The Gray between Black and White

by Masterdude21

Driven by desperation, Beacon Academy joins a pact with Onyx, an ancient conspiracy that deals in war and blood. Their child soldiers are formidable, but utterly devoid of human morality. When team RWBY befriends a small group of them and unknowingly break their shackles, they discover that the Grimm are not the biggest monsters on Remnant... - Heavily AU, lemons, WhiteRose, OC's

45. Chapter 45

Tiny: thank you! Just imagine what it'll be once I finish the rewriting :D

7Artemis7: I'm glad to see that, thanks.

A Flying Tomato: wow, that's a lot of praise. I don't really know how to react to that, but thanks! I'm slowly escalating the unraveling of his (and Onyx's) past now.

RedGOzilla: it's perfectly reasonable of you to say that ;) After all, she clearly has issues of her own.

RWBYbomb21: I can go ahead and say that the subjects spoken off in 44's logs are NOT Operatives.

Tuutje07: Yay! Horror successful! Thanks for pointing out the mistakes though; I located and terminated them.

So, a longer chapter to make up for lost time.

---

"Target primary is of vital importance to the Catalyst program. Prepare your team and get her. I want her alive and unharmed. I'll be coming to join you as soon as I have wrapped up my business in Vacuo."

"General, with respect, why all this gear? Are we capturing a flock of Nevermores, or one girl?"

"Don't let your guard down Specialist. This girl is isn't a simple civilian; she is a combatant to be reckoned with."

"Rules of engagement, sir?"

"No witnesses, all costs accounted for, collateral damage acceptable. The usual. Anything else?"

"If Greene wants her, we'll get her. Don't worry sir."

"I wasn't. Happy hunting."

---

Hangar bay, 20:04

Assault rifle polished, safety on. Magazine loaded, cartridges intact. Insert, pull pin, check round. Rifle loaded. Moving on to sidearm.

Will feverishly worked to prepare his equipment, allowing his thoughts to run wild. His fingers were a blur as he handled each part of his gear with machinelike precision. He had checked his rifle three times; once before sharpening his knife, once before donning his suit and once before fixing his sidearm.

This was what he had been taught, years back. Do it multiple times every day every week every month until he had reached perfection. Rinse and repeat. Take care of your equipment and keep it clean and ready, because if the tests started and you weren't ready, you would die. Between killing becoming part of his daily life and scoring a blind headshot at five-hundred paces without aiming becoming the rule rather than the exception, learning how to properly maintain his gear was a normality. He liked doing so.

"What, you don't know how to write?"

"No," he muttered, just like he had then. Minus the confusion of course. "I don't. Should I?"

"Yes! Shouldn't you have learned?"

"I know a lot of other things!"

"I meant useful things. Mundane things, not used for soldier-stuff. You can read, right?"

He had been insulted. "Of course I can read! Just not the difficult words."

He wiped his forehead with an armored glove and found that it was wet. There was no blood, so he was in the clear. He was just hot. It had to be his environment; the temperatures seemed to spike. But that was strange, because he was also cold. He didn't seem to be accurate anymore, so he just ignored it. Like the rest.

"Stop it!"

Ignored everything. Just focus on the task at hand; rifle loaded. Pistol loaded. Knife sharpened to razor-edge. Suit had to be a different one; sleeker, simpler. Concealing. Less protective. The mask was lying on a nearby table; no need for helmet. No need for people finding out.

He shouldn't be talking to himself. That was bad. He had to stop it.

His fingers slipped and a clip clattered to the ground. He frowned and bent to pick up the fallen ordnance. Impulse-control was deteriorating, nerves were worsening. Hand-eye coordination was weaker every day. He didn't have very long anymore; a month or two

There were entire conversations he had had in the past, just playing through his head. He couldn't control it and he couldn't help it. Those memories were there and they wouldn't go away. He remembered it. He loved it. He hated it.

"Then go get some paper. I'll have to teach you the alphabet first. You need to know how to write if you want to function in life, later."

"What do you mean? I am functioning, right?"

He fumbled with the clip and slowly inserted it into the pistol, making sure that all rounds were accounted for. Inhale. Count to three. Exhale. The syringe was attached to the side of a crate with supplies. He hated needles. It had to do for today.

After it all, he –hysterical, insane and seeking penance- had roamed the lands, seeking to destroy every living thing he encountered. Seeking to die for what he had failed to do. Isolated from all human contact for weeks at an end, it had taken him so long to even to become even slightly balanced. After that, his mind had just banished it all. A state of amnesia filled with holes and questions he had ignored for his own health. Enter Beacon. And now all that was gone. Soon, exactly one year would have passed by.

The pain of the injection barely registered in his mind. It had been a while since he had last done this. In the Luna-Arcadia war, if he remembered correctly. Food was spoiled, water was poisoned and there was no opportunity to start on canned goods. He had thoroughly cleaned the needle, as to not saddle his partner up with additional healing. Infections were hard to regenerate from.

He slowly injected the nutrient-shot into his bloodstream and discarded the needle in a specified bin. MRE's took too long. She always hated it when he did that. All the self-deficiency done would hit her too. He had always made sure to keep up with some of the civilian luxury like warm food and dry sleeping-places, to take care of her. She was dependent on him. Was. Is. Was.

Is.

The whispers and voices wouldn't cease. They echoed through his head and reminded him of what needed to be done over and over again. He saw memories that weren't his and felt emotions that didn't belong there. Just like the first few days. Just like when she got emotional. It was alright though; soon it would be over. Until then, he just had to hang on to the shred of himself that was left. The little part of "Will" left in what had once been "Greystone". Things that couldn't be taken away-

'They're coming!'

Greystone had been about to slide his sidearm into its holster again when one voice rose above the others, clearer than it had been in days. No echoes, no whispers. Clear words. And like always, his body obeyed before his mind did. He whirled around, safeties off, ready to defend her. Mind set to kill. Natural state.

Two people stood in the opening of the door, which had been opened without any sound. One was male and had light-gray hair and a pale skin, the other one was female and had green hair and dark skin. Less dark than Johnson, Darker than the big guy from…from Velvet's team.

"Look at that," said the female. That was as far as she got before Greystone opened fire, forcing her to duck and seek cover. His first two rounds were clear misses; they impacted on the wall behind the pair and left large holes.

He shouldn't have missed. He had never missed before.

She returned fire and her partner leaped over the railing, metal boots connecting on the metal floor with much noise. The Operative sprinted forwards, years of training and integrated instincts taking over and pushing his feverish weakness out. Hands went to sidearm, eyes looked down the iron-sights. He exhaled. Time seemed to slow down and he pulled off another two shots, both of which impacted on one of the bullets spat out by the enemy's weapon, tearing through them as the superior munition carved through the hypersonic resistance. An opening was created and utilized, the male lashed out with his leg and the Operative countered with honed reflexes, redirecting the movement and exposing a vulnerable neck-

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Not if you want people to live."

Greystone slowed down and the male jumped backwards, a smug expression on his face. The female's tone had been serious, a threat greater than his life was buried in it

The girl smiled too and this time, he recognized her. Emerald Sustrai, follower of Subject Cinder. The other one had to be Mercury Black, the other follower. Why were they here? Had they snuck into Beacon just for him? That was a waste of time.

"You are trigger-happy today, aren't you?" Emerald said while Mercury circled back around, reaching for a crate. "You know, they say people with a bad conscience are easily startled. And you should have a bad conscience, spying on people that are dangerous."

The Operative glared at the grey-haired hostile, suppressing his urges to kill. "Back off."

Mercury picked up a book that had been left around. He opened it. "What's this? Squiggly lines? Oh, letters. Didn't know you could read."

A bad attempt at an insult. Of course he could read; why else would Ruby have lent him a book?

"You know who we are, don't you?" she said, adopting a more serious tone. Mercury smiled menacingly and Greystone's muscles clenched.

"Yes," he said. Finally, they had found him. It was about time, too. They had kept him waiting. "And I'm disappointed."

"Ehm..excuse me?"

He stepped closer to the girl. Woman. Target. "I've used the bodies of teens younger than you as sandbags. Do you punks think you have a chance? Against me?"

Mercury rummaged around in another crate. "Funny how all the grizzled veterans tell us how young the people they killed were , but that none of that matters when push comes to shove. Tell us, kid, you know why we are here?"

He grinned. "Yes."

The male frowned somewhat, but the female's expression was unfathomable. "I take it you are going to fight back?"

Time. "Oh yes." He raised his weapon again and opened fire at Black, who's Aura absorbed two hits before he managed to leap out of the way. The weapon clicked empty and Greystone popped the mag, hurling it at Sustrai.

Her eyes widened and she hurled herself behind cover, realizing what was about to happen.

The empty magazine exploded with the force of a frag grenade and showered the bay with sharp pieces of metal. One of them struck the Operative in his shoulder, but he tore the piece of shrapnel out of and banished the dull pain in seconds.

Mercury had a snarl on his face as he lunged for him. Greystone assumed a martial arts position, both hands raised in front of him, one lower than the other and fingers spread. Right leg out, feet shifted outwards. But the clash of brutal close-combat never came. Emerald's voice rang out and both of them stopped in their tracks.

"That is not why we are here. You shouldn't assume things when you have no idea what's going on."

"Just the warning?" Mercury asked her.

"Yes."

With a disappointed sigh, the male backed off. What was this?

Emerald smiled creepily and placed her hands on her his. Her clothes were somewhat singed, but that was about it. Why were they even wearing those black outfits? Were they supposed to help them stealth? "Actually, we are here for a message. You see, we know each other, you and us. And we have no need for nosy little children of the damned."

His blood ran cold. Children of the Damned. Cinder knew! Security breach. He needed to purge; nobody was allowed to know.

