For several more days, Dawn tracked the masked Faunus as they made their strange rounds throughout Mountain Glenn.

They came and went, sometimes in flying ships, often transporting strange crates with a snowflake logo on them. Dawn often wondered what might be inside. Snow? Ice? Maybe the containers were even some sort of coolers?

Dawn honestly had no idea. However, it gave her a bad feeling. Nobody who was doing something people would be ok with would do it in secret while camping out in a Grimm infested wasteland. So, Dawn had furthered her resolve to figure out what was going on. She kept tabs on the movements of the masked figures, using cans are the grocery store to represent them.

Thoughtfully, Dawn slid an expired can of creamed corn into a circle with several others.

"So they brought in another big crate attached to a ship… Interesting."

The little Nevermore scoured her strategically placed cans, trying to figure out what the end goal of her targets could be. The snowflake no doubt meant they were transporting something cold, but Dawn was still stumped as to what.

In the distance, Dawn watched as a group of the masked Faunus marched through the streets, headed towards one of the subway entrances. Dawn hadn't tried to go down there after the brush with the man in the bowler hat, so she still didn't know what was behind the door.

Trying again would be just plain stupid. Dawn had no doubts her targets had learned from their mistake, and would fill her full of holes if she tried to simply walk into their base again. While some sort of stealth infiltration wasn't off the table, Dawn still considered it to be a bad idea. One little slip up could be fatal.

Frustratingly, Dawn had nothing. Just watching ships come and go was getting her nowhere, and another expedition to the base could be suicide.

"Aghhh! Come on Dawn, think! How can you get to the bottom of this?"

The base itself was out of the question… but what about the ships? Dawn had seen them leaving, and coming back, sometimes with the crates, but never where they went. Following one of them as it departed might be the breakthrough she needed!

There was only one little problem.

Manslayer.

Well, not the Grimm himself, but rather the orders he had placed Dawn under. "Don't get into any trouble and stay at Mountain Glenn until I arrive."

Dawn knew she shouldn't go against his orders. Manslayer probably wouldn't harshly punish her for simply following a ship and then returning, but it would still violate his trust. Considering Dawn was the newest member of the team, it might even be enough to get her kicked off if he found out.

If he found out…

The tempting thought danced in Dawn's mind. How would Manslayer ever know? She'd simply be following a ship, and then following it back. Manslayer was probably still a bit of a ways off, so she had time. It would be quick, easy, and there'd be no way Manslayer would ever know.

That didn't make it any less wrong though. If Dawn fell into the habit of defying orders like this, she'd eventually slip up and get caught. But it was just one time… and Manslayer wasn't even here yet! He'd have no way to know!

Dawn's internal war was interrupted by the sound of gunfire. The little Nevermore looked towards the sound to see the patrol from earlier engaging a group of Grimm. The Grimm, a pack of young Beowolves, was torn to pieces by the hail of gunfire. None of them even reached their enemy before they were all killed.

The slaughter made Dawn's stomach churn. These masked Faunus… they were killers, no doubt. Sure, it was feral Grimm they were attacking, but they could have just as easily kept going and done nothing. Besides, there was no way a bunch of masked guys collecting a large amounts of something wasn't sinister. It was textbook evil.

Dawn narrowed her eyes as the group of masked Faunus resumed their march towards the subway tunnel. She'd made up her mind. Tonight, under the cover of darkness, Dawn would follow a ship to see where it went.

…

Yang was concerned about her team.

First, Weiss and Blake had gotten into a huge fight, causing the latter to run off, and now Ruby was spending all of her free time reading dusty old books and isolating herself from the rest of the team.

Yang frowned as she watched Ruby sitting in her bed, nose practically pressed to the pages of the book she was reading. While her little sister had always shown some interest in stories and legends of old, it wasn't like her to grab a stack of history books from the library and try to read them all at once.

"Hey Rubes, what's up?"

Ruby flinched, looking up quickly. "Uh, hey Yang!"

Yang sat down next to Ruby, peering at the book she was reading. "So is this for a class project or something?"

"Nope! I'm doing independent research!"

"Right. You, Ruby Rose, who hates homework and falls asleep in almost every class, is doing independent research."

Ruby flushed and punched Yang in the shoulder, as her older sister laughed. Yang glanced down at the page Ruby was on.

"Grimm history? I thought you hated Port's class!"

"Well… I don't hate the class, I just don't like the way he teaches it. You can't tell me you enjoy his stories."

Yang cleared her throat, speaking in a voice similar to Ports. "And so I saved all of Remnant from the Grimm threat with the immaculate beauty of my well groomed mustache!"

Ruby and Yang burst out laughing. Their conversation trailed off for a moment as they recovered from the fit of glee. Ruby went back to reading as Yang sat besides her.

Suddenly, Ruby let out a gasp and pointed to something on the page. "Yang, look!"

Yang looked over the passage Ruby had pointed at.

