Big Issues
AN: Sorry this took so long to get out, vacation last week didn't allow as much time as I thought it would and still kinda in the process of moving houses. But here's the new chapter for you all to enjoy and we'll get to see some old, familiar faces again. And I'd like to thank Roranoa Zoro Ultimate Badass for following this series and I appreciate the cool name you got. But let's get the show on the road now!
Allies and Advice
Jaune and Pyrrha needed to get out of the house. Not only did Jaune need to get his scroll repaired but the place was simply too crowded to stay in for long. So they decided to make a date out of it, sort of.
The stop at the repair shop was quick and easy, once they found one. After that, they went wandering the streets for the rest of the afternoon until they ran into a familiar face.
"Hey! It's been a while!"
"Neptune?" Jaune spun around to spot the blue-haired boy walking up to the couple.
"How have you guys been? Didn't expect to see you here in Mistral." Neptune greets them, shaking their hands once close enough.
"Things could have been better." Jaune shrugs, making Neptune raise an eyebrow in confusion that prompted the blonde to elaborate. "We had a mission to come here and speak to the Headmaster. We just got the info we need to take back to Goodwitch but we spent months walking to get here."
"You walked from Vale to Mistral?" Neptune was shocked and let it show before his face slid back to confidence and respect. "Props to you for doing that." He gives them both a fist bump.
"Technically, our Bullhead crashed just short of its planned first stop once we crossed over to Anima. We hiked our way here with our team and taking jobs to pay for our supplies as we traveled." Pyrrha adds.
"Still, big respect for you guys for doing that. I bet you helped a lot of people on the way."
"Of course!" Pyrrha responded with a smile, both her and Jaune straightening up with pride.
"Good. And you said the rest of your team is in town?"
"Yeah, they are back at the house by the academy, or at least they were when we left. Ruby left this morning to use the school's forge." Jaune was being careful not to mention the others who had arrived. "And we ran into Ruby's uncle on the way so he's staying with us as we rest and he looks for other Huntsmen to help him with a job."
"Hmmm… that might be a bit tough. The Kingdom of Mistral is pretty big and we lost a lot of Huntsmen last year when… you know."
"Is it that bad?" Jaune let his concern show. After what happened at the dance and the attack, he considered the young man a friend, or at least close enough.
"Well… we have enough to get the Grimm under control and to have protected most of the towns and Mistral, obviously. But Haven has pretty much been shut down to allow for more to be in the field. Been sending out the teams of students to deal with things, sometimes with the teachers or other Huntsmen, sometimes the teams get mixed around as needed to account for injuries and such."
"Well, I'm glad you managed to keep yourself safe." Jaune gives the slightly taller man a pat on the shoulder.
"And we saw that your teammates are doing well themselves recently." Pyrrha adds.
"Wait, you saw them?"
"Yes. They were having dinner together at the same restaurant that we were." She says with a smile.
"Hmm… those two have been practically glued at the hip since we came back…" Neptune pauses as he begins to notice how the pair were standing closely and Sage or Scarlet would have said something when they met up yesterday if there had been a team with someone as rowdy as Nora or hyper as Ruby around. "Wait… are you two, together now?"
At that question, they both blushed but leaned a little closer to each other. "Y-yeah." Jaune says with a smile that was matched by Pyrrha's.
"Ha! It's about time! Congratulations!" Neptune grins as he pats them both on the shoulders.
"It… took us a bit to get things out in the open but we're finally giving it a shot." Jaune scratched the back of his head from nerves and feeling stupid about the past.
"Sounds like Scarlet and Sage." Neptune gives a small laugh and making the couple intrigued. "Ah, after we were brought back after the attack, we still needed some time to recover. Since those two had braces on them, they couldn't really do too much and spent a lot of time together. By the time they were cleared for duty, they had hooked up."
"Good for them!" Pyrrha chirps before her face grew somber. "Have you heard anything from Sun yet?"
"Just what was on the news last night." He shrugs. "Was kinda surprised to see him, especially wearing a shirt that covers him. Cool threads though."
"It did seem like they've been busy down there. White Fang attacks, building a Tower and Academy…" Jaune trails off.
"Think he and Blake hooked up yet? You know, officially?" Neptune jumps in.
"They did seem a lot closer than before and I wouldn't have thought that her father was the Chieftain of Menagerie." Pyrrha thinks on what she saw on the television.
"Yeah, maybe she's the reason he got new clothes." Neptune jokes and the three shared a laugh.
"Still, I feel bad for her dad, did you see him?" The blonde asks.
"Arm gone right up the the shoulder from the same guy who hurt Yang? Hard to miss."
The couple shared a glance and knowing that they shouldn't say that the brawler is in town.
"How's she doing? Have you seen her lately?" Neptune had genuine concern for the girl.
"Oh, she had her arm in a sling when we stopped by her house to pick up Ruby for the mission to come here." Pyrrha answers honestly.
"I see. I hope she got better and is out kicking Grimm butt again by now."
"I'm sure she is."
Beep beep!
"What was that?" Jaune asks as he heard the tone.
"Sorry, just my alarm to go meet with some friends. Scarlet and Sage will be there with Team ABRN since we all have a break between missions right now and we've helped each other out a lot since we came back."
