Chapter 6
Secrets leaked
Derrick Arc placed his hand behind his back and gripped his side arm. For one his roommate did not greet him at the door as she always did. Two the smell of food filled the air as did the sound of muted music. Valean Jazz to be precise. He moved forward and had his suspicions confirmed
Jonathan Arc was sprawled out on his couch, the ill named Ripper lying on him paws and belly to the air. Several take out containers littered the table. Food Derrick knew Jonathan had a weakness too but could not indulge in due to not being available at reasonable cost far from the capital. Ripper gave him a balefull look before resuming her nap
"Just whose dog are you anyway?" Derrick asked the pug
He unclipped the holster and placed it in a drawer before going to take a shower. He found his brother coughing harshly as he had been brutally woken up. Derrick moved and opened a rarely opened window in the penthouse to let fresh air in for a moment before closing it
"And that is why you do not feed spicy Mistrali duck to a pug no matter how much they plead." He said
Jonathan got up and moved to the window as the dog lived up to her name and let loose another blast. Derrick led the way to the patio and closed the door behind them. He hugged his brother
"Not that you need an occasion but what brings you to Vale months early than your yearly mandatory meeting with the council?" Derrick asked
"Brought back Winchester, have enough on him to have a normal person sitting in a cell for ten years." Jonathan stated
"So he will be out in a year maximum." Derrick replied
"But he will not be able to hold a government post again as little as that is worth." Jonathan shrugged
"What else brings you here?"
"Mari was brought back to us by Jaune." Jonathan answered
"Jaune who?" Derrick asked
"Jaune Arc, my son and your nephew."
Jonathan lifted a hand to prevent the coming tirade
"Derrick I am not fucking with you here, Jaune is alive and he brought Mari is back. I have the proof in my briefcase."
Derrick looked away from the lapscroll and wiped his eyes. He stood up and moved to his liquor cabinet and poured a very stiff one. He sat back down and went through the forms and recordings for a fifth time. He looked at his brother
"Why am I seeing this and not the Council or the Huntsman board for that matter?" Derrick asked
"You are family, they are not." Jonathan said
"You want me to get Saph to go back."Derrick said accusingly
"Not just her, you and Terra as well. We need to deal with this as a family."
"Finally acknowledging Terra are we?" Derrick said acidly
Jonathan lifted his hands in a disarming gesture
"I never had an issue with Terra and her relationship with Saphron. You forget I was at Bergentown with the Militia when Saphron and Terra eloped."
"I also do not forget that you did not go out of your way to keep in contact with her." Derrick replied
"Keeping in contact takes two. Shit, Derrick, I tried but I had another seven daughters and a wife to look after as well, I am not making excuses I should have tired harder and I should have gotten Juni help earlier."
Derrick nodded at that
"I know it was not easy for you too. I will go and talk to them and if Terra is able to travel I can try and bring them back. But the first time I hear a comment or a statement I don't like I will bring them right back to Argus."
"That is all I ask." Jonathan agreed
Jonathan paused
"You said if she could travel. Is Terra ill? I know some hunters from Argus they can point me to the best doctors, cost is not an issue."
"She is close to term with her pregnancy, I am not sure she will be able to travel far or if it is safe for her to be away from her specialist this close to time." Derrick replied
"Who is the father?" Jonathan asked softly
"Me. I gave them a donation after finding them the specialist. Saphron and Terra wanted someone they knew not some unnamed donor." Derrick replied
"Where are they staying, do they need anything?"
"I helped Terra get a job with the CCT network, Saphron I helped get a job with the Argus branch. They are staying in a house in a very good neighbourhood that got repossessed by the bank and they bought at repo cost. They are comfortable and happy." Derrick replied
"But even that would be expensive."
"Terr is a genius at communications, she is close to running the CCT support network so she is paid very well. Both the bank and he CCT network looks after them very well. And I check in regularly."
Jonathan looked at the floor
"Thank you for being there for my daughter."
Derrick gathered the documents and lapscroll
"Listen I need to go see my boss and see if I can get the banks help to get to Argus. Go and overeat at that Vacuo steakhouse you are keeping open by yourself and get some sleep once you get. I will see you in the morning, make sure to bring me back some ribs and nothing for Ripper."
