Author's Note: this story is a part of the RWBY Superhero Universe. So far, the only other story in this universe is Ruby Rose: The Red Huntress, which introduces a few concepts like Semblance and Beacon, but it is not vital at all that you read it. Everything important for Blake Belladonna: White Fang is going to be covered here. For more information regarding the RWBY Superhero Universe, check my profile.

She faced the mirror, looking into her amber eyes, weary from fighting. Her face bruised; ears pressed to the top of her head in anxious anticipation.

She wondered if the people on the other side of the mirror were observing her, discussing if she was a threat, another one of the lot to be thrown… wherever they had thrown the captured.

She couldn't blame them. Well, she could, she wanted to. The anger was still there, along with the frustration and the hurt. But she had to be better than that.

The door opened, and the silver-haired man entered the room, walking around the interrogation table to stand behind a chair. She saw his reflection on the mirror and turned around.

"Miss Belladonna. My name is Ozpin, Director of Beacon. I'd like for you to sit down and have a conversation with me."

She looked to the door. Was it unlocked? She hadn't heard keys or anything of the like. Part of the test, probably. She sat down along with him.

"What do you want to talk about?" She asked, crossing her arms and leaning back on her chair.

"I thought you would know," the Director smiled slightly. "The railway incident. You were there, were you not?"

"You know I was," she said. "Your people cleaned up the mess. And for everything before that, you already have someone with all the information."

He took off his spectacles and laid them down on the table. "You are correct, to a point. I have access to all kinds of information, all across the globe," he leaned forward, his brown eyes boring into hers. "What I don't have access to is your perspective on the matter."

She fidgeted in her chair, avoiding his eyes. There was something about this man. She should hate him, fear him, but it was becoming harder and harder not to open up to him.

"Fine," she said. "What do you want to know?"

"Start from the beginning. Your beginning."

Blake looked up at him… and nodded.

"It started on my seventh birthday."

BLAKE BELLADONNA

WHITE FANG

Few people had showed up for the party, which wasn't unusual. Blake was accustomed to spending birthdays in the company of distant relatives and her closest friends from school. The ones who didn't make fun of her ears or the color of her eyes. The ones who didn't think it was funny to bring laser dots to the classroom just to distract her. The ones who had never filled her backpack with tuna fish – well, that prank hadn't been that bad, but her textbooks had smelled horrible for weeks after.

But now even those friends hadn't come. Her mother had called their parents, and every one of them had had their excuses. Sick relatives; too much schoolwork… At least that's what her mother had told her. But Blake was too clever to believe her.

It hurt, but it was just a birthday party. No big deal. She would see them in school next week anyway, and everything would be fine. Grudges weren't really her thing. And there was even a bright side to their absence: to cheer her up, her parents had given her money to go buy ice cream from the shop at the corner of the street.

Blake was midway there when the van came and the men in mask grabbed her. They covered her mouth with something, and she immediately began to feel drowsy. As her vision turned black, she heard her parents yelling from afar.

Tires screeched, and their voices faded away.

When she woke up, the first thing Blake saw was a ceiling so white it almost hurt to look at it. She felt tired, but not like when she ran a lot or played sports at school. It was the sick kind of tired, which left her mouth and throat dry and made it difficult for her to think straight. She was on a bed with a hard mattress and no bedclothes, not at all like her own back home.

Home.

Blake sat up suddenly, her eyes widening in panic as she struggled to understand where she was. The room she was in looked more like a cubicle than anything else, with glass walls on all four sides. Looking to the left, she saw rooms identical to hers, going so far she couldn't see the end of them. Turning to her right, she saw the same thing, except in the closest one, the bed was occupied by another kid.

Blake jumped to her feet, wobbling a bit, and went to the wall. She breathed in nervously and knocked on the glass, afraid of hurting herself. The blow made barely any noise, prompting her to try again harder, but the kid still didn't turn around. Asleep, maybe? It was hard to tell, and she was too nervous to give the matter much more thought.

She heard a ringing noise behind her and spun around, just in time to see an adult man slipping a plate into her room through a hole next to the floor.

