Part 12

Ashe

Two weeks, Ashe told herself as she sat, curled up, in the corner of the lavish hotel suite. It's only been two weeks; if I just wait it out, I'm sure I'll be able to go back home. Her wide, pink eyes were focused on Morgan and he spoke to a man on a scroll. The back of the device faced Ashe, as to not let the man see her, and Morgan had ordered her to be completely silent for the duration of the call.

He still doesn't take you seriously, the second voice in Ashe's head told her. You're still just a little kid to him; someone he has to hide away because he's embarrassed you're even here. Let me change that; I can kill him for you. Ashe's vision began bouncing from Morgan to her weapons, and she could feel her hand begin to reach for the striped grey hood against her back. It won't take long, and then you can go back home.

Ashe closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around her stomach. Shut up! I can't be seen because the guys Morgan's talking to can't know he's getting help. I can't kill him, Vergil asked me to help them! She could feel her breathing start to speed up, and bit down on her lip to keep herself from speaking aloud. Vergil wouldn't want me to kill him! I'm here to do what Morgan says, and then I can go home!

But what if they leave while you're gone? her other self asked mockingly. They might; all you are is just a little orphan runaway who can't even look a person in the eye when you talk to them. Ashe began rocking back and forth in her corner. What are you even good for? I'm the one who's important to Vergil; you're just the extra baggage that comes with me. If you let me kill Morgan, you can go back home before they forget you.

Stop it! Ashe screamed silently. Vergil wouldn't do that to me! He's my friend! Blanche is too; and… and… they're all my friends! They're not going to leave! They promised me that I'd never be alone again! Ashe could feel tears welling in the corners of her eyes. Just shut up! Shut Up! SHUT UP!

Ashe sat in her corner, waiting to see if she would reply to herself again. After several tense moments of silence, Ashe began to relax. She released her lip from her teeth, tasting blood. I want to go home, she thought, this doesn't happen when I'm at home. She took several deep breaths as she felt her heart rate drop back to normal levels.

Now that she had control over her own mind again, Ashe surveyed the room around her. Ever since Morgan's violent demonstration two weeks ago, they had been moving between expensive hotels almost daily. Unsurprisingly, every room they used proved to be even more extravagant then the last; the room Ashe was hiding in the corner of took up nearly the entire top floor of a downtown hotel. In a stark contrast to the warm, inviting room filled with antique furniture from yesterday, the current hideout was the pinnacle of modern design: the walls were a brilliant white with large windows showing off the Vale skyline. The room's furniture, artwork, and decorations were nearly monochromatic, with a few splashes of blue and green accents. As he always did, Morgan had positioned the Scroll on the end of the room's main dining table, a blocky monolith of black and white, and was seated infront of it in a black, high-backed chair.

"…In any case, I thank you for your time, Aurum," Morgan was saying in a voice rooted in hatred, yet thinly veiled with politeness and courtesy. "Now good bye." He moved forward in his seat and tapped on the device. Morgan sighed and sat back down in the seat. "Khrysis, how long do you think it would take you to travel back to Vacuo and shoot that bastard?"

Khrysis, who was sitting at the room's black-topped bar and drinking away an impressive amount of alcohol, laughed. "Not long, but you're fucked in the head if you think I'm gonna try and fight off the whole Zhang Dynasty on my own."

Ashe glanced around and unsteadily got to her feet. "W-what does he mean b-by on his own-n-n?" she asked Ferrous, who had been sitting in a low, black leather chair a few steps away from her. "W-Would he do it w-w-wi-w-w-wi…?" She silently cursed her stutter. "If-f-f there w-were more guys to help-p him?" Ashe was tempted to throw up her hood and be able to talk normally, but she couldn't trust her other self to stay level-headed enough.

Ferrous closed the book he had been reading and smiled at Ashe. "It's a little complicated," he said. "Morgan's father is the head of the Zhang Dynasty, and he hasn't been in the best of shape for the last few years. In the event that he dies, the position goes to his next of kin; currently, Morgan. It's no secret that this idea isn't very popular amongst the members of The Dynasty's leaders, known as The Table. Morgan's essentially been thrown into Vale in the hopes that the boss will die while he's gone, and the members of The Table can assume full control of the family. Morgan's aware of this, and hopes to make his way back to Vacuo and take over the Family in a less than diplomatic way. We can't do that without a force behind us, so that's what we're working toward."

