[X] They won't cause a scene in the richer parts of town. Pass by the marketing district, it'd be too crowded to track her in the crowd there.
In most cities, there was a contrast, between the rich areas and poor areas. In the heart of Atlas, however, the people were so rich that they only wanted the rich around them. It was something of a PR statement to the other Kingdoms, partially. Every Kingdom had some issues with poverty, but Atlas held as a matter of pride that they were efficient and wealthy enough that anyone who lived in the Kingdom's capital lived in what at least looked like decent conditions.
What this meant in practice was that there was a lot of miner jobs and low-cost hotels that were prettied up by the Government, but the point remained was that you couldn't judge the richer areas and the poorer areas by sight alone. The buildings weren't any cleaner, or constructed any differently. Instead, the way to identify the wealthier parts of the city were to look for the snowflake signs.
Some would say that was an exaggeration, but the Schnee had fingers in a lot of pies. There's be at least one sign hanging somewhere, a billboard o advertisement or something, anywhere that they could smell a profit.
The market district was the perfect sign of this. It was, primarily, designed to be open so that anyone walking the streets this late would have something to waste their money on. The issue arose quickly of what exactly people would be spending their money on so late, what could possibly be so important they they need to be awake in the middle of the night to buy. And then the Schnee Dust Corporation had the bright idea of setting it up as a tourist trap.
Set up a few hotels for tourists nearby, set up a few fancy stalls selling food and necessities for a tourist who suddenly realised in the middle of the night that they were running low on something, cover their bases by setting up a few dust shops and ammo supply shops, and finish the rest of it with Atlas delicacies and merchandise.
It took years to start working, but once the tourists really started flowing, the SDC buildings nearby were rented out to shopkeepers, which meant that long-term sustainability of the side-products became less important. A shop could come in, be gimmicky for a month and earn a lot of profits, give the SDC a portion of their profits in rent, and if the novelty ever wore off, they left and were replaced by someone else.
Within a few years, the market district had become a self-sustaining entity in itself. Even discounting the proximity to tourist hotels, the area earned up enough of a reputation as a wealthy marketplace that merchants would try to sell their products there at night, which kept more people coming to it at night.
It also meant that there was usually a crowd in the area. Tourists looking around, people who were looking to see if any sales out here would be cheaper than the prices elsewhere in the middle of the day, and whatever other reason people had to be in the area at the time. It wasn't much of a crowd, but because it was a richer area full of tourists, Atlas police wouldn't want to cause a scene. That, combined with how they were spread too thin cracking down on the White Fang to keep an officer in the area to monitor people when they could just respond to any emergency calls, meant that Blake had a good chance of losing the trail of any pursuers there.
Of course, before she could be sure she had lost pursuit, she needed to get a change of look. If anyone saw her getting away and took sight of her, they'd notice a girl in black with a ribbon on her head.
Thankfully, she was good here. She'd had plenty of experience pickpocketing before, and while she wasn't the best, a richer area like this wouldn't have people as guarded in regards to their wallets. And people were tired and partially asleep, in most cases.
Hiding her ribbon was easy enough. There was a distracted woman talking to someone with a scroll at her ear, with a cap loosely hanging to the top of her head. Blake picked it off her head as she passed, bringing it down to her side and concealing it from view fairly quickly. She waited a bit longer before putting it on, making sure she was far enough away from the woman that it wouldn't be suspicious.
It was a normal tourist cap, white with a snowflake on front. Rather tacky, but they were sold around here, so it was easy enough to claim that the cap was purchased with her own money.
Which required she actually had money to be believable, but that was easily resolved. Walk past someone who seemed tired, keep an eye on their pockets, see if any looked filled.
It took a while, but eventually, she passed behind someone who's wallet was half hanging out of their back pocket. Swift fingers pulled it out, and Blake quickly reached into it, pulled out all the notes in it, then dropped the wallet behind her.
Hopefully, when the man noticed that he was lacking his wallet, he'd assume it just fell out of his pocket when he walked past. Getting some distance just to be sure, Blake waited until the man was out of sight before she counted her funds.
It wasn't much, but it should be enough for her needs. Walking around a bit more, Blake identified a clothing store of some kind, and walked in.
It took a moment for the exchange of funds to go through, as Blake purchased a white jacket from the old man within- Hadn't she seen him somewhere before?- And put it on as she walked out of the store.
There, that should be good to cover her for now. To anyone who looked, she'd have a monochrome colour scheme, with a white hat and jacket over black clothing and hair.
Confident in her design, Blake started heading for a city exit. Or, rather, a hidden tunnel near an exit. The White Fang had prepared an escape route, after all.
Heading that way, Blake noted a man in a uniform standing in the middle of the walkway. Scanning over the crowd, the officer's gaze passed right over Blake, suspiciously but not focused in that suspicion. He wasn't so much suspicious of her as he was suspicious of everyone.
Blake's gaze lingered a moment too long on the officer, and he noticed her look out of the corner of his eyes. Focusing on Blake, the officer seemed considerate for a moment, before Blake thought quickly.
She still had some money left, and there was a stall on the other side of the walkway.
