A/N: Wow I was just on fire with this story, but a nice thanks to those who reviewed because it is greatly appreciated.

This chapter is a bit shorter compared to the last one, but it builds towards the Black Knight's debut in Japan which happens after their debut in Vale while setting the stage for future events as this chapter will also hint at as well.

Enjoy….

Chapter 8

Black and White

Three weeks had passed since Black Knights had rescued the hostages at the Oceanic Hotel as the news of what had happened spread like wildfire across Remnant, but word of what had happened was already reaching the other Kingdoms. During that time the police had managed to dispose of the remaining bombs in the hotel and thanks to a surprisingly cooperative Bruno the police were rounding up various members of the organization around Vale while additional information was being passed along to other law enforcement agencies to deal with other named members in the other three kingdoms.

The police also discovered the tunnel connecting the hotel to the Four Kingdoms Restaurant revealing it had not only been the way in for the terrorists and their bombs, but it was also what the Black Knights had used to sneak in and then slip away before the police could find them. They did find three Blue Cosmos members tied up there who claimed to not remembered what had happened to them, but what no one knew was that Lelouch with a few members of the Black Knights who had stayed to secure the basement who were not part of infiltration and recues operation to take part in the broadcast having arrived in a third van bringing the proper equipment.

The missing camera and equipment missing from the VNN had also been recovered.

Sitting inside the dining room of Beacon Academy, Blake was reading the newspaper article that was about Zero.

He has been living up to his proclamation, The young woman remarked internally.

In the three weeks that followed the Black Knights lived up to their proclamations as a defender to the weak. They proved this best by their actions especially during the hotel hijacking showing they were willing to risk their lives for the Faunus population, but as the case with the now former Warden Norton it didn't mean they would come to the aid of Faunus alone. As their membership of accepting both Human and Faunus into their ranks it proved they did not discriminate would come to the aid of the innocent regardless of what species they were.

The opinion of her friends differed, but Blake was thinking about the matter more deeply than they were because of something they didn't know about her.

Blake Belladonna herself was a Faunus, but more than that she was a former member of the White Fang. Not just a former member, but the daughter of Ghira Belladonna the former High Leader of the White Fang.

As a result of her past membership with the White Fang she couldn't help but feel wary of the Black Knights, but so far they have been quite different from the White Fang. Beyond that she didn't really know what to think of Zero other than the fact he clearly has a taste for the theatrical and keeping his identity concealed behind a mask.

He wants to be judged by his actions and not who or what he is, Blake said reading a line from Mrs. Misha when she briefly spoke to Zero after her rescue. I guess I can relate to that.

Blake looked up at her signature black bow which hid her Faunus heritage, a pair of black cat ears.

Regardless the fact that the Black Knights welcomed both humans and Faunus into their ranks only served to confuse the public further making attempts to figure out his true identity even harder.

What is their end goal through? Are they just going to fight injustice in Vale?

It was question many had on their minds, and Blake wasn't alone in that.

Meanwhile across the world of Remnant the man who everyone was talking about was sitting in the back of a car, but Lelouch was without his mask wearing a black business suit with a purple tie and a white dress shirt with black gloves on his hands. Like Blake he had been reading a copy of the newspaper, but the one he had was about the hotel hijacking.

"You seemed very pleased with yourself." C.C. asked sitting next to him dressed in formal attire consisting of a blue suit with a matching skirt and a red tie while wearing glasses even though she didn't need them. Her hair was styled up into a bun while she wore a black wig over it giving her a more professional air about her.

"Very although things are progressing much faster than I had ever imagined," Lelouch commented before putting the newspaper away. "I was hoping we could take our time more, but I agree with Leodore that we must expand our ranks and influence beyond Vale with Mantle being a good starting point."

The car Lelouch and C.C. were in were driving through the streets of Mantle heading for the old industrial sector where many factories and warehouse sat unused and abandoned since the transfer of the capital and industry moved to Atlas. The once proud capital of the now defunct Kingdom of Mantle had fallen on hard times which Lelouch had learned was through a combination of corporate greed who used bribes and various means to drive out local business and city officials to make living conditions worse and neglect from Atlas overall.