Derrick made his way to downtown Vale and approached the marble building close to its centre. Vale Investments and Savings Agency had three twenty four hour branches in Vale and this was one of them. Derrick made his way to the back where he was buzzed in by security staff, Heavily armed staff watched him as he approached a set of lift doors. The doors opened on his approach and he stepped in. The doors closed and the lift starting dropping
He stepped out in a corridor and walked along it his progress monitored. Coming to another door he unclipped his holster and side arm. A slot opened in the wall and he placed it in adding a set of knives from around his ankles. The door opened and he stepped in
An elderly woman with faded red hair sat in the chair of the desk overlooking a large window, Several operatives were working in an area below them. She locked her silver eyes onto him
"Agent Arc, what brings you back?"
"My brother is in town. My niece has been returned." Derrick replied
"Go on." The woman ordered
"By my nephew. Seems he was in space instead of dead as we all believed."
Derrick was now one of the few who could say he was able to shock the Director into silence. She looked at him and chuckled
"Good one." She said in mirth
Derrick placed the briefcase and lapscroll on her desk. And sat down unasked a moment later
"Normally that would be my reaction, but my brother does not believe in practical jokes, nor would he take the time to fake the proof he gave me."
She pulled the briefcase over and went through the contents before turning her attention to the lapscroll. She went through everything twice before tapping a message on her own terminal. Moments later the shift heads of Electronic Intelligence and Logistics came in. She pointed to the items on her desk
"I want a quick but thorough examination of these, you are the only ones that will handle this verbal report as quickly as you can." She ordered
Derrick sat back to wait. His eyes was drawn to a name filled column in the central work area. It contained the names of fallen operatives. The agency had not always pretended to be a bank. After the Great War there had been a push towards disarmament and disbanding of the security agencies, the newly established Huntsman Academies being the hardest sellers of this thought process, the main instigator the first headmaster of Beacon, Osman Green. The then director had seemingly complied and used his family funds to start the Vale Investment and Savings Agency. The main source of funding was covert funds that had allegedly been used for operations. The premier security agency of Vale was now self financed and back in business under the cover of being a bank. The only people who knew of this subterfuge was the Chairman of the council and the councillor in charge of the police, militia and prisons. Before being kicked out of that portfolio the councillor Winchester had not been apprised of the Agencies existence.
To the world at large VISA was a bank that had expanded from Vale to the other kingdoms giving preferential treatment to Valean customers and more recently to the faunus members of that kingdom with a branch being build on Menagerie. Secondly they were known for investing heavily in local business and industry and more controversially their refusal to do business with the SDC in any way or form, something their faunus customers really appreciated. The bank and its staff were encouraged to integrate fully in the areas where they have branches.
Derrick broke form his thoughts as the two division heads returned and the Director secured her terminal and gave them her full attention. Logistics spoke first
"We have no record for what some of those items are made off. The electronics embedded in them has no discernable creator marks. On being scanned the form reverted from Valean to a language form we have no record of current or historic."
" The recordings on the lapscroll seems to be untampered with." Electronics was next
Logistic was next again
"As to the female seen in the recordings. She does not seem to be faunus. I contacted an asset at the Medical school and enquired about multiple animal features. As per the asset no more than two animal features had been recorded before and the chances of it occurring naturally are very rare to non existant."
"Unnaturally?" The director asked
"As per the asset there has been ancient records of forced pairings to strenghthen certain animal traits by the Mistrali occupiers before the new Regency. But she said the reports are written in archaic and most likely incorrect terminology. She dismissed them as having any real credence."
The director picked up her internal line and dailed two numbers. She pointed to a set of chairs lining the wall. The two went and sat down. Fisteen minutes later another two entered the room. The first an Owl faunus was the Director of Electronic intelligence, The second a heavily scarred human female was the Director of Ground Operations.
The director dismissed the two shift heads once they had reported to the newcomers and waited till they had reviewed the information from themselves. The faunus took of his glasses and cleaned them with his tie deep in thought. The director turned to Derrick
"Agent Arc if you would wait in the ready room please."
