Had a great birthday weekend for MrsTheGoose. Went to the tulip festival in our area. Row upon row of different colored flowers, and she got to pick some to take home with her. The funniest part for me, though, was seeing all the random influencers out in the wild. Phones on tripods. Poor boyfriends/husbands darting around for the perfect angle. Was tempted to wear our basket on my head and make sure I was in their background, just to ruin their shots. Knowing my luck, they'd get more views and interactions for Basket Head. Still bristled at the one moron who decided to sit in one of the flower rows, likely crushing a bunch of flowers for her stupid pose. People like that need to be fired...out of a cannon...into the sun.
Fresh off their victory against Fort Euryale and now unofficially in charge of Reyno - Cerco still held the title, but he pretty much ran everything by Adam - Adam felt something he hadn't felt in a long time.
Boredom.
"How goes the expansion of Reyno?" the holographic Sienna asked during yet another lengthy meeting with his boss. She called practically every day to coordinate efforts and keep him up to date on the bigger picture. He'd never imagined leading a terrorist organization would involve so many meetings.
"Slowly," Adam complained. "The officer housing is almost finished," thank the gods for that, "but we're running low on materials again."
As expected. Despite having plenty of forest nearby, they couldn't risk clearing away too much of their cover. Even chopping down trees outside their perimeter had to be done methodically. Someone might notice a sudden hole in the forest, so they were forced to space out their quarry a bit. Ranging further and further out also risked Grimm encounters - he'd put down more than his fair share lately - which meant more manpower.
Stone wasn't as hard, strangely enough. They just deepened their cave and hauled the slabs back to be shaped as needed. They had plenty of experience mining. While no one wanted to give any credit to the SDC and their vile camps, the fact was, at least half of their men had been miners at some point. They weren't harvesting dust here, but they knew how to expand and reinforce as they went, not to mention proper ventilation, hauling, and a host of other things that Adam would bet a camp of humans would struggle with.
"Airships will resume flying soon," Sienna promised, though she'd been saying that for over a week now. "There's still a chance they'll be monitoring the skies in that area. Until I'm certain we're clear, you'll have to make do." Easy for her to say. She wasn't stuck on the front line with barely any supply lines.
No use complaining about things they couldn't change. Better to focus on the here and now. "We've laid the foundation for the throne room." He hated that name, but auditorium didn't really fit the oversized space Corsac and Fennec had designed. Especially when their plans showed a raised platform with a single piece of furniture on it. "But I told the men to focus on the other projects until we get more supplies."
"That's fine. We shouldn't need it anytime soon." Or ever, in Adam's opinion. He wasn't sure if the Albains were just obsessed with the pageantry of a throne or if Sienna's ego had grown to demand one, but the faunus didn't need a queen.
"I could take a team out to get more equipment." Forcefully, of course. "There's a few human settlements further north that should have tools we could use."
"No missions," Sienna instructed, shutting down his idea as she had every day since he got there. "Mistral is out in force looking for us still. Things are starting to calm down, but we can't afford to risk exposing your location right now."
After almost three months at Reyno, Adam was getting a little stir crazy. He almost welcomed the random Grimm sightings, if only because it gave him something to do. Despite what Atlas had done, Mistral hadn't come down on them as hard as he'd hoped. Sure, they were lambasted publicly and had to withdraw most of their forces, but they hadn't outright banned Atlas from their shores. In fact, Winter Schnee had even been spotted assisting the hunt for the White Fang. Assisting. Not leading. The Council had been very clear on that, claiming they were in charge once more.
As if anyone believed that crap. Mistral had let a foreign Kingdom build a fully militarized base on its own soil, only finding out about it when the White Fang wiped it off the face of Remnant. Their claims of taking the matter seriously ended with little more than finger waggling and demands that Atlas never do it again. The least they could've done was demand some sort of reparations for their actions. That didn't sit too well with some of their citizens.
The White Fang made sure of it. "Our brothers in Mistral continue to sow discontent. Police arrested five people at yesterday's protest, but they've all been released. The Council's too scared to press charges right now."
"And Atlas?"