"That's cool man, do what you need to." The blonde gives the blue haired boy a thumbs up.
"Hey, if you want, you could come with. We meet in the Quiet Tower up at Haven." Neptune offers.
"Really?!" Jaune perked up at that. "We could invite Ren and Nora?"
"Sure!"
"And we could see if Ruby is done at the forge in Haven." Pyrrha adds.
"Then let's get going." Neptune declares as he begins to lead the way.
—-
"Sir! Incoming report from Farkas' ship!"
James Ironwood flinched at the sudden outburst from his secretary who had just ran through his door, thankfully it had been open this time and she didn't knock herself senseless again.
"What is it?" He was really hoping for good news. Jacques was being a bigger ass than normal, the White Fang… formerly White Fang had attacked Menagerie, there had been a surge of Grimm attacks all around Atlas and Mantle, the rest of the Council were pushing to further restrict trade even as the global communication blackout ended, and his prosthetics had begun to make him itch where they met his flesh- a sign that he needed to get checked and tuned up soon.
"Sir!" She hands him a data pad with the full report to read for himself. "Specialist Farkas managed to find the crashed ship and recovered the body of the pilot. He was able to trace tracks to a recently abandoned bandit camp with evidence that Cadet Schnee was there. Further tracking located the bandits and… those with Farkas were killed and he was captured. Their pilot was barely able to get away and send the report."
"And the pilot?"
"Specialist Farkas gave him orders to return to base immediately, he is set to land tonight."
"Very well, send him here as soon as he lands for debriefing and have a team ready to take the body on board."
"Yes sir!" She gives him a sharp salute and spins on her heel to leave… turning a bit too far and ran into the door frame. "Ow."
James shook his head as she made it out the door and back to her desk. She did an excellent job but has that odd habit of running into doors and walls at random times but frequently.
His face grew serious as he pressed a hotkey on his scroll. "Clover, gather the team at the briefing room."
—-
"What are we doing?"
"Killing time until the kids get back."
"Playing games?"
"What's wrong with that?"
"Do I need to answer?"
"C'mon Rae, it's only been five rounds that you've lost."
"What do you mean by five? We're in the middle of the fifth round."
"Checkmate."
"Oh for the love of-!"
"Raven! It's just a game, you can calm down." Taiyang laughs as he watches the woman pace to work off her frustration from losing every game of chess against her ex husband.
"Fine… fine… I'll calm down." The Spring Maiden stops to take a few deep breaths. "It's just… I have one daughter right below our feet that I know I'm on thin ice with already, one leading a tribe where there's few I trust who wouldn't try to usurp her position, and then there's Summer's kid…"
"And everything else going on here in Mistral?" Tai stands up to speak to her eye to eye.
"I don't know which I'd rather face; the daughters I barely know or potentially facing Salem again."
"Hmm… seeing as you say facing your family is as bad for you as a millennia old witch who controls the Grimm… I'd say you are doing quite well with the first one so far."
Raven looks up to see the gently smiling face of the man in front of her and felt the same tug to her heart that had drawn them together the first time. And almost as strong was the guilt of having left him and their daughter.
But she was back with him now, maybe not as they used to be yet better than they've been in nineteen years. Still, this presented an opportunity to fix things between them.
"When was the last time you fought?"
"Ummm… took out an Ursa and Beowolf a little before your portal brought us here."
"Please, that's a warmup at best."
"Fine, there was the big fight with Yang before she left." He admits though he didn't sound proud about it.
"You had her prove herself?" Raven was actually rather impressed, she half would have expected that he'd just give a few words of advice and let her go- but that would be a stupid thing for any parent to do.
"Yeah, and she beat me."
"Hmph! How much of that was you holding back and how much did you lose your edge?" Raven couldn't hold back her snark on that.
"Haha." He plays along. "But honestly… it was a good bit of both, I guess. Still pushed her to her limit."
"You didn't hit her with your Semblance, did you?"
"My aim may have been a little off." Tai shrugs sheepishly.
"I hope if you have to fight that you bring out the old you that wouldn't quit until you're opponent was defeated."
"To protect our girls, I'd do anything." Tai gives a smug grin but it was his usual that meant that he'd back up those words.
"What about the world?" Raven raises an eyebrow.
"The girls are my world."
That just made the woman smirk and shake her head as she turns to the basement door. "Alright, enough out of you. Still have Huo?"
The blonde reaches behind his back and unclips one of the tonfa from the harness. "Never leave home without it." He responds as he gives it a quick twirl and slips it back away.
"Good, maybe we can show the kids a real spar."
Tai blinked at the offer. "Meh, could be fun to have a real challenge. The kids aren't bad at Signal but…"
"From what I've heard, these kids here could give the old STRQ a run for their money. Probably should show them that we still deserve our reputation."
"Lead the way."
—-
Yang sat at the bench as she did her maintenance on Ember Celica, the other half and Hiryu Shoten already done. The gauntlet is deceptively complex with the gears and locks required just to have it unfurl from a bracelet form. Then there was the actual shotgun built in and the whole thing was built around a system that stored enough tension to alternate between open and closed while the gun part had to remain compact and durable while allowing for the rest of the gauntlet to fold in around it.