"Hey!" Blake yelled, running towards him. "W-where am I?! Why did you bring me here?"

The man didn't as much as look at her as he turned around and walked away. Blake bit her lip, trembling, and sat on the ground. She held back her tears, looking at the plate he had left behind. There was bread on it, except it didn't smell anything like any Blake had eaten before.

Her stomach growled. Blake looked around hesitantly, then picked up the bread and took a bite. It had a bitter taste, like medicine. If she weren't so hungry, she would have put it down immediately and left it there.

She had already eaten half the bread when she heard a voice to her right. "Oh, crap. You shouldn't have done that."

She looked to the source of the voice and saw her neighbor had woken up and was now crouching close to the wall, his face twisted into a grimace as he examined her from afar. He had vivid red hair and, poking out of it, two tiny bull horns.

"Hi. You should probably put that away," he said, pointing at the bread. "They only feed us that when they want to take us to the lab."

Blake munched down the bread that remained in her mouth, then put the rest down on the plate. "…Lab?"

"You're new," he looked up at the ceiling, rubbing the back of his head. "Don't worry about it. You're gonna get what I mean when they come take you. Just don't freak out too much, okay?"

"W-what are we doing here?" Blake asked, crawling closer to him.

The boy sighed. Before he could say anything else, they heard steps coming close, then a trio of men dressed in lab coats stopped before Blake's room.

"That's the new one?"

"Yes. Arrived just now. Should we break it in?"

"The sooner the better. Take care with the claws, I hear these ones can be vicious."

The wall between her and the men slipped into the ground, and two of them started towards her. Blake backed away until she hit a corner. Tears blurred her vision.

"Now, now. We're not going to hurt you," one of the men said, reaching a hand towards her. "Just be cooperative and nothing-"

"Oh, come on!" The boy in the other room yelled, rolling his eyes. "Learn a better line. Has anyone ever believed you?" He looked at Blake. "You hear me? Don't buy into their bullshit. Fight back!"

Blake sniffed, then glared at the man and curled her fists. She lunged forward, swinging a punch at his chest, but lost strength before connecting the blow. Her legs gave out, her vision narrowing sickly, and she started to fall…

It was difficult to tell what happened next. She was there, but not really there, like a stranger in her own body. The experience have lasted a few minutes, or a full day. She simply couldn't know.

She remembered being immersed in hot water; the feeling of cold metal against her skin; flashing lights and unintelligible voices all around her. She felt something building inside her, a feeling she wasn't familiar with, begging to be released. And though she tried to set it free, it stayed lodged inside, resisting her will. It hurt worse than whatever the men in lab coats were doing to her.

Eventually, all the strain being put on her stopped, the men retreating away from her.

"That's enough for the week. Wouldn't want to break it."

"Right. Take it back to its cage."

Hands closed around her arms and lifted her off the ground. Blake closed her eyes, relieved that it was finally over.

She woke up back in the bed of her new room, feeling sore all over. She sat up and hung her legs over the edge of the bed, lowering her head a bit. The world was spinning slowly around her.

"Hey."

She looked up and saw her neighbor sitting cross-legged on the other side of the wall that separated them. Blake dropped carefully to the floor, then crawled towards him. The boy looked her up and down, smiling bitterly.

"Damn. They went really rough on you," he said. "But at least you survived. The first time's always the worst, because you're can't be prepared for it."

"W-what?" Blake closed her eyes forcefully, trying to fight off her dizziness. "What did they do to me?"

"Nothing."

Blake wanted to protest, but something about his stare told her that would lead to nothing. He didn't look like a kid, not with those dead serious eyes.

"My name's Adam," he said, breaking the silence. "What's yours?"

Blake bit her lip, wondering if it was smart to tell him something like that. But he had trusted her with his name, so… "Blake. Blake Belladonna."

"That's a pretty name," Adam said. "I'm ten. You?"

"Seven… Exactly seven."

"Wow. Exactly seven?" Adam smiled. "Happy birthday, Blake."

