Chapter 34 – Menagerie – Kuo Kuana


As the bullhead cruised over the warm clear blue waters of the Shallow Sea between Anima and Menagerie, Garek pondered how dramatically two weeks had changed his ability to get places.

In the copilot's seat, currently flying the state-of-the art bullhead, was Crystal, one-time refugee of Southern Mistral, one-time bandit, and nominal bodyguard for Selene. Reggie/BA sat in the Pilot's seat, closely monitoring her actions, which she called out prior to taking each one, not that there was much to do at altitude over the open sea.

Unless of course, they ran into aerial Grimm, which was unlikely here compared to over land or in the oceans surrounding the Grimmlands.

The bullhead was really something. Sleek, and newly painted a matte black, with large white lettering informing the viewer that it was property of Vacuo Express Transport Leasing, Co. The cockpit was the latest tech, according to Reggie, who'd nearly salivated when it had landed at his newly-built landing pad just outside Argus near Springhill, which was already increasing in size due to the construction and staffing he'd been putting into his new facilities just outside the village. It also included some rather nasty defensive and offensive capabilities, which Reggie had managed to get his old friend Richmond to help out with.

Helena Nikos had been at the helm when it arrived from Atlas, and Garek didn't see anything wrong with her piloting at all. Selene had been overjoyed to see her, and the two had greeted each other warmly. Cinder missed that particular reunion, since she along with Sarah Tourmaline had started classes at Sanctum earlier that week, but Helena had promised to bring 8yo Pyrrha by the Emporium and to visit Selene at the Townhouse as often as possible. Which was good, since he was likely going to be gone for at least a week and it would keep them occupied.

Next to Garek sat Sophia/GNU, tapping away on her portable workstation that she'd designed herself to fit into a customized briefcase. She was currently working offline, she'd explained, but it didn't stop her from running localized analysis. According to her, Polendina's team and hers (Consisting of just her and Terra at the moment) had finished the first round of firmware and hardware diagnostics of the last three generations of CCT mainboards and peripheral boards, and she was buried up to her narrow glasses in data to review. By the sour look on her face, she was finding a lot to dislike.

Garek knew better to interrupt here, considering that he #1 would probably just irritate her, and #2 probably wouldn't understand what the hell she was talking about until she'd had a few days to dumb it down for the rest of the LH crew.

So he gazed out the window and thought about the most recent call he'd had with Lionheart, when they'd stopped over briefly in Mistral City to refuel and rest.

Something there had changed. Lionheart's face looked more lined than ever, and his eyes had a haunted tinge to them. He was clearly a man with his back against the wall, terrified of making a misstep, and unsure who he could trust.

Garek had listened as the Headmaster discussed the various issues at Haven Academy with the newest crop of Huntsmen and Huntresses in training, and his concerns about the safety of those already serving across Mistral. He'd inquired carefully about Garek's health, and whether he was taking active contracts. He seemed relieved to learn Garek was mostly focusing on other business and was planning a visit to Menagerie instead.

Several times, Garek could see that the conversation started to veer toward something having to do with Haven Academy or with Lionheart himself, and the man would pause, look slightly panicked, and change the subject.

"Headmaster, if you ever need me, just let me know. I've got my own transport on call now. It's a sweet bullhead we're leasing, and I can be in Haven in a few hours from Argus."

"Thank you, Garek, I appreciate that." And he really did seem to be mulling something over along those lines. "But you'll be in Menagerie for the next week or so?"

"That's right. Heck I might even stop by and say hello on the way back."

"I… I might take you up on that."

"Good. Headmaster, I know I've said it before, but you can rely on me. You're not on your own out here."

Throw out the bait. See how shiny it is. Think about taking that bait. Doesn't even have a hook in it.

And again, that wary look. A look that said, Do you know something Huntsman? Something dangerous?

Instead, Lionheart had thanked him after a few moments, and ended the call quickly.


A half hour later, Garek could see the shores of Menagerie coming up fast. The bullhead had been cruising at maximum altitude. Mostly so that if something went wrong, Reggie would have maximum time available to take over piloting and recover. Crystal was still in training, after all, but apparently already had her simulator hours in.

