Premature apologies: important plot-events will happen very soon, so this chapter will be shorter than normal.
Nightraze: thanks for the compliment! A writer can be very content if he manages to pull someone's heartstrings with his writing.
Tuutje07: A trigger, as in Traumatic event memory-trigger. But lovely little Three isn't a Faunus, so his problem doesn't lie with that.
I don't dislike the character Greystone, but he dislikes himself. And he has a very negative guardian angel looking out for him.
Day 49 –Tuesday- 15:23- city district of Vale
Blake eyed the people around her with subtle suspicion as her team and she walked through the city. Each and every one of them could be the woman that they were looking for and despite Professor Adamant's offhanded manner of giving them their assignment, she knew that this might get very dangerous. She had created a temporary truce with Will, who had joined them on their search, and his presence made her realize just how big their troubles were.
"One more time please?" Ruby asked the soldier. "I don't understand it just yet."
"Professor Adamant's theory was that an Operative –me- was working for target Primary –the woman at the Warehouse. Said Operative had been ordered to go after someone at Beacon –Ozpin- after taking care of the criminal problem at the compund. Now we know better."
"Right," Weiss added as she glanced at a group of teens walking into a café. "Because this woman works for that other woman, who is our target."
"Crimson, who is the same gal that Cal and his team were trying to nail," Yang finished.
"Right. And her boss was at that Warehouse, where she stole a letter from Onyx, containing details about you. We catch any of them and this whole thing is over, right?" Ruby summed up.
"Yeah, that basically sums it up," Will agreed. "One less loose end and one breach solved. She has to be the one who informed the VNN."
Teams JNPR and RWBY had spent the entire Monday afternoon with bringing the necessary authorities up to speed, after which the Vale Police Department had asked the Army stationed somewhere in the Kingdom for assistance. That had actually been very positive, as they had gotten relieved pretty quick afterwards, opening up the rest of the Monday for simpler things. Of course, Will had immediately disappeared with Fireteam Lima to discuss something. But team LACG had joined them later that night and the twelve of them had still enjoyed themselves, sharing stories of feats and missions.
"When I was sent to that Warehouse to capture the politician, he was guarded by a woman. She had excellent Aura mastery and she seemed to know me. Of course I didn't recognize her, but…after yesterday, I think I will."
"How does that work anyway?" Yang asked him. "Every human and Faunus is capable of using Aura. They only need to be trained in that. You'd think that they would teach soldiers how to protect themselves with it?"
"Yang, Aura is the manifestation of…the soul…" Ruby carefully said, hesitating halfway her sentence. "I'm not an expert on psychology, but the mind can do freaky things in their line of work."
"Correct," Will replied as he answered a weird look from a woman on the street with a glare of his own. "We were trained in the basics. Mantis still uses Aura and Blackwood has his semblance integrated with his Aura."
Blake frowned and looked at Ruby, who looked back at her with an expression that seemed to say 'I have no idea what he is babbling about'. Semblance integrated with Aura was pretty weird.
"What happened to yours?" Yang asked curiously, but Will simply kept talking.
"So when we find Crimson, we solve this thing. Then we can focus on finding Mantis."
Blake averted her eyes. She wanted to find Mantis as badly as the rest of them…but she didn't want anything bad to happen to the girl. "Didn't you talk to her a few days ago?"
"I did," Will replied. Greystone had already narrated his conversation with Mantis on the roof, that memorable day that Blake had found out about the White Fang's new line of work. "She says she's not with Onyx anymore. That's she after a group of people on her list."
"If that's the case, shouldn't we be shaking her hand and congratulating her?" Yang joked. "I mean, you aren't exactly finding a lot of happiness with them."
Thank you Yang. "If she is no longer after you, you should leave her alone as well," Blake added softly.
"I just want to know why she was at that compound," Will replied.
"She kicked your ass there, I can totally understand why you would want payback," said Yang. "But that means we need to get to either of three people to solve who leaked Onyx's dirty little secrets to the press. Crimson, Mantis, or targer-primary."
"Mantis wouldn't have risked a thing for people she doesn't know. We need to get to her last."
"Right. So crazy lady it is."
The five of them continued through the city, carefully checking all spots where the girl called 'Crimson' had appeared in the past few days.
"So Lisa told me that their bomb-maker, Sandy, didn't work for this Crimson," Ruby then said.
"Oh? Then who does he work for?" Weiss asked.
The redhead shrugged. "I hope it's not Torchwick. We got our hands full with that creep."
"And now that he has his hands on the White Fang," Blake added, "he will be even more dangerous. They have weapons, Dust and manpower. With the right person leading them, they can act as a well-organized army."
"So we have to deal with Mantis, Crimson and this Primary Target person, Torchwick and the White Fang and also a new Grimm creature?" Weiss then exclaimed in a frustrated voice. "Why is the entire world out to get us?"
She stared angrily at Will, who was wise to respond with a rather innocent statement. "Don't look at me, I just work here."
"Think Onyx might be able to lend us a hand with killing that big thing?" Ruby asked. "You guys specialize in killing mean people, so you might as well kill mean monsters too."
"You're the monster-hunters," Will replied. "I don't know about teams in other Kingdoms, but Onyx personnel stationed here in Vale is busy with solving…other leads."
