New Surroundings

by CrowSkull

A new eviroment means new begginings, this new place might not be kind, but what other choice do you have than adapt and survive, luckly you are not always alone in that journey: Multi-Crossover with RWBY, Watch Dogs, Infamous, Quantum Brake and Prey (2017) that starts before the events of Volume 1...now if only I could tag all the characthers...

12. 12: Chance Meetings or Something

A/N: Whelp shit, here I am… I recently discovered the issue with my monthly schedule… part of me thinks that if I do things like this I can take care of college, other responsibilities, and stuff without sacrificing much time...but I've must have been an idiot to set it up so I deliver a chapter for my fics at the end of the month.

That's practically when I have to deliver stuff in college and when shit needs to be done, which means I'm double as busy, even more, when the end of the semester approaches. And that has a lead to a steady but slow shift and I think I might have technically skipped a month recently due to the slight mistiming of uploads, add on top that this is a long chapter…

Oh well, maybe it is long compensated for it… maybe not. Anyway, I hope you people enjoy it.

Beta: Genatools

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Chapter 12: Chance Meetings… or Something Like That.

---

The group had stayed in Fairwind for about another week as they interrogated Eisen, it took some time however, Eisen wasn't willing to give details about his boss, and as it turned out, friend. However, they still had the other Golden Blades that had aura and semblances. They decided that chaining them up the wall in an awkward position was enough to drive them mad after enough time. Eisen shouted at them to not give in, but after the fifth day of being cooped up without being able to move a muscle and barely with any sound, and being given the offer of an actual proper cell, one of them gave in.

"Zerasmus, Zerasmus… what are the chances we could ask around and avoid meeting this Wormtongue?" Cole asked the others as they strolled down the streets.

"Rustler didn't know him, and besides, if this guy knows everybody, they might as well ask extra questions right?" Jack said to him.

"I don't really doubt he knows everybody, but yeah, we should ask extra questions." Aiden chimed in.

"If you guys are done wondering, it's time to choose, place to stay, or searching for a faunus first?" Morgan asked them.

After getting something out of the imprisoned Golden Blades, they stocked up for a day in provisions and ammunition, then they said their goodbyes to Rustler and went on their way to Enticia. They reached the mining town just as the moon was shining on the night sky. The town itself looked like a place more dedicated to work than to actually living… even if it had some commodities such as a little plaza, some stores, and an inn and a restaurant. Perhaps enough travelers passed through for them to make more business than just working on the mines.

"You really think we should ask someone in the middle of the night? Four humans asking questions to a faunus? We might scare them." Cole said.

"As long as we are quick and give them some space, that could work in our favor," Aiden said.

"We can ask one at a time, and the rest just stick nearby." Morgan offered.

"Couldn't we just ask wherever we are staying?" Jack asked.

"Yeah… after last time maybe it's a good idea to separate those two," Cole said.

"There are no bandits here." Jack pointed out.

"But we are still four humans in a town full of faunus workers, mostly," Morgan said.

"Morgan, I'm pretty sure no one of us wants to start anything, they have it as rough as it is, they are innocent in this." Aiden pointed out as well.

"Yes… but I still want to be careful, we do something wrong and we could make this really difficult for ourselves. And also for them, I doubt they care for Wormtoungue, but they still need these jobs, and who knows what might happen to them if we cause a ruckus."

"True, but we are still going to get to Wormtongue and make him talk, one way or another," Aiden said.

"So… sound like a… let's be in best behavior, and let's get this done quickly kind of deal?" Cole asked and the four of them nodded.

"Sounds like a plan to me, so harmless questions and then we find a place to stay?" Jack asked and the others agreed. "Okay good, where do we start?" He asked, they pondered for a second until they saw a group of workers heading home, they saw them talking amongst each other until they seemed to split in a rather odd pattern, they did however manage to keep an eye on one of them that went along their general direction.

"He could do," Aiden said, the rest agreed and decided to let Jack approach while the rest hung back at a close distance.

"Hey uh excuse me." Jack tried to get the faunus' attention, only for them to ignore him. "Uh, hey, I wanted to ask some directions if that's okay, is it?"

"I don't want to talk about anything human." The faunus said without turning back.

"Look man, it's a simple yes or no answer, please, I promise it will be very short," Jack said as he caught up the faunas, walking in front of him to stop him from walking away, the faunus stepped back at the fact and seemed ready to turn in any other direction.

"Fine, what do you want?" The faunas worker relented but still seemed defensive.

"Do you know where uh, Wormtongue is? Where he stays? Where could I find him?"

"... Why are you looking for him?"

"Well, that's more personal business, but it is for a stern talk," Jack said, the worker looked him in the eye, then turned around and saw the other three people, he realized they were with Jack and eyed them up and down, he then turned around and spoke.

"He usually stays at the mine, but he does come out during the night to meet some people and pray on an old shrine that is nearby." The faunus said.

"Okay, where's that shrine?"

"Follow the east road out of town and go up the side of the mountain, there's a short staircase that leads to the place. I think I saw someone already going in that direction that also had some business with Wormtongue."

"Alright, I'll take it, thanks, have a good night," Jack said with a wave as he went back to the group, the faunus awkwardly returned the wave and then quickly began walking in the opposite direction.

"So…?" Morgan asked.

"According to him there's someone already going to meet Wormtongue, and he seems to meet people on a shrine outside of town, towards the east road," Jack said.

"A private meeting in an isolated place. In the middle of the night." Cole said out loud.

"Yeah, fishy, I agree," Jack said in return.

"Might as well see what can get out of it," Aiden said.

"You think we'll be okay?" Morgan asked him.

"If something goes unplanned, I say we have dealt with worse," Aiden said, the group then began walking out of town towards the east road and towards the shrine. The faunus for his part was thankful that he managed to save roughly enough Lien for an unregistered scroll because he had a call to make involving four strangers.

---

"This place is indeed isolated," Morgan commented as the four of them entered the area of the old shrine, it was a clearing with some signs, benches, and an old stone shrine, to what they didn't know, but it seemed ancient and mostly maintained by the locals. It had some sort of central stone with drawings and runes in it, on top of some barriers to keep people from touching it.

"And with a dark forest to surround it," Aiden said as he looked in every direction.

"Well, we are not alone." Cole pointed at the middle of the clearing, in one of the benches, there was a man with a suit waiting. They silently approached him, he noticed them quickly and greeted them.

"Ah, hello, are you by any chance people working for Mr. Falisad?" He asked.

"Is that Wormtongue?" Aiden asked.

"Well, yes, he goes by that name as well."

"Well, no, we simply want to make a deal with him," Morgan said.

"Uh, well, you don't' seem like his usual clientele, nor do I know you… still seems we are on the same boat, heard that he comes to pray and do some meetings, but that sounded off… however there was no one else telling me where to go and have a proper meeting."

"How did you get here then?" Jack asked him.

"Had to ask some of the faunas, I wonder now if they are trying to be funny and pull my leg." The man said exasperated as he turned around to face the rune, that was when the group heard it, the rusting of leaves, the sudden stop in the wind, and the steps on grass.

They slowly glanced around and saw a couple of shadows move, no red eyes or growls coming from anywhere, so it wasn't Grimm, but they had an idea on who the shadows were… well not really, they could guess their intentions, however.

"I don't think they wanted to be funny at all," Aiden said as he moved his hand closer to his gun.

"What do you mean?" The man in the suit faced them, and behind them, they saw a dark figure bolting towards them.

"Get down!" Cole shouted as he rushed forward, pushed the man out of the way, and blocked a flying kick delivered by a young man with a dark coat, red hair, horns, and a white mask. Cole suddenly had to block a flying red sword that came his way, his opponent fired his sword from his sheet, then caught it in mid-air and was now using it to try and hack Cole apart, Cole ducked and backflipped and soon more faunus appeared from the treelines.

"It's the White Fang!" The man in the suit yelled as Aiden struck one twice across the head with his baton, and then turned and struck another on the back of the leg, kneed his face, and then hit him one more time with his baton. He then grabbed the man with the suit by the back of the collar and forced him to roll under a bench and stay there.

Jack quickly moved and Time Rushed to punch and knock out four White Fang recruits in a row and immediately dashed to strike the one fighting Cole from the back. Cole for his part, stayed out of the range of the guy he was fighting, it was difficult, however, he was fast, really fast. Cole dodged roll to the side to avoid a swing and quickly answered with a lightning bolt to put pressure on the guy, the guy blocked the bolts with his sword and the sword started to glow, Cole ducked a swing and parried the blade with his own gigawatt blade. They exchanged three quick strikes and then Cole pushed his palm into the ground, his palm had a lightning grenade that exploded and pushed the guy several feet as the lightning hit him.

The guy recoiled, but still was aware enough to shoot backward with his scabbard and hit Jack right in the gut, he turned around and swung his sword, only to see Cole had gotten closer and grabbed his sword, immobilizing it.

"Huh?"

"Sorry buddy, but it's not gonna happen today," Cole said to him. The young man however made a quick twist and managed to drag his sword out of Cole's hands, making a deep gash in the process and letting out a lot of blood. Cole quickly saw that the young man had put his sword in his sheath and his color and form turned into black and red, his eyes widened as he realized he was about to deliver some kind of attack… that was until a Time Stop bubble formed around him and froze him. Jack appeared next to Cole and both of them aimed at the young man to knock him back to kingdom come.

"Adam!" At least until a girl screamed and two short girls barreled towards them, Jack quickly dashed away and sent shotgun shots at the girl with cat ears with what seemed to be two swords. Cole on the other hand twisted his body to avoid the metal whip of the girl in a black stealth suit, he kept doing so until he noticed the yellow sparks coming from the whip.

Once he did, he let the attack come and grabbed the whip with his bare hand as the girl tried to him again, however, when the sparks went through him the girl's mouth opened wide as the sparks turned blue and she could see the wound on his hand just mend itself.

"What!?"

"Shouldn't try that on me," Cole said as he yanked the whip and sent a lightning bolt forward, blasting the girl back and making her roll to recover as her aura repaired the damage. He sent forward more low power lightning bolts, and the girl did her best to dodge.

On the other side of the clearing, Morgan used her Kinetic Blast to disperse several grunts and then turned to the other side with her shotgun, she shot one person, he had an aura, but the shot was enough to knock them out. She was about to shoot in another direction when a chain wrapped around her shotgun and yanked it away from her, she turned to see a woman with tiger features.

"Stay back! We'll take care of this!" She yelled as she tried to hit Morgan with her chain, only for it to bounce off her Backlash, Morgan answered with shots from her pistol and with a quick Superthermal explosion that the woman narrowly dodged.

Aiden for his part was shooting back and forth with both his guns at the grunts that came near him, all of them had aura it seemed, so killing them in one shot wasn't that possible, instead, he went close and beat them into submission with strikes of his baton and acrobatic kicks. He struck a White Fang member in the arm, disarming him, turned to another two, and in a quick barrage of hits downed two and left one his knees with his aura broken. However before he could possibly execute the person, he saw as the young man in red rushed at him with a slice that he drew from his sheath.

Aiden blocked with his baton and felt his aura tremble as he rolled on the ground after the attack, he however recovered quickly and fired at the young man, he blocked all his bullets however, Aiden managed to be enough distraction for Morgan to get herself free. Aiden jumped upwards and out of the way as Morgan stretched her hand towards the young man and used her Psychoshock.

The young man screamed in pain as his aura took most of the attack, but his mind was still affected as he felt the… aggressive intrusion. At that same moment, Aiden flipped in the air and rained bullets all around him as he shot both his handguns, pestering the man's aura and forcing the tigress in the defensive. Very quickly Aiden had to block a sword as he landed, the girl with two swords and cat ears had rushed him and he countered attacked with his baton, only for the girl to disappear and be behind him… he felt a sword strike and kick that impacted his aura and turned quickly to shoot back, the girl dodged the shots, but was unprepared when Aiden rushed her with his baton, he pushed her back and before she could… teleport away... he sent a quick concussion grenade.

The girl rolled on the ground as the grenade hit her, Aiden was moving to rush her down, he was however stopped by the man with red hair again, and even though the mask Aiden could feel the fury he had. Aiden started blocking strikes with his baton and shooting in retaliation with his handgun, both exchanging strikes and blocking bullets and attacking back and forth.

Aiden tried to dash and grapple with his opponent, he was fast, however. Aiden missed the grab and the young man seemed ready to try to cleave Aiden in half, only for him to gasp as he felt something behind him, he quickly turned around to parry a gigawatt blade from Cole.

