"Uh, right, I see... please, give me a moment, Commander Betula..." Velinn felt a little odd needing to use that prefix with that name. He raised his hands, his eyes occasionally shifting from the maw-like entrance of the mine and the troop of Rangers who have now assembled before it. There were fifteen or so, and while Mrs. Betula was obviously their commanding officer, two other Ranger women were standing next to her, as if they were close. One was fairly short, with black hair in a shoulder-length bob cut, and her back carried a short spear with a Dust canister strapped to the tip. The other towered even over the businessman - her long, flowing dark hair with reddish tips reached her waist and her toned muscles were only barely contained by the Ranger uniform. "First of all... what is the meaning of this? I don't know who managed to contact you, but-"
"Wasn't it your own office?" Reza suddenly interrupted him, getting Velinn to pause.
"I'm sorry?"
"The call came from your office, as I was informed. Since it was a feminine voice on the other side, we assumed that it was your assistant, or an employee - was it not?"
What?
That means that this wasn't Firre pulling some shenanigans and inadvertently tearing his plans apart. None of his company's employees would dare to call the Rangers, either, they were all informed about what was going on... A third actor involved? But who? And what are they doing here? Velinn sent a glance to the mine depths over his shoulder. Past the rail which led downwards and was used by carts hauling Dust, a layer of fog had set in, obscuring the battle. Whatever was taking place down there, it had gone silent - so, Velinn had no way to know what state their plan was in.
It made him feel so helpless, and he hated it. This always happens when he's not fully in control...
"Look, fine..." Velinn said, his hands gesturing down. Time to start crafting a tale, as usual. "I did not want to involve the authorities in this, because I assumed we would be able to handle it - but yes, we got attacked. Out of nowhere, too."
"Mhm..." Reza answered. From her pocket, she pulled out a notepad - paper, sadly, she wasn't able to bring her bulky Parchment with her on the bike ride. "Alright. We'll move in, everyone, get your weapons ready. Can you describe the instigator to me, quickly?"
However, the businessman suddenly interjected. "Wait, wait, what is this, military occupation? I didn't give you permission to move in to my property."
He couldn't allow the Rangers in yet. Through any means necessary. Hearing Velinn's rebuttal, Ashen tapped her finger on her chin, losing herself in thought out of nowhere, whereas Reza glared at Velinn with a stare that almost made it seem that she popped a blood vessel.
"...Excuse me? How are we supposed to resolve anything if we can't enter?"
"I... well... you see..."
From her expression, it didn't seem like she was buying it. After an exasperated sigh, Reza said:
"You have a duty to cooperate with the Ranger Corps, Mr. Flare. What happened on your property?"
"Well... we had a guest today, or rather, we were supposed to. As it turns out, someone was gunning for him, perhaps tracking down his movement until he was finally isolated, and then attacked. We tried to stop that man, but-"
Before Velinn could finish his speech, Ashen suddenly stepped past her commanding officer, eyes set on the entrance of the mine. "Firre is in there," she declared, immediately getting the attention of everyone around her.
Wait, what?
"Wait, what?" Reza's words echoed Velinn's frightened thoughts. While he was baffled at how the black-haired woman could have instantly figured out what was taking place on his property, the officer was simply lost. Ashen turned around and said:
"He told me about this not that long ago. That he'll go meet Mr. Flare - remember, the investigation into slave hunting rings that we did before our graduation? It was gonna be something about that, and he suspected that his visit at Mr. Flare will be a trap, too - but he said he'll be heading there anyway. If that's the case, then he needs our help!"
"How dare you, I-"
Velinn's yell was interrupted by Ashen spreading her hands to the sides and summoning her Aura wings, then taking off. One flap, then another - and she already disappeared within the snaking rocky caves of the mining site.
"Ashen! Wait for me!" Yche yelled and ran after her. A few Rangers joined her and stormed past Velinn - who held up his hand in faint defiance but stopped short of taking off after them.
He wasn't sure what he even could say at this point. Instinctively, he raised his hands in defence - it wasn't like he had any chance of outrunning fighters trained in Aura. Everything was... going so much worse than expected...
What poor luck...
"So, then - a trap?" Reza, left alone with the remaining troops, repeated, with a slightly haughtier tone. That's the Betula he knew.
"I have no idea what they're talking about, Commander."
