24

   Chapter 24: V2C11: Solo Operations

A/N: Volume 2 OP: "PEACE SIGN" by Jonathan Young

"They're here, Ozpin! They are here!" General James Ironwood said as he slammed his hands down onto Ozpin's desk. For his part, Ozpin casually took a drink of his cocoa.

"We're very much aware of that! Thank you, James," Glynda Goodwitch said in response as she glared at the man.

"Fantastic! You're aware!" James said sarcastically as he threw his arms up. "Now, are we going to do something about it or should we just stay the course and continue to ignore what's right in front of us‽"

At that moment, a sound played to signify that someone was at the door to Ozpin's office. "Come in," Ozpin said as he put his mug down. At his words, the door slid open and Emiya Shirou walked into the room, both him and Ozpin ignoring the glare that Ironwood sent Ozpin's way.

"I came as soon as I could," Shirou said with a bow after standing before Ozpin's desk.

"Excellent. I take it that you are already aware of the events of last night?" Ozpin asked as he intertwined his fingers on his desk.

"Yes, sir. Ruby told me everything shortly after returning to the dance," Shirou reported.

"Perfect. There is further information that you should know. The infiltrator from last night is currently somewhere in Beacon."

"What?" Shirou asked, his eyes widening.

Ironwood decided to continue at this point even though he stilled look aggravated by Shirou's presence, "Last night, we picked up strange transmissions coming from the Royal Veronica Hall and the CCT tower. That's why I left early and headed straight there after the guards stationed there failed to report in. The only people in the hall that night were students staying at this school and a few of my men, all of whom have already been accounted for."

"Was there anyone who wasn't at the dance that should have been or who arrived after the incident?" Shirou asked.

"If it were that easy, the perpetrator would be in custody by now," Ironwood said derisively causing Glynda to give him a sharp look.

"What did the infiltrator do, anyway? Ruby didn't know."

"And neither do we," Glynda said with a grimace. "It's possible that Miss Rose arrived before the infiltrator could accomplish their goals but we're having people go over both the room and the tower's systems with a fine-toothed comb anyway."

"Which brings me to why I asked you to come here," Ozpin rejoined the conversation. "Given your particular brand of magecraft, is there anything you have that could help track the infiltrator down?"

Shirou grimaced himself, "Not with the information I have. If I had a clear picture or a detailed enough description of them then I could track them down so long as they were within a kilometer or two."

"A shame. In that case, there is another matter I wish you to attend to. Or rather, one I wish you to attend to in a more official capacity."

"You want me to hunt down Roman and his sect of the White Fang."

"Precisely," Ozpin confirmed with a nod. "With the information you and Team RWBY discovered, I managed to narrow down their location to Mountain Glenn. I want you to—"

"Ozpin, I draw the line at this," Ironwood interrupted. "If we know where their hideout is, we should be sending an army to rout them, not some boy you picked up in the middle of nowhere!"

"I assure you, James, Shirou is a very capable young man," Ozpin said. His voice was calm but Shirou was feeling a slight amount of aggravation coming from him.

"Capable? I've seen his combat record, Ozpin! He nearly fell to his death during the initiation test and was subdued by Roman in a prototype Paladin! His only feat of note was fending off Roman and Neo but even that was with aid!" Shirou ground his teeth but remained otherwise stoic. Even he admitted that his track record since coming to this school was less than stellar.

"While all of that is true, you are not seeing the entire picture. Ever since coming to this school, Shirou has been keeping the full extent of his abilities under wraps. The only people outside of this room to know that Shirou's swords aren't the result of a Semblance are Qrow and Pyrrha Nikos. He didn't even reveal his ability to produce swords until he absolutely had to."

"That may very well be true but it doesn't change his record."

"Indeed it doesn't. However, this is different. Unlike here at school, Shirou will be on his own for his mission and in a deserted area. He will have no cause to withhold the full extent of his thaumaturgy. With that restriction removed, even if the White Fang were to be hiding an entire army at Mountain Glenn, I am confident that Shirou can complete this mission."

