Busy week of planning for a busy rest of the year. Nothing like telling management for the second time in a row that you have to completely change major parts of the program schedule. They took this one better (mainly because they didn't have any other choice), but it also added a lot of work for me in the coming months. In less than four months, I have to do a quick visit to a test facility a few hours away and a ship down in Florida, lead a month long test, and then spend three weeks on a ship, only to get off in Puerto Rico and fly home. And that's not including the weeklong trip to Florida for my sister-in-law's graduation, during which I'm also planning to meet with any graduating engineers who want to apply to work for me or another team at my facility.
On the bright side, our first visit to get my dogs used to my parent's house (they'll be staying over while we're in Florida) went better than expected. Maverick loved their yard (much bigger than ours) and might as well have adopted my almost 2yo nephew. Wish I had gotten pictures of him trotting around following the kid all day. Further proof that every boy needs a dog.
Despite how boring it could be, Reyno wasn't a bad place once you got used to it. Gone were the politics and posturing of Menagerie. Adam didn't have to worry about Ghira bursting in to demand explanations, the Albain brothers trying to rope him into their latest scheme, or Sienna parading him about like some sort of trophy. Life at Reyno was simple. Train. Work. Eat. Sleep. Rinse and repeat. Everyone pitched in, and everyone benefitted. It was the sort of simplicity he hadn't felt since the Yama caravan.
Even better than the Yama caravan, since he was top dog in Reyno. Sure, Cerco was still in charge - something he had to repeatedly remind people - but even Cerco knew the truth. In Reyno, Adam was king. Or maybe regent. Mayor? Overseer? No, not that one. Whatever the role, while he still answered to Sienna and insisted on Cerco being in charge of everything in Reyno, everyone in the camp knew his word was law should he choose to give it.
Not that he used that power on anyone outside of Alpha Squad. They bowed to his every whim. And most of his whims revolved around training.
"Pick up the pace!" Adam yelled, watching his team run laps around the training field. Most days started like this, though their new aura and grueling training schedule had started to make the morning run a lot easier. Too easy. Naturally, Adam had adapted.
"He's too heavy!" Yuma shouted back, straining under his load.
"Run your legs, not your mouth!" Yuma had been the unfortunate idiot to goof off during yesterday's run. They thought it was too easy, did they? That ended the moment he announced they'd be running in pairs…piggyback style. For most people, that was an annoying inconvenience.
For Bane's partner, though?
"Quit whining," Azul chastised, bouncing along on Trifa's back.
"Easy for you to say," Yuma panted, struggling with his considerably larger load. No one had any pity for him. Not when they knew his antics were the reason for the new resistance training. "And why doesn't Laurence have to run?"
"He's working on something for me," Adam assured them before they could plot revenge on their absent member. One of the benefits of being the tech expert was that Laurence often got to focus on less physically demanding tasks, like fixing the connection to Menagerie. They still had voice, but no video. "Three more laps!"
"Three? We only had two left!"
Really? He must've lost count. Then again, he couldn't have his team questioning him. "Four more laps!"
"Shut up, Yuma!" Trifa groaned, echoed by Marcus, Indie, and Ilia as they each struggled with their own passengers. Whatever complaints they might have had about Laurence getting to skip went forgotten as Yuma earned their ire.
Honestly, the tech issue wasn't a big deal and probably could've waited. Instead, it provided a good excuse to even up the numbers. Besides, Laurence wasn't exactly a frontline fighter. If someone was gonna miss, it might as well be him. He'd be finished in time for Blake's aura lesson. It just meant Adam didn't have to worry about dealing with an odd number right now.
And whose fault is that?
His. No matter which way he sliced it, he'd been the one to get his best friend killed. Dwelling on that wouldn't help. All he could do now was make sure it didn't happen again.
You really think there won't be others? Look at them. How many more of them will die because of you? Hopefully, none, but he knew better than to trust such optimism. Who do you think'll be next? My money's on Laurence. The weakest of their group. In a firefight, he'd be in the most danger, not to mention he'd be more focused on his objectives than fighting. A moment's distraction on a console. A stray bullet. And then…
No. Laurence would be safe. They'd all be safe. He'd make sure of it.