"So how about you get off our skin, and we stay off yours?"

"Otherwise," said Mercury," we might just have to blow the charges that our people have been setting for weeks, killing about…how many?"

"Three-hundred."

"That's right. Three-hundred people. What was Onyx's creed again? Protection of the innocent?"

Greystone couldn't help it. Despite the situation, he laughed. Seeing the dumbfounded faces of the two thugs, he calmly took his pistol again and reloaded it. "What, that's it? A threat? Don't you people know us at all? Our creed isn't the "protection of the innocent". It is "we will burn our own to keep the peace". You should have done your research." He calmly took aim at Emerald's forehead. There was no way he would miss this time.

But she recovered quickly. Even as Mercury muttered, "you are a freak," she said, "Actually we did do our research. After all, silence is golden…and speaking is silver."

The Operative quickly flicked the safety back on. "What?"

Now it was Mercury's turn to grin. "It's a saying, moron."

"It's not just a saying. Accidents are prone to happening…either in training, or in combat."

He turned to face the door again, where someone new stood. She was a woman with long, black hair and yellow eyes. Tattoos empowered with rare Dust, grafted into her skin. Into her soul. Familiar ones.

She was an A-Class threat. "Subject Cinder."

She didn't smile. She eyed him with visibly anger and contempt. It was familiar. "Fall, actually. Subject implies custody."

Silence is golden speaking is silver. The accent on the last words…

"I told you I would haunt you."

Mercury had his right flank and Emerald was in a good position to hose him with fire. The exit was blocked by Cinder. The sheer manifestation of her Aura alone was enough to send shivers down his back. He had met White Fang members that hated him less. This woman was ready to kill him here and now. And she had the skills to do so. She could and would kill him if provoked. "When this is over…I will personally drag you back to Onyx. And they can continue whatever it was they did to you."

Much to his disappointment, she did not react to that. She did not even shift her expression one bit. Disappointment. "You won't be doing anything. If you do…" a small flame grew to considerable size in the palm of her hand. "The right people will get hurt."

Greystone dropped his gun. He didn't fear fire. What it caused, she could repair. Electricity was worse. She couldn't do a thing about that. This was psychological.

Cinder smirked. "Come on…we have work to do."

Emerald jumped over the railing and joined her boss, who had already turned away to leave. She glanced at Black.

"Coming, Merc?"

"One moment."

Mercury punched him in the stomach. The impact wasn't even that painful, but he had to keep himself from doubling over. The guy knew how to throw a punch and he didn't stop there. Mercury followed up by kneeing him in his ribs and kicking at his head, the first hit sending lances of pain down his side.

But Will inhaled just in time to lessen the impact on his chest and used the lack of muscle-clenching to avert his face just in time. He spun with the blow and turned around to face his assailant again, his arms by his side. The threat was left hanging; don't act at all. Or important people would die. He couldn't have that. No way.

Mercury hit him in his face again and bashed his elbow against his side. Neither of those blows prevented the Operative from staring at him with a tranquil, hateful expression. In the end, Mercury simply gave up. "Meh, you're no fun," he declared. Fun.

He joined his partner at the exit. "Come on; we need to find our dormitories."

What could have been but never was. No Aura for protection, no proper regulation of his Semblance. Nowhere for his emotions to go but the mask. He didn't know how to grieve, how to hate. He came close to both today. He had attained neither today. There was only one thing left in his life that he could clutch to…for a while. Two actually. They came together. And even that would fade away with him.

---

RWBY dormitories, 20:29

Weiss impatiently tapped against the bed-frame with her heels, eyeing her pacing teammates as they rummaged around. The cause of their distress was simple, really. It was evening and Blake had not returned. The girl had promised to return to Beacon in the afternoon and she hadn't! So either something had happened to her…or something had happened involving her. It didn't matter which, because both were trouble. It was always one thing or another in Vale, be it terrorists or soldiers.

Yang stopped for the third time in row in her pacing and growled with bottled-up frustration. "We should be out, looking for her!"

"That's exactly what I plan on doing, Yang," Ruby calmly told her sister. The little redhead was already donning her cloak and a new outfit for special occasions. "But we can't just scour the entire city like we did last time. We need a plan."

Weiss nodded. "Right. We need to find out why she hasn't returned. Then we can determine her location." Myrtenaster hung at her side and she had just finished doing her hair. The reason that they had not taken immediate action was because they had no idea what to do or where to go. But that was what Ruby was doing at the moment, so that should be solved soon.

"There could be lots of reasons why she's gone!" Yang still didn't agree; after Will had suddenly declared that he needed to leave, she had grown increasingly tense, longing for Blake to return. And it really showed. "She could be hurt!"

"Blake can take care of herself," Weiss told Yang while Ruby flicked through a notebook, occasionally making notes and ripping out pages. "At least for a while. If we take it that she left her friend in town around noon…that puts us at a few hours at most. We'll find her." She would be the last person to say that she wasn't worried about her friend, but she had to keep her head cool. It wouldn't do them any good if she panicked over this. "Ruby?"

"Yes. That's me. Right…there are a few things that get Blake going in a negative way. One?"

Yang crossed her arms and sighed. "Faunus-racism."

"Two?"

Weiss straightened her back. "Onyx."

"Three?"

Yang loaded more ammo into her pockets. "Roman Torchwick."

"Four?"

Weiss put one last vial of Dust into her weapon's slot. "The White Fang."

"Right. Torchwick and the Fang work together, so they are tied together. Three reasons."

"Will and Cal would have informed us of anything regarding Onyx and you said Yale can be nice at times," said Yang. "So two reasons."

"And racism is not something that would stop her from keeping her word," finished Weiss. "So it has to be the White Fang and Roman Torchwick."

"So much for no trouble," Yang said as she opened the door. "Come on, we need to- what?" she suddenly stopped and placed her hands on her hips. "Sun? Neptune? Why are you here?"

"Wazzup!" said a waiting Sun Wukong as he stepped inside of their dorms without asking. Neptune followed him, but at least he had the courtesy of waving. "Where's Blake?"

Weiss raised an eyebrow at that. How long had they been standing there? Why had he invited himself to something that was obviously a team-gathering?

"We don't know," said Ruby. She jumped on top of her bed and compared some notes. "We're going to look for her."

"Cool. So how can we help?"

Ruby hesitated and looked at Weiss, who gave her the smallest of nods in return. "Actually, I don't think it is smart to get friends involved with this. This might get dangerous."

Sun waved that away. "That's stupid! You should always get friends involved. That's the number one way to deal with dangerous!"

"We think it was the White Fang," Yang brusquely said. She seemed pissy and with a good reason. "Still want to come?"

Though the question as not aimed at her, Weiss still pondered it as if it was. Did she want to go through with this? Were they truly ready for this? The White Fang was a massive terrorist organization, taking lives and ruining families and they were still children. Could anyone ever be ready for this?

But…they dealt with Onyx on a daily basis. And they were so much bigger and larger than the White Fang could ever aspire to be. And Onyx had taken lives…heaven, they had. They had murdered and killed and destroyed and the worst of it was that she had gotten as far as to believe that some of it was justified. She had seen worse than the White Fang could offer. In a morbid way, she had outgrown her fear of those Faunus terrorists. In a way, they weren't the boogeymen that they had been. Onyx had cast a light on that darkness. So yes…after everything that she had seen –Greystone and Mantis and Blackwood and Cal and Ash and the war- she was ready.

"Ehm…" Neptune visibly hesitated, but Sun stepped on his toes and shut him up.

"Sure! What is the plan?"

All of them looked at Ruby, who plucked a paper out of the notebook she had been writing in. She unfolded it and revealed a large poster, many times larger than any paper in the book could have been.

"What-"

"How-?"

Ruby scraped her throat. "Ladies and gentlemen, it is suspected that Blake Belladonna has had a run-in with the White Fang. More importantly, with Roman Torchwick. We think-"

"-we do?"

"-that Blake is doing something dangerous. If we find Torchwick, we find Blake. Yang?"

"I'll find Will and take him to the shady side of town. I know a guy there who knows everything that's going on. With him by my side, I'll get everything out of him."

"Good. Weiss?"

Weiss clasped her hands behind her back, not wanting to appear as anything less than professional and focused. "I'll head to the CCT and search the records for the White Fang and Roman Torchwick. There should be something there. Seeing as I'm in the family, that shouldn't be a problem."

"Good. Sun?"

"I'll take Neptune and search for Blake. That ought to find her!"

"Excellent. I'll see Weiss off at the CCT and scurry around the docks. Any questions?"

"What do we do if we find this Torchwick guy?" asked Neptune.

"Duh. We capture him," said Ruby. "Now, let's go!"

With that in mind, the five of them moved out. Weiss wasn't entirely sure whether this was a good idea or not, but she knew that they had to do something. The chance that Blake would encounter another Sun to help her out was exceedingly small…unless Sun had a twin brother he had never told anybody about. Again, the chance was exceedingly small.

She could feel the pair of boys getting tenser with every single step, which seemed to amuse her somewhat. After all, who had expected that the things that crept out the commoner would just be daily business for her? She had always hoped that there would be something aside from her heritage that could set her apart from the commoner and here it was; she had found friends with whom she could delve into secrets not even meant for governments.

Not that she would get cocky about; the only reason that her team and her knew anything about Onyx at all was because of Will, Cal, Ash and Lily. Funny how that worked, as Blake had never told her a thing about the White Fang. Of course, the Fang had done more to her family than Onyx had.

When they reached the ever-familiar door of the Hangar bay, the pair of boys exchanged a nervous glance.

Ruby was on it immediately. "You alright?"

Again, a glance. Chests were pushed out, shoulders pulled up and egos inflated.

