Hunting Trip

a LegionOfMisfits / Al_Hats collabfic

Chapter 5

Yang's eyes reflected dully as she gazed out the glass windows into the busy city streets beyond. Everywhere, people hurried to and fro taking care of business. A lovely young couple strode by, laughing together in a way that told Yang they had met the night before. An older man struggled to carry a heavy box, but nobody came to his aid. A Faunus skulked, the hood he wore on a summer day doing little to disguise the ram's horns that sprouted from the sides of his skull.

She sighed and took another drink of her coffee, the bitter draught warming her insides. Not everything had changed while she'd been gone. People were still shitheads unless it suited them to be otherwise.

A chair ground its legs across the floor and Sun sat across the table from her, nursing a cup of tea and sighing as he ran a hand through his sandy mop of a haircut. "Sorry this is taking so long."

"Who exactly is this 'contact' of yours? And since when do you have contacts?"

The Faunus looked hurt. "'Contact' is just another word for friend. I've got lots of friends. In any case, he works for the SDC now, and was actually one of the people in charge of security a few years ago, back when trouble with the White Fang was still so high. I filled him in on as much as I dared, and he agreed to meet us here. He's late though, which isn't like him."

Yang sighed and took another sip of coffee before setting down the cup and running her fingers through a few trailing strands of hair. Ember Celica glinted in the sunlight on her wrists, the bracelets seeming to hum with nervous energy.

The bell over the door of the café chimed and Yang, whose back was to the door, perked up. Sun, without ever showing any hint of surprise, said "Don't turn around. He's here; let me do the talking."

"Like hell," she growled, forcing her eyes ahead. "Your house didn't get blown up."

"Yang, Taupe is reliable but he can be a bit... neurotic." He shut his mouth as an unassuming man in an unseasonably heavy brown coat sat in the booth just behind Sun. He called over a server and ordered an espresso before settling back against the wall of his booth, tugging anxiously at the collar of his jacket.

"Bit too deep into the summer to be wearing a coat like that, don't you think, friend?" Sun took a sip of his tea after addressing the question, his tone utterly neutral.

"I'm a man of warmer climates," the man returned, voice placid.

Sun smiled. "Challenge and counter," he mouthed and Yang nodded. "Glad you could make it, Taupe."

"As am I. If what you said is true, then there's a lot at stake here. Sorry I couldn't make it sooner, but I couldn't afford to take chances with a matter as sensitive as this." He scratched his face nervously and Yang found herself growing subconsciously irritated with this informant's tick.

"It's alright, Taupe," Sun said, drinking slowly from his tea. "What can you do to help us?"

"To be honest Sun, this is a lot to take in. If you're right, then the Fang have come back and even I haven't heard of it. This is big, and they're moving again..."

"Calm down, Taupe, and just tell us what you can."

Another nervous tick before the mole continued. "I did some digging, and found something disturbing. Sun, this isn't news to everybody. The public has heard nothing of the Fang in years - not since Adam Taurus was killed, but the SDC… they're well aware that the White Fang is not totally disbanded."

"What?!" Yang burst out, feeling hot rage boiling up from within. The Schnee Dust Company… Weiss Schnee… they knew?! "How long have they known about this? Why haven't they done something?"

"Yang!" Sun hissed before she cut him off.

"No, Sun, I want to hear the answer to this one. If the SDC really do know about the Fang and haven't told anybody, they've crossed a fucking line."

"Yang, I'm not happy about this either, but keep your voice down unless you want to cause a panic. The words 'white' and 'fang' in the same sentence still bring back a lot of painful memories for this city."

Reluctantly, the blonde brawler balled her hands into fists and drained what little liquid was left in her cup. Sun sat back in his chair, speaking to Taupe again. "Taupe, please, this is important. People have already been hurt by the White Fang, but anything you can tell us would help prevent that from happening again."

There was a nervous buzz in the air as the informant considered before sighing. "Sun I... I want to help, truly I do, but what I've found... look, I still owe you for helping me out all those years ago - giving me a chance to get to where I am now, but this is big. Big and dangerous to anyone who gets involved. I don't want you to get dragged into the middle of it and-"

"Taupe," Yang said, addressing the informant by his name for the first time. "I respect your not wanting us to get hurt, but these people have struck against us - against me personally. We need you to trust that we can handle this information with care and take care of ourselves, because unless these guys are brought down soon, people are just going to keep getting hurt until they get what they want. That's who they are."

