Chapter 8
Lilith Arc stood on the rooftop of a warehouse, below her; two dozen men in nondescript grey overalls were moving crates off a column of trucks. She could barely see them by the few yellow lamps that dotted the facility. To the south however she could see the lights of Vale on the horizon.
While normally a sight like men moving crates would be nothing special. The fact that they were moving these things in the middle of the night into a rundown warehouse while handling crates with the SDC logo on them would say otherwise.
"Ma'am, all units are in position." A voice buzzed in her ear and she tapped her ear piece.
"You may start Captain Hansen." Lilith said calmly as she sat down on the ledge of the rooftop then unzipped her jacket before reaching into pull out a plastic wrapped sandwich. As she began to unwrap it, multiple dull snaps could be heard in the distance before the sound of a box clattering on the ground as it was dropped was heard from below.
The people below began to panic as gunfire snapped at them; Lilith could see several men jerk once or twice as they were hit before falling to the ground. As expected the rest scattered, most however went back into the warehouse.
What they didn't know was that Lilith had her men already breach the other side of the warehouse, killing the paltry guards that had been posted there.
She could hear screaming inside as more gunshots snapped out rapidly inside the warehouse. She however just continued sitting there eating the rest of her sandwich, uncaring for the deaths below her.
"Ma'am." Hansen reported.
"Yes Captain?"
"Four trucks are approaching from the southeast; my scouts are reporting that they've got White Fang members in them."
"Mop up the survivors Captain then get your rangers set up to ambush the trucks as well. I already have Dobson and Kalen disguised to greet our Faunus friends." Lilith said as she reached behind her for a thermos she had been carrying with her.
"Roger that Ma'am." As she was about to pour her cup of coffee, something tickled her mind and she realized that something was off about this.
So she packed up her thermos and zipped her jacket up after tucking it away. As she was about to walk away from the ledge, she stooped down to pluck her dagger out from the neck of the man that had been on the roof before her.
Making her way down she was greeted by Umbra Praetorian Varah. The Praetorian was encased in the black plated power armor of her kin; the only distinguishing mark was the red skull on her right pauldron.
She nodded to the Praetorian but Varah didn't really make any sign of acknowledgment but that was fine with Lilith. She wasn't here to become friends with the Praetorian; a small, nearly forgotten, portion of her mind usually recoiled little whenever she saw the warrior.
Had it been light out, anyone would have been able to see the small twitching as she fought to keep herself from fully scowling. She took a deep breath; it had been a while since she felt the hatred for those she felt were beneath her.
"I might need your Praetorians out there Varah." She said as she turned towards the southeast entrance. She could see Dobson and Kalen moving the last of the bodies into a concrete tube off to the side.
"I understand." Varah's calm voice said, as if the potential bloodshed was nothing more than a simple task for her. Lilith turned as the sound of footsteps approached her and she could see three soldiers moving up to her, all of them had their helmets off. One carried two rifles while the other had a square PVC-77 on his back.
In the low light of a nearby lamp she could barely see the face of Captain Hansen. The man quickly gestured to the soldier on his left, who had the two rifles; the soldier held one out towards Lilith. She took the weapon from the soldier and slung it over her own shoulder.
"All squads are in position; I've got one assault stubber setting up on the roof, with the second and third taking up position on either side of the entrance. Sergeant Garlow has his squad setting up position on the other side of the entrance; they'll be cutting off their escape once they're all inside the perimeter." Hansen said as he gave a slight bow to the Praetorian.
"Good, Varah here will have her warriors take up positions as well."
"Is that necessary?" Hansen asked.
"Yes, I'd rather have an overkill than potentially let one of them escape once the trap is sprung." The Vox-Operator pulled the handset off his vox set as someone began to call in. Everyone looked at him as he listened before looking at the Hansen.
"Captain, the scouts report seven fast movers coming from the south. They say they look like Bullheads." Hansen reached out to take the handset from the man.
"Yullen, do they have any identifiers?" Lilith waited as Hansen nodded slowly then gave the handset back.
"Unmarked Bullheads are moving fast towards our position; they should be here roughly around the same time as the trucks." Hansen said looking at her.
"So they must be connected but since we don't know who's in them it ends up being a variable that we can't afford to mess with like this." Lilith mused then looked them.
"Rig the crates with explosives then have your troops take up position in the woods Captain. Varah, if they get here before we're gone, kill them all." Lilith said and the group scattered. She looked up at the sky, it was a cloudless night and the stars were out.
It wasn't long till Captain Hansen reported back to her that the explosives were in place and he was already pulling his squads out to their new positions. Varah returned to her as well, the Praetorian said nothing but Lilith knew that her contubernium was also already on the move.
By the time Lilith was already out of the compound, the roar of engines could be heard overhead as several Bullheads began to circle the facility. As she made her way up a small hill she turned around as she wanted to watch as the trucks entered the compound as well and what would happen next.
The SDC crates, which had been rigged with explosives, were now sitting out in the open by the trucks they came in on. From the few working lights in the compound she could see that they were indeed White Fang members, many of whom were armed with submachine guns or short swords.
The White Fang members reached the crates; she was surprised that none of them seemed that suspicious of why the crates were laying out in the open.
As they began to pick up the crates to carry back to their own trucks, it was at that moment that one of the Bullhead's landed on the rooftop of the warehouse as the others backed away. Lilith narrowed her eyes; did they realize something was off?
She could hear faint shouting, no doubt it was a warning of some kind but it was too late. Multiple explosions boomed, briefly blinding her eyes as the explosive devices were detonated.
The combine explosives and Dust crystals inside the crate made a spectacularly powerful explosion that forced her to take a few steps back from the sheer force of it.
It was over in a matter of seconds, as her vision returned to normal. Lilith could see that all the trucks were nothing but flaming ruins.
Even the front of the warehouse was collapsed, taking the Bullhead that had landed on it with it. A good length of the fence was also missing, squinting her eyes a little she could see a faint glow of heated metal at its edges.
The screams of the dying could still be heard as the rest of the Bullheads settled at a distance from the blast site. Lilith could see White Fang members rushing towards the carnage, though one Bullhead didn't disgorge White Fang members.
She could see that there was instead just one person that stood on its ramps but interior lights made it difficult to see who it was.
She ordered the attack, gunshots snapped out rapidly from the tree line, taking a dozen White Fang members down immediately. What she didn't expect was the flash of Aura among a number of White Fang members.
These Faunus immediately sounded the alarm and soon shots rattled out in return fire as these Aura enhanced individuals began to rally their brethren around them.
"Varah, if things start to get out of hand I need you to finish them off but make sure to keep some of them alive so we may question them later." Lilith said and she could hear the faint sound of armor servos as Varah left her side.
Assault stubber fire began to rake the front lines of the White Fang, taking another six down as the rest took cover. Lilith could see fireteams shifting out from the tree line to get better angles as the White Fang broke off into smaller units as they were unable to contend with the direct fire of the stub guns.
