RUN.
That was the only thing that caught their mind. Between getting pummeled with explosions early in the morning to then being hit by invading American troops, and now being chased by said American troops, running was their only option, Neo had used her semblance to allow for her and Torchwick's escape from outside the train.
Neo coughed as tears and snot continued to freely flow from her face, her eyes and throat felt like hell, whatever those Americans did with that gas was effective.
Her boss wasn't looking any better, though it looked like his respiratory system was was a lot more affected than his tear ducts, he was coughing and wheezing quite a bit
But as they stood there, outside the train, trying to wait off the pain from breathing in and being exposed to the gas, they noticed their mistake.
There were still American soldiers outside the train, dozens of them actually. And they all aimed their guns at the two, and they all simultaneously fired.
Neo leapt up into the air, dodging every single bullet as she angled herself to land on the other side of the train. She noticed that right on the other side there were more soldiers, but they all seemed to be moving around the train, moving to her old position.
She pressed a secondary button on her parasol, and out extended a narrow blade, she landed on of the soldiers, piercing his neck immediately right as she landed.
No aura? That was perplexing.
Her boss landed right next to her.
The Americans seemed to finally notice them, but it was too late. Torchwick had pointed his cane at them, and released a fire dust bomb, blowing them all away.
They took the opportunity to run forward. But up ahead, she noticed the outline of more soldiers.
Good god, just how many of them were there?
not to mention that the soldiers behind them probably already noticed that the two of them weren't back there anymore.
They would be dead if they stayed there, dodging gunfire from two sides was not impossible, but very difficult, especially with the ridiculously fast bullets of the Americans.
So once again, she leapt into the air, she landed right on top of the train she had previously been in, Torchwick landed beside her. They sprinted on top of the train, eventually seeing the opening of the damn cave-in that stopped them from using their original escape plan.
There were ropes going down to the subway.
The two criminals jumped up through the crater finally they could make their escape, only to notice that this time, there were hundreds of soldiers around them, all of which were apparently waiting for them to come out.
Oops.
She spun in the air, using the Soldiers' slower reaction time to her advantage, she landed smoothly,, her boots slid on the ground causing some dust and pebbles of the broken concrete road she was in to be kicked up.
Her eyes darted around looking for any possible chance at escape, at least a hundred soldiers around her, and were those bullheads?
They seemed to not yet have been able to fully react to her yet, she sped towards the closest soldier to her, got behind him and held a blade to his throat as Torchwick finally got up from the crater.
The soldiers seemed to finally react.
"Shit! She's got Tommy!" One of them shouted.
They all pointed their guns at her.
"Whoa ho- ho… Easy there, boys, one wrong move, and my associate here will do something… untoward to that poor fellow."
The soldier she held hostage had his hands up in a placating manner. This was just like back in the train, her with a hostage, and Torchwick taunting the Americans.
She brought the Blade closer to his neck.
"Look, all we want is safe passage out of this city, and we'll promise to never bother you, we'll cut ties with the White Fang and everything!" Torchwick had a nervous smile on him.
The soldiers' seemed to ignore Torchwick, and it seemed some of them ignored Neo entirely and kept looking behind her? Why would some of them look behind her instead of at her?
She was confident that the two of them could take on a couple dozen of these Americans no problem, but there were at least a hundred of them up here, likely more, and if the soldiers didn't kill them, the two bullheads in the sky certainly might.
She couldn't use her semblance too, too many people around to notice her creation of an illusion, not to mention the fact that even if she was able to pull that off, there was no guarantee that she could coordinate her escape with her boss.
So, she just waited there, a blade to her hostage's neck, for seconds, thinking of any possible way they could escape.
"Come on guys, if you think we have anything important on the White Fang, trust me, we don't ! We just happened to do business! And you can't blame me for doing business, right?" He tried to keep up his nonchalant attitude but it was clear that Torchwick was starting to panic.
The soldier closest to her front glanced behind her. There it was again, why did he keep looking behind her and the hostage?
"You let go of him, and we can talk." The soldier spoke in a clearly faked calm tone.
No, she wasn't going to let go of their only piece of leverage here, so in response, she closed the distance of the blade and her hostage's neck, the edge was touching the skin at this point.
Some of the soldiers seemed to step forward in panic, if it wasn't clear already, they were itching to shoot her.
"Now, now boys, we both don't want this to end badly, do we? If you can all just calm down, we'll let your friend go, and we'll be on our merry way."
And again, the soldier stole a glance behind her, she was starting to get sick of it, why? Why? Why did he keep looking behind her?
The soldier suddenly tapped on his earpiece "Do it."
What?
BANG!
Her mind went blank.
Camp Glenn
1122 Hours
A mere four hours after Operation White Death, Kirkman mulled over what had occurred.
This was a disaster, well no, the operation was a success, but the fact that four huntresses in training and one huntsman, all affiliated with Beacon Academy, were hit by the artillery strikes and Aurora bombings, how they were still alive was a complete miracle, if they were killed, the situation would be much worse.
Kirkman looked over at the unconscious body of a blonde-haired young girl, apparently named 'Yang' according to the injured professor.
Kirkman wasn't supposed to come to Camp Glenn, but the moment he got the news of the possible non-combatants being hit, he wanted to see for himself. And in five minutes he was supposed to talk to Ozpin through comms at the command center here at Camp Glenn.
He had a semi-formulated strategy on how he would explain the whole situation, it was as simple as 'It was an accident.' Granted, this answer would probably not save him from the headmaster's ire, and if the headmaster chose to reveal it to the public, the public's ire as well.
But he had a trump card: that he had just stopped what was possibly the largest planned terrorist attacked in the history of Remnant, if things got hot with public opinion, he hoped that the revelation that America had stopped a massive terrorist attack would overshadow the fact that America also almost killed five non-terrorists, four of which were students.
He was surprised about how calm Professor Oobleck was about the situation, he didn't scream or fight back, he was simply content knowing that his students were safe, but Kirkman could sense a bit of contempt airing from the Professor.
Ignoring the possible PR massacre, the Operation was largely a success, his forces only suffering six deaths and thirty-two injuries. Three of those deaths and eight of those injuries came from the direct confrontation with Torchwick and his mysterious tri-toned associate.
