When the Nevermore found land, Captain Durante looked around and found himself lost in a forest. The officer immediately seized the moment for the grass as he hugged the dirt. "Christ, I never thought I would miss land. I don't know how the hell Jackson managed to teach Johnny how to be a paratrooper." Then he heard a pair of footsteps walk beside him. "Sauer, how the hell do you manage to stay up while hanging on?" He asked while he turned his head to see his companion.

The old man walked up to him with a chuckle escaping from his grin of his. "It took centuries of discipline for me." Doctor Sauer answered as his foot tapped his hand. "Come, I know you are tired so I decided to make a small stop to an old place of mine."

Monte pushed himself off the ground before he got onto his feet. "Where exactly are we?"

"Home." The doctor led the way as he walked towards a small log cabin. "Forgive me, captain, it has been a very long time since someone has lived in this place." He made his first steps on the wooden porch as he reached for the door knob.

Captain Durante followed the old man into the small building in the middle of the woods. When they entered the cabin, Monte was surprised by the size and the width of the room.

"I left this place just like I left it. I'll give you a night to rest up before we continue." The doctor continued before he turned away from the officer.

Turning around, Monte noticed Sauer walk out of the cabin's walls. "Sauer, where are you going to be?"

Sauer stopped in his tracks when his feet left the wooden floorboards of the porch. "I am going to secure the perimeter. She is going to send someone after us. We did make off with something very important to her, I could not expect anyone less come from her."

"Salem, that's her name, isn't it? Would you mind telling me what's this problem you have with her?"

Then he turned around and expressed a level of sadness in his eyes. "She was someone I once loved, but I also gave her some power. However, power corrupts and it's why we fight each other."

Monte could not express how much he asked more about Sauer than he needed to know. "I'm sorry for asking."

"Don't be, your fate is now intertwined with ours. It's the least I could do ever since my brother was killed." There was a moment of silence. "You better get some rest." The doctor returned to walking towards the Nevermore without a single word.

After the dinner with the Belladonna family, Captain Vastano took a step out of the dining room as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his breast pocket. "Quite a night." The paratrooper whispered to himself before he slipped the cigarette between his lips. Then he pulled out his lighter and spun it to spark.

A voice surprised him from behind. "I wouldn't smoke around the house." A girl said, causing him to turn his head around his shoulder. "Besides, it would anger my dad if he knew you were smoking at our house."

Johnny was quick to close the spark away from the rest of the world before he slipped his cigarette back into his breast pocket. "Sorry, didn't know if you and your family didn't like smokers."

Blake joined the officer at the balcony as she leaned forward on the wooden railing. "Don't worry, I won't tell them. Just don't do it anymore."

After Captain Vastano had finally kept his cigarettes away, he sighed. "Thanks for the heads up. I appreciate it. Got to say, your mom makes a good meal by the way."

"I'm sure she'll appreciate your opinion on it." The faunus replied. "Mom thinks her cooking is bad, but dad and I say otherwise."

The captain laughed. "Reminds me of my mom back in Chicago, she made some great spaghetti after I get into a fight with some guys from school."

"Captain Vastano, what do you think about the White Fang?" Blake asked of the officer, garnering his attention. "Many people still think it's a group of hate and terror, but I want to hear your thoughts on them."

Johnny stayed silent for a few minutes as he formed a response in his mind. However, the girl seemed to show a great deal of… passion towards this group. "If you want my honest opinion, I hate them for killing Captain Jackson and kidnapping his daughter." Then he noticed Blake lowering her head.

"They're not bad people." She replied. "The people who lead the White Fang are blinded by hatred and distrust towards humans that they won't tolerate them anymore."

"Kid, you seemed to know more about them then me. Mind telling?"

Blake turned her head and looked to the officer. "I used to be part of the White Fang. Then Adam Taurus came along and changed how the White Fang." At the mention of his name, Vastano's ears perked up. "At first, he used to tell us to go to authorities and leave them some messages and then he decided to take it to a new level."

"A new level?"

He heard her stumble with her words. "Adam wanted us to hurt people, to teach humans what us faunus go through." Then she shook her head. "After Adam and I had raided a train, he wanted to plant some bombs and didn't even consider the train crew. I left the White Fang after that."

"This guy, Adam, he wanted to hurt people."

Blake acknowledged him with a single thought. "Last time I saw him, we fought and he almost killed me. He was becoming a monster and turning the White Fang into one as well."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Captain Vastano replied.

"You don't have to apologize. It wasn't your fault."

The captain, joined his cat-like companion as he leaned over the railing. "There was this saying back home the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. I don't know if you guys on Remnant have something similar, but the way you described Adam fits those words."

"Who said that?"

A smile fell on his lips. "My dad. He used to be a crime boss until someone took the chance to whack him. Now he doesn't come back from work anymore." Then the captain shook his head. "You know what, I shouldn't be talking about my life. It's nothing important."

Blake grew curious. "Your dad was a criminal?"

Johnny laughed. "Yep, he was part of the notorious guys back in Chicago… no longer. Now let's not talk about my life's story. It's not important. Besides, I think the White Fang could change back to its normal self if someone took command away from that killer."

"Do you think so?"

He answered with a simple nod of his head. "Yeah, I know more about change than anyone else. It's hard, but its sometimes worth it. You're looking at a guy who was supposed to do his time in jail, but is now a war hero."

Her eyes grew like china plates. "Wait, you're a criminal as well."