The Aura enhanced White Fang members were however proving to be troublesome, while under sustained fire two of them were quickly brought down. The problem however extended to the fact the rest realized that keeping on the move from cover to cover meant that they couldn't get hit enough to fully deplete their Aura.
Four of the White Fang members with Aura charged at a fire team, with blade and handgun in both hands. One of them was killed as the five men opened up on them in close range. However the Aura soaked most of the rounds up before it failed allowing the rest to rip him apart.
The other three were able to fall upon the men easily, hacking or firing their weapons at point blank range. She could see it was a fierce but ultimately futile struggle for the Arcadian Rangers as while their body armor was effective it couldn't protect them forever. As either a blade or a bullet struck a weak point such as the faceplate of their helmets.
It was at that point that the Praetorians made their move, the three White Fang members butchering the now dead bodies were met by two Praetorians. Lilith could barely make out the red glow of their optical lenses from their visored bascinet helmets as they bore down with their glowing poleaxes held in a high guard coming down on them.
It was the first time Lilith had actually seen powered weapons wielded against Aura enhanced individuals. Sure she knew that it's not an uncommon occur as she's seen power weapons wielded against the forces of the Great Enemy.
At the same time she knows that Alexander has more than a few Praetorians with their Aura unlocked as well. Though supposedly these individuals are treated rather harshly by some within their ranks but she didn't know if the rumors were true.
Shaking her head, she looked back at the fight. She could see in the glow of the fire that raged unchecked in the background, one Praetorian already had their poleaxe embedded in the shoulder of one of the White Fang members.
The other two were backpedalling in attempt to break away from the second Praetorian who easily parried their blades while ignoring the rounds that shattered harmlessly against his or her armor.
A third Praetorian appeared from behind the two White Fang members before quickly jabbing the head spike of the poleaxe against one of their backs. Lilith was surprised to see the spike break the Aura in a flash of light as Aura met energy before vanishing.
The White Fang member slumped to his knees staring at the tip of the head spike as it poked out from his chest. The last member was swiftly killed as the second Praetorian slammed the poleaxe's hammer head down shattering his skull in a shower of gore.
Lilith watched as the last of the resisting White Fang were quickly dispatched by the Praetorians. In the distance however she couldn't help but notice the Bullhead, which had the singular figure watching, take off before flying eastward.
A few of the assault stubbers fired up at the craft but nothing they had could have brought it down as it quickly put distance between them. All but two of the Bullheads would manage to escape which annoyed her as it meant that it would simply serve to further prevent them from keeping their presence hidden from the White Fang.
Though she doubted that they would be able to ascertain who they were, they would most likely chalk this up to the Valean Military. As even though it was a meager, if not near nonexistent entity, it still had a few teeth left in its decrepit body.
"Targets neutralized Ma'am." Hansen's voice crackled in, the man sounded a little winded which isn't surprising as some Faunus could be rather tenacious. Like that Taurus fellow that's been on the Vale news as of late, a rather ruthless fellow that she could almost respect even if he seemed like a complete lunatic.
"Any prisoners?" She asked and waited a few minutes before Hansen got back to her.
"Nine prisoners with another sixteen wounded."
"Alright have two squads escort the prisoners to the Valkyries."
"And the wounded?" He asked.
"Grant them mercy." She said coldly there was an extended pause before Hansen replied.
"Yes ma'am."
Later…
Lilith stood on the deck of the Arcadian Naval Vessel, Chalice; the Light Cruiser was at the head of a small squadron of ships. There was its two escort frigates the Amareo and Halifax both ships were on either side about five hundred feet away from the cruiser.
Six hundred feet off their stern was the Amphibious Transport Dock, Nearque, which contained a company of soldiers from the Arcadian 9th Ranger Battalion. Lastly there was the Destroyer Antorax trailing behind it as well.
She couldn't see much of the ocean at night but the cool air with the ting of salt was rather refreshing than the continuously recycled air that was in her stateroom below deck.
"How are our guests?" Lilith asked when she heard the soft click of a sabaton on the deck behind her.
"Four are dead but we have what we need." Varah said simply.
"Four dead?"
"They didn't have anything useful."
"Interesting."
"Do you disapprove?" Varah asked and Lilith chuckled.
"No, it's something that I would have done as well anyway tell me what you've learned so far."
"The Vale branch of the White Fang seemed to have struck a deal with Roman Torchwick."
"The criminal?"
"Indeed, from what one of them has said it appears that the Vale White Fang branch has reached out to him to give him the manpower needed to muscle in on the underworld, in return he's to give them a rather large amount of Dust."
"How much?"
"Well in the past six weeks, Roman's been able to attain, intercept or destroy nearly two dozen SDC shipments while crippling four quarries owned by the Vale Government. Along with that he's hit almost every Dust store on the far north and south side of the city." Varah said and Lilith whistled.
"That's a tall order but it's possible if the White Fang have fully backed him with manpower. I reckon that they've probably taken some hits in return but if Roman's also taken majority control of the Vale underground then that would just widen his pool of strength and influence."
"An average SDC freighter brings in about thirty to forty tons in deadweight this is essentially going to cripple not just the Dust economy but the commercial shipping and insurance economies as well if it hasn't already." Varah noted.
"The question however remains though about why the White Fang would approach Roman on this. They're not afraid to get their hands dirty in going after Dust shipments especially if it's a Schnee but Roman's also a human. Taurus would rather cut his own hands off or preferably Roman's before working with him." Lilith turned around as she started to pace around the deck in thought.
"Roman wouldn't normally do something this big or public because it would draw far too much attention to him. So what changed?"
"Maybe there's a third party." Varah said and Lilith looked up at the Praetorian.
"Maybe, but who would be able to force those two to work together?" Lilith looked towards the eastern horizon where Vale would be.
"Varah, go and ask our guests if they know when the next SDC shipment is coming."
The Next Morning…
Jaune and the rest of team JNPR watched as the proverbial battle of will continued amongst their fellow team. It seemed Blake and Weiss were at each other throats for some reason that Jaune had forgotten.
"So, how is everyone?" Nora asked casually.
"We're fine, there's nothing going on here." Weiss said tersely to which Blake said.
"Ignoring your problems as if no ones can see them, typical Schnee."
"Pushing an issue that doesn't need to be pushed in front of others is hardly fair is it?" Weiss shot back.
"Treating them as children isn't going to help anyone."
"Acting more mature than you really are is in fact even less mature."
"Maintaining a status quo because it benefits you does more harm in the long run." Jaune stood up abruptly.
"Jaune?" Pyrrha started to ask but he simply walked away from their table.
"Nice job you two." Ruby said looking at her teammates.
"It's not my fault." Weiss began to say as Blake opened her mouth to counter her but Yang cut in.
"If you two can figure your shit out or at least stop fighting in front of us then I'm gonna knock both of your heads together until you can and I'll keep doing that no matter how long it takes."
"It's the weekend so how about we take a trip into Vale? Take out mind off things, get something to eat maybe do some shopping or just explore the city." Ruby suggested and surprisingly Weiss nodded.
"The Vytal festival is pretty much around the corner, I'm sure there will be a ton of new merchandise for us to peruse." Ruby looked towards Blake who simply rolled her eyes before looking away.
