Chapter 11: Argus - Part III
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Troll in the Reviews-
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A lance's worth of soldiers, and twice that in droids, were waiting for him when he returned to the gate. Cordovin was waiting with them as well, as evidenced by the impressive hats her two guards wore poking out above the ranks of the droids and their lance of commanding Human soldiers. Seeing his approach, the soldiers and machines fanned out, covering his approach lest he be attacked from behind by surprise. A kindness he could appreciate, even if it was one he did not need.
"I captured this one for information." He explained as he reached Cordovin, standing under the shadow of the gate. Releasing the woman's throat he let her drop in a heap at Cordovin's feet, coughing and rolling onto her side. "She was unaware of their plans when she created the explosives. Tricked into-"
"Yes, yes, I'm sure the animal spun quite the tale when you bested them." Cordovin cut across him irritably, snapping a finger that summoned a soldier and two drones from the group holding the perimeter. The droids stooped and yanked her upright, hanging between them, and Cordovin went on, "Rest assured we will extract the information we need and she will be dealt with accordingly."
"In what manner?"
"You put down an animal when it goes rabid, do you not?" The girl stiffened in the robot's grip but didn't react otherwise, resigned to her fate. Letting out a single amused laugh at the woman, Cordovin ordered the machines to take her away and ordered her personal guards to once more ckose them in, as they had at the school before. While she spoke, he watched the woman be dragged away, head down and silent. "Thank you for your help, Arbiter. With her information we can see an end to this pathetic little-"
"She will not be harmed, Cordovin." He rumbled as the woman disappeared around the corner of the gate, off to wherever she would be kept. Standing above her and flanked by her guards, once more facing away so they could speak, he looked down on her and rumbled on, "She is my prisoner, not yours. And as such will be treated as I demand she be."
"Under what authority?"
"Mine, Cordovin." He answered in a growl, kneeling so that he could better speak to her. A demeaning gesture he saw have the desired effect, the woman grinding her teeth even as he murmured, low enough that only her guards might be able to hear his word, "Refuse me my right of capture, Commandant, and you may jeopardise all the good will I hold for your people. And over what, one, what did you call her… Animal?"
"She attacked Argus, Arbiter." Cordovin argued, "Killed Atlesian students. Children, a fact that seemed to fill you with as much anger as it did me."
"She was fooled, and when I found them, already filled with regret over what happened." He had heard and seen it screaming from all she said or did. "Her fellows were far less regretful, enough to threaten and berate her for her regret and empathy. For their cruelties, their bodies cool even now. Young Ruby is watching over them, awaiting your people to retrieve them so that the animals do not eat them."
"She shouldn't have bothered." Cordovin shrugged, "I'll send some men, but we will just leave the bodies there."
"Your cruelties are no less forgivable, Cordovin." He growled, the woman's eyes narrowing with his words. She didn't argue with him, though, and he began to levy his demands. "Send your machines to bury the dead, they deserve that barest of civilities. Question the girl as you like but do her no harm beyond that, and in the end, I forbid your taking her life."
"As though you have the right…" The woman tittered a mocking laugh, shaking her head and giving him a look. "Arbiter, I am practically queen here, in Argus. What I say goes, at least until we have fixed our lines of communication to Atlas."
"Will you feel so confident when my ship hovers over Argus, Cordovin? Or will you have wished you earned my friendship when it was offered, and done as I asked in trade for my blade in solving your problems." The woman blanched and he allowed himself the smallest of satisfied smiles, standing and sighing. "I have done as you wished for thinking us allies, Cordovin."
"We are."
"If we are allies, then let me have my right of capture." He pressed, gentle for knowing how angry she was. Still, she needed to learn that when he made demands they would be met, or his ire would follow. "I ask for little which benefits me and me alone, Cordovin. Bury their dead, and honor my holding of her custody."
"Fine." The woman sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. With a snap of her fingers she sent one of her guards to relay the orders, while the Arbiter explained how to find Ruby and the corpses she kept vigil over. "Could you at least explain why you offer such charity for these beasts, though?"