"Well I am the rightful heir, so I'm just taking what's mine," Morgan said from his seat at the far end of the massive dining table. "But I guess I am hoping to gut each one of those men myself; that's a fair explanation." Ashe could see from the outside of his scroll that Morgan was reading through reports of their attack from three days ago. "Our little stunt was a good enough way to get our names to the public; any small-time crook looking for a better way should at least consider the Zhang Dynasty a good place to go. Getting an audience with any of the organized groups is easier if they know who we represent. We could start right now…" Ashe could see his expression darkening as he spoke. "…Which would be so much easier if Huo hadn't gotten herself fucking arrested." His hands tensed, and the scroll snapped in half.

Ferrous looked over from his book. "Calm down, sir," he said in an authoritative tone.

Morgan sighed, then nodded. "Yes, I know. It's shouldn't be that big a problem, since she knows I keep my word." He looked over to Khrysis again. "Just in case, I want you to make sure you know if, when, and where her friends are in the city; especially that red-haired girl."

Khrysis laughed and patted the twin-bladed sword that was resting up against the slick black bar. "You don't have to tell me twice," he said. "I'm gonna make sure this works! You promised me that I won't need to take shit from anyone, and me and Coral are gonna live like kings!" He pounded away another shot-glass of amber liquid. "I can't wait for a good life this time around! No more nights in shitty motels, no more retards telling me what to do; it's gonna be great!" He poured himself another drink, downing it immediately after. "You better not fuck it up, kid," he warned in a sluggish voice. "I need this."

Morgan sighed in annoyance. "Khrysis, get off the bar." Khrysis waved off the raven-haired boy and stood up, then staggered over and fell face-first onto one of the low-set black couches that surrounded a clear coffee table near the centre of the room. Morgan shook his head. "Shame I've promised him a high-up position in exchange for helping me." He shrugged. "I guess you get what you paid for."

Ashe looked back to the three binders of cards that were sitting on the edge of the coffee table near Khrysis. "C-C-Can I go back-k to my c-c-cards now?" she asked. Morgan nodded, and Ashe immediately dashed back over to the cards. Alright, I need to find my four Funeral Pyres for my necromancer deck, and I should be good for tonight. She flipped through a binder full of various cards with fancy art and long, convoluted names before she came across a set of four red-framed cards with an image of a man's reanimated corpse charging out of a burning pile of wood. Ashe grinned slightly as she carefully pulled the cards out of their sleeves.

"So what's this?" Ferrous asked, hovering above her.

Ashe looked back down at the cards in her hand, slightly embarrassed. "It's a c-c-card game. I start-t-ted playing it-t to b-b-be able to t-talk with other p-p-pe-p-p… other k-k-kids and try t-to fix my st-t-t-utter." She sighed. "D-D-Didn't really help-p, b-but it's fun t-t-to play, so I st-still g-go and play when I g-g-get the chance." She hung her head, disappointed with how long it took her to say such a simple sentence.

Ferrous crouched down to her level. "It looks interesting," he said. "What are you doing right now?"

Normally, Ashe would've ignored the comment, assuming he was just humoring her, but something about the man's kind expression made her trust that he was genuinely interested. "Well there's a g-g-game tonight-t that I'm g-going to, and I'm put-t-ting tog-gether a new d-d-deck." She held up the cards that were in her hand for Ferrous to see. "It works b-b-by razing your own d-d-deck and-d using c-cards lik-k-ke this to b-b-bring them from your g-g-graveyard t-to the b-b-battlezone." She sighed and looked back at the cards. "I g-guess that d-doesn't make a l-l-lot of since, d-d-does it-t?"

Ferrous chuckled softly. "That sounds… really confusing to me. I assume I would understand you better if I'd actually played the game?" Ashe nodded. "Ah, then maybe you could show me how it works?"

Ashe's face lit up in excitement. She was about to suggest he look through some of her other decks, but Khrysis rolling over and groaning cut her off. "Oh my god, shut up about you're fucking game!" he almost yelled. Ashe felt herself freeze in panic at the loud, drunk assassin. Khrysis's cloudy eyes looked over her in contempt before he noticed the cards in Ashe's hands. "What are these?" he asked mockingly as he ripped them away from her.

"They're c-c-cards," Ashe said, her voice quivering. "Pl-pl-please don't-t wreck-k them; they're expe-exp-expens-ex... valuable." While Ashe was more concerned about the fate of the pieces of her game, a small voice in her head chastised her for her pitiful attempt at asking for the cards' return.

Khrysis looked over the cards and laughed. "Wow, what a fucking joke. These are expensive, are they?" He grabbed the four pieces of paper and promptly ripped them in half. "There we go, now they're worth nothing; just like the rest of them."

Ashe wanted to scream at the copper-haired man for destroying her cards, but only began tearing up. Damnit! Don't do this now! "I… you… I…" she forced out before she began crying.

