Chapter 5

Lightning Lash tore into the juvenile Beowulf, black sludge flowing as its howl trailed off into an empty gurgle. The Grimm wavered, pure hatred keeping it upright for a few seconds, then collapsed across the ruined street.

Ilia dodged to her left as another one of the beasts leaped over the corpse of its pack-mate, cracking her weapon in a smooth motion as she did. The thin blade of metal took it in the snout, ripping through the immature creature's thin skin. Its already dissolving body slammed into the space she'd just occupied, leaving her free to scan the decrepit city for another target.

There weren't any, Blake's own weapons had just finished cutting through the last of the pack, the only one old enough to have formed armor. Not that the protection had helped it, the younger woman was unhurt as she backed off from the slowly melting body, placing her back against Ilia's while they both did a final check of the area.

Apart from a supermarket whose front wall was missing, thanks to the now dead Grimm who had been lurking inside, there was nothing in sight beyond ruins.

"Well, this is an awful place for a camp." Ilia said, once she was sure they were clear.

Blake made a low sound in her throat that wasn't quite a laugh. "I don't think this is the right time for jokes."

"I was being entirely serious." She shook her head and relaxed, getting a better look at the area around them.

Mountain Glenn had been a planned city, built just on the far side of the mountain range that protected Vale. It was basically a giant concrete box, elevated on a small plateau, with broken walls giving it the appearance of a castle that had long ago fallen to a siege. While it was hardly the first ruined city that she'd seen, southern Anima was littered with the ruined civilizations that the Mistral Emperors had left in their wake, there was something... haunting about Mountain Glenn. Something that the other ruins had lacked.

It has to be the Grimm. Those other cities were mostly empty. This place... I don't know. Maybe it's the fact that it looks so modern...

"At least we won't have to worry about humans stumbling across us." Blake tried. "No civilians, no huntsmen..."

Ilia sighed, "Blake, please don't try to be optimistic. You're horrible at it."

The young woman's feline ears flattened, "It could be worse. If we can clear the rail lines we'll have easy access into and out of the city. And it's easily defensible underground now that we're here and closing the entrances that don't need to be open."

"Now you're just repeating Adam." She said as she turned away, waving towards the nearest entrance to the city's subway system. "I get it, and I know there's no chance we'll get hit by a random bandit attack or something, but there's... just something about this place."

Blake frowned as she caught up to her, both of them starting down the old stairwell. "What to do you mean? It's just another empty ruin filled with Grimm. Our headquarters in Mistral is built out of one, it's nothing new."

"This one's different." Ilia shook her head, feeling her spots flicker between a few muted colors before settling on a dull gray. "There's something... off. This place just feels wrong, I guess. I can't put my finger on it."

There was a quiet hum before Blake spoke again, "It feels normal to me, or as normal as a place like this can. It's not part of your semblance is it?"

Ilia pursed her lips in consideration. Her semblance was one of the less defined ones that she'd ever heard about, even by the often random nature of semblances. Sienna thought she had some ability to warp the minds of people and beings around her, making her fade out of their thoughts unless something startled them into noticing her. Adam was equally convinced that all it did was amplify her natural faunus trait, letting her truly blend in with a background so long as it was dark. For his part, Ghira had thought of it as being as changeable as her skin and spots. However she needed to vanish, it would do its best to aid her in some kind of combination of effects.

Personally Ilia thought that Ghira was probably the closest, though it definitely had limits that made it seem like both Sienna and Adam also had a pretty good feel for it.

I suppose it's possible. If my semblance has to connect to the area around me in order to hide me...

"Doors open both ways." She muttered under her breath, fighting off a shudder. The idea of being connected to the wasteland around her was a fairly horrifying one. Memo, don't use my semblance here anymore if I can absolutely help it.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." Ilia shook her head as they reached the station proper, a half-dozen men and women busy at work repairing an old wall that had obviously once sealed this entire area off from the surface. One of many last-ditch efforts by the people who'd once lived here that had come to nothing in the end.

She raised her voice as several workers glanced their way, "Grimm are dealt with, but with how many packs are wandering around I can't say how long we'll be clear for."

