Chapter 20
Blake and Illia made excellent scouts. When they couldn't sneak in, they were among the few in the White Fang that could mingle with humans without suspicion. As such, Sienna was able to look at over forty different angles of the Schnee residence. There was even an image of the mansion from above, apparently taken back when it was a trend to get aerial images of larger properties. The Schnee's arrogance was paying dividends for the White Fang.
"Did you see any guards?" Sienna's eyes roamed the images, her mind running at a fevered pace. There were so many things to consider: infiltration, demolition versus defacement, the number of people to send in, exfiltration.
"There were a few, but they never crossed paths once they came on duty. Four at the most. Illia reported five at night. At best we can tell, they work on six hour shifts." Blake dutifully reported. Arthur stood nearby, absorbing the young Faunus' report and considering it from his perspective. In the past, he had always been cautioned by Hosea and Dutch to scope out the targets, get a feel for the plan without alerting the mark. This kind of work was better than the way Dutch had been running things in the end, without Hosea's guiding hand and calming words.
"What about vehicles? Did you see any delivery trucks? A rear entrance, maybe?" Sienna had a small, amateur drawing of the grounds with several arrows pointing toward it. Approaches, exits, possible reaction areas for police or security; all were taken into account.
"There was one truck, and it pulled around the west side of the manor. There's a set of double doors there. It came at night, and Illia got close enough to see the kitchens on the other side. One of the guards stayed near that entrance both night and day." Blake explained, her finger indicating what she described. Sienna made a minor adjustment to the map and circled it.
"We need to enter the building simultaneously." The tiger Faunus placed a few small rocks near that entrance, then a few more at the main door. "The more entrances we can take advantage of, the less time we spend clearing the interior. We need to be long gone before the authorities arrive. I have no intention of parleying with local law enforcement if it isn't necessary." Not to mention that given what they were planning on doing, anyone caught would face some serious prison time. The mining charges that Cain had been putting together would provide a sort of ironic justice. The SDC's failure to protect their workers and supplies would be punished tonight.
"The people you been working with, they have any more information on the inside?" Arthur piped up, earning a look from Adam. The teen sneered, as if the outlaw were somehow overstepping his bounds. Sienna ignored her right hand's reaction and answered Arthur's question for everyone present.
"Those disgruntled Faunus that we've been able to sway to our side have provided limited information. At this point, the only thing we can rely on them for once the operation starts is to help evacuate the manor. I want everyone outside before the charges detonate." She gave Adam a level stare. "Cain will have the primary detonator, but Adam will carry a backup just in case something goes wrong." The message behind her eyes was clear; do not blow our people up. The red headed teen stared her down, then finally relented and looked away.
"Are we expecting trouble?" Marcus asked since they were on the topic. Sienna glanced his way, then looked to Blake for answers. The cat Faunus caught the prompt quickly enough.
"The guards on the property all belong to the SDC's private security force. From what we've seen and been able to overhear, they have a separate living quarters a half of a mile down the south road. It's close enough for them to commute, but still far enough away that we can be gone before they get out of bed." Half a mile wasn't far, but the benefit to running a raid at night was that most people were dead asleep. Aside from the guards on the premises, the only other real threat would be the law.
"Alright. I want Arthur, Cain, and Adam on the entry team. Everyone else will be outside directing the evacuation. Clear everyone out on all floors, and meet at the northern end of the property. We'll use the forest to disappear, and rendezvous back at the extraction point. If anything goes wrong beforehand, we scrap the mission and meet up there. I'd rather try another day than risk what we have built so far. Now, are there any questions?" None of the assembled adults or Adam raised their hands, though she could see Blake meekly holding hers up.
"No Blake, you can't come with us. The situation is too dangerous for you and Illia, and I won't put you in danger until I'm certain you can handle yourselves. There will be another time." Sienna tried to let her down gently, but there was no hiding the downtrodden look on the young Faunus' face. She had run away from home to do something, and yet here she was getting left behind by everyone else. Or at least, that was the way she probably saw it. Adam patted the young scout on the back, but it was clear that she was going to be put out about it.
"Alright. Gather your teams. I want us at the meeting place by dusk. Double and triple check your gear and be ready to move. Dismissed." Sienna leaned back up from the table and crossed her arms, indicating that the rest of them should see to their duties. Adam guided Blake out, whispering something to her as he did. He was likely trying to soothe her ruffled feathers. Marcus followed close behind them, with Cain bringing up the rear. All that left was Sienna and Adam, both of which had prepared before the meeting was called. Sienna was garbed in her ornate uniform from her inauguration as Supreme Leader, whereas Arthur wore his white vest and black dress shirt. He had the Peacekeeper on his hip, but had elected to leave the Deal Breaker with Sienna so that being sneaky would be easier. With her subordinates gone, Sienna relaxed slightly. But only slightly.
"Nervous?" Arthur asked, nudging her shoulder with his elbow. Sienna returned it half heartedly, running a hand through her hair as she looked over the plans.
"It comes and goes, honestly. One minute I think that we have this under control, the next minute I think up a thousand ways this can all go wrong. It's maddening." She cursed her mind's treachery, and Arthur just laughed at her.
"Yeah, the waiting game is a vicious one. Speaking from experience though, I think you've done all you can from here. Leave the rest to us." Sienna had wanted to go on the raid, badly, but it took Marcus and Arthur both to convince her that part of leadership was sitting back and letting others do what you told them. They were dealing with explosives, and the last thing the White Fang needed was to lose its leader thanks to a crossed wire. Sienna was used to hands on leadership, and this kind of thing was obviously killing her.
"You'll watch out for them, right? I know I can't be down there with them, but I feel like sending you is the next best thing." She looked down, not meeting his eyes. "No pressure or anything."
"Well, I'm flattered that you think that way, Supreme Leader. Don't you worry. I'll look after them like they were my own." Arthur promised, patting her on the shoulder. "In the meantime, you need to start working on your speech. Make an impression, Lady Khan, while we go out and handle the dirty work." He pulled a cigarette from his pouch and held it up, but paused when he saw her disapproving frown. Muttering his apologies, he replaced in with his scroll and opened up the map. The coordinates for the Schnee manor gleamed brightly on the circular display, quite a few miles to the north. The only ones he had on his contact list were Cain and Adam, and he could see them clustered up near his own location. It was a handy thing to have, and he almost wished that America had invented handheld devices like this. Of course, that would give all the rambling idiots a way to scream at each other, so maybe it was a blessing that his homeland was so far behind.
"I've made several calls to the Schnee Dust Company headquarters, and they keep routing me through one secretary after another. Either Mister Schnee is very busy, or it's a tactic to get me to hang up." She tapped the papers on the table in front of her with a finger. "Somehow I think that he will answer once the fireworks go off." Arthur could agree with that. The Schnee family patriarch would likely be very interested in what Sienna had to say once news of his mansion's destruction got around. Sienna's expression was still troubled, but Arthur knew there wasn't much else he could do about it.
"We've done all we can to prepare. You might as well come see us off." He waved toward the door. Sienna nodded in agreement, and together the two made their way out of the White Fang base and out into the courtyard, where one of the cargo trucks waited for them. Arthur could still see a few singed places from their fight with the sea dragon, but if Marcus gave it his approval then he would trust it. The big Faunus was a stickler for the little things. Adam and Cain had already loaded up, though the grunts were still running around saying goodbyes and making last minute gear changes.