That was part of the reason the controls for it are aura based; more compact. A lot of practice had to go into getting that right and combining that with motions.
But soon everything was cleaned and lubricated, paint chips and scratches filled and buffed, and put back together. Slipping it onto her left wrist, she gave it a full test run and was satisfied with the results.
Then she looked at her right arm and sighed as she took it off so she could inspect the connection point. Finding some dust and grime inside, she begins to clean it.
"Something on your mind?"
"Eeep!" Yang screeches at the sudden voice of Weiss next to her, swinging her metal hand at the girl who ducked under it.
"You really are distracted." The shorter girl comments calmly yet teasing.
"A bit."
"I'm surprised that Denko isn't here with you." Weiss says as she looks around the training room.
"Just because we love each other and are dating doesn't mean that we're joined at the hips constantly. To have something that… clingy, I guess, would just be bad." Yang sat her arm on the table as she spoke with a grimace.
"Experience?"
"Personally? No but I have seen it. People like that tend to lose themselves, give up on the things that they used to value like their friends and even their family… just to be with the one they claim to love." The blonde lets out a sigh. "Lost a friend to a 'relationship' like that in my last year at Signal. Both of them had been good in their own ways and did well in classes."
"But?"
"But as they grew closer to dating and eventually made it official, they spent more time with each other to the point that they pretty much pushed everyone else away. When her sister nearly drowned at the beach, she barely seemed worried and turned to her boyfriend rather than actually being there for her sister."
Weiss' eyes went wide and jaw slack. "She didn't." She couldn't imagine being that way to her own sister in the slightest, not even her brother was that bad that she'd neglect him in that situation and she had some confidence that he'd help her in turn… just with a lot of talk later.
"She did. And when she was called out for it, she defended her boyfriend instead of her own sister." She hung her head and let the bangs hide her eyes. "Pretty much thought that everyone should be so happy that she was in love and nothing should get between them." There was sarcasm dripping from her words before they turned bitter. "She became a bitch who is just a shell of the person she was. Looks like her but everything good about her is gone and replaced with devotion to him."
"Are… are you afraid that you could be like that?"
"Hmph! Only in some nightmare world that warps reality." Yang blows the question off. "But really, Denko is a bit of a private guy, kinda makes it easy for us both to have time to ourselves and do what we want."
"And you know he'll be there for you when you need him?"
"Always has when it matters most." She lifts the stump of her arm for emphasis. "And I'll be there for him."
"Your Dad seems to trust him a lot." Weiss points out, wishing that her own father was anything close to being like Taiyang.
"I guess that happens when you know someone most of their life and served as their role model and teacher." Yang shrugs.
Silence hung between the sisters from other mothers for a short time, Yang filling the time to clean her arm.
"Yang… do you think any of us are too clingy?" Weiss asks quietly.
"Hmm? What makes you ask that?"
The paler girl flushed as she sputters out. "Just answer the question."
"Sheesh, don't get your panties in a twist." Yang waves her off. "But for our friends… I guess Ren and Nora come to mind but at the same time, they've been together as orphans for over a decade. Kinda reminds me of how Denko and Itazura are, but those two only see each other as brother and sister in the same way we do." The blonde emphasizes that with reaching out to Weiss, forgetting for the moment that her right arm was on the table and her stump couldn't reach, prompting a small giggle from them both.
"I'm sensing a but."
"But I guess you could say that Ren and Nora are a bit too dependent on each other. They may be opposite sides of a coin and mesh well together but getting them to be alone…"
"You think they'd crumble?"
"It would be hard for them but I think they'd manage… after a few tries and probably make a few mistakes as they get used to being apart."
"Think it would be good for them to split up?"
"Getting new partners to work with? Sure. Whatever they have going with their hearts? They need to open up to each other about that sometime." Yang shrugs.
Weiss let's put a sigh of relief. "Oh good, it wasn't just me seeing their feelings."
"Ha! Do you remember seeing Blake trying to deny having the hots for Sun?" Yang's face was split by a grin.
Weiss matched her friend's expression. "Oh, it was so fun seeing her track him in any room while she looked focused on something else."
"Let's just hope that their time together in Menagerie got them to open up."
"You know, I get the feeling that Blake's mom would have been very encouraging of them hooking up."
"Me too. At least my Mom has been keeping her nose out of my love life."
"Hmph! This is coming from the girl who bragged about her love life in front of the woman?"
"It was on my terms and I didn't want her to try coddling me so I had to remind her that I'm an adult."
"There are other… more tactful ways of doing that, you know."
"Meh, I think I preferred the blunt approach better. No beating around the bush, no second guessing my words." Yang turns back to work on her arm, a clear sign that she was dropping that subject.
"Hey, Weiss?" Yang asks after a few minutes.
"Think you could check for dirt? It's a bit hard to see for myself." The blonde raises her stump to allow the other girl to look into the connection point.
"Sure." She used her scroll's light to help her see into the crevices and use the tools to clean it out. "Yang?"
"Hmm?"
"Do… do you think that Ruby and I are clingy?"
The blonde blinked a few times, surprised by the question. "Well… I'm glad that the two of you are best friends, that's definitely better than before initiation."
