Short chapter today. I've been sick all day. I actually thought I'd not get anything out but I decided to power through some of it. Tomorrow's chapter might be a little shorter as well. I'll have to see how I feel tomorrow.

Cover Art: Kirire

Chapter 89

They were back on Menagerie once more.

The last visit hadn't ended in a fun away, what with the poor girl trapped as an anomaly ending her own life to protect people. The ride over had been bad enough, with Blake constantly on edge after discovering even a small fragment of the many anomalous creatures that lived in the dark depths of the ocean. Luckily, they'd been on their best behaviour and not attacked the ship. Neither had the Grimm, which made her wonder if they hadn't run afoul of the creatures. They could duke it out in the depths for all Blake cared.

"Jaune Arc and Blake Belladonna." Corsac Albain stood waiting for them, his arms crossed and his red and white hood swept back for once. It was a burning hot day. "Welcome once more to Menagerie. Sienna has asked me to bring you to her before anything else. She'd like a word with you. I'll take you to meet the anomalous village after."

"Is that what it's being called?"

"It's what we're currently calling it. We're hoping they'll come up with a better name, but Fennec felt allowing them to choose the name would help them settle in. I don't think he expected it would still be taking them this long to decide, or we'd have picked one out for them."

"It's a nice idea," she said diplomatically. "How are they settling in?"

"It's both good and bad." Fennec led them away from the docks, toward the White Fang encampment that officially rested outside of Kuo Kuana. "They're amicable enough and happy to meet with and talk to people – we've no complaints as to their willingness to fit in. The bad comes mostly from elements we hadn't even considered. They have... unusual ideas of what is normal and what is not. Understandable given their limited experience in the world, but troublesome all the same."

"Dangerous?"

"Not as such, thankfully. It's more of just giving us extra effort. They're like children in a sense. They've been debating a name for over a week now, and they're also debating a leadership structure. Some are saying they should have a king, others a democracy, and some are coming up with ideas that sound more play playground politics from a bunch of seven-year-olds."

"How would a monarch even work?" asked Jaune. "Menagerie doesn't have one."

"And we don't need one. We've tried to explain how it works. Fennec has convinced them to go with a mayor instead, even though it would be an absolutely pointless role. Honestly, we're just going to humour them. Their elected mayor will get to sit in on a few meetings with Sienna, feel important and throw their weight around."

"Isn't that just taking advantage of them?" Blake asked.

"In a way, but it'll only be temporary. Once they settle in and start to wise up, I don't see why we wouldn't take their opinions seriously. It's just that for now they don't have good opinions. I don't mean that offensively, either. I just mean that they're blank slates who didn't even know how to operate a microwave before, and now they think they can run a village on their own. It just isn't feasible."

He was right on that. They were arrogant in a sense, but also anomalies enjoying their first taste of freedom and wanting to escape the crushing pressure of ARC Corp and the harsh rules Jaune placed upon them in Vale. Whether or not those were for their own protection – and they were – the group wanted to hold themselves aloft and independent.

But they really didn't know how.

Without the Albain brothers running things for them behind the scenes, they'd have liked starved to death a week after arriving here. It wasn't just food, either. They had to make homes, shelters, have medicine, learn about the island, be protected from the few Grimm on Menagerie. There was a lot to do and she doubted a group of anomalies who had never before been outside the walls of Vale would know how to handle it all.

Corsac led them into the White Fang camp and through the many members there. Most of them looked at the duo askance, but she got the feeling it was more for their immaculate clothing and how out of place they looked. There were no challenges thrown Jaune's way. Then again, the White Fang on Menagerie tended to be newer recruits and those better at teaching the next generation. The most feral supremacists and violent maniacs were sent out into the world to be used, but also to remove them from Menagerie before they could poison the organisation's reputation with the locals.

Here, the White Fang weren't terrorists – they were law enforcement, protestors and heroes. And it was in no small part due to Fennec and Corsac's work on the White Fang's PR side that kept the locals seeing them that way, and kept their numbers bolstered. Menagerie didn't have its own CCT, so the people here probably weren't even all too aware of the atrocities the White Fang were committing elsewhere. News from Atlas sure wasn't making it to their shores in any quick time.

"Sienna, ARC Corp has arrived," said Corsac, making his way into the largest tent.

There, Sienna Khan stood behind a table talking to several faunus. On seeing them she sighed and walked to her wooden throne, sitting down and balancing an elbow on the armrest imperiously. Image was important, and yet despite her elevated position and slouched posture, they were the ones who looked most in control. The pristine black uniforms certainly helped, especially since they'd left their blue overcoats in their luggage due to how hot it was.

"Jaune Arc, Director of the Containments Office in Vale, and Blake Belladonna, his assistant." Corsac introduced them, and even managed to do it without mentioning her being a traitor to the White Fang or how she killed Adam.

"Adam's murderer," said Sienna. "Yes, I know."

Never mind...

"We're not here to talk about the White Fang's transgressions against ARC Corp," said Jaune, neatly turning it back on them. "His kidnapping and threatened murder of myself would have seen the entire island of Menagerie reduced to rubble."

Sienna didn't look like she believed that.

