"I'm sorry, did you say three?" Roman said from across his mahogany desk.
"That's correct," Blake said.
Roman leaned back in his large, leather chair, and then sniggered to himself.
"Well, you know what they say - three's a crowd," Roman said, before laughing to himself again.
Blake took Roman's miniscule laughing fit as an opportunity to survey her surroundings one more time and guarantee that she was still relatively safe in Roman's office. The whole room was immensely gaudy - shelves lined with golden trophies and clear glass plaques showcasing immaculate diamonds and sparkling golden watches. The walls were painted an eye-aching lime green, and his desk was far too large for even Roman himself, accentuated by his large, dark-blue leather chair that Roman was currently lounging in. Behind Roman's chair and desk hung a large framed oil-canvas painting of, fittingly, none other than Roman Torchwick posing in grandeur.
Of course, amidst all the oozing excess within Roman's office, he made sure to pull up the cheapest foldable chairs he could for Yang and Blake. Yang was clearly miffed by this gesture, as a glare had been glued on Yang's face the minute she arrived in Torchwick's office.
"Mr. Torchwick," Blake continued, "Like I said, we need your help."
"Well, Ms. Belladonna, I'm not sure there is much I can do," Roman said. "But if there was something in return the VKPD could offer me for my troubles, I'm sure I can pull some strings to help you detectives out with your case."
Blake opened her mouth, about to remind Roman of his obligation to help the VKPD as a citizen of Vale when she heard the door behind her open and shut close. A woman with pink and brown hair and a singular pink and singular brown eye, clad in a white tail jacket, had entered the room with a smug look on her face.
"Ah - detectives, this is Neapolitan, my business associate and co-owner of this jewelry store with me," Roman said.
In lieu of a greeting, Neo simply walked over to Roman's side of the desk, and leaned against the wall.
"She's a peach, really," Roman said. "I don't know how I'd be able to run this store without her-"
Before Roman could finish his thought, Neo tapped on Roman's shoulder, then proceeded to say something in sign language, her hands and arms moving in fluid motions. Roman's own smug grin suddenly dropped, and his face hardened.
"Wha-well, what happened?" Roman asked.
Neo simply flashed something in sign language as a response.
"...he's what!?" Roman shouted as a response. "Well...where is he now?"
Neo flashed another message to Roman in sign language.
"...Well," Roman said with a sigh, "Where's the other half of him?"
Blake and Yang both shot an uneasy glance at each other as Neo flashed one last message.
"Okay, okay," Roman said. "You better hope the stains come out, I'm pretty sure that was a Ⱡ10,000 mink fur rug."
Roman then cleared his throat and then looked back at Blake and Yang.
"So, ladies," Roman continued, a slick grin creeping across his face. "Sorry for the interruption. Neapolitan was, uh...just telling me how much of a pleasure it is to meet you two."
Blake and Yang looked at Neo with peculiar stares, while a sinister grin began to spread across Neo's face.
YXL: Torchwick was gonna jerk us around, he made that apparent the minute we set foot in his Downtown Vale Jewelry shop. Guy makes us wait with his two new "security advisors," Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black, out front of his office for 30 minutes, while he was supposedly finishing business up.
JA: What made you go to Roman Torchwick to begin with?
YXL: If you have to ask, you clearly have no idea who Roman Torchwick was. Almost every single hot good that was being fenced in Vale either went through Roman Torchwick, or went to a fence that Torchwick knew. Anything from stolen vics and flat-screen TV's that "fell off the back of a truck," all the way up to precious metals and jewels. He had all the right connections, and he knew all the right ways to turn your ill-gotten shit into cash. If Junior didn't know where the bonds were or who took them, Roman would most definitely know.
BB: He wanted to be a celebrity, that was sure. Everyone on the continent knew Torchwick's public persona. He ran "From Dust to Dawn," that chain of Jewelry stores, he owned the Regal Steakhouse downtown, and he owned the Vale Trucking & Shipping company. He was making himself known as a businessman downtown and the commercial districts, and he was starting to do TV commercials, all that kind of stuff. And, granted, his legal business ventures probably helped him in the public eye and the court of law, but at the end of the day, his main focus - his main love - were underworld dealings. And he just couldn't stay away from his criminal empire, no matter how legitimate he tried to look.