That's what you said before Euryale, and look how that worked out. Adam tried to push the thoughts away as Yuma stumbled across the finish line, collapsing under Bane's weight. Or maybe Yuma's next. Always so eager to prove himself. Too eager, like he had something to prove. How long until he bit off more than he could chew and paid the price?
"Good work," Adam acknowledged as Bane helped his partner to his feet. He'd have to make Yuma got a break after this. Adam wanted to push them, not crush them completely. "Aura doesn't just protect you. It can strengthen you, but like any muscle, you need to exercise it. Drills like these will help you find your limits and push past them."
"I think my limit is closer to Trifa," Yuma panted, unaware of the minefield he'd just belly flopped into.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Yuma's eyes widened in panic, but not a single male of the group dared to meet them as the other half of the squad rallied around their affronted teammate. Unarmed as she was, it still looked like Trifa was ready to murder. "Uh, I…that you're a lot lighter than Bane?"
Not good enough. "Everyone's lighter than Bane. No offense, big guy."
"None taken," Bane grunted back, distancing himself from his soon-to-be corpse of a partner. Even if Trifa had meant offense, Bane probably wouldn't have cared. Not that Trifa would ever do something like that. No one would. Not out of fear of Bane, though. The guy was just too likable for anything like that.
Hm. What about Bane? He's a big target, after all. Easily recognized, too. His size, not to mention the tribal tattoos, were dead giveaways. At least Jakob won't be around to mourn him.
In the meantime, the pointless argument carried on, clearly not going in Yuma's favor. Hard to, when it had turned into a six on one. "You saying you couldn't carry Marcus if you had to?"
"No, I-"
"Marcus! How much do you weigh?"
Flinching at being dragged into the fight, Marcus quickly answered Hurricane Trifa. "More than you." A safe answer, even if Marcus wasn't exactly huge.
"Traitor," Yuma muttered under his breath.
"Maybe he's just too weak," Indie offered, hiding her mocking behind a smile so sweet it was a wonder she hadn't rotted her teeth out. Yuma shot her a dirty look, but you could never stay mad at Indie.
Ah, Indie. Poor girl. I wonder if she'll get herself killed trying to earn your attention. You always had a way of toying with a woman's heart. He wasn't toying with her. He wasn't doing anything with her. She'd finally cornered him a couple weeks ago, and through a painfully awkward conversation, made it clear she was interested. Very interested. He'd done his best to let her down easy, but he had a feeling he hadn't gone far enough. She clearly still carried a torch for him. Nothing good will come of that.
It was rare he agreed with her.
"So which is it, Yuma? Am I fat, or are you weak?"
Even an idiot could recognize the lesser of two evils there. With a sigh, Yuma said, "Weak. I'm too weak."
"Go easy on the poor weakling." Blake never could resist joining in on a good ribbing. She patted Yuma gently on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Yuma. We'll protect you."
"Like I need-"
I almost forgot about Bla-
"Enough!"
Adam's voice echoed around the training field. He'd aimed it at the annoying taunting in his head, but it proved just as effective silencing the team's own taunts. They all stared in confusion at the sudden outburst, leaving him to scramble and recover. "Enough," he repeated in a calmer tone. "We're wasting time."
"They started it!"
"And I'm ending it." Adam seized control with those words. Better, though not as good as his news. "I spoke with Sienna this morning."
"Did you tell her I said hi back?"
Adam let out a sigh of defeat. "Yes. Yes I did." He'd made the mistake the first time of not relaying Indie's pointless greeting, only to find out she was completely serious. The amount of whining he received for his apparent failure far outweighed the slight embarrassment at playing messenger boy. Worse, Sienna found it amusing and made sure to send her greetings to the team every few days, playing into the stupid game just to annoy him.
"So, what's the word?" Yuma questioned, much happier for the new conversation that didn't involve him digging his own grave.
"We have a mission."
His words had the expected result. He didn't even bother trying to interrupt as the ten of them excitedly cheered, chattered, and threw questions at him in a chaotic chorus of sound. They'd been just as bored of their house arrest as he was, so the potential of getting out and actually doing something was some obviously welcome news. Only once their noise started to die down a bit did he raise his hand for silence.