Of course, any loss of a soldier was still unfortunate, but overall, Kirkman was content with the results.
He took a look around the room, seeing all the bandaged-up girls in the infirmary, all of whom were still unconscious, but according to the doctors they were in a stable state, and should wake up soon. Oobleck seemed to be taking a nap while he was sat on the bench.
Kirkman stood up; it was time, he sauntered out of the room and started walking to the Command Center Operations Room.
If he didn't have a scheduled appointment with Beacon's Headmaster, he would've headed straight off to the detention tent to have a word with Roman Torchwick, whose hands led to the deaths of two American soldiers as well as the injuring of four.
His associate also managed to kill a ranger while down in the subway.
And was almost about to do so again during the hostage situation, thankfully the Rangers organized help from a Marine scout sniper team nearby, all of whom were wielding heavy caliber precision sniper rifles and anti-materiel rifles.
Apparently if her aura didn't break after the first shot, she should've been be distracted enough to allow the other snipers to take their shots.
That was what happened, according to their report, she staggered backwards and let go of her weapon, another sniper in a nearby building took her out.
But the second shot apparently wasn't enough to kill her, her remaining aura softened the blow to her head, and instead she was knocked out, determined to have near fatal brain damage.
This showed that anti materiel rifles like the Barrett M107 firing .50 caliber rounds were effective in dealing damage against even individuals with strong auras, but she was still one tough son of a bitch to be able to take two anti-materiel rounds straight to the head, aura or not.
But she still took enough damage to be sent to the ICU.
It took Kirkman every fiber of his being not to order the plug to be pulled, but he knew she could be an asset during the interrogation of Torchwick, problem was, he wasn't even sure if the girl was someone Torchwick cared about, but he would find out soon enough.
Once he entered, he was met by a few dozen men on computers, a much larger screen at the front of the room.
Miller stood in front of him. "Sir, we've established a line with Beacon, they're ready."
That was early. "Alright, start it up."
George tapped one of the men on the computers on the back.
Kirkman walked closer to the large screen as it distorted and showed some sort of icon of Vale on a green background. He pushed the button on a table to turn on the microphone.
The Vale icon disappeared, and as did the green background. Revealing Headmaster Ozpin sitting on a chair, with a face that held no emotion.
Kirkman was about to speak. But was cut off.
"I see no reason as to why my students had to be involved in your conflict. I don't care for your excuses, I simply demand that they, along with Professor Oobleck, be sent back, and I want them alive and well." Ozpin's voice held emotion. Emotion that Ozpin usually did not display in the few times that Kirkman had interacted with him.
But Kirkman was expecting this, he knew Ozpin would be angry, so he played along. "Of course, headmaster, I assure you that your students and subordinate will be returned as soon as possible. We are simply supervising them as of now, as they have yet to properly recover from their injuries."
The moment he mentioned the injuries, he saw a fury flare in Ozpin's eyes, even through the screen.
"What injuries exactly have my students sustained?"
"According to Professor Oobleck they were not hit directly by our strikes, rather a majority of their injuries were caused by a building collapsing on them, as such, they suffered from blunt force trauma. Again, I apologize for this incident, your students were not the intended- "
"I believe I stated earlier that I do not care for your excuses, General." He leaned forward. "I know that you wouldn't strike my students on purpose, even you wouldn't be so cruel and stupid as to do such a thing. But even if it was an accident, that doesn't erase the fact that you inflicted unnecessary suffering onto my students and a member of my faculty. I simply want to secure their safety and have them returned here soon."
Kirkman had no excuses here, even back on Earth, the 'Accident' card was almost never effective.
"Of course, headmaster, but I'll have you know that our attack on Mountain Glenn was not a selfish act- "
"I don't want your- "
"We had proof of the White Fang having planned to attack Vale." Ozpin's expression of anger turned into one of shock. "We intervened both to stop this and to capture Roman Torchwick, we succeeded in both." That was a partial lie, the main objective was to capture or kill Roman as well as taking Mountain Glenn for the U.S.. Stopping the attack on Vale was just a happy side effect.
Ozpin eyebrow's furrowed, he doubted Kirkman. "And what is your proof of this impending attack?"
"The insurgents we captured at Cooperwick gave information as to the plans of the White Fang." He looked to George Miller on the side, giving him a knowing nod, as he started typing on his keyboard. "We are sending the necessary information to Vale authorities as we speak."
Ozpin's expressions seemed to change slightly, but not fully. So Kirkman decided to continue pushing. "The reason for the White Fang stealing so much dust was to load them into train cars, and drive a train attached to those cars, drive them through Vale while simultaneously detaching those cars, blowing holes right under Vale, letting the subterranean grimm rush in."
Now Ozpin looked very shocked, but then it morphed back into the emotionless face he was staring into just a minute or two ago.
"Thank you, General. But I assure you, it was under control, we sent the team that you almost killed for a reason, they were to investigate- "
"They were to investigate when we already had all the necessary information. Let me play this out for you, even if they did discover the plot, it would be too late, I doubt they had the means to find the White Fang entrances that lead to the train stations, and even if they did, by the time they enter the train station, Torchwick will have already activated the train and set its course to Vale, causing hundreds, possibly thousands of civilian casualties."
Ozpin looked to the ground, seeming to mull over Kirkman's words. Before looking straight back at the camera. "We don't know that, I'm sure that my students and Professor Oobleck could have very much handled it on their own."
"I don't doubt that they could have discovered the plot, the place was crawling with White Fang, it would be strange if they didn't discover it, but I doubt they could have stopped the train from reaching Vale and I certainly doubt that you could have mounted an effective defensive before the death toll reached the hundreds."
"I'm sorry General, but the defensive capabilities of the Kingdom of Vale have nothing to do with this."
"Oh, it certainly does, if the train had reached the town center as intended, what would have happened? Most of your huntsmen are out on missions or in Beacon, by the time the huntsmen or even the Atlesian troops in Beacon came, many would have already died."
Ozpin crossed his arms. "You should not have meddled with Vale's business, General."
That wasn't a very good retort. "You could say that, but that doesn't change the fact that we have saved Vale from what could have been an absolute disaster."
No reaction. "Alright, I admit that you may have protected Vale and its citizens, but that too hasn't changed the fact that in doing so you have inflicted heavy injuries on five of them, as well as having killed possibly dozens of Faunus in the attack on Mountain Glenn."
