Last chapter only had one review, unfortunately. Let's change that with this one.
Tuutje07: thanks you; I always aim to please :D
Warning: the first POV is not for the faint of heart. You have been warned.
"Some call their existence Remnant's greatest failure. I disagree. If one were to look at the Grimm hordes, one would see a black mist of unstoppable horrors. They would be wrong. The human population cannot afford to send hordes of untrained "greenhorns" at a horde tenfold its size. No. Just like we need Hunters, we need capable soldiers. They are not children, neither are they monsters. With the training that we gave them, they are unbreakable war-machines. Forty of them can outmatch four-hundred normal soldiers. Once they are of age, each and every single one of them can match a Hunter in combat and prevail. Now imagine that same mist of unstoppable horrors, driven away by an army of ten-thousand elite troops.
You say child-soldiers. I say…who are you? Can you do a better job at keeping the world safe? Because when the Grimm hordes overran the entire planet, it was Onyx that discovered Dust. It was the first Themeluesi who instructed the humans in using Aura. It is our system that has enabled our race to survive. So who are you? Can you do better? If so, we shall step aside and resume to watching. If not? I have but one advise for you.
Stay out of our way."
-General Randall Eventide
The first White Fang trooper went down without ever spotting him. Her face-covering mask did nothing to protect her against the cold metal that slid through her throat, severing her carotid arteries and turning her calm breathing into desperate gasps for air that would not enter her lungs anymore.
Frost calmly cleaned his knife while he watched the girl bleed out. Large amounts of blood gushed from her ruined throat and her desperate gasps for air quickly ceased, together with the spasms that ran through her small body. Either she drowned, or she simply passed out due to the lack of oxygen-rich blood. Whatever it was, he couldn't really bring himself to enjoy her death rattles. He couldn't enjoy any of this anymore, and he didn't understand why.
There were many things he didn't understand. Glory in fighting, for example. Or honor dictating your actions. Wherever he went, there were always those young privates and students who would brag on about the glory they would win in war, or how many people they would kill. And he would feel satisfaction as he saw them die in combat, alone and afraid, never having attained the things they had been seeking. But now that this had turned into a personal battle…he couldn't even bring himself to get worked up over spilling White Fang blood. Strange. He could have sworn that revenge turned people passionate.
Oh well.
The Specialist placed a charge on the heavy door and moved to the side of the frame. It was just like a terrorist group existing out of animals to dig an underground-base in the middle of nowhere. It was only because he had kept an exceedingly-close eye on the satellites that he knew where to find the target. Recent developments had made it difficult to move for Frost Schnee. Luckily, he wasn't Frost Schnee. Not anymore.
The demolition charge exploded and he rounded the corner, weapon at the ready. He exhaled and waited for the split-second between heartbeats before he opened fire, catching the nearest Faunus in the back of his head with the first shot. He then emptied his clip into the remaining combatants before they even had the slightest chance of recovering from the dynamic entry, coating the walls and floors with dark blood.
He inserted a new magazine into his rifle before moving on. Normally he had the luxury of having other people make the decisions for him, which made his job very easy. Now that he had to think over his own choices, things were a bit harder. Rules of engagements had the tendency to shift throughout encounters and while his normal policy was "kill everything holding things that can be used as a weapon and then some more", orders still made him prioritize between targets. Leaving either more or less survivors.
But now that he was making his way through these cramped tunnels using nothing more than his severely-prejudiced judgement, it was remarkably hard to select the people he would leave alive and those whose lives he would take. Because, deep down in what was left of the piece of rock that was his heart, he knew that he wasn't a bad person. Not at his core. He didn't like watching people suffer and he didn't like to make them suffer either. It simply wasn't his job to hurt things –it was just to make them dead.
And that left him with a bit of a…conundrum. On one hand, he didn't want to cause unnecessary pain. On the other hand, this entire operation was based on him being unable to properly control his emotions. He had felt it for years, but he had always pushed it out of his mind. Killed his feelings and performed the missions. After all, he wasn't a person; he was just a means to an end.
Only he was a person, because he couldn't get the damned person-thing out of his head. Things would be so much easier to walk around with no sense of identity, purpose or goal. To just be a mindless weapon, pointed at the enemy for someone else's victory, with no sense of personality whatsoever. But no, he had to retain memories and thoughts. Be sentient.
He had done his best to remove all the bonds he had with the world; to really become a non-person. He had checked the records and found out that his original father had died and that his mother had moved to Vacuo to get remarried, leaving the SDC business behind her. And seeing how he never had any friends, there hadn't been any loose ends to be taken care off.
But this damned White Fang problem kept popping up wherever he went and since he had met Amber…he had stopped trying altogether. He was a person and no amount of corpses he left behind would fix that.
This was the next best thing.
"Onyx!" a trooper yelled, firing his pistol while he retreated to the next room.
"They've found us!"
Technically speaking, this wasn't Onyx. This was a simple coping mechanism –the only one he knew. There was a problem, and he would fix it by killing everyone involved with it. The world's garbage-man finally coming to clean his own mess up. It was freshening to deal with responsibilities that were your own, after spending a decade cleaning up the mess that humans left behind.
Frost returned fire and killed two of the three retreating Faunus, ignoring the sense of confusion that soon followed after he pulled the trigger. He also ignored the urge to taunt the little beasts hiding in the darkness; it would destabilize him more than them.
The walls were craved from stone and the ceiling was only incidentally supported by metals plates. It made the air inside somewhat humid and cold, like a cave. He had to make sure to clear the hallways at intersections as well, because the enemy had set ambushes at about every single one.
Having a Semblance would make this a hell of a lot easier.
For some reason, he White Fang troopers thought he was more people than one. If that made sense. They all ran when they saw him and didn't even try to hold him off. If he hadn't known that Onyx had them scared shitless, he would have suspected an ambush.
How come they hadn't been preparing for his arrival? He had been on the news for crying out loud! With face, name and credentials and all! Missing Schnee, not dead, works for Onyx. That had his name written all over it. Were these animals truly so arrogant that they thought nobody would enact their revenge on them for their deeds? Did they really think that they would get away scot-free?
Frost laughed, kicking a badly-thrown grenade back at its sender. The thought of revenge made him feel giddy inside; like he had taken too much painkillers.
It was gone the next second. He had that much going on for him; the discipline to cast out whatever he felt with the flick of a wrist. Metaphorically speaking.
The rest of the hallway was devoid of hostiles altogether. The last Faunus closed a door behind her in a last-ditched attempt to seal him off from the rest of the group.
Frost reached inside of is duffel bag and pocketed the second explosive breach. The square-shaped piece of metal would make short work of every single door in its way, be it one inch thick, or ten.
He placed the charge on the metal door and quickly backpedalled half a dozen meters, as the door had been carved straight into the wall, leaving completely zero space on the left and right side.
The explosive device went off and pelted him with small fragments of stone and metal, all of which his Aura deflected. The opening of the heavy door was shrouded in a cloud of dust, concealing his movements until he crossed over to the other side. Total sight in the dark didn't allow Faunus to see through a cloud of debris and filth.
