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Chapter 25: not only revealed

I stood on the stage as I waited for the future members of team DUSC.

Dusk Rogue, Umbra Tenebris, Shade Tenebris, and Crimson Zarex. An interesting bunch no doubt.

I only waited a few minutes before they filed in one by one. First was Dusk and following close behind him was Shade. Then came Umbra and Crimson; I could honestly see those two as a couple in the future. I would have to tell Yang and Sarah to go play matchmaker.

Once everybody was lined up in front of the stage, I spoke, "Good morning."

I got a unanimous, "Morning" in response.

"I'm sure that you all are wondering why I called you here."

They all nodded.

"Well let me explain. As I told you, I have talked to the Headmaster of Beacon about the possibility of forming a late starting team and he said that he would have an answer by the end of tomorrow; he may say yes or he could say no. Regardless of his answer, you will be taught to fight the Grimm as Hunters." I paused to breathe, "Dusk, Umbra, Shade, and Crimson; you four will be known as team DUSC." A holo-projector turned on behind me and displayed their team name. "You will face many trials and hardships on your path to becoming a Hunter; of this, I am sure you already know. As a team, you will face them together. While right now, you are complete strangers to one another, in time you will inarguably become friends; and who knows," I looked at Umbra and Crimson, "maybe something more."

Umbra raised her hand, "Do you have any advice you can give to us before we start training?"

I smiled, "I can think of two things; never give up and always remember who the real enemy is."

I jumped off the stage and landed in front of them. "Lesson one..." I began.

After a few minutes of explaining and demonstrating; I showed them how to, using their semblances, create their individual keys to the church. In the process of doing so, each member of team DUSC learned what each other's semblances were.

Dusk's was literally just an amplified version of aura. He called it 'Barriers'. It allows him to create, literally, barriers with his aura. That was how he explained it, but I had a feeling that he could do a lot more than just that.

Umbra's was interesting. She called it 'Astral Projection'. Put simply, she could transport her consciousness elsewhere. As soon as she demonstrated what she meant, I delegated her to be the intelligence specialist for the team. Now that I think about it, I have a feeling that she found out about Shade's 'job' using it.

Shade's semblance was as it was before, 'Analysis'.

Crimson's was also exactly the same as it was before, 'Pryokensis'.

After we got that out of the way, I spoke, "You have the rest of the day to prepare yourselves for initiation tomorrow. Talk to each other and get to know them; their weapon's, their strength's, their weaknesses, anything and everything that you think might be useful to know when going into battle. Team DUSC, you are dismissed."

I left the sanctuary and headed to my room.

~Blake

The book that Soap recommended to me "The Exception" was actually really good. So good, that I didn't want to put it down when he called us to the GYM.

Reluctantly though, I did and made my way to the GYM with the rest of Team RWBY.

As we made our way down the hall, I went over the events of the past few weeks in my head.

We, Team RWBY, received our Driver's License, we went on a field trip with Professor Goodwitch to the Forever Fall Forrest to collect sap, Weiss and I got into an argument regarding the White Fang, Weiss revealed that she had a somewhat unpleasant past because of them, and I revealed my secret to my team. I was a little surprised how well they took it; well...most of them.

At first, Weiss saw me as some sort of spy for the White Fang, but eventually Ruby, Yang, and I were able to convince her otherwise. To be honest though, I don't blame her for her reaction. If I were in her shoes, I would have done the same.

I entered the GYM seconds before the rest of my team did.

Soap was standing in the center of the room with his team next to him. We, RWBY, lined up in front of him.

"Hello girls." I heard Soap say.

We all responded, "Hello."

"Remember how at the beginning of the year, I said that I would be taking you with us on bounties if one came up?" He asked.

We all nodded.

"Well, one has come up. Time for you to prove that you can handle yourselves in the field and show us why you're the highest ranked team in your year."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ruby do a silent cheer. I laughed softly at the display. She was so calm and serious when she was fighting but so childish anytime she that wasn't.

Beside me, I heard Yang speak, "What? The mailman go missing? That must be a rather bounty-ful event."

I shot her a look. She just shrugged.

"Girls, this nothing to be joking about. Unlike when you fight in tournaments; when you are out on bounties, death is a very, very real possibility. So please, be prepared. The details on who we're going after have been sent to your scrolls; you have 60 minutes to prepare. Dismissed." Soap said as he, Sam, Drake, and Bucky all turned around and exited the room.

We nodded and turned around to leave when we heard Sarah speak, "Girls. Unlike us, you are unknown to the people that we are going after. Let's make sure we keep it that way; change your outfits so that only your teammates, and us, can recognize you."

"Why?" Weiss asked.

"Because, people like the one we are after have friends. Friends that want to get back at the people who put their buddies behind bars. They have tried to kill us multiple times before. They have hired mercenaries, assassins, and hit-men to try and kill us. I would rather that you not go through the same experiences that we have. Make whatever changes you need to but regardless what you end up doing, you will be receiving a mask to conceal your faces. Take this into account when you make your changes." She paused for a moment, "Think of it like this; your own parents should have a hard time recognizing you in whatever you choose to wear. Blake, would mind staying for a moment?"

I nodded.

