The Operative: Chapter 2-

Heroes on Both Sides

[Sorry for not posting anything for the longest time, university is hell and the free time I do have leaves me with little thought on how to write the next chapter, it has come up with ideas for other stories which I have written out first chapters for, I might post them, I might not, it depends on if I think it's good enough, so to ensure the few people who are following this story that I haven't abandoned it (as many stories are after going so long without update) I'm putting in another little chapter exploring Finnegan a bit more, just to flush him out a bit before he becomes a major character in the series proper, and now, without further delay, the story begins.]

In the residential area of Vale at night, where a small group of Humans has cornered a Faunus child in an alley. The girl in question is a sheep Faunus, evident by the wool protruding from around the neck, wrists, and ankles, she has green eyes and white hair and is wearing a dirty white knee-length dress indicating she lives out on the street rather than in any of the houses in the area.

The little girl is cowering in fear and crying at the monsters currently surrounding her, yet these monsters are so much worse than the Grimm, these monsters know how to do worse things than simply kill, unspeakable things that no one, and especially not a little girl, should be subjected to.

"Hey, what's wrong freak? You lose your herd? Well how about me and my friends be nice shepherds and show you where you belong?" a blond man says with malice lining his voice, "That wool sure is getting overgrown, maybe if we shear it we can use it to make something that actually looks nice, compared to the thing it's currently attached to," an older ginger teen girl says, "Like, totes," another teen girl with green hair agrees. "We can certainly do all that, but you can't ignore a cute face like that, it's our duty to... feed... the lost little lamb first isn't it?" a large black haired man creepily says while licking his lips while two other men, both wearing blue baseball caps, menacingly laugh.

"Now, I reckon y'all should leave while you still can," a deep voice calls out from somewhere, "Ya? And whatcha going to do, beat us up? And who are you anyway?" the black haired man incredulously asks while looking around for the interloper. "Jus' someone who feels dat pickin' on a little girl ain't okay," the voice answers before a person drops down from above, landing between the group and the little girl. The person in question is a large individual, being both tall and somewhat wide, wearing a black tattered cloak with the hood up, hiding the upper half of their face, over the lower half of their face they wear a a white half-mask with red lines forming a snarling maw with a few slits over the mouth, the only other visible features about them is their black combat boots, black gloves, and the fact that on the back of the cloak, the red emblem of the White Fang spanned the entirety of the back, though this was only visible to the girl as his back was to her.

"Looks like some homeless nobody wants to play hero, come on guys, let's deal with this loser and get back to what we were doing," the black haired man tells his group as he cracks his knuckles, "Sure thing, man," the blond responds walking foreword and pulling out a switchblade, "Roger that," the twins respond and get in a amateurish boxing stance. The man slides his right leg towards his left with his right arm following just above it, then he swings his right leg out and stomps down into a horse stance, both of his palms facing the group in 'stop' motion before he claps them and shoves them forward with his arms slightly bent as he shouts, "Sumo!"

The man looks over his shoulder at the girl and tells her, "Hey, little lamb, cover your ears an' close your eyes 'til I say you can look again, okay?" "S-Sure thing, m-mister," she responds before doing as she's instructed. Just as he turns his attention back to the group, the black haired man has already charged towards him with his fist cocked back, clearly telegraphing his intent, "Take this you basta-" the guy begins to yell before he is unable to continue his threat, due to the palm strike that has caved his face in, killing him. "Aaaahhhh!" the two teens scream in horror at the blood, bone, and brain being sprayed all over the place, "Wh-What the fuck?!" the blond yells, "You'll pay for that!" he yells and charges at him with his blade, before being abruptly grabbed and slammed into the nearby brick wall by the man, after which he is dropped and his neck stomped on, breaking it and killing him.

Seeing this, the teens and twins turn to run away before they are stopped by an unseen force, "Like my Semblance? It prevents opponents from movin' a certain distance away from me, an' I can change da max radius," the man says in a predatory tone as he makes his way toward them. What followed was a beat down that ended with all four of the Humans dead alongside the other two from before.

Eventually, the man walks out of the alley carrying the Faunus girl, tapping on her shoulder to let her know she could look again and remove her hands from her ears, "Okay, little lamb, now dat you're safe, mind tellin' me what you're doin' out here on your own?" he asks the little girl while walking away from the alley, "I got separated from mama when we went shopping, and then I got really lost," the girl sadly admits to her saviour. "Well, why don't we go lookin' for her? What's your name, little lamb, mines Finnegan," "I'm Lulubelle Thyme, but you can call me Lulu," the little girl says, "Well den, it's only fair you call me Finn, now let's go see a friend of mine, dey are good at findin' people.

The two make their way to a warehouse at the harbour where they enter and draw the attention of some White Fang inside. "Hey, June! I need a favour from you!" Finnegan calls out, after a few seconds, a large muscular female White Fang member with bear ears walks over, "Yes sir?" she asks, "None of dat sir stuff, this ain't official business. On ta what I want, this little girl here belongs ta Mrs. Thyme, you're familiar witha lot of da civilian Faunus right? Know where ta find her?" Finnegan asks the large woman, "Thyme... yes I remember them, come on, it's not too far from here," June says to Finnegan, and proceeds to walk out of the warehouse and guide the other two through the slums to a run-down apartment building and walking up a flight of stairs and knocking on the door.

"Y-Yes?" a shaky feminine voice asks from inside the apartment, "Mrs. Thyme? I have some good news, my friend here has found Lulu," June happily informs the woman behind the door. No sooner than June finished saying this, that the door swung open at incredible speeds before a Human woman launches out and grabs a hold of Lulu and lifts her up into a hug, "Oh, my precious little lamb! I'm so glad you're okay!" yells while crying tears of joy, at the same moment a Faunus man with ram horns walks into view inside the apartment, "Gladys? What's with the noise..." he begins to ask before seeing his wife hugging their daughter, and begins tearing up himself.

"Lulu! Thank god!" the father then runs forward to hug his daughter and wife. "Thank you! You don't know how much this means to us!" the wife tearful thanks Finnegan, "No problem folks, da White Fang looks out for fellow Faunus, an' don't worry ma'am, if a Human can find love in der heart for a Faunus, well den dey are as good as a Faunus ta us. Stay safe folks," Finnegan says to the family before he and June leave. Just as the two are walking away, they hear from the apartment, "Thanks Finn! I'll always remember you!" Lulu yells out, this prompts Finnegan to turn his head and look into her eyes from afar and simply give her a thumbs up over his shoulder as he continues on his way.