"What does that mean?" Yang was quick to question him.
"There have been some complications," the Operative replied. "Aside from Crime syndicates, terrorists and smugglers, one of the Fireteams has called in another threat. When we're done here I can explain that one."
"Can't wait…" Ruby sighed. "So what's Mantis like?"
Blake froze.
"What?" Will said with a frown.
"What is Operative Mantis like? You have told us some things about her being really fast and really mean, but that was about it," Ruby explained. "If she quit Onyx, there must have been a reason. Perhaps she is fed up with having to kill? She might be able to help us. If you can work together with Beacon like this, the other ones can do that too, right?"
"Wrong," Will almost immediately replied. "Mantis is irrational and I don't want Blackwood anywhere near you guys."
"Why not?" Yang asked and crossed her arms over her chest in a rather intimidating gesture. "Can't a guy deal with hanging around a few girls? Or do you want us all for yourself?"
Ruby giggled and even Weiss flashed a grin, but Will obviously missed the joke. "He can't. Not with girls, not with guys, not with anything that lives."
"Sounds bad," Blake muttered.
"It is. And Mantis…she has always been the most level-headed one of us. She was the first to question Onyx' motives and she was the first to stick up for us when…" He paused and lowered his head. "I think she has had it the hardest of all three of us. But she snapped some time ago, as she was still with Onyx the last time I worked with her."
"What was the last time then?"
"About two years ago."
"That's accurate," Yang said sarcastically. "More useful things we should know?"
"She has a list of people she is going after," Will said and closely watched a group of adults that was walking past them. He was wearing his civilian clothes so he didn't stand out that much, but he was obviously not aware of that. The soldier was constantly looking at the people walking around them and watching the rooftops with suspicious eyes.
"A list?" asked Weiss.
"Of the people that have wronged her in the past."
Blake had to quickly look the other way to not betray the sudden leap of her heart. The ex-Operative had never revealed that before. Mantis had always seemed like such a powerful person; strong-willed, unwilling to yield to a hateful population and able to understand the error of Onyx' ways. Had she really suffered that much in the past? Just what these Operatives gone through in the past? Will seemed to attract unhappiness and pain wherever he went, but she had thought that that was simply his thing. But now…were all the Operatives so unhappy?
"Wronged her?" Ruby asked with a low voice. "What do you mean?"
"That is not up to me to tell," Will said, "but Mantis is not the happiest person of the country right now."
"Is Blackwood also like that?" Yang inquired. "Traumatized by the past?"
"Blackwood is nothing like that. Not anymore. He never goes down, he never backs off and he never ever gives up."
"How unlike someone I know."
Will tried to add something else, but he was cut off when someone else started talking –someone from above. "Blackwood is in Vale right now."
All five of them readied their weapons and aimed it at the woman that was standing on the roof of the building to their right. As soon as Blake laid her eyes upon her, she understood that this had to be the 'Target Primary', the one they were looking for. The woman gave off an unearthly presence and she couldn't help but feel intimidated by her sheer presence. When she looked closer at her appearance however, she felt something completely different.
She felt unseasonably warm. The woman wore her black hair long and unrestrained and she had dark make-up on her face. Her clothes consisted out of leather straps, knee-high leather boots and a dark cape that flowed down her legs, originating near her waist. She looked very…fetishistic.
The woman spoke again. "But you knew that already, didn't you, Blake? Didn't Mantis tell you that during your little meetings? "Blake scowled, but the dark-haired woman grinned. "Whoops. Secret meetings."
"Ehm…Blake? What is she talking about?" Ruby asked, sounding like she thought everything was just a big mistake. But she couldn't bear tell her friend that she had secretly been meeting with the enemy without telling them.
The scarcely-clothed woman made good use of that silence. "The poor, all-hating girl was longing for a friend who would understand her. Someone who knew the hardships of life. So sad."
"Why would Mantis go looking for Blake?" Yang asked without lowering her gauntlets.
"Oh, but I wasn't talking about the Dancer," the woman spoke and her nasty grin grew even wider. "I was talking about little kitty over there. No, Operatives don't make friends. Not ever. Onyx made certain of that."
"It wasn't like that!" Blake growled at her without meeting the eyes of her friends. She knew what this bitch was doing. "And how did you even know?"
"I know many things. And I also know why you felt so…attracted…to little Mantis."
"Blake?" Ruby asked her, a hurt expression on her face. "Is that true?"
She didn't answer. She didn't want to answer.
"I do wonder why a sweet girl like would want to be near the person who committed the most vile crime since years," the woman then asked Ruby with a cruel smile. "A will-be-Huntress together with the one who killed all those poor, peaceful Fauna?"
That last comment was just a knife twisting in a wound and Blake felt her emotions flaring. There wasn't a single word that hadn't sounded mocking. This woman could mess with her all she wanted to, but she would stay away from Ruby!
"Don't listen to her," Will commanded.
"Oh I see," the woman then said. "You are using them, aren't you Greystone? I already said that Operatives don't make friends."
"You said that already," Weiss said and shook her rapier for emphasis. "And I don't believe a thing!"