She giggled softly, then immediately covered her mouth with her hands. What was she doing, laughing in this strange place, imprisoned by a bunch of weird people and without a clue where her parents…

All at once, the dam broke loose. Blake hugged her legs and buried her head between her knees, her whole body trembling beyond control.

"Hey. Come on," Adam called softly. "Don't cry, Blake. That's only going to make you feel worse."

Blake looked up, her eyes red from crying. "How c-can I? My parents are gone. My friends are gone. I-I don't even know where I am. I'm all alone."

Adam leaned forward and pressed his hand against the glass. "You have me."

Blake stared at him, and slowly, the tears stopped flowing. She reached forward and pressed her own hand opposite to his.

"See? It's not all bad," Adam smiled. "I think we're going to be very good friends, Blake."

The days passed by slowly. In her cage, Blake had little else to do but lay on her bed and talk to Adam. She tried to sleep as much as she could, but that was barely any relief, as she often dreamed of her parents and home. It only made her current predicament worse.

Adam's prediction turned out to be true. Maybe it was the isolation, or maybe it was the animosity they shared towards their captors, but they grew close quickly.

Adam didn't have much to tell about himself. His last name was Taurus. He had been captured a long time ago, one of the first kids brought into wherever they were. That was as much as he had told her. He was more interested in hearing Blake talk, and she was happy to do it. Talking about home meant it was still a part of her life, waiting for her to come back. If she didn't... it was gone forever.

Once a week – or so they thought, as there was no real way for them to keep track of the days – the men came to take them to their labs. Everyone got it at least once. Blake had given up putting up a fight after the first few times, but Adam always resisted.

One day, as they were sitting back-to-back on their glass wall, Blake watched as a pair of the scientists dragged away another kid, this one with tiny antlers on his head.

"Adam?" She spoke. "Why are all the kids here faunus?"

Adam looked at her over his shoulder and smiled. Blake glared at him mildly, recognizing that look. He had a habit of doing that when she made these questions, as if she was a baby and he was an all-knowing grown-up.

"You know why, Blake," he said. "The humans think we're filth. Worse than filth. Just nothing. So they have no problem with treating us like lab rats."

"Why would they think that?" Blake frowned. "We're not that different. Just because I have cat ears doesn't mean I'm worse than them."

"Yeah. I know. If anything, we're the better ones," Adam scoffed. "Ever see a human stumbling around in the dark? It's pathetic. They can't see crap. And we have much better reflexes."

He stood up and turned around. Blake followed him with her eyes, paying close attention to his words.

"You wanna know the truth, Blake? They're afraid of us. They know the only reason faunus don't own everything is because we don't have the numbers. And you know why that is?" Adam's fists clenched at his sides. "It's because they exterminated us by the millions, so they could stay on top! And they keep doing that to this day!"

"I-I never heard of that..." Blake gulped. "You know, in school? Don't you think there would be books and stuff?"

"No, Blake. Of course not. They don't want us to know," Adam crouched down and tapped a finger to the glass, where her forehead would have been. "Because then little girls like you would grow up knowing that the humans are evil and go fight them. They'd rather keep you a docile and clueless puppet."

Blake turned away, pressing her back on the glass again. She heard Adam sit down too, then sigh.

"I'm sorry. It's not your fault," he said. "Your parents only wanted to keep you safe, I guess."

Blake nodded slightly. "How do you know all that, Adam?"

"You know. Living in the real world," he paused. "The streets. You get to know how stuff really is."

Blake closed her eyes and leaned her head back, imagining it was touching Adam's. "I know now," she whispered. "Thank you, Adam."

They spent a long time in silence after that conversation. Eventually, Blake heard a knock on the glass and turned to look at Adam. He had the most serious expression she had seen on him yet, as if something had changed… as if for the first time, he was truly looking at her.

"Blake, the next time the humans come to take you…" he said. "…don't eat the bread."

"Why?" Blake asked.

"It's…" Adam frowned, as if debating if he should continue talking. "I think they put something in it, some kind of drug that makes the pain of the experiments better. So we don't die."

