Adam and Lucas were watching a news report regarding the repeated thefts that had raised dust prices. The SDC had, of course, extended an offer to send more dust to Vale for a reasonable price.
Lucas scoffed. "Leave it to Jacques Schnee to seize an opportunity for more money."
"Paid in Faunus blood," Adam said darkly.
"Tell me about it. He probably has those poor souls working overtime while he sits in his office figuring out who he'll exploit next. What I'd give to get my hands on that Grimm-spawn."
"You and me both, partner." It felt strange for Adam to call a human his partner, but anyone who wanted to do something about the SDC earned his respect.
The report continued, stating that law enforcement suspected the White Fang was behind the robberies. Adam's glare grew all the more intense. "Typical. Too incompetent to find the culprit, so they blame the first Faunus that comes to mind."
"Not like they haven't stolen dust before."
"You think they're responsible?" Adam's tone had become accusatory.
"No. It's not their style. From what I've noticed, they only attack SDC shipments if they want dust."
Adam calmed down. "Not to mention the latest shop that was robbed openly served Faunus."
"Exactly. Why would they hurt their own credibility like that?"
"They wouldn't, not that the police care about that. They'd rather take the easy way out."
"Regardless, whoever's pulling off these robberies has to be stopped before they bleed Vale dry."
Adam rose from his seat. "Maybe it's time I did some investigating of my own."
Lucas also rose. "You mean we investigate."
Adam smirked. "Let's go catch a criminal."
Adam and Lucas gathered the rest of the team and drove into Vale City via Max's Jeep. Max drove to the seedier part of the city and stopped at a club.
"Why did you stop here?" Adam asked.
"You're lookin' for someone, first place you check is the bars. Someone's bound to know somethin'. I've been here before, so I figured we start here."
Adam nodded. "Alright, let's go."
Team ALMD entered the club and walked up to the bar. Max was grimacing from the noise, Adam and Lucas seemed indifferent, and Drake was bobbing his head to the rhythm.
The black-haired bearded man Yang knew about stood at the bar. Since the visit with Yang, Max had researched the place and learned that the man's name was Hei "Junior" Xiong and the female twins, Militia and Melanie Malachite, were under his legal guardianship. "So, you brought friends," Junior noted. "You didn't bring her, did you?"
"Nope," Max answered. "We're lookin' for information."
"Information on what?" asked Junior.
"The dust robberies," Adam replied. "What do you know about them?"
"A bit. If you expect me to give you information, you'd better be ready to give something back, preferably something I can spend."
"If you know who's behind the robberies, you'll tell us," Adam demanded. "I want names."
"Look, pal, if you want names, you gotta pay for them."
"Or, we could burn down your little club for not giving us what we want," said Drake. "Then we will watch you cry like a little bearded baby as you mourn your alcohol, because that stuff is quite flammable. Then, if you still haven't told us everything, I shall set you on fire and record you dancing around like a weirdo and put the video online for all to see." He grinned a toothy grin when he was finished.
Junior was not amused. "Why you little-"
"Ignore him and give us the info," said Lucas. "We'll decide how much it's worth after we hear it."
"Yeah, right. You'll just try to walk out of here without paying."
Max turned and headed for the door. "Come on, he ain't got nothin'."
"Alright, alright! Look, a couple of months ago, I loaned some of my men to Torchwick for a job, but they never came back!"
"What kinda job?"
"I didn't ask, he didn't tell. What I do know is that my men's faces showed up in the mugshots the next day. Get this, they were caught trying to rob a dust shop and got the crap kicked out of 'em by a little girl in a red hood!"
Max raised an eyebrow, having a suspicion as to who the girl was. He took out his wallet and put some lien on the bar. "Much obliged."
"So, Roman Torchwick is behind the robberies," said Adam as they drove through Vale.
"But what would a crime lord want with that much dust?" asked Lucas.
"Nothing good. We need more info."
"Check the crime scene," said Max. "Might find somethin'."
Drake groaned. "You guys are really boring, you know that? We could've had a little fun and trounced that guy! But noooo, you had to be all diplomatic and stuff."
"Shut up, dumbass!"
Team ALMD came to the recently robbed dust shop, which had police lines strung across the entrance. Two officers stood outside.
"I doubt the police want us snooping around," said Adam. "One of us could sneak in through the back while the rest distract the police."
"No need," said Max. "I'll just do a little listenin', then come back."
"Do it."
"Don't touch anythin' while I'm gone." Max climbed out of the vehicle and casually walked past the conversing policeman, subtly placing a microphone nearby. He pulled out his scroll and put in a pair of earbuds. A short time later, he returned to the Jeep. "No money was taken, just the dust," he reported.
