Body swaps aren't uncommon for the Courier; she died quite a few times due to carelessness here and there, but purposefully swapping her body without dying first? Now that was rare. Right now she needed a way to dispose of her previous body, preferably in a way so that grave robbers and scavengers can't just yank the implants out of her previous body.
"We're all gathered here today to mourn the loss of John Courrier," the Courier said, shedding a fake tear as she glanced at her old body. It was a trade-off; lose her subdermal and other skin-deep implants in order to get sick-ass magical powers. Her natural healing abilities are now weakened somewhat, and she's generally more vulnerable to bullets now, but it's worth it for cool magical powers! "Who tragically passed away after being ambushed by a group of MISTRALI bandits," that's right, use your own death to motivate the Vacuans, genius move, "Thus, his power shall transfer over to me, his sister, Corrina Courrier, and I will make Mistral pay for not dealing with their bandit problems that lead to John's death."
"How do we know you didn't kill him?" a Vacuan asked from the crowd, the Courier immediately zeroed in on the guy, eye implants or not, she still had great eyesight.
"Why would I kill my brother?" she resisted a scoff, feeling the sharp canine teeth in her mouth poking her tongue, guess it's technically not lying anymore if you have the trait now, "Why would I purposefully do something that would fuck up the Republic?"
"He never mentioned you before," the Vacuan naysayer shrugged, "I guess it's just kinda weird that you appeared out of nowhere when he died…" the crowd began murmuring, "Can you run the Republic like he did? We don't want Vacuo to be like before anymore, 'cause that shit sucked!" the crowd agreed, the Courier smirked, bingo.
"I swear on the Courrier family name," she raised a hand, "I know that doesn't mean anything but I do promise to run things the same way John had been doing things," the Courier then turned to the body in the casket, "We're gonna cremate him by the way, he'd want it to happen, trust."
The crowd looked uneasy about that prospect, "We'll spread his ashes into the Vacuan desert," some of them nodded in understanding, "He'll become one with the continent itself."
That sounded cheesy as fuck, but the Vacuans seemed to accept it so it's all good. The Courier had a strict criterion when she went out to hunt for a new body to take over, they must be female and a Faunus with some kind of canine teeth trait, that way she can make it believable that 'John' actually had a sister all along. Oh, and they must be from Vacuo with nobody that would remember them. That last part would've been the most difficult… if it was in any other kingdom since Vacuo is where people go to just disappear off the face of Remnant.
The Courier's not opposed to killing a few innocent civilians here and there, if it serves her agenda, then they'll die, easy as that. Is it evil? Well that's subjective, the same way the Strip big-wigs called Mr. House a hero while everyone else in the Mojave seems to think otherwise. Caesar was seen as evil by the common folk of the Mojave, while his Legion seemed to revere him as a deity, what constitutes as good or bad fully depends on a person's perspective… except for Salem, the Courier sneered at such binary thinking, Salem has no agenda, no ideology that she follows, all she wanted was to destroy the world? How uninspiring!
She carried the casket through the city; the Vacuans following close behind to see out the final rites of this funeral. Placing the coffin down atop a dune far outside of the city walls, she grabbed her old body out of the casket and placed it on the sand, "He said he wanted to go out with a boom," taking out a Mini-Nuke, the Courier stuffed the bomb into the body's burial clothes, "A farewell as bright as the person himself," the Vacuans watched as she brought out her revolver, "See ya, John." The Courier pulled the trigger.
The Mini-Nuke detonated, vaporizing the body instantly alongside all of its implants, that way; no dumb fuck bandit can just stumble across the body or dig it up to get all the sick tech she had installed, no way! Her team stood next to her, wincing alongside everybody else as the Mini-Nuke blinded damn near everybody. The shockwave then came crashing in, nearly knocking everyone off their footing as they watched the mushroom cloud subside.
Everyone stood there in silence, the dune that once housed her old body had its tip turned into glass from the immense heat, the Courier turned around, signalling for her team to follow her, "Alright everyone," she clapped twice, "Back to work."
The two-minutes of mourning is over, every Vacuan that attended the funeral immediately went back to their stations, Vacuo's doing just fine for itself, the plants are growing great, and the water will last the city for another few hundred years or so before the reservoir runs dry. The city reminded her of something like Goodsprings… but bigger… and a lot more xenophobic.
The Courier retreated to her private chambers alongside her team, "Wow, that was dramatic," Mint commented, "The people just ate that up? No questions asked?" The Courier collapsed onto her couch as the others took their seat in the dining room, which was in the same room as the couch that the Courier was sitting on; it was a joint shared living-dining room hybrid.
