Blake crouched lower behind the barrels in the alleyway, Ruby mirroring her movements about 10 feet away behind a stack of crates. The shadows of the night enveloped them, rendering them unseen to the two guards standing rather boredly in front of the side entrance to the prison. One, yellow highlights on his white-silver armor, had his rifle to his side, leaning back against the wall. The other, highlights red, stood more alert, but with his with his rifle strapped across his back. Blake adjusted her grip on Gambol Shroud, motioning to Ruby with three fingers. Ruby nodded, face set determinedly. They had already planned that they would just knock out the guards, not harm them in any way. After all, they were good men.

Three seconds were up. Simultaneously, Blake and Ruby lept over their respective cover like phantoms from the darkness.

The moonlight glinted off of Myrtenaster as Weiss stood against a brick wall on the roof of a building, watching with slitted eyes the few White Fang who were loading supplies onto a couple of carriers. The report about Emerald and Mercury would go out tomorrow morning, providing a valid cover story for the investigation she would carry out with Qrow subsequently. She had sent her enemy a message detailing this, minus the part about the investigation, and had later received a package, anonymously sent but containing two things. One was the orders to be here tonight, and included the signature of the woman. Cinder. The name sent shivers down her spine.

The second thing contained in the box was an unmarked scroll, to be used for communication with Cinder. She held the scroll in her left hand now, and it buzzed to life.

"Good work with the report." The voice, distorted as it was through the scroll, was unmistakable. "The White Fang, while I may have worked with them in the past, are not friends. Kill all of their agents in the area, then send up a flare. You should find one behind one of the crates. I will land, and do the rest. Out." Weiss resisted the urge to snort. Likely the White Fang were allies, and had just refused to give her the supplies. These were probably to break Emerald and Mercury out of prison. Most likely with Torchwick in tow. But that was irrelevant right now. Weiss broke cover, placing a glyph behind her and then flying towards the White Fang, the wind whistling as she passed.

Blake flipped forward, placing a clone dehing her, which one of the guards pointed to and raised his rifle. Blake landed with both feet colliding with the head of one of the guards, and the other fell back in surprise. He opened his mouth to shout, but the sound was stifled as Ruby brought her boot down on his face. Ruby looked down at the man and frowned. "I hope that he'll be okay," she said, scuffing the ground with the heel of her boot. Blake frowned. "Aye," she said, then turned towards the door that the men had been guarding. "I'll go in and find Yang, then bring her out. You stay here, okay?" Ruby looked up indignantly. "But she's my sister!" She said, a hint of anger in her voice. Blake did not turn away from the door. "I have experience in the shadows. And besides, it's easier to sneak in one person to a place than it is two. Ruby sighed. "All right," she said disappointedly and walked over to the crates she had previously been hiding behind, sitting down on them and pulling out her scroll. She fiddled with it a little. Blake, satisfied, peered in through the keyhole in the door. Satisfied that there was no one there, she pulled out a lockpicking kit.

Weiss, flying forward, impaled one of the guards. The others, seeing her sudden approach, yelled in dismay. Two drew swords and ran at her, while the other leveled his gun and began to fire. Weiss placed a glyph on the back of her first victim and flew into the air. Bullets hailed from the weapon of the soldier and pinged off of the brick behind her. Weiss, swinging Myrtenaster, directed a blast of energy at one of the swordsmen, then placed a glyph behind her and launched at the gunman, grunting with the impact as she flew, Myrtenaster forward, into him. Drawing out the blade with a grisly noise, she spun on her heel and rose her sword to deflect a blow from the last remaining swordsman, twisting her weapon so as to disarm her opponent.

He stepped back, raising his hands in surrender. "Please," he babbled, "Please!" Weiss's eyes narrowed dispassionately. This man was a terrorist. He fought for what was wrong. She raised her weapon, then with a disdainful stroke severed his head. She spun on her heel and strode towards the supplies. There was a flare she needed to find.

Blake gently pushed open the door, glancing inside. Security was not that tight. After all, the government was worried about prisoners breaking out, not others breaking in. And besides, this was just a holding block for people suspected of a violent crime. Hardly a maximum-security prison. A shadowy streak, Blake dashed to a control panel at one end of the room. She scanned the controls for what she was looking for. Fortunately, they were well labeled. A small section said cell controls. Squinting, Blake slowly traced her finger down the list. About halfway down, she stopped. Yang Xiao Long.

Weiss stood at the edge of the building, the flare burning behind her. The wind made her hair fly in the wind. She took out the spare scroll. "Objective complete." She said, voice bereft of emotion. "Good," came the reply from over the device. "Stay the course." The crackling feedback accompanied by Cinder's voice faded to nothing. Squinting, Weiss looked down into the alleyway below the building she stood on. Three figures appeared to be running there.

