Blake wasted no time and began to head back into the village with the beach as her destination. Hotaru, in the meanwhile, had been pushed back into the library. Yet again, he found himself in a stalemate. He could not hurt Ghira, Kali, or any of the members of the Menagerie Guard just as they could not hurt him, both risking a diplomatic meltdown after being so friendly for the media and the people of the island.
Hotaru was clearly displeased, but he just fixed his suit before going back to the sofa and taking out his zaphyre. The Belladonnas were confused, expecting him to try and escape to then follow Blake. He then sat down and tapped something on his device; once he was done, he placed it back in his pocket and looked at the couple. "Sorry for the way I acted and for what I said Chieftain, madam. I am sure we can amend or explain any disagreements you may have; shall we begin then?" he asked casually as if the previous interaction had not happened.
While on one hand Ghira and Kali were glad he was not going after their daughter, they knew that the businessman was plotting something.
"Of course…" Ghira said skeptically while walking to his desk.
Kali's mother instincts, on the other hand, drove her to dig deeper. "You seemed bothered by something just now; anything we should be concerned with?".
"Just an outlandish idea, really. Someone coming here to sabotage our deal" he said before chuckling at that thought. "It's not something we should be concerned about; I am sure security will be able to sort it out in no time".
That raised red flags for both faunus. "Security?" Ghira asked.
"Protocol, really. I don't think they'll find anything" Hotaru said before staring at them with a knowing look. "Do you think they'll find something… or someone?".
Kali was too scared to keep the act going, she ran towards the balcony and opened the doors to get outside; and when she arrived, her fears were confirmed. All security guards from Seido were gone.
"Now, what were your concerns Chieftain?".
Things escalated quickly for Blake. She managed to get away from the house without raising attention thanks to the Menagerie Guards with her; but once she got to the road back to the beach, she saw a squad of Seido's security men making a blockade, looking at the incoming faunus and walking on her direction.
As quietly as possible, she ran towards an alley and proceeded to climb up to a roof. At first, she relaxed once she made sure the people on the ground had passed where she was without looking for her. She then moved from roof to roof, following the path towards the beach, she immediately stopped, however, once she heard a mechanical swift behind her. She turned around slowly and found herself in front of one of the guards.
"Objective found," the man said with no emotion. That was all the incentive Blake needed to start running. She jumped over a couple of roofs before noticing security guards heading towards her from the other sides forcing her to jump back down. Fortunately for her, the guards did not seem interested in causing a commotion, so some went down the long way while others were keeping her location from atop the roofs. Thankfully, none of the inhabitants seemed bothered by her stunt.
She kept running, pushing people to try and block her pursuers from reaching her until she reached an open square and saw more of them heading her way. She stood still, not knowing what to do until something rushed by and dragged her away in a flash. It took a moment for the panic to kick in and the fact that her mouth was covered by the stranger's gloved hand didn't help. Looking up, Blake saw the person was a man wearing a demon mask along with thick rubber gloves.
Blake squirmed and eventually managed to elbow the stranger on the stomach, making him lose his grip on her and allowing her to get out. She was then ready to threaten the person, but he just rammed into her and covered her mouth once again; but unlike before, he placed his index finger over the mask's mouth and then looked at the alley's entrance where the guards were just passing by without noticing them.
Figuring this stranger was trying to help her, Blake then felt relief when she noticed the straw hat on the man's back. "Raiden?" she whispered when he removed his hand. Immediately after, he pulled the mask up to reveal himself. She sighed in relief and then looked at the mask once again. "Nice thinking. Hiding your face from them, I'm ashamed I didn't think of it first".
Raiden then looked at the alley's entrance again, where a couple of mermaid faunus seemed to be looking for something. "Indeed…" he said softly.
"How did you know where to find me?" Blake then asked him.
"I intended to look for you some time ago. Unfortunately, there were some… inconveniences. When I felt your fear, I knew I had to find you, knowing only one thing would scare you right now".
"Well… the good news is that my father will not help Seido. The bad news is that Hotaru now knows I am here".
Before they could figure out what to do next, however, they then heard a loud stump over them making Raiden put the mask on again. Looking up, they then saw one of the security guards. "Run!" was all Raiden said and they both headed towards the main road once again.