"I… I had to grow up a lot back then. I was nothing but a spoiled brat who demanded to get her way." Weiss admits as she sets the cleaning tool down.
"I can't really argue with that." Yang comments as she uses a mirror to inspect the work.
"I deserved that." Weiss accepted the insult with grace. "But I'm not that person anymore. I have friends and sisters who is risk my life for and they would for me. Memories to cherish and more to make with them as we do our duties as Huntresses."
"Glad to hear it, Sis." Yang drops her now reattached arm over Weiss' shoulders and pulls her in for a hug. "Now, as far as Ruby… we're kinda big on hugging and letting our emotions out." She pauses when she sees the deadpan stare at her, making her own eyes roll. "But we come from a small, close family and Patch isn't exactly the biggest town. And when Ruby had to leave her friends from Signal behind while she went to Beacon.."
"Is that why she insisted so much on us being friends during initiation?"
"Pretty much." Yang shrugs. "But while we were home, they got caught up. And for you, I'm glad that she has someone else to worry over her."
"Are you worried for her?"
"At the moment, not too much. While I was stuck at home… she may have added a few inches to my waistline thanks to trying to drown my feelings with food."
"Really? You can hardly tell!" Weiss giggles as she pokes the blondes soft midsection and making it wobble and jiggle.
"Not exactly in a position to tease about weight, Wide Load." Yang grins as she returns the favor, opting to give the lower half a solid but playful smack. Then footsteps on the stairs had them stop.
—-
"So… based on what we've managed to gather, the White Fang are supposed to provide the main distraction at Mistral while others infiltrate Haven and destroy the Tower there." Itazura explains what she and Ilia had gotten from interrogations of dozens of prisoners. The chameleon girl herself held several folders filled with the testimonies. The most cooperative of them had received reduced sentences, especially if they were regretful of what they had done, being granted minor but supervised freedoms by Sienna.
"If we can gather a force quickly, we could set out and head off Adam's forces before they get to Mistral. Failing that, we would be able to trap them between us and the Kingdom's defenses." Ilia adds as the fox points to the map covered in a few red lines to show movements.
Ghira, Kali, Blake, Sun, Sienna, and a few other leaders of Kuo Kuana, such as the Captain of the Guard sat and took in the information.
Blake and Sun looked eager to move on the intel, as did Sienna and the Captain. However, Ghira and Kali looked apprehensive as did the others.
"Just where would we get the manpower for such a force? The inmates outnumber the Guard five to one as things stand now." The Captain points out.
"There will also be the problem of transporting whatever fighters to Anima." Ghira adds now that he's been allowed to be home.
"We have Sienna's boat." Sun shrugs.
Said tiger woman gives him an odd mix of a glare and look of pride, obviously not thrilled about being volunteered yet supportive of his desire to fight. "That we do."
"As for where we'd get the people to fill out the ranks, volunteers from our town could be our answer. There have been many who want to strike back after what they did, not just to here but to Vale and Beacon."
"That still leaves you with very little time to give anyone any actual training. And we've seen how dangerous those people are." Kali chimes in.
"Which is why we've already planned for that." Itazura's ears twitched and tail swished as she spoke. "The new recruits would mostly focus on being defensive, forming up a shield wall to help trap the enemy fighters while the Huntsmen and Huntresses lead the active combat. Anyone from the Guard could fill out a middle line to handle anyone who gets past us and those who get past them will be heavily outnumbered."
"Be that as it may, you'd need to find your volunteers, train and arm them, and get them to the battlefield in time." Ghira reminds the youths.
"Already working on that. Would you believe that the Smiths have already been working on shields and weapons before we even got to them to ask?" Ilia counters with a shy and awkward smile.
"Hmm… very well." The large man rumbles. "But you do know that to reach their encampment you'd need to leave in ten days, correct? That wouldn't allow for much time for gathering supplies, personnel, or training."
"We can continue the training on the ship." Was the foxes simple answer.
"Shall we put this to a vote?" Kali asks as she looks around the room. "All in favor? All opposed?"
—-
"Hehe, sorry about the mess." Ruby gives a small wave as she enters the room at the top of the Silent Tower on the Haven campus. She had to be almost dragged out of the forge and was still covered in sweat and grime.
"Nah, don't worry about it!" Reese Chloris waves her off. "We've all been there." The green-haired skater girl hadn't changed much since last year, remaining bottom heavy.
"Part of the job." Nadir shrugs as he leans back in his chair. Just like with Reese, the rest of the team looked mostly unchanged from a year ago.
Bolin and Arslan gave the younger girl a greeting wave. Nora was looking at the grand views of Mistral that the tower provides as Ren looked like he was meditating again. Sage and Scarlet sat together as they spoke with Jaune and Pyrrha, comparing thoughts on the restaurant they had been at for their dates.
"See? I told you they'd be here." Neptune gives her a pat on the shoulder as he walks to a free chair
"Hehehe, I guess so." The young Huntress takes a seat for herself.
"Heard your teams have been pretty busy, care to share some stories?" Bolin asks Jaune.
"W-well…it was mostly Ruby leading us." The blonde knight tries to correct the Haven student.