"Thank you sister." The evident leader was a massive man who she'd have thought was a bear faunus if not for the serrated teeth that filled his mouth. "Gods above but you don't know how good it is to have you here."

Blake smiled and gave him a little bow, "It's our pleasure and our duty, brother. How long will you need to fix this?"

"Few more hours." He said, waving a broad hand around at the wreckage, "No shortage of materials, just a matter of getting it nice and secure. Should hold until we get enough concrete to just turn the whole thing into a giant plug, so long as an Elder Grimm doesn't test it."

Her scouting partner nodded and glanced towards her, "Would you mind reporting to Adam? I think one of us should stay here to make sure nothing else shows up."

Ilia frowned. The idea made sense, and she had actually been about to propose that, but she'd entirely expected Blake to want to be the one to report to Adam.

Then again, she'd made it a point to ensure the two of them hadn't had any chances to get 'closer' during the trip from Mistral. Blake had clearly noticed it, giving her somewhat annoyed looks when she'd taken her meals with the both of them whenever possible. She was probably trying to mollify her in the hopes of freeing up time for her and Adam to be alone later.

Which may or may not end up resulting in anything. Adam had been far too busy with his new position to react to either Blake's clear interest in progressing their relationship, or Ilia's efforts to slow that down a bit, even if she was sure he was aware of both. And yes, Trifa had a point that Blake was old enough to fight and die, which meant she was old enough to make her own relationship decisions. And yes, Ilia knew full well that Blake would never look at her like she did at Adam.

But there was just something about the two of them together that struck her as... wrong. Like this damned city.

"That sounds like an excellent idea." The workman grinned, the expression rather ferocious given his teeth. "Never let it be said that the Belladonna family failed to protect their fellow faunus."

Blake blushed and stammered, "I-I'm just doing my job as a huntress of the White Fang."

Ilia snorted, "You really need to learn how to take praise better. Keep your scroll on and send an alert if anything comes this way."

"I know, I know." There was a quick nod as she tried and failed to ignore the chuckles and smiles of the workers. "Tell Adam I'll be back in time for dinner, and that I can make it for him. Wait! I meant-"

The smirks upgraded to full laughter along with a few whistles and cheers that made Blake's face heat up and her ears flatten. Her expression shifted from embarrassment to betrayed when she turned back to Ilia and found her spots bright orange while she strangled down her own laughter.

Her disapproval of the relationship notwithstanding, Blake was far too easy to tease.

Especially when she's the one putting her own foot in her mouth.

"I'll be sure to tell him." Ilia smiled, patting her on the shoulder and pitching her voice so everyone could hear her. "Try not to get lost thinking about dinner."

"Ilia!" The protest was buried under a new avalanche of howling laughter, the work entirely suspended as their brothers and sister cackled and hollered.

Still grinning, she leaned and gave Blake a quick hug, using the gesture to let her speak quietly into her ear. "Let them laugh and tease you. So long as we can do that, we're not monsters."

Blake let out a sound somewhere between a whine and a groan before slumping and hugging her back. "You need a girlfriend so I can get back at you."

"If I ever find one you'll be the last to know." Ilia smirked as they pulled apart, tossing a hand in negligent wave as she turned away. "Don't have too much fun!"

She was fairly sure Blake grumbled and threw some complaints at her back, but she couldn't really hear her over the work leader shouting good naturedly for his men to get back to work. The sounds of rubble being moved and piled together echoed as she walked down the old rail lines, following them towards the heart of the city's underground.

The sunken area beneath Mountain Glenn wasn't in any better shape than the ruins above it. She had no real idea if the place had actually been intended as a long term home, or if it had just been a kind of refugee camp meant to temporarily hold people after the fall of the surface. In the end it didn't really matter. All that remained were bones, crumbling buildings, and the Grimm that had ended Vale's attempt at expansion.

Thankfully the members of the White Fang who'd originally chosen the place as a base had sealed up most of the old tunnels and underground choke-points, ensuring that the only ways the Grimm could get to them were through the old subway and sewer lines... but that still left too many ways to get in.

