Seeing Red
Chapter 14
The attack had started so quickly that Eve had barely had any time to react before the first explosions rocked the streets of Vale. She'd known it was coming, sure, but she'd figured she'd have had more time to brace herself before the first car bombs went off.
And then, before she'd known it, she'd heard the explosions and felt the distant shockwaves, and Commander Bane was giving her a pat on the back.
"Time to go to work," he stated.
He approached the edge of the rooftop along with the other members of his squad, and together, they all jumped off it, landing on the streets below. Eve, meanwhile, hesitated right at the edge. She stared out over the city of Vale, watching as clouds of smoke curled up high into the sky from the epicenter of each explosion. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she flinched as the first wave of gunfire and screams hit her ears.
Still, she'd made her choice. There was no turning back now. Even if she knew Jaune would hate her for it.
At that thought, she felt her blood freeze in her veins. With any luck, he'd heed her warnings and stay out of Vale. She could only hope he'd seen sense for the first time in his life and actually listened to her for once.
With a heavy sigh, Eve pushed all thoughts of Jaune out of her mind, adjusted her mask one final time, and then jumped off the roof to join the other members of her squad.
"All students, please report to the airship landing zone. Repeat – all students, please report to the airship landing zone."
Jaune grit his teeth as the canned speech played over the intercom, interspersed with the emergency alarm. All around him, students were rushing to and fro, getting their gear ready and trying to muster their teammates as they attempted to learn what had happened in Vale. At this point, all any of them knew was that there'd been a massive terrorist attack of some kind, and that they were all being deployed not only to help fend off the terrorists, but also to combat the Grimm that would surely be drawn in by the wave of negativity that was no doubt roiling throughout the town.
In any case, he and Pyrrha had made it back to their room as fast as they could, and frantically changed into their combat gear, along with Ren and Nora. Now, all they had to do was get to an airship and actually deploy to Vale.
And yet, Jaune couldn't help but feel as though every single step he was taking, he was weighed down by the knowledge of what he might have to do.
Eve was his friend, bad choices or not. But if she truly had helped perpetrate this attack, and they just so happened to find each other on the streets of Vale…
"Jaune!"
At the sound of Ruby's voice, Jaune turned, staring at her and her team as they ran up alongside him. They all looked ready to go, though the uncertain looks across their faces betrayed their anxiety. For some reason, Blake looked the worst out of all of them – the other three looked worried, sure, but Blake looked like she was about to be sick. Still, there was no time to dig too deeply into that now; whatever anxieties she had, they would have to be dealt with later.
"Come on," Jaune urged. "We've got to get to Vale."
"What's happening?" Ruby asked. "We were all just asleep, and then Vale was attacked, and… we're going to have to fight people, aren't we…?"
She trailed off. Janue hesitated, then reached out and put a hand on her shoulder.
"I know," he offered. "Unfortunately, the Grimm aren't the only monsters in the world. But whoever's doing this needs to be stopped before they hurt more innocent people. You can't hesitate around them, Ruby – don't forget that."
Slowly, Ruby nodded, her look of trepidation quickly being replaced by one of determination instead.
"Okay," she said. "We're with you."
Jaune let out a small exhale, then motioned for them to follow him. Wordlessly, they all took off, heading for the landing zone along with the other students.
All around her, gunfire echoed through the city streets. Eve ran through the carnage, her one good eye wide with shock at what she saw. Burning buildings and cars lined the roads, and bodies were scattered across the pavement. She wasn't sure how many there were – on the streets alone, there were dozens of them, but there had to be more inside the buildings that had been set ablaze.
She passed the mutilated bodies of a family of four – a mother, father, and two small children – and very nearly fell to her knees, retching. It took everything she had to not only stay upright, but to suppress her urge to vomit then and there.
This was what the White Fang's ideology had led to – the ideology she'd helped to support. She had the blood of all these people in her hands, even if she hadn't been the one to pull the trigger.
"Eve."
Immediately, she turned towards Commander Bane, one hand falling onto the hilt of her sword. She froze when she saw that he was already covered in blood and gore, none of it his own. He stared at her from behind his mask, his head titled questioningly.
"Where have you been?" he asked. "You're needed on the front lines."
"The front lines…?" she echoed.
He nodded. "We're going to begin clearing houses."
