The Night
[The Beacon Tavern, 8:00PM]
"So..." Blake said, lounging in a chair as Ruby booted up her computer. "What are we waiting for, again?"
"Sun went off to get a van" Ruby replied, glancing at the faunus assassin only briefly before returning to her screen. "And Yang is talking with our uncle."
"Right" Blake said, sinking even deeper into her chair.
She wasn't quite sure what she had been expecting when she chased after Sun, but seven hours of waiting in a basement certainly was not it. The first few had been reasonable, Sun, Yang and Ruby had their jobs, after all, and she had passed the time sitting with the rescued faunus. The next few had been rather uncomfortable, full of second-guessing herself and pondering her various options after both killing Bronzewing and following Sun, and in the end realizing that Ren would only know of her success when she decided to return. The last few had been lethargic, with her companion having fallen asleep and nothing for her to do but sit and wait. There had been a few minutes when the lethargy had been alleviated by a flurry of activity, Sun and Yang changing into different clothes, Sun arming himself, and running out the door. Ruby had come down as well, but no one had bothered to explain anything beyond a simple "you'll see".
"Well..." Blake sighed after several minutes of alternately glancing at the lines of code flowing across Ruby's screen and staring at the mostly featureless ceiling. "How much longer are we going to have to wait?"
"About ten seconds" Blake was caught off guard by the promptness and confidence of the response, and her ears pricked up at the subtle rumble of an engine just beyond the walls.
"How...?" She asked, confused.
"His scroll" Ruby replied. "I have it set up so that I can track its GPS."
"What's this about GPS?" Sun asked, stepping into the basement apartment and tugging his flaming bananas handkerchief down.
"Ruby was tracking you" Blake replied absently, noticing through the still-open door that Sun had indeed procured a van.
"Ah" Sun said, nodding as he turned his attention to Ruby. "So, where's Yang?"
"Umm..." Ruby tapped a few keys and glanced at the string of numbers in the resulting window. "She's still at the Vale PD."
"Hmm..." Sun mused, plopping himself down on the sofa. "That doesn't sound hopeful..."
[Vale PD]
"What do you mean, can't come back?!" Yang hissed, pointedly staring at the guard on duty at the security desk until he looked away. "What am I supposed to tell Ruby?"
"That I can't come home tonight" Qrow replied, subtly nodding at the door and beginning to drift in that direction. "A few things came up..."
"Explain" Yang demanded, taking the hint and also walking towards the door.
"Torchwick" Qrow muttered once they were outside, just loud enough for Yang to hear. "I knew the name was familiar when we moved here, but his face jogged my memory. I knew him briefly back when I was in the military, he served as the commanding officer of the Menagerie. Knowing his nature, he has dirt on anyone and everyone connected to that place, especially his superiors."
"And if we could get our hands on it, along with his testimony..." Yang mused, catching on to her uncle's train of thought.
"...we could derail Damien's entire career, and probably undo what he has done" Qrow finished. "And that is why I can't come home tonight. I need to get to Torchwick before Damien does."
"Alright..." Yang sighed, looking a little resigned. "Ruby still won't take it well, though."
"I know" Qrow replied, briefly hugging his eldest niece. "Just tell her that I'll have a cookie buffet for her tomorrow morning, alright?"
"She might take that" Yang smirked, hugging Qrow back before turning back to the street. "See you tomorrow, then!"
"Drive safe" Qrow said, waving a little as Yang hopped onto Bumblebee, gunned the engine, and rode off.
[Beacon Tavern, 9:00PM]
"Hey...guys?" Jaune called in greeting, his voice trailing off in confusion as he stepped into the basement apartment.
He had good reason, as his eyes slowly followed Sun's swaying form as he hung from the ceiling, suspended by an unholy amount of duct tape. Yang looked on in satisfaction, and another, unfamiliar girl nodded in approval. Sun locked gazes with Jaune and grunted at him through the tape lining his mouth. That, combined with Velvet's half-gasp, half-squeak of surprise brought Jaune sufficiently back to his senses to speak up.
"Why...is Sun hanging...from the ceiling?" he asked, shrugging his duffel bag off of his shoulder and stepping into the apartment.