"Let's make a bet then, shall we dear? You won't find a single person who is even slightly friendly to the Operatives. Onyx has made their Three the scourge of the world and every single time you find out more about them, it will crack your little hearts and damage your young minds."
Her eyes twinkled cruelly and she softly added: "And Greystone is mine. So why don't you four turn around and walk away?"
"Why don't you go screw yourself?" Yang yelled and fired off two shots with her shotgun gauntlets, but the woman merely blocked the shots with some Aura-based ability and jumped to a different roof. Blake saw that she was carrying a leather bag with her.
"The Marksman already belongs to me," the woman then laughed haughtily. "Watch and learn."
She zipped the bag open and pulled a red crowbar out, before dropping it on the ground a meter away from team RWBY.
Will's eyes widened and he took three hasty steps backwards, merely tripping over his own feet in his desperation to get away. "That was you?" he whispered, looking pale and distraught.
"Yes my dear," the woman said with a giggle, sending shivers down Blake's spine. "Give my regards to Alice, too. She would like that."
"You sent Mantis after him?" Weiss exclaimed. "Why!"
"Fun, my dear." She laughed again with her terrible, mocking voice. And then she leaped backwards off the roof, disappearing from their sights. Yang and Ruby immediately moved to fight her and after a brief moment of hesitation, Blake joined them too. But she hadn't scaled a few meters or she noticed that Weiss wasn't following them –instead, the young Heiress was looking at the Operative by her side, which refused to move. He was staring at the spot where their Target had just disappeared and from the looks of it, he was pretty much nailed there.
Yang and Ruby noticed it too and, after a brief exchange of looks, they gave up the chase and headed back down again.
"What the hell!" Yang yelled and kicked against a trash bin, which went landed against a wall roughly ten meters away. "What is wrong with her!"
"What was she talking about, Blake?" Ruby asked as she patted Will on his elbow, shaking him out of his trance.
"I…Mantis appeared in the forest around Beacon, on the night that we found out about the Final Solution Killings," she found herself explaining. Her mouth simply moved before her brain could stop her and somewhere, she was thankful for that. "I thought she had come to attack me, but she wanted to talk." She lowered her head. "I am sorry. I looked her up myself after that."
"Why didn't you tell us this?" Weiss asked her, sounding angrier than Ruby did. "I thought you had promised to come to your team if you were in a tight spot!"
"She…she understood me. Not that you don't understand me," she quickly clarified, "but she understood what I felt. Like a Faunus would feel."
"And what would that be?" Yang gently asked. "What would a Faunus feel like?"
She looked away. "Unwanted. Hated by society. Not understood."
"But…" Ruby muttered, stopping herself halfway. "The bow…you…you know that we don't hate you, do you? We don't care for society…and…how would Mantis know what it felt like to be not understood?"
"I think," Weiss slowly said, "that Will already tried to explain that. Something happened that really messed him and Mantis up. We should…Will?"
The soldier was still staring at the crowbar as if it was snake that could strike at him in any second. His fists were clenched and his face was like a mask. Unmoving.
"Hey Marksman," Yang said and kicked against the piece of metal on the ground, shoving it out of sight. "You awake?"
Will inhaled sharply and looked up at the roof. "I didn't remember her," he said with a trembling voice. Blake looked at his face and was surprised to see that he looked angry. Downright furious. He had never looked like that before, not even when facing down a regenerating giant made out of shadows that could attack with its mind. Not even when he must have been about to murder Cardin and his entire team. "Why didn't I…why did she..."
He couldn't even talk straight. It looked like he was about to fly into a fit of rage and that scared Blake as much as the mental trickery of the woman on the roof. In just one appearance, the 'Target Primary' had emotionally beaten her and the soldier without breaking a sweat. Just who was she? What did she want with him? It had sounded so deeply wrong, so…twisted.
Yang wrapped an arm around the soldier and was about to open her mouth to tell him somethng, when he suddenly pulled away and grabbed her wrist. "We're going after her. Today. And then I shoot her in her face."
Much to her credit, Yang didn't flinch one bit. She gently pried her wrist loose from Will's grip and ruffled his hair. "Calm down. We'll be getting her."
"What's wrong? What's with the crowbar?" Blake asked him. Just like her, the Operative was a victim of a filthy mind-game. It created a strange sort of link between them.
"Shit, I…she…she used Alice? She?"
"Can someone please tell me what's going on here?" Yang asked. "Blake snuck off to meet with an Operative, a crowbar just nearly broke Will and we are standing here, letting that…that bitch get away with all this? How did she even know this?"
"I need to find Mantis," Will then said and turned to face Blake. "Where is she? I need to find her!"
"I…I don't know," she softly replied. "Will, you're freaking out. What happened?"
Will turned his back to them and walked a few paces, before punching a wall and swearing loudly. "And Blackwood is here too?" He exclaimed. "Why!"
"Will, calm down," Ruby told the soldier. "Blake…I can understand. Really, I can. But please tell me this: what did you tell her?"
"Not a thing," she hurriedly replied. "Nothing that I didn't already tell you; I told her about my time in the White Fang and she told me about her time in Onyx, but we both kept the details to ourselves. An unspoken agreement."
"Blake, find Mantis!" Will then shouted. "You are the only one she trusts…if that woman finds her…if Blackwood finds her…"
"Not so fast mister," Yang told him and grabbed his wrist. Roughly. "Tell us what got to you. Why are you acting so angry?"