Taupe was silent for a long moment and Yang noticed something in the way Sun regarded her from there on. Finally, Taupe sighed in the booth, rubbing his temples with his hands.

"The SDC isn't willingly keeping this information hidden; they know that revealing that the Fang is still active will cause a panic, or worse, an organized military response. Right now they're probing as carefully as they dare - trying to determine the Fang's leadership, motives and future plans, but they can't pry too hard or the remaining Fang will spook and go to ground again. They've been disorganized and disoriented since Taurus' death five years ago, but they're rallying again, though behind who and for what purpose, nobody knows.

"As for the White Fang operation in Vale... all I know is what little White Fang activity is still going on in Vale is probably run out of an old compound on the fringes of Forever Fall. Used to be a break-of-bulk point for SDC Dust shipments coming in from the mines up north, but it closed down a few years ago after White Fang raids on the trains got too frequent to ignore. Sun, whoever you are, please, be careful. You don't know these people."

"I know the White Fang," Yang said through gritted teeth. She bit back the rage boiling inside her. Call us liars, degenerates and killers.

"Not like I do," Taupe countered before standing and stretching. He walked brusquely out of the shop, without so much as a word of goodbye. Sun watched out the window as the heavily-bundled figure made his way down the street and out of sight.

Yang turned to the Faunus and raised an eyebrow, the anger at the unwilling memories subsiding slowly. "What did Taupe mean when he said he knows the Fang better than us? And what exactly did you do for him years ago that indebted him to you?"

Sun gazed out the window a lot longer, his tea cooling in front of him. Finally, he sighed. "Taupe is a Faunus. He... used to be a member of the White Fang."

She felt the rage return, unbidden. "You mean we trusted a-"

"Calm down, Yang, I said he used to be. I got him out of that life years ago, as a favor to his little sister. She and I grew up together in Vacuo, and when she found out who he had joined up with she... anyway, he left with my help and joined the SDC - the information he had gathered over the years helped level the playing field between the Schnees and the Fang. Some of the most successful operations carried out by the SDC and the military against the White Fang were coordinated by Taupe.

"Yang, I wouldn't have trusted him with this unless I knew he was reliable. If Taupe says that the White Fang are based at this old train station, then you can bet that they are. Now, come on," he said, finishing his tea in a single gulp. "We have a stakeout to prepare for."

They reached the ridge overlooking the old station shortly before dusk. The sun was setting slowly and turned the forest of Forever Fall into an ocean of blood. Silhouetted against the dark trunks of the trees in the valley below was a squat, aging compound - devoid of all signs of life.

Yang swore as she scanned over the huddle of buildings through a pair of binoculars, lying on her stomach in the crackly grass a few hundred meters from the edge of the forest. "Nothing. Looks like your friend Taupe wasn't as reliable as you thought."

He shook his head. "I refuse to believe it. He wouldn't have sent us here unless he trusted that-"

His speech was interrupted as the distant sound of engines reached his ears and he huddled closer to the ground, hissing for Yang to do the same. As they lay motionless, Sun slowly took the binoculars and gazed back out at the compound. In the evening light, half a dozen headlights cut a swath through the dusky gloom as they spiraled down the aging service road to the cluster of warehouses and offices. They stopped before the largest of the buildings, a large group of men and women in civilian clothing emerging from the cars.

"Lookie here," Sun chimed, passing the binoculars to her. "They're Faunus," he said, tasting the wind that blew from the forest up the cliff face to them. "All of them. Except…" His brow furrowed and he squinted. "Hold on a sec." He took the binoculars back and focused on the one who smelled undeniably human in a crowd of Faunus. He was dressed like the rest - plain clothes and an unassuming physical figure. He was a little shorter than the tallest of the Faunus, and his forest-green hair clung close to his skull in a net of curls. He checked over his shoulder but not nervously and followed the Faunus into the nearest building.

"Who the hell is that?" he wondered aloud as Yang snatched the binoculars and focused in.

"Who?"

"The tall guy with green hair. He's human."

