A train going through the countryside of Mistral passed by through the mountains. A dark skinned woman in a long black cloak, wearing a big bowler hat to cover her up her faunus ears along with black masquerade mask to cover her face sat on the right side of the train, a newspaper in her hands. As the incognito Sienna Khan held the latest issue of Nina News in her hands, she looked at the headline.
Athena Escapes from Argus Harbor Max Security Prison
November 20th, 79 AGW
Written by Violet Scarlatina
Underneath the headline was a picture of an empty prison cell and a hole in the wall.
Oh great... Sienna sarcastically thought to herself.
The leader of the White Fang then proceeded to read the article itself.
On November 17th, at 11:35pm, Argus Harbor Max Security Prison has had a criminal escape for the first time in over fifty years. The criminal in question, an owl winged faunus named Athena Bruna, is the same person responsible for the attack on Sanctum Academy. Very little information is known about her, but it is known that she is 22 years old, is believed by her followers to be a very wise military leader and is said to be claustrophobic.
The cameras were taken out and destroyed at the prison, preventing us from knowing who or what caused Athena to escape. However, they were able to get some auditory evidence from voice recorders. The auditory evidence is currently being investigated by the authorities, but from they've gathered and released so far, the suspect seems to go by the name of Ares.
Sienna paused after she read that line. Ares. She knew a faunus named Ares. Ares Adamos. But that raised the question; why would he be in cohorts with Athena? She shrugged and read on.
Argus Harbor Max Security Prison is where all of the faunus that were apprehended were taken after the attack on Sanctum. It is a bit curious as to why someone would break out Athena but not her followers. From what were able to gather, not only did the aide help to break Athena out of prison, they also retrieved her weapons, the same ones that were used in the Battle for Sanctum Academy.
Argus Harbor Max Security Prison is notorious for the prison break that occurred fifty years ago, when several bandits who were reportedly part of the Branwen Tribe escaped and destroyed the upper half of the prison during their prison breakout. Since then, major changes in security and surveillance have been put in place to prevent such recurrences from happening. Unfortunately, despite these upgrades in technology and strict rules for the guards to follow, the unknown aid broke into prison and broke out the malevolent owl winged faunus. The warden could not be reached for comment, but rumor has it that the guards that were supposed to be keeping an eye on her were far away from her cell and (continued on page 2A)
She skipped ahead to the next page to continue reading.
sleeping on the job.
During the attack on Sanctum Academy, Athena lead over six hundred faunus, a majority of them part of the White Fang, and stormed the grounds of the primary combat school. When the wall came crumbling down and the moat was frozen, everyone thought that the school would perish. But from high above were the wall used to be, a young 15 year old boy named Ash Nikos noticed the army invading. He ordered his friends, who were with him as the wall crumbled, to get the teachers and call for help before he jumped down over 300 feet and fought the army with nothing but his weapon and his wits. He was heavily outnumbered and outmatched, but he pressed on anyway. As he avoided dust-filled boomerangs, multiple gunshots and several other flying projectiles while fighting the rogue faunus, he was slowly being outmatched and was nearly killed until one of the teachers saved him. The staff ordered Ash to leave the scene and barricade the inside of the school, but he refused to back down. When Headmaster Aurelio was swiftly defeated, he started giving commands to prevent the army from getting inside the school and hurting the students.
Brick Bond, one of the many teachers who helped to defend Sanctum Academy during the attack, gives us a view into the situation at hand and how he felt about the young man taking a leading role in defending the primary combat school.
"That boy is absolutely crazy." Mr. Bond said about him in an interview after the attack. "Yet I didn't have time to argue with him, we had a school to defend. In war, you really have to throw your other concerns aside and focus on stopping the enemy."
At first, it seemed as though the plan was working, but the tide began to turn when Athena, who had been wearing a cape to conceal to her wings, suddenly discarded it after defeating Ash in battle. Upon seeing her wings, the young Mistral Tournament Champion and his aides gasped in shock. Using their hesitance to her advantage, Athena flew into the air and used her boomerangs to attack the school, further destroying it.
With no way to reach her in the air and the army of teachers slowly being weakened due to being outnumbered, Sanctum itself was beginning to crumble. It is said that while in the air, Athena taunted the champion by asking him, "Do you really think you can stop an army?! You're just one kid!"