"Because I am!" he snapped at her and pulled his hand back –Yang had quickly let him go.
"What?"
"Years ago, she ambushed Mantis and me and took us hostage. She beat me bloody with a crowbar and did something worse to Mantis. Blackwood appeared the next day to free me and left immediately to track that woman down, leaving me to rescue Alice. When I found her…I didn't know why, but…she was completely unresponsive. Bruised, crying and trashing. She wouldn't let me get near her…it was like she had lost her mind."
Blake noticed how Will was now using the names 'Mantis' and 'Alice' simultaneously, as if they were completely intertwined and inseparable. The way he spoke made it very clear to her that the woman had been partially right; there was no happiness in the lives of the Operatives.
The young soldier stopped talking and deliberately looked the other way. "I…I don't know what this woman did to her, but that was the day that Mantis changed forever. So yes. We're hunting this whore down, and we end her."
A painful silence fell. Ruby and Weiss looked shaken and perhaps because of that, they reached out and grabbed the other's hand. Blake felt…conflicted. She just didn't know what to think; there wasn't a single little fact hidden in this mess that didn't directly hurt her. This human was a foe worse than Torchwick, as she employed psychological warfare. And she did it very successfully. And the worst thing was that Will sounded like he was more upset with the fate of his fellow Operative than his own.
"A crowbar?" Yang asked at last. "She seriously did that?"
"How old were you?" Ruby carefully inquired. "And how old was Mant- Alice?"
"Not important," Will snapped. "We need to find her. Alice or the woman, not important which as long as we find one of the two."
He started to move again, but Ruby intercepted him. She moved from her position to block Greystone in the time it took Blake to blink. "Don't think so."
Will looked shocked. "What?"
"As team RWBY's teamleader, I am making the official decision that you won't be chasing either of the targets," the redheaded girl said with a determined expression on her face. "Our team will go after Mantis and protect her. If possible, I'll ask JNPR or LACG to go after the woman. If not, Fireteam Lima will take care of it. Either way, you are staying at Beacon. Wil, you're not thinking rationally. You'll mess up if you can't focus."
Ruby was a complete genius. Disturbed and shaken as he might be, Will was still an Operative. A conditioned soldier at heart. Emotions were new to him and at times like these, he needed certainty. What was certainty to him? People ordering him around and him knowing what to do. People treating him harshly was a very familiar thing to him and that wasn't where Ruby's tactic ended; she was distracting him, herself and their team from the things they had just heard.
With ordering the Operative around, Ruby was preventing the team from developing nightmares and conflicts. It was times like these that reminded Blake just why the little Rose was in charge.
"Are you seriously-"
"And you won't be sneaking off to get yourself hurt or killed either!" Ruby continued. Tonight, we are going to finish our History homework and take you with us to the Main Dining Hall."
"We have homework?" Will asked softly.
"Yes," Weiss added. "Lots of it. And most of it is about wars, so you can help us with that too."
Weiss saw what Ruby was doing too? Since when did Ruby and Weiss have such chemistry in non-combat situations? Had Ruby's near-death at the hands of the Mental Grimm caused that, or was this something else? Did Yang see it too?
"Blackwood is out there," the Marksman replied. "He's a threat, we can't-"
"We'll deal with him later," Ruby decided. "Go to Beacon, wait in your Hangar bay for us to return and…read a book or something."
"A book?" Will seemed confused.
"I have one," Weiss smiled and handed the boy a book –a book that Blake could have sworn she had seen before.
"Where did you keep that?" Yang exclaimed.
Nobody replied to her.
"Is that 'Soldiers of Love'?" Blake asked upon seeing the cover of her favorite book. Since when did you read that?"
"A friend suggested it," Weiss declared and Ruby smiled smugly.
"Seriously, where did you keep that?" Yang tried again.
Weiss prodded Will with the book and he grudgingly took it. "When will you be back?"
"Soon." Ruby smiled warmly. "Good luck!"
"It's a book," Will said. "I think I'll be fine."
"Don't be so certain," Weiss said with a perverted smile. "It's a good book."
Blake felt her cheeks sting with heat and quickly looked the other way. "It's okay…"
Things weren't really going the way she had expected them to. Ruby had managed to avert a very dangerous crisis by talking and while that was a testimony to her skills as a leader, she had merely delayed the inevitable. There was still a woman on the loose that was psycho enough for a near-sociopathic soldier to be scared out of his wits…and she had nearly destroyed their team-integrity with some well-placed words as well. This was an enemy unlike any they had faced before…and not only was she a bigger source of traumas than the damn Death-War had been, but she had also traumatized Alice.
Blake wouldn't rest easy until she had hunted this woman down. Roman Torchwick be damned.
Ash nervously eyed the orange-haired girl that was standing so extremely close to him that, should she have sneezed, their heads would have probably melted together.
And he could not stand it. She was close to him –too close. Very extremely too close.
"You look strange," she told him and prodded his cheek. "Why are you balding? Are you old?"