She scowled. "Another human working with the Fang? This shit just keeps getting more and more fucked by the day." She watched as the man spoke briefly to a red-clad bear Faunus who had emerged from the cluster of buildings. A pair of lackeys came forward with a heavy case and she struggled to see the contents as the green-haired man examined whatever they were carefully. Nodding, apparently satisfied, he beckoned to one of the Faunus who had emerged from the cars with him. The young woman he called forth brought a heavy duffel bag from the back of the middle car and showed it to the Faunus in red.

"Looks like some kind of a deal," she said, struggling to make out more detail. Realizing it was futile, she handed Sun the binoculars and stood. "I need to get a closer look."

"Yang, I wouldn't do that," Sun said cautiously as he looked through the spyglasses again. "We don't know enough yet to-"

He found himself interrupted again, this time by the click of a weapon. Lowering the binoculars slowly, he turned to see Yang standing - hands in the air - at the point of a pistol held by a muscular man with ashen hair.

"Miss me, sweetcheeks?" he asked Yang.

She sneered. "Yours ugly mug isn't an easy face to forget, Haron."

"Yang, you know this guy?" Sun asked as he slowly went to rise. Haron's other hand came up, revealing a second firearm trained on Sun.

"Wouldn't do that if I were you, monkey-boy."

"Yeah," Yang said through gritted teeth. "We've met. You want something or are you just gonna stand there and look pretty with those peashooters of yours?"

He tsked, smiling a wicked smile that never came close to his eyes. "Now now Yang, no need to be so hostile."

Yang scoffed, eyes already scanning for a way out of this situation. "Last time I saw you, you tried to put a hole in my skull, so forgive me if I'm not exactly civil."

"Aw come on, there's no excuse for poor manners." The guns clicked again as Haron adjusted his aim, the muzzles never wavering from Yang and Sun's centers of mass. "Gotta say, Yang, never figured you'd be one to be so careless with your plans. That little mole of yours seemed awful surprised when I showed up at his door, asking about you. He didn't say much... at first." His smile dripped with malice and Sun's eyes blazed.

"What have you done to Taupe, you son of a bitch?!"

"Ah ah ah, keep your voice down, pal, wouldn't want to alert those nice folks down there and ruin all the fun, now would we?"

Sun stood slowly, defiant of Haron's orders. There was no fear or uncertainty in his eyes. Only cold, calculating hatred. "So help me, if you have laid a finger on Taupe, I'll personally see that you're shipped back to wherever you came from in so many pieces, they'll need to pull your fucking teeth to figure out that it's you."

Haron whistled softly. "Big talk. Sadly, we're going to have to wait to have that little play date. For now, you're going to stay here and Yang is coming with me."

"Not in your wildest dreams, asshole," she snorted, "I'm not some chip you can cash in with the White Fang."

"You think this is about money anymore? Sure, maybe at the start, but you've gone a step beyond that, bitch. You and your little friend here decided to make a fool of me in front of people who aren't exactly keen on keeping loose ends untied. If I hand you to them on a silver platter, they might let me keep my head. Now, enough talk. We've got some walking to do."

"Already told you, Haron. Not today." She flinched and Haron's gun barked, the round skating by and rippling her aura as she twisted her body to the side. Ember Celica ground into form and she propelled herself forward with a burst of aura, left fist soaring towards Haron's smug face. The mercenary sidestepped the blow almost effortlessly, slamming his knee into Yang's ribs. She brought her hand up and caught Haron's next attack, flinging him backwards. As he turned in midair though, the grey-haired fighter writhed in midair and delivered a kick which threw Yang backwards over the cliff face.

She rolled through the air, using short bursts of aura to soften the blows every time she struck the rocky ground. As she landed shakily on her feet, she heard a click and looked up to see a large group of Faunus in civilian garb staring her down, weapons at the ready.

"When I said I wanted a closer look, I didn't fucking mean this." One of the Fang called out to her from behind the muzzle of his rifle and she shook her head before rocketing forward with a pulse of aura, fist sending the nearest extremist flying. She fired a blast from her left gauntlet, the recoil slamming her elbow into another man's gut as her right side produced a blast of buckshot that threw a rat Faunus backwards, his aura coughing and sputtering under the sudden onslaught.

She ducked under a sword stroke and balanced on her left side as her right leg kicked heartily into the stomach of another rifleman. She raised both gauntlets into an X to block another swing from a heavy axe before wrenching the weapon from his grip and slamming the blunt head into his temple. He crumpled and she wheeled, searching for another foe. Automatic fire raked the ground around her and she rolled out of the way, firing a few bursts of ineffectively close-range shot toward her attackers.