"He wouldn't stop hitting on me" the unfamiliar girl stated dryly, poking Sun just to watch him sway a little more.
"It was really rather annoying" Yang added, poking Sun again to force him into swinging the other way. Sun grunted again in displeasure.
"Right..." Jaune said, slowly recovering his composure. "So, who's our guest?" He turned with a friendly smile to Blake, who looked back at him with suspicion. He looked vaguely familiar, though she couldn't tell why. Whatever the reason, her gut was telling her to run far away from this man.
"She's Blake" Yang said helpfully, throwing an arm around the other girl's shoulders and drawing her into a rough side hug. "And Blake, this is Jaune, another one of our vigilante pals."
Jaune held out his hand to shake, and something clicked in Blake's head. His name was Jaune. In of itself, that was hardly anything to worry about, plenty of people had the name Jaune. However, this particular Jaune had blond hair, blue eyes, and a rather distinct jawline that she knew from photographs of another man with blond hair and blue eyes. This Jaune, was Jaune Arc. Slipping free from Yang's arm, she lunged forward, her hand flashing towards the knife strapped to her right wrist. Even as she drew the blade, however, Jaune was already moving. The hand he had held out in friendship was suddenly lined up under her chest, his fingers finding purchase in her jacket as he pivoted until they were standing shoulder to shoulder. Grasping her left forearm with his free left hand and placing his right foot between her own, Jaune swiftly knelt and twisted hard to the left. Blake felt her feet leave the ground as the momentum of her lunge was used against her, and as she fell prone Jaune's knee rammed painfully into her wrist. Her hand spasmed reflexively, and she dropped the knife with a muttered curse.
"Blake Belladonna, right?" Jaune said, releasing his grip and snatching the knife before turning to offer Blake a hand up. "Nice to meet you." Blake glared up at the grinning boy as her hand reached for her concealed pistol, only to find an empty holster under her shoulder.
"Sorry" Yang said, twirling the missing firearm around her fingers. "But I couldn't just let you kill him." Blake growled and stood on her own, refusing to look anyone in the eye.
"Look, I know you're prejudiced against me, what with my father and all" Jaune said calmly. "I just want you to know that I am not him. I...we, have been working to help undo what he did during the war. Are we perfect, no. Do we have any illusions about this being an easy walk in the park, no. But we're trying. And for the one hundred faunus we've managed to save, we're succeeding." He offered the knife back to Blake with an open hand.
"You don't have to be my friend" he said, his blue eyes boring into Blake's amber ones. "You don't even have to like me. But if you're going to work with us, you'll at least have to trust me, just as I will have to trust you." Blake cautiously reached out for the knife, and slid it back into its sheath when Jaune offered no resistance. She looked back at Yang inquisitively, holding out one hand. Yang looked at Jaune, who looked at Blake.
"Can we trust you?" he asked, dead serious.
Again, Blake was torn. On the one hand, one target of her ire was standing right in front of her, a golden opportunity marred by the fact that she was surrounded and disadvantaged. On the other hand, he didn't seem like he was lying when he claimed to have rescued one hundred faunus. Additionally, he evidently had Sun's trust, and he had also claimed that they were dedicated to faunus equality. They could all be lying, of course, but then why would Sun play along? Her deal with Ren played itself back in her mind, the tantalizing promise of sweet, sweet revenge warring against the potential opportunity to make life better for her fellow faunus. Emotion slowly gave way to logic, and she figured that if these people fell through, she could always betray them and return to Ren and his promise.
"Yes" Blake replied cautiously, nodding slowly. For now, anyway...
Jaune nodded at Yang, who handed the gun back to Blake with less than full confidence, as if she had heard or guessed the second, unsaid portion of Blake's sentiment. Blake checked the weapon before sliding it back into its holster and straightening her jacket. It was at this moment that Ruby, having gone to retrieve various snacks and soda in preparation for their planned heist, returned.
"Hey guys!" she chirped, blissfully unaware of the brief fight that had just occurred. "Why is Sun on the ceiling?"
