Darkbloom
Chapter 15
The next day, Jaune and Cinder met Blake at the ground floor of the hotel, their weapons prepped and ready. Once they stepped into view, Blake rested a hand on her hip.
"I got your message about bringing my gear," she said to Jaune. "What's this about?"
Jaune hesitated for a moment. There was no easy way to put what had to be said, but that was no excuse for not trying to present it with at least a little bit of tact. He opened his mouth to respond.
"We intend to cross the White Fang off our list of suspects," Cinder said. "Know where we might find them?"
Jaune closed his mouth, a tired sigh escaping him. Blake's eyes narrowed, but she thankfully didn't argue, instead looking around cautiously.
"Walk with me," she said in a hushed voice. "And for the record, don't mention the White Fang so loudly – the less attention that's drawn to us, the better. And I don't just mean from the White Fang themselves."
She pushed her way through the hotel's doors, and they all stepped out onto the streets. Blake led them through Vale, talking in a quiet voice the entire time.
"I do know a few of their regular hideouts," she informed them. "At least, the ones they wouldn't want to change unless they had to – too many men and too much materiel to move at once; they'd risk being discovered if they tried to move it all so suddenly."
"Makes sense, I suppose," Jaune offered. "Where are we looking?"
"The bad part of town, mainly," Blake said. "Most of the Faunus in Vale live in the low-income part of town. Generally speaking, the Vale Police Department won't go into that part of town – that means the White Fang are generally left to run things by themselves."
"Great…" Jaune muttered. "Sounds like we're walking directly into the hornet's nest."
"That's an apt description," Blake admitted. "We're going to attract attention to ourselves the instant we step into that side of town. Not only two humans, but a traitor to the White Fang? We'll have a target on our backs."
"Then we will simply have to get in and out as quickly as possible," Cinder said. "What is the biggest, most important target we could possibly hit?"
Blake blinked, surprised. "...You're serious," she surmised. "You really want to hit the hardest target we can, right from the get-go? Are you mad?"
"Actually, I think it makes sense," Jaune interjected. "I mean, think about it – the most likely place they'd have Ruby would be the most secure one, right? And even if she isn't there, I'd bet their branch leader would be, and he would know if they were involved or not."
"Hm… I suppose it does make a little sense when you put it like that," Blake admitted. "But still, we need to be careful with how we approach this."
"And we will be," Cinder told her. "For now, lead us there. I think we will need to do some scouting beforehand."
A short while later, the three of them found themselves on top of a nearby abandoned building, perched atop the roof. Jaune was leaning over the side of the building, squinting his eyes as he stared into the windows of a warehouse across the street.
"This the place?" Jaune asked.
"It is," Blake confirmed with a nod. "This is where the White Fang keeps most of their contraband, at least in Vale. Guns, ammo, military rations, explosives… they've got a little bit of everything in there."
Jaune let out a low whistle. "That's a lot of firepower. Are we sure this place isn't going to just explode the moment we kick in the door?"
"It'll be fine," Blake assured him. "Most of that stuff is inert unless an electric current passes through it."
"'Most?' That's not exactly encouraging…"
"It is of no consequence," Cinder interjected, impatient. She stepped up next to Jaune, peering into the building alongside him. "Hm… what do you think, Jaune?"
"You're asking me?" he said, surprised.
"But of course. Where do you think we should start?"
Jaune brought a hand up to his chin in thought. He searched around the building once more, taking in all the sights he could. The front of the warehouse was guarded by a pair of rifle-toting White Fang members, in uniform even – apparently, nobody here cared about how blatant they were; it was the middle of the day, and yet other Faunus were passing by them without even a look. That told Jaune right away that the direct approach was likely the wrong choice – the armed guards wouldn't prove to be much of a threat compared to Cinder and Blake, but the bystanders would be an issue.
That left the windows, though admittedly, Jaune didn't quite like those as an option, either – they were all tinted, and many of them were covered in iron bars or chain link, sealing them off from the outside completely. Even if they could get through those, if they ended up in the wrong room, the White Fang would be waiting for them. Plus, there was the problem of the noise – shattering a window to gain entry was going to attract a lot of attention. Of course, attention was probably inevitable at some point, but the longer they could go without having to go loud, the better.
That left only one option from what he could see – the roof of the warehouse. Jaune examined it for a moment, nodding at what he saw. There was a locked door barring entry to the interior of the building, but the lock was rusty – a solid strike would probably be enough to break it, assuming it couldn't just be picked or something along those lines. Moreover, there were absolutely no guards or even surveillance cameras on the roof – no doubt the last the White Fang expected was an assault from above, so they hadn't seen the value in reinforcing the roof the same way they had the rest of the building.