Out the corner of her eye, she saw a group of Faunus escort the green-haired human and his shiny new case into one of the vehicles. She started toward the car - intent of stopping it and getting the answers she needed - but was stonewalled by a trio of White Fang, the center of whom hit her full-force in the chest with a shotgun blast.

It felt like she had been kicked by a horse, her aura shimmering brighter and brighter in protest to the beating, and her vision swam as she avoided another cluster of Dust-propelled metal bearings. She slammed the shotgunner into one of his comrades and sent both screaming away with a dropkick before they reached the ground. Her left hand wheeled around as she pivoted on her foot and delivered a jolt haymaker to the remaining Fang, the unfortunate armadillo Faunus creating a small crater as she fell.

She swore loudly as she looked up and saw that the green-haired human's car was already a quarter mile down the road, burning rubber desperately. Run away then. One way or another, I'll get my answers.

Up the sheer face of the bluff, Sun was facing his own set of problems. Haron landed nimbly after sending Yang hurtling over the edge and through the rage, Sun found the ability to draw Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang from his belt, the staff snapping out into full form. With a cry of outrage, he launched himself at the bounty hunter.

Haron squeezed off a shot from one pistol before the Hunter-forged staff smashed the sidearm to pieces. Haron threw aside his second pistol and slammed his left fist into the red-plated gauntlet that Sun wore over the top of his sleeve. Sun pushed Haron back and pivoted, both of his feet soaring past his opponent as Haron leaned back.

Haron countered quickly, lunging forward and wrapping his arm around Sun's as he attempted to wrestle the Faunus' weapon from his grasp. Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang separated at the touch, and Sun tore himself away before swinging both the nunchaku around at his foe. Haron ducked under the first swing but took the one second heartily, his aura flashing like a nova as a bang emanated through the dying light - a blast from Jingu Bang striking him fully. He staggered, giving Sun enough time to press his attack.

The pair danced on top of the cliff; ducking, swinging and blocking strike after strike. The bounty hunter succeeded in wrestling Sun's weapons away from him, leveling the playing field as the contest became a test of martial skill alone.

Sun twisted under Haron's nimble attempt at a grab and jabbed him twice - first with his elbow and then again with his off-hand. Haron spun, seemingly unphased, and leapt into the air, his balance impeccable as he delivered two quick bicycle kicks to Sun's exposed torso. Reeling, the Faunus rolled out of the way of the follow-up and dove for his weapon.

His fingers were inches from Ruyi Bang when Haron's boot-clad heel smashed into the ground where his fingers had been milliseconds earlier. He backpedalled and leapt up to his feet just in time to catch a few jabs from Haron the Huntsman following up with an uppercut that threw the mercenary backwards.

"What's your stake in all this?" Haron asked, not even sounding winded as he and Sun circled warily. "You don't owe her anything; you have no duty to protect her or help her. Just stand aside."

Sun sneered. "Not a fucking chance. I wouldn't expect you to understand, but I look out for the people I care about - for my friends."

He saw something change in Haron's expression then, the fighter's silver eyes glinting behind his merciless gaze. "Ah. So that's it." He smirked and shot a quick glance over the side of the cliff to where Yang was mopping up the last of the White Fang. Noticing the momentary distraction, Sun lunged forward before reeling back, blood streaming from his nose after Haron slammed his shoulder bodily into the Huntsman's face. He clamped a hand over the bridge of his nose, pinching sharply as Haron mock-saluted and leapt off. Standing, Sun rushed to the edge, expecting to see the mercenary engaging Yang but there was only the blonde warrior, her foot planted on the chest of one of the grunts. His eyes scanned for Haron, but the bounty hunter was already long-gone.

He approached Yang slowly, fingers still pinched tight on the bridge of his nose as the blonde woman stood over the prone form of a coyote Faunus.

"I don't know!" he managed to cough before a little extra applied pressure forced him into a fit of coughing and wheezing.

"Don't believe you. You were standing right there; you had to see something. Now tell me what it was and I'll let you go!"

"Crazy bi-ACK, gah, ah..."

"Yang," Sun said quietly through his pinched nostrils. She turned and her eyes widened at the sight of him - face and shirt stained crimson as he held his fist tight against his nose.

"Jesus Sun, what the fuck?"

