"Done everything you wanted to do?" Xander asked.
"It's been a good day," Jiraiya said with a wide smile.
"You smell like a cathouse," Tsunade said dryly.
"I did say it was a good day," the toad sage said smugly.
"I believe I've gotten a good grasp on how aura functions," Orochimaru said, "it taps into the soul allowing for greater amounts of spiritual energy to flow forth than is normally possible without decades of training, causing the body to increase the amount of physical energy in response to the imbalance."
"Like the monks," Jiraiya said.
"Yes, just without the decades of training," Orochimaru repeated. "I'll need to see one having their soul kindled or awakened, the two most common terms, before I am positive."
"We'll probably run across someone who wants it done before too long," Xander said. "Check with the White Fang members."
"I've got about a dozen White Fang members in prison if you'd like them and can guarantee they stay in Menagerie," General Ironwood offered.
"Sir?" a white haired assistant asked.
"We can change their sentence to banishment and will no longer be responsible for them, Winter. Prisoners cost money that could be better spent on other things and the best sort of problem is somebody else's."
She considered that for a moment before nodding. "Shall I start the paperwork?"
"Better, start the transfer on my order and we'll handle the paperwork after," General Ironwood decided.
"Yes, sir," she said, saluted, and departed.
"How long do you think it'll take for them to get here?" Xander asked.
"It should take six hours, but with Winter on the job I'll be surprised if it takes three and it'll only take that if she has to make an example of someone," General Ironwood replied.
"I'd think the prisoners would cooperate since she'll be taking them out of prison," Tsunade said.
General Ironwood chuckled. "It's not the prisoners who she'll have to convince to cooperate."
Leo frowned. "I hope there won't be any 'accidents' when trying to transfer them."
"That's why she's probably going to have to make an example of someone," General Ironwood said with a small grin.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Greetings, I am Military Specialist Winter Schnee," she said, addressing the guards leading into the prison, "you should know why I am here."
"Sorry Specialist Schnee, we've received no written orders regarding your arrival," one of the guards said, both standing at attention.
"As a Specialist I need no written orders, my word is enough," she replied, eyes narrowing.
"T-the Warden said we needed written orders before any prisoner transfers were authorized," one of the guards stuttered out.
"That is contrary to Atlesian military authority and thus treason," Winter said bluntly. "Stand aside or you'll be charged as accessories."
The guards stiffened, closed their eyes, and leaned slightly forward with their heads cocked to the side, presenting their temples, but saying nothing.
The pair dropped unconscious a moment later from a couple of quick taps from the weighted gloves Winter was wearing. She made a mental note to make sure the pair weren't charged with interference as they had cooperated… after a fashion.
Stepping inside the guard shack she hit the button to open the gates for the troop transport.
The gate slowly opened, so she sped on ahead, noting the guard towers were empty so she didn't have to deal with snipers, which while handy for her was definitely against regulations. She'd be sure to add it to her report.
Winter didn't bother trying to open the six inch thick steel door leading into the receiving area of the prison, simply pulling a fire crystal from her pouch and flinging it at the door where it went off like someone had hosed down the area with napalm.
She waited impatiently for the thirteen seconds needed for the door to begin to glow from the heat it had absorbed before pulling a matching ice crystal and nailing the door with it as well.
The fires were instantly extinguished as frost spread out over the area, the slab of metal warping and cracking from the sudden change in temperature.
Winter spun around, her boot heel hitting the door with the force of a battering ram and shattering it into a dozen pieces that were flung into the room like a shotgun blast.
As she strode into the room she noted it was empty, listening for a moment she noticed that she didn't hear anyone at all, no guards filing papers or watching monitors, no inmates cleaning or waiting to be released.
Her eyes narrowed. It looked like something big was going on. She no longer had time to play nice!
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Benall snarled at the mouse faunus in front of her being held up by two guards in the middle of the cafeteria before she punched him in the gut hard enough to send him ragdolling out of the guards' grip and into the mass of faunus prisoners behind him, each and every one wearing a metal collar that prevented the use of aura.
"Retrieve him," she ordered, the two guards scurrying over to obey her.
Once he was being held up again, wheezing from broken ribs and with blood dripping from his mouth she smiled. It was not a nice smile. The broad shouldered woman with her blonde crewcut was not a nice woman so it suited her.