"It takes more than one to lead, you know." The staff- wielder shoots back, though the smile on his face put the Beacon students at ease.
"What do you mean?" Ruby asks with her head cocked to the left.
"What he means is that just because our teams have someone assigned as a leader, that doesn't mean that they are the only one who can make decisions." Arslan explains. "You have a group of friends who all specialize in a certain aspect, day to day life or combat, that you can turn to them to let them lead for that time."
"Yeah, look at our team!" Reese bounces in her seat. "Arslan doesn't like to say much but she's the solid rock we can count on. But Bolin is the one who's good with tactics and stuff like that so we turn to him for plans in a fight."
To their credit, both subjects simply shrugged but didn't deny it while Nadir nodded in agreement.
"I… I don't think we ever thought about that for my team." Ruby admits as she scratched the back of her head.
"Your team did rely a bit too much on grouping up together." Scarlet mentions.
"What do you mean? We kicked butt in the Tournament!"
"In the qualifiers and team rounds, you did alright." The redhead counters with a straight face. "But in the doubles rounds, your sister carried the weight of her teammate who could barely do anything to her own opponent, at least until she tried that suicidal move."
"Ummm… uh…" Ruby had nothing to say that would be reasonable.
"It's not too much of knock on you but it's just that it seems that your team relies on you too much for direction." Sage informs her. "That just puts too much pressure on you and in the end, makes it harder on them when you have to separate."
"Separate… like we are now?"
"Don't worry about it too much, Ruby." Neptune leans his chair back as he talks to her. "They are just offering advice but it's still something that you should consider for the future. You know, different points of view that could help you find the right path… or maybe at least a better one."
"So… let's change things up a bit." Reese cuts in as she rolls around the room on the wheels in the heels of her shoes. "You gotta have a bunch of good stories to tell about your trip here."
"You mean like when I won the pancake eating contest?!" Nora jumps up excitedly.
"Yeah! Sounds good! Hit us with it!" The skater girl rolls back to her seat and does a quick spin before dropping onto her chair.
"Hmm… this should be good." Bolin comments as he leans back and prepares for what should be an entertaining afternoon.
"I'll order some snacks." Arslan pulls out her scroll and brings up an app for delivery.
Jaune leaned over to his girlfriend and whispers. "Do you think that they were too harsh on her?"
Pyrrha thought about what was said before responding. "I think that it would have been something that would be covered in our classes, if I remember skimming through our books correctly. We just didn't… get there yet."
"So they really helped us all?"
"As long as we learn from it." The conversation ends as Nora got to the part where they entered the contest.
—-
Later that evening…
"Anyone see you?"
"Do you know how many people don't look up?"
"Talon…"
"No one saw me." The shorter girl waves off the concern. "Not even the cameras since none of them are focused up or on the roofs."
"Fine. Did you find anything?"
"Just a whole lot of nothing. Haven only has a handful of people anywhere at any time that I saw today. Couple of students invited RNNJR to talk about what they did since Beacon."
"They say anything about us or Raven?"
"Nothing I heard when I was listening in. And Leo was in his office going over stuff for the school."
"Faculty?"
"Pretty much just the janitorial staff going around from one building to the next. Saw a Professor stop by their classroom for a few minutes before leaving again. They just needed to grab some Dust blend that they make there."
"I see."
"What about you? Did you find anything?" Talon rolls over on her bed to look at her sister.
"Not as much as I'd like." Anya grumbles. "Spider seems to know nothing about what Lionheart may be up to, just that things have been very different since the Grimm attacked Mistral last year in reaction to what happened at the Tournament."
"Are they looking into him now?"
"More than likely. Probably should check back with them after a day or two."
"I guess I'll poke around the academy a bit more." Talon flops back onto her pillow. "Wish we had Itazura for this part of the job."
"Hmm, she'd probably would have cracked into the school's network by now and read through every message Lionheart got and sent in the past month." Anya lets out a small laugh.
"Think we should call her? See what she's been up to?"
"I'm more surprised that she hasn't called us yet. I guess she's just been busy with something." Anya shrugs before laying down in her bed, there was no reason to tell anyone that they snuck out.
—-
"So… we got the approval. What's next?" Ilia sat next to Itazura as they were in the foxes room.
"Blake and Sun are taking the first round to find volunteers for the militia." She lay on her stomach so her tail could stand tall and sway, drawing the eyes of her companion… though her eyes were often drawn lower.
"And do we have supplies for anyone?"
"The Smiths have already started on making some generic armor and weapons and apparently the Weavers jumped in to make uniforms that should work with the armor."
"Oh, wow. Didn't think things would move that fast."
"C'mon, did you really think that the people here would take things without fighting back?" Green eyes looked back at grey with a hint of playful teasing.
Ilia had the decency to blush and look away, feeling her stomach flutter whenever her friend looked at her like that. "Sorry. I'm just… kinda still stuck sometimes with thinking like the White Fang. Thinking that Faunus everywhere should love us- them." She was quick to correct herself from the years-long habit.
"Hey, don't worry, I get it." Itazura reaches back and pats her arm. "A lot of things happened pretty fast and I wound up having you make a lot of hard choices to play both sides and pretend to betray us."