"Sienna wants us to set up a new base camp in the west." Something they'd been planning for a while, though they'd only settled on an exact location recently. Adam knew the area vaguely, though they naturally weren't setting up along the trade highway. The spot would be a few days out, far away from any curious civilians and potential patrols. Which meant a different threat. "We'll be going in first to clear out the Grimm and start setting up."
"All of us?"
"All of us," he confirmed. Twelve of them probably sounded like overkill, but better safe than sorry. "We don't have an accurate picture of the Grimm presence. It's far enough from the settlements that it should mostly be roaming packs, but that means we'll be the only thing attracting them for miles once we land."
"So we're Grimm bait, then." Nag wasn't wrong, but there really wasn't any way around it. Moving a little closer to the settlements would lighten the Grimm threat, but they ran the risk of being discovered, especially when the Grimm all but stopped coming from one direction.
"Once we secure the area, we'll set up a perimeter and clear some space for reinforcements to land. From there, we'll establish a base of operations and set up equipment. A team of support personnel will follow to assist in getting everything up and running, but we'll stay to help with any Grimm surges in the area." He didn't expect anything too terrible, but better safe than sorry. Plus, it would be a good chance for them to get a taste of combat with aura. All in all, it should be an easy mission. "We'll also assist with operations until everything's established."
"Wait a second." Adam could see the wheels turning in Azure's head. "That's just Reyno part two!"
They'd pieced that together quicker than he'd expected. Before they could start complaining, Adam admitted, "It'll be similar, but there won't be any building projects." Not to the scale of Reyno, at least. The promise helped stop their revolt before it happened. "While we're there, I expect each of you to pitch in where you can. Even when things are finished, this'll be a smaller camp than Reyno, so the workload won't be quite as bad."
"How long are we staying?"
"Three weeks." Not that long in the grand scheme of things. Unfortunately, he knew the next part wouldn't be as popular. "After that, I'll be taking a small team to Vale."
Sure enough, that went off as well as a profit loss announcement at an SDC Board meeting. Everyone wanted to go, especially when they knew the alternative was more work at a new camp. They didn't even know what he'd be doing in Vale, but it had to be better than babysitting and setting up tents.
"I've already picked out who's coming with me." Rather, he and Sienna had. "So you can save your breath."
"Who is it?" Azul demanded.
Adam braced for impact. "Marcus, Nag, Blake, and Ilia."
"What?!"
"You can't be serious."
"Why them?"
"How come the kids get to go?"
"I have my reasons," Adam tried. The looks on their faces told him he'd need to explain. "Sienna wants us to set up a branch in Vale. Sienna's sending a few men to help, but we can't risk being recognized. All of us were involved in the attack on Euryale. All of us…except them."
Blake and Ilia. They'd been left behind on that mission. In fact, other than their first mission with him, they hadn't done anything outside Menagerie. Their age would also help. No one would suspect the two teenage girls of being agents of a wanted terrorist group. If anyone could slip in unnoticed, it would be them.
"Didn't Laurence delete all their footage?"
"You willing to bet your life they didn't have backups?" Because that's what they'd be doing walking into a capital city without weapons or masks. Even he'd struggle to escape.
"Not to mention all the survivors we left behind," Nag pointed out.
"We were wearing masks."
"So they only have your height, build, hair color, voice…" Yikes. Even Adam hadn't really thought about that. The average person might not remember details like that, but he'd be willing to bet at least some of the Atlas soldiers would.
Best not to think about such things. "They'll be meeting with a few local supporters to help them get organized." And to show support from the White Fang. Details like how to set up meetings, recruitment, and everything else could've been done by scroll, but having someone actually show up in person would bolster their confidence. "Meanwhile, Sienna's men are there to buy a warehouse."
Or to lease it. Real estate in Vale wasn't cheap. They'd also be going in under one of the White Fang shell company names. On paper, it would be a completely normal business deal - one already arranged in advance between the city and a growing company based in Mistral that was looking to expand to another Kingdom. Sienna already had plans to eventually rent out some office space and maybe even expand operations. It was almost funny that the White Fang owned a few legitimate businesses, though if anyone looked too closely, they might notice a rather strange repeat customer on the books. Or that their charitable donations all went to the same place - a nonprofit devoted to furthering faunus rights…by any means necessary.
The best part was seeing donations from businesses, including the SDC. He'd love to see the look on Jacques Schnee's face when he realized his tax write-off was funding the White Fang.