"Like father, like son. The only person who changed me from a criminal idiot was Jackson."

"I'm sorry about your loss."

"Don't be, the least I can do is count on you to stop that guy."

Blake was taken aback by his statement. "Count on me? What are you talking about? I came home because I have nowhere else to go."

Then the officer expressed a smile. "Thing is, I caused quite a commotion when I got to Menagerie, but I also know something is up. You don't walk out on the people you leave behind without a reason. Those people are going to be asking questions and start looking for answers."

"How do you know this?"

"As a criminal, someone would want to know if your backstabbing their boss." Then Captain Vastano turned his full attention onto a bush down below. "As a paratrooper, someone wants to settle a score with you. Especially, when they really want to kill you." When Blake looked towards the bush alongside him, they heard a gasp escape from behind as a dark silhouette had immediately taken a few steps back. "Isn't that right, eavesdropper." The dark silhouette was quick to turn away.

Then the door behind Blake had opened, causing Vastano to look over his shoulder, only to see Weiss step out of the house. "Blake, I didn't know your family owned a house like this."

However, the cat-girl was not listening to her as she leaped out from the balcony and descended after the person spying on the paratrooper's conversation. "Hey, come back here!"

"Blake, what's going on here?" Then she looked to the officer. "Captain Vastano, would you explain?"

Johnny made a quick chuckle before he gestured towards the direction of Blake with his thumb. "It turns out, somebody's been spying on us."

With that said, Weiss gritted her teeth out of frustration before she summed her glyphs and followed her faunus friend. "Blake, you better not do this to me like you did back in Beacon! I am in no mood to deal with another one of your secrets."

The paratrooper officer laughed as he found himself alone on the balcony. That was until he heard a pair of footsteps land behind his back. Then he realized no one would act like that until they were truly being sneaky. Captain Vastano was about to turn around, until he felt a sharp tip pressed against the back of his neck.

A girl had spoken. "Are you Captain Vastano?" She asked.

He remained the way he was until he took the opportunity to make a vague reply. "Mind telling me what this is about?" Then he felt the tip pressed against his neck.

"Answer me, right now."

"Yes, I am Captain Vastano of Able Company." He answered. "Who are you?"

"It's none of your business." The stranger replied. "But I know that you are looking for Persinette Jackson."

"Yeah, so what about it?" Soon after, the tip of the sharp metal was removed from his neck before he turned around and found his assailant. She was short and had red hair, but her clothes were small and clad in black. A color that worked great in the dark. "Who are you?" Her face was hidden away by a mask similar to that of the White Fang, only that hers had horns.

"Persinette is a good friend of mine, a childhood friend." She answered, avoiding his second question. "I want to help you find her, but I wanted to talk to you."

He raised his eyebrows. "Talk to me, why didn't you do that first?"

"Because I wanted to talk in private and this place is good enough." Johnny noticed that the small girl was holding a rapier with a yellow glow to its blade. A weapon he wouldn't ask about. "Captain, I know you are looking for her, but I need to warn you. It's dangerous if you don't have someone on the inside."

"You're part of the White Fang."

"You have a problem with that? I can show you what I can do?"

Vastano shook his head. "Nope, I don't need an asskicking. Why are you doing this?"

The red-head was quick to answer as her skin tone changed to a different color to green while catching the officer by surprise. "Adam Taurus has been giving the White Fang a… terrible reputation. Some of the older members want to get rid of him and with you showing tolerance to the faunus, would you help us."

"Are you really going to help me find Persinette?"

Then she nodded her head. "Yes. After all, I am her adopted sister, Ilia."

"Son of a bitch, Jackson. You didn't tell me this."

After the raid on Salem's lair and the death of Doctor Amsel, Salem had called a meeting between her highest members of her circle. She sat in her personal chair as she looked to the man on her left side of the table. "Doctor Watts, could you recover Amsel?"

The scientist of the group shook his head and acknowledged his failure. "No, he spilled too much blood and it's impossible to recover the through his own methods. I tried to revive him, but it seems to be that the blood was not exactly clean to begin with."

The witch kept her hand cupping underneath her own chin. "I see, so we are unlikely to make use out of him."

"Sadly, yes."

"I am sure that Doctor Amsel's death will undo all of the work he did to create these soldiers of mine." She stated. "After all, it requires his expertise."

Then Doctor Watts had spoken. "No, my lady. It seems to be that we are still producing the creatures of Grimm and these soldiers of his. We should be lucky that it's still has its uses and can be salvaged unlike some of his other experiments."

"You have recovered some of his work?"

"Of course, it turns out that his chemical weapon is a success, but I will have to dabble in his work in order to see if it will be used to your liking."

She nodded her head in acceptance to his reasoning. "Very well, proceed. See to it that nothing like that raid ever happens to the lab." Salem focused her full attention onto the man beside him, who was beside the doctor. Unlike the others at the table, he was not entirely sitting, but rather squatting. "Tyrion."

At the mention of his name, the crazed man had begun to seek for her gaze. "Yes, my queen. What do you need of me?"

"Sauer and this captain have run off with the relic we have taken from Beacon. I want you to find him and retrieve it back to us. Kill him if you must, but retrieve the relic."

Tyrion was quick to bow his head. "I'll make sure that you will get your stolen treasure back."

"If Sauer confronts you, just try to observe from afar and see to it that you take the ample time to get ahold of the relic. Otherwise, use this captain as a hostage against him. He is just like his brother, weak and foolish if you use this tactic against him."

"I fully understand."