Though the Sumire Mines dug deep into the mountain range, the insides of the complex were surprisingly well-lit - a large cavern dug out by hands and machinery alike snaked deeper into the depths of the earth, illuminated by gaseous Dust lamps hanging from the damp ceiling above. Not long after flying into the mine, Ashen was forced to slow down and then land, doing so with a roll next to the rail track in the centre of the cavern. A thick misty shroud of water vapor permeated the mine, making it too dangerous to fly.
What the...
Since the steam hadn't collected on the rocks and soil as droplets yet, it must be very recent - so, it had to be something related to the fight which Velinn mentioned. Following the direction of the rails, Ashen ran into the mist.
Oh- oh gods. Oh gods. This is terrible. It was hot, really hot, and moist. Steam was settling on her hair and skin; the first annoyingly itchy trails of sweat began to run past her nose; the thickness of the fog, and its painful heat, meant that she had to narrow her eyes just to keep running. Her boots tapped against puddles of water in between the crevices and cracks in the soil, splashing them aside. Strands of her hair, weighed down by the moistness, were gluing themselves to her forehead... itchy... really itchy...
If it wasn't for her friend, she'd have dived out and let someone else lead the way long ago.
"Firre! Firre!"
Because of the steam, she could not see much further - soon, everything around her was shrouded in a seemingly endless sea of gray, and had it not been for the rail line trailing along, she'd have instantly gotten lost. Even if Firre was here, how was she supposed to find him in these conditions? She'd have to wait for the mist to clear, and who knows how long that will take? It was still superheated, and it's not like she can expect wind to blow almost a hundred meters underground. All the while she had no idea whether her friend was in danger or not...
So, Ashen summoned her wings again, growing her as wide as possible - each of the wings grew to be longer than her entire body, twice. She dug her boots into the earth, and then flapped - each stroke of the Aura wings blew away massive amounts of steam, mist and even dust collected on the ground and rocks. After a few more flaps, the gust revealed Firre - kneeling on the ground, holding himself up with his sword in one hand while blocking his eyes from the torrent of steam with the other.
Even from a distance, she could tell that he was not in good condition. That burn on his chest had to hurt like hell. The prince's reaction was more baffled than Ashen imagined, he muttered out:
"A-Ashen...?"
"Firre!"
Ashen ran up to Firre and grabbed him by the shoulders, pulling him up and immediately blurting out to his face:
"What happened?! We got a report, there was a call from here, it said people were fighting, it was crazy, and I remembered that you told me you will be going down to visit Velinn Flare and we both decided that he might make it into a trap, and then..."
"Why are you here?" Firre's sudden response stopped her in the middle of her sentence. She didn't expect that question either. After a second of stammering, Ashen finally formulated something:
"I-What do you mean...?"
Firre stepped back, getting his friend to let go of his shoulders. His speech was winded, slower than usual, with the occasional heavy breath interrupting his train of thought. "I told you, I was going to come here alone. I don't know what this call that you received was, but it wasn't from me - and I was in no need... for any of your help." It was hard to tell why, but this attitude genuinely frustrated her.
"And I told you that your life will be at risk if you do that!" Ashen planted her foot down and yelled. "And look what happened! You can barely stand!"
This concern got Firre to look down, observing the damage he had suffered during the fight - for the first time since he confronted Argo. It... didn't look too good, he had to agree. "It's... fine. You know, every hit he landed on me is a hit he could have landed on one of you, if you were there - so I'm fine with this..." Trying to lighten the mood, he put on a smile. "Besides, I can still stand, and that's really what matters, right?"
Didn't seem to work, though. With a scoff and hands placed on her hips, Ashen glanced to the side.
"Oh, come on, Fee-Fee... It's either that, or you just get yourself killed and have that "strategy" become completely worthless..."
Before their conversation could continue any further, the approach of several heavy boots drew both of their attention. Yche, leading a small party of Ranger volunteers, was descending down the mine, and approached her comrades. "Thank the Gods you two were screaming your heads off. I would have gotten lost in this maze otherwise." Stopping besides them, she looked over Firre's appearance, from head to toes. "Good Brothers, Firre - I've never seen you get this clobbered before."
