Episode Beanie: Chapter 4: Maze

Chapter 4 of Beanie's story.

            The group continued to move through the sewer system, the smell starting to become an afterthought as they focused on trying to remain quiet to ensure that the White Fang wouldn’t find them deep in the tunnels.

            “How do we get out of here?” Auburn wondered aloud as the group approached yet another four different pathways in the sewers.

            “All the water here should be flowing towards the river” Beanie said as he stared intently at the flow of water.  “We follow that, we should either find another farm or the river itself.”

            “Lead on then I suppose” Auburn said.  With that, Beanie continued to trudge forward through the sludge.  His father walked up next to him clutching his briefcase tightly.

            “So what’s the deal dad?” Beanie whispered to his father.  “What was the White Fang trying to accomplish with derailing a civilian train?  Ironwood’s just been looking for a reason to have the World Council declare open war on them, why would they try to go this far?”

            “I couldn’t tell you” Beanie’s father said as he sidestepped some sludge.  “I was just making the final adjustments on a project that I was set to deliver to Mistral, when they suddenly attacked us out of nowhere.  We were brought to their camp, and they started taking us away one by one asking people questions.  I was almost questioned but then your captured friends arrived, causing them to panic and stop interrogating us.  One of the prisoners said they kept asking for a file.  They told me they were asking for the data.”

            “Any chance they were looking for what you were delivering?”

            “It stands to reason.  My partner insisted that we make a duplicate of this data before I left, but I figured having it with only me made it a lot safer than having a potential copy be leaked to our enemies.”

            “What exactly are you transporting dad?  Seems like Ironwood should have given you a military escort instead of having you take the train if it was so important.”

            “That’s the thing though.  It isn’t all that important.  It’s just some notes and new updates for the programs of the Atlesian Knights stationed in Mistral.  Unless…. oh Ironwood, why would you risk something that important?”

            “What is it?”

            “We’ve been working on a new project here in Argus.  One that could potentially create a shift in Kingdom defense.  But could also just as easily fall into the wrong hands.  Ironwood probably wanted me to act normal, so he didn’t tell me.  But somehow the White Fang found out, and now we’re being hunted all because of this data.”

            “What’s the project even for?”

            “A new type of combat mech suit.  One that could stand tall even over the largest Grimm types.  Currently the Paladin project still requires a pilot, but if we keep working on the data, it could eventually be piloted remotely.  And if that becomes the case in the hands of the enemy, they could potentially find a way to get ahead of us and build their own army.  Or worse still, sell them to other groups and continue to bolster their forces.”

            “Yeah, Ironwood seems to have underestimated how many people knew about this beyond the borders of Atlas.  And how many people would be willing to try and take it from them.”

            “Oversight before a great fall” Auburn said with a sigh.  “It’s almost as if Atlas learned nothing after the Great War all those years ago.”

            “We can’t focus on that right now” Beanie said with a sigh.  “We need to keep moving forward.”

            “What’s the point?” Viridian yelled from the back of the pack.  “The White Fang will find us eventually.  And once they do, we’ll be dead.  So why not just stop trying so hard?”

            “I know you’re a wimp Viridian,” Beanie said looking back in surprise at his classmate, “but I didn’t think you’d be the first one to just give up.”

            “I’m just tired” Viridian said slouching up against the wall of the sewer.  “Why not just wait for the inevitable.”

            “Was he always this pathetic?” Beanie pondered.  But before Auburn could even think of answering him, a shrill scream echoed throughout the entire sewer system, causing everybody to cover their ears, but fall to their knees in pain.

            “What…was that?” Beanie said trying to stand back up.  But when he attempted to do this, he found his legs felt heavier than cinder blocks.  He kept trying to force himself back up, but couldn’t find the strength.

