Never in Blake's life would she have imagined that she would be involved with the White Fang after attending Beacon. Well, she did, actually. It was more accurate to say that she didn't believe herself to be involved with them again when the professors of Beacon Academy had actually involved themselves in stopping them. She had been so sure that they, along with other authorities, would not have involved themselves at all and chastise her for doing so. She didn't have any faith in them, she freely admitted that.
It may not have been intentional on their part but they still acted anyway once they knew about it. She freely accepted the detention she received for the altercation with Torchwick earlier in the school year because she could now rest easier knowing that there are individuals who actually are acting upon such information. Seeing team MGHT—she had been surprised that the team formed only after they had become professors—mentioned in the news really humbled her; she had been so used to seeing those with authority do nothing.
As such, when word of faunus activity suspected of being White Fang have begun circling online, Blake, while still a little anxious, had enough faith to think that the professors would at least act upon it. On one hand, she had been right in expecting that they would act on it eventually. On the other, she never anticipated that she would be involved, considering that she had been in detention because of it.
When Pyrrha had called her, informing her that professor Peach had need of her, Blake was understandably curious. She had been assured that she was not in trouble and so went to meet up with Peach in Greene's security room which was strange enough to her.
Just before she knocked on the door, Blake heard conversations being had from the other side. From the sounds of it, both Peach and Greene were there. Given that this was the security room, it is likely that it had something to do with Beacon's security. Had they found something in the cameras? Blake knocked on the door.
The face of her professor spoke of seriousness. "You're here. Have you got your weapon with you?"
"Uh," Blake replied. She hadn't expected to encounter combat so she had left it in the locker. "I could rush to get back."
"No." Peach shook her head. "We can get there in time. For now, come inside."
Greene's security room could be described as her own personal office. Being the professor of Stealth and Security, there were computers that displayed the various camera feeds with each one being as accessible as a simple click. While it was spacious for one individual, it is rather claustrophobic for three people even considering Peach's height.
One camera feed in particular is clearly the focus, being the center of the screen. It depicted two individuals who had entered Peach's stockroom and seemingly stole something from the safe.
Blake didn't need to ask if something had been stolen. Instead, she asked, "is it important?"
"Very," Peach answered, quickly. To Greene, she said, "they must have done it at night."
"The dance," Greene corrected. "Most of us weren't anywhere near there when it had happened." She pointed to the time stamp being displayed. True enough, it would be around the time that most students and faculty would have been at the dance. "Right beneath my nose, too." Greene shook her head.
"They haven't done anything with it yet," Peach said. "Otherwise, we would have heard something by now."
"What do you plan to do?"
"I intend to find them. Take it back if I could. We already know how dangerous Hyde could be. We don't need two of them."
"Hyde?" Blake asked. This was the first time she had ever heard of that name. Was it some kind of potion? Judging from the feed, the thief only stole some kind of bottle. A drug, perhaps?
"Don't concern yourself with that, miss Belladonna." Peach shook her head. "All you need to know is that that elixir is dangerous, even if it went in the right hands."
"Why is it that it was kept in a safe?"
"That is my fault." Peach crossed her arms and gripped herself tight. "I never should have asked Jekyll for a demonstration. I should have settled on the notes."
What does professor Jekyll have to do with this? It must have been some experiment of theirs. Blake certainly doesn't know much about these things. Her time in the White Fang didn't give much in the way of academe though that didn't stop her from engaging in literature that dabble in such topics and fields.
"Check with the security, Greene," Peach continued. "They may not be able to enter Beacon but the same can't be said during the Vytal Festival."
"I'll inform the general as well." The other professor nodded. "I'll have him provide me with some aid on the CCT Tower. I saw another one enter there. We'll have to do a scan. Let's just hope that we'll find it in time."
"Good." Peach then turned to Blake and said, "come, miss Belladonna. We're heading to the commercial district. Unless you happen to know of any other White Fang base that would be better?"
Blake had been caught off-guard. "Uh, no. It… it is a good place to start." Some members of the White Fang have day jobs which they had used both as a cover and a means to gather information. Blake herself never quite engaged in such, having more focused on the infiltration aspects but she knew a few people who knew someone else who did so. Those kinds were usually the information gatherers.
"Then, gather your weapons." Peach sounded satisfied. "Stock up on ammunition and meet me at the docking bay."
Nodding, Blake walked out of the security room and began to walk swiftly towards her locker. It had taken her a while to gather her bearings, having gotten used to actually trusting that those who should be doing are jobs are actually doing said job. However, it didn't take long for her to get back into that state of mind where she should be vigilant.