"We're cool," said Neptune.

Yang was about to kick down the door the when the Faunus suddenly cried out, "Are we sure about this? That he is the right one for this?"

So much for being cool.

"Don't start that crap again," growled Yang.

"No, not that. I mean…you saw the newscast, right? The thing about the Final Solution killings? Him being the one and stuff?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"That's…just it, actually. You think taking an infamous White Fang-killer to the White Fang will work out well?"

Ruby glanced at Yang, who sighed. Then she looked back at Sun and said, "Look, if there's one thing we've learned, it's that nothing is black and white. He never talked about it, but he had reasons."

"Oh I'm sure he had reasons alight. But will the Fang care about that?"

Ruby pushed the door open. "I don't think they will recognize him. He is sneaky. Hey, Will?"

But Will wasn't there. It was Cal, without his helmet, messing around exactly like him. His black-blue hair looked messy and spiky and his ears were even more noticeable than Blake's. That was probably why he didn't use a little bow. Well, apart from the obvious reason.

Without even bothering to look at them, he said, "Greystone just left."

There were various bullet-holes in the ground and some boxes had had their lids removed, baring contents that Weiss had never seen before. There were scorch-marks everywhere and large, pointy sticks of metal stuck out of the wall and the floor. He had his helmet lying on a table next to him, with the visor aimed at the door. She could see her own reflection in it and frowned. He used his helmet as a mirror? That was a new one.

"What-" Sun was aghast. "He's a Faunus too?"

Ruby showed off just how good her explaining-skills were. "Long story. Actually, no it's not. Where did he go?"

The soldier turned around and dumped a few bullets into a zip-bag. That looked…moderately suspicious. "You must have missed him; he left a minute ago. Made a huge mess and then walked away, the ass. Whaddya need him for?"

"Short story. Actually, no it's not. Thanks for the help!"

Cal scratched his left fox-ear, which was a strange sight. "Right. Yang, could you kindly tell him that, if he needs the need to test experimental tech, he can stick his dome down the Whiskey-Charlie?"

"Tell him to stick his head in the toilet, got it."

"Good luck Cal!"

"Yeah, you too."

Yang closed the door again and pointed to the exit, while Neptune muttered, "what just happened?"

"He can't directly tell Will to do that thing, because Operative are above his rank," Ruby said, completely missing the point.

"So let me get this straight," said Sun. "You made friends with an Operative as well as their soldiers? And they are nice to you?"

"Pretty much, yeah. They're really nice if you get to know them."

And again, the two boys glanced at each other.

"Sure," said Sun, flashing a forced smile that made it look like his jaw-muscles were cramped up. Then, to Neptune, he said, "what did you get us into?"

"Hey, I'm fine. You have a tail."

"Dude, not funny!"

Weiss smirked, but she remembered to avert her face while she did. It was best not to get too invested in the situation; they were still dealing with a missing Blake, after all.

As it turned out, there was no need for her to hide her enthusiasm, as the campus of Beacon provided a significant distraction already. The cover of the evening already shrouded the place with a somewhat dampened mood, but now it was all the more obvious. Something moved, shimmered in the darkness. Sun slowly moaned under his breath and pointed at, seemingly nothing.

"Holy crap! Look at that!"

She narrowed her eyes and peered at what looked like a dark blot against the sky. Then, realization struck her. Two dark, barely-visibly airships were hovering over the grounds some dozen meters away from the main entrance and underneath them, a group of soldiers was gearing up.

Weiss gaped at the two ships in wonder. Had Sun not pointed them out, she would have never seen them. They were absolutely silent as they hung there, seemingly without any form of propulsion that was visible to them. Nothing indicated their presence at all.

"What is going on?" said Yang. "Is that Onyx?"

"You don't look so certain," pointed out Neptune.

The two ships took off and again, there was nothing to indicate that they were leaving. It was like they just disappeared. Did Atlas have such tech? Did her own family even know that such tech existed?

When they approached the group, Weiss caught a shred of their conversation between a single, subtle gesture alerted all of the soldiers. Yet none of them aimed a gun at her team. That was a welcome addition to the Onyx arsenal.

"RWBY. Where's Blake?" asked a familiar voice.

Yang was the first to respond. "Blake's ehm…in the city. Is everything alright?"

"One moment." He turned to face one of the soldiers, who nodded at him and turned around to leave. The six other soldiers followed him without a moment's hesitation. "Situation normal. What's…up?"

"Who were they?" asked Ruby. "More soldiers? Why?"

Weiss had a bad feeling about this.

"That was Specialist Haze and his team. They're here to take care of a mercenary group that snuck its way in Vale."

Ruby and Weiss exchanged an alarmed glance. Mercenaries? In Vale? What had Blake gotten herself into?

The Operative must have spotted their alarm. "Don't worry. They haven't made their move yet; if Blake is in the city, she should be safe."

Weiss sighed in relief.

"But I would pull her out if I were you."

Never mind then.

"That's why we're here; Blake should have returned hours ago. About the same time you suddenly walked away." Why did Yang sound so accusatory?

"Then you should find her."

"We," Ruby corrected him. "Yang and you are going to check out one of her guys to find out what he knows."

"You don't say it like that," muttered Neptune.

Will surprised them though. "No, I'm not. You are going alone." His tone was harsh and rather emotional, strangely. "I have…something else to do."

Ruby took about one second to recover. "Alright, Neptune? You're going with Yang. Sun? You are going downtown. Weiss? I…guess this is goodbye for now."

"Something wrong?" Yang asked the Operative. "You seem tense."

"I'm fine." Didn't sound honest. He paused. "You're going to be careful with this…guy, right?"

"You know me."

"Exactly."

"I'll behave. Can't get the new guy get killed, right?"

"Right," Neptune agreed with a full thumbs-up and a flashing smile.

Weiss turned towards the direction of the Cross-Continental Tower, wishing that she didn't have to go alone. That Ruby would just stick by her side.

When they scattered to head to their objectives, she spotted Will leaning close to Neptune.

"If anything happens to her, I'll hunt you down."

She didn't hear how Neptune reacted. It was a foolish threat that would destabilize the already-feeble standing that the soldier had with Sun and Neptune. Of course, she knew that he couldn't care less about that. And had she not known that Will was totally serious, she would not have given the statement any thought. But it was more or less a fact that Yang and he were close in a way. She did not necessarily approve of that, but she could tolerate it.

The CCT wasn't that far ahead. Beacon's campus was fairly large and contained many important facilities. Weiss had been around enough prestigious events and places to know when to recognize a spot of high status. And the Cross-Continental Tower was one of them; it was built after the "Great War" as a gift to the world. She knew better than that now; there had been many more wars, not all of them large-scaled, but most certainly terrible in their own ways.

But the tower was meant as a shining symbol in a new world .It was a symbol of hope, it was a means of enlightenment, it was-

-it was occupied by soldiers.

"What-?" Weiss sighed. Again, a group of six soldiers were scattered around the closer perimeter of the tower, setting up strange machines and other army-things.

What were they doing there? Where they Onyx? They had to be; they were barely visible in the night and their gear was as black as their armour.

Weiss straightened her back and put her chest out. No matter who these people were, she was still the Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, largest commercial company in the world. Even Will had acted with respect towards her…actually, politeness. Which he did to everyone.

She took a nervous breath and walked up towards the nearest soldier, who was fixing something that looked like a supply crate with a radio on top of it. One soldier was blocking the way into the tower, standing at rapt attention, a firearm in his arms. Or her arms. Whatever.

As she expected, the tinkering soldier burst into motion the moment she tried to pass him by. He dropped his device and blocked her way by moving in front of her.

"Excuse me Ma'am; this site is off-limits for now."

Weiss looked around and spotted one soldier gesturing at the one who was standing in the middle of the camp. He was standing underneath a few poles that held up a cargo-net and from the looks of it, he was in charge.

"This is the Cross-Continental Tower," she replied. "It should not be off-limits."

"It is. I'm going to have ask you to leave, Ma'am."

She was growing frustrated. It was time to pull rank. "Not Ma'am. My name is Weiss Schnee and I am the Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. Now I am asking you to let me through."

The soldier hesitated visibly, which was a good sign. He should be nervous now.

From the middle, the soldier in charge stopped talking as soon as Weiss finished her sentence.

"One moment," he told his colleague, who was hauling a complicated-looking computer. He approached the two of them with rapid strides and addressed Weiss. "Is there a problem here?"

She crossed her arms and eyed the newcomer. He stood taller than she did in his armour and he had carved a symbol into his shoulder-pad –a symbol she recognized from somewhere. It looked somewhat like a snowflake. His visor had a lighter tint than the rest of them and the aesthetics of his suit were all different from the likes of Will and Cal. "Yes, there is. I need to get inside now. It is important."

The other soldier looked back and forth between her and his colleague and then backed off.

"You'll have to wait Schnee, just like the common people."

Weiss scowled. "Don't you know who I am?"

"Yes, I do –couldn't give less of a damn. Now beat it before I toss your royal behind out of here."

What –who- the nerve! Who did this brute think he was, that he could talk to her like that? That was completely unacceptable!

She crossed her arms and scowled. He came this close to pissing her off royally. "Are you threatening me?" she demanded.

"Think of it as a humble suggestion, your highness."

Heat flushed to her ears and she felt the rare sensation of anticipation clutching at her stomach. "What's your problem with me? Are you naturally this barbaric?"

"Not normally, no. Only to other barbarians."

That was aimed at her family!

A third soldier called to them. "Leave it be Frost. We've got something here and I need you to check it out."