"Mr. Torchwick," Blake began, "We came to you today because we know you're an important man who knows everything there is worth knowing in Vale."
Roman arched his eyebrows in curiosity at Blake's apparent compliment, before a smug grin crept on his face.
"Knowing things is the key to any successful businessman," Roman boasted.
"As I mentioned, the VKPD is investigating the three murders up in Forever Fall, and we're looking for more information about the perpetrators," Blake said. "Since you're knowledgeable about what happens in Vale, we were hoping you could shed some light about anything you might know."
Roman simply smiled in response.
"Am I...under suspicion of orchestrating the three murders?" Roman asked.
"We never pegged you as a person of interest, Torchwick," Yang spat. "Should we, though?"
Roman chuckled to himself and shook his head.
"Detective Xiao Long, feisty as ever," he muttered to himself before turning back to the two detectives. "If I'm not a suspect in this crime, then I don't particularly understand why I'm being questioned. I certainly have no quarrels with the White Fang, and if the 56 million worth of diamonds and jewelry that I currently have amassed in this store wasn't enough of an indication, I am a businessman, working in the jewelry business. Not the dummy robbery and murder business. I don't need the spare change out of the back of a drug caravan. I, quite frankly, would actually rather wish to distance myself from this robbery, as I'd prefer not to meddle in the affairs of…well, whoever was crazy enough to kill three people on the side of the road in some wild west stickup, lest I want to be the next one to have a bullet in their heads."
Roman groaned as he reclined in his chair and swung his feet on top of his desk.
"So, as I've said, I cannot help you two...unless there's some more details behind this case that you haven't told me yet," Roman said with a sly grin. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have just received a shipment of Internally Flawless diamonds from Atlas, and I'll be needing to inspect-"
"Bearer bonds," Blake calmly said. Roman ceased talking immediately, and his face went from surprised to intently focused on what Blake had to say next.
"I'm sorry?" Roman asked.
"One of the items stolen from the crime scene were bearer bonds," Blake said. "We don't know how much, but likely a large enough amount that only small value bonds were left. And we know that you're one of the few people in Vale who could pull strings to get those bonds cashed out."
Roman lifted his feet off the table and sat straight up in his chair.
"What are you trying to say?" Roman asked.
"If I was the one who hit that van, the first thing I'd do is come to you," Blake said. "And I'm willing to bet that sometime in the next two weeks, whoever stole from that van is going to approach you with those stolen bearer bonds."
Roman scoffed.
"I know where this is going," Roman said. "You want me to turn in the punks who hit the van when they come to me, and to hand over the stolen bearer bonds."
"No," Blake said. "We'll take an anonymous tip from you of whoever hit the van. As for the bearer bonds, they're yours to keep."
There was a silent pause in the room after Blake spoke. Yang gave a shocked look at Blake, while Roman was trying to mask his confusion with a smile.
"I'm sorry," Roman said, "are you trying to say-"
"Yes. Yes I am," Blake said. "Once those bonds are in your hands, as far as I know they never existed, and you can do whatever you want with them. We only want the names and locations of the people involved with the case."
Blake then leaned back in her chair and brought her right leg up over her left thigh, crossing her legs, giving a cold look to Torchwick.
"That's what the VKPD can do for you," Blake said. "Off the record."
Roman, still dumbfounded, turned to Yang.
"Ms. Xiao Long, how do you feel about all this?" Roman asked.
Yang shrugged. "If that's what it's gonna take for you to scratch our back, then it's the price we're gonna have to pay," Yang said.
Roman sighed, and then paused, seemingly to think about the deal just made.
"Well, it's an interesting offer, I'll give you that," Roman said. "Especially coming from someone who's new to Vale like yourself, Ms. Belladonna. You've got some guts, kitty cat. I'll give you that."