"I'm fine with that." The youngest girl of the group looked across the table.
"Do you guys wanna come as well?" Pyrrha exchanged looks with Nora and Ren.
"That sounds like a lovely idea but you can go on ahead since we'll have to go talk with Jaune about coming along so we'll probably catch up with you later." Pyrrha said and Ruby smiled as the rest of team RWBY got up from the table to put their trays away.
"Wait, why didn't we just go with them? You can just call or message Jaune to meet us at the landing pads." Nora asked.
"Nora, she wanted to give team RWBY some space since they're having problems." Ren said to which Pyrrha nodded.
"It seemed like an issue that should be resolved amongst themselves not in front of other people."
"Yea but they're going to the city, that's not exactly going to lead to a private conversation."
"True but unless they start screaming at each other I doubt many people would go through the effort to pay attention to their conversation." Pyrrha pointed out.
"She's got a point Nora." Jaune's voice said from behind them and the three of them turned to see Jaune take his seat next to Pyrrha again.
"Where did you go?" The redhead asked and Jaune simply shrugged.
"Nowhere, I just wanted to see what would happen if they saw me leaving like that." She frowned.
"Not sure how I feel about that Jaune, they might think they've done something to upset you."
"To a certain extent they have actually, I don't particularly care about whatever personal tiff they're having but to have it so openly without regarding others around them is rather careless."
"That's a little heartless isn't it?" Ren asked and Jaune sighed.
"A little but at the same time if it's taken them this long to even remotely call a ceasefire to head into Vale then there's obviously something very wrong here."
"So do you want to go to Vale and hang out with them?" Pyrrha asked and Jaune shrugged.
"Why not."
An Hour Later…
Jaune and the rest of his team got off the Bullhead after it settled down on the east side of Vale's Commercial District. Around them there was at least twenty other Bullheads, some taking on more passengers while most were dropping people off as well.
"Come on Jaune." Pyrrha said as she grabbed his arm to pull him along, Nora and Ren were already a dozen feet away heading towards a relatively small gate. He realized the last and only time he had been in Vale was when he was with his father.
For some reason he felt the urge to look around and see if Zus was here. He shook his head a little, that would be crazy. There's no reason that the man would be here at the same time to watch Jaune nor would he be able to tell if Jaune was in the city again.
Then again he was, as far as Jaune was aware, a spy. So maybe it was possible that he had the ability to spy on Jaune or at least figure out that he was in Vale.
Now he just felt paranoid but he didn't know why he should feel paranoid. Then again considering his father already hired some random people to beat the crap out of him it might not be unreasonable to suspect that he might have given Zus that same order.
"Jaune?" Pyrrha's voice cut across his thoughts.
"Hm? Yes Pyrrha?"
"I asked how many times you've been to Vale."
"Oh! I guess this is technically my second time, why do you ask?"
"Well you looked a little nervous so I thought I'd ask. Is this really your second time?" He nodded.
"Yup, the last time I was here was when my father dropped me off before I came to Beacon." Pyrrha nodded as they followed Nora and Ren.
"So what's he like?"
"Who?"
"You're father."
"Oh, why do you want to know?" She shrugged.
"Call it curiosity, I figured I might get to meet him one day since we're partners and all." Jaune smiled.
"Indeed we are. So what can I tell you about the old man, hmm, he's big that's for sure. Probably the biggest person I've ever seen in fact."
"How tall is he?"
"Man, he's easily eight feet tall and not just that he's super strong as well. I wouldn't even be surprised if his muscles have muscles also." Pyrrha couldn't help but laugh at the seemingly over exaggeration of his father but she stopped when she saw how serious he was.
"You think I'm joking but I'm complete serious, I would bet all the Lien that I have that he could beat not only Nora but Yang in a contest of strength, at the same time." Jaune and Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at that.
"He sounds like a fine warrior." Jaune nodded.
"What about your mother?" She asked and Jaune glanced at her but the red head was smiling jovially as they walked out of the building. Ren and Nora were already trying to hail a taxi cab for them to take in order to meet up with team RWBY who had left an hour earlier.
"She's my mother and I love her of course. Though I know that's not a satisfactory answer for you so I guess I can say she's also a warrior much like my father but they differ in terms of parenting. Where my father is cold she's like the light of the sun, a warm and comforting presence."
"That's an interesting simile."
"Yup, so how about you Pyrrha, what are your parents like?" As the redhead opened her mouth Nora interrupted them.
"Come on you two, the taxi's waiting!" The bubbly short girl called out and Pyrrha instead smiled before heading towards the waiting car with Jaune laughing softly as he followed her.
What they failed to notice however was the man that had been watching them ever since they got off the Bullhead from Beacon.
The man sighed in relief; he had been tasked to keep a watch on the only son of the Arc family. At first it had been a wonderful assignment, as to being given a task directly related to the royal family would drive those he knew him mad with jealously.
Over time though he realized just how tedious the task was, as the High Lord's son had up to this point never left the Academy unlike many of the other students he's seen. He pitied the Praetorians in their eternal task as the swords and shields of the royal family as it seemed dreadfully dull.
Now though it seemed the young lad was finally going out into the city. His face darkened however as he remember his morning briefing, he needed to make sure the young heir stayed away from the Industrial District.
He had a call to make.
Later…
Jaune and the others were walking behind a short orange hair girl only to see a blonde monkey Faunus coming sprinting around the corner cackling as he went past them with two men running after him.
"Salutations good sirs!" The girl in front of them called out but they simply kept on running. Shortly afterward they turned to see just in time the girl getting knocked over by team RWBY.
"Psst, I think we should just leave." Nora said and Jaune agreed as it seemed like a good idea alas Pyrrha being Pyrrha went to go help the fallen girl.
"Are you alright?" The tall redhead asked as Weiss jumped off her with a squeak.
"I'm fine, how are you?" The fallen girl said looking up at her.
"I'm…good, do you need help getting up?" Pyrrha asked and the girl looked around then shook her head before leaping back onto her feet.
"You're a strange one aren't you?" Yang said only to get elbowed by Blake.
"I'm Penny, nice to meet you!" The girl said holding out her hand towards Pyrrha only to switch around to team RWBY then back to Pyrrha.
"Have you seen a blonde Faunus run by?" Weiss interrupted and the strange girl tilted her head a little.
"Yes." The girl said and Weiss waited for her to continue.
"Well which way did he go?"
"Away from me." Jaune swore Weiss started to twitch violently at that moment.
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang asked only to get elbowed by both Ruby and Blake.
"Come on guys, we already knocked her down let's not bug her anymore." Ruby said gesturing for Jaune to come with them then waved at the orange hair girl.
"Well friend, take care." Ruby said and Jaune as made his way towards the shorter girl he pushed aside as the orange hair moved past him to get a close look at Ruby. Jaune wasn't really sure what was going on as he looked at the others but they looked just as confused as the girl asked if Ruby really meant her what she said.
He saw Yang, Blake, and Weiss try to wave her off only for Ruby to confirm it. As all three of them fell over, he looked towards his teammates.
