As Lunch ended and classes began again, nobody heard from team CRDL. The last sight of said team was their pale faces as Glynda Goodwitch bodily pulled them to the Headmaster's office with her Semblance.
Nobody knows their fate, except for one person.
Ignis suppressed a giggle as he read the various comments flashing across the screen right below his video upload.
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[Dreamsareus: What is Beacon even doing, allowing bigoted people like this guy into their academy? Looks like their standards have really fallen.]
[WFfan: This is nothing new. You humans always love finding backdoors into places that are supposed to be the paragons of 'virtue'. I guess even such an 'exalted institute as Beacon is also filled with corruption just like the rest of these rotten kingdoms]
[HistoryEnthusiast4: Treading on some thin ice there @WFfan, but you do have a point. Everyone, look at what I found after digging into that guy's details for a bit through some of my contacts. All of this is public info btw, so there shouldn't be a need for censoring.]
[Ch@osCreator: Enough with the teasing @HistoryEnthusiast4. Out with it! I want to know who is bold enough to pull shit like this in Beacon of all places. It would also help boost my petition for civilians to own firearms. If this is the kind of Huntsmen we have in the next generation, we will need to learn to protect ourselves and our families. By the way, for all of those interested, here is the link to my petition: wwn.openpetitionshub.cct/Ch@osCreator.]
[HistoryEntusiast4: So, turns out, this kid is named Cardin Winchester. I got the name after CCT reverse searching with a cropped image of his face. Get this, the kid is the son of Deacon Winchester. You know, the same guy running for a council seat every time the elections happen. The same guy who advocated for every single Faunus in the kingdom to have their fingerprints and retina scans logged from the moment of their birth in this kingdom, like they are farm animals for supposed 'national security'. Yeah, no wonder this kid turned out like this. And that is not all either.]
[Turns out, his entire family tree is filled with this kind of bigotry and war crimes. For example, I found mentions of his grandfather, Eric Winchester, from the declassified files of the Faunus Rights Revolution. This guy was a real piece of work. Supposedly, he was one of the many generals of Vale during that time and committed a lot of atrocities. Such as building what can only be called concentration camps for 'POWs', which is a fancy name for Faunus men, women, and children, who endured all kinds of abuse and torture at his and his men's hands. Then, he bribed the council members of that time in various ways, with some documents even claiming that the guy engaged in the slave trade by trading off faunus to some of these council members to stay out of trouble for his actions. And these are just the highlights.]
[After that, I dug deeper to see how far the family rot goes, and, you guessed it, found more war crimes that dirty the hands of one Beaufort Winchester. A noble from the times of the Great War. This guy was supposedly a tyrant that ruled with an iron fist and, during the war, used all kinds of inhuman methods to furhter his own agenda, even going as far as to burn an Aura-Enhanced knight of that time, basically a proto-huntress, at the stake for seven days and nights until she ran out of Aura and died, just because she dared to rebel against his plans to further explot his lands and its people. The huntress's family name is lost in the records, but her first name seems to be Joan.]
[So, all in all, it would seem this family is full of people like this Cardin kid. Makes me wonder if Beacon is that incompetent at basic background checks or if they simply don't care. Also, for those who want further research into this topic, I am sharing links to the official sources here: Links]
[Ch@osCreator:....Wow. I know I was saying I need more ammo for my petition, but this? This is just disgusting. How do these people even have the face to come out in public after so many of their atrocities are publicly documented like this?]
[WFfan: Just goes to show that money and status are all that matter to the kingdoms. If you have enough money and status, you can get away scot free with all your crimes. This is why White Fang exists in the first place]
[Dreamsareus:: Forget WF! I want the Winchester family as a whole to be tried for their actions! What the f**k is the council even doing alloing Deacon Winchester to participate in politics at all? Is nobody going to hold these monsters accountable?]
[OpenCare: I agree with @Dreamsareus! What is going on with the council? Did they get bought out by the Winchesters again, like their predecessors? I am screenshotting this entire thread with the links that HistoryEnthusias4 left and sharing it with VNN and other news outlets, along with the original video of that Winchester boy. We do not need this kind of Huntsmen or Councilors to make our lives even more of a hell than they already are!]
[SwiftJ: +1 to that]
[WFfan: +1]
[+1] [+1] [+1] [+1]
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"...Wow, looks like you have basically uprooted the entire Winchester family with your actions."
Weiss whispered as she and Blake peeked into the comments on Ignis's scroll while the boy grinned.
"Yup. I already knew most of the info that the guy posted on the thread since I've been researching the Winchester name ever since he started bullying Jaune and the others in the First year and Second Year. So I knew exactly what was going to happen the moment I livestreamed him."