Playing to their favor was that the security guards seemed to have dispersed away while looking for Blake with only a small number now following them. "Can't we teleport now!?" she asked him.
"If I do, I do not just risk revealing myself to the people; some of them might get teleported along with us" he answered back.
Knowing getting back to the main beach would be impossible, Blake took the lead and guided Raiden towards the vegetation. "I have an idea" she proclaimed.
In the end, they ended up reaching what seemed like a run-down sector of Kuo Kuana where a smaller number of people were gathered. Seeing as they were being ignored, Blake then quickly found a specific large building, managed to break the door, and entered along with Raiden before they both placed the now loose board on the frame again.
They remained in complete silence and away from the windows for many minutes until they felt safe.
"Ok; have any plans now?" Blake asked Raiden.
"We should move slowly towards the roof. Once there, we can teleport away, and the sight of lightning would just be a strange happening to the villagers" the thunder god answered back. As they began to move, Raiden couldn't help but notice the now dirty signs, broken furniture, and tattered uniforms and cloaks. "How did you know about this building?" he inquired.
"It was the Fang's main center of operations… at least it was… when my dad was in charge… when they were still good," she said, each sentence carrying more sadness.
Raiden then placed a hand on her shoulder, making her look back. "Although the sins of the past may not be forgotten, they can be replaced by present actions of redemption".
Their exchange was cut short, however, when Raiden saw a quick shadow passing by the window behind Blake. He managed to push her out of the way as one of the security guards broke the window and then tackled Raiden to the ground. Soon after, he grabbed Raiden by his shirt and began to punch the thunder god almost breaking his mask.
Raiden removed his gloves to shock the robot away but that was useless as it seemed to be absorbing the electric blasts. Before he could do anything else, the cyborg was impaled by Blake's katana.
Raiden then removed both the now lifeless body and the broken mask, but the look on each other's faces was telling enough. They both knew they had been found out. The question now was how many there were outside and coming.
"Again, I believe it is self-explanatory, Chieftain Belladonna. The money will be given to the workers directly by their preferred payment method, be it cash or transaction, rather than all to your office to then split it accordingly. Anything else?".
Kali and Ghira were running out of options. They wanted to go into town and help their daughter, they really did, but something told them that what looked like a mild-mannered businessman was capable of more than just giving orders; they knew there was something more sinister and dangerous to him.
Before Ghira could say anything else, though, Hotaru's zaphyre rang. "Excuse me for a moment," he told them before answering the device.
'Target found'.
A voice on the other side of the line said.
Hotaru smiled and then hung up before looking at his hosts for the night. He then stood up and addressed them. "If you will excuse me, I believe there is something I have to secure".
Not long after, Kali moved to block the way to the door. "I believe this is more important, don't you?".
Hotaru stopped, but his smile did not fade. "Indeed, but I believe what I have to get will help the Chieftain make his decision".
"Why?" Ghira asked as he got up from his chair and walked to stand between his wife and Hotaru.
"It's something very precious to you two. Or should I say… someone?".
Any trace of amiability between both sides was finally gone, yet they were on a stalemate. Any serious harm done to either the Belladonnas or to Hotaru would bring nothing but catastrophic consequences to both sides. Be it the founder of what then became a terrorist organization turning on a helping hand from a human who, until this point, is seen as an idol to the faunus, or a human who attacked some of the most important people among the faunus. For now, all Ghira and Kali could do was hold Hotaru back until Blake was able to get out of danger.
Hotaru made the first move, sprinting towards the door and ignoring the giant wall that was Ghira who, in retaliation, was ready to grab him and keep holding onto him. Unexpectedly, however, Hotaru jumped and spun in the air just above the faunus' right arm.
When Hotaru landed, he then charged towards Kali, but the woman was more than ready for him. He went on to grab her hands, but she evaded his left and right grabs. She then did a sweep kick which managed to bring down one leg. The Belladonnas felt victorious for a moment, but then Hotaru got to grab Kali by her arms. He then pulled himself up and used that momentum to spin around along with Kali before letting her go and making her spin towards her husband.