"Those two I get." Oh good, because he didn't. Sienna's men could've handled it just as easily. "But what about Nag and Marcus?"
"We're going in case something goes wrong," Adam said. There was no reason Blake or Ilia should run into trouble, but if they did, there was no way Adam would be leaving them to fend for themselves. He'd get them out, even if he had to charge the gates himself and fight off the whole city. More realistically, they'd just create a distraction outside the wall so Blake and Ilia could sneak out in the confusion. "After that? We've got something special planned."
His chosen squad suddenly looked a lot more interested. Especially Blake, who had been a little bummed when he'd filled her in on the first part of the plan before training. He'd saved the best part for now.
"The SDC is sending a large shipment of dust to Vale. It'll port in the east, then take a train through Forever Fall to Vale." A high-speed, heavily armed train that stopped for nothing and no one. Those things were built to plow through Grimm without slowing down - a very real possibility when it ran through mile after mile of Grimm territory. He'd seen video of one of their trains turning an Ursa into a fine, black mist at speed. Short of blowing up the railway in advance and risking turning the train into a high-speed bomb when it derailed, there wasn't much hope of stopping it once it left the station.
Attacking it in transit wasn't an option. Neither was waiting until it reached Vale, considering he'd have to actually enter the city limits and would doubtless trigger every alarm they had before he ever reached the train.
"We're attacking a train station?" Blake asked, having puzzled out the only option would be to hit it early.
He intended to attack even earlier. "No. Not the train." Not when they had an even more tempting target. Even if they took the train, they'd need to offload the dust and transport it out. Why go through all the hassle when there was a far more convenient option? "We're taking their ship."
/- - - - - - - - - -/
Three days. Three insufferable days of listening to most of Alpha Squad complain about not getting to go on the special mission in Vale. The White Fang hadn't been active in any part of Sanus since their mission to Novus. As tempting as it would be to check in and see if Cantil had kept his word - or make him pay if he hadn't - he couldn't risk endangering the Vale infiltration. Even after, there would be a risk of someone tipping off the SDC. As far as anyone knew, the White Fang weren't active anywhere on Sanus. Largely because, other than supporting a few protests inside Vale, they weren't.
It was almost a mercy when they finally reached the new campsite. They couldn't land nearby with how thick the forest was in most places, so they'd had to travel by foot to reach the small clearing that would soon be the White Fang's newest location. The Grimm had challenged them along the way, but they only provided brief breaks from the whining.
Why'd he choose those four? Why couldn't he take more than four? Why didn't they all go to Vale and do the camp after?
Why? Because he'd said so!
He'd given up trying to explain. Like it or not, the new camp was the real priority. The mission to Vale wasn't just to gain a foothold in another capital city. They needed to cause a stir somewhere new and make the humans think they were backing off in Anima for now. That would give them time to quietly build up their new location while taking the pressure off Reyno. They needed their enemies to stop concentrating so hard in one location. For that, the White Fang needed something big.
And what was bigger than a cargo ship?
Not much, especially since they'd never done something like that before. Sure, they'd stolen dust, but they usually raided camps or ambushed trucks. Small targets with minimal security and payoff. The biggest heist they'd done so far was the refinery in Atlas, and that had been a near disaster. If they could pull off getting away with a fully loaded cargo ship, swiping it right out of its port? That would send a statement. A statement that the White Fang was to be taken seriously.
Not that taking down an Atlas base hadn't already made that perfectly clear. Still, to challenge the strongest military in the world, only to turn around and hit the largest company on Remnant? The Kingdoms would have no choice but to take notice of them. Maybe then they'd finally be willing to speak as equals instead of ignoring the faunus and their suffering.
As important as that was, he and Sienna were more interested in the long term, which meant the camp took priority. Besides, with both him and Blake - the two most experienced aura users in Alpha Squad - out on a mission, they'd need the extra firepower to hold off the Grimm. The Vale infiltration was a two man job - two teenage girl job - while the attack on the ship needed to be a smaller team. Stealth and speed would be paramount. Blake and Ilia were well-suited to that kind of work. Nag could serve as lookout with the sniper rifle they'd liberated from Euryale. Marcus…
Okay, Marcus had been more of a random pick at the end. Yuma and Trifa needed to establish themselves at the new camp. Bane would be helping them early on and could help clear the area quicker. Laurence would be far more useful getting the base up and running than on a stealth mission. Indie…
Okay, so he'd mainly avoided Indie as he didn't want any relationship drama. The last time he'd taken her on a mission, she'd slept with him. On him. She'd slept on him. Such a small word made such a big difference. Either way, that feelings timebomb could blow up in his face some other day.