The small continent that emerged from distance haze was a rough elongated shape, with a large interior desert, skirted first by a rugged range of mountains and then outside that a lush, rolling landscape of hills dotted with tropical vegetation that gradually transitioned to either steep cliffs or white, sandy dunes and beaches. Several larger islands dotted its shores, including one to the north of the continent and one to the west that rivaled Patch in size, but these were all nominally uninhabited. Most of the small continent was, he knew, even taking into account the dangerous desert crawling with Grimm. The issue wasn't technically a lack of habitable land, It was a much simpler problem.

Lack of Huntsmen to keep any settlements clear and the Grimm population down.

Which was, frankly, not a simple problem at all. There was an entire network of infrastructure required to attract and keep a community of Huntsmen in their 20s through 30s.

But what it did mean was that the population of Menagerie, outside any bandits, rebels, or other secret enclaves, was largely clustered densely in a single large, sheltered valley on the northern coast. And that settlement, whether you called it a small city or a large town, was Kuo Kuana, the only major settlement and capitol of Faunus-kind in Remnant.

He watched as it slowly came into focus as they neared and decreased elevation, against the backdrop of the mountain range to its south that divided it from the deserts beyond.

He found himself… disappointed.

Garek, like Sophia and most Faunus who had lived their lives in the four major Kingdoms, had never visited Menagerie, they had only heard about it. And what they heard was that it was welcoming, safe, crowded, backward, and poor. Garek had hoped that most of that had been exaggerated.

It didn't appear to be so. From the air, the city sprawled out in a web of hard-packed streets, wooden buildings, and dense markets. Few buildings appeared to be made of stone or cement, and none were taller than three stories that he could see. On top of that, only the harbor, which apparently heavily catered to tourism, featured a significant amount of paved surfaces. The most significant building that he could see was a large multistory wooden building, in a sort of tropically-adapted Mistralian style, perched in a well-tended square on a hilltop in the middle of the city. He guessed, with some confidence, that this was the publicly-maintained residence of the current Chieftain of Menagerie, Perine Ursulus.

Overall, he felt some of his earlier confidence flee. This wasn't what he thought he'd be facing here. He'd apparently been spoiled with his frequent visits to Argus and Mistral growing up and into adulthood, and this just didn't feel like the capitol of a kingdom, compared to Mistral or Atlas.

No wonder they look down on Menageries as an equal. It's not equal to the other Kingdoms.

"Not what you expected?" Sophia said, interrupting his thoughts.

"Rude awakening."

"It's not their… our fault, you know. Atlas maneuvered the Faunus into accepting this as a 'gift'. A sign of their magnanimity." She scowled. "And then left us without any resources to do what was needed to actually settle it." She adjusted her glasses. "I've read the history, and some of the White Fang pamphlets, maybe more than you. Considering the level of poverty that most Faunus had to face to convince them leaving the four Kingdoms was the smart thing to do, they've achieved a lot there."

Garek glanced at her, and saw a hint of defiance. Good. Yeah. That's… what we need. "You're right. It just surprised me."

"Yeah, I get it. Me too, to be honest." She glared at her screen. "And that's what we're here to do something about, right? For example, the fact that we're less than a mile offshore and I still can't get a gods-be-damned signal. I'm surprised they can communicate with Mistral's CCT repeaters on Anima's southern shore at all, frankly."

Sophia's attitude bolstered Garek a little. "Yeah. Right. That's why we're here. That's something we can fix."

"Baby steps, Garek. Baby steps."

A click from the cockpit interrupted them. "This is your Captain Speaking. I'm taking over landing protocols now and we'll be setting down at the metro bullhead port in about thirty minutes. Make sure you guys are secured, and GNU's super-awesome workstation is stowed so she doesn't lose any data and pout for the next five days." Click.

"You know I can year you if you just talk from that seat, right?" Sophia yelled back. "And fuck you, by the way. I don't pout."

"Anyone ever told you that you have a potty mouth?" Garek smirked as he checked his straps.

"It's part of my fucking charm." Sophia said. "It tends to put people who expect a female, faunus, techie to be meek and awkward off balance right from the start, and I need every edge I can get."