All to force people to accept the Schnee Dust Company's so called generous offer for housing in Atlas if they work for them.

It was true the Schnee Dust Company would grant you living conditions in the city of Atlas, but working for them typically meant working in the Dust Mines. The Dust Mines were a dangerous place for a variety of reasons, but due to the fact the SDC focused more on making profit they never bothered with attempts to improve working conditions and create a safe environment. Then there was the problem that working in the Dust Mines would lead to health complications later in a miner's life, which was only worsened by the unsafe working conditions of the Schnee Dust Quarry.

I'll have to likely deal with the SDC in due time, but given their history with the White Fang a new approach will be needed.

The White Fang, specifically the Atlas Division, had been locked into bloody conflict with the Schnee Dust Company for years some time following Jacques Schnee's ascension to leadership of the company. Family members and close friends had been kidnapped and executed along with board members, but such actions including the theft of large amounts of Dust from them did little to change anything about the company's direction.

If you want to take down the SDC then you must dismantle their Public Relations Machine first.

Even so Lelouch decided against attacking the SDC as Zero believing with possible conflict with the White Fang looming and conflict with Britannia he must also manage he could not risk stretching the Black Knight's thin especially with their numbers as they are now.

It just made the need to expand all the more necessary and they needed facilities to begin building their own weapons and means of transportation since they could only move so much through the portal back on Sanus. However maintaining such factors and using them without drawing unwanted attention was something Lelouch needed to deal with, and with Leodore having left for Mantle ahead of him a week ago to set the stage for it as the two worked out a plan.

This place looks better than Shinjuku, but it's getting close to it.

As Lelouch gazed out at the decaying city he saw what had been once an impressive metropolis beginning to fall apart due to purposely neglect by those wishing to push more of Mantle's citizens into moving to Atlas to become workers for the Schnee Dust Company. There were people out on the streets gathered around old metal drums using as make-shift fireplaces as many lost their homes to heavy taxes imposed by the corrupt city officials.

"We're here Lelouch." A man with a beard sitting in the driver seat said as the car pulled into a large factory complex that had been abandoned for years, but the buildings were still standing.

Once the car came to a stop Lelouch and C.C. disembarked with the latter playing the role of his secretary.

Meeting them were two men wearing business suits acting as bodyguards for a more heavy set man wearing a red suit with a green tie possessing orange hair.

"So you are the buyer interested in this…place?" The man asked looking at Lelouch with a confused expression.

"I am," Lelouch replied before introducing himself, "I am Lelouch Renquist and this is my secretary Cecily. I wish to purchase the surrounding land and the factories including the harbor attached to them."

"Well you are in luck since prices for the land is low, but I simply have to wonder why want this area?" The business man asked as he was trying to subtly push Lelouch towards buying land that was not only more favorable but likely more expensive.

"Let's just say I see opportunities for the future," Lelouch said before activating his Geass, "I would like if my business conducted on this property was kept secret other than offering a cargo transport service between here and Vale."

The businessman and his bodyguards were enthralled by his Geass causing him to sign the property over to him which Lelouch got for a relatively low price thanks to the supposed little to no value the land had.

"Why do I feel you will be doing that a lot while you are here?" C.C. asked with a coy smile after Lelouch finalized the purchase of the land and its factories.

"This city is filled with corruption, but I don't want any unwanted attention so I'll need to Geass those in charge and some others according to the list Leodore provided me with. Atlas doesn't care for what happens here relying on their underlings here to keep it that way."

"What about the locals?"

"Leodore has been talking to people about recruiting them, officially as workers."

"Unofficially as members of the Black Knights am I right?" The green haired immortal asked, but she knew the answer.

"Yes and now we can begin phase two of our plans."