            “Apathy!” Auburn yelled out.  Looking further back along the tunnel, Beanie saw them.  The Apathy.  A rare and dangerous breed of Grimm that managed to affect the human spirit with their cries.  Apathy at first glance may look humanoid in nature, but look long enough and it becomes clear how monstrous they are.  Unlike most Grimm that adopt animal traits, Apathy have heads that look like human skulls, with arms and legs that while retaining Grimm-like form, are used very similarly to human hands and feet, just a bit more lengthy and terrifying.  It had been well documented that while perhaps not hearing their cry directly, even being near one or worse a nest could slowly drain away any humans will to live.  And if you were unfortunate enough to hear the cry of one, it would be a miracle if you could even find the strength to lift a finger, especially if you had been exposed for an extended period of time.  Luckily, Beanie and Auburn had not been exposed for as long as their friends, so they had enough strength to force themselves up and pull out special earplugs that Atlas had designed.  While Apathy are dangerous, they had been studied enough throughout time that Atlas came up with counter measures.  As soon as their earplugs were in, Beanie and Auburn felt their strength return, and quickly got to work trying to counter the Apathy.  Beanie leapt in front of the straggling members of their group, and sent a wave of water cascading towards the Apathy.  The water knocked a few of them back, but it became clear that they had stumbled upon a nest of Apathy in the sewers below.  But the wall of water bought Beanie and Auburn enough time to go around and help everybody up.  They helped their classmates get their own earplugs set, and as soon as their strength returned, they either had extra pairs of earplugs they shared with the civilians from the Argus Limited, or helped carry those who they could spare earplugs for.  Beanie and Auburn turned their attention back to the Apathy horde, who were starting to regain their bearings and started to advance on the group again.  Auburn started unloading as many bolts from her crossbow as she could while Beanie caused several small water droplets to form in front of him, then he quickly threw a round of ice Dust to cause the droplets to freeze and create small daggers, which he sent flying into the bodies of the Apathy horde.  While the attack did cause a few to dissipate, it seemed that for each one destroyed five more appeared in its place.  Beanie quickly created another wall of water and Auburn froze it with an ice Dust bolt.

            “Hopefully that’s enough to slow them down” Auburn said turning away to rejoin the others.  Beanie was about to follow suit when he heard gunfire coming from the other side of the ice wall.

            “I think we’re about to have bigger issues to deal with” Beanie yelled as he helped get everybody moving forward as fast as possible.  Beanie kept making as many ice walls as he could, hoping to slow down those behind them as well as help Auburn save her bolts for if they would actually need them.  They kept running, with still no sign of an exit.  Then finally, they saw light pouring in from just up ahead.  Another well from another farm.  Auburn fired several ascension cables to help pull people up.   She was one of the first to go up, to ensure the coast was clear and to help the civilians gain their bearings.  Beanie helped shepherd people to cables, while growing more and more scared as he heard the gunfire growing closer and closer.  Thankfully, everybody was sent up without too much trouble, so Beanie set up one last ice wall and ascended to the top himself.  Once he got back up to the surface, Beanie took a quick survey of his surroundings.  They were in the middle of a small farm that sat no more than fifty yards away from a big river, where a big boat was anchored to a rickety marina. Surprisingly, the boat looked more like a yacht than the normal tugboats of the region.  Most of the hostages and Beanie’s classmates had moved away from the well and closer to the farm.  The farm itself looked like it had been abandoned for years as there were holes in the roof and walls along with rusty fences and overgrown snow-covered grass.  And yet despite all the ruin and corrosion, there was a perfectly functional relay tower on top of the farm.  Auburn was wasting no time in getting a message out to Atlas forces to let them know where they were and what was happening.  Beanie ran over just as Auburn put her Scroll away.

            “How are we looking?” Beanie asked as he pulled his earplugs out of his ears.

            “Not great” Auburn said preparing several rounds of bolts.  “The dropships can be here in about five minutes, but there won’t be enough room to evacuate everyone on the first pass.  It’ll probably take another ten minutes after the first group is safe for more help to arrive and get everybody evacuated.”