"The Grimm are usually regarded as mindless beats, with little to no signs of higher thought. However, there have been rumors that long ago this was not always the case. Some historians claim to have found mentions of white eyed Grimm that were friendly towards man and Faunus kind. However, no substantial proof has been brought forwards, leaving the idea of intelligent, friendly Grimm to be largely disbelieved by most of the historic community."

Ruby looked up at Yang excitedly. "This is what I've been looking for! Remember the initiation?"

Yang's face knitted with concentration. "Yeah. We fought off those… white eyed Grimm. Oh my Gods."

Ruby nodded quickly. "So this means it wasn't something Ozpin put together, there's evidence these Grimm have existed for a long time!"

"Hmmm. There's one thing that doesn't click for me though. Doesn't the book say the white eyed Grimm were friendly to people? I'm no Grimmologist, but they definitely were pretty aggressive."

"Well… yeah. But maybe they've changed over time to be angry for some reason? Those two Grimm were acting pretty weird, since when have you heard of Nevermores and Deathstalkers teaming up? !"

Yang nodded slowly in agreement. "I can't disagree there, the way those Grimm acted was not normal. Is there anything else in the book about white eyed Grimm?"

Ruby flipped through to the book's index. "It doesn't look like it, and this is the last book the library had on Grimm and Grimm history…"

Yang thought for a moment. "I know that Blake likes to go to this one bookstore, 'Tuksons Book Trade.' You might be able to find something there."

Like a lamp switched on, Ruby's face lit up again. "Oh, really?! I'll have to go there later today! ...Wait, where is it?"

Yang couldn't help but laugh a little. That's Ruby for you, jumping into something without thinking it out whatsoever.

"I'll show you the way there when we go out looking for Blake later."

"Thanks sis! You're the best!"

Ruby wrapped around Yang with a vice like hug. The older sister wheezed, trying to pry herself free of the younger's deathly embrace. "Rubes… Can't… Breath…"

Thankfully, Ruby let go of Yang. "Hehehe… sorry sis."

Yang Xiao Long let out a sigh.

Ruby was a great sister.

…

Sun nearly dropped his cup of tea in shock, the liquid he already had in his mouth spraying out.

"Wait a minute, you were a member of the White Fang?"

Blake sighed at his reaction. She couldn't say it was too unexpected though, given his earlier thoughts of the organization. Blake gave Sun a rundown of her history with the White Fang, detailing her life among them and their steady decline from peaceful protest to violence as a new leader stepped in.

"So here I am, a criminal hiding in plain view. All with the help of a little black bow."

For effect, Blake wiggled her ears, causing the bow on her head to move. Sun took a moment to absorb all the information coming his way.

"Have you told your friends any of this?"

Blake closed her eyes for a moment, and shook her head. "No, I haven't found the right time to bring it up."

Sun put his hand to his forehead, exhaling. "Yeah… that might be a bit of a problem…"

Bringing her teacup to her lips, Blake took a drink of the now lukewarm liquid, electing not to answer Sun's criticism. She was aware that the situation wasn't ideal, but what was she supposed to have done? Told her team "Oh by the way I'm a wanted criminal, please turn me into the police?"

Blake shuddered to imagine what Weiss would do if she found out. The two of them had never exactly seen eye to eye, and with knowledge like this, there was no telling what the heiress might do. After a few minutes of silence, Blake put down her cup of tea and pushed it away from herself.

"Let's walk. All this sitting around is making me a bit antsy."

Sun nodded, setting down his own cup of tea. The monkey Faunus left some Lien on the table to cover the costs of their drinks before the two set out. Blake and Sun walked the streets, side by side.

"So… what's the plan then?"

Blake frowned, thinking. "I still don't believe the White Fang is behind these robberies. Stealing dust isn't anything new, they've been up against the SDC for years, but this much? And in Vale too? It just doesn't add up."

Sun came to a stop, holding his hands out. "But what if it's the Vale branch that needs the dust or something? Not all of the White Fang is on Menagerie and Atlas, right?"

"True… but my point stands. The White Fang doesn't need this much dust."

"Well, if you want to prove they aren't involved in the dust robberies, the best way to do it would be to go to the place they'd go if they were involved, and not find them there. Right?"

Blake paused. It almost sounded a bit ridiculous, but also exactly right. If they could find the next place a dust robbery was going to take place, and find someone else committing it, they could disprove the White Fang's involvement.

If they could find the next place.

"That's a good plan in theory, but I have no idea where that would be."

Sun grinned knowingly. "Well, while I was on the ship coming here, I heard some of the crew talking about offloading a huge shipment of dust from Atlas."

Blake raised an eyebrow. "And how huge is it? Are you sure these dust thieves would take the bait?"

Sun nodded. "Yeah, it's gonna be massive. The shipment is coming in on a large freighter stuffed to the gills with shipping crates of dust. The dust thieves would have to be brain dead to not make an attempt on it."

Well… Blake wasn't sure still, but this definitely sounded promising, and it was their only lead right now.

"When does the shipment come into port?"

"Uhhh… I think tonight, actually. We could go to the docks now and lay in wait."

"Alright then, let's get headed there now. The earlier we arrive, the more chances we have to catch something suspicious."

"Okay, follow me!"