[Cardin's House, 10:30PM]
"Blegh..." Sun pulled a face and hurriedly tied his handkerchief on, spitting out a few leaves that he had inadvertently almost swallowed. Both Blake and Yang rolled their eyes at his antics, thankful that he had kept close to the ground instead of jumping up like an idiot. Jaune merely deadpanned, again fixing his attention on the luxurious house in front of them.
All four were kneeling just inside the treeline behind the Winchester's Vale residence, which seemed to be the exclusive domain of Cardin. Most of the house's lights were not on, indicating that fate had decided to grant them a good opening hand. From their vantage point, they could just make out the silhouette of a guard idly patrolling the driveway, as well as another who seemed to be smoking on the back porch. The backyard itself was home to an inground swimming pool, and thus was lacking anything that remotely resembled cover. Fortunately, the pool lights were off, and that small blessing provided some darkness that could, with care, be crept through in relative obscurity.
"Red, this is Paladin" Jaune muttered, tapping the earpiece under his ski mask. "We have two guards and little else. What's the tech side of Winchester's security look like?"
"Heavy" Ruby replied, multiple windows containing video feeds popping up across her monitor array. "But poorly protected, given the amount of money they've got. Just give me a sec to run a looped feed...and disable the motion detectors..."
"That's my sis for ya" Yang whispered proudly as Ruby continued to mutter about the various systems she was disarming.
"And... done" Ruby finally concluded not more than two minutes later. "Not a single system left standing."
"Thanks, Ruby" Jaune replied. "Just keep an eye on the police scanner, we'll take it from here."
"Good luck" Velvet called, and Jaune permitted himself a small smile as he looked back at his small team.
"So, anyone got an idea for getting past that guard?" he asked. After a moment, and in the absence of any other comments, Blake silently raised her pistol to eye level and raised her eyebrows.
"Any quiet ideas?" Jaune amended.
"The backyard is pretty dark" Yang commented, pointing out the patches of relative blackness Jaune had noticed earlier. "If only one of us went, we might be able to sneak up on him and take him out before he could react."
"Alright" Jaune nodded. "Any volunteers?"
Sun raised his hand and rose into a low crouch. He had replaced his usual white shirt with the leather jacket he had taken from Lark, and had also swapped his flaming bananas handkerchief for a more subtle grey one that had Beacon's coat of arms emblazoned off in a corner. Combined with his usual jeans, the monkey faunus was decidedly more stealthy tonight than usual. Getting the go-ahead nod from Jaune, he swiftly let his tail hang free for balance and silently took off across the yard. Only Blake with her effective night vision could fully follow his movements, and she watched with interest as he skirted the edge of the pool and slowly drew up to the edge of the deck where the guard sat smoking. He paused, keeping low as he seemed to glance up to get his bearings. Then, in a sudden burst of athleticism, he jumped up, vaulted the rail, dove over the table, caught the guard as he was rising, and locked a sinewy arm around his neck as he forced the unlucky man back into his chair. The guard clutched with both hands at Sun's arm, his face going red as immense pressure was put on his carotid artery and trachea, his mouth working soundlessly before he fell limp in Sun's arms.
Sun held the choke for a few more seconds before letting go, pulling zip ties, a spare handkerchief, and tape from his pockets. He passed the zip ties off to Yang as she arrived, who set about restraining the guard's hands and feet as he stuffed the man's mouth with the handkerchief, wrapping a few layers of tape around his head and mouth to keep it secure. Jaune passed the two of them by, kneeling down and pulling out his lockpicks as he focused on the back door. Blake kept an eye on the side of the house, her hand resting on her pistol just in case the other guard decided to take one too many steps towards the back yard. Her ears flicked as the lock gave a muffled click, and Jaune swapped his lockpicks for his overpowered taser before slowly pushing it open.
"We're in" he muttered to Ruby as the others passed him through the door.
"You should be in a large room" Ruby replied as she consulted the security camera feeds and the house blueprints. "You're going to want to take the door on your far right and head down that hallway..."
