A/N: Wow, that took a long time to get out. Writer's block and busy life is a bad combination. I hope I can get chapters out faster now.

Chapter 24

"Oh," Yang exclaimed as it clicked. "Your semblance."

Ruby chuckled slightly. She stepped closer to the building, putting her hand on it, getting a feel for the façade. "I am fast enough with it that I might be able to reach the window if I use the building to push myself off every now and then."

"And what am I going to do?"

Ruby pulled out her scroll demonstratively, shaking it a bit. "You are on the lookout. If something suspicious is going on out here, give me a ring."

Yang nodded, her eyebrows furrowed a bit. "Got ya."

Ruby and Yang nodded to each other again, and Ruby set her plan in motion. She fixed her eyes on her target, bent her knees a bit, and jumped up. At the same moment, she activated her semblance. Yang noticed how she was not putting her all into it, and she assumed Ruby did it because if she went full force, she'd broke the sound barrier, and that would be rather detrimental for their stealth operation. Instead, all she created now was a rather strong gust of wind.

Carefully, Yang peeked over to the entrance. No sign of movement, no one running out and yelling for guards or opening fire on the two sisters.

Ruby had to be very careful every time she pushed her feet off the windows. A few of them already had cracks in them, be it from the winds she created or when she pushed herself off a bit too hard. But her eyes and mind were laser focused on the open window. Just a few more steps, and she did it.

Again, she heard the cracking of glass. She risked peaking down towards her feet for a fraction of a second. There was a tear walking its way up, following her steps as if she was dragging it along. She had to reach the window quickly.

She looked back up. The window was now even closer. Just one or two more steps, and –

The glass under her feet gave way. She lost her footing, her legs following the glass into the office behind it, and with almost super-sonic speed, she hit the top of the window frame with her ribcage. The impact forced the air out of her lungs as she did an almost comical flip into the room, knocking over chairs and crashing onto the long table in the middle of it.

The noise was almost deafening as the window broke into pieces and the chairs flew across the room, but more than the ringing of her ears and the impact on the table did the stabbing in her chest hurt. She clutched her side, trying to breathe, but all she could manage was erratic, but shallow inhales, not enough to get any air back into her system. She could feel panic washing over her, but willed herself to calm down. She held her breath for a moment, and focused on her heartbeat.

When she felt like she got her self-control back, she carefully took a breath. It hurt. A lot, but not too much for her to pass out from it. And it wasn't like Ruby was unfamiliar with the pain. She has broken ribs before, and had to work and fight through the pain on multiple occasions. She just needed to suck it up. Her wife needed her, for heavens' sake.

Carefully, she raised herself up. The movement hurt a bit, but it was nothing she wasn't used to. She felt stinging pain on her face and hands, probably microscopic splinters from the window. She made a mental note not to rub her eyes or pick her nose anytime soon.

She could feel her aura slowly starting to kick into gear. Ruby assumed she put too much of it into the dash up the wall, and almost depleted it in the process.

Note to self: Not invincible yet.

She forced her body around towards the door. Her "infiltration" must have been heard through the entire building. She couldn't risk getting caught now. Not in this damaged state, and not with her wife and her sister's girlfriend in mortal danger.

Slowly, she slid towards the edge of the large table. She swung her legs over it, and carefully tested if the muscles in them could carry her. They luckily did. A bit shaky, but functional. She made her way over to the door, ignoring the stinging pain in her chest with every breath and step, and carefully opened the door. Everything was silent and dark, just how she liked it.

She peeked out into the hallway, turning her head to one end of it, and then the other. Even without any light she knew she had never been on this story of the building.

Her scroll buzzed. Good, so that thing still works.

She crammed it out of her pocket and answered the call.

"Are you okay? Ruby?"

"Yes, don't worry", she whispered. "I broke a few ribs but that's all."

"That's all?" Yang almost screamed in disbelieve. She quickly lowered her volume again. "Ruby, for fuck's sake. Do you have any idea how nasty that looked? There was glass raining down on me."

Ruby started walking quickly through the halls, stopping at every corner to look out for signs of danger. "Trust me, I have a pretty good idea. I had a front row seat. Anything happened when I infenestrated myself?"

"No, everything is quiet. Maybe they are on the other side of the building or something."

Ruby was a bit suspicious of that. Her ears were still ringing from the crash, and no one apparently heard that? Doubtful. Besides, don't big corporate headquarters usually have airtight security systems that go off the moment someone even thinks about breaking in?

She had to advance with utmost precaution. She most definitely set off some silent alarm, Ruby was sure of it.

"I have to figure out which floor I am on. Let me know if anything happens. Otherwise, radio silence, okay?"

"Okay, got ya. Stay save, Rubes!" Yang hung up.

Ruby stuffed her scroll back into her pocket. She scanned over the plates next to some office doors. Lots of names she never heard of, but strangely, no numbers on them. Well, no, not no numbers, there were some, but they were all just double digits. Were they really starting at one with every new floor? Who the hell designed this place?