"And what gives you this confidence in him?" Ironwood asked as he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"When I expressed the desire to bring Shirou into our group and have him work for me, I naturally received pushback from both Glynda and Qrow. To alleviate their concerns, I suggested that they test him which Qrow happily agreed to."

"You're telling me that Shirou fought Qrow?"

"Indeed he did. And while Shirou ultimately lost that fight, it was a very near thing. Had Qrow's Semblance not come into play at a key moment, I dare say that he would have won."

"That's only because Qrow wasn't taking me seriously at the start," Shirou stated, not wanting Ironwood to have the wrong impression. "If I fought him again, I doubt I'd be able to win or even wear him down as much."

"Even so," Ozpin countered, "This is a mission that I know Qrow could handle and if he could do it then I'm certain that you could as well. In fact, given some of the weapons you described to me, I dare say that you would have an even easier time than he would."

Shirou grunted in response but said nothing further. Ozpin was probably right, after all.

"Alright, fine. Send the boy," Ironwood said even as he shook his head in disapproval.

"Emiya Shirou, your mission is to head to Mountain Glenn, locate the White Fang's hideout, and exterminate them with extreme prejudice," Ozpin said, his expression completely serious.

"Yes, sir. When do I leave?" Shirou asked.

"As soon as possible. I'll have a Bullhead prepared for you at the docks. Professor Oobleck and Team RWBY should arrive there for a Grimm extermination mission tomorrow shortly before noon. Should you need assistance, seek them out but I'd prefer it if you handled the situation on your own. Until your mission is complete, you shall be excused from all classwork. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Dismissed."

Shirou bowed to his benefactor before taking his leave. Once he was gone, Ironwood turned back to Ozpin. "If we know where they are, I still say we should send the army and eliminate them with an overwhelming display of force. Show those terrorists that their actions will not be tolerated."

Glynda growled in frustration at this, "Why must your answer to everything involve a triumphant display of military bravado‽ You treat every situation like it's a contest of measuring di—!"

"Glynda!" Ozpin reprimanded her.

"Well, he does," Glynda said with a huff as she folded her arms.

"James, I understand your frustration and, were this simply just a criminal organization or an act of common terrorists, I would gladly take you up on your offer. However, I believe this goes far beyond Beacon. Beyond Vale, even. While this turn of events wasn't entirely expected, they fall well within my predictions," Ozpin said, his tone and air deathly serious.

Ironwood stiffened even as his frustration instantly left him, "Are you saying that Salem is behind this?"

"I'm saying that she might be," Ozpin corrected. "She has been silent for some time which, to me, indicates that she is planning a major move. For the time being, Shirou will be more than sufficient to handle any distractions as we prepare for what I believe to be her actual goal."

"And what is it that we're preparing for?"

Ozpin looked Ironwood dead in the eyes as he answered calmly, "The destruction of Beacon and the theft of our Relic."

OoOoOoO

Emiya Shirou dove out from the Bullhead, his limbs kept close to his body to speed up his descent as the Bullhead tore away. While his Aura offered sufficient protection for his eyes from the wind, the hood of his Ranger attire (being the outfit that Coco bought him and was later named by Ruby, his first outfit being retroactively called his Knight attire by Yang) still violently whipped around as he angled himself toward the slanted remains of a skyscraper.

Right before he hit the sloped wall, Shirou flipped in the air and angled himself almost parallel to it, using his Aura to blunt the impact as he hit it and began to slide down it, his right hand digging into the wall to further decrease his speed. About halfway down, Shirou pushed off the build and pulled his arms and legs in, turning himself into a ball and protecting his face before he crashed through a window on the adjacent building, rolling to a stop once he hit the ground.

Having come to a stop, Shirou dusted himself off as he approached a hole that used to be a window. Mountain Glenn was once a marvelous city on the border of Vale's territory and its splendor was said to have rivaled even the capital's. However, in the year 1753 of the Current Era, approximately 33 years ago, the Grimm, attracted by the city's pride, laid siege to it. Despite the city's numerous defenses, the onslaught of Grimm couldn't be stopped and all that remained now was a desolate ruin reminiscent of an apocalypse novel. Between the Grimm and the elements, all of the luster had been stripped away from the metal of the buildings and more than a few were left barely standing.