The moment Frost stepped through the ruined remains of the White Fang's last defense, he realized that he had made a mistake. Or several. He found himself in a large, circular pit, a dozen meters across and two high. Surrounding it on all sides were all the members who had been "fleeing" from his onslaught this entire time, all of them wielding swords and low-quality guns.
The troopers hadn't been arrogant or stupid at all; they had simply been leading him into an ambush. Clever things.
"Knock knock," he said, casually walking further into the pit. He recognized this place. The owners might have cleaned the blood and pieces of meat from the stone floor and removed the metal cages at the sides, but it was unmistakably where he had had his first taste of Grimm.
The scars at his throat itched and he could feel his stomach clenching with anticipation. A shiver ran down his spine, but it wasn't fear. No, it wasn't.
None of the Faunus opened fire. They just stood there, motionless. Without making sound. The ceiling above them was rigged with pipes and metal catwalks, and there had to be plenty of openings that led to other tunnels behind them, but those would be hard to reach.
Frost, who wasn't wearing his helmet, made sure to raise his chin and observe the crowd. With their sharp eyesight, no 'one could miss the scars. "What, no cheering? No screaming?"
A tremor ran through the ranks of the members when he spoke, but they didn't reply. He counted about fifteen of them, ten with guns and five with blades. Not exactly what he would call ideal odds. There was no way that these were the ones who had been there ten years ago, but he didn't really care. They were White Fang and that was all he cared for.
From the midst of the terrorists, the creature strode towards him. Ten years had passed and its muscular appearance had not changed one bit; its black hair was still cropped extremely short, its left arm still bore the black tattoos and most noticeable of all, it still carried that custom-forged Grimm Mask, which covered its entire face. Eyeholes with red, flaming streams, armoured flak-vest and gloves…and that chainsaw. Upgraded, it appeared.
"Frost," the Faunus hissed with its guttural, gravelly voice.
His foe didn't have a name. It didn't need a name. It was an animal to be slaughtered, nothing more.
"Back from the dead for more?"
Stop talking! You are an animal! You don't deserve to talk!
Knowing that he would break down completely if he tried to think of a retort, Frost replied by slowly taking aim at the creature's head with his weapon, but it didn't seem to like that. It grunted and charged, taking large and thunderous steps that took it across the ten meters distance in mere seconds. Three troopers jumped after their leader, brandishing katanas and machetes.
The White Fang Lieutenant whirled around and swung its chainsaw at him in a downwards arc, wielding the massive weapon with impunity. The Specialist was forced to block the strike with his weapon still in its rifle-form, only barely managing to absorb the brunt of the attack. He side-stepped the Faunus and pulled away, allowing the heavy chainsaw to keep going and crash against the ground. In the brief moment he created for himself, he took aim and poured a trio of bullets in the machete-wielding Trooper's torso.
But the Lieutenant had only just begun. He growled and swung his chainsaw in a horizontal slash, trying to catch him in his side. He leant backwards, placed his hands on the floor and backflipped away from the attack. It wasn't enough to escape the follow-attack, which involved the massive Faunus lunging for his throat, this time preventing its weight from falling after it.
Frost brought his rifle up again to deflect the attack, which nearly broke through his defense and dented the weapon. He was by no means a weakling; he could fight adult Onyx troopers one-on-one and win by a large margin. He could carry the heaviest weapons and walk a league carrying a backpack that weighed half as much as he did.
The White Fang Lieutenant easily overpowered him, battering his weapon aside and ramming its shoulder into his chest.
Frost coughed a few tmes and backed away, transforming the rifle into its shovel-form. The two Troopers lunged for him at the same time as their leader did, swinging their blades with a proficiency that was far from impressive. The first katana carved through the air in front of him, after which Frost bashed its wielder in the face with his elbow and kicked him at the big one, sending him stumbling.
The second Trooper managed to avoid the same fate by trying a different attack, but that only resulted in the Specialist blocking his thrust, grabbing the weapon and spinning it out of his hands, breaking his wrists in the process and jamming the blade deep into his thigh.
Transferring the chainsaw to one hand, the Lieutenant went on the offensive once more. This time Frost was ready for him, and he redirected several of the creature's power-attacks by twisting and weaving just out of range. That chainsaw was wicked enough to tear his flesh from his bones the second his Aura broke, so he couldn't afford to get hit by it. But dancing around in the middle of this pit while surrounded by murderous animals wasn't a good idea either and as if to prove that he was still in trouble, several of the Faunus took new positions and opened fire on his position.
Change of plans. Frost jumped forwards and over the coming chainsaw-attack, kicking its wielder in the face with a heavy boot. Then he whirled around the massive Faunus and unleashed several quick jabs at the rim of the armoured vest, testing its quality.
Which was very high, apparently. Not only was he unable to even dent it, he also couldn't even find a way to break it before the creature whirled around again, swinging his chainsaw at a perfect height to decapitate him.
He ducked low, touched the ground with one hand and kicked the Faunus between its legs. After that he brought his shovel up and smashed his foe against the side of his face once, twice, then three times. The Faunus' head snapped aside with a loud crack and the last blow sent him staggering backwards.
Small-arms fire impacted on the ground around Frost and he felt his Aura deplete with each and every hit that the monsters scored. He leaped away from the lumbering giant and went on the range offensive as well, scoring several headshots before the rest of the White Fang jumped down the pit and rushed him.
Eight armed and ravenous monsters and one big one. He was badly outmatched.
Frost intercepted the first one before she could even bring her sword to bear, catching her under the chin with an open-palm thrust. Her jaws slammed together with a loud crack and he grabbed her by her shoulder while she was distracted, forcing her to the direction he needed her. The second Trooper aborted his swipe when he saw his comrade in danger and was just in time to stop his charge as well when Frost grabbed his wrist, broke his thumb and index finger and smashed the female's head against his. The metal masks didn't seem to do much to protect the wielder from massive trauma inflected by someone else's mask, as the two of them slid to the ground together.
That was precisely why you kept your mouth securely shut during combat.
The Lieutenant closed in on him and swung its weapon diagonally through the air, striking faster and with more ferocity than before. Frost ducked away and deflected the strike with his shovel. The monster's chest and throat were fully exposed, something which he fully exploited. He grabbed the Lieutenant by its chin and smashed it dead-center in the face with his weapon, foregoing strength for several quick attacks.
He was forced to abandon the opening when a Trooper stabbed at his legs, further depleting his Aura. Frost stumbled backwards right into the arms of another Trooper, who tried to grab him in a bear-hug. He only barely managed to escape the attack and leaped over the Faunus' head, making sure to first bash him in the face with his knee. He landed on the ground, rolled once and then jumped to his feet right in front of a third member, which he took care off by forcing its gun against its stomach and pulling the trigger a few times.
The Faunus crashed to the ground, screaming and clutching his abdomen, while Frost caught another one in the neck with the sharp edge of his shovel.
More gunfire impacted on his body and one projectile broke through, striking his armour with enough force to knock the air from his lungs.
He didn't need air to whirl around another monster and grab her neck with both of his hands, jerking it aside and breaking it with a loud "snap".
Again the chainsaw carved through the air and again, Frost narrowly avoided its strike and struck a "crushing" blow in retaliation. He ducked low, swept the legs away from underneath an enemy's body, then jumped up to avoid two katana-strikes. A bullet impacted on his right foot and he hissed in pain, but he didn't let up. He placed his weight on his left foot and lashed out with the wounded limb, breaking someone's jaw.