"Not my proudest moment." Ilia still regrets having stabbed and electrocuted Sun, nearly killing him that night. And quite honestly, she had yet to apologize for that and she was afraid to bring it up in fear of Blake's reaction, though she'd take whatever punishment the cat girl would deal to her.
"Yeah, gotta break the news to the happy couple about what we've been doing behind the scenes." Itazura rolls onto her side to face her partner. "But they will have to admit that without what we did, things would have been a lot worse."
"Did you get a good look at their faces when they tried to shoot the modified rifles?" Ilia steers their conversation to a better topic.
"Oh, they were great!" Itazura let her grin grow wide at the memory. "And when those goons realized how screwed they were once they realized that they had fancy paperweights in their hands."
"And I challenged the guy in Sirius to shoot me." Ilia laughed a little. "I'm still finding some glitter in my hair from when he pulled the trigger."
They shared a laugh together about that and how they had spent nights slipping in and out of the homes of the White Fang Separatists sympathizers to replace the ammunition with glitter.
"Do you want to know what I want to hear more of?" Itazura asks as things grew quieter.
"What's that?"
"You laughing."
"Huh?" Ilia was surprised by her wrist being grabbed and yanking her down. "Woah!"
"Happy laughing." Itazura says as her arm wraps around the chameleon's waist. "Caused by me."
That was the only warning that Ilia had before the next hour had endorphins flooding through her system matched only by a similar flood through Itazura.
—-
Meanwhile, a certain pair were at the head of a line.
"Just fill in the relevant information and we'll get you set up when we begin training tomorrow." Blake tells a woman before glancing at Sun next to her as he dealt with a tall man with ram horns in a pink shirt.
"Yeah! We'd love someone with your skills. Here's your form to fill out so we can get things ready for you when we start training tomorrow."
When they had gotten started, they had been a bit apprehensive about how to begin. Luckily, Ghira and Kali had whipped up a form and made plenty of copies for them. Out in town, there has been some hesitation from the public but from word of mouth they soon had a line at least thirty deep and as more were processed there were others taking their place in line.
All in all, things were going better than expected and they'd have to begin training the next morning and hopefully more will sign on.
Several hours later the pair were at the oceanfront restaurant again slumped in their chairs as if all of the energy had been sapped from them. And in a sense it was. On their table sat a large pile of forms that were filled out and a stack of blank ones sat on a nearby table where people would periodically stop by and fill one out.
"Any ideas on how we'll get started tomorrow?" Sun asks, grateful that the umbrella shaded his face as he leaned back to let his head dangle over the back of his chair.
"No thinky. Need foody." Blake had her face smooshed against the cool surface of the table, letting her arms hang free as her rear was firmly planted in her chair.
The blonde could only smirk at her words as he felt the same. Then the familiar sound of ice clinking against glass graced their ears as the waitress sat their cups and a pitcher of iced tea between them.
"Your meals will be along shortly." She tells them before moving onto another table to get their orders.
"You two look like you're having fun." The voice of Sienna sounded oddly pleased.
Blake rolled her head over to allow vision of the tiger woman who was flipping through the papers and skimming over the contents, taking more care to watch the skills and experience sections. "Define fun."
"Hmph, if you two can't handle something like this, how are you supposed to be leaders?" The papers were sat down again. "Then again, you two seem to be the types who'd rather lead from the front with action, to be the examples."
Sun picked his head up to look at her squarely as did Blake.
"And to be honest, you've been doing a great job at that." Sienna praises. "Reminds me of myself in the early days that led to me rising through the ranks to become High Leader." The pride in her tone was unmistakable… as was the shame that followed. "Unfortunately, my desire for action is what brought us and the White Fang to this point."
"So… what are you doing here?" The tea really helped to perk the cat girl up, the mix of fruit juices added a zing of flavor that she couldn't identify but enjoyed.
"As you may remember, I had announced that I'd be fighting against Adam's splinter group of extremists." She was a little smug at teasing the teens. "These recruits will fall under my command when we set out."
"I'm guessing that you have a plan?" Sun sips at his tea but is now able to sit up.
"That I do. Most of these new people will be inexperienced in combat and so they will simply be on a more defensive position and meant to help contain whoever we are fighting at the time. Their numbers will also help intimidate and maybe even help those idiots know that they have betrayed Faunus everywhere just by being there."
"Hopefully. Is there more?" Blake asks as she leans back and ignores the slight creaking of her chair.
"Any of the Guard we can take with us will do the bulk of the fighting before the combat can really get to the others. Softening them up before they can slip through to the shield wall. Of course, they will be backed by any of the recruits with real combat abilities."
"Okay, that's good and all but I'm pretty sure that we'd still be outnumbered and outgunned." Sun points out.
"I'm getting to that." Sienna rolls her eyes. "The tip of the spear will be us backed by the fighters from the White Fang who have remained loyal to me."
"That's… pretty good." Blake admits. "The odds should be evened pretty well with that tactic."
"That may be true but you should remember that most plans fall apart when in contact with the enemy. They will move and act differently than we anticipate and we will have to act accordingly whenever that happens."
"Not to mention that He will be there." Sun states sourly.
Both women's faces twisted at that before Sienna continued. "Which is exactly why we have to be there at the front. The five of us are the only ones who would stand a chance against him. Anyone else will be slaughtered."