"My family is not barbaric! My father-"

Frost had been about to reply when he suddenly stepped closer to her, jabbing at her chest with a gloved finger. "-can come complain to me if he's got a problem. But newsflash: the old man doesn't give two shits about you or me or anyone else. He's a cold bastard and that's why the Fang's after your hides."

"Frost!"

"Coming!"

With that, the agitated soldier walked away, leaving a thoroughly shaken Weiss Schnee standing alone in the dark evening.

---

Downtown Vale, 20:56

It was suspiciously calm out here in the city. There were very few people walking around and those that did, moved quickly and with purpose, as if they were afraid that bombs would start to drop the moment they stopped for a breather. And that was odd, because things should be calm now. So why were people looking scared? What was going on?

Ruby sighed and scratched an itchy place behind her cloak. There was no Blake here…there was no Blake anywhere. Where was she even supposed to start looking? She knew that she was supposed to visit the docks, but…what use was there in looking there if she knew Blake wasn't going to be there? People rarely returned to the place of the crime…what had she been thinking?

Walking around with her head buried in thinking, she barely noticed where she was going. It was only when she bumped into the most massive thing seen on the face of Remnant that she realized that her cloak could not see for her. She hit the ground, bounced upwards and, before she could fall down again, found herself grabbed by a large hand.

"Sorry, didn't see you there," said a heavy voice.

She groaned and reached for her head. Oh how she despised it when people materialized in front of her. Who was hauling her to her feet? Was she really so small? "No worries…where am I?"

That same voice chuckled while Ruby shook her head clear. "Vale, the docks. You don't look like a 'Bob to me."

"A what?"

Looking around, she saw that she was most certainly on the docks. Some sort of very much big guy stood in front of her slightly kneeled to check up on her. He was holding her by her arm and, seeing that she was alright, he let her go now. He was…really big. Bigger than Cardin big. Perhaps not as big as Blackwood though. "What's a Bob?"

The man was clearly an Onyx soldier; he had thick, bulky, black armour and a protective helmet. But his suit was decorated unlike she had seen before; there were feathers attached to his belt and helmet and his visor had a dull, golden tint to it. There was a symbol scratched into his shoulder-plate as well. "Sorry, thought they told you. You're Rose, right?"

She dusted herself off. "You can call me Ruby, actually." This guy seemed nice enough. Was he really Onyx? "Who are you?"

"Field Agent Granit, at your service." His voice was really heavy. Ruby noticed how the docks looked vastly different from the last time she had seen them; most of the containers were gone, the ground wasn't scorched and cracked anymore and there were a lot of soldiers moving around, carrying equipment and stuff. It looked like they were setting up base. Were these the guys that Will had sent out? Or were these different…faceless Onyx soldiers with fancy-looking stuff? How many soldiers did Onyx even have?

"Are you here because of the mercenaries?" She asked. She was going to trust this man for now. There was something oddly comforting about him.

"I take it someone told you about the mercenary group? That's supposed to be classified information."

Yeah…her team had a knack for getting themselves into classified situations. Ruby smiled awkwardly. "Well…Operative Greystone told us. You see, a friend of mine should have returned in the afternoon and she didn't and now it's evening and she's still gone and I'm getting sort of worried about her." Why did she have to blurt it out like that?

"Alright, and you are worried this friend of yours is hurt?"

He was still kneeling on one knee to keep himself lowered to her height. His tone was calm and reassuring, but also a little bit condescending. He was treating her like a child. That was good and bad; good because it meant he could and perhaps would help her and bad because Ruby wasn't a child. She needed him to take her seriously, but she couldn't just tell him to.

"We're students at Beacon Academy, and we-"

"I know. I said Rose, right?"

"I –what?" He knew?

The giant soldier got up and gestured at the working soldiers with his head. "I'll be honest with you Rose, cause I hate lying. We're hunting a woman you know as Cassandra."

Ruby's stomach jerked violently as she heard that name. She recognized her feeling as burning anger. "I know her alright…" she muttered. Despite her despising that mean lady, she still didn't know whether to actually hate or fear her. Hate for what she had done to Will and –if her assumptions were right, which she desperately wished weren't- Alice. "Who is "we"?"

He marched over towards a large computer and Ruby reluctantly followed him, taking two large steps to match his single ones. She knew she had to search for Blake, but she couldn't help but be interested in what was going on here. Could this man help her? Could she pry important information from him? "Just the people you see here. Cassandra brought her men in to protect her, but they won't."

Not that they weren't loyal, but just that they wouldn't be able to keep her safe. A fight was about to start here in Vale and Blake was going to be right in the middle of it. "Are you going to kill her when you get her?"

"That's the idea." The soldier started tinkering with the computer, moving with more elegance than Ruby had thought possible for someone his size. "All the import and export goes through these docks. From here, we can keep an eye on everything that happens."

Dozens of questions popped up into her mind and one of them stood out in particular. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I think you should know what your friend is getting herself into. The White Fang is one thing, Cassandra is another."

Her heart skipped two beats and she slowly reached for her weapon. What did he know? What did he want? Was Blake safe? Had Onyx caught on to her? Should she beat his helmet in with her weapon? No, they would gun her down. Would she escape? Use her Semblance?

Granit turned to face her again. His voice was low and soft, as if he was whispering. "I know Belladonna is ex-White Fang."

Stay calm. Need to stay calm. "Greystone knows too and Yale knows too. There's no need for anything-"

"Rose, relax. It doesn't matter to me."

She halted. "It doesn't?"

He fumbled with a feather on his chest. "No. As a matter of fact, I just want to help."

Ruby frowned for a moment, unsure of what to do. Could she trust him? Could she stake Blake's life on it? "Why?"

"Because right now, she's not the only gal trying to build a better life."

"Can you take your helmet off?"

Granit looked over his shoulder. The soldiers were all busy building up an entire camp. Nobody seemed to pay attention to the lone Specialist and student.

"Sure."

He reached up and placed his large hands on either side of the helmet. He pulled, twisted it to the left and the right, then pulled again. The protective helmet came off and Ruby gasped.

Sharp yellow irises, medium-length hair that slowly transitioned into some feathers at the end, slanted cheekbones. His skin had a greyish tint to it and he had a wickedly-hooked nose. No way he could pass for being human. Granit was a Faunus too!

Before she could say anything, he put his helmet back on again. But she had seen enough; she had seen his calm eyes, his relaxed features. His honest face. She was going to trust him.

"Blake is in trouble," she slowly said.

"Perhaps."

"I need to help her."

"Probably."

She took a deep breath. "Do you know where she is?"

"There is one more meeting between White Fang members going on. Specialist Haze is going to hit it tonight."

Her mind raced to pick off the various possibilities. Blake was there. Sun would come to the same conclusion. They were in danger. They needed to go. "I need to warn them."

Behind Granit, a soldier started yelling at another one. The specialist nodded. "And soon."

"Where can I find them?"

An Onyx soldier joined them with quick, hurried strides. "Sir, Cassandra is making her move. She's targeting Torchwick, just like we thought."

Granit muttered something in a foreign language. "Do you want to find your friend, Rose?"

Ruby hesitated for one second, contemplating who Granit had been talking about. Then she nodded.

"Then saddle up. We are moving out."

The next thing she knew, the soldiers had plucked a few large jeeps out of nowhere and Ruby found herself tucked deep into the passenger seat of a large, black one. There was no door and no roof, just a thick frame above her head and a piece of metal to her side. She had Crescent Rose in her arms, pulling it tightly against her chest.

"Does he know how to drive!" she cried to Granit as a smaller soldier took the wheel.

"He's been trained."

"That's not what I-" the rest of her sentence turned into a high-pitched scream as the driver punched the pedal and sent the jeep from zero to about hundred-and-twenty kilometers per hour in three seconds. Gravitational forces pulled at her small frame and her stomach was doing acrobatics.

Neither Granit, standing in the back at the turret, nor the driver reacted to her scream. That was probably a good thing.

Ruby shakily pulled herself up and fumbled around. "Where is the seatbelt?"

"Gone," cried Granit, who miraculously heard her. "Paramedics had to cut it out."

She squealed and tried to merge with the seat again. This had to be the worst idea ever! Of all time! Were they still in Vale?

Oh heaven, they were still in the city! Urban areas! People!

The jeep lurched to the right, then to the left. A large truck honked its claxon at them and the driver threw the steer around, taking them to the right again.

"Which lane is the right one in Vale?" asked the driver. He sounded younger than Granit.

"The left one," said the specialist.

"No!" Cried Ruby. She got up and flailed around with her arms. "The right one!"

"That's what I said. Left is right."

"No! Right is right!"

"Of course it is. Left."

"No, I meant steer-" another car honked at them and their trained driver raced onto the sidewalk. She cried out in alarm and dodged a flying piece of paper. "The right lane! Go to the right one!"

"Ah." Another big pull at the wheel later and they were where they were supposed to be. The only problem was that they were still racing about twice as hard as was permitted and their wheels screeched in protest with every bend the driver took. Soon, Ruby heard the dreaded sound that she had been expecting for a while now.

"That the police sir?" Asked the driver.

"Yeah, heard them too. Just ignore them."

And a few seconds later, as their jeep barreled through a flower-stand, two police cars appeared behind them. They were flashing their "STOP!" signs and it didn't look like they wanted to have a simple little chat.

"Guys, I think we are in trouble," she said as they raced through a complicated bend in the road.

"Want me to shake them, sir?" the driver asked and he pulled out a gun.

"Do it."

Alarm grasped Ruby's heart in an iron grip. Onyx soldiers had a big problem with seeing the difference between friend and foe; if they saw getting to Torchwick and Blake as their mission…and the Police threatened to get in their way…it would be a bad day to be the police.

"Wait!" She unfolded her scythe, jumped up from her seat and took aim at the nearest vehicle. She did as her uncle had taught her, waited a split-second and then shot the tire out.

