After some time playing along like perfect guests, Blake and Adam broke off from the party so that they could begin to creep through SchneeCorp's headquarters, doing what they could to follow the blueprints that Klein and Weiss had gotten for them. Because they had the directions that were going to be able to keep them away from main hallways, Blake felt a little bit less awful about what was happening. At the very least, they were managing to stay away from security staff for the most part.
"We don't have that much time." Adam growled to her as the two of them ducked into a small maintainance stairwell. "I figure that we have until the speeches end to do this."
"Probably." Blake confirmed, flattening back against the wall and going quiet because she could have sworn that she'd seen the glow of a flashlight, or someone passing by on the other side of the door. Adam picked up on what was happening as well before flatting back beside Blake.
"What now?" He whispered to her.
"We follow what we have and we get to the offices." Blake said, making sure that Adam was under control in any way that she could. Once the danger was gone, the two of them made their room out of the room. "Right?"
"Sounds like it." Adam mumbled. He took the lead and continued on the way to the offices. Blake fell in behind him, mostly doing what she could to stay quiet as they moved along the way. All that they needed to do was get there. Her heels didn't do her many favors, which left her putting most of her weight on her toes so that she wouldn't be as loud.
At some point, Weiss was probably going to find them. When that happened, Blake needed to be sure that she was going to be able to get away. She looked down at the little bag that she'd brought along with her to the banquet. Ilia still had her story, and all that Blake needed to do was send off a message to make sure that it could go up.
After that, what would happen would happen. Blake was going to go home, she was going to prepare to pack her things, and then she was going to make sure that there was a chance for her to prepare to run for Kuo Kuana. Her parents would be there waiting for her, and then she'd be safe.
Despite everything that Blake had lined up, there were questions. Things that she didn't know, things that she couldn't on. The one thing that Blake could be sure of was that the second Adam figured out what was going on, it was going to get dangerous. Blake didn't think that it was likely that he wasn't going to get violent. He was a man that she had partially learned to define by the strength of his rage.
She needed to be able to get herself out and-
And she needed to make sure that Weiss would be safe from Adam as well. And her family, if what Blake did know about the Schnees was going to hold true. She didn't know just how much Weiss had done to make sure that she would be safe when this call came together.
It wasn't looking like they were going to have to talk that all over, either. Not when Blake and Adam were already there and on the way to the offices. Not when Weiss was probably already in the process of getting out of the banquet for a moment.
Blake didn't like a single thing about what she was doing. Not at all, not for a second.
Together Blake and Adam made their ways to the maintenance elevator that had been pointed out to the two of them in the blueprints. The door opened and the two of them slipped inside together.
"What do you think?" Adam asked, his voice low. He pressed a thumb against one of the buttons before pressing the button that would command the doors shut early. The elevator began to move, and Blake wished that she could have done something to tell Weiss what was happening to them. How was Weiss going to know where to cut the two of them off if she didn't know where they were? Maybe she was planning to come in late?
Blake didn't know, and she didn't like that at all. Not when there was too much at stake and nothing was clear.
"I think that we need to be fast about this." Blake replied, frowning. "I don't want for the two of us to get caught."
"Well, that's good because I don't want that either." Adam grumbled. He stood up tall, tugging down the sleeves of his jacket in an attempt to get more comfortable. "I just want us to get what we can so that we can get out of this dump."
"Right." Blake mumbled, making sure to place herself on the wall on the far side of the elevator. If she had to be in a closed place with Adam, she could at least make sure that there was space between the two of them.
They rode the elevator as high up as it could. When it opened up, Blake paused because this hadn't been what she'd been predicting.
The elevator opened to a small hallway, which was capped off by a door. There wasn't anything else there, no sign of ways to do things, no ways to get out besides that door and the elevator.
It was clearly built in a way so that whoever came in and out of this doorway and the elevator wouldn't be seen.
"You should take the lead." Adam hissed at her.
Blake looked at the door and nodded, going to it and reaching out for the knob. She turned it slowly and pushed it open. When it opened up, there was a large office on the other side.
It was empty, but Blake had to guess that there was going to be people doing security nearby. At the very least, she had to guess that there were hidden security cameras everywhere.