They'd spent nearly two weeks doing nothing but extermination missions, clearing out as many of the creatures as possible so that the weak-points in their defenses could be closed; those few entrances left open fully fortified. Ilia had nearly lost track of the days until they'd finally gotten ahead of the problem, finally able to do something besides catch quick naps and rushed meals before running out to deal with yet another Grimm pack.

But we're down to the dregs now. Only two ways in, covered by the auto-turrets we brought with, and the last subway entrances are getting closed today. Ilia stretched and groaned as she entered the main cavern, the smell of food making her stomach rumble. Soon we'll be able to actually get to work. Our real work.

With most of the able-bodied members of the White Fang busy working on the last two unwanted entrances, most of the people still present at their main camp were the infirm. A dozen wounded or crippled faunus worked studiously to prepare food and fix up the mostly intact tenement they were using as a living quarters. Some had been wounded by the Grimm, others carried scars caused by human hands. Several smiled on seeing her and waved, and Ilia did the same in return as she headed towards the broad tent that had been setup near a mostly intact train engine.

"Leader Adam," She raised her voice as she approached, "Huntress Amitola reporting."

"Come in!"

Ilia ducked through the cloth entrance, wrapping one hand around a fist in salute. Adam was seated at a small table, his mask off for once, his blue eye focused on a report in front of him. He glanced up and smiled, waving vaguely towards the chair opposite him, "Relax Ilia, we're not in front of anyone else."

"Better to stay in the habit," She replied, stepping forwards and settling herself down. "We cleared fifth street, the team thinks they'll have that station barricaded in a few hours. Blake's staying with them as as a guard against more Grimm."

Adam nodded, pleased. "Good. About time we finished the grunt work."

"Don't think you'll find anyone arguing with you, least of all me." She agreed before smiling a little, "Blake says she'll be back for dinner, that she wants to cook for you, and I'm fairly certain I wasn't invited."

He blinked once, then let out an amused breath and shook his head. "If she's hoping for a romantic dinner from her books she's going to be awfully disappointed. All we have to eat are old instant meals with stale beer to wash them down."

"I think she's hoping for what comes after the dinner in her books."

Adam's pale skin reddened slightly, in embarrassment or anger, she couldn't tell. "...I'd rather not discuss that kind of thing with you."

Ilia spread her hands apart, "I'm just saying. She's decided you're the one for her and nothing I've said has changed her mind."

"And why have you try to change her mind?" He asked, definite anger coloring his voice. "You still convinced I'm going to hurt her?"

"Her age, the fact that you're her mentor, the fact that you're her superior officer," She ticked off the first three points on her fingers, then hit him below the belt, "And the fact that if it does happen, she damn well deserves her first time to be somewhere besides a Grimm infested ruin."

Adam opened his mouth, then closed it with an irritated sound. "I can argue all but the last. Damn you."

Ilia smiled a little and leaned back in her chair. "I know."

"Are you going to tell me that if I hurt her, you'll kill me? Thought you'd finally accepted that she's straight."

"I couldn't kill you even if I wanted to." She shook her head, electing to ignore the second comment. "You hurt her and I'll tell Ghira. He'll rip your arms off and beat you to death with them."

There was a loud snort as he shook his own head, good humor slowly restoring itself. "Fine, fine. I promise I won't give in to Blake's efforts to seduce me while we're living in this ruin if you stop trying to interfere with our personal choices."

"Deal." Ilia flicked her eyes down to the report he'd been reading, "News?"

He nodded slightly, leaning back in his seat and tapping a finger against the paper. What little cheer had been in his voice faded as quickly as it had come. "That vigilante group our contact with the Vale cell mentioned? They went after a faunus family early last month. Farmers who the humans claimed had bought weapons to give to us. They killed the husband, beat the wife and their children before a huntsman intervened. Three of the group were arrested."

Her jaw clenched. "Trial?"

