Ch. 59 No more chains, no more cages
"So, uh miss Belladonna… Thank you for the tea."
Sun was visibly uncomfortable in the presence of her mother and Blake silently revelled in that. It quickly became obvious that her mother thought Sun was her boyfriend. Supported by Sun's antics and the fact that he accompanied her all the way to Menagerie there wasn't much that would convince her mother otherwise.
"Oh my, how polite. I already like you more than Blakes previous beau."
When both youths in front of her visibly cringed at his mention, Kali immediately regretted mentioning him.
"Ah… I see… There have been whispers of Adam's involvement in the fall… I hoped they were wrong…"
"He changed… he was about to hurt me when…"
Blake saw flashes of fire and blood before her. Sun, faced with Blakes oncoming panic attack, dropped all pretence. He moved closer and rubbed circles on her back as she hyperventilated.
"Adam is dead." Sun tore off the bandage.
Blake's eyes snapped to his face, but his eyes were locked with those of her mother's.
"He was about to hurt Blake, her partner stood between them to protect her and lost a leg for it. They were both saved by another friend of ours, Nora Valkyrie. We all saw the lightning strike that ended him. The thunder made even the Grimm pause for a second."
There was a moment of silence before a deep baritone spoke from the room's door.
"I already suspected as much, though the Fang claims they had nothing to do with his actions." All eyes were now on the mountain of a man. How a guy that large sneaked up on them was a bit of a mystery to Sun, but he wasn't about to question the man.
Ghira Belladonna sat on Blake's other side and pulled her into a hug. "I'm so glad you're safe, princess…"
=O=O=O=
Tetri hated being here. Originally he thought he would get demoted after their failure to capture the heiress, or her friends. Today though, Tetri almost wished for that demotion.
Jacques was an intelligent man, that much no one could doubt. So when Tetri had to give his reasoning for failure he understood that they were lacking information and were outclassed by the one they ended up fighting. Jaune Arc, as Tetri later found out, was something of an anomaly when it came to huntsmen. His use of his wife's semblance for one was unprecedented. Then there was the reasonable assumption that since he fought using a sword during the Vytal festival he wouldn't be proficient with one of if not the hardest weapon types in existence. They were wrong of course and he managed to fight them off using the warscythe without severely hurting them, something that took skill to pull off.
And so Mr. Schnee agreed that it was unreasonable to punish them for their failure. Of course today Tetri and his team were assigned as his personal bodyguards with the assumption being that they had more experience dealing with the Arc-Rose pair than any other SDC employees.
Tetri closed his eyes and sighed covertly. He hoped Weiss had used her time well, he didn't feel comfortable being the one to bring her back to her gilded cage. The only person worse off than Weiss in this whole ordeal (at least in Tetri's mind) was Whitley. Who was forced to sit next to his father.
While Whitley looked downright uncomfortable, Jacques simply sat in his seat and waited patiently for defendants to arrive. It took greasing some pockets and a whole lot of public proclamations, but he managed to bring the issue in front of a court of public opinion.
It wasn't that long ago that Atlas was the Kingdom of Mantle, and this court was one of the remnants of that kingdom's judicial system. It wasn't a true judicial body of course, it was just an official place to air out grievances and present facts so that the people could make up their own opinion. Of course that didn't mean that Jacques didn't task his lawyers to craft a narrative and aid in recovering his wayward daughter.
Tetri noted that Ironwood was in attendance, though it seemed he was here as a spectator as he sat amongst the people with only two specialists as personal protection detail, a burly woman and a dog faunus man.
When the main entrance opened and a large mechanised mobility chair of Doctor Polendina walked in, Tetri couldn't help but tense. Following closely behind the doctor were four hooded figures. One he recognised immediately her red cloak and hood identifying her as Arc-Rose. Next to her was a figure in a light royal blue cloak, taller and bulkier than Rose, Tetri assumed that was Arc. The other two wore the same ash black cloaks though one of them was notably taller. Tetri would hazard a guess that the taller one was Winter Schnee as she seemed to involve herself with this case.
He noted, and was sure Jacques noticed as well, that all four of them were walking so if Weiss Schnee was one of them… which she should be… then she was back on her feet. This alone gave Tetri hope. If his role could remain 'stand in the back menacingly' he would be grateful.
While Doctor Polendina stepped aside, content to remain outside of the conversation for now, Arc was the first one to take down his hood, confirming Tetri's guess. He gave a friendly smile to several members of the SDC guard before locking eyes with Jackues.
"Mister Schnee…"
"Arc." there was a pause. Before Jacques was forced to continue as nothing else was going to happen otherwise. "I must say, I am quite displeased with how you kidnapped my daughter from the hospital."