The tire exploded as her round tore through it and the effects on the police car were immediate; it spun out of control, knocked into the other car and took the both of them into a different lane.

The driver put his gun away. "Nice shot. Saved me a flare."

"Ehm…flare?" It occurred to Ruby that Granit was manning the enormous canon on the rear of the jeep, but that he hadn't used it on the police. "You…you weren't going to shoot them?"

"Of course not, who've you been hanging around with that they would have shot local law enforcement?"

She grumbled and put her weapon away again. "Nevermind…you weren't going to shoot anyone…" Had she spent too much time around those without a moral compass, the likes of Will and…well, Alessa in a way? Expecting the worst when she should have seen the simple things coming? It was good to see that not everybody in Onyx had such screwed ideas of engagement, but…did it say something about her that she immediately jumped to conclusions like that?

The driver didn't respond to their conversation. Instead, he tapped a few buttons and put up a holographic display. Red lights were flaring on and off on various locations and blue things that Ruby took to be buildings were randomly popping up from a cubicle ground. It didn't make a lot of sense. "We got hostile targets. Lots of hostile targets. Sir if I'm seeing this right, Cassandra and Torchwick are breaking off."

If he was seeing this right? If he was seeing what right? There wasn't anything to see! It was a cute little holomap, but that was it!

"Breaking off? Who else is there?"

"Seeing massive heat-signatures. Shit, they've got an Atlesian paladin there…at least a dozen foot-mobiles…gunships in the area. Yeah, there's trouble."

"Then get to them!" cried Ruby. "Quick! I'll get the team together!"

"Ruby…we're not after Torchwick here."

"Then drop me off and do what you need to do."

"Got it."

~0~

"No, I know you! You –my father warned me for you!"

"I just need info, Construct."

"No! You are the bad man! I won't-"

"You don't know half how bad I am. Tell me where Ironwood is!"

"I am not going to! Leave me alone, you frighten me! I'll…I'll hurt you!"

"Have it your way. Authorization code Sierra zero-one-one, zero-zero-seven, Delta-niner. Where is General James Ironwood?"

"I…he…no! I won't…he…Beacon…Beacon Academy."

"That wasn't so hard, was it?

---

Unidentified hospital, 20:49

Without any regard for the blue-haired boy desperately trying to keep up with her, Yang thundered up the stairs in her journey to find room seventeen. This wasn't what was supposed to happen! This wasn't supposed to get in their way of finding Blake! Why did Junior have to get his kicked like that? Besides her, who could have possibly wrecked the pace like that?

"Can you like, go a bit slower?" Neptune asked her when they reached the third floor.

"One more floor to go," she replied, somewhat harsher than she would have liked. She knew that it wasn't Neptune's fault that things were going like this; he had offered to help, that was good enough on its own. But none of this was eve necessary! Why did Blake have to stay away like that? What had happened to her that she couldn't trust her team with this? Was she hurt? Scared?

And why did Will blow them off like that? What errand did he have to run that was more important than finding Blake? There were Onyx soldiers creeping around Beacon and to top it off, the Nightclub had been messed-up badly. Someone had gotten to Junior, that was for sure, but who? He was her information broker! Not someone else's!

Hospitalized…even after the beating she had given him when they had first met, he had only taken a few days at most to recover. But according to the lady at the counter, he had been here for a while.

They reached the fourth floor and Yang took a quick look around. There were hallways and those had doors in them. Simple and convenient. Great.

"Is it just me, or do you look agitated?"

"My partner is missing, my friend is going missing and neither of them will just tell me what's eating them. So yes, I am agitated."

Neptune fell quiet while they looked for Junior's room. And for a few seconds, the only sounds that served to distract her from her thoughts were those of their footsteps. Then, Neptune spoke up again. "Your friend. Greystone, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well…he did say he would hunt me down if something happened to you. So I guess he cares."

Despite her bottled-up frustration, Yang chuckled. "That sounds like him alright. I wouldn't worry about that if I were you." She spotted the number they were looking for and approached the door.

"So he wasn't serious?" Neptune sounded relieved.

"Oh yeah, he totally was. It's just that nothing's going to happen to me."

"Alright then…awesome."

Yang grinned. Ruby was right; the new guys really could help, in their own way. "You ready for this?"

"As ready as I'm ever going to get."

She knocked on the door, loud.

"Who's there?" demanded a panicked voice.

"Open up and find out," she replied.

For a few seconds, it was silent. Then…"Blondie? That you?"

"Who else? Do I need to bash the door down? Cause I'll do it in a heartbeat."

She half expected Junior to tell her to go away, or to yell that she couldn't bash down his door in a hospital. What she didn't expect was his bearded face opening the door for her.

"Come in."

She didn't show her surprise and walked past him, entering his room. It was a small little thing, really. One TV, one bed and a closet. "Geez Junior, what happened to you?"

He grunted and closed the door again, but not before giving Neptune a weary look. "Who's this clown?"

"Don't worry about him, worry-"

"I'll damn well worry about whoever I want to!"

Yang frowned. She hadn't expected this. "What happened to you?"

The man grumbled angrily and sat down on the bed. She noticed that he was walking with a clutch and that he had bandages around his waist. "You're Beacon, right? Both of you?"

"Not him. Why?"

Junior hesitated. "For the past weeks, I've…I feel like I've had a target on my back." He was fumbling with his hands and he seemed to refuse to meet her eyes. "Hell, when I heard your voice, I was relieved."

Yang grunted. "Can't have that."

"I know."

"So what happened?"

The broker looked at the window and sighed. "Some time ago…'bout two weeks or so…someone paid my club a visit."

Two weeks? Couldn't have been them; they had been going to the North. "Who?"

"Something called a 'Brawler'."

Junior had been quivering when he said that, but that was nothing compared to the shivers that ran down Yang's back. She gasped and stepped back from Junior, as if he was contaminated. Memories of a gloved fist flashed through her head and she remembered the utter blackness that had followed, before there could have been any pain.

"What's a Brawler?" Neptune asked, but neither of them responded to him.

Junior eyed Yang with a suspicious look and said, "So you know that thing too?"

"Blackwood…" she whispered. "Blackwood attacked your club? What about your men-"

"Dead."

Yang looked away. "I'm sorry."

"The girls live though."

"They do? He spared them?"

Junior laughed. It was a choking sound, completely devoid of any humor. Bitter to the bone. "Nah. Didn't get enough time to finish toying with them. Soldiers came barging in."

"Soldiers? What happened then?"

"I don't know! I was lying on the ground with a broken back."

Yang sucked her breath in through her teeth. "Ouch."

"Yeah…it was fun. They were talking about offing me and the twins, just because we saw this thing."

Yup. That took any doubt away from the situation. Onyx was involved. "And when I came knocking on your door…"

"…I expected one of them to pop me one in the face."

"Guys, who's Blackwood?"

Yang opened her mouth to answer him, but then she stopped herself. What could she tell him now? Junior would know a secret, but…could she trust them with this?

"I don't need to know anything," growled Junior, as if he had heard her think. "I want protection. You here for information? You find a way to protect me from whoever those people are."

"Before any of that…do you know what Blackwood wanted? Why was he there?"

"He-" Junior stopped himself as well. They were so alike. "Eh…it…whatever. It showed me a picture. I told him to look for Beacon."

Yang's arms fell to her side. "You…you what?"

Junior's eyes snapped up to meet hers. "This monster just tore through my best men in half the time you did, tortured the Malachites in even less than that and had me by my throat! I wanted him gone and Beacon has more firepower than an army! So yeah, I sent him to Beacon! What, he didn't go there?"

She didn't reply. This had been two weeks ago...Blackwood had found them somewhere in the North. If he had been going to Beacon, why go after their teams? That didn't make sense. "Who was on that picture?"

"Some lady in white." He pulled a face, like he was remembering something. "Had a cloak like snow."

White cloak. Summer. Mother.

Yang sat down on the bed and buried her face in her hands. Blackwood was looking for a dead woman. Why? Why mother?

Neptune placed a hand on her shoulder and took over. "I think we can make a deal."

Junior snorted. "What, you?"

"Me. I've…got contacts with Onyx."

But he had come after them in the North. Not Beacon. Not the grave. Not Mantis. Not Will.

"Who?"

"The soldiers looking for this Brawler-thing. Never heard of Onyx?"

"They've been on the news. Something to do with the White Fang and some whacko. They're the guys?"

"They're the guys. You tell us what we want to know and we can tell them off. Deal?"

"Fine. What do you want to know?"

"The White Fang and Roman Torchwick. A mercenary group and someone called 'Haze'."

"Torchwick and the Fang? They work together?"

"Yes."

After team RWBY. After Ruby.

"Here's what I know, alright? Not the full picture. Torchwick came to get some of my guys. They didn't return. He paid up front, but when he got busted, I did some digging. Apparently, he and the Adamant Clan have bad blood together. Right now, he's doing something big and nobody is allowed in, unless you're good. And then…I don't know a damn thing about the White Fang, except that they are holding meetings to get support."

"And the mercenaries?"

"Hired by a woman I've come into contact with once. Hated it. Obsessed with control and dominance. I haven't the faintest idea what she wants, but the mercenaries aren't the subtlest type. Vacuo PMC-"

"PMC?"

"Private Military Contractors. Hardcore, those guys. Involved with some bloodbath in a small town in Vacuo Last I heard, they were spotted on the docks a day ago. I don't know where they are moving now."

Yang took a deep breath. If there was one thing she understood from all this, it was that they were all in deep trouble. They needed to bail Blake out and get Yale to give some damn answers. "The White Fang meetings are our best shot." There was no way that she was going to appear weak in front of a guy, let alone two she barely knew.