After a few more minutes, the last of the White Fang had jumped into the back of the truck. Arthur and Sienna shared a final goodbye, a couple of awkward waves as the rest of the White Fang cheered them on, brave soldiers striding forward to change the world. Even if it was dirty work.
The mansion was roughly three hours away from the base, a trip made longer thanks to the poor maintenance on the roads and their desire to conserve fuel. By the time Arthur and the rest of the team reached the rally point, the sun had begun to set. They were ahead of their timetable, but that just meant waiting around in the area they were trying to sneak into. The clearing they had staged the truck in was hidden in the forest, but there was no guarantee that a hunter or wandering traveler couldn't see them. The minutes ticked by slowly, and an uneasy tension settled over those that had been chosen. Arthur would normally pass the time by talking with Adam or Cain, but the two were too wrapped up in what was to come to offer more than a few terse words. So, with the sun setting at the same pace it always does, Arthur found a decently stout stick and began whittling it with his knife, shaping it with the edge of his blade.
By the time he had carved the wood into an imitation of a snarling wolf's head, movement all around the truck distracted him from it. Now that he was looking up, he realized that the sun had completely fallen from the sky. Night was upon them.
"Thanks for letting me know, fellas." He muttered to no one in particular. He couldn't really blame them for their nervousness. Outside of himself, Cain, and Adam, this was the first time the White Fang recruits had done anything like this. To be raised from birth to follow the law and not steal from others, only to dedicate so much time and effort into some serious property damage; Arthur could forgive a little nervousness. And since he felt that he knew her, he could say that Sienna could forgive it as well.
"Alright boys and girls, listen up." He crowed, putting forth more confidence than he actually felt. Image and morale was key here, to make sure that no one got cold feet. "Me and these two uglies are gonna do all the hard stuff. Your only jobs are to make sure everyone makes it out safely and to watch for anyone who might interrupt our little party. Keep your heads, and we'll all get out of here just fine." He gestured toward Cain and Adam, who both nodded at his words. The two redheads were well respected within the White Fang, and many of them knew Arthur as well. Following their lead eased their fears a little, and that would keep the Grimm at bay.
"Alright, keep it quiet from here on out. Until we subdue the guards, I don't wanna hear anything louder than a mouse fart. Understand?" A chorus of quiet 'yeah' and 'yes sir' came from the assembled recruits, and Arthur turned to face the trees that separated them from the manor.
Five guards, along with a variable number of servants keeping the mansion up and running. Two floors and a cellar, and five mining charges to be set in strategic locations. The specifics ran through his head one more time, a silent review, and Arthur's hand dipped into his satchel. He withdrew a forest green bandanna, one he had not worn in months. Ever since he'd been diagnosed with TB, the outlaw had done everything he could to be honorable in his dealings with men, and so far he had been successful. But it did not absolve him of his past sins. And today, those sins would help him.
It was time to be the bad man once again.
With his bandanna tied and his hat placed, Arthur waved a hand and approached the treeline. With the group behind him, the White Fang melted into the bushes.
According to Blake and Illia's recon as well as word from the staff, the guards usually had their shift change around eight at night. If that schedule held true tonight, then the five men guarding the property had been standing around for half an hour, just long enough to get bored. The outliers went first, of course; Cain and Arthur knocked two out with some sleeper holds while Adam struck the third in the back of the head with Wilt's pommel. The man at the kitchen entrance also ran afoul of Adam, judging by the grunt and the thump of a body hitting the ground. Which left the front door guard to Arthur.
Instead of sneaking up, Arthur just walked out onto the driveway, a circular path that had been paved around an ornate fountain. The man on the front porch was walking the perimeter of it, and didn't notice Arthur until he had just reached the bottom of the stairs. When he did so, the man called out.
"Hey! Stop right there!" Arthur complied, holding his hands up with an almost bored air. The security guard, armed with only a pistol, approached quickly and kept his gun trained on Arthur's chest. He wore a dark blue beret and blue fatigues like the others had, with a white snowflake emblazoned on his back. He got within arm's reach of Arthur, which told the outlaw that this man knew absolute spit about fighting other people. Hiring cheap help like this was just another way for the Schnee family to pinch pennies, it seemed.
"State your business here, and take that mask off!" The guard demanded. Arthur just looked at him, cocking a brow that was hidden by his hat, then smacked the pistol away with his off hand. The Peacemaker came out in the other, Arthur cocking the hammer right as he leveled the barrel into the guard's chest.
"I'm here to burn this house to the ground, and make sure that everyone gets out of it first." Arthur replied truthfully. "Fortunately son, that includes you." The young guard held his hands up, and had no defense when Arthur struck him across the face with his revolver. The blow turned the man to the left, and the follow up strike to the temple left him dead to the world. Arthur dragged the young man back toward the yard by his ankles, dropping them and dusting off his hands when he was about twenty yards away. With all of the guards handled, Arthur opened the front doors wide and stepped in, sweeping over the foyer with his eyes.
As expected, the main room of the mansion was as grandiose as it was excessive. Two immense statues guarded a broad staircase, which split at the center landing and climbed up to a white banister. The statues were of two snarling Beowulfs, both of them twenty foot tall and excruciatingly detailed. The landing had a massive portrait of the Schnee family, though Sienna's appraisal of their family bonds seemed to be on the mark. Jacques and Willow Schnee were seated side by side, with their children flanked behind them. Jacques had a hand placed on Willow's knee and was staring straight ahead, his blue eyes piercing and hungry. Willow kept her hands away from her husband's, and her posture and eyes bore a weight that seemed to fatigue her. Young Whitley stood at his father's right, a satisfied smirk on his face. Winter stood in the center and between her parents, hands clasped behind her back and the picture of military discipline. Young Weiss stood next to her mother, hands clasped in front of her as she tried her best to look regal. It was ornate, dignified...and so very cold. Nothing like what a family should be.
Arthur heard approaching footsteps coming from the hallway to his left, measured and even. Not someone in a panic, which meant the others hadn't been discovered yet. The outlaw stepped further into the foyer, his boots echoing off of the polished marble, and made sure that he was easily visible. The man that turned the corner was a portly, balding butler in a white shirt and a dark blue paisley vest. He had brown hair at his sideburns and a thick mustache, which quivered when he saw Arthur standing there like the bandit he purported himself to be.
"Can I help you, sir? I'm afraid the manor is not open to the public." The butler asked politely, though the way his eyes narrowed told Arthur it was only for politeness' sake. The butler continued to approach him at that same pace, and Arthur walked in his direction to meet him halfway.
"I assume you've heard the rumors going 'round?" Arthur tried, hoping that this guy would be one of the 'discouraged men' as Josiah would have called him. What he wouldn't give to have that smooth talking snake here now.
"Yes, I've heard mutterings. Something about the White Fang coming to deface the house that my employer has spent so much time and effort building." The man's eyes changed from light brown to red instantly, and his posture took on a more aggressive edge. His accent became more rough as well. "I've got no time for robbers and bandits!"
