Chapter 4
The morning sun shined through the window in rays, it seemed almost like the bed was placed in just the right spot for it to shine straight into her closed eyes, she groaned as a result of the uncomfortable light. Her hair had sprawled out into a mess in her bed as it normally did when she was sleeping. She loved her hair but she'd be lying if she said it wasn't annoying sometimes. Brushing some of it from her face she glanced to the door with her soft lilac eyes as she heard it open with a click. Not soon after the sound of heels came tapping in. Immediately Yang sat up against the wall, pulling the quilt up to shield herself. She had already swiftly equipped Ember which was resting near her pillow as she had slept. The sound of heels... after the club she could only assume Neo had come back to finish the job.
The sight of a white outfit almost caused her to lunge forward with a punch from her bed, but it quickly became evident that the woman was taller than Neo, and far more mature. With the glance at the woman's head she lowered her arm and rubbed her eyes before asking in a groggy tone, "W- Weiss..?" she said as she opened her eyes once more with a clearer vision.
The woman before her looked down at her with a cold blue gaze, the likeness was uncanny but she could tell it was not in fact Weiss. She seemed... sharper. The woman took a step towards Yang and crossed her arms, "Yang Xiao Long?" she asked in a stern tone, she seemed like the serious type. Perhaps overly so.
Yang gave a nod in response to her name being spoken, "Uh... Yeah" was all she responded to, lowering her quilt slightly as she relaxed, she had slept with her orange tank top on.
A black gloved right hand extended out towards Yang who looked to it awkwardly. After a second the woman shook her head to herself in silent apology before extending her left hand instead. "Winter Schnee, specialist from the Atlesian Special Operatives unit" she politely introduced herself.
Cautiously Yang reached her left hand to shake Winter's, Ember now clearly visible on her wrist. "Yang-" she paused, she had already forgotten Winter knew who she was. In an attempt to seem less awkward she immediately switched the topic, "So uh... you're a special... specialist then?" she asked, looking up at her.
Winter just seemed to stare back down at the woman before crossing her arms once more. "In a manner of speaking. I presume you have questions?" she asked. That was an understatement.
Yang nodded and shuffled towards the edge of her bed to sit comfortably upon it, the quilt now only over her legs. "Yeah, what am I doing here?" she asked, the obvious question first of course.
The other woman looked to the open door and with her right hand gently pushed it so that it would close. She idly brushed her fringe afterwards (despite her hair being perfect) and turned her gaze back to Yang. "I'll start off by informing you that you're not about to be recruited into some secret mission, or neither that General Ironwood is going to fund you a new arm or some such. Abandon those fantasies for the time being and focus on the reality" she spoke, as sternly as ever.
Yang began to wonder just how uptight Weiss' sister could be. "So... what reality is that?" she asked in response.
Winter continued on, gesturing towards Yang. "Team RWBY as you might be aware, is a mess right now" she lowered her hand, as if uncaring of any insult she may have just inflicted on Yang. "Even if in training Hunters and Huntress alike are in dire need regarding current events. If given the opportunity we have been directed to... re-assemble any local teams in an attempt at reducing Grimm activity within the city. You are the first member of Team RWBY we have been able to locate, and even then, you came to us" finished Winter, her cold gaze locked to Yang as she explained the situation.
Yang took in the information and nodded, "You've... heard nothing about Ruby? Or Weiss?" she asked, seeming rather concerned that nothing had been mentioned about her sister.
"My sister is with my father in Atlas, that complicates things dramatically. Your own sister..." Winter paused as she seemed to ponder the words to use. "We know she's alive" she answered. For a moment Yang thought she might've caught a glimpse of sympathy. Perhaps Winter being Weiss' big sister made her relate to Yang in some sense. "But I've been informed you are looking for neither of those" she added as her stare pierced her once again.
With an almost embarrassed expression Yang turned to face the window, running her hand through her thick locks of golden hair as she responded. "Vale was nearest so I..." she began, but Winter cut her off.
"That is why you were shooting up the club?" she asked with her taut expression.
Yang looked back to Winter with a glare, her lilac eyes fixated on her for a moment. "Yeah, about that. Why didn't your soldiers do anything? Are they always that useless?" she spoke with some amount of venom in her words.
Winter smirked at Yang's lack of understanding, it was a condescending look that annoyed her. "You paid attention in class didn't you Miss Xiao Long? What attracts Grimm?" she asked.
She could already tell it was a trap, but she answered anyway. "Negative emotions" she responded bluntly.