All seemed lost for Ash and the defenders of Sanctum. Then at that moment, Ash's friends had gathered the students and fought against the group of rogue faunus. Rufus, one of Ash's known friends, had gathered hundreds of students to fight and defend the school and led them into combat.
"We're not going to do nothing and let our school crumble to pieces." said Rufus. "This is our home. And anyone who tries to threaten or destroy it is going down!"
After being dragged to the earth by Rufus's whip, Ash and his three closest friends proceeded to fight Athena and won. After Athena's defeat, some of the few faunus that had been been defeated fled the scene. From there, the army was slowly dwindled and eventually surrendered. Shortly thereafter, the authorities arrived and took away the rogue faunus. Over six hundred arrests were made, two hundred deaths in Athena's army, at least twenty deaths in Sanctum, four of them being students and over five hundred combatants were injured, a dozen in critical condition. As a result of the attack, Headmaster Aurelio was left in a coma with lasting injures. With Aurelio in a coma and the school partially destroyed, they sent the students back home.
The high leader of the White Fang looked at the picture of Athena with her wings bound in black cables, along with police officers ready to take her away. One of the officers held her weapons- her boomerangs and pistol/grappling hook. Ash Nikos and Brick Bond were in the photo as well, glaring at the defeated faunus. An unconscious Aurelio was in the photo as well.
As Athena was being dragged away by the authorities, she shouted, 'No! Maura Celandine won't like this!' This raised the question, who is Maura Celandine? Celandine is the leader of the Mistralian White Fang, and in spite of Athena mentioning her as the reason she and her group attacked Sanctum, she denies her involvement in the attack. 125,000 Lien will be given to anyone able to apprehend Maura and bring her justice. The bounty for Athena currently stands at 50,000 Lien. So that raises the question- where are the two malevolent leading faunus now? And when will they strike next?
The train was slowly coming to a halt.
Athena... What are you plotting? Sienna mentally asked herself.
The train stopped. The conductor announced. "Zephyros! Everyone for Zephyros!"
Sienna got up, taking the newspaper with her, and exited the train. Since she was the only one getting off here, the train then took off as she folded and pocketed the newspaper. Upon exiting the train, the high leader saw a circular fountain on the ground that didn't have any water running or gushing from the green stone floor. The open air train station was a ghost town, which both relieved her and unsettled her.
"Where is everyone?" she asked aloud to the empty air.
The tiger faunus walked on, going from the train station to seeing the center of the city. A sign on her left read, Blossom Plaza and the leader examined her surroundings. To her left and right were small houses, each coated in bright varying colors such as red, pink, orange and even a few in yellow. In the background was a small mountain while the center of the plaza had a lush bed of grass with a huge cherry blossom tree, its petals scattering in the wind.
Oh right, this is Zephyros, the city of flowers. During the spring and summer, it's packed with tourists and visitors from all over the world. But during the fall and winter, it is deserted save for those who live here.
According to what she had been told by a White Fang messenger, Maura had retreated to Kunchinashi, and the small city of Zephyros was the closest city accessible by train. From here, it was walking northwest to find the leader of the Mistral's White Fang.
I hope Maura's alright.
Blake stood at the main deck of the Noire Armada ship. She looked at the sail of the ship, seeing a black emblem of twin cutlass swords in an 'x' shape with four mini skulls around the x.
Is that Corvina's emblem? she thought to herself. Or the Noire Armada? Or perhaps both? Why would she...?
"Beautiful sight, isn't it?" a voice asked disrupting her thoughts.
She smiled at the captain before giving a chuckle. "I'm surprised you're not sick of being at sea."
"I will admit that sometimes it gets tiring, but hopefully, one day, we won't be forced to be at sea all the time."
"You think so?"
"Yeah." She smiled, no smirked, as she turned to look at the sea. "I do."
I've gained her trust. the secret catgirl thought. From what I've learned, we should be close to shore by now... The time is nigh to enact my plan.
The captain turned back to Blake. "We should be reaching mainland Vale soon."
"Excellent." She paused for a moment to transition the subject. "You know, during my travels, I procured a bottle of rare wine, but I haven't had the time or anyone else to enjoy it with. Would care to join me in one last toast before I face Adam Taurus?"
"Certainly." the admiral answered. "What better way to send you off?"
Blake left the main deck to fetch the wine.
Here goes nothing.
She made her way to her quarters, slipping into the shadows.
Meanwhile, Sun was flying in the helicopter that he helped the pilot to fix. The two flew several miles above the sea.