Under Ruby's guidance, they swiftly and silently made their way from darkened room to darkened room, until they finally stood before a door that Ruby claimed led to the slave quarters. Jaune again plied his lockpicks, and it wasn't long before he swung the door open and led them slowly down a set of concrete stairs. The corridor they led to was also made of cold concrete and curved away to the right, punctuated every few yards by an alcove. Motioning Sun forwards through the gloom, Jaune nodded at the alcoves as he closed his eyes and brought his aura into focus. Sun, knowing it would take a moment for Jaune to adjust his eyes, crept over to the closest and discovered that it contained a metal door with a tiny grille at the top. Peeking through, he recognized one of the faunus girls he had promised to return for as she lay on the floor, shivering in her sleep. He looked down at the handle, and fought down an urge to laugh at the simple deadbolt lock it contained. It didn't even require a key.
"We found them alright" Sun muttered after creeping back to the base of the stairwell. "And it looks like you won't have to spend all night picking locks."
"Good. Let's finish this and get out while our luck holds" Jaune replied, and the whole group began trotting forward.
It was a simple system, one that they had used before in different houses, basements, apartments, etc. They would pair off two faunus for each one of them, and send two people back to the van. One would remain with the faunus as a guard, while the remaining two took it in turns to guard the remaining faunus and shuttle them to the van. With the addition of a fourth body in the form of Blake, it was even more efficient than usual. The snag came, as snags often do, only at the very end.
"Shh..." Jaune whispered, patting the last faunus on her back as he gently coaxed her from the cell. "I'm Paladin, and we're going to get you to a safe place, okay?"
"N-N-No..." she shuddered, clinging to Jaune's arm and tugging at him a little. "I won't go without Shelly."
"You're in the last group" Jaune murmured comfortingly, ushering her towards Yang and Blake as they prepared to take their leave with another faunus. "Shelly will be waiting in the van for you."
"No" she repeated, a little more forcefully this time. "She won't."
"We got everyone here" Yang broke in, smiling past the scarf over her face.
"She isn't here!" the faunus replied almost at a shout, and Jaune quickly clapped a hand over her mouth as everyone tensed. After a few seconds of no reaction, a perception confirmed by Ruby, they relaxed.
"Okay" Jaune said. "She isn't here. Where is she?"
"I don't know" she whispered back, seemingly frightened by her own outburst. "Master took her a while ago and she hasn't come back..."
"We'll find her" Jaune assured her, gesturing to Blake. "Trust me, we will. But for now, I need you to go with Blake here, alright? I'll be along soon with Shelly." The faunus looked at Jaune for a few seconds before nodding, letting go of his arm only to latch onto Blake's. The former assassin gave Jaune a 'seriously?' look that he merely shrugged at.
"Just get them to the van" Jaune said, patting Yang's shoulder. "Red, I need you to look back through the security footage and find someone for me."
"Sure" Ruby replied, keys tapping in the background. "Who are you looking for?"
"Someone, presumably Cardin, took a faunus from the basement awhile back and hasn't returned her" Jaune said. "I need to know if she's still in the house."
"Got it" Ruby said. "It'll take me a little while, so why don't you snoop around the ground floor just in case?"
"Good idea" Jaune replied. "Phoenix?"
"Way ahead of you" Yang grinned, already halfway up the stairs. They had spent only a few minutes creeping through the darkened and seemingly uninhabited ground floor of the house when Ruby's voice came over the comm.
"Okay..." she said. "I think I have who you're looking for. Cardin and a doe faunus went upstairs about two hours ago, but that's where the security footage ends. I can get you to his room, though."
"Lead the way" Jaune muttered, increasing his pace.
It wasn't long before he and Yang were leaning around the corner at the base of a grand staircase, looking up at the lighted hall above. Slowly, they ascended the stairs, taking care to lift and plant each foot lightly and completely before moving the next, their ears straining for any noise that could alert them to the presence of more guards. Their worries were unfounded, however, as they moved into the second-floor hallway and crept past assorted closed doors. They finally came to a halt on opposite sides of a relatively grand door, one that Ruby assured them led to Cardin's room. Jaune quickly checked his VENSU and looked at Yang, who held up her own weapon and nodded back. Jaune reached up and checked the handle, noting that the door was unlocked. Turning it very slowly, he nodded at Yang and carefully eased the door open.
