Interlude: The First Fang
Ghira's fingers drummed against the table, and he scowled down at the offending object.
The portable drive sat there, unmoving. "Blake thought this was that important?"
His wife nodded, reaching over and laying a hand over his own to silence his drumming. "Yes. She told me to destroy it if I thought I might lose it, and to make absolutely certain that whatever device we used to watch it was completely isolated."
His frown deepened. "Did she become a spy while she was gone?"
With a patient smile, she patted his hand before standing to take the drive and plug it in. "Enough brooding, Ghira. Let's find out what was so important to our daughter."
They stood, and they watched.
He listened, and his fists clenched.
Blake smiled awkwardly at the camera and licked her lips. "Well. Uh. Hi, dad. Hi again, mom. I..." She glanced off to the side, brushing her hair to the side with one hand. "Well. Before anything else, I just want to say...I love you both. And...you were right. The White Fang was going down the wrong path. I shouldn't have...said the things I said. And I shouldn't have run away."
A sad smile drifted across her face. "I know you told me there wasn't anything to forgive, mom...but I don't think that's true. I messed up." She shook her head. "But...that was then. I wish I could say I'm recording this just because I miss you, but...I've learned some things. Some of them, I'm not allowed to tell you – and there's a good reason for that. But there's things you need to know. So...let me explain."
A small window appeared next to her, containing grainy footage of a masked White Fang member. The scenes shifted, obviously taken from security cameras around Vale, showing various scenes of carnage...including White Fang fighting alongside Grimm. "The attack on Vale was planned and executed by a woman called Cinder Fall. The overall attack was a smokescreen, meant to distract and delay any response to her personal assault on Beacon. Which is exactly why she enlisted the White Fang.
"Adam...was using Cinder's resourcefulness for his own gain. I'm not sure exactly what his plans were, but I know he planned to seize control from Sienna, and he'd hoped to use your position to leverage the rest of Menagerie as well." She grit her teeth. "That's why they were trying to kidnap you, mom. They wanted you as a hostage. Cinder had...many sources of materiel, and she was providing Adam with Atlas military-grade equipment for his cell. But...Cinder also had methods for transporting and summoning Grimm. And Adam agreed to utilize them." She sat there for a moment, her hands clenching and unclenching slowly. "I...don't know what else to say." She licked her lips. "He wasn't the man I thought he was. And he...we fought, when I interfered with his plans for mom."
For a long moment, she stared off to the side. "And now he's dead."
Silence stretched on, and a red-headed girl entered the frame from the behind the camera. She knelt, reaching out and placing a hand on Blake's shoulder. "Friend Blake? Are you...shall I pause the recording?"
Blake shook her head, taking a breath and smiling, laying an armored hand over the girl's. "No, Penny. I'm all right. Let's keep going." After a moment, Penny nodded and retreated, leaving Blake to visibly gather herself.
"So. Adam and much of his cell didn't make it through the attack...which is part of what worries me. Cinder...has other goals, and her other sources are still out there. I can't talk much about the specifics, but she will attack Atlas, Mistral, and Vacuo at some point. It's the when and how that we aren't sure of." Blake made a sweeping gesture with her hand, eyes narrowed. "We're...working against her, but our information is limited. I'm worried that she'll try to involve Menagerie or the White Fang again – it would match her M.O. from what we've seen. More than that, though...I wanted you to hear about what happened from me, instead of somewhere else."
She sighed. "I don't know what you can do with this information. I don't know...what you'd want to do. But...I didn't trust your judgement on the White Fang before, and I should have. So I'm trusting your judgement now." She nodded at someone behind the camera – most likely Penny – and then took a deep breath. "I have my own source in Atlas, so included on this disk is a collection of files. Files proving the involvement of the White Fang in the attack on Vale, in addition to a lot of the information we have on their equipment and their deal with Cinder. I don't know what you'll do with it, but...this is serious. Mom, dad...if Cinder gets her way, things will get bad.
"Very bad. And, I've already told her in person, but it bears repeating: they've already compromised the CCTS network at least once. Please, please don't let these files anywhere near a network. The less they know about what we know, the better it will be for all of us." Blake smiled at the camera once more.
"I love you both. I'm...I'm sorry I can't come home yet."
The video ended, and Ghira remained motionless.
A moment later, Kali's hand came to rest gently on his forearm. He nearly jumped, and it was only then that he looked down and saw his claws digging deeply into the wood of the table.
"Ghira...you're shaking." The worry in his wife's tone was not a novel sound...but it had been some time since he'd heard it from her.
It had been some time since he'd needed to. Slowly, deliberately, he breathed in. He reached into himself, gathered up his anger and his fear, and he wrapped them up in steel.
His arms stilled as he exhaled, his fists unclenching and claws retracting. Kali allowed him several seconds of focus as he brought himself under control.
Then, she leaned closer to him, eyes sharp. "What are we going to do, Ghira?"
He frowned.
There were two masked figures standing guard outside of Sienna's tent, as usual. As he approached, their conversation trailed off and they glanced towards him warily.
One of them stepped forward slightly, raising a hand. "Ghira, sir...Sienna is busy, if you'll give me a bit of time I'll -"
He could see the tension growing as he failed to slow down, barely even acknowledging them with a glance. Their hands twitched towards their weapons, but when his hands reached out they hesitated, flinching as his claws came down.
With a fistful of their cloaks, he lifted them bodily from the ground, swinging them both to either side and setting them heavily on their feet without breaking stride. They stood there, motionless, staring at his back as he swept the front of the tent aside and stormed in.
Sienna was there, speaking with some aide or another. She paused at the light sweeping through the tent with his entrance, her hand raised to make some point or another. She blinked at him once, her eyes flicking to where her weapon rested next to her chair. "Ah...Ghira. Tell me, to what do -"
"Did you know?" He growled, teeth ground together and his heart pounding in fury. It was under control...but only barely.
Her head tilted back, eyes widening slightly at his tone. "I...what are you talking about?"
With great care, he breathed in and he breathed out. "Adam Taurus. Did you know?"
She frowned, staring at him like a puzzle. "Ghira...Adam has been undercover on an operation for some time. Whatever's going on, I'm quite sure that -"
"Adam is dead!" He roared, hand coming up with one claw pointed towards her. All around him, Fang members reared back, some reaching for weapons and some simply scrabbling away from him in long-remembered caution. "After he attempted to kidnap my wife and murder my daughter! So once more, Sienna, did. You.KNOW!?"
For a moment, she sat there, eyes wide. "What...?" She rose to her feet, peering down at him with absolute focus, staring him in the face as she tried to process what he'd said. "Adam...why would he...?"
He took a deep breath, hand lowering to his side. "...You didn't know."
"...No. I didn't." She watched him. "...And if I had?"
"Then only one of us would have left this tent."
The Faunus around him took another step back, but Sienna simply nodded at him. "...Have you woken back up, then? Are you the Ghira I fought beside again?"
He thought of what Blake had said, in her message. He considered what almost happened, and what might happen in the future.
He breathed carefully. "That...remains to be seen." He jerked his head behind him. "But we need to talk. There are things you need to know."
She raised an eyebrow. "Is that an order from my chieftain?" When he simply continued to stare, she took a breath and stepped away from her seat, reaching out to grasp her blade and hold it by her side.
"Very well." She fell into step beside him as he led her out of the tent and towards his home. "There are things I need to ask you as well, it seems."