A large hand grabbed him by the back of his neck and pulled him away from his latest victim, whom he had intended to maul with a combat knife. Gloved fingers dug deep into his skin and his attacker violently smashed him against the ground, back-first.
Muscles clenched up, air left his windpipe with a pathetic wheeze and he kicked away with both of his legs, forcing the massive Lieutenant away.
Machetes and katanas sliced away at his outfit and thin body-armour as he backed away from the crowd, limping more than he should with a simple bullet-wound. He stabbed his knife through the eye-hole of one member, but the Faunus jerked away as soon as the blade penetrated his flesh, pulling the knife from Frost's grip.
The Specialist spun around again in time to see the hated chainsaw coming at him again. He jumped backwards-
-and backed straight into the stone wall he had failed to keep a close eye on. His instinct took over and he brought both of his arms up, protecting his head from the savage strike. The metal of the chainsaw clashed with the stones and created a bright display of sparks, but the Lieutenant only chuckled and followed up with a powerful uppercut straight into his already-battered stomach muscles.
Frost gagged and nearly retched when the powerful limb smashed into his abdomen and white stars exploded into his vision. The shovel-rifle fell from his hands and he had to force himself to not fight against the monster's powerful arm.
Instead, he grabbed the Faunus by its collar and pulled him close, going for a desperate and probably stupid tactic. He sank his teeth deep into the Lieutenant's throat, breaking its skin and ripping free an unhealthy amount of blood.
He pulled away before the retaliation could smash his face in, jumping up and kneeing the creature in the chin.
Frost then tried to get away from the monster, but the rest of the White Fang didn't seem to agree. While two turned around and fled back to where they came from, the remaining two took aim and opened fire again. He was too slow to dodge their rounds and several of them flattened themselves against his armour.
Several of them didn't and tore through his flesh instead, drawing even more blood and nearly crippling him with pain.
In a last attempt to escape their attacks, he leaped to the right and forced himself into another melee with their leader, whom they would be afraid to shoot.
It proved to be a fatal mistake. The White Fang Lieutenant somehow anticipated that move and had his weapon at the ready. By the time Frost saw that his trajectory led him to his demise, it was far too late. He was in the middle of turning to jump away when the massive Faunus grabbed him by his shoulder, slamming him against the stone wall once more.
The chainsaw reflected the artificial light of the pit-lights when it flashed through the air, right before spinning metal hooks tore through the clothes and armour on his left shoulder and dug deep into his flesh, lodging themselves into his collar bone and splintering it. Blood sprayed from the wound, painting the Lieutenant's mask red, and he knew that it was over.
Frost screamed like he had ten years ago, his voice ragged and frantic. He wasn't done yet! He wasn't done! Not without showing the monsters that they hadn't broken him! He was alive, he was here!
He wasn't going to go out like this. Not without resisting until the very end. He brought his hands up, painfully aware of how much his ruined shoulder cracked and tore further when he did so. The chainsaw…had a large area in the middle. A neutral area, without blades.
Frost slammed the palms of his hands against the metal frame, groaning with exertion in a vain attempt to push it back. It wasn't enough. The chainsaw went deeper into his shoulder, making short work of his collar bone and slowly burying itself deeper. His arms were trembling and his left shoulder stopped working altogether. His left arm slowly went limp, his vision blurred. Shadows crept through the corners of his eyes and a particularly blurry one jumped across his vision, as if was crawling over the ceiling.
He had come full circle. He had died here, in this pit. Onyx had reforged him…and now he would die here again. Would Granit come through these doors again? Would the old man pull him away from the darkness again?
The monster that was killing him chuckled deeply, forcing the chainsaw down further-
And the shadow leapt at the monster, latching onto it and tearing it away with chainsaw and all. Frost crashed to the ground in a pool of his own blood, unable to do anything but stare at the trashing figures. The White Fang Lieutenant crawled back to its feet and backed away, while the two other troopers charged at a new contact in the pit. It was a female, with bare arms and camo pants. A large, bushy tail swayed behind her back and even with a blurred vision, Frost saw that her fingers ended in long claws.
The two troopers barely made contact with her before she tore them apart. She slugged the first across the face, breaking his neck with the most audible "snap" that the fallen Specialist had ever heard in his life. The Faunus fell to the ground, his head positioned at a sickeningly wrong angle. The second one didn't fare much better; the new contact stepped back on her left foot and kicked at the trooper with her right. The Faunus landed on the ground in a broken heap –ten meters away.
The monster with its chainsaw roared and charged at the Faunus-girl, hacking at her gut with its wicked weapon.
The girl didn't back down, or even move out of the way. She just stood there, leaving herself completely unguarded, completely open. Only at the last moment did she move, with such force and determination that even the chainsaw-bearing creature reeled back when his strike failed. The blade of the chainsaw got caught between her knee and elbow, utterly pinned down by her powerful limbs.
Just in time did the monster manage to leap back, because the Faunus-girl increased her grip on the heavy blade and destroyed it, shattering it into several large pieces.
"No!" the Lieutenant cried, watching the ruined remains of the chainsaw clatter to the ground.
The girl didn't cry, or scream, or shout. Instead she grabbed the White Fang member by its throat, lifted it in the air with one arm and proceeded to violently smash it into the ground, just like it had done to Frost. She didn't stop there though; she pulled her prey half-upright again, placed her knee under its back and then brutally slammed the Lieutenant back down again, shattering its spine to pieces. Only then did she allow the creature to fall to the ground, but it wasn't even allowed to scream in pain before the girl grabbed a hold of its left arm, placed her foot against its chest and pulled.
Pulled harder. Hard enough to tear the flesh around the socket, rip the bone free and then…something came off.
More screams. Frost blinked a few times. The blood on the ground had formed a…a very large pool, but at least his pain was subsiding. The white dots were turning into black…spots…was this supposed to feel good? Dying? Was it comfortable? He had always seen death as a luxury he could never attain…had he known that it felt this good, he would have tried it long ago. Maybe.
The Faunus-girl threw the loose limb away without even bothering to look at it and then turned her furry-eared head back to the half-dead Lieutenant, cocking her head to the side like a curious little bird. There was a lingering moment of eye-contact, like small sort of pause. Perhaps an acknowledgement of kinship.
Then she grabbed the fallen Faunus' head, pulled it back and buried her teeth deep into his throat. Blood erupted from the monster's neck and the last scream of pain and fear went by, uttered as a choking gargle.
The girl shook her head to the side once and then ripped herself free, after which she spat out a good fist-sized piece of flesh. Dark blood poured from the gaping hole that was the White Fang's Lieutenant's throat, after which it only spasmed once before going limp.
Frost's vision blurred again and he nearly spaced out. It was only because he felt something soft and warm touch his face that he realized that he was actually close to dying, and that he needed to fight his way back to consciousness. There were too many things he needed to get done before he died. Too much things to do. Dying was a luxury…and there was only one luxury he needed.
"Hey Schnee," a calm and collected voice spoke. "You got messed up."
"Amber…" he whispered. Something warm dripped on his face and he slowly opened his eyes, seeing the bloodied face of his closest friend hovering a few inches above his. "Why are you…?"