"Easy there, pal. There's more than just me runnin' around here. And we ain't here to hurt nobody." Arthur cocked the hammer on the Peacekeeper threateningly. "But that don't mean we won't." Behind the butler, a commotion could be heard, most likely coming from the kitchens. More running feet could be heard, as well as breaking dishes and other sounds of panic. The butler looked behind him, and when he looked back at Arthur his eyes had turned back to a light brown.
"Ruffians! What have we done, to deserve such treatment?!" The butler demanded, holding up his fists as if he meant to fight. Arthur was content to warn the man, but they were pressed for time. The longer they were there, the more likely things would go wrong.
"Oppress the Faunus community as a whole, as well as support laws that keep them from being real citizens. Along with a laundry list of other petty evils. Look, old man; I'm only gonna say this once. Get the hell out of here and let us do our thing. We're here to make a statement, not corpses." The butler's eyes moved down as he considered his words, then up toward the second floor for a second before he looked back at Arthur.
"I have a duty to the young lady, but I won't fight you. Just don't hurt anyone." The butler pleaded, his brow furrowed and his voice hard. Arthur nodded and tipped his hat, then made a shooing motion with one hand.
"So long as everyone gets out of the building, I won't lay a finger on them. Now git, before you get blasted to hell along with all this fancy architecture." The butler turned on his heel and marched away, hurrying while still maintaining a dignified air. It was a skill, clearly, but one that Arthur had no interest in learning. The stout little man bumped into Adam as he turned the corner, and despite their status as burglars still offered an apology before he brushed past. The Faunus ran up to Arthur, his hand resting on his blade as he surveyed the foyer.
"I just spoke with the head cook. Apparently, Weiss Schnee herself is upstairs. That hotel they rented out in Mistral was just a decoy." The teen reported, and Arthur couldn't stop the curse from leaving his mouth. The heiress wasn't supposed to be there, and her presence complicated things. Wasn't she training to be a Huntress as well?
"I'll deal with the girl, you just make sure the rest of the servants get clear. Is Cain working on the charges?" Adam nodded, looking up at the massive sculptures that flanked the staircase.
"He's setting up the first one now. It shouldn't take more than twenty minutes to have them all rigged up. Think you can haul the princess out in that time?" The question came out as an insult, but Arthur moved past that. The kid's grievances had no place in the work tonight.
"Shouldn't take too long. Just sweep the area instead of running yer mouth. I don't want any bodies on this one." With that, Arthur drew the Peacekeeper and started climbing the stairs. Adam watched him go for a moment, then sneered and darted down the opposite hallway. His footsteps faded on the marble floor before Arthur had even made it to the top of the steps.
The upstairs floors were marbled as well, but a thick blue carpet ran down the center. It did well to stifle any noise coming from the foyer, even though he could still hear echoes coming from the west wing. Things were getting louder, and that didn't bode well. Cain will set up those charges as fast as he can. I gotta focus on little miss Save the World here. Arthur reminded himself.
He opened the first door he came to, and found a small bar with a grand piano sitting across from it. The next room had a massive table in it and a tapestry of Grimm fighting ancient warriors. The third and fourth rooms were mirror images of themselves, bedrooms with large canopy beds and a magnificent view of the surrounding forest. By the time he reached the fifth room, Arthur was beginning to wonder how many rooms this mansion had.
"How can a house with this many rooms be for so few people?" Arthur muttered out loud, reaching for the crystal doorknob. As he did, a faint rasp of metal could be heard on the other side, and Arthur hesitated.
Before he could do anything else, a black circle sprung up underneath his feet, and Arthur's eyes grew wide as he was thrown into the ceiling. His Aura protected him as he slammed into the ground, and he barely got up in time to avoid another one of the glyphs as it appeared where he had landed.
"Of course! The rich kid wants to be a hero, and she knows damn magic!" He cursed out loud, bringing his foot up. He smashed his way into the bedroom, and had to duck immediately as a rapier tried to pierce his forehead. The outlaw sidestepped another thrust and pushed a third out of the way, backpedaling to get some distance as his eyes settled on his opponent. Sure enough, the young teen from the portrait in the foyer stood before him. Instead of the white vest and dress, however, Weiss was wearing a modest nightgown and was barefoot, though her blue eyes blazed with indignant fury. In her right hand was a rapier, with a multi-colored cylinder that could only imply Dust use. Also unlike the portrait, a somewhat fresh scar descended across her left eye, a blemish that told him she knew how to use that weapon.
"I don't know who you are, but what right do you have to come into my home uninvited?!" She demanded hotly. Without waiting for an explanation, a trio of white glyphs appeared behind her. Judging from the subtle ring that came with each glyph's summoning, more had appeared behind him as well. Knowing full well that she was about to work her magic on him, Arthur was forced to open fire. He aimed for her weapon first, both to knock it off balance and to try and get her to drop it since Aura was harder to focus on the fingers and toes. No such luck, as Weiss was able to block the rounds before she jumped backward onto a spinning white glyph. Using it as a springboard, the heiress came rocketing toward him, her rapier poised to run Arthur through were he not in the middle of rolling out of the way.
"Whoa there, young lady! I know you're upset, but-" Arthur cursed as another swipe and stab interrupted him, causing him to back up into the wall. He dove to the side and drew the Peacemaker, though he kept the barrel pointed downward as he held up a hand. "Wait now, dammit! Just wait a minute!"
The young Huntress in training halted her charge, but she held her weapon steady, ready to continue the fight at a moment's notice. He had to stop this and get her out of there, and quickly. Cain wouldn't take long with the Dust charges.
"Why are you here?! To steal from my family? To kidnap me?" Weiss demanded, her blue eyes narrow with suspicion. "Speak, bandit!"
"We're with the White Fang, alright? We came here to get everyone out of the building so we could, ah," Arthur faltered. There wasn't really a diplomatic way to say this, was there? "Look, we're gonna blow the place up. Not because we want you to get hurt!" Arthur held up a hand again as Weiss' teeth ground together, knowing if she started the fight back there'd be no more room for talk. "It's a bunch of angry Faunus lookin' to blow up a building. The White Fang ain't here to kill no one. Hell, if we were, do you think we'd be runnin' around, getting everyone out first?"
That admission caused Weiss to pause, the tip of her rapier sagging slightly as she considered her words. Arthur kept his Peacekeeper pointed to the side to reinforce his words, and for a moment it seemed like she was actually listening. Her eyes hardened like permafrost, and his last hope for peace died as she adjusted her grip on her weapon.
"So if you won't detonate the charges until I'm outside, then I must delay you until the authorities arrive!" Not...quite what he was going for there. Arthur couldn't help but curse as she thrust forward again, a trail of glyphs propelling her faster than he expected. Arthur threw himself to the side and fired, hoping that the others were having a better time of it than he was.
Outside, Adam looked out over the gathered employees with a critical eye, noting that many of the uniformed servants were Faunus. It was the primary reason they had come, and why so many had decided to help them with information about the property. Still, knowing the fact and having it presented to him in real time were two very different things. The other White Fang members were gently guiding the employees into a loose group, giving them instructions on what to say when the authorities arrived. They weren't fabricating a false narrative, but explaining to those gathered why the White Fang had decided to make the decisions that they had. When the media descended upon this property come morning, the people before him would be the ones to tell the tale. It was beneficial to make sure that they were informed about it.