A chill went down her spine at that. "You're sure about this?" she questioned. "Killing people out on the streets isn't enough?"
He shook his head. "The humans need to know that they won't be safe even in their own homes until they've met our demands. Can I trust you to take control of one of the squads and clear out some of the nearby homes?"
Eve's mouth went dry as the words hit her. Her first instinct was to say no, but she was in too deep at this point to refuse. Wordlessly, she nodded, and Bane let out a grunt.
"Good. Take a few of the soldiers and get to work."
And with that, he marched off, leaving her alone. Eve took a moment to collect herself as best as she could, then began to advance down the street, looking for a squad of men to back her up. It didn't take her long to find some of them – they were rifling through the pockets of slain civilians, taking anything of value for themselves as they jeered at the people they'd killed.
"Hey," she announced, getting their attention as she approached them. "You four, with me. We're clearing houses." After a moment, she added, "Leave the stuff you just took from them behind."
"What?" one of the men protested. "Come on! It's not like they'll-"
"Are you here to fight the humans, or rob the dead?" Eve questioned. "But if you're so intent on lining your own pockets than contributing to the cause, I suppose I can always tell Bane about your insubordination."
The men immediately froze at that, then hurriedly emptied their pockets, dropping their loot on the ground next to the dead humans. Once they had left it all behind, Eve motioned for them to follow her as she approached the first house. They fell in as she stepped up to the door, then hesitated, staring at the door for a moment. Silently, she sent up a quick prayer that the house was empty, then kicked the door in.
Immediately, two of her men filed in, weapons at the ready. They swept through the house, searching through it for any survivors.
"Clear!" one of them called.
A wave of relief washed over Eve. She let out a heavy sigh, then stepped outside, only to blanch beneath her mask when she realized they still had an entire city block of houses to clear.
And even in the unlikely event that every house was empty, there was nothing she could do for the other humans who had already been found by the White Fang.
It was a sobering thought. Eve swallowed nervously, even as her legs carried her to the next house, her men coming up alongside her.
It was going to be a long night.
They approached the house, and Eve once again kicked the door in, then stepped aside and allowed her men to move through it. She stayed back near the entrance, biting her lip the entire time, praying that there was nobody here, same as the last one.
"Clear!"
She let out another breath. The other White Fang members pulled back, joining her at the entrance. Eve was about to turn and walk away when she heard something – a barely-audible thud from the upper floors of the house.
And unfortunately, judging by how the other men in her squad stiffened, they'd heard it, too.
"What was that?" one of them asked. "Sounded like it came from upstairs."
"Probably just some small animal or something," Eve offered. "Come on, we've got work to do."
She went to walk away, only for the soldier to reach out and take her by the arm. She whipped around to face him, a scowl crossing her face, one that he was quick to return.
"Bane ordered us to clear houses," he said. "That means he wants some of the humans alive for something."
Eve didn't disagree. Most likely, Bane wanted to round up some humans and make a show out of executing them on film, or otherwise take them with him when they inevitably pulled back out of Vale. Why he didn't just save some humans on the street for that, she had no idea; presumably, he knew he'd be too caught up in his own bloodlust to care about sparing anyone, and so he'd delegated that task to her instead.
Whatever the case, the White Fang soldier in front of her was right, much as she hated to admit it. Still, she roughly pulled her arm out of his grasp, glaring at him the entire time.
"Don't ever put your hands on me again," she said with a snarl. "I'll go investigate the noise. You four keep moving."
"You sure about that?" another of them asked. "Could be someone armed up there."
"I think I'm capable of handling a single armed human."
"Are you sure? Because last I checked, you were almost done in by armed humans when you went missing. Not to mention how that politician got away."
Eve glowered at him, her one good eye narrowing. "Are you accusing me of something?"
He held up his hands in surrender, refusing to answer her question. Eve let out an annoyed huff, then motioned with her head for the others to move on.
"Like I said, you all keep moving," she commanded. "I'll handle things here. Unless you want me to bring this up to Bane?"
The men turned away from her at that, filing outside. Eve again heaved a sigh of relief, then began to step into the house. As she moved, she again heard the noise – another low thud from upstairs. A chill went down her spine at the sound of it, especially as she ascended the stairs and realized where she'd heard it coming from.
It was a child's bedroom.
With her heart going a mile a minute, Eve stepped into the child's room. This time, the noise changed from a thud to a low growl, and it didn't take her much to realize where it was coming from. She laid down next to the bed and looked underneath it.
