A/N: RWBY: Guardians is back, after two months on hiatus, with a part 2. I'd recommend reading part 1 before jumping in; the story ID is 13797502. Enjoy!
Blake left her team a note explaining that she's just on a deep cover mission into the gangs. She knows they won't believe her.
Blake can live with that. She can accept working alone, like she probably should have done from the beginning. She is responsible for the White Fang's rise, and she'll be the one who orchestrates its fall, starting from the bottom.
Starting from the bottom means joining one of the smaller gangs, one made of an indiscriminate mixture of Faunus and humans, clawing for scraps of territory in the slums. That's easy enough to arrange; merely showing up with a weapon and answering the right questions is good enough for this kind of organization. She'll follow orders, make alliances, and fight her way to the top when the time is right. Half this gang don't even carry guns, and fight for their place with baseball bats or other makeshift weapons, so there's little danger unless a more powerful gang discovers her position and identity, or the heroes sweep in to purge an area.
For the time being, what she needs is information. She's been absent from the ever-changing world of the gangs for too long.
Junior's is a hive of mobsters, popular enough to have higher-status patrons but not exclusive enough to deny Blake entry. Faunus-friendly, because money is money in the underworld, and the White Fang's newfound dominance makes sure there aren't many objections. The sort of place where gossip flows freely after a few drinks too many. It's been a while, so Blake slips the doorman a generous tip (as generous as she can afford, at any rate, which isn't much).
She buys rounds of drinks for low-level enforcers and thugs and asks what questions she can without seeming too suspicious. Following the Fall, the White Fang are the de facto government of most of Vale. The police won't even venture into the slums. Smaller gangs, as well as the older mob families, are mostly allowed to exist as long as they don't pose any threat.
There are none of the distinctive white masks of the White Fang visible tonight. Fortunate. Blake's disguise isn't infallible. The haircut, change of clothes, and eyepatch are cosmetic and can easily be seen through, and even the scarring, dramatic but superficial, won't hold up to close inspection. She needs a better cover soon, but for now it will suffice.
Blake is a double agent, for whom a slip-up will be deadly, but she still feels at home when she is among criminals. She may work for the heroes now, but her roots will always be in the gangs. The thought makes her smile, then down another drink to chase away the memories.
Yang mentioned a fight here, once, not long before Blake joined them. They caught the bar on a zoning issue that allowed them to search records more closely, and Junior himself spent a month or so in prison for drug transport and money laundering before bribing his way out. Luckily for Blake.
Miltia Malachite is the hostess of the night, and is currently making her way around slowly, stopping to chat with customers. She hears every detail and rumor, and she'll spill almost any secret for the right price. When she stops by Blake's table to smile generously and wink, Blake gestures to the empty seat opposite her. Miltia takes it.
"Any news on the White Fang?" Blake asks, almost casually. Miltia frowns, as if she's considering how much to reveal.
"Oh, just the usual, really. That Sienna Khan keeps stirring up trouble, trying to steal my waitresses for protest marches," Miltia complains.
Sienna's still in the leadership, and still determined to preserve the White Fang's original mission, which is fortunate. Sienna is convinced that peaceful protest will get the Faunus nowhere, but she's against the White Fang's more extreme acts of terrorism, and can usually rein in Adam's rages. In short, she's hardly a moderate, but she is Blake's best chance for an ally in the White Fang.
"Heard any rumors about their next plans?" Blake asks, sliding a few bills across the table. Miltia snatches them up and tucks them into a pocket of her frilled apron.
"I'm just a bartender, dear, I'm not privy to the White Fang's decisions," she says.
Oh, now she's being coy about her knowledge. Blake tosses a few more Lien at her, exasperated. Her funds are running out, but she needs whatever information she can get.
"Oh, let me think." Miltia frowns in mock thought, and Blake waits impatiently. "I do remember a bit of news about an Ilia Amitola."
Miltia is watching Blake carefully to see her reaction, but Blake is well schooled in the art of giving nothing away.
"I don't know the name," she lies.
"Shame. Ilia Amitola's a lieutenant, now. Came in to get a few drinks and celebrate a few nights ago. She might have shown up other times, but she does blend into the background awfully well."
"Good to know," Blake mutters. Ilia is alive, at least, although a lieutenancy makes her far more vulnerable to attack by another member with ambition. "Anything a little more – confidential?"
Miltia's fake innocence returns with a vengeance, and she stands up, making excuses. She may well genuinely not know, so Blake needs to move on to her next contact.
Corsac and Fennec Albain aren't particularly high-ranking White Fang members, but they hear enough, and a few grams of cocaine usually buy all the secrets Blake wants. There's the risk of her own visit being leaked to anyone else with a bribe, but that's a small price to pay.
…
It's been too long since she's kept up with her contacts, and Blake leaves with nothing. She wasn't recognized, at least, so things could have been worse.
Blake picks up her pace away from the White Fang hotspot, aware that to anyone else she just looks like a concerned citizen avoiding the gangs. She'll make more contacts, starting by getting in touch with Sienna. Getting a message to her will be easy, but ensuring that she takes the message seriously while not revealing her identity is more difficult. Adam doesn't remotely trust Sienna, so he's undoubtedly scanning her mail, so the truth isn't exactly an option.
For a moment, Blake thinks she sees a flicker of red in the shadows, but it's gone when she turns. Damn. Even a hero showing up might well tip a few events in her favor.
The first anonymous report to the police, printed out from a library computer and shoved into an unmarked envelope with gloves rather than a more exotic form of cryptography to hide her involvement, details what she remembers and what she has found. Adam Taurus isn't the de jure leader yet, but he's young, ambitious, and charismatic enough to execute a takeover, and he's far more aggressive than the other council members. With luck, Blake can stop him before then. If not, she'll need as many allies as possible to have a hope of surviving the storm.