The director pressed a button on her desk as Derrick left the room. Solid plates slid down in front of the window and a green light lit up as the room was sealed and secured. She produced a bottle and several glasses from her drawer and filled them to the top. The scarred woman looked pensively into her glass
"Alice your thoughts?" The director asked
Alice took a deep sip
"I would like to believe this is just an elaborate scam. But it does not add up. It is too elaborate for a scam. If this is legitimate it could not have come at a worse time our human and faunus assets are stretched thin. We have the Academies and headmasters being more secretive than normal. Atlas is snooping around on several sites and we believe the White Fang is reforming after the last sweep. Plus all these dust robberies point to something bigger, none of that dust has surfaced on the black market. To add to this shit sandwich the Malachites and the Spiders are pushing hard against the local underground, a gang war is imminent. Not mentioning the extra pressure the Vytal festival is going to bring"
"Benjy?" The Director asked
"I too do not want to believe it either but the evidence supports the testimony."
He lifted one of the plastic forms displaying data
"The technology to create this does not exist, and as much as we are hard pressed we can not let Atlas or the other kingdoms get a whiff of them, even if just to suppress the technology before the other kingdoms get it. From what we saw they were hesitant to give descriptions of their most basic technology. We might be close to some of that but might as well be cave dwellers against some other. They are right we are not ready for the knowledge or the broader galaxy. What worries me is that they were not the first and we know not everyone will be benign." Benjy said polishing his glasses as he spoke
The director slowly circled a finger on the rim of her glass
"Scrubbing the missing childrens reports is not possible, too many people have seen it. So we confuse the matter. If my memory is correct Freedom is close to the unsettled regions, correct?"
"It is." Benjy nodded
"As my predecessor said if you can't hide something you hide it between so much bullshit and facts that the truth gets confused." The director spoke
"I am sorry, Mary, I am not following." Benjy spoke
The director finally took a sip of her drink.
"we can not hide the fact that the children have been brought back. And the fact that the Arc boy is alive we can not hide either nor that the other three is not faunus, so I propose this. We update the ancient Mistrali reports and make it seem that more than two traits are possible if forced breeding occurs between different generations. We have a "disgusted history student" come across this research and have it posted online."
"Thus setting up cover for the three being different." Benjy nodded
"The town Arc disappeared fromas a child has been recorded as lost due to Grim incursion. What we change the story to is that he was found by a nomadic Faunus tribe." Mary continued
"Of course this tribe is descended for those used by the Mistrali occupiers and have multiple traits, being nomadic means nobody has seen them before." Alice started to catch on.
"They found the slavers trying to take the children and the teacher to Vale along the boundary and rescued them. Arc of course had been with this tribe all along and three of the clan decided to follow him to return the children, or we can make the last survivors of the tribe after a grim attack on the tribe."
"The second one will serve our purpose more." Benjy pointed out
"That leaves where we put them. There is too much risk keeping them at Fort Freedom as the press will be over them like a fat kid on cake" Alice stated
"Where is the one place apart from here where the press can not enter?" Mary asked
Realization dawned
"You plan to hide them at Beacon. With them close to hand Ozpin would most likely not send his agents to dig around at Fort Freedom as well." Alice said
"I do. Any peculiar behaviours they display can be made of us them being unfamiliar with our culture. Hide them in plain sight and use the academies resources to keep them safe."
The three hashed further details out before her subordinates left the room. Mary Rose looked at the photoframe on her desk.
"And maybe I can finally found out how Ozpin got my little Summer killed." She said
She steeled herself and firmly locked the memories of her neice away as one of her most trusted agents stepped back into the room to get his orders.