"Hold on, what about my protection? We had a deal, blondie."

Junior was the least of her troubles right now. She had to get to Ruby, now. "Neptune? Get Sun on the line. Junior? I'm giving you a number."

"Who?"

"Operative Greystone. He'll patch you in with someone who can offer you a spot at Beacon."

"What!"

"Don't complain!" Yang snapped. "Beacon is your best shot now. Not even Blackwood can get in there on his own."

"Not complaining about Beacon, girl. The name! I know it. Thought I recognized it sooner. They busted him on the news, he-"

"Yeah yeah, I know. The news isn't the best source of info. Greystone is a friend of mine. Forgot to mention that."

Junior swallowed and nervously pulled at his bandages.

"If you want protection from Onyx, you need to get in contact with Onyx. Just make sure that you don't talk. About any of this."

Despite the situation he was in, the broker smirked. "I didn't get this far by talking, blondie."

"And I didn't get this far by compensating. Make sure you live through this; I don't want to look for a different informant."

"Right. Am I allowed to know what you're even looking for now? Still the same?"

"No! No." Junior was risking a lot here and he had lost even more. He deserved at least something. "Someone I deeply care about is stuck in this mess. And I am going to get her out of it. What is it?"

Neptune had been trying to get her attention. "Yang, do you know an Alice?"

Mantis. "Yeah. What about her?"

"She's helping Sun and Blake to attend a White Fang meeting."

"What!" Junior and Yang simultaneously shouted.

"I know. And there's more; Torchwick is there. This "Alice" girl is pressing to kill him. And…I lost the connection."

"Damnit! We got to find them! Where are they?"

He shrugged. "Sorry, don't know."

Yang turned to Junior to explain, but he was already looking away. "Go. Just go. I'll give this stupid plan of yours a shot as soon as you leave. Get your pal."

She moved towards the door, then hesitated. "Thanks."

---

White Fang meeting, coordinates pending. 20:46

"You didn't need to do that."

"He'll live."

"That's good, right

Blake glanced at the dumpster again, where Alice had just dumped the body of a massive White Fang bouncer. One she had knocked out with two hits, one elbow-thrust to the solar plexus and one palm-strike to the chin. It reminded her of a certain other Operative who could take out opponents with single strikes. "I guess so. He was searching for Faunus-parts."

The ex-Operative donned the mask that she had plucked from the unconscious body. With the cloak and the hood over the mask, she looked menacing. "Wouldn't want a human here."

Sun nervously plucked at his vest. "Right. So what part of this plan is safe again?"

"Secrecy is on our side," said Blake. "They won't know we're here unless we reveal ourselves."

"I get that, but…"

Alice walked towards the entrance of the meeting. "But what?"

Sun cringed and Blake could feel her nerves starting to act up. That was bad; she wasn't supposed to feel nervous now. This had been a stealth-operation, something she excelled at. But now that Sun had found them…or now that they had allowed themselves to be found by him, really…things were different.

She didn't know what had come over her when she had seen him sneaking around, asking for a girl with a bow. Perhaps a part of her wanted to show others that Alice wasn't a danger. Perhaps she had been feeling guilty about not thinking about her friends here. Whatever it was, she had pulled him into the alley and…well, here they were. About to infiltrate a hall with hundreds of angry Faunus and Sun and Alice were already displaying an amazing show of tension towards each other.

And Blake could understand. She could see why Sun was nervous about this; Alice was an ex-Operative, who were not exactly known for their mercy and compassion. She visibly disliked Sun and made no attempt to hide the fact that she was a killer. Blake had had to stop her from murdering at least three individuals tonight alone. Two White Fang, one drunkard in an alley.

But on the other hand, she also understood why Alice was so apprehensive about Sun. She had probably spent a long time running from everyone around her, fighting to stay alive. Hunted by Onyx, without friends or allies. Her paranoia against the people around her was justified.

In a way, the ex-Operative was what she would have been had she not gone to Beacon. All alone, on the run and living by killing. Always the killing. Alice had that in common with Will; both of them didn't understand why they would need to let people live. As if taking lives was a second nature, a reflex. Groomed and matured to dangerous proportions. It reminded her of how Adam had become…and she didn't want to see another friend go like that. Adam had needed someone to stop him and Alice needed someone to stop her too.

Which was why it was useful to have Sun around. He provided the comic-relief and distractions needed to remind them of the good things. If only everyone saw him that way.

"But nothing!" The monkey-buy quickly said, holding up his hands. Poor Sun, he had to be so confused right now. "It's just that a Faunus can recognize another Faunus. What if someone with a sensitive nose notices you as a human?"

"They won't. "

"But-"

Blake interfered. "Sun, she got the drop on me twice. No normal member is going to spot her."

"Alright. If you say so."

With that out of the way, the three of them were free to advance. The hall was just ahead and Blake could already hear the shouting and muttering of a hundred people, gathering because of fear, hatred or peer-pressure.

"So can I ask how this happened? I mean, I can, right? When you and I met, you were running from Onyx."

Blake winced as Alice replied. "I'm not Onyx. I defected over a year ago."

"No offense meant, of course. Just wanted to know."

"Sure." That sounded sarcastic.

They slowly made their way through the crowd, moving towards the front. Talking now would be dangerous, but there were things that Blake needed to know.

"So how do we take care of the way home?" she subtly asked.

"What?" said a surprised Sun.

"Depends on the weather. If it gets bad, we run for it," said Alice. "If it stays dry, we can just walk."

When in trouble, wing it. When safe, play it safe. Blake could get behind that.

Another large Fang member appeared, this time on the podium a dozen meters ahead. He had a face-covering mask and black tattoos on his arms, which were perfectly visible from that distance. Blake didn't recognize him.

"Brothers and sisters of the White Fang," he started with a thundering voice.

"Do you know him?" asked Alice.

"No."

"We live in a time of danger. Between the humans out there making our lives intolerable and the Schnee Dust Company making slaves out of us, someone else is now actively hunting is."

"Who?" said Sun. Blake and Alice just stared at him.

"I am talking, of course, about the shadow-organization calling itself 'Onyx'. They are out to drive Faunus-kind to extinction-"

Now it was Blake's turn to be surprised. "What?

"-and they are relentless in their hunt. Hundreds of our family has fallen to their crusade. Recently, one of their butchers was brought to light by the intelligence of one of our partners."

Partners? Who was he talking about? Had Torchwick found out that particular piece of information?

"But it is not enough. To survive, we need more allies. And tonight, I will introduce you to one of our special allies. He will allow us not only to survive, but also to WIN this conflict of ours!"

And none other than Roman Torchwick stepped up to the front of the podium, smiling confidently even as the crowd started to protest. A small, pink-haired girl followed him.

"That's him," muttered Alice. Slowly, methodically, her hand slipped down towards a weapon. She had been doing that the entire time now, Blake realized, but she had only spotted it now. Had she been planning to kill Torchwick this entire time?"

"What are you doing?" she hissed. "We need answers."

"Something's off. Something's wrong."

"That's probably his human-hating speech," said Sun. And he was right; Torchwick was rattling on about humans being bad and how they were the root of all evil. There were some points that Bake didn't think that farfetched though; the points about the governments and the military in charge of control forcing the hands of many a Faunus. That was right. But the rest, about the schools being responsible for their lot in life? The human children attending education, young and filled with hope, to blame for the racism of the previous generations? That was nonsense. Or, as Lisa would put it, bullshit.

But the rest of the people didn't seem to disagree with him. On the contrary; they were cheering and waving. How low had her brothers and sisters fallen to cheer for a human that was demanding the blood of the innocent. The more things she witnessed, the more she was starting to think that Onyx had it right.

And then Torchwick revealed a massive robot, easily twenty feet tall.

"Whoa…that's a big robot."

"Where did he get that?"

"Atlesian ordnance," commented Alice. She crossed her arms and slightly raised her head, as if appraising the robot. "Heavy battle-suit, scavenged from an old Onyx design that was discarded."

"That's great, but how do you kill it?" muttered Sun.

"Simple. The joints in its arms have sacrificed protection for mobility, the cockpit is vulnerable but only from the sides, the weapons are prone to overheating and can be destroyed if targeted when fired. There are a dozen weak points."

"Do you know them?" asked Blake.

"Of course. I know the weak points of every major combat-able construct in Remnant. So does everyone else in Onyx. The education was…thorough."

Sun chuckled nervously. "That's awesome. At least we know what's going to be killing us."

People started applauding and yelling and Blake turned to face the ex-Operative. "We should get out of here."

The giant White Fang member started talking again. "Will all new recruits move to your left?"

Many a young Faunus was joining the queue, but then something exploded in the distance and the building shook on its foundations. People started screaming and Blake looked around.

"What was that?" yelled Sun as pieces of ceiling crashed down.

"It's Onyx!" screamed one of the White Fang members in a panicked voice. "They've found us!"

"We're going to die!"

"Get your weapons!"

Alice huffed. "If this were Onyx attacking, they'd all be dead already. No, this is something else."

Another explosion and the windows exploded, showering the people below with shards of glass.

Blake saw Torchwick looking around in an annoyed expression, searching the crowd for something he could blame. His gaze passed over Alice, the Faunus to her left and Sun…before finally settling on her.

His eyes widened and he frowned.

"He's found us," muttered Sun. "If any of you ladies want to do something, now would be a good time."

"He can't see us in the dark!" Blake pulled her weapon, making sure to keep a close eye on Alice, then shot the junction box on the wall. The lights went out in the entire building and it was only when she yelled at her friends to head for the broken window that a new realization shot through her, causing her stomach to clench in horror.

Alice can't see in the dark!