She stepped in, feeling the plush carpet beneath her feet. For the first time, she felt confident that she could move silently. Too bad it was coming only after they were in the office. Adam followed her in and immediately figured out what the two of them had found.
"So this must be the old man's office." Adam muttered as he went up to the desk that was at the center of the room. Blake reached back and prepared to close the door, but stopped herself when she realized that it was deliberately placed and designed to be able to blend into the wall itself. Against her better judgement, she left it open.
"It must be." Blake answered, feeling much too confident all of a sudden. Weiss had to be nearby, she was going to guess. Hopefully she was, because without Weiss showing up, then Adam was going to be able to just get what he wanted. That was the exact opposite of what she wanted.
Adam walked further into the room. He picked up a framed photograph from the desk and made some sort of noise that Blake didn't quite recognize. He turned it in her direction, revealing a photo of Whitley.
There wasn't any sign of Jacques' wife or his two daughters anywhere in the room. If anything, it just served to remind Blake of what Weiss had told her, and it served to confirm some of the things that she knew about Weiss.
It sent a chill down Blake's spine to see it so blatantly expressed.
Adam dropped the photo back onto the desk without any care at all.
"Let's find what we're looking for so we can get out." Blake said, going to the bookshelves at the side of the room. She didn't know that she would find what they were looking for there, but it was the least that she could do.
The bookshelf was full of tomes. Some of them looked newer than others, most of them involving the various fields in which SchneeCorp had some sort of hand. Blake blinked, trying to figure out exactly what she should have been looking for there. She needed to find a binder, perhaps. Or maybe-
There, tucked off to the side, was a set of old ledger books. Ones that didn't have any dust on them, which was probably the most important thing. Blake reached out for the first of them, tugging it out and flipping it open.
It wasn't what she'd been expecting. It wasn't a decoy, or at least it didn't look like one. It looked like someone had torn out the original guts of the book and had replaced them with the workings of a three-ring binder. Blake read the first page, finding that it was indeed financial statements, but they were the ones for SchneeCorp's medical branch. It wasn't exactly what she was looking for, but it was a start.
Blake set the book back onto the shelf and moved on to the next one, going from book to book, to book until she found exactly what she was looking for. Adam was over at the desk, messing around with something and rifling through the drawers that weren't already locked.
The possibility that she had indeed found a decoy stuck out in Blake's mind. She couldn't imagine that what they were actually looking for had to be in a safe somewhere, far from reach.
"Adam." Blake hissed to him, holding up the book so that he was able to see it just fine. He smiled a little bit and approached, ripping it out of her hands a little roughly. It hurt, but Blake schooled her expressions down because she didn't want to let Adam see that he'd managed to hurt her.
He turned towards the desk and set the book down, pulling the pages open and beginning to flip until he found what he wanted. Blake craned her neck a little bit to try and get a view of what was happening. She figured that if Adam was looking for specific dates, then he was likely to just tear out the pages that he needed.
If that happened, then things were going to get more complicated. It would however have been a lot less complicated than what would happen if he did exactly what he did do.
Adam's phone came out and he began to focus on the papers in the binder.
Blake checked over her shoulder, watching as Weiss opened the door, just before Adam was able to take the first photograph.
"You aren't supposed to be here." She said, her voice hard and commanding in the best way that Weiss was able to manage. Adam jumped a little bit, whirling around to face her.
His expression immediately sank into something that was incredibly dangerous and Blake hoped sincerely that Weiss had come with some sort of help.
"Listen-" Adam started, standing up tall and reaching for the binder. He gripped onto the pages there and tore them out as quickly as he could, many of them ripping across information in the process. "I don't want any trouble."
"Neither do I," Weiss said seriously. "But you two really shouldn't be there. I would recommend dropping the pages and leaving before security gets here to escort the two of you out." The threat in her voice was obvious.
Blake had no doubts now that Klein was on the other side of the door, ready to make a call once the signal was given. Perhaps there were a couple of members of the SchneeCorp private security force hiding by as well. Blake just hoped that if that was indeed the case, that she wasn't going to find herself getting thrown into the same position as Adam.
Weiss would have informed them to leave her alone, right?
Adam stood up tall and a frown bloomed across his expression. He turned to face Weiss more directly now, still gripping the torn away papers in his hand. Whether or not he'd actually be planning to store any of it away was something that Blake wasn't sure of.