Using his current vantage point, Shirou started making a mental map of the area. The area was still crawling with Grimm due to the air being heavy with the curses of the dead. With so many people dying in droves while filled with fear, it was frankly inevitable that such a place would become cursed. The atmosphere reminded Shirou of the dead park back in Fuyuki, the site of the fire that happened ten years prior to the Fifth Holy Grail War that had claimed Shirou's first life along with the lives of countless others, and it left him grimacing as the related memories started to resurge.

Pushing the memories aside, Shirou solidified his mental map of the place. The accuracy of the map needed to be high since Mountain Glenn existed at the very edge of the Cross Continental Transit System. As such, areas where long-range communication was possible were sparse and maps had to either be physical or downloaded onto a Scroll's internal memory. While Shirou possessed one of the latter, it hadn't been updated since the city's destruction all those years ago and thus its accuracy was low. Even from his limited vantage point, Shirou could see numerous paths that were no longer easily traversable and new paths that hadn't existed on the map Shirou had poured over during the flight.

With the area solidified in his mind, Shirou got to work. Since it was impossible to say exactly where the White Fang were hiding (even if Shirou had his suspicions), his first order of business was to establish a safehouse. His choice of landing site hadn't been a random one, though. The building he was currently in was close enough to the center of the city which made it quick to get to regardless of where he was. Not only that but, by setting up his base camp on one of the upper floors, it offered him a greater level of protection from the roaming Grimm. The truly large ones wouldn't be able to enter at all and the ones that could would be forced to travel single file which would make dispatching them simplicity itself. Given all that, Shirou chose a small interior room of medium size with two entrances and got to work on fortifying it.

Several minutes later, Shirou dismissed the traced chalk and dusted his hands off as he activated the runic array. While fairly rudimentary compared to something a proper magus would be able to create, the bounded field he set up would be more than sufficient for his purposes. The effects were simple and two-fold: It would silently signal him should anything or anyone come within ten meters of the room and it would mask the emotions of everything inside it (this being a spell that he had puzzled out with Ozpin's help). With this, he would be invisible to the Grimm while resting and would be warned should any wander close to it.

With the area secured, Shirou went ahead and set up his bedroll and set aside his extra supplies before beginning his hunt.

OoOoOoO

Shirou let three arrows fly in rapid succession and idly watches as the three Creeps he slew faded away. It was now nearly six in the afternoon and, by Shirou's estimation, he had covered about a third of the city personally and observed nearly half. The speed in which he had been able to conduct his search was thanks largely to his supreme mastery of Structural Grasp. By placing his hand on the side of a building and sending prana through it, he was able to get a basic map of any building of a certain size or about two to three stories of larger buildings. Using that, it was easy enough to detect the presence of people in most circumstances. By combining that with a logical search pattern (you'd need a large amount of room to hide a large number of people and supplies), the area he was able to cover was substantial.

While his search bore no fruit, only returning a large number of Grimm nests that he largely ignored, Shirou was satisfied with these results. There were only a few more places above ground that the White Fang could be hiding. If they weren't there, that meant that they could only be hiding in the underground city that was created as Mountain Glenn's final bastion of defense. It had failed, obviously, but it would make a fantastic hiding place for a criminal organization, especially one that wished to attack the City of Vale thanks to the collapsed subway line that connected the two. The only reason Shirou didn't start with that place was partly that it would be a bit too obvious and partly because, if he was wrong, getting cornered down there would make things far more troublesome than they otherwise would be.

Given the time and his current distance from his safehouse, Shirou decided to go ahead and call it a day. Not only did he need to make a report to Ozpin, there was a high probability that he wouldn't be getting much rest the following day so it would be prudent to rest up as much as possible while he still could.

