AN: If you haven't already, please read the rewrites! They change the story in ways that are important!
The sounds of metal grinding against metal penetrated the air at the docks as the White Fang moved dust into shipping containers. Armed guards patrolled the area, making sure to scare away any unwanted visitors. Roman Torchwick walked the grounds, barking orders each and every one of the White Fang, making sure that they stayed in line.
Blake and Sun watched from a nearby rooftop, scanning the area.
"I can't believe it," said Blake.
"What?" asked Sun.
"Even though Bruce told us about it, I can't believe that the White Fang would work with human scumbags like Torchwick and Sionis." said Blake, "There's got to be more to this."
It was then that one of the White Fang members dropped his crate, spilling the dust inside all over the concrete.
"Damn dog!" shouted Torchwick, "Has anyone ever taught you how to lift a crate? Or is your mutt brain too underdeveloped to understand such a simple task?"
The White Fang member glared at Torchwick, "You know what, Screw you asshole!"
The White Fang member tore off his helmet, revealing a wolf faunus with a scar across his face. The faunus pulled a pistol out of his pocket and aimed it at Torchwick, "Me and my brothers have been busting our asses, and for what? Some Uppity little human thief with no respect for our cause. I don't care that Adam told us to work with a scumbag like you, I'm out!"
The rest of the White Fang members stared in disbelief at the faunus' declaration. Many looked at each other, seeing if anyone would follow him out.
"And just who do you think you are, trying to stir up trouble in your own ranks?"
The White Fang members turned to find Black Mask had entered the grounds, carrying a briefcase. He had driven in by limousine, a squad of servants standing back.
"Oh crap!" said Sun, "That's him! That's the guy!"
"Yeah," said Blake, "Let's get a closer look."
Blake leaped across to another rooftop, leaving a terrified Sun, "Blake stop! We shouldn't get too close!"
"Sionis!" said Torchwick, his tone both surprised and welcoming, "I didn't realize you were dropping by!"
"I just came by to watch while I eat my supper." said Sionis, "But it looks like someone wants to show off their cojones."
Sionis looked back at the wolf faunus, who stood defiant, "Let me guess, you have a gun in that briefcase, and you're going to shoot me in front of my brothers."
Sionis sighed, "Straight to the point huh, you faunus are simple, aren't you."
Sionis snapped his fingers, at which point the servants opened the trunk of the limousine and pulled out a variety of items. The servants set down 2 chairs across from one another with a fold-out table in the middle, placing a miniature grill and wooden cutting board on top. Black Mask took a seat, placing the briefcase on the table.
"Sit," ordered Black Mask, gesturing to the other chair.
The wolf faunus looked around skeptically before sitting down, unafraid. He did, however, continue to eye the briefcase.
"What's in the case?" asked the faunus.
"Well," said Black Mask, undoing the straps and opening the case, revealing a slab of beef and a meat cleaver, "It's my dinner."
Blake and Sun leaped onto a shipping container, located directly above Black Mask and the faunus.
"Where's this going?" asked Sun, "Because I doubt it's anywhere good."
Black Mask grabbed the beef, placing it on the cutting board. He then brandished the cleaver, it's blade sharpened beforehand. Instead of hacking the beef to pieces, he began to make deep but precise cuts, surgically dividing it into smaller strips.
"Filet Mignon," said Black Mask, "My favorite growing up."
"I assumed you came from someplace poor, considering your career path." said the faunus, "Isn't that cut of meat a little expensive?"
"People who know my history know that I grew up the child of a beauty product empire." said Black Mask, still cutting, "My parents? Obsessed with beauty. It's why they resented me so much when I was born, I didn't have the prettiest face."
Black Mask turned on the grill, "When my father smacked me before a party, my mother didn't scold him because he hurt me. She scolded him because now I had a busted lip of a black eye that she had to fix with makeup. And…..Oh Damnit!"
Black Mask snapped his fingers, "You forgot the salt and pepper!"
A servant rushed to the table, delivering a salt shaker and a pepper grinder.
Black Mask sighed, beginning to season his meat, "Anyway, I hated my parents, how little they cared for me, how much they fawned over other prettier boys. Especially that Bruce Wayne, oh how they loved him!"
Black Mask looked at the meat, observing to see if he had prepared it correctly, "I resented Wayne because unlike me, his parents adored him. They gave him the love I never got from my parents."
Black Mask put the meat aside, sighing, "Then they died, and Bruce Wayne became miserable. You could see it in his eyes, he was dead inside."
Blake processed the words as they were spoken.
I know Bruce lost his parents, but I never guess it never hit me how much it impacted him.