"And what would closing down one of the few places for entertainment left in Vale cause?" continued Winter, her eyes only narrowing more at Yang who once more looked away with a scoff. "I thought so" stated Winter. "Do not misunderstand, they're crooks. But for now they are a necessary evil until the Grimm within Beacon Academy have been dealt with. And if the reports are anything to go by, my "useless" soldiers saved you from an early and permanent retirement" her voice grew much colder towards the end of her sentence, a sign she was done with her snarky attitude for now.
Yang sat silently after being berated, almost in the fashion that a child would. She didn't like admitting she was wrong or looked at like some kind of idiot. Sure she wasn't the brightest, but she wasn't dense either. Or so she liked to think.
With a sigh Winter's voice grew softer, as if noticing she might have been a little too harsh with the girl. "So what have you found? Anything that can help us find your missing partners?" she asked, to which Yang looked back at her.
"Junior... Junior knows something but before I could get it out of him that..." Yang paused as she growled her next words, "Girl... showed up".
Winter nodded to her words, "We've been keeping an eye on Mr Hei Xiong, or... "Junior". Thankfully he isn't as bright as he likes to think he is. We've got a number of locations he frequents when negotiating with the less savoury crowds of Vale. But this muscle of his that you mentioned, is it the girl with the umbrella?" she asked.
"Yeah, that one. They called her Neopolitan" replied Yang, it was clear she didn't enjoy the topic of Neo, someone who had now humiliated her in battle twice. "She worked with Roman Torchwick and the White Fang or something" she added, once again recalling the time she and her team went to Mountain Glenn.
The Schnee woman acted as if the knowledge was already common to her. "Yes, we've known Mr Hei Xiong had ties with the White Fang and Torchwick for some time now. The only reason we didn't take him down before the Battle of Beacon was because of the fact our own undercover operatives were easily able to purchase information from him regarding some other notable figures within Vale. But we had no idea the scale of Torchwick's plans or who he answered to. If we had I'm sure we'd have moved sooner" spoke Winter, moving towards the door. She looked over her shoulder towards Yang as she placed a small note on a table besides the exit. "Use this to contact me via scroll, if you uncover any major leads towards Miss Belladonna I want to know. But do not cry wolf, we are not your armed backup. I've enough to worry about without sending men after every clue you find. For the most part you're on your own, but if we discover anything we'll let you know so long as you return the favour. Otherwise it's emergencies only" she finished, nodding once to Yang who had nothing more to say, she was just happy she had some allies now if she needed them. With that Winter left the room, shutting the door behind her.
Looking at the clock Yang saw that noon was fast approaching, it was probably time to put on some pants and get back to her search. After getting dressed she approached the note Winter had left on the table. It did indeed have her contact details on it but there was more on the back. They were addresses of the places Junior frequented. There were at least three that he seemed to have been spotted in more than anywhere else. A warehouse at the docks, an abandoned apartment complex on the edge of the industrial district and the final was simply the backyard of his own club. Winter was right, Junior was an idiot.
Stepping outside of the building and into the fresh air again made her yawn, she was still fixing up her hair as she walked to the edge of the pavement. The sky had turned cloudy, blocking out the sun. The streets also seemed incredibly more vacant than the day before. She reached into her pocket to pull out the note Winter had given her. She honestly had no idea which to check first, or even if Junior would be there or not. She wouldn't be able to tail him from the club to catch him alone either, seeing as she didn't have access to her bike. Not that it was a subtle machine to begin with. The other obstacle would be Neo. If she really was Junior's new bodyguard then she had to think of a way to separate them. Now that she thought about it Winter really didn't give her much help at all, though she did say she'd contact her if she learnt more. She had more chance of finding her friend now than she did when she arrived, progress is progress no matter how small.
Her first destination would be the docks. If she started there she could work her way east into the nearby industrial district to then check the abandoned complex, and then head north to the commercial district to check if Junior really did perform deals behind his own club. Her route was set and so she started walking. With the streets this empty and quiet it was easy to hear someone else walking from quite a distance so it was unlikely anyone could get the drop on her in broad daylight, not that she was expecting it, though the silence itself was disconcerting and eerie. She turned to cross the road, not having to look around for cars, she couldn't even hear any. Reaching the other side of the pavement she noticed two Atlas soldiers patrolling by. As usual they radioed in her sighting but as she passed them one of them offered a nod. It looks like they had already been informed about her deal with Winter, which could only be a good thing.