The rest of my team left while I stayed behind. Once they were gone, Sarah spoke, "Do you still have your old mask from when you were in the White Fang?"

I froze. Even though Sarah was a faunas and hated the White Fang like I did, I never expected such a question. "Y-yeah. Why?"

"Is it still white?"

"Yeah bu-"

"Good. Bring it with you and don't change a thing about it. Where we're going, there's going to be White Fang soldiers and you are going to need a way to get past them. You can leave now." She said.

I nodded and left.

Ruby jumped up screaming, "Alright Team RWBY! We've got out first bounty mission!"

"I'm not exactly sure that's something to be happy about sis." Yang said.

"I hate to say it, but I have to agree with Yang. I mean, what's with this disguise stuff?"

Just then I entered the room, "Sarah said that the place we're going to is probably going to be teaming with White Fang members."

Weiss froze and turned around to look at me. "White Fang?"

"Yep."

"Weren't uhh-you at-uhh one point a part of the White Fang?" Weiss asked, obviously scared that she was treading dangerous ground.

"Yes and no. The White Fang I knew is long gone. The only people that are left are murders and terrorists." I looked away and said quietly to myself, "and him."

Apparently Yang heard me, "Who?"

I sighed and decided not to delay the inevitable. "He, the person I am referring to, is Adam Taurus. My old partner." I looked at the time. "Look, I'll tell you later; we better get moving."

60 minutes later...

"Girls!" I heard Soap say from the cockpit. "Sarah take over."

I watched as Soap left the cockpit and entered the main cabin of his massive Bullhead.

"I believe you three will be needing these." He pulled out three Grimm masks from behind his back and handed them to Weiss, Ruby and Yang. "You will also be needing these." He gave us all some sort of data chip, one that looked like it would...plug into my scroll.

"What are these?" Yang asked.

"Disguise devices. They'll go into your scroll. They will help you blend in until our cover is blown and give you three," he pointed to Weiss, Ruby, and Yang, "an animal trait."

"Blake's won't?" Ruby asked.

I rolled my eyes and took off my bow. Once my bow was out of the way, I wiggled my cat ears.

"Oh yeah."

"Yang, if you would, put on your mask please." Soap asked her.

She did.

"When our cover is blown, this will happen. Command override: deactivate cover." He said to the mask.

When he did, Yang's white Grimm mask changed. It changed to yellow and had red, white, and black swirling designs covering the front of it. To be honest, if I didn't know that it was Yang under the mask, I would be terrified.

Yang took off the mask and looked at the front of it. When she did, she nearly jumped back from it.

"Weiss, Ruby. Your's do the same thing. Ruby's is the color that you would expect and Weiss; your's is silver and blue." Soap said.

"What about Blake? Doesn't she get a mask?" Ruby asked, concerned that I would be mask-less.

Soap looked me in the eyes and nodded his head, "Blake, if you would."

I sighed and pulled out my mask. When I did, I heard Weiss gasp sharply.

My mask was white and was heavily decorated on the left with swirls of red and black. On the right side, in red cursive handwriting, was my las name. Belladonna.

"This is my mask from when I was in the White Fang. The higher rank you are, the more decorated the mask can be. When I left, I had just been promoted to Capitan." I said.

"But now, you resent what they have done." He stuck out his hand, "Hand it here, let's make sure that they know that." I handed it to him.

"Won't they just know that it's Blake if she wears it?" Ruby asked.

"Not if I change it."

"My last partner knew I was going to run, so he planned ahead of our last mission. He planted explosives on the train cars ahead of me and after I severed the connection between me and him, he let the side I was on gain enough distance before he detonated the charges. Too bad I saw the explosives and got away in time; but they don't know that. The White Fang thinks I'm dead. If anybody recognizes me, they will think that they are looking at a ghost."

Soap handed back the mask.

I gasped when I saw it.

It was as black as Soap's hair when he was mad. It still had the designs that it had earlier, but instead of just covering the left side, they covered the entirety of it and my name was no longer on the side of the mask. After I moved it around in the light a little, I saw my name written in silver on the right side of it.

"The red and black parts of the designs on the masks will glow when you need to intimidate someone. That goes for everyone else's masks as well. On this mission, you will need to adopt the way of ninja's and assassins, fighting and moving through the shadows. Well...not exactly ninjas and assassins; but you have to change your fighting style from what you use at Beacon."

"You said 'when' our cover is blown, not if. Are you planning on getting caught?" Weiss asked.

Soap smiled wickedly, "I'm counting on it."

"How will we know when that is though?" Ruby asked.

Soap smiled again, "Do you guys know what my nickname, as a bounty hunter, is in the crime world?"

I stayed silent while the rest of my team shook their heads no.

"They call me 'Demon.' You'll know when our cover is blown when soldiers are screaming and yelling about 'the Demon'. When that happens, lethal force is authorized but only if necessary and try to keep collateral damage to minimum." He shot a look at Yang who turned away and started whistling.

"Are you all ready?"

We all put on our masks and activated out disguises. Our masks changed to white and we were covered head to toe in White Fang garb and, from experience actually being one, looked like real White Fang soldiers.

We each gave a thumbs up indicating that we were ready.

"Good." He turned to the cockpit, "Sarah, set her down a ways from the base. It's time to see if our friend is right about this."