Worried, Ghira went to help his wife and completely ignored the other man. Hotaru then managed to get the door open and ran outside, surprising the guards next to it. He did not stop once he got to the rails; he instead jumped and landed perfectly on the first floor with the main entrance on his line of sight. He looked back one final time and saw the Belladonnas getting to the library's entrance. Giving them an all-knowing grin, he then began to run towards the exit.
Not sure of what was going on, one of the Menagerie Guards looked at the couple. "Mister Belladonna?" was all she managed to ask.
Ghira then released a loud roar, scaring all guards who heard it. "Follow him!" He ordered. "But do not hurt him…" he then added with indignation.
Outside, in the meanwhile, Hotaru was now memorizing where Blake was last seen in the map on his zaphyre. When he reached a group of his security personal, he then looked back and saw the Menagerie Guards heading his way. "Hold them!" he ordered before running once again.
Raiden had managed to slam one of Seido's security drones against a wall. Then he threw another over the first and finished by breaking their skulls with a kick each. With that done, he and Blake had cleared the way to the third floor.
The sound of footsteps getting closer made Raiden go up, but Blake remained still on the first step for a moment. When their enemies arrived, Blake then began to shoot at them, forcing the men to hide while Raiden made all the preparations to barricade the entrance to their current floor.
Once Blake was in, she helped to move chairs while Raiden moved a shelf. "Glad they are not the of saw kind" Blake commented.
"Just a few more floors and we should be able to go without any more problems". Raiden mentioned, but then noticed something that troubled him. Logic dictated that by now they should have been fighting guards coming from the windows. "Something is wrong".
Once he said that Blake also noted that the footsteps from the lower floor were getting further away instead of closer. "Are they… retreating?".
A few seconds later, their answer came in the form of an explosion that shook the entire building, bringing both people to the floor. They managed to get up and ran towards the window finding a growing crowd of faunus, security guards from Seido, and, to their shock and horror, Hotaru, giving the building a cold and analytic stare.
A second but softer explosion was then felt on the top floor by Raiden and Blake. It didn't make them fall, but it did give her an idea of what was going on.
"He is trying to make us leave the building!" she shouted at him.
"Doubtful!" Raiden responded. "If he knew I was here he would be trying to neutralize me before getting to you!".
"Can't you teleport us now!?".
"If I did, the lighting would make the building explode, hurting everyone close by!".
"Then what now!?" Blake asked as the smoke began to come through the boards.
"We need to keep heading up!".
The building was six floors high, being only halfway through and with the added danger of fire, it meant they had to move fast.
Indeed, on their way to the fourth floor, a third explosion was felt, and it did manage to make both people fall. Raiden recovered first and managed to see a piece of the ceiling starting to crumble. Not wasting any time in trying to warn Blake, he just flew towards the girl, ramming into her and accidentally shocking her while also making them both crash against the wall on the fourth floor; and just as Blake was ready to yell at him, she saw the piece of burning wood falling and taking with it the stairs where she was just standing.
To her shock, however, was that this floor was already burning as well with the stairs to the fifth floor also gone. Violent coughs brought her back and she then went to help Raiden. "Are you alright?" she asked the god while also helping him stand up, being careful not to touch his skin.
"Nothing serious… I guess the fire doesn't help me in this form…" he answered back.
"Ok, because we have a serious problem," she said pointing at where the stairs previously were.
Looking at the window once again, they were able to see Seido's guards strategically positioned on the path of the windows.
"He is expecting you to jump" Raiden pointed out.
Blake wanted to answer with a sarcastic way to say 'no'. But a quick look around made her see there were not many options to consider.
Raiden looked as well, but only one idea came to mind. "Do you trust me?" he asked while stretching his open hand towards her.
She didn't say anything. She just looked at him with wholehearted trust and grabbed his hand. Electricity quickly began to go through Blake, but immediately after Raiden pulled her towards him and began to fly upwards towards the roof with enough force as to break it. Soon they were briefly engulfed in fire, but Raiden did not stop and kept going until eventually breaking the next floor and then the last one.
Both were hurting and had burns, but were also still alive, and just as Raiden had stopped flying, he raised his hand and called for a lightning bolt, making them both disappear.