"I am an expert smooth talker," the Courier gloated, "Besides, once you do your job good enough, they don't care what kind of person you are," she then sat up, "Think about it, Ironwood might be a full-time war criminal but he runs the military so well that people don't care about that kind of stuff," she leaned back on the couch, "Or how Qrow Branwen is a struggling alcoholic but he does his job as a Huntsmen so well that the local AA don't bother to call him back anymore."
"Well yeah, I can see how they accepted your old body so quickly," Johan rubbed her chin, "But playing the sibling card? How the hell were you able to convince them with that?"
"Honestly? I have no fucking clue," the Courier shrugged, "But it works right? Now we're gonna go to Anima under the pretence of 'teaching them a lesson for letting John Courrier, handsomest man on Remnant, die'," she stood up, motioning for her team to follow her, "Oh yeah, it's all coming together…"
Qrow mulled over a newspaper as he sat inside a bar, 'Courrier dead! New Vacuan Republic to be led by Corrina Courrier!', he grimaced, so that whole thing with him swapping out body parts back in the Xiao Long cabin was real? But why did he move to a woman's body when his previous one worked just fine?
…wait.
Qrow's attention was pulled to the entrance as some child walked in nervously, "Uh… excuse me?" he raised an eyebrow at this toddler standing before him.
"I'm gonna tell the bartender to kick you out…" the child looked panicked at this. Qrow was about to call the waiter before he felt a tug on his clothes.
"I uh… want my cane back?" the kid's face contorted into a look of confusion. Qrow wasn't confused though.
"Sorry Oz, Cinder turned it into ash during your fight with her," the kid winced, Ozpin was definitely shocked at this, "But I think you'll want to look at this though, kid, you can relay the messages right?" the kid nodded, "Good, have a seat and tell Ozpin to read the newspaper headline." Qrow handed him the newspaper and watched as the kid looked through it with confusion.
The kid then winced, "Jeez, I can hear you loud and clear…" Qrow raised an eyebrow, "He's uh… extremely surprised at this…"
"Hmm, here's the thing Oz, Courrier is not who he seems to be… or she now for that matter…"
Vick Bluebell stood next to Headmaster Lionheart as the man mulled over some plans… Bluebell didn't know what they were and he didn't want to know. Having silver eyes is trouble enough, immersing himself deep into political intrigue is arguably worse. Lionheart had requested that he be there to protect him from any assassins or terrorists, Bluebell could see the wisdom in that, especially after what happened in Vale.
The door was kicked open suddenly, Lionheart yelped, nearly throwing his Scroll at the intruder but Bluebell got there quicker. Grabbing the assailant's leg before flipping them over and keeping them subdued on the floor, "What the- Qrow?" Bluebell's eyes widened as he was quickly kicked off the Huntsman, "You scared me half to death! What the hell?!"
Qrow sneered at Bluebell before turning to Lionheart with a glare, "Why weren't you waiting for us at the entrance? I thought we had a schedule and everything!"
"Huh? What're you-" Lionheart pulled out his pocket watch, "Oh shoot, well I would like to apologize," he stood up and approached Qrow, "It seems that time slipped away from me for a moment there."
"Are you actually being for real right now?"
Bluebell stood next to Lionheart as Qrow pointed at him, "And who is your goon over there? Where's the rest of the faculty?" Bluebell sighed at being called a 'goon', it wasn't his fault that the Headmaster requested that he be his personal bodyguard! Mistral's full of unsavoury characters so he could see the wisdom in that too, though he doubted his ability to protect the Headmaster…
"They're away until classes resume," Bluebell nodded, confirming this, Qrow's eyes widened.
"Oh my gods, you seriously can't be serious right now! Who's guarding the uh…" Qrow unsubtly motioned towards Bluebell, Lionheart nodded.
"He's fine; I'm more worried about the children though…"
Qrow grimaced, "Don't worry about it, they already know."
They what?
The group moved to Lionheart's office, Bluebell continued his role as personal bodyguard, partly because he didn't want to be left out of the conversation, and because bonuses are coming up and he needed the Lien, "This is… reckless, Qrow, even for someone like you."
"No, no, what's reckless here is that you left the Relic unguarded!" Qrow raised his voice, "You haven't checked in with Oz in ages! And you're saying that I'm reckless?!"