"Five? Don't tell me that Dad is going to fight! He just lost his whole arm!"
"Relax, Ghira is staying here." The tiger eases the cats worries. "Though Kali says she'll be coming to be the diplomat with Mistral as needed."
"Sheesh, they really are out of it." A younger teasing voice spoke from the side.
"Think they've been staying up late again?" Another was with the first.
"Probably getting some extra 'training time'."
The couple in question saw that it was Ilia and Itazura snickering at them. "We weren't even trying to sneak up on them!"
"They will be fighting with us against Adam. While he is familiar with Ilia, he valued her infiltration skills over combat and Itazura will be almost a complete unknown as he barely knew what happened back at the Palace with her."
"Hmm…"
"Something on your mind, Sun?" Blake Blake asks.
"Just kinda wondering… do you think he'd be more pissed off if a couple of girls beat him or if I'd get the final hit in?"
The four women shared a glance at the question before bursting into laughter.
"Yeah, it doesn't matter so long as we stop him." It was then that the waitress returned with his and Blake's meals.
—-
"Something wrong, Doc?" Mercury walked into the airship that served as their base of operations. The man he spoke to had been behind his terminal most of the day every day since global communication had been restored.
"Many things are wrong boy, you'd have to be more specific." Arthur Watts shot back, though it lacked the contempt and snark that was reserved for Cinder.
"Okay… is there anything that will stop your plan for Haven?" As always, there was no respect in his tone but that was given to everyone so they were mostly used to it. What mattered is that he did his job as the muscle of the group, which he did very well and took pleasure in it.
Watts took a moment to glance at the much younger man, taking note of the details that showed he was genuinely curious and simply preparing for what was to come. Any sarcasm could be waved off or he could engage in the battle of wits.
"At the moment, everything seems to be according to plan. Almost too well, even with the alterations and contingencies made this far." He stood as he spoke, stretching his spine after several hours in the chair.
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"Hmm… normally that is very good, especially in my line of work where precision is paramount." Watts began pacing. "However, what has been 'bugging me', as you might say, is that I believe my sources are not as accurate as they should be."
"But if everything is going to plan… why is that an issue?"
"Because with Qrow Branwen and the brats with him there, they may try to meddle in affairs like what happened at Beacon!" Arthur rounded on Mercury in anger that the ultimate goal of the mission there had been botched and the crippling of the kingdom and the global communication network hadn't been as thorough as expected.
"Then shouldn't we find some way to throw them off? Even if they are onto Leo, they wouldn't let him know that they are… so they'd have to do what he says." Mercury quickly strung his thoughts together in a sentence.
But the suggestion did make the Doctor pause and anger subside. Slowly, his hand began to rub his chin as he paced. "That… is a very good idea. Thank you."
"No problem, Doc!" The assassin gives him a two fingered salute.
"And if I recall correctly, there is a rare Grimm a fair distance to the south of us now. Not as far from Mistral as I would like to keep them away for too long but given what it is…"
"C'mon, don't leave me hanging here. What is it?" Now the young man was antsy, or at least more than before.
Arthur barely spared him a glance of annoyance. "Patience is a virtue, you do know that, correct? All will be revealed and we may be able to relieve ourselves of a few problems in the process."
"As long as it does better than that Nuckalavee."
A low but higher pitched giggle came from behind a curtain. "Poor little horsey." A gleaming golden eye peaked out of the shadow and saw what was on the terminal screen. "Let's hope the next will devour those who slayed you," And the giggles returned.
—-
"Ren?" Nora asks as they parted ways with the other teams to go back to the house.
"Yes Nora?"
"Umm… what they were saying back there… about being together too much…"
"Are you worried about it?" Ren's response helped to draw the rest of the team's attention to them.
"It's been bothering me a bit too." Jaune admits with a shrug. "At the same time, I can see their point."
"Do… do we really get weak on our own from the teamwork we do?" Ruby asks timidly.
"Ahem!" Pyrrha coughs into her hand to make the others give her their attention. "It is true that teaming up with someone can give you an edge to beat a strong opponent, but at the same time it shows that there is a gap in skills between them and yourself. One that required having to split their attention from being outnumbered and having to deal with different skills."
"Umm… do you mean like when my team sparred against Denko that one time?" Ruby remembered that day well; the older boy had made short work of the team that resulted with Yang buried in the floor on her back and Crescent Rose's sharp tip under her chin. Ruby had been pinned to the floor by the larger blade on the other end by her cloak. Weiss had been thrown into the shaft of the scythe and her sword thrust into the ground through her belt and skirt while Blake had slammed into her back and soon found themselves bound together by Blake's own ribbon from Gambol Shroud. And Denko never used his weapon at all nor did the fight even last a minute. Needless to say it was a humbling experience.
"Exactly!" Pyrrha was glad that she wasn't used as the example with how she had fought CRDL solo and won handily. "If one is able to hone their skills to the point that they can defeat multiple trained opponents, imagine how difficult they would be to defeat if they teamed up with another."
"But where does that leave us?" Nora brought the conversation back to the start.
