Ch. 22

Two days had passed since the incident with team RWBY. It was later that same night that during the argument between Blake and Weiss, Blake had ran away from the school. Team RWBY asked team KAJE for assistance in finding her. On the second day, Sunday, both teams were out in the city looking for Blake.

"Blake! Blaaake!" Ruby shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Blake!" Yang shouted.

"Hey Blake, come on out please!" shouted Abaddon.

"Blake, I've got some fresh tuna for you!" Jurano added.

Emma looked behind the group to see Weiss silently tailing behind.

"Weiss, why aren't you helping?" Emma asked.

"You know who might be able to help? The police," Weiss suggested.

"Ughhh, Weiss." Ruby gave her partner an angry look.

"It was just an idea," Weiss retorted.

"Yeah, a bad one," Ruby said back.

"But why not ask the police? They would be of great help," Kathleen said.

"Well, guys…it's kind of confidential," Yang told them.

"Oh really. You don't think me telling you about the Longinus fragments wasn't confidential?" Abaddon asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Welll, uhhm, that's a little different from this," Ruby told him.

"Anyways, Weiss I think we should talk to Blake and hear her side of the story before we jump to any conclusions," Yang suggested.

"I think when we hear it you'll all realize I was right," said Weiss.

"Whatever asshole," Jurano thought.

"And I think Weiss' hair looks wonderful today," Penny added out of nowhere.

Everyone jumped and turned at the sound of her voice.

"Ahh, Penny where did you come from?!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Can she not do that?" Jurano asked. "It's almost as frustrating as when Emma does it."

"Hey guys, what're you up to?" Penny happily asked.

"We're looking for our friend Blake," Yang answered.

"Ohhhh, you mean the faunus girl," Penny surmised.

Yang, Ruby, and Weiss went silent after hearing that.

"Don't tell me you guys didn't know," Emma said.

"We actually…didn't," Yang said.

"Blake's a faunus?" Jurano asked.

"Yeah, she's got cat ears," Abaddon said.

"What cat ears? She wears a…bow." Yang slowly came to a realization as she said those words.

"Abby and I could already tell what she was," Emma added. "We are faunus after all, we can differentiate our own kind from humans. We assumed everyone already knew about Blake."

"That explains why she was so defensive that day when Weiss was running her mouth, but it doesn't explain why she ran away," Kathleen said. "What else happened Ruby?"

"Oh my gosh, your teammate's gone?" Penny asked.

"Yes Penny," Yang answered.

"I don't know, it's confidential for a reason," Ruby said.

"What reason? Her privacy? I've already read Ninjas of Love two times," Jurano said.

"No, we just didn't want Abaddon to freak out or something," Yang answered.

"Freak out? Wait a minute. Does this mean what I think it means?" Abaddon gave them a questioning expression.

"She may or may not have been part of the White Fang," Ruby said rather quickly.

Abaddon frowned. "No wonder she was grilling me the other day about the White Fang. Although, I don't think she's like them, even a little."

"Well, we don't know that for sure," Weiss added, grabbing everyone's attention.

"Weiss, she's our teammate," Yang told her.

"I know, but you heard what she said," Weiss said.

"It doesn't matter what she said, we still need to find her!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Still-."

"WEISS!" Weiss turned to see Abaddon's black and red eyes staring at her with his fangs bared. His tricolored aura emanated from his body, bathing him in it. Before she knew it, he was already in her face.

"You know what's really unfortunate, that you fail to see the real problem here," he growled. "You keep talking all this shit about the White Fang, about faunus, about your teammate! If I didn't know you, if you weren't my friend, if I wasn't cautious of the people around me and how they would react to seeing my powers, then you'd be done! Gone! Right her and now! Just another bloody mess on the street! You don't know what it's like for others who have to listen to you rant thanks to that damn attitude of yours! So I suggest you keep your mouth shut and focus on finding Blake! Are we understood?"

Weiss couldn't find the strength to move for a few seconds. The menacing pressure of his aura paralyzed her with fear. Although, she managed to snap out of it and nod.

Abaddon calmed himself as he went back to normal. "Good. Well, we need to cover more ground so I suggest we split up."

"Good idea. It'll be easier to find her that way," Yang said. "We should call each other if any of us find her alright."

Everyone nodded and split up into teams of two. Abaddon went with Kathleen, Jurano ran off with Emma, Yang walked away with Weiss, and Ruby was stuck with Penny.

"I'm glad you were able to control yourself," Kathleen said once she and Abaddon were out of earshot of the others.

"Yeah, it would've been a mess. I really wanted to knock some sense into Weiss," said Abaddon. "What would you have done if I lashed out?"