Which brought him to the twins. He'd halfway considered bringing one, just in case they needed a distraction in Vale. Two faunus teens would go unnoticed if someone blew a hole in the city's wall. That would have the city clamping down on any suspected White Fang activity - something they'd rather avoid while they tried to get a branch set up in the city. Explosions also weren't great for stealth missions. Or for boats.
They wanted to steal the dust, not send it to the bottom of the ocean.
In the end, Marcus was less an ideal choice and more the lesser of many evils. As long as he didn't decide to charge in and cause chaos, they'd be fine. If all went well, he'd come back complaining how boring the whole thing was.
Before they could worry about Vale, there was work to be done. The Grimm presence proved a little higher than normal, but no one had really culled this area in a while.
That was absolutely fine with Adam. After all their time cooped up in Reyno, the chance to get out and fight felt exhilarating. More than that, he didn't have to worry about taking prisoners, sparing innocents, or any of a thousand other things that would have him second guessing every decision. Grimm were easy. Kill or be killed.
And he did a lot of killing.
They all did. There'd been a terrifying moment where an Ursa had caught Yuma by surprise, but Blake's training kicked in. He'd been thrown back, only to stand up and look down at his very much intact body and start laughing like a madman. Adam held back, letting Yuma claim revenge against his foe. After that, the team seemed energized as they tore through every Grimm they saw.
"Mine!"
"I saw it first!"
The Beowolf howled as two faunus raced to kill him, only for its head to snap back sharply.
"Nag!"
"Better luck next time," their sniper taunted. They weren't the first to have their kill stolen, nor did Adam expect they'd be the last. It had gotten so bad, they'd started shouting out their kill counts throughout the day, desperately trying to one up each other and making childish competitions to see who came in first.
After four consecutive wins, they decided Adam wasn't allowed to play.
Sore losers, the lot of them. They should take it as a challenge. An unwinnable challenge.
Once the Grimm died down a bit, Adam split the squad into smaller teams, keeping them rotating between clearing the area and clearing the Grimm. Bane took charge of chopping down trees, freeing him to chop down Grimm. In no time at all, Adam was calling in reinforcements. Their little ring of tents was quickly replaced with larger, sturdier ones. The only thing left was to break the news of who would be in charge of the camp, both while he was away and after the rest of the team returned to Reyno.
Bane took it about as well as Adam expected, as in he moped silently about being abandoned until Adam assured him his role was temporary. A few months at most. Then he'd be back to Reyno to take his spot as Adam's number two.
Trifa didn't fuss too much, but he could tell she was disappointed. For her, the only thing that helped was promising they'd still get called up for missions, not to mention eventually leading their own team on local missions in time.
Yuma…Yuma took it a lot better.
"I declare this Fort Yuma!"
No. Just no. He and Sienna really should've come up with a name by now. Instead, Yuma saw an opportunity and seized it.
"We're not naming it Fort Yuma," Trifa said, pushing back on yet another idiotic idea. "And it's not even a fort!" She'd be stuck living here too, so she had just as much right to naming.
Knowing he needed another vote, Yuma tried to appease the third founder. "Fine. How about Bane's Barracks?" The eye roll Bane gave him made it clear he wasn't on board.
"Stop coming up with idiotic-"
"Trifa's Terrace?"
"On second thought…"
"Denied." Adam ignored the pair's complaints as he vetoed the decision. There was just no way he'd be agreeing to anything with one of their names in it. Otherwise, Yuma would be calling the next one Adam's…Alcazar. Dang, that was harder than it looked. Maybe Taurus Tower? That sounded better. Wait, no! He wouldn't fall for that. "Sienna and I will discuss naming the camp." They both looked so disappointed, like they'd honestly thought they'd get to choose it without any approval. Knowing he'd regret it later, Adam added, "I'll make sure you're included in the discussion."