"All three were released on bail, money was raised by an anti-faunus group in the city." His single healthy eye narrowed, "Our cell leader in that village says they also planted some of their own guns in the house they attacked, and the local authorities are going along with it. They got high priced lawyers on top of that, and they're expected to be acquitted of murder. Newspaper has them being slapped with community service for vigilantism as the most likely outcome."

Ilia felt her spots blaze into an angry red, "Bastards. What's the plan?"

"There's more before I get to that." Adam's said flatly, his hand sending the paper fluttering off the table to reveal another beneath it. "This is a report from Vale itself, sent by Pear or Perry or whatever his name is. There's a charity gala being thrown by the investors of the Vale branch of the SDC. None of the Schnees will be present, unfortunately, but Sienna wants us to make statement regardless. Something to make it clear that Vale is not beyond our reach."

"Guessing some of them were the ones behind the lawyers and bail money?" When he nodded, she grimaced and shook her head once. "The cell there can't handle a high security event like that, not if they're anything like Pear. They'd have to launch a direct attack and that would be messy."

"Agreed." He let out an angry breath before continuing, "Worse, we also need to maintain a secure presence here. We just put two weeks of effort into fixing this place's short-comings, I'm not about to see that work wasted. The majority of our team will be remaining here to keep up that effort, which means minimal support for our actions."

Ilia got a sinking feeling in her gut. "You want to split up and hit both of them?"

"Want to? No." Adam tapped the paper once, "If Sienna hadn't ordered it I wouldn't be bothering with Vale itself yet. We'd all be heading west. I'd rather build our strength out here, where we can be mobile... but she did, and so we must obey the High Leader."

She licked her lips once, nodding in agreement. "All right. Who is going where?"

"Gray is staying here. There's no chance he'd get into the city, and there aren't many Grimm who could stand against him. He'll keep the fires warm." Adam fixed her with a steady gaze. "I can't get into the city either, so I'm heading west. You can guess who is going into Vale."

"...dammit." Her jaw clenched. "Dammit. You know I don't like those assignments."

"You volunteered to come with." He countered, "You knew exactly what kind of operations you're best at, and how exactly I'd end up using you. This is tailor-made for your skill-set Ilia, so stop protesting for the sake of protesting."

She exhaled tightly, "Do I get Blake as back-up at least?"

Adam shook his head, as she could have guessed. "I want to get that family out of there, along with any other faunus who might join us thanks to what's happening in that village. She may not be a diplomat but she's earnest, and her name brings power to those who actually know it. I need her even before we get to the details of your assignment, details Blake is not to know about under any circumstances."

Her stomach fell slightly. "...I'm guessing that means you don't want me to vandalize and rob the place."

"I want you to do that," He countered, his expression flat. "Once you've killed Alabaster Winchester."

Oh gods.

"...who is he?" She asked quietly, forcing her spots and skin to remain natural as she played for time.

"Descended from Valean nobility, was just barely old enough to fight in the Faunus Wars." Adam provided. "Owns Winchester Arms, provides weapons to the SDC. Is a noted opponent of faunus rights, has lobbied against all of the anti-discrimination laws, and spends a great deal of his wealth advocating for the forced resettlement of all faunus to Menagerie."

Ilia took a shallow breath and nodded, "Business practices?"

"He refuses to hire faunus to begin with, and he's fought off two lawsuits on the matter." His jaw clenched for a moment, "According to the news articles our people sent me, he's the one who paid for the lawyers who got the vigilantes such light sentences. I only have what's being reported, but he's not a well loved figure among his own kind."

"...the racism?"

"The blatant racism." He corrected her. "Valeans are fine with discriminating and exploiting us, but they don't like it being out in the open. I believed at least one article referred to him as a 'classless relic of a darker time'."

That didn't help as much as it probably should have, and she still needed to focus on her breathing. "Does this come from Sienna? The kill order, I mean."

Adam nodded once. "The SDC reacted to last month's raids by cutting worker pay further in order to pay for better security, or so they claim. Everyone knows it's a crack-down. Sienna is personally leading a team against a board member who lives in Argus, she wants this Winchester removed as well to make it clear that no one related to the Schnee's is safe so long as they exploit us."