            “Did we manage to recover many weapons from the enemy camp after we freed our friends?”

            “A few.  Not many though, didn’t want to draw people away from your diversion.”

            “Make sure those who do have their weapons have ammunition, then have whoever is free search the house for any farm tools or perhaps old guns that can at least be of use.  We get the civilians out first, then hold off whoever comes out of that well until we can get out as well.”

            “Who’s the fastest here?” Auburn yelled out into the crowd.  Viridian raised his hand and quickly ran over.

            “I can teleport to wherever a weapon or bullet of mine is in a moment so long as I throw it” he said catching his breath.  “I don’t think you recovered my weapons, so I’ll help get weapons for the others.”

            “Make sure it can keep people alive” Beanie said turning back around to the well.  “Here, use this to help with your Semblance” Beanie tossed Viridian a simple bullet.  Viridian understood, dropped it in the middle of the group.  As Viridian ran off to help gather weapons for his classmates, Beanie summoned a bit of water from the river and used another ice Dust canister to freeze it solid.  Quickly putting on a pair of thick gloves, Beanie shaped the water to be a quarterstaff and then froze it.  Auburn had bolts prepared, but also had her finger on the button to transform her weapon into a quarterstaff.  Everybody else who had weapons prepared themselves, and Viridian quickly returned with a handful of farming scythes, pitchforks, a machete, and a few shotguns with only a few rounds.  Everybody else who could fight found broken pipes, strong tree branches, or decided to trust in their martial arts abilities.  Finally, several bullets came flying out of the well, and there was a loud crash.  The final ice wall had been breached.  The White Fang started pouring out of the top of the well.  They were initially met with bullets and Auburn’s bolts, hitting some of them and knocking them back down.  But a few managed to get out, and they quickly activated a small hard-light Dust wall to block the incoming fire and allow more White Fang soldiers to continue to pour out of the well.

            “Should we rush them?” Auburn questioned firing several more bolts.  But before Beanie could answer, the roar of the Atlesian dropships flew overhead, and landed behind Beanie and his friends.

            “Ranged fighters deal with the stragglers and help get civilians on board” Beanie yelled charging forward and spinning his staff around.  “Anybody who can effectively do close quarters combat help me out!”  Auburn fired one more bolt, then pressed a button to turn her crossbow into a quarterstaff and was right behind Beanie.  The dropships opened their doors and a few Atlesian Knights poured out and began providing cover fire for Beanie and his friends.  There were also a few human Atlesian soldiers helping get the civilians on board.  Winter leapt out of one of the drop ships and landed right behind Beanie and the others leading the frontal assault.  She summoned a few Beowolves using her Semblance and let them loose on the White Fang soldiers.

            “How can I help?” Winter yelled as she ran up next to Beanie.

            “Just keep us alive until the next wave of dropships come to pick us up.  And make sure the ones leaving now stay alive.”

            “A smart plan” Winter said slashing a few more White Fang soldiers.

            “If we can keep the White Fang confined to this singular choke point, we can control the battlefield.”  But just as Beanie said that, a shot rang out from the forest just beyond the farmland.  Several White Fang soldiers began pouring out from the trees.  The team sent to search the sewers had relayed their location back to the rest of their forces, and now the entire group was under siege.

            “We might need to think of a new strategy” Winter said stabbing a nearby White Fang soldier.

            “What about that snow tsunami you did back at the camp?” Auburn yelled as she spun her staff around to hit three charging soldiers.

            “It drains my aura like nobody’s business” Beanie said as he hit another soldier in the head.  “And given these numbers, I’m going to need every last bit of aura to ensure I don’t get shot to ribbons.”  Everybody took a deep breath, and continued their fight.  Winter created a few glyphs for her to run up like stairs over the Hard Light wall, pulled out a few fire Dust grenades and dropped them down the well, resulting in the well caving in and sealing up the hole.