"Wait, you want me to die?!" Blake exclaimed.

"No! I mean, it just makes it less likely! Trust me, I've done it before, and I'm still here," Adam sighed. "Just pretend you ate it."

"Why?"

"Blake. I'm your friend. You can trust me," Adam smiled. "Okay?"

"…Okay."

The food came a couple days later, the same bread as always. Blake approached it hesitantly, shooting Adam a look. He nodded encouragingly and made a tearing gesture with his hands.

Blake sat down and took the bread in her hands, then started to tear it into tiny pieces, trying to make it look like she had eaten some of it. To add another touch to the ruse, she took a few crumbles and peppered the area around her mouth with them. Then she went back to her bed and laid down, pretending to be drowsy.

Sometime later, the door of her cage lowered and the humans came in. She let them lift her to her feet and drag her away without resisting, winking subtly to Adam as the distance between them grew.

The other times she had been taken away, she had been barely aware of her surroundings, but now she could see the grey metal hallways they took her through, passing by rooms where other scientists conducted their own experiments. The sound of machines and screams echoed endlessly on her ears.

Eventually, the humans took a sharp turn and entered a room. They let go of her, and Blake plopped to the ground, keeping up her facade. A man in a white lab coat approached, looking down at her while twisting his nose.

"Get it off the ground and on the operating table," he said. "Jordan, begin the preparatory procedures."

The men who had brought her in lifted her up and put her down on a cold metal table, then left the room without a word. A younger man was at her side, preparing something she couldn't quite see.

Blake looked around the room, careful to not move her head too much. Syringes, knives, all kinds of medical utensils. An open locker holding several jars of liquids, none of which she knew, but was sure weren't any good for her. And at the corner of the room, some kind of metal bathtub with a transparent top, filled with bubbling water.

A hand closed around her arm, making the hair on the back of Blake's neck rise. She looked to the side and saw the scientist's aide holding up a wicked-looking syringe. Forgetting that she was supposed to be docile, Blake hissed and slapped his hand, knocking the syringe off of his hold.

"Well, well, well," the lead scientist approached the table. "Someone didn't take its medicine. Too bad."

"What do we, Dr. Brown?" The aid asked, frowning. "We were going to proceed to the next phase today, but the subject is in no state to-"

"It doesn't matter. Inject it with the formula and we'll carry on," the doctor clucked his tongue. "We've got plenty of good subjects, we can afford to lose this one. Besides, if it doesn't die, it'll learn a valuable lesson."

"Alright, sir."

The aid bent down and picked up the syringe, emptying its contents on a sink before filling it back up with another fluid. Blake jumped off the table and backed away towards the door. The doctor just watched, smiling in amusement when she turned the knob and discovered she was locked in.

"You can't do this," Blake said. "Someone will find me. My parents will. And then you'll be in real trouble."

"Is that a threat?" Dr. Brown raised an eyebrow. "Why. I don't think you are in any position to be making threats… or even talking, for that matter."

He closed the distance between them and grabbed her by the shoulders, dragging her back towards the table. Blake struggled, but he was much bigger and stronger than her. The aid finished preparing the syringe and stabbed her in the arm suddenly and without care.

The injection was painful, but it lasted only a few seconds. The real pain started when it was over and her body started to convulse, her organism fighting against itself. The world spun fast around her, her senses becoming far too sensible for her to withstand.

Blake regained her awareness in a couple minutes, but by then, she was already being carried to the bathtub. She snarled and squirmed, trying to escape the scientists' hold, but it was to no avail.

They dropped her in the water unceremoniously and closed the lid above her. Blake rose to the surface, gasping for air. The water felt lukewarm, which was strange to her, since she could clearly see bubbles popping from sheer heat and vapor gathering on the glass.

"Wait! I'm sorry!" She yelled, knocking against the lid. "Please! I promise I won't-"

Her words were replaced by a shrill scream. Suddenly the bubbles made a lot of sense, her skin burning up, turning red. Something else was seeping into the water, a foamy substance that stung like fire.