"You really think that you'd be able to stop me, princess?" Adam asked back, taking two steps forward in a way that looked rather menacing. Weiss didn't budge and she didn't waver. She just took a few steps forward into the room.
"I think that it would best for you to drop those pages and leave." There was a dangerous tilt to Weiss' head, something in her eyes that Blake had never seen from her before. "For your own good. Security should be here any moment."
Blake's eyes widened, and she took two half-steps back to try and get a view of what was going on outside. The door was closed, but on the other hide she couldn't hear anyone else.
"I think that for your own sake, you should consider letting me go." Adam said, approaching Weiss. "Because you won't be able to stop me."
"Try me." Weiss bit back, reaching out for the papers that Adam still had in his fist. He grit his teeth and reacted, grabbing at Weiss' hand before she could make any contact. He immediately tugged at Weiss' arm, pulling her straight off balance. Weiss was too short, standing up barely on the tips of her toes so that she can't be hurt. She was wearing high heels, and if there was any chance that she could have regained her balance, the shoes alone threw it away.
"I gave you a chance to go." Adam growled at Weiss, bending his neck so that he could look down at Weiss in the most intimidating way that he had possible. He stood with his teeth bared, and with a solid, strong grip that was sure to bruise. "And now you're just getting in my way."
"Let. Me. Go." Weiss snarled back at him, doing what she could to ground herself and pull back away from Adam's grip. She didn't get far, but Blake could see the slight wince in her expression. "You're going to be arrested, and I will press charges for assault."
"I don't think so." Adam responded. He ripped at her arm and all but threw her away towards the desk. Weiss stumbled, unable to catch herself before she made contact with the desk, her face slamming into it as she fell all the way down. Blake heard the sound of breaking glass, and felt her heart skip a beat.
"Adam!" She shouted, running at him and pushing him away. "What are you doing?"
He grit his teeth and looked from her to Weiss. "So it is true."
"Adam." Blake shouted back. "What the hell are you-"
"Klein!" Weiss called from behind her, sounding weak and scared. Deathly afraid.
The door burst open and two security guards rushed in, both carrying what looked like tasers in their hands. The two of them immediately began shouting and shouting. Klein hurried in after them, but he mostly ignored Blake there, rushing to Weiss' side instead.
Blake moved to go to Weiss as well. Adam shouted something at her, but Blake couldn't make it out before it turned into a scream, undercut by the buzzing sound of the taser going off. Klein looked at her and nodded.
"Leave the woman." Klein ordered the two guards. "As for him-"
"We'll take it from here!" The first guard answered, dragging Adam behind them.
When Blake got a look at Weiss' face, there was red running down in a sickening cut.
It had to have been running into her eye itself, and Blake sincerely wished that she could have actually figured out just how bad it was. Klein was holding Weiss gently, hands resting on her arms in a way that was far from intrusive. Blake took a few more steps forward and hugged herself, looking down at Weiss and hoping that the woman would say something to her. She needed to hear that this would be okay.
Blake had her doubts that was going to happen at all.
"I'm sorry." She whispered, sitting down beside the other two for the moment. "I could have done more."
"It's-" Weiss sniffled, clearly about to cry. Blake frowned and shook her head, trying to figure out whether or not she could have done something to help. She could have torn off part of her dress, but that didn't seem likely. "It's okay."
"No." Blake replied. "It isn't."
Klein was quiet, clearly trying to just do what he could to calm Weiss. At once, he looked up at Blake and met her eyes. "I think it may be for the best that you leave. I can assure you that he will be gone, but I can't promise this ends well for you if you stay."
"Is that alright?" Blake asked, looking more at Weiss now than she had been at Klein.
Weiss nodded, very slightly, picking up a wad of tissues from the box and pressing it to her eye. The red was dripping down her face and neck, to the collar of her dress, bright and obvious, and angry. Dark red streaks against pale skin and blotches against soft sapphire blue fabric.
Blake reached out and gently took Weiss' hand and gave it a slight squeeze before hurrying back out through the way she'd come in. As soon as the door closed behind her, she removed her phone from her bag and made a call or two.