That was it, then – Jaune turned back towards Cinder and Blake, nodding as he did so.
"Have something?" Blake questioned.
"I believe so," Jaune reported. "Look – the entire building is pretty heavily locked-down save for the roof. I figure they won't expect us if we can go in from above. The lock on the door will be an issue-"
"I can pick it," Blake interrupted.
"Okay, never mind," Jaune amended. "So, I figure we'll wait until it's dark out and then go in."
"Is that wise? Remember, Faunus have natural night vision."
"Sure, but I figure at least some of them will be asleep, and the streets will be a lot less busy. That gives us time to get in, poke around a bit, and then get out," Jaune pointed out.
Blake brought a hand up to her chin in thought, then shook her head. "...I have no objections," she said. "This seems like as solid a plan as we're going to get. Cinder?"
"Same," Cinder replied. "It sounds solid enough, Jaune. Good work."
"Uh, thanks," Jaune stammered out, unused to Cinder praising him so openly. He brushed it off quickly, however, instead focusing on the task at hand. "Alright, so let's head out for now. We'll come back once night's fallen."
Both girls nodded, and they turned and set off. As they walked away from the roof of the abandoned building they'd posted up on, Jaune did his best to pay no attention to the black bird flying overhead, circling just above them.
That night, true to Jaune's plan, they came back to the warehouse, approaching it from street level. Their outfits were different – they were all dressed in black, with ski masks covering their faces. It was stereotypical, he knew, but as far as Jaune was concerned, anything that could help shield their identities from a bunch of antagonistic terrorists was a good thing.
They gathered towards the rear of the warehouse, standing in the shadows of a nearby alley. Jaune surveyed the building, though his eyes were still drawn to a familiar black shape circling overhead, barely visible in the light of the shattered moon. He averted his gaze soon after looking at it, instead turning back to Cinder and Blake, who were standing nearby.
"Alright," he said. "Admittedly, this plan sounded a lot better before we actually got here."
"What do you mean?" Blake asked.
"Well… how do we get up there?"
Blake rolled her eyes. "Follow my lead."
Before Jaune could say anything in response, she threw her weapon, the blade sticking in the side of the building and the ribbon attached to it trailing down to the street below. Blake grabbed on to the ribbon and used it to scale the building, steadily climbing her way up. Jaune watched, his eyes wide with surprise.
"'Follow your lead'?!" he whispered in a hushed voice. "How am I supposed to-"
Cinder suddenly took hold of his arm, and he froze. He had no chance to protest at all before she launched those same black chains out of her hands; the chains embedded themselves in the side of the building similar to Blake's weapon, and with a single mighty pull, Cinder launched both herself and Jaune up to the top of the warehouse. Jaune screamed for half a second before they reached the top and Cinder clamped her hand over his mouth, silencing him.
"I was under the impression that this was to be a stealth mission," she told him. "Keep it down, Jaune."
Jaune stared at her, but nodded. Cinder took her hand off his mouth, then let him go. Jaune took a moment to collect himself, then looked for Blake, who had just finished pulling herself up. She was looking at Cinder in surprise as she pulled her weapon out of the side of the warehouse.
"Wow," Blake noted. "I don't think I've ever really seen your Semblance in action before, Cinder. It looks pretty strong."
"It is, in fact, pretty strong," Cinder said dryly. "But your compliment is appreciated nonetheless. Now, we must make haste."
Blake nodded, then moved over to the door. She pulled a hairpin out of her pocket, then stuck it in the rusty padlock and began to fiddle with it a bit. After a few seconds, the lock opened and the chains surrounding the door slackened; Blake gently collected both the lock and the chains, then laid them down on the roof as quietly as she could and motioned with her head for the two of them to follow her.
"Not to order you around or anything, but for the sake of the mission, it might be best to avoid killing anyone," Jaune advised Cinder in a quiet voice as they walked. "We don't need to be leaving bodies and drawing more attention to ourselves."
"Unfortunately, you are absolutely correct," Cinder noted. "Even though I can feel the sin permeating almost every soul in this building… it demands retribution. But for the sake of our mission, I shall refrain." She cast a quick look back at the roof, frowning as she did so. "And the bird?"
"Still there."
"I am not surprised. Still, it is of no consequence – we can worry about that later."