His eyes gleamed with a strange light.
"I was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to spark the flame, and Cardin gave me the best ammo possible with his idiotic act during Lunch."
Once again, Weiss held an impressed look while Blake simply nodded with gratitude.
"Ahem!"
The sharp tone broke the three out of their peek into the scroll and towards Professor Ooblek, who gave them a stare.
"Perhaps, you three have any questions you wish to ask?"
"No, sir!"
They answered as one, making the older man nod sharply and zoom off again.
"Then please pay attention to the class instead of your scroll. I am sure whatever you are seeing in there can wait until after the class is over."
The three nodded as Ignis put away the scroll, knowing that the only reason they were let off so easily was because of their performance so far in this class.
Ooblek looked at the rest of the class made up of both First and Second years due to the second years having only four teams total, a record low number due to various complications last year, along with the fact that the History Class was revised this year, making it necessary for the second years to attend said class with the first years to maintain their grades.
He took a deep sip from his cup of coffee and started speaking again.
"Now, have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?"
Slowly, a few hands rose from across the class, making the Professor frown heavily while Blake's hand secretly clenched underneath the desk.
"Dreadful! Simply dreadful!! Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence."
"I mean, I mean just look at what happened to the White Fang. Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorists believe to be the turning point in the third year of the war?"
Weiss raised her hand enthusiastically.
"Yes, Ms. Schnee."
"The battle at Fort Castle."
Professor Ooblek nodded happily.
"Precisely. And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagoon's forces?"
The room remained silent before Ooblek's eyes zoomed in on Ignis, who was still checking his Scroll from time to time and typing something on it rather quickly.
"Mr. Ruben! Care to contribute to the class?"
Caught red-handed, Ignis shrugged and got up.
"Yes, sir. The advantages the Faunus have on the battlefield are many and depend on the species, but in this particular battle that we are discussing, the most important one was the Night Vision. Given that a lot of Faunus have some kind of Feeline or Canine heritage, General Lagoon should have known that they would have the same kind of reflective coating behind their retina as their heritage would imply, along with higher rod cell count with larger pupils and corneas, making it so that they only need one-sixth of the light humans need to see clearly, which direclty translated to their night vision."
"Go on."
Ignis nodded and continued.
"General Lagoon, a known human supremacist of that time, did not subscribe to the hard evidence provided by his men about this advantage that the Faunus have thanks to their biology, and decided to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. Some claim that it was his young age and inexperience that led to his rash decision, while others dispute this idea. What we do know is that he made the mistake of attacking an enemy on their own turf when they are at their most powerful, costing him the battle and his forces, which led to his capture by the Faunus forces."
"Very good, Mr. Ruben. Now, moving on-"
Ignis sat down as the professor continued his class.
Soon, the class came to an end, after which the two teams headed out.
Jaune gave a tired yawn as he slowly walked with the teams.
"You know, somehow, it feels like this was the most peaceful History class since last month."
Pyrrha smiled a bit at his words, while Ignis chimed in while still playing with his Scroll.
"Maybe it is because a certain personal bully of yours is not tormenting you every waking moment?"
Jaune smirked a bit as he remembered the pale face of Cardin Winchester as he was dragged away by Goodwitch during lunch.
"Maybe. What's going to happen to him and his team anyway?"
"My best guess? Expulsion. If they don't, Beacon will face some serious repercussions since the public is really riled up about all of this."
Ignis showed his burner scroll that was still buzzing with the comments that were going off like rockets every single second, now even involving established news outlets like VNN and other such networks.
"....Whoa. I didn't know a single video would be so devastating."
"You are not the only one, Arc. A lot of people forget the power of PR and information."
Weiss commented as they slowly made their way to their dorms. As they neared the rooms, Ignis turned to his teammates.
"Alright. I'll be heading to Vale for a bit. I need to get rid of this Scroll and scrub that dummy account from the network. I'll also be checking in at TCS and seeing how Tai is holding up. You girls need anything from the city?"
Ruby and Yang's eyes shone.
"Bring me the Cookies from that new store that opened up recently!"
"Same as Ruby. Bring me some of their cake, too. I hear it is pretty good."
Ignis nodded at his sisters' words and turned to the other two girls.
"What about you two?"
Weiss thought for a bit with her arms folded while Blake hesitated before speaking.
"Can you pick up a few books for me? I already placed the order, but didn't have the time to pick them up."
"Sure thing, Blake. Weiss?"
"Well, I am running low on some supplies. I'll send you a message before you reach the city with the list."
Ignis chuckled at her words and gave her a two-finger salute before moving towards the elevator near Reception, which would take him to the garage.
Ready to hit the road and get rid of all the evidence in the meantime.