Blake, Ruby, and Yang dashed down the alleyway, back from the way they came. The other prisoners were asleep, but they needed to return Yang before anyone could wake up. ANd if one of the others did, they had to be as far away as possible. "Why did you do it?" Ruby asked Yang over their pounding feet. Yang cast a glance over her shoulder at her. "He attacked me! I know the video feeds don't show it, but he- " Blake cut her short. "We believe you." Yang looked around. "Where's Weiss?" She asked, a little confused. Blake's eyes tightened. "She said she had other plans."

Weiss strode over to the body of the nearest White fang and picked up his sword. Holding it with disgust, two fingers pinching the hilt, she walked back to the edge. The figures were still running. Weiss tossed the sword into the air and caught it, then, letting out a little noise of exertion, flung it at a wire nearby. The building across the way was under construction. A some beams of metal lay suspended by just a couple of coils.

A grating noise interrupted their conversation. Blake looked up in horror to see steel beams falling from far above. Looking upwards, she also thought she caught a hint of white on the top of the adjacent building. She blinked. The steel was still there, but the white was gone. Ruby, noticing it as well, had stopped, but Yang was still running straight towards where they would land.

Weiss strode away from the rooftop, chin high, and walked over to the supply crates, she sat down on one of them, crossed her legs, and sighed. She had no idea how long it would be until Cinder arrived, but she predicted that it would not be a short wait. Cinder was a smart woman, and Weiss assumed she would not hide this close to a White Fang operation.

"Wait! Stop!" Blake yelled, reaching a hand out in Yang's direction. She turned, surprised. "Why?" She said, and gestured with one arm behind her. "I thought we had to leave as quickly as possi - " she stopped when she heard the grinding of the bars together. Slowly, she looked up, eyes widening, as the tons of steel crashed down on top of the arm she still held behind her, pulling her to the ground, arm trapped behind her at an awkward angle under a pile of metal.

Ruby screamed, and jumped onto the pile, desperately trying to push the mess of bars off of her sister's arm. Yang looked like she was holding back pain, there were tears welling in her eyes. Ruby was trying to move a girder lodged firmly in place on Yang's arm, but was getting nowhere. Blake walked over to Ruby, and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Let's try to move that bar together," she said, trying to keep her voice calm, but could not stifle the bit of emotion that entered it. Ruby nodded. "Right," she said. "You take that end of the bar, I'll grab this one," pointing to each corresponding end in turn. Blake agreed, then moved to her end of the metal object.

Yang was moaning in pain at this point. Really, Blake was impressed that was it. If it were her under there she would be crying her eyes out, she thought wryly. Turning her focus back to the task at hand, she pushed against the bar with all of her might. Grunting in exertion, she and Ruby managed to push it a few inches. Hesitantly, they let it go, and it stayed where they put it. Rubyś face sagged with relief. "I think we can get her out," she said, but her unsure voice but steady. Yang, who could not see what they were doing, twisted her head to try to look behind her. "What's happening?" She said, voice tight with pain. "Are you freeing me?" She tried to yank out her arm.

With a horrible grating noise, the metal bars crashed back down onto her arm, more than before. Yang let out a cry of pain. Her eyes teary, she turned to look up at Blake, who had walked over to stand in front of her. Yang's helpless expression brought a tear to Blake's own eye. She knelt down to put her face closer to Yang's.

"We have two options," she said, her voice a monotone. "Either we can keep trying to push off the metal, and fail, or I can amputate your arm. Your aura should cover the bleeding, and we can get you out of here."

Yang looked unsure. "Are you sure that you can't get me out?" Her voice, normally so strong was a thin whisper. She clenched her untrapped hand into a fist, then let it go.

Ruby walked over to where they stood then collapsed onto the floor, tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry sis!"She said, own voice tight with pain. "We tried, but we just can't move it!" She buried her face in her hands.

Yang looked like she was about to break. Blake laid a comforting hand on Yang's free arm. "Be brave," she advised, unable to meet Yang's eyes. "This will be quick." She stood up, and before she could think more about what she was doing, raised Gambol Shroud and sliced off the arm(in reality just the hand and then a little bit was stuck) below the elbow. Yang screamed in pain, and Ruby covered her mouth with one hand, and ran over to Yang, who had tears running down her face.

The noise of turbines woke Weiss from her semi-stupor. She had walked and sat, feet dangling over the edge of the building, as she waited. The three figures below were gone. They had been for around an hour. Cinder had arrived. She stood up, then turned to walk towards the landing area. Her hair snapped in the wind, and she raised one hand to keep said wind out of her eyes.

The transport landed, and it's bridge descended from the main body of the vehicle. Out walked Cinder. There was a smug smile on her face, and she slowly surveyed the landing area. The smile grew wider as she saw the White Fang corpses. She strode down the ramp, heels clicking on the cold metal. Halfway down, she stopped,and cocked her head to one side. Her gaze hardened. "Kneel," she commanded, voice steel.