Weiss was almost immediately whisked off to the hospital by Klein, in a way that kept her out of the view of guests and her family alike. She knew that this was going to go poorly once the word got to them- especially to her father. She had absolutely no doubts that her family had realized her absence from the rest of the night's events.
For several hours, she just sat in the room that she'd been given, unable to think of anything else to make herself or her injury feel better.
No matter what, Weiss knew exactly how this was going to end. Her father was going to find out, and the conclusions would be drawn easily enough. Whitley would figure it out, but because of the way that things had been done, Weiss could at least believe that her brother wouldn't fall into their father's wrath too much.
As for her, she was going to end up like Winter.
She didn't know how this was going to go for Blake either. The good thing was that she had only needed stitches, and the injury had been surprisingly clean, all things considered. It just wasn't something that she really knew she wanted. Not the way that she had gotten it, not for the reason that she'd gotten it.
At some point, she was going to need to call Blake and tell her how things were going.
First, Weiss needed to call for someone else.
Weiss took a deep breath and held her phone up to her ear, having dialed in the one number that she'd needed. She waited through tone after tone until finally the other end picked up with a quiet clicking noise that was enough to make her almost relax completely.
"Hey, Winter." Weiss whispered through the phone, even though even the slightest movements of her face made it hurt more. "Are you busy?"
"No." Winter replied to her, but it sounded like she was definitely doing something. Perhaps she was in the process of making dinner. "What has you calling me?"
"Something happened tonight." Weiss whispered, cupping her free hand over the phone receiver like she needed to hide what was happening and was being discussed. It didn't matter, because in that hospital room she was in an absolutely safe setting. Nobody was going to come that could hurt her, and they couldn't come and see her without permission. "And I just... needed to talk to you."
Winter was silent for a long moment, and for just a second Weiss could have sworn that she'd heard the woman stab a knife into a cutting board. "Did father do something?"
"No." Weiss sighed. "Neither did mother, or Whitley either. I just... got myself into trouble, and-"
"You're hurt."
"I'm in the hospital." Weiss whispered back to her sister, wishing desperately that Winter could have actually been there for her. "I should be fine, but the injury is in a fairly... delicate location so they wanted to hold me overnight. Just in case."
"Tell me what happened."
Just like that, everything that Weiss had been feeling and carrying on her shoulders for close to two months rushed out of her. It came as a torrent, and Winter just listened along the entire time instead of trying to interject or cut Weiss off in the process. It was something that Weiss could take a lot of comfort in.
Minutes passed, and when Weiss finally finished by gasping out that she and Blake were dating and that it was probably compromised at that point, she finished. She had tears in her eyes that were daring to fall, and if she cried too much Weiss knew that the salt would only make things worse for her.
Winter's silence partially spoke for itself.
"It sounds like you have had a very stressful night, Weiss."
"I have." Weiss gasped, gripping onto the blanket a little more tightly than she strictly needed to. "I don't know how much everyone else knows about this right now. I don't even know if Whitley or father know I'm even in the hospital."
"You know that they aren't going to be happy."
"I do." Weiss sighed. "I think that I was kind of expecting that. I figure I'm going to get disowned, and then after that-" She went quiet, her mind drifting of to places that Weiss wasn't sure she wanted to go to. She was going to have to leave the manor, and whatever money she had left in her bank account was going to need to be enough to hold her over until a more opportune time.
At the very least, she was going to need to try and find some stable work when she was ready.
Whether or not Vale was in her plans for the moment was something that Weiss wasn't sure of.
She didn't know that she was going to know for sure. Not in the near future, at the very least. Some things were just going to have to come as they came. When that happened, Weiss was prepared to deal with what was going to come after.
"You know that I will be here for you either way." Winter said, her voice still quiet as ever. "If there is something wrong, then you just have to make a call and I would be happy to help you."
"I know." Weiss smiled softly. She knew the way that things were relating to Winter. No matter what, her sister was sure to try and help her along, but for as long as she was in her lifestyle, Weiss knew that Winter could only give so much. She wouldn't be able to run to her sister in person. "That's why I called."
Weiss looked to the door of her room, and for a second she could have sworn that she'd seen someone's shadow from the other side of the frosted glass. It was enough to make her stomach turn, because she couldn't be sure that she was really alone. The second that her brother or father found out where she was, Weiss knew that she was going to have hell to pay.