Khrysis laughed again. "Oh come on! They're just some retarded toys, not something to –"

Khrysis was cut off by Ferrous, who slammed a fist into his face and sent him careening over the couch. "Leave the child alone!" he ordered.

Khrysis climbed unsteadily to his feet. "Or what, you old fuck? You gonna try to kill me?" He laughed. "Good luck, fag! Those little bitch knives won't do shit against a bullet to the head!"

Ferrous reached into his smooth grey suit jacket and produced one of his black butterfly knives, then began expertly fanning the blade in his left hand. "So first you kill your own family, and then you try and kill us? Does betrayal come so naturally to you?"

Ashe ran and hid behind a chair with white upholstery, hoping to stay far enough away from the two if a fight were to break out. "Enough!" Morgan shouted from his spot at the table. "Khrysis, you couldn't beat Ferrous if you were sober, let alone now. Both of you, stand down!"

Ferrous obeyed without hesitation and slid his knife back into the suit. Khrysis, on the other hand, didn't seem to be finished. "Fuck that! I can take him!" He charged, but didn't manage to do so much as touch Ferrous before the grey-haired man delivered a swift kick to the side of Khrysis's head. The younger man collapsed in a heap, knocked out from a combination of Ferrous's attack and the alcohol.

"I'm sorry about that, sir," Ferrous said to Morgan. "In my defence, he deserved it."

Morgan shrugged in indifference. "I told him to stop and he didn't; no reason for you to apologize." He glanced over the unconscious copper-haired man. "Let him sleep it off: he's even more of an ass when he's drunk, and the last thing we need is for him to make a scene."

Ferrous nodded, then bent down and held out a hand to Ashe. "Are you okay?" he asked. Ashe wiped her eyes and nodded. "Don't worry about your cards, I'll give you enough to buy new ones."

Ashe smiled and took Ferrous's hand to climb up to her full height, barely over four and a half feet. "Th-thanks," she said.

Ferrous rested a hand on her shoulder. "If he ever does something like that again, I want you to promise me you'll tell me, okay?" Ashe nodded again. "Now is it still too late for you to teach me how to play?"

Ashe shook her head defiantly and quickly turned back to her collection of trading cards. She quickly dug through her collection until she found something that could be easily played by a beginner. "H-h-here," she said, holding the deck of cards up to the grey-suited man. "I c-c-can ex-x-xp-exp… t-tell you how t-to pl-lay as we g-go." Ferrous nodded courteously and took a seat on the ground across the coffee table from Ashe.

Out of all the people Ashe had met while being Vergil Felis's protégé over the past four years, she hadn't come across someone as likable as Ferrous. Not that that's a big accomplishment, she thought as she demonstrated the card game's rules to the greying man. He was part of only a handful who didn't question her age, and part of an even smaller group who didn't chide her on her speech impediment. He was quick to learn as well: after only a few rounds, Ferrous no longer asked Ashe to explain how and when cards were played, and was playing the game as if he always had before their eighth round began.

"What's up, people!" Vergil shouted as he walked in the room. "It's been what, two weeks? How's the old "forming a new gang to take over your old gang" shtick going?" Morgan didn't even bother saying something; he instead waved the purple-clad androgynous Faunus into the room. Vergil walked briskly through the room toward the long, wide couch Ashe and Ferrous were seated around, stepping over the still-unconscious Khrysis as he approached. "God damn, what happened to this guy?" Vergil sniffed the air and frowned. "Oh, drunk off his ass; got ya." He hopped the back of the couch and laid out on it. "So? What you doing? Playing card games?"

Ferrous nodded to him. "Indeed we are; Ashe said she enjoys the game, so I figured I might as well try my hand at it." He looked at the array of cards in his hand, then placed one down infront of him. Ashe glanced over the art, showing a massive, two-headed Nevermore tearing through a person. "I must admit, it's a lot more complex than I gave it credit for; she's quite brilliant for someone her age."

Ashe smiled sheepishly and could feel heat rising to her cheeks. "Of course she is!" Vergil responded, wrapping his arms around her from behind and nuzzling his head in her thick grey hair. "She's our little genius! I'm so glad I was the one who found her crying in an alleyway instead of some creep." He rustled Ashe's hair and stood to his feet. "Speaking of which, do you remember what day it is today?" he asked while reaching toward one of the pockets on his purple camouflaged cargo pants.

Ashe's face lit up as she remembered. "Ad-adoption day?" she asked excitedly. Vergil gave a wide grin as he pulled out a rectangular box wrapped in stripped red-and-white paper and handed it to her.

"What's adoption day?" Ferrous asked as Ashe ripped open the brightly-coloured package.