But it was already too late. She and Sun jumped through the ruined remains of what had once been a large window and behind them, they heard the mechanized sounds of power activating the Atlesian robot. And that wasn't the only source of problems. The building they left behind might have been hot, but the streets were even more filled with danger.

There were jeeps and droids and soldiers, all of them clad in brown and yellow and armed to the teeth. They had been responsible for the shakes in the warehouse, firing at the entrenched White Fang guard with improvised artillery.

Blake and Sun seemed to have caught them by surprise. That, or none of the soldiers had expected two lone teens to jump through a ragged glass hole to escape a shelled building. Or perhaps it was the humongous robot that crashed through the wall, flattened a jeep and forcing half a dozen people to the ground, before proceeding to chase down said teens. Whatever the cause was, Blake felt a sense of relief that she they were able to make it to the roofs in time.

It quickly disappeared.

"Where is Alice?" she shouted.

Sun dodged a salvo of rifle-fire from one of the men down below, who were now mounting their vehicles to chase them down. They were obviously better prey. "Shesaridthingie!"

"What?"

More gunshots and Sun jumped closer to her "She's riding on the back of the robot-thingie!"

"She's what?" Blake risked a look over her shoulder and spotted the Atlesian monstrosity racing after them with a cloaked figure on the top. Alice had discarded her mask and had hitched a ride on the mech, which followed them over the broad street even as they jumped from roof to roof.

"We're going to need some back-up!" yelled Sun.

"No!" she snapped back. "We can do this!"

The soldiers that had come from nowhere were now actively following them, taking care to stay behind Torchwick in his robot. There were a total of four jeeps and two of the tank-like APC's. Where had they come from? Who were they even? Were they White Fang? Or were these the same criminals they had fought all those weeks ago, back with a vengeance?

"You sure?"

Blake cursed under her breath and watched Mantis dislodge several pipes and cords on Tochwick's droid before swinging herself off and landing on one of the jeeps. She kicked the gunner on the back in the head, fired off something from her wrist and hit the driver, then turned to face her.

"It's her!" yelled Alice. "Cassandra's men!"

"What is she saying?" asked Sun.

Blake didn't reply. She watched the young soldier force the truck off the road, after which she disappeared altogether.

Cassandra…the one who had tortured the both of them? Will with a crowbar and Alice with something even worse? Why would it be her? How did Alice know? What was going on here!"

The jeeps opened fire as well as Torchwick and the combined hail of bullets tore the surrounding asunder. Then something just…blazed over their heads with a thundering roar and half the road disappeared in a flash of white. A mechanical roar was all that Blake could make out from whatever it was, but two of the jeeps were now gone. Whether they were dead didn't matter; they weren't here to kill them now.

"We need help," she yelled, before pulling her scroll out. "And fast." Her legs were burning and her chest was heaving, but she wasn't tired. The thrill of adrenaline was too prominent for that.

While she flashed a call for help to her team, occasionally interrupted by the panicked shrieking of a terrified Sun Wukong, they managed to make it to the highway. They jumped down a busy street with lots of cars and then the sounds of rotating chopper-blades managed to distract Blake from an important jump. A chopper flew through her field of vision and she slipped, frantically reaching for the side of a passing bus. One hand managed to wrap itself around a metal frame and she slammed against the iron sheath, which knocked the breath out of her.

The wind tore at her body and her hair flailed in her face. If she fell now, there was a pretty good chance she'd get messed up by the traffic. They were moving at high speeds now and a single slip-up would mean death.

"Blake! Hold on!"

Sun jumped after her just as Roman fired his gun again. The ground underneath the bus exploded and the next thing Blake knew, she and her friend were both flying through the air, over the railing and then towards the road below.

The sensation of her body smashing into something solid was immediately banished from her mind when an incredible lance of pain shot through her leg. She had landed all wrong…her leg was folded all wrong underneath her body and it felt like a hundred tiny knives were stabbing her. She couldn't help it; she screamed.

"Blake, you alright? What's wrong?"

But she was moving. The solid under her feet was moving. "Are we…in a car?"

"The timing was pretty wicked, yeah. She showed up just in time."

"Alice?"

"That's me," said a voice to her left. Blake couldn't see who it was, as her vision was blurry. She took a few deep breaths and tried to fight through the pain. Her leg had to be broken. She couldn't stand, couldn't lean, just crawl. Crawl and sit like a deer caught in a headlight.

"What's going on?" shouted Sun. "Who are these guys?"

Another chopper flew past them. It looked like an airship with large rotators attached to the sides. It was firing at them with heavy machineguns, perforating the road with hundreds of rounds.

"Mercenaries," Alice yelled back. She still appeared to be driving the truck skillfully, swirling from the left to the right to avoid all kinds of attacks. "They're not firing on Torchwick, they must be allies of the Fang!"

The pain in Blake's leg intensified and she blurred out again. She heard the roar of a motor, gunshots and an explosion, then an oddly muffled voice calling her.

"Blake, is that you on that truck?"

Truck? Blake thought. Are we on a truck? She hadn't seen it. Sun was gone, too; he had leapt off the truck to attack a rapidly approaching Torchwick and though the call had warned her, she was still somewhat surprised to see Yang on her motorbike chasing them. Two cars behind her, Neptune on Torchwick's shoulders, Sun helping him,

Then something happened, her vision blurred again, and both Sun and Neptune were sailing through the air, flailing with their arms as they were flung off the highway. It would have been amusing to see, had her body not been spasming out with stress and pain.

"Hold on!" Alice cried and more traffic poured onto the road. More shots impacted on their truck and their tires gave out, nearly sending the vehicle spinning out of control, Torchwick didn't seem to care; a car less or more didn't make a difference to him, judging by how idly he was flinging the civilian-driven cars off the road. If those people were protected by their Aura, it was alright. If they weren't…

"Is that Yang?" Blake asked. She went for her weapon and aimed around, hoping to see something she could hit tot to take the heat off of them.

Plenty of targets. Three of the airships, two jeeps and one Yang that needed covering fire. But where should she start? Probably with gaining control over her arms…they wouldn't stop quivering.

"Blake, I'm in position!"

Another message flared on her scroll, another one of her friends threw herself into a deadly fray. Where were they coming from? Why were they doing this? She had abandoned them for a hunt!

Weiss appeared on a bridge above. One of the choppers turned to target her, but heavy rounds coming from a location below tore it to pieces. Weiss then jumped off and drove her Myrtenaster deep into the concrete, creating a massive patch of ice. At the same time, Yang's motorcycle activated a boost and drove itself into the back of the massive robot, forcing the thing onto the ice and immediately ruining its balance. It slipped, crashed over the railing and onto the ground below.

Unfortunately, their vehicle was about to follow them. It rammed through the railing as well and then, things started happening really fast. Alice bashed the door open and lunged for Blake, grabbing her by her waist and hauling her off her feet. "This is gonna suck."

The Faunus shrieked in pain as her broken leg brushed against the metal plate of the top of the truck, which was rapidly falling. Alice shot something off her wrist in mid-fall and a thin cable erupted from a thin device, which wrapped itself around a metal frame a few meters above them. But just as they were ascending –or as the truck was falling down from beneath their feet- the railing gave away and they fell again. Hard. Alice spun them around in the brief window of opportunity she had to react.

They impacted on the concrete below and the pain in Blake's leg reached new levels. She had landed on top of Alice, who had cushioned the blow by shifting positions.

"Blake, you okay?"

She coughed a few times and looked at her leg. It didn't look to swollen and she hadn't heard something crack, but it hurt badly and she was feeling dizzy. "I hurt my leg." She grunted and tried to crawl away from the ruined wreckage of the car. "I'll live."

She hoped.

The Atlesian droid was still on its feet. As Yang and Weiss positioned themselves next to Blake and Alice, it aimed at them with its lasers, obviously getting ready to unleash hell.

Blake took a deep breath and prepared herself to move on her broken leg, but the attack never came. A jeep came skidding around the corner, plunged through half a building and fired off a red missile, which tore through the paladin with amazing speed and sliced off the lower portion of one of its arms. It happened so fast that Blake could barely follow it.

"About time you showed up," Yang remarked, readying her gauntlets.

A small, hooded form stood up from amidst the smoke, carrying a massive scythe. "I was distracted!" Ruby Rose said with a deceptively cute voice. It did not fit with the image of her using the momentum of a speeding car to tear through a massive droid, but it was the best thing Blake had heard all evening.

"Get back," Yang told Blake. "Weiss, take care of that injury. Mantis, you're up."

Alice didn't complain about the usage of her Operative-name, or about the command. She looked down at Blake with a hint of worry, then at Weiss, who seemed apprehensive to approach. Then she stood up without a word and joined team RWBY in facing down the massive droid.

"Let's do this," said Ruby. "Yang, Mantis, covering fire! Weiss, get Blake to cover. Granit-"

What was a Granit?

"Flare!"

Weiss kneeled next to Blake and gently picked her, placing one arm underneath her back and another one near her knees. Blake could see the jeep clearer now; there were two Onyx soldiers; a small one that stood near the back and a bigger one that was marching over towards Ruby with a small gun in his hand. He was as big as the White Fang trooper Alice had knocked out.

The droid was about to open fire when both Yang as Mantis leaped at it. The white shots it fired went wide and the two girls smashed into it, each with wildly different results. Yang tore through metal plates and armoured components as if they weren't there and dug one of her gauntlets deep into its shoulder-pad, using the other one to unleash several blasts of intense heat that scorched the plating. Alice hopped over its hydraulic-powered arm with an elegance that surpassed that of many a Hunter and pried something loose with a thin blade. She pushed herself off and something in the back of the droid exploded, sending it tumbling forwards.