Jaune nodded, and they continued following after Blake, their weapons at the ready. Blake led them down a flight of stairs from the roof to the next floor of the warehouse, and instantly, Jaune was taken aback at what he saw.
Just like Blake had warned them, crates of weapons and ammunition lined the floor, strewn haphazardly about; Jaune couldn't help but wonder just how many guns and bullets they'd managed to stockpile if they were forced to leave them scattered around the entire building. He approached one, squinting when he saw the snowflake logo on the side of the crate.
"Guess we know what happened to the train cars that weren't derailed," he noted. "Weiss wouldn't be happy if she saw this."
"Then it's a good thing she isn't here," Blake whispered back. "Come on, let's keep going. We're looking for the branch commander's office."
Jaune and Cinder nodded, following after Blake. The three of them crept through the darkened building, Jaune doing his best to stick to the shadows, though that was more for his own assurance than anything – with their night vision, any Faunus would have spotted him instantly. Still, he couldn't but gravitate towards the darkness, if only for the extra peace of mind it gave him.
They rounded a corner, and Jaune found himself stopped by Blake, who had stretched out a hand to prevent him and Cinder from moving any further. He peered out from around her, and his blood ran cold at what he saw.
The hallway was lined with sleeping White Fang members. They were laid out in sleeping bags, all of them snoring peacefully, their chests gently rising and falling with every breath. There looked to be around seven or eight of them scattered through the hall in total – Jaune was finding it difficult to keep count over the sound of blood rushing in his ears. He swallowed nervously, then looked over to Blake for guidance. Her expression narrowed, and to Jaune's dismay, she began to creep forward, taking care to move as quietly as possible around the White Fang soldiers. Cinder followed after her, beckoning for Jaune to take up the rear; he swallowed nervously once more, but did as he was told, creeping after Cinder.
As they walked through the hall, Jaune didn't miss how Cinder's gaze rested for far too long on every White Fang member they passed. It was clear to him what was going on – Cinder wanted nothing more than to kill each and every one of these people for whatever sins she could sense they'd committed. Jaune still didn't know how this sixth sense of hers was supposed to work, but he wasn't about to argue it with her given the way her grip had tightened around her blades. She was just barely holding herself back; whatever these men and women had done to earn her ire, it must have been pretty bad.
Jaune stepped a bit too close to a White Fang member, and the man stirred in his sleep, a low murmur escaping from his throat. All of them instantly froze, their eyes widening. Jaune's grip on his sword turned white-knuckled as the White Fang member let out another murmur, and for a moment, it seemed like he was going to wake up, but he didn't – instead, he settled back down into bed, and didn't move again.
Jaune breathed a sigh of relief, even as Blake and Cinder gave him a dirty look for nearly compromising them. Jaune held up his hands in surrender, and that was thankfully the end of it – they continued moving, stepping through the still-dozing White Fang members.
They reached the end of the hall, and were met by a staircase that led down. Jaune could hear voices on the lower floor, and winced. Try as he might, he couldn't think of a way to get down any further without drawing attention to themselves. Dismayed, he turned to Blake and Cinder.
"What now?" he whispered.
Blake's brow furrowed underneath her mask. "...No idea."
"Then we are at an impasse," Cinder surmised. "So, what does this mean, then? Shall we go loud?"
"Preferably not," Blake said. "But if we have no choice-"
A sudden faint banging from outside on the ground level caught their attention. Their eyes widened in surprise, but to Jaune's relief, the sleeping White Fang members stayed unconscious. The ones downstairs, however, took note of the sudden noise.
"You all, go check it out," someone said. Several other voices joined in a chorus of affirmations, and then Jaune heard them move outside, the warehouse door opening and then closing behind them.
"Go now!" Blake urged.
They all moved, surging forwards as quickly as they could without making too much noise. They made it to the ground floor and were met by a tall White Fang member with his back to them, dressed in an ornate outfit; Jaune didn't even need to guess that he was the branch commander. And judging by how Blake was frantically signaling towards him, he'd been correct in his assumption.
Cinder moved before either he or Blake could. Before Jaune could react, chains shot out of her arms, and wrapped around the White Fang member's body and face, covering his mouth. He tried to scream, but the chains all but silenced him, and he only grew even quieter when Cinder pointed a blade at him.
"Do not scream," Cinder threatened. "I am going to remove the chains from around your mouth. If you make any loud noises, I will kill you. Do you understand?"
The branch commander's eyes narrowed, but he nodded in understanding. Cinder snapped her fingers, and the chains around the man's face dissipated. He took a breath, then looked over to Cinder.