"Here?" She finished his sentence when he couldn't. "I wanted to watch you kill him." Boy, she had to be disappointed. "It didn't work out very well."
There it is, Frost thought. More blood dripped on his face. The splashes of warmth were actually pretty helpful in allowing him to stick around the realm of living. Bleeding out was very much like freezing to death, it seemed. Close your eyes for a second –drift away for a moment- and you would die. "But…why-?"
"Coward cheated. Had his posse help out. I didn't like that."
Stupid little thing…snuck into the White Fang base after him to keep an eye on him…stupid. "You're not supposed to…"
"Supposed to do what?"
"Fight...White...Fang…"
Amber snorted. "Nobody tells me what to do, not even Onyx. I didn't kill Belladonna because you didn't kill the Heiress, remember? And what allows you to go nuts with the Fang while I have to leave the Schnees alone?"
"You…you haven't healed properly…"
"Yes I have. Hole's almost closed."
He should have known. Fine, whatever she wanted. "Didn't know you also ate Faunus…" he muttered. He also lied through his teeth.
"A girl's gotta eat, and I like variation." She ran a finger across his forehead, probably drawing a trail of blood. "Can you walk?"
Could he walk? Shot up by small-arms fire and gored by a chainsaw? "First aid?"
"No. Thought you had it with you."
Frost sighed and closed his eyes again. "I'm dead."
But Amber didn't seem to agree. "Don't be such a downer. A wound like this should clot within a few minutes. After that, your muscles will pull themselves back together. That's what they told me and medics don't lie."
"Yeah…" he coughed, feeling a coppery taste in his mouth. He didn't like that. "Humans don't do that."
"Oh shit!" she jerked away and looked around, before walking off again. A few suspicious ripping-sounds later, the girl returned. With scraps of clothing. "If you stay alive, I'll get you out of here, alright?"
…what was he even supposed to say to that?
She nudged his side. "I said alright?"
Frost sighed. "Alright." He wouldn't promise anything.
RWBY dormitories –Beacon Academy- 3 minutes and 7 seconds after continent-wide security-breach.
Yang stared at the half-open door, unable to believe what she had just heard. Why was it that, every time things were looking up, something had to happen to mess that up? Every single damn time! Who could be messed up enough to broadcast something like that all over the Kingdom?
"I don't get it," Ruby muttered. "We know he started young. We all did."
While Blake merely looked on with an incredulous expression on her face, Weiss actually tried to come up with somewhat of an explanation. It didn't look like it worked. "Ruby…there's a major difference between us and…and those people."
Why didn't Blake jump at that remark? She had always been the first to tell Weiss off when she was being an ignorant little brat, so why not now?
"Okay…so he started very young. Too young. But I don't see-"
"Child-soldiers, Ruby!" Blake then snapped. "Not students! You can't compare the two!"
"I don't think she understands," Weiss replied. "I don't even understand…"
"Well, no shit!" Yang snarled. "Way to be obvious! If nobody understands, why are we still here talking about it instead of going after him!"
"Yang!" a very shocked Blake exclaimed. "You don't know what you're saying! We can't just go after him, that's dangerous!"
"Why is that dangerous?" Ruby asked. "Will someone tell me what's going on?"
Yang wanted to tell her sister that there wasn't anything wrong and that she didn't need to worry, but Weiss shushed her. She actually shushed her. "First of all, it's a war crime. No nation or army is allowed to use child-soldiers in war. That's the same as shooting and raping innocent civilians and using chemical weapons. Alright? It's a complete taboo."
"Before you ask, yes there is a difference. We chose for this style of life when we were young," Blake added. "Well, most of us did. But when an army drafts children into their ranks…it's with force. Without anyone's permission .Either the parents are already dead, or conveniently removed. After that, their "training" starts. I don't know the details, for which I'm very glad, but I had…partners who met them."
"Wait, you had partners who met child-soldiers?" Yang repeated, temporarily forgetting her anger.
Blake nodded. "One told me that there is nothing scarier than a twelve-year-old with an automatic weapon. They're the same age as you and Ruby were when you started, Yang, if not younger. Wielding weapons and butchering men, women and children because they were ordered to Sounds familiar?"
"Damnit Blake, you know that's not like him! Does Cal look like a walking psycho to you? Or Lily? I thought you of all people would understand!"
"I do understand," Blake quickly said, gesturing with her hands to calm Yang down. "I do. But you need to know…"
"…Child soldiers are raised to show no mercy and are only praised and fed when they kill," Weiss quietly continued. "They will ruthlessly murder innocent people…mothers and children…and they will be used to commit more war-crimes by their superiors to take the blame."
"How do you know?" Ruby asked.
"Father had a conversation with one of our security officers, just a year back. That man said that the White Fang were beyond saving because of how they were raised…and he drew that connection." She paused, wrapping her arms around her chest and looking away. "He had details."
"But the White Fang is nothing like that," Ruby replied. "They are motivated and join of their own free will and…oh."
Blake sighed. "It does explain a lot, doesn't it? About Onyx…and them. The killing and the violence. It's all they know."
"I still don't get why we're not making sure they're alright!" Yang then loudly said, shutting her teammates up. "Ruby, come on!"
Ruby got up from her bed as well, but Weiss reached for her wrist and casted an angry glance at Yang. "Will you just listen to us for once? That broadcast was seen by the entire Kingdom! Which means that the entire world knows about these atrocities!"
"SO?"
"SO! That means General James Ironwood, Headmaster Ozpin, my own father and even the White Fang know about this." Weiss managed to keep herself remarkably calm, even after her initial loss of patience. "Not only does this place Beacon in a very dangerous place, political or not, it also places them in a dangerous place. Would I be lying if I said that Will is unhinged?"
"N-no."
"That he has too many enemies to freely walk around when everybody knows him?"
Blake nodded. "If the entire world found out that I am an ex-Fang member, and if they knew my face, I wouldn't trust anyone anymore. And I'm not even that paranoid."
"Right now, there are multiple things that can happen," Ruby said, turning towards the window. It was already dark outside. "Someone approaches Will and tries to take him with them for psychological treatment. Yang, what would he do?"
"Flip out and wage guerilla warfare on the city."
"Right. Or, someone from Atlas or another official organization approaches Will to apprehend him, either for crimes or for being himself. What would he do?"
Yang sighed. Logic…she hated it. "We'd have another war on our hands."
"And that's bad, for those of you still following all of this." She fell quiet again and started fumbling with her hood. "Third option: someone he trusts approaches him and calms him down. Then we find Ozpin or Matt and make sure that this blows over without an incident. I really don't want a frantic, PTSD-suffering Will rampaging through Beacon. He'd hurt people, and himself too."
"Yes," Blake said with a deadpan voice, "I can see how that would be a problem. So what do we do?"
"I don't know a thing about child-soldiers, war-crimes or Onyx, but I think I know our friends. Cal and Lily will keep Ash in line and Will is going to find a way to flee from Beacon. So, we need to find him before he does that."
"Yes, good plan," Weiss then sarcastically said. "One problem: anything that doesn't have long, messy blond hair or a hood will risk injury by blunt force trauma, lacerations and bullets."