Yang slipped inside first, and a quick scan of the bedroom revealed that no one was home. Her nose, however, easily caught the musky odor associated with sex, and she frowned in distaste as she crept further inside. A quiet grunt of disgust affirmed that Jaune had caught the odor as well, and a pat on her shoulder drew her attention to a far corner of the room. A light was shining from underneath a closed door, and as they approached, they could hear the sound of running water. Again they positioned themselves on either side of the door, this time drawing themselves up to their full height. Jaune slid his VENSU back into its holster, motioning for Yang to do likewise. Knowing the risks involved in mixing electricity and water, she also holstered her weapon and engaged Ember Cecelia. The faithful gauntlets locked into place with a satisfying click, and she nodded at Jaune. He tried the doorknob, and frowned when he discovered that it was locked. With no visible keyhole on this side of the door, he resigned himself to the worst.
"Guys" he murmured, contacting everyone on their comms. "Be advised that we might have to make a very rapid exit." After a short round of affirmations he calmly positioned himself in front of the door, received Yang's go-ahead nod, and lashed out with a brutal snap kick.
The door flew open with a crash, the simple lock unable to bear the strain it had just been subjected to. Before the first splinters had hit the floor, Yang was storming in with her gauntlets raised and her eyes everywhere. She noticed a few mundane things, like Cardin's toothbrush sitting in a glass next to the sink and that the towels hanging on the rack were a pleasing forest green. She noticed a few unusual things, such as the mixture of both male and female clothing lying strewn about the floor and the fact that the shower had a frosted glass exterior. She also noticed one thing that made her blood boil: there were two figures in the steaming shower, and the obviously male figure was being very inconsiderate about his manhandling of the female figure, if her displeased squeals were accurate.
Yang stepped forward and rammed one powerful fist through the glass, shattering it easily as she reached for the male figure, who could now clearly be seen as Cardin. Cardin, shocked at being literally caught with his pants down, had no time to react as he was roughly grabbed by the shoulder and hauled out of the shower and hurled to the floor. He also had no time to scream as Yang knelt atop him and delivered a horrifying, meteoric fist of enraged justice directly to his jaw. The metal-encased blow collided with a solid thud, accompanied by a secondary crack as Cardin's head bounced against the tile floor. Yang raised her arm for a second strike, but Jaune's hand stopped her.
"No time" he growled, his other hand pulling the hysteric and very confused doe faunus from the remains of the shower. "Move!"
Yang grabbed the reluctant faunus as well and slung her over her shoulder, only now registering the fact that there had been very feminine screams when she had busted the glass. A hiss of gas and a garbled cry of surprise informed her that Jaune had just shot an inquisitive security guard. She easily fell into a rapid lope, keeping pace behind Jaune as they flew down the stairs and towards the back porch. They encountered few guards on the way, either because Cardin employed little security or because they didn't believe that they had been hacked. Those few that they did meet usually did a double take at the unusual sight of two masked teenagers abducting a naked faunus, their completely natural reaction costing them the opportunity to act before Jaune downed them with another well-placed shot from his VENSU. Both she and Jaune vaulted the back rail of the porch as they took off towards the woods and then to their waiting van, the lights in the house behind them only now beginning to switch on en masse.
All in all, it had been a good raid.
[Harper's Wharf, Midnight]
It was surprisingly warm for Vale this evening, Qrow noted as he stood alone atop the warehouse where he had, earlier that day, saved Neo's life. It was dark, as one might expect at midnight in one of the poorest sections of Vale, where even the city-funded streetlights often went out. Still, he kept his silent vigil with patience born of desperation. He needed the information Torchwick could give to him, and he needed it very badly. He had encouraged Jaune down the path of vigilantism, had helped him become a small force against the overwhelming tide of public opinion against the faunus, and he had believed that it was for the best. Then his nieces had gotten involved, and their actions suddenly held much greater risk. If Jaune had been caught while playing vigilante, the consequences would have been minimal, mostly a storm of paparazzi that would blow over soon enough, but now...