"Anyone have any idea what's going on?" They all shook their heads.
"Nope."
"Not one."
"Who's that blonde lady?" Nora asked instead pointing across the street and Jaune whipped around. Much to his dismay, there really was a blonde woman there. Worst of all, he knew who she was.
"Crap." He whispered as the lady walked towards them. Most of team RWBY had already left as they didn't really want anything to do with Ruby's new companion.
"Why, this a pleasant surprise to find you out here Jaune." Lilith said with an odd smile on her face.
"It's the weekend Aunt Lilith; I'm out here spending time with my friends and teammates. What brings you here?" Glancing around though he could see that team RWBY and the odd girl were already gone.
"Business, I'm here to meet some potential clients." Lilith said with an easy smile but Jaune just felt nervous, he knew what his Aunt did for the Kingdom.
"So wait, you're his aunt?" Ren asked and Lilith turned to look at the quiet teen.
"Yes and you are?"
"My name is Lie Ren, a pleasure to meet you Ms. Arc." He said bowing his head slightly.
"And my name is Nora Valkyrie, hammer extraordinaire at your service." Nora said with a salute and lastly Pyrrha who gave a bow of her own.
"Pyrrha Nikos ma'am, I'm Jaune's partner at Beacon." Lilith rubbed her chin as she walked up to them and looked to be judging them.
"Why don't we go somewhere and get something to eat?" Jaune said breaking the silence and Lilith looked at him.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea Jaune, I'm famished. I believe there's this rather nice café nearby that serves a wonderful tea." The older woman said as gestured them to follow her; Pyrrha and Nora immediately followed her as Ren stayed next to Jaune.
"Is that really your aunt?" He asked and Jaune nodded.
"I'm afraid so."
"Afraid? How come?"
"Because she said she's here on business and if she's telling the truth then it has to be serious."
"Serious in what way?" Ren asked and Jaune glared at him.
"You said you spent time in a major Outland town that's under the protection of Arcadia so I know you understand what that means." Jaune said and Ren looked away.
"Oh."
Later…
Lilith enjoyed being with her nephew, while she knew that they weren't really related, she loved the boy. She could remember when he was really young and she'd take him into the bath with her whenever she watched over the kids.
So it was nice to see him with friends that he looked truly comfortable with. The loud one, Nora, reminded her of Miriya, Helena and Claire antics that Arabella used to tell her about.
Ren seemed a lot like Sepherina, the girl was quiet and patient in her love for her siblings which is what she saw in him in regards to Nora.
Lastly there was the redhead, Pyrrha, who honestly reminded Lilith a lot of Katherine, Mina and little Nessa.
She seemed strong both physically and mentally like Katherine who was the best fighter of the seven girls. Yet at the same time Lilith felt like she had a secret competitive side that sought challenges much like the strongest of the eldest three girls, Mina.
Lastly, it felt as if Pyrrha had a strange intensity about her when it came to Jaune similar to that of Nessa, the youngest Arc girl viewed Jaune like a fairy tale knight. Which Lilith found adorable but it was also something that she knew shouldn't last forever.
"So tell me, who were those other girls?" She asked looking at the four teens as they ate their meal on the café terrace.
"Oh, that's just team RWBY. They were looking for someone apparently, not really sure why." Jaune said looking to his friends for support.
"I think it was that blonde Faunus guy. He had two detectives chasing after him, maybe he committed a crime or something and they wanted to catch him." Nora observed and Lilith found that rather interesting so she tucked that bit of information away for later.
"And the fifth girl?" She asked and the four of them just shrugged.
"Don't really know who she is, kind of just was just there."
"I'd imagine she'd be here for the Vytal Festival." Pyrrha said which made sense as far as Lilith was concerned since she seemed about the right age. At the same time just because she was the right age didn't actually mean she was a student, there was far more people that didn't want to fight and die against the Grimm.
"So what sort of business are you in?" Pyrrha asked and Jaune loudly sipped his drink only to get slapped on the arm by Lilith.
"What was that dear?" She asked sweetly as she looked at Pyrrha once more.
"You said you were here for business, what is it that you do?"
"Oh, a little of this and a little of that but I guess you can say I make important acquisitions, profiling and onsite personnel management mostly." She explained as she took a bite out of her small tea cake.
"Interesting, from the way Jaune's described his family to me I would have guessed you'd a Huntress." Pyrrha said which seemed to make Lilith smiled.
"Ah but Pyrrha, I am a hunter of sorts but my prey just looks a little different then what you'd experience." Pyrrha laughed in return.
"I suppose that's true ma'am."
"Please Pyrrha; just call me Lilly, or Lilith if you must." Jaune could see Pyrrha smile a little more as if she was happy at being allowed to not be so formal but what he was really concerned about was why his aunt kept glancing at him.
"So what are your plans for today?" Lilith asked.
"Nothing much at this point I guess, maybe explore the city since it's getting ready for the Vytal Festival. What do you guys say? Anything you got on mind?" Jaune asked looking at his friends.
"Well we were just really coming out here to help team RWBY but since they're gone I wouldn't mind hitting a book store for some new reading material."
"OH! I wanna buy a stove." Nora said.
"A stove?" Pyrrha asked and the hammer wielder nodded enthusiastically.
"Ren can make us pancakes with them." Ren sighed at that.
"Nora, we shouldn't buy a stove just for the purpose of me making pancakes."
"Well, of course silly, you can make that nasty tea you like to drink."
"It's not nasty."
"Ren it looks like puke."
"It's organic."
"If I wanted organic, I would eat a salad."
"But you hate salads."
"Cause who wants to eat leaves?"
"I like salads." Pyrrha said and Nora shushed her with a finger on her lips.
"That's because you're weird Pyrrha."
"I'm not weird!"
"Nah Pyr, you're kind of weird." Jaune said with a small only to get his arm slapped again.
"Those sound like fighting words." Pyrrha said to which Jaune just sipped loudly from his cup as he looked away. It was the near uncontrollable laughter from Lilith however that reminded them that they weren't alone.
"I'm sorry; it's just so good to see Jaune having such a natural conversation with real friends."
"Hey, don't make it sound like I didn't have any friends before this." Jaune said glaring at his aunt who smirked in return.
"Are you suggesting that you really had any friends before this Jaune? I guess you could count Myrna but I'm pretty sure she just wanted that snake between your legs." Jaune sputtered at that as the others looked at him. Ren looked a little confused while Nora looked like she was holding in laughter; oddly enough Pyrrha seemed to be looking down at his lap.
"Don't give them any weird ideas!" Jaune said though he hated how high his voice was.
"What? I'm just speaking the truth Jaune, I used to give your baths when you were younger and I can say you've always had a longsword." Lilith said and Jaune just held his head in his hands much to everyone else's delight.
"Jaune, can we speak in private?" Lilith asked instead of continuing to poke fun of him and Jaune felt his heart fall at the odd look in his aunt's eye.
"Sure." He said as he got up, his friends turned to look at them a little confused. Pyrrha even seemed like she wanted to get up to join them.