Roman then grabbed a cane leaning against the side of his desk and stood straight up. He then began walking to the door of his office.
"That being said, I'll need to think about it," Roman said as he opened the door to his office. "If I do take you two up on your offer, I'll be calling you in the next two weeks with names. Now, if you excuse me, I have urgent matters to attend to."
Yang and Blake both stood up from their chairs, and walked towards the office doorway, passing by a grinning Torchwick without acknowledging him.
"You got a Smith n' Wesson Model 10. It's a .38 special, right?" Mercury said as he handed the gun back to Yang. "That ain't a standard-issue firearm for pigs, ain't it?"
Yang and Blake were currently in the storefront of Roman's shop, retrieving their confiscated weapons and equipment. It was explicit VKPD regulation to never hand over your issues firearm to a non-Officer, but Blake found that like all things with Torchwick, you had to bend the rules if you wanted to get anything out of him.
"No, it ain't," Yang said as she grabbed the gun from Mercury's hand and holstered it on her belt. "It's cause I ain't a standard-issue pig either."
"Bold talk from someone using a cowboy pea-shooter," Mercury spat.
Blake began to size Mercury up as Emerald handed Blake her own gun, a Glock 19. Mercury had a tall, wiry build and wearing a steel gray sports coat and white dress shirt, while Emerald was shorter and had a Olive grey suit jacket and crimson red tie on. Emerald had a sneer on her face as she handed the gun over to Blake.
"Oh yeah?" Yang retorted. "If you're Mr. Fuckin'-gun-expert here, why don't you show me what you're packing, then?"
"I ain't packin' nothing-"
"Oh, get the fuck outta here," Yang said. "You telling me Roman Torchwick hires you as 'security consultants,' and you don't have a heater? You must be fuckin' stupid or something."
Mercury had an uneasy look plastered on his face, while Emerald and Blake looked on.
"Come on!" Yang said. "What you got for me, tough guy?"
Mercury groaned and then lifted up the left side of his sports coat, revealing a large gun holstered on the left side of his body.
"M1911," Mercury said. "Ain't no .38 six shooter. You catch a shot from this, you're dead."
A grin crept on Yang's face as she was clearly trying to stifle a laugh.
"You? With a .45?" Yang sneered. "A little guy like you with a gun like that, you'd dislocate your elbow on the first shot. Also, you know that thing has a jamming problem, right?"
Mercury simply said nothing, glaring in return.
"Maybe it's a good thing you got a .45," Yang said. "A fuckup like you, you're probably going to end up shooting yourself on accident down the line, and at least you got a big enough caliber to make sure you actually die from it. It'll be doing the world a favor."
His pride wounded, Mercury was shooting daggers with his eyes toward Yang as he let his sports coat down over his gun. Emerald had come to Mercury's side now as well, and was similarly glaring at the two.
"Come on Blake, let's go," Yang said, before turning to Emerald and Mercury. "Au Revoir, cocksuckers. It's been fun, and I hope to never see you again in my life."
Yang stormed out of the office and held the door for Blake as the two exited the shop. The two walked over to their car parked in front of the store.
"Pleasant bunch," Blake said as she approached the passenger's side door, opened it, and then slid into the seat.
"Hey," Yang said, grabbing Blake's attention. Blake's ear perked straight up at Yang's call and turned to her in the driver's seat.
"Yeah?" Blake responded.
"You know what you're getting yourself into, right?" Yang asked.
"What are you talking about?"
"That deal you made with Torchwick," Yang said, "You know Ozpin would never authorize something like that, right? And Torchwick isn't someone to be treated lightly."
"I know what I'm doing, Yang," Blake responded. "I'm not some green who's gonna walk herself into a trap. Besides, it's not like we have another option dealing with this guy."
"Well, there was one," Yang said. "We coulda knocked his teeth out. That way, he could fashion himself with a nice golden tooth to match the rest of his gaudy-ass store."
Blake scoffed. The two were currently sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the freeway, waiting for the highway patrol to clean up an accident down the road and open up the lanes again. Blake sighed and leaned her head against the window and closed her eyes for a second.