"Probably wouldn't have stopped you from getting one hit in, but the rest…well you know," she said.

"Just as I thought," Abaddon chuckled.

"So what do you think Blake's doing now?" Kathleen asked.

Abaddon shrugged. "I don't know, but whatever it is let's hope she doesn't get into trouble."

XXXXXXX

Later that evening…

Blake lay face forward on the rooftop of a building at the docks. For a while now she stayed and watched the massive shipment of dust that the Schnee Dust Company had left there, hoping to find some answers. Many believed that the White Fang were responsible for the dust robberies, but it didn't make sense to her. Since when did they need so much dust?

"Did I miss anything?" The faunus Blake and her friends had seen days ago, Sun Wukong, landed right next to Blake. After she ran away from Beacon, he had been keeping her company. She told him about her past, her affiliation with the White Fang and how they changed from a faunus rights group to radical extremists. Sun was a bit annoying at times, but she appreciated his company, his upbeat attitude, and the fact that he still willingly accepted her despite knowing she used to be in the White Fang.

"Not really. They've offloaded all the crates from the boat. Now they're just sitting there," she told Sun.

"Cool. I stole you some food." Sun handed Blake one of an armful of apples that he had.

"Do you always break the law without a second thought?" she asked.

"Hey, weren't you in a cult or something?" Sun's question earned him a stern look from the cat faunus. "Okay, too soon."

Suddenly, they were buffeted by a large gust of wind as a lone bullhead flew overhead and landed on the docks. The cargo bay opened and, much to Blake's dismay, several White Fang soldiers walked out.

"Oh no."

"Is that them?" Sun asked.

"Yes…it's them," Blake answered, recognizing the unmistakable red symbol on the fighter's backs.

One of the soldiers came out of the ship holding a rifle. "Alright, grab the tow cables."

Sun couldn't help but notice the look of sadness on Blake's face. "You really didn't think they were behind it, did you?"

"No, I think deep down I knew. I just…didn't want to be right," she said.

"Hey!" Another voice emanated from the bullhead, this time with a commanding tone. "What're you waiting for? We're not the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at moment, so why don't you idiots hurry on up. And don't give me any bullshit!" Another faunus walked out of the ship. It was a man with dark tan skin, dark yellow eyes with slit pupils and black sclera, and mid length ash grey hair that was shaved at the sides. He wore a grey short sleeve unzipped jacket with black insides and black scale like pauldrons on the shoulders, black pants with red armor on the sides, black fingerless gloves with red palms, three cord bracelets on his left arm, and dark grey combat boots. He also had a few scales on his arms, various scars and burn marks, and sported a large black lizard tail with a blood tinge on the underside. He had no shirt on under the open jacket so his bare chest was visible, showing his fit frame along with various scars and one massive one in the left side of his chest. His mask, which he kept clipped to his hip, looked like that of a dragon with stylized red marks on its surface.

"Never seen that kind of faunus before," Sun said. "Who is this guy?"

"No, not him. Anyone but him," Blake said as she pulled out her katana.

"Hey, what're you doing?!" Sun cried.

Without hesitation, Blake jumped off the roof and headed towards the White Fang's location. She snuck up behind a crate that was directly behind the lizard faunus.

"Come on, we don't have that much time to kill," the lizard faunus yelled.

Seeing her chance to strike, Blake quickly snuck up on the lizard and held his hands behind his back whilst also putting her katana against his neck.

"What the-?!" The faunus gritted his teeth. "Oh for fucks sake!"

"Nobody move!" Blake commanded.

The White Fang soldiers around them pulled out their weapons and aimed towards Blake.

"Wait a minute…I know that voice. Well, if it isn't little Belladonna! How've you been kitty kat?" her captive laughed.

"Bantus!" What're you doing here? You're supposed to be dead!" She told him.

Bantus laughed even louder. "Ah, but I live. Did ya miss me? Come on, tell me you did."

Blake took off her bow, showing off her status as a faunus to the soldiers. "Brothers of the White Fang, why are you aiding this scum. Do you not remember who he is, the atrocities he's committed?"

Blake's words caused the soldiers to lower their weapons and either look down or at one another.

"Oh Blakey, Blakey, Blakey. There's so much you don't know," Bantus said with a smile.

"What're you talking about?" she asked.

"The White Fang are thinking big, and I mean really BIG. And Adam has made me a commanding officer in his new grand plan," Bantus told her.

Blake pushed her katana further against his throat. "Tell me what it is or I'll put end to your little operation."

Just then, a huge gust of wind hit them as several more bullheads hovered over the docks.

"I wouldn't exactly call it a little operation," said Bantus.