"It's fine, you three enjoy yourselves, think of it as my treat." Lilith said as she gestured to her to stay seated.
"Yea, it's fine guys." Jaune said before following his aunt inside the building. Soon he found himself in a small corridor near the back of the building.
"What is it?" Jaune asked as Lilith pulled out her scroll and began to go through it.
"Have you heard about Katherine?" She asked and Jaune frowned.
"What about Katherine? Did something happen?" Lilith nodded and Jaune felt his heart fall to his stomach.
"Your father found her in an Outland town and took her back to Arcadia. He's also ordered a shutdown of nonessential operations on the continent while ordering the few villages and towns we have to turtle up as best they can." Jaune frowned, so he was right, something serious is going on.
"How bad is she?" Jaune asked and Lilith shook her head.
"Alexander is going to have Rosenstock construct new limbs for her himself but it might take a while with what's happening in the north."
"The north? Wait what's going on in the north?" Jaune was feeling a little lightheaded at the news of his sister's injury but what's going on in Arcadia?
"Irkalla is under siege." He blinked.
"But that's not new, Lieutenant General Sigrus is experienced enough to handle a Grimm invasion."
"Sigrus is dead and the 12th Corp is in tatters. MaRaul's 9th is already moving to reinforce the Province but there is a chance that we might permanently lose ground in Irkalla at this rate." Jaune felt the blood drain from his face.
"Just how big is this Grimm invasion?" Lilith didn't respond but Jaune could see the look on her face suggesting that the situation wasn't good.
"If this is going on then why are you here? Shouldn't you be assisting in Irkalla then?" Jaune asked and Lilith looked over her shoulder briefly.
"You know that's not what I do Jaune, I'm here for an entirely different reason. Do you know who Roman Torchwick is?" Jaune nodded.
"I don't think there's anyone in the Four Kingdoms that don't know who he is. So you're here for him?"
"Sort of, it seems he's got a foot in certain things that have the interest of not only me but your parents and the High Council as well."
"And why am I being told this?"
"Because I need you to do me a favor Jaune, stay out of Vale for now."
"Why?"
"I know Roman is here and he's up to something that I need to keep an eye on but I don't know when or how things might go down as such I would prefer that you stay in Beacon as I don't want you to get caught up in it."
"Fair enough." Lilith raised an eyebrow.
"Really you're not going to say how you should be helping or something." Jaune snorted.
"I'm not an idiot; if professional Huntsmen and Huntresses along with the Police are having trouble dealing with him then I don't see how I or anyone like me can really do anything."
"Oh, well, good then I don't have to worry about getting stabbed by your mother." Lilith looked like she wanted to end the discussion as she turned away but instead she stopped to look back at him.
"Actually, can you tell me about your other friends?" Jaune raised an eyebrow at that.
"You mean team RWBY?"
"Yea, tell me what you know about them."
A Few Hours Later…
Jaune stood outside the hallway of his dorm room, he had been coming back with his laundry when he heard the shouting from team RWBY's dorm.
He sighed, it sounded pretty serious. He had been hoping their outing today would have been helpful in mending whatever it was that was going with them but if anything it seemed to have made it worse.
It was at that point that everything went silent and Jaune realized that he shouldn't just be standing out there as it might seem a little weird.
The door to team RWBY's room flung open and Blake came out in a blur as she used her semblance to escape the room before running down the hallway.
Looking at the door he could see Weiss, Ruby and Yang staring back out. They all seemed a little shell shocked at what had happened. Jaune grimaced as he realized that he honestly didn't want to know what was going on so he slinked back into his room content on not knowing.
The Next Day…
Lilith stood overlooking a table covered in photos. Around her the members of her Operation were attending to various things such as following their own leads on the White Fang, Roman Torchwick or of the possibility of a third faction backing those two.
Others were simply tending to their weapons or gear while some watched the security feed that had been hooked up into the place. Many more however were just sleeping.
In the corner of her eye she could see Varah sitting on a chair as she tended to her poleaxe. The pale girl was almost completely naked and looked so much smaller out of her armor that it was strange to look at her. Though what drew her attention the most however were the scars that covered Varah's pale body.
Three vertical scars crossed her stomach with a fourth running from her clavicle down across her left breast above the nipple. Two circular scars, most likely gunshot wounds, were located near her sternum and right shoulder. Lastly was the scar that ran up across her left cheek that left a permanent sneer on her otherwise pretty face.
"So when is this shipment supposed to come?" Varah asked and Lilith looked up at her. The Praetorian had set her poleaxe aside only to pick up her sword to begin inspecting it.
"I believe the shipment is tonight around midnight, if the pattern of robberies and sabotage along with our newly acquired information is correct we should be able to catch them off guard easily."
"Who's going in?"
"Three squads max, Captain Hansen has two squads on deck but they'll be playing second to your contubernium. I'll also have two cells also providing support on this mission but I need Roman alive but he might be more than what the Rangers can handle since he's been able to keep Huntsmen and Huntresses off him. So you'll be responsible for nabbing him."
"Extraction?"
"We'll have the three Valkyries with a Vulture escort stay within vox range. Alert them if you have Roman or need to get out of there. If they're unable to get you then you're to scatter within the city and lay low until you can either make it back here or to a secondary exfiltration site."
"R.O.E?"
"White Fang and any other criminals that Roman might have with him are fair game. Local law enforcement and potentially any Huntsmen or Huntresses that may come are a little trickier, incapacitate but do not kill unless the risk of capture or death is too great." Varah nodded as she placed her sword back in its scabbard.
"Call signs?" Lilith looked around and picked up a clipboard before walking over to hand it to her.
"What news of Irkalla?" Varah asked as she went over the paper.
"Forianus is preparing the 4th Cohort to advance north and Sanian is heading a four thousand strong force of the Sisterhood. While the High Lord is helping General Litvinovich organize her Field Army to move north to help MaRaul's 9th and the remnants of the 12th Corp."
"To think a Host of that size was assembling right under our noses." Varah murmured as neither woman wanted the others to overhear their conversation.
"I admit I was surprised when I heard the news as well, I would have thought the Ancient Ones up in the White Peaks would have reacted violently to the gathering power."
"Those serpents do not care for what goes on in that blasted valley unless it directly threatens them."
"Maybe or maybe they were dealt with beforehand."
"That's a dangerous notion."
"These are dangerous times." Varah stood up and walked towards the table setting the clipboard down. Looking down at the table she could see a number of photographs of what looks to be a harbor along with pictures of Roman but the Praetorian couldn't help but pick another photo up. It showed two teens, one a dark hair girl in an odd outfit while the other was a monkey Faunus who sat across from each other.
"Why do you have this?" She asked and Lilith looked up.
"Oh that. I had someone go around looking for him and they took this picture of him talking to a girl that my nephew goes to school with."
"Okay but why?"
"Because I think he might have a connection with the White Fang."
"Are you basing this on the fact that he's a Faunus? I don't think the High Lord would approve of that line of thinking."
"Yea well Alexander isn't infallible." Lilith said and in the corner of her eye she could see Varah narrow her eyes.