Kirkman almost laughed when Ozpin said 'dozens', the headmaster may have even detected his mirth, though it disappeared, and Kirkman went back to his original expression.
"And again, I apologize, I truly do for the five that I have hurt, we should have absolutely made sure that there were no non-hostiles left, but please do not count the eight hundred terrorists eliminated as reason to be against the attack."
Ozpin's eyes widened. "Eight hundred?" His voice grew louder, almost to the point of screaming. "You killed eight hundred in a single attack?"
Eight hundred two actually, and over a thousand wounded or captured.
"Eight hundred terrorists dead is better than a thousand innocent civilians dead don't you think?"
"Of course, why should I be surprised that you hold such little regard for human life, you killed hundreds in that base attack last month of course."
Kirkman sighed. "Headmaster, we've been over this, I hold little regard for human life who makes it their job to terrorize and cause suffering to innocent civilians, especially if those scum previously attacked us."
Ozpin grasped his temples.
"And believe me, it won't end here, we'll hunt down every last bastion of the White Fang until every single individual in Sanus is either dead or captured."
Ozpin's eyes narrowed. "You may have saved us from a disaster, but in doing so, you have caused one yourself. And you don't even have the morality to feel guilty for it.
"Guilty?" Kirkman scoffed. "You're guilty all the same, you want to point your finger, but there's no one else to blame. You're the one who has let the White Fang fester, how many innocents have died just because you want to protect this ever so precious human life? The lives of terrorists nonetheless."
Ozpin opened his mouth but was cut off.
"We did you a favor. Even if it wasn't because of the sanctity of life that you failed to take down the terrorists at your front doorstep, you also don't even have the means, you have a police force, yet they're incompetent, corrupt, and unable. You have the Atlesian military running rampant around Vale, but even with all their firepower, they can't even do the simple task of locating terrorists who barely do anything to hide their presence. And that's not even mentioning your incredibly stretched out huntsman- "
Ozpin slammed his desk.
That was the first time Kirkman saw him clearly displaying his anger.
"I believe our discussion is over, General. I want my students and faculty back by tomorrow, goodbye."
Ozpin ended communications and the screen went black.
Kirkman held back a laugh. He stared at the blank screen.
"Sir."
The General turned around to the direction of the sudden voice. It was Colonel Burton.
"Colonel?"
"I listened to the conversation, and I believe we should discuss our PR strategy."
Kirkman smirked. "You're right. Pretty sure Ozpin's gonna talk about his students being injured, but he's likely to leave out the fact that we saved Vale from a terrorist attack. So, what do you have in mind?"
Burton pulled out a planner, he flipped a few pages. "The Vale News Network has apparently been looking for leads on the attack, I think it'd be safe to invite a reporter for an interview."
"Invite? So, you plan on taking them here to Camp Glenn?"
"Yeah, just Camp Glenn, nowhere else, I think inviting them here will show the world on camera the partial extent of our strength without showing off too much."
"And it'll allow us to spin the narrative our way." Kirkman continued. "Alright, tell Public Affairs to set up an interview."
Though the Colonel still had one more concern to bring up "But before that, what should we do about the kids?"
"The kids? You mean the Beacon students in the infirmary?"
"Yeah."
All of whom were still unconscious, except for their professor, Doctor Oobleck who was keeping watch on them.
Burton was concerned on how to handle the situation around them. "How do we handle them when they wake up? We can't exactly keep them in the infirmary forever, doctors said they should be awake within the next few hours."
"Being awake doesn't mean they can just up and leave the infirmary, if I read the report correctly, one of them had a massive metal rod jutting out from her leg, and another has broken bones on her leg and arm as well as fractured ribs."
Apparently the injured by the metal rod, one Blake Belladonna, needed to get a tetanus vaccine administered for safety reasons.
"Yeah, but with that aura of theirs I'm pretty sure once they're awake it should only take a few hours before they'd want to stand up and I don't know, walk around? Maybe attempt to escape?"
Kirkman grasped his chin. "We can't exactly keep them in the detention center too, bad optics to be treating them like prisoners."
They were in a temporary camp, so the Command center didn't contain many rooms that could be cleared or refurbished to house the students for long periods of time, in fact the infirmary was just a refurbished meeting room, since the medial tents outside were all filled with injured White Fang members.
"Alright have them clear one of the barracks tents, once they don't need to be in the infirmary the others can be transferred there, and then we can have a talk with her."
The Colonel tilted his head at the notion. "Are you sure sir? Ozpin might get more pissed if you interrogate one of his own students."
"I'm aware, but this is a former White Fang member we're talking about, one with reportedly close ties to Adam Taurus. And what can Ozpin really do? Threaten us? The man doesn't even have the stones to fight back against terrorists."
"Alright sir, I'll try to come up with an interrogation strategy for Ms. Belladonna. Then I'll have Public Affairs set up an interview with some news agency within the next couple days, I want to ask again though, are you willing to grant permission for them to come over here?"
"Yeah, kill two birds with one stone, we can both show off our strength and paint ourselves in a better light."
"Alright then, I Assume you'll be conducting those interviews, sir?"
Kirkman thought back, he had many commitments to within the next few days, one of which was a meeting he was set to have with the CIA deputy director of operations regarding his plan with all the money and dust found in Mountain Glenn. Then after that, he had to appear on a Budget hearing at the Capitol.
"No, I'm sure you know that I'll be rather busy, so I suggest that you do the interview, you've had quite the experience after all. What with all those interviews during the GLA war."
"Yes, sir."
"Good, I'll leave you a few notes, you probably won't need them. You know the rules, avoid sensitive subject matter, appeal to the masses, and even if you have to lie through your teeth, say just what the people want."
Burton nodded, already knowing most of what Kirkman said.
"You are dismissed."
The Colonel saluted him then walked out the door.
Qrow's hands were shaking, he hadn't had a good drink in a while, he'd been watching the American movements in Cooperwick for a week, living off the land and never having the opportunity to drink or charge his scroll.
But here he was, taking the elevator up to the top of the CCT tower in Beacon academy, with news that would undoubtedly shake Ozpin and his cohorts.