But Corsac did. He looked very nervous. It seemed dealing with the anomalies so much had led to him learning a bit more about ARC Corp, and how little fucks they gave when it came to collateral damage.

"I was under the impression your family did not like you," Sienna said, stifling a yawn.

"They don't. My family would congratulate you for having killed me, but also politely explain that you've still attacked an ARC Corp office and that they need to make an example of you so that no one else gets any ideas. Atlas tried getting in our way before and sent an undercover team of Specialists to interfere in one of our jobs. They're still gibbering wrecks who can't remember their pasts, their names, or how to use a knife and fork."

"Your work, I assume?"

"No. They crossed paths with an anomaly they shouldn't have and their brains collapsed under the pressure." Jaune let that sink in ominously. "That's why ARC Corp exists. We are the ones who know about anomalies and how to deal with them. You have been introduced to this world thanks to the actions of your underlings, but your knowledge is still limited. You don't respect it, and probably think you could do a well enough job defending yourself against it. That's arrogant."

"What is arrogant is your attitude," she replied. "Words are cheap. I've met with the anomalies here and, aside from some inhuman anatomy, they act and think like normal people. They bring unique abilities and unique challenges, but I'm confident I could best any one of them in a fight."

"Of course you can," Blake interrupted. "Because those that are strong enough to destroy you aren't going to come here to serve the White Fang. You have weak anomalies that we deemed were safe enough to let live in Vale. You don't know a thing—"

Jaune silenced her with a gloved hand on her arm. "Blake. It's fine. I'm not threatening you, Sienna. I am trying to make you well aware of the risks you're taking. You have weak, humanoid anomalies among your ranks now. That's not ideal, but it's fine. You can work around that. We all can. But the White Fang should not make the mistake of thinking this is an opportunity to go out and start looking for more, least of all those who might be quite content staying in hiding. Disrupting them could have catastrophic consequences." His eyes hardened. "And collecting them will lead you into direct competition with ARC Corp. That has consequences of its own – as the Schnee family discovered."

"Hmph." Sienna closed her eyes. "I'll heed your warning even if I don't fully believe it. That's not what's important. I called you here to pick your brains on how to keep them hidden from your company, because I'm led to believe you're on our side when it comes to that."

"We're not." Jaune eyed Corsac. "We agreed to a bad deal that we're not happy about. We'll cooperate to preserve our own lives, but don't make the mistake of thinking we're allied. We're anything but."

"The details don't matter to me. What must be done? Talk."

Jaune quickly fell into a presentation that Blake listened to with only half her attention. A lot of it was common sense, instructions on how the White Fang shouldn't advertise their anomalous troops and should instead obfuscate them as Semblances or stolen Atlas tech. How they should make sure to collect or burn bodies of fallen anomalies, disguise or use those who couldn't be disguised in support roles.

Simple things that Blake really hoped they got down, because the consequences of them not doing so would be Saphron Arc knocking on their door in Vale demanding answers, and probably while Terra had their office in her rifle's sights. Maybe they'd skip the pleasantries and knock on the door with a moon instead.

"—important thing is not to ever get cocky and let them advertise themselves, and to make sure other locals of Menagerie either know to keep them secret or think them something else. Or that they just don't learn about them at all."

"That last one won't be possible," said Sienna. "We've promised them full integration with the populace of Kuo Kuana. Your parents agreed to it as well."

Blake jumped. "What? You told them!?"

Corsac cleared his throat. "We told them that we had new members who had been rescued from Vale. Mention was made to them having unusual appearances that left them alienated in the city, but we were... intentionally vague on details. What we stressed was that they wanted a place to call their own, and where they could be themselves without fear of persecution. Not entirely untrue."

But not entirely true either. Damn it. Now her parents were feeling sympathetic for them and would want to see them brought into Kuo Kuana. Her father might even want to try and deradicalize them, which was great in theory but oh so risky in practice. Blake didn't want the anomalous anywhere near her parents.

"The ball is rolling so we can't back out now," said Sienna. "But I'm happy to let you talk to your family first and fill them in if you wish to. Or to come up with an excuse to cover yourselves if not." Naturally, she wasn't going to help them. "But I suppose you'll want to see the anomalous village first. Corsac can take you. I'm afraid I have matters to attend to."

Corsac led them outside. "You'll have to forgive Sienna. She was actually rather friendly toward the anomalies when they arrived but their attitude has rubbed her the wrong way. They're rebellious. Not actually rebelling, but after living under your authority for so long they've taken an anti-authority stance. One of them even called Sienna a dictator to her face."

"What did she do to them to get that reaction?"

"All she did was introduce herself as the White Fang's leader. One of them instantly said they hadn't voted for her. It was all downhill from there."

Sheesh. It sounded like they had their work cut out for them. The trio made their way out the camp and in the opposite direction to Kuo Kuana, toward a savannah on the edge of the wasteland that made up a lot of the island's uninhabited zones. They passed through a thin spread of trees to reach it, which were being used to mask the new village.

Calling it a village was... generous.