"Look, you don't have to like it but I know what I'm talking about. Either he's a White Fang member or they both are." Lilith sighed as she stood up straight to look Varah in the eyes, though there was still a near foot difference height between them.
"Look if it makes you feel better there's still a chance that they have no connection with the White Fang. The ship that monkey Faunus came on is from Vacuo so there's a chance that he's just a loose cannon while Ozpin would have to be a moronic fool to allow a White Fang member within his school."
"How would Ozpin know that she's a White Fang member?"
"Dear Praetorian, Headmaster Ozpin is one of if not the most enigmatic person within the Four Kingdoms that I can think of on top of that he's generally regard as the greatest spy master in the Four Kingdoms." Lilith said as she looked back down.
"How could he not know?"
Later That Night…
Blake watched in dismay as Roman stood over Sun with his cane aimed at the fallen teen. She wanted to rush in and save him since Sun was only in that position after coming to help her when she rushed in the first place.
"Hey!" Someone shouted in the distance and Blake looked to her right to see Ruby along with the strange girl from before on the roof of a warehouse.
It was at that moment that Blake heard a strange humming sound so she looked back at Roman in time to see someone who reminded her of a knight from a fairy tale that her mother used to read to her charging Roman.
However this knight wore a suit of armor that was surprisingly menacing as despite the apparent bulk of the armor the user was still able to quickly approach Roman from behind. In their hands was a poleaxe with a head that glowed with what she assumed was some sort of energy.
Roman was honestly surprised as he turned around to see an armored figure swinging a weapon down at him. Reacting on instinct he aimed Melodic Cudgel from the hip and fired at point blank range.
His visor was obscured by the red dust round exploding propelling him backwards with the force. Blinking he looked up expecting to see the armored warrior on their back.
Instead as the smoke cleared he could see that while his shot did connect judging from the smoke that trailed off them, they look completely unfazed. The warrior readied the strange looking poleaxe then lunged forward towards Roman.
"You're indeed an interesting Huntsman, no droll speech about stopping me and bringing me to justice!" Roman yelled as he fired once more only for the person to jump to the left then immediately right as they brought their poleaxe down in an overhead swing.
Roman jumped back avoiding the axe head but he couldn't help but feel a slight stinging sensation as the blade missed his face. He narrowed his eyes at the black armored warrior; something was different about this one. It was at that point that someone screamed and he nearly stopped at hearing it.
It wasn't the screaming of frustration or pain that he was used to hearing. This was the scream of true pain. In the corner of his eye he could see one of the White Fang grunts on his knees.
There was a second black armored warrior with a similar strange poleaxe, but this poleaxe was buried in the grunt's chest.
The warrior pulled the weapon out of the man's chest before spinning around, bringing the axe head in to decapitate the man.
It was as if someone hit the pause button then he watched as the headless body slowly slumped forward, splashing the ground ahead of it with blood.
Blake who was about fifty feet away could only feel horror as she remember the bloodthirstiness of her former partner. The sheer callousness of taking a life crushed her heart that it was difficult to think properly.
On the rooftop, Ruby fell to her knees feeling sick at seeing the death. They were supposed to be heroes and heroes weren't meant to kill people. In the corner of her eye she could see Penny starring almost blankly as well.
Below her more armored figures appeared with others that looked more like regular soldiers if not for the all black outfits following them. The soldiers immediately split up in groups of five then began to fire their strange looking weapons at the White Fang members.
Caught out in the open, even with some of them having Aura, the White Fang grunts immediately started taking losses. Ruby watched as more black armored warriors moved in with their strange glowing poleaxes cutting off limbs, carving into torsos, decapitating or crushing skulls.
Blake watched as one White Fang grunt was running towards her screaming in terror as a warrior quickly closed in and hit their legs with the hammer side of a poleaxe.
She winced at hearing the bone shattering sound of the grunt's legs breaking before disappearing in a shower of gore. She could even see his feet flying away from him as they ended just above the ankles.
The White Fang grunt was crying on the ground pleading for his life as he tried to crawl away. The warrior walked up and twisted the poleaxe around, the head spike facing the back of the grunt.
"Stop!" Blake screaming before lunging forward with Gambol Shroud posed to strike but they ignored her.
So she swung her weapon but less than a foot away from the armored arms, the warrior jumped back swinging upwards with their poleaxe battering her blade upwards before jumping to the side and slamming their haft into her stomach.
As she slammed onto the ground, her head bouncing off the ground in the corner of her eye she could see the haft coming in again only to slam into her temple.
Blake looked up at a shipping crane she found that breathing was difficult while her vision swam; she turned her head to see the blurred image of the warrior swinging downwards taking the head of the crippled grunt. Sun appeared next to her, he looked between her and the now dead grunt.
"We've got to get out of here." He said as he pulled her to her feet. Around them the last of the White Fang members were brought down either by withering gunfire or the strange glowing poleaxes of the warriors.
Roman was sweating as he struggled to keep the warrior off him; he figured out that whoever this warrior was wanted him alive. Though being alive didn't mean they couldn't take an arm or leg off as it seemed that was how the warrior was trying to capture him.
He was definitely sure that this wasn't a Huntsman or Huntress. Since there was more than one and they all looked the same which didn't mesh with the whole individual looks that those goody two shoes liked.
Plus the fact that they were killing all of the White Fang grunts he brought with him. If he had to guess, this must be some sort of military unit, maybe from Atlas.
Overhead three Bullheads started coming in and began opening fire with their nose mounted miniguns. Blake and Sun could see one warrior flung back as a heavy of gunfire struck them, only to get up once more.
A few hundred feet away from them they could see what looked to be two strange looking soldiers holding tubes on their shoulders. There was a thump and whoosh as two rockets soared up at the Bullheads.
The rear Bullhead took a hit at its tail which sent it into a nose dive into the ground, Blake could see the Bullhead crumple at the force before exploding into a ball of fire. The next one took a direct hit and simply exploded in a cloud of fire and shrapnel before its burning carcass fell into the side of several stacked shipping crates.
Varah twisted her torso avoiding the thrust of the cane before slamming her knee upward hitting Roman in the stomach. The criminal made a choking sound but falling to one knee, she raised her poleaxe ready to take his right leg off at the knee when he pointed his cane next to her feet.
She barely had time to jump away as he fired; the concussive blast sent them away from each other. She fell to the ground and skidded across the ground, her armor grinding loudly on the asphalt. Rolling to her feet she could see Roman running away as a third Bullhead lowered itself.
Varah could see the Bullhead lining up with her; she could almost see the nose mounted minigun began to spin up. She turned away and began to run towards a stack of shipping containers.
She wasn't fast enough to avoid getting hit a few times but the rounds simply shattered against her armor as she took cover behind a shipping container. Taking a few deep breathes she peered around the corner, Roman was waiting for the Bullhead to touch down so he could get in; she opened a vox channel to one of the Ranger squads.
"Archer 2, focus fire on that Bullhead setting down."
"Roger." A curt reply came over the line, renewed gunfire rattled out before one of the Bullhead's started to return fire. She could hear another whoosh of a rocket before a third explosive rocked the area.
