The four boys sat quietly inside the shade the town's wall provided as the two guards above maintained watch. They sat idly, catching wandering eyes from the locals as they inspected their weaponry and the newest additions to their equipment. After the incursion, each of them had learned a little bit more about their shortcomings.
For all, Caelum had offered grenades, explosives, whatever tools and tricks he used, but was firmly refused as "it wasn't their style." Since he couldn't help shape their fighting styles, he instead made a request of the blacksmiths in Vicus. He requested a shield. One unique not just in shape but also in material.
Requisitioning some titanium from the excess scrap of the Nyx, Caelum requested it be smelted into a convex rectangle around ten inches by sixteen inches. It was coated in a light ceramic designed to absorb impacts and spalling. The size was closer to a buckler and hung from a strap on his hip, where the indented concave interior lay comfortably across. While it wasn't groundbreaking, after fighting multiple large Grimm and even the Wendigo in close combat, Caelum felt a slight improvement was needed in his defenses. An offhand countermeasure was a start.
Niel was of the opposite mind. He was confident and rehearsed in his weapons, but he had come across a concern. His rounds were powerful but limited in capacity. His blades were sharp and quick, but against armor, rather ineffective. So he sought a way to deal more melee damage. After hours of meticulous planning with his team and blueprint drafting with Raiden, he finally found a way to retrofit his gun blades with minimal changes.
Now his weapons had a third form aside from a gun-bladed revolver or trench knife. With a reinforced frame and some length added to the barrels, the firearm could shift from its trench knife form into a tomahawk. With the leverage of simple physics on the weapon, his enhanced strength, and a practical test, Niel could confidently hack into Grimm bone armor with ease. He was so pleased with the results and his friend's assistance that he even commissioned the town's blacksmiths to engrave the team's acronym into the hilts.
Lukas wanted a bit of both worlds. His unorthodox weapon and fighting style left him dreaming and scheming about just what to implement. Eventually, he and half the Nyx's crew, upon his request, rigged an idea together. The simplest answer to his lack of firepower in their minds was to incorporate an under-barrel 8-gauge shotgun within the core of the bat. It was a tight fit, but with some modifications, he rammed it on.
With offense increased, he set for a method of defense different from Caelum's. The same vents that discharge dust to increase the weight of his strikes were now modified. The small flaps that concealed the vents were now enlarged and given small extensions like little crossguards for locking and parrying enemy weapons. It took a lot of training and beatings at the hands of Niel and Caelum, but he soon grew used to the new additions and their weight.
Raiden perhaps took the longest with his two additions. The first was something expected of him. True to character, he had implemented Thermal vision into the integrated HUD of his glasses and railgun. After all, to a marksman such as he, sight was everything. Memories of the smoke and fog of the incursion and Eclipsis ran amok in his mind as he tirelessly worked to resolve the issue of concealed enemies.
His second addition was surprising to all. When he had tagged along with Caelum to the blacksmiths, it was presumed simply because they were partners. Instead, it was revealed he had made a secret commission and intended to surprise his teammates. The day Caelum received his shield, Raiden revealed his newly made parrying dagger. Knowing he was the weakest within his team in terms of melee, Raiden sought to at least give himself a way of breaking an enemy's assault. Opposed to his teammate's confidence against human enemies and adaptations to Grimm foes, he was the opposite.
His railgun afforded him all the damage he needed against a singular Grimm of immense strength. Yet against humans… he recalled the countless spars in Beacon. Classmates, upperclassmen, Team CFVY, Team JNPR, Team RWBY. Those he fought the most often and suffered all the more for, with the disparity in their experience and skill. True, they were sparse, but with life and death on the line, he felt he would have been only in a worse position. Thus, the parrying dagger was at least a short-term remedy to provide him opportunity against a human foe.
These upgrades and requests were made over the short time since the incursio, and now, it seemed that CRLN would have the perfect opportunity to give them a true field trial. Many a Grimm had been slain as they reviewed their upgrades, but now, as Caelum would put it, "they could experiment with a more human factor."
It was close to when the White Fang group said they would return. Yet as they awaited to ambush the terrorists, a group of four children were lingering around the boys, asking Caelum questions filled with curiosity.
"How old are you?" asked a little girl.
"Old enough to travel on my own," replied Caelum gruffly.
"What do you like to do?" asked another girl, the slightly older sister of the first.