He shook his head, focusing on the task at hand. The only way to ensure that his family was safe was to put a stop to everyone who wanted to harm them, and that meant deposing Damien before Damien could find the vigilantes. It had been lucky that Torchwick was still alive and hiding in Vale, and he fully intended to wring the last drop of advantage he could from that luck. His keen grey eyes made another sweep of the surrounding area, this time picking up on the flicker of a shadow just outside a nearby warehouse. A second, more thorough examination proved that it was Neo, the short assassin skulking through the shadows as she glanced around. He waited until she had turned a corner before flickering down and enveloping her within his cloak. Muffling her involuntary yelp, he swiftly flickered back up to the rooftop before turning her around.
"Where's Roman?" he demanded quietly but threateningly.
"He sent me ahead with the information" Neo said, relaxing a little as Qrow let her go. "It's all on this scroll here." Qrow took the proffered scroll and quickly glanced through its contents.
"Good" Qrow muttered, pocketing the device and turning back to Neo. "But where is he?"
"He said he'd bring the physical documents when I was assured of a hiding place" Neo replied. "You are a man of your word, right?"
"Of course I am" Qrow said, pulling a small clutch bag out from under his cloak. "Tickets to Atlas, false passports, 10,000 lien in cash, and the name of the man who will be working terminal nine this evening. Tell him that Qrow sent you and you won't be bothered at either end of your trip."
"You arranged this in one day?" Neo asked skeptically, taking the clutch.
"Do you want to escape Damien or not?" Qrow asked pointedly.
"..." Neo stood silent for a few moments, then tapped out a swift message to Roman on her scroll. "He'll be along in a moment." Without another word, she disappeared into the night.
Qrow watched her teleport from rooftop to rooftop without remorse. It was true that he had had to do some fast talking to get his contact to agree to this last minute arrangement, but everything would be alright in the end. All that was left to do was wait for Roman to show up and hand over the rest of the evidence. It was only a minute before a nondescript car pulled to a stop in the street below, the familiar figure of Roman stepping out a few seconds later. Qrow wasted no time in flickering down to greet him, there was no sense in prolonging the whole affair.
"Atlas, eh?" Roman said, idly twirling his cane. "I hope you sent her to the mountains, she's always wanted to go there."
"How lucky" Qrow replied. "That's exactly where she's going. You have the documents?"
"Organized and verified as genuine" Torchwick stated proudly, popping the trunk. "And my trip out of Vale?"
Qrow was about to answer when he felt a cold shiver run down his spine. He reflexively dove forwards, tackling Roman to the ground. A thin bolt of fire passed through the air where Torchwick's head used to be, shattering the glass of the car windows as it passed. Qrow looked up just in time to see another bolt coming, a little lower this time, and more towards the front of the car. He instantly activated his semblance, and the bolt's progress was arrested halfway through the air. He sprinted to the back of the car, where two unmarked cardboard boxes sat. He picked one up in each hand via the convenient, if annoying, cutout handles, and leapt back away from the car as he released his semblance. Time reasserted its normal flow, and the bolt of fire crashed down into the car's engine. The dust crystals contained within ignited, and a muffled explosion blew the hood of the car into the sky. Torchwick, thanking his lucky stars that he had been low enough to avoid the brunt of the blast, rolled away as another bolt crashed down dangerously close to him.
"What the fuck?!" he demanded, raising his cane and blindly firing a round at where he thought the assassin was lurking.
He was rewarded with a lithe silhouette jumping from one rooftop to the next, giving him enough time to scramble to his feet and run before any more of the car's inner workings could go off. He glanced around for Qrow, and swore profusely when he noticed that his one hope of escape had seemingly disappeared. Taking to his heels, he sprinted away from Harper's Wharf, zigzagging through the streets as best he could while more bolts of fire rained from the rooftops. Finally, he took a single wrong turn and skidded to a stop when he found out he had run into a blind alley. Swearing, he turned to run back, only to find a wall of fire covering the exit. Silhouetted against the flame was the same lithe figure from before, an alluring brunette in a skin-tight black outfit, rising from the crouch she had landed in.
"I thought you would have learned by now, Roman" the sophisticated voice had a dangerous note of cold anger to it as one palm burst into flame. "No one betrays me and lives."