The teen looked down at the secondary detonator in his hand, a backup in case Cain wasn't able to set off the explosives for some reason. The Faunus had assured Adam that planting the devices wouldn't take more than a few minutes, but Adam was still uneasy. Every second they spent standing around outside, even in near darkness, was another second that they could be discovered.
As soon as he finished that thought, the sound of crashing furniture and gunshots could be heard from the second floor of the manor. The gathered Faunus gasped and murmured as the sounds of combat continued, a clear sign of Arthur running into trouble. Of course, the one person that didn't carry out their part of the plan would be the human. Adam gritted his teeth and wondered not for the first time why Sienna had trusted the outlaw as much as she did.
The bull Faunus glanced back toward the barracks that the Schnee security forces stayed in, watching for any sign of movement. The barracks was far enough away for the sound to be muted, but Adam would be a fool to think that they didn't have some kind of internal alarm or security system. They were running out of time.
Frustrated, Adam dialed Cain's scroll, his eyes never leaving the bunker as the call rang. Cain picked up on the second tone, though his voice was far from calm.
"Adam? What the hell are you doing? Arthur's under attack and I still need to place the last charge!" Cain snarled, and Adam bit back a retort. So Cain was almost finished with the charges, but Arthur was the only other person in the building besides the attacker? That was some good news at least.
"What? Who is the attacker? SDC security?" A few of the other White Fang looked over at Adam, but their concern was fleeting in the face of possible discovery.
"I don't know! My hands are kind of full and someone called me with stupid questions! Keep everyone out of the manor! As soon as I finish up here, I'm heading upstairs to help Arthur." Without waiting for Adam to respond, the demolition expert ended the call. Adam's teeth clenched from the casual dismissal, which did nothing to cool the anxiety building up as the situation worsened. One of the upstairs windows shattered outward in a gout of fire, no doubt brought on by the judicious use of Burn Dust. That meant someone with skill, easily that of a Huntsman or equivalent. And lights were coming on at the security compound.
Damn it, what the hell do we do? Adam thought, urging the gathered servants out of the way of the falling glass and closer toward the treeline. One of the servants, a portly human with balding red hair, was watching the carnage with a look of anxious worry.
"You there." Adam pointed him out, and the man turned to face him. "Who else is in the mansion? Some secret Schnee security team?" The man scoffed at Adam's question, though he still wrung his hands.
"Hardly, young man. The young Lady Weiss was brought here at the last minute, and I presume she does not take too kindly to the destruction of her home." The butler sniffed haughtily. Adam contemplated cuffing the man upside the head for his arrogance, but his words gave the teen pause. Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company itself, was here. Inside the mansion they had come to blow up. In fact, the charges were already placed, he was just waiting on Cain and Arthur to escape.
An ugly, insidious thought occurred to Adam. If blowing up an estate built on the profits from Faunus discrimination and exploitation would make a statement, what kind of noise would come from the capture of the heiress herself? Or better yet, if she died in the explosion? The Schnee family would get to experience all the pain and suffering that they had inflicted upon countless Faunus!
Sienna would never allow something like that, not after all that Arthur had done to keep her moderate. Without him, Sienna would have made the call in a heartbeat. The human's influence over Adam's leader was too great, and he knew better than anyone that as long as Arthur Morgan had the ear of the Supreme Leader, opportunities like this would never be fully realized. Without Arthur, she'd be the leader the White Fang needed her to be. And he was inside the same mansion as the damned Schnee herself.
Adam dug into his pocket and fished out the secondary detonator, rigged just in case something happened to Cain. He stared at it, his mind roiling at the choice in his hands. What would Sienna say, if she knew what he was about to do? Her fury alone would raze him to the ground. Unless... unless he didn't tell her. Arthur and Cain were engaged by the Schnee heiress, and the charges detonated in the battle. A smile crossed his face even as the story fabricated itself. The White Fang would lose a human that held it and its leader back, the SDC would lose their precious heiress, and Sienna would finally become the monster that humanity deserved.
Arthur had asked him once if he was willing to become a monster created by the SDC. If burning and killing would really do everything he wanted for the Faunus. As he stood there, safety cap flipped up and thumb hovering over the button, Adam realized that it would, given the right guidance. Blind rage wouldn't do the trick, he knew that. But Ghira and Sienna had preached peace for far too long. Sorry, Arthur. He thought to himself. The SDC made me a monster. And it's up to me to make sure that they pay for their mistakes.
Five pounds of pressure, and held at his side where it wasn't obvious for anyone around to see. That was all it took for Adam to secure his place as a monster.
"For the White Fang." He whispered to himself, and pressed the button.
Cain rushed to drill the two anchor points into the column, cursing the Schnee Dust Company for not using adhesive charges. The power tool whined even as the floor above him shook, Arthur's opponent obviously proving to be made of sterner stuff. The Faunus settled the frame of the charge into the drilled anchors, then connected the power supply for the receiver and then activated the receiver itself. Two lights appeared on the small display, indicating that the charge was armed, and he quickly gathered his tools and prepared to head upstairs. A few more beeps caught his attention, and the color drained from Cain's face as he read the display.
Secondary activation. The block letters flashed three times within one second, but for Cain it felt like an eternity. Until eternity came to an end.
"ADAM, NO!" Cain howled in rage, covering his eyes in a futile attempt to protect himself. There was a rush of light and heat, and the White Fang operative vanished in a blaze of heat and force.
Arthur rolled underneath another glyph, dodging the icicles that Weiss just loved to toss around as he fed a speed loader into the Peacekeeper. He pocketed the metal ring as he regained his feet, turning and aiming toward the young heiress as she projected another glyph to stop his rounds. The two stood there, in a standoff, both of them panting from the exertion of their fight. Her Aura was low, and her nightgown had already suffered a few burns and tears. Arthur fared a little better, but he knew without looking at his scroll that he was floating around 40%, maybe more. His vest had a scorch mark over his heart, and there was dirt all over his pants.
"Listen lady, just put the fancy toothpick down and we can get out of here." Arthur pleaded through his mask. "A whole bunch of concrete and wood ain't worth the bloodshed." Weiss continued to pant, her protective glyph spinning slowly in front of her as she regained her strength. He'd figured out during their fight that the circles with snowflakes in the center did all kinds of crazy things, from slow him down to speed her up to shooting ice all over the place. But she also needed to concentrate in order to make them function properly, and a few good hits from his fist and his pistol had been enough to unsettle her.
"It's not just a building to me, neanderthal!" The dainty little heiress spat back. "This is my home! May family built this place, and our servants take care of it. What gives you the right to tear it down?!" Arthur winced, not really having an answer for her right off the bat. It wasn't his fight, he was just here to help Sienna and Adam and the rest. He knew the struggles that the Faunus faced well enough; he'd spent more than enough time talking to the various White Fang members to understand. But it was still someone else's suffering, not his own, that he was punishing Weiss' family for. Still, it wasn't like he could back out now.
"You tellin' me that you got a whole bunch of childhood memories of this place? Does it have a special meaning to ya? Or is it just one of many that you stay in to keep away from the rest of us commoners?" Arthur replied. Weiss' eye twitched, and her gaze hardened. She'd taken that one hard, it seemed. Weiss changed her stance, stepping back with her left foot behind and perpendicular to her right, and Arthur prepared for another round. From the hallway, however, he heard a terrible, enraged cry.