Blake ran after her companion as he sprinted off in the direction of the docks. Tonight this matter would be settled, one way or another.

…

Roman tapped his cane on the ground.

Ever since the incident with the pesky Nevermore, things had been smooth sailing. Just yesterday the Paladins had arrived from their ill fated shipping. The ten or so massive mechanical suits were still prototypes, not meant to see the front lines, but still packed one hell of a punch. If he wasn't under strict orders, Roman would have been tempted to try one out for himself.

With the Paladins squared away, the next thing to take care of was an incoming dust shipment. Roman had heard through the grapevine a freighter from Atlas was coming to Vale with a large supply of SDC dust, just ripe for the picking. The fools were even going to leave the crates just sitting around overnight.

It would honestly be a synch. They'd just have to fly in with some bullheads, take as many crates as they could, and get out. There were so many, Roman doubted anyone would be the wiser to their little theft. He almost felt giddy in anticipation of the act.

Neo had wanted to go on the mission, but Roman had declined her offer. Sure, having her around would be helpful if they got into trouble, but Roman doubted anything would happen. The police, to put it politely, were incompetent buffoons. During his entire clash with little Red, no law enforcement showed up.

Even if the police somehow had future knowledge and knew he'd be there, Roman knew that he could take them with some help from the White Fang. They were animals, but they were useful animals. Even if they couldn't take on hunters and huntresses, they could take care of a few cops.

If in some unforeseen way things went sour, Roman didn't plan on sticking around anyways. The mission was to collect dust, not beat up some cops or hunters. Drawing attention in such a way was downright foolish. Get the dust and get out. That was it.

Hopefully Cinder would appreciate his efforts. Despite his string of successes, the hot headed woman had focused on his single failure, if you could even call it that, in the face of little Red. She complained on and on about how she couldn't always bail him out, and that 'incompetent associates had a short future.'

Roman frowned thinking of how pessimistic she was. If it weren't for him, this operation would be going nowhere fast. He was the one who stole the dust, ordered around most of the White Fang in absence of their leader, and actually dealt with the many threats to them. Roman would have liked to see Cinder try to do his job half as good as he did.

Someday, after all this was over, Roman wanted to liquidate all his stolen goods, forge a new ID, and take Neo along to some tropical island where they'd never have to deal with people like Cinder again. Crime had been profitable, and dare he say even fun at one point, but with Cinder breathing down his neck it had become just plain stressful.

"Mister Torchwick, we're all ready to go."

The White Fang grunt's words were music to Roman's ears.

"Alrighty then, let's get this show on the road!"

Roman followed the grunt to the base's hangar. The room was massive, able to dock a dozen bullheads at once. Many White Fang milled around, some already in the bullheads, waiting for the order to go.

Once again, the feeling of excitement welled up inside Roman. Ever since he was little, stealing always gave him a rush of adrenaline that nothing else did. This dust theft was the biggest thing he'd planned in years, and finally seeing it come together almost brought a tear of joy to his eye.

"Alright you animals! Get to your stations, we're going to steal some dust!"

The White Fang grunts all filed into their bullheads, rifles held at the ready. Roman himself entered the nearest one, gripping a handle above to keep himself steady. The ship's doors closed, and shortly after the bullhead shuddered as it began to move upwards.

Roman looked out a window, watching as the ruined landscape of Mountain Glenn disappeared, revealing the night sky. The bullhead's engines pivoted as the ship began to travel onwards, several others trailing behind it.

"That dust is as good as mine."

…

Dawn watched from her place on the roof of the grocery store as the pack of ships rose into the sky and began to fly away.

"Oooh… that's not what I expected! They must be up to something big if they need that many!"

The little Nevermore's mind raced at the possibilities. However, she shook them aside for now. Trailing the ships and figuring out what they were doing was more important than thinking about what they could be doing.

Now that her wing was healed over, Dawn could fly as far as she needed. While Grimm weren't totally immune to fatigue, she was able to fly for days on end if needed, and Dawn had a hunch the ships wouldn't be traveling for days anyways. They always came back within a day or two of leaving, at most.

Spreading her wings, Dawn launched into the night sky. With rapid wing beats, she caught up to the suspicious ships, making sure to keep some distance to remain unnoticed. Dawn hoped that her dark plumage and white eyes would blend in among the night sky, leaving her undetected.

To her relief, the people inside the ships didn't seem to pick up on her presence. Dawn kept trailing them as they passed over stretches of wilderness, soon arriving on the outskirts of Vale.

"Time to see what you're really up to…"

Sorry for the slightly shorter chapter, but it's mainly setup for what's to come. Now it all comes together for the rumble at the docks! Roman, Dawn, and Blake along with Sun are all about to throw down, who will come out on top?

Meanwhile, Ruby does some research into Grimm history. If you couldn't tell already by the story blurb, Manslayer is indeed ancient and has existed for a long time. However, friendly Grimm? Sounds a bit ridiculous if you ask me!

Thank you for enjoying this chapter of "The Manslayer!" I'll cya'll next time during the scrape at the docks!