An hour later after he, C.C. and his driver conducted an inspection of the grounds they came to the docks where at that time a large transport ship that had come from Vale arrived. It was followed by a second ship that arrived not long afterwards as it pulled into the docks. Crew members descended from the ship using thick ropes to secure their ship to the harbor before readying to use cranes built into the top of the vessels to begin offloading equipment and tools they could use to begin innovating the factory and restoring it to working order.

At the same it would be repurposed to produce weapons, materials and more for the Black Knights while it would publically pretend to be a stop off and storage area for the newly formed Cloverleaf Transportation Company founded out of Vale after Lelouch using connections he established with Junior to buy out the financially ruined Winchester Shipping especially when its former owner Richelieu Winchester and most of his workers were involved in his legal activities causing a fallout and collapse of the company with his assets including his warehouses and transport ships being confiscated by the bank to cover financial losses suffered as a result.

Assets that Lelouch purchased using a new cover identity and using the wealth Leodore and Lelouch had accumulated thanks to their deals with Junior and Torchwick. He turned Winchester Shipping into Cloverleaf Transportation with Lelouch as its owner.

"Welcome to Mantle," Lelouch said greeting a Japanese man who was a middle aged fellow with slick back black hair and a thin frame wearing a simple suit while carrying a briefcase. "I hope you will find your new living conditions…more bearable as I am sure Zero had told you?"

"Believe me young man compared to Shinjuku this place doesn't look too bad."

"Then I hope our efforts here can one day improve living conditions here." Lelouch replied shaking the man's hand.

This arrangement also not only solved another problem Lelouch facing at his main base.

Despite having obtained food and the means to build permanent settlements the Black Knights were faced with overcrowding from the Shinjuku Ghetto refuges not to mention hiding away in a mountain based area surrounded by monsters was not a good place for families to raise children they had brought over.

With the acquirement of Richelieu Winchester's company Lelouch had an idea and brought in workers for both fronts while at the same time providing real homes and a chance for children to interact with other's their own age which was good for them and get a better education than they could have in Area 11. However Mantle was something of a different story and so Lelouch as Zero sought volunteers among the refugees, specifically those who didn't feel comfortable with fighting but had skills more useful towards working with their publically established company to creating a trustworthy workforce.

Some of the refugees chose to work at their company warehouses and on their ships in Vale while others decided to work at the Mantle location working to restore it for the Black Knights using equipment they purchased through Junior. They also brought in what equipment and materials they could from Kirihara, but also he had arranged for some workers and engineers to go with them while arranging for their families to be moved to Vale.

Their location in Mantle could hopefully provide Kyoto with a secret location for their own production efforts, which Lelouch agreed to in exchange for equipment and technical support to help get his operations in Mantle moving.

However due to limited space and housing opportunities some obtained homes on the island of Patch and other towns down the coast that were available while others would move to Mantle where there was plenty of room, but conditions were not entirely welcoming.

It will take time for them to gain the funds to purchase homes for all of them since we don't have that much money. Lelouch thought before considering another problem, which was being addressed back at their main base for those wishing to take part in his plan. Language for some of them might be a problem, but it's fortunate that a majority of them including Kallen's group know how to speak Britannian which is the same as the primary language used on Remnant.

In the meantime Lelouch was ensuring his newly formed company was taking advantage of the vacuum left by the collapse of the Winchester Shipping by using his quickly assembled workforce to pick up on the work and deliveries needing to be done. Once their new legitimate business was established and racking profits they could use some of it to fund the Black Knights.

Using this company as a front we could establish Black Knight cells in Mistral and Vacuo in time as well.

Once Lelouch was done welcoming some of the new arrivals as they wasted no time going to work not only offloading their cargo

"So what's next?"

"We'll meet with Leodore and proceed from there."

Back in Vale somewhere in the warehouse district near the harbor another group was responding to the actions of the Black Knights. Inside his warehouse that has served as his base of operations Roman Torchwick was standing before a table with a map of the city of Vale hung up on the wall in front of him. Around him were crates and cargo containers full of stolen Dust that has been accumulating over the past two months through a series of robberies being carried out by Torchwick and his reluctant business partners the White Fang.