Saphron heard the laughter come from the sitting room as she entered the bank. She moved into her house and stopped at the sight before her. Terra was seated on the couch laughing at her uncle as he was trying to assemble a newly bought playpen slash crib, the parts and their toolkit scattered around him
"Just admit defeat and use the instructions." Terra giggled
"Never an Arc does not need a piece of paper to assemble Mistrali made products." Derrick said loftily
"Meaning he threw the instructions away with the wrappings." Saphrom translated for Terra
Derrick jumped up and rushed his niece. He hugged her fiercely before taking her in a headlock and rubber her head hard
"Ow, uncle, uncle." Saphor called out
"Yes I know I am your uncle." Derric said keeping on with his treatment
"I surrender." Saphron corrected herself
He let her go
"That is what you get for calling your uncle's skills in question." He said loftily
"So where are the instructions?" Terra asked cheekily
"Dustbin." Derrick sighed
"Why do I get abuses and she does not?" Saphron objected
Both Terra and Derrick merely looked at her before Derrick pointed to Terra's expanded stomach
"And risk my new godson, I think not. Terra, honey, are you sure you want to keep this one. She is a bit blonde you know and also from a farm settlement." Derrick spoke
"As are you!" Saphron smacked his arm
Terra got to her feet slowly and hugged Saphron
"Don't worry I will keep you." She said smiling
"Thank you." Saphron relaxed in the hug
Derrick sat down on the couch and waited for the two to separate. Saphron looked at her uncle.
"What brings you here? You normally come later in the year, not that I am complaining." She said
"Your dad came to see me. Honey you both need to sit down." Derrick said calmly
Terra held on to Saphron as they took the other couch. Derrick loosened his tie and rubbed his face before speaking
"Saphie, Jaune is alive and he brought Marigold back." Derrick spoke bluntly
Saphron opened her mouth to speak. Derrick jumped in
"What I am going to tell you will sound fantastical but it is the trith as far as I know it. On my word as an Arc."
"Where was he all these years?" Saphron demanded
"Space. Your brother was taken by slavers from space when they killed your aunt Rosalie and the people from Little rock. "
Derrick opened the lapscroll beside him and started playing the file to the shocked woman in front of him. At the conclusion Terra shook her head
"So Jaune got kidnapped by slavers and was later freed. He then became a smuggler and took on a cargo that contained his sister and then decided to just come home with three cat girls in tow. And no one is questioning this?" She said incredulously
Derrick produced several documents
"DNA is a perfect match to your parents and sisters. That was the first thing I demanded too, solid undeniable proof."
"And he is willing to just settle down on Remnant?" Terra asked still suspicious
"Apparently he and the others have no choice but to lie low. The children were supposed to go to the head of one of the biggest crime syndicates. So hiding is in their best interest for several years." Derrick replied
"How are they going to hide that three of them are not faunus?" Terra demanded
"An old girlfriend of mine from the history department of Vale university gave me an idea already, she is looking into finding the correct documents."
"History department?" Terra was incredulous
Derrick grinned
"Yes seems the Mistrali of the occupation period was trying to breed superior servants among the faunus. Some of the children had multiple faunus features. Now what is more likely a tribe of Faunus nomads who had fled at that time and have been moving around since then outside the Boundary and mixing with other tribes to maintain their bloodlines or a bunch of cat girls from space?"
"Okay, I can see that. But how are you going to hide their superior technology."
Derrick sighed
"That we still have to settle or get them to use our technology while hiding theirs."
Saphron frowned
"You are here to take us back?" She asked
"Only if you are willing. I spoke to Jonathan the first moment there is something you do not like we are gone."
Terra was looking thoughtfull before she went to the bookshelf and pulled out and old and dusty book. The title read Fable and Tall Tales from the Kingdoms. She looked at the index
"You said these breeding experiments took place during the occupation before the Regency?" She asked
"Yes." Derrick stated
She opened the chapter. The title read the Lost Garrison and the Empty Fort.
"If I remember this tale correctly the Mistrali occupiers found an empty Valean fort and several deserted towns, the story claims the people were taken by ghosts but what if they went deep into the wilderness to escape the occupation and settled in a kingdom of their own. In the two thousand years since developing unseen technology and having a new language and way of writing and reading would not be so unheard of."
Derrick nodded
"And it is not unlikely that the nomadic tribes would have traded with them. Keeping their weapons and equipment as simple as possible and we could sell that lie."
Derrick looked the both of them
"That is why I came to you. We need your help to lie to the world and keep our family safe."
Sorry for the delay. The last two chapters were hard to write and I am not completely satisfied with them. So they are subject to change. Next a bit of a time jump and Beacon awaits