Vergil sat back on the couch. "Today marks exactly four years since I took Ashe in. Since we're not really sure when her birthday is, I make sure to get her a little something every year." He attempted to cover up his large grin with his hands as Ashe continued to work her way to the centre of the present. "Now hurry up with that! I want to see your reaction!"

Ashe finally managed to tear off all of the wrapping paper to reveal a silver metal box. She cracked it open curiously and saw what Vergil had gotten her: it was a metal device, just a little larger than her hand, with the pink Ace-of-Hearts card that was on the front of her shirt etched into it. "Is this w-what I think-k it-t is?" she asked.

Vergil smirked. "Now I know I said you wouldn't be getting a scroll until you were at least sixteen, but if you're going to be away from home this much, I think it's best if you had some way to talk with everyone. I already went around and added in everyone's information for you, so you can call anyone up right now, if you want."

Ashe leapt off the ground and gave Vergil as strong a hug as she could manage. "Th-thanks d-d… Vergil," she said.

Vergil gave her a light squeeze in return and began scratching behind the circular grey mouse ears that protruded from her thick grey hair. "No problem kid; you deserve something special."

An annoyed cough from behind them, and Ashe looked up to see Morgan standing above them. "I'd hate to break up the feel-good family moment, but you said you needed to come here for a professional reason. With my dear whore of a sister in custody and most likely talking, I can't risk you coming here just to hand out presents."

Vergil sighed. "I was going to get to that," he responded.

Morgan folded his arms. "Well pick it up; you're not going to be here long."

Vergil rolled his eyes before he spoke. "Are you gonna be doing anything tonight? Or can I borrow my little killer?" he asked as he continued to brush his hands through Ashe's hair.

"I'm not planning on doing much of anything until I've figured out how to deal with my sister, so you can do what you wish for the night," Morgan told him.

"Good." He lifted Ashe off of his lap and put her down beside him, then began fishing though his pockets again. "If you've got plans tonight, you're gonna have to cancel," Vergil said as he pulled out another scroll from his pocket. He slid the device open, and the screen came to life with an angry-looking red wolf head in the centre of it. "They're calling us up again."

Ashe sighed in distain as she looked over the White Fang's symbol. Not again. Although he never showed actual support and frequently spoke ill of the militant Faunus group, Vergil was technically considered to be a member, and that lead to him and his mercenaries being called up occasionally for help. "What d-d-do they want-t?" Ashe asked.

Vergil held the scroll infront of himself and slid his hand across it several times. "What do they always want? They're still working on this idea that equality comes from terrorism and assassinations, so you're gonna be killing someone important. Again." He sighed and fell back on the couch. "I wish I never agreed to kill off my old boss for them; I should've just waited 'till they offed Clovis themselves. Could've just taken over then and saved myself the headache." He handed the scroll over to Ashe listlessly and craned his head back to look at Morgan, who was still standing behind him. "You think you could get me a drink? I don't need to drive, so something strong." Morgan glared at him with his dark grey eyes silently before Vergil sighed and leapt to his feet. "Alright, fine; I can do it myself."

As her boss helped himself to a variety of exotic drinks, Ashe took her time to look over what the militant Faunus group wanted of her. "Another c-c-c-cor-corp… b-businessman assassin-n-ination?" she inquired as she read.

Vergil fell back down on the couch beside her, a bright blue drink in hand. "Yup. I'll give you two guesses on what company; fist guess doesn't count."

"Schnee D-Dust C-Company," she stated. Vergil smirked and nodded. Ashe exhaled in exasperation as she kept reading.

An SDC executive had recently fallen to his death from one of the top floors of a downtown hotel, so a fair number of high-profile members of the company's Vale branch that held similar positions had decided to increase their already tight security. One such executive had the misfortune of having a White Fang supporter among those who added to the security systems of his house. Ashe flipped through pages and pages of notes and diagrams of the man's house, each one explaining a different part of the building's security system. That's the kind of thing that happens when you use cheap labour, Ashe thought to herself as she began reading the notes that detailed discrepancies in the system that could be abused.

"Poor man," Vergil said to himself as she read. "I'm sure he couldn't do anything to change the Schnee workforce if he tried. Do try and make it painless, okay?" Ashe nodded in agreement, to which Vergil frowned. "I'm sorry, but any chance you could throw your hood up? I feel so… horrible talking about murder with you while you're like this."

Ashe froze in panic for a second as she thought about her attack earlier. Is it safe? Ashe knew she never had problems with Vergil around, but that didn't change the fact that her attack had only occurred and hour ago at most. "I… ok-okay," she agreed. Ashe reached behind her head and grabbed hold of the grey-and-pink stripped hood. She swallowed her nervousness and pulled the hood over her ears, both human and Faunus.