Walking past the officer, Blake went up to the stall, noting the merchandise being sold.
There were dozens of small portraits on display, not the best quality, but considering how many there were, rather impressive. She noted that a lot of them seemed to portray the Schnee family.
"Like what you see?" The woman at the stall asked.
"It's certainly pleasing to the eye..." Blake responded.
"Feel free to browse as you wish." The woman said." Even if you can't afford anything, just the knowledge that it caught your eye is plenty for me."
What a nice person, Blake noted. That, or desperate.
At the side of the stall, Blake noted an interesting painting. The CEO of the Schnee Dust Corporation, Jacques Schnee, and his wife, who's name Blake couldn't recall at the current moment. It seemed to be reminiscent of a wedding, except the man was dressed in an outfit that was traditionally worn in times of mourning, and the woman's white dress was stained red.
It didn't look completed, which gave Blake the idea it had only been painted recently. And suddenly, a terrible thought came to her.
"I haven't been able to keep an eye on the news recently." Blake claimed. "I've been travelling recently. Is there any reason behind-"
"You haven't heard?" The woman asked. "Oh, it's such a sad story, too. The Schnee family were holding a ball, a celebration of the anniversary of their marriage, and the White Fang turn up to make a statement. What exactly happened is something people haven't felt comfortable talking about, but from what we've heard, one one of the terrorists made a comment threatening the Schnee heir, and the mother reacted violently, so she was cut down."
The mental image of Adam covered in blood, after attacking a ball, came to mind.
"Oh, I can see it in your face, dear." The woman noted. "It's so horrific, isn't it? Cut down like an animal by an animal, like that."
Blake shuffled in discomfort, and the woman looked at her with pity in her eyes.
"Oh, my apologies, dear. This is a hard topic to talk about. I won't force you to think about it."
Blake nodded. "Thanks." She muttered softly, before pulling out the remainder of her money. "I don't suppose I have enough here to buy anything?"
The woman looked at it, then shook her head. "Sorry, dear. Not quiet."
"I see." Blake said. "Sorry for wasting your time."
"It's no problem, dear." The woman said. "The fact that you appreciated my work is enough. Have a nice night, dear."
Blake nodded, then walked away.
As she travelled through the city, ignoring police pursuit as she headed towards the escape tunnel, her thoughts were in turmoil.
She'd known that Adam had ended up killing somebody, but she'd assumed it was a combat thing, at least. A Schnee? Sure, they were trained to a degree, but a woman at a celebration wouldn't have been prepared for combat. Likely wouldn't have had a weapon on her, either. She'd be more of a civilian than a combatant.
Adam had killed someone who he hadn't needed to kill. He'd given her a talk on the necessity of killing in the past, and even if he hadn't pushed her when she disagreed, his point had been killing in combat, that holding back to spare a life was a mistake that could cost yours. But if he'd taken a life of someone who he'd have such an advantage over...
...She didn't want to think about it. Part of her wanted to pretend the problem wasn't there at all. She'd been doing that for ages, after all, and it'd been the right choice every time. She'd objected to the shift from peaceful protest to violent riots, but then it had started working. Violent riots shifted to intentional terrorist actions, and she'd objected, but then it started working. People started giving ground, giving Faunus better conditions to discourage them from joining the White Fang and avoid becoming target.
Both times, she hid her discomfort, and the White Fang ended up closer to it's goals through the actions she'd objected.
Going through the secret tunnel, shedding the white jacket and cap and leaving them behind in the process, Blake wondered if this new level of escalation would also work.
Where was the line? At what point did doing the wrong thing for the right reasons add more wrong than right? The Schnee family was frowned on, even among human communities, but it was almost specifically the father of the family who was spoken of in hushed insults. She'd never heard anything specific about his wife, beyond being his wife and being a Schnee. Blake had always hated the company more than the family, so she was able to see the family as a separate entity, to a degree.
Adam may have caused pain to the company, but he had done so by taking a mother from a family. A potentially loving mother, at that, if she had lost her temper when her daughter was threatened.
Was that just going to be the new level of acceptable? Something initially morally reprehensible, decried by the media and the people, making it seem like the White Fang had reached a whole new low, but in six months time something that was considered normal?
Was that the path she was walking now?
...Damn it. She didn't have time to think about this now. She could get back to it later.
It doesn't take Blake long to get to the base, and the evacuation is set up while Blake herself is allowed to sleep. By the time she awakens in the morning, a large group of White Fang members, in addition to some of their family members, were all on an airship leaving Atlas.
What does Blake do when she awakens?
[X] She needed to talk to Adam. Killing a woman at a ball, even if it was a Schnee... She wasn't comfortable with that.
[X] She couldn't face Adam like this. She needed to get her thoughts in order first. In the meantime...
-[X] She should talk to that with bat Faunus woman. Get another viewpoint on this, from someone evidently more okay with killing.
-[X] Maybe she could try conversing with the wolf Faunus girl. Someone closer to her own age might put things in perspective.
-[X] She'd get her thoughts in order easily by distracting herself for a bit. Try reading a book.
-[X] It'd probably be best to do something vaguely constructive. Talk to a weaponsmith, ask about possible weapon upgrades.