            “That’s one less route they can attack us from” she said firing several glyphs towards the charging front lines of the White Fang.  Beanie looked back and saw the dropships beginning to take off and fly away from the battle.

            “How are we looking?” he yelled into his com-link.

            “We managed to get all the civilians and a few of the wounded students on board” Viridian replied.  “Not all the wounded, but the most severely injured.  But the guns I found inside the farm are starting to run out of ammo.”

            “The Atlesian Knights I came here with have some spare ammunition and weaponry” Winter yelled as she summoned a Boarbatusk that she directed to charge right at the enemy forces.

            “Have those who can fight and don’t have a weapon yet get guns” Beanie said dodging an attack from another White Fang solider.  “After that, reload and get some better weapons for yourselves.  If a droid falls, pick up their gun and use it.  If you fall and drop your gun, walk it off.”  The White Fang continued to pour out of the trees.  It felt as if there was no end to their numbers.  Time moved slowly like sand in an hourglass.  Beanie and his friends would knock down one White Fang soldier, and suddenly two more were running right at them.  Yet despite the dwindling odds they continued to fight.  Beanie’s ice staff broke a few times, but he quickly made another one as they were still close enough to the river that he could make himself a new weapon.  The battle raged on.  Beanie wished he had a watch to see how much time had passed because he was sure it had been a whole year since the initial dropships had come to take the civilians back to Argus.  But finally, the unmistakable sound of the engines of Atlesian dropships roared through the sky again and landed back at the farm.  Everybody who was still there using ranged weapons quickly got on board, while Beanie and everybody fighting on the front lines made a break for it.  Winter summoned a giant Goliath Grimm to act as a wall in order to slow the White Fang down.  Everybody ran back to the dropships, and started boarding.  Beanie got ready to get back on board, but then he looked back and saw Adam running towards them at full speed, having cut Winter’s summon into dust.  It seemed pretty apparent that while he might not reach the dropship before they took off, he would be well in range to attack and knock them out of the sky.  So while the last few were getting on board the ship, Beanie conjured what little aura he had left to raise up the boat on the water, and sent it flying towards the charging army.  All the while somehow, when Beanie threw the boat, the horn went off and for some reason it sounded just like the horn from “Dukes of Hazard”.  The boat carved a small path through the charging soldiers, causing the White Fang to slow down. Adam had to stop his forward progress to block the boat with his sword, which gave Beanie enough time to jump onto the last dropship and let it take off and get out of range of the flying bullets from the White Fang.

            “What did you do?” Auburn asked looking down at the boat carnage below her.

            “I crashed the boat I guess” Beanie said with a laugh as everyone finally relaxed.

 

 

 

Three Days Later

 

Atlas Military Base in Argus

 

 

 

            Beanie continued to sit in the office quietly while Ironwood continued to go off on a tirade.

            “…. irresponsible, foolish, and completely against protocol!  You know full well Beanie that proper protocol in these situations is to report back to your commanding officers and inform them of the situation!”

            “With all due respect general,” Beanie said with a sigh, “the fact that you kept throwing soldiers at the White Fang wasn’t exactly helping de-escalate the situation.  If anything, you were just throwing more Dust on the fire.”

            “That is not important!  If you had followed protocol, there would not have been as many injured and dead following this battle.  By going off on your own with your classmate playing hero, you may have jeopardized….”

            “Sometimes the hardest choices require the strongest wills James” a new voice cut in.  Beanie turned around to see Professor Ozpin standing in the doorway with Glynda Goodwitch standing right behind him.  “You taught me that long ago.  Given your recent number of skirmishes with the White Fang even before this incident where Mr. Hallfrisch helped save so many, it would stand to reason that you would have continued to throw bodies at the problem until the White Fang had no choice but to retaliate.  And they wouldn’t simply do another Schnee Dust Company transport strike.  Oh no, you had given them all the leverage they could ever need, and were just waiting for an excuse to use.”