The fight became more convoluted as Aiden and Cole attacked the young man from both directions, as Morgan suddenly had Phantom Shift away from a metal whip as the other young girl tried to double team her alongside the tigress, and Jack appeared to cover the tigress and blast her with a shotgun shot. The tigress used the end of her chain to make a gravity explosion that scattered the buckshot from Jack's shotgun, in that same motion she wrapped her chain around Jack's foot, only to see him disappear out of thin air and appear in front of her with a dropkick.

Aiden watched his back and dodge rolled as the girl with cat ears tried to shoot him with her… sword gun. He answered with his own bullets, and ducked as the young man in red tried to behead him, he then had to parry a metal whip as the girl with brown hair tried to hit him… he realized that at least three of these people were young, really young… They were fighting kids.

Morgan used her Electrostatic Burst to push the young man away from Aiden, Cole took his chance, landed a flying kick on the girl with cat ears, and then charged the young man in red with his gigawatt blades again. Morgan for her part quickly turned and morphed into a leaf to avoid a kick from the tigress.

"What the-?" She exclaimed as she saw Morgan appear again and aim at her with her pistol. On the other side, Jack was fighting the girl with the cat ears again and tried to put her on a Time Stop, but she disappeared into her shadow clone at just the right moment to rush at him and hit him with her sword across the temple.

"Fuck!" Jack yelled as he felt a gash on the side of his head, for her part, the girl gasped what almost seemed to be horror, but Jack quickly took the chance to Time Dodge straight into her and sent her tumbling backward with a knee to the gut and a punch to the face. He quickly turned around to assist his friends.

---

"Ah!" Blake yelped as she clutched the left side of her stomach. Her eyes scattered around, looking for the man that she had just tried to attack… no, almost killed?

She had been part of raids and loathe as she admits, maybe some of her actions may have caused the indirect death of some humans… but she never had done it with her own hands. However, in an almost instantaneous movement that might have actually been instantaneous, she was the one in the most pain. Was it some kind of teleportation semblance? Or perhaps speed? If so, how was that even possible when the man didn't even have the aura to draw power from? The gash on the side of his head showed that he definitely didn't have it unlocked, and he was showing that he was very much still able to fight at her level.

She didn't have much time to think about it when the man punched Illia on the back of the head, and then seemingly skipped his way through reality to face her once more. On instinct alone, Blake jumped back and left a clone behind in her wake.

"Wuh?" The man appeared confused when he saw his fist go straight through the catgirl's head. "Again?"

It was Blake's turn to catch him off guard as Gambol Shroud aimed to strike at his back, but she would admit, she hesitated, unsure if she would kill him because of his lack of aura. Just before she could realize it, the man sent a sort of transparent wave that pushed her, Adam, Sienna, and Illia away from the four people they were fighting, and now those four stood back to back aiming their weapons at all of them.

"Alright fellas, spill it, what's the deal you have with us?" The man with lightning semblance said.

"You should know damn well why we attacked you," Blake's ears perked when she heard Sienna's voice. It was always the loudest in the room and one that you listened to once it started. "Mentos, where is that slimy little bastard? I didn't think he'd hire muscle to protect him, damn cockroach." She grumbled.

"Mentos? Look, we are not friends with him." The man with the dark coat reasoned. "We're here for other reasons."

"How do you expect us to believe that?" Adam asked, and was about to continue but stopped when Sienna raised a hand.

"If you really aren't here protecting him, then turn him over," Sienna asked. "Mentos has been using faunus labor for years, trafficking faunus across Mistral. We're looking for him so we can put a stop to his sadistic crimes, but he's only one… what we want is for him to lead us to the source."

The man with the coat after that pulled out Mentos from under the bench he had been hiding. "Is this Mentos?"

Sienna's eyes widened with anger, shock, and a type of excitement that Blake knew and recognized very well. "That's the one," She said as her chain slumped onto the ground, the bladed part in hand. "Hand him over, and then you can leave this place and we won't follow you."

"Hey, hey, listen to me, we definitely can-" Mentos didn't get to finish as he screamed as the man shot him in the back of the knee, after that he pressed his gun against the temple of Mento's head. Blake felt herself gasp and she heard Illia did so too… they were going to kill him, just like that.

"Now, why do you need him?" The man asked, with his finger on the trigger.

"As I said before, he's been trafficking faunus all the way across Mistral and I assume to and from other kingdoms as well," Sienna explained. "He has many friends and one of them is nearby… we'll use him to drag that other bastard out- Who knows what kind of horrible crimes has been dealt with those faunus because of that man. Dozens if not hundreds of them have been torn away from their families and hurt even more than just by exploiting them as laborers. Once I find the real culprit, I want him because I want to be able to look him in the eye as I punish him personally."

"Who are you after?" Said the man with the grey shirt. "Because from what it seems we might need him as well."

"If you want this fight to end, you'll hand him over to us," Sienna warned them.

"You are not the only one with people they need to hunt down, and this matter is personal for us." The woman then said.

"Talking isn't going to get us anywhere," Adam said, popping his sword out of its sheath. The tell-tale sound resulted in everyone across from them readying themselves for another fight. And if they kept fighting… would they kill Mentos? Would Sienna and Adam kill them? And what if those four were stronger?

"Wait!" Blake felt herself scream without really thinking about it. She cursed mentally when she saw that all eyes were on her. "Who are you looking for?" Even when Sienna glared at her warningly, she continued. She didn't want any needless blood to be spilled today. "Because it is not him right?"

"Not really, who we want is Wormtongue, and he seems to know him personally." The woman said, that Adam and Sienna perked up, and the four people noticed. They knew they were all after the same person.

"Then why don't we work together instead of fighting over him like this? That way all of us can catch Wormtongue, and once you don't need him anymore, you can hand him over to us." She got closer to Adam and placed a hand on the one that held onto Wilt and Blush. He stared at her through his mask, but with a resigned sigh, he let his sword fall all the way back into his scabbard.

"What if we want to kill Wormtounge?" The man in the black coat asked, Blake, froze for a second, she hadn't thought of that, and worse was that she could believe it.

"I was about to ask the same. Do you?" Sienna asked, staring at the man with the black coat directly in the eyes, and him returning the gesture.

"Lucky for you, we don't. We also have questions for him, he seems to know everyone in Mistral and where they are. A couple of quick questions and we can leave him to you." The man with the lightning semblance told them.

"And you think you can get something out of him? That quickly?" Adam asked them with gritted teeth.

"We can be pretty convincing, kid." The man said.

"Hey, hey, why are you working with animals they- argh" Mentos grunted as the man with a black coat hit him with the back of his gun.

"Don't talk."

"Either way… we both need him, alive. And if we want to get to Wormtongue, then maybe we can work together. We can make a deal right?" Blake interjected again, hoping to reach some sort of understanding.

The man in the coat looked at Mentos, he then looked back at his companions and they seemed to nod after they forced Mentos to stand up and walked closer to them, with his gun still aiming, however. She could feel Adam ready to attack at any second, and so were Sienna and Illia.

"So, how does this work?" The man asked.

"Wormtounge uses this mine he has to "transport" faunus around apparently, this might as well be your deal as well." The woman said. "What was your plan?"

"You think we'll tell you even though you still have him hostage?" Sienna asked them.

"We need him as well remember, but let's just say we work together as the girl said." The man with the grey shirt pointed at Blake.

"Do you think you can help us get to him, without walking into another ambush that is?" The man with the electric hands asked. Sienna seemed to stare at Blake herself, then to the four people in front of her, she pondered for a second until she figured something out.

"We have people that give intel in this town, you really seemed bent on getting rid of Wormtongue, then we can plan on the basement of the inn."

"Alright… will this be another ambush?" The man with the grey shirt and orange scarf asked.

"You seem to want the same as us, we don't work with humans… but if it means getting rid of this trafficking ring for faunus once and for all, then you have my word," Sienna promised them.

"Okay, we'll see you there." The man with the coat said, slowly the four of them began to step away from them with Mentos, mentos himself limped with them as he cried and held his injured leg.

"What about Mentos? You can't just take him!" Adam told them, Illia and the rest of the recruits seemed ready to jump into action again.

"As we said, we need him, and we are not stupid. This is the only bargaining chip we have." The woman said.

"And let you get away with him?! We can't trust humans, especially not ones like you! The moment you have your hands on him you'll interrogate him quickly, let him go, and then do your business with Wormtongue, leaving us with nothing." Adam proclaimed. "If you really wanted to work together then you'll hand him over."

The four of them stopped for a second, they talked briefly until the one with the lightning semblance spoke.

"Tell you what, we'll go directly to the basement of the inn, and every step of the way, you can watch us, ready to do something if we step out of line. Sounds good?"

Adam clenched his teeth, he really didn't want to deal with humans, Blake could tell, she held to his arm and held his hand to calm him down, but still, she would admit that she couldn't entirely blame him for being suspicious, those four were… unpredictable.

"That seems like a solution. Very well." Sienna said to them. All of them nodded and continued on their way back to the town.

"I never caught your names," Sienna said as they started to step off the clearing.

"Aiden."

"Jack."

"Morgan."

"Cole."

They all said one by one, then they turned and walked off from the clearing after that Sienna let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, she turned around and was pleased to see that all the recruits and their footmen were still alive, some of them had been lucky, however.

"There's something off about them," Blake said as she sheathed Gambol Shroud. "They were all able to use their semblances, but none of them seemed to have an aura. Was I the only one that noticed that?"

"No," Adam gruffly replied. "I noticed it as well while I was fighting the one named Cole. He was being particularly careful while fighting me, more so than I am accustomed to. Of course, you wouldn't want to get hit in a fight, but if you had an aura, you could take one or two if it means getting a good hit on yourself… and then I draw blood, but it is as if he knew that would happen."

"He uses lightning when I tried to shock him… his wound healed as if they were never there, and then the others… that man was stopping things as if he teleported and could make people… freeze and that woman… what she did was not normal." Illia said, Blake and Adam couldn't help but agree, particularly Adam as he still felt the attack on his mind, only to see her turn into a leaf at some point. All of them could do something extraordinary without aura it seemed, the only exception being Aiden.

"Those are questions that we can ask them again later," Sienna spoke up, silencing the three of them. Yet glared particularly at Blake. "Blake, you and I need to have a word about what you did. Do you forget who I am?"

Blake's ears went flat against her scalp. "No… I know you are the leader of the White Fang, not me."

"And yet you not only spoke over me but you started a deal without thinking about what I would have thought, or what it would mean, now we have to work with them and hope they aren't lying," She pointed out. "That is uncharacteristically insubordinate of you, Blake. Do not do it again."

"I won't," Blake replied, bowing her head to the taller woman.

"Good… I'm telling you this because we need to be careful, they seemed willing to deal with us, but don't be fooled Blake, nor any of you." She said speaking to every single member. "Those four are dangerous, and they are willing to do what they must to get what they need." She said referring to Mentos. "If we are not careful, they could do the same to us. What they could do aside, the fact that they can use semblances without aura is something that shouldn't be looked down upon. Be ready for anything. Adam,"

"Hm?"

"Your semblance is the strongest out of us all, if it comes down to it, do not hesitate to use it at full strength."

"Hmph," Adam couldn't help to be thoughtful, they were giving him permission to go all out after all. He wouldn't complain, but it also meant that the situation was bad, it meant that they were dangerous, and to be honest, he agreed. "Don't worry, I won't."

Blake winced at the thought, she had seen Adam's semblance at full power and knew what it could possibly do to a person even with aura. It wasn't ever a pretty sight.

---

"Did you really have to shoot his leg, now he is limping and we have to pretend he's okay," Cole said as he helped move Mentos. Mentos himself had the bullet hole covered by Jack's scarf and was doing his best to walk with his limp. Aiden was at his side, the gun still aiming at him, although beneath his suit. To the rest of the town, it seemed like they were a group of buddies sharing an awkward hug walk between the five of them.

"Would you prefer it if it had been the gut? Because then he would be dead already." Aiden retorted.

"Please! I beg you, I did nothing wrong… it's legal to do the transport of workers and they signed up for it."

"Really?" Cole asked him.