Garek laughed, and lifted a hand defensively. "Fair. Fair."

She glared back a the cockpit once more, and began packing up her gear.


The bullhead landing pads were included in the few fully paved areas of the city. No one liked to have sandblasted buildings from one landing nearby on packed soil. The buildings, however, were the standard wooden structures. Customs was perfunctory, especially once they showed their invitation letter from Chieftain Ursulus, and the fact that their two crew members were at least apparently human didn't raise any eyebrows. It did take several hours to arrange transport, warehouse storage, and nominal security for the crates of rather bulky gear they'd brought with them. The larger surprise was the fact that the ground transport was one of only what they were informed was a dozen dust-driven motorized lorries in the entire city.

Sophia finally stopped bitching about lack of signal once they landed, and started bitching about bandwidth.

Well, that's something, at least.

A less welcome surprise was the cost of dust to refuel the bullhead and for the warehouse transport. It was at least four times the price they'd have paid in Haven or Argus.

Once that was taken care of, they were able to obtain transportation for themselves to their hotel, which had come recommended by Ursulus. The transport turned out to be a nicely-appointed horse-drawn trolley, and the hotel was a decent place named rather uncreatively The Menagerie Hotel. They weren't supposed to meet with Ursulus until the next day, so they managed to spend some time relaxing and touring the harbor areas after they finished settling in.

"Wow," Crystal said. "This place is like a paradise!" They were walking through a bustling open-air market. The press of mostly faunus-kind was pretty impressive as they milled happily among stalls. Further down the slope, they could see that a portion of the market descend down into the water, and clearly aquatic or semi-aquatic faunus manned stalls in waist-deep clear water, or swam through the lanes between them. Others walked on elevated walkways around and through the area.

Her exclamation shifted Garek's perception with a lurch, and he felt some of his earlier sourness dissipate. He realized that, sure, these people didn't have the level of technology and wealth that you'd find in Atlas or Mistral, but they didn't have the extremes of suffering and poverty either, from what he had seen. And most of them seemed happy.

He did notice a few street kids, but even they didn't look as miserable and starving as he'd seen in Mistral. Doesn't mean they aren't here, though, he mused. He also noticed that only a tiny minority of the citizens gave Reggie and Crys dirty looks. That also was promising for his future plans.

Of course, this is the tourist district, closer to the harbor. Things might be different elsewhere.


The next day, they opted to walk to the Chieftain's Residence. Apparently few people used the trolleys unless they had some reason they couldn't walk, or had too many items to carry with them.

"That explains why everyone is so fit," Reggie muttered. "I should have brought more comfortable shoes instead of my heavy boots."

"I should have brought a bathing suit!" Crystal added, laughing.

"No reason you can't buy one here."

"Huh… no I guess not." She eyed the other three. "But I'm not swimming alone. Who's with me?"

"Not me," Sophia said. "I go from pasty to lobster in fifteen seconds. There's a reason I spend my life underground." Garek snorted.

"I'll go with you." Reggie sighed. "You and me will mostly be idle here while these two do the heavy lifting, assuming no one tries to assassinate us."

They'd actually gone over security needs with Ursulus before departing, and he'd assured them that the risks were nearly zero. Of course, that might change once word got out what they planned, but that wouldn't be for months.

The Chief's Residence was set in a large cleared courtyard on the hilltop. A paved square ran around it, and the nominal half basement/foundation was stone, with a broad staircase leading up to what was functionally the first floor. The main structure itself was, like most of the buildings in Kuo Kuana, wooden sided and tiled with brown wooden shakes.

Climbing the steps, they were greeted by what appeared to be two ceremonial guards, who knew who they were. One summoned a servant while the other chatted amiably with them.

"Friendly folks," Reggie whispered to Sophia.

"Good hearing, too," the guard laughed, pointing at two fox-like ears.

"Ahh, sorry."

"Nothing to apologize for. You're right. Most folks here are pretty friendly, even to humans." His smile narrowed a little, "Depending of course on who you're associated with back in the Kingdoms."

Well, that wasn't surprising. Reggie couldn't imagine them being very happy with, for example, an SDC Rep, especially with the Dust prices being so high.