Hotaru's confident smile was quickly replaced by a rage-filled frown. He then found the commanding drone and forced it to face him. "Raiden was with her!?" he asked the cyborg.
"We were aware of a companion. We had not realized it was Raiden as none of the units sent reports of it back".
Hotaru was ready to decapitate the machine right there and then, but then he noticed the crowd that was forming next to the now burning building. Even more, some of the faunus were starting to talk among themselves when they noticed he was there as well.
Knowing that he had to come up with something quick, he then saw both Kali and Ghira arrive. He then turned to look at the building once again and saw a mural of the White Fang symbol burning.
"The White Fang is now, officially, a thing of the past!" Hotaru then proudly proclaimed to the crowd. "Chieftain Belladonna, I know this was a very hard decision to make, but I can assure you that it was the right time as even nature agrees with it!". Hotaru then took a cup filled with who knows what kind of alcoholic concoction and raised it. "To Menagerie!".
The crowd cheered and kept on celebrating as Hotaru then began his departure. One of his men then handed him a checkbook and a pen with which he began to write something. Once he was standing next to Ghira, Hotaru tore one of the papers and handed it to the Chieftain. "I believe this is more than enough to cover the damages. You can tell them we bought the building first" he said, clearly trying to hold back his anger.
Kali and Ghira looked at the paper and back at Hotaru's back. It wasn't until Kali began to giggle that Hotaru stopped. "She got away, didn't she?" she asked with a smug grin while crossing her arms.
Turning back, Hotaru was now able to see both Belladonnas smiling, mocking him. Hotaru just smiled back. "I believe the courtesy is to give you five workdays for you to then tell us your answer on our offer Chieftain. And once your people find out what was on that deal… well… let's just say that if an angry citizen of yours wishes to challenge your position, then the race will finally be interesting. Won't you agree?".
Not threatened at all, Ghira then stepped forward to stand next to Hotaru. "Leave," he told the other man.
"My ship leaves tomorrow Chieftain. Don't worry; you and I both know that the other can't be hurt. Enjoy the party" Hotaru said before turning around once again and leaving for good.
The Belladonnas were not sure in what kind of trouble they were now in; but looking around they did know that Hotaru was right, people will not take it kindly that the deal to turn Menagerie into a true paradise was about to be thrown into the trash.
"We have to trust her" Kali reassured her husband.
Ghira released a heavy sigh. "I know".
Blake hissed as Hanzo rubbed a cotton ball with alcohol over one of her burns. "At least you are not kicking" he commented. "Your aura will help close and heal the wounds, but it is important to help them as much as you can".
"I know… thank you," she said while exchanging a quick smile with the yellow ninja. When they returned to Beacon Raiden and Blake were received by the ninjas and taken to their dormitory once a quick analysis showed her injuries were minor.
The ambiance in the room changed, however, when Hanzo and Blake heard loud footsteps getting closer. "Incoming…" Hanzo said while exhaling.
The door was busted open as Ruby and Yang barged in and tackled the catgirl on the bed followed by a trotting Weiss who stood next to her friends.
Hanzo then met with the rest of his team who then walked into the room. "I told you, she was not in critical condition".
Smoke answered while shrugging. "They left the room after we said slight burns. Teenagers, you understand".
Three 'ehems' then caught everyone's attention towards the hall. In it, stood Ozpin and Raiden for a moment before they headed towards the room.
"Glad to see you well, Blake Belladonna" Raiden said.
"Yes… and once again, thank you," she said standing up and going for a hug only to then pull back at the last second.
"Do not worry; the effect of the spell has worn off" Raiden reassured her.
The hug was interrupted, however, once Ozpin also entered the room. "Raiden tells me the mission was a success" Ozpin mentioned.
"Yes, sir!" Blake told him; her face then showed concern of some kind which the headmaster quickly noticed.
"Do not worry, Miss Belladonna. I'll make sure your parents are told all that is happening. You can all rest for the day".
With that said, both Raiden and Ozpin left but said nothing until they were outside the dormitory building.
"Are you thinking the same I am thinking?" Ozpin asked.
"Unfortunately, I am. This will be a major setback for their plans; they will grow desperate and unpredictable".
"What do you think their next move will be?" Ozpin asked, but the silence from Raiden was telling enough.