"I'm not balding," he told the girl and carefully leaned back. It seemed just yesterday that he and his team had been fighting through wave after wave of slave-traders. Perhaps that was because it had really been yesterday, as the team had been ordered to take a break. Mister Yale had personally told them to get back to Beacon and enjoy their time there, as he would step in and change a few things. "I just have short hair."
"Why?" Penny asked. This was the first day he was supposed to spent time with her and he already felt like twenty nerves had burned through due to her…oddness.
"Because long hair makes it very simple for someone to grab your head," he explained.
"Why do people want to grab your head? Do they wish to steal it?"
"No," he nervously told the girl, "they simply wish to kill us."
She cocked her head to the side like an inquisitive bird. "Why do they want to kill you? Have you been mean to them?"
"The people that want to grab my head," he told her, "are bad people that we need to kill."
It wasn't the best idea ever to speak a sentence like that, for two main reasons. The first one was that he had spoken it loud enough for everyone in a radius of three meters to hear it. The second one was that he and Penny were currently standing inside of a busy shop, where lots of people were standing around them. Well, had been standing around them. Now they were giving them lots of room. Not that he really minded it; he always liked some room to maneuver. People standing close to him freaked him out.
"So," he awkwardly tried to direct Penny's attention to the reason they were inside of the small crammed building, "see anything you like?"
"Yes!" the girl replied and reached for his holster, where he kept his sidearm.
Ash immediately backed off from the eager hand. "I meant in the shop!"
That surprised her. "Are you not in the shop now?" she asked him with big, honest eyes. What was wrong with her?
"Ehm…yes…" he replied. Not for the first time that day did he wish he still had his full suit on. But in order to not be noticed as a soldier –whom these people seemed to hate for some reason- he had to wear civilian clothes. He still had his sidearm attached to his hip and his newly repaired, signature weapon attached to his back in a leather bag, but he still felt uncomfortable. "But you cannot buy this. You can only buy the things that are on sale…here."
She blinked once and then looked around again. The soldier, feeling like he has bought himself another few seconds of respite, quickly tried to think of a place to take Penny without having her mess with the environment.
Ash figured out the best course of action just as Penny reached for the nearest stall to pluck an iron bar out of its frame. "Hey…Penny?" he asked the girl, not fully realizing the danger of her little move. "Are you hungry?"
"Yes!" she replied and gestured with the metal bar. "I am!"
"Good," he quickly said as he eyed the angry looking shopkeeper. The shopkeeper that was as tall as Clayton –Lima Two-Two- was. "Let's get you-"
The people in the store never found out what his secret plan was, as the metal construction that Penny had decided to manhandle had collapsed, sending at least fifteen different trousers and shirts falling to the ground. Ash grabbed Penny's hand and quickly guided her out of the shop, narrowly dodging a very angry shopkeeper.
Only when the two of them had placed at least two streets between them and the store did Lima Two-Three allow himself to relax somewhat.
"Penny, why!" he exclaimed. "That thing wasn't for sale!"
"You said that the shop sold things," the girl replied with confusion. Then she gasped and took a step backwards. "Did you lie to me?"
"No, I didn't!" Ash quickly assured her. He was running out of sentences to say and he had no clue as to what was wrong with this girl. "But you grabbed something that you couldn't buy. That bad shopkeeper got angry!"
That got Penny's attention alright. "Bad shopkeeper? He was a bad man?"
"Didn't you notice?" That salesperson hadn't really been the most empathic man…
"If he is a bad man," Penny replied with a big, honest smile and shining eyes, "you should kill him!"
"…what?"
"You said that bad people want to grab your head and that you kill them!" Penny explained what had to be the most perfect logic to her.
Ash stared at her in silent horror. This girl, looking just as innocent and cute as the other girls at Beacon, had just told him to go and kill a completely random and innocent civilian just because of his choice of words? What…what?
"Penny!" he hissed at her, looking around to check for nosy civvies, "You can't say that! Killing people that don't deserve it is wrong, it's…it's…" he looked at Penny's still perfectly innocent face and a horrifying thought began to dawn on him. Her behavior…her manners, all of it could be explained. "Penny," he very carefully asked, not wanting to sound scared, "you do know that killing is wrong…don't you?"
Again, she cocked her head like a little bird. "They told me that killing people is bad…but you kill bad people. And he was a bad man. You said so yourself."
"He wasn't that kind of bad," he tried to explain. Penny reminded him of the reason that child-soldiers were employed. Because they were trained to kill at a young age, they had no quarrels about killing their fellow man. A child-soldier did not know what was good and what was bad, which was why they were very popular with militias. The thing was that Penny could not be a child-soldier, as her behaviour was too different. She was too innocent. So…something else had caused all of her awareness of normal standards and values to become underdeveloped.
"Are there multiple sorts of bad?" Penny asked with a confused expression.
"Yes. The bad people that I kill are…murderers…and rapists and…and…mass-murderers. They are the kind of people who would create a mass-grave and-"He abruptly stopped himself from talking when his stomach started acting weird. A mixture of nausea and panic gripped at him and he stepped back from the orange-haired girl, trying to catch his breath. He should have expected that, really. He shouldn't be talking about the people he called, otherwise he would hurt himself. That was what Lily had told him; if he thought too much about that, he would become 'unfit for duty'. He did not want to be 'unfit for duty'.
"So he was a bad man?"