As he was making his way back, Shirou couldn't help but reflect on his current situation. In nearly twelve hours, he was going to be raiding a criminal hideout and wouldn't be leaving until they had been utterly routed. This inevitably meant that he would be taking numerous lives. Nearly a year ago, that prospect would have revolted him and he no doubt would have refused the mission on principle. Now, however, the thought didn't phase him at all. He had learned the hard way that clinging to the ideals left to him by Kiritsugu, that desire to save everyone, would only result in death beyond measure and leave you with nothing left. That realization is what made him choose to throw away his ideals and instead focus on protecting only what mattered most to him. Of course, in the end, even that selfish desire proved unobtainable. As it was, the only thing he had left was Saber's ideal and to follow the example she made as King Arthur. Regardless of the blood it left on his hands and the sins that piled up on his soul, he would do whatever it took to save as many people as possible.

Despite knowing that his end would undoubtedly be the same as hers, Emiya Shirou silently marched onward.

OoOoOoO

Late that night, sometime before the first light of dawn, Emiya Shirou awoke as an alarm went off in his head. He was immediately on his feet, the familiar forms of Kanshou and Bakuya appearing in his hands as he reinforced his eyes to allow him to see in the darkness. His similarly reinforced hearing picked up several footfalls while his ability to smell power confirmed that they were Soulkin (Grimm all possessed a truly wretched scent like that of a decaying corpse). They were surrounding the room he was in so hiding was simply not an option. Given that, he made to launch a surprise attack of his own when an explosion rang out and the floor suddenly gave way from underneath him.

Even surprised as he was, Shirou's instincts were sharp enough to roll with the impact as he hit the ground even as bits of rubble struck him and bounced off his Aura. Before he could fully recover, a burst of gunfire caught him in the back so he blindly hurled Kanshou in that direction as he dove down a hallway and right into more White Fang goons. Shirou was forced on the defensive for a moment as one of the goons lashed out at him with an ax but he quickly recovered and grabbed the man's wrist before pivoting around him and striking out with Bakuya at the two who were waiting in the wings.

Not having the time to deal with them, Shirou quickly traced another Kanshou and struck the first man behind him before jumping backward and slashing the other two as he passed. He then hurled both swords and watched as all three were hit, their Auras breaking under the assault. Another set of the Married Blades were produced and all three quickly fell lifeless just as the first group that shot at him rounded the corner.

Not wanting to lose the initiative as the new group was surprised to see their allies already dead, Shirou charged forward and attacked the one closest to him. The first hit shattered the woman's Aura, Shirou's blind throw having evidently hit home, while the second cleanly removed her head from her neck. One of her compatriots brought up their rifle, shaking as it was, and fired off their entire clip but Shirou had easily predicted the attack and moved out of the line of fire. Just as they realized that they had missed, Shirou lashed out with Bakuya and cleaved through their rifle before sending a thrusting kick into the chest of the other, who was still paralyzed in either shock or fear. It was but a second more for about five seconds in total before both of them were dead.

Shirou took a second to gather himself as he contemplated how he was discovered when he was certain that no one was following him. That was when he realized his mistake of sending Ozpin a report. Just as the infiltrators had been discovered because of their transmissions, he must have been discovered because of his.

Hearing the sound of approaching footsteps both from the floor above and the one he was on, Shirou quickly weighed his options. He could dispatch with his attackers without issue, his prana and Aura reserves were both fine, but that wouldn't accomplish much. If he could instead get them to take him to their hideout, that would be much more efficient even if the process was risky. Acting quickly, Shirou dropped his Aura and used his weapons to cut himself in a few places before dismissing his weapons and dropping to his hands and knees, pretending to pant in exhaustion even as he reinforced his body with prana. While not as effective as Aura, it would provide sufficient protection against gunfire should they try to execute him on sight.

"There he is!" Shirou heard someone shout after a few seconds. He put on a good of struggling to his feet before dropping to one knee in seeming exhaustion.

"Get down on the ground!" one of the five men said as he came up and hit Shirou in the back of the head with his rifle. Shirou's vision went white for a second as he found himself face-first on the floor but the reinforcement of his body meant no real harm was done.

"We've gotcha now, ya bastard. The boss man's got a looooot of questions for ya," another said as he bent down to sneer in Shirou's face. Another went to restrain him with something so he made a show of trying to resist only to stop when one of them put their rifle against his head. Even with his reinforced body, gunfire from that range would be dangerous.