"Roman I would like a word with you."

Turning around was the person who made their business arrangement possible through means Roman was curious about, but at the same time instinct told him the less he knew the better off he probably was. Nevertheless he did want to know who his employer's master plan was and what the end goal of said plan was.

She possessed ashen-black hair and bright amber eyes wearing a dark-red, off-the-shoulders, v-neck mini-dress with yellow designs. She also has a blue feather-like accessory on her right hip, at the top of an open portion of her dress. The dress ends in an upside-down triangular tail in the back, ending just above the knees. The sleeves end in a triangle shape, which are wrapped or tied around her middle finger, with the gold designs of the sleeve taking over at the wrists. Completing her attire she wears black shorts underneath her dress, as well as a black choker on her neck. She wears a gold loop earring with a black gem dangling from it on her right ear. She has dark, glass, high-heeled shoes and a jeweled anklet on her right leg.

"I assume this is about the Black Knights?" Roman said cautiously while taking a guess at the subject in question as he saw little reason for Cinder Fall wishing to speak with him.

"Possibly," Roman's employer said in a cold tone, "but there might be something else in relation to that."

"Oh?"

"It has come to my attention you have been having dealings with a Leodore Ferox?"

"Yes we have a very lucrative business arrangement I must say I been making a mint off of the stuff he has been bringing me."

"I see, but were you aware of the fact he was formerly a division leader of the White Fang over the Vacuo branch?" Cinder replied coyly with her arms crossed over her chest.

"No I wasn't actually;" Roman admitted truthfully while growing wary of where the discussion was heading, "but then again it wasn't part of the arrangement. I wouldn't ask any unnecessary questions."

"I understand, but the White Fang want to deal with this deserter and they wish to find out what happened to the other members of the White Fang who vanished with him."

"So I assume then…" The bowler hat wearing criminal asked while running his index finger across his throat.

Cinder nodded in confirmation, but she was quick to add. "It will come to that, but like I said they wish to interrogate the former division commander first."

"I won't be meeting with him until next week and I don't know where he is until then."

"Then that gives you time to prepare for an ambush at your next meeting."

Up north within the city of Mantle the deputy commander of the Black Knights was meeting with Lelouch within one of the old offices inside the main factory's office. Lelouch sat down in one of the chairs while Leodore sat in the others as the younger man was waiting for news on how well it all went.

Or rather he was hoping everything went fine.

"Did the meeting go well?"

"It actually went surprisingly well." Leodore began but he seemed uneasy about something. "It seems the White Fang branch of Mantle have been growing frustrated with dealing with the SDC."

"Let me guess for everything they do to them from robbing their dust shipments to attacking and executing various board members it hasn't changed anything?"

"That is part of the issue they are facing." Leodore said, but he didn't seem surprised by it. "Even if you murdered his own wife he would just cry and mourn her for the sake of publicity, but in reality I would doubt he really cares for any member of his own family."

"He is defiantly the kind of man who would blend in perfectly in Britannia as a noble." Lelouch commented in agreement, "so what is the verdict then?"

"They will not interfere with our efforts here. I didn't tell them everything, but we were going to produce resources and weapons for the cause. I also mentioned depending on the circumstances we could provide assistance and relief for the Faunus located here." Leodore explained, but Lelouch couldn't help but notice there was something else.

"There is something else isn't there?"

"They have heard troubling rumors about the Vale Branch of the White Fang." Leodore began, "apparently its division leader Adam Taurus has been pressed into cooperating with an unknown party led by a woman?"

"How did you come across this information?"

"A messenger was on his way to the camp Adam had established in Forever Fall from the Mantle division which had provided information to his group to conduct a theft of cargo from a SDC train almost three months ago. He was to check in to determine if the information was accurate."

"And he witnessed these events?"

"That and the fact that most of Adam's followers were wiped out by this woman and her associates accompanying her," The Lion Faunus answered. "He couldn't overhear the conversation, but they offered him dust and a lot of lien in exchange for their cooperation."