Ashe sighed. For god's sake, why am I always so scared of everything? Such bullshit. She stretched out, straining herself to put her feet on the table Vergil was leisurely resting his. "There we go," she said, free of her irritating stutter. "Now, what're the details?"

Vergil smirked and pulled out his personal scroll. "It's gotta be done tonight; this guy's leaving for a business meeting in Atlas tomorrow morning, and won't be back for over a month. It makes it a little easier for us though: he's gonna be gone for so long, he's letting his staff off for the time being; only living things in the house are him and a skeleton crew." He drained half of the cup in his hand, then shook his head as he swallowed the alcohol. "There's some automation going on, of course, but you're quiet enough to get past it, right?"

Ashe scoffed. "What do you think?" she asked.

Vergil laughed. "Now, now; no need to get snippy." He stood up from the couch and stretched, popping the joints along his spine as he did so. "Well thank you for your hospitality boys, but we've got things to do." He downed the rest of his drink and started toward the door.

Ashe hopped to her feet and began following her boss, but was stopped by Ferrous grabbing her arm. "Be careful," he said.

Ashe pulled her arm free and rolled her eyes. "I don't need to be told that," she responded. Ferrous frowned at her response, and a small part of Ashe felt bad about what she had said. She shook the thought from her head as she gathered her things into a black bag and followed Vergil out of the room.

After taking separate elevators from two different floors, as to make sure they weren't caught on any cameras together, Ashe walked out of the front entrance of the hotel exactly five minutes after Vergil had. "Where is this place?" she asked as she climbed into the backseat of one of Wonderland's dark vans. She pulled out the scroll with the building's schematics on it and returned to reviewing its systems. As usual, the terrorist group made sure to send each different part of the request to a different scroll, in case one of the messages were intercepted.

Vergil, seated in the shotgun seat of the van beside a well-groomed man with large ears covered in brown fur, slid open a different scroll and began reading its contents. "Looks like you'll be heading to the fancy part of town; a gated community called Pristancia."He suddenly laughed. "Ho boy, that's a ritzy place! This'll probably be the first time a Faunus has stepped inside that hasn't been… like, gardening or something."

Ashe ignored Vergil's joking and rehearsed what she knew about the area. The gated community isn't that big a problem; I can get over those walls no problem. I'll have to keep to roofs to avoid being seen by anyone still awake, preferably staying on the opposite side of the streets. Ashe couldn't guess the position of the house itself, but she prayed it wasn't too far in. She looked back at the diagrams on the scroll in her hands. The walls around this place have to be pushing twelve feet; not that big a problem to get past, but there's bound to be some kind of motion sensor. She traced a finger around the perimeter of the lot, noting locations of various sensors designed to spot intruders. They've got to be set for a specific size, so they don't set off every animal on the lot. She looked down at her small frame. If I'm lucky, I might be small enough to keep under the radar.

Ashe frowned at the thought of her stature being anything but a detriment to her. Don't think like that; that's what'll get you caught or killed. The morbid thought of death reminded her of her pitiful attempt at fighting Morgan's sister three days ago. I was a joke compared to them, she thought. What can I do against someone who can stop bullets with her Aura? She slid down in her seat, her mood darkening. It's not fair; why do they get to be so strong? They've never had to steal just to be able to eat. They probably knew their parents; they–

Ashe's train of thought derailed as the van came to an abrupt stop. She glanced out the window and saw the faded sign of the Wonderland Tea Shop, the business front for Vergil's mercenary operation. "We're going to wait until two or three in the morning before doing this, so feel free to relax until then." As Vergil looked over his shoulder at her, he must've noticed her sour disposition; his usual grin quickly faded away. "Something bothering you?" he asked.

Ashe sighed and pushed open the door of the vehicle. "Nothing." She slammed the door behind her and walked toward the small, run down shop. She walked through the smoke-filled main room populated by a handful of Faunus too high to pay any attention to her, and slipped through the small door behind the tea shop's low bar into the employees' break room.

She had to hold down her hood as she passed through the door, as to not let it blow off from the high-powered fans Vergil had installed to make sure the toxic smoke of the shop didn't filter into the room. The room was much cleaner and organized than the actual shop, with a high ceiling, bright lights, and actual furniture instead of the plush cushions that were used by the patrons of the shop. Ashe made her way to a half-sized fridge and took out a bottle of water, then sat down at the grey table in the middle of the room.

"You okay?" a voice asked. Ashe jumped in her seat, looking across the table at a young girl with extremely pale skin, snow white hair, and bright red eyes. "I saw you come in all mad; is something wrong?" she asked.