For a moment, Blake chuckled. I got the professors' approval, guys. Don't worry about it. She thought of her team. If it had been any other circumstance, she was certain that she would have been chastised for going after the White Fang without them. However, she wasn't alone this time. Professor Peach was still next to her though that would only be for the next few intersections of these hallways. Beacon's faculty did tend to have their own lockers where they store their weapons.
Blake made it to her locker in no time. Gambol Shroud rested there. Taking it out, she checked to see if there had been any damage done. She wasn't the type of person to neglect her weapon's maintenance but given what it is that she had to do, it wouldn't hurt to be extra certain.
"Blake?" Weiss called from behind. "What are you doing?"
Rather than keep it a secret, Blake explained the situation to Weiss as best as she could.
"Wait." Weiss bade her to pause. "The professors knew you were White Fang?" There was no one else around and thusly no one had heard that.
"They always knew, I think," Blake replied. "They just… wanted to give me a chance to prove myself, I suppose."
"And now they're enabling you."
"Hey, they are the ones who asked for this," she defended herself. She couldn't have been that bad, would she?
"And what about the rest of us?" Weiss asked. "I mean Yang would be competing so she's out but Ruby and I could still—"
"If you wish to help, miss Schnee," interrupted professor Peach. "I suggest you stay here and be ready to be on call. Get your weapon and standby."
"But Blake is my teammate, professor," Weiss reasoned. "I could fight too."
"Ideally," Peach replied. "We shouldn't be engaging in a fight. The White Fang have dangerous allies and one that should not be engaged with head-on. You stay." The professor then addressed Blake. "If anything happens, you run, miss Belladonna, inform your team if you like but you must run."
"Understood, professor." Blake nodded. Professor Peach wasn't usually like this. Somehow, it inspired a confidence inside of the former White Fang member, knowing that her professor is taking this seriously.
"I'll… inform Winter?" Weiss suggested. "If it is the White Fang, then she deserves to know as much as I do."
"Good call." Peach praised Weiss. "If you hadn't, I would. Now, miss Belladonna, we must go."
Both teacher and student soon left the locker rooms and made their way to the docking bay. Garnering a few looks from passing students and visiting professors, the seriousness of their faces made it clear to anyone that they had reasons for carrying their weapons outside of classes.
At the docking bay, there was a Bullhead waiting for them. Professor Mulberry was there too.
"Only one student?" he asked. "I would suggest bringing at least two."
"Finding them is my priority," Peach replied. "I would rather we don't engage in a fight at all."
The fact that Blake and Peach were armed clearly said that they were expecting it anyway. Professor Mulberry could see that.
"One day," Mulberry said. "If I do not hear from you in twenty-four hours, I will personally go out there myself and find you, if Greene doesn't get to you first."
"Deal." The two shook hands.
Both Peach and Blake entered the Bullhead. As the pilot began to fly them towards the commercial district, Blake only now noticed the look on her professor's face.
Her face was serious. She didn't even look at Blake and spent more time looking out the window provided by the Bullhead. Blake could see that her professor was tracing shapes on her gun. Her wings were tense and seemed to be ready for flight at a moment's notice.
Blake knew from personal experience how far the White Fang could go when it came to violence; she herself had been part of them once. Even then, she had never expected that they would have gone to the scale that they had planned if the information on incident on Mountain Glenn was anything to go by. She would have been nervous too if the White Fang were still active. There was no telling with any certainty if Blake's old organization still had access to resources capable of similar scales. Didn't the professors also mention something about Atlas as well? Were there any plans that specifically involve Atlas?
Regardless, Blake knew firsthand how terrible the White Fang had become. It wasn't that which concerned her here, though. From the looks of it, professor Peach's concern had more to do with whatever it was those thieves had stolen. Whoever they were, they must have been associated with the White Fang like Torchwick was.
"Um," Blake began. "If it's okay for me to ask: what is it that they stole from the safe?"
Peach looked at her hard. For a moment, Blake had regretted asking. It must have been important to the professor. "It isn't mine," she instead said. "It was something that I asked your professor Jekyll to make."
"Oh," Blake replied. "Is it important? Something personal?"
Her professor chuckled bitterly. "It is more than something personal. It is dangerous. It was an experiment that he had made, one that he—he is unsure if it would work; the second one, at any rate."
"What happens if they get it?"
"In an ideal world? Nothing. But I am assuming that it will work as intended, except perhaps much worse."
"How bad is it, professor?"
Peach took a moment before she answered again. She had been gathering her thoughts and was finding the best way to answer her. "You know the story of the two Brothers, don't you?" She waited for Blake to nod before she continued. "Good, it's pretty obvious that that tale means that we are capable of doing both good and evil; that we have two natures in this regard.
