Chapter 34: Report

Adam reached the White Fang HQ after an hour, opening the door by scanning his hand on the panel beside it. The metal moved aside and he quietly entered the base. It was already late evening, past nine or so, and he encountered only few other Faunus. The ones he did encounter all gave him looks of surprise and some even looked twice to see if they saw right. He ignored them, however, and walked on until he had reached the cafeteria.

A lot of Faunus were still assembled, sitting in small groups and engaging in heated discussions until they saw him at the entrance. The conversations slowly died down until it was so quiet that one would have heard the fall of a needle. Everyone looked at him in shock, some with mouths agape and wide eyes until someone stepped forward. The person was a female, long spiky black hair traveling down her back, with a gentle face and red eyes. She looked him up and down once before speaking up, her voice unusually loud in the dead silence.

"I thought you were dead, Adam."

He looked around and saw that everyone was thinking the same, some giving distrustful and calculating looks. They didn't know where he had been for so long and of course it could have been that he had been captured and only now managed to escape. They feared that he had ratted them out, though those who knew him knew that he would never do so.

"You thought wrong Raven," he replied curtly, voice flat as usual when he was within the White Fang. The woman raised an eyebrow and narrowed her eyes.

"Where have you been then? You've been gone for two weeks and neither of the Faunus who have accompanied you on your mission have returned. So, tell me, what happened?"

"I would like to know, too," came a sudden voice from above. Looking up, Adam spotted Spike Desde leaning against the railing of the second floor, looking down at him with blank eyes, but Adam knew him well enough to know that he was itching to get an answer. "Come up to my office immediately." With that he left, turning around and vanishing behind a corner.

The red-haired male let out a quiet sigh before walking towards the staircase that was on the other side of the mess hall. Walking past Raven, he heard her say, "It's good that you're back."

"Good to be back," he replied before continuing on, still receiving curious looks. Reaching the stair case, he climbed the two stories before stopping in front of the metallic door that led to the leader's room. Knocking, he waited until he was granted to permission to enter and, upon receiving it, opened the door, walked inside and closed the door quietly before turning around and bowing once.

Spike was sitting behind his desk, in a leather arm chair, elbows propped on his desk and hands folded, chin resting on them. His eyes, a pair of dark blue ones, were looking at him scrutinizingly, drilling into his own red eyes.

"You wanted to talk to me, sir," he addressed politely, careful not to act suspicious or anything.

"Yes, Adam, I did. And you know what I wanted to talk about." Adam only nodded in response; of course he knew. There wasn't anything else of importance to talk about. "So then, tell me; what happened to you and the rest of your team. If I remember correctly, then I sent out a squad of three men, not one. So what happened to the others?"

"They were killed, sir."

Spike raised a brow, giving him permission to elaborate on that.

"After having completed the mission successfully, during which Eric got injured, we fled into the forest. Unfortunately, the commotion had alarmed Grimm and we were promptly attack by a pack of Ursa and Beowolves. Both Eric and Steve died during the fight and I almost did too until a girl intervened."

"A girl?" the older male questioned, his tone curious and disbelieving.

"Yes, sir. A human girl stopped the Grimm from killing me. She took me to her home and took care of me for two weeks until I was able to leave," he concluded. He intentionally left out the parts of her special power and him teaching her in martial arts, deeming it unimportant information.

Bad for him that Spike thought differently.

"You said that this girl 'stopped' the Grimm. How do you mean that?"

"I mean it exactly as I said; she stopped the Grimm. She seems to have a special kind of power that allows her to control and use the Grimm whichever way she likes." It was no use lying to him; Spike would see right through it.

"Interesting. Tell me, do you know where this girl lives?"

"She lives somewhere deep in the Forever Fall forest, in a cave, although I do not know the exact location of it." He was trying to at least try and protect her. She had saved his life and he would not repay her by ratting her out to someone like Spike.

"If you were to go back, do you think you would be able to find your way back to the home of that human?"

"I doubt it; it is too vast and there are no concrete landmarks by which I could pin point its location. I'm sorry, sir." It was a bold lie; of course he would find his way back. He had everything in his head; every stone and every tree that led to her home.

"I see," the buffalo Faunus mused, eyes thoughtful. "That will be all then. You can leave now."

Bowing again, Adam left the room, returning to his own quarters. As soon as he'd left, a woman stepped out of the shadows, standing behind Spike who was still contemplating what the Faunus had told him.

"Interesting," Cinder said, eyes glowing with malice and ideas.

"Very interesting even. We can use that girl. Since Roman Torchwick is no longer in the picture, we will have to use someone else."

"Indeed. I wouldn't have thought that he would betray us, but I guess he is more of a coward than I thought." Cinder shook her head at the thought of the criminal who had somehow managed to slip away.

"Have a team sent out to capture and bring me that human. And Cinder…" Cinder stopped by the door, looking back at the Faunus. "Tell them that I want her alive." Giving him a smirk, she opened the door and left, going to find some Faunus and tell them their new mission.

Perfect. With this, we can finally start the final phase of the plan. Soon, Vale will no longer be, Spike thought, a menacing grin spreading on his lips and eyes blazing with evil.

A/N: I do not own RWBY or its characters. I do, however, own my OC Serena and any other OCs that appear in this story.

Thanks for the reviews on the previous chapter, happy so many people enjoy this story. A special tan you to Animehottylover 18 who has reviewed on each chapter so far; always happy to receive your opinion.

There's not much to say here, so I won't. Just review if you want and stay tuned for the next chapter!