"That's it?"

"He didn't risk inquiring further."

"I wonder if this has something to do with those strings of Dust robberies we have been hearing about."

"Most likely since I have been hearing from some of our contacts in Vale that the White Fang has been involved in these robberies."

"That seems an unusual considering they have attacked shops who have denied service to Faunus in the past, but Vale's shops had always a welcoming reputation towards Faunus so there should be no reason for it." Lelouch thought while his mind began processing some possibilities for this change. "What could they need so much Dust for?"

"Hard to say without more information, but it seems like something big is in the works if they need that much dust for something since I can't see anyone gaining much from selling it on the black market. Even the cargo trains they have stolen have provided dust for their own forces and what they sold has net a decent amount of Lien." Leodore said using his own experience as a former White Fang member to narrow down the possibilities.

In the past whenever they stole cargo from the SDC they would keep what they needed for their own use then sell the rest usually through a black market trader or sometimes another Dust Shop. The lion Faunus thought before contemplating. Hitting and stockpiling on Dust across the city would give them plenty, but it would be far more than a division branch of the White Fang would need. With Dust prices likely to be rising in the kingdom it would be hard to sell off that amount of dust without drawing attention. Even moving it to Mistral to sell it off would be far too risky.

"They must be stockpiling it then to use for explosive ordinance and the likely target to justify needing so much of it would be the upcoming Vytal Festival." Lelouch said as Leodore was coming to the same conclusion as well.

"To what aim through as I can imagine what attacking the Vytal Festival would do other than make White Fang an open enemy of all the kingdoms which will pushed them into becoming more aggressive against the organization as a whole worldwide."

"I agree and I assume this is what the White Fang members operating in Mantle are concerned about."

Leodore nodded his head, "yes and they are already having trouble dealing with Atlas and the SDC despite their increased brutal attacks on the latter. If this attack happens it would give the SDC the means to launch a witch hunt against the White Fang and Faunus suspected of being involved or supporters of their views even if they are not members themselves."

"I concur," Lelouch replied as he took a moment to complicate their options. "For now there isn't much we can do here but secure our operations and get these factories back into working order as soon as possible. Then we need to get our shipping business moving so we can bring in profit needed to keep it going while hopefully we can make enough to support our activities."

"Then depending if everything proceeds well we can expand our organization much further."

"Every since our debut we have received increased public support and donations through some of have contacts have appeared which has been a great help. Not to mention it will make it easier for us to operate as fewer people will be willing to report our activities to the authorities."

"Yes, but also we have received a surge of eager recruits for our organization. Including some former White Fang members deserting to join us, but I am concerned."

"You mean about the fact that as of late since you left the organization those who leave it have been assassinated."

"Exactly," The deputy commander said in agreement, "this is why we need to be extremely carefully about recruiting former members of the organization especially if this Adam Taurus is everything I have heard. I never met him during my time when I was part of the organization however someone I did meet was part of his group had deserted some months ago."

Lelouch's eyes narrowed in curiosity, "Who?"

"Blake Belladonna, the daughter of the organization's last High Leader."

"Ghira Belladonna's daughter," Lelouch said having been told quite a bit about the last leader of the entirety of the White Fang who had stepped down five years ago, "she left the organization?"

"Yes…I met her once during the time her father stepped down as High Leader, but he too left the organization along with his wife to assume the duties of Chieftain of Menagerie." Leodore said as his expression turned into a saddened expression hinting the time to be a bitter memory. "Their daughter Blake decided to stay with the organization…let's just say tensions got heated."

"I see…," The former prince deduced that to her Blake saw her parents likely as cowards for abandoning the fight for equality for the Faunus, but was ignorant of the dark road the organization was heading down. With that in mind Lelouch decided to change the subject, "so are you purposing we recruit her?"

"No partly because she has begun attending Beacon Academy as a Huntress, but her views had changed if she was willing to leave the White Fang compared to how she received to leave five years ago."