Jaune smiled once more though this time it was almost predatory, contrasting his previous friendly demeanour. "Ah yes, the famous care of the best doctors in Atlas. The same care that was immediately recognised as medical malpractice by Doctor Polendina upon her transfer into his care."
"You have no proof." Jacques stated with practised calm.
"Of course we don't, any proof we provide would be the words of a single medical practitioner against the words of the entire hospital on your payroll. I could say that you kept your adult daughter locked up against her will and pumped full of drugs while denying her rehabilitation. Let alone returning to huntsmen work, she'd be unable to walk properly for the rest of her life if we didn't intervene." Jaune smiled as his eyes narrowed. "Of course that is simply conjecture."
Jacques stumbled for just a second when Jaune took the rebuttal straight from his mouth.
"Well as you should know, my daughter's condition was more complicated than you let on."
"A likely story… How long do you estimate then that it would take for Weiss to get back on her feet. And I mean quite literally, how long until the esteemed doctors on your payroll offered a prosthetic limb."
Jacques frowned, this question was tad specific and there was no concrete answer that would prove satisfactory "That is hard to tell. A while yet I'm sure. I'll admit I didn't inquire about that, I trust the best judgement of my doctors."
"Well any answer beyond a week would only prove my point. That medical care of your doctors was inferior to the care we could provide."
"I assume by we you refer to Atlas military?"
"No, by we I refer to Arc-Rose Reforged LLC, I don't blame you for being unfamiliar, after all the official paperwork only went through this morning. However, what now constitutes our R&D department, that is my wife and I, have been working on similar projects since before the fall of Beacon."
Jacques blanched at Arc's declaration. Most of his narrative was aimed against the military complex and their status as little more than huntsmen in suspended training. "And what projects are you speaking off, I highly doubt you've engaged with the medical field."
"That would be correct, the medical side of our work does hinge on Doctor Polendina who acted as a consultant during the planning process and performed any medical intervention that was needed. To answer your question however; we at ARR make weapons. And to huntsmen and huntresses alike their very body is a weapon."
As Jacques remained silent for the time being, likely trying to restructure his narrative to fit the change of circumstances, Jaune looked at Whitley.
When they locked eyes and Jaune was sure Whitley was looking at him, he silently inclined his head towards the sisters behind him. And Whitley, being a smart young man, took the hint.
"You've talked an awful lot, mister Arc. Why not let my sister talk? Why hide her?"
It was a leading question, one insinuating Weiss wasn't even in the room, possibly still bedbound supporting Jacques claims. Jacques, hearing his son's questions, latched onto the opportunity.
"Yes! Why not let my daughter talk!"
"Perhaps we do not wish to talk to you, father." sounded Winter loud and clear as she lowered her hood.
Jacques saw through the theatrics. That wouldn't be a reason to weaken their case. No, they went through these theatrics on purpose. Perhaps Whitley hit the nail on the head? Perhaps Weiss truly wasn't here. Or she was somehow impaired as a consequence of the "treatments" she received. Forcing this issue would more than likely result in a positive outcome.
Jacques schooled his expression. If they want theatrics, well they would get them.
"Winter, my child, what are you hiding…" he said in a concerned voice "Let me speak to Weiss, let me see my daughter…" he sounded defeated, sad and tired "I just want to see her face, I only want the best for her."
It was then that Weiss laughed.
"You've never wanted what's best for me you selfish prick!" she lowered her hood as she spoke, reinforcing the chatter in the crowd. Half her hair was shaved clean off while the other side was finely braided, with the braids connecting eventually becoming one large braid that disappeared under the collar of her cloak.
Whitley was stunned momentarily by his sister's appearance. Not in a bad way though, strangely the asymmetry suited her. The braids pulled back the hair and accentuated the scar on her left eye. She looked every bit the rebellious warrior she was and her attitude towards their father matched that.
Jacques tried to continue the concerned charade as the house of cards started crumbling around him. "Weiss my child, why do you hurt me so, why the lies and acting…?"
"I've always enjoyed performing as a child, song, theatre, opera…" Weiss walked past Jaune and towards her father. "But you clipped my wings, Jacques. You kept me caged like a songbird, kept me on a leash like a fucking pet!" her voice, trained for the stage, reached everyone in the large hall. Then in one fluid motion she threw off her cloak. "Well look at me now Jacques! I am Weiss Schnee, I am a huntress, and I am free of your chains!"
The crowd exploded with activity. Reporters made haste to capture as much of the moment with their cameras as they could, while the ordinary folk did the same with their scrolls.