"Well, what if I were to tell you, Miss Belladonna, that Jekyll sought to answer one important question: could those two aspects be separated from one another?"
Blake leaned back in doubt. Concepts like good and evil were nebulous at best. Sure there was the Grimm that were considered pure evil given the nature of their actions but mankind wasn't the same as that. The division between good and evil wasn't as simple as black and white. Blake's literature had many instances of gray in them.
"You don't believe me do you?" Peach smirked. "I can see it in your eyes, miss Belladonna. I wouldn't have blame you for thinking that. But I can assure you that it is—we cannot take that chance. If they were evil to begin with, how much worse could they be if we take away what remains of their good?"
"There is no hoping that their good could overcome it?"
"That is the thing about evil, miss Belladonna," Peach answered. "What makes it evil isn't that it is terrible but that it is often indistinguishable from good. A person's virtue is someone else's vice. But if they see vice as a virtue? Even I woudn't want to know."
Blake understood. Her time in the White Fang certainly helped with that. For a time perhaps, the White Fang had done something good. Even when they had turned to violence, Blake had believed that it might be for the better. Even now that she was training to be a huntress, the use of violence was still considered to be good since it was against the Grimm.
The Bullhead soon arrived at their destination. Both teacher and student stepped off the airship and proceeded to make their way into the streets.
"Now then," Peach asked. "If you were planning on an attack during the Vytal Tournament, miss Belladonna, where would you hide your operations?"
"I would say the best place would be where there aren't many people," Blake answered. "Too many possible witnesses. With the Vytal Festival ongoing, probably somewhere farther out. Maybe in something abandoned since no one uses those."
"Good," Peach praised her. "They would also be in places where law enforcement is rather weak or easily bribed."
Blake couldn't fault that logic. It was simple enough in her eyes and that had been one of the reasons that the White Fang sometimes struggled to find a foothold when expanding further. It is possible but not always easy. To combat this, they would be in areas where there would be a higher density of faunus; it was easier to garner sympathy and members when the person being harmed is genuinely innocent.
Vale wasn't that, however. There still was but it wasn't the same as it was in places like Atlas. Here, that was usually found in the upper class districts.
Then, Blake remembered something. "What if we go find some flyers? Or a rally?" Times like the Vytal Festival makes it rather easy to gather attention for one's causes. With protests and rallies, Blake could easily imagine herself as being part of that. With law enforcement possibly stopping such gatherings out of fear that it might be White Fang, it would be the perfect opportunity to gather more members.
Professor Peach took the time to contemplate Blake's suggestion. Then, she replied, "if we find any, we will. As it is now, there isn't much in the way of that and it would be dangerous for them to rally right now given Mountain Glenn."
Blake nodded and conceded. It had been a suggestion.
The professor hailed a cab. Now that Blake gave it some thought, was it strange that there wasn't any concern at all when the driver just let two armed individuals in? When the professor had told the driver to take them closer to the borders of Vale, Blake had enough time on her hands that her mind wandered to this point.
Despite the traffic that is currently on-going, neither of them would have arrived at their destination faster than if they were doing so on foot. Vale was a large place and if they were seen running, that would be cause of concern. Had she still been in the White Fang, Blake would have informed her fellows about huntresses rushing about, especially when one of them is recognized for having foiled their plans before.
The cab had been made to stop as there was an intersection with pedestrian crossing. Having nothing much else to do, Blake looked out of the window as a sort of distraction. The pedestrians in question comprised of three adults accompanying two younger ones around Blake's age. The scorpion faunus among them was a strange fellow as he actually inviting a conflict. He had been stopped by the larger, more muscular one who apologized on his behalf as they proceeded their way towards where Peach and Blake had come from.
She could sympathize with the two younger ones among them. Looking at them closely, were they huntsmen and huntresses as well? Judging from their physique, they were at least fit. Blake hadn't met with every transfer student so she would know though she can't help but feel like they should be familiar to her. Had she seen them before at all?
Turning towards the professor who sat next to her, Peach was looking out the other direction. Blake guessed that she wasn't actually looking but that her eyes just so happened to be pointed in that direction. There weren't enough faunus around, certainly not enough to warrant suspicion. Drawing from her experience in the White Fang, Blake was certain that there was no strategic point to be here other than information and even that wasn't recommended with how there wasn't that many places to have conversation that could be hidden. One would need to enter any of the nearby establishments for that; none of them appeared to be White Fang fronts either.