So, she either needed to find the staircase or an elevator. Those had to have the floor numbers on them.

She made her way down the hallways, with practiced silent steps. Her eyes darted over the plates next to the doors as she quickly dashed past them. Finally, she came to a door at the end of a branching hallway. It looked distinctively different from the rest, not as decked out, and made out of metal. A fire door. And behind fire doors were usually emergency stairs.

When her hand rested on the handle, she feared it to be locked for a fraction of a second, but luckily, it sprung open, almost as if it invited her in. She happily accepted.

The staircase was, like the door guarding it, function over form. Pure metal, rough, with the steps' surface area covered in rubber. Ruby noticed a giant yellow number drawn on the white-painted stone wall: Eight. And Weiss' office – and more importantly, Aki's desk - was on floor thirty.

Fuck.

Just thinking of having to rush up all those stairs made her chest flair up in pain again. She steeled herself, took as deep as a breath as she could, and made her way up. At first, it wasn't even that bad, and Ruby was confident she could make it, even without her semblance, but just a few flights afterwards her lungs were on fire, and she could feel her conscious slipping into darkness with every painful breath.

She couldn't collapse here on the stairs! She just couldn't. Her mind drew a picture of her wife, hurt and scared. Weiss needed her, goddamn it. She grit her teeth, gathered all the strength still left in her body, and forced her legs to move.

She'd get up there, come Hell or high water.

Heavy footsteps approached their room. Weiss and Blake froze, brazing themselves. The old, heavy lock on the door rang out into the barren room, echoing off the walls. The door opened with a creek, revealing the silhouette of a slender man. There was no light in the hallway, so his features were almost impossible to make out. He seemed to be holding something - a tray, assumingly – and his clothes appeared damaged. He stepped into the room, allowing the two captives to get a relatively clear look at his face.

He looked older. Not old, just… older. In his forties, maybe. His hair was greying, his skin looked rough and covered in tiny wrinkles. He was of slender stature, almost malnourished. But the most striking feature…

…was his wolf-like tail.

The man put the tray down on the concrete ground, took the two bowls on it and handed one to Blake.

"Eat," his deep voice echoed.

But Blake knew better. She threw him a challenging look, shaking her head. The man groaned, grabbed a dirty spoon from the tray and took a bite from her bowl.

"It's just oatmeal. Not poisoned. Tastes like shit, though." He placed the bowl down in front of Blake. "I'm going to undo your bindings now. Don't try anything, got it? We were told to keep you alive, but when push comes to shove I won't hesitate. Clear?"

Blake didn't answer his question. Instead, she nodded over to Weiss. "What about her?"

The man's eyes were filled with a mixture of anger and uncertainty as he looked over his shoulder. "That Schnee cunt can starve for all I care. But as I said, we were told to keep you alive. You feed her. We know about her glyphs."

Weiss averted her eyes as his piercing look seemed to run a knife into her confidence.

"Can… can I ask you something?"

The man turned his attention back to Blake.

"Why are you doing this? Keeping us locked up, I mean."

"Because people are hungry."

"They're giving you food to keep us here?"

The man's face darkened for a fraction of a second. "Shut up now. I'll undo your bindings, and you eat and feed the Schnee."

"I didn't know."

He didn't seem to react to what Weiss said. But when he removed Blake's shackles, he raised himself up and turned to her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I… I didn't know all this still existed. I had no idea you all still have to live like this. I'm sorry."

A humorless laugh escaped his lips. "And you expect me to believe that? The company responsible for all this carries your filthy name."

"She's telling the truth," Blake interjected. "I doubt anyone in the city actually knows."

"Oh, please. How would you even know? Why the hell does one of us even defend Schnee filth?"

Blake lifted herself up carefully, her eyes glued on the man, as she carefully replied: "She is my friend."

His eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"

"I work as a journalist. For Patch newspaper. I was the one who figured all that out. Trust me, she didn't know anything."

"Who are you?" the man repeated, his voice growing darker with every word.

Blake hesitated for a second, unsure as of what he wanted to hear. But then she remembered: She hasn't mentioned her name. "My name is Blake Belladonna."

The man's eyes widened with shock, his agitated tail stopping its movement in an instant. "The daughter of the leader of the White Fang? But why would you want to be seen with a Schnee? Why would they tell us to keep you here?"

"We know too much, I reckon. And I told you, she is my friend. No, she is more than that. She is family."

Weiss could feel her heart flutter upon hearing those words.

"A Belladonna considering a Schnee family. I don't know if I should laugh or puke," the man replied.

"Do you know Ruby Rose?" Blake asked. She gambled that Ruby's reputation was even reaching places which are intentionally cut off from the outside world.

Her conversation partner nodded and answered drily: "Yeah, the hero. The one who stopped the Grimm."