"Two dead. None of ours." Dead civilians wasn't something he ever thought he'd be okay with, yet he couldn't deny how Atlas' heavy-handed approach benefited them. "Felicia made sure to capture the whole incident on video. Atlas tried to take the video down, but we reposted from several dummy accounts. It's already spreading." Because nothing made people want to watch something more than being told not to.
It was almost funny seeing the White Fang get back to its roots. Protests and rallies. Sienna had been working hard to whip up anti-government sentiment across the Kingdoms. Well, three of the Kingdoms. Vacuo wasn't really a concern, as they tended not to get involved in world politics.
Mistral was the easiest. Faunus protests against Atlas were nothing new, but Laurence had leaked info on the Atlas base online, specifically on sites that were frequented by those less than thrilled with the Council as it was. It didn't take much to get them angry, and the next thing you knew, they were holding their own rallies calling for resignations and recall elections. Their claims of the Council being little more than Atlas puppets resonated a lot better after Euryale. Suddenly, they weren't fringe lunatics calling for anarchy - they were nationalists fighting for Mistralian sovereignty. That went over a lot better to the average Joe. Already, some news outlets were questioning whether Atlas was just using the White Fang conflict as a guise for eventual war with Mistral.
Atlas took a little more work. They tried pushing the nationalists there, pointing out how weak Atlas looked bowing to Mistal's demands, but they were too focused on the White Fang daring to attack Atlas soldiers to care about Mistral. That group proved a dead end, but there were always two sides to every argument. If they couldn't appeal to the nationalist and their Atlesian pride, then the non-interventionists would have to do. Admittedly, they weren't as outspoken or organized, but seeing the caskets of soldiers who died fighting for another Kingdom certainly got them motivated. Then, whenever they protested, Sienna would make sure the details got passed to the nationalists, who would inevitably show up to counter and lead to clashes. Violent clashes. When Atlas stepped in to stop it, they found themselves targeted, caught between two sides that saw them as bloodthirsty conquerors suppressing rights or cowardly traitors fighting Atlas patriots. No matter what happened, someone was always angry.
Vale, meanwhile, never could resist meddling in international affairs. The weird part was, they weren't even disagreeing with their government. Vale's Council had called for a cessation of hostilities between Kingdoms, despite Atlas and Mistral never coming to blows. Still, it was the nature of those removed from conflict to want to get involved, even if only to condemn it. Vale didn't have many pressing problems at the moment, so they had to go get involved in everyone else's.
Meddling in the capitals of three different Kingdoms served a single purpose - to distract the world from the White Fang. Sure, people hadn't missed the early reports of their attack and the body count, but it eventually got buried in the news cycle as protests and international tensions demanded more focus. It helped that Laurence wiped the security footage from Euryale. Stories without video didn't fare as well in the public eye. Besides, the White Fang fighting Atlas was old news. Mistral and Atlas being on bad terms, though? That was fresh. And terrifying. There hadn't been a full-scale conflict between Kingdoms in over seventy five years. Even the whisper of tensions was enough to have everyone glued to their screens, anxious to see if things would escalate.
And all the while, Adam Taurus, the most wanted man in Remnant, found himself grounded.
The rest of their meeting dragged by without much interest. Sienna told him about upcoming plans in the cities to keep the attention away from finding Reyno. Her main focus was on pushing for a member of Mistral's Council to step down or be voted out. An unexpected election cycle might be just what they needed, especially if it saw someone anti-Atlas elected. Either way, while they didn't have that many people pushing for it yet, Sienna assured him you didn't really need a majority to cause change. Sometimes, a vocal minority proved just as effective.
Bah! Politics. The greatest evil mankind had ever created.
In the meantime, Adam had his hands full with training, mostly thanks to the new faces that had arrived not long after he did. Apparently, after Adam left Menagerie, the White Fang had gone through a bit of a shakeup. Quite a few people left, abandoning the cause when the reality of opposing Atlas stared them in the face. Good riddance. The last thing they needed was a bunch of cowards who would flee at the first sign of danger. On the other hand, when word got out that Adam had left for Reyno, quite a few had asked to go with him. He'd told Sienna to warn them what they were signing up for, but they still came. Being a man of his word, and with nothing else to do, Adam had put them through the most tortuous training they'd ever faced, whipping them into a fighting force that might actually survive the looming war.