A little girl holding a small dog stared back at her, her eyes wide and filled with tears.
As the two of them locked eyes, the girl let out a small whimper of fear, and Eve froze, unsure of what to do.
"Eve."
At the sound of the man's voice, the girl let out another whimper, and the dog began to growl once more. Thinking fast, Eve looked back to the girl and hurriedly raised a finger to her lips; the girl's eyes went wide, but she did nothing even as Eve reached out and gently took the dog from her.
Eve rose to her feet and turned around holding the dog just as the White Fang soldier stepped into the room, still holding his rifle at the low ready.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Here," she said, thrusting the dog into his arms. "I found the source of your noise. Happy now? There's nothing else here."
The man stared at the dog in his hands for a moment, then shook his head before placing it back on the ground. Eve breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the dog pace for a moment before it darted back under the bed.
Across from her, the White Fang member tilted his head, confused. "The hell? Is there something else down there?
"I just checked it, it was clear," Eve emphasized.
The White Fang member stared at her for a moment before his eyes narrowed.
"Out of the way," he said, pushing past her. Eve froze in shock as he dropped down to look under the bed, a low chuckle escaping from him. Outside, the whine of several Dust-powered jet engines filled the night, indicating that the Huntsmen had started to arrive; the noise filled the area, threatening to drown out everything else.
And through it all, Eve was just barely able to make out what he said next.
"Well, well," he said. "Looks like we don't just have a hostage, but a traitor as well-"
That was as far as he got before Eve moved. She surged forwards, drawing her sword just as the White Fang member stood up and reached for his gun. There was a flash of steel, followed by a spray of crimson that arced through the room, and when it was over, the White Fang member's body fell apart in two halves. The little girl hiding under the bed screamed, just as the jet engines outside hit their crescendo.
Eve stood there, panting from the sheer shock of what she'd just done. The White Fang member lay dead at her feet; she spared him one final baleful look before turning and marching out of the house, sheathing her bloody sword as she went.
The Huntsmen had arrived in Vale, which meant that it was time for her to move out.
The airship was silent, aside from the whine of its engines as it flew over the city. It was deathly quiet in the confines of the ship; even his airsickness was lying dormant. Something about that silence was eerie to him – he'd expected some measure of chatter among the students, even if just a little to deal with the pre-mission jitters, but instead there was nothing.
It wasn't hard to understand why, either – whether it was due to anger or apprehension, nobody had any reason to say anything at the moment. They were all on-edge, knowing that on some level, they were about to drop into, for lack of a better term, an active war zone, one that some of them likely wouldn't be returning from.
For the first-years, it was as much of a trial by fire as they were ever going to get.
Movement at the front of the airship caught Jaune's attention, and he turned. Professor Goodwitch stepped up and cleared her throat.
"Listen up, all of you," she announced. "I don't think I need to tell you all how dangerous the situation is. We're looking at massive civilian casualties already, and that's before the Grimm have even gotten here."
Jaune felt his mouth go dry at that. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Pyrrha giving him a knowing look, which made him wince slightly.
Whatever happened, he was going to have some explaining to do after this, and not just to her. Something told him that everyone was going to have questions, one way or another.
"First-years, I expect you all to hang back," Professor Goodwitch said. "You all will serve as the vanguard while the more experienced students deal with the incoming Grimm and the brunt of the White Fang."
A slight murmur of disapproval went up among the first-years, one which Professor Goodwitch was quick to silence with a pointed gaze.
"None of you are ready for the worst of what we're dropping into," she stated bluntly. "I expect you all to hang back and, at worst, assist the trained Huntsmen and civilian police in Vale in dealing with the White Fang stragglers. Stick close to your landing zones, don't travel off by yourselves, and don't go looking for a fight."
"This is stupid…" Jaune heard Yang mutter next to him. "Why even deploy us if we're not going to get to fight?"
"Yang," Ruby gently chastised.
Yang let out a sigh as she folded her arms. "I know, I know… just pisses me off. The White Fang are out there killing innocent people, we shouldn't be hanging back, we should be hunting them down."
Blake suddenly stiffened next to her, something which didn't go unnoticed by Jaune. Still, he knew better than to try and ask about it now, and so instead turned back to Professor Goodwitch as she spoke once more.