"Of cour-" Mentos stopped as he felt Aiden's gun press harder against his side. "Okay, we fill the form for them and that's all we-" He felt the gun again. "We also change the contracts and transport them as we see fit, and yes we separate some families. But we are giving them jobs and besides, they are animals, it's their fault for being so stupid but they still are in contract with us, it's… it's, we have to, is the only way to compete with-"

"Do you even pay them?" Jack asked Mentos.

"Of course, yes, we pay them with services and also a base supply of Lien, we are doing them a service for-"

"Enough for them to live in a stable place?" Morgan asked.

"Stable place? When they sign… I mean when we make them sign they are contractually obligated to live for the work they do, we save them from their unemployment situation and let them live at our workplace and there they only need their bare necessities, we supply just the necessary... they can't live anywhere else as when they sign they are not citizens, they become more like our property- I mean, dedicated worker force tha-"

"Jesus Christ, and you get away with it?" Jack asked.

"It's… it's legal."

"Because they have animal parts right, but still, you see nothing wrong with basically forcing them to legal slavery, you stop them from being citizens, you are basically making less than even other faunus that live in the kingdoms,'' Morgan told him.

"But it's legal… we can-"

"Just shut up, the worst thing is you might as well not be the worst out there that works in this. Do they have eyes on us?" Cole asked.

"They do, the tiger woman and that girl with cat ears are following nearby," Jack said

"They can pass by without masks, the others must be stalking nearby," Aiden said.

"You guys think we can trust them?" Cole decided to ask.

"No, they don't trust humans and I don't blame them for that, but they are ready to kill if they need to, and to them, we might as well be part of the problem," Aiden said.

"They must be willing to deal with us, they must get their weapons from somewhere unless they stole them all." Jack thought for a second.

"Even so we cannot let our guard down, Aiden is right in one thing-" Morgan began.

"One thing?"

"They are ready to kill if they need to, and that's combined with people that have to endure abuse for years, they are angry, and that makes them ready to blow." Morgan finished.

"It's what happens when people decide to treat you as a freak. It might get worse, some of them might be so pissed off they want to put every human down or anyone that doesn't understand them." Cole said.

"Experience?" Morgan asked Cole.

"Yeah… way too much."

"But, they are freaks. Dangerous freaks, how can't you see that- Oww!" Mentos yelped as Cole discreetly hit him on the back of the head.

"You really aren't helping," Cole said to him.

"Well regardless, we are here," Jack said as they reached the door of the inn.

"So we just walk in?" Cole asked.

"I suppose, let's try to not destroy this one, okay?" Morgan asked them, they all nodded and walked inside. The inn was mostly deserted, a couple of faunus were having a conversation at one table while there was one passed out on another. The owner of the inn, a raccoon faunas by the looks of it, was behind the counter and immediately eyed them. Once the group spotted him they walked to him, still dragging Mentos with them.

"Hey, we would… like to go to the basement. Think we can?" Jack asked the owner, the owner's eyes widened and his faced was wondering if they were serious, he also seemed worried, however at that he also spotted Sienna and Blake from behind the group, ht e group noticed as well as Sienna nodded to the owner and silently told him to let them trough. The owner was still slightly dumbfounded that he was letting in five humans into his basement… but he wouldn't disobey a command from Sienna Khan herself.

"Right through there… " He said while pointing to a door that was past the counter. "Do watch yourself, humans," he warned them as he opened the door for them. The four of them walked in and opened the door, revealing a path that went downstairs. They walked the steps, this time Aiden pointing his gun at Mentos more openly, they walked into a dark room.

"Is there a light switch somewhere?" Cole asked as he tried feeling the wall for one.

"Found it," Jack said as he turned the lights on, revealing a large room with plenty of members of the White Fang, including the young man with the red hair and the girl in the stealth jumpsuit sitting in crates, tables, or other pieces of furniture.

"Huh… people got here rather quick." Cole quipped as they White Fang stared at them, none of them with their weapons raised but some of them were clearly on guard. The air was filled with tension and any wrong move could begin another fight.

"I hope this is not too much to ask," Morgan said as she picked up a nearby chair, they moved it to a more or less clear corner and sat Mentos on it, Aiden was still behind him and aiming his gun at the back of his head, as both groups continued their standoff Sienna and Blake walked into the room.

Sienna eyed the group of four and their hostage, pleased that they didn't try anything, but still weary. "We are going to be here for a while, I say you should tie him up." She said to them.

"Got any rope?" Aiden asked, just then one of the White Fang members tossed them a long rope, all of them staying far away from each other. Cole and Morgan bound Mentos to the chair while Aiden kept his gun on him and Jack stood guard in case the White Fang tried anything.

"Please… just…" Mentos sobbed.

"Please, for your own good, tell me you know when to shut up," Morgan said to him. Mentos remained quiet after that. With Mentos not running anywhere and both parties in place, they now had to go on to the next stage, work together…

"So, we are here, and you are as well." Jack began.

"How observant of you." Adam rolled his eyes.

"Regardless, still we agreed to come here so that both of us…" Jack said motioning to both groups. "... Can work together, we are both after Wormtongue, after all, and you said you needed this guy, so… here he is."

"That you brought him doesn't mean that we can't trust you, how do we know you really are going to help?" One of the members asked.

"Yeah, why are you after him anyway, do you even care what Wormtongue has done? Why are we supposed to help you?" Another member asked.

"We have nothing against you, and in theory, you should have nothing against us…" Cole said.

"You are humans, your kind is the reason millions of faunus across Remnant live in the same conditions as the mine in this town, you turn a blind eye to what happens to us, and you say we are not supposed to have something against you?!" One of the White Fang members yelled, and others seemed to agree as they started to raise their voices, they continued to do so until Sienna raised her hand and made everyone in the room quiet down.

"We agreed to work with you." She said while eyeing Blake, Blake herself didn't dare stare back and instead looked at the ground. "However, it is true that we don't know your reasons to go after Wormtongue, you said you want to ask him some questions about some people he knows, but why? Those reasons matter if we are going to work together. So if I may ask, what is your reason?" She asked, the four of them looked at each other, asking each other if they should share any kind of information.

Eventually, they stared back and Cole was the one to speak.

"To keep it simple, Wormtongue is the closest person we have to find someone else. Zerasmus."

"Zerasmus is the friend of bandit lord that we have had issues with, the leader of the Golden Blades. Some time ago we decided to settle on a nearby village, we acted as guards and defended from all we could, we did at one point however stopped a group of slave drivers, rescued a young faunus girl that they were trying to transport. We saved her… gave her a home… but it didn't stop there." Morgan continued for him.

"We were attacked and more bandits tried to kidnap her again, we rescued her again but from there on we knew bandits were all around causing trouble, we stayed days wondering if more would come for her, we were prepared," Cole said.

"But try waiting for answers while you learn chaos is going on around you, affecting everyone and that there are little wars happening. Leaves you pretty anxious, so eventually we decided that we needed to start doing something ourselves, if the area around was that dangerous, then we would clean that mess up." Jack added.

"We took care of most of the bandits that were near the village, stopping them and saving travelers, we did make the routes safer, but eventually we brought the attention of the Golden Blades. They weren't happy with us ending their raids, so they sent assassins after us, in broad daylight, and in the town we tried to protect. They sent us a clear message that from the on we would have a target on our back, and as long as we did, the town would be in danger, along with everyone we lived with and that we care about." Aiden said.

"So we decided to leave, but not only that. We struck first, the bandits had taken over Fairwind, so went there and routed them out, left them in shambles, but their leader escaped, and as long as he is out there we'll be a target for him. So now we are chasing him down to end him, and for that, we need to know where Zerasmus, a friend of his is." Morgan said.

"And for that, we need Wormtongue." Cole ended their little tale. The room was quiet and the White Fan looked expectantly to Sienna as she seemed to be thinning on their story, eventually she stared directly at them. She eyed them up and down and in a moment her hardened stare turned to a smile.

"Hmm, seems our motives aren't that different," Sienna said to them.

"Perhaps," Morgan responded.

"Believe it or not, I can at the very least trust you to carry out this mission if your motives are true. Fine, we'll work together. We do this and not only will you get the man you are looking for but also help free thousands of faunas that have been put in slave-like servitude." She proclaimed.

"Seems like a nice added bonus," Jack responded, Sienna seemed to be playing face, agreeing to work together but still wary of them. The rest of White Fang? They seemed to be suspicious, but for now, they seemed to be willing to at least cooperate.

"I hope it does, but now you'll have to understand that you work with us, your plans become our plans and our objectives yours. We are not only after Wormtongue but we also seek to free the faunas he has ready to sell to enslavers just like that man." Sienna said pointing at Mentos "And as much as I wouldn't mind seeing him dead, we do need him for our plan. So could you please stop threatening us with killing him? We both need him now." Sienna said, particularly to Aiden as he still held his gun to the back of Mentos head.

Aiden looked around, and saw how the rest of the White Fang looked at him expectantly, not only that but Jack, Cole, and Morgan looked at him waiting for his response. He would admit he was the one with more trust issues, and he knew for a fact that they couldn't trust the White Fang. But he also knew alliances came with compromises, he studied social engineering and psychology and knew how he was affecting their perception. Even so, letting go of a bargaining chip felt… difficult.

He quickly however forced his gun down, that line of thought of keeping all cards to yourself was a dangerous trap, one he couldn't afford to fall into, or worse. Make his new friends fall with him.

"Thank you," Sienna said to him, and everyone could tell as the tension in the room lowered considerably.

"We'll work together then… in that case what is your plan? Why do you need him to assault the mine? Couldn't you just motivate and uprising? They seem to treat faunus like shit, and most of the town seems to be faunus." Cole asked.

"The town itself is a front." A voice said to the side, it was the owner of the inn.

"Most of the faunus that work in the mine and live in the town have simple jobs like transport, mining and so they have little clearance. But the mine itself is divided into three parts. One for the workers that live outside, then the second part is a barrier. Guards, processing, and machinery heavily guarded occupy that spot, it works both as the bulk of the mining operation and as a disguise so people don't find the third section and their actual main business."

"The faunus that don't get to leave." Morgan guessed.

"Yeah, deep underground there's another group of faunus, the people Wormtongue sells to others and that do the hardest work for hours on end, every day. Whether they are young, old, or even children, they will work for him until he sells them to someone else. That place is both a mine and a prison." The faunus said.

"Okay… if that's the case, why not a prison breakout? If you know this then someone must have come out there at some point, right?" Jack asked the owner of the inn… and the owner shook his head.

"You are speaking to one of the only few I know of… and I didn't escape from the mine, I was sold and then I escaped from the people that bought my contract, the others that have escaped have been all the same, escaped from the people transporting them or had been rescued by the White Fang. But never from inside the mine." He said.

"Damallow has been supplying intel for us so that we can rescue more of the people kept away on that mine, but we only get a chance whenever some of them get sold," Sienna explained

"If we get a chance," Blake said quietly, but it was enough to be heard by everyone, and it was true.

"What about infiltrating the place?" Aiden asked.

"Remember what I said about being divided into three parts? The place is heavily guarded and no matter if it is during the day or night they have enough guards patrolling to dissuade anyone, but the problem is not the guards. It's the three divisions. In order to get to one area-"

"You need to pass through the others." Morgan guessed.

"Exactly."

"Are there any other ways? Like how about going in with the people that come from Enticia?" Jack asked.

"They have wrist tags to identify the people that go in, they are paranoid, and sadly they have been going long enough for them to know all of their workers, you can't even appear as someone's replacement, they get suspicious immediately if that happens, and then they go knocking on people's doors," Damallow said.

"Do you guys have anyone that can blend in, don't know like anyone that can go invisible or something like that?" Cole asked. At that Illia walked forward and showed that she could change her skin color. "Huh…"

"Ilia is very capable, but even so we don't have anyone that has true invisibility," Sienna explained.

"We scouted and they have guards and cameras, not anything like Atlas but… they have a way to make it difficult," Illia said.

"The mines." Aiden guessed.

"Yes, they are larger than one might think, I've scouted as well and neither Illia nor I can go anywhere without huge risks, this is not a facility in the open, it's an enclosed mine where they watch all entrances, everyone that enters needs to go through those places, that's too much time wasted to infiltrate and if we are found… it would be too late fo backup," Blake said.

"As much as Blake and Illia are some of my best, I won't risk them on a suicide mission just like that, they are too young for me to allow them that." Sienna cut in.

"What about blending in another way, going in accepting the contract and infiltrating directly," Aiden suggested, and more than one person looked both curious and appalled at the idea.