"No Penny, he was not such a bad man."
The girl blinked again and then her attention was completely lost again.
It was strange how such simple statements and words could have such a large impact on Penny. It was like she took things too literally…he would have to be very careful with his words.
Eventually, Ash took the girl to a small park near the city-district. There were wooden benches where they could sit, fountains that could serve as distractions and enough privacy that they could talk without being overheard.
"So," he asked Penny after she had been happily staring at the nearest fountain for three minutes, "what are you doing here in Vale?"
"I'm here to fight in the tournament!" She declared proudly.
"Ah, right." Of course, the tournament. People from all directions had been coming to Vale for days now, gathering for the prestigious Vytal Festival that would mean the end of the communication-silence that had been separating the kingdoms for years now. He had heard that Onyx was having their hands full keeping their eye on everyone that appeared…and the group of people that Penny belonged to was extremely important to Lieutenant Yale, for some reason. Important enough to make him sent Ash to keep one of them company.
But Ash wasn't angry about that. He knew full well that it was important for Onyx to maintain a proper status in Vale and as a soldier it was his duty to serve.
"So you are a student too?" He asked her, remembering the extreme combat prowess that the would-be Hunters and Huntresses possessed. The only thing that had made it hard for the students to defend Beacon during the criminal assault all those days ago had been their unwell to attack with lethal force. According to Clayton and Lily, that was Beacon's biggest problem. But according to him and Cal, that was Beacon's biggest virtue.
After all, which proper hero could look his fellow men in eyes while robbing them of their lives? A hero should be just that: someone who the civilians could look up against; someone they could identify with. Ash knew that Fireteam Lima weren't heroes, despite their latest feat in saving those Faunus-kids. In the end, they were just another group of killers.
But as long as they did good and didn't bother the good people, that was ok.
"No, but I am combat ready!" she replied happily.
He eyed her clothes carefully. "Ehm…combat ready?" He asked her. He knew that Aura-users could block small-caliber rounds, but Penny's lack of protection was disturbing.
"Yes!"
"Alright. Any idea who you will be fighting in this tournament?"
"No," Penny replied without changing her expression one bit. "Are you going to fight in the tournament?"
Ash shook his head. "I'm not a student…and I don't really specialize in anything. I mean…Clayton's tough as nails and…Lily is very elegant in fighting and Cal…is a very good combat pragmatist."
"Not a student?" Penny questioned him.
"No. I'm with Onyx and we…sort of provide security."
The girl smiled brightly. "My people provide security too!"
"They do?" He asked, feeling aghast.
"Yes! They built the AK-130 Android and they also built a new line of droids!" She happily told him.
Ash was impressed. "They are the inventors of the One-Thirty? Seriously? I love that model. Sure, it is outdated and has a weak structural integration, but it is so awesome! What are they going to do with the Confetti poppers?"
"The what?"
"The rotating submachine-guns," he clarified.
"I don't really know," Penny told him, looking a bit unhappy for once. "They never really tell me the stuff they do. They keep lots of secrets."
"I know how you feel, I guess…"
"Do you have friends?" She suddenly asked him, jumping to a completely new subject.
"Y-yes. We're in the same team."
"My friend has a team! Blake, Weiss and Yang! Are they your friends too?"
"RWBY? I don't think that Weiss and Blake like me very much. I don't blame them though."
"They are not your friends?"
"I like Ruby…and Yang's nice…and I respect Blake and Weiss…but I don't think we see each other as friends."
"Who is your team then? Are they friends with Ruby?"
"I'm part of a team of four…people…" He didn't want to tell Penny that he was a soldier. Soldiers were generally frowned upon by the people in Vale and it wouldn't be the first time if he got belittled just because of his 'job'. "Clayton, Cal and Lily. They're all older and stronger than I am and Clayton likes to tease me at times, but we're actually pretty close. We have been for a long time."
"Are they security too?"
"We're not really security, but we provide security. I guess."
Penny glanced at the fountain again. "Are we friends?"
Judging by the emphasis she put on the word 'we', she was still thinking about the importance of friends. Had she been with any other member of Fireteam Lima, she would have received a friendly but firm denial to that question. But Ash –as one of the only troopers with Onyx that really understood tha value of friendship- wouldn't be so blunt. The fact that the girl was ready to offer her friendship to him, even though he was the last person a girl like her should be close by, was more than just flattering.
It was also a bit scary. He never had successful interactions with people outside of his team. "I guess so."
"Delightful!" Penny suddenly exclaimed, nearly causing the soldier a heart-attack. "We can –what is it that boys do with their friends?" Oh how funny she looked when she was confused.
"I don't know," he said truthfully.
"But you are a boy, right?"
"Yes. But not…not a normal boy."
She gasped. "Are you also a girl?"
"No!" he nearly yelled. "Of course not! Penny, look… I'm not really the best person to be friends with."
"Ruby was my newest friend," Penny told him. "I don't have a lot of other friends."
"Neither do I…" he softly muttered and then glanced at the girl sitting next to him. Her large, green eyes were completely honest and utterly devoid of any ill feelings. She honestly wanted to be his friend…he shouldn't be mean to her. "I don't know what boys do, but my friends and I practice in our spare time. We eat, sleep, practice and read. And sometimes we talk."