Alpha Squad had come as well, each with their newly unlocked aura. Not a one of them had turned down the offer. Of course, Sienna sent them almost immediately, meaning instead of just Bane, he now had nine people to train. He'd been the one to push for it, so he couldn't really complain about the extra work.
And yet, complain he did.
Sienna found the whole thing hilarious, naturally. "I thought your squad liked training."
"They're a bunch of children," Adam groused. "Can't seem to understand it takes time to learn how to control your aura."
"I was just as bad when I was younger. Weren't you?" Yes, but he actually was a child back then. These were full-blown adults who couldn't seem to grasp that they might not master a new skill in the first go. "Keep at it, Adam. You won't be stuck in Reyno forever. As long as they're making progress, you'll be fine."
Progress. Yeah.
/- - - - - - - - - -/
"I made my hand glow!" Trifa excitedly announced, holding up her glowing limb for everyone to see. "I…I did it!"
"About time." Yuma held up both arms, each of which pulsated with light all the way to his elbow. His smirk died as the aura flickered and faded.
Azure, who still hadn't made any progress yet, couldn't resist the temptation. "Typical. No stamina at all."
"More than enough for you," Yuma shot back.
"You wish."
Meanwhile, Bane slowly stood up, arms held motionless before him lest he break his concentration. The faint but steady glow that spread across his chest and all the way down to his fingers put the rest of them to shame.
"Bane's doing it!"
"Way to go, big guy!"
"Good work, Bane."
The last bit of encouragement came from Blake, who had taken over aura training for the most part. Adam couldn't be everywhere at once, so when she'd offered to take these lessons off his hands, he'd been only too happy to let her. With Ilia as her assistant and a pile of books Sienna had sent from Menagerie, Professor Blake got started in earnest under Adam's watchful eye. Admittedly, he'd sort of been looking forward to seeing someone else struggle to teach for once.
Only Blake didn't struggle. Not as much as he had, at least.
"Try to relax," Blake reminded them all as they sat in a half-circle on the ground. Between the setup and how her students acted, it reminded Adam of a preschool. "Once you get it started, just work on keeping it steady. If you push too hard, you'll just lose it."
"Laurence passed out again."
"And remember to breathe," Blake sighed as Ilia waved her off, already checking on Laurence.
The little progress they'd made was still way better than Adam's attempts. He chalked it up to Blake having more support. That had to be it. Ilia was helping, not to mention all those how-to books. She probably even got in contact with Kaito and Sienna for advice in secret, just to show him up. Sneaky little brat. And he'd gotten them started. She'd just swooped in right before they started making progress and taken all the credit.
That had to be it.
His arrival didn't go unnoticed for long. Blake saw him immediately but tried to ignore him so no one else would catch it. Unfortunately, with everyone focusing on Bane and scattered in a loose arc, there wasn't much hope of hiding.
Marcus saw him first. "Adam's back!"
And just like that, any hope Blake had of continuing the lesson was gone.
"I almost got it this time!"
"Any missions?"
"How did the call with Sienna go?"
"One at a time," Adam insisted, waving down the excited bunch of children he called a team. When had Reyno turned into an adult daycare? "Sienna says hi."
"Hi back!" Indie cheerfully answered. Adam sighed, knowing she'd demand he relay her message in tomorrow's report. He was fairly certain Sienna only sent her greetings to torment him.
"No missions yet." Adam decided to just get that one out of the way. He wasn't the only one itching for something to do, judging by the chorus of groans. "She promises we'll be back to normal soon. We just need to wait a little longer."
"How much longer?"
"A little." Not the answer they wanted to hear, but it was the best he had. "You all done with aura training for today?"
"I could go a little longer."
"Me too!"
"I think we should keep trying."