Immersed in the pain, she lost track of time. All she could see through her blurry vision was the form of the two scientists watching her from the other side of the glass. Her ears felt hollow, and she worried she was going deaf.

The feeling was back, the one that always happened during these experiments, but this time, she was feeling it ten times over, like waves crashing against upon her, dragging her down. She felt smaller and smaller, while inside her, something grew, bubbling to the surface and trying to hammer its way out.

The pain flared, and just as quickly as it had come, it faded. The boiling water didn't bother her anymore.

Blake heard muttering, then the lid opened. She sat up, fresh air brushing against her face, and shook her head slightly. She felt oddly reinvigorated, as if she had woken up after a full night of sleep.

She turned her head to look at the scientists and saw the aid going to grab her. She narrowed her eyes dangerously and moved to the side, dodging his grab. His hands closed around her. Except... it wasn't her... but it was her.

Blake stared in utter confusion as the aid lifted her out of the water and put her down on the ground. As soon as her feet touched the floor, her form dissolved into shadows and faded from existence.

"…What?" The aid blinked in disbelief.

Dr. Brown turned back to the bathtub and smiled, his eyes falling onto Blake. "We did it. We triggered its Semblance," he said. "Some kind of… cloning process, it appears. Further testing is necessary."

He reached for her, but Blake jumped off the water, kicking against the edge of the bathtub and rolling on the floor away from him. The aid lunged at her, attempting to wrap his arms around her.

Blake stepped back, leaving an identical clone of herself where she had been standing. She shook her head and covered her mouth. She didn't know how she was doing it, but this whole process of multiplying herself was leaving her dizzy, and her stomach was starting to turn.

The aid hesitated for a brief moment, then stepped through her clone and backhanded her across the cheek. Blake's head snapped to the side, but that was all the blow did. She faced him again and caressed her cheek, eyes wavering.

"Do I have to do everything myself?" Dr. Brown grunted, walking to them. "Here, you little beast."

He took something from behind his back and pressed it to her arm. Blake grit her teeth, feeling a jolt of electricity pass through her, and fell.

The men tossed her back in her cage and left, closing the door behind them. Blake scrambled to her knees, breathing shakily, and looked down at her hands.

What was she? What had they done to her? And why?

"Blake!" Adam called, standing at the other side of the glass. "Are you okay?"

She rose to her feet and shook her head. "They… did something, and…" she gasped. "They shocked me…"

She fell back to her knees, quivering in pain.

"What the…" Adam said. "What is that?"

Blake looked at him, then followed his line of sight and saw a clone behind her. She must have made it without even noticing, which shouldn't be a surprise, since she didn't even know how to do it willingly.

She stood up and walked to her clone. She touched it – her? - hesitantly, afraid it might spring to life and attack her, but it showed no reaction. Its eyes were dull, and her face was stuck in a pained expression.

The clone felt soft. Softer than she was herself, but still somewhat solid. She wondered how much strain it could take. Blake pushed against it with an open palm, and the clone promptly dissipated.

"They did it. You have it too," Adam said, his face devoid of emotion. "Blake, this is… fantastic."

She turned to face him, frowning. "What do you mean?"

"Blake…" A smile formed on his lips. "We're going to break out of here."

And so begins the story of our favorite cat lady. Well, my favorite cat lady at least. Blake is an awesome character. I hope I can do her justice.

This origin story might seem a little dark, but I really don't see any other way to go with Blake. She has easily the heaviest baggage in canon, so it wouldn't feel right to treat her as lightly as I did Ruby, for example. But rest assured, this story isn't going to be an edgy darkfest or anything. I think this introductory chapter is the darkest we're gonna get.

For RSU people in doubt: this story happens before Red Huntress. Far before, or closer. It depends. You'll get what I mean in the following chapters.

If you're just jumping fresh into this story, without having read anything else related, welcome! I hope you enjoy it! If you're here from The Red Huntress (or some future story), welcome back! I hope Blake will be as well-received as that.

Anyways. Chapters will come weekly, as always. See you next time!

-Zeroan