"Empathy." He answered simply, knowing the fuller extent of his reasoning would only complicate matters. She seemed dissatisfied and he sighed, shaking his great, armored head. "Were it so easy, Commandant, I would explain the matter in depth. Yet, I am tired, and wish to rest now we have reached accord over the young woman."
"Very well, then." She seemed relieved, really, to have the heat behind them. And he could understand why easily enough. If she soured Atlas' chance of alliance with the Swords of Sanghelios, then her name would be tainted for all her days by the failing. "Would you like a private quarter on the base proper, or to rest with your… Companions? I am told they have sought shelter with the family of one of them."
"I would rest with my companions, if it pleases you."
"I will have an escort formed up to take you to them, then." And was he wrong to think he heard relief from the woman? An amusing thought, if a somewhat confusing one. Beyond the simpler concerns of housing an inhuman, unknown species' VIP, at the least. "Good evening, I suppose."
"Thank you, Cordovin." He grunted, bowing his head and tucking his cloak around his shoulders as the pair she'd called over came to them. Neither seemed surprised to see him, though he knew they almost certainly were. A testament to professionalism, which he found a positive note to end on. "Good evening to you as well, Cordovin. I hope our next meeting carries more benefit to the both of us."
The pair of soldiers lead him silently through the streets of Argus,while he did his best to ignore the stares of the citizenry as best he was able. Fear and hate he was used to, and so he kept his gaze straight and true, ignoring those he passed by. Some, he saw, paid him more respectful and even awe filled gazes. But from most it was the same kind of fear, anger and outrage as he was so used to.
It did feel nice to be innocent of those gazes' accusations, for once in his life, though.
"This is the Cotta-Arc residence, Sir." One of the soldiers reported as they reached their destination.
It was a wholly normal house set back from the street, nearly identical to those around it. Though, he noted, in a nicer district of Argus. The houses were still pressed side to side, and multi-story, but here they were occupied by single families. A small box by the road bore only the name the soldier had said, and he saw only one door, leading in. A narrow house, to be sure, but a personal one. And a luxury for it, from what he had seen elsewhere in the town.
He would enjoy the privacy, even divided as it would be by so many.
"Thank you, Soldier." The Elite nodded, turning to dismiss the man. "I hope that you enjoy your evening, such as it may be."
"To you as well, Sir." The soldier nodded, glancing to his fellow and then turning back to him. In unison, they brought their heels together with metal 'clicks' and snapped their arms up, saluting him in the fashion he had seen so often from his Human allies. "Thank you for your help, Sir. You saved those kids, and no one in this city will forget that."
"One of 'em was my niece." The other added quietly, "I'm going for pizza with her in an hour thanks to you."
"I… Am merely glad to have helped the younglings." He nodded, not knowing what else he could say. At the gesture, the two nodded and turned, headed deeper into the settlement and, presumably, to the end of their shift.
Unfortunately that left him without someone to introduce him to those within, and he didn't know the etiquette needed here. Did he let himself in to join his comrades? Wait for them to come out? Call out to them or knock, maybe? Luckily, he was saved having to figure it out himself, a voice tugging him out of his thoughts.
"Oh my, you really are big aren't you?" He turned, looking down on a blonde woman with an infant in her arms. An infant who blinked and squirmed tighter against his mother on seeing him, earning a displeased rumble. "Don't worry about Adrian, really, he's just… Shy around big, new people."
"Indeed?"
"Yeah, just…" She smiled apologetically, "Give him a minute."
"I will." He nodded, stepping back to give the child more space and asking, quietly for fear of disturbing him, "You are the�� Matron of the house, then?"
"Matron…?"
"Forgive me, I know not your people's word for it." She raised an eyebrow and he let his mandibles flick in thought, humming. "The, ah, the woman of the house, perhaps would be the way to say it? Forgive me, your tongue is foreign."
You're asking if I'm the wife?" It was close enough, lacking a few aspects, but he nodded regardless and she chuckled. "Well, yeah, but that doesn't quite mean the same thing for Terra and I." He cocked his head in confusion and she chuckled, waving him off with a hand she used to tell him to follow right after, "You'll see soon enough. I just hope that whatever standards your people have, you won't judge us for not meeting them."