Ashe sighed. "Nothing, Blanche," she said.

Blanche was only a few years older than her; the youngest person working in the shop and second youngest amongst those Vergil employed. He hadn't even planned on hiring her, but after she had come to the shop with resumes every day for more than a month, Vergil said he felt obligated to let the girl work for him. That's a lie if I ever heard one, Ashe recalled, everyone knows Blanche lives in the projects, Vergil felt bad for her and gave her the job. Not that it bothered Ashe; it gave her someone close enough in age to talk to, and Blanche worked far more hours than any of the other girls.

"Well it can't be 'nothing'; you never have your hood up unless there's something serious happening." She adjusted her navy buttoned-up shirt as she talked. "Heck, I haven't even seen you around here since that weird guy with the girly pants and the really mean bodyguard came in."

Ashe had to remind herself that Blanche was largely unaware of Vergil's mercenary work. As far as she's concerned, we're a drug trafficking ring disguised as a tea shop. "I hate the job Vergil's making me do," she said.

Blanche frowned. "Aww, that sucks." Her eyes suddenly widened in shock. "Oh my god, it's not, like, a… dirty job, is it?" Ashe shook her head, and Blanche sighed in relief. "Oh, good. I know she –or he for today, I guess- does some pretty nasty things, but I'd hope she- he wouldn't… Y'know, make you do that." She smiled. "If he ever does, let me know." She leaned in close and lowered her voice, even though there was no one else in the room, or even the building, who was listening. "My best friend ever is enrolled at Beacon right now; she would totally help you out if you needed it."

Blanche's mention of the famed combat school only served to remind Ashe of her inadequate skill. "I need to go practice," she said coldly as she hopped off of the hard plastic chair and walked toward the metal back door of the building that lead into a typically abandoned parking lot.

"What do you need to practice for?" Blanche asked.

Ashe pulled open the door and looked over her shoulder at the rabbit-eared girl. "Tonight's job."

For the next five hours, Ashe traversed the city unseen and unheard, sneaking across the tops of buildings as well as through them, purposely getting as close to any person she could find without then knowing she was there. It made her feel better, but she still couldn't shake the feeling of inadequacy that came from her fight with Morgan's sister.

I'd be that strong if I had all that formal training for the past eight years, she was thinking as she sat on the roof of her target's neighbor's house, still and silent. After attempting to calm herself down, to no avail, she had returned to Wonderland and was immediately brought to the edge of the gated community for her task. Slipping in had been easy enough, and most of the houses were close enough for Ashe to leap from roof to roof, but her target's location was a different story.

The building was sat on a piece of land thrice the size of the others' already massive lots; a hulking monolith of white marble walls, high, arching pillars, and crystalline windows, with four straight, perpendicular wings jutting out from the box-shaped centre. The yard was surrounded by a twelve-foot-high fence of black metal, topped with vicious spikes and interspaced by large, snow-coloured pillars two feet thick. The lawn was perfectly manicured, with bushes and shrubs trimmed to look like fearsome creatures of darkness, numerous walkways between outdoor patios, and a swimming pool that Ashe could've guessed was larger than the orphanage she had grown up in. Thanks to her natural night vision, the dim lighting that allowed the humans to barely see their surroundings let Ashe make out every detail she could. She reached into the small bag she kept against her back and pulled out the scroll that held the schematics for the house.

The White Fang member who had helped install the man's new security features had done a fantastic job of detailing the system. The Faunus had set one of the cameras to display day-old footage, giving Ashe a small blind spot in line with one of the wings near the back where she could approach without alerting anyone. There's also four human guards inside, she thought. Breaking any windows will set off alarms; there're electronic locks on every door that do the same when forced. She looked at the roof of the target house, spying the ventilation shaft sticking out of the slanted roof that her diagrams said led into the third floor landing of the house. But there's nothing in the ventilation; what kind of attacker would be small enough to fit in there anyway? Ashe smirked, then slid the scroll closed and tucked it away into her bag, then retrieved her mask.

It was a small mask, just enough to cover her eyes, but still gave her enough protection in case she was seen. The centre of it was black, fading out to a light grey as it approached the sides; aside from several intricate swirls of pink, the only other decoration were a series of eight slits that allowed Ashe to see while she was wearing it. Ashe sighed and put the mask over her eyes, sliding the edges of the mask into the small metallic grooves sewn into her hood that held it in place.