The servant returned, and escorted them inside the entrance hall. The walls were wooden on the lower half and a cream plaster on the upper. Plants and comfortable décor were scattered throughout the large room. From there, they were led up a set of stairs and down a hallway, and entered a warmly appointed room lined with bookcases.

Near the back in a slightly elevated marble-floored alcove, they found the man they had come to see. Chieftain Perine Ursulus sat comfortably in an oversized chair behind the well-worn desk, smiling neutrally at them as they entered. Several padded chairs had been placed in front of the desk, and the older but hale-looking bear-faunus waved them to sit down.

At first glance, Garek would have put him in his fifties or sixties, but it was possible he was older than that. He was stocky but didn't have the build of a fighter.

"Please! Make yourselves comfortable. You've come a long way, eh?" He gestured to the servant. "Have drinks and some cakes brought up, please." He looked at them. "Coffee, tea, and water okay?"

No one objected and they took the proffered seats. Ursulus gazed at each of them carefully for a few minutes, and then leaned comfortably back in his chair, round ears alert. "So… I received the packet you sent to me by courier. I assume there's a reason you didn't just send all this," he gestured to a small stack of papers on his desk, "electronically?"

Sophia nodded. "We're being careful about electronic communications. And remedying that is one of the reasons for our visit as well."

"I see. Very… mysterious." Servants returned with trays bearing carafes, glasses, and mugs and set them on a side table. Ursulus waved them away. "Won't surprise you youngsters, that I did a little homework on you."

"No sir."

"Mhm. Huntsman Garek Grae, leopard faunus registered out of Haven only six years ago and suddenly jetting around Remnant wishing to meet with me." He tilted his head.

"And Sophia Keene, gazelle faunus and owner of her own relatively new business with some rather impressive claims regarding communications and technology services… several years after having been fired from the Argus relay tower." Sophia's eyes glittered at that, but she merely nodded.

"And Mr. Cass, former Atlas," he nearly spat that word, "Specialist and now running his own private security firm out of Mistral. And I assume Ms. Crystal Evergreen here is your employee?"

"You've been thorough, Chief," Reggie replied.

"And I've found no evidence that you are an agent of the Atlas military or intelligence services, nor that you have any affiliation with the Schnee Dust Company." Ursulus frowned. "Which just means that if it's there, I can't find it, not that it doesn't exist."

"Chief Ursulus-" Garek began.

"Bah, don't take it personally, Huntsman, Mr. Cass isn't. Are you Mr. Cass?"

"No sir. I suspect we both have reasons to be pissed off at the Atlas power structure."

Ursulus' lined face broke into a broad smile. "Now that was an honest response, or a very good mask." He waved again. "Enough of that, I didn't have you fly all the way here from halfway around Remnant to grill you or insult you. Let's grab some drinks and you can tell me what you kids are actually up to, and why you were willing to come all the way to Menagerie just to talk to an unimportant old man like me."

They gathered drinks and cakes. Garek was the first to speak. "Sir, the fact is you aren't unimportant. And frankly we think that you are the leader of one of the most critical Kingdoms in Remnant."

The momentary surprise on Ursulus' face was quickly suppressed. "Now, Huntsman, you've already gotten your meeting. There's no need to start sweet-talking me. I can't imagine what you would want from me that would warrant it." He took a drink of tea, frowned and added a little more sugar. "You already have access to resources I could only dream of. For example, what's in all those crates in the warehouse you rented?"

"That's part of the discussion, Chief," Sophia interjected. "We have reason to believe that the current state of Remnant's Kingdoms isn't nearly as stable as it looks, and we really do think that Menagerie can be the key to shoring up that stability in a way that dramatically helps Menagerie, allows us to survive any near-term catastrophe, and improves the lot of faunus-kind Remnant-wide."