With a freshly filled flask, filled from a bottle of whiskey he had pilfered from a pantry in the CCT, he took a swig, he cherished the slight burn in his mouth, letting it swirl before emptying the liquid into his throat.
He returned the flask under his coat; he really needed that drink.
What he saw…
It was horrific. In every sense of the way.
He wasn't supposed to come to Beacon until next week around the time of the Vytal festival, but given the urgency of the situation, and what had just happened, he had to come, and inform Ozpin directly of what he had seen at Mountain Glenn.
Entire armies marching their way through, with big green and grey behemoths shooting massive guns at terrorists who didn't know what exactly they were fighting. He shook off those thoughts as the elevator doors finally opened.
Revealing Ozpin who looked to be in an evidently sour mood, Ironwood, Goodwitch, and… Winter?
What was she doing here? Ah of course, Weiss, who had been hit, had been taken into American custody.
He worried for his nieces too, but he knew the Americans wouldn't do anything untoward to them with intent to return them back to Beacon. And he knew they intended to return them since after they got taken to camp, he heard someone named 'Townes' say over the radio that they would have to be brought back to Beacon then they got hauled off the direction of a big locked building he couldn't get into
Everyone in the room finally took notice of Qrow. He walked in.
The first thing those in the room noticed was the smell, Qrow hadn't had a proper shower in weeks, he had been living in the forest, collecting all the muck, mud, and shit that came with living in the forest.
The next thing they noticed was the very black and heavy bags under his eyes.
"Qrow… what happened- "
He cut Ironwood off. "I know, Jimmy… I smell and look like shit."
Even Ozpin's usual stoic nature was cut off by both the stench and Qrow's appearance. "What happened?"
"The Americans happened."
"They attacked you?!" Winter's voice rang heavily into Qrow's ears.
The lack of sleep as well as the currently being resolved alcohol withdrawal really didn't put him in the mood for loud noises.
He groaned. "Quiet please… And no, they didn't attack me."
"Then what happened? And why haven't you been in contact with us for a month?!" It was Glynda's turn to shout.
Brothers, he needed another drink, he took out his flask and took another swig.
This action annoyed many of those in the room
"Jimmy…" He put away his flask as he got the attention of the Atlesian General. "You sure she should be here for this particular discussion."
Winter almost looked offended… Oh wait, she was offended.
"If the discussion concerns the United States of America, then I believe it to be appropriate for one of my specialists to be present during the discussion."
Winter gave Qrow a smug smirk.
"Qrow, I ask again, what happened?"
He cleared his throat. "I'll start from the beginning. Before Mountain Glenn"
Winter looked up at Qrow. "Wait, you were at Mountain Glenn?"
"I'll get to that." He coughed, he really needed to drink actual water soon. "It all started about a month ago, I had just arrived at Cooperwick, it was a pit stop, I was supposed to go to Fanshire to collect information on a certain someone."
Everyone seemed to give him a knowing look, save for Winter.
"Just needed a good day's rest, and after that, I'll be back on my way, or so I thought. I woke up a bit late in the morning, and that was when they came, with all those weird looking bullheads and 'bout around thirty men."
"With all due respect, Qrow, we already know this, can you skip ahead to when you lost contact with us." Glynda cut in.
Qrow narrowed his eyes at the headmistress before accepting what she had said. "Fine, now I wanted to collect every bit of info I could, as you know, I tried following their bullheads, they went too fast and I gave up. So I decided to stay at Cooperwick for the night again, since I was already too far from Fanshire by the time I gave up. So, imagine my surprise when the next day there were a bunch of American soldiers all gathered around and inside Cooperwick, with even more of those bullheads.
"Yes, we had a discussion with Kirkman three and a half weeks ago regarding this, he had made a deal with the mayor allowing them to detain suspected members of the White Fang."
Winter eyes seemed to widen, it seemed as though she wasn't informed on that particular situation.
"Yeah, but that wasn't all they were doing, those soldiers you see, they started setting up tents and barbed wire outside of Cooperwick. Hell, they even kicked out the town militia and started manning stations at the walls, they were setting up a base of Operations."
That seemed to get something out of all of them, as far as the three of them knew, the deal was to only help defend Cooperwick from Grimm, not to set up a base.
"Are you sure, they were setting up the base?" Ironwood queried. "They could have just set up tents for the soldiers so they could help defend the town."
"I'll get to that later, but before that, while they were setting up camp, some of the soldiers knock at all the inns and hotels, because apparently, Mayor Jonathan Winslow told the soldiers that there were people in them that weren't in town records, I left before they got to my inn, didn't want them profiling me."
Ozpin let out a sigh of relief. "And that was when you lost contact."
"Yep, hadn't charged my scroll until the day before."
Winter was about to speak but was stopped by Qrow.
"I know what you're gonna say, why didn't just go to the next town and charge it there." Winter did not like that Qrow had predicted her statement.
"Well, you see, after seeing the Americans start doing a bunch of crap all over Cooperwick, I had a choice, either head to Fanshire and collect information that was likely to end up being a dead end anyway, or stay in Cooperwick and investigate what was right in front'a me."
"What information are you speaking of anyway?" Winter asked Qrow.
Everyone shot a look at Ironwood.
"It's best you don't ask these questions for now."
She wanted to ask why, but she knew better than to talk back to the General.
"Now, as I was saying, I left Cooperwick, and decided to set up camp at a mountain nearby that overlooked it, and I watched those soldiers and bullheads gun down grimm like they were nothing. After that, a day passed, I didn't sleep, but overnight I noticed that these bulldozers arrived, accompanied by a bunch of these hulking green and gray vehicles. I snapped a picture before my scroll fully ran out of charge, here."
He placed his scroll on the desk, which then projected a photograph, showing numerous bulldozers on the road, in between each of them were greyish green vehicles with what looked to be giant guns on them.
"How did you take these photographs up close if you were on a mountain?" Winter asked, almost innocently so.
Ironwood gave her a look that told her to stop talking, she shrunk at his glare, perhaps it was a mistake to keep her here for the discussion.
"What are they? What do they do?" Ironwood took interest in them, they looked like they'd be incredibly slow given their size.
"I'll get to that later, but yeah, over the course of a couple weeks, they start setting up base at Cooperwick. I actually almost got spotted by two guys in leaf suits. They came close to my camp while I was taking a nap, I heard them and made my exit."