Ignoring them all, Adam looked to their teacher. "Blake?" Nine sets of eyes burned into her skull, promising death if she answered. Okay, eight sets of eyes. Bane ignored the whole thing, focused on trying to manifest his aura again.
Blake proved immune to their demands. "That's probably a good point to call it. We made good progress today. Don't want to overdo it."
"Traitor," someone muttered, knowing exactly what came next.
Adam nodded. "Good. Cerco could use some help with construction."
Adam might as well have told them Nondescript Winter Holiday had been canceled this year. They'd probably assumed coming to Reyno with Adam meant more training and adventures, but the reality was they spent most of their time building, doing chores, manning the wall, and whatever else everyone else in Reyno was expected to do on a daily basis. Just because they were on a special squad didn't mean they didn't have to pull their weight around their new home. In fact, Adam insisted they work extra. Leading by example and all that. He made sure to chip in, too, even helping in the kitchens from time to time. The first time his team had seen him behind the counter wearing a hair net, they couldn't stop laughing.
After training the next morning, he'd gotten the last laugh.
As expected, the flurry of excuses came from every direction.
"Shouldn't we focus on mastering our aura?"
"We'd just get in the way."
"Cerco said we could take the day off."
"I should sit this one out. Think I might've sprained something."
"What, your soul?" Adam shot back, seizing on the last one he heard. Azure quailed under the sudden focus. "You sprained your soul? Because from what I can see, you've done nothing but sit around all day. So either you hurt your soul, which means you can't do any more training today, or you're butthurt. Which is it?" Azure didn't have an answer. "Must be your soul, then. You're right. You should rest."
"R-really?" Azure managed to doom himself before his sister could stop him.
"Absolutely. Your soul needs time to recover, so take tomorrow off from aura training." Adam grinned as he decided to broaden the so-called break. "In fact, everyone should take tomorrow off aura training. That should free you up for extra chores and combat lessons."
"Way to go, moron."
"What did I do?" he whined, rubbing the back of his head where Azul slapped him.
"Blake, can you stick around for a minute?"
"Someone's in troub- hey! What was that for?"
"Thanks, Indie," Azul encouraged as she dragged her idiot brother away. Indie, far from looking embarrassed, waved happily as she left. The others followed the sibling's comical display, accepting their fate and leaving Blake behind. Ilia lingered a moment, debating between staying with Blake or following the others, before rushing to catch up with everyone else.
"You wanted to see me, Adam?"
She always seemed surprised when he singled her out. Or concerned. He could never quite tell which. Despite how young she was, Blake was his obvious choice for second in command, even before she took over teaching the others. Bane was reliable, but he still didn't know how to use his aura. He also had a nasty habit of agreeing with just about anything Adam said. He needed someone who would speak their mind and give him their honest opinion.
Blake never had a problem disagreeing with him.
"Training seems to be going well," Adam commented. He'd never been very good at small talk.
"They're getting there. I'd give it a few more weeks before they can use it in spars." That quick? He expected they'd be at it for months. Then again, they didn't really need to master it to spar. Just had to be able to keep it up consistently while fighting. They'd still use training weapons starting out, just to be safe.
Even so, they were well ahead of schedule. "You're good at this."
"I had good teachers." Blake's response was immediate. Her smile fell a moment later as she remembered exactly who'd taught her. Adam had done his best to avoid bringing up her parents since leaving Menagerie, knowing it would be a touchy topic for her.
Her birthday had been a bit of an awkward affair. After all, she'd never spent one away from her family. Adam had gone all out, getting the kitchen to make multiple cakes for the entire camp to enjoy at a huge gathering that night. They didn't have any lavish gifts like back home, but he'd done his best, only for Bane to steal the show with a set of wooden figurines he'd carved by hand. All in all, things had come together, and Blake seemed to enjoy herself, so that was all that mattered.
Rather than risk her dwelling on her parents, Adam pushed ahead with a distraction. A good one. "Sienna has something for us."
"About time." Even Blake wasn't immune to the boredom. "What's the mission?"
Adam shook his head. "No missions yet."