"Good luck to you all," she told them. "Please stay safe."
As soon as she finished speaking, a red light began to flash through the airship. All the students stood up and approached the cargo bay doors, with the upper-year students taking the lead. Jaune stood at the ready along with his team, his heart pounding as he waited for the signal.
A few seconds passed before the light turned green, and the students began to jump out of the cargo bay.
Jaune watched the upper-year students jump first, staring as they fell down into the city. And then, before long, it was his team's turn. Any semblance of a landing strategy had left his mind long ago, replaced instead by sheer worry about what he was going to do once he actually hit the ground.
It was a small mercy, then, when Pyrrha took him by the hand and jumped out of the airship along with him.
Jaune didn't even scream on the way down, even as the wind rushed around him and his heart plummeted into his stomach. Before he even knew what was happening, Pyrrha had deployed her javelin with one hand and dug it into the side of a building as they fell, slowing their descent as her Aura flared, preventing her arm from being ripped out of its socket. The two of them touched the ground harmlessly enough, then looked around, weapons at the ready.
The rest of the first-years in their airship had landed nearby. There had only been a few teams of first-years in the airship – his team, Ruby's team, and two others he didn't recognize. Jaune was about to call out to Ruby when her eyes suddenly widened and she doubled over, dry heaving the entire time. Confused, Jaune turned to see what she had been staring at, and froze in terror.
Down the street, he could see the mangled bodies of several civilians strewn across the pavement.
"Gods…" he muttered. "The White Fang did this…?"
"I'm not surprised…" Weiss said as she came up alongside him. "This is par for the course for the White Fang, believe me."
"You're wrong," Blake said, causing Weiss to turn towards her with no small amount of dismay.
"What are you talking about, Blake?"
"All I'm saying is that the White Fang have never been this violent before," Blake pointed out. "Something changed with the Vale branch."
"That's crazy! You can't be-"
"Guys," Ruby interrupted. "Can we focus on what's important?"
Blake and Weiss both trailed off, though the two of them continued to angrily stare at each other for a moment before turning away. Ruby eyed them both with dismay, but said nothing, instead readying her weapon.
"Okay…" she offered. "We should rejoin the others. Professor Goodwitch said we're supposed to serve as the vanguard, she needs us to secure the backline and guard for any Grimm that might try to break through."
"Screw that," Nora declared. "The White Fang are out here killing people, and we're expected to just stay here and let them do it unopposed? I say we head into town and stop them as best as we can."
"And get ourselves killed?" Weiss asked. She shook her head. "The smart thing to do is follow what Professor Goodwitch said."
"Why is everyone acting like the White Fang are anything but pissed-off people given guns and a will to kill?" Yang questioned. "Seriously. They don't have Huntsman training like us. We can handle them."
"You're wrong," Jaune and Blake said at the same time. Both turned towards each other with surprise, but it was short-lived, as they felt the others staring at them. Jaune winced, then looked back towards his friends.
"Something you two want to tell us?" Weiss asked, placing a hand on her hip.
"I think I know," Pyrrha offered. "They're saying we can't afford to underestimate the White Fang. After all, this attack is clearly far more coordinated than anyone would have thought them capable of. There's no telling what other tricks they have up their sleeves."
Jaune was about to voice his agreement with Pyrrha, when suddenly a series of nearby gunshots and screams split the night. All of them tensed, readying their weapons, but the noise was over as quickly as it came. And when it was, Yang didn't waste any time in giving them a baleful glare.
"I know what Goodwitch said," she announced. "But I am not sitting idly by while civilians are being massacred. That sounded close to me – you're all welcome to sit back and follow orders, but if you do, don't expect me to speak with you again."
And with that, Yang took off towards the noise, even as Ruby protested. She stared at her sister for a moment, despondent, but then took off after her; Weiss and Blake followed suit not long after, leaving Jaune and his team alone.
"Jaune," Ren said. "Jaune, what do we do?"
"Jaune, we have to go," Nora insisted. "We can't let them go off on their own, and we can't sit idly by and let people die."
"We're not ready for this, Nora," Ren emphasized. "Professor Goodwitch said-"
"I know what she said. But I can't sit back and let this happen."
"Both of you, stop," Jaune said. They turned towards him and he hesitated, a sigh escaping from him. "...I say we Follow them. Goodwitch said not to run off on our own; she didn't say anything about going off as a group. And besides, Nora has a point – we can't let Team RWBY go in alone."