Ilia bowed her head and nodded once. ...this is... part of what Ghira would have never done. What Sienna knows has to be done. What I know has to be done. Men like him... how many lives have his weapons ended? How many faunus abusers are free because of his money?

"All right." The words came out as a whisper. "How... how overt?"

"However it has to be done. Get in, remove him, get out." He stated. "If it has to be covert to ensure you can escape, then we'll simply claim credit in the aftermath."

"All right." She repeated quietly.

Adam shook his head, looking almost disappointed in her. "You know it has to be done. He's not some innocent employee working for his paycheck. He's a blatant racist supporting an evil agenda. The kind of human scum that can't be allowed to keep hurting the faunus. If it was politically acceptable he'd be advocating for worse than emigration and you know it."

"I know, I know." One of her hands rose to rub at her forehead. "Just... need a minute. I didn't think..."

"You can do this, Ilia. You're one of our best." He said firmly. "It will be just like our first mission in Mistral, when we hit that councilman's party. Just with one additional objective."

A very, very, very noticeable extra objective.

"Yeah..." She closed her eyes and tried to force her brain to think properly. Think beyond her moral qualms, about the practicality of it. "Still, Adam... even without going after this Winchester, this is different. We knew Mistral but I've never even been to Vale. I don't know the layout of the city, wherever the gala is being held, or anything like that. Do I at least have some time?"

"It's at the Winchester estate, and in four weeks."

That's... barely enough time, maybe. Probably not. Could be worse, I guess. "I'll... I'll have to leave for Vale soonest then."

"Pear will be out to pick you up first thing in the morning. He'll have whatever details the locals can give you beyond what Sienna sent." Adam provided, "You still have your Mistral alias? Good. I'll give you as much of our lien as we can spare so you can stay in a huntsman's hotel, do your best to play the part. Even after the gala I want you to stay in Vale for a few weeks, maybe a few months, and try and get things back on track."

Ilia frowned, too drained to offer more than a token protest. "You want me to try and get the other two cells put back together?"

He waved a hand, "Yes and no. We need recruits but we also need lien. I want you to to go full burglar against everyone and anyone invited to that gala after it's over. Steal everything you can and fence it. Keep half of what you steal, give the rest to whatever faunus charity groups you can find and make it clear it's from us."

Which could draw back in the people who had left, as well building their war chest and reputation at the same time.

"I'll be sure to leave masks to make it clear we're the ones breaking and entering." She replied, her brain all too eager to think about the less morally questionable mission. "Maybe leave our sigil if they try and cover it up. You want all of the recruits to stay in Vale?"

"No." He shook his head, "Put whoever seems competent in charge and leave them with the ones not suited for combat. Let them pretend the old ways work, do charities, whatever they want so long as they bring in more recruits. Anyone who wants to actually fight should be sent here as soon as possible to begin proper training."

She nodded once. "I'll do my best. I'm guessing I should return once things seem stable?"

Adam gave her a sharp nod of his own, "Or when I recall you."

So... an assassination followed by a few months of playing cat burglar. Not what I thought I'd be doing at all... dammit. He's right... I should have known better. But this is... what I signed up for. Sacrificing my soul so other people didn't have to.

So that faunus could live without fear.

Ilia slowly stood and gave him another salute. "It will be done, Leader Taurus. What will you all be doing while I'm running around terrorizing old humans?"

"Terrorizing corporate ones." He replied, "There's several dust mines north of us. Two are SDC, one is a local company that's not all that different. Once Blake and I return, I'll lead attacks against them, shut them down, and liberate everyone we can. By the time that's done with you should have things well in hand, and we can regroup and choose our next targets."

Ilia smiled faintly, trying to recover some of the earlier levity. "Sounds something like a plan. I'll try not get arrested if you two try to avoid getting killed."

He snorted and smiled, clearly not nearly as affected by their conversation as she was. "Don't give me orders... and I'll look after Blake. For now, go check on Gray, I'll copy everything Sienna sent and have it ready when you get back."

"Understood. For the faunus."

"For the faunus."

Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."

Thanks, Kat