Apart from the messy-thing, Weiss had a point. Pyrrha was the poster-girl for said point, though luckily she hadn't actually gotten hurt.
"Frost."
Weiss and Blake exchanged a glance. "Excuse me?"
"Frost Schnee. Also, Alice. They've got similar problems now. And I don't think Alice would appreciate anyone without a cute little bow on her head right now."
Blake smiled somewhat.
Weiss didn't. "And what makes you think I would want to seek out that...that…"
Odd how most of Weiss's insults didn't work when their subject had recently been revealed as a kidnapped child drafted into a ruthless military organization.
"Because he is your nephew, because he probably doesn't have anyone left who would care about him and because you need to find out why he resents your family so much?" Ruby suggested.
"You are too smart for your own good, Rose."
"Frost struck me as a rational type," Blake remarked. "I don't think he would hurt you unprovoked…but I still don't like this, Ruby. Right now, they're all at their most vulnerable. I wouldn't be surprised if they would try to fight their way out of this."
"All the more reason for us to move!" Yang exclaimed, already waiting for her sister in the door-opening. "Come on, before anyone else gets to him!"
"Alright, let's be reasonable here," Weiss replied. "If you didn't personally know Will, would you go after him if you had just heard that he is a "highly-dangerous and unstable" individual?"
"Ehm…depends. Who am I?"
"What? I don't know, Ironwood? Goodwitch? Ozpin? Any student ever?"
"Sure, because having a gang of dangerous and unstable child-soldiers running around in Beacon won't sound like a threat to other students at all," Blake said with crossed arms, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "You heard the news, Weiss! They literally said that they hoped that Atlas will set this danger right! There could already be entire groups after individual Onyx members. Students could already be gathering here at Beacon for that exact purpose."
"So how long do you want to wait with finding Alice?" Ruby then cleverly pointed out.
Blake opened her mouth to reply, seemed to think better of it, then closed it again.
Yang didn't want to think about the bloodbath that Will would cause if some clever student tried to take him out before anyone could talk to him. He had always held back during his fights…if he had a reason to completely cut loose, it wouldn't matter if he was after a first-year or a third-year student. It would result in death and sorrow.
"I see what you mean. Will you two be alright on your own?"
"Of course we'll be alright. What about you?"
"Would you just hold on for a moment!" Weiss nearly shouted, sounding more desperate with every passing second. "It's too dangerous! Remember Pyrrha? Or team LACG? Or most recently, half team CRDL? His fight against that Mercury-guy? I don't dislike him and I really, really want to help, but we're not psychologists! We're not specialists and we don't know how to deal with this! We can't just fight our way out of this if it goes wrong!"
Yang didn't know how to respond to that at first. She just couldn't figure out why her friend was so opposed to the idea…and she didn't want to have a fight over it. "Weiss, I made him a promise. I won't break it. When push comes to shove, he won't go for anything dangerous…and I am still stronger than he is."
"It can't go much more wrong than now, can it?" Ruby added. "I know you're worried…I'd be worried too. But I guess that this is the point where you need to trust your friends again. Blake?"
The Faunus bowed her head. "I don't think this night will end in violence. Weiss…tomorrow morning, the entire world might be ready to go to war. We will need all the allies and friends we can get...and I don't think my personal wellbeing is more important than that of millions of people."
"And what if it was? To me? The wellbeing of my team means more to me than the wellbeing of people I have never met."
"Guys," Ruby interrupted. "Let's not get too political. Save friends today, save the world tomorrow. Weiss…"
The Heiress rolled with her eyes and crossed her arms again. "Let me get dressed first, will you?"
Two minutes later, the gang had split up and moved out. Yang didn't worry that much about walking around in her pajamas; she didn't have anything to hide and it wasn't as if her normal clothes would be more concealing. It was just more comfortable like this.
"You think Weiss will be alright?" Ruby asked. She had donned her cloak and was still fumbling around with the hood. So even she was nervous about all of this.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that she's pretty disturbed by all of this…and not just by the whole sensitive-document thing. Frost really got to her a few times…and now that she knows that he is her Frost, it's even worse."
"Wasn't Frost that dick from the CCT?"
"I wouldn't call him that. Alright, maybe a little bit. But still…I don't even want to imagine being stolen from my room in the middle of the night as a little kid…it's no wonder he resents Weiss that much."
Yang looked at her. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know for sure, but I think that he is bitter because he was taken because Weiss was so much more important as an Heiress…or because the Schnee family failed to protect or rescue him and he sees her as the embodiment of the family."
"Wait, you're not even sure?"
Ruby groaned and lowered her head. "It's giving me a headache…and Frost is even worse than Will when it comes to reading him, because Will doesn't know a thing about nonverbal communication. Frost does and he mastered it."
"So you can't read him?"
"Not yet, no."
"So why do you think Weiss can safely talk to him?"
"Because Weiss isn't a Schnee anymore. Not like the rest of her family, I mean. So even if Frost is kinda unhinged, Weiss will still keep him calm."
He was sitting there, in the corner of the hangar bay, holding a pistol in his right hand. The slack grip on the gun made Yang fear the worst, for a heart-stopping moment. She calmed down somewhat when she saw that he was simply staring with that thousand-yard stare in his eyes –the same one she had read about- but the last fringes of adrenaline didn't completely fade away. These moments, rare as they were, were always very dangerous. Right now, she had to figure out whom it was dangerous to.
Ruby stayed near the back of the bay while Yang cautiously proceeded, intentionally taking loud and obvious steps so that she wouldn't be startling anyone…or activating anything. This was exactly the sort of situation where someone not watching out would accidentally trip a landmine or something. She was also running through several ways to start up a conversation about what they had just heard, but that wasn't an easy thing to do. It wasn't every day that you found out that one of your closest friends was a kidnapped child-soldier…but again, it explained just about every single thing that didn't make sense about him.
When she reached the near-catatonic Operative, Yang slowly reached out to place a hand on his head. Nothing more. Just a gentle touch to let him know that he wasn't alone.
The moment she came within a few inches distance of his head, he suddenly flinched and pulled back. Like a scared animal.
Yang gritted her teeth, but didn't give in. After a brief moment of hesitation, she pressed on and lightly placed her hand on his head. He didn't jerk away or attack her, but she almost wished he did. Seeing him just sitting there, dull expression in his eyes…it was hard to bear.
So what should she say? She wouldn't lie to him; she had no clue what he was even supposed to feel right now, let alone what he actually did feel…and it wasn't as if she wasn't spooked a bit by what she had heard. Weiss and Blake weren't wrong; Will was a dangerous person to be around at best. At worst…she didn't think anyone had even seen his worst.
Just another thing that they would fight against.
One minute became two, then three. Yang didn't pull away nor sit down next to her friend, ignoring the discomfort that was starting to spread through her arm.
"You're weak if you cry," he then quietly said, not even blinking when he started to speak. Only then did Yang sit down.
"I…what?"
"They taught us that. Emotions are for the weak, and you die if you show them. So they are for the dead too."
Yang sighed and shook her head. "I don't think that's right."
"You wouldn't hurt me, right?"
That was a bit weird. "Never."
He lowered his head to his knees and Yang felt a tremor run through his body. "Good. Because I think I am going to be weak."