"I've been told that all the White Fang members we have here are going to be released," she said, her voice carrying to every corner of the room. "I've been told they are going to get away with their crimes as if they never happened." Her fists clenched in rage. "It's such a shame that a prison riot broke out shortly before we could get such orders and they were shot attempting to break out in the confusion!"
The faunus prisoners drew together knowing that if they didn't try to break out they were all going to die, White Fang member or not, which was exactly what she wanted. They were screwed either way, but it was better to die fighting.
Seeing the realization in their eyes, she booted the mouse faunus into them, knocking a half dozen of them over. "You animals are going to-"
A blur of white resolved into a white haired woman with her hair in a bun. "I am Winter Schnee, Atlesian Military Specialist," she began and then paused. "Hold on, I've been told I'm less threatening when I'm not carrying my sword on me. Hold this for me, will you?"
Winter turned and thrust her sword through the warden's chest, shattering her aura and sending the woman flying across the room to hang impaled like an insect on the wall.
Everyone froze.
"Where was I?" Winter asked. "Oh, right. My name is Winter Schnee, Atlesian Military Specialist, and I'm here to escort," she leaned back from the swipe of a guard's baton and kicked him into the ceiling, "the prisoners who were White Fang members," she didn't bother dodging the second guard's attack, her lazy backhand taking him down as if he'd been hit by a sledgehammer, "to transport to Menagerie as their sentences have been changed to banishment."
The guard's body that had been briefly embedded in the ceiling fell to the floor with a loud thud in the sudden silence.
"Are there any questions?" she asked politely.
No one spoke.
"Excellent," she said with a smile. "You have seven minutes to retrieve the personal effects of the prisoners being transferred." She pulled out a stop watch and clicked it.
The guards fled as if a pack of beowolves were chasing them.
The faunus exchanged confused and nervous looks as a goat faunus carefully picked up the battered and bleeding mouse faunus.
"I have a question," the goat faunus said. "What if the faunus in question isn't a member of White Fang?"
"I was ordered to retrieve all White Fang members for transport to Menagerie," Winter said softly as she saw the condition of the mouse faunus, "no mention was made of them being known members, so if a White Fang member says that person is one… Well, they would know better than me."
The faunus looked around at the human prisoners who had stood by while they were abused, saying nothing when it was announced they were all going to be slaughtered.
"We're all White Fang," a dog faunus announced, "I was amazed they caught us all, even if they couldn't pin being members on us."
There was a chorus of agreements from the surrounding prisoners.
"Then you are all coming with me," Winter said. "There are medics at the gate, so the faster we move, the faster everyone can be seen to."
"I hope they drive fast," the goat faunus said as the mouse faunus' breath rasped loudly with every rise and fall of his chest.
Military personnel flooded into the room, weapons drawn and ready for combat.
"Specialist Schnee, we're securing the facility, what are your orders?" one said, snapping off a salute with his free hand.
"There are going to be a number of empty cells shortly and a number of guards who need to spend time in quiet contemplation of their crimes," Winter replied. "I'm sure you'll figure out something. In the meantime I need a medic for him." She gestured to the mouse faunus.
"Yes, Ma'am!"
Winter walked over to the warden who was impaled on her sword, pulling it out and letting the body drop. She flicked the blood off her sword and sheathed it before turning to the prisoners. "I would suggest all prisoners who aren't part of White Fang should quietly return to their cells," she said politely.
The human prisoners quickly scattered.
"Um… aren't you… a Schnee?" a wolf faunus asked.
"Yes, as I stated," Winter agreed.
"Don't you hate us?" she asked.
"Of course not," Winter said, "I hate when innocent people were harmed by your actions, but I don't hate you."
"Um… We tried to kill your father," the wolf faunus pointed out.
"Alright, I'm a little annoyed by that," Winter admitted with a sigh, making all the faunus tense. "I mean, how hard is it to kill one businessman? He doesn't even have aura!"
The faunus just stared in disbelief as a medic arrived and treated the mouse faunus.
"I'm sorry, but the sheer incompetence of your group does annoy me," Winter admitted. "Jaques visits a faunus whore regularly, anyone with two brain cells should have been able to take advantage of that."
