Chapter 12
Time rolled by, as it always did.
Ilia's stress levels rose and fell like the harbor tides as things got better, got worse, got better again. Then got even worse when her recruits and subordinates began to settle into factions and cliques. As Tukson and Perry went from quiet snarls to getting into a fist fight, and then being unable to be in the same room even with her playing referee.
The fact that most of her money and attention was devoted to activism rather than violence wasn't going over well with Perry either. Or with Adam. But since she had Sienna's blessing there wasn't much either man could do about it.
There was also the small fact that the division of labor was working, and that Tukson was a far better cell leader than Perry that really seemed to piss them both off.
Tukson was bringing in four new recruits for every one that Perry did, bringing in fifty lien for every one of Perry's, and had even made a couple of contacts within the local media to help leak their press releases.
Perry... was making her wish that she could get away with firing or transferring him. He'd managed to turn a simple ransacking of a diner known to abuse faunus workers into a complete fiasco; three Human and one faunus civilian had ended up dead. He'd tried to arrange a hit on a coffee mogul of all things, simply based on an online rumors of anti-faunus sentiment. On and on...
It had gotten to the point where she felt the need to personally supervise every one of the combat cell's missions. That had helped a bit, at first, but after she'd rejected his third attempt to ask her out on a date he'd finally gotten the hint that it was never happening. Apparently that was all it took for him to lose all respect for her, only sullenly obeying orders even as he hounded her to be more aggressive.
The time to be aggressive finally came in the middle of the evening in late fall.
"We should blow it up." He crossed his arms, glaring at the map on her desk rather than at her directly. He and Liam were in full uniform, contrasting horribly with her jeans, tank top, and black leather coat. "That would send the best message, and cost Schnee the most."
Gods save me from idiots.
"Liam, tell Perry why that's a bad idea." She'd stopped bothering with Perry's title when she'd realized his respect and admiration for her had begun and ended with his desire to get into her pants.
The man she wished she could put in Perry's place grimaced, not happy about being caught in the middle. But he was a good soldier and did he was told, "That much dust would demolish that entire part of the docks. Sure, it would send a bigger message, but it would be too big of a message. Every cop and huntsman in the city would drop everything they're doing to hunt us down."
Ilia nodded. "It would also cripple the city's economy, and you can bet the faunus in the worst jobs would be the first laid off. Sinking it in place still wrecks the ship, ruins most of the dust, and will make old man Schnee scream."
Perry frowned, one dog ear twitching, then shrugged. "I suppose. At least it's a proper attack mission this time, instead of another sweep to look for muggers."
Once she might have tried to explain to the idiot that protecting local faunus from petty human violence was critical to their image. That it earned them good will, donations, recruits, safe places. The downtrodden faunus in the lower quarters of the city cared far more for their day to day safety than they did if a few racist humans were attacked on the other side of town.
But she was tired of wasting her breath.
"We'll be splitting into several teams for this mission." Ilia spoke as if Perry hadn't said anything. "Perry? You'll be taking your team to the harbor master's office, that's where the security controls are. You can't let them get off an alarm."
He straightened up, finally taking this seriously. "We'll get it done. Rules of engagement?"
"Fire only if fired upon. The dockyards like to recruit faunus, they can pay us less and it makes them look good. Let's not give them a reason to change that policy."
He nodded. "Is there a place we can tie them up and leave them?"
She tapped the map with an index finger, tracing a line from the main building to the one next door. "As far as I can tell this is their break room. Leave them there."
"Got it. Who's getting the ship?"
Ilia tipped her head to the left. "Pick out ten of your people to go with Liam. Liam? Get aboard, get the crew subdued, and then get the charges set. Make sure they're well away from the dust though, the last thing we need is to blow ourselves up."
"Got it. How many crew?"
"Tukson's report says the Star of Atlas has eighteen, all Humans. No security bots that he could find, but stay on guard all the same. As for the crew, same orders as Perry's. I want them alive unless they start shooting at you."
The other man nodded in turn. "We going to use them to send a message?"
"We're going to humiliate them, and old man Shcnee while we're at it." She grinned. "Once they're off the ship tie them up, strip them down, and let your people go to town with pens and markers. I want every inch of their skin covered in writing saying how much they love worshiping the Schnee family. Get good pictures we can post online."