She wanted to tell him that it wasn't true; that he was one of the strongest people she knew and that emotions only made you human. But she didn't. He wouldn't understand. The sounds he made…he was physically trying to keep himself from crying. Trying, not very successfully.
"I gave everything I had for Remnant," he snapped. "EVERYTHING! I sacrificed so much…so much…and now it's all been undone. It's all been for nothing."
The shivers in his body slowly grew worse. His shoulders were tensed up, his hands formed into fists and his breathing completely irregular. "That's not true. Will-"
"All the peace and all the stability and the people who lived…lived because of our blood…it's all gone now." He sank his head in his hands, against his knees. "We've killed and tortured and destroyed…burned...what for? For nothing."
…the White Fang and Atlas military would go out of their ways to make propaganda out of this. And Yang held no illusions to how she would have reacted if Vale had been helped out of a war by some nameless organization, only to find out that said organization had been using child-soldiers to do so. Not only would it be hypocritical, it was just plain wrong. Peace made through lies and crimes is not true peace.
But did that mean that his life was over? It just meant that his past lay out in the open now. She didn't understand. She didn't get what he meant.
Oh well, cutting the knot here.
Trusting in the discipline of her friend, Yang draped her arm around his shoulders and leant back against the crates behind them. How was she going to deal with this?
"They're going to hunt us down," he whispered. "All of them."
He was not going to hurt her, she was certain of that, but she felt how terrified he had to be. His shoulders were trembling, his chest was heaving and it didn't even look like he was lucid. Still, he was keeping himself together. In light of…well, all the misfortune regarding national news, that was already a thing.
"Nobody will hunt you down," she quietly said. "I made you a promise, remember?"
"I don't know what to do…" he whispered. "Someone give me orders…I don't know how to act."
"You don't need orders anymore. Go home…go to sleep. You haven't slept since the dance, have you?"
Will shook his head. "It's not over yet… the war's not over yet."
An idea jumped at Yang's mind. She pulled herself away from the Operative and stood up, knowing that it was just like her to do what she was about to do. "I don't know what happened…and I can't say I really get what's going on. But I get you. You're not a psycho, or some guided machine. Right now, you're an exhausted boy who's been handling things on his own for far too long. It's time to let go."
Ruby walked past them and reached for a metal item that lay on top of a sealed box. "I know it seems pointless. Like flying with broken wings, or stumbling around in the dark with nothing to guide you." She put the thing down again and looked at the two of them, a shy smile on her lips. "Except you can fly if others lift you up –and you can see if someone lights your path. You have been keeping Remnant safe for more than a decade. It's time to trust your friends."
"I hate them," he whispered. "All those people down there…who are they to judge?"
Why was it that Huntsmen and Huntresses were renowned as heroes, while the men and women with Onyx were called out to be hated and despised? It wasn't fair. Will had every reason to hate the people he had been fighting for…but he had to draw a line between "people" and his friends.
"They're not important anymore," Ruby replied. "Forget about all of them. You can do that."
It wasn't fair that the one person with healing-Semblance had injuries that even time couldn't mend.
"There's going to be more wars…and people will come looking for you if you stay associated with me. Us. Don't."
Yang nudged him. "It's a bit too late for that. We're associated alright, and we'll stay that way, thank you very much."
Will eased up and raised his head. "What about the rest? I won't hurt them…but the rest-?"
The message was clear; even self-defense against his friends was out of the question, but if someone else even looked at him wrong…bad things.
"I'll refer to my promise again. You seem to have a knack at forgetting things. Nobody is going to attack you when we are around. That goes for Jaune and…I guess Lisa too. Stop thinking it's the world against you"
Will lowered his head to her shoulder and closed his eyes. "I'm tired."
Yang smiled and lowered her head against his. Ruby crossed her arms and leant against another crate, observing a silvery knife with vague interest. "At least it's not all bad. You can tell your sister the truth now, I guess."
"That'll be fun," he commented weakly.
Will was right about the consequences of all of this, of course. The world wouldn't sit still. Ozpin would get calls, people would protest, psychologists would be sent from all organizations and Onyx…everything Onyx-related was going to leave a bitter taste. That was exceptionally sucky, because most things Onyx-related were global peace and quickly-ended wars. But whatever the world was going to throw at them, they could handle it. They had to.
They'd get to that in the morning. Right now, they were safe. Beacon would remain their home a little bit longer.
Day 83 -Former Night Club, downtown Vale- 02:12
"I don't understand," Blake said, crossing her arms. "Explain again."
Alice sighed and sat back against the metal beam. Ragged pieces of police tape fluttered in the wind that came through the broken windows, making the place look even more rundown. "I already told you, I don't know."
"But if there are four people willing to testify, we-"
"Blake, you don't seem to understand. Do you think you can trial the Kingdom of Atlas? Or Vacuo? If we were to accuse Onyx, what would happen?"
"There's got to be something we can do!" Blake snapped. "It's not fair. They're committing crimes of war left and right and nobody can stop them?"
"Thank you for that." The girl frowned and looked away. "Hypothetically, what would happen if we united the world against Onyx? If we dragged the Founder to justice, somehow causing it to disband? How would that improve things?"
"It would be just. It would be justice for the lives they took and the crimes they committed."
"And the world would die with it."
"Excuse me?"
"There are currently two million humans alive on Remnant, give or take. With all the wars and conflicts, that number would have been halved had Onyx not been there, and that's without the Grimm. With them…let's just say that Onyx has yet to come up with a hypothesis for the number of Grimm that doesn't end with "seemingly-infinite"."
"You're not saying…"
"Removing Onyx from Remnant would be like removing a person's skeleton, or organs. Remnant would have long since perished without them."
Blake scowled. "You're making it sound like you don't want them gone."
The Dancer laid back against the metal framework that was suspended a few meters above the shattered ground of the club, staring at the black roof. "Don't say that. You heard the news, right? I'm unstable…and dangerous…and people should keep their distance from me. I have Onyx to thank for that. I've been doing everything in my power to stop them for more than a year now…but that won't bring back the thirteen years that I have lost."
The Faunus looked away, ashamed of having lost her temper like that. "It's really been thirteen years? It's true then?"
Alice shrugged. "Either I'm seventeen and it's been twelve years, or I'm eighteen and it's been thirteen. I don't keep track. It's kind of funny, isn't it? I may or may not be allowed to legally have sex or drive, but I am allowed to murder innocent people, sabotage governments and assassinate political figures. Me in a nutshell."
"Don't say that!" Blake said in shock. "That's not true! You and Will aren't to blame. Onyx is. Nobody can blame your for any of the things that have happened."
Alice crossed her arms. "In an ideal world, that would be true. But in a world where NGO superpowers employ thousands of child-soldiers to clean up the mess left behind by humans, things are a tad different. If you knew the things we have done…"
"Thousands? L-look, It's going to be alright. This can only work out better for you! Onyx won't have time to hunt for you if they are busy covering their own tracks. If you stay at Beacon, we can work together to protect you. You and Will buried your differences, didn't you? If so-"
"Let me make a prediction, Blake," Alice interrupted her. "Things are going to get worse before all of this is over. Onyx is going to take extreme steps to avoid war, Atlas will lose things and turn their attention to us. Ironwood is going to want to have us incarcerated, court-martialed or locked away for psychological counseling. And that's not even taking Vacuo and Mistral into account."