Lelouch understood what Leodore was suggesting, "then you suggesting we could use her to obtain information on Adam and possibly figure out what might be happening?"

"Yes, but she might have left before the incident in question involving the woman."

"Its fine we can still get information about Adam from here which we could use."

Four days later back in Japan on the side of Earth the Black Knights had been growing, slowly but steadily thanks to the surprising support from Kyoto House. Then through Ohgi he managed to contact some other resistance groups operating in some of the nearby ghettos who were interested in joining the resistance group who beat back the Britannian Army.

Unfortunately they came with some troubling news.

Lelouch dressed as Zero was with Leodore and Ohgi along with a few armed members of the Black Knights standing inside an old theater inside Shinjuku Ghetto. Present was leaders of the other resistance groups who had both come to Zero seeking to join him and to seek his help for a problem.

"So Clovis has been rounding up the people living in your respective ghettos?" Lelouch said wishing to confirm the information he had just been handed.

"Mostly those suspected to have some ties to us, but he started picking up whole families too."

This bit of news caused Lelouch's hands to tighten in disgust as Clovis's intent was clear.

He knows he cannot attack the ghettos directly otherwise I'll leak out the information we have about Code R, so he is trying to go around that agreement by abducting the populace of those ghettos.

Even through Clovis wasn't kidnapping the entire popular, but still the number of people he was keeping at the Britannian Prison located in Chōfu was overpopulated now. It was unlikely Clovis would get anything of use out of those people unless it was an effort to draw him out into a confrontation, but the Kanto military garrison had loaned a large number of troops and Knightmare Frames to bolster its security.

If we attack them head on it could end in defeat especially if they hold us off long enough for Britannian reinforcements to arrive from…

At that moment Lelouch realized something as he recalled the Kanto Britannian Base was the Division Base and headquarters for the military of that region of Japan, but it was also the location where Jeremiah had told them a prototype Knightmare Frame, the same team responsible for the Lancelot, was set to arrive the day after tomorrow.

It was going to arrive in Osaka, but they changed the location two days ago for it to secretly arrive at the Kanto base instead.

Lelouch couldn't help but grin mischievously as he had already been planning a heist to steal that prototype. The former prince suspected that the location for the arrival of the prototype machine was changed likely due to Clovis not wanting to risk an attempt theft of the machine since losing a machine loaned to him by the his older half-brother Schneizel. Losing a valuable machine that belonged to the Second Prince and acting Prime Minister of the Empire could result in Clovis losing his position.

Thanks to Jeremiah; who has continued to prove loyal, they had plenty of information about the base and its commander who had earned his position through bribes and blood relations. In other ways he was a greedy and cowardly man who used his connections to pin the blame on others while avoiding dangerous tasks and assignments.

A vicious attack on his base along with the threat of losing such a valuable piece of cargo would be very bad for a man of his position; so much he will panic and recall his forces from the prison to defend the base.

Now he saw an opportunity to expand that plan even further and use it to help in arranging a mass prison break. As he took contemplated some ideas something he remembered in passing that he heard about in school today could be made to become a useful component of his plan.

"Attacking the prison head on would be suicide, but I do have an idea on how we can reduce the guard there." Lelouch began as he proceeded to elaborate on a plan. "The additional troops they have protecting the prison is coming from the Kanto Military Base which is the division command center for the military forces there, but it is also where a new prototype weapon produced under the Second Prince of the Empire is being delivered at. The commander there is a cowardly man who brought his position instead of earning it, so an attack and theft on the base will cause such a panic he'll recall his forces."

"So then we'll break into the prison and get them out right?" A member of the resistance group from the Saitama Ghetto inquired seemingly hopeful.

"Not quite, because we'll still be racing against the clock." Lelouch reminded the gathering before him as he extended one arm in a dramatic fashion to make a point. "As our operation to cause a disturbance at the Kanto Military Headquarters is underway a team will infiltrate the sewers below the prison and break into its security system to loops its cameras of the towers and surrounding outside area to allow a second infiltration team from the sky to break in and seize the control room where they can disable communications and shut down the security system completely. Thus we'll be buying more time to get the prisoners out before we begin our attack in earnest."