Before them stood a new woman. A bright white shrug covered her arms and shoulders, beneath was an armoured gunmetal black corset reminiscent of the one Pyrrha Nikos wore. The skin of her legs was covered by tight asymmetric white pants with a heavy looking half skirt protecting her right side.
This all of course paled in comparison to the gunmetal black mechanical leg. The black outer armour accentuated by silver details. Most striking was the overall design; there was only a single joint at the knee, the shin of the leg with the dust revolver drum prominently visible just below the knee ending in a point that came into contact with the ground where a slowly spinning white glyph anchored it to the floor.
Once the crowd started looking at the details however, they quickly noted the altered Schnee emblem on the left-most armour plate of her thigh.
The Schnee snowflake was a central feature, however a chain broken in three places was weaved into the twelve spokes. The inscription wrapped around the emblem read "Nullae catenae, nullae caveae. Nulli dii, nulli dominis." which to the few people scholarly enough to know the language echoed Weisses words.
"No chains, no cages. No gods, no masters."
As the whisper of the meaning spread, reporters recognised what would be the title of the next issue of whichever publication they worked for.
Jacques was momentarily stunned as he recognised he had lost the battle. He grit his teeth and spared a silent look to Whitley. Perhaps it was of no consequence what his wayward daughters got up to.
Weiss took the time to show off to the media people present. If there was one thing that she learned from father it was how to manipulate public perception. "I believe we're quite done here Jacques." she addressed her tormentor once more.
As the four turned to leave, Jacques boiled over.
"How dare the both of you! Fine! I hereby disinherit both of you! Not only are you no longer heiress of the Schnee dust company. You are no longer a Schnee!"
Weiss stopped and in one fluid motion pivoted on her left leg and marched right back. She stopped in the middle of the room and with a forceful stomp of her prosthesis summoned a large glyph in front of Jacques.
The people were stunned, and the media once more endeavoured to capture the moment as a large white armoured hand holding an even bigger sword came out of the glyph, only stopping once the blade touched Jacques neck.
"It could have ended there. We could have walked our separate ways. I don't care about the SDC, but you do not have the power to take away my name, Jacques Gélle."
He wanted to protest her words, most of all calling him by his old surname, but a slight movement of the sword shut him up.
"You aren't even a Schnee by blood. If anyone could do what you just proclaimed, it would be mother… You know after what I went through at your hands, I cannot help but wonder, did mom take up drinking because of you? Or did she not have a choice in the matter. If you would keep your daughter hooked up on a drug cocktail for a month for a decision concerning my future? How far would you go to keep mother from interfering in what you did with the SDC…"
"I did no such thing…" was all she allowed him to say.
"Oh, have you not locked me up in your hospital? Or are you protesting doing the same to mother for over a decade? Or perhaps you mean you didn't drag the Schnee name through the mud by turning the SDC into a synonym for capitalistic bigotry. Do you know why I lost my leg? It was in defence of my partner Blake Belladonna. In case that name is too ambiguous, Blake Belladonna the daughter of the chief of Menagerie. A girl my age, forced to fight for her people from a young age in large part thanks to your actions."
It was at that moment that Tetri realised Jacques has been signalling him to do something the entire time. Before he could make a move however, another glyph pointed a sword at his throat.
"I would advise against that Tetri." spoke Winter from the back of the hall. "Right now Weiss could disarm you and your whole team before you could pull a trigger. She can beat me in a fight and I'm a trained specialist."
Tetri decided that letting go of his rifle would be the best course of action and signalled, quite overtly, that his team should do the same.
Once Weiss retracted all but the one blade pointed at Jacques, she spoke again.
"I don't care about inheriting the SDC. In fact, I'll wholeheartedly support Whitley in taking over the company right now." She smiled at her brother and he nodded in appreciation.
General Ironwood sported a vindictive smirk on his lips as he commanded one of his guards to detain Jacques. This was a public coup d'etat, but… it was one that would work out in favour of Winter, Weiss and even the Atlas military if only because Jacques wouldn't be there to threaten them with his dust monopoly. When Weiss saw the faunus specialist approach Jacques with cuffs she continued.
"And you Jacques… your actions need to be thoroughly investigated. If you have nothing to hide, then this will all blow over and you may live out your life in comfort, away from the Schnee family. But you and I both know that's not the case… I'd promise to visit you in prison… but I don't think I ever will."
=O=O=O=
Author's note:
This one ended up longer than expected. I contemplated moving the Belladonnas to the next chapter but decided against it.
Weiss had a big turning point in the past two chapters and to a degree so did Jaune and Ruby, albeit that will only come to light later.
But hey if you want to support me you can do so on P a treon . com (slash) OlympianScribe
Anyway I hope you enjoyed and are looking forward to the next chapter: Ch.60 Dialogues in the shadows