A.N. (3/31/23) - Sadly, there's no April Fool's chapter coming out soon.


Atlas (16) - White Fang

Two people walked up to the entrance of the warehouse which acted as today's meeting point.

They were Adam and Blake, members from the White Fang here to meet with this new group that stole their name for the sake of an attack on Atlas. The goal of this mission was to ascertain whether this new group was someone against them or not.

Because the Atlas division maintained a strong presence here, they were able to find a contact that was able to help introduce them to the fake White Fang group. Surprisingly, it did not take them long to reach them. It was so easy that Adam suspected that they were anticipating their appearance at some point, making this meeting all the more dangerous now that they were finally here.

"Let's go."

Adam took the lead and found himself in a huge filthy space.

They were not alone. There was a single overhead light illuminating the area so that only the center was revealed. But it made no difference as Adam could make out the figures of almost a hundred people gathered here in the darkness. Even with the door propped open, this many people standing next to one another heated the room until the smell of sweat lingered in the air.

Blake fidgeted nervously, but Adam made sure to hide his unease. He expected that the other party would pull something like this. Without knowing the identity nor the intentions of the target, this was meant to act as an intimidation tactic to prove their place. They wanted to be seen as a threat even to potential allies working with them.

Idly, he placed a hand on the weapon attached to his hip and watched as many of them tensed in anticipation.

Amateurs.

This wasn't a dismissal of their abilities, but the result of observation and analysis. Most of them were wearing an assortment of motley clothes with no sense of unity among them. Some of the people gathered here didn't even have weapons, instead grasping pipes or holding wooden bats like they were acting out the scene of a bad gang film. Their bodies lacked any form of discipline judging from their movements and mannerisms.

But he recognized something else.

An extra set of ears. The occasional tail or other extra appendages. He realized a second later who these people were. At least half of the people here were residents of the Mantle crater, the destitute and impoverished citizens that were mostly comprised of faunus.

This was quite literally a rag-tag group of the poorest people in all of Atlas.

"Welcome."

A single man sat in the center of all of this. His voice marked him as the one who narrated the final moments of Jacques Schnee from the video spreading online. For that alone, Adam almost wanted to give the other man his appreciation for what he did.

Sadly, there were other matters to attend to.

He had done his research before this meeting. Adam knew that the other man was Jax Asturias and that he was from Vacuo instead of Atlas. He knew about Jax's strange hatred of Dust, which was due to how it was seen as the symbol of Vacuo's downfall.

That information alone was more valuable than anything else Adam learned. Not only was it a possible reason why Jax attacked the Schnee gala, but it also explained why their members only carried common-looking weapons.

Thus, Adam decided to make use of that to start the conversation.

"Thank you for meeting with us." He ignored the urge to roll his eyes at the platitudes. "My name is Adam, and this is my partner Blake. The two of us are here on behalf of the White Fang to meet with you and determine future avenues for cooperation. Your latest attack on the SDC may have cut off the head of the company, but it still remains standing as long as others take his place. If you are amiable, we may work together to attack the rest of the body before it has time to heal."

"..." Jax continued to remain seated. "You seem to be misunderstanding my intentions."

"What?"

"I entertained this meeting because I was persuaded by my sister to hear you out." He gestured behind him. "I'll admit that your offer is something that would benefit my people, but you seem to be under the impression that we care about the SDC."

"Then why did you attack the Schnee gala?"

"First off, to make a statement. If you wish for me to clarify further than that, then I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you. After all, I can't exactly divulge my plan to an outsider."

Adam was beginning to dislike the other man's tone. "Then what exactly do you want?"

"I want many things." He stood up. "I want revenge against Atlas and Mistral for their role in the downfall of my kingdom. I want powerful allies to join my cause in order to improve our strength. I want power, both for myself and for my people."

"We can provide you with that."

"No, you cannot." Jax looked past him, and Adam realized with a start that he was staring at Blake. "But she can. It is quite fortunate that you brought exactly who we wanted right to us."

She tensed. "What do you mean?"

"Belladonna." His response shocked them. "Blake Belladonna. Daughter of the chieftain of Menagerie, Ghira Belladonna. My sister told me that this plan of mine would be reckless, but after ten or so seconds of consideration, I decided that this would bring about better results."

"You want to use Blake as a hostage?"

"Nothing so crude. Rather, I believe that the two of you will listen to what I say if given a moment to see our point of view. Although that means that you'll have to accept a subservient role."