Caelum hesitated, his hands hovering over his detached bayonet with a rag in hand. "Reading," he answered after a long pause.
"What's the biggest Grimm you've killed?!" asked an older boy with a missing tooth and fresh bandages. He received a disapproving look from the older girl, but was too fixated on Caelum's reply.
Caelum turned from his weapon and the kids to his teammates. It was clear what the answer was. It was also clear he couldn't even begin to convey just what that was to a child.
"A special type of Grimm. Tall as a Sphinx, faster than a Razorwing, and stronger than a Beringel."
The boy's face glowed as the older girl chastised him. "You don't even know what those are."
"So?!" defended the boy, turning to Caelum. "What was it called?"
Caelum raised an eyebrow at the persistent boy when Niel stepped in. "It doesn't have a name, it was one of a kind. As for the others he named, imagine a lion with wings the size of a car, a large, sharp-feathered, and fast bird, and finally a really big gorilla.
Now matching images in his mind to the names, the boy was giddy at the 'coolness' of the story.
As the boy hopped in place from excitement, a younger, meeker boy mustered the courage to pull Caelum's attention as he gave a single tug on his sleeve. He faltered for a moment when Caelum's sharp brown eyes turned to him. After a moment, he posed his own question.
"Why don't you smile, mister?"
Caelum's gaze relented slightly when Lukas suddenly snickered from behind. Caelum's glare returned tenfold, scaring the little boy for a moment, even though it was directed at his teammate, who had turned away.
Caelum softened his expression, easing the child slightly as he thought of how to answer. It wasn't the foremost concern of his, but now that he had a moment to think, had he smiled once in the public eye here at Vicus? Since they fled Vale?
The boy stared at Caelum as he pondered, snapping him out of his stupor. Before he answered, a loud, demanding voice shouted from outside the gate.
"We've come for your answer! For everyone's sake, we hope you're receptive!"
Caelum turned to his teammates, who all nodded. Niel shooed the children away, the smallest boy dragging his feet as he was pulled by the others, hoping to get his answer.
Seeing the child's lingering gaze, Caelum gave a quick reply. "I only smile when it matters most," and turned towards the gate. The small boy, confused by the cryptic answer, watched as Caelum waved at the guards to open the gates before he was dragged around a corner by his friends.
For the patrol of the ten White Fang members waiting, the sight of Vicus' gates opening without hesitation was a welcome sight. The leader's face, what was visible under the mask, twisted into a devious grin as he ordered the others to follow him in a formation of two columns. He wanted to be the first to step into the newly subjugated tributary of a town.
Unfortunately for him and his second in command, the first thing they saw past the gate wasn't a cowering mayor or piles of offerings. It was the speeding sight of the back of Caelum's scythe and Lukas' bat from the two open doors.
A loud crack erupted as the two men went limp and dropped. The shock of their leaders being taken out hadn't even registered to the eight behind them when Raiden hooked the shoulder of the fifth man in with his halberd's hammerhead. In one swoop, the man was reeled in and received a devastating uppercut to the chin from Raiden's hand. The sixth person received an equal surprise as Niel threw one of his tomahawks in a reverse grip, the flat head of the blade smashing her mask and knocking her out.
Four Fang dropped in an instant, and the others still hadn't reacted. They were far too late to react now, however, as Team CRLN was already upon them. After incapacitating the first targets, they stepped into their enemy's formation. Caelum and Lukas went after the seventh and eighth in the formation as Raiden and Niel took the third and fourth, whom they had passed to open some room for their partners.
Caelum met his mark first, with his shield in hand, he swung right. The edge of the shield struck true, impacting the side of the stout terrorist's head and knocking him clean off his feet. Caelum then brought his shield up to block a flurry of desperately fired rounds from the ninth man in line. They wouldn't have harmed him too much, let alone killed him, but it was nice to save on the aura. The frantic man then swung down with all his might, trying to hack Caelum's shoulder with a standard-issued sword. Nonchalantly, Caelum raised his shielded arm and received the blow.
The blade bit into the soft exterior, meant for spalling before being stopped by the dense material. Caelum then rotated his arm, dragging the man's arms to the side with it, and opened his guard. With one hand, Caelum raised his scythe and aimed it barrel-first at the frightened man as the blade locked straight in its elongated bayonet form. With a flick of the wrist, he spun the weapon mid-air and thrust forward, buttstock first and straight into the man's nose.