"I would not dare." He assured her, hesitating at the open door she left for him. When she looked to him he bowed his head and, quietly, asked, "May I enter your home, Lady?"
"O-Of course." She stammered, seemingly taken aback at his formal tone and request. As he stepped in, she shuffled into the kitchen and made a sound of surprise. "Oh, Oscar, you're here? And wearing new clothes, too? They look good on you!"
"T-Thanks, Miss Saphron." He heard the boy stammer as he lumbered into the door of the kitchen, the young man dressed in more combat oriented clothes. Albeit clothes stained with dough, but sturdier looking and clearly designed for fighting regardless. Seeing him, the boy brightened, "Arbiter! I'm glad you're here, I was worried about you with… You know, what happened."
"I am well." He rumbled, pulling his cloak off and turning to hang it on a rack beside the door. When he returned to the kitchen, Saphron, as he had surmised her name to be, was gone. "It is good to see you, young one. Are you well?"
"Well enough, yeah. Or as well as I can be, really, I guess." Oscar nodded, checking a timer on the oven and then slipping by him and into the living room to take a seat. And, from how he looked around, to make sure their hostess wasn't nearby. "Ruby explained everything going on with Oz while you were, uh, out."
"And how did that go over, exactly?" He asked, easing into a seat across from him.
"Well… You were kind of overshadowed, I guess."
"Ah." So one of them had told the others of him, then. He let his eyes close and took a breath to calm himself before asking, quietly. "And their thoughts?"
"Mixed, I guess…" Oscar answered, rubbing the back of his head anxiously and grimacing. "Ruby said that, um, that you and your people were tricked. And that what you did is the reason you were so adamant about helping Remnant was because of what happened, though. Is that true?"
"On both counts, yes." He nodded, explaining in gist as best he could, "Long ago, my people were brought into the Covenant. Our honor and strength, the Prophet's wisdom and guidance. In recent decades, though, this agreement was betrayed. First in deception, guiding us to strike down Humankind for sins made up by the Prophets. Then in trying to quash the truth, and kill my entire species."
"Along with mine…"
"This world was unknown to the Covenant but had they known of you, yes. Yours as well." And that was leaving aside the matter of the Sacred- Of the Halos, he corrected himself, sighing at the old habit. "Now, I and those of the Swords of Sanghelios seek redemption and amends. For my part, I see this world's dangers and wish to offer my aid to it. The Grimm are a malignance, and I would see your people protected against them."
"I know." His brow furrowed and Oscar explained, "I, uh, asked Ruby. She explained it to us. Yang backed her up, too. And Blake. And after today… Well, we all saw what you did."
"You saw?" He blinked, "But you were not there. How did you see?"
"It was on the news." Oscar explained quietly, gesturing at a Scroll on the table. "We… Saw footage of it. Coverage of the attack and cleanup efforts. Jaune was against trusting you, but seeing you do what you did… Well, that changed his mind. Made him believe you wanted to protect people. But…"
"But what?"
"The truth about Salem, he got angry…" The boy grimaced and then smiled, shaking his head as though amused as he recalled everything. "There was an argument, and then they went up stairs. I left to get gear while everyone relaxed and cooled off, but Miss Saphron says they're out looking for me."
"Oscar!" The woman called down from upstairs, busy with whatever task she'd slipped off to do. "Check the food please, I'm giving Adrian a bath!"
"Got it, Miss Saphron!" The boy nodded, standing and giving him a small smile where he sat on the couch. "People are a bit anxious with you right now, Arbiter. But… Keep proving that you mean what you say and I'm sure they'll come around. And with everything else, I'm sure what we found out about you will be gotten over pretty quick."
"Thank you." He rumbled, feeling genuinely comforted by the boy's words. He had a chance, then, to make amends… Standing and turning towards the open door he saw at the back of the house, he called to the retreating boy, "I will take air and clean my armor, if you please."
"Sure!" He called back, "I'll let everyone know when they get back. Have, uh, fun I guess?"