"I would like to talk. And practice. And sleep."
He didn't really know how to spent time sleeping with Penny, but perhaps someone else could help them with the other suggestions.
His scroll vibrated and he pulled it out of his pocket, wondering who would disturb him on his mission.
"Lima Two-Three, Matt Adamant spotted on terrace with assassin known as "viper". Can you confirm?"
Why was Professor Adamant having a date with an assassin? And more importantly, why would Clayton bother him with that?
15:23- Approximately 400 meters south of city district.
"Ehm…guys?" Jaune carefully asked as more and more people were gathering around them. "We're starting to look suspicious."
"Just relax Jaune," said Pyrrha softly. "There are more humans there."
"Yes! Like the one all the way over there!" Nora then tactfully added, pointing at one of the rare humans that was standing near the edge of the group. Headmaster Ozpin had sent team JNPR to investigate a disturbance south of the village, where a group of White Fang members was said to have been spotted. Of course, that wasn't the easiest mission ever created. It was lucky that the team had been able to take it easy during their divergence to assist team RWBY; otherwise things might have gotten harder for them.
Of course, that didn't mean that they weren't having a hard time right now. Pyrrha couldn't really see any White Fang members yet, but she did see plenty of normal Fauna. Lots of them. Of all the people that were currently marching over the large grasslands, at least seventy percent of them had animal traits. Why were all these Fauna gathering here?
"I think that we're being watched very carefully," Ren said as he eyed the people around him. "Humans must not be welcome here."
"If the White Fang really is here," the fifth member of their group, the fox-eared soldier named Cal, softly added to their conversation, "This will be a trap for all humans."
"The White Fang doesn't want to kill every single human…right?" Jaune nervously asked. But despite the fact that he appeared to be scared of the consequences of being one of the few humans in the middle of a potential White Fang group, he was still walking at the head of their group. Ozpin had sent Cal with them, as they would need a Faunus to prevent them from standing out in the crowd.
The problem was that there were still four humans to that one Faunus and that didn't really even out the odds. Their only way of getting in the heart of the disturbance without a long and tiring fight was stealth; the soldier was wearing civilian clothes that consisted out of black trousers and a black shirt and all of them had hidden their weapons very carefully, so that they would only get spotted at the last minute.
"According to some, they do," Cal replied. He looked as paranoid was Jaune did, but in a different way. The blonde looked nervous, while the soldier looked apprehensive. This wasn't the first time Pyrrha thought that the Onyx soldiers had no form of social life outside of their military duties, as they acted more tense and nervous in situations where only normal people could see them than in situations where people were actively out to kill them.
Then again, she had been wrong about them before. The more time she spent with Fireteam Lima the more she understood that they were just like the students from Beacon; warriors that wanted to protect those they cared for. Individuals with needs, thoughts and feelings. And, she suspected, completely and fully capable of love despite their strange way of living. She had seen how much time Cal and Velvet Scarletina had been spending together and it was endearing to see the shy girl and the rough soldier caring so much for each other.
Of course, when she had asked Cal about his affection for Velvet, he had responded with badly-faked confusion before awkwardly trying to change the subject.
But Cal and Velvet wasn't the only would-be couple at Beacon; it had occurred to Pyrrha that Ren and Nora were also getting very friendly with each other...something that Ruby and Weiss seemed to be using as an example, as they were having those exact same problems. The two girls had nearly been enemies at first, having been forced to overcome their differences during the initiation event. But now? Now they were so close to each other that you couldn't find the one without the other being near. Pyrrha had seen Ruby flee in terror when Yang wanted to hug her, but squeal with happiness when Weiss did the same thing. Now, that could also be because Yang's hugs were capable of breaking bones and a hug from Weiss was as rare as a hug from Will, but still. It presented her with a few things to think about…things that she might or might not use to solve her little problem with Jaune.
She had to admit that she liked the boy. She had a weak spot for him and his sometimes foolish antics. The problem was that she didn't really grasp just to which extent she liked him…and that could be complicated for their team as a whole. He was their leader after all and even though he had officially named her his second-in-command, she still didn't feel right with adoring her teamleader like that.
Which of course brought her back to the issue in RWBY, as Weiss was Ruby's second-in-command which in no way inhibited the intimate manners with which they showed each other their affection.
Their group continued to follow the main crowd of people and Pyrrha noticed how the human presence grew thinner and thinner with every step they took, until it looked like the four of them were all alone in a mass of several dozen Fauna. And sure enough: no sooner had they nearly trapped themselves in the center of the crowd or she was starting to see White Fang members. They weren't armed to the teeth or armoured for combat, but they were still undoubtedly there for trouble. The metal masks and black hoods made that very obvious.
Eventually, they reached a large, black podium where several people were addressing a group of Fauna near the front. One of the people doing the talking was a girl with long, pink hair and black clothes. Her boots where as white as the piece of fabric that was draped across her shoulders and she didn't look remotely amused.
"I'm starting to think that it wasn't the best idea coming here," Jaune said and he was about to turn around when he found out that his rear exit had been blocked. They were boxed in by a crowd of people who weren't even intent on blocking their way.
"I'm starting to think that Ozpin was right," Ren replied and crossed his arms.
