Ozpin couldn't believe what he was hearing. Could he really have misjudged somebody so?
"It's my pleasure Professor, I'll see you around."
"Professor, did you hear me?" the voice of councilor Baillergeon asked.
"I'm sorry but I recognise that name." Ozpin said.
"Yes we had heard that she recently went on a mission to Beacon though we were not made aware that she made herself known." another voice said, this one belonging to a dark haired Atlesian officer.
"In any case I assure you councillors, that I am more than capable of defending myself." Ozpin said.
"Ozpin this Scarlette Summers has already targeted and killed two extremely skilled headmasters." a female councilor said. "You must understand that we need to take precautions."
"And you think that anybody from Atlas would be capable of defeating a threat that I am not able?" Ozpin said raising an eyebrow.
"Shade academy has already bolstered the defences around their headmaster," Councilor Baillergeon said, "this is the council's decision and you will abide by it Professor." Ozpin ground his teeth behind his mask, he really didn't like this man, not since the breach.
"My men will be there in a day." the Atlesian officer, Ranger something, said.
Ozpin sighed as the call ended and the holographic terminal closed. This was going to complicate things. He was surprised when his desk lit up with another call. It was from team (R)WBY.
"Yes?" he said as he brought up the image of the three girls. They were standing somewhere in Atlas at the moment, "Did you find anything?"
"We got a name." Blake said.
"She was there Ozpin!" Yang said.
"Excuse me?" Ozpin said.
"We don't know that for certain Yang." Weiss said, "We've got a name she is linked to, professor."
"Oh, and who could that be?" Ozpin said, he was maintaining the stoic face but he was ecstatic that they found something.
"It seems Ruby may be going under the name or in some way linked to the name Scarlette Summers." Blake said.
"In other words the same girl that was there a month ago!" Yang said. Ozpin's excitement over finding something about his wayward student turned to dread.
"I see…" Ozpin said considering his options, "tell no one about this and come back as soon as possible."
"But-!" Yang said.
"I'm serious about this Ms. Xiao Long." Ozpin said, "If Ruby is really associated with that name she may be in very big trouble. Come back immediately." Yang seemed to deflate.
"Yes sir." It was Weiss who spoke and then ended the call. Ozpin sighed again, this was really going to complicate things.
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"What am I doing here?" Annette mumbled into her earpiece.
"Gathering information and keeping an eye out for a certain bull-headed Faunus." came her bosses reply over the secure line. There was a pause before "Like bull-headed in the literal sense not the figurative."
"I get it, let me rephrase the question." Annette said, "Why am I the one doing this? I'm a pilot not a field operative!"
"We're both out here on the run from Atlas and you're worried about that?" Summers answered back, "Besides I haven't quite figured out how to disguise myself as a Faunus yet, but I'm working on it." Annette sighed and looked back at the warehouse, the faint scratch marks on the corner of the building making it abundantly clear what it was used for.
"Okay, so how do I do this?" Annette asked.
"It shouldn't be that difficult just walk in there and see if someone meets with you." Summers said. Annette shook her head and walked up to the building. She went up to one of the doors and knocked on it. A young man with blonde hair and freckles opened it. At first Annette was concerned that they were wrong as she didn't see anything Faunus about the boy. The boy however saw Annette's ears and decided they were real enough as he opened the door more and let her inside. Annette saw that he was indeed wearing a white fang uniform but without the mask and he had a blonde lion's tail to match his blonde hair.
"Right this way." the boy said as he led her into a small office space. In the room he motioned for her to take a seat on one of the couches in the lobby of the office. He then went to one of the doors and knocked on it before returning to his post down the hall. After a few moment the door opened and an elderly gentleman with grey hair, grey beard and long grey bunny ears.
"Oh ho." He said, "Another young recruit, eh? What's your name, girl?"
'Oh, crap what do I say?!" Annette mentally freaked out for a second, "S-summers, sir"
"Oh? Your using my alias?" She could practically hear Summers smug grin from the other side of the line.