Ursulus' ears had both tilted toward her as she spoke, and the man eased himself back even further in his chair. "Those are… bold words. And frankly hard to believe." He stood, walked over to a cabinet and brought out another set of glasses and a bottle of amber liquid, poured himself a glass, and set the rest on his desk within arms-reach of his visitors. "Your documents went into a little detail about what your capabilities were, and told me you were interested in discussing business opportunities in Menagerie. That alone, frankly… we're desperate for any technology-based industry here, especially faunus-run businesses. That alone would have gotten you this meeting." He took another drink. "This… I assume you are able to show me some basis for what you're saying? You're not just blowing smoke up an old faunus' ass?"

"No, Chief." Garek said. "We're willing to disclose as much as we can, safely, but we'll need your permission to sweep the room for devices first." He nodded to Sophia, who brought several items from the case she'd brought with her.

Ursulus blinked. "Alright. Go head, young lady. But tell me what you're doing. I doubt you're going to blow up the building with all of you in it, or that I'm worth assassinating. Faunus terrorists wouldn't go running around with an Atlas Specialist."

"Exactly. This device," She pulled out a hand-sized cube with several dials, lights, and a small screen on it, activated it, and fiddled with the dials before smiling, "interferes with any listening or recording devices. All they'll record is some random mumbling." She pulled out what looked like a set of ornate goggles. "And this will allow me to detect any cameras." She put them on, looking like some strange alien, and scanned the room. After a moment she paused. "You're aware of the camera embedded in that sculpture on top of your bookshelf?"

Ursulus barked a laugh. "Well, well, well. You did come prepared. Yes that's my personal device. You want me to disable it?"

"Please. We'd rather not risk electronic recordings of any sort. Some people can read lips, for example." Ursulus tapped at his scroll, and nodded. "Very well, Chief Ursulus, what we are about to tell you is known in full to less than a dozen people on Remnant, outside the direct adversaries. We're going to ask you to keep an open mind."

They'd debated for over a week regarding how much to tell the Chieftain of Menagerie. They'd dug into electronic communications records and his background and the history of the position. They'd looked at Menagerie's business dealings with the other Kingdoms. And they'd dug into Selene's notes regarding the Grimm-allied Agents activities. And in the end, they'd all reached the same conclusion.

Menagerie wasn't deemed important enough, to anyone, to justify putting resources into co-opting its ruler, monitoring its communications, and sowing chaos there. At least not anytime soon.

They were 99% sure that they could give Ursulus what they'd taken to calling the "Partial Truth".

It took two hours, with multiple breaks where he asked pointed questions. Finally they wound down. He looked troubled and intrigued. "So you're saying that this… dark cabal is working to coordinate some future catastrophic event, that will likely include shutting down world-wide communications and the Grimm attacking in some coordinated way."

"And likely, from what we can tell, also neutralizing a significant portion of Atlas' defensive and offensive capabilities," Reggie added.

"Which, frankly, I wouldn't give a rats ass about, if it weren't for the other two issues." Reggie shrugged. It was a lot to ask the ruler of Menagerie to care about the Atlas elites. "And you don't have any idea the end-purpose of all this, or the timing?"

Sophia shook her head, her dark eyes intent. "We have some theories, but we aren't willing to share those, not until we have actual proof. And we can't actually take any actions to directly counter any of this right now…"

"Because if we reveal our awareness, we'll become direct targets, and they will likely get even more destructive and creative, instead of giving up," Garek finished. "We're still trying to build up our own defensive capabilities, we can't even protect ourselves yet if that happens, much less anyone else."

"And you're working, at least somewhat, with the Atlas military establishment." Ursulus lifted a hand. "Oh don't deny it. I can read between the lines based on what you told me, and that plus that fancy transport of yours… well most would just overlook it, but I've got a particular history with Atlas." Reggie and Garek looked at each other, frowning. "You're worried your enemies'll reach the same conclusion? Eh, what do I know. It's not like you're going to sit in their office and tell them what you just told me." He sipped his whiskey. "So that tells me what you're doing in general." He placed the drink down and leaned forward. "What do you want from me? From Menagerie?"

"Oh, that's more straightforward," Garek said. "I want to build a Combat School here, and eventually a fifth Huntsman Academy."

He nodded to Sophia, who continued smoothly, "And I intend to build a fully functional backup CCT Tower that masquerades as a simple Relay." She sat back with a crooked smile, like they'd said they planned to walk down to the beach.