"ADAM, NO!" Cain's voice filled the air, and Arthur glanced toward the door. Cain had been planting the explosives, just like they had planned, but why was he cursing Adam? The teen was still outside, guarding the servants and watching for-
The detonator. The realization hit Arthur at about the same time as the shock wave from the first charge going off.
"That son of a bitch!" Arthur holstered his pistol and started toward Weiss, but both of them staggered as another explosion rocked the mansion, this one closer than the last. Weiss cried out in alarm and covered her ears, but Arthur's attention was downward. The floor immediately became unstable, cracking and giving way as the structural supports Cain had targeted ceased to exist. All around them, plaster and glass crashed and came apart as the walls began to shake, and the mansion started to collapse. They were on the second floor, with no way out and the whole building was coming down fast. He needed more time! The third explosive detonated as he looked around, shaking the room once more and sending a wash of heat over them both. The last would be right underneath them. Cain had set them with a delay to determine how the building collapsed, and Arthur knew he had ten seconds, if that to escape.
The world was bathed in that familiar glow as Arthur activated his Semblance, time slowing to a crawl. He didn't draw his weapon, but rather used his Semblance's unique perception of time to take in his surroundings. Arthur could see the window behind Weiss, and her glyph wavered as the panic began to set in. The floor of her room was already falling down to the floor below, guaranteed to crush them if either one fell. But the terrace outside was still sturdy, away from the center of the mansion. It would fall with the rest of it, but not right away.
Weiss Schnee stood between him and escape, but Arthur didn't have time to side step the girl. He tucked his shoulder and charged, driving his larger frame into the heiress' small frame as he drove towards the only hope of survival he had. He was three paces away from the window when the charge underneath their feet detonated, deafening him and causing a wave of burning agony to fling him out the window, hurtling through the glass and into the night sky.
The recorded answering machine was beginning to grate on Sienna's nerves, but she knew that it was intentional. The SDC was stalling, treating her like the nuisance they considered all of her kind to be. She'd been on hold with the Atlas branch for an impressive eighteen minutes before they had hung up. The Mistral office must have gotten the memo, because they didn't even answer. At the very least, she was ringing the scroll to death.
"We're sorry, but all Schnee Dust Company representatives are currently unavailable. We thank you for your patience." The polite recording said for the millionth time, and Sienna just groaned and sat the scroll on the table in front of her. The cheesy elevator music continued to fill her office as she slowly slumped in her chair, wishing for all the world that she had gone on the raid with Arthur and the rest. At the very least, she wouldn't be bored. Arthur and Adam proved far too much amusement together, even if the young Faunus genuinely despised her outlaw friend. Adam's mood swings were becoming more subdued, she noticed, but only in the presence of Blake Belladonna. When she wasn't there, well... Adam's true irritation shone through.
If the girl had actually removed the anger instead of forcing Adam to hide it, Sienna would have married the two on the spot, Ghira be damned. But for now, it just seemed like Blake's mentor and crush hid his true feelings when the two were together, creating a false image for Blake to admire.
Creating a lie.
Were she not caught up with trying to bring true equality to Faunus across Remnant, that alone would be enough for Sienna to take Adam to task. But for now, his animosity against the humans provided him motivation to keep working for change, so it was a necessary evil. Once they started seeing some progress, however...
As if the thought summoned him, her SDC issued migraine was drowned out for a moment by the chime of a message notification. Sienna sat up, her ears perked as Adam's message played across the top of the screen.
Mission complete. Will report upon return. Taciturn as always, but at the very least she knew that her message had been heard. Sienna pushed the call to one side and typed out a response.
Well done. Complications? A series of oscillating dots followed, indicating that Adam was responding, but eventually they stopped without him sending a message. It didn't bode well, but Sienna attributed the interruption to their exfiltration. Even on the best of days, texting in one of the trucks was a rocky endeavor. Finally, the dots returned.
Will report. Something about that made Sienna uneasy. If they stuck to the plan, the team was still about thirty minutes out. She was about to text a reply when the horrendous SDC waiting music was interrupted, and not by the automated notification. This time, a face appeared on her scroll. The face of Jacques Schnee himself.
Mr. Schnee was clearly fresh from bed, the collar of his white sleep shirt unbuttoned and his eyes still bleary from rest. His expression, however, was one of barely restrained contempt. Sienna smirked at the thought of the great SDC patriarch, losing sleep because the White Fang had finally gotten some payback.
"Good evening, Mr. Schnee. You're looking rested." Sienna greeted formally, the self-satisfied smirk on her face irking the man even further. His mustache quivered as he clearly restrained himself from speaking his mind, and the SDC mogul cleared his throat and adjusted himself.
"Good evening, Miss Khan. I understand that you have been on hold for quite some time. I apologize for the delay." How formal? The man responsible for most of the modern day discrimination faced by Faunus everywhere was being unusually cordial for being tossed out of bed at three in the morning by one of her kind blowing up his house.
"Yes, it was something of a wait. Why, when I first called, you still had a home in Mistral." Fury bloomed in Jacques' eyes, but once again he controlled himself, albeit barely. Sienna allowed her concern to grow; either she had greatly misjudged the man, or he had far more reason to avoid angering her than she thought. Perhaps he thought that she was trying to kill him?
"I apologize for the significant delay. Had I been aware of how serious the White Fang was, perhaps we could have come to an agreement sooner." Jacques capitulated, pressing a handkerchief to his forehead. He had already begun to sweat.
This was wrong. Something was off here, but Sienna couldn't put her finger on it. Jacques Schnee, the head of the SDC, was making excuses far too earlier in the conversation. He had broken before the negotiations had even started. Still, Sienna couldn't lose her cool. She would attempt to figure out the reason for his unprecedented humility during their talk.
"I'm sure you would like to prevent further events like this from happening. I can promise that, but you must satisfy the White Fang's conditions." She saw a vein creep up Jacques' temple, but the man simply swallowed his irritation and nodded.
"And those would be?" His voice was strained, but he had yet to oppose her at all. Surely he would when she gave him their terms, but it was still noted that this was not the same Schnee patriarch that she had seen staunchly defending his company's policies and labor laws.
"First off, equal pay and benefits between Faunus and human workers. On all levels of management." Sienna began with an arched brow. Jacques waved the first demand off with an impatient nod. Another concession too freely given.
"Yes, yes. I can have it done by the next board of directors' meeting. What else?" Sienna paused, eyes searching his face for any trickery. What was his game? He had rebuked their efforts for negotiations before, and yet here she had roused him from bed and secured an agreement that months of peaceful protest could not. Still, she had to press the advantage.
"Civil liability and responsibility for all workers in the mines, retroactive for past accidents." Sienna was satisfied to finally see a reaction; Jacques openly scoffed at the demand. Which is exactly what she was looking for.
"Absolutely not! My company employs a vast majority of the Faunus, and paying out for every single incident in the history of Atlas would ensure the rest of them went without a job! We would be ruined!" The patriarch snarled, then realized exactly what he had said. He coughed into his hand, averted his eyes as he made the excuse of searching for a handkerchief. "Such reparations are not feasible, Miss Khan. I hardly think that bankrupting the company that many Faunus work for will be beneficial to your people." He was still far more reserved than Sienna expected, but she had finally brought up the inevitable negotiation. If he was going to let her have the upper hand, Sienna would seize it.
