"Here it is," Violet turned his laptop over to Blake, showing her a series of documents. Everything from shipping lists to stock and price charts, "The SDC has supposedly stopped shipping dust in the wake of the robberies, but the dust market seems to be doing relatively fine. Why is that?"

"I'm guessing you know," Blake replied.

"Maybe, but I'd like to hear if you have any ideas of your own? You did work with them after all."

After a while Blake answered, "The dust is being resold through fencers?"

"Hmm... a possibility. Either that or it's being imported covertly. It's also possible Vale has large strategic reserves for times like these, but I doubt Atlas would approve of that measure. You know how they can be."

"So what do you propose?"

"We're going to try and follow shipments going into Vale and see if there is dust onboard. If anyone tries to intercept them we'll catch them in the act. In fact, I've got my suspicions on a certain Atlesian ship coming in today."

"That sounds… risky."

Violet smiled, "That's why I have an expert on the matter working with me."

Blake seemed confused, "You mean me?"

"Yes, you. You had experience with such things, right?"

"How did you figure out what I was doing? How do you know so much about me anyway?"

"I have my ways." He said before pulling out his phone and calling Ruby.

"Hello, any sign of Blake? Nothing at all?" he sighed, "I understand. Yes, I checked Beacon. No, I won't give up the search. You should remain in town, find a cafe or something. I'll call you if I find her."

"Are you planning on involving them?" Blake gave him an accusing look.

"Unlikely, but it couldn't hurt to have backup ready. Let's go." She nodded.

By the time the two of them reached the Vale docks, it was already getting dark. The day was wrapping up and the workers were leaving. A significant number of security personnel remained, however.

"Now isn't that interesting?" Violet was observing them with binoculars from a rooftop a good distance away. "Must be at least a dozen guards around those shipping containers. Seems pretty well guarded to me."

"It's suspicious. You might be right after all."

"So, Blake... Any chance of sneaking in?"

"Well… It will be hard to search the entire place in secret, you know?"

"But we know where to search, so it just might work. What about following trucks to figure out if they're going to dust shops?"

"It's doable. But we'd need trackers, and we could be waiting here for days."

Violet chuckled, "I'm not eager to miss so many classes. Sneaking it is then."

With Blake's guidance, they managed to get into the dockyard undetected. He wasn't the best at stealth, but he learned quickly enough. The place was a vast maze of shipping containers, and even with increased security two people could pass through without detection.

"Those are the ones we're looking for." Violet pointed to an array of shipping containers bearing the logo of an Atlesian shipping company. One of the containers in particular seemed to be protected by two men, who did not move from that position. Amateurs.

"You sure you wanna do this, Violet? They could get hurt."

"It's a risk I'm willing to take."

They circled around the spot, finding high ground on a neighboring container. They descended upon the guards from above in unison. Blake expertly knocked one of the men out as she landed, while Violet put his arm on the other man's mouth and a knife to his throat. He whispered to him, "Where is the dust?"

"Dust? What dust, I have no idea what you're talking about." The shaky voice of the man replied.

"Don't play dumb with me." Violet pressed the knife tip directly onto his skin and steadily increased the pressure.

"It- It's behind me. The only container with dust is that one. Now please let me go, I promise I won't tell anyone."

Blake neared him and knocked him out as well.

Approaching the container, he noticed that it was locked by a rather large padlock. Blake searched both of the guards, "No keys here." she said.

Violet sighed, "I could break it with my scythe, but that would make a lot of noise. If only we could... Hey, Blake?"

She rolled her eyes, "You think just because I'm a former terrorist I automatically know how to pick locks?"

"Well, do you?"

"Yes."

Violet smirked. The padlock was gone quickly enough, and they opened the shipping container. He cringed at the loud noise the door made, he was still paranoid about being found. But even if they were discovered, they now had a lead and could visually follow its movements. "Well well, would you look at that." Countless boxes bearing the Schnee dust company logo filled the container.

"Oh my. Must be several tons of dust in there." she was amazed at the sight before her.