"You want to enter a hellhole, with no help or back up, and be trusted to break yourself out and who knows how many others, with no chance of anyone helping you. You would have to be mad, and I don't what you think is worth a risk, human, but we aren't expendable." Adam retorted. Aiden himself would grant that it was very slim odds, Adam was right as well that it was indeed mad.

He wondered what that said about him having done that before, but he had done it knowing that he would get everything he needed and that he could bust himself out thanks to CTOS. But that wasn't an option here, no smart prison, a place difficult to navigate by design, and the people in charge were paranoid, seemed almost impossible.

But impossible was something he was used to, and not only him but his new comrades as well.

"Alright, that takes away many options, and so we are left with Mentos here…" Morgan sighed.

"There is one thing that gives a clear entrance and can give a quick direct way to Womtongue." Sienna began and let Damallow continue.

"As much as he profits from the mines, Wormtongue's real moneymaker is the 'contracts' he sells."

"So… we go in as buyers or sellers, and they'll let us right in." Cole summarized.

"Correct, but for that, we needed a human, even better if it was someone that was known as a trafficker of faunus. We've been waiting for weeks for a good target or someone that could pass by as that person and then Mentos walked right into our trap, and so did you." Sienna said.

"Uh-huh. So… think Mentos can do that?" Jack asked.

"He's all we have, so he better," Adam grumbled.

"... I…" Mentos stammered, he was obviously unwilling but more than that he seemed to be keeping some information to himself.

"Is there something you know?" Sienna asked him, and he decided to look somewhere else.

"Hey, come on, you told us a lot already on the way here, how you stop the faunus from being able to settle down and be citizens, drag them across kingdoms, how you don't even care in how you leave them… and it seems now you aren't willing to talk," Cole said loud enough for everyone to hear, many of the members of White Fang rising to their feet or getting closer.

"We told you to keep your mouth shut, but you really think now is a good time to not tell everyone some things? Should we leave you to them? What you think?" Jack asked Mentos as he waved at the White Fang group, many of them getting closer step by step, and most of all angry. Mentos could practically feel their rage and what they would do to him if he didn't cooperate, didn't help that the group of four had phrased it in such a way, and so… he broke.

"Okay! Okay! I'm sorry, I'll talk… I'll talk." He cried. "It's not gonna work, Falisad… Wormtongue… he's paranoid, especially now that the families of Mistral are at each other's throats."

"Of course." Morgan sighed.

"Since that's happening he's been worried that people from the families will come and try and make him choose a side or simply steal his business. When I asked how to get an audience with him people told me I would need to possibly ask around or send a message in advance, that's why I asked around the town for where to find him. The people I talked with also said I may not be able to see the merchandi-" Mentos stopped as he noticed the White Fang getting irritated with him. "The-the… uh...the faunus, there was a chance I wouldn't even be able to go inside and meet Falisad. If you want me to smuggle you in, it won't work, not with how current things are…"

"If that's the case then you are nothing more than a waste of breath." Adam proclaimed, many members of the White Fang agreeing with him.

"If that plan won't work then you better give us something that will," Sienna warned him.

"I… I don't know, look Wormtongue won't have his guard down at any moment. He's not stupid." Mentos said.

"Then gives us something that can at the very least get us inside!" Sienna yelled at him.

"I… I don't know."

"Let's start from the beginning, what deals does Falisad take? Does he buy and sell?" Morgan asked Mentos.

"H-he does, he can offer loans and also buy faunus that… agree to his contracts."

"Huh, you guys have a whole system going." Cole quipped.

"Yes… still, you can't ask me to get an audience, if I have nothing to offer then he won't consider it, he might even get suspicious."

"Lies! You have sold some of his contracts and you have bought a workforce from him, he knows of you. You are the closest nearby that can get inside!" Adam yelled at Mentos.

"That was before, not now… he never trusted anybody, how you think he has stayed alive while having contacts everywhere in Mistral, is both through his business and him being smart enough… the only thing he cares about more than staying safe is making sure his workforce is well supplied." Mentos cried out.

"... if that's the case, what about an offer he can't refuse?" Morgan asked him.

"What?"

"Tell me, what is an offer that he wouldn't say no to." She demanded.

"Umm, uh… a big batch of faunus willing to accept the contracts and, well… that. But even that's not enough, if I went to his doorstep alone and with no proof of it he wouldn't deal, he deals when all cards are on the table. And even then I may not be allowed inside."

"But you said he sells as well, what about an exchange? Does he accept that?" Morgan pressed on.

"Ex-exchange?" Mentos stammered.

"What do you have in mind?" Sienna asked Morgan, meanwhile, Morgan herself kept prodding.

"Say, if you were to go to his doorstep with a bunch of desperate faunus that was fleeing the gang wars happening across Mistral, and offered them in exchange for money or other contracts, or maybe even supply of workers. Would that bring up his attention?" Morgan asked, and so everyone in the room began to get the picture.

"Uh… maybe, but you don't seriously think he'll fall for it right? He won't believe I alone gathered that many willing faunus, not without back up… and, even then you wouldn't get that far inside."

"As long as we get inside and spring into action immediately, it won't be an issue. We just need to act the part. And lucky for us, we have four humans that can act the role of your back up." Morgan finished.

"So… your plan is to put us at risk?" Illia asked Morgan.

"No, we just need to get inside, the moment we cross that door, we'll spring into action before they realize what hit them," Cole said.

"That doesn't sound convincing." Illia refuted.

"However it sounds, fooling them and striking them from within together is the best chance we'll get to each Wormtongue and to free the faunus on the third section. With a place like that, every option has risks, with this option… we get the chance to strike from behind and do so without putting anyone undercover on that mine, we would attack the moment we get inside."

"That can work… or it could also be a chance for you to leave us behind," Adam said.

"We won't." Aiden shot back

"Hmph," Adam grunted in response, he didn't trust the plan, and neither did many of the White Fang, then again the risk was still massive.

"What would we need for this to work Mentos, tell me." Sienna threatened.

"I… well, clothes perhaps, they would know if you were White Fang… and uh, crates as well. Falisad has as a rule that the belongings of all workers should be delivered separately, and since you are many, he would ask for their belongings to be placed on separate… luggage." Mentos said.

"That can be the way we can smuggle all the weapons in," Jack said.

"Yes, that can work." Sienna agreed. "It seems we have a plan, and we can surely be ready by tomorrow. I trust you will do your part and fight with us."

"We will," Cole said for the group.

"I hope you do, because if you try to betray us then we'll finish what we started on the shrine right there in the mines, and we won't hold back," Sienna warned them.

"We are not betrayers, and don't worry we are keenly aware," Morgan said face to face with Sienna. Sienna herself responded with a smirk.

"Good, it's a deal then." She said, offering a handshake.

"It is," Morgan answered by shaking hands for the group.

"Excellent, now get ready, because we have a lot to prepare. That goes for everybody!" She said loud enough so that every member of the White Fang could hear.

---

The White Fang prepared for hours, getting crates, clothes to pass by incognito, and preparing all they could. Damallow tried his best to give a map of the mines but the only thing he remembered clearly was the working areas. It was agreed that their priority was both saving the faunus but also getting Wormtongue, once they were inside the forces would split, a group going for the faunus and another going for Wormtongue.

The four humans present were divided into those groups. Jack and Morgan would go for Wormtongue and Aiden and Cole were assigned to go save the faunus. It was a way for them to not just go for Wormtongue and leave the White Fang to fend for itself.

"Do you feel sure about our chances?" Morgan asked.

"We should be if everything works out," Aiden said.

"What is the actual worst-case scenario?" Cole asked.

"I suppose that we don't get inside before shit starts hitting the wrong kind of fan." Jack guessed.

"So… even you know your plan has flaws." They heard someone say off to the side, it was the young man with red hair and the red chokutō

"Every plan can have flaws, and this one is a difficult one to pull off. What's your gripe with it?" Morgan asked him.

"My issue is how conveniently you have the role to escort us inside of a mine that is also a prison. I wouldn't trust any human to watch my back, and I wouldn't put past you to leave us inside there while you do your dirty work, or even sell us out." Adam grumbled.

"Hey kid, we don't plan on doing any of that, you can believe it or you can not, but won't change that is not gonna happen," Cole said.

"Hmph."

"Besides, you are not the one in charge, your leader is the one that agreed to this," Cole said as well. Adam visibly clenched his teeth and his hand balled into a fist, he however kept his cool and restrained himself.

"Sienna Kahn knows what the real prize is, and I know that as well. To free the faunus from that enslavement and end the perpetrator once and for all, you four are giving us a good chance, but that's all, don't be fooled to think anyone here trusts you."

"Still buddy, at the end of the day you are just gonna have to believe, working together is like that. You do your part and we'll do ours." Jack said.

"Yes, but I have to wait for you to do your part so that then I can do mine." Adam retorted.

"Then you are just gonna have to hope that it all works out, and we do all our parts," Aiden said. Adam stared at him and then at the others, searching for any hint of lying or plotting. He didn't see anything to hint at any of that, however.

"I suppose we'll see," Adam said as he was about to leave them alone if it wasn't for someone rushing to the scene.

"Adam!" Blake rushed to him, worried that he might cause a scene or get aggressive, or worse, start a fight he couldn't win.

"Blake."

"Is everything okay?" She asked with a worried tone.

"Yes, it is." He said as he stared at the group of humans.

"You both seem rather young to be in a group like the White Fang." Morgan pointed out.

"That doesn't mean we shouldn't fight!" Blake said to them.

"According to some humans, I was old enough to work on a mine, be treated like cattle, and beaten around without remorse. I was old enough for them to treat me as nothing, I say I'm old enough to fight back." Adam said to them.

"We cannot, and we will not let others suffer, if the world won't do anything, then… we'll do it ourselves," Blake added.

"And how far are you willing to go?" Morgan asked them.

"Whatever is necessary," Adam answered immediately. Blake looked at him for a second, but then nodded and stared back at the humans.

"I would say a better question is what you hope to gain," Aiden said.

"Huh?" Blake looked puzzled. "What do you mean to gain? Shouldn't it be obvious?"

"Okay, what is it then?"

"The right to live out our lives, to be able to live and control our own fate," Adam said.

"Equality, to not be forced down anymore by the kingdoms just because of how we were born," Blake added.

"Okay, and you expect to achieve that before you age? Before you get old? Before you die?" Aiden asked them.

"Is that a threat?" Adam pushed.

"No," Aiden responded flatly. "When you fight for a cause like this you must be ready for it to be your entire life, change won't happen overnight and sometimes not even in a decade or more. There's a chance that you won't get to see the changes. There'll be no glory, no celebration and maybe you won't even be remembered. Are you ready for that?"

"In the span of just a few years, the White Fang has already caused major changes in Mistral, Vale, and Vacuo," Adam pointed out. "Atlas is the biggest threat to our cause. When we started with peaceful protests, we were laughed at and humiliated for even thinking that equal rights were possible for us. Once we started taking action, look at us now," Adam gestured to the rest of the White Fang and implied what they were about to do.

"You didn't answer the question," Aiden responded.

"Frankly, I think that's answer enough," Adam sneered. "I may grow old by the time we finally win, I admit, but change will come. Whether the world is prepared for it or not."

"Then I hope you are prepared for it as well." Cole sighed. "Because change is always weird on how it works."

"Hmmph." Adam looked in the other direction and walked away, Blake looked towards him and then back at the group of four humans. After that, she followed Adam.

"So, think is gonna work?" Jack asked.

"It should," Aiden answered.

"Think they'll be fine?"

"They can handle themselves, let's just make sure we save as many as we can," Cole said.

"I suppose tomorrow is going to be an interesting day," Morgan added.

---

It was about four in the afternoon when the White Fang and the group decided to go directly to the mine, Mentos at the front and the other four humans flanking the faunus from all directions. All of the members of the White Fang were using disguises, civilian clothing, and some of them were carrying the crate that had their "belongings."

Everyone seemed to blend in quite well, only outlier was Adam Taurus, who seemed to insist on wearing a bandage around the side of his head, there seem to be some kind of injury on his left eye. But that was passable, as to how the White Fang managed to blend in… it was simple. Just act like a group of refugees or families, so just follow along and chit chat, it was almost like playing family.

They had sent a missive beforehand, basically saying that Mentos would reach the mine during the afternoon to make an exchange, that way even if they appeared out of nowhere, they could they weren't uninvited. They reached the entrance of the mine and they were all flanked immediately by around sixteen guards.

