision?"
"I don't know," Blake replied as her mind raced to process what she had just heard. She really wanted to trust the human in front of her, but she couldn't. This had to be some sort of trap –Mantis would lure her in with kind words and smart lies, allow her to lower her defenses and then ambush her. Onyx might not hate Fauna, but they sure did hate the White Fang. And she, as an ex-member at Beacon, had to be on their hit-list. Mantis was out to get her and the moment she started to trust her, she would be dead. "Was leaving Onyx the right decision?"
"For me, it was." The girl replied. "But you don't believe me, do you?"
"No," She admitted. There was something about the Operative…she just couldn't take her eyes of her. Was this the same girl who had nearly killed Will? He had said that he was going to hunt her down and take her in, but obviously that hadn't been a success.
"Blake, I'm not your enemy," The soldier then softly told her and frowned ever so slightly. `But being suspicious of others has allowed you to survive this long, hasn't it?"
"I…yes," She replied, feeling confused that Mantis could bring into words that which she could not. That wasn't something just anyone could state; only people with actual experience with the feeling could talk about it like that.
Mantis nodded and smiled. It was a very faint and subtle movement, but Blake's heart jumped at the very sight of it. Was she so extremely tense that her body would seep into fright-or-fight mode at every single opportunity, or was this something else? "How can I trust you?" The Faunus then asked the human, slowly feinting lowering her weapon to lure the Operative in.
"Greystone has mentioned my name a few times, yes?" She replied.
"Yes. He said that you were a…defector."
"Figures. By now I take it that Greystone left Beacon?"
"Did you know of him?" Blake then blurted out. "What he has done?"
Mantis expression changed yet again and this time, her face took a bitter appearance. "We were rarely allowed to interact with each other. I found out seven months ago and started planning my way out of Onyx."
"Why is that?" She asked the Operative, allowing yet another emotion to slip. "Why would a human ever care for the plight of Fauna? Onyx is the enemy of the White Fang! Why would you care for them? For us?"
"Because," Mantis replied, her voice dropping in volume and becoming like a whisper. Blake could see in her dark, green eyes that she was remembering something painful and that she was trying to find the word to express it. She knew, because she had seen it countless times in the eyes of her fellow Fauna. "I understand the White Fang's desires. Their need for freedom and acceptance. The yearning for the abuse to end. And while I didn't know what those twenty were doing at a Schnee Dust Company factory, their deaths were wrong."
Mantis talked as if she has felt the same things that many Fauna had felt…but that was not possible. She was a human and the only human that was capable of understanding was Ruby…and perhaps a few other people from Beacon. Soldiers like Mantis and Will were brainwashed to kill without going crazy over it and because of that, they were incapable of feeling those emotions.
She couldn't deal with this. Not now, not after everything she had gone through. She needed time to think…time to figure this soldier out. She could feel that Mantis was sincere, but…her heart was clouded by something. She couldn't think straight and if Mantis continued to talk, that emotional cloud would only increase. "Why are you really here? What do you want with me?"
"I wanted to warn you," Mantis then openly declared, "to stay away from all Operatives."
"All? There is only one more."
"Yes. My point exactly. Fireteam Lima has been criticizing towards Onyx, so they're safe. But Greystone went crazy a year ago. He recovered, but he was never the same again-"
"What happened?" Blake whispered, realizing that Mantis was wrapping their meeting up, She did not want the soldier to leave…well, she wanted her to leave but at some level, she did not.
"-and he truly thinks he is doing good. But Operative Blackwood is a different story. He really is a murderous Psychopath…known as 'brawler' among the Operatives. If you encounter him, run. Drop whatever you are doing and run, because fighting him in close-quarters is suicide."
"Why are you telling me this?" She asked Mantis, understanding that she was offering that information as a handshake to respect her personal space in some way.
"I guess…" The ex-Operative explained and turned away, her hair flowing freely as the wind suddenly picked up. "…that there is something about you. You and your team. Beacon is doing good…and I don't want to see you all die."
"Where are you going?" She asked Mantis, a sudden spike in worry and anxiety running through her stomach. It was dark, raining and cold. Mantis had defected from Onyx and Will had openly stated to be hunting her. Who else was hunting her? Where were her friends? Who was she with?
"Away from here," Mantis replied. "Beacon is not the best place to be for now."
"Where will you sleep tonight?"
The Operative shrugged. "We'll see."
And as the girl walked away, her feminine figure slowly being swallowed by the darkness of the night, Blake wondered just who she was that she could play with her emotions just by being near her. Had she been manipulated? Or were her feelings genuine?
And why was she worried for the well-being of an Operative?
"I have to admit Tanzanite, your plan was sublime. Faking a discussion so that the students could make up their minds for their own emotions? I had never thought that behind a soldier."
"Well Ma'am, I have to admit that Ozpin set me up to it. I just cooked up the scenario, he wanted the situation fixed."
"You have my respect, Sergeant-Professor. You must be a rather unique person in the military."
"No Ma'am, I'm just the one who met Professor Adamant. And it is time that I would repay the favor to him."
- Conversation between Professor Johnson and Professor Peach, 22:47