She peered around the corner; the wrong Bullhead had gone down allowing Roman to board another one as it began to gain altitude.
"Scarecrow here, Law Enforcement is on the way, ETA five minutes." A new voice came over the line. Varah felt the unusual sensation of annoyance pass over her.
This mission had been going wrong as soon as those two kids interfered staying her hand from acting sooner but she had been hoping that she'd be able to complete it nonetheless. Time had run out though and she wouldn't be able to do anything to stop Roman from escaping.
"Quiver this is Archer, mission failure, in need of extraction." Varah said opening the line to the waiting Valkyries and Vulture.
"Roger that Archer, ETA two minutes." A monotone voice replied just before Varah switched frequencies.
"Archer 1 to all Archer units, prepare for extraction." There was a chorus of acknowledgments and Varah stepped out from behind the cover. She could see Roman looking down at her well out of range of their rockets before taking off over the water; she switched back to the Valkyrie vox channel.
"Quiver, notify Chalice that Roman's Bullheads are on the move westward, see if they can get a lock on his Bullheads to see where he's going." She said and switched frequencies again without waiting for a response.
"Spider, ETA on those Vale units."
"Three minutes ma'am, they're right outside the dock entrance."
"Roger that Spider, you can go to ground now."
"Acknowledge." Varah could hear sirens in the distance, a lot of sirens; this place was going to be swarming with Vale law enforcement.
Looking around she could see the mutilated bodies of White Fang members littered the area, had this gone off without a hitch they would have had time to dump the bodies into the water. However she could also see the few unexpected variables, she recognized two of them from Lilith's pictures earlier but she didn't know the other two.
"Decanus." A voice interrupted her thoughts and she turned to see Alira. The Praetorian had a few dents from getting hit directly from the opening salvo of the Bullheads earlier.
Nearby the two Ranger squads and the rest of her contubernium were gathered waiting for their extraction. Alira pointed behind Varah and she looked over her shoulder to see the cat Faunus and girl in the red cloak moving towards them.
"Be ready in case they try to stop us." Varah said to Alira who gripped her poleaxe with both hands as the two teenage girls stopped about ten feet away from them.
"Who are you!?" The Faunus girl shouted but neither Praetorian said anything. The girl with the red cloak slammed her rather large weapon down into the ground.
"You shouldn't have killed them! It was wrong and you have to answer for that." Varah exchanged looks with Alira but behind them they could hear the sound of the Valkyries as they appeared from over the rooftops of a few warehouses.
The three Valkyries lowered themselves down next to the dock's edge over the water with their rear ramps lowered. The Vulture however hovered overhead and Varah knew that they had their weapons trained on the two girls.
"Let's move." Varah said over the contubernium vox to Alira so the two girls couldn't hear her. The two of them turned away and not surprisingly neither girl tried to stop them as they got onto the Valkyries.
Blake felt nothing but pain as she watched these murderers leave and she did nothing to stop them. Instead she simply stood by and let them get away with it.
Glancing at her team leader she could see the younger girl actually trembling but when she looked at Ruby's face she was surprised to see that it wasn't fear or angry.
It was determination.
The Next Morning…
Jaune woke to the sound of his scroll buzzing loudly on his nightstand, opening his eyes he could see that the sun was barely even over the horizon. Turning to the side he picked up his scroll, there was a waiting message for him.
Opening the scroll, he didn't recognize the number but it had an attachment to it. It was a little weird to get a random message but he had a sinking feeling he knew who it was from so he tapped it. A slightly blurry image showed up, blinking a few times he peered closely and recognized who it was of.
It was a picture of Blake; she was swinging her weapon at the camera. However what he couldn't help but notice was the fact that she was apparently a Faunus. A second message popped up on his screen and he felt his heart start to race.
"Be careful with who you become friends with." He repeated aloud.
"What?" Jaune sat up and in front of him was Pyrrha. The tall red head had just gotten out of the bathroom. A towel was wrapped around her shoulders and he could see that her hair was wet.
"Nothing." Jaune squeaked as he lay back down.
"Well if you're up already you should go take shower since we have class in a few hours." Pyrrha said as she fished around in a drawer before taking out a hair dryer.
"You're right but my bed is just so comfortable." Jaune complained and Pyrrha just laughed softly as she turned away to look herself in a small mirror. Jaune however looked back at his scroll; he wasn't sure what he should do with this information.
Judging by the image it would seem that Blake attacked whoever took the image which must be an Arcadian. He sighed softly; the best course of action would be to ignore the image along with the revelation that Blake was a Faunus.
A Few Hours Later…
"Blake's a Faunus." Ruby said out of nowhere as she sat down across from Jaune and he nearly spat his milk out. Nora, Pyrrha and Ren just stared surprised at the young team leader.
"Neat." Nora was the first to say before digging back into her pancakes.
"Is that all?" Ruby asked and Pyrrha shrugged.
"I don't see why we need to have a bigger reaction to this; I'm sure Blake had a good reason at not telling us this especially considering since we all saw how some people reacted to Cardin's atrocious acts to Velvet a while back." Ruby nodded.
"Alright then, that's good to hear I just didn't want to hide anything from you guys." She said as the rest of team RWBY to the table to sit down and eat their breakfast. Jaune was glad to see that they were in good conditions again as a team since it looked like whatever that was going on between Weiss and Blake was finished.
Jaune couldn't help but smile a little as he dug back into his food; everything was back to normal again.
Meanwhile…
"I'm sorry you feel that way Ozpin but we're already short of hands in dealing with the dock and factory incidents. So we need you to start loaning a few capable teams to help us." The council member said but Ozpin didn't say anything as he refilled his cup.
The incidents over the last few days were having a far more reaching impact then he had anticipated. Alas the brutal deaths of these White Fang members at the hands of some unknown group were putting the Kingdoms on edge as the news was inevitably leaked to them.
Though why the council wanted him to provide security to an envoy that was going into the Outlands was something he needed to know more about. There was something that the Vale Council knew which he didn't and that upset him a little.
He knew what sort of actions might come from a Kingdom's council; they're often short sighted in their goals. Which in turn create long term problems he had to deal with, for instance the White Fang, a once peaceful group turned terrorist organization.
They shouldn't have become such a problem but the Four Kingdoms were more worried about popularity to get reelected instead of the greater good. Now they were trying to use his students to make up a loss of manpower as they stretched themselves too thin.
"Ozpin." The council member repeated and he signed.
"And what if I refuse? I'm here to make sure all my students get the training to succeed once they're out of here but what you're asking me to do is put them on a mission that should have professionals attending to it."
"Don't worry Ozpin, we do have another Huntress that can take the mission but we need more people to go and you've got a ready pool of potential at your fingertips."
"You cannot ask me to do this; my Academy isn't within your jurisdiction to command."
"But neither can it function without us, tell me Ozpin, who provides you the funding to keep that school of yours running?"
"The people." He replied coolly.