"Hello, did you receive my message?" Mentos asked, incredibly holding himself together, even though he was the only hostage in reality.

"We did, didn't expect this many, however." The guard said eyeing most of the faunus. "How?"

"Huh?"

"How did you move so many animals across Mistral and why did you decide to bring so many at once." The guard asked.

"Well… since the families are at war, then I was able to find many people that needed… help. A perfect opportunity wouldn't you say? And besides please try to guide a bunch of these freaks across the kingdom in a time like this. Try to even have a place to keep them, Falisad was the only one nearby that had those options." Mentos said he could feel the White fang staring dagger at the back of his skull… even when they were playing the part of ignorant refugees.

"You seem… off." One of the guards said.

"H-how so?" Mentos asked and he could feel sweat dripping down his forehead.

"You are Mentos right?"

"Y-yes."

"We know of you, but usually people that come here aren't this... shifty, or maybe shifty but, nervous." The guard pointed out.

"Uh… uh…"

"Forgive him, he's been busy taking care of these people and has been worried if Falisad would be able to manage them and give them… proper jobs." Cole jumped in.

"We've been hauling here for a couple of days, it's hard to travel in large groups," Aiden added. "And besides, it would be better if maybe we enter the mine and not be seen." He added more quietly.

"Excuse me but what do you mean?" Sienna jumped in at the comment, joining the play by sounding innocent.

"Nothing, nothing," Aiden murmured and threw a look at the guard, hopefully making the guard think that the sooner they were inside the better.

"Huh, very well… but I also wasn't kidding when I said that you looked shifty… you have something wrong with you? Is it your leg? You seem to be not favoring it." The guard pointed at Mentos' leg.

"Oh that… I… I…" Mentos stammered.

"We were on a river crossing and almost slipped, the problem was that that guy over there dropped the ball and let go of him, now Mentos has an injured leg," Cole said while pointing at Jack.

"Oh, you gotta start now, of course," Jack responded.

"You are the one that dropped him," Morgan added.

"Oh seriously?! Fine I made a slip, but look it could've been worse." Jack 'defended' himself.

"Worse?!" Mentos almost yelled, slightly agitated, a bit too agitated. "You… you four-" He was about to yell something, and possibly rat them out, Aiden, however, moved quickly and got closer to Mentos, discreetly imposing himself before he could say anything. "You… I…"

"You hired us and we did have a problem, yes, but as we said, it comes with a refund," Aiden said slowly.

"Please forgive him. Mentos' leg has been killing him and we've been walking on the sun for too long. Once he can sit and possibly be inside he'll be better, it would be easier if someone hadn't dropped him."

"Will you ever let it go?"

"Sir, can you please give Sir Mentos a place to sit so he can rest his leg?" One of the faunus asked.

"Quiet! All of you!" The guard yelled. "Ugh, fine… we'll enter, we'll pass through to your… quarters. And then we'll settle the rest, I'm sure Falisad will be interested in this bunch."

"Alright everyone moves along, if everything goes well this will be your new job, so move it, and lift the crates," Morgan ordered them to keep appearances. Aiden walked side by side with Mentos… who didn't even dare to raise his voice or speak again. Once most of the faunus were inside they walked through the tunnels until they reached what looked like a checkpoint… one with a large reinforced double door.

"We'll go through here and secure… I mean give you directions, we'll have to search those crates as well, just in case." The guard said as he began to give instructions to open the doors, the members of the White Fang stared at each other knowing that the moment that they searched the crates they would be found out. The door opened but they weren't let in straight away, however. Instead, a group of guards came, armed of course, but they seemed ready to investigate the crates.

"Is this section two?" Aiden whispered to Damallow.

"Yeah, but we gotta get past those doors, otherwise we are gonna get locked out," he whispered back. Aiden sent a nod to Morgan, Jack, and Cole. They all seemed to be ready, and so was the White Fang. The moment the guards got closer they seemed to eye the faunus with suspicion, especially when they got closer to the crates.

"Open them up." One of the guards said. The faunus next to the crates seemed unsure, however. "I said open them up!" The guard said louder.

The faunus looked at each other and looked towards Sienna Khan, she nodded and they slowly began to open the crates. Sienna, Adam, and the group of four humans noticed that Mentos started to look more nervous each second.

"Hurry up!" The guard demanded. At that Morgan and Cole saw how Aiden began to restrain Mentos as he seemed to try and… get away from him. "What's happening over there?" one of the guards noticed as well. Jack was getting ready to jump into a Time Rush and knock out as many guards as he could.

"Wait! They are members of the Whi-" Mentos screamed and didn't get to finish as Aiden bashed his head against the ground.

"Now!" He yelled.

"What the-" The guards were surprised as suddenly the faunus pulled weapons out of the crates and started firing, mostly in a way to push them back, some of the White fang aimed for legs and shoulders, others aimed to kill but didn't get very far as their aim… wasn't the best, that and how quickly the fight started.

The guards were surprised by and knocked out by the members of the White fang that were good enough to fight without weapons, mainly Sienna, Adam, and Blake. Aiden himself brandished his baton and quickly bashed the head in of the closest guard while shooting another one nearby on the side.

Jack did as he planned and rushed forward and punched and knocked out three guards in a row before they could fire and then Time Dodged straight into another, kicking him into a pillar and making his backbend in an awkward angle.

"Heads up." He yelled towards Cole as he trapped four guards in a Time Stop. Cole and Morgan saw the chance to zap the Time Stop bubble and get rid of those guards. After that Cole and Morgan used their powers to scatter the people past the door with Kinetic Blasts and lightning grenades.

"Keep going!" Aiden shouted as he tossed a gun to one of the members of the White Fang and then quickly rushed another guard with his baton, hitting him in the leg and then on the back of the head. He shot another guard with aura right on the head, the shot apparently enough to down the guard, Jack immediately appeared next to him to cover his back as he Time Dodged and shot a guard in the chest with his shotgun.

"There's more behind!" A faunus shouted, immediately guards were blindsided by a barrage of lightning missiles from Cole, and after the smoke let up, Adam Taurus rushed in with a slash, and Cole right behind him. Adam's strike had cut several of the weapons of the guards in half and then he rushed them with cuts to the legs and hard kicks and hilt strikes that knocked them out. By his side Cole blasted lightning and punched whoever he got close to, together they took care of the rear while the rest took care of the front.

"Shut the doors!" A guard shouted before he was shot by Aiden in the face, it didn't kill him, but it made him fall from the scaffolding he was standing in.

"Everyone move now!" Sienna ordered as the members of White Fang kept fighting, they went forward as the gates began to close. "We need to stop that!" Siena called out. Right then and there Jack focused and shot two Time Stops at each side of the doors.

"What is that?!" One of the guards screamed as they saw the fractured reality bubble slow down the doors, Morgan used the chance and focused her Electrostatic Burst, using it in conjunction with some lightning dust she was able to fry both doors and effectively stop them before they could close.

"No, no stop them we can't let- argh!" The guard screamed as Blake used her shadow clone to get near him and promptly struck down his aura and then kicked the guard away with a flying kick. Illia joined her as both of them took care of the guards on the flanks, either zapping them or knocking them out. Blake deflected bullets and practically teleported up and down with her shadow clones to approach a group of four guards.

Using Gambol Shroud's ribbon she tied two guards together by the neck, struck at their legs, and then used them to knock out the other two. Illia for her part used her whip to hit several guards across the side and stun them with lightning, once she found a spot covered by shadows, however…

"Where did she go?" One of the guards asked as they practically saw her disappear, she changed her color and blended with the scenery, they shot blindly to try and find her at the spot they last saw her… but it was too late, she was above them. She appeared in with a kick to the head of one of the guards and spun and spiraled to hit the other guards around in a single flourish of her whip. A guard tried to rush her but immediately felt something puncture his chest and deliver an electroshock that knocked him out.

Both the girls had become the target of the flanks, and more guards were aiming at them and would have started firing on them, at least until a barrage of bullets stopped them. Aiden covered them, wielding both his guns akimbo and precisely hitting shots at every guard he could see. Once he got close he entered close combat by shooting people on the legs, hitting them across the stomach and the face with his baton, kicking their knees and sides. And when needed, rushing with guns and shooting them point-blank, killing three guards in quick succession.

Right behind him, Morgan used her powers to disperse multiple people and then Psychoshock the minds of three guards that tried to shoot at the White Fang. She then took down another few with her shotgun until she had to dodge a barrage of shots from another group of guards with a Phantom Shift.

"Kill her!" One of the guards shouted, Morgan simply smirked as she ducked and used her Lift Field to leave the guards scrambling as they flew into the air. Right behind her Sienna jumped over her and broke four different pieces of her chain, she threw those pieces like darts at the guards, and with the dust inside themThe guards got knocked away and down in tiny explosions of fire, ice and gravity.

She then flourished her chain to hit two guards on the back of their heads and knocked right into Aiden, who with a flurry of kicks and strikes of his baton took them down in a couple of seconds. She then covered him again by wrapping her chain whip around the leg of another guard and leaving Aiden to stomp his head. She seemed pleased with herself and shot a smirk at Aiden. She then was surprised as Aiden shot someone behind her, making the guard fall to the ground instantly, from the side they saw Jack punch another person and knock them out and then drop kicking another guard several feet away into a stack of tools.

Blake and Illia soon joined, Blake dropping on top of a guard and landing on his head with a kick, and Illia sliding by another and tripping him. Making him hit his head on the way down. After that Adam and Cole appeared, Adam blocked several bullets with his sword in several draw strikes, and then rushed in with a corkscrew kick and slice to the leg of one guard, and then slicing the rifle of another in half, passing him and then kicking him on the back of the head.

Cole for his part shot three separate bolts of lightning to the guards and then knocked several away with a blast of lightning, finally, he used a gigawatt blade to strike down a guard rushing at them, he went flying into the air before crashing down. They saw the last guard present about to fire… at least until Morgan used her Psychoshock and made the guard contort in pain and benign knocked out in a sudden burst of energy. And with that, the guards at the checkpoint were taken care of.

"Okay, seems like you held on to your side of the deal," Sienna said.

"You almost sound surprised," Aiden commented.

"Hah, well we don't expect much from humans if this one is any indication." She said, lightly kicking one of them knocked out guards.

"Well, we aim to please," Morgan said.

"This mission is still not over." Adam reminded them.

"True, everyone recovers quickly and gets ready to split into two groups!" Sienna called out to the rest of the White Fang. The White Fang moved quickly… if a bit winded. Normally they would quick raid and then retreat quickly, but this wasn't a normal raid. No this was much bigger.

The members were high on adrenaline and the pressure was palpable, many of them took their weapons and masks and got ready to push on, some of them seemed ready… others… one could tell which members of the White Fang had done something similar before, which could deal with the pressure and which ones couldn't, and also which ones had seen bodies or killed before. There hadn't been any casualties on their side, and the majority of the guards were still alive.

There were some bodies however, it was very different from Atlas' robots, some of them had been killed in the initial spray of bullets, some of those practically unavoidable, not that it made it easier to process for some amongst the White Fang. Adam and Sienna did kill some as well, Adam killed two people while defending the rear, and Sienna killed another that tried to hit their forces from the side.

The rest of the bodies had been thanks to the four humans amongst them.

Blake gasped when she saw the person that Cole had hit with a gigawatt blade, a huge scorched gash in his chest, then she and Illia looked around and noticed that there guards with bullet holes right in their forehead, sides, and other places… there weren't many, but it was clear that if push came to shove, the four humans were willing to kill in a fight. Blake didn't know what to think, she didn't like that these missions could result in death… even if they were humans.

She could at least understand that in the middle of a fight people got hurt, and sometimes you are not supposed to hold back. However, there was a difference here. Both Blake and Illia knew that Adam did not hold back, but they understood where it came from, from Adam's drive… in a way they could understand it. But these four… they way they had killed and then moved on, it wasn't a hot-blooded kill. They were cold and far more detached… in a way it meant that they didn't do it to see people suffer, but it was also… pretty hard to understand how you could kill someone in such an… impersonal way. Blake honestly didn't know what to think.

On the one hand, she could respect that they wouldn't hold back and that they didn't seek to kill every single one of them, but then… she wondered how they were able to pull that off, to stay true to that and seem… collected. She wondered if she had the strength for that.

"Those two… they seem put off," Jack said to Sienna as they looked at them.