The state of Vale upset her, it had once been a vibrant and buzzing city, but it seemed more like a ghost town now. Park benches were empty, stores were closed, those that were open had only staff inside them. She would never have imagined it would turn out like this, especially after the surge of people that had come for the Vytal Festival. As she continued to walk she indulged in her thoughts. The person to come up in her mind for now was Winter. They barely had a proper introduction, it was all business. Though Yang could be sure that Winter was Weiss' sister. They were so similar in appearance and to an extent attitude. She had thought Weiss was bossy and stuck up, but her sister took it to a level that made Weiss' attempts at it seem like a child mimicking their idol. She worried for her team-mate though, she knew she was back in Atlas with her father but the way her sister worded it made it sound like it was something far more concerning than Yang first gave it credit for. Weiss' father was no doubt a powerful and influential man and those types always had standards. These standards were likely pushed onto Weiss and Winter, resulting in them being the way they are. During the last few days they were at Beacon though, Weiss had been opening up a lot more to the group. Even to Blake, someone she almost despised after finding out she was a Faunus and a once-member of the White Fang no less. She hoped the Ice Queen was doing well with whatever she was dealing with right now.
The area around the warehouse was a little more isolated from the rest of the docks. Rarely did this one seem to even receive shipments or be worked. It was a large building with concrete walls and a curved metal roof. There were a few old and cracked windows higher up against the walls and a large metal door at the front, with a smaller one besides it meant for personnel. She made her way to the door and peered in through the window on it. The inside of the warehouse was lit only by the light from the outside, and it still being cloudy made it very dim within the building. She could make out aisles of large wooden crates and containers within. She grabbed the rusted door knob and gave it a twist, but it seemed to be locked. Of course, why wouldn't it be? She let go of the door and took a step back before rushing her shoulder against it. A thud sounded against the metal, but she had only succeeded in slightly denting it. With a growl she glanced around the outside of the warehouse, it was relatively empty. She pulled back her left fist and thrust it forward into the door, activating Ember as she did so. With a blast the door was shunted back from its hinges, falling against the floor inside with a loud clang of metal along with a cloud of dust.
Yang stepped in over the door frame and made her way straight towards the centre of the building where a central path ran through, past all the aisles. She looked to her right and saw another large exit from the building. Looking to her left her eyes caught what seemed to be a table along with a large notice board in front of it. She began her way towards the two objects. The notice board was barren but had four pins stuck in it, each pin was holding down a scrap of paper too small to be of any use, as if whatever was here was ripped from it in haste. The table itself was also empty, nothing but a few scratches, dents and... a carved game of X's and O's. (O's had won). She ducked to look beneath the table, once more finding nothing. People had definitely been here, it had the makings of some sort of plotting bench, if such a thing existed.
She decided to search further though, she had to be sure there wasn't anything she was missing as she made her way over to one of the crates on the aisles. The box was large and she pulled it with a grunt, sliding it from its position which proved to be quite difficult with one arm. It left a silhouette against the dust on the shelf where it had been sat for so long. She gripped the top of the crate and attempted to lift, but she only succeeded in lifting the entire thing. After lowering the crate she planted her boot against the bottom of it, trying her best to keep it grounded. But the awkward position gave her no leverage to rip the top off. After releasing the crate again she simply smashed into it with her fist, cracking it open with a small boom as wood splintered across the warehouse floor. Inside fell out multiple white sheets. She pulled some of them from the crate and rummaged around inside, but that was all she found. With a sigh she turned to look at the rest of the building she was in, there was no indication of anything other than the bench and the noticeboard.
It seemed not every location was going to give her clues, which she honestly should have expected. She walked the warehouse floor through its various isles for a while, double-checking every corner just in case. But as she stepped out of the building she had come up empty-handed. The warehouse was a no-go. With that she decided her next stop would be the abandoned apartment complex in the industrial district. Her legs started moving as she made her way east and back to the streets of the city. She had to start thinking about what she was going to do if all the locations ended up with no clues. Would she have to go for Junior directly again? If she could find out where he lived it might make things a little easier. Surely Winter would know about that? She pondered calling her right now but had remembered what she said. Emergencies only. With a long drawn sigh she moved to pocket her scroll, but before she did she paused. She stopped moving entirely.
Slowly Yang brought the scroll back up to her face and with her thumb started scrolling through her contacts. She didn't believe she hadn't tried this before. That comment about her thinking she wasn't that dense? It was just destroyed. Eventually her scroll stopped on one of her contacts. Blake Belladonna.
She hadn't even tried calling her, could it really be that simple? She pushed call and watched the screen patiently.