Chapter One: Within Shadows

"There is no force equal to a woman determined to rise."
-W.E.B. Dubois

Adam Taurus.

This man was the reason I had recently been throwing myself into dangerous missions, one after the other. The desire of seeing him again drove me to perform above even his top men. What other way would I get his attention other than accomplishing things the other mercenaries thought impossible. Surely this would earn me at least a second glance, and from there I may be able to work myself into his arms, his bed.

It's not that I wanted to use him for his power. Quite the opposite actually. I genuinely admired him, wanted him. My heart fluttered that day nearly four months ago when he addressed my old unit personally about infiltrating an old dust mine for resources.

That's where we found the plans of an old abandoned dust experiment. It was something about fusing dust with the mind, creating a power somehow stronger or equal to that of the maidens from the fairytales. Silly to base something off of a forgotten fairytale, but, who was I to judge?

My objective was to gather the rest of the information Adam was seeking, and it just so happens that the White Fang (The mercenary group Adam leads) had been given a critical piece of information regarding this experiment. Our rivals, the Kandola had a crucial set of analyses needed to further Adam's study.

Only one problem. Their base was located within the ruins of Mountain Glenn, surrounded by grimm and because of that, guarded by their strongest warriors. None of our men sent to retrieve the data ever made it back. It's only natural for everyone to fear such a dangerous mission. This is why I abandoned my unit, making my way to their base by myself. Not only would it be harder to notice me, I would be able to move much quicker alone, hopefully I'd be able to avoid some obstacles

Luckily, melding with shadows was my specialty. I guess you could say I was an assassin of sorts. Using the darkness to move quickly, dispatching anyone and anything in my way.

These people were to cocky. Didn't even try to hide their makeshift base. The cellar of a now rundown building. No outside guards. Probably figured they'd hear someone fighting grimm before they managed to break in. That's where they made their mistake. Slipping through the door and then up to the rafters was child's play. Quickly I scaled the beams, heading towards the back room. Two men were gathered there. This had to be where the information was, I hadn't encountered anyone else in the vicinity.

I jumped down from the ceiling, landing on one of the men, using a back walkover to gain distance between the other man, using that moment to draw my weapon, Gambol Shroud and readied myself to attack. However, neither man seemed to care about my presence, almost as if they had planned for it. Perhaps I wasn't as undetected as I thought. They hadn't even bothered to engaged in combat, they just left, even closing the door behind them.
There's no way that this isn't some kind of trap, but, while I'm here I may as well compile the data on my scroll like I originally planned.

A mobile computer system sat near the corner of the room. Looks like it's the only thing running, so I might as well try. I activated the system, surprisingly it was kept unlocked, no password needed. This was too easy. Regardless I had a mission I needed to complete, so without second thought I clicked my scroll into the machine and downloaded the data files.

Several maps were displayed, focused mainly around Atlas and Vale. A plethora of locations marked on each map. If I had to guess, I would say that they were abandoned dust mines that were used for whatever experiment they were planning. I wonder if they ever tested it?

Melding dust with the human body wasn't unheard of, the side effects were random, ranging from a simple headache to death. I wouldn't recommend it.

My scroll had finished downloading the content, a beep alerted me of its progress. Quickly I disconnected the device from the computer, shoving it back into the protection of my pocket. Adam would definitely have to agree to a meeting for this information. Maybe I'd finally get to see what's under his mask? I couldn't wait.

Obviously I would have to. It would have been amateurish not to have noticed the low growling on the other side of the door.
So that was their plan. Running away, but not before releasing a couple of Grimm to hopefully rip me apart.

The beast's rammed through the door, causing the frame to collapse, leaving me cornered with these two beasts. An Ursa and a beowulf. Nothing to hard. Getting out would be the hard part, maybe I could use the bear's strength to aid me?

Little wolfy was fast, rushing me and swinging his claws wildly, no method to his madness, a fatal mistake. These monsters were easily sliced in half. Now I was left with only the Ursa to deal with.
I moved carefully around him using the rafters to get over him, close to my way out. It didn't take long before he rose his giant paws to attack, swiping down towards me. This, of course was easy to dodge using my semblance. Allowing me to jump back up to the rafters as the bear crashed through the wall, creating a large enough opening for me to pass through. My next move was simple, I'd leapt back down, cleaving the beast in his spine, severing it and ultimately causing the beast's death.

Good, I'd be the first to make it back to camp after infiltrating this place.

Rubble still blocked my entrance, but a small gap on the ceiling had opened up, a small beam of light pierced through, the surface was just a bit beyond my grasp, but with a bit of effort, it wouldn't be to hard to make this gap large enough for my figure to fit through. Having feline perks made it easy to get out of situations like this, my semblance made it easier, I don't even need to fit through the hole, I just need to be close enough so I can use my shadows to project myself to the surface.

Apparently, I wasn't as sneaky as I'd originally thought, it seemed as if everything that had happened was planned. As one of the guards I saw earlier could be seen through the cracks in the ceiling. "Don't you know that curiosity always kills the cat?"

By this time my lungs felt as if they were on fire, my knees were trembling, I wasn't sure how I was standing. My vision was blurring, it was impossible to recognize the man speaking to me now. It took only seconds for the fire in my lungs to spread throughout my body, involuntary tears fell to the ground, my knees giving away moments later.

Rubble from the cracked ceiling fell only steps from me, small chunks of debris hit my shoulders. I could vaguely hear footsteps walking closer to me, shoes crunching on the bits of stone. A hand met the bottom of my jaw, forcing me to look up. I only guessed that the person in front of me was the same man speaking.
"I'm sure my boss won't mind if I rough you up a bit, kitty-cat." My persecutor scoffed, his hand releasing my chin, nearly causing me to collapse, luckily my desire to get out of this place, allowing the information I collected to make its way back to my unit.

No longer did I have the strength to raise my head, all I could do is keep just conscious enough to stay upright, hoping to shake whatever this is off. The cement ground was the only thing I could focus on, my sight was still damaged but I was fighting off the exhausting feeling. If this man didn't kill me, I could probably make my escape in just a few minutes.
A blotch of red hit the ground, splattered in an abstract pattern. My eyes widened as I took in a sharp breath, I convinced myself that I'd been stabbed, but there was never an increase in pain, and after a moment passed, a body slumped to the floor, must've been the man taunting me earlier, but no one knew I was here, who would be helping?

There was now an arm over my shoulders comforting me, another hand reached under my chin, forcing me to look at them. It was...Adam."

"Why did you leave your unit?" He questioned, with traces of worry in his voice.

I'm safe, that was the only thing I was fully able to understand before my mind and body finally collapsed.

People kept coming in and out of the room I was in. I couldn't tell who they were, no one I knew, they didn't make me feel afraid, I trusted these people, they must've been helping me. Even he'd visited a couple times, asking about my condition.

Adam….

To be continued…..