"Very well. Then we can start with over the past five years. For all workers, Mister Schnee. If our people receive preferential treatment, the resulting discrimination will cancel out any benefits your company provides." Whether the rest of the workforce was racist or not, offering benefits and restitution to one group of people and not the rest was a good way to cause even more division and could possibly lead to violence against the Faunus. Ultimately a loss, not a win, a one that the SDC could shrug off.
"That is...slightly more feasible. I will contact my legal team for a list within that timeline." Schnee finally seemed to reach his breaking point. "Enough of these frivolities, Miss Khan. They insult us both. What are your demands?" That caught her off guard. Was this why he had been so reserved? Because he believed that she had done something else?
"I've already provided you with our demands. I just wish that it hadn't required such extensive property damage. Of course, you never answered my calls before..." There was a loud thud on the other side, and she could see Jacques' fist come down next to the camera.
"Gods dammit, woman! I don't care about the mansion! I want to know what you scoundrels have done with my daughter!" Schnee's face was alight with rage, a greedy man who had lost something precious to him. This, however, was entirely news to Sienna. She couldn't hide the surprise that crossed her face.
"Your daughter? Mister Schnee, what do you mean?" They had been watching the mansion and receiving information from the staff for days before she had ordered the strike, and none of their information had even hinted at the presence of a Schnee at the mansion.
"Do not play dumb with me, woman! I have heard your demands, but unless Weiss Schnee is returned safely, not a single thing will change! And if any harm comes to her," Jacques' eyes were the color of a glacier, his rage evident behind his faulty attempt at diplomacy. "I will visit hell upon the White Fang the likes of which you could never imagine."
Sienna tapped on her desk thoughtfully, letting the threat pass by even though she knew that it was genuine. They were still getting on their feet as a separate entity, and Jacques Schnee was not one to be trifled with. But he appeared to be under the impression that they had taken his daughter hostage, and that was not something she was aware of. Unlike how the call had begun, she was now on the back foot.
A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts, and she looked up from the scroll to her office door. It opened and Marcus leaned inside, his usual do rag absent and revealing his short gray hair.
"Ma'am, the team is back. You're gonna want to speak to them." Marcus didn't mince words, and from his expression something had clearly gone wrong. The growing knot of apprehension in her gut she had felt since the beginning of the call hardened into concrete at his words. Still, she had to appear in control. Keeping her face neutral, Sienna looked back down at the Schnee patriarch.
"I must speak with my people. I will contact you shortly, Mister Schnee." He protested loudly, but whatever words he had for her were lost as she ended the call. Without his prying ears, Sienna was free to react a little more naturally.
"What happened?" She demanded. Marcus opened his mouth to answer, but the older veteran could only grunt and work his jaw. His eyes danced across the desk for a moment as he considered his next words, then finally met her gaze once more.
"Adam's got a report for you about what went down. Apparently, there were...losses." Another punch to the gut. Sienna blinked, not quite comprehending at first, but she could only grit her teeth and look away. Their first major operation, and already she had blood on her hands. Who had paid the price for her lack of preparation? If she had decided to negotiate after the raid, she could have just gone with them and made sure...
"Send him in. Now." She ordered. Marcus nodded solemnly, and the door closed for a brief moment. Struggling to contain her anxiety, Sienna walked around to the front of her desk and leaned against it, taking a deep breath and releasing it. A knock came at her door once more.
"Enter!" She barked, her arms crossed as she waited impatiently. The door opened and Adam walked in this time, his sword absent. Had he lost it in the raid as well? Just what had happened?!
"Supreme Leader." He greeted stoically, his eyes hidden by that infernal mask he loved to wear everywhere. She nodded in response, her eyes roaming over him as she searched for any indicator of just how this discussion was going to go. She didn't offer him a chair, and so he remained standing.
"From the beginning." She said quietly. "I want you to cover everything that happened and why, to the best of your ability. No sugar coating, no bullshit, no half truths. Understood?" When he nodded, she gestured for him to begin.
Adam gave her an abbreviated version of the raid, detailing how they had knocked out the security personnel and made entry into the mansion. He told her how they had gotten the staff out, and Arthur had gone upstairs. That's when the trouble started.
"Cain had just begun to set the explosives when we heard a fight break out upstairs. Arthur had encountered someone proficient in Dust use, and it caused a loud commotion. Cain tried calling out, but I couldn't hear him over the fighting. Arthur did not respond to my calls, and the guard barracks began to show activity. It was at that time that the charges detonated prematurely, presumably from the Dust being used in the fight upstairs." Sienna didn't need further explanation on their losses, and she had a pretty good idea of who it was Arthur had encountered. Weiss Schnee had announced her plan to become a Huntress publicly, and the daughter of the richest man on Remnant would no doubt receive the best equipment money could by. And if the charges had been detonated early, then it was safe to assume that Cain was gone.
"What happened next?" Sienna's tone was empty, numb at the loss of one of her most dedicated subordinates. Cain had been a good man, one that had applied his knowledge for the betterment of their kind. He would be dearly missed. But her heart beat furiously at the implication in Adam's story. Marcus had said losses, as in plural...
"We circled the mansion ruins as they burned, but no one else exited the wreckage. The authorities were approaching, so we were forced to withdraw. We found no one else." He answered the question she couldn't bear to ask, and there was genuine regret in his voice. Sienna just stared at him.
Arthur...was gone? That couldn't be right. They had a plan, and they had gone over it multiple times. Sure, the Schnee heiress was an unwelcome surprise, but how...how could this have gotten so far out of hand? The tiger Faunus recoiled from Adam, turning away for a moment as she took a deep breath to control herself. Adam did not comment, but simply turned his head away from her. Though to be honest, he could have grown a second head and Sienna wouldn't have cared. The grief and guilt of sending her friend out to his death while she had stayed behind tore at her heart, and Cain's loss was not easy to swallow either. But she couldn't just accept it.
"You saw the bodies?" Her question was low and quiet, but there was no way Adam missed the charged emotion in her voice. He shifted behind her, and she turned back to face him.
"No. We had to leave before the authorities arrived." Adam reported. Sienna slowly crossed the office until she stood directly in front of Adam, her nose nearly touching his styled mask.
"Then get. Back. Out there. I don't want to hear another word out of your mouth until I see evidence." She ordered coldly, then stabbed a finger into Adam's sternum hard enough for the young man to wince. "When you return, we will discuss why you thought it acceptable to leave our people behind, fallen or not." At first, Adam made no move to carry out her orders. He stared at her for a moment, then slowly turned and walked to the door, her gaze burning a hole into his skull as he left. When the door closed behind him, the rage and indignation that had kept her upright fled her, and she sagged against her desk.
Without Adam there to watch her, Sienna let the few tears that slipped past fall to the floor. She'd suppressed her grief and disbelief, but now she knew why Jacques had been so willing to deal with the White Fang and her demands. And if the Schnee heiress had died with Arthur...
Sienna had neither the desire nor the conviction to call him back. Her first major operation, and it had all truly gone to hell.