She jumped into action, sliding off of the roof she was crouched on and dashed toward the back corner of the fence surrounding the yard. From behind one of the massive pillars in the fence, Ashe scanned the building. At intervals around the house, Ashe could see small, blinking green lights. Cameras. The information in her scroll had talked about them in great detail. They cover every possible angle from just above the first storey of the house. The only downside is that, to make sure they can see all the way to the fence, there's a blind spot of a few metres just infront of some walls. Now, if what the worker did was correct… She scanned the ring of cameras, looking for a gap in the lights. The gap was located along the end of one of the mansion's wings; a black void where another blinking light should've been. A camera that's no longer recording. Ashe hopped off the fence and sprinted to the corner, ducking behind the various bushes and lawn furniture that dotted the yard.

Once Ashe reached the house, she put her back to the wall and took a deep breath. Alright, now I need to– She heard the sound of a door sliding open and halted her breath. Oh shit! Did someone see me? She panicked and wondered if the camera above her had actually been working, and she had been spotted already. No, if they had seen me, they would be moving much faster. She glanced around, looking for a place she could take cover until whoever was coming departed. Ashe offered and rejected a myriad of locations before she looked above at the small metal arm that held the disabled camera. It might hold my weight, and it's high enough up that I might not be seen. The faint sounds of boots on grass that were coming ever closer gave Ashe her answer, and she took a few steps backward and ran up the wall, pushing herself off of the slick, white marble and up toward the mounted surveillance equipment. Ashe reached forward with all the strength she could manage, and felt her hand clasp the cold metal bar.

Ashe almost sighed in relief. She quickly kicked her legs up underneath of her and grabbed hold of the camera mount with her other hand, curling herself into a ball not a dozen feet above the ground. It's not enough, she realized in dread. If I can't get any higher, he's going to see me. She looked around, but couldn't see anything close enough to move to. Around the corner of the house, she could hear the feet pound against the earth, getting louder and louder as the guard approached the turn in the architecture. Ashe attempted to squeeze herself into an even smaller ball, but to no avail. She looked below her as a man in a dark suit turned the corner, looked up, and spoke.

"Ah shit, is that camera out?" He groaned and rubbed his eyes. "It's just one thing after another; guess that's what happens when you pay animals to do a man's work."

Ashe was confused. Wait, what? How can he not see me? It took her a fair amount of time longer than she would've liked for her to remember her night vision. On top of that, his eyes probably haven't even adjusted to the darkness yet. Ashe let out a silent breath in relief as she continued to watch the man.

He was fumbling in his pockets for something as he grumbled to himself. He pulled out a scroll, and was about to start a message to someone when Ashe dropped from her perch, sliding her knife out of its sheath and into back of his neck. She was thankful that the man wasn't on guard, letting her knife pass through his skin and the bone of his neck without having any obstructions by his Aura. The man fell to the ground silently, with Ashe on his shoulders and the tip of her knife pushing against his Adam's apple.

Ashe wrenched her blade free from the man's now blood soaked neck and wiped the gore off on the grass before she slid it back into its leather sheath. She attempted to drag the man's body against the wall, but struggled against his much larger size. After trying in vain to move the corpse, Ashe gave up and peeked around the corner the man had come from.

It was a courtyard, with grass along the outside and a paved patio in the centre, surrounded by a pair of rings of bushes, flowers, and small trees. The wing Ashe was hiding against extended in a strait path some thirty or forty yards before it connected to the centre of the house, forming a double-u shape between it and the adjacent wing. Ashe scanned the walls for blinking green lights, and was able to spot three cameras that covered almost every inch of the courtyard: one was positioned at the corner of the central square, with the other two located halfway down each of the wings.

Ashe groaned in frustration and turned away from the nigh impossible-to-navigate area. Great, how am I supposed to get to the roof of this place if I can't get close to something to climb? She looked back at the wall she was up against: all it had to offer where two cameras mounted along a thin ledge, a door flanked by two windows, and a much smaller, circular window too high for Ashe to reach.

Ashe sighed and kicked at the guard's deceased body. "You don't have any ideas, do you?" she asked it. To her surprise, the body responded, in a way. The scroll the man had been carrying fell out of its hand, and gave Ashe an idea. If I try to force the locks, the alarms will go off, she recalled, so this guy had to have some way of opening and closing doors without tripping the alarm, right? She knelt down and picked up the device, then looked to the door beside her. She approached it and held out the scroll to the handle, hesitating before touching the two. "Ah hell, if the alarm goes off, I'll just book it." Ashe tapped the scroll against the door's lock, wincing in anticipation of sirens and horns. She instead heard the sound of a small motor, and the door clicked open. Ashe breathed a sigh of relief and slipped through the entrance of the house.

