Ebony lead the group inside, guards escorted them inside. Ebony was holding her briefcase that hid her weapon. Ebony was taping her scroll as she led then down a flight of stairs, eventually they found themselves in a control room with masked workers all around. "I'm sorry" said Bruna "I thought we would be meeting Fox"? "That's Ebony" said Tuscan "she works with Fox". "She is also his second in command" said Yang "nice to see you again Ebony". "Always a pleasure Yang" Ebony stopped at a door "hold on". "What is it?" Bruna asked. Ebony's briefcase turned into a guandao. "Get the huntress out of here please" said Ebony "guards, take her outside". "I would enjoy watching you try" said Phoena. "No wait!" said Ruby "she is gonna help". "No chance" said Ebony "can't trust huntresses around here". "Let her in" said a buzzing voice "she could be a customer in the future". Fox opened the door, he was wearing a mask with a built in voice changer. Fox's outfit had also changed from when he and CBLT had first met, he was wearing a black jumpsuit with orange pattern detailing. "I think we need all the help we can get in this case" said Fox "and if I am feeling generous, we could become very good friends Ms. Flowers". "Really Fox?" said Ebony "fine; this is your operation. Imma go to the bar, get a drink. Let me know when it wings up". Ebony left the room, and Fox motioned for the others to follow him. "Come into my office" said Fox "and let's talk about Weiss". Fox's office was a moderately sized room with a holographic map table in the center and a computer screen up on the wall behind it. "Shouldn't you take your mask off?" Ruby asked "we are working together aren't we"? "Ruby Rose right?" Fox asked "in my business being anonymous is very important. I am a buyer and seller of information, I know plenty of people's dirty secrets from common gossip to back room politics. This makes me a very dangerous person to certain people. But enough about me, let's talk about Weiss. She wanted to wait until I was sure she was capture". "So she was captured" said Blake. "Yes" he said "but that is not all; she wanted to be taken prisoner". "Sound like Weiss to me" said Bruna "doing nothing but make bad decisions". "Why did she try to get captured?" Ruby asked. "She paid me ten thousand to not tell you why, said it was a surprise" he said "all you need to know is that she needs you to rescue her". "We don't even know where she is" said Cerulea "how are we supposed to rescue her"? "She thought about that" he said "and we had a solution". Fox activated the map table and a hologram was projected. It showed a walled compound with a few buildings, one of which had a blinking beacon on the first floor. "Before she got herself captured I gave her a modified Schnee shipping beacon" he said "that beacon there is her. And she just got here". "She has been missing for two days" said Yang "why is she only there now"? "Let me explain" said Fox "it takes a day for her to get captured and for the cronies to call the boss. And the day after they pick her up, she pops the beacon, and I collect data on the location. And here we are, now you just need to break her out". "And how do your propose we do that?" Lenna asked "we have no plan"? "I have some resources available to you that can help you out" Fox said. Fox pushed some buttons and on the computer behind him popped a picture of a USB drive and a modified Bullhead. "That Bullhead is Ebony's pride and joy" he said "it is modified with four supercharged ramjets for increased speed, afterburners, duel autocannons, and unguided rockets. She will be dropping you guys off and extracting you from the compound". "Look here though" Phoena pointed at the map "the compound is reinforced with automated AA defenses stolen from Atlas, they will take us right out of the sky". "That is where the USB comes in" said Fox "it contains a timed virus that will temporarily take down all the automated defenses, giving you enough time to escape. Some of you will have to sneak in ahead of the others to upload it into the mainframe before you guys proceed, I got some White Fang uniforms in storage in varying sizes. Though I recommend you only send the Faunus in first, to make it convincing". "Thank you Fox" said Phoena "we will get to planning". "I recommend you guys do this now" said Fox "at some point the Schnees will start to worry about Weiss; and it only a matter of time before the Fang ask for a ransom. I have done all I can, good luck". Fox left the room to give the others a chance to plan. "As the resident huntress, I am taking charge" said Phoena "and I know how to break into a Fang compound, so here is what we do. Blake, Lenna and myself will wear the disguises and infiltrate the compound. Once we plant the virus we will signal you guys to move on where Weiss is being held. Try to not raise any alarms, we don't want to give them an excuse to kill Weiss". "What if we raise an alarm?" Bruna asked. "If anybody accidently raises an alarm it would be the three of us" said Phoena "we would cause a distraction while you extract Weiss, any other question"? Nobody said anything, as they were all eager to go rescue Weiss. "Good" said Phoena "let's go". People began to file out, but Blake held Lenna back and waited until they were alone. "What's wrong Blake?" Lenna asked. "It's about Phoena" said Blake "don't tell her anything; do not trust her. She hunts White Fang whether they defected or not, we haven't been on good terms since what Weiss did but just a heads up". "Thank you" said Lenna "now let's get this over with".