"I will." He laughed, the sound rumbling out of him against his will, drawn out by the boy's innocence and kindness.
"Arbiter." Maria greeted him as he stepped out, a rag found by the door in hand.
"Maria." He answered, sitting on the far end of the porch from her garden chair and working to remove the parts of his armor that had become soiled. Dirt, dust, plant life or even blood, all needed to be wiped away after a battle. "How are you this evening? Or do you have words for me?"
"Only the same ones you've already been hearing. Thanks for saving the kids, maybe don't turn all our cities into fireballs when your space armada shows up, you know. The usual." And to his shock, he found that she was right, that was becoming the usual at this point. And so he chuckled, pulling his greaves off to wipe them down. "Did you get the ones that did it?"
"I did, yes." He nodded, eyes on his work as he pulled his armor back on to move to the next thing that needed to be removed and inspected. "One of them had been fooled and was regretful. I spared her."
"The rest?"
"I will grant no clemency to those who happily take the lives of children." He said as answer, sighing and reaching up to remove his helmet to clean it, too. For a moment he simply held it, though, looking at the impressive golden crest that would denote him on the battlefield. "And no, I do not exempt myself from that standard. I live a life on the path to redemption for my joyous life taking."
"Good." Maria nodded, "You should do. Sounds of it, you made a lot of mistakes."
"I did…"
"That's fine." Maria nodded, head cocked as they both heard the others return and, from the sounds of it, aggressively hug the boy. All at once. Chuckling under her breath, the woman turned her attention back to him, "We all make mistakes, Arbiter. Some of us lose our keys, some of us murder entire planets apparently, but… There was nothing you could have done. You didn't know what was happening, and even if you had and you'd refused…"
"I'd have been killed." He nodded, "I know that. The sin is no lighter for it, I find."
"I bet." She nodded, standing from her seat as Ruby joined them, looking surprised to see her and then glancing to him anxiously. Shuffling towards the door she paused to smile, "Ruby, when you want to talk about your eyes, I'll be upstairs. But I get the feeling you need to talk to him, first."
"Y-Yeah." She nodded, "I do."
"I won't keep you, then." She shrugged, shuffling in, "I'll save you food, and you can find me later."
With that, she shut the door, and the Arbiter sighed as he sat his helmet aside. After a second, Ruby sat a bit away from him, closer to Maria's abandoned chair than to him. After another second she asked, "Why'd you take your helmet off? I don't think I've seen you take it off before except to sleep."
"The night air is crisp and cool, and I find it comforting." He explained, taking a deep breath and looking to the blackened sky. Idly he wondered aloud, "Do you think that one of these stars, perhaps, is my world? I recognize none of the stars here, which means we are far, but surely we cannot be that far from the galaxy I know. Or rather, of the parts of it which I know."
"I mean…" She chewed a lip, "Why couldn't you be further away?"
"Because if I allow myself to doubt that I can still aid my people, I have little purpose left for my own life." He murmured, giving her a look when she flinched and frowned. As though affronted or afraid for what he'd said. "Fret not. I am unconcerned with the prospect entirely. When we reach Atlas, I will reach out to my people and, hopefully, we can see me to them, and aid to your planet."
"You really are going to help us." Ruby smiled, leaning forward and cocking her head to the side almost teasingly. "I can tell from your voice. It's so set, so certain, that I could almost believe it had already happened."
"You have much faith in me, then." He laughed, his voice growing more and more somber as he the laugh trailed off. "To trust my promise so readily, you must. I could as soon come to conquer, you know."
"Like you said, I trust you. I like to see the best in people, so… Yeah." Ruby nodded, turning to look up at the stars with him. For a long moment she was quiet, before she went on, sounding almost… Pained, and wistful in equal measure. "Everyone always gets on me for that, you know. Says I'm too trusting. Especially after the Fall, and after… There were two people, named Emerald and Mercury that tricked all of us."
"I know." He nodded, "You have mentioned them, once or twice, though in no detail."