"Noice!" He'd include them all right. Maybe have Yuma write down all his best suggestions and send them to Sienna. Let her deal with his stupidity for once.
We're leaving in two days," Adam reminded everyone. "We'll be radio silent once we leave Mistralian airspace. If you need anything, have Laurence patch you through to Cerco." And he'd relay everything from there to Sienna, at least until Camp No Name had their long range communication equipment set up. "Laurence! You have that signal scrambler ready yet?"
"Yeah, hang on a sec!" A rustling inside the large comms tent nearby grew louder as Laurence sorted through his mess. A radio bounced through the flap. Adam winced at the sound of something smashing on the ground. Finally, with an excited shout, Laurence stumbled out of the tent with a small device in his hands. "Found it!"
A technical genius he might be, but Laurence never seemed to master the skill of organization.
"You remember how to use it?"
Adam snatched the small box from Laurence. "Connect it to power and flip the switch." Not exactly hard to remember. "And you're sure this'll work?"
"They won't be able to track you as long as that's active," Laurence assured him. "It operates on the same frequency as the ship's transponder. All the extra noise overwhelms the-"
"Bup bup bup!" Adam cut him off before he could spiral into a science lesson. "I just need to know it works, not how it works."
"It'll work." It better. A cargo ship wasn't exactly the fastest thing around, and while it probably had some defenses - a necessity when sailing through open water with the possibility of Grimm attacks - all it would take is one lucky hit to turn the ship into a floating bomb. It wouldn't take them long to figure out where the ship was heading, but the ocean wasn't exactly a small place. "It'll probably cause interference with the communication system, though, so you'll need to shut it off to contact us."
"Won't that tell everyone where we are?" Thus defeating the whole purpose of using the jammer?
"Only if they have something nearby to receive the signal." Thankfully, that didn't come with a lecture on the properties of electromagnetic signals. "Just turn it off when you're out in the open and contact Sienna, then switch it back on when you're done. Easy as that."
He liked easy, especially when it came to life or death scenarios. Sienna would relay his message through Reyno to Laurence, who would meet him with a team down south to disable the actual tracking equipment and sail it the rest of the way to Menagerie. After that, the oversized ship would be Sienna's problem. Laurence tried to explain how they'd be switching the ship's ID, hacking Mistral's records to add the new vessel, then sailing it back to Vale as a legitimate ship for one of their businesses. The whole thing sounded absurd, but Sienna didn't do things in half measures. Worst case, they'd sell it and pocket the lien. Maybe the SDC would need a new cargo ship.
Adam smiled at the idea.
They'd leave in a few days on an airship for Vale. It was a simple mission compared to some of their recent exploits. Even if they got in a fight on the ship, they'd be a bunch of civilian sailors. The only real concern was if they ran into trouble in Vale, especially with the team split up and an army of Huntsmen in training only a stone's throw away. Still, compared to an open attack on an Atlas base, this mission should be a walk in the park.
What could go-
Nope! He wasn't about to jinx it like that. Nothing would go wrong. They'd be gone in a flash with their prize and forcing the humans to widen their search a bit.
The White Fang was coming to Vale.
The new, hidden White Fang camp needs a name. "There's a place I know that's tucked away." Wait, what? "A place where you and I can stay." Isn't that...oh no. "Where we can go to laugh and play." There's no laughing here. This is the White Fang! "And have adventures every day." We...okay, that one actually could apply.
Welcome to Camp Camp! The crossover no one expected.
Obviously not doing that, but the temptation to sneak in references is high. What a great show, though the wolf episode came out of nowhere and absolutely hit me in the feels (right up there with some of the more emotional RvB episodes). RT always excelled at silly, but they could go deep without warning.
Anyways, had to finish this one up early since I'll be busy today. Having my brother's kids come hang out with their cool aunt and uncle today. As a result, I woke up and had to do research about GPS jammers at 6 in the morning while huddled over my morning tea like Gollum. While the chapter is a short one, we've got the ball rolling on a second camp in Anima and the White Fang expanding to Vale. Even expanded my own lore to include the White Fang having a nonprofit now. One that the SDC has on their long list of tax write-offs as a way to prove they aren't anti-faunus, only for that money to go towards the terrorist group trying to destroy them. Honestly sounds believable to me.
Next chapter: Adam goes to Vale!