The compound was quite large, much larger than the hologram made it seem. They had arrived at night. Lenna, Blake, and Phoena approached the compound in disguise. The three were all unarmed except for Phoena and her glove, Phoena carried the other weapons in a duffle bag. "Radio check" said Phoena. "Yo" said Bruna. "Over" said Ruby. "Maintain radio silence until we upload the virus" said Phoena "I will give you guys a signal if things go south". Phoena turned the radio off and adjusted her mask. "I want award winning performances" said Phoena "we are some White Fang initiates that were assigned here, just stick to that story and we will be fine. Let's go". Phoena lead the girls out of the forest towards the main gate. Only two guards were manning the post, once the group got too close one of the guards approached. "Who are you three?" he asked "we didn't get word of transfers comin in". "They are some new initiates" said Phoena "and I am their mentor. We just came from Vale". "More new guys from Vale?" the guard asked. "Let me check with command to see if you guys called ahead. "We couldn't call" said Phoena "our recent activities in Vale have made it difficult to contact other compounds. We didn't want to risk exposing your location". "I see your point" said the guard "but before you go in we need to perform a quick check; don't worry ma'am it will be quick. Just need you to prove you are Faunus". "Of course" said Phoena, she pulled her hood back to reveal her dog ears. Lenna did the same, but when Blake did it her bow was revealed. "What the hell is that?" said the guard "take the bow off". Blake hesitated for two long and the guard began to approach to remove it himself, but Phoena stopper her. "Trust me" said Phoena "she came from a very human dominated neighborhood in Vale. She needed to hide so they would leave her alone, but now she doesn't want to hide anymore. She isn't used to taking it off, but soon her fear will be replaced with bravery". "I see what you mean" said the guard "humans are an awful lot; and I don't blame you. You can take it off another time, go on in you three". "Thank you for understanding" said Phoena "let go girls". The three advanced inside and the guards returned to their posts. When they were out of earshot "any other guy would have ripped it off, we got lucky. Be quicker next time". "Got it" said Blake. "Otherwise that went exceptionally well" said Phoena "now we need to find where they control the AA defenses". "Should be in the building over there" said Lenna "but how do we get inside"? "Get your weapons out of the bag" said Phoena "maybe we can talk our way in". The two holstered their weapons and followed Phoena to the building, more guards were there. "Hold it there ladies" said the guard "hey aren't you the new guys"? "Yeah we are" said Phoena "so you heard about us"? "They are talking about you guys over the radio" said the guard "word travels fast around here". "So it does huh?" said Phoena "that's good to know. Anyway, what's this building? "Only people with authorization can get in, and new need a key card too. Like the one I got here, get me into almost everywhere around here". "Oh really" Phoena looked around and saw no other witnesses "I'll be taking that then". An ash dagger plunged into the guard while Lenna and Blake took out the rest. They hid the bodies under some stairs and Phoena pilfered the key card. They entered the control room and saw the main computer. "I'll upload it" said Phoena "watch the door". Phoena plugged the USB in and began to upload the virus. "How did they get auto turrets?" Lenna asked. "Looks like they were stolen from Atlas shipments" said Blake "we should be more careful, they might have paladins here too". "Another reason why we need to stay undetected" said Phoena. "Why are you helping us if you don't mind me asking?" said Lenna "don't you report directly to Ironwood"? "I do but not for much longer" she said "the guy is an absolute control freak, and I don't like leashes. Before I went down to you guys he was telling me that I might be replaced if I disobey him again, to hell with him though. I prefer freelance huntress work, doing things by my rules. This rescue was a chance for me to return to why I wanted to become a huntress in the first place, but by my rules. Okay it's uploaded, I'm gonna call them". Phoena got on the radio "hey guys we are good to go, move towards the beacon's location and I will meet you guys there". The three made their way out of the command center on their way to Weiss.
Bruna and Ruby had just received the okay and were making their way towards the wall. "Why don't we barge in?" Yang asked "we have to be quick right"? "If you want every soldier in there to come down on us sure" said Bruna "be my guest". "If we go in head first we risk alerting the whole base" said Cerulea "that could put Weiss at risk". "No guns until we are inside the building" said Bruna "blades only. Cerulea and I will take care of the guards on the wall, wait for us". Bruna grabbed Cerulea and activated her dust, since the two were touching Cerulea was immune to the time stop. The two held hands as they scaled the wall. Three guards were on a platform against the wall. "I'll take the two you take the one" said Bruna "deal"? "Got it" said Cerulea. Bruna lead Cerulea behind one of the guards, when she was ready she let go and Cerulea was frozen. Bruna positioned herself near the other two and turned the dust off, returning time to normal. Taken by absolute surprise Bruna and Cerulea took the guards out in a few swift strokes. The rest scaled the wall and dropped from the platform, the place where Weiss was being held was right across. "Odd" said Bruna "no guards at the door"? "Maybe Blake and the others took care of them for us?" said Ruby. "Let's head inside" said Tuscan "no use staying out here". The five entered the building and saw an awful sight. White Fang bodies scattered around the floor, as if they were torn apart. "What happened here?" Yang asked. Bruna saw a blinking light on the ground, on closer inspection it was the Schnee shipping beacon. Bruna turned the beacon off "she isn't far, look around". At that point Phoena and the others entered. "Did you guys do this?" Phoena asked. "No" said Cerulea "but someone or something did". "Look for clues then" said Phoena. The group split up to search the area, Bruna and Cerulea looked through the cells. "They are all empty" said Cerulea "but look at these two". Cerulea pointed at two cells across from each other, they were the only open cells. "Weiss could have escaped" said Bruna "but it looks like she took somebody with her". "Guys!" Ruby called out "come check this out"! Everyone went to Ruby who found a strange cell. It had two iron doors that were several inches thick, something had pried it open to escape. White Fang bodies littered the entrance, and one was inside the cell. "Who did they keep in here?" Blake asked. "Or what did they keep in here" said Phoena "and none of you found Weiss". "She broke out with somebody else" said Cerulea. "If she broke out than why was their no alarm?" said Tuscan "and how did she kill all these soldiers with her bare hands"? "Whatever was inside that vault may have done that" said Phoena "we need to search the compound she couldn't have gone far". A bright light illuminated the night sky. They watched through a window as a pillar of fire erupted from the ground across the compound, it took the form of a dragon before crashing into the ground. "What the hell was that?" said Yang. "It's him" said Bruna "I don't believe it it's really him"! Bruna ran out of the building towards the area of the explosion. "Bruna wait!" Lenna yelled. The rest chased Bruna as the whole compound was put on alert.