New chapter! Pretty proud of this one, if I must say so myself!
The inside of Blake's cheek was being chewed raw. Such was the state of her anxiety as she entered the gym, clad in exercise clothing. Public situations had a tendency to make her skittish.
According the dossier she had been issued, Yang Xiao Long worked multiple jobs at the gym, such as dance instructor, tennis instructor, and an occasional personal trainer. Blake had questioned, mentally, how such expertise could possibly help them, but she'd had to remind herself that Yang's dossier mentioned "extensive combat experience," "peak physical condition," "exceptional combat skills," and a "unique, 'enhancement' ability."
She looked around the entrance area for somewhere to begin, and noticed a semicircular reception desk against the back wall. Okay, remember, Blake reminded herself. Keep it… quiet.
"Hi! Welcome to the Vale City Gym, where we get you fit and healthy under the best teachers around! Can I help you?"
Blake strained a smile at the overly-friendly desk-rider. "Hello, I'm new to the city, and I was wondering… is this the gym where Yang Xiao Long teaches? I've heard so much about her."
The only persistent noise in Weiss' ear was the low thrum of her airship's engines, as she stared, at the closed dossier on her lap. It hadn't been opened once, as Weiss already knew everything there was to know about her target. She knew every inch of their appearance. She knew several years of their past. She knew their greatest desires, their deepest fears.
Her scroll beeped, snapping her out of her thought bubble. She cleared her throat, and unlocked it. "Speak," she said.
"Ma'am," her pilot's voice crackled over the connection. "We're approaching the last known coordinates of the target."
Weiss contemplated. She wanted to get the job done quickly, but it wouldn't do to scare away her target by dropping in from an airship. "Take us in," she replied. "But carefully. Focus energy on the stealth systems, and prepare to drop me off a decent distance away from the last knowns."
"Ma'am? Are you sure? It wouldn't be safe to drop you off that close to the bluff."
"I trust your abilities will be all the safety I need," Weiss said. "I picked you as my pilot for a reason, Ulysses. If we get too close to the coordinates, the target will likely notice and bolt, no matter how good our stealth systems are. We're not scaring off the target," Weiss stated flatly. "So just do it."
"Copy that ma'am."
The connection closed, and Weiss stood up. She picked up her belt, and tightened it around her waist. The belt, apart from serving as a holster for her rapier, Myrtenaster, also served as a utility, carrying vials of powdered Dust in shielded cases. This way, she could fuel her special abilities without fear of getting blown up by a stray shot nicking a vial of volatile Dust.
She tossed the dossier on her desk as she strode out of her office. The cover slipped open, revealing a sketch of someone, in lieu of an actual picture.
Blake opened the door to the aerobics studio where Yang was leading the session. From the looks of things, the session appeared to be halfway through. Many of the participants appeared to be women, who were following Yang's lead with enthusiasm and vigor.
Blake could only focus on how her tardiness made her stand out. "Great way to be inconspicuous," she muttered under her breath.
"Hey there!"
Blake whipped her head to the greeting, and saw her target waving at her. "Uh, hello."
Yang smiled, and beckoned for Blake to join the group. With an artificial smile, Blake inwardly sighed and started towards a space in the group. It seemed to be a waste of time, but she didn't want to draw attention to herself by attempting to drag her target away in the middle of her class.
So, it looks like I'm playing along then, Blake resolved. Terrific.
Weiss felt the rush of the wind against her body and face, as she fell rapidly towards the crimson ground. She slashed at the air with Myrtenaster, and spawned a pale-blue glyph. She landed on the glyph, and propelled herself off of it. She swiftly repeated this process as the ground came closer and closer, hopping to-and-fro between the glyphs until she gracefully landed on the forest floor.
She had been dropped off in the vast expanse of Forever Fall, in the far north of Vale, about three quarters of a mile away from the last-known coordinates of her target. In front of her, and on either side of her, was forestry. Behind her was the northernmost edge of Vale, overlooking the sea.
In older times, the forest had been famous for its native florae, the trees with the red leaves, and the red grass that was surprisingly soft underfoot. The trees had actually been cleared a number of times, but the forest had somehow always managed to spring back up, no matter how many trees were uprooted by despicable men with greedy intentions. Fortunately, the forest had eventually been declared a protected area, and no loggers had roamed the area for several decades.