"Indeed. Almost makes me wish we could take it with us," he said. Blake glared at him.

"What? It's quite pricy." he went to pick up a small box of fire dust.

"I thought you were a vigilante?"

"That doesn't make me an SDC sympathizer though." Blake really couldn't object to his reasoning. It's not like she liked them either, even if she was technically stealing from her teammate. Teammate, huh?

Violet pulled out his phone and started texting. He turned to Blake, "We're going now. I told the rest of your team to meet us outside the docks. You'll talk to Weiss now, okay?"

"Huh? I- I'm not ready for that."

"You'll never be ready, just get it over with."

"But-"

They were interrupted by the sound of approaching aircraft rotors. The two of them looked up to see a transport VTOL approach. Its engines rotated 90 degrees, and it landed like a helicopter in a small spot clear of containers.

The two of them climbed onto high ground to observe the situation. A large ramp opened on the craft's back and about 20 masked men spread out. They fired several shots at the security, killing one of the guards and causing the rest to flee.

"Those masks." Blake said, "They resemble the grimm. Definitely White Fang." She was disappointed at her former comrades.

The last man to exit was quite different. Tall, orange hair, no mask, a cape, carrying a cane. "Wait a second, I recognize that guy. He was behind one of the robberies."

"What?"

"I thought he was a human."

"Don't be crazy, the White Fang I know would never work with humans."

"Fair enough. It could be hidden."

"Or cut off. They do that to faunus sometimes, you know."

The men who disembarked immediately started breaking through various containers and searching them.

"They sure are bold. They're scattering themselves, so we should be able to take some of them out before they become alerted to our presence."

"Huh? You mean to actually fight them?"

"Why not?" he transformed his weapon into its combat configuration, and pointed it at her, "Are you part of the White Fang or not, Blake Belladonna?"

"No, of course not. It's just…" She nodded and pulled out both of her machine pistols.

"I understand, it must be hard. Now steel yourself, we've got a lot of work ahead of us."

Despite Blake's reluctance, the two of them separated and went their own ways. Violet found an unsuspecting masked man destroying a padlock with a grindsaw. He descended upon him and drove the Mordred through his shoulder all the way to the gut. The man barely registered what happened before dying.

It was a grim thing, killing. Even so, he recognized that it had to be done for a better world. Some people simply didn't deserve to exist.

Others were too squeamish to stain their hands, so he had to do it in their places. It was part of why he disliked the huntsmen institutions. In an effort to separate them from the military following the great war, they made their primary purpose grimm hunting. That ideology is drilled into every huntsman from day one, and thus the most effective and righteous people are prevented from maintaining their societies by fighting other humans.

He pulled back into the shadows and decided to return to where the dust container was. The door was unlocked so it would be found soon, he reasoned.

When he returned, he saw that it was already surrounded by almost a dozen men, and one of them was using a sort of telekinesis semblance to slowly float it in the direction of the aircraft. He could take him out immediately and stop their plans. But no, he had an even better idea.

He hung back, looking for other victims while they transported the container to the transport craft. He found another man, though he managed to scream before his head was decapitated. He heard steps approaching, and he climbed onto high ground and out of sight. Several men, including the leader, found his body. He didn't have much time. He made his way to the aircraft. He saw them load the boxes out of the heavy container and into the transport. After they finished, the men formed a circular perimeter around the craft.

He descended onto the ground, revealing himself to the men. They all faced him now, their guns pointed at him. "Hello, gentlemen," he said, smirking to himself.

Seeing the blood on his scythe, one of the men snarled at him, "You got overconfident, huntsman kid. You'll die here. No mercy for your kind."

"Will you say the same thing when it's your turn to die?" he said in a cold voice.

The man laughed, "We give no mercy and ask for none in return. Your kind didn't want to talk when we were weak. And now that we are strong we shall enact righteous vengeance for our suffering, starting with you."

"Very well. Then your fate is decided." Violet said to him with a voice of plain disgust. His left eye began glowing, and his semblance activated. "My command to you, all of you is thus. Die!"