Arthur's landing could have been described as 'poetry in motion'. If a mad womanizing Frenchman was describing it, anyway. Arthur himself would have settled for 'train wreck'. The blast blew him and Weiss both out the window, the concussive force hitting them in mid air and flinging them into the woods like a pair of smoking meteors. Arthur's Aura was still at about half, but he had no clue where the heiress' was at. As such, his meeting with a stout oak tree was only slightly jarring, knocking the breath from his lungs as he spun around from the impact, landing in a bush down below. Judging by the sudden stabbing pain everywhere, it just had to be a thorn bush.
"Ah!" He heard the gentle ring of a glyph forming somewhere behind him, and then what sounded like glass shattering as the glyph failed to stop Weiss completely as she tore through the bushes next to him, her long white hair sticking out of a thicket. Considering he was in pants and she was in a nightgown and shorts, she had gotten the short end of the stick. About four hundred of them. The heiress groaned in pain and discomfort, and Arthur could only agree.
"Not the best landing." He admonished himself, knowing full well that there wasn't much chance of doing things any different. The two of them were lucky enough to be alive. Arthur floundered from his landing zone, flailing his arms and legs as he struggled to get out of the bushes. His opponent didn't start moving right away, though he was hoping she wasn't so willing to fight this time. Mansion blown up, mission accomplished; there was nothing for her to defend and no reason for him to keep her. If they went their separate ways from here, all the better.
"Ow!" He turned and looked back at her, brushing debris from his shoulders and adjusting his hat. Weiss had managed to free herself from the thicket, but she was clutching her ankle and keeping it gingerly off the ground. When she noticed Arthur, she cried out and stumbled back.
"Stay back, thief!" She cried out, struggling to summon a glyph. Her disorientation from the explosion didn't help the pain in her ankle, though, and the white spinning Semblance faded away after a few flashes. Arthur held up his hands and kept his distance to show he didn't mean any harm.
"Easy there, princess. I told you back in the house; I ain't here to hurt ya. We was just here for the house." He looked past the trees at the burning mansion in the distance, smoke climbing up into the sky. They had been thrown quite a ways, nearly four hundred yards by his guess. Whatever Cain had stuffed into those charges packed a punch.
Cain... The thought of the redheaded Faunus brought a hollow thrum of pain in Arthur's chest, and he felt his rage at Adam come back full force. The angsty little shit had gotten antsy and blown the whole damn thing to Hell, even with Arthur and Cain still inside! There were a few security personnel crawling over the distant wreckage, but from what he had heard prior to the blast, there wouldn't be anything left of his friend. Cain was gone, and it was all Adam's fault. Arthur gritted his teeth and sighed, then remembered what he was dealing with. Mourning could come later; he still had to deal with the heiress.
"Well you certainly took it, didn't you?! My home is destroyed! And for what? Because you were mad at my family?" Weiss demanded, still leery of his as she placed a hand against a tree to steady herself, looking very out of place in her light blue nightgown amid the trees and dirt in the dark forest. Well, dark except for the floating red orbs in the distance.
Oh no. Arthur cursed and his hand flew to his belt, drawing his hunting knife and darting forward. Weiss cried out in alarm, throwing up her hands in defense as he approached. He ignored her and moved past the flailing heiress, driving his hunting knife downward through the skull plate of a Beowulf that had crept up behind her.
"All that damn negativity." He groused, twisting the knife and pulling it free. The Grimm slumped to the ground with little more than a whimper. Behind it, however, Arthur could see that the trees were rustling. And there was no wind to speak of.
Blowing up the Schnee mansion had made a colossal explosion, and there were villages here and there that would have heard it. A loud explosion was never good, and brought with it fear, confusion, and uncertainty. All delectable treats for the creatures of Grimm.
"Listen here princess, I know you ain't done being cross with me, but we gotta get outta here." He gestured toward the beast that was disintegrating as he sheathed his knife, kneeling beside her. "You gonna be able to move on that ankle?"
Weiss wrinkled her nose at the idea of his help, but she couldn't fault his reasoning. The forest began to move around them, and she knew her options were limited. The heiress struggled to stand up, but the pain in her joint was too great. It already looked like it was starting to swell. Had her Aura been full, it would be healed by the time she walked back to the mansion. But after her fight with Arthur, it would take longer to heal. And without someone to watch her back, the Grimm would make short work of her in the wild.
"If I had my scroll, you would be behind bars." She seethed, but took his offered hand anyway. Arthur hoisted up her slight weight and kept an arm around her back, holding her up off of her left side while also trying to preserve her modesty. The grasping sticks and branches they had plowed through on their descent hadn't done her sleepwear any favors.
"Yeah well, it wouldn't be the first time." Arthur waved off her ire. "Come on, I know somewhere close by we can hide for a spell. After the Grimm die down, we can get you back to your family." The rustling continued, and Arthur let his hand fall to the handle of his knife once more. Even so, he gently guided Weiss forward into the trees, angling toward the clearing where the White Fang had first met up prior to the mansion job. There had been a fallen tree and some underbrush near one corner of the clearing, and he figured familiar ground with cover was better than trying to find a random spot in the woods.
Gunfire could be heard from the Schnee property, and Arthur assumed that the security detail had started to see the Grimm approaching. That ruled out the SDC as well; in order to get to the security team, they would have to wade through Grimm to reach Weiss' protectors. Plus, he had just been seen assisting in blowing up the manor, so Arthur doubted that conversation would go well. If he just shoved her toward them and went his own way while her ankle was messed up, she was as likely to be mauled by monsters as she was to be shot by mistake.
"Oh, I see. Mass destruction of private property is fine, so long as you're not murderers as well?" Weiss snarked. Somehow, waking up in the middle of the night to find intruders in your home made someone cranky. Doubly so, if those intruders blew up said home.
"Quit acting like it was that personal, princess. How long have you stayed in that place, in all your years? Ain't your home in Atlas?" Weiss puffed up and had a snide remark ready to fire back at him, but another pair of red eyes silenced them both. This time it was a Boarbatusk, and its loud snuffling was sure to bring more Grimm. Arthur leaned forward and drew his knife once more, leaning Weiss against a tree as he put some distance between them. If the thing charged him while he was supporting her, the only way he could kill it would be to go loud, and the last thing they needed was to attract attention, Grimm or otherwise.
"Here, piggy piggy." Arthur taunted lowly, swiping his hat in front of him to entice the creature away from Weiss. Its beady eyes looked over the limping girl for a moment, and Arthur reminded himself that Grimm relied as much on negative emotions as they did sight and sound. Weiss had just lost her home to burglars, so she probably wasn't in the best of moods.
I really gotta stop riling people up for kicks. Arthur focused on his anger at Adam and let the memory of Cain's last words play through his head, feeling his ears flush as the rage returned once again.
The Boarbatusk reacted instantly, snapping its head toward him as if he had whistled. The Grimm began to snort and dig into the ground with its forelegs, getting ready to start rolling and charge him. The moment Arthur was waiting for came immediately after: whenever Boarbatusks charged, they rolled up into a ball to gain momentum. The first step of doing that required the beast to lower its head and hop upward, both giving up leverage and exposing its soft neck. Arthur dashed forward, using his Semblance to facilitate a precise strike. His eyes flashed gold as he stepped forward and to the right, stabbing downward as the Grimm passed. The blade sunk into the back of its neck flawlessly, and Arthur let go of the handle to keep his wrist from being sprained.