"Check in?" Lionheart gritted his teeth, "Check in?! Check in while Mistral is falling to pieces after Vale fell? Check in while Mistral's economy tanked as a result of embargos from both Atlas and Vacuo?! While Atlas may have rescinded the embargo, it still doesn't change the fact that that action alone f- mucked up the kingdom completely when it happened!"
"You seem to forget, Qrow, that the broadcast was global! Everybody and their mother on Remnant could see the horrors that happened that day!" Lionheart sighed, "While Courrier may have saved almost everybody, the time before he arrived sowed a lot of fear and discontent into the people…" he scowled, "Now's even worse, you read the latest headline yet Qrow?" Qrow nodded, "Courrier's dead, his position taken up by his sister or whatever, the people aren't happy, seeing a 'Hero' die like that."
The team of Huntsmen-in-Training gasped at the news, Qrow didn't look impressed though, "Mistral's in shambles, the faculty's out there trying to quell the outrage but the emotions are drawing in Grimm and…" Lionheart looked away, "While the White Fang is helping… some things are too little, too late."
Qrow furrowed his brows, "I'm not here to listen to some sob story," Bluebell scowled, "You leave the Relic unguarded AND you don't know where the Spring Maiden is, that alone should be your number one priority!" Qrow sneered, he pointed at Bluebell, "And why the hell is he here?!"
Bluebell was close to straight-up clothesline the guy before Lionheart stopped him in his tracks, "He's my personal bodyguard, he can be trusted, the same way you trusted these kids," the Headmaster turned back to stare directly at Qrow, "The Relic can only be accessed by the Spring Maiden, and she won't attack Haven head on without a plan… or without being noticed."
Qrow leaned back on his seat, "That's what you think… I have an idea at where she might be…" Lionheart gasped, "I did some digging around, apparently the Spring Maiden was picked up by the Branwen tribe after she ran away," Qrow placed a Scroll on the table to reveal coordinates and a map with a marking crossed over a part of Mistral's forest.
Bluebell saw the blonde girl grit her teeth while the red-tipped black-haired kid consoled her, "That's… that can't be good…" Lionheart wiped some sweat away from his forehead, "But this… this information that you have, this is great!" he exclaimed, pulling up his computer as he copied down the coordinates, "We'll be able to mount a retrieval force in a couple of weeks," Qrow tightened his fist at this, Bluebell prepared to subdue the guy again, "Unless you go do it yourself, Qrow, Haven can't spare any faculty right now," Lionheart glared at the man, "Mistral is in tatters, the council doesn't care about the Branwen tribe, they'd rather ignore them! The bastards…"
Qrow slammed his palms down on the table, "Fine! We'll do it ourselves, damn the Council! You and I and the kids aren't pushovers by any means."
"Qrow, I'm old and unlike Ozpin, I am not who he is," Lionheart sighed, "You and Raven are evenly matched while I doubt this group of students can fight off a tribe's worth of bandits," he then rubbed his chin, "But… hmm… Bluebell, you will accompany them."
"Wha-? I mean- uh… yes sir!" Bluebell saluted, the group looked apprehensive at this but reluctantly accepted his inclusion. Way to make a guy feel welcome… But if this is how he gets that raise? Sign him up! Wait, Sharon's probably listening in right about now… fuck, fuck, FUCK! Why didn't he change his last name?! Bluebell smiled as he shook Qrow's hand, a neutral expression on his face that completely contrasts with how he's feeling on the inside right now. He should've done the same thing that Poppy did! But nooo, little stupid idiot Bluebell wanted to hold onto his last name because it's the last connection he had with his family!
Damn it! Bluebell mentally cursed, noticing a hint of red at the corner of his eye, he discreetly glanced at it to see a rose petal falling down a window. Sharon was listening in, he's fucked.
If Sharon's going to be at the tribe then… Bluebell mentally cheered; maybe the two Branwens can team up and kill that sadistic psychopath! They'd be doing the world a favour for that one! Let's just hope that psycho brought along her equally insane brother too! Kill two roses in one slash! Bluebell couldn't have asked for a better arrangement.
Two Silver-Eyed Warriors against a group of highly trained Huntsmen and a horde of combat-ready bandits? He liked those odds a lot!
Everyone's converging in on Raven's tribe.
Ozzy (Osbourne) doesn't know about the Courier's Frankenstein-esque Kenjaku-esque body snatching technique so the news of him dying is a surprise. Qrow knows though, and he definitely knows why too.
Team RNJRY on the other hand is not as quick as Qrow so they haven't put two and two together that Corrina is actually just John Courrier but a woman.
Thanks for reading!