"Leaf suits?" Ozpin narrowed his eyes.
"I don't know what to call them, it looked like they were wearing a bunch of grass and leaves on them, probably for camouflage."
Glynda stepped forward. "Qrow, get to the point, you can explain the rest at a later time, but for now, may you please explain what you saw at Mountain Glenn."
"Alright, alright. You don't want to hear about me listening into conversations, that's on you."
Her eyebrows furrowed as she pointed her riding crop at him. "I said you could explain it at a later-"
Qrow continued "Anyway." He took in and enjoyed Glynda's annoyed look. "Fast forward a few weeks, and there're suddenly a bunch of troops moving into Cooperwick, and I mean a bunch. Then they just camp there for a few days."
"Qrow." Now even Ozpin was getting annoyed.
Qrow knew he was annoying them, he usually wasn't one to mess around in serious situations such as this. But even he could admit he wasn't in the best state of mind at the moment. Having gone with no sleep for three days at this point, and after watching his nieces get hauled off to wherever.
"Yeah, this is it. At night, thousands of them started moving down the road. At first, I thought they were heading to Vale. I was about to go over there to warn you until I noticed they were going south, not to Vale, but to Mountain Glenn."
Ironwood then looked Qrow in the eye, clearly shocked at what he had just said. "You're telling me, they were able to mobilize a force, thousands strong, in a matter of weeks, and then have them move on Mountain Glenn almost immediately, you must be mistaken."
Qrow almost scoffed. "I saw what I saw Jimmy, there were thousands of them, most of them loaded up into cars, they sent up some small flying thingies that direction too, I assume to scout it out."
Ironwood wanted to ask what he meant by 'small flying thingies but the tired Huntsman continued.
"So, I followed them, they reached a spot about eight miles away from Mountain Glenn itself, and they set up camp through the night."
They set up a camp fit for thousands of soldiers in a night? Everyone couldn't believe what they were hearing, Qrow wasn't the type to lie, so the only reasonable way that this was untrue was if sleep deprivation and stress had mucked up his sense of time.
"And while they were setting up, they were also prepping these big green cannons in an open area, they had em all lined up and pointed at Mountain Glenn."
Winter stared down Qrow's baggy blackened eyes. "Cannons? Eight miles away? That makes no sense, how would they even be able to see their target? That's not even mentioning how the projectile would reach the city."
"Ho- ho, you should'a seen these guns, Ice Queen, they were bigger than any gun in that military of yours."
She wanted to retort that statement, but if the guns mounted on those vehicles in the picture showed them were any example of the caliber of American cannons, then Atlas really didn't have guns bigger than those, who would mount a gun that big on a vehicle anyway?
"Anyhow, I think most of the soldiers slept for the night while some others set things up."
"Was General Kirkman there?" Ozpin asked with a curious tone.
"Nope, big man himself didn't bother to show up, but it looked everyone who was down there already had everything sorted out. Things were quieting down for the night too, I thought they were just setting up another base like they did at Cooperwick, but no, the moment the sun started rising, everyone was out of their tents and running to their posts."
That didn't seem strange to the two members of the Atlesian military within the room, it was normal for soldiers to get up early and start preparing for incoming drills or possible deployment.
"They all started getting dressed up, getting' their guns, and just when I thought they were just doing a drill, I heard a sound, way up in the sky."
"Like it was being torn apart?" Ozpin continued.
Qrow tilted his head in thought. "Yeah, I was going to say like exploding, but that's a better description, I guess. I heard those sounds a bunch while I was spying over them in Cooperwick, they were usually a lot more distant than this though, this time it was like they were right over me."
Ironwood had a look of assurance. "Yes, those are aircraft of the Americans, they flew over Beacon during Kirkman's visit. We believe them to simply be reconnaissance craft."
Qrow chuckled. "Well, that's where you're wrong, they aren't just reconnaissance."
The look of assurance disappeared; his eyes narrowed in confusion. "That makes no sense, no conventional gun could effectively work when going at those speeds- "
"Not guns, Jimmy." Qrow wiggled his finger. "Bombs."
"From that altitude?" James went wide eyed. "How can they even accurately strike anything?"
"No clue, all I know is, I watched from eight miles away as the bombs hit the city, I could see the smoke from miles away. Little did I know, but RWBY were in the city at the time." Qrow looked at the ground.
Ozpin's expression soured, as did Glynda's. Winter resorted to looking at the ground, not wanting to show emotion yet clearly worried for her sister.
"Is… she okay?"
"Yeah, don't worry, the others are okay too, hell Bart even woke up when they got to him, but I'll get to that part later." He paused, ruminating whether to take a drink, deciding not to, he continued. "Anyway, after the bombings came the firing of those big massive guns I was talkin' about, they hit Mountain Glenn too, but just different parts of it."
He saw all of them give him an incredulous look. "Again, I saw what I saw, I may have been sleep deprived, but I was sober, I saw them hit, no clue why they didn't just use those aircraft in those other parts, but hey those guns did a helluva job too, they kept pummeling the city for hours, by the time they were done, the place looked a hundred times more run-down than it already did."
Ironwood couldn't believe what he was hearing, guns that could rain hell on a city from miles away? He wasn't even sure if the best optical sights his military had to offer could see that far, were they simply shooting blindly? But if they were as effective as what Qrow said, what did Atlas have to answer for that? Planes that could drop bombs faster than they could fly, guns that could tear through cities from miles away, what could Atlas do in the face of that?
Glynda wanted to ask how the kids and Oobleck even survived such a barrage, they were probably smart enough to start running when the bombs hit, but even then, if she was understanding Qrow's words right, they were trying to get at large swathes of the city, so it would have been hard for them to get out of the area of attack.
Not minding the stares of awed disbelief that he was getting, and the almost paranoid one of Ironwood, Qrow continued. "After about an hour and a half of that, everyone started moving out, getting in these weird armored cards, in the massive armored giants with guns, there also other armored giants too, some with smaller guns, some got into those black bullheads. And they all started heading the direction of Mountain Glenn. Thousands of them."
Winter could imagine how much of a mess moving thousands of troops into a single objective could be. "How could they even march in formation with such tight roads leading to Mountain Glenn."