"What it means is that we should spend less time focusing on teamwork and more on our individual skills. Teamwork is still important but to rely on that at the cost of our own growth will only be detrimental in the long run." Ren answers calmly.
"So… fight more on our own rather than pairing up unless it's really needed?" Jaune pauses in the middle of the road.
"Doing so would enable us to cover more ground." Ren agrees with a nod.
"But I like our team attacks." Ruby grumbles as she kicks at a stone.
"So do we." Pyrrha sympathizes with the younger girl. "But we shouldn't hinder our teams by being too reliant on them nor on the orders of the leaders of the teams."
They begin walking again and near the house. "I guess I have some thinking to do tonight."
Nora pat the taller girl on the back. "We all do but I'm guessing that if we do this, grouping up will be even more special!"
That certainly brought smiles to their faces before they entered the house. They had stayed out later than they thought, given it was dark out, but they found Yang and Denko on the couch and playing Ancient Tomes together and apparently in the middle of a dungeon run.
"Hey guys! About time you got back!" The heftier blonde calls to them, eyes back to the projected screen.
"Dinner is ready in the kitchen." The other blonde informs the new arrivals before using an attack that made a beam of energy sweep through the ranks of weak enemies and cleared them out quickly. "Ha! I'm loving this new class!"
There was a knock at the door just as they had finished eating. In a flash, Denko and Yang had turned off the television- thankfully they weren't in the middle of anything in the game- and raced up the stairs to listen in.
Ruby opened the door, backed by Pyrrha and Nora with Jaune and Ren waiting back by the table but standing ready to act. On the steps was a sight that they didn't expect but Ruby was familiar with.
Qrow Branwen was barely standing, even as he was mostly held up by a young man who looked a bit younger than Ruby. Dressed in black pants with brown boots and a white button shirt under a green long coat with brown leather shoulders, his hair is brown and matches his olive complexion and hazel eyes.
"Umm… are you… Ruby Rose?" He asks shyly and with no shortage of embarrassment.
"Yeah… that's me." The girl in question answers and is already feeling a twinge of a headache coming as her nose was assaulted by alcohol.
"Oh, good. He says he's your uncle." The boy shrugs the best he could as the man adjusts himself at being mentioned, eventually staggering himself upright and wandering in.
Ruby let her relative pass and watched as he stumbled to the couch where his knees hit the arm and he tumbled face first into the seat cushions. "Mmm… warm." he could be heard mumbling.
"Ehehe, sorry about having to see him like that. He's… not normally this way." The cloaked girl apologizes as she rubs her arms.
"It's… it's alright. At least he's happier than when we ran into him."
"Wait… we?"
"Oh, my friend and I ran into him on our way to dinner. He was pretty down in the dumps and we invited him to join us." The boy shrugs like it wasn't a big deal to him. "We just didn't expect him to drink so much."
"And your friend?"
"Oh, he's cleaning up a trash can that got knocked over on our way here." It was odd that he seemed to be talking easier to Ruby now.
"I guess I should thank him for that and getting my uncle dinner and bringing him home." Ruby gives a small laugh as she pokes her head out the door and finds a man a bit down the road waving at her, though it quickly changed to gesturing for the boy to hurry up. She couldn't make out any details as the man was silhouetted but he was tall and of average build wearing a long coat that looked similar to the young man in front of her. With a smile, she waved back in thanks.
"Looks like we should be getting back to the hotel now." He gives a small laugh as he rubs the back of his neck, which curiously was wrapped with bandages yet didn't seem to be hurt.
"Okay and thanks again!" She gave him a genuine smile as he turned around to leave, granting her a view of a cane in his belt.
With the door now closed, she turned her weary gaze onto her uncle who was still on the couch but laughing to himself. "What am I gonna do with you?" She received no verbal reply, instead having to watch as the man rolled off the furniture and onto the floor, noting that the blondes had come down and her father and… maybe step-mother, had arrived to see the drunken man fall.
—-
"Leonardo. Prepare for our arrival by the end of the month. We will have your cover with us."
"This month? You don't want to wait until they are gone?" The Haven Headmaster responds to the order of Arthur Watts.
"On the contrary, we are expecting that they will come." The smug voice of the doctor came through the scroll and Lionheart could almost see him smiling. "You see, not only does this present an opportunity to complete our objective but gives a partner of mine a chance to redeem himself as well as another finishing a fight from last year that another has started… she is quite eager."
Leo gulped as his fears began to rise up once more. "V-very well. I'll have things ready for you."
"Good man. Oh, and be prepared for some fireworks that night, they will help to cover your disappearance. And one more thing to help us all."
AN: Got a lot of things going on in this chapter, but mostly advice and preparation for action. And speaking of action, it seems that something is happening with Itazura and Ilia. And there is a rare and mysterious Grimm that Watts and Tyrian believe will do what the Nuckelavee couldn't- taking out team RNNJR and Qrow.
Plus with the Eaglewing sisters spying around Mistral and Raven and Taiyang mending things between them, Blake and Sun are working themselves to exhaustion to take the fight to Adam... there won't be too many bored people for a long time.
Expect some action in the next chapter and I hope you don't have weak stomachs! Reviews are welcome to help me improve the story or if you have questions as to what's going on that needs clarification.