The men previously ready to shoot him faltered. Their postures slouched, and their eyes became empty. They pointed their weapons at their necks, and spoke in unison with completely monotone voices, "As you command." They fired their guns, instantly falling dead. As for Violet, he could only grin as he made his way through a field of corpses.

A lone man came down from the ramp, alerted by the noise. At the sight of so many dead comrades, he froze and his eyes widened in terror. Violet ran towards him, scythe in one hand, knife in the other. He sliced the man's throat with ease, his only feeling that of annoyance at the fact he sullied his clothes with blood. He made his way through the craft, now packed with dust supplies, reaching the pilot's cabin.

A man there was waiting for him, his pistol ready. Violet did not mind it. "You shall fly the aircraft 30 miles north-northeast. Land in a secluded spot and then kill yourself."

The empty eyes of the man responded, "Yes sir. As you command." Too easy, he thought.

He sheathed his knife back and exited the ramp, only to be greeted by the furious leader of the group. He was flanked by six more men. The ramp closed behind him and the craft took off.

He activated his semblance, his eye glowing again, "Die!"

Nothing happened, however. The leader laughed, "Oh my, is that your power? How useful. But it seems to have betrayed you at the worst time imaginable."

Of course, I used it on Blake earlier today. He cursed himself. Ican only do it three times a day. This is getting very bad.

"Oh, I almost didn't recognize you. You were with little red that day." he smiled.

"Don't call her that!" He snarled and readied the Mordred.

The man's smile retreated, and he pointed at him with his cane, "Either way, you killed too many of my goons today. I'm not taking any chances with you, fink." A burst of flame came up from his cane. He could not dodge it, and the munition exploded upon contact with him. His aura shielded him from death, but it was now totally drained. The next shot would be fatal.

At that moment, a burst of automatic fire befell the group. He looked over to the side to see it was Blake that saved him. He dashed for cover, as did the White Fang men. He peeked out to see that the burst killed three of the men. But his relief was taken over by fear. Did Blake see what he did? What would she think of him? She would lose all trust in him. There's a good reason why he kept his semblance a secret.

The terrorists fired where Blake was, shooting her several times. Yet nothing happened. The image of Blake simply disappeared. That was her power, to create decoy clones of herself. Now that their positions were revealed, Blake fired her guns at them again.

Soon she was joined by fire coming from another position. It was Ruby, her scythe-sniper shooting toward the enemy. Yang was there too, her shotgun gauntlets firing as well. A stream of ice joined them, blowing up a crate one of the men used as cover. Weiss had joined in as well. He collected himself and used the distraction to flank the enemy.

He navigated the maze of the docks using the sound of White Fang gunfire. He found one of the men and snuck up behind him. He killed him quickly and silently with his knife. Soon, he found their leader croutching behind some crates, his orange hair disheveled and his coat dirty. Quite the change from the confident gentleman just a few minutes prior. The man saw him as he approached, and leveled his cane at him.

An explosion within the Mordred propelled it to slice his weapon hand instantly, cutting it off. He resisted the pain, snarling at him, "Do you have any idea who I am? I am Roman Torchwick, for heaven's sake. My death won't be forgotten, they'll come for you. I have powerful friends." Violet simply readied his scythe, ready to execute him. The man was now panicked. "Please, I can give you anything. You want money? I've got it. I can wire you five million lien right now."

"Shut up, scum!" he put his hand on the trigger, "I see that you're willing to kill, yet you're not willing to be killed. How hypocritical of you."

"You speak like you won't beg for your life too, kid. You're not above me." He gave a weak smile, "See you in hell."

The Mordred delivered swift, if not clean, justice, shattering the man's skull with enormous force. He pitied the people who would have to clean up after him. It was at this moment, standing there, that he realized the scale of the fiasco he was in. He almost lurched at the gory sight he made. And to think his sisters have already seen his handiwork. He couldn't present himself in this bloodied state to Ruby. And Blake possibly knew of his mind control powers. And to top it all off, he could hear sirens approaching in the distance. This was going to be an even longer night than he imagined.