"And that's the ironic part." said Black Mask, "Because the cause of Wayne's misery, became the inspiration for my liberation."
Black Mask grabbed the meat, holding it over the grill, "It took some time to prepare, but I ended up setting the family manor ablaze while my parents slept. Funny thing though, I never heard screams, I just heard the sound of sizzling flesh."
Black Mask dropped the strip of meat onto the grill, creating a loud *SZZZT* sound that caused many of the White Fang to jump, "Like that."
"Why are you telling me this?" asked the faunus, "To intimidate me?"
"No, not really." said Black Mask, placing the rest of the meat on the grill, "I just like to talk from time to time."
"Jeez," whispered Sun, "This guy has issues."
"He's sick is what he is," said Blake.
The meat finishes cooking, allowing Black Mask to grab a piece of the grill. Pushing his mask up a little to free his mouth, he bites into the meat, its juices running down his chin.
"Mph!" said Black Mask, "Perfection! Why don't you have a piece?"
The wolf faunus looked at the meat in skepticism, "You think I don't realize this is a trick?"
"Now isn't that rude?" said Black Mask, "You there!"
Black Mask points at another White Fang guard, who stands up straight in surprise, "Get over here!"
The guard walks over, "Y-Yes sir?"
"Give your comrade some food." ordered Black Mask, handing him a strip of meat.
The guard looks at the food before handing it to the wolf faunus. The wolf faunus stares at the food before finally taking a bite. After a few moments of chewing, he nods his head, "Damn, that is perfect!"
"I know!" said Black Mask, "Try another bite!"
The wolf faunus reached for another bite and it was then that Black Mask sprung the trap.
Reaching forward, Black Mask grabbed the faunus' outreached hand and violently yanked him out of his seat, forcing him to fall forward onto the table, his head on the cutting board. Grabbing the meat cleaver with one hand, Black Mask placed his other hand on top of the faunus' head to prevent him from escaping.
"Wuh-Wait!" shouted the wolf faunus, but his cries fell on deaf ears.
Black Mask raised the cleaver above his head before bringing it down on the faunus' neck repeatedly, hacking away at the flesh and muscle. Blake and Sun turned their heads away in horror, unable to watch the brutality. The guards watched in terror, a few stumbling away to vomit as blood splattered everywhere.
The cleaver made its final cut, sliding through the flesh and embedding itself in the wood below. The now headless body fell backward, knocking the chair over as it flopped on the floor. Black Mask raised the wolf faunus' head into the air, showing it off to the guards.
"If I hear any one of you even think about stepping away," declared Black Mask, "I'll force-feed you your comrade's grilled flesh!"
Black Mask tossed the head onto the grill, the sound of sizzling piercing the air again, "I'll be watching tonight."
Torchwick, visibly uncomfortable, turned to the rest of the guards, "You heard him, get back to work!"
The guards hurried back to their tasks, now terrified.
"This is too much!" whispered Sun, struggling not to throw up, "We should head back."
Blake looked at Black Mask, silent rage beginning to overtake her, "No."
"What?!" whispered Sun.
"This monster needs to go down now," whispered Blake, "and we're the ones to do it."
"Blake please!" whispered Sun, "This is too dangerous!"
"Sun, I can't let him hurt anyone else after what I saw." said Blake, "I'm going."
Blake leaped down to ground level, staying in the shadows and leaving Sun to grab his head and shake it in frustration.
Bruce and Clark knelt on a nearby rooftop, clad in their combat outfits and observing the chemical plant. It was fenced off, with a mostly rectangular shape with the exception of a cooling tower. A large Schnee sign was attached to one of the walls.
"This is it." said Bruce, his helmet off, "This is the place Blake told us about."
Clark squinted, attempting to use his x-ray vision to see into the building.
"What do you see?" asked Bruce.
Clark squinted harder, attempting to see into the building.
"I….can't!" said Clark.
"Why not?" asked Clark.
Clark looked at Bruce, "I don't know why, but for as long as I can remember, I've never been able to see through lead."
Bruce stared at Clark, "Lead?"
Clark shrugged, "I don't understand it either. Sorry I couldn't help more."
Bruce put his helmet on, "No, you're fine, but we need to find the girl, or at least some intel pointing to her."
Bruce looked at the cooling tower, "That's our point of entry."
Clark tilted his head, "There?"
Bruce nodded, "There."
Bruce pulled out his grapple gun, firing the hook at the cooling tower and zipping himself up to the tower. Clark followed, leaping to the tower in a single bound.
Bruce clambered to the top, finding a hatch on the roof of the tower. He pried it open just as Clark landed.