"That doesn't make any sense!" Lucas protested. "Why would anyone take the dust and not the money with it? Especially if a crime lord was behind it. If he wants to sell the dust, why not take the money too and turn a profit?"
"Maybe he was bored, kinda like I am right now," said Drake.
"No one steals dust because their bored!" Adam snapped.
"Oh, I dunno. If I liked to steal stuff and I was feeling bored one evening, why not go steal some stuff?"
"Torchwick ain't you, is he?"
"How rude. I was only trying to help."
"This isn't getting us anywhere," Adam declared. "We need more information."
"I figure it's either Torchwick or the White Fang," said Max.
"It is not the White Fang!"
"Why not? They ain't got much use for money."
"That shop served Faunus," said Lucas. "It wouldn't make sense for them to rob it."
"A lot of stuff they do don't make sense."
"What's your problem?" Adam demanded.
"No problem. I'm just sayin' those fellas don't make sense."
"What are you talking about? The White Fang fights for Faunus equality!"
"Don't see how robbin' dust trains means equality."
"It's a way of protesting how the Schnee Dust Company treats our people!"
"Seems to me that just makes things worse. Fang robs a train, Schnee gets mad, Faunus get hurt."
"And what would a human know about what the Faunus go through?"
"I'm from Vacuo, and I've met a lot of Faunus. A whole lot of 'em don't like the White Fang. Say they've gone too far."
"You've become a monster, Adam." Blake's words echoed.
Adam suppressed his growing rage. "They are trying to do what's right. They've seen enough suffering and now they're doing something about it. Are you saying we should lie down and do nothing?"
"Nope. The way I figure, a fella ought to defend himself, but you can't go stompin' on everybody."
"What are you talking about?"
"Say somebody held ya down and shot ya, but you survived. Naturally, you wanna get justice. So, you find the sumbitch and shoot him right back. Ya don't go to his house and burn it down with him and his whole family inside. That ain't justice. Just makes you even worse than the fella who shot ya."
Adam wanted to protest his human teammates' logic. He wanted to rant that the White Fang was making humanity pay for what they did. That a human could not possibly understand what he went through. But he didn't. Instead, he thought about how much the analogy made sense. "Let's just get back to our dorm. It's getting dark."
The team returned to Beacon and split up, each member to their own activity. Adam headed to Beacon Cliff and leaped into the forest below. He would probably get in trouble for wandering the Emerald Forest by himself, but he didn't care. He had to vent his rage at something. Anything. It did not take long for the red-haired Faunus to find some prey. He let out a roar and charged.
Adam did not know how much time he spent in the forest. After so much fighting, he was finally calm and ready to rest. He reached his dorm and found his teammates inside. Max and Lucas were playing Poker on the latter's bed, while Drake was playing a video game with his headphones on. Adam placed Wilt and Blush under his pillow, an old habit he was not willing to break. He removed his jacket before laying back in his bed. He needed rest.
Fate must have been in a mood because a loud knocking was heard at ALMD's door, as though someone was banging on it. Lucas rose and went to the door. Team RWBY stood before them, minus Blake. Ruby looked nervous, Weiss was angry, and Yang was trying and failing to act indifferent. She was also angry, though it seemed to be directed at Weiss.
"What's the problem?" Lucas asked.
"Blake's missing," Yang answered.
Adam was instantly on his feet. "What happened?"
"I'll tell you what happened!" yelled Weiss, "Blake and Adam have been lying to us this whole time! They're with the White Fang!"
"Weiss, we don't know that," Ruby said nervously.
"You can't possibly be defending them! Blake all but confessed after that little slip and running off. If she was innocent, she would've stayed! Since Blake and Adam came to Beacon together, that means he's one of them too!"
Adam wanted to leave immediately and look for Blake, but he needed to deal with the Schnee. "You really don't think things through, do you, Schnee? If I was with the White Fang, I'd have killed you months ago."
"Will somebody just tell us what happened before jumping to conclusions?" Lucas asked irritably. "Preferably from an unbiased source?"
Yang recounted what happened earlier that day. Team RWBY had been doing some bonding in Vale when the subject of the robberies came up. Weiss immediately assumed the White Fang was responsible and started an argument with Blake. The argument lasted for at least an hour up until they returned to their dorm. Then Blake yelled something that implied she might have been with the White Fang. She became frightened and ran out. The rest of her team scoured the campus looking for her without success. That was when they decided to see Team ALMD.
"Even if Adam isn't one those degenerates, he had to have known Blake was!" Weiss accused. "That means he was harboring a criminal!"
"Can you keep it down? Some of us actually have a life and are trying to enjoy it."