"Who are you people?" he growled. "What do you want?"
"Who we are is of no concern," Cinder told him. "What we want is for you to answer some questions for us."
"And what makes you think I am capable of answering whatever stupid questions you want to ask?"
"So you are saying you are of no help to us?" Cinder asked. "Very well, then. I suppose I will just have to kill you."
She raised her blade, and the White Fang member's eyes widened. "W-wait!" he stammered out. "Okay, I'll do my best! Ask away!"
"Hm. That is more like it," Cinder said as she lowered her sword. "I will cut right to the chase – what do you know of a girl named Ruby Rose?"
"Ruby Rose?" the branch commander echoed. "I've never heard of her."
"Perhaps you have seen her, then. Short, red-and-black hair, Silver Eyes? Does she sound familiar?"
"No, not at all."
Cinder's eyes narrowed. "Do not lie to me."
"I'm not, I swear! We don't know anyone like that!"
Cinder stared at him for a moment, then turned to Jaune for guidance. He shrugged, and she pursed her lips before looking back to the White Fang leader.
"And how likely is it that another of the White Fang groups around Vale is simply keeping her existence as a prisoner a secret from you?"
"Not likely at all," the man replied. "I know everything the White Fang is doing in this city – they all report to me directly, and I inspect the other safe houses regularly. If there was anyone like that anywhere, then I would know about it. But I don't."
"Hm."
"Give it a rest," Jaune said, taking a step forward. "He clearly doesn't know anything, meaning we were completely off-base with this one."
"Not a complete loss, though," Blake offered. "We can cross the White Fang off the list of suspects, at least."
"Yeah, there's that. Of course, that just puts us right back at square one, unfortunately…"
There were more gunshots from outside, causing Jaune to tense. But just as soon as they picked up again, they stopped completely. He looked back at Blake and Cinder, then shook his head.
"Let's get out of here," he said. "Whatever's going on out there, I don't think we want any part of it."
"Very well," Cinder said. She smacked the White Fang leader upside the head with the flat of her blade, instantly knocking him unconscious. "Shall we head back the way we-"
Footsteps from up above suddenly caught their attention, and Jaune's eyes widened. The last salvo of gunshots had been a lot closer than the earlier set, and that must have been enough to wake up the sleeping White Fang members. Without missing a beat, Jaune took Cinder by the hand and began pulling her to the front door while Blake followed after him.
The three of them came bursting through the door, then started running through the streets, desperate to lose any White Fang who may have been pursuing them. They ran at full speed for several minutes, all while the sounds of combat once again intensified behind them.
"Hm…" Cinder mused. "Whoever our mysterious benefactor is, they seem to be quite skilled."
"Less talking, more running!" Jaune urged. "I'd rather not be caught by the White Fang!"
"You worry too much. Stop here."
They ducked into a nearby alley, where Jaune and Blake doubled over, gasping for breath.
"Are we clear…?" Jaune asked between breaths.
"Seems like it," Cinder said. "What do you think we should-"
A large shadow suddenly fell over them, cutting her off. They all dove for cover just before a large blade made impact, burying itself down to the hilt in the concrete under foot. Jaune and Blake dropped into combat stances, drawing their weapons, while Cinder simply stood there, a smirk crossing her face.
"Well, well," she said. "Am I to assume you are our mysterious ally?"
The blade's wielder, a tall, thin, dark-haired man with a few days' worth of unkempt facial hair, stood up straight, hefting his blade up onto his shoulder as he did so. He stared at Cinder, then scoffed.
"You can say that," he said. "Or you can just think of me as the guy who's going to split you open from throat to stomach for what you've done."
And then, before Jaune or Blake could do anything, the mysterious newcomer launched himself towards Cinder.
Sorry for the cliffhanger, guys, but this felt like the best place to end it at the moment. Otherwise it would have gone on for way longer, and I just don't have time for that right now.
Speaking of time, I will be leaving for the UK for three weeks on Sunday. There will probably not be any updates for any of my stories during those three weeks, since it is a work trip, not a vacation. I will do my best to keep writing during that time, but updates are still up-in-the-air for now, as I am sure I will be very busy with everything else.
I am going to try and update Plastered Paradox as well before I leave. If I'm able to get that one done in time, expect to see it late this week. Otherwise, it'll probably have to wait until I'm back stateside.
Sorry for this delay, I'll do my best to get any new updates out as fast possible. Thank you all for understanding, and I appreciate all the support. I'll see you all next time!
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