"How are you going to get men in the air to even parachute down?"

Lelouch smiled before gladly explaining, "The day after tomorrow the Ajinomoto Stadium which is near the prison will be hosting a special rugby match including a life performance by the rock band Voyage. They are planning for a stunning entrance by parachuting down onto the stage, so using connections and payoffs to the right people air traffic restrictions will be lowered. Our men will jump from their own aircraft higher in the air before using wingsuits to land on the roof of the prison without being detected after the sewer team has gained access to the cameras stationed along the roof and the path to the control room."

The men looked at Lelouch with a mixture of awe and concern as some thought the plan was brilliant, but there were some who believed it was crazy.

Everyone else thought it was a bit of both overall.

"There is another aspect of the plan we'll need to take care of, but for now I am going to gather as much information on the prison we can and work out some finer details."

The truth of the matter was that there was going to be no sewer infiltration team and the finer detail Lelouch meant was discovering those who would be running the security control room at the time of their operation so he could use his Geass on some of them so they could disable the prison's entire security system and communications on his behalf.

So instead of a risky parachuting deployment the infiltration party would be let into the prison instead.

I'll have them set a trap and have some of the guards drawn to a disturbance in a area of the prison where our entry will begin eliminating a good number of them at once so our infiltration team can begin opening cells to release prisoners as our troops will attack the prison.

Lelouch felt a little concerned as he was growing too dependent on his Geass, but if he wanted to accomplish his goals and earn the support of the Japanese people then he needed to use everything available to him now.

But I should become overly dependent on it, however if we can get our own resources and our own ability to build weapons along with expanding our ranks then I could limit its usage to when it can serve me best.

Nevertheless Lelouch felt pleased as everything he did felt more worthwhile than just mindlessly being part of the ordinary herd of people who lived their so-called lives of normalcy and complacency. He eagerly accepted the challenges lay before him, but these were challenges he had no desire of loosing.

Just as the Black Knights proved themselves in Vale they shall prove themselves here.

Two days later it was pass seven pm as the moon was beginning to rise into the sky, but for a news van from the Hi-TV Network. However for Diethard Reid is was another mind numbing television broadcast and coverage he was pressed into overseeing. In a way he preferred Clovis's media performances over covering some rock band concert, because it was over much more quickly.

So much so that Diethard was more interested in reading a book he had brought while the camera crews he commanded were more than capable of doing their jobs without him.

I should have considered traveling to a more troubled territory of the Empire. I would gladly cover anything else but this boring and tedious concert.

Suddenly the door opened and the sound of guns having their safeties taken off could be heard prompting Diethard to look up from his books to see a member of the Black Knight leveling an assault rifle at his face. He took a quick glance around and found that three of them had stormed his news van armed with weapons holding the camera and broadcast technicians at gunpoint.

"Just relax…our leader has need of your services," The lead Black Knight said professionally. "Do as well say and you'll be released unharmed. Just think of this as chance for an exclusive to something big we have planned tonight."

Even though he was in danger, but Diethard was curious about this so called plan of theirs that clearly involved him and their van.

Perhaps this evening might be a little more interesting after all.

A/N: Well that is it for chapter eight and Leodore is revealed to have been a friend of Ghira Belladonna in the past and he did met Blake once during their departure from the last White Fang leadership meeting when he stepped down.

Perhaps depending on how certain events play out it could lead to Zero and Black meeting, especially now that Cinder has ordered Torchwick to go after Leodore.

An "I told you so moment" is likely to happen that much is certain, but it's the aftermath that will offer a game changer.

I felt this was a good place to stop and save what happens next for the next chapter since there will be a lot going down…four weeks in story after their debut in Vale, but now it's time for the Black Knights to show their stuff in Japan and its going to happen on a bigger scale than their Vale debut.