"They didn't, in fact most of them weren't even on foot, the ones who weren't in those armored giants were in those smaller armored vehicles I was talking about. And it looked like complete chaos, there was no slow marching, they just moved straight to the objective."
Ironwood scoffed. "That doesn't seem very efficient."
"I thought so too, but even with all that chaos, but they moved through the place so fast that you'd think it was a race, it sure as hell looked chaotic, but at the same time it wasn't, they were getting things done."
The doctrine Ironwood and Winter knew of was to march in large formations onto the enemy, they couldn't imagine how such a disorganized strategy could lead the Americans to being able succeed.
"Hell, not marching probably made them faster. Those giant vehicles with guns on them, apparently they're called 'tanks', and I watched them break buildings like they were nothing. And a bunch of them had lasers that destroyed missiles that were shot at it."
They had an anti-projectile system? Something Atlas was trying to get at, closest to it being hard light dust shields. The more they heard about the assault the more it was starting to look like the Americans were a much bigger threat than they had originally assessed.
Ozpin especially was worried, Qrow had basically just said that there were now three major American bases surrounding Vale, essentially trapping it, north, south, and east, he now held an almost clear scowl.
"And here's the kicker, those 'laser tanks' were also called Paladins."
"What?" Winter and Ironwoods confused voices resonated throughout the room.
"Did they steal our name?" Winter's held a clear amount of irritation.
"Hehe, doesn't matter, cause you know what I saw? Cause I saw the American Paladin destroy one of the White Fang's Atlesian Paladins with a single shot."
Slack jawed, wide eyed, those were some of the words to describe the reactions of those in the room. Sure, the models that were stolen may have been prototypes, but even still, they were practically very close to what the final product would be.
Winter's back straightened into a dignified stance. "Impossible, the Atlesian Paladin 2-90 armor is powerful enough to withstand a full speed charge of a Megoliath."
"Yeah, and I watched it destroy all the missiles the Paladin shot at it with lasers, after that it took a hit from its energy gun, and you know what happened to it? It shook! That's all the Paladin's energy cannon did to it, it made it shake a bit! Might've given the tank a few burn marks, but that was it. Then with a single shot, both the Paladin and whoever that poor pilot was, were dead."
Ironwood was speechless, thoughts racing through his head. He didn't want to believe that what was the peak of Atlesian ground weaponry was destroyed by a single shot from an American gun, whereas its own guns didn't do anything. He didn't like the prospect of eventually finding himself the enemy of the United States, which given the current relationship of the Kingdoms, was a probability that couldn't just be overlooked. Which meant he might just have to deal with those out of sight cannons, high speed bombers, and those Tanks.
This was a terrifying thought indeed, even some of the best technology Atlas had to offer at the time stood no chance against a simple gun, they all stood there dumbfounded.
The fact that according to Qrow, thousands of troops marched, or didn't march, but rather rolled into Mountain Glenn, meant that the Americans probably still had thousands more troops in their other bases, which might put the total size of their military to over ten thousand men and women under their ranks.
Ironwood was still confident with what he had heard so far, Atlas had forty thousand troops at his disposal, he knew his military could still Beat the Americans, but given what he had heard from Qrow, the casualties from this hypothetical conflict would be immense.
But Winter's thoughts wandered off back to her sister, she still did not know what happened, she knew from Ozpin that Kirkman was keeping her temporarily while she recovered, but she still wanted to know what happened.
"So… What happened to- "
"Yeah." Qrow continued. "After the battle- "He shook his head. "No, it wasn't a battle, it was a massacre. After the massacre, everyone started putting barbed wire everywhere and went around the place securing it even more. I was watching over this one guy that I had been following around for most of the day, his name is Jack Son or something."
Strange name, some people didn't bother with naming their child something that corresponded with a color, but all the names he heard tossed around in the battlefield were all mostly non color related. But that was beside the point.
"He was chatting with another guy, talking about what had just happened. And no, bullshit- "
"Language!" Glynda sent a glare his way, which he ignored.
"No bullshit." He continued. "They were talking about how many Paladin kills they had scored, oh and did I mention they call Atlesian Paladins roaches? Hehe." He saw clenched fists from the two Atlesians in the room. "Anyways, after a bit, a dog ran up to em, and I thought, hey this dog looks familiar, because of course, it was Tai's dog, Zwei."
Glynda's head suddenly turned to Ozpin. "They brought an animal with them to their mission, that is against the rules! Did you know about this?"
"Well, that's beside the point, because if Zwei hadn't been there, I'm pretty sure at least one of them would've died under that huge pile of rubble. He led the two guys to this big pile of rubble, together, them and a few other guys pulled out all the kids plus Bart."
Glynda's glare softened, instead she went into this look of concern, though Qrow couldn't really tell, Glynda was such a hardass that if he wasn't sure if she even had the ability to feel genuinely concerned, or at least that's what he told himself every time he'd get nagged by her.
Ozpin held the same look of concern, except he looked to be a lot less surprised by the revelation.
Winter wanted to speak, clearly wanting to ask if Weiss was okay, but it appeared that she'd thought to have asked too many questions as is, and didn't want to ask more in order to remain in that calm and composed façade of hers.
Qrow still remembered when Yang was pulled out of the rubble first. He hadn't expected to see his niece be suddenly pulled out unconscious, so he reacted quite aggressively.
"Before you ask, they're all fine, few cuts and scrapes here and there, but it looked like their auras took the brunt of it, hell that pile of rubble probably saved them from all the bombs hitting around the place. Out of all of them though, that one girl, don't know her name, she's got black hair, a bow on her head."
Looks of relief filled the room.
Ozpin stood up. "Blake Belladonna? What happened to her?"
"She was the most injured, had a big metal rod poking out her leg, and her arms looked pretty banged up, but nothing a good doctor and aura couldn't fix."
Ozpin sat back down, still concerned, but his worries had been slightly eased.
"Now you're all informed, I think you should really think about making a plan for the Americans. Cause it's starting to look like there's a new player on the board."
Blake's head was a mess, how long had she been out? Her consciousness was still in a very shaky state, she could barely muster the lucidity to even think, much less muster the strength to open her eyes. She could vaguely feel a sharp pain coursing through her right leg. As her mind was starting to finally climb out of its confused state, she started to hear scattered words around her.