"They are young, and had a much different life than many of us, is not the first time they saw someone die. It will become easier with time."

"They are just kids."

"Yes, but they chose this, I know it will take years for them to get a full grasp on it, maybe sooner. I also know that maybe they shouldn't be dealing with this. But they are some of my best… and if we aim to make something happen we'll need them, you have killed and you know what it means, so do me a favor and don't question my methods, human." Sienna said to Jack.

"Alright, alright, didn't mean to start something." Jack raised his hands, the White Fang was almost done regrouping, reloading, and getting ready… at least until they heard rumbling, quickly the wall and the ground began to shake violently.

"What's happening?" Illia asked, then a voice came through the speakers.

"I knew this day would come, you think I wasn't ready!? Well sorry to disappoint but I won't let you get away with it you damn animals, you wanted inside this mine? Be ready to be buried here!" Who they could only assume was Wormtongue said. Quickly they heard explosions and they had to start avoiding pieces of stone falling from above.

"We need to get out of here!" Cole shouted.

"Everyone, move, push forward, and find a safe spot!" Sienna ordered. The White Fang and the group of four humans ran while avoiding falling debris, those who could stop the falling rocks from hitting them. Cole and Morgan blasted rocks out of the air, Sienna used dust to do the same, Adam cut large pieces of debris to pieces before they could injure anyone and Jack stopped many of them by freezing them in time.

"Into the tunnels!" Adam called out to everyone, everyone rushed for the closest tunnel they could find, there were three in total and so they had to split up, Adam and Aiden went to the right as more debris began to fall, Sienna went through the middle and Jack followed her as he kept stopping rocks from falling on the White Fang, Illia went with others to the left and Cole joined them.

"Go!" Morgan called out as she used her Lift Field combined with gravity dust to try and stop the entire cave from dropping on top of them, there were still some White Fang trying to get to the tunnels.

"Morgan you gotta start running!" Cole called to her, the entire mine began to shake more violently as they heard more explosions. Morgan was stumbling and pieces of debris began to fall near her, after watching a couple of seconds Blake decided to try to help guide the White Fang that was still behind.

"Blake!" Adam called her, but it was too late. She was already helping the faunus and Morgan.

"We gotta go!" She said while yanking Morgan's arm to try and make her move. Morgan in the end relented and all of them tried to make a run for any of the tunnels. However, before their eyes, a final explosion occurred, one that shook the entire area and made the earth split open to a floor that was below.

Morgan, Blake, and the White Fang began to scream as they began to fall.

"Blake!" Adam screamed and tried to rush down into the hole until Aiden stopped him, immediately the entrance of the tunnels collapsed and separated all of them, Aiden and other faunas restrained and began to pull Adam away as the tunnel began to collapse around them, they pulled him back far enough until debris stopped falling… they were safe, but now they were completely blocked off.

"Let go of me, human! All of you let go of me!" Adam screamed, drawing Wilt and forcing the others to release him. "Why? How dare you?!"

"You would've been crushed before you could've done anything!" Aiden shouted back.

"Don't try me!" Adam insisted.

"I'm not," Aiden replied.

"Do you have any idea what she means to me?! Do you have any idea?"

"However much she means you won't save her by throwing yourself like a moron and dying before being able to do something!"

"You don't know what I can do!"

"Going back there is not possible, the entire cave collapsed," Aden said motioning around them. It was more or less clear there was no coming back the way they came from."

"Tch." Adam clenched his teeth.

"She's a fighter, right? She must have survived the fall, Morgan as well, they can take care of each other." Aiden said and saw Adam's handshake, eventually he sheathed his weapon and let out a low grumble.

"You better be right, human, or I promise I'll end you," Adam said with a sneer.

"Save that for the guards that we still have to fight."

"Don't worry, I will," Adam said as went past him.

"Sir, we… we are trapped, the only way we can keep going is through the connecting tunnels." One of the members of the White Fang said.

"Fine, where do they lead?"

"They lead towards the main area of the mine, where we can go either for what Damallow said was the offices or try and find a way down to the third section."

"Do they separate or they both go in a similar direction."

"I don't know. Maybe more tunnels collapsed, but it seems that the offices might be near the third section."

"Guess Wormtongue wanted to always have an eye on his slaves, if we go in that general direction, we might be able to regroup with everybody else, save the faunus, and catch Wormtongue," Aiden said.

Adam clenched hits teeth for a second but carefully thought about the options they had, if they could indeed worry about all of those problems… then might as well.

"Fine human, we'll do that. Everyone stick together, we'll catch Wormtongue before he can escape and rescue the others!" He declared and White fang began to follow him, Aiden stood close by as they followed the tunnels, and soon enough they found resistance.

"They are still alive?!" One guard said as they went past the corner of another tunnel. He was quickly shot in the head by Aiden, his aura shattering and knocking him out.

"Some of them really don't stand a chance." Aiden quipped. At that more guards appeared.

"Do try to keep up, human," Adam said to him.

"I was about to say the same to you," Aiden answered as they both led the charge against the guards.

---

As they were falling Morgan thought quickly, once she saw the ground she created a Lift Field immediately and caught herself and the members of the White Fang, they had move quickly however as there were multiple rocks falling on top of them. Morgan rolled as she landed and quickly searched for an exit.

"Over here!" she heard Blake call to her and the rest of the White Fang, they rushed to the tunnel she motioned and somehow, they all managed to reach the tunnel before more rubble could fall on top of them.

"Hah, Hah…" Morgan took large breaths as she recovered herself, she maybe shouldn't have pushed herself so much to hold the cave together, but she did, and now she had a killer migraine. "Ugh… Ngh."

"Are… Are you ok?" Blake asked her as she and other White Fang gathered around her.

"I'm fine. Well, not really, but I'll be fine." Morgan said as she held onto her head, after a couple of seconds the pain stopped, now… They had to figure out what to do.

"Where are we?" One of the White Fang asked.

"We fell, we must be a level below… but what about the others, Adam is still up there, and so are Sienna and Illia," Blake said. "We need to get back to them, they might need us," Blake said, she was already thinking about what would be the best way to get back to Adam, he did seem worried.

"We might need to find a good way to get back up… and almost everything collapsed." A faunus said.

"What about our objectives?" Another asked.

"Let's keep going in the direction of them, if the entire thing above us collapsed, then we can't go back up that way, we should head to the third section and towards Wormtongue. They must be headed that way." Morgan said.

"Right… we can go that way." Blake pointed towards an illuminated tunnel, it seemed to lead to an upwards tunnel and towards a different section of the mine.

"Seems like a solid guess… lead the way kid," Morgan told Blake, Blake nodded and started leading in that direction.

---

"Damn it all," Cole said as he and other faunus with aura held together with the ceiling above them, the collapse wasn't kind to them, and their ceiling would have crushed them if they had been any slower. "Do you guys have it?"

"Almost!" Illia called to him, they were locked out by a door, the faunus pried open by pulling it off its hinges, but it was difficult when the strongest people in the room were more focused on holding the ceiling together.

"Fuck." One White Fang cursed as he felt his knees buckle, he was a lion faunus and he was well built, but they wouldn't last long at this rate.

"Please tell me you'll open it soon!" A bear faunus called as she repositioned her back to add extra strength to herself.

"We do! Quick! Get here." Illia called to them

"Alright… how do we do this?" An elk faunus asked. They were practically stuck until Cole thought of something.

"Hey kid, zap me!"

"What!?" Illia asked, it seemed crazy until she remembered what happened when she had tried that.

"Just do it!"

"Okay, okay." Illia then thrust her whip forward and hit Cole with a sting of lightning… and kept it going. The White Fang saw as Cole got stronger, strong enough to lift the ceiling himself for a bit.

"Go, go, go," Cole told the others, one by one the rushed for the door, finally it was only Cole and the bear faunus, she was somewhat hesitant about leaving him alone, and in a way she was right, the moment she did Cole almost dropped to his new at the fact he had to hold an entire ceiling on his own.

"Go!" He yelled and she quickly went past the door.

"I'm running out," Illia warned Cole.

"Okay, okay." Cole took a deep breath, in one motion he lifted the ceiling and pushed upwards, he then let go of it and quickly did a dive roll for the door, he managed to get past the door just in time.

"Holy shit!" One the White Fang said as they all recovered. "We… we are alive."

"Yeah, we are, for now. Now we need to find the others." Cole said.

"They should be going to save the faunus in the third section." One of them said.

"That or going for wherever that guy is, Wormtongue," Illia added.

"Bastard decided to bring down his entire mine on top of us… you think… you think he killed the faunus in section three?" One of the members asked the other White Fang began to seeth at the idea.

"If that's the case we might need to help them," Cole said.

"We might find the others if we go to section three, it was where half of us were going to go," Illia added.

"Alright then, we should move then…" A faunus said as they walked forward and saw a path that split into two different directions. "... uh, which way?" She asked as they all seemed to try and pick aside to go to.

"That path turns and goes down since it's a mine then it means that down there should be deeper areas, and those are where more workers would be, maybe there is where the rest of workers are." Illia summarized.

"That makes sense. Guess we are going that way." Cole agreed, together they rushed towards that section.

---

"Fuck." Jack cursed as he and the others walked through the tunnels.

"Of all the things I expected, for Wormtongue to destroy his own mine wasn't one of them. Bastard." Sienna grumbled.

"So, how much do you bet that he has more explosives ready?"

"Hmm, we need to get to before that happens."

"Sienna Khan." One of the members of the White Fang approached. "I think,.. we think we found an entrance to the third section."

"We don't think… I know it, this is the place." Damallow pointed at the tunnel in front of them. The tunnel opened into a massive cave full of tiny different caves, some machinery, and what appeared to be some crude living quarters. Amongst all, there were several faunus that had been affected by the collapse of the mines, and just like Damallow had said. There were kids, teens, adults, and even old people in there, age didn't matter a sling as they could work.

"How many are there?" Jack asked as he saw the number of faunus.

"Damallow, you said there was maybe a hundred faunus?" Sienna asked, however, there seemed to be more.

"Yes, when I left… now there seems to be more, maybe three to… four hundred."

"The mine cannot be that big, how tight on space and cramped can they leave them?" Jack asked.

"They would find a way." Sienna commented as they began to look at the faunus with… "contracts". "If Wormtongue truly wants to collapse the mines, he hasn't detonated this place yet… but it doesn't mean they haven't been affected, of course, he wouldn't care for collateral."

"They won't survive if even another small cave happens," Jack said.

"He's right… they already have injured." Damallow pointed out.

"Then we need to evacuate them now!" Sienna ordered, just then a group of soldiers appeared from one of the adjacent tunnels. It seemed they were there to do something similar, maybe a bit less rescuing and more relocation.

"Of course those guys would appear now," Jack said as he reloaded the D12.

"Everyone! Guide the workers to a safe place, we'll take care of this!" Sienna ordered. "Are you ready?"

"Oh, totally," Jack said. As the guards tried to open fire on the White Fang, Sienna and Jack rushed in and took them down quickly. Jack froze two pairs guards in Time Stops before shooting them with quick reloads of his shotgun, then he quickly entered Time Rush to knock out three guards, one with a punch to the gut, another with a knee to the chin, and the last one with an elbow to the back of the head.

Sienna followed his trail by using her whip chain and sweeping the leg of one of the guards. She continued by whipping her chain around the neck of another and then hitting their head with a backflip kick. She landed and used the angle she had on the guards to throw three pieces of her chain, all charged with fire dust. The guards got knocked back, one of them right into Jack as he blasted his back with his shotgun.

As more guards appeared Jack put more people on Time Stops and Sienna fired more pieces of her chain at the people in Time Stops and made the people inside them explode, either knocking them down or in one specific case to kill two. Jack then moved to intercept a group of guards that were trying to shoot at the rest of the White Fang, he dodged in and made a Time Shield to push the guards away, just for Sienna to appeared with a flourish of her chain whip and with a barrage of kicks that knocked them out. Jack shot his shotgun to one side and Sienna flailed her whip on the other to take out the guards.

As the guards tried to organize both of them rushed again, this time however Jack was able to see that Sienna did… something. From one second to the next she appeared to move faster, be stronger, and act more like… well, a tiger. She used that energy to tackle and piledrive a guard into the ground and then using her chain to hit two others across the head before doing a spinning flying kick to take out another. By her side Jack rushed another guard with a sliding kick to the knee, breaking it and then immediately rushing and Time Dodging with punches and shotgun blasts.