"But you said-"
"I said she has something for us. The two of us." That certainly got her attention. To be fair, Sienna had only specified him for the task, but he figured Blake could nothing else, getting her opinion would help bolster her confidence and give her something to work on. "Sienna wants another base set up. Preferably on the western side of Anima." A good distance from Reyno. It made sense. They'd put all their eggs in one basket, but that also limited their area of operations.
"Another Reyno?"
"Smaller." Reyno would be their main base. Instead, she wanted them to start organizing other camps, starting with a second one in Anima. After that, she wanted one near Vale so they could expand their influence even further. The barren wastelands of Atlas meant a frontline base there would be almost impossible to arrange. Maybe they could start a presence in one of the outlying villages, but they'd more likely focus on temporary camps when missions called for it. Or none at all. Hit and run might be their best bet in such a hostile environment.
"So we're heading west to scout locations?"
"Eventually, but there's something else we need to do first." Something she'd be uniquely situated to help with through her lessons. "Sienna wants someone from our team to be in charge starting out."
"And she wants us to pick someone." Blake always did catch on quick. Adam hadn't loved the idea of splitting the team up, but that had always been part of the plan. Eventually, they'd pretty much be scattered across Remnant or operating in smaller teams. This was to be a trial run of how ready his squad was for the future.
"Any recommendations?" Adam already had his own ideas, but he wanted to hear hers before finalizing anything. Even then, they'd still keep an eye on their nominees before breaking the news.
Blake didn't take long. "Bane would be helpful, but I don't think he'd do as well in command." A fair point. They really needed to work on that. The big guy hated being the center of attention. Maybe some lessons on public speaking would be good for him, though Adam had no idea who could help with that. He preferred to let his actions speak for themselves. "Maybe Trifa and Yuma?"
"Both of them?" Trifa, he could understand. She was definitely near the top of his own list, right alongside Nag. Yuma tended to goof off a little much for Adam's liking.
"They work well together, despite their bickering." Bickering was an understatement. Adam was never sure if they were going to kill each other or start sleeping together half the time. Still, they'd known each other for years before joining the White Fang, so maybe Blake was onto something. "And Trifa's too serious. Yuma would be better for morale."
If Trifa was too serious, then Nag was definitely out. Adam didn't mind the all-business approach, but maybe she had a point. Sending a bunch of them out into the middle of nowhere to start from scratch would take a toll on their spirits. Plus, Yuma could help scout the area with his flying.
So Yuma, Trifa, and Bane then. Honestly, that sounded like a pretty solid group. "How long until they're ready?"
"By themselves? Probably a few months."
Thankfully, they wouldn't be alone. Not at first, anyway. He'd be going with them to help clear the Grimm and make sure the area was secure while they worked on getting everything set up. Unlike Reyno, their camp would be less permanent, allowing them to move as needed to avoid detection. That also meant less defenses to rely on. He could help them get started, but he'd feel a lot safer leaving them to run the place once they knew how to fight with aura.
"I want extra training for the three of them," Adam instructed. "We've got time, but whenever Sienna gives the go ahead, I want to be ready immediately."
"I'll see what I can do." He knew she'd do her best. He just hoped it would be enough. "So…any plans for this weekend?"
Weekends weren't really a thing in Reyno. Every day was the same in a place like this. As much as his team liked to pretend otherwise, Saturday was just another day of work like any other. He barely even kept track of the days of the week anymore. It just didn't have the same meaning as it might to someone with a nine to five.
No one else seemed to grasp that obvious concept, always planning little activities to celebrate the bookends of the week. And naturally, they all wanted him to join in. "Yuma and Maurice want a guy's night." Whatever that meant. "Laurence set up some sort of video game tournament." If it wasn't for how much people seemed to enjoy his gaming station, Adam would've trashed the whole setup. He still didn't see the appeal of pretend fighting when they could just do the real thing. "And Indie wants to go get some drinks."
"Oh." Yeah, that sounded about right. Adam hadn't really dealt with the whole Indie situation since before Euryale. Part of him hoped they could just ignore it, but it sounded like Indie wanted to talk. "So are you two still together?"
"What?" Still? "Since when are she and I…together?" He struggled to think of a better way to say it.