"Since the factory itself is inactive, the cooling towers shouldn't be in operation." said Bruce, taking out an earpiece, "Here, I want you to sit tight while I sneak inside."
Clark took the earpiece, "Shouldn't I come in with you?"
"This particular task requires subtlety." said Bruce, "You're good for when things get messy, but you aren't the sneaky type. Don't worry, I'll call you if I need you."
Bruce slipped his legs into the hatch.
"Bruce," said Clark.
Bruce turned to Clark, "Yeah?"
"Good luck in there," said Clark.
Bruce nodded before slipping completely under the hatch. The shaft was dark, but Bruce could make out a pipe. Grabbing it, Bruce slid down the shaft until he reached a small panel. Putting his ear to the panel, Bruce could make out footsteps moving away.
Lucky me.
Sliding the panel out of place, Bruce peeked his head out, watching as a pair of Red Hood gang members walked out of the hallway.
The Red Hood gang is here?!
Bruce put his finger on his earpiece, "Clark."
"Y-Yeah?" asked Clark, "Sorry, fiddling with the earpiece."
"The White Fang isn't here," said Bruce.
"That's good right?" said Clark.
"Not exactly, because the Red Hood gang is here." said Bruce, "They have a reputation for being even more ruthless than the White Fang, and with less noble goals to boot."
"Crap, maybe we should pull out?" asked Clark.
"No, we need to get something out of this." said Bruce, "I'm going to keep going."
"Bruce!" said Clark, "Didn't you say that if it got too dangerous, we shouldn't risk it?"
"I said that to Blake and Sun because I didn't want them risking their lives unnecessarily, I'm confident we can get something out of this," said Bruce.
Clark sighed, "Fine, but if you need help you better tell me."
"Will do," said Bruce, who crawled out of the shaft and into the hallway. Bruce stepped lightly as he made his way to the main industrial room, peering in through a door with a glass window. He surveyed the area, taking note of the catwalks and vats of chemical waste.
Looks like they didn't finish cleaning up the facility, typical Schnee company protocol.
It was then that Bruce spotted an office above the chemical vats with open windows overseeing the rest of the facility.
It's likely that if there's intel, it's located there.
Bruce slipped through the door, stealthily making his way along the catwalk. Bruce took deep but quiet breaths, making sure not to make too much noise. Bruce made his way to a split in the catwalk, one path going to the office and the other leading to some stairs.
Almost there.
"Hey, you see something?"
Bruce's heart jumped when he heard voices followed by footsteps as 2 Red Hood gang members walked up the steps.
"The hell are you talking about, I don't see shit." said one gang member, scanning the catwalk but spotting nobody.
"Ah, I can't be sure, these catwalks are dark." said the other gang member.
The 2 walked past the office and over Bruce, who had leaped over the side of the catwalk and hung on from underneath.
Close one, got lucky.
Bruce pulled himself back up, quickly and quietly making his way to the office door. Trying the knob, Bruce was surprised to find the door open.
Strange, no security.
Bruce slowly stepped into the dimly lit office, a single overhead light shining onto a table full of documents. Bruce cautiously approaches the table, looking over the documents.
These are shipping manifests, for large quantities of dust no less.
Bruce picks a particular document up, showing a picture of Roman Torchwick shaking hands with an auburn-haired man with a long-sleeved black blazer and Chokuto. However, the most striking feature on the man was his white mask.
That's Adam Taurus, he leads the vale branch of the White Fang. But why is he shaking hands with Torchwick, they should hate each other, or at least Taurus should hate Torchwick. Could Black Mask have intimidated
Bruce finds another shipping manifest.
The White Fang can't use this much dust, why are they collecting so much of it? To tip the economy out of balance?
Bruce then spots a picture amid the mess of papers and picks it up, his eye's widening. It's a photo of a small girl, shoved into the corner of a side office.
Oh no.
Bruce drops the photo and puts his finger on his earpiece.
"Clark, this is so much worse than I suspected," said Bruce.
"Oh no, what did you find?" asked Clark.
"Black Mask and the White Fang have been collecting an enormous amount of dust, possibly to tip the economy." said Bruce, "But that's not all, the girl is here."
"Great!" said Clark, "Where is she exactly, I can go get her now?!"
"I don't know, I'll call you back as soon as I find her," said Bruce.
*Click*
Bruce freezes up as a gun barrel presses against the back of his head.
"As I live and breath," said a voice from behind, "It's really you."
"Bruce?" said Clark, "Is something wrong?"
The gun pushes harder against the back of Bruce's head, "If you're talking to someone, tell them you're fine and hang up, or this office will need more than a simple janitor."