"Thanks again for doing this." Sun smiled nervously to the pilot. "I owe you big time."
"I should be thanking you. Without you, I'd be out of business." the pilot said smiling and chuckling. "Now, where's that fancy gadget taking us?"
"Another two miles southwest."
"Righto." The pilot turned the rotorcraft to fly in the desired direction. The two flew in awkward silence, Sun staring at the sea as the pilot looked at the sky. "So if you don't mind me asking, why are you doing this?"
"Well... I'm trying to find my friend..."
"Your friend?"
"Yeah... I'm actually in love with her."
He gave the monkey faunus a smug look. "So your girlfriend ran off, did she?"
His face blushed a bit in embarrassment. "Not quite. Er, she's not my girlfriend. Not yet anyway. Even then, I don't know how she'll react to my sudden appearance."
"Relationships aren't easy, are they? Heh heh. I remember a while ago flying a red haired girl to Mistral and her boyfriend was sending her off."
"That's really depressing."
"They were both upset, but the guy seemed to be more devastated."
"I hope they find each other again."
"Who knows? Maybe they already have."
The device beeped in Sun's hands. "We're getting close." The device beeped slowly, in a steady rhythm. "Warmer... warmer..." Then the device started beeping faster, before beeping like crazy. "Red hot! Right there! Says she's right down there." He pointed to a ship down below him.
The pilot widened his eyes in realization. "Do you have a landing strategy? I just realized I'm fresh out of parachutes."
He turned off and pocketed the device, answering, "Yeah I got one. You have any binoculars? I think I see her down below."
The pilot handed a pair over to the monkey faunus. Sun opened the door, stood up and then he looked at the deck below with the binoculars.
Looks like Blake's here, but what is she...? Then Sun looked a bit closer and saw the pirate hat on her head. He gasped in realization. Corvina? Oh no... Don't tell me... Blake's a prisoner?! Or worse, dead?!
"Is something wrong?" the old pilot asked.
"Blake's here, but she's not the one standing on the deck. That woman down there is a faunus murderer... what if she was captured, or worse, murdered?!"
"Well, there's one way to find out." he grimly answered.
Sun looked down below the deck. His heart pounded. Should he jump? Should he wait? What was happening? And where was Blake?
In her quarters, Blake took the wine glasses she grabbed earlier, the normal bottle, and the mini battle with Corvina's initials and poured the glasses of wine, one that was normal, one belladonna-laced. Taking the poisoned one in her left hand and the normal in her right, she left her room and roamed the hallway, trying to hide the feeling of nervousness. Her heart threatened to pound out of her chest. She breathed deeply, trying to silence her fears, but she knew what was on the line.
This was it. If the plan worked, Corvina would be poisoned and die instantly. If it failed, there would be hell to pay.
"So what are you gonna do?"
He handed the binoculars back to the pilot and got out his staff. "I'm going down there."
Without further hesitation, Sun jumped down from the helicopter, twirling his staff to slow his descent. The helicopter then flew away as Sun landed on the mainmast. As he did this, Blake came out from the door, holding the glasses in her hand. As the monkey king stood from the crow's nest, he tried to figure out what was happening.
Wait, she's alive? But... how? What's going on? He rapidly thought before he saw the glasses in her hand. Is this subservience?
Down below, the raven-haired black bowed beauty handed the left glass to the raven-haired murderess. "I propose a toast; to the eventual downfall of Adam Taurus."
Corvina smiled in response. "May he die a slow and painful death."
The two clinked their glasses. Blake began to drink as Captain Noire slowly lifted the glass to her lips.
"Leave her alone, Corvina!"
Suddenly, Sun was standing adjacent to Blake, his weapon in hand, after having dropped down from the nest. Blake choked on the wine, coughing briefly. She shot him a brief glare. "Sun?!"
The captain looked at the faunus before turning back to her lookalike. "You know him?"
Blake ignored her question and proceeded to glare at the monkey faunus. "What are you doing here?!"
"Blake, I came to help you stop the White Fang." Corvina folded her arms angrily and he began to stutter. "But when I saw you aboard the ship, I thought you were a prisoner aboard her ship! Or... or forced into subservience or something!"
"A prisoner?! Are you an idiot?! That's not the case at all! She's been helping me to get to Adam Taurus!" With her free hand, she angrily pointed her index finger at him. "And you? You've just followed me this entire time?!"