Blake must've felt as awkward as he did talking about relationship drama. She couldn't even look him in the eye. "It's just…I saw her leaving your place, back before your mission." Oh gods. Was that how the team found out? "I just assumed-"
"Nothing happened." Blake hadn't been at the meeting the next day. A meeting that had spent far too much time focusing on the night before instead of the big attack. "She got drunk, and Jakob…he thought it'd be funny to send her to my place." It really wasn't, but that was just the sort of stupid things Jakob always got up to. "She pretty much passed out when I let her in, so I just let her sleep it off. That's it." At least, that's all he would admit to. The fact she'd slept on top of him didn't need to be shared around. "She and I aren't dating or anything." Even if she definitely wanted to.
Blake looked relieved at the news. "Good." With a slight panic, she hurried to add, "I mean, it's good you kept things professional. Better if we focus on the mission, right?"
Finally, someone who understood. "Exactly."
"But now that we're stuck here, are you gonna give it a try?" See if it worked out? Honestly, he'd considered it. This was probably the only time they'd have enough peace and quiet for something like that. It might even be a nice change of pace. Something to keep him occupied while they were stuck waiting for Sienna's green light.
Except, dating someone just because you were bored sounded like the worst reason he could imagine. Sure, it might grow past that, but he'd feel like scum if it didn't. He'd be treating her feelings like a toy to be thrown away when something more important came along. Besides, what kind of future could she hope to have with him? The White Fang needed him too much for him to take time for himself like that. They were on the brink of war with half the world, and it was his job to make sure they all survived the coming storm. Could he really afford to split his attention like that? And even if he did, he knew how it would end. Jakob may have been the first to die, but Adam doubted he'd be the last. War would tear them all apart, and Adam knew what waited for him.
His story wouldn't have a happy ending. Maybe he'd fall in battle against impossible odds. Honestly, that sounded preferable to the alternative. He knew he couldn't win against the full might of Atlas. Raids and guerilla fighting were all well and good, but all it took was a single mistake to see him captured and hauled to Atlas. They'd make a big show of putting him on trial, knowing all along what the outcome would be. Still, Atlas had an image to maintain as the keepers of law and order. He'd be found guilty, then face a public execution as a warning to anyone else who would even think of standing up to Atlas in the future. After Euryale, they'd argue he was too dangerous to be kept alive, so rotting in some prison cell was out.
Atlas wouldn't rest until his head rolled.
How could he be with someone, knowing it would only end in misery. He'd be ripped away from them. They'd weep as they watched him die. Adam had been through too much loss to inflict that on someone else. Better he keep them at a distance and lessen the pain when the time came.
"No." He couldn't. Not to Indie. Not to anyone. "I don't think it would work out." In fact, he knew it wouldn't. The problem was, he couldn't just ignore her feelings. He'd have to let her down eventually. Maybe this weekend would be the perfect time.
Or it could wait. "Ilia and I are playing cards with Bane on Saturday. There's an open seat if you want in."
"Why? So you can clean me out again?" He hadn't forgotten the last time he'd played with her. Or the time before that. Or pretty much every time. "I didn't bring a lot of lien with me."
"We're playing for chores." Blake's smile showed that she planned to have a very light load in the near future. "It'll be fun. I promise I'll go easy on you."
"Bull." Blake was way too competitive for that. She'd be nice for a hand or two, then demolish them all. Still, it would be nice to unwind a little, and the three of them were about the only ones he could relax around anymore. No pressure. No expectations. No drama. Just four friends hanging out and pretending the world wasn't on fire all around them.
A fire that he'd helped start.
"Count me in."
I'm sure Blake's just concerned about the mission. No ulterior motive or anything. Definitely not.
Short chapter this week, but I'm not quite ready to dive straight into the next arc. Been working on planning some more missions for down the road, though. Got a few good ones I'm really looking forward to. Also made some changes to existing ones to clear up some potential plot holes and inconsistencies. Keeping the plan loose, but need to have those major events mapped out to avoid trouble.
Next chapter: Reyno's back in action!