"No need to be nervous my dear," the man said as he sat on a chair across from her, "What brings you to the White Fang?"
"Alright I'll help you through this, repeat what I say exactly." Summers said.
"My sister actually." Annette said.
"Oh? That's a bit different of an answer than most." the man said.
"W-well, she was a huntress in training, B-but she left after the attacks." Annette parroted.
"And she needs a place to hide out now is that it?" the man asked, to which Annette nodded. "Why isn't she here today then?"
"B-because, she's lying low." Annette said, exactly how Summers was telling her to say, she may not be a field operative, but she knew Summers was and she could most definitely spin a coherent web of lies, "She won't leave her safehouse until I can get a place for her."
"I see, we're not a protection agency however," the man said, "we're an army fighting for Faunus liberation everywhere! If you or your sister want a place among us then you must be willing to fight for our cause!"
"S-she will! she just doesn't want her old friends to know about her doing it." Annette said. The man sighed
"One moment." he got up and went back into his office.
'This is it.' Annette thought, 'this is where I'll die, because my bosses lies weren't good enough.' After a few hours or maybe it was just minutes, Annette wasn't sure which, the man entered the room again.
"Your sister did she study at Beacon?" the man asked.
"Uh, yes." Annette answered.
"Does she know someone named Blake Belladonna?" he asked, tiredly like he was tired of this question.
"Um, I don't know, but maybe?" Annette answered. The man sighed again and handed Annette a piece of paper with an address on it.
"If she does then go to this address, make sure your sister goes with you." the man answered, "if not don't bother showing up here again. I have no use for cowards"
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Back at the apartment Ruby was looking through her scroll terminal while waiting for Annette to get back. The OP hadn't gone perfectly but it hadn't gone wrong either so Ruby was gonna count it as a win. What really had Ruby's attention was how the man had brought up Blake's name, and made it clear that information on her was worth protection from the White Fang. Ruby knew that Blake had left the White Fang and they might consider that traitorous and try to 'make an example' of her, but Blake left years ago for them to still be after her meant something else. As Ruby was contemplating this her terminal beeped. When she look at the screen her eyes widened in surprise.
"Hooolllly crap." Ruby said, she didn't have the access to Atlas' massive database anymore, they could easily track access to that, but she had Penny and Penny could easily hack into any number of government databases in Vale. Low and behold there stood her answer.
Blake Belladonna
Mother: Kali Belladonna, (chieftess of Menagerie)
Father: Ghira Belladonna, (chief of Menagerie, Former leader of the White Fang)
Known associates:
White Fang: (all ties cut)
Adam Taurus
Illia amitola
Sienna Khan
Beacon:
Weiss Schnee
Ruby Rose (deceased)
Yang Xaio Long
Juane Arc
Nora Valkyrie
Pyrrha Nilkos
Lie Ren
Ruby couldn't believe what she was reading, the Valean government knew about Blake's past, Blake was basically an actual princess, and she wasn't just in the White Fang but heavily connected with it's leadership. No wonder they would still be looking for her years later, she wasn't kidding when she said 'I know the White Fang' then Ruby noticed one of the names listed next to her associates and her smile grew. It looks like Annette's 'sister' would indeed know Blake.
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A/N I know it's a bit of a shorter chapter but I didn't really want to do this constant hopping back and forth between the same viewpoints. So yeah, look forward to the next chapter I guess. And before anybody asks, Yes I am still working on Shadows Rage, I've got the next chapter about halfway complete and am still working on it. I had a really hard time Writing Annette for this chapter, I just kinda felt like we don't see enough of her to get a real good read on her character. So I took the fact that she was a pilot (albeit a snarky one who routinely calls out trained killers on their crap) and essentially threw her in the deep end of espionage, and guessed at how most people would react. I hope I did her justice. Anyways hope y'all enjoy!