Everyone looked over to see that Drake was still playing his game.
"Have you been paying attention at all?" Yang asked.
"Why else would I be wearing headphones?"
Lucas rubbed his temple. "You know what? Ignore him. Adam's got a point. Everyone knows the White Fang hates the Schnee family, which means he'd have killed Weiss the second he got the chance."
"He put his sword to my throat on our first night here!"
"Wait, what?"
"She insulted the Faunus and I lost my temper," Adam explained. "I had every opportunity to kill her then and I could've done it anytime these past couple months. Since the Schnee is still breathing, that's clearly not the case, but she'd rather accuse the first Faunus that comes to mind."
Weiss was positively livid. "Aargh! What do you have against me? Every time we meet, it's been Schnee this and Schnee that! Plus, even if you haven't tried to kill me, you almost always look like you want to! What did I ever do to you?"
Adam's glare became murderous. How dare that ignorant brat play the innocent! He tore the bandage from his face and Ruby gasped in pure horror. Weiss put a hand to her mouth and staggered back. Yang and the others winced. Across Adam's damaged left eye was a scar. The letters SDC had been branded onto his face.
"THIS IS WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO ME!" Adam bellowed, pointing at his brand. The heiress flinched as she tried to form a response. "What's the matter, Schnee? Can't handle the truth? Do you think I somehow deserved this because I'm a Faunus? You sit in your little tower and call us degenerates, but you can't possibly understand what it's like to be beaten down just because of who you are. Yes, I said 'us'. I was with the White Fang. Do you know why? Because I did what I thought was necessary to protect the Faunus from people like Jacques Schnee! People like you!"
By this time, Adam's face was a mere inch away from Weiss, whose back was against the wall. She slid down to the floor and brought her knees up to her chest.
"I am what you made me. You and your family."
Lucas grabbed Adam by the shoulder and turned him around. "That's enough, Adam. She never had any part of that. She's not her father."
"What makes you so sure?"
"She hates the White Fang, not Faunus."
"All evidence to the contrary."
"Distrust isn't the same thing as hate."
"Are you defending her?"
"Her? Yes. Jacques? No."
A tense silence filled the room. The only sound was breathing.
"Who are you?" Weiss whispered.
The scarred Faunus turned to face her. "My name is Adam Taurus, former commander of the White Fang in Vale. Several months ago, Blake convinced me to leave with her and become a huntsman." He turned to face his teammates. "Any questions?"
"About what?" asked Lucas, "White Fang life? How you could possibly side with terrorists? I know what it's like to want revenge. No, I'm not going to explain how. Not now, anyway. The point is you're my leader and I respect you. I'd be a pretty crappy partner if I didn't stand with you because of some deep, dark secret."
"This isn't really your average dark secret," said Yang.
Lucas shook his head. "I don't care. I stand with my leader."
Adam's expression softened. "Max?"
The gunman sighed. "I knew from the start Blake was Faunus. Never took off the bow, bow'd twitch, she likes fish, and stuff like that. I figured you and she might've been White Fang, but I wasn't sure. Like you said, if you were White Fang you'd have done somethin' by now. End of the day, you're just another fella tryin' to do right."
"You guys are taking this extremely well," Yang commented.
Max merely shrugged in response.
Weiss was finally on her feet again, though she seemed to be in a daze. Lucas walked over and placed his hands on her shoulders. Her hand reached for the door, trying to find the knob. Lucas opened the door for her and led her out, closing it behind them.
"What about you?" Adam asked Yang.
The blonde thought for a moment. "Well, you're a bit of a jerk, but I've hung out with Blake a little bit and she's alright. Besides, you said you weren't with the White Fang anymore, right?" Adam nodded. "Then it doesn't matter. It's over and done, right Ruby?"
The young leader nodded, her usual cheer slowly returning. "Right. You can be pretty nice, like when you give me leader tips. I probably need to go check on Weiss. I guess we'll look for Blake tomorrow?"
Adam nodded. He wanted to search immediately, but he knew that trying to find Blake at night would be almost impossible.
"Okay, see ya!" Ruby and Yang exited the dorm room just as Lucas returned.
"She's a little shaken, but I think she'll be alright," he said. "It was hard to take."
"Have you considered an eyepatch? I hear those are quite popular with the ladies."
Adam turned and saw that Drake had his headphones off and was now paying attention. Adam was tempted to glare but found himself letting out a brief chuckle. Yes, he had grown rather fond of his team. "Let's get some rest. Tomorrow, we find Blake."
Well, Weiss is shaken from that reveal. Poor Ice Queen. I hope everyone has been enjoying this so far.