That drew snickers from everyone present, even Perry cracking a smile.
"And make sure you get their wallets. If we move fast enough we can probably drain their bank accounts while we're at it."
Snickers turned into sharper grins, Perry speaking up again. "I like that sound of that. Bonuses or for the war chest?"
"Best to get rid of quick. Bonuses for everyone in the operation, but make sure they know not to spend it obviously." Her finger tapped the map again. "I'll take the front gate and open it. Then while you all are busy with the primary mission, I'll be keeping my team on the street and watching out for any interference. Soon as Liam is done we scatter per policy."
Both men nodded.
"Any questions? No? Good. Get your people set and let's move."
Following them out of her office and down the rickety stairs, she found the twenty plus combat personnel of the White Fang in Vale ready and waiting. All of them saluted as they'd been taught, and she returned the gesture before telling them the mission. Knowing that they were going against the SDC drew a chorus of excited cheers, and it was an excited group that began to break apart as Perry separated out the people who'd be going with him against the group who'd be boarding the ship with Liam.
With the latter man gone, Ilia herself only had Lectrie and Nava to accompany her. The pair were probably the best fighters they'd managed to recruit, and she wished they had the time and money to get them better weapons than mass-produced sabers and a pair of rifles.
Where everyone else had pulled on their White Fang tunics, they'd followed her orders and stayed in casual clothing just as she had. That way they could actually act like look-outs without being blatantly obvious.
Nava grinned as she walked over to them, the light reflecting a bit from the stag horns protruding from messy auburn hair. "Never been able to hit the SDC before. This should be fun."
"Don't get excited." Lectrie replied, carefully tugging the hood of her sweatshirt over the donkey ears that were her own unfortunate trait. "We'll just be standing watch. We want this to be boring, not fun."
"Then we'll have to have fun celebrating after." Nava said, as ruthlessly cheerful as always. It was one of the things she liked about him... though she could have done without his close friendship with Perry. "Are we sticking together or splitting up boss?"
"Splitting up." She told them. "I want you two to each take one of the bikes. Nava, get setup at the harbor's parking lot. Lectrie?"
The taller woman nodded, "The northern intersection?"
"Yes, but there's not a good spot to loiter. Stay on the move, circle the blocks, try to avoid an obvious routine. Call me if anyone spots you, I can move up and you can take my place at the main gate if that happens." She glanced over her shoulder in time to see people dispersing, heading out. "Right. Let's go."
Their warehouse was in a good location for work near the docks. It was a straight shot down River Street, then a casual trip over the bridge to reach the southern section of the harbor. Of course riding in the side-car of Lectrie's motorcycle made the trip a little awkward. For some reason it always made her feel a bit like a little girl being driven to school.
Nava peeled away first, his bike slowing down as he rode into the nearly empty parking lot. Ilia turned in place, watching as he stopped and pulled out his scroll, doing a credible job of acting as if he'd simply stopped to take a call.
Her own stop came two blocks later, Lectrie slowing to a halt and letting her clamber out near the harbor's business entrance. A tired looking security guard looked up from the book he was reading as she pulled away. Ilia gave him a casual wave before putting her hands in her pockets and walking in the opposite direction. Just another woman on her way home after a late night date.
If only.
She'd almost asked Lectire out once or twice, but she knew it was a bad idea. She had no idea if Lectrie would even be interested for one, and for another there was the small fact that Ilia was her boss.
Plus, well, Ilia was still hoping that Sienna would find a way to re-assign Adam so that she could get out of Vale as well. Part of her seriously regretted ever convincing Trifa to put her in Sienna's car last year, regretted convincing Sienna to send her with Adam and Blake.
I'd have been happier training militia and baby hunters on Menagerie... but if I had, maybe Adam would be getting away with more. Doing more. The Vale Cell might be an even bigger mess. I'm doing good here.
She just wished that doing good came with enjoying her work. Maybe with a side of actual free time.
Brood later, work now.
Shaking her head, she sucked in a breath and called on her semblance when she let it out. A quick pause let her pull a ski mask out, making sure her hair was tucked underneath. Once that was done her skin rippled to black, she turned around, and began walking right back the way she'd just come.