Finally, the cab moved past them. Blake caught sight of the scorpion faunus being chastised by the thinner, mustached man. Their friend must have some personal issues going on. Personally, Blake just found the guy weird. The faunus was expressive if nothing else with how his gestures were like; it certainly gotten the attention of passersby. He was being chastised again, probably for embarrassing them all in public.
It had been a smooth ride after that. With this part of Vale having less amount of people, there were less vehicles here as well. As such, traffic was becoming absent around here that they had spent less time on this side of Vale than they did from before. Vehicles and people were becoming scarce around these parts. Those that remained looked at them in curiosity. Not enough in Blake's eyes to be considered suspicious but enough that anyone would have noticed that they were being looked at.
Peach had told the driver to stop. They were already near the edges of the commercial district. If they had gone north from here, they would have made it to the place where the upper class tend to take up residence. A startling contrast to the place that surrounded them currently. Blake couldn't hide her slight disgust at the direction of the upper class; they had their own walls too.
While there were more warehouses for storage purposes found in the industrial district, there were still going to be a few here. Though not as plentiful as those in the industrial district, there was still some that would be unused that it might as well be considered abandoned. If the White Fang were to have any sort of operations, it would be here.
The two of them walked a few more distances before Peach suddenly stopped. The professor of Plant Science then got to her knees as her fingers traced the ground below. There was dirt there and a few dark spots from whatever liquid had been spilled here and there. Underneath the sun, the concrete and asphalt of the ground must have been hot to the touch. Blake received enough confirmation when her professor reeled back her fingers.
Most of these warehouses were old looking with the only thing that was relatively maintained being the locks and doors. Blake could see the rust browning otherwise fine metals with some of those walls having a few cracks big enough for small rats to squeeze into. They were also in a desperate need of repainting as well.
The scent of seawater greeted them the closer they went. Shame that she didn't come here to fish. Blake could see in the distance the island of Patch from here. Didn't Yang and Ruby say that they were from there?
The warehouses were similar enough in appearance that Blake wasn't sure where to look. It had been easier using them for their own purposes than finding which one was being used. Blake herself never really bothered much with this. There was usually some other member who had been tasked with this and she never really saw reason for her to pick up on it.
"Further at the back," Peach said. "Convention would say that those places aren't as used for convenience purposes."
True enough, the further back they went, the more the warehouses seemed to be rather empty and even ill-maintained. Some had broken windows and others had rustier chains and locks of older models than those closer to where they had come from. Blake could practically take a piece of that rust as though it were a brittle biscuit.
Thankfully, neither Blake nor Peach had to search any of the warehouses for any long periods of time. Every time either of them managed to get a glimpse on the inside, it was clear enough which ones had been used and which ones weren't. Many of them contained empty crates and containers that were either in desperate need for cleaning or stored here to be repurposed for something else.
Despite having split up though, the place was far too large for merely two people to search even with Peach's trait of flight. Blake tried to make up for it by traversing the rooftops but even that did little to help them. Most of these warehouses look too similar to one another that anyone making this their base of operations would have been a small group at best.
Blake tried to get back into the White Fang mindset. If she were staging an attack and needed a base of operations here in these warehouses, where would that be? A conspicuous one somewhere in the corner would have been a good place to start. However, upon getting there, she found no evidence of any kind that it had been used. That one was particularly filthy being found here in the corner.
Hours past and neither of them have made any progress. There wasn't even a sign of an employee nearby to ask them of their purpose. Had they chosen wrong? It was possible. Perhaps they have made their base of operations elsewhere.
She found professor Peach sitting by one of the warehouse's doors, massaging her temples. Her wings looked exhausted as Peach did some stretches with them.
"They're not here." The professor shook her head. "Should have brought Greene along. She was always better at tracking in the cities."
"I'm sorry, professor." Blake felt inadequate. For once, someone had come to her for aid in relation to the White Fang and she was of little help.
"Don't be, miss Belladonna. Vale is a big place and there is only two of us. With the Vytal Festival going on, I doubt we would be able to get much help outside of volunteers. Even if we did that, it would arouse suspicion."
"What do we do now, professor?"
"We go back." Peach stood back up. "If you find any lead relating to the White Fang and their operations, tell me. Whoever their new allies are, they are still a dangerous bunch."
AN: Only mildly related, but I happen to chance upon a physical copy of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde recently (I only had like a PDF file of it prior). One thing I never really paid much attention to the first time but noticed now was that Hyde was described to have an Edinburgh accent. TLDR, I now picture Hyde as the Scotsman from Samurai Jack.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to learn me a bunch of slang/insults to accommodate this detail.