"So…" Yang began, "Have you thought about where you want to go for dinner?"
"Hm?" Blake asked, opening her eyes and turning her head to Yang again.
"Dinner!" Yang quipped. "You know, with Weiss and I?"
Blake paused for a second before she recalled the proposition that Yang made a few days ago: go out to eat somewhere with Yang, and get to meet her girlfriend, Weiss Schnee. It would've been the first time Blake would've spent time with Yang outside of work, and it'll be a good way for Blake to get to know Yang and Blake, and vice versa.
"I don't know," Blake said. "I haven't had time to think about it with this new case falling in our lap, and I haven't been feeling well-"
"Blake, c'mon!" Yang said with a grin. "Take a break from work for once. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but you're not feeling well cause you haven't been sleeping?"
Blake nodded.
"Don't tell me you haven't been sleeping cause of the case," Yang said. "You need to slow down, Blake. Some time off and a dinner'll be good for you!"
Blake pursed her lips, before smiling.
"Alright, alright," Blake acquiesced. "I know you're not gonna take no for an answer anyways."
"It'll be fun, I promise!" Yang said. "So, where do you wanna go?"
"I dunno," Blake said. "I don't know what all the good restaurants are in town."
"Well, how 'bout this - what type of food do you want to eat?"
Blake paused to think, before she spoke.
"How about Mexican?" Blake asked.
"Great!" Yang cheerily replied. "I know the perfect place. There's a cantina south of the river in Vale, they have some of the best Mexican in town. Margaritas there kick like a mule, and they even got a catch-of-the-day tacos where they get fish straight from the harbor. I know you got a thing for seafood, so…"
Blake rolled her eyes and smirked at Yang's comment.
"Alright, you sold me," Blake said.
YXL: It actually wasn't my idea to have dinner, neither was it Blake's. Weiss actually suggested that we all get dinner together. She said it would be a good idea for us to get to know each other better, and make it easier for us to work together, or something like that.
PN: So Weiss had never met Blake Belladonna before?
YXL: Nope. But I mean, I did tell her about what little I did know about Blake. I also told her about how wound up Blake was. I mean, in the three months I worked with Blake, I don't think I saw her relax once, and she was always showing up to work bone-tired, with bags under her eyes and all. Weiss, being how she was, got concerned and said that it might help Blake if we gave her an excuse to take an evening off.
JA: So, is it correct that you only wanted to go to dinner because of Weiss's suggestion?
YXL: No, no. You know, I wanted to get to know Blake too. I figured I could put on the good ol' fashioned charm on her, get her to open up to me more. It would be fun, I thought, to hear a little more about her.
PN: Would you still have agreed to dinner if you knew at the time that Blake Belladonna was a mole within the VKPD, operating on behalf of the White Fang?
[Pause. Y. Xiao Long clears her throat.]
YXL: No. No, I wouldn't have.
Blake and Yang got back to the department headquarters around 5, the sun setting in the horizon and casting a warm glow over the city. Blake watched from the building entrance as Yang peeled out of the parking lot on her bike and drive out of sight. Seeing the coast was clear, Blake herself walked out the door with a manila folder tucked under her arm as she walked towards her own car, hopped in, and drove out of the parking lot and in the opposite direction as Yang.
It would take her half an hour to drive out of Vale and to the old, abandoned drive-in theater in the middle of the sticks. Every time a meeting like this was called, she'd always had to drive out to the theater, and Tukson would always be there, sitting in his rusty, tan Oldsmobile Cutlass sitting in the middle of the lot, waiting for her.
The sun was beginning to set, and the dim white streetlights above Blake were beginning to hum alive, illuminating the street below. Blake took the next right off Menasha Ave. onto a dusty trail leading into the theater's dusty lot. She could already see the tan Oldsmobile parked all by itself in the lot, but as Blake pulled up to the car and killed the engine, Blake could see that it wasn't Tukson waiting for her at the car, but rather a small, tan woman sitting on the hood of the car, wearing a black windbreaker and sunglasses.
"Ilia?" Blake asked as she stepped out of the car.