Obediently, Weiss swept back her hair and lowered herself to one knee, head facing the ground, hands clasped behind her back. She fought to keep her anger from showing. Cinder strode over to her. She placed a hand on Weiss's cheek, almost lovingly, and brought her head up to meet her gaze. She smiled, an ugly thing. "You've done well," she said, raising an eyebrow. "Of course, I've only given you assignments that you would have done anyway. That changes now." There was a sort of pleasure in her voice. She took her hand away, and Weiss let her head fall back so it was facing the ground. Cinder turned around, and Weiss's lip trembled. She hadn't been this outraged for… a long time.

Cinder was still speaking. "Tomorrow, I'm going to have you put these supplies in various spots in prison. Not the one here, but the maximum security one. Then, you'll weaken its defences." She began to walk back towards her vehicle, where two men were exiting.

Weiss lowered her head further. "If that is what you wish," she said, fighting to keep the anger out of her voice.

"Those will be known murderers you release," Cinder crooned. "You know that, right?" She had turned to face Weiss, a mockery of pity upon her face. Without waiting for a response, she strode into the black maw of the vehicle. It took all of Weiss self-control not to try and stab her nominal overlord in the back.

As Weiss tiredly pushed open the door to their shared room, she was met with Ruby rushing to the door. She grabbed both of Weiss's hands.

"Where were you?" Ruby was anxious and her eyes roved around the room. Blake, sitting on her bed in the background, had a book in front of her but was staring at Weiss.

Weiss put a hand up, and leaned on her back leg. "Um… I told you, I was visiting a friend!" She tilted her head back. Blake rolled her eyes. "Till midnight?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm. Weiss narrowed her eyes. "Where were you? Ruby's never up this late."

This had an effect on Ruby. She slumped a bit, then turned and walked slowly to her bed. Weiss's face showed her surprise. She looked worriedly at Blake. "What did I say wrong?" She asked, a hint of petulance in her voice.

Blake sighed deeply, and looked at the ground. "You didn't say anything." She looked at her hands. "It's what happened today." Weiss strode into the room, until she was standing looking down on Blake. She put one hand on her hip. "What happened? Did you go looking for Yang?" Blake clenched a hand into a fist. "Yes," she said simply.

Weiss took a step back, shocked. "Well, w-what happened?" She had forgotten that they were going to do that. Then she wondered what had happened. "Where was she being held?!"

Blake sighed again. "A holding prison in downtown vale for criminals suspected of dangerous crimes." Her voice was a monotone. "We got her out just fine, but when we left and were running down the alley by the back entrance, for some reason a bunch of metal girders fell on her arm. Long story short, I had to amputate it. Happy?" Blake glared up at Weiss.

Weiss raised a hand. "Whoah, don't get angry! This wasn't my fault." But the thought percolated in the back of her head. She had dropped metal on three people running, after all…

Weiss's eyes narrowed. "Did you get any glimpse of who did it. Metal doesn't fall on it's own." She placed a hand on Myrtenaster.

To her surprise, Blake nodded. "I saw a flash of white on top of one of the buildings when the metal hit."

From her bed, Ruby raised her hands in indignation. "You never told me that!" She said angrily. Blake looked back down.

"I was waiting until we were all here." She said, clasping her hands together in her lap. Weiss gave a look of polite confusion.

"And that tells us…" she said, head tilted to one side. She aimed for a look of consideration, but inside her mind was racing. She had been near that prison, saw three figures running…

Her mind stopped for a second. Her hand, which had been clutching Myrtenaster, fell limp by her side. Then, she attempted to compose herself.

Ruby opened her palms in a "you know" gesture. "It means that the culprit was wearing white! Now, who do I know who who wears white…" she said, and began counting on her fingers. Weiss put her hand on her hip. "I have an idea," she said contemplatively. "Why don't we just sleep on it."

Blake looked up angrily. "No! This is Yang, our teammate! We have to figure out who did this," she said. Weiss looked chastened. "Of course." She said simply. It was her turn to turn away. "I just think that we'll all think better if we get a night's sleep first."

Ruby, still counting on her fingers, looked up. "I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight," she said, and looked down at her fingers. "So that makes thirteen, and let's see…" she muttered to herself.

Blake slumped a bit. "Weiss's right," she said, and Weiss's head snapped to face her in surprise. "We're not going to get anything done in the middle of the night while we're all exhausted. And with that, she collapsed back onto her bed, languidly placing her book on a nightstand.

Ruby looked up indignantly. "You interrupted my counting!" She said, but deflated immediately when Weiss cast a glare in her direction. "Well, I suppose you're right…" she said, head moving back and forth. "Well, all right then… G'night," she said, and walked over to her bed and then flopped down, face first. Weiss soon after followed suit, just putting her sword away first.