One last group of guards remained and Jack decided to finish them with a Time Blast, they didn't get a chance to react as they seemed to warp in and out of existence for a split second before being tossed like sacks of potatoes by the bright explosion.

"That should be all of them," Jack said as he recovered his breath, then they heard the rumbling, more parts of the mine seemed to be ready to collapse.

"We need to move quickly!" Sienna yelled at the rest of White Fang.

"There's still more people we need to move, there are injured!" Damallow answered.

"Shit." Sienna cursed as she ran next to the White Fang, Jack for his part had another idea, to give them extra time… maybe in a more literal way than expected or intended.

"Okay, time to be a hero Jack." He said to himself as he focused on the rocks the began to fall, he focused mostly on the ceiling and created a Time Shield around himself, then using the same energy of a Time Stop and from Time Rush he focused on an entire area of the cavern, he realized he was locked in place… almost lie in stasis, he couldn't move much or else his concentration would break, and so he stood in the middle of the room, freezing the falling debris on time… he really hoped the ceiling was the only thing that could collapse because if more began to fall then he wouldn't be able to do much.

"Keep doing that! We'll get everyone out soon." Sienna called at him.

"Copy that… shit, I hope I can keep this up," Jack muttered.

---

"We seem to be a level under some of the hallways above," Blake said to the rest of White Fang.

"Then we should move up, the others must be fighting or rescuing the others." One of the members said.

"Wait, there are some people up ahead." Another member said. They quickly took cover and tried to spot who those people were and what they were doing.

"Can you arm those quickly? I don't wanna be here if more of this place caves in." A guard said.

"I'm not arming them, they are armed, I am filing them, the whole damn place should have blown up by now but for some reason, this thing failed, they are all connected you see and now I have to connect them so that everything goes together in one go when the boss presses the button.." The other one said.

"We are doing this?"

"Fuck these animals, they are not worth the effort I say, we better follow Wormtongue and leave while we can."

"Yeah.. you are probably- What the-!" The guard was immediately blasted away by a Kinetic Blast. And immediately then the rest of the guards were swarmed by the fire of the rest of the White Fang. Blake and Morgan both evaded bullets and dashed away, Morgan with her Phantom Shift and Blake with her semblance. The dashed straight into the guards, Blake doing a pirouette to strike several guards on the back of the head and then using her shadow clones twice to avoid the shots of another guard, trip kicking him and then to kick downwards into the round.

Morgan for her part used a more direct and yet more grandiose approach when she rushed in she focused on her Superthermal, she combined it with ice dust to create an explosion of steam, ice and fire all around her, sending the guards around her flying and into the walls. In a matter of seconds, all the guards were taken care of.

"Okay, what were they connecting?" Morgan asked.

"Those." One of the White Fang members pointed at four devices placed on some support beams.

"What are those?" Blake asked.

"Uh… explosives."

"I know that, but what kind? I've never seen ones like these."

"These are… these clockwork bombs, they are a model that came from Vacuo." One of the White Fang said. "They have signals, emitters, and a sort of relay so that they can work with each other."

"How do we get rid of them?" Morgan asked.

"They… they don't seem to be active." The member said, but then the clockwork bombs began to light up. "Oh no… they are relaying, they must have fixed it… and they are receiving, they must be ready to blow half the mine again and-"

"Tabitha! How do we stop them!?" Blake shouted.

"Uh… okay, okay just, grab them and open them up, remove the whole box they have and then rip it from the wall," Tabitha instructed using one of the explosives as an example.

"Will that work?" Another member of the White Fang asked.

"We gotta try, we are out of time," Morgan said as she did as instructed with another explosive, there were several explosives on the walls, while they were disarming, they heard the speakers again.

"If you really thought that you could just come in and take my workers from me like this, then you don't know me…"

"Quickly! We don't have much time"

"This is my life's work and I'm not gonna just throw it away!"

"We are missing one!"

"Where?!"

"Up there!" One of the White Fang pointed to an explosive that was behind a pillar of some kind blocked off the hallway, the only thing that gave away the explosive was a very tiny window on the wall.

"How can we get there?!" Blake asked.

"I don't think we can." One of the faunus said.

"And if I can't have this place then nobody will…"

"You! Toss me!" Morgan said to Blake.

"What?"

"Toss me in there! Morgan said as she transformed herself into a rock and landed in Blake's hand. Blake suppressed her befuddlement and quickly jumped upwards, used her clone to gain distance, and then threw Morgan through the tiny window.

"Sorry everybody, I suppose another tragic accident will happen this day." The speakers said, everybody closed their eyes and waited for either the explosion to happen or the explosives to be disabled… when nothing happened they noticed that the explosives had stopped emitting their signals. Blake let out a sigh of relief as she saw Morgan's arm poked through the window showing the removed box of the explosives.

---

"If you really thought that you could just come in and take my workers from me like this, then you don't know me… This is my life's work and I'm not gonna just throw it away! And if I can't have this place then nobody will… Sorry, everybody, I suppose another tragic accident will happen this day. " The speakers said as Jack kept the ceiling from coming down on them… he worried for a second until nothing happened.

"Why isn't this working!" The Speaker came in louder.

"Huh." Jack thought to himself.

"Send the reinforcements in… what you mean they are all taken down-" The speaker then cut out.

"Guess we have extra time then," Jack said to himself as more rubble began to accumulate on the ceiling, once he let go of the ceiling would fall however, more pieces of rock began to fall from the side just due to the collapsing of the mines. Jack kept focused as he saw suddenly more pieces falling around, and then he saw some extra guards appear.

"Oh come on," Jack complained as he saw them approach and aim at him, however, they didn't last long as a bolt of lightning and bullets pushed them away. Jack turned to see Cole and more White Fang join them… Jack mentally laughed as he saw Cole getting powered up by telling a little girl with a metal whip to strike him and shock him.

It did work however as the power surge allowed Cole to send four missiles of lightning and three magnum bolts and took down several guards, soon Sienna and Illia helped him get rid of the remaining guards and assisted Cole in shooting debris out of the sky. Sienna did so with dust… and Illia powered Cole up.

"What took you so long?" Jack asked Cole.

"Falling rocks, maze-like tunnels, stuff like that. What about you, are you holding out okay?"

"Just hurry you asshole!" Jack shouted at him.

"We are on it!" Cole said as he and the White Fang gathered the last workers past a stable tunnel, now it was only Jack the one in the cavern.

"You gotta get out there!" Sienna called out to him.

"I know…" Jack responded.

"Stop posturing like a hero and just get here!" Cole shouted at him.

"I know, I know… just give me…" Jack focused on his Time Rush and let go of the rubble accumulating on the ceiling, he ran, he just ran with all the Chronon energy he had and made it to the tunnel. Of course, for the rest it didn't look like he ran, they saw a trail of orange moving really fast, and then Jack appeared in front of them.

"Phew." Jack took a quick breath.

"How do you do that? How can you move fast, and slow things? What kind of semblance controls that." Illia said out loud.

"He controls time." Sienna guessed. The silence from Illia, Cole, Jack, and the others was telling.

"You, you are right… guess you have a good eye." Jack said.

"You learn to have one," Sienna responded.

"Well, either way, it seems everyone is in one piece, even the workers," Cole said.

"Indeed, now we just have to deal with Wormtongue," Sienna said.

"Yeah… he, were you the ones that took out the reinforcements?" Jack asked Cole.

"Eh? No, that wasn't us."

---

"What are you?" Blake asked Morgan as they ran through the tunnels.

"Let's just say we are very special," Morgan said to her.

"You are not normal, you don't seem to have aura, only one out of the four of you seemed to have aura… and your semblance, your powers… how is that possible?" Blake asked.

"I could tell you, but most likely, you wouldn't believe it," Morgan answered.

"I just… it's hard to understand you, you are not huntsmen, yet you behave like them, but you also are capable of killing, but you do it coldly."

"Has something been worrying about you?" Morgan asked her.

"I… " Blake stammered as she kept up with Morgan. "I… don't believe that the world needs so much blood to make a difference, if it was just a few people I could understand, but… the more we fight it feels like more people need to die… I don't think I can-"

"Is not about killing." Morgan cut her off.

"What?"

"Me and my… friends. We fight for our own reasons, but we do it to survive and to protect each other. We do not hold back… but we are not mindless murderers."

"... You seem to kill very easily," Blake murmured.

"Some of us more than others. Aiden for example, yes he can be an issue at times but he can control himself, we only kill when we have to, unnecessary death… is not something we do."

"And… how do you handle it, how does a person like that man… Aiden, and the others, handle that much death." Blake asked.

"We got used to it. But we are different people, you always have a choice, and at the end of the day, you are the only one that can decide if you need to kill. If someone's at your knees once the fight is over, you decide that."

"And… What have you four decided?" Bake asked.

"... We'll do whatever it takes, but not everyone that tries to kill us deserves to die. There's a lot of people we didn't kill, and if I'm honest… I'll like to keep it that way if I can help it," Morgan answered.

"You know Belladonna, I can kind of get that… like before I would have never worked with a human. But after today… heh, maybe they aren't all that bad." Tabithat said.

"They still fucking enslaved us, and we'll fight them! But yeah… is actually nice to see a good human for a change. Even if they are… weird." Another White Fang member said.

"Hah!" Morgan couldn't help but chuckle, he had been about to say crazy.

"... Yeah," Blake said to herself as she was thinking. Sadly no one paid attention as suddenly they walked into a trap. Flashbangs detonated in front of them. The sound and blinding light stunned humans, but for faunus, it was even worse. Blake and the rest of the White Fang tried their best to hold themselves together. Their visions would recover eventually, but for a few minutes, they would be practically deaf. With their ears in pain and ringing, they slowly got up to find themselves surrounded by guards from the mine.

"We got these ones, now what?" One of them asked.

"We should just kill them!" Another shouted.

"If there's no one of worth then we should end this and keep going." Another person said.

"The suit-... you must be Falisad right?" Morgan, the only one not fully deaf for the moment guessed.

"What the fuck is a human doing with the White Fang?" One of the guards asked as they aimed their guns at Morgan.

"Do I know you?" Wortongue asked.

"I don't think so. I've heard of you, however."

"Well well, that's usually bad news, and today you come with faunus to try and take me down?" He asked, Morgan, didn't respond, however. "Answer me! Before I start killing everyone here to set an example… is it the families?! The Vomet?! Nelo?! Orien?! Who put you up to this? Who convinced the White Fang to come for me."

"Maybe you did it yourself," Morgan answered.

"Don't play with me, all of this faunus for what? Freedom? Not like Menagerie could house all the faunus that are unlucky enough in this world. Who would care for these ones?" He asked as he eyed the members of the White Fang, that was until he stopped on Blake.

"Hmm…"

"Hnngh" Blake tried her best to focus and at least try to hear what was happening, but the ringing just wouldn't stop.

"A Belladonna. Interesting… maybe I can get something out of this after all." Wormtoungue brought his hand to his chin, Morgan tried to step up, but immediately sat back down when the guards aimed at her all at once. "I still have questions for you…"

"Sir, what about the others." A guard asked. Wormtongue thought for a second, however, all of them had been unaware of a couple of people watching them from above.

---

Adam, Aiden, and the rest of the White Fang had been busy tearing through the guards on one side of the mine. Together they practically cut Wormtongue's forces in half and stopped many guards from reaching the other sections. Currently, they had just finished off dealing with an entire squad of guards that were accompanied by what seemed to be the captain of Wormtongue's guards.

Aiden shot people in the gut and finished them off with a strike of his baton. He had killed several on his way here. Adam did too, yet surprisingly their combined strike had been focused more on speed rather than killing everyone on their path. They only killed the person in front of them and then dealt with the next by knocking them with a strike or kick while preparing a slice or shot for the next one.

Under other circumstances, Adam would have felt that he should have tried to savor it, and yet that wasn't the case, this time the focus was different. Why? It was rather simple, he needed to find Blake and so killing the guards wasn't important… they just happened to be on the way. And beyond that… Adam was focused on being one step ahead of Aiden. The minute the fight started Aiden focused on being efficient and for a second that let him get ahead of the rest for a bit, Adam would not be beaten or fall behind by a human, his pride wouldn't let him. And so in a twist of events, he followed by example. He partially focused his anger on being efficient rather than making the guards pay.