"… You can move them now…"
"… Keep her here…"
"… Make sure to ask about…"
"… She isn't waking up…"
"… Check her au- "
She opened her eyes, slowly, finding it rather hard to do so, her vision was blurry. She tried to blink away the blurriness. There was a pulsating pain going through her head, she could feel the pain in her leg even better now. She was laid down on something soft.
'A bed?' She thought.
Her surroundings were strange to say the least, mostly empty room with empty beds, metallic walls, and a large closed door directly in front of her.
She heard a few metallic clanking sounds to her left, she achingly turned her head to the right, it was hard to turn her head too, not just from the pain but it was as if every muscle in her body was in an overly relaxed state.
Was this what anesthesia felt like? She'd never been administered anesthesia before, all she knew was that it knocked people right out.
In her peripheral vision she could see an IV bag to her right, though she couldn't feel the IV, must be whatever drugs they had injected into her.
As her head finally finished turning, she saw a disheveled looking man, unkempt dark brown hair, untrimmed facial hair, and blackened eyes that just screamed insomnia. He was in what looked to be a white lab coat.
He was fiddling with some wires which all lead to a screen with a blue meter on it, but it showed up as empty.
She just stared, before realizing that she was laid down on a bed in an unknown place with an unknown stranger right next to her fiddling with an unknown device. She strained to sit up, she gathered all the strength she could and pushed herself up, her blanket flew forward.
"Oh shit!" The man yelled in shock with an almost familiar voice. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, don't even try, doctors said something about you not being able to walk for at least a few days." The more he spoke the more she recognized his voice.
The man stood up, placed his gloved hand on her chest and pushed her back down on her bed. His hand was in a precarious position which only served to irritate her more. He pulled back his hand, and pressed a button next to her bed.
"Where am I?" She strained out; her voice was raspy.
She was expecting to hear the word 'Beacon' come from his mouth, the room, after all, looked like an infirmary in Beacon Academy, though she didn't recognize the man. She was pretty sure she knew the faces of all the doctors and nurses in Beacon. They frequented the infirmaries after all because of all the injuries that would happen from sparring and just the general mayhem that her team and JNPR would get to.
He looked like a doctor, but he talked about 'the doctors' like he wasn't one of them, was he not a doctor?
The man seemed to deliberate her question, thinking deeply. "…You're being treated for your injuries at Camp Glenn. A temporary military encampment owned by the United States of America."
Upon hearing those words exit his mouth, Blake immediately attempted to jump out of her bed, adrenaline rushing through her veins.
Out of pure anticipation, the man had already begun forcing her onto the bed; she could have easily overpowered him if it weren't for her weakened state."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Just stay put, we ain't gonna hurt you, Kirkman just has a few… AH!" She smacked him square in the face. He staggered backwards, grasping his face.
"Fuckin' hell, they really should've slapped some handcuffs on you."
She lifted her leg, only for a much larger pain to shoot right up it, she yelled out in pain. She pushed through the hurt and twisted her body in an attempt to roll off the bed. Then the doors opened. Revealing General Kirkman Himself accompanied by a tall bald man. Both were in green uniforms. She froze.
"Good afternoon, Ms. Belladonna, I assure you, there's nothing to be so… Agitated about, you're simply being treated here for your injuries."
The bald man next to Kirkman then looked to his right, to see the disheveled man who was grasping his nose.
The disheveled man spoke. "Thought there were supposed to be guards outside, would've been real useful when she punched me in the face."
The uniformed men gave a look to Blake, they held no emotions but there was something hidden there. "Forgive her, Ben, she's just… adjusting." Kirkman spoke.
Kirkman then looked at the device that the now named 'Ben' was fiddling with. "Detection device still doesn't work?"
"I was working on it when she woke up."
Kirkman nodded. "Alright, you may go now Ben." Ben stopped holding his face, and with an irritated look, he exited through the large metallic door. "You too, Colonel."
"Sir, are you- "
"Yeah." The two then turned their backs to Blake and whispered amongst themselves, normally, she would've been able to hear them easily thanks to her heightened faunus hearing, but her grogginess combined with her recent injuries made it hard to focus.
But the Bald man also then left, leaving her and Kirkman alone in the room. She tensed up.
"Relax, like I said, you're just being treated for your injuries, your friends are in the other room, most of them are awake, same for your professor. I apologize for what occurred during the attack, I truly do." His tone was genuine yet almost hollow.
Blake stayed frozen. At Beacon she had imagined screaming every single profanity known to man at Kirkman, but here she was, unable to even speak. Not out of fear no, but something else lurked at the back of her mind.
"Now, you might be asking why you're here and are separated from your schoolmates, well it's because I have a few questions for you." Kirkman's tone dipped low.
Did he know? Did he know about her past? Was that why she was separated? So that she could be interrogated or worse? She immediately started planning her escape, with the sheets off, she finally noticed that her left leg was heavily bandaged which would lower her mobility. But if she could gather enough energy, she could lunge at Kirkman using the IV stand as a weapon.
"We know that you're a former member of the White Fang."
Her eyes widened, that IV stand was starting to look really appealing.
"But don't worry, I won't do anything against you for that past of yours, it would be cruel to do so against an unintended victim of our offensive."
"…Cruel?" Finally finding the strength to speak to the man, Blake levelled a glare at the American General. "Cruel?!" Kirkman was slightly taken aback by the sudden outburst of emotion. "Cruel… Like the dozens you killed in that attack in the base, like what you did now! That's cruel!"
Kirkman remained expressionless. "We clearly have opposing moral views; I view the White Fang as a terrorist group which has done nothing but oppress innocents since your father stepped down as leader."
Her teeth were grinding, she wanted to say something, but did she hear that second part right? "How did you…"
"Not exactly hard to figure out, doing research on the White Fang always leads you to its former leader, Ghira Belladonna, then a quick search of family history will lead to you. Again though, this isn't about you. You see, we are aware of you having had a close relationship with high-ranking White Fang member, Adam Taurus."
The moment those words exited his mouth, many previously bottled-up emotions escaped her mind.
"Currently, we suspect Mr. Taurus of having been the one who started all this, the orders to find and attack our base, and the kill-on-sight orders for all humans which started this very conflict. Did you know that, Blake? You call us cruel, yet you ignore the fact that we only do this 'cruelty' because they were cruel to us first."