"You're late," Ilia spat as she jumped off the hood of the car and took off her glasses, shooting a glare towards Blake.
"What are you doing here? Where's Tukson?" Blake asked.
Ilia simply replied with a cold stare, only adding to Blake's confusion.
"Come on, get in," Ilia said. Blake simply returned a concerned glance towards Ilia, which only seemed to aggravate Ilia further.
"Blake, we're wasting time here," Ilia said. "What's the goddamn hold-up?"
"Ilia...where are we going?" Blake asked.
"To Adam," Ilia flatly replied before her own face dropped, realized what Blake was implying. "Blake...if Adam wanted me to kill you, you would've already been in the trunk of your own car by now. Get the fuck in the car."
Blake pursed her lips in frustration, and, realizing she had no other option, opened the backseat door to the Cutlass and sat inside. Ilia entered the driver's seat, slammed the door behind her, and then turned around to face Blake after tossing her a piece of black cloth.
"Put it on," Ilia said, as Blake inspected the cloth and realized it was a black bag. Blake sighed, and then put the scratchy, rank cloth over her head, blackness enveloping her vision and sounds becoming muffled.
"Get comfy. It's gonna be a bit till we get there," Ilia said, before Blake could hear the sound of the car engine roaring to life and her seat lurching forward as the car began to accelerate out of the lot.
BB: If you wanted to have a sit-down with Adam Taurus, you had to play ball with exactly how he wanted you to meet him. You'd always drive out to the Alamo Drive-In Theater outside Vale, and there would always be someone there to meet you, someone Adam trusted in his inner circle. You had to have a piece of cloth or something over your head the whole drive, because they didn't even want you to know where you'd be meeting Adam. They always had disgusting, old cloths for you to wear, but you knew not to complain, because if you did, they'd blow you away, no questions asked, since Adam would have no tolerance for weaklings among his ranks.
NV: You said the White Fang foot soldier known as Tukson was the one who usually drove you. Why wasn't he there to pick you up, and Ilia Amintola was there instead?
BB: [Scoffs] Well, this is the White Fang we're talking about. What do you think happened?
It was a silent 20, 30 minutes before Blake heard Ilia throw the car in park, and then shut the engine off.
"You can take your mask off," Ilia said. Blake pinched the cloth bag off her head, her eyes adjusting to the bright lights emanating through the car windows. She took in a deep breath, finally filling her lungs with fresh air. Blake blinked twice, and after staring through the car window, determined that they were in a tiny, 2-car garage of a house.
Blake and Ilia both exited the car and shut the door quickly, before Ilia headed to a wooden-frame door in front of the car, opened it, and motioned for Blake to enter. Blake walked cautiously and walked through the door, Ilia following her in and shutting the door behind her.
BB: The house they took me to was what outwardly appeared to be a standard-fare, upper-middle class suburban house, the ones you could buy for maybe Ⱡ300-400k. The inside of the house had white walls, and nice, hardwood flooring. But that was about all the house had that made it look like a normal house. Everything else made it seem like a war room or an army barracks. Weapons caches and ammo, pallets stacked with cash, garbage and duffel bags packed to the brim with every single narcotic that can fetch a dime on the street; all of these were the only things in the house, but no furniture. Hell, there was always a section of the house with what looked like PC networks and or some sort of surveillance equipment, and there were always someone typing away at these things, but I don't even know what they were doing half the time.
LR: So you're saying that you and Amintola weren't the only ones in the house?
BB: No, there were always 3 or 4 of Adam's most trusted soldiers hanging out at the house, on the off chance that it was raided.
NV: So let me get this straight - the White Fang was operating a, a...command center of sorts in the middle of some suburb, with military-grade arms and surveillance tech?
BB: It was the perfect place to set up shop - posh, affluent neighborhoods that had little historical faunus population. It was a rich enough neighborhood that the police wouldn't suspect us of hiding there, but not rich enough that it would've raised red flags to the neighbors.
NV: How could the White Fang afford something like that?