Come to think of it, she couldn't recall a time when she had seen Firre be wounded at all. Even when confronted with huge Grimm or trained bandits, he was always in control, and compared to their trio, he seemed almost invincible. If he had to get serious, he'd methodically dissect whatever threat was in front of them, without leaving them a chance to even land a hit - it only made Yche more concerned about who exactly did the prince meet here that they were able to damage him.
Firre let out a sigh. He couldn't be too mad at the two women - Argo had already departed, and so did the mysterious intervention who had saved him in the last moment. The students should be safe.
Well, they're not students anymore. But, honestly... I'm not sure if I can let them out of my sight just yet.
"Fine. Since you're all here, I want you all to come with me."
"Come for what?" Ashen asked. Firre turned around, setting his sights on one of the caverns stretching into the distance, and then into the depths - the mood on his face, already hardly ecstatic, shrank even further.
"You all need to see something."
"What do you mean?" Yche called out, running after the prince. The other Rangers, after looking at one another in confusion, followed, and, finally, so did Ashen.
The noise of several boots tapping across the dusty floor echoed through the increasingly dark, narrow and snaking tunnels of the Sumire Mines.
"And so, when that Invulnerable pushed me out of the offices and into the mine tunnels, all of the overseers began forcing all of the slaves to evacuate in this direction. They left a few unfortunate souls behind as a distraction while the rest ran away from our fight - those are the charred bodies scattered throughout the battlefield which you might have seen as you arrived."
Ashen's eyes glanced to the side, her expression pensive. Besides her, a Ranger recruit, a man slightly taller than her with dark hair and glasses, asked:
"Wait, so... when you're calling them slaves, you mean... actual slaves, right? But we're on the territory of Vale... Even long before King-I mean, your father, we've banned that institution, and anyone seeking to keep another person in labour against their will faces prosecution... If that's what the House of Trade is doing here, then why haven't they been stopped?"
Firre did not answer at first, walking at the front of the group with an utterly emotionless expression. "There's... a reason why we've seen such a drive out of Vale for the past few decades, you know. You have to be a little crazy to leave the safety of our home fortress for the unforgiving, dangerous world where you and everything you hold dear may be overrun by hordes of Grimm any night. All of those people have their reasons. Some of those reasons are horrible."
They stepped over a handful of pickaxes and crude, Dust-powered drills, more able to tear through the user's ear drums than into the hardened rock this deep in the mountains. "Frustration that we don't tolerate the abuse of other human beings for profit anymore and knowing that here, far away from Vale, the law only exists on paper. In the name of a few percentages of profit, they're willing to destroy thousands of lives, much less put them under threat in these harsh wastes."
The very last words were a little shaky as they left his mouth, his voice was dripping with venom.
"Of course, there's one law that isn't merely on paper, anywhere, but I'm not sure if Velinn and his company want to be judged by it."
The cavern descended down, sharply, with a set of stairs chiseled into the stone. Sounds were coming from the other side - lots of them, mostly muffled and muted whispers and chatter. Two heavy boots marched loud enough that they could very faintly hear their stomps from up here. Ashen's eyes glanced to Firre. Whatever it was that the prince was leading them towards, it was probably here.
He gave them a brief explanation of the fight he had with the redhead Invulnerable before they arrived, but by now, it seems that it has entirely dropped from his mind. Surely, a Mistralian agent so powerful that he pushed even Firre to a corner should have been their main priority - yet, with a barely contained thirst for action, the prince led them here, and from what he mentioned thus far, Ashen assumed this was not going to end softly.
"But you're... going to apply that law anyway, aren't you?"
Firre did not answer. A vast opening of the cavern, as if forming a makeshift hall, unfolded before them.
From the masses that were huddled on the cold, wet earth, a Faunus mother with a teenage son in her arms raised her head. A few meters away, a man with bull horns and a dirtied face followed, peeking past his peers to stare at the entrance. Then another, and another, and another. Some were old, grizzled, but still kept around for the harsh manual labour to save money on buying new workers; others were young, younger than even the youngest freshmen in Lantern Academy. Some had their hands locked in chains, presumably because they resisted a bit too many times and were deemed too problematic to keep around without permanent controls; others still had their wrists free, though it hardly mattered.
The Faunus slaves were driven here so the fight in the upper levels of the mine did not destroy too much of Velinn Flare's property - they were huddled on the ground, most sitting, some too exhausted by the dozens of hours of mining work and lacking rest to do even that. The mere sight of them was difficult on the urban Valean eye, to whom such treatment of any person, human or Faunus, had been reduced to history books long ago.