Her airship had approached the forest by travelling north out of Vale airspace, and then making a 180-degree turn back towards the forest, so it appeared that they were approaching from overseas. Not that anyone would have seen them – cloaking technology made sure of that.
Weiss stood up from her crouch, and started through the forest which she had memorized her way through a long time ago.
"All right, everybody, that's it for the day!" Yang declared.
The women around Blake, all smiles and panting heavily, finished the routine and began to disperse. Blake, noticing the swathe of women around Yang, thanking her and otherwise chatting, decided that it would be best for her to wait for everybody else to leave. She knew that Weiss would likely expect her to cause problems and make drama out of the assignment, given the fact she was fresh out of incarceration. "Keep it clean," Weiss had said to her. But Blake knew how to complete jobs and change the situation without anyone else ever noticing. One time, she planned and executed a major operation, completely on her own, and without anyone knowing about it. Dust. That was the heart of the job, much like usual. But there was greater significance to it.
When she was still a rookie, she had overheard a few lieutenants talking about a hidden plant down in the heart of Vale's industrial district. Officially, it was a factory, tasked with mass-producing weapons and armor. One of many in Vale, but she had noticed several differences between it and a usual factory. Almost imperceptible differences, Blake had learned after the fact, but it hadn't mattered. After spending a day on reconnaissance, Blake set to work. She waited until the dark of night, when the normally-heavy security was rather light. Exploiting a structural weakness, she infiltrated the building without alerting security or triggering any hidden countermeasures. After sneaking her way into the building's head office, she uncovered several shipping orders. There were discrepancies. The company that owned the plant was ordering extra shipments of Dust, much more than they needed to power weapons and armor. The extra shipments were written away as being for "equipment maintenance," but Blake could see that the equipment being used was in perfect condition, and shouldn't have needed Dust maintenance for several years.
The company was busted for selling Dust to crime lords and black markets across the continent, and siphoning that money into the personal accounts of their biggest investors. Blake had only been young at the time, but she still knew how serious it was to mess around with Dust like that. The company subsequently collapsed, the scheme's leading men imprisoned, and the White Fang seized the opportunity to take the leftovers from the plant's production – weapons, armor, and Dust – which were of an admittedly good quality.
Blake was only 12 at the time, but she found herself rising up the ranks after that "impressive" performance. Her actions had helped to further strengthen the cause of the organisation, she had been told. But it wasn't until she led them for herself that she saw the bigger picture, and only then when it was too late.
That first job was one of the things she was proud of, if only because she was able to prove to herself that she could do something no one else could. To her, this was a largely scaled-down version of that.
She went over to the corner where she had put down her gym bag, and drew out her towel. She wrapped it around her neck and sat down on the floor, stretching and warming down. As she rubbed her legs, she kept an eye on the rest of the room, waiting for everybody else to leave.
Eventually the women cleared out, and Blake was left alone in the studio with her target. She had deliberately prolonged her stretches.
Yang walked up to her. "New, huh?"
"Yeah," Blake responded, and held out her arm. "Help me up?"
Yang grunted as she pulled Blake up. "There we go." She kept hold of Blake's hand, and gave it a shake. "Yang Xiao Long. Jill-of-all-trades around here. Dance, aerobics, boxing, self-defense, personal training, et cetera. If you didn't know that already, of course. But I don't know you. So, thought I might come over and talk with you."
"Hm." Blake cocked her head. "As a matter of fact, I was rather hoping to talk to you instead."
Yang looked perplexed. "I'm sorry?"
Blake led her towards the door, and gestured for her to go through first.
"Uh…" Yang looked at her with curiosity before she went through the door. "What did you say your name was?"
"I didn't." Blake pulled the door shut behind her. "You might want to take the rest of the day off."
Weiss hid herself behind some brush, and observed the area. She could quite clearly see her destination, a small cabin. It was only a little bigger than a greenhouse, and hidden rather spectacularly in the surrounding foliage. It appeared to have been designed so that it would be easily missed, or so that anyone who might stumble across it would immediately dismiss it as a shack abandoned many decades prior. But Weiss was more mindful than that. She knew her target well, and she knew why her target had erected the building so. Minding her shaky breathing, she began her slow approach to the cabin, hopeful, yet at the same time nervous, at the prospect of what she might find within.