And surprisingly, and to his own surprise, by the time he caught up with Aiden he had to pass up many chances to kill and only did so in a direct fight or when he used moonslice to defeat in single blow a group of guards Aiden had stunned with a grenade. They moved on and Aiden killed two people with long-distance shots to the head and then beat three other nearby guards to submission. Adam for his part cut someone's throat and then did a spinning flying kick to knock out two guards, made slices that killed another two, knocked another guard down by sheathing Wilt and shooting at the guard's chin with Blush, and then used the momentum to cut through the captain of the guard, with his aura the slice had been enough for Adam to basically cleave into him and then let him fall his death and he wrenched Wilt out.

They were above a knotted steel floor that allowed them to look at the food below, the sound of distant explosions going off was enough to alert them and make them see what was happening. From above both Aiden and Adam could see what had happened.

"We got these ones, now what?" They heard a guard say as they surrounded the stunned White Fang, Blake, and Morgan.

"Blake!" Adam almost immediately tried to sprint off to the next tunnel so he could turn the corner and get there.

"Stop!" Aiden chided him as he grabbed Adam by the shoulder.

"Let go of me, human! Do you want me to leave them to their fate, do you want to see them die?" Adam clenched his teeth at Aiden.

"I want you to think! If you go down there without a plan you endanger them. They are all stunned down there and the only one who can fight properly at the moment might be Morgan, if they see you coming they will kill them." Aiden said, and Adam clenched his teeth harder.

"I can be faster than them." He replied.

"You won't fix anything or save anyone like that, focus on being smarter," Aiden said as they looked through the grating. Then they saw who else was with the guards. "That's Wormtongue."

"The more reason to get down there quickly!" Adam said.

"We need him alive, and we need to do it while saving the rest, you can do it, but we need to get you very close, just so that we can control what's happening, get Wormtongue alive and save them," Aiden said.

"We don't fit through this grating… with a hostage, I might be able to get close, but we have nothing." adam said, at that Aiden looked around and managed to find a sack… and then he looked at the body of the dead captain.

"I'll do you one better, a willing hostage," Aiden said as he took his cap and coat and started to remove the jacket the corpse had.

"What are you doing?

"You'll see."

"Do I know you?" They heard Wortongue ask.

"Well, I better see it now because we need to move," Adam said to Aiden.

"We… are gonna fool them, and get as close as we can," Aiden said as he put the sack over his head. Adam understood then and so they started moving towards where Womtongue and his guards were, the rest of the White Fang following behind and hanging back for support.

"We don't need the rest… kill them," Wormtongue ordered.

"I wouldn't be so fast!" they heard a voice call from the end of the tunnel. Blake was still deaf but she could see he had a hostage, one of the guards it seemed.

"What the… wait, that's Forten. He has the captain!" Half the guards suddenly turned their aim towards Adam.

"You dare have my people hostage!" Wormtongue called out to him.

"You and your people hold mine hostage and work them to death. If you think this compares then you know nothing." Adam retorted.

"Your people came to me willingly, and now you come here to ruin everything? They chose this." Wormtongue answered.

"Don't you dare lie, we know you chose for them, what you do to them and the kind of people you sell them too. You, human, are nothing but a slaver!" Adam said as he stepped closer pushing his hostage forward.

"You think you can threaten me, are you dumb enough of an animal to think you'll save them withholding one person hostage!?" Wormtongue asked as he drew a gun and pointed it at Blake's head. "You really think you can win like this?"

"Heh…" Adam chuckled as he got close enough to be a mere three feet away from Wormtongue. "No, we are smarter than that."

"We?"

Adam smirked as in one motion he pushed his hostage forward and removed the sack on its face. Aiden sprung into action immediately, shooting at the people dumbfounded that their 'captain' was being released. They never saw it coming when two handguns shot half of them precisely on the head, killing and stunning them. Adam used the split-second Aiden gave him and changed up his moonslice.

He aimed and rushed forward, aiming for one thing, in particular, Wormtongue's hand. He cut forward, avoiding everything else, and managed to cut the hand clean off. He then used his momentum to make a huge horizontal slice around him, Aiden, and the rest of the people on their side. The impact of the was enough to shatter the aura of the guards, and for Morgan to use an outwards Kinetic Blast that pushed them knocked them all into walls, taking them all down.

"Aaaiergh!" Wormtongue screamed as he held on to the stump of his hand and tried his best to stop the blood.

"Are you alright!" Adam went beside Blake immediately, she still couldn't hear pretty well but she could guess what Adam was asking.

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

"You ok?" Aiden asked Morgan as he gave Morgan a hand so she could step up.

"Could have gone better… a disguise?" Morgan asked him.

"It was what was available," Aiden said as he got rid of the jacket. "The others?" He asked Morgan, for her part shrugged.

"Aaargh!" Wormtongue screamed as he kept holding on to his stump and tried to crawl away.

"You won't get away that easily," Morgan said as he stepped on him to stop him. Aiden took the chance to use the sack he used before and placed it around Wormtongue's hand and tied a knot to stop the blood loss… partially at the very least.

"Eh, please don't leave me to these animals you… you…" Aiden slapped him lightly to make sure Wormtongue didn't pass out. They heard a squad of guards coming from a nearby tunnel. The rest of the White Fang was helping their fellow members, Adam, Aiden, and Morgan got ready to fight again. But were pleasantly surprised when they were shot down by a concussive and repeated blast of lightning.

All the guards were taken down and they saw Cole, Jack, Sienna, and Illia and the rest of the White Fang come for them.

"You are alive, good," Jack said to them as they closed the distance.

"Seems like you are as well… the workers?" Aiden asked.

"All alive and well… well as well as they can be," Sienna said.

"And it seems you got Wormtongue." Cole noticed.

"Please… don't…" Wormtongue bagged as the White Fang took care of the ones still affected by the flashbangs, Cole, Jack, Morgan, and Aiden faced Wormtongue, Aiden turned him over while Morgan kept her foot on him, pinning him down.

"Well well Wormtongue, it seems it's your turn to answer because we have questions." Jack said to him.

"Wha-... just, anything you want, just don't let them touch me… if they do they'll kill me."

"What makes you think we won't? The question is simple, where is Zerasmus?" Aiden asked.

"Who?"

"Zerasmus, a friend of the leader of the Golden Blades, you know just about everyone or so we heard, you better start talking." Morgan threatened

"Zerasmus… Zerasmus, oh."

"Ah seems you know him, where is he?" Cole demanded.

"I'll tell you but promise you'll get me out of here!" Wormtongue demanded as well.

"Where is Zerasmus?" Morgan asked again.

"Promise me you'll protect me!"

"Where?" Morgan asked, at that Aiden pulled out one of his guns and aimed at Wormtongue.

"Promise me please!"

"Where is Zerasmus?" Aiden asked as he shot Wormtongue.

"Wait! Stop, we need him alive." Blake shouted as she thought that Aiden had killed Wormtongue, instead Aiden moved out of the way to show he only shot his ear.

"Please, please… I'll…" Womrtngue could barely form words.

"Where is he?" Cole asked as he sent a low voltage bolt that stunned Wormtongue for a couple of seconds.

"Argh, please wait, just protect me and I'll tell you… I… you don't need to," he begged as he tried to push Morgan's foot out of the way.

"Where is the Wormtongue? Where's Zerasmus?" Jack said as he placed Wormtongues lower body in a Time Stop, making so he could only move his head.

"No, no…" Wormtongue began to panic. "Please no I'll-"

"Where is Zerasmus!?" Morgan raised her voice as she made a show of charging her hand with purple energy, ready to do a Psychoshock and aiming at Wormtongue.

"He's in Kuchinashi, please stop please stop!" Wormtongue cried as he sobbed, once that was done Morgan stopped stepping on him, they let Cole heal with his powers, Cole didn't fully know how it worked, but he was able to suppress the pain and the blood loss, also sending a shock that would keep him awake and prevent him from passing out.

"You'll be alive a while longer," Cole said.

"So… You'll protect me right?" Wormtongue asked, he wasn't the only one curious, the White Fan was as well, and then Cole chuckled.

"Heh, no… we never agreed to any of that, we still have some details to ask in fact, but more than that, what you are gonna do is that you are gonna tell them everything." Cole pointed at the White Fang. "You'll tell them who your partners are and what other faunus have you sold, and you are gonna help them every step of the way," Cole said as he used his lightning to trap Wormtongue against the floor.

The group of four began to walk back to the people of the White Fang and also help the others, sienna gave them an approving smile and nod before going right up Wormtongue.

"Hello, Falisad. I am very glad to say that you and I are gonna do a lot together… we have a lot of your mistakes to fix, and you better be ready to give every. Single. Detail. Of information, or what they did will be nothing compared to what I'll do to you." Sienna said with a wicked grin.

---

A day passed and all the workers reached the surface, most of the people of the town didn't know what really happened, only that the mine had collapsed. The White Fang kept a low profile and soon would have to leave the town to avoid suspicion and the authorities of the kingdom. And they would do so with a man more faunus that needed homes and even a couple of recruits.

"This was one of the most successful missions we ever had, both in the price we got and in casualties, we managed to not lose people… and a big part of it is thanks to you," Sienna said to the group of four humans.

"Eh, we are happy to help… we got what we were looking for after all," Cole said.

"Yes, what happened to Mentos?" Aiden asked, they didn't see him on the list of special prisoners the White Fang now had.

"We never found him… he… he must have been crushed once Wormtongue detonated the first groups of explosives," Illia said.

"... We got lucky," Morgan said, knowing that the main reason most of the mine didn't explode was that some of the explosives were defective.

"Yeah… but everything came out alright," Blake said.

"Yeah, I suppose. What's gonna happen to the town?" Jack asked.

"Nobody knows what happened inside, Womtongue seemed ready to make everything look like an accident, the town thinks it was an accident. Maybe someday they'll reopen the mine, but for now, the town will have a serious issue not having the mine to support it…" Sienna said.

"Not like they that bastard was bringing anything stable to this town, most of the faunus here have learned to take care of themselves, and now they don't Wormtongue to worry about, this might as well be a favor," Adam said.

"Maybe… but either the town will be disbanded and abandoned or put back in shape in some other way," Sienna added. "What would you do now?" She asked.

"We know where we have to go, and you also have to go in a separate direction," Aiden said.

"You'll start going right now?" Blake asked them.

"No time like the present, there's no Grimm in the area so far or bandits either. Might as well move now, the sooner we get this done the better." Jack said.

"As you wish. I wish you luck." Sienna said to them.

"Good luck to you as well," Morgan said as she and the others began to walk in the opposite direction and out of town.

"Oh, and by the way… it would be nice if we ever meet next time, that you don't ambush us," Cole called back to the people of the White Fang.

"He, we'll keep it in mind." Sienna chuckled. Once the four individuals were out of earshot Sienna spoke again. "Maybe it was a good idea to work together, Blake."

"Umm… I suppose."

"Be aware though that just like that mine, with them, we were lucky… but also just like that mine everything ended better than expected," Sienna said.

"It did," Adam admitted, and the others turned around to face him.

"You really expected them to betray us didn't you," Sienna said to him.

"Hmmph." Adam looked to the side.

"Hah, well, for now, we celebrate this, and then we need to move to get those people back to Menagerie."

"Of course… Sienna, um, what you said… does that mean we'll work with them again?" Illia asked.

"Why do you ask?"

"I… their semblances and… abilities are strange and if I'm honest… I don't know what to think." Illia said.

"I doubt we'll work with them again, those four are dangerous, and they are smart, and we certainly should be careful with them. But… for now, we can say they can be allies." Sienna said as she thought about the prospect. They were humans, but they seemed to be of the good kind.

---

A/N: Holy shit finally done, told you it would belong. About time I started bridging some of the actual characters into this fic, don't you think? I did have half a mind to split this chapter into two separate ones… but I wanted to finish this entire arch in one chapter for it two have a proper beginning, middle and end, if I split it might have dragged on.

But yeah, phew, remember when I said some chapters would be special just like the first one? Yeah this was the case here, next chapter won't be as long but it should continue to the next step of the fic.

This chapter had a lot of special moments when writing it, it was long but honestly a blast. I also discover there' not much precise information on what happens when animals get flashbanged… that's possibly for the better but I'll admit it means the whole flashbang deal, I'll assume faunus would just feel the effect more and for longer. Thanks a lot to Genatools for giving other ideas for this chapter that were used here and that I'll take advantage of later.

So now… make your bets for butterfly effects people, I'll see you on the next one. Now, there's an essay that needs writing.