The inside of the house was stunning. The ceilings were vaulted and had crystal chandeliers hanging down from them, lighting up the rooms decorated expensive-looking furniture and art in a dull yellow glow. Ashe's thick-soled grey boots brushed against the thick red carpet as she snuck deeper and deeper into the mansion, sliding down the hallway and making sure to check every room she passed, as to not get flanked while inside. As she crept through the wing of the house, she spied a holographic display that read of the time. Three-thirty, she noted, he's going to be leaving at seven. More than enough time. She passed by what she could only assume was a small library and passed through a large archway she guessed marked the point where the wing of the house connected to the centre.

Directly infront of her was a large, curving staircase that connected all three floors of the house together. The room itself was circular, and not much larger than the stairs themselves. Ashe glanced around, seeing several more archways at uniform positions along the curved walls and realising that they must lead to the other parts of the house. God damn, who needs a house this big? she wondered. You could fit a few dozen people in this place, easily. After sitting still long enough to confirm that no one was coming, nor had found her first victim, Ashe grinned and began ascending the stairs, making sure to not make a sound as she made her way to the top floor of the mansion.

The third and final floor of the mansion was, thankfully, smaller than the other two floors of the house. It consisted only of a roughly square landing furnished with a few love seats and chairs. Ringed around the area were a series of doors, each with their own personalized lock. Ashe reached back into the bag on her back and pulled out the scroll she had been given for the job. The last thing our saboteur could manage was to set this thing up with the code to unlock the target's door. Ashe glanced over the doors before she found the one she needed, and was about to tap the scroll against its lock when she had one more idea. That air duct opens up in here, right?

She looked around until she saw it: a small grate, barely a foot and a half in width, located above a grey chair. Ashe moved over and climbed up on the chair, hooking her slender fingers around the edges of the grate. She gave it a little tug, and the grate came off with ease. Ashe could've laughed. It's amazing how people can think they're so secure, just by spending some Lien on fancy equipment. She placed the grate behind the chair, then turned her attention back to the only thing standing between her and her target.

Ashe made sure to close the door behind her, putting one more step between her and the remaining guards, should they be notified of her presence. The room was even more astounding than the other parts of the house Ashe had seen, with cream-coloured walls decorated with an abundance of art. One wall had an aquarium built into it, reaching from floor to ceiling and holding a variety of large and exotic fish. She walked past a desk covered in paperwork and a large armchair positioned infront of a deactivated television screen before she stopped infront of an emperor-sized bed with monochromatic blankets covering it.

A loud snore came from the bed, and Ashe could see the overweight frame of a man roll over in his sleep. Ashe sighed, pulled her knife and handgun out of their holsters against her back, and leapt onto the bed.

She brought the edge of her knife up against the man's throat and put her right forearm across his mouth, effectively silencing him. "Because of your crimes against Faunus-kind, we, the White Fang, have come to end your life," she said in a quiet, yet harsh, tone. The man's eyes went from glazed over and sleepy to wide and awake in panic within the time it took for Ashe to say her sentence. He tried to mumble something, but Ashe quieted him by pressing down her knife harder against the man's neck. "You and your company's mistreatment of our kind will come to an end, and your death will help show the cowards you call your leaders that we are not a race that will stand for this injustice." The man began blubbering and crying, trying to squirm out of Ashe's hold, but the young girl had the training to be able to hold him down. "Enjoy your time in hell, along with the rest of your company." Ashe pulled the knife across the man's neck, leaning away from the fountain of crimson liquid that began spewing out of his milky skin. Ashe wiped off her knife on the man's bed sheets as he spent the last few moments of his life sputtering up blood.

After a few moments, the room fell silent. Ashe listened carefully, not able to hear anything coming from inside the house. Looks like this one went off without a hitch, she thought to herself. As Ashe turned around to leave, she noticed a large, framed picture hanging above the man's desk. She took a closer look, seeing that it was a collection of men in business suits, all surrounding a family with white hair. The Schnee family, Ashe thought to herself, they have a daughter my age; wonder how perfect her life's been. Ashe suddenly had a morbidly humorous thought. She took the picture off the wall, then found a red marker off of the man's desk and began drawing crosses over the faces of the executives that had been killed since the photograph had been taken. She then drew a circle around the collective Schnee family, and wrote next to it 'we will come for you'. Ashe carried the picture over to the dead body off the Schnee Dust Company executive and propped it up against his oversized stomach, making sure it would be one of the first things seen when the door would be opened.

Satisfied with her work, Ashe left the room and wiggled her way up and out of the house through the ventilation shaft she had opened. It wouldn't be until four hours later that the body of Boreas Timber, the chief financial officer at the Schnee Dust Company Vale branch, would be discovered in his home. At the scene of the crime, police would discover a gruesome warning to the Schnee family, threatening them with murder for their alleged sins.