BB: Well, when you're one of the largest organized crime outfits and narcoterrorist organizations in Remnant, a white-picket fence house in the 'burbs is just a small operational cost.
"He's upstairs, in the study," Ilia said. Ilia began walking up the stairs to the dark, unlit 2nd floor. Blake paused, her face flush with worry, before she swallowed her fears and began following Ilia up the stairs.
The stairs creaked with each step, the crackling of old wood causing the hair on the back of Blake's neck to stand straight up. Her cat ears folded instinctively with fear as she followed Ilia into the darkness, her eyes adjusting to the pitch-black hallway on the second floor. At the end of the hallway, a door was slightly ajar, the smallest sliver of light emanating from it. Blake was Ilia walk to the door, open it gently, and then beckon Blake to come, which she did silently.
As Blake rounded the corner of the doorframe, she was greeted with the familiar sight of Adam's study. The room was poorly lit, the only light source coming from a dim, warm lamp on Adam's desk, the shelves behind lined with books and walls plastered with maps of Remnant. Seated behind the wooden desk was Adam himself, seated with his hand resting under his chin and a smirk on his face.
As Blake entered the room, she instinctively kneeled and bowed her head.
"Brother Adam," Blake monotonously whispered.
"You can stand," Adam commanded. "Please, have a seat."
Blake stood up as Ilia pulled a chair up across from Adam. Blake hesitated, gave one last cautionary glance to Ilia, and then sat across from Adam. Ilia retreated into the far corner of the room behind Blake, sinking into the room's shadows.
"How are you enjoying your new post, Blake?" Adam asked.
"It's...working out fine," Blake answered timidly.
Adam nodded silently.
"You know...when you said that you wanted to branch out from Mountain Glenn, I was scared at first," Adam said. "I was scared that you were leaving Mountain Glenn because it was further from our headquarters there. Where I was."
"Adam," Blake began, "I-"
"But, Blake, in the end you made the right call transferring to the city," Adam continued, paying no mind to Blake, "because right now, we are in a crisis with our Vale chapter, with three of our brothers slain and our money taken. We cannot afford to lose face in Vale, and I need someone I can explicitly trust in Vale's police department."
Adam then leaned forward in his desk, drawing his face close to Blake. Blake could feel her throat constricting and her eyes widening from Adam's ever-encroaching presence.
"My love," Adam whispered, "I can trust you in Vale, right?"
Blake's eyes darted all across the room before she could feel herself muster up the courage to speak.
"Of course, Adam," Blake said. "You can trust me."
With Adam drawing his face closer to Blake, she could see his face and all its disgusting details. His good eye was scanning Blake from head to toe, while his scarred left eye followed, it's red glow hanging like a monster's eye hiding in the dark. Adam was close enough that she could feel every breath he took, his exhalation of air feeling like acid on her skin.
"I want to, Blake," Adam continued in his hushed tone. "but I must say, I felt betrayed by your decision to move further from me. People who love each other like we do, they don't do things like that."
Blake could feel her breathing becoming rapid, her chest rising and falling like a timid mouse.
"Adam, I-I...I'm sorry. I didn't know you felt that way, my love," Blake stammered. "But I assure you, my decision to leave Mountain Glenn was not to spite you, I was only acting in the interest of the cause-"
"The cause means nothing to me without you, Blake," Adam softly whispered. "I am nothing without you. The world can only change with you on my side, Blake. I understand your dedication to our fight. I admire it. But as the leader of this fight, I must know that you have my back, because that is the only way I'm strong."
Blake paused, before she nodded.
"Always and forever, my love," Blake whispered timidly in return.
A small, wicked smile crept onto Adam's face before he leaned back in his chair, giving Blake space to breath again.
"I'm glad to hear that you're still with us, sister," Adam said. "You have no idea how reassuring it is to me to hear that."
Adam sighed, before he lowered his head, and then returned his gaze to Blake.
"You must be confused as to why Ilia was the one to pick you up in Vale," Adam said. "I regret to inform you that Yuma Trifoli and the Albain brothers are not the only casualties we suffered in Vale."