More importantly, among the chained masses, two men and one woman in uniform stood - and their attention too was drawn to the entrance. Their dark leather uniforms and visored helmets were unfamiliar to Ashen, Yche and the other Rangers, but Firre recognized it at first glance - it was the attire of the guards of the Sumire Mine, these three assigned to oversee the slave workers in particular.
Firre's fist tightly clenched. Again, without saying a single word, he stepped forward. With a hint of concern in her voice, Ashen said:
"Don't do something rash, Firre."
His eyes glanced back to the group over his shoulder, briefly. Then, he continued walking. "Sorry, I will."
"Don't-"
Ashen sighed and lowered her hand.
Give it up.
"Wait, what does he mean by that...?" a Ranger next to her, a man with long hair, asked.
The three mine guards watched the ordeal at the entrance, then, once Firre began approaching them, their attention was locked on him. How was he here? The last time they saw him, he was being thrown out of the offices into the mine by Argo and the two warriors began tearing through the mine. Was that Mistralian defeated? And why were the Rangers with him, too? Though concerned, the woman guard stepped forward, speaking in an older, slightly fragile voice:
"Um... Your Highness... We don't know what happened. There was some confusion, that Mistralian appeared out of nowhere, we never met him and-"
Firre planted his foot down and stopped in the middle of a makeshift path between the Faunus slaves. "Are you the ones in charge here?" The strict tone in his voice made it seem that he was not buying the woman's white lie.
"I, uh... in what regard, sir...?"
The prince pointed his hand to the cowering Faunus surrounding them. "In charge of the lives of these people. These persons... whom you have put in chains."
The guard turned over her shoulder to her teammates - one was slowly shaking his head while his eyes were locked onto the prince, with a stare just a little bit too focused on Firre's every move to be mere concern. 'We need to get out of here' it seemed to say. But how? Where? Just in case, the woman's left land slowly lowered, hovering closer to the hilt of her sword, while the other was splayed at Firre.
"This... is Velinn Flare's property, sir. We are protecting it, so it stays here rather than getting lost in the chaos - well, I mean, uh, not quite property, rather..."
Anything else she might have stammered out was cut. A torrent of wind suddenly rolled across the cavern. Firre's fist now struck the woman's gut, instantly shattering her layer of Aura, leaving hundreds of weightless blue particles dissipating in the air. Dozens of panicked screams from Faunus slaves nearby followed, even though none of them were hurt. Firre grabbed his gunblade and sliced with a wide upwards arc. Moments later, a lifeless gargling body crashed on the ground in front of him.
The Rangers winced and shook at the unexpected blow. Even Yche was briefly taken aback. Ashen, however, didn't seem to be affected by the sight at all.
Surrounded by a public staring him down, Firre lowered his weapon. For a second, his eyes looked down on the body. You knew what will come to you. Then, he turned his attention to the two other guards. Immediately, they pulled out their weapons - one had a mace with steel spikes, the other brought out twin Dust pistols - but their stature was shaky, and they didn't even try to attack, taking steps back rather than forward. So, Firre said:
"Drop your weapons and surrender yourself to the Rangers, now."
After a few seconds of silence, came the loud clang of the mace crashing to the ground. The two pistols followed. The two men ran, as fast as they could. Yche sighed and turned to two Rangers standing behind her, ordering:
"Cuff them. We'll figure it out with Re- I mean, Commander Betula afterwards."
The two soldiers she addressed - just as fresh-faced as her and the rest, but far less prepared for the dose of reality today - nodded along and began searching their belts for the necessary restraining equipment. Ashen broke off from the group, slowly approaching Firre and walking past the two surrendering guards. He wasn't done. He still has one thing to do.
The prince turned his attention to the Faunus surrounding him and filling the cavern all the way to the walls - who now, seeing the officers who had beaten them down and observed them for the past few hours taken out and fleeing, were unsure what will happen next. Should they cheer for the execution which took place in front of them? Not when they weren't sure what this new person's deal was... he was still human, after all.