The security guard had already gone back to his book by the time she returned to the corner. She probably didn't even need her semblance to help avoid his attention as she casually crossed the street, pulled a silenced pistol out from the holster concealed by her coat, and then circled around his little booth.
He did notice when she put the barrel against his neck, freezing in place.
"Up." She kept her voice low. "You'll live so long as you don't hit an alarm."
"No problems." He replied, keeping his hands spread as he slowly stood up. His plain brown uniform was crisp, new, and strained a bit to hid his gut. "No problems from me. Not dying for ten lien an hour."
"Good. Come on outside."
Security guy followed her orders without complaint, backing up until she told him to sit down next to a bicycle rack setup behind his little booth. He sat with his back to the supporting pole, awkwardly got his arms around it, and let her handcuff him out of sight of the street.
That done with she slipped back into the booth. Thankfully the designers had apparently had a low opinion of the future user's intelligence because everything was precisely labeled, which made it easy to raise the arm and do a quick check of the security cameras.
Nothing. Good.
Two minutes later an old van rumbled down the street, and she snorted when Perry cheekily used his turn signal while sticking an arm out of the window.
He may have been an ass, but he had his moments. His subordinates loved him for them, despite his occasional mistakes. If anything they seemed to like that he made those mistakes, that he was as fallible as they were. That he always promised them he wouldn't make the same one twice.
Ilia waved back as they drove through, Liam's van following right behind. Both drove faster than they should have once they were through, rushing to get to their targets before any other tired guards caught sight of them.
As soon as they passed she lowered the gate again, then slipped out to check on her prisoner. He glanced up at her, then closed his eyes and let his head fall back as if content to wait.
"You're unusually calm." She noted, keeping her voice as low and rough as usual when on a job.
"Panicking won't do me any good." He replied without opening his eyes. "And whatever you're doing, I doubt you want the heat of a murder charge. If you did you'd have already shot me."
Smart man, for a Human. "You're not wrong. Stay put, keep your mouth closed. We'll be done soon."
One of his shoulders twitched but he said nothing else. Ilia left him in place, heading back into his booth and settling into the chair. It gave her a good view of the road, letting her watch for any traffic. The fact that it was near midnight helped in that. She only saw one big semi rumble past, the logo of a local grocery chain plastered all over the trailer.
It had just turned down the next street when the muffled sound of a gunshot was instantly followed by two more. She was out of the booth in a flash, head on a swivel as she listened for more.
When all she heard was the dull rumble of a city at night, she pulled out her scroll and made a quick call. "Pear, was that you?"
"Yeah, one of the Human guards wanted to be a hero and tried to shoot me. Aura stopped it and one of my people put him down. Don't think any of them got to an alarm."
She let out a tight breath. "The rest?"
"We've got three others all pissing themselves in fear. Tying them up now, they're giving up all of the security codes to make sure we don't kill them."
"All right, good job. See if you can't use those codes to clear out the camera footage."
"Good idea, we'll get on it."
Ilia hung up, then made a second call. "Orange, status?"
"First charges set. Only found twelve crew so far, they say they're the only ones aboard." He paused. "We heard the gun shots. Perry?"
"Code names." She growled. "And yes, a guard got excited. Move fast."
"Sorry, right. Should we skip searching for the last of the crew?"
She hesitated, looking around once, then nodded. "Yes. If you find them, great, otherwise leave them to get out on their own when the ship starts sinking."
"Got it, we'll leave the hatches open."
From there, things went almost perfectly. Within twenty minutes Liam's people were off the ship, timers running on the explosives they'd left deep inside. They piled into their van and drove off, Perry's team following suit. Another call saw Nava driving off, and Lectrie heading to a rendezvous point near an all night diner where she would pick up Ilia.
Ilia herself waited until her scroll chimed at the top of the hour, then looked over to the massive container ship tied up against the pier.
There... wasn't much to see. Small plums of water sprayed up from the front and back end on the near side, and then it took several more minutes before she was sure that it was getting lower and lower in the water.
Smiling, she walked away, pulling her mask off once she was clear.
Textbook.
The next morning she checked the news first thing, looking for the headline... and felt her scroll tumble from limp fingers when she did.
White Fang leaves Faunus to drown on Cargo Ship!
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