"Well, we can't have you tryna run out on us and havin' all of those negative emotions a yours atractin' Grimm wouldn't be good either," the one who bent down to taunt said as he straightened up, "so it's nighty-night for you, ya arsehole!" As the White Fang member kicked him in the face, Shirou let his body go slack and feigned unconsciousness. That one was evidently pretty weak as Shirou had barely felt that. He seriously doubted that the blow would have knocked him out even if he hadn't reinforced himself.

Regardless, Shirou's ruse seemed to be working as the White Fang goons quickly went about searching his body, taking his Scroll, before one of them hoisted him over their shoulders. The entire process was more than a little annoying and demeaning but Shirou knew that payoff would be worth it.

OoOoOoO

Sometime later, Shirou was smacked "awake" by one of his "captors." As expected, he had been transported to the underground city and he was pretty certain he knew roughly where the entrance was since he had kept track of their position to the best of his abilities using his mental map.

Once "awakened", Shirou made a show of hyperventilating while looking around wildly before settling on glaring at the person before him. From what he could see, he was currently hanging by his bound wrists in what used to be an auditorium of some sort with a second-floor balcony lining the walls. There were seven members of the White Fang, all in this customary white, sleeveless tailcoats with a black hood, black pants, and Grimm masks. Outside the windows on the opposite side of the room, he could see a few more walking by and he could hear even more activity beyond that. He couldn't tell the exact number but he estimated there to be at least twenty people in the immediate area.

"It's going to be a while before Roman gets here," the White Fang goon that had slapped him said, "but I'll cut you a deal. When he discovered you were here, he went on and on about all of the horrible ways he was going to torture you to death but, if you tell me what we need to know now, I promise that your death will be a bit less painful. Alright?"

Shirou hung his head until his bangs were shadowing his eyes as he muttered something under his breath. "What was that? You have to speak up if you want me to hear you," the White Fang member said in a taunting voice.

Shirou looked up at him at stared hard as his ochre eyes burned with the fire of resolve and he voiced the words that would both bring about a change within himself and sound the end for the White Fang here.

"Trace, on. Projection, start."

The goon barely had time to look confused before a nameless sword shot out of the darkness behind Shirou like a bullet and pierced his skull as another cleaved through the chains keeping him suspended. The other goons guarding him must have been better trained than the ones sent to attack him as their hand their guns trained on him after only an instant of hesitation but that instant was all Shirou needed. As the White Fang opened fire, a red spear appeared in Shirou's hand and his body started to move automatically to dodge or block the incoming fire with preternatural speed as Lancer's Protection from Arrows skill took effect.

When there was a lull in the gunfire, Shirou shot forward like an arrow and skewered the heart of the White Fang member nearest him, the B Rank Noble Phantasm backed by Lancer's B Rank Strength easily able to penetrate their Aura in one go. As he withdrew the cursed spear, he immediately started twirling it to block another burst of gunfire as he projected Kanshou into his free hand and hurled it at one of them once there was an opening.

Two of the other goons abandoned their rifles to instead charge at Shirou with electrified batons. Shirou brushed aside the first attack with the tip of Gáe Bolg, catching the man's hand rather than the weapon itself, before quickly thrusting to remove his hand. The man screamed out in pain, the blood gushing from the stump striking the other's mask and stopping his attack, as Shirou stepped forward with a spinning strike that cleanly removed his head while projecting Bakuya into his free hand. The second man that came into the melee quickly threw off his mask so he could see again just in time to be met with a simultaneous strike from the front and back as Shirou lashed out with Bakuya at the same time as Kanshou returned to him.

With the fourth goon dispatched, Shirou dismissed Kanshou before it could hit him and immediately leapt back as a hand grenade went off at his feet. Under the cover of the smoke and dust, Shirou hurled Gáe Bolg at the fifth before retracing Kanshou and charging the sixth. The sixth man hastily brought up his gun after reloading it and opened fire but Shirou charged on, heedless as the bullets bounches harmlessly off of the crossed Kanshou and Bakuya. The man could only scream in fear as Shirou lashed out with a series of blindingly fast strikes that left him falling like a puppet with its strings cut.