"Yeah, well… They tricked everyone, and..." She sighed, eyes staring up at the sky but clearly looking at nothing in particular. "And it cost people their lives. My friends, some of them. And if I ever get my hands on them, a-and I knew that no one would know, I don't know what I'd do. Turn them in, hurt them, m-maybe kill them."
"It would be just." He offered in as much of a consoling tone as he could manage. Finally she turned a look on him but those silver orbs were hard, like steel boring into him. Still her persisted, "If they oppose you then they mean harm to the innocent. You are too good of a person, too pure of soul and heart, for any other case."
"Is that revenge or justice?"
"For my people, those two can be one." He answered simply, "So long as you strike for vengeance justly, and spare those worthy of sparing, you enact vengeance with justice on your shoulders and carried by the edge of your blade."
"Really?"
"Were it not the case then surely the gods would have struck me down far before I took vengeance and justice from Truth." And so he had to believe that in whatever form they existed, they were on his side. But with a sigh, he realized where she was going and bowed his head, "You are going to ask if I fought with justice in the forest. Are you not?"
"I am, yeah."
"I believe I did."
"One of them looked like he was crawling away, Arbiter." She argued, quiet enough he was sure that none inside would be able to hear them even were they to try and listen. "And he was hurt. A bullet hole, already part of the way treated. He couldn't have fought or run from you if he wanted to. So why kill him?"
"Because he was unrepentant." He answered simply, watching her frown deepen as he spoke. "He and those who died with him offered no words of empathy or regret for what they did. And so I enacted justice, in the names of the little ones they so happily butchered."
"Why did you get to decide that, though…?"
"I believe their words were 'you do not have sympathy for the virus, you burn it out.'" He answered, the woman's eyes widening ever so slightly for the revelation. "One, the woman whose life I spared, expressed regret and pain. She was fooled, as I was. They threatened her life for it. And so I slaughtered them, that word would be unable to reach any others of her treasonous thoughts, and placed her under my protection."
"But you gave her to Atlas."
"I entrusted her to them, yes." He nodded, taking up his helmet and setting it once more on his brow. "But I made clear my displeasure should she be harmed or… Disposed of. In the interests of her reputation through my alliance and resources, I am sure no harm will come to young Crim."
"Crim…?���
"The girl." He answered, "Her name is Crim. I do not recall what it stands for, or if such is simply her name."
"Ah, right, gotcha." Ruby nodded, understanding now and seemingly put at ease by his answers. Cautiously, he asked if she was not angry with him and she smiled, as though amused by him being worried over the prospect. "I was upset, yeah, but not because you killed them. Grapes, I've killed some people, though… Not, um, not directly."
"Truly?"
"Yeah." She nodded, sounding regretful for it and bringing her knees up to her chest, arms hugging her legs anxiously. "Me and my team threw a lot of White Fang off a train into the Grimm, once, trying to stop them letting the Grimm into the Kingdom of Vale. During the Fall, too, I… Put someone in a position that got him killed, and threw a girl off a battleship swarming with Grimm. I don't think she survived that."
"I see…" He took a breath, surprised by the fight but unperturbed by it. Oddly, he found her looking at him as though afraid. Of his judgement, he realized belatedly, rushing to assure her, "You did what any in battle will find themselves unable to escape. Find no shame in it, young one, so long as you comported yourself with honor."
"I-I think I did, and I'm not upset- I mean, well, I am, but not because it's evil or- Hecking grapes, this is a hard conversation!" Taking a breath, she pressed her face into the backs of her knees, collecting herself. Patiently, he waited until she went on, voice more controlled now that she had taken a moment to collect herself properly. "Killing I don't mind, Arbiter. It's murder I mind, and I was… Well, it was a pretty gruesome scene, I was surprised."
"I understand." A plasma sword could be a brutal, gorey weapon if one didn't exercise care. And enraged as he'd been, he had certainly not done so. "I will endeavor to be less brutal and destructive in future, if I am able. For your sakes, and for peace between us."
"Yeah." She nodded, hopping off the porch and stretching her arms over her head with a loud groan. "Now enough drama! There's food inside, and I told Oscar what to make you while we talked. Should be about done baking by now."
"What should?"