Firre's eyes settled on a young Faunus man sitting nearby and watching him with wide open eyes - about as old as him, with two rabbit ears sticking out from short yet messy hazel-brown hair. A scar ran across his left cheek, and his hands were clasped in a set of iron shackles - clearly, he was not very cooperative in his "workplace". Merely seeing the prince turn to him got him to faintly flinch - he still had his sword in his arms, after all.
"Show me your shackles." Firre demanded. Slowly crawling away, the Faunus answered:
"W-what...?"
"Show them."
After the prince made a few more steps forward, he finally agrees - throwing his arms forward and displaying the chain in between his wrists, all while closing his eyes and looking away.
Ashen hastened her pace as soon as she saw her friend raise his sword. "Firre, wait-"
Swish. Snap. Ashen stopped in her tracks.
After a second, the slave slowly opened his eyes. He wasn't dead, he wasn't bleeding, his arms were not cut off. Instead of one chain tying his wrists together, there were now two, dangling off the cylindrical clasps. Not only that, but the clasps themselves soon split into pieces and then fell to the ground, leaving the man's arms free - he touched his fists in disbelief and then looked up, this time seeing a very faint, reassuring smile.
"My name is Firre, and I come here from Vale," the prince began, turning his eyes away from the freed man and instead addressing the entire cavern. "I, sadly, do not know your stories, and what happened that you were brought here, to a country that is supposed to be a haven of liberty, in chains. But I am here to right those wrongs. Your chains will be broken, and if you come with me, you will be given an opportunity to live a real, fulfilling, safe life - here, in Vale. And as long as I live, I promise that I will not stop until all of your kinsmen and kinswomen in all of Remnant have a chance to enjoy this liberty."
The cavern went silent - he could feel that it was not out of fear, this time. Curiosity was piqued. A few Faunus rose to their feet, followed by others. Suddenly, a young man cried out a triumphant "Yeah!". More and more joined him almost instantly, until the entire crowd, all the way down to the teenagers and still shackled troublemakers, were in righteous uproar. As the voices died down, Ashen reached Firre at last and offered him a faintly sardonic smile.
"Satisfied that worm of yours, Fee-Fee?" she asked, then, seeing that he didn't turn to her, continued. "Alright, so, what's the plan? I mean, besides surviving Rezzy's screams when she finds out we got sidetracked like this."
"Well..." the prince muttered, briefly lost in thought. Already, there were slaves gathering in front of him, waiting for him to break their chains - and he will have to get to that, but... "We'll use the train line leading from here back to Vale, obviously. There will be more than enough room on all the train cars to carry everyone here to safety. Once we're in Vale, we will explain what happened, and Father should be able to help us from there."
"Right... And we'll have to deal with Velinn as soon as we can, too."
As soon as Firre heard that name, he went silent and the focus of his eyes settled past everyone's heads.
Two bulky Rangers restrained Velinn, each holding one of the businessman's arms. After a few minutes of enduring his endless complaints about the violation of his personal rights, they finally won - Velinn broke, sighed, and with the most frustrated glare sent at Reza, began to tell his side of the story.
"I... look. We were involved in this entire Gods damned ordeal against our will. Firre reached out to us first. He talked to me about fugitive slave catching rings in the Kingdom, apparently, he was the one doing the investigation into that, personally - I thought that was the purview of the Ranger Corps, not of Gods damned uppity rampaging royals, but what the hell do I know. Then he accused me of being involved! Some bastards stole-"
"Were you involved?" Reza asked. She was standing in front of the restrained businessman, notepad and pen in hand, writing down everything which he was telling her, all while passively nodding along. The insults thrown did not fly past her head, but she knew already that there wasn't much reason to trust Velinn's testimony.
After a brief incredulous stare, the businessman answered:
"I-Of... of course I was not!"
"Right..." Reza really did't need to hear about the Tellavel weapons drama, she had already heard how the House of Trade was involved previously and could extrapolate the rest. So, she made the choice to skip. "But I'd rather you get to the events that happened today instead. Do you refute that there was a trap set up for Prince Firre here?"
"I... well... look... Like I said, we were involved in this against our will. When I made a deal with Firre to meet him here, I became aware that some figures who wanted him gone were going to attack him here. And so... they did... and I tried to escape, when shit went down... and so I am here."
"What kind of figures?"
"There was a... well..."
Gods damn it. Okay, I'm throwing you under the bus, Argo. If you're so useless that you couldn't save my ass right now, you deserve it.