"Sorry Blake," Weiss muttered and placed Blake down against one of the pillars that held the highway up. It hurt. "We'll be here for you soon."

The large Onyx soldier that seemed to answer to the name Granit took aim at the Atlesian robot and Yang jumped off just in time for him to open fire. The tiny gun went off with a cannon-shot and a massive flame erupted from the barrel, spherical and blinding, which sped towards Torchwick faster than he could react. It splashed across the chest-plating and Blake had to avert her eyes to prevent being blinded. She could still hear Ruby's voice though.

"Yang, Weiss, cover!"

Metal creaked, stone shattered and Blake rubbed her eyes in an attempt to clear her vision. Why was everything blurry-white? Had the flare blinded her? What-

Ah. Like that. One of Ruby's combos. Weiss had frozen the ground and Yang had detonated it, coating their surroundings in a frosty mist.

Where was everyone? The droid was clearly thundering around with massive footsteps, using various sets of laser-pointers to find targets, but where was her team? Where was Alice and where were the Onyx soldiers?

The massive plating across the droid's chest had been boiled away completely, revealing a red glow where the metal was still molten. What sort of flare had that been? An anti-tank weapon fired from a sidearm? Had it been aimed at the cockpit, Torchwick would have been a goner. Luckily that hadn't happened, but…an Onyx soldier, not going for the kill? What was that about?

Blake caught the outlines of someone running in the distance and she narrowed her eyes. Torchwick had spotted it too, as the upper torso of the droid spun around and opened fire. The ground erupted underneath someone's feet as the rounds tore through the concrete, but nobody cried out. An illusion? A miss?

She hadn't asked her team to help because of the things that would have to be done. But now? Now that Alice and RWBY were fighting for their lives because of her mistake? She wasn't so sure anymore. She had neglected to trust her team once before and she would have died, had it not been for Ruby's capacity to know when to help. Today was just like then, except it might have also resulted in Sun's death had RWBY not interfered. And now Onyx was here too; she had put Alice in great danger.

If they all survived this, she would never do anything without her team again.

A dark figure darted forth from the mist and latched onto the side of the droid. Before Blake could even see what was happening, the figure detached and jumped away again, having just removed the entire remaining upper arm of Torchwick's robot.

A gunshot went off and a series of thin cables were shot through the Atlesian mecha, which embedded themselves deep into its chassis and went taut. They were difficult to distinguish from the surrounding mist, but they were there. And someone was holding on to them from the other side, pulling at them with considerable strength. Torchwick was nearly pulled off his feet and Blake half expected Yang to appear on the other side of the cables, tearing her foe down with a mighty cry.

But that didn't happen. Ruby and Weiss simultaneously jumped at the robot from the mist, striking at unarmoured joints and weak points. Ruby sliced through a turret on the back, Weiss coated its mid-section in ice and before their foe could retaliate, they jumped off and disappeared again.

Then, something soared overhead again and something on the highway exploded. Alice and the tall soldier appeared again, both of them engaging one of the legs of the robot.

Torchwick couldn't do a thing. RWBY's teamwork was too solid, their attacks too focused. For some reason, even the soldier from Onyx could work together to an impressive degree with the likes of Ruby. The massive robot, armed to the teeth and prepped for war, just couldn't do more than sit there and be whittled down by the sheer accuracy of the attacks.

Had Alice shared its weak-points? Had Ruby figured out how to direct her team without allowing the thing to return fire? Whatever was going, Blake was grateful that nobody was getting hurt. Sun and Neptune hadn't been hit too badly and now, the only one who had been injured badly was her, ironically.

Funny how she had done this to protect her friends, only to end up wounded herself.

More Dust-coated projectiles courtesy of Weiss slammed into the robot. It staggered and, because of the cables attached to its inner mechanisms, lost its balance. It stumbled backwards and visibly struggled to regain its composure. It was now or never.

"Go for the cockpit!" yelled Alice.

And for the cockpit Yang went. She leaped through the air with the greatest of ease, engulfed in a corona of golden fire, and smashed into the giant robot. The intensity of her heat mist drove the mist away, dissipated it as if the haze simply burned away.

The twenty-foot monstrosity was smashed into the ground by the six-foot girl and there it stayed, trailing fire and billowing smoke. Yang pulled her fist back, put it straight through the cockpit and pulled it back, holding Roman Torchwick by his throat.

"Gotcha," muttered Blake.

Yang threw the crook to the ground and kicked at the fallen Atlesian mech for good measure. "Heck, that was easy."

"Blake, are you alright?"

Blake looked up, seeing a flushed Ruby sitting by her side. How did people keep blindsighting her? "Hurt my leg in a fall."

"We'll have that checked out as soon as the officials get here."

She hesitated. "Ruby, why are you here? How did you even get here?"

The girl smiled. "Blake, we know you. I know you. When you didn't appear, we knew there had to be trouble. And we tore the town up to find you."

"Onyx?" she tentatively asked. "Will? Yale?"

"Nope. Will is busy, Yale doesn't know. I encountered a very nice Faunus-soldier, Granit, and he offered me a lift."

"Ruby, Alice is here. Mantis. They'll get to her!"

"I-" Ruby didn't get to finish her sentence. Behind her, Yang attempted to throw a punch at Torchwick, who was shielded by that same girl with pink hair Blake had seen in the gathering. She smiled at Yang, blew her a kiss and waved around with her parasol. It creeped her out.

"Humans, Faunus…Onyx…"

The soldiers shared a visor-look.

"Always a pleasure. Neo, if you would?"

Yang ignored that, tried to punch the thug again and was rewarded with a face-full of glass and ice. It didn't seem to hurt her, but when the shrapnel had fallen, the two criminals were gone.

Behind them, an airship took off. Blake could see both Torchwick as the girl waving at them with smug expressions. They were getting away! "Damnit! Someone stop them!"

Another explosion went off in the distance and on cue, a dozen soldiers rappelled down from the highway, holding guns at the ready in one arm. Two black ships virtually appeared overhead and on the ground, a tri of soldiers came running towards the fray with complicated-looking machines in their arms.

"She's getting away!" yelled the one with what looked like a rocket-launcher.

"Hold your fire, we can't risk a stray shot!"

All of them held their fire.

She? It was Roman they should be worried about!

Seeing all these Onyx soldiers appear from seemingly nowhere, Blake was reminded of just how close on the edge they all lived. Alice needed to get out of here, or they would get her! "Ruby, you have to stop them They'll get Alice!"

"I don't think they will," Ruby replied, staring at the black vehicles. None of them evenbothered to stop near Alice or the fallen droid; the ships went after the escaping Torchwick and the soldiers fanned out in a half circle-formation, moving towards the ruined highway. What were they after? What was going on? Why hadn't they blown the criminal out of the sky!?

"What are they doing?" she whispered. The Onyx troopers passed up on the defected Operative, the lethal security breach, the target they had been hunting for a year. One of them even passed her by so close that their shoulders could have clashed, had Alice not stepped aside. Where were they going? If they didn't think Torchwick important enough to even kill, why were they going after him like this?

Yang and Weiss started bickering about some stupid joke, while the man called Granit moved back to the jeep. The smaller soldier was still standing there with his arms crossed over his chest. He hadn't budged an inch throughout the entire fight, which infuriated Blake in a way she didn't understand.

"Come on Blake," Ruby then said, gently grabbing her arm and placing it over her shoulders to support her. "Let's get out of here."

"What about Mantis?" she tentatively asked. Both Onyx soldiers were still staring at the scene from behind their visors, unmoving, unflinching. The girl in question was staring right back at the, her arms hanging by her side. Blake didn't make the mistake to think that she was relaxed though; she seemed fully prepared for another full-scaled fight.

Granit scraped his throat and everyone went quiet. "I don't see the defector," he said, gesturing at the soldier besides him with his head. "Do you?"

The driver gestured at Alice. "She's standing right there, sir.'

The big soldier dropped his head and Ruby snickered. "As I said, should she be in the vicinity, she had best get out of here before Haze and his team returns."

"That's my cue," muttered the Operative. She glanced at Yang and Weiss, as if expecting them to stop her from leaving. When nobody moved to attack her, she took a few careful steps away from all of them.

And then she turned and ran away, disappearing in-between a few pieces of rubble.

"I think you all should leave as well," said Granit.

Blake didn't agree. Not yet. "Who is Haze?" she demanded.

"Girls, come on. Trooper, time to say goodbye to the nice ladies."

She wasn't going to move. "Why didn't you shoot Torchwick?"

"Blake," Ruby said hurriedly. "We're going."

"But-"

Yang grabbed her shoulder and took over for Ruby. "And you've got some things to explain to us. Now come on, before those planes come back around."

What? What was going on? What did they know that she didn't?

---

The Themeluesi has declared the results of the Catalyst Operation and WALLSTORM to be acceptable. I disagree. The candidates have to be kept in an artificial coma, perhaps for years, and that can have disastrous side-effects on their bodies. Extensive procedures must be carried out to keep them in a moderate condition. To top it off, the Committee has advised the Themeluesi to inform the soldiers about the nature of both WALLSTORM as Catalyst. I disagreed, posing my carefully-constructed arguments against their ethical ones. Of course I won. This has the unfortunate side-effect of meetings being interrupted by hysterical, screaming Operatives and random violence. Eventide declared to be "thoroughly creeped out" when Troopers had to pull a frenzied Whitefire out of that burning truck, but the benefits of secrecy outweigh those of the truth. The Catalyst's amnesia should kick in anyway, pushing the truth down even farther. ACE-tests should be starting as soon as the Operatives are…somewhat lucid."

Professor K. Greene, Chief Scientist of Onyx's science division.

---

Next time: preparations for the Dance go askew, old traumas are relived and the fluff begins anew.