Lukas was far less tactical; the eighth and tenth men were in front of one another, and so he shifted to his SMG. With a click, he fired off four 8-gauge shells of non-lethal rubber rounds, successfully knocking the wind out of the first man and then perhaps fracturing a rib, followed by striking the second's hip and sternum, knocking him to all fours.
Niel retrieved his thrown tomahawk as it fell out of the air, but lunged low, the fourth man took the chance to try and impale him with his spear. Niel then immediately countered by shifting his center of balance and by moving his lowered torso, swung his leg with enough force to kick the man's head into the dirt.
Raiden dealt with the last Fang member who lunged at his chest with a rapier in an uncharacteristically refined and skilled manner for their profession. With his halberd overextended, Raiden stepped back and drew his parrying dagger. The rapier stopped short of his chest as he twisted the blade within the ridged back of the small blade. The female fang member looked down, surely surprised behind her mask. Her vision then blurred as Raiden pulled his right arm back further and smashed the back of his hammerhead into her skull. Not yet unconscious, Raiden swung the shaft around his neck and brought the hammerhead clockwise around so that it struck the side of her head, ensuring she was out.
Within mere moments, all ten Fang members were incapacitated. The guards looked on in shock as curious onlookers watched from behind corners and shuttered windows, knowing something interesting was bound to happen if the boys were waiting.
Taking the opportunity, Caelum told one of the guards to get the mayor while they restrained the unwanted guests. The man hurried off as the four boys retained their composure, but inside were oozing with satisfaction at their upgrades.
Lukas was practically drooling over the feeling of his new attachment. Niel was enamored with having such a reliable weapon that he could throw and retrieve with ease. Raiden's little maneuver was flashy and unrehearsed, but it worked, and that meant a world of possibilities to him. Caelum noted his weapons did not complement each other, feeling like a poor replication of Pyhra Nikos' technique, but he felt their use and comfort. They certainly complimented him.
With the ten White Fang members tied together and with restrained hands, their weapons and ammo were given to the militia for use, and the guardsman returned. Caelum then told him to pass a message.
"We will interrogate and handle everything from here on out. Don't worry about anything past this. Soon, the Fang won't be bothering you anymore."
The man seemed assured and shocked at the bold statement, but nodded and ran off once more to relay the comforting message. True to his claim, the last sighting of the White Fang that anyone in Vicus saw was of the ten defeated members, now unmasked and exposing their animal features, was of them being escorted to the east in shame by the four boys.
The forced march continued for a few hours, the glaringly obvious fact that none of the Fang were aura enhanced was evident as they struggled to keep pace at gunpoint.
Eventually, they were told to stop at a brief opening in the vegetation along a small path. They were granted water and small pieces of food from Vicus's local bakery. The ten watched with anxious eyes and nervous glances as Team CRLN conversed on their side.
Caelum tugged on his gloves as he ordered Niel and Raiden to scout ahead east and wait for further orders. Niel nodded and immediately made to set off, making a brief stop to speak with Lukas before departing.
Raiden, however, was suspicious of his partner. "What are you going to do?" he asked, a concerning pit growing in his stomach.
Caelum gave the same sharp glare, the one Raiden had grown so accustomed to when his partner was going to act with irrefutable and unshakeable certainty. Raiden stiffened as he mustered up a response. "Just, please, consider alternatives. We, you don't always have to…" His blue eyes begged leniency before he shook his head. "I don't mean to doubt you, it's just-"
Caelum placed a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eye. His brown irises bored deeply and sharply into Raiden's soul. "I'm going to get info. Just know that every action I take has a reason."
Raiden turned downcast and nodded. "Alright. I'll go scout now."
"Thank you," said Caelum, watching his partner leave with urgency. Turning to Lukas, he gestured with an open palm to their captives. "Ready?"
Lukas cracked his knuckles and nodded when the White Fang lieutenant finally gave his long-awaited outburst. "You'll get nothing from me or my men! Never! Our belief in equality will not be silenced! And we won't allow you humans to trample on our rights!"
Caelum's sharp gaze turned onto the man who remained defiant as he ranted. Glossing over his appearance, Caleum scowled. Several had varying amounts of red claw markings on their chest, a few had black fang markings on their collars. Signs of rank, NCOs, and officers.