"The caramel apples, of course." He grunted and rose, lumbering towards the door while her laughter followed him.
Tonight, he decided, had been a good night, even if it had followed a horrible day.
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"Was the attack successful?" He growled quietly, his large mask sat on the log he was using for a table, his hand resting on his knee behind it like a warlord of old. A thought made comedic by the fact he only did it for the shortness of the log he was sitting on, and the smallness of his tent.
That Adam couldn't send him a chair was galling…
The young woman kneeling at his tent's entrance, a too young Doe with only one of her antlers, nodded at his question and he sighed. "Have the team's leader come to me for commendation, then. After that we can-"
"None of them returned, Sir." The girl interrupted him, a bold move at the best of times, and one only the girl would risk. Blue eyes looked up to his own from behind her mask, waiting for him to nod and grant her permission to go on. "Their camp was discovered by a scout. The fire overturned, food spilled, and blood on the grass."
"I see." Atlas had sent hunters, then… A shame, the young woman with them was an adept at explosives making. "Were the bodies recovered?"
"They were buried." She answered, "By Atlas."
"Atlas…?" He sat his fork down and leaned back, crossing his massive arms over his chest. "Atlas doesn't bury their dead. And they don't have the manpower to spare for a search, airborn or not, for our teams."
"Footprints were discovered, Sir." She responded, "Massive and inhuman in a way even a Faunus would not be able to match. I am trying to raise contacts in the city, but thus far the only message from them has said something about 'a strange stranger stranger than most strangers'."
"Damn tortoise…" Wise though he was, the old man spoke in riddles more than letters. "Did they at least put up a good fight? Take a few Atlas dogs down?"
"Our scout says that they did not." She answered, ignoring his angry snarl until it had passed and explaining. "A huntress stood over the bodies until droids arrived to bury them, and then they left. But there are no signs of enemy bloodshed or even ammunition around the camp. Only casings consistent with our own weaponry, and the stranger's footprints. He took them on his own, and before they could mount an effective resistance."
"Damn." But that was impressive, to be sure. "No survivors, then. A damn shame. Tonight, we will drink in their memories."
"Only three graves were found, Sir." She countered, bowing her head again when he snarled even more ferally. He very nearly smashed aside his food in his rage, only controlling himself at the last minute and gesturing for her to continue. "There are drag marks leading back to the road, leading our scout to believe that a small woman was taken captive. Only Crim is small enough, Sir."
"Hmph." He sighed, "And she will break…"
"Yes, Sir." The woman nodded, "She will."
"Prepare the emergency plan. Send the saboteurs, I want that machine disabled." He sighed, rising and turning around to reach under his cot. From there he pulled out a carrier the size of the Doe reporting to him, running a hand over it affectionately. "Have our skirmishers begin baiting the Grimm towards Argus and order some volunteers to assault the gates. That dwarf will lock down the city and, without their guardian and with our gunfire, the Grimm will bay for their blood."
"I understand, Banesaw." She answered, asking quietly, "Will you be joining the fray personally, Sir?"
"Of course, Deery." He rumbled, using the old code name and grinning as the latches on the case came free. "I couldn't send my men to die while I sat hidden away in camp. I believe we have old friends to pay back for Mountain Glenn."
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Just gonna mass respond here-
Ruby doesn't, in canon, voice concern over killing if one needs to. She and her team yeeted multiple Faunus off a train at high speed into the waiting grips of the Grimm. Further, Blake killed Adam along with Yang, Ruby DISMEMBERED Tyrian, and Ruby also has shown little self-loathing over causing Roman to die or ATTEMPTING to kill Neo.
Brutality is not the same as killing. Nor is killing who you MUST the same as putting a foot on someone's back to kill them while they crawl away, as Thel did. And as would have been easily discerned from the body. I hope that this chapter's dialogue goes a way towards explaining these ideas.
As for everyone thinking Blake would be upset… As I said, she has killed numerous WF grunts. She defended the WF at first for ignorance, but ever since Beacon has not done so. Y'all actin' like she's some uber hypocrite is weird to me…
Anyway, mass response over.
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Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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