After a few seconds of pause, Velinn continued. "...It was a Mistralian. An Invulnerable. They wanted to kidnap His Highness and then ransom him for Vale's complete withdrawal from the Frontier."
This got Reza to lower her notepad and break her shell of sarcastic mistrust for the first time since meeting Velinn. "...Kidnap him?"
Velinn shrugged his shoulders, as much as he could while his arms were restrained. "That's what I heard."
That means the Empire of Mistral is involved... Not everything about this incident was clear just yet. If Velinn was merely an innocent businessman caught in the crossfire, how did he have this information about the intentions of what seems to be the Mistralian government itself? The Invulnerables were direct property of Mistral's Emperor, anyway, his own "Rangers", except brutal killers trained from birth rather than defenders of the people, so if one was here, they could only be here with his permission.
Was one here?
Is Mantle also involved? Is... she here, too?
Reza glanced away from Velinn. The hum of an approaching motorbike caught her attention - it was a Ranger, a young man with a darker skin tone and black hair, arriving from Sumire. As soon as his vehicle reached the approach of the mine, he stopped with a halt, jumped off and yelled:
"Commander! Commander! We-"
"Calm your Grimm!" Reza yelled with a hand slightly raised. "Officer Aprica, what is going on? Why the haste?"
"Something is going on in Sumire, Commander," Aprica began to explain, pointing at the town down the road. "The colonists in Mistral are gathering in the city square. Apparently, news already reached them that we've arrived here, and someone's spread the rumour that we intend to do a military occupation - they're in arms."
"What?!" Reza yelled, then turned her eyes to Velinn. Instantly, the businessman defended himself:
"It's not me, Gods damn it, I'm restrained here!"
"No, Commander, they sighted Mistralian troops among the colonists," Aprica continued, once again drawing the attention to him. "At least one, Commander."
Reza went silent.
It's him.
"We're packing up. Moving out. This is a high-level threat," she suddenly ordered and pointed to the town herself. "And Velinn... as for him..."
"Do not let go of him!" a voice suddenly yelled from within the mine. One after another, the Rangers turned there. Velinn's eyes widened, his teeth clenched.
"That man has been feeding you lies," Firre announced, stepping out from the shadows, with his gunblade at hand. Ashen followed him, then Yche, the other Rangers, two of whom were keeping disarmed mine guards restrained - then, they were followed by... dozens. Faunus, standing proud, leaving the premises of the prison which they weren't able to leave for months, their arms now free of their shackles, even if their bodies still appeared weak and sickly from the life-draining labour.
"You... what did you do?!" Velinn screamed, the vitriol in his voice briefly startling the two Rangers assigned to restrain him. Firre raised his sword, as if it were a pointing stick, and said:
"What you did was bring me here and then cooperate with the enemies of the Kingdom of Vale in an attempt to kidnap me, or even kill me. None of your arguments about merely being in the way hold any weight. Your own guards were the first to raise their weapons against me, not the Invulnerable."
"I... you can't just..."
"But that is only the beginning. Displaying your complete lack of morality, and disregard for the Kingdom's law, much less its principles that we live and breathe every day, you kept dozens of people like you and me in chains, in actual slavery, all while showing complete ignorance to their suffering, which you still do right now. That, is utterly unforgivable."
Velinn merely stared at the prince, at first, then began to struggle in the Rangers' grasp. "Get me-get me out of here, right now, Gods damn it..."
Baffled by the sight at first, Reza merely kept looking from one side to another during the exchange, but Velinn's response sealed the deal for her. "Not even trying to deny it anymore... I suppose this means-"
What she had on her mind, before she and everyone else were cut short, was ordering the two Rangers to cuff Velinn and bring him with them. The courts would decide his fate, and since Firre appears to have brought a whole crowd of witnesses who could testify to what the prince was saying, it was likely that the businessman would receive a heavy sentence. A firm, strong, orderly end to an act of crime, befitting of a firm, strong, orderly society.
Instead, the gunblade clicked, and fired. Velinn's body slumped to the ground.
Oh, jeez, almost three weeks of wait... I hope I have not scared away anyone who is reading with such a lengthy gap. I have my master's thesis to write and other work to do - and it gets a little frustrating to have a plan for a chapter figured out and be unable to put it to words because you need to be focused on *life*.
Agh.