Confusion crept onto Blake's face, before her face went blank with recognition as to what Adam was implying.
"Unfortunately, Tukson, in his final days, decided that he would betray the Faunus brotherhood that had taken him in when he was a lowly wretch by disseminating information about the whereabouts of our capital transport vans," Adam said. "In doing so, he took the lives of three of our brothers. Therefore, the only way he could be redeemed was through death."
"You…" Blake whispered. "You killed Tukson?"
"I did," Ilia firmly proclaimed behind Blake. Blake turned around to see Ilia's stone-cold face staring back at her.
"I understand that you've been assigned to investigate the murders of our brothers in Forever Fall," Adam continued. "You'll likely be informed of Tukson's disappearance in the coming days. If you're chosen to investigate it, it would be in our best interest if you found no evidence regarding his whereabouts. And as you continue to look into these murders, I'd also like to know your findings on the case. If there is someone operating in the shadows to conspire against us, I want to know. Especially if it comes from within our ranks. Do you understand?"
Blake stared at Adam, before she nodded to show she understood.
"Since we are suddenly removed four brothers in our Vale chapter, I also need more people I can trust in Vale," Adam said. "I've asked Ilia to reside in Vale for a while and handle our operations for the time being."
"Ilia?" Blake asked, before turning back towards to face her. Ilia only returned Blake's glance with a sneer.
"Where the red tape of the VKPD's bureaucracy prevents you from carrying out more clandestine acts, Ilia will be there to go where you cannot," Adam said. "She'll also be a direct line from Vale back to me at our Mountain Glenn headquarters. As you find information about who carried out this attack, you'll be updating Ilia, and she will be updating me."
"Just think of me as Adam for the time being," Ilia hissed to Blake, venom dripping in her words.
"Now, since we're both here…" Adam said before leaning back in his chair, "Tell us what information you have for us so far."
Blake paused, gulping, before she curtly nodded and opened her mouth to speak.
"We know that whoever did this executed the Albains at close range after they shot Yuma and made them crash. They took the bearer bonds in the back, and left the drugs and cash, which has been impounded by the VKPD. We're hoping they'll come to a fence in Vale to flip the bonds, in which case we'll have a lead on who they are."
"Any word yet on who it could possibly be?" Adam asked.
"No," Blake said. "But we've talked to Torchwick in Vale, and Junior Xiong next. We've instructed them to keep a lookout."
"Torchwick…" Adam muttered before rubbing his chin. "Be wary of him. He's a friend of the White Fang, but where his true allegiances lie...it remains to be seen."
Adam then stood up from his desk.
"Good work," Adam said, before he walked over to Blake and knelt down next to her, bringing his face dangerously close to her again. Blake could feel her whole body beginning to seep with fear.
"My love, as you continue to fight for us in Vale, I hope that you're longing for me as much as I Long for you. I think about you every second, and I cannot bear to think about what I would do if I were to lose you. I'm scared of who I might become," Adam said, in a firm, hushed tone. "Please, my love, do not forget about me."
Adam then leaned in and planted his lips onto Blake's with a kiss. Blake could feel the air being sucked from her lungs, as if Adam was breathing poison into her body instead to replace the oxygen. She could feel the pit in her stomach widening and her heart beating rapidly in her chest, not with love or excitement, but rather: pure fear.
Adam removed himself from Blake and then turned to Ilia.
"Ilia, ensure that Blake returns to Vale safely," Adam said curtly before seating himself back down at his desk. Ilia silently nodded.
"Come on, let's go," Ilia said before opening the door once again for Blake. As Blake stood up, her legs felt like jelly, almost as if she was about to wobble over the minute she stood up, but she resolved to stand up straight, knowing full well what happened to those who displayed weakness in front of Adam. Blake quickly turned and said not a single word to Adam as she left the study.
BB: I was 21 when I first became a Mountain Glenn Police Officer. It was only a year before they made me a detective. It didn't hurt that the commissioner of Mountain Glenn PD was in the pocket of the White Fang to promote me. But ever since I was little, my heart and my allegiances belonged to the White Fang.