In reality, the White Fang had made a bunch of wooden sheds for their new guests – simple but functional, and fair enough as temporary house, but hardly real homes. It looked like there was more permanent construction halfway done, but she imagined most of the anomalies were sharing accommodations or bunking ten or more to a shed. She assumed they'd at least have real beds and amenities inside.

"It's not much but it's a start," said Corsac. "They seemed happy to have even this much to their own. Still no name, of course. We've just been calling it The Village. Not like there's any other villages on the island. Ah, there's Fennec."

The other Albain twin was talking with an anomaly that looked to be a slab of ice giving off frost in the form of smoke. He was basically a chunk of ice floating in the middle of wisps of ice-cold water vapour that had taken the shape of a human figure, legs, torso and head included. His details obviously couldn't be made out, being too wispy and smoky.

"I've told you that's fine," said Fennec, frustration bleeding through. "But you need to actually start on any of these ideas you're having. It's no good for you all to keep coming up with ideas, not doing anything, and then picking new ideas. See something through!"

"We are exercising our freedoms," said the creature in an oddly masculine voice. Overly deep and cavernous, like cracking ice sheets.

"You're exercising your brains and mouths. That much I'll agree on. But there's no point to that if you don't accomplish something. Construction has all but stalled—"

"There is discussion over the design."

"Discuss on future houses! You're not going to complete any of them at this rate—" Fennec caught sight of them and groaned in relief. "Ah, Corsac. You're here. Brought the guests too. Thank goodness. Help me with Crag here. He doesn't get that—"

"Criminal!" The anomaly – Crag, apparently – pointed at her and Jaune. "Monster, terrorist, corrupt thug. You are a wanted criminal. The White Fang must arrest them right now!"

"Must we?" asked Fennec.

"Criminals where?" asked Corsac, equally stumped. "I don't think they have a record. Well, Blake should, but it's not like anyone in Vale is aware of it. And they haven't broken any laws here. I've been with them the whole time."

"They have broken OUR laws!"

"Crag, I've told you. You can't have your own laws. This village is subject to Menagerie. Maybe in the future you can run for mayor or even become a leader of the White Fang, but you can't just make up your own laws and have them apply to the island. There's a procedure to this."

"We convened and decided they would face execution if they came here."

"No, no, no. Menagerie doesn't execute people – not even our worst criminals!"

The White Fang certainly did, so that was only half-true. Still, that was reserved for really extreme cases, and was often a way for the White Fang to try and make amends. It didn't happen often, but every now and then you had someone who really went over the line – like torturing captured Atlas soldiers or, in one case many years ago, deciding to cut off future Atlas soldiers by killing children in a school. Blake remembered hearing how Sienna Khan executed the man herself, and how even Adam had been grimly satisfied by it. But Menagerie as a whole wasn't like that and her parents would never stand for it.

"We have our dignity, Corsac. We have our identity!"

"You can have both aplenty while also complying with the laws of the island, Crag. That's the way it is for everyone here. The laws were voted on."

Not entirely true but close enough. It was more complicated than that, but she got the feeling Crag and the other anomalies wouldn't understand it. Politics was a complicated subject to explain to people who didn't even know how laws worked, how people voted, or what a politician even was.

They really are like children, she thought. I never realised how much Alistair does to keep anomalies stable and hidden. No wonder Jaune is so willing to fund his bar. He's basically a third employee for our office.

The anomaly huffed, a sound like an icy stalactite falling to the ground, and stomped away on smoke, indistinct legs.

"You see what we're dealing with?" said Corsac. "I can't fault them wanting things to be their way but they are, for lack of a better term, stupid. Educationally defunct. We're thinking of making a school of sorts – or at least a training course. Something to introduce them to elements of life here. Teach them the basics."

"That's a good idea," said Jaune. "What's the issue?"

"They want to vote on it."

Jaune sighed. "And they voted no?"

"Not even that! They've not decided what voting system they want, how it'll be held, who will count. I told them I'd just bring pen and paper and they could write their votes on a scrap and toss them into a box, but then they wanted to decide who would announce it, how the box would be kept, and what the options will be."

"Yes or no, surely," said Blake.

"Oh no. They want multiple options in the middle. And then they said they can't vote on something they don't know the full details of, so they want a rundown of what the courses will teach. Except that, when we provided that, they suddenly needed two weeks to deliberate and debate. And that's all they do! Debate, debate, debate. They debate the food, the laws, the courses, the weather, the construction." He threw his hands in the air. "They debate to the point that nothing gets done!"

Debating for debating's sake. It made sense. These people had never been told their opinions mattered before and now they suddenly did, and they wanted to exercise it at every opportunity. Blake almost wanted to say this was what the White Fang got for recruiting them and to tell the brothers to stick it.

But this would blow back on her and Jaune if it went wrong.

And on her parents.

"I guess that's where we come in," said Jaune. "We need to be the impetus they need to pull their crap together."

"Yes. We were hoping you'd be the stick to our carrot. The sooner they get moving, the sooner we can help them fit in – and who knows. Maybe actually accomplishing something will teach them a valuable lesson and have them leaping into action."

Blake snorted. "I doubt that."

Corsac sighed. "A faunus can dream..."

Next Chapter: 19th February

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