"They won't get you," Blake firmly said. "If you and Will stick with us, we can help you."
"I'd love to, except Will won't stay with Beacon for long. I think we've found what he has been chasing and denying for the better part of a year. He was planning on attacking this night, but…it appears someone wanted to make sure our lives were ruined before that happened."
Blake wanted to reply to the "ruined-life" part, but something else got her interest. "You found what he has been after?"
"That depends. How much do you know?"
The cat-Faunus hesitated. "He had a partner, a long time ago. She died."
"Yeah, well…we attacked several Onyx positions to gather Intel on the circumstances of her passing. He had to leave before his downloads were finished. Luckily, I was in the area. I handed the DSM cache to Alessa so that she could give it to him, and-"
Now it was Blake's turn to interrupt her. "Wait, you handed the information to Alessa of all people?"
"Yeah. She seemed like the no-nonsense type. All she had to do was give it to him."
Blake sighed and looked away. "Alice…no, you couldn't have known that. Alessa despises everything Onyx-related. I guess that includes you and Will. She's also the most curious one out of team LACG, though you don't notice that."
"You're saying she will nose through the files? That's alright; they're encrypted."
"Yeah…except that she's a competent hacker who had her way with Onyx files before."
The ex-Operative blinked a few times, before cursing loudly. "Are you serious? She's going to hack it instead of giving it away?"
"That's my guess, yeah. I take it she's not supposed to know what's on it?"
"If Onyx won't hunt her down and murder her because of it, Greystone likely will. He didn't even tell me the whole truth and I was the gal he had to trust throughout our whole operation."
"So he doesn't know what to do until he gets those files?"
"He might have the shellshocks, but he's not stupid. There are two possible locations he can attack…and as luck has it, General James Ironwood is in his way."
"Ironwood?"
"Yeah. The chump's made it his responsibility to check out abandoned Onyx outposts and labs. Tomorrow-morning, Will's most likely going to go all-out to find out what happened to his partner."
"But…but if he encounters Atlas soldiers now-!"
"It'll be a political incident big enough to make the Luna-Arcadia conflict look like a bar-brawl."
Blake growled with frustration and jumped to her feet. She wanted to accuse Alice of being too dismissive and casual about matters this grave, but then she remembered the whole reason she came to find her. "Why isn't this a problem to you?"
"You'll find that I'm not particularly fond of Ironwood or Atlas. If the moron wants to get in an Operative's way…it's his own funeral."
"We can't allow that. We need to stop that! If Will murders Ironwood this shortly after being outed as –as…you know- there will be a war."
"Most likely. So do you have a plan?"
Blake pinched the bridge of her nose and racked through her memories in an attempt to find something she could use to deal with this. "I'm going to get that DSM from Alessa…find Yang…have her stop Will. Then we'll find those facilities ourselves. "
"You might want to be careful then. I think I'll move to Beacon when I've found out who was responsible for sending my dossier to about everyone important in this Kingdom."
"About that…is it really that bad? People who know can sympathize…they can help. You'll get support."
"I never really looked at myself as a child-soldier. I don't care if people know how old I was when I started. Like you said, more evidence to damn Onyx." Alice chuckled weakly. "I do care when it results in me getting branded with a "psycho" stamp. I now officially don't have a future anymore…not that I can really see myself doing something that doesn't involve death."
Blake had the creeping thought that her friend wasn't being entirely fair with her. She couldn't except Alice to immediately confide into her with everything that she had on her mind…but a part of her couldn't help but think of how much trust Yang and Will put into each other. Why couldn't this be the same? "We'll see about that. You come to Beacon and we will see how fast you find a new future."
The ex-Operative didn't respond. She just kept staring at the roof, unblinking. She didn't seem to be above this at all.
Unfortunately, Blake wasn't so above it all herself. Something nagged at the back of her mind, telling her that something was very wrong. She couldn't put her finger on it…she had to be too tired.
So she decided not to think at all. She grabbed Alice's hand and pulled her up. "I don't want you to spend another night running around after dark. You are right; it's getting more dangerous. Onyx isn't your biggest threat anymore; everybody now knows who you are, and people will come looking for you. Please just come with me."
Alice stared at her with an incredulous expression. "W-what?"
"I grew up outside the Kingdoms. Every night meant fighting to survive, but the biggest threat there were the Grimm. We had our brothers and sisters, we could build shelter and stay safe. You are on your own, in a city filled with the enemy. You can't keep on going like this!"
The girl grimaced and pulled away. "You're forgetting one thing, Blake. I've been hunting and killing people for…seven or eight years. I'm no more a human than you are –and at least you can pretend to be a normal girl by wearing s bow."
Blake sharply inhaled. "You've been calling Will unhinged-"
"-but that doesn't mean I'm sane myself," Alice finished for her, flashing a very uncanny smirk. "I'd like to get to know you so much… but you would detest me if I shared about myself. For once…I want to be selfish. I don't want you hating me."
That was a game Blake could play as well. "Some of us have done terrible things." She paused, thinking on how to formulate her words. "I have done terrible things. I always avoided hurting people whenever possible…but sometimes that wasn't possible. Sometimes, hurting someone was necessary. But with my friends…at the Academy, bullies were resented more than ex-White Fang members, experimental rejects and Will. Even when others found out, they always accepted me. Sometimes you can trust people."
Alice wrapped her arms around herself and looked away. At that moment, she didn't look like the dangerous killer that everybody made her out to be. She looked like just another vulnerable girl. Like a human. "If I went with you…and people find out more about me…it might get worse than this."
"After all of this…it's hard to imagine something worse. I was closer murdering someone in cold blood than ever when the VNN revealed the truth behind that massacre in front of the SDC hall, and that worked out in the end."
"Do you mean that?" the ex-Operative carefully asked.
She nodded. "I do."
Alice snickered and reached out for Blake's cheek, gently brushing it with her gloved fingers. "That's so stupid…" she leant in closer, lowering her head on her own arm. She looked so tired. "I want to be stupid too… but that never seems to work."
Blake slowly exhaled and nudged her friend's forehead with her own. "Believe me…there is plenty of stupid at Beacon. Our cleaning and dining lady is a big, burly man, our teachers all use physics-breaking items in mundane ways and we use our food for attempted manslaughter. If you insist on wanting to be stupid…you will fit right in."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
Beacon Academy, unknown dormitories. WARNINGerrorWARNINGerror: DATE CORRUPTED%
Emerald Sustrai stared at the newscast with a feeling that bordered on disgust and fear. "Damn…I know you hate them, but…damn."
"That seems like an effective method to get the little monsters out of the way," Mercury added without even looking at the screen. "Can't get rid of the psychos on your own? Raise the entire world against them."
"It had to be done," Cinder offhandedly commented. It was easy for Emerald to picture the smirk on her face/
Mercury flicked a page in his comic book. "How did you even get these files?"
"I mentioned my other partnership, did I not? Not everybody defects because of a weak heart. What was that saying again? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? Onyx made itself some very dangerous enemies."
"Is that what you will do to me too?" Emerald asked, flinching when she heard the disgusted tone with which the reporter spoke. "If I ever outgrow my usefulness, or if I make a mistake?"