LR: What made you join the White Fang to begin with?
BB: I was a young kid in Menagerie, and at the time, the White Fang were still freedom fighters. I was stupid. And every other kid I knew sympathized with them, if they already hadn't joined them. I thought that we were going to fight the good fight. When I first moved to the Mountain Glenn slums, where they moved all the Faunus after they carpet-bombed Menagerie, I saw how we were treated by humans. My parents fought in the courthouses and the picket lines for a better life for us, but playing honest wasn't going to get us anywhere. The White Fang was willing to play dirty, give the humans a taste of their own poison.
NV: So you were okay with them walking into the human side of towns and shooting up innocent men, women and children?
BB: I thought that we would do what was only necessary to make sure that we would be treated as equals, nothing more. Under my mother and father, we weren't getting anything done. Under Sienna, we were beginning to scare the humans. But once she got locked up and Adam took the helm, it was clear that he didn't want us to get even. He wanted us standing over human corpses in the street. Of course, the only way he was ever going to get us there was through controlling the rackets in the cities. Soon, he caved to vice, and all he cared about was the money and the bloodshed, and he forgot about our fight for justice. That's how the White Fang became what they are today: nothing but bloodthirsty criminals in chase of the almighty dollar, who might bomb a human train or bank here and there just to save face.
LR: It seems like you disenfranchised with the White Fang's direction in the last few years. Why didn't you just leave?
BB: [Scoffs] There's no "leaving" the White Fang. When my mother and father left, he was exiled back to the wastelands of Menagerie. And that was leniency, compared to how Adam dealt with traitors. He needed an iron grip on all he controlled. And that included me.
If the drive to Adam felt long, the drive back to Vale felt even longer.
The black bag over Blake's head felt even more suffocating, and with Ilia completely silent on this drive, Blake was left alone with her thoughts, something she'd rather not deal with in the slightest.
She wasn't as dumb as Adam thought she was. She knew why he sent Ilia over. When Blake initially suggested that she would better suit the White Fang's operation by embedding with the VKPD, she was surprised with Adam's openness to letting her go. But in reality, he was simply waiting for the right opportunity to send over someone to watch over her. Adam would never let Blake out of his grasp, she should've known that. But Adam obviously wasn't fully knowledgeable about the situation, given that he sent Ilia of all people to supervise Blake..
Blake could feel the car roll to a stop, and the sound of Ilia shutting the engine off. Blake grabbed the bag off her head and felt the sting of the singular light post illuminating the dusty theater lot hitting her eyes. Ilia didn't say a word as opened the driver side door, stepped out, and then slammed it shut. Blake followed suit and exited the car after Ilia.
"So…" Ilia said, before trailing off. "We're going to have to get used to each other, over the next few weeks, until we resolve this shit."
"I suppose," Blake said. "I'll update you in a week when I get more information."
"Or…" Ilia said, stopping Blake in her tracks. "You give me another update now."
Blake turned to Ilia, a look of confusion on her face.
"What do you mean?" Blake asked.
"Well, it's been 5 years since we've last seen each other," Ilia said, dropping her tone into a sultry whisper. "Asides from the case, there's got to be some other things that we need to...catch up on."
Blake shook her head to Ilia's response.
"Ilia…" Blake began, inflecting her voice to show her hesitation. She instantly saw Ilia's face drop.
"Oh," Ilia said softly. Blake grimaced and felt her heart drop before she shook her head one more time, and then took a deep breath.
"You know what, Ilia…" Blake said, before turning to Ilia one more time. "Where are you staying?"
Ilia's face perked up instantly in surprise, which quickly gave way to a sly grin on her face.
"The Ritz, in downtown. Follow my car, Kitty." Ilia said sensually before she hopped into her Cutlass and the engine of the car roared to life.
Ilia knew that Blake's old pet name would've riled Blake up, which made Blake feel a twang of annoyance at Ilia, knowing that every step Ilia was taking now was because she knew that she had Blake wrapped around her finger. Blake opened her car door and followed Ilia out of the lot.
