A Rabbit Among Wolves

Chapter 40

It was disturbing to see just how many people coming to watch the fights were from Atlas. Ciel knew intellectually that Atlas had a problem with its discrimination of faunus; not every complaint could be fake, nor all the news inaccurate. She'd always assumed it was exaggerated, however. It couldn't be that bad. She knew faunus and knew no one judge them.

Apparently, it was that bad. The hollowed-out room the Legion had turned into a fighting pit and stands was filling fast, and from the colours and outfits she'd wager over sixty per cent of their clientele was from Atlas. The rest were a mishmash of nationalities, with the least from Vacuo.

General Ironwood wasn't going to like this. While being involved in stopping it all would reflect well on him and their school, it was still going to be an own goal when people caught wind of how many Atlesian citizens had been arrested. There would need to be a show made of punishing them harshly. Technically, they'd broken the law on Valean land, so it was up to Vale to enforce the law, but since it was the Vytal Festival and Atlas were such close allies then the homeland might request their extradition instead for charges back in Atlas.

If those charges were seen as too lenient, or worse if the charges were dropped entirely, then it would be a ridiculous blow to Atlas' image among faunus, and probably the best recruitment message the White Fang could ask for. Ciel was certain General Ironwood would make the right decision; the question was whether the Council of Atlas would follow it or bullheadedly stick to their own.

All those thoughts bubbled angrily in her head, but the reason for her mounting rage was not them. Not entirely. It was the hands caressing her legs and roaming slowly higher and higher.

"Hmm. Nothing here." The lecherous gang member patted her sides down and then her skirt, making Ciel shake as he groped her butt. "Got to make sure there's no snitches. You get me. No filth trying to sting our operation."

"They know better," the man searching Penny in a similar fashion said in what Ciel assumed was meant to be a comforting gesture. Many of the guests coming here would naturally be worried about being caught. "Last one that tried got fucked up. Sent back with his tongue ripped out. Cops have been pissing their pants ever since."

Two words. Bull and shit. As an Atlesian citizen Ciel didn't always have the best opinions of the other Kingdoms, but even she refused to believe the police force would ignore grievous damage done to one of their officers. It would be excuse enough to bring huntsmen in to crush Legion, and they'd done their own research on the gang before coming here. There were no such charges laid against them. By all accounts, they were seen as a stupid group of misguided but ultimately harmless hooligans. Vandalism, graffiti and the occasional shoplifting were their modus operandi. No one had suspected this level of depravity, or efficiency, from them.

A pair of hands came around her front and tried to touch her breasts under the guise of a body search. Ciel slapped them away and hissed a quick warning. "There's nothing for you there!"

"Feisty." He slapped her ass, signing his death warrant in the process. "I like that. No cameras or tech here."

"None here either," the other said. Penny had been spared the groping, which was irritating because she wouldn't have cared anyway. "No recording equipment."

"The only recording equipment here are my eyes," Penny said cheerfully. Honestly, too. "And I'm committing everything I see to my internal memory banks!"

"Right. Yeah." The masked man laughed at what he must have seen as an eccentric comment. "Whatever floats your boat, love. 'ead on in. The fights will start soon. Gonna be a big one tonight, I'm told. Putting on a real show for all our new guests from abroad."