Menagerie Chieftain Perine Ursulus sat so still that, had his ears not been twitching, they would have been concerned he'd died. A tiny bit of whiskey dribbled from one corner of his mouth before he blinked and wiped it off. "You… you… there's no way you can manage that." He waved his hands around wildly. "We don't have the resources, the costs alone, and finding someone to lead a Combat School, much less an Academy, getting the other Academies to endorse it, a Headmaster for it that would be willing to buck the Kingdoms…"

Garek grinned like a shark. "I can't make any guarantees, Chief, but I can tell you that I've already taken steps to secure a potential headmaster for you. He may still turn us down, but if he doesn't turn us down immediately, I'm willing to bet my ears that he'll be ready by the time the Combat School opens its doors." He took a long drink. "Not to mention the amount of charitable funding I think he could help us bring in."

"You're insane!"

"Certifiable, yeah."

"My leopard-eared associate has been… uniquely talented in pulling off insane bullshit plans." Sophia said, with a smile. "Chief Ursulus, we're not asking you to do anything, not even pony up funds from Menagerie's budget. We're trying to stop a catastrophe, and we think Menagerie is a key part of that, and we're willing to sink our expertise, time, and safety into this, in a way that puts Kuo Kuana on a level footing with the other four Kingdoms, albeit on the sly." She glanced at Garek, who continued.

"We just need you to play along, and facilitate the decisions required to get space and hide the sources of materials and funding as much as possible. We'll need some sort of charitable organization in Menagerie to serve as a front, for example, for the CCT 'relay' construction so that Sophia here just becomes the contractor making it happen. And I'll be leading the push for a Combat School. Gods know Remnant needs as many pre-Academy programs as possible. Nobody is going to question another Combat School, right up until they realize that the facilities we're building are maybe a little more advanced, a little higher capacity, than shown on the original designs."

"My gods…" Ursulus breathed, "They'll build a statue in my honor."

"We'll name the first housing wing after you, sir," Garek grinned.

Ursulus started to laugh, went into a coughing fit, and then took another long pull of his drink and stood. "I don't know how, but I actually believe you kids really intend to pull this off."

"Oh, not just that. How do you feel about the world's first aquatic-based Huntsman training program?"

The old man's eyes bulged. "You… need to stop before you give me a heart attack and you have to explain this entire insane clown show to the next ruler of Menagerie."

"Point made, sir. Any other questions for us?"

"None. Not a damn one." He rubbed his face. "I'm going to take a few hours to absorb this, or maybe get drunk, and then I'm going to start thinking about locations for…. My gods…. For a CCT 'relay' and a future Huntsman Academy…. A Huntsman Academy… in Menagerie." His eyes were bright. "We'll tame this continent, Huntsman. We'll tame it, and we'll be a shining beacon for Faunus everywhere." He took a deep breath. "Get the hell out of my study. Go get a tan or something. I'll call you tomorrow and we can talk some more."


Back at the hotel's open-air bar, the four sat together, gazing over the beautiful bay. "Well…" Crystal ventured, "did that go as well as it seemed to?"

"Couldn't have asked for more, but really, we aren't asking him to do much. It's all reward, low risk for him," Garek replied.

"Still could have laughed us out of his office," Reggie added happily. Dude was a born pessimist.

"Yeah." Garek said, and Reggie chuckled.

Sophia eyeballed her faunus friend. "So… only real question is, what are we going to do if… Huntsman Teacher Candidate Number One turns you down, Garek?"

Garek paused, beer halfway to his mouth, and stared off into space for a minute before shrugging. "Fuck if I know, we'll just have to wing it," and he tilted the beer up, killing it and ordered another.

Sophia rolled her eyes, and handed a fifty lien note to Reggie. "You called it, Reggie."

"Next round's on me."


[A/N] Hope you enjoyed our first foray into Menagerie and Kuo Kuana. Chieftain Perine Ursulus is an OC of mine, and I feel like this chapter is the first one in a while that really progresses the overall efforts to counter Watts' future bullshittery. Time will tell if they are able to pull it off! Expect a few more chapters bouncing between Argus, Menagerie, and Haven.