"… And that's the situation," Blake finished. She felt like she could see the wheels turning behind Yang's eyes.
"Wait, what?" Yang said blankly.
Blake shook her head, and explained again, slower. After Yang had told Friendly-Desk-Rider that she was taking off for the rest of the day, she had followed Blake down the street, and into a deserted alleyway, where, behind a dumpster, Blake had wasted no time in telling her what she knew, and the same things that Weiss had told her, as scarce as those details were.
Obviously, it had appeared as if her first explanation had gone over Yang's head. She finished her second explanation, and Yang nodded.
"Okay, I think I get it." She crossed her arms. Blake sighed in annoyance. Yang didn't seem to notice. "But I don't really know what Miss Empire Schnee wants with me. I can fight, sure, but in a city of fighters, that's not too big a deal."
"To be honest, I don't know either," Blake said.
"Can you tell me specifically what we might be doing?"
Blake scowled. "Again, I don't know."
Yang smiled wryly. "I find your position interesting in this picture. You seem like a blind woman, stumbling around in the darkness and waiting for Weiss Schnee's voice to call out for you."
Blake glared at her, clenching and unclenching her fists. "Running errands for Weiss Schnee isn't my choice. I have a debt to repay her."
Yang's face hardened, and her eyes focused on Blake like beams. "Can I tell you something, Blake Belladonna?"
Blake took a step back, her eyes searching Yang's face. "How do you know who I am?"
Yang ignored her. "I'm concerned about Weiss' motives. I don't know her personally, but I know her reputation to the point where I'm expecting that she's planning something big. I don't know if I want to get involved in any sort of shady business.
"But, please, tell me this. How many people are going to be involved?"
Blake narrowed her eyes, not entirely sure of how to approach matter after having her identity blown. "Four. Myself. Weiss. If you agree, then you. And someone else, that Weiss went out to seek personally."
"Well, I doubt that we'd be running some sort of Dust delivery service to Signal Academy on Patch Island. I don't know if I'm willing to potentially risk my life running around with a Dust mogul, the ex-leader of the White Fang, and some random unknown. If I accept, of course."
Blake smirked humorlessly. "Bullshit. Danger appeals to you. You would thrive in a life-or-death situation. You're the type that looks death in the eye and flips the finger. I've been watching you quite closely. Your movements are reflexive, and fast-twitch, as if you anticipate action at every turn. Not to mention that you would treat a high-octane situation as a catharsis, to blow off all the steam you must build up living in suburban Vale.
"And I do believe that joining would give you a once-in-a-lifetime combat experience."
Yang's poker face cracked, with a small, nervous smile gracing her features. "Very well," she quietly said.
Blake relaxed, satisfied. "Now, if you would be so kind to tell me how you know who I am?"
"Not now," Yang waved her off. She paced a couple of steps, and started towards the alleyway exit, towards the open street. "I need to get my things together." She looked at Blake one last time. "Give me half and hour. Meet me across the street, two blocks down that way." She pointed in the direction, and strode out of the alleyway, leaving an incredibly-annoyed Blake behind her.
The wooden door creaked as Weiss slowly and carefully shut it behind her. From the outside, the cabin looked like the size of a greenhouse, but the interior would have made a greenhouse seem a palace. Even though the cabin was darkly lit, Weiss could see a few furnishings of note: a bedroll, against the far wall, a faucet – not dripping, to Weiss' surprise – and a fire pit, closed off from the rest of the space. The pit was bare, but Weiss guessed that the person living in the cabin would use it rather regularly, especially when the winters came to the forest.
Suddenly, she felt her back slam against the ground, and the wind rush out of her lungs. Myrtenaster clattered to the ground, out of reach, as she struggled for air. A boot was being pressed on her stomach, with an unrelenting hold.
Weiss didn't bother struggling when she didn't have to. "It seems I've been getting pinned down quite a bit recently," she breathed, and grimaced when the boot pressed harder.
"What. Do. You. Want?"
"Ah. There's that voice I know so well." Weiss let her head rest against the ground, so she was looking up at her attacker. "It's nice to see you again, Ruby."
Well damn. There you go. I'm glad that I was able to write a longer chapter for some important scenes. Until next time!
...Truly Yours, Kalico.