He waved his free hand dismissively. "It's nothing. Are you alrught?"

"Am I alright? You're not exactly looking hot yourself; what'd you lose a fight with some mook with a brick? And where's Haron?"

He shook his head. "Haron got away and gave me this to remember him by. It doesn't matter; I've had worse. Get anything useful out of him?" he said, jerking a finger to the prone Faunus.

Yang shook her head. "Claims he doesn't know anything, though I'm not buying it. He was ten feet away from that green-haired bastard when they swapped the briefcases. That fucker got away from me, but this one isn't going anywhere." She kicked the Faunus in the ribs to make her point and took her other foot off his chest, leaving him to curl into the fetal position and sputter for a moment while she brushed a stray strand of blonde hair out of the corner of her mouth. Her eyes were their normal lilac, but Sun could see the scarlet that ringed the edges.

"We'll get them Yang. Keep an eye on him, I want to check something." He took his hand away from his nose and waited, nodding in satisfaction when no further blood flowed down his face. He walked stiffly over to the place where numerous tracks in the grass denoted a recent bustle of feet and knelt, feeling around. Scents assaulted him from all around through his clotted nose - a dozen species of Faunus and one human. He traced the human's scent back to a well-trodden part of the turf and pause for a moment, deep in thought.

Something caught his eye and he leaned over, hands sifting through the soft grass, wrapping his fingers around something amidst the shamrock blades. He brought it closer to his face and realized what it was, swearing softly in wonder and considering what it meant.

"Find something?" Yang called. Sun stood and turned, holding up the object and walking back over. He extended his hand, revealing to Yang exactly what he had found. A cartridge; Dust, custom-forged with a stamp that neither of them recognized.

"This was lying in the grass near where the exchange went down." He knelt by the White Fang member, brandishing the ammunition. "You recognize this? What is it?"

The man looked confused. "A… a bullet? Look, I don't know what you think I know but… I don't know it! Just let me go and-"

Yang cuffed him upside the head, sending him sprawling again. "Shut the hell up, dirtbag. We're not stupid; you were standing right there. Make this easier on yourself and quit stalling!"

He looked between the two of them, fear evident in his eyes through the slits of his mask. "I… look, I need to think about myself here; if I tell you anything, I'm a dead man, along with everyone I've ever known. These people… you don't know them!"

Sun cocked an eyebrow. "So you do know something," he observed. "Listen pal, no matter what these guys can do to you, I promise you we can do worse. Maybe we don't want to, but if it means saving lives you don't have a damn clue how far we'll go."

The extremist was already shaking his head before SUn finished. "And you don't have a damn clue who you're messing with."

Sun sighed, rubbing his eyes with a bloody hand tiredly. "Come on Yang, we're not getting anything from him or any of this lot." She was dumbstruck.

"We're not just going to let these scumbags get away with this, are we? Sun-"

"No, Yang, we're not. I'm just as anxious to get to the bottom of this as you are, especially now that we've seen that something is going on. We need to get to the bottom of this," he said, indicating the cartridge in his hands. "That's our next step."

She sighed, shoulders slumping. Dusk was falling rapidly and her hair seemed to smolder as it framed her face, eyes fading back to their usual color as the light died. "So where do we start?"

Sun smiled for the first time, a grotesque sight through the blood, but a welcome one after the pitched battle.

"I think I have an idea."

AN - And that wraps up part 5! Again, sorry it took so long to get out. Before we talk about the story itself, I need to clarify some things about the writing schedule for the next few chapters.

I got a letter the other day from an old friend of mine. He's been going through a rough time recently and I've come to the decision that I'm going to go and give him some help, whatever that entails. This, of course, means that I'm going to be in the Congo for the next few months. To this end, Al_Hats is going to be taking over primary proprietorship of the series, though she'll still be corresponding with me for editorial and revisional purposes.

On a lighter note, what'd you guys think?! First taste of real action in a while, Haron's return, the reveal of our new enigmatic enemy… the wheels are turning quickly, and I'm really excited to get these next few chapters out as they get us into the real meat of the story.

Hope you all enjoyed, and I will note that my absence will also mean that "The Binding Force" will be going on an indefinite hiatus. Don't worry though; I still have plans for that story as well. Until we meet again, please leave a review and feel free to favorite and follow this story. Lots of good things to come. Thanks for reading!