The Boarbatusk squealed and tumbled to the ground, its charge interrupted as it immediately began to disintegrate. Arthur walked over and pulled his blade from the creature, watching curiously as the Grimm's blood ebbed away as well. He sheathed it and turned around, seeing Weiss stare at him with wide eyes.
"What?" He asked, holding his arms out expectantly. "I can't just shoot 'em. We'd be up to our ears in critters." Weiss rolled her eyes at his unrefined language, but she pushed off of the tree and tested her ankle. Judging by the muffled curse, it still wasn't healed yet.
"I don't understand why you're protecting me like this." She replied honestly. "If you are with the White Fang, wouldn't it serve you better to leave me to the Grimm? You know who I am, don't you?" Arthur scoffed and walked up beside her, offering his elbow for her to grab. She was still reluctant about it, but the stubborn heiress eventually relented and used it to support herself.
"I know it's hard to believe considering what we just did, but the White Fang don't wanna hurt anybody. Not physically, anyway. They're just tired of protesting and doing things peacefully. You had years to listen to them with they were saying 'please' and 'thank you', so don't get upset when they try something else." He explained, holding a branch out of the way so that the two could get through before he released it.
"That's what I don't understand. Why not just leave me to die in the forest? The SDC loses an heiress, and the White Fang get to claim the notoriety. I imagine that my father and the rest would be far more willing to hear your demands then." Weiss realized what she had just said and held up the hand that wasn't wrapped around Arthur's forearm. "Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I'm just trying to understand." Arthur sighed and looked around, trying to roughly gauge where they were at. If they had been thrown out the southern window, then they were relatively close to the clearing. They could hunker down there until the fighting died down, then he would send Weiss on her way.
"Because then we'd just be a bunch of monsters. Ain't no reason to go around and killin' without cause." Arthur chewed on the irony of that, considering how he'd spent many of his younger days doing exactly that. "If big daddy Schnee just listened to them, we wouldn't have gone through all this trouble to turn your fancy house into a crater. But that don't mean we're out to kill anyone. There's still that line that we haven't crossed." Or at least, that had been the plan. Adam had blown the plan to hell along with Cain and everything else.
"I suppose I can understand their frustration." Weiss allowed. "But I can't condone them just destroying property like that. We employed many Faunus in running that home, and paid good wages! I know father can be a little...negligent at times, but the company has helped a lot of Faunus." She defended halfheartedly, though Arthur could tell by her voice that she didn't entirely believe it. From what Sienna had gleaned from the tabloids, Weiss didn't exactly agree with her father's policies. But she wouldn't dog him out in front of a stranger like Arthur, and the outlaw found that he could respect that.
"Providing the only job available just lets you set the terms. If people have to decide between a piss poor deal and starving, you know which one they're gonna take. But," He sighed again. "All that is on your pa, not you. You may benefit from him being the way he is, but it's just like any other kid and their parents. Can't really fault you for it." Sienna might have had a more complex thought on it, but Sienna wasn't there. The second he had time, he'd be giving her a call. If Adam was following the plan, it would take them some time to get back to base.
More rustling and growls could be heard in the woods, but the gunfire appeared to be tapering off. With any luck, the fighting would be over in an hour or so. Arthur found the clearing a few minutes later, and he helped the heiress hobble her way toward the fallen tree in his mind. There was a small pond within the alcove provided by bushes and brambles, but there was enough dry ground for the two of the to sit comfortably away from one another. Once Weiss was settled on the ground, massaging her ankle with a pinched look on her face, Arthur slumped against the tree and let his head fall against it. In the distance, the two could hear the fighting between the Grimm and the SDC security forces, and for a time that was the only sound that passed.
Eventually though, Weiss had to break the silence.
"I must admit, you're not what I expected when I first met you." The heiress allowed, testing her foot. She still winced when she put her weight on it, but it looked like the Huntress in training could at least run if she really had to. While they rested, her Aura must have replenished a little.
"Ha!" Arthur chuckled. "You have a lot of expectations for masked men that kick in your door and blow up your home?" the teen rolled her eyes at his remark and scoffed.
"Not what I meant. And thank you for bringing that back up." She sniffed, before schooling her expressing into a far more curious one. "No, most impressions for the White Fang involve actual Faunus. How did you get mixed up with them?" Arthur arched a brow at the way she said it, but figured she wasn't being racist about it. It was a fair question to ask.
"I met 'em in Vacuo, shortly after a really big fight. Most of the people I grew up with died, and I didn't have much to go on. The Supreme Leader of the White Fang took me in, gave me some work with security." At Weiss' expression, he chuckled. "Yeah, I was surprised myself. But you know why she did it? She said that I was the first human to have a conversation with her without lying to her. I guess that's all it really took."
Weiss' gaze dropped as she thought about how the citizens of Atlas and Mantle treated the Faunus, remembering no small number of workers and servants that had been dismissed for trivial reasons. Her father was a glutton for power and excess, even if she didn't want to admit it. It was why things were so cold within the family.
"That does seem odd for the leader of a group that blows up mansions." She remarked dryly. "But why did you stay with them? Especially if they blew you up too? This isn't exactly Vacuo." She gestured around at their little hiding spot. Arthur's expression soured immediately.
"The boy that blew us up has got a lot of hate for your company, miss Schnee. It's branded on his face." He held up to fingers to the bridge of his nose. "Literally. He has hates the SDC more and more every time he looks in a mirror. And over time, that hate grew to encompass humans in general. He never really liked me joining up. The man that died in the explosion, Cain, me and him both tried to get this kid sorted out. But hate like that just burns and burns until there ain't nothing left." Arthur pulled out his scroll and opened it, cycling to Sienna's picture. He was just about to tap it when more rustling could be heard, this time behind them. Weiss stood up awkwardly, still favoring her strong foot, and Arthur let his hand drop to the Peacemaker. If the Grimm had backed off, then she was safe to make a break for the mansion. He just had to deal with whatever was creeping around first.
"Stay down." He instructed quietly, and Weiss nodded hesitantly. Arthur peeked over the log, his eyes searching the darkness for any signs of Grimm. There were no chirping birds or other animals rustling about, so the silence both helped and hindered him. It let him listen, but it also said that the threat hadn't gone away.
Arthur was about to slide back down behind the tree when a hand reached out from the side, gripping him by the collar and hauling him over. Arthur let out a yell of surprise as he crossed the tree, landing in the grass on his back. He reached for his gun and struggled to back away, but an ominous click above him stayed his hand. Arthur looked up at the man before him, and when he saw who it was he turned as pale as a ghost.
"Hello son. Miss me?"
A/N:Back off of hiatus...partially. I had been thinking how to do this chapter, and I deleted more than I wrote before I finally settled on this. I wanted Arthur to have a positive impact on Weiss, but we all know that she has a lot of growing to do between Volume 1 and the current season. I tried to play off of that without getting to corny, so I had to used the messed up ankle trope. As for the ending, next chapter is going to have a vicious fight and we will see the fallout of Adam's decision. Until next time.