Thankfully, that seemed to appease Nora, while also placating Ren somewhat. His teammates nodded, and they all took off after Team RWBY as they ran deeper into the city.
It didn't take them long to find the source of the noise. The eight of them rounded a city block, and were stunned to find the corpses of about a dozen civilians leaned up against a nearby storefront, riddled with bullets. Ruby stood there staring at them, her body trembling; Jaune approached her and put a gentle hand on her shoulder, which made her jump, though she was quick to give him a small, grateful look.
Yang looked around, a scowl crossing her face as she did so. "Whoever did this must still be close. I say we fan out and look around, so we can-"
A flash of red and black from between several buildings caught Jaune's attention. He turned towards it, his grip on his weapon turning white-knuckled.
"We know you're there," he announced. "Come out."
For a moment, there was no answer, and Jaune wondered if he'd been mistaken about what he'd seen. But unfortunately, the movement resumed; his heart plummeted when she stepped out from the shadows, one hand resting on her sword, a deep scowl on her face.
Jaune was about to say something to her – to try and demand some answers, or an explanation, or even just to ask why. But he never got the chance to.
Blake, of all people, beat him to the punch.
"Eve…?"
Hey hey people, Minaris and Ickbard here, back at it again with another chapter of *checks notes* Seeing Red. In all seriousness, it's been awhile for this one, so I'm sorry for that. I ended up going on vacation back in April, which meant I couldn't write for a few weeks, but even beyond that, I've been super preoccupied with my original stories.
Warning: This is the part where I shill the stuff Ickbard and I have been working on in the interim.
But yeah, we've been working really hard on a few original web serials, which you can read over on my Royal Road page. We've got one completed story over there already, with two more that are actively updating. We've also opened up an account on a certain donation site that starts with 'Pa' and ends with 'treon', specifically for these stories - ten bucks a month gets you twelve chapters ahead on one story, twelve chapters ahead on another, and five chapters ahead on a third which is currently a r/HFY exclusive because it's a shitpost and I'm not sure how receptive RR would be to it and also parts of it may break RR's ToS, I don't know. I'm playing it a bit safe with that one since the last time I skirted a site's ToS (the AO3 incident), they banned me for it... even though other people do the exact same shit, the difference being they're bigger names than me so I guess that means they can get away with it where I can't. Ain't differential enforcement hilarious?
But anyway, Ickbard and I have been busy men, obviously lol. And I do mean it when I say that it's the two of us working as partners on everything, too - it's been a joy working with him on all this stuff and I'd like nothing more than to keep this partnership going indefinitely.
We're still working on fanfics as well, it's just that now that we're kinda getting paid to write originals, those need to take priority, even if it's just a few bucks a month. Fanfics are the fun part of writing, whereas the originals are work. We're not giving the fanfics up any time soon, either - the next one out should be Auras and Alibis, followed by Black Sun, and then another chapter of Seeing Red, etc. It's just that the paid stuff has to take precedence over the fun stuff at this point.
But yeah, if you're interested in following our originals, you can find them easiest over on Royal Road under my name, Obsequium Minaris. They're also serialized over on r/HFY and Spacebattles as well. And, of course, if you want to read ahead, you can find us over on the-P-site-that-shall-not-be-named-on-FFN under my name as well.
Thanks for reading, y'all, and I'll see you again in the next update!
I have recently launched two new original web serials, Ballistic Coefficient and The Vampire's Apprentice. Both can be read at the following links; if you're a fan of mine, I'd really appreciate it if you would check them out. Both are on r/HFY, Spacebattles, and Royal Road under the same name I use for FFN, or if you'd prefer a direct link to them, that can be found here (remove the spaces):
ww w . royalroad fiction / 84568 / ballistic-coefficient
ww w . royalroad fiction / 84566 / the-vampires-apprentice
In addition, I have also launched a "P" "Atr eon" for these stories, which can be found at the link below. If you want to support me and also get a little something in exchange for your money, ten bucks a month will get you twelve additional chapters for both of these original stories - that's 24 chapters total, or 6 weeks of additional content each for these stories. That link can be found here (again, remove the spaces):
ww w. p atr eon user / posts?u=112496374
Thanks so much, and I hope you enjoy the stories!