"I figured as much." Winter sighed. "How bad is it?"
"My face hit a glass picture frame." Weiss mumbled, because that was the truth but it also felt a little bit... ridiculous to say it out loud. As wrong as that felt to say. "I have a slash going across my eye, but I should still be able to see once it heals."
"A slash-" Winter gasped the words out, sounding far more than just surprised by the statement. "Are you expecting for it to scar? Can you see?"
"I can see fine and I think that it's definitely going to scar." Weiss frowned, because that was still something that she wasn't quite used to thinking about. "I know that things are going to get worse, Winter."
"They probably will," Winter sighed. "I believe that you can do this though. You're more intelligent and strong than people give you credit for."
"Thank you." Weiss whispered back through the phone. She watched the door, ready for whoever was about to come through. They were too tall to be Klein, and it being her mother was too far from the realm of possibility. "I think I might have to go."
"Of course."
With that, Weiss and Winter said their goodbyes and Weiss hanged up the phone. She wasn't completely content with the way that things were going. She took a breath and looked over at the door, waiting for it to open.
The shadow passed in front of the frosted glass again.
"Do you need something?" Weiss raised her voice, just enough to ensure that she would be heard on the other side. "I can see you waiting."
There was a pause, and the door was pulled open almost roughly. Weiss stared at it and watched as her brother's head poked through the door. It wasn't exactly the person that she had been afraid of coming, but she still wasn't too happy to have to be there.
"Sister." Whitley said, his voice deadly serious and his expression just the same. "I suppose that you and I have some things to talk about, don't we."
Weiss remembered the patch that she had to wear over her face for the moment, until it was healed enough that she could do more with her life. "I suppose that the two of us do."
Whitley's eyes were focused securely on her face. Weiss felt her stomach turn at that a little bit. What if this was going to be all that the people around her were going to be able to notice in the future?
He sighed and pulled up a chair next to the bed, not taking the moment to request permission at all. It probably wasn't necessary to him. "There was something going on tonight that you refused to tell me about."
"There was." Weiss confirmed, looking her brother in the eye. "Don't let him blame you for what happened."
"I think that he already is, although-" Whitley blinked. "I believe that he has placed more blame upon you. What was the point of all of this, Weiss?"
"I've been seeing someone." Weiss explained. "And I need for you to understand that... what I say to you is something that I need for you to keep quiet. From father, from mother. Winter knows, but I need for it to be kept quiet."
Whitley nodded along. "I guess that you mean to tell me that you aren't dating Neptune Vasilias."
"I've been seeing a reporter." Weiss explained, blinking and pulling her gaze away from Whitley. "And I like her a lot. But I couldn't risk anyone finding out about that because she's-"
"A member of the press."
"Among other things." Weiss said, glad that Whitley was choosing to glaze over the specific part where she was seeing a woman. From Whitley she didn't know that she expected anything really bad to happen. It was her father that she was more worried about. And Blake. "So I've lied to you about a lot of things. And I'm sorry about tonight."
Whitley sighed, looking back over his shoulder. It was too possible that he wasn't there alone.
He worried his lip a little bit, clearly unsure of himself. "So this happened because your… partner, was looking for a story."
"It's more complicated than that." Weiss shrugged, because denying that was the4 case didn't really do anything for her, or for Whitley. It was for the best to just acknowledge some things. At the point where they were, Weiss had her doubts that she wasn't going disowned, and Blake seemed like she was worrying about her job already. "She was trying to… stop someone from getting a story of his own. And I opened the door to let her stop it."
"I'm afraid that I don't know whether I should thank you." Whitley mumbled, leaning back in the seat. "But what I feel won't matter, I suppose that you are already aware of that."
"I am."
Whitley nodded, his eyes drifting away from Weiss just slightly. "If things go the way that we're expecting, then I won't hate you. But..." He frowned. "I wish that it didn't go this way."
"I feel the same way." Weiss whispered. "Thank you, Whitley."
Whitley nodded and stood up, mumbling a goodbye to her and slipping out of the room to leave Weiss alone for some time. At the very least, she wasn't upset by the possibility of her being able to rest. She needed it, and if her days that were coming soon were going to be difficult-
She needed to be able to prepare for her father.