Shit.
Bruce begrudgingly put his finger to his ear, "All good, hanging up."
"Wait, Bruc-" Clark is cut off as Bruce cuts communications.
"Heh, thanks." said the voice, moving away from Bruce, "I wanted this talk to be private."
Bruce turned around, coming face to face with a man with a large red cylindrical helmet holding a revolver.
"You're Red Hood One, the leader of the Red Hood gang." said Bruce, "What're you doing here?"
"Me?" said Red Hood One, "Well, I kinda just waited in that dark corner over there for you-"
"No, why are you and your gang members here?" asked Bruce, "You could easily find more profitable jobs than guarding a hostage."
Red Hood One cracked a smile, "Well, I really just wanted to see you again, and this job seemed like the perfect way to put myself on a collision course with you."
"I've read up on your gang, but I've never even met you." said Bruce, "Though I wish I had, it would have been my pleasure to put you and your gang in prison."
"Hah, that may be so," said Red Hood One, "But I did see you, back in mistral."
Bruce narrowed his eyes, placing his hands on his helmet.
"NO!" shouted Red Hood One, "Don't you dare take off that helmet, I don't want you to ruin this night."
Bruce, surprised, took his hands off his helmet, "Mistral, I disabled a White Fang cell there."
"I saw you, cloaked in dark clothing, knocking the teeth out of those faunus." said Red Hood One, "I wasn't just a bystander, I was an audience member, watching the show unfold!"
Bruce balled his hands into fists, "What I do is not entertainment, it's justice for those who can't get it themselves."
"Maybe, but for me it is entertainment," said Red Hood One, "So I decided to join in on the fun."
Bruce then noticed the ammunition cylinder of the revolver was glowing.
"What'cha looking at?" asked Red Hood One, looking at his gun, "The glow? Oh, I just swiped some weird looking green bullets off the Mask while he wasn't looking. They looked really interesting, I always wondered what they did different from normal bullets, melt the flesh of people's bodies?"
Bruce gritted his teeth, "Enough of this farce, where is the girl?!"
Red Hood One chuckled, "Heheheheh, she's on the first floor, office 5. Whether or not you can get to her is a different story."
Bruce cracked his neck, leaning his head side to side, "Good thing it's not just me then."
A massive *Boom* is heard as Clark crashes through the roof, landing in the office near the windows looking over the facility.
"Bruce, I may not be able to see into this place, but I can still hear you!" said Clark, who's sudden appearance caused Red Hood One to swap targets.
"You think one more person will help?!" said Red Hood One, "You guys are gonna be beaten blue!"
"Clark isn't just one more person," said Bruce, "as you'll soon understand."
Clark stepped forward, holding out his hand, "Please sir, just let us help the girl. Nobody has to get hurt."
Red Hood One responded by pulling the hammer on the revolver back, "Sure, nobody has to get hurt, but I want someone to get hurt in this instance." Red Hood One looks back at Bruce, "I don't want to kill you, really I don't. But others, I'll run em over if they get in my way."
"I'm pretty good at getting shot." said Clark, "I've never even drawn blood!"
*Bang*
Red Hood One fires the gun, the green bullet traveling directly into Clark's gut. Clark looks down, his eyes wide with surprise.
*Gugk!*
Clark stumbles back, tumbling out the window and falling into the facility, making a loud *Wham* as his body hit the ground floor. Bruce looks on, horrified before tightening his fists and gritting his teeth.
"Heh," said Red Hood One, "Seems like just one more person to me."
Red Hood One turned around only to be tackled by Bruce through the window, the sound of glass shattering as shards are flung everywhere by the impact.
*Oof!* said Red Hood One as he hit the ground, looking up to find that Bruce had scrambled into the shadows.
"Lucky Bastard." chuckled Red Hood One, getting onto his feet. "RED HOOD GANG!" he announced, "We have an intruder, dressed in black! I want him found, beaten, maybe a little shot up, but alive!"
The rest of the gang scrambles about, breaking open crates and arming themselves with machine guns and shotguns. Red Hood One loads another round into his revolver before brandishing it menacingly, "Come out Come out wherever you are!"
And so the rewrites have ended and the story continues once again. I'll be honest, sometimes I struggle to be motivated to write this story the same way I write my other story, but in the end, I come up with cool interesting ideas that I just have to put to paper! Please share your thoughts on the rewrites below!
Reviews:
Evinco: Thanks for the feedback!
DCDGojira: Thanks for the feedback!
Have a Happy New Year guys!
Next Chapter: The conflict that changes one's destiny!