Blake looked up at the bullheads in horror. This distraction gave Bantus the opportunity he needed to escape. His tail lashed out twice, knocking Blake off her feet and slapping her away from him. Blake gathered herself and stood up to face her opponent. Bantus smiled widely as he unsheathed two large daggers from his belt. Etched on one of the daggers were the words "No Hope" while the other had "No Future."

"I'm gonna have a little fun with you Blake, but just in case you have friends nearby…" Bantus looked up to the sky and let out a loud inhuman screech. It was a pain on the ears as Blake had to cover hers from it. When Bantus stopped, his screech was answered by another that was further away.

"What was that for?!" Blake asked.

Bantus smiled wider than before. "It's play time!"

In the city….

Kathleen and Abaddon were still on their search for Blake when they heard the loud screeching.

"What was that? Could it be Grimm?" Kathleen asked.

"No. Even worse," answered Abaddon. "It sounded like it came from the docks. We need to get there fast!"

Kathleen nodded and the duo sprinted full speed towards their destination. Kathleen used her semblance to boost her speed using wind gusts while Abaddon ran on all fours.

"Blake, if you're at docks right now, I hope you're still alive long enough for us to get there," Abaddon thought.

Meanwhile, Blake and Sun were having a tough time at docks. Sun had already beaten down some of the White Fang soldiers in the area and now it was him and Blake fighting Bantus, although he proved to be tougher than they thought.

"Thanks for the fun kids. I'm having a wonderful time," Bantus mused. In his right hand he now held his daggers combined in twinblade form and in his left hand a silver whip sword.

"What the hell is this guy?! We can barely hit him!" Sun yelled in frustration.

"We have to keep trying Sun. We can't let him escape!" Blake told him.

She dashed at Bantus and swung both her swords in a rapid spin. Bantus blocked with his twinblade, ducked, then slashed at her feet. Blake jumped into the air, but Bantus had already lashed out his whip sword. The sword wrapped around her left leg, allowing Bantus to slam her to the ground. Sun charged in from behind, trying to get an edge. Bantus merely spun his twin blades to block the gunshots from Sun's gunchucks.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Blake, you of all people should know how hard it is to capture me," Bantus said, taunting the cat faunus.

Bantus' sword came off of Blake's leg. He then dodged through another salvo of gun fire from Sun and found an opening in which he grabbed the monkey faunus' shirt, headbutt him, and threw him near where Blake was. As if it wasn't enough, more White Fang troops descended from the other bullheads and surrounded the two huntsmen.

"Wow, killed by cannon fodder. Not the way I would like for you to go out, but we've got things to do." Bantus raised his hand as if to signal an execution when suddenly there was a large explosion. Looking up, everyone saw one of the bullheads, now in pieces, fall into the water.

"What's going on?" one of the White Fang soldiers yelled before a large gust of wind sent him and several others careening into one of the crates. The last few were knocked out by a white wave of energy that came out of nowhere.

"Blake!" Abaddon and Kathleen had arrived, running up to Blake and Sun.

"Blake are you alright?" Kathleen asked as she helped Blake to her feet.

"Yeah, I think so," Blake answered.

Abaddon helped Sun stand up. He had a red bruise on his forehead from the headbutt Bantus gave him. "You gonna be alright monkey boy?" Abaddon asked.

"Yeah," Sun groaned. "I'll live. Thanks for the assist."

"You can thank me after we deal with this problem." Abaddon unsheathed his swords and turned towards the fallen group of White Fang soldiers. Among them, only Bantus stood. He had been hit by Kathleen's wind attack but it wasn't enough to keep him down for long.

"Yes! Finally! The wolf has come out to play!" Bantus screamed in delight.

"You two know each other?" Blake asked.

"Unfortunately," Abaddon answered grimly. "Bantus, how are you still alive?"

"Well, let's just say a little "miracle" happened. And now I'm back for more fun, but it's not just me and the wimps running around." Bantus held his arms out and two huge Grimm appeared behind him. They were just like the mysterious Grimm that team RWBY fought a while ago, but one had ram horns along with goat hind legs and the other had jackal ears and a tail.

"My pets are here too. Think you can handle them?" Bantus laughed.

"Guys, those are the same Grimm that my team and I fought on our mission in Mt. Glenn," Blake said.

"Their called Ghouls, and their not your typical Grimm," Abaddon said. "You think you can take them while I deal with Bantus?"

"Yeah," Kathleen answered.

"Sure thing," Sun said.

"Good luck." Abaddon sprinted towards Bantus at full throttle. The Ghouls tried to stop him, but Abaddon dodged both of them and kept going. Bantus put up his sword and twinblade and their blades clashed together.

"I'll make sure you're good and dead this time!" Abaddon growled.

Bantus snarled back at him. "By all means, come and try it."