Sun's words began to fail him. "No, well yes, not the entire time, I mean... ugh..."
"You're a fool, Sun! A complete, utter fool!"
Sun gasped. The air was ripped right out of his lungs. He felt like he couldn't breathe. It was as though his heart just shattered into pieces. He sulked.
Corvina looked at Sun amusingly. "You mentioned that you were trying to find and aid your lady fair. Don't tell me..." she paused, trying to restrain her laughter. "that this woman is the one you've been trying to impress?" Sun sulked even more, giving his answer away, and she burst into obnoxious laughter, holding her stomach with her right arm and the glass with her other hand. Blake and Sun said nothing as she continued to laugh. "Oh... oh my gods... This is just too much!" She continued laughing for at least a solid minute. "Oh my gosh..." She turned to Sun with a smirk on her face. "Monkeyman, you really are a fool. Then again..." She slowly turned to Blake. "he's not the only one who's a fool."
"What do you mean by that?"
Her smirk was quickly replaced with a malevolent glare. "Don't take me for a fool, lassie. You're trying to kill me!"
Blake's eyebrows raised in terror and shock. "But... h...?"
"Oh please." Corvina interjected. "I've trained my senses to smell poison from a mile away." She clinched her fists in rage and sorrow as she threw the glass of poisoned wine to the ground. "But why?! How could you do this?!" She shook her clinched fists and held them downwards. "After everything I've done for you! This is mutiny!"
"I couldn't just stand by and do nothing! I know the truth!" She threw her glass onto the deck. "When I stepped on this ship, there were three faunus prisoners that you and your men killed! I will not let you continue this malevolent and hateful practice!"
She folded her arms. "You have no reason to help them. We humans are the dominant species. When we were created by the higher powers that put us on this planet, humans were here first. Faunus have no place in this world. They're not even supposed to exist."
"Don't you dare say that! We all have a place in this world! I don't know why you hate Faunus so much, but I will tell you that not all faunus are no good terrorists! I will never support your racist, supremacist agenda! And I won't stand by and do nothing while innocent people suffer for your actions!"
"Ye be a wicked wench! And a fool! Ye have made a grave mistake." She got out a switch and pressed the big red button. A blaring sound was heard from the megaphone speakers above. "Tell me this, fools, do you think you can face me, and me army of over a hundred pirates?!"
"You don't have to do this!" Blake protested, trying to get her to call off the attack.
She tossed the switch aside, letting it skid across the deck before stopping upon hitting the wall. "It be too late to ask for forgiveness, lass! You betrayed the captain, so now la captaine betrays you! Your mission now comes to an end!" She got out her dual cutlass swords. "I'll be the one to stop Adam Taurus and bring the White Fang to its knees! But first, to deal with ye!"
"Oh no..." Blake muttered in horror, her blood turning cold as the crew members started running onto the main deck.
Blake felt her heart sink as her blood iced over. Her attempt at a mutiny failed. Never before had she felt so much terror and despair. If she didn't find a way out of this, she would be dead, no one would ever find her corpse and her mission to stop Adam would fail. Corvina hopped up to the quarter deck with a devilish smirk and even laughed as sailors ran up from below deck to the main deck to respond to her summoning. The beauty looked around in despair. She felt moisture build up in her eyes and her heart pound. Was this the end for her? Was she going to die with regrets?
Sun, trying to ignore his breaking heart, approached the woman he loved and began, "Look, Blake, I know you're mad but hear..."
The moisture from her eyes faded as she remembered she had to fight. "Sun, save your breath. We've got a bigger problem." Blake interjected as she got out her weapon.
All hands were on deck before Sun could even speak again. Ivy looked at Corvina Noire with a curious, malicious smirk on her face. "What are your orders, Admiral?"
"Give no quarter and kill the monkeyman. As for the raven-haired traitor, slow her down. The faunus is fair game, but the traitor is mine!" She pointed to Sun with her sword. "Blow the man down!"
The crew members got out their weapons, which was mostly swords, a few pistols, and in the case of Ivy, a green whip with wind dust. Several members of the Noire Armada surrounded them. They approached the monkey faunus and the traitor, blocking them from all sides. Sun looked extremely worried as he backed away from the angry sailors as his lady fair did the same. "Blake..."
"Sun, just shut up." Blake interrupted again. "Whatever you have to say, can it." Her back was against Sun's as she looked at him with a scowl. "Otherwise, we'll both be buried at sea."