"Straight from the propaganda pamphlets, as expected of a fang Lieutenant of Sienna Khan's Valean 'justice' force. You certainly weren't lying when you boasted your numbers, were you? Four grunts, four NCOs, and two officers for a simple patrol to intimidate a village? You must be setting up a logistical hub in the area once you're done intimidating the locals into sustaining you, just like in Vacuo and Mistral."
The man's now exposed face turned to shock, no longer confused by their youthful appearances and unusual strength. "How do you know any of that!?"
"You think your operations are that covert? Other than Sienna Khan and Adam Taurus' movements, the kingdoms have a rough intelligence network observing you all," Caelum responded bluntly, only to be shouted at once more.
"Who are you!? Kingdom contracted Huntsman? Atlas recon ops? Just why are you in a shithole like-!"
Caelum squatted next to the man, his eyes inches away from the surprised Fang officer's own quivering eyes as he replied. "Unfortunately for you, neither." The man's only response was a cold rasp of air as Caelum dragged his dagger across the man's throat. The officer's body fell to the ground as he struggled in vain to close the fresh opening with his bound hands, as warm blood stained them and the ground he lay on. Soon, he stopped moving altogether.
The other nine Fang members watched in horror as their leader lay still, growing cold while his blood dripped from Caelum's blade. They flinched as he slowly drew out two small cylindrical objects and passed one to his accomplice. Their voices failed to escape, knowing there was no help nearby.
Soon, Caelum and Lukas had attached the silencers to his pistol and SMG, respectively. "Now then, for the rest."
Some stood and tried in vain to run, others tried to hide behind their allies, and yet two even stood their ground and closed their eyes or looked to the sky, accepting their fate. Soon, seven more lay dead, and two were left shaking amidst the bodies of their slain comrades.
The two shell-shocked Fang members sat in silence with despondent eyes as Caelum turned to Lukas with a whisper. "You're useful for interrogations, but there was no need to take part in this step."
Lukas shook his head slowly. "Your callous personality aside, I'm none too fond of these kinds of characters either. They're the worst kind of trouble, ignorant and ignorant of it. They even threatened the place that hosted us so kindly. Besides, I feel like I understand my father, and you a little more now."
Caelum raised an eyebrow at the implication.
Lukas lifted his SMG as he removed the empty magazine. In the solstice slaughters that secured my father as the de facto leader of Vales' underground, he took part personally to show his leadership and to show he would not be denied his role. He told me that soon after you lot trashed the club. It was why my Ma was hopping mad and still holds a grudge. But now neither of you is the only one with blood on your hands."
Caelum was surprised by the thinking, his comrade seeking empathetic understanding. But their work was not over, and the future held far more struggle. Philosophical and moral contemplation had to wait, unfortunately.
Of the two survivors, one a female NCO and mentally shaken, the other a male officer amid despair, Caelum requested that Lukas interrogate them for the location of their base and other pertinent info for their lives. Lukas obliged and set about quickly gathering the intel. The shaken mental states of the two were tricky, but eventually, his bargaining, wordplay, and semblance sparked a hope of survival within them. One that they grasped with their entire being and confessed anything and everything.
With the intel that was certain to be true, Caelum ordered Lukas to join Niel and Raiden.
"Why?" asked Lukas defiantly.
"You may share blood on your hands, but I won't make a liar of you. Go."
Lukas glanced at the two Fang members and realized what Caelum intended. He quickly turned away from them and took his leave, intent on forgetting their faces. "Understood. Just… be quick with it."
Caelum nodded and planted a small beacon in the ground for the Nyx's crew to find later. Bodies left in the open would attract Grimm, or even a stray villager could stumble upon the site when hunting. The two Fang members watched Caelum in confusion and fear when he finally turned to them.
Despair set within them once more as the sight of his eyes, disgust, and hate lay within his irises as he gazed down on them. What they couldn't infer was that his emotions were not solely on them or their profession, but also at the necessity in which he had to act. His emotions were a mess, pointing at the collage of life's circumstances that led them to this moment.
"Be glad. You served your cause with the utmost duty and have atoned for your wrongdoings by assisting my team's investigation. Be assured, there will be a better future. But you will sadly not see it."
The wasn't even time for the expressions on their faces to change when he quickly pulled the trigger of his pistol twice. It was an inevitability for these 'freedom fighters', one that he had learned young from his counterparts in the Atlas military. Something that the Fang was just as keen to deliver in kind. Whoever began this cycle mattered not anymore; only those who lived to change the present reality they all despised.
-Chapter End-