His arm moved to his sword.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Suddenly, a hundred weapons pointed toward them. "No sudden movements. If I want to succeed in my goal of the fall of an empire, I require the aid of certain individuals to help me accomplish this. While Menagerie may not be the powerhouse that I desire, having it in my pocket would do nicely when I continue my operations in Mistral."

How did they hear about Blake? Until now, nobody else had realized the significance of her last name except for the higher-ups of the White Fang. Was his research into the White Fang that thorough, or was he specifically after Blake in the first place?

"What are you planning?"

"I wish to cut off the giants' heads," Jax replied. "I want to cripple the kingdoms of Atlas and Mistral for what they have done to us. What we have accomplished so far may seem significant to your rabble of an organization, but it is merely the prelude to our true plan."

Blake grasped his sleeve, and Adam realized that they had to prepare for a fight.

"So just to make sure, you have no plans on cooperating with the White Fang?"

"If you must have me spell it out, then yes."

"Then I guess we can finally move on to the real reason we're here."

"Hm?"

}-{

"Jax Asturias?"

The three of them stared at the written report on the leader of the fake White Fang group. While it was missing some important information such as his Semblance, it was more than enough for them to realize that cooperating with Jax would be unfeasible.

"You do realize what this means, right?" Ilia asked. "Both of you must have read the report on the Argus incident by the High Leader. Specialist Cordovin and her were the ones to discover that Merlot utilized the service of the Crown to infiltrate the Argus Military Base. Both of them have been working together for quite some time now."

"Then that means that he was also aware of Merlot's operations regarding the kidnapping of Mantle citizens," Blake said. "We thought that it was only the Allies that were behind the kidnappings. But if Jax and his group are still active…"

"Are they?"

"It appears so," Ilia replied to Adam. "Although not as bad as several months prior, the number of missing residents is still quite high. We have no concrete evidence that the Crown is behind the kidnappings though. It could be that they only turned a blind eye toward it when they were still working with Merlot. Somebody else might be at fault for the kidnappings."

"Unlikely," Adam replied. "We already checked the information gathered by the authorities after the Schnee gala attack. The waiters that were a part of the attack were mainly comprised of faunus. Not just that, but the coroners have noted an irregularity. Even though the attack force succeeded due to the attackers having an abundance of Aura, the state of the bodies from the recovered corpses was terrible. Emaciated, malnourished, disease-riddled. There's no way they are capable of having huntsmen-level amounts of Aura with that level of fitness."

"The report already mentioned Gillian Asturias and her Semblance," Blake recalled. "If she made them stronger by giving them more Aura, that would explain the irregularity. But that would mean…"

"It would mean that the Crown is conscripting faunus from the Mantle crater into their forces," Adam finished with a scowl. "Maybe he's hiring them for cheap and appealing to their sense of desperation. Or maybe he's threatening them somehow. Either way, I doubt that Sienna will be glad to leave him alone if he's preying on faunus as we suspect."

"What if it was something else?"

"Hm? What do you mean Blake?"

She fidgeted under his stare. "Did you read the comments online about how it was unusual that Winter Schnee would execute her father?"

"I did think that it was a bit out of the blue…"

"Exactly. Nothing about her profile suggests that she would be the kind of person to do such a thing, even with their strained relationship. And yet, Jax was somehow able to capture on film her executing her own father. Isn't that a little strange?"

"Are you suggesting that he also coerced her somehow?"

"Rather than coercing, what if he has a Semblance that allows him to manipulate other people?"

He paused. "That's a bit far-fetched, isn't it?"

"I dunno," Ilia said. "I mean, it's not something we can dismiss out of hand. There are crazier Semblances out there that manifest in people."

"It's not just that though," Blake continued. "Semblances rely on Aura to use, that's something everyone agrees on. But what would happen to a Semblance if your Aura reserves are boosted to an abnormal degree? And during the attack, didn't a lot of the attackers begin with a suicide attack? No matter how much you try to convince someone, can you convince that many people into killing themselves for another person's cause?"

Adam thought about it. Assuming Jax did have a Semblance that could control another person, the fact that his sister had a Semblance that could increase his Aura would mean that he would potentially have the ability to control a large number of people proportionate to the boost in his Aura. If he used that kind of power to order faunus into becoming suicide bombers for the sake of whatever goal he has in mind…

He clenched his teeth in anger. "I assume we're all in favor of taking him down?"

The other two girls nodded.

"First things first," Ilia said. "He'll likely have someone guard him during the meeting. The fact that he accepted our offer to meet is already suspicious enough. Assuming that he really does have a mind control Semblance, what if he intends to take control of one of us?"