Mercury sighed, pulling a face that screamed "here we go again".
"No," Cinder said after a brief moment of contemplation. "I would not place you in the same category as the shadows. You are a different case."
"That means she likes you too much to get rid of you," Mercury laughed.
"A privilege that you don't enjoy," Cinder then quietly said, assuming a more menacing tone. "Are you forgetting your place this soon? After failing to even find out how our Children of the Damned fight?"
"Hey, that wasn't my fault. That creep changed his style before we fought, nobody can track down that ninja-bitch and the big guy can spot a Faunus before the Faunus spots him! I can't even get close to getting close."
"Excuses, excuses. No worries; we'll corner one of them soon enough."
"What if they decided to work together?" Emerald asked, unable to ignore what Cinder had just done. The line that she had crossed. "What if Greystone and Mantis band together?"
"Remember what the scientist said?" Mercury replied. "Both of them are too damaged to set aside their differences. One always blames others, one always blames itself."
"Cassandra is hardly a mere scientist, Mercury," Emerald said through clenched teeth. "She's as much a psycho as any Operative."
"Even so…she has a PhD. I don't know in what, but she has one."
Cinder interrupted. "Enough of that. Seeing as how Roman failed to properly execute our plan, we will have to resort to tearing Vale apart ourselves. Either he shows his face, or we move on to the next Kingdom."
"And burn that one to the ground."
"But still…" the screen had died down, no doubt because the shadows had just executed every single worker at the Vale News Network. "I have no idea what I would have done, had this happened to me. I don't think I would want to continue living."
"Oh please, will you stop that? There is a difference between a child-soldier and being used a child-slave. And with a bit of luck, some of them will go ahead and off themselves."
"We'll have to get different files to accomplish that," Cinder said. "There is a limit to what an ex-scientist can dig up, especially because she was never involved. And this "Greene" person has yet to turn up…no, we have done all we can for now."
"Greene…Eventide…Ironwood…Operative…Frost…Themeluesi. There is always another one, isn't there?" Mercury said with a smirk.
Emerald didn't think he was taking this seriously. But he would…soon enough. The moment he realizes that Greystone was actually trying to murder him, or perhaps the moment that Onyx came tearing down his life as well. Some scars were visible, but most weren't.
Day 83 – Beacon Academy -09:57
"For the last time Ozpin. Did you know what you were getting yourself into?"
"No, I did not."
"Then why make the deal?"
Headmaster Ozpin sighed. "Honestly? Because at the time, "Onyx Academy" was the only organization willing to aid our cause. Atlas, Vacuo and Mistral were all minding their own business. With the SDC pressing its borders, White Fang extremities and terrorist attacks, we were having our hands full."
"And did associating with the organization yield results?"
"Yes, it did. Criminality stopped being an issue and the civilians felt safe. At the same time, I was granted insight in the world beyond this Kingdom. The individuals sent to us were a clear message."
"Look at their handiwork now. The "individuals" you speak of, the Operative we spoke of? They are a danger to the common security. The wellbeing of the people. If they cannot be tamed, they must be put down."
"James!" Glynda shouted. "Control yourself! You don't know what you are saying! You would put the blame to the children instead of the men issuing the orders?"
"Have you faced those soldiers in combat before, Glynda? Of course you didn't; you are still a Huntress. Let me tell you this: a bullet fired by a fourteen-year-old is more effective than the same bullet fired by an adult. You see those little figures running around on the battlefield, delivering bombs and messages, and you feel pity. You feel doubt. You feel like you are killing innocent beings, pulled into a conflict they did not want. And then you go toe-to-toe with them, and you stay your hand. And that is where you die, because underneath that fourteen-year-old skin hides a killer."
"You speak as though you have experience in the matter," Ozpin observed.
"I do. You do not make General without experiencing combat yourself. I have had the…misfortune of fighting my way out of such a situation, yes. But that does not in any way influence my thoughts on this situation. I do not want any of you to fall prey to the cruel workings of war. I will be leaving for Atlas soon…but this situation requires my direct intervention, of that you can be certain."
"James, will you listen to yourself! These people have names, wishes, fears and loved ones. They have integrated within Beacon and become a part of one of the tightest units there. Two of them have fallen in love with students."
"Impossible. They don't feel empathy. They are fooling you, Ozpin. And further, by working together with an organization guilty of war crimes, you yourself may well be held responsible. The Council in Vale is gone –murdered by Onyx, no doubt- but the other Councils are still very much alive. They shall decide on what to do with Beacon Academy and yourself. I am sorry it had to come to this…but you are playing with a force more powerful than you can imagine."
"I am sorry too, James. In part for what is to follow. I would give you one last advice though: more people have come to ally themselves with Beacon than you know. My Academy has become somewhat of a…stabilizing grounds, if you will. Take that away…and this situation might become even worse."
"Are you threatening me, Ozpin?"
"No! I am trying to help you."
"I see. I wish it hadn't come to this. Goodbye, Ozpin."
"Goodbye old friend."
And with that, the General terminated the link on his end, cutting the conversation off. Ozpin sighed deeply and sat down at his chair, staring at the windows and wondering how everything could have gone so wrong.
"He is a fool," Glynda said. "And he has nothing to harm Beacon with. We could not have possibly known that Onyx's soldiers were…like that."
"And yet I have asked myself the question many times: how?"
"I do not follow?"
"Then let me explain. For example: how can a fifteen-year-old boy fight in one of the deadliest wars in the Kingdom and live to tell the tale? How can a twenty-year-old be a match for three teams of first-year students? In a way, we should have known. More so, I should have known."
"Outrageous. Do not put the blame on yourself, Ozpin. Do you know the saying that goes around this school? Onyx's secrets have secrets. I do not need to remind you that, before all of this, you were nearly forced into the alliance with that group?"
"True. But I cannot help but wonder-"
Someone knocked on the door with the force of a hungry Ursa and the Headmaster was forced to abandon his argument. "Yes?"
The door flew open and the single most mischievous and renowned team of Beacon barged into his office.
"Headmaster Ozpin!"
"Professor!"
"Ozpin, sir!"
"Team RWBY!" Glynda snapped, pulling her crop out and waving it threateningly. "You do not barge in here like that! The Headmaster is busy."
"We've got something important!" Blake Belladonna said.
"Young lady, what could possibly be important enough for you to-"
"We can't find Will anywhere," Ruby Rose interrupted her. "He's gone…and we think we know where."
Ozpin and Glynda exchanged a dark glance. "What do you mean, gone?" the Headmaster then asked.
"Gone as in disappeared when we weren't looking, properly stole Johnson's jeep and left Beacon through the tunnel-access gone," Yang Xiao Long explained. "
Professor Goodwitch turned to face Ozpin once more. "Ironwood said he was still in Vale…"
"Oh yes."
"Where did he go?" she then demanded.
"We're not so sure," Weiss Schnee replied with an annoyed expression on her face. "But we can guess."
Ruby nodded. "Two options. Either he is after the General…or someone else."
Ozpin didn't hesitate a second. "Professor Goodwitch, I want you to contact team CFVY. They have a new mission."
Next time: a flashback chapter concerning the most classified, expunged and redacted activities concerning Onyx.