Weiss cut off Blake's reply. "She's my wife."

His head turned so fast, he almost risked whiplash. "What?"

"Yes," Blake confirmed. "And I am the girlfriend of her wife's sister. So, that's why I consider her family."

The man's eyes drifted off past Blake, his mind running. "What the fuck…" he whispered.

"We're trying to stop whatever it is those people are planning. Please, you have to let us go."

Again, the man's eyes darted over to Blake. "Those people? You mean the SDC?"

"You… you don't know?" Blake asked.

"How should I? They told us to keep you both here, that's all!"

"How can they force you to do that?" Weiss asked. There was something in her voice. Concern? Maybe apprehension?

The man's eyes narrowed a bit, unsure if he should answer her. A sigh escaped his lips before he decided to humor her. "They give us food and water."

Weiss would have spat on the ground if it wasn't for her upbringing. "Those bastards! They make you dependent. If you don't do what they say, they let you starve, is that it?"

The man silently nodded.

Blake's reaction to the news was more subdued. "Yeah, that is indeed horrible. But why would they do that? Wouldn't it be easier to just let you people starve? To get rid of the faunus?"

"I guess they like pushing us around. Nothing new," the wolf-faunus suggested.

"There has to be more to it…"

"Like I said," Weiss argued, "they are making them dependent. Hungry people become desperate and dangerous. I can imagine the faunus would revolt or something, like it happened before. And you know how that ended, for everyone."

Weiss jumped a bit as Blake's voice echoed from the empty walls. "That's it! Weiss, I could kiss you!"

"Please don't. And what are you talking about?"

Blake's vision darted between her two conversation partners. "It's easy! In fact, it's so obvious that I completely missed it! Think about it. The suicide bombing, the fact they kept the fact the SDC did not rebuild this entire area, making the faunus dependent on food from outside; them kidnapping us instead of just getting rid of us, bringing us here…"

Weiss didn't immediately get that Blake was implying. The wolf faunus, however, did: "The SDC wants to turn the people of Atlas against us, like a few years back."

"Exactly! It would add up. A prolific, very well-liked figure of the SDC gets killed by a bomber who will most definitely be somehow attributed to the Public Freedom Vacuo. They did bombings before, after all. Suddenly, not long after, the head of the company, the loved Weiss Schnee, wife of the savior of this entire world, gets kidnapped and dragged into an area that was supposed to be refurbished by her very own company. And how much do we want to bet your officials will spin it to make it seem like they oh so tried to help, but the 'vicious faunus' didn't let them, so in the meantime, and as a sign of goodwill, they give them nutritious Atlesian food?"

"But why?" Weiss inquired.

"Why?" Blake parroted in disbelieve. "Because that's how they consider the world to work! The SDC wants to exploit the faunus again. Cheap workers! Exploitable, expendable. And if the population of Atlas was on board with it, even better. Remember, only a few years ago we were still considered second rate citizens in this society. Easy to go back to the olden days."

The wolf faunus huffed. "I would call this plan brilliant if my people wouldn't suffer from it."

"Yeah," Blake sighed out. "So, we need to get out of here. My idea didn't work, the plan was a bust. At least we know have an idea what they are cooking up."

"Plan? What plan?" The man arched a greying eyebrow.

"Well, I had the idea Weiss and I would meet at her office, to go through some files. We knew we were watched or spied on or something, and we wanted to push them a bit, see how they react; if they might get careless." She sighed, throwing Weiss an apologetic look. "I didn't expect them to resort to violence."

"It's not your fault, Blake," Weiss answered. "They are insane. But I swear they will not get away with any of this."

"Does anyone know where you are?" the man asked.

"I doubt it. But I know Ruby will do anything to find me."

Blake agreed, and added: "So will Yang."

"Oh, my God… What would happen to the people here when they find out?"

Blake and Weiss threw him a confused look, but apparently, the concern in his voice was real. The two carried light smiles as they replied, Weiss first: "Don't worry. Whatever you heard about Ruby, it's not true."

"I heard she hunted the Grimm down by herself almost to extinction, and slaughtered the woman who controlled them."

Weiss scrunched up her face as she replied: "Okay, yeah, that is true. But she is not a monster or anything. She will not go on a rampage, I can assure you."

"And neither will Yang. They are human, remember."

"For many of us, humans are monsters," was the cold reply.

This time, Weiss couldn't help but laugh. It was a sad one. "I guess we are. No point in arguing further. But Blake was right about what she said: We need to get out of here."

The man groaned frustrated. "Okay, okay, I get it! But I can't do that! Do you know what would happen when people find out there is a Schnee among us? They would rip you to shreds! You would need to find a way to sneak out of here."

Blake carried a crooked smile as she replied: "Way ahead of you." And then the clone dissolved, leaving Weiss and the wolf faunus alone in the desolate room.