Chapter 14 — Mission

"Part of me wonders if this is a suicide mission disguised as a game."
― Veronica Roth,

Divergent

There was nothing to do again. Adam strolled along the hallways of the White Fang Headquarters, encountering several other members on his way, but never once stopping to indulge in idle chit-chat or anything of the likes. He was not that kind of person, plus he wasn't in the mood to do so anyways. He hated situations like this: it was calm and there was nothing to do. He could go spar or train or with another member, but he didn't really want to. So he resulted to strolling around the place in order to escape this boredom, no destination in mind except his room perhaps.

The White Fang HQ was one massive compound beneath Forever Fall Forest, just a short distance from Vale. It resembled a hangar but contained multiple rooms and hallways, and was divided into three separate floors, all hidden perfectly from view. The ground floor held the barracks for the 'normal' Faunus infantry and the prisoner cells in case they ever had an unwanted guest. It was also home to the cargo bay where the Bullheads and the stolen Atlesian Paladin-290s were parked.

The first floor accommodated the lodgings of the high-ranking officials — like himself — as well as the sparring and training rooms. It also contained a kitchen that could be used by the higher agents — a luxury the lower members didn't have. They had to go to the mess hall and get their food themselves, whereas Adam and the others could cook whatever and whenever they pleased.

The third and lowest floor — the most secure of them all — was where Spike Desde, the leader of the White Fang lived, along with those humans they had formed an alliance with not too long ago. Fortunately, the humans didn't stay very often, leaving the whole floor mostly to Spike. It also held a meeting and situation room with computers and the likes where they would get instructions on missions.

Having found his way back to his room, Adam seated himself on his bed and took out his sword and rifle-sheath Wilt and Blush, and began polishing the blade of the former meticulously. He really had nothing better to do, so he decided that he might as well take care of his weapon.

While polishing the blade until it shined, he reminisced about his time with Blake as his partner. She had always been around him, so he had never really gotten bored. They had trained together, or she had read one of her questionable books while he had taken care of his weapon like he was doing now — but she had always been there. But now that she'd left over six months ago, things had started to get dull. He couldn't spar with anyone: all the other high-ranking members were away on missions and the other Faunus were too weak. It was neither fun nor actual training fighting with them.

An abrupt knock on his door interrupted his train of thoughts. Carefully laying the sword on his bed, he got up and opened the door to be greeted by a lower ranked Faunus dressed in the standard uniform. The man bowed swiftly in respect before speaking up.

"The leader wants to see you, sir. He says he has an exceptionally important mission for you. He's waiting in room 301."

The Faunus was facing straight ahead, but Adam knew that he was probably looking at the floor. The mask did hide his eyes, but no low-ranking member ever dared to look him in the eye, except of course for his previous partner. They were all too afraid of him.

"Tell him I'll be there in a minute," Adam responded, closing the door when the man bowed again and left to deliver the message. Finally! Now he could get out and do something productive instead of sitting around. Adam loved being outside and fighting far more than being cooped up in a building with hundreds of other people and doing exactly nothing.

Putting on his signature black trench coat, he sheathed his sword and exited the room. The hallways were bustling with Faunus and he heard some of them talking about the new rumor that had been spreading lately. Though he never really listened, he'd heard that it was something about some man or woman that could supposedly control Grimm — not that he actually believed such rubbish.

When he got to the meeting room, he knocked once and waited for the sign to enter. "Come in," came a muffled voice from inside.

Adam opened the door and closed it behind him, bowing in front of Spike when he turned around. "I was told you had a mission for me," he said matter-of-fact, standing straight again.

"Yes, I do. Come and sit, there is still another that has to come before I can give you the details."

Spike Desde — a buffalo Faunus with large horns protruding from the top of his head — was not noticeably tall or strong, but the man knew how to manipulate people and had taken over the White Fang five years ago, leading their forces to where it was now.

He had a radically different view on things and always said that, in order for Faunus to gain their well-deserved rights, they had to fight for them and show the humans that they were not to be toyed with. True to his word, their methods had grown to be much more violent and no longer did they hesitate to kill a human should they hinder the attainment of their goal.

The man was ruling the organization with an iron fist, and did not like it when something went wrong on any of the members' missions. That was also why he had been livid when Adam had told him about Blake's betrayal and ordered everyone to kill the traitor the next time they saw her.

Adam took his place in one of the many chairs that surrounded the table and noticed the presence of another Faunus, who was leaning on the wall opposite of him. He, too, was wearing the standard uniform, indicating he was one of the lower-ranked members, but he had a certain cockiness and poise that made it look as if he was really a high-ranked one. The man looked strong with defined muscles on his arms and was tall, almost as tall as Adam.

He acknowledged the red-haired Faunus with a nod of his head and then looked over at the door when it knocked again. Another lower-ranked Faunus stepped inside and quickly bowed and nodded, greeting all the people inside. This man had an average build and was the smallest of the three members gathered.

"Now that you're all here, I will give you the details to your mission," Spike began, pulling up a footage of a military base located at the edge of the forest. "This is the new base that has been established by General Ironwood and the Atlesian military. It lies at the border between Atlas and Vale, at the edge of the forest. There are approximately two-hundred and fifty soldiers and an equal number of Atlesian Knight-200s stationed at the moment," he listed.

"This is the hangar…" He pointed at a large building in the middle of the base. "…that holds seventy-five airships and forty Paladin-290s, as well as twenty Spider Droids. Your mission will be to infiltrate this base and destroy it from the inside. For our plan to work in the future, we need this base off the map so as to weaken Ironwood's forces. You will go inside, destroy all the machines and weaponry, and get back out. It would be best if you avoid being seen until you have completed the mission, but if anyone sees you, kill them. Any questions?"

"So, in short: get in, destroy, get out. Is that about right?" the muscular Faunus asked. Adam got a little annoyed by the question; the instructions had been clear, so why ask?

"Exactly Eric," Spike answered. "Anyone else?"

The room was quiet and it seemed like everyone knew what to do. Nodding in content, Spike told them to get ready to leave by sunrise tomorrow. They exited the meeting room and everyone went to their quarters, preparing to leave by the assigned time.

Edited 31/12/2016

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any of its characters. All I do own are my OC and the idea and plot of the non-canon parts of the story.