            “I appreciate the philosophical lesson Ozpin, but unlike you, I know how to run a military operation.  My strategy would have been flawless if my soldiers had acted….”

            “And yet it failed regardless James.  Your machines while reliable are also predictable, and as a result, combatable.  And your students, while many show great promise, still have many fears in their hearts.  Unlike you, they are not ready to die for a war they did not sign up for.  As such, your strategy fell apart at the seams.  Your reaction was to keep doing what you were doing until it worked.  Young Mr. Hallfrisch here saw the dire situation and did what any true Huntsman should do.  Fight to protect the people.”

            “Yes, but his actions caused a lot of harm to many.”

            “It would have been even worse if he did nothing.  Those who stand by and do nothing when they can do something are not ready to fight a war.  Nor are they ready to be soldiers.  And I believe people like Beanie here can flourish in an environment different from yours James.”

            “Now see here, Beanie has shown some of the most promise amongst our students….”

            “Were you not the one complaining about his antics to me not two weeks ago James?”  Ironwood tried to protest, but fell back into his chair into defeat.

            “What do you propose?”

            “Glynda has been taking on a lot more responsibilities these last few months back in Vale.  I would love to get her an assistant who can help not just deal with numbers and logistics, but also be an able fighter to help in times of need.”

            “Fine.  But his family stays with me.  His father’s work on some of our projects is too important for me to sacrifice him.”  Beanie started to stand up and protest, but Ozpin held up his hand and smiled reassuringly at Beanie.

            “Very well” Ozpin said.  “But he is not your slave.  I request that you put a plan in place to remove him from your most vital projects within the next few years.  And when those few years are up James, I will expect you to make the necessary arrangements for his family to join him here in Vale.”

            “All right Ozpin” Ironwood said with a sigh.  “He will finish the Paladin project, then I shall release him to your Kingdom.”  With that, Ironwood slowly got up and made his exit.  Beanie slowly stood up and looked back at Professor Ozpin.

            “What just happened?” Beanie asked surprised.

            “I just gave you a new opportunity” Ozpin said with a smile.  “A bit closer to home.  Who knows?  Perhaps you will find those you used to know from long ago once again.”  Ozpin then turned and left the room.  Glynda Goodwitch looked over Beanie real quick, then followed Ozpin out the door.  Beanie continued to stand there, surprised and shocked.  But looked out the window at Argus, and saw some of the remainders of snow off in the distance despite Summer being right around the corner, and smiled.

            “Beats this place I guess.”

 

 

 

Two Years Later

 

Initiation Day

 

Beacon Academy

 

 

 

            Beanie continued to help guide students into the auditorium, while using his Semblance to keep the rain out.  Suddenly, he heard somebody call his name.  Looking in the direction of the new voices, he saw the faces of old friends, and his own face began to light up.

 

 

 

Life

Takes Many Twists And Turns

It May Not What We Imagined

Or What We Wanted

But Every Step Forward

Will Always Be

A Step Closer

To Home.

 

 

 

Episode: Beanie

 

END.

 

 

 

Authors Note:

 

            A good number of jokes in this story come from instances in our lives where Beanie has done something incredibly crazy, and as a result, we in our group of friends refuse to let him forget.  We give Beanie a hard time, but it is because he is one of the nicest and funniest people we know.  His shenanigans may be great, but they are more than matched by the strength of his heart.  When I originally wrote this for the first time he was working for a motor company, and is now doing engineering work a bit closer to home, which is not his dream job of working on roller coasters and theme park rides, but he has taken it in stride and continues to work hard and keep moving forward.   At the time of writing this, we have experienced the full force of the COVID 19 pandemic and all that came after that, and even through that, he continued to work hard and ensure that he kept his head up.  If one of us needed help, he would be there for us.  And if he needed help, we were there for him.  He is quite easily the most vocal of our group, and as a result, he helps keep us in touch with one another.  A true friend who will continue to find his strength to stand going forward.

Author's Note

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