Almost immediately, Shirou pivoted to his left and threw Kanshou at the enemy that had been pinned by Gáe Bolg before charging after. Weakened as she was by the spear, the woman had no defenses as the whirling Kanshou tore through her neck before fading away as Shirou reclaimed the spear.

By this point, the seventh goon had long made his egress so Shirou quickly made his way to the room's western wall before leaping up onto the balcony, dismissing Bakuya as he did so. Once up there, he kept low and made his way to one of the windows as the door burst open, several dozen members of the White Fang pouring in with weapons raised. While his enemies fanned out and started searching for him, Shirou quietly made his way out the window and leapt up to the roof before quickly leaping to the level above.

The underground city portion of Mountain Glenn was, frankly put, a marvel of engineering. The city was separated out into zones with each zone being an upside-down cone; the lowest level being a densely packed circle of buildings surrounding a square and then going upward and outward in levels from there. As it was, the auditorium Shirou had been held in was located on the bottom level of one of these zones so he quickly made his way to the top of one of the buildings on the second level, using Lancer's A-Rank Agility to make the trip in no time as he drew his nameless sword-bow and shifted it into its bow form.

Once in position, Shirou set Gáe Bolg down before holding out his hand and reaching for a special sword. It was a beautiful, drill-like sword but, in a flash of red light, Shirou quickly elongated it with alteration magic until it took a form more resembling an arrow. Knocking the sword-arrow, Shirou drew it back as he zeroed in on the building he had just escaped, the White Fang inside now starting to leave to search for him.

"I am the bone of my sword."

Those words of power echoed out as a mass of prana was drawn into Shirou, his hood and hair rustling in the updraft it caused as he poured enough prana into the arrow to break it and honed his vision to a razor's edge on his target.

"Caladbolg!"

The arrow was loosed and it immediately took off at supersonic speeds, a dull thud ringing out and destroying the weaker sections of the surrounding area as the very air itself was pierced. Almost immediately after it was fired, the Fake Spiral Sword pierced through the auditorium as if it wasn't even there before it and the surrounding area were engulfed in a massive explosion that leveled not only it but also the buildings immediately next to it and the road behind it.

As the dust settled, Shirou let out a sigh before stowing his weapon and picking Gáe Bolg back up. All of those projections on top of the true name release had consumed a not-insignificant portion of his prana. Thankfully, it seemed that his last attack had wiped out the White Fang in the immediate vicinity. However, he hadn't seen Roman Torchwick in that crowd and the underground city was nearly as large as the aboveground one so he knew his work was far from over.

They knew that he was here and that explosion would absolutely alert just about everyone that he was fighting but that didn't matter. His objective was clear and the path to it was before him so all he had to do was walk it. This was one mission that Emiya Shirou would absolutely not fail.

A/N: Sorry for the late update! Life has been kinda rough lately and what today was and what the meant totally slipped my mind!

Anyway, here's Shirou just doing his thing and a reminder that all of this (sans that one Blake segment) was written out before V2C1 was posted. As a matter of fact, I've had a large portion of the story planned out before the very first chapter went up. As things stand, I plan for there to be 12 volumes with each volume being roughly the length of this one (although, who knows, some may be longer). We've got a long way to go and a lot of crazy things to get through before the end. To that end, it's worth noting that, for the most part, anything revealed after Volume 6 is likely to be ignored. I'll work it in if it doesn't really contradict what I have planned (in fact, some things actually helped what I had planned) but don't see something in the show and wonder what I'll do with it. As an example, what V7 revealed about Penny made Shirou's reaction to her (after I changed it when a reviewer pointed something out) completely wrong. Soul transference is just straight up the Third Sorcery. For that matter, that machine from V3 is also the Third Sorcery.

Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed Shirou kicking ass now that he doesn't really have to worry about anything. Also, a reminder that K&B aren't that strong as far as Noble Phantasms go (they don't even have a true name release) and that Archer is a garbage Servant (dude lost every fight he was in except one). This chapter marks the first time in the story that Emiya Shirou has truly gone all out (even against Pyrrha, he was holding back as he didn't use any Noble Phantasms beyond K&B).