"It would make sense if he wants to keep up the facade that the White Fang are behind the Schnee gala attack," Blake replied. "So this whole meeting is just a trap to get us under his control."

"Should we call it off then?"

"No," Adam said. "If he is trying to trick us, then why not set a trap back?"

"What do you mean?"

"There must be a limit on his Semblance," Adam continued. "Either he needs to focus on how many people he controls, or maybe he can't control someone unless he gets within range of sight or hearing. If that is the case, we can attempt to strike at him before he gets the chance to act."

"Are you sure about that?" Blake frowned. "If you're wrong, and he doesn't have any limitations on his Semblance, there's a possibility that he might just take control of us the moment we meet up with him."

"No, he won't do that. After all, we're still meeting with him to negotiate a potential alliance between him and the White Fang. He knows that, and he'll be interested in hearing us out at least to see if we're genuine. That means he won't try to go for the kill until he decides that we're better off under his control."

"So what do you propose?"

"You said it yourself, Blake. All Semblances rely on Aura to use. Even if his Aura is larger than normal, breaking through it would also mean breaking the effects of his Semblance. And if that's the case, then the solution is simple." Adam gripped his weapon. "All we need to do is break past his Aura."

}-{

Blake immediately activated her Semblance, causing both her and Adam to disappear as they were replaced by their clones.

"What?!" Jax had no time to react before she appeared a small distance away with her gun firing in his direction. "Gah! Men, surround me and block her vision!"

"Too late!"

Adam smirked, his hair and clothes glowed while his sword fully charged. Swinging upward, a red energy blade manifested as it directly impacted Jax. The other man staggered as his Aura visibly flickered, showing hints of shattering from the force of the attack.

"Now, Ilia!"

Dropping from the ceiling, Ilia immediately used her weapon and swung it at Jax. He screamed as she activated it, shocking his body full of electricity and causing his body to convulse. But it wasn't enough, his Aura was still holding strong and maintaining the effects of his Semblance.

"Shoot me, Blake!"

Understanding his plan, she aimed Gambol Shroud at him and allowed Adam to use his sword to block the gunfire and absorb the attack.

His body glowed. "Out of the way!"

Jax staggered as Ilia released him. She and Blake immediately moved to the side as Adam aimed at his target.

Black.

Red.

The room fell into darkness as he unleashed the full might of his Semblance, sending a wave of energy and destruction toward Jax. The scale far outclassed his previous attack and was sure to break through his Aura upon impact.

And yet, he was stopped.

White.

Adam gasped as he felt something impact his stomach, sending him crashing into the wall behind him. He heard Blake shout out his name, but he had no time to process that before a hand suddenly grasped at his collar and pulled him up.

Winter Schnee gave him a cold look.

Glancing to the side, Adam saw that his attack had missed. Right as he released it, Winter must have protected Jax at the last second somehow. Blake and Ilia must not have been able to react to her appearance in time, and even now, were staring at her in shock at the sudden arrival.

"Raaaaaagggghhhhh!"

Stabbing her blade into the ground, the entire floor was covered by a white glyph. In response, an entire army of white Grimm suddenly emerged and filled the warehouse. It was a number that should have been impossible had she not been empowered with enough Aura to boost the effects of her summoning. Adam could only cry out in horror as both Blake and Ilia were overwhelmed by dozens of Grimm.

"Enough!"

And suddenly, he found himself on the floor. An oppressive force unlike anything he had felt before was pressing down on his back as if gravity had multiplied tenfold. Adam was unable to struggle even as he caught sight of Blake and Ilia out of the corner of his eye also caught in the attack.

Jax stood before him with an infuriated expression.

"You were close," he said. "Closer than I ever expected from anyone. And even though I wish nothing more than to take hold of your spirit and crush it under my grasp, that makes you more useful than I could have ever bargained for." Jax finally gave out a cruel smile. "But in the end, you were still unable to take me down."

The last thing Adam felt was a hand on his head before he fell unconscious.


Honestly, I had a few reservations with this chapter which is why I released it so late. I originally intended to have the White Fang not realize the danger of Jax and accidentally get controlled by him until I realized that Sienna already knew about Jax since the Argus arc.

If you recall from Argus (34), Sienna already knew that the Crown was bad news when it was revealed that they were the ones who helped Merlot become successful. Based on that, Adam and the others would become immediately suspicious of him once they learn who they were dealing with. Hopefully, it didn't seem out of the blue how Adam and the others were able to figure out that Jax had a mind control Semblance.