"Guys, that girl is staring at me. I think I know why all these people are here." Cal muttered.
Pyrrha threw one glance at the podium and immediately felt dark feelings rising up in the back of her mind. The pink-haired girl was indeed staring at the Faunus-soldier; staring with a mixture of satisfaction and possessiveness.
"This is a recruiting act," she said and watched as the people on the podium started talking even louder, addressing the entire crowd.
The pink-haired woman seemed to be their main spokeswoman. "For years, you have been oppressed by the humans! They have committed acts of violence against you, they have scorned and hated you and they have belittled you wherever you went! Even today, no less than thirty Faunus-children have narrowly escaped a life of slavery at the hands of humans! Their fate is one that will eventually await all of us, if we do not act!"
"Oh boy," Cal murmured and scratched himself behind one of his fox ears. "That's not good."
"What does she mean with slavery?" Ren asked.
"This morning, I led my team through an entire shipyard filled with slavers. We found a container filled with Faunus kids, ready to be shipped to Atlas."
"Bastards…" Jaune growled.
"The problem is…only Onyx is supposed to know of that. They contacted the necessary organizations to move the children to a better place, but we never told anyone how many kids there were. We used several different groups."
"So she knows something she's not supposed to know?" Pyrrha verified. She had to block out the horrors of thirty children sold into slavery to be able to concentrate on the task that lay ahead, lest she would make mistakes.
"Indeed," Cal darkly said. "And now the question is…do we have a leak?"
"So join us in the White Fang, so that we might give you the means to defend yourself against the festering parasite that is mankind!" The woman screamed. Dozens of Fauna started cheering and clapping and Jaune was starting to get really nervous.
"I think," he said, "we should get out of here. Like, right now."
The tension in the air was growing more intense with every passing second and Pyrrha found herself agreeing with her leader.
"Don't move too quickly, or they will notice us," she said. But Jaune hadn't taken two steps or Cal reached out to stop him.
"If you go away now, everyone will notice you," he told him. "We need a distraction."
"Any distraction is bound to create an even bigger conflict than the one we seek to avoid," Ren remarked.
"Cal," Pyrrha then softly exclaimed, looking at his ears. "You are a Faunus. Can you…?"
"On it," he grimly replied and disappeared into the crowd.
"What's going to happen?" Nora asked.
Jaune was quick to respond. "Cal is going to create a distraction of us. We'll report back to headmaster Ozpin."
No sooner had he explained the plan, or a voice cut through the screaming and cheering with such clarity and authority that it could only one Lima Two-One.
"That's not the only thing humans did to us!"
"Now, go!" Jaune nailed the timing precisely and gestured for the team to move.
"Vale has been free of the acts of utter genocide that men committed in other Kingdoms! In some places, humans are actively working at exterminating all Fauna! They see us as a plague that needs to be eradicated!"
"Come forth new blood," the woman told the current noisemaker with a frightening expression on her face. "Where did you get this information?"
Pyrrha glanced over her shoulder as they made their way past the preoccupied crowd and saw that Cal had now taken the podium too.
"Mankind wishes to cover up their crimes, but every organization has its means of getting to their information. How long until humanity starts to resolve their problems…with one Final Solution?"
The crowd grew mad and as Jaune grabbed Pyrrha's arm to guide her away, she wondered if Cal wasn't overdoing it a bit. It sounded awfully…spirited.
13 hours after Mental Grimm appearance, Cradle Hospital.
Doctor Azure sighed explosively as she saw that she had run out of Epinephrine. It was so hard to get a good stock of medical supplies these days. Where was the time that she could simply fill in an order and expect a delivery the next day? Now she had to walk to the nearest Hospital, fill in three different papers and wait a week for her order to arrive. It was very bad for her ability to help the various people that always seemed to get hurt these days.
The door behind her opened and she instinctively told the person to wait; she was busy with checking her other shots and she didn't want to get bothered.
But then it occurred to her that she was in the storage room of the Cradle Hospital and that only the doctors were allowed inside there. And she was currently the only one working in the nightshift, as her colleagues had gone home already. Who was…?
She turned around to tell whoever was disturbing her to buzz off, but the words never came. As soon as she saw who –or rather what- was standing in the door-opening, her breath hitched in her throat and a cold pit formed in her stomach.
"No," she managed to utter with a choked voice. The person standing in front of her was at least two meters tall and twice as broad was he was. He was wearing some sort of strange leather suit with black pieces of armour strapped over his chest, arms, legs and sides. A dark helmet rested on his face and his visor was covered with scratches and…dark splatters of red that could only be blood. She had seen one of these before, but that had been four years ago. "No!"
Fear clutched her heart like a cold, unyielding fist and she took a trembling step backwards, knocking into a casket of flasks that were filled with a blue substance. He had come for her –after all those years, the monster himself had come to get her.
The doctor desperately looked around, trying to find some way to escape, but deep down she knew that there would be no escaping. There had never really been any escaping.
The hulking demon moved closer to her, taking one small step after another. Eventually, her back reached the wall behind her and she couldn't move any farther away.
"Please…" she begged it, even though she knew that begging didn't work. That never worked. "Please!"
Doctor Azure screamed, but a large and cold gauntlet seized her by her throat and cut her off.