Blake stayed quiet, too many thoughts flooding her mind for her to be able to put together a coherent sentence. She knew Adam was not perfect, she knew that the White Fang had strayed away from its original purpose. She knew all that, but could she really accept what they were doing?
"I'm not telling you anything."
Kirkman gave Blake a glare, she met his glare with her own. They stared at each other for a full minute before Kirkman broke it with a sigh. "Alright then, it's not like you're my prisoner. I'll have it arranged for you to be brought back to your friends."
Blake wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but she had a feeling it wasn't over yet.
He slowly walked to the door. Before stepping "One more thing though." She knew it, she tensed up once again. "Do you know who the Doctor is?"
"That…" Blake trailed off, the Doctor was an entity she really didn't want to remember, something that struck both disgust and incredible fear in her heart. She could still remember the screams of his so called 'Test subjects' and how Adam just let it happen.
Blake stared down at her sheets. "I'll never forgive you for killing so many…" Kirkman frowned. "But I wouldn't mind if you killed the Doctor."
Sheeeesh. Not gonna lie, I'm real happy with the response last chapter, was expecting a few people to complain about it being bloated or too long. I was actually thinking of separating that last part with Bravo Team/Team Metal and add that to this chapter, glad I didn't. I Hope you liked this chapter; it took a bit long, needed a bit of a break but I'm back and on the go now! Who is the Doctor? Ohohoho, some of you have already guessed it, but anyway, time for reviews!
Ivanoich1993: Thank you!
Whatsupman: Six KIA now, still, not too bad. And thanks for all the feedback and love of the last chapter, though I do wanna ask, what constitutes 'Nonsensical Bullshit', just curious. I wanted to make it more interesting, so yes, Neo's illusions radiate heat, it makes more sense since her illusions are actually physical, as for Emerald's though…
VGBlackwing: Yep, that's Price, yeah that was actually my idea for using tear gas, originally, I thought that tear gas was too minor given the fact that if US Marines can handle being gassed with it, then surely the White Fang can, but then I realized, yep they got more sensitive eyes and noses.
Monster King: Awesomer.
Vmoneywashere: Ah shit, that's embarrassing, lemme edit that real quick, yeah, I knew all that, the tracked part must have slipped my mind while writing because well, a bunch of military vehicles are tracked. And the train was already stopped, it was mentioned that they used an aurora bomber to induce a cave in at the Train's pathway.
Wolves567: Oh it will be, you'll soon see, and thanks again. AC-130 will definitely be making an appearance one of these days.
Gunfighterxy76: Yeah, my original draft for this Chapter had Qrow spying on the American base, but I thought him briefing the gang about the Americans would be more interesting. That's the thing though, I don't plan on the Americans just stomping on the huntsmen unless they are cornered by thousands of men and equipment like in the last chapter. I plan on at least giving the Americans a challenge. They were crying because of the tear gas. The full world reaction will be coming soon.
Guest: Well, sadly they didn't know there was a military op going on. Technically Mountain Glenn ain't Vale territory, at least nor technically, they lost that shit ages ago. Well, just in case you didn't read that part, the Paladin beat the Atlesian Paladin.
Dedelldm: ENTIRE story? Not really, But I have a lot of the major plot points jotted down already, I don't want to reveal just yet how long this'll be. Thanks for the support by the way!
ChronoHyperion: Yeah, watching these sorts of videos definitely do help with ideas.
Rama alif: Thanks, here it is!
Guest: I mentioned it earlier, yes, it is, it just hasn't made its appearance due to risks in urban combat.
Gen. Oil Derrick: Yeah, I know I said I'd take a long time with it, but holy hell, even I Wasn't expecting that kind of speed from me, I used to struggle making 5k words in a couple weeks, but then I made a 15k word chapter in just two! And yes, don't worry, I am taking care of myself and my responsibilities. Kirkman has plans, daz all I gon' say.
Guest: Thanks! China will still be a major player (Not saying how), but my plans for it have changed from my original concept which was why I removed it.
Crazzytony: Thanks! Hope you liked this chapter as well. Most of the extra reactions will happen next chapter, for this one, it's mostly the Oz gang and Blake.
Wing Zero 032: Great insight for the most part. But here's the thing, Kirkman ain't going to just capture Blake, the US is strong, but they don't have the logistics and deployment numbers advantage they got on Earth, they won't risk full blown war over info from a student they can just get themselves albeit with more difficulty. Also, you may have misread, because the 'Yellow' is actually the weapon that the 'Doctor' is creating. I actually made it so that Neo would be detected just to make things more interesting, I felt like it made more sense over Emerald's because Neo's illusions are actually physical. And no, the 'guy with the sword' was not Adam, I wouldn't just kill off a major character so unceremoniously like that, especially with such an off-handed remark.
Nukeblast81: Yes there will be more weaponry, definitely, I actually have a multi-page long list of weaponry, which may or may not be implemented, right now though, I wanna focus on implementing all the really cool US C&C tech that I've yet to implement. And thanks for the support! As for that second part, you'll see.
CaptainWarhammer: Thanks, thanks, and thanks! Good luck on your fic btw, the struggle of finding that motivation (and time) is hard! Respect. Blake interaction just involved her interacting with Ben and a bit with Kirkman this chapter, but there'll be more in the next one, trust me. Schnee Squadron will be using F-22s, those F-14s were phased out long ago. And I'll try to keep the good shit rolling.
New Vegas: Yeah, which is why I've been setting up to give the US a bit of a challenge in the rest of this story.
Quma25: Thanks! Yep, Remnant lacks experience, Americans have existed for over two hundred years, and in those two hundred years, the US has only had less than two decades of accumulated total peace. And Remnant's last major war was fought with swords and muskets if that World of Remnant vid is to be believed, so even their last bit of major war-fighting experience is obsolete.
Ramireztheloyal: Thanks, you are EPIC for giving me feedback.
Guest: Yes.
Insightguy: Thanks! And yeah, that might be fun.
Again, thanks for reading and all the support you have given me thus far, and no, I probably won't be releasing a chapter similar to the last one in length, for a while at least, like I said, even I'm surprised I was able to commit to it and make it in just two weeks. I hope you liked this chapter, leave a review, see you all next time!