"And we represent the people and do what we can in their best interest. If something isn't panning out the desired result for the people then the funding for such a thing is cut and diverted to more prudent matters such as technological development for the safety of the Kingdom and her people." Ozpin frowned a little as the council member continued.
"The Vytal Festival is close at hand and we know that you allow your students to pick missions to shadow professionals. Just tell them that they'll be given a chance to take that mission early or as an extra credit assignment." The council member said and Ozpin sighed.
"Fine but I'll send my recommendations for this mission of yours but if they refuse to take the mission you cannot hold it over them or this school as result of their own choice." The council members on the screen seemed motionless but he knew that they simple halted the feed to discuss amongst themselves until finally one of them nodded.
"Fine, there will not be any repercussion for your students and school." The council member said and the feed cut off, he sighed. As much as he didn't like this he knew that if he didn't play ball then they'd cut funding for Beacon to put into their military research and spending.
He was aware that the Vale Council had already placed an order for five hundred of the new Atlas Paladin series which no doubt made Ironwood so very happy to hear in spite of Ozpin's warning of what he's doing.
They had unveiled the new machines in a private showcase to the Four Kingdoms along with a select number of Outland towns' representatives that arrived earlier this month.
Mainly because the Council had an interest because they feared what might happen if the slow but sure increase of banditry in Mistral somehow leaked over to Sanus. It would explain why they wanted the cooperation of this Outland town in the northeast.
If he recalled correctly this town was also a key contested point of control during the Great War as it was situated on a major river that led all the way to the ocean. If either side could control the town they could have a major logistical highway.
Yet despite that the town managed to remain neutral, well until a certain Kingdom in the northwest decided to jump and simply seize it before anyone knew what was happening.
Then it clicked in his head as to why Vale had a sudden renewed interest.
He smiled.
My, things are moving fast aren't they?
And what's this? Aura users killed by the Praetorians and Arcadian soldiers? Well maybe I took some liberties with how Power Weapons interact with Aura or maybe Power Weapons are just superior?
Am I being biased?
Maybe? Maybe Not?
I'd imagine those of you that came over from the first iteration might have a...semblance... of an idea of where I'm going right now.
(Yes, I made a pun)
On a side note, any of you also getting a little excited for the Netflix Witcher series or have any particular thoughts on who they might or could cast as other characters since they announced Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia.
Anyways it seems a number of you have enjoyed the information dumps I've been giving at the end of my chapters so I've got another one for you after this.
If you're done reading at this point then by all means let me know what you thought of the chapter, did you like, dislike or feel in-between on something that happened within the chapter. Go ahead and let me know in the review section or send me a PM so we can talk about it.
Till next time!
Praetorians:
A Legion strength force commanded by Alexander and Legatus Targatus Vidus
Frontline Cohorts:
10 Frontline Cohorts
10 Centuriae in each Cohort
100 per Centuria
10 per Contubernium
These Praetorians are often seen as the frontline troops of the Praetorian Legion.
Their armor is black with a gold trim along with red surcoat that have the Arc crest on the front and back.
Umbras:
Umbra: a shadow or shade
The Umbra Cohort is a 500 hundred strong group that is tasked in assisting with Arcadian Intelligence in their covert missions or pursuing missions assigned by Alexander or Targatus.
Their armor is colored black with no surcoat ; the only mark of identification is on their pauldrons.
Comitatus:
Comitatus: Armed Escort or Retinue
500 Praetorians are assigned to Province Lords and to each member of the High Council. Along with being attached to dignitaries, though their mission is to protect these people they're also a double edge blade. For many people that are assigned with these warriors they know that they are watching for the slightest sign of Treason, incompetence or taint.
Their armor is white with a gold trim on the pauldrons and a black surcoat with the golden Arc Crest.
Aegis:
A 4,000 strong force of Praetorians that man the walls of the High Citadel, their word is a Law unto itself that even the members of the High Council can be subject to denial of entry.
Their armor is a dark gold with a red surcoat with the golden Arc crest.
Squires:
Squires are aspirants that have been taken from the age of 6; they're put through cruel almost gruesome training that could see them broken mentally or physically though in most cases they simply die from it. After four years of training they begin the first stage of their Augmentation Process. For the next six years they will continue their Augmentation process while they train their ever changing bodies. Many of the Squires that survive up to that point tend to die during these years as their bodies either cannot handle the changes or the implants fail causing them to die. Thanks to the effort of Rosenstock in studying Forianus, Talbek and Zophiel he's been able to recreate most of the template that made them though not to the same degree as there's a higher chance of failure or rejection in the squires. As such squires will gain a Secondary Heart, an Ossmodula and a Biscopea though the Ossmodula is only able to strengthen the bones while the Biscopea isn't able to fully reach potency as seen. Next will be the Haemastamen and the Larraman's Organ which has also been known to instead cause the subject to suffer from anemia making them ineligible to continue becoming Praetorians. From that point they'll be introduced a Lyman's Ear, an Oolitic Kidney, and lastly the Black Carapace which is introduced later down the line after the main augmentations. If they reach the age of 16 and passed the Augmentation process. They are one step closer to become Praetorians. It's also at this point that most of the Aspirants begin to realize something very important about the Praetorians. They are both more and less than Humans or Faunus. Afterwards they're given the Sentinel Trial, the first of three trials before they can get their Black Carapace. The Sentinel Trial looks at their mettle as they're assailed mentally by Talbek who orchestrated a test similar to one that he faced where the Squires must stand vigilant against the temptations of Power, Glory, and Passion. If they pass this Trial then they're given the Trial of Faith but if they fail then they're terminated without thought. If they did pass however the Trial of Faith will see that they are dropped off far into the western Outlands where they're given a minimal amount of supplies as they try to make it back to the Arcadian Border. This trial is one that tests their dominance over their mind and body if they're unable to achieve that then they will never be seen again. Those that survive the Trial of Faith are given the last Trial. The Trail of Steel, here they're once more sent out into the Outlands, this time given a weapon that a Praetorian might use, a poleaxe, a longsword or a sword and shield. This Trial charges them with the task of finding a worthy foe to kill be it Grimm, Daemon, Traitor or a natural creature. Even at this point a Squire would not be anywhere close to the skill or strength of a full Praetorian as their bodies are still changing if they do not have the courage or confidence in their skill to face the overwhelming odds that are put before them then they will surely die. If the Squire is able to defeat a worthy foe and make it back then they're finally ready to get their Black Carapace, which allows them to sync up with their own suit of power armor using its strength to further augment their own. After which they will finally become Praetorians. If they showed a special attribute then they might be given a choice in their station. However most of these new Praetorians are simply given over to the frontline Praetorian Cohorts where they may distinguish themselves by their acts. Some may find themselves moving on to one of the other branches of the Praetorian Legion such as the Umbra, Aegis, or Comitatus Cohorts. Each Cohort looks for certain preferential skills that potential Praetorians may have such as the ability to blend in where others could not, to stand stoic against overwhelming odds or to judge and protect those that need it.
Note: Certain aspects such as color scheme might change further down the line as I tried to construct them in way to play off the RWBY color rule a little but it might not stick so who knows.