chapter 5: Operation Snowblind

Cliff

"No fucking way."

Was this someone trolling, or did we really have a point of contact in Donetsk? Carefully,

word-by-word, I read the comment again.

Hello, I am in Donetsk and I meet her. This is not Princess Anastasia, this is Weiss Schnee

(of RWBY) cosplayer. She is very lost and think she actually Weiss Schnee. If anyone know

about who this, would be very helpful. Internet very infrequent in Donetsk but I try to reply.

My first thought was just to fire off an email right there.

But what do I say? Hi, I'm in Canada and we have Ruby Rose over here, please bring Weiss

over here so we can ship some White Rose? Hey, hold tight as the city crumbles around you,

we'll be right there to pick you up? Meet you halfway, please pack up Myrtenaster for

shipping?

Shit. I'm really bad at communicating with people, especially just before dinner. I flicked

my mouse to the systray and opened Skype, sending a text message with a link to the

comment to Sam.

Cliff Leblanc: /watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ, fifteen comments or so down

Sam The Greek: this real?

Cliff Leblanc: Check it.

Sam The Greek: seems legit

Cliff Leblanc: Sarcasm or no?

Sam The Greek: both?

Cliff Leblanc: This is serious!

Sam The Greek: yeah, yeah, I know

Sam The Greek: you should send a response

Cliff Leblanc: I don't know what to say.

Cliff Leblanc: You do it.

Sam The Greek: fine, what do I say

Cliff Leblanc: Up to you. I have no idea, but we need to get contact with him.

Cliff Leblanc: If this is real, he could help us get Weiss back here.

Cliff Leblanc: But don't reveal too much, beacuase NSA

Sam The Greek: nsa lol

Sam The Greek: yeah, ill do it

"Cliff-kun, supper ready!" Uncle Fujimori called from the kitchen, interrupting our

conversation. Hopefully dinner wouldn't be shit this time.

"I'll be there in a minute!" I shouted back, hammering out a quick message.

Cliff Leblanc: Gotta go to dinner. Try to get the guys together tonight, this is urgent.

Sam

"So, what exactly is so important that we had to get together in Metrotown an hour before

the mall closes?" Ben asked, irritated. I couldn't say I blamed him.

"You didn't explain?" Cliff hissed at me.

"Weiss Schnee," I stated.

"What about her, what about her? Can we get her yet?" Ruby asked hopefully.

"Hold on," I said, holding up my hand. "Okay, a couple of hours ago, Cliff sends me this

thing over Skype. It's a comment on the original Princess Anastasia Video. Someone in

Donetsk, a RWBY fan, found Weiss. He thinks she's a confused cosplayer."

"Well, this makes things easier," Isaac pointed out, quickly adding, "If it's legitimate."

"I sent an email. Just before I left for the mall, I got this reply," I said, then read out the

message in its entirety.

"Is very bad situation. Maybe real Weiss, she kill soldiers. Say they are special regiment

send to get her, she not let, kill with sword. In danger. Try to Kiev. Katya out."

"You think it's legit?" Ben asked.

"He seems to be honest," I replied. "I have no way of confirming it, but I've asked him to

send a picture or-"

"He's a she," Cliff pointed out.

"What?" I asked.

"Katya's a girl's name," he replied. "I think. Then again, it is Russian, which is weird."

"Ukrainian," Isaac corrected.

"Nope, almost certainly Russian. Donetsk is Russian-speaking-"

"That's why they're mad!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Yes, Ruby, that's why they're mad."

I cleared my throat. "Okay, I think she is legitimate. What do you think?"

Cliff shrugged. "Why lie?"

Jen added, "I agree. There's no point! I just don't see there being anything to gain by faking

this."

"Maybe they're trying to draw us out?"

"Who's they?" Cliff said, shrugging again. "The government? Government isn't evil here. If

anyone even noticed, it was probably some desk jockey who dismissed the whole thing as a

joke after a quick Google search."

"Extortion?" I asked.

Cliff shook his head. "From who?"

"Let's assume this is legitimate," I said. "So how does this affect our plans?"

"What plans?" Cliff snarked cynically.

"We don't have to go to Donetsk," Jen replied. "That makes things a lot easier and a lot

safer."

"That is if Katya can get Weiss to Kyiv," I added.

"Yes. It would make things a lot easier, but we can't rely on that. Still, if she can get Weiss

out of Donbass at least, that would make this much easier."

"We still gotta get her out of the country," Cliff added.

"I know," I replied. "Have you figured out the passports yet?"

"No," he admitted.

"Okay, we're gonna need to communicate and coordinate with Katya," I said. "I hope she

has a phone. I'm going to try to get her number."

"So, who's on the ground team?" Cliff asked after a pause. "Shotty not."

"We already talked about Ruby," I replied. "I'd rather not do it, but I can probably get by

even if I miss a week of classes."

"I'm working," Ben said immediately.

"I can probably take some time off for this," Isaac said.

"You'll probably fail out of your program," Cliff told him.

He shrugged. "Whatever."

"I can get time off," Jen replied. "Classes I'd rather not miss, but I can recover. If nobody

else can go, I will."

"So, myself, Jen, and Isaac?" I concluded. I received nods in reply.

"So, what's our timeline?" Jen asked. "Still one week?"

"One week if we can swing it," I replied. "We leave for Poland tomorrow if there's a flight.

Then it's a train to Kyiv, that's maybe a day-"

"A train?" Isaac asked. "I thought we were driving."

"Do you have a driver's license that's valid in Poland and the Ukraine?" I asked rhetorically.

"No, it'll be easier to get past the border this way too. So by Wednesday we're in Kyiv. We

meet Katya, pick up Weiss, get her a fake passport. Should be able to take a train home and

fly out by the end of the weekend."

"That's less than a week," Cliff observed.

"I know. We have extra time in case we run into trouble and have to go further east, or if

getting a passport for Weiss takes a long time. Speaking of which, do you have a source

yet?"

"I'm, uh, still working on that," Cliff admitted.

I turned to Isaac. "Did you get the money yet?"

"You're asking me to ask someone who isn't actually rich to dump thousands of dollars into

a shaky and scammy sounding scheme," Isaac replied quietly.

I repeated, "Isaac, did you get the money yet?"

He sighed. "Monty said that he'll see what he can do, but he wants to see a decent plan

first."

"I can respect that," Cliff muttered.

I nodded. "Agreed. We're gonna give him one by the end of the night, and hope for the

best."

Quietly, Isaac asked, "What do we call this thing?"

"Operation Fall Weiss!" Ruby shouted out.

There was a deathly silence. Finally, Cliff snarked, "Why don't you just call it Operation

Invade Poland?"

"Uh..."

"Fall Weiss," Cliff repeated. "Plan White. Nazi codename for the invasion of Poland, 1939.

Seriously, why would you even suggest that?"

"Well, because it's fall, which is a season like winter, and Weiss is like the snow princess

which makes me think of winter, and fall is before winter, and we're going to get Weiss,

and-"

"You know what, forget it, I'm not going to pretend to understand your logic," Cliff

dismissed. "But we still need a name."

"We don't need a name," Ben disagreed.

"Yeah we do," I countered.

"How about Operation Snowblind?" Jen suggested.

"Snowblind?" I muttered. "That sounds good. Any objections?"

There were none. "Good. Let's get Operation Snowblind on the road."