"We could have had her poison him," a cat faunus said.
"Exactly!" Winter exclaimed. "He could have poisoned him and no one would have known!"
"He?" the cat faunus asked, surprised.
"Try not to be so homophobic," Winter said. "Male prostitutes exist."
"I'm not being homophobic, it's just most people are straight so I went with the rule and not the exception," she defended herself.
"Oh, that's alright then," Winter said. "Being in the military has had me sit in a lot of lectures that make me overly sensitive about racism and sexism."
"Next you'll be saying you have faunus friends," a dog faunus said in disbelief.
"Of course I don't," Winter said with a frown, "faunus assume I'm racist because of my name so they either try and be racist towards me or are really awkward, waiting for me to be racist towards them. Neither of those situations lead to friendships."
"So you don't hate faunus?" the goat faunus asked.
"Not for being faunus," Winter said. "If I hate someone it's because I have come to know them personally and decided they were worthy of hate. I don't have enough hate in my heart to spend it frivolously."
"Ma'am, if we don't get him to a hospital soon, he's not going to make it," the medic said.
Winter nodded. "Everyone in the transport! Not you, I just need the prisoners, a driver, and the medic. Let's move people!"
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
There was a loud screech of tires from outside and a moment later Winter rushed into the auditorium carrying a mouse faunus. "He needs immediate medical attention!"
Tsunade vanished from the table they were all sitting around playing cards and appeared next to Winter. Her hand glowed green as she touched the small man, but she sighed and shook her head. "He's dead."
"Oh," Winter said softly and set the body on a cot as numerous faunus in aura suppressing collars and orange prison jumpsuits flowed in.
"I've got it," Xander said, dropping his cards on the table.
"Got what?" Winter asked. "He's dead."
"Yeah, I know," Xander said, "I've got it." He tapped several Mana and placed his hand on the mouse faunus' head who bolted upright a second later.
"What?!" he exclaimed, looking around in a panic before feeling his side in confusion.
"It's okay," Xander said, trying to calm him down.
"I-I was dead!" the mouse faunus exclaimed.
"'Was' being the key word," Xander said. "Did you still want to be dead?"
"Uh… no," the mouse faunus said, "I quite like being alive."
"Then there's no problem," Xander said.
"Did you just bring him back to life?" a goat faunus asked in disbelief.
Xander nodded. "I don't make a habit of resurrecting people because there are some awesome afterlives out there and all you have to do is not be a dick to get into them. How cool is that? Anyway since he was only dead for a few minutes, I made an exception."
"How was being dead?" a cat faunus asked.
"It was only a minute," the mouse faunus said. "I was falling… to a brightly lit meadow… I really didn't get a lot of time to figure anything out. My pain went away… and I was feeling pretty hopeful."
"Looks like you're good enough to get one of the better afterlives," Xander said. "Keep being the good person you are so you can get in the next time you die."
"I'll do that," the mouse faunus said.
"What were you in prison for?" Winter asked.
"I stopped a man from attacking a woman in an alley," he replied, "but they were both human and somehow it became me attacking her in the report."
"Well they are not going to a sunlit meadow when they die, I can tell you that," Xander said.
"You know where we're all going?" someone asked.
"No, but it's definitely dick behavior, so…" Xander waved a hand.
"You really aren't helping with the whole 'not a god' thing," Leo said with a chuckle.
"I'm not assigning people to afterlives, I'm just telling you how to get into the good ones," Xander said, "and any child could tell you that."
"Any problems?" General Ironwood asked.
"Minor," Winter replied. "At least minor now since he's not dead."
"Glad to hear it," General Ironwood said. "Back to our game."
"Fold," Tsunade said as she walked over to the crowd of faunus. "I have patients to see to."
"Who's turn is it?" Xander asked.
"Yours," Leo said.
"Okay," Xander said. "Red two."
General Ironwood grinned. "Red reverse, green reverse, uno, draw four red!"
Xander chuckled and dropped his cards. "You win. Winter get over here."
"Pardon?" she asked.
"We were playing for favors," General Ironwood said, "and I am two up."
"And one of his was to give you an enhancement," Xander said. "Ready to become an angel?"
"What?"
Typing By: Abyssal Angel
Beta By: Abyssal Angel and Mist of Shadows