Chapter Nine

Blake looked over at the tensed up and nervous Tukson, sipping the cup of tea the Panther Faunus handed to her as she processed what she had learned. She could feel the hairs on the back of her own neck sticking out from the story Tukson told her.

"... Brothers." she exclaimed under her breath. Tukson nodded, agitated by his memories of what he had told her of what he knew about the topic at hand.

"Are you sure about it, staying in Beacon I mean?" he asked her, causing her to set the teacup down.

"As much as I want to, if I leave and try to head back home to Mistral now, it might confirm their suspicions that I have learned what they are and their affiliations with Gaean Industries… So if even half of what you said has been happening between the White Fang and the Beowulf Men is true, that's the last thing I should allow, especially if I want to return to my parents…" Blake replied, voice trailing off.

"True, especially since word from the grape vine is that a nest of the beasts has been running around the outskirts of Menagerie… which so far only raises more questions about why it's only Mistral that we're being actively hunted… which before I left the White Fang Sienna had been investigating." Tukson remarked. Blake looked down at her cup, staring into her tea in thought.

"...There is something else you wanted me to do for you, huh?" Tukson guessed correctly, hitting the nail on the head as Blake nodded.

"I was going to ask if you're willing to investigate Team STEL for me… but I don't have any right to endanger you if it means putting you back in the sights of the Beowulf Men." Blake mutters lightly, voice a whisper as she felt guilty at the idea of asking Tukson to do something she felt was too dangerous to do herself. Tukson paused, then chuckled.

"Hah, I understand… but that's what the White Fang was first formed for, especially after the shit Atlas had pulled once the Great War ended." He replied with a small smile, but then grew serious as Blake looked up. "Don't misunderstand, I'm willing to do so, but not without establishing some ground rules for us both to observe." the Panther Faunus said, making sure Blake gave him her full attention.

"We're going to have to minimize communication over our Scrolls, and no surprise visits. I have a burner that I'll keep in touch with you if you wish to visit me again, but schedule the time and place to be away from here. I don't want to risk them figuring out my place of residence if they've managed to follow you." Blake frowned.

"You know that I was one of the best at infiltrating government and company properties. Ilia is the only one I can name being able to display a greater affinity for it, and that's because she was almost literally born for it."

"Yes, but she isn't some shape-shifting abomination isn't she?" Tukson countered Blake's annoyed protest.

"Alright." she ceded, not arguing further.

"And no using our actual names, we'll stick to pseudonyms, understand?"

"Understood, and no mention of our past either?" Blake asked. Tukson nodded.

"Correct. I also have one last rule, which is going to be the most important one. If you feel that Team STEL or any of the other Beowulf Men are onto us, immediately send the following message: 'Meet me at Glenn Mountain at 12PM.' After that, the two of us break contact with one another, and then pretend we never had any conversation with each other." Blake's cat ears twitched, as she raised an eyebrow.

"Paranoid much?" she asked.

"Maybe, but that was how those of us who survived the Gaean Industries purges in Mistral made it out on our own two feet instead of a body bag, damn bastards were through in their hunting methods." Tukson replied. Blake grimaced.

"So the Iron Curtain, the riots, and the arrests… but such broad measures shouldn't be effective."

"Yep, the White Fang fucked around and found out at that outpost. Don't let the fact they're repeating the same tactics as the SDC fool you, the prisons are where they actually get around to killing you off if they successfully catch you. We found out that the rate of Faunus prisoners spiked up on average, with every single additional death having one thing in common."

"...They were all actual White Fang members?"

"Or family members of actual White Fang agents, along with associates Faunus and Human both even. Anybody else wounded or killed are effectively just collateral damage from being between the Beowulf Men and the White Fang." Tukson answered.

"Oh Gods…" Blake muttered, hand covering her mouth. Tukson nodded, and his face stared off in the distance.

"That was why Sienna ordered everyone to outright leave Mistral, save for a few volunteers that stayed behind to ensure we could get out of that hellhole. Luckily, we know enough that I can give you one piece of advice to recognize when you are interacting with them. They tend to have this symbol associated with them, so if you run into anybody with it, maintain your distance and keep one eye on them at best you're able." Tukson advised Blake, showing her a symbol. When she looked at it. It looked like either a tower or a ladder, with two vertical lines connected to three shorter horizontal ones. She then began to recall an experience she had conversing with Ted a week ago.

Blake was sitting at a lunch table, eating a Ministralian Ramen and Salmon bowl, whilst across from her sat Ted Renzo… eating a ham sandwich, which didn't have anything except for what looked like at least 25 slices of ham and no condiments. He was examining his Scroll, privacy case covering up the device as he swiped through his messages. After a moment passed, Blake decided to ask the rather plain looking Cadet a question.

"Do you read any books or manga in your spare time?" She asked, gauging his reaction. He seemed to have gone into thought for a moment, then settled on an answer.

"I have been reading a book series called Earth Banes." he replied. Blake raised an eyebrow at the name.

"Isn't that a cosmic horror series? Other than that, I heard it has been ongoing despite not selling as well as other series."

"Yeah, it takes place on another planet that is under invasion by three eldritch gods. Most tend to find it off-putting due to it having an entire lexicon of terms that appear in it, otherwise the story doesn't make much sense. It is pretty niche as well, but does have the reveal of being a cosmic horror series pretty well, as while there were hints of their presence, the deities that have been causing all the problems in the world were confirmed relatively recently in the books." He explained. Blake nodded, surprisingly interested.

"How so?"

"To keep it brief, the main cast were part of an order of knights and witch hunters fighting against a large array of monsters that similar to Grimm, except that most of them were brought into the world by the eldritch gods I mentioned, and were revealed to be as the Dragon of Rot, the Spider of Order, and the Voice of Chaos. Why they're trying to invade the world is not clear, but what is known was that around 100,000 years before the present day of the setting, each of them began spawning various creatures such as the Corpse Leeches which is essentially a race of blood-sucking parasites that raise you up as a corpse to hide amongst the living, Golems that tricks people into taking them as servants/slave-soldiers, that than gradually mind-control their masters to serve their real creator's agenda, etc." Ted explained, getting excited to talk about the Earth Banes series.

"So where are you now?" She asked.

"Currently, one of the main characters, a witch hunter who disappeared from the story and reappeared, was attacked by a witch serving the Dragon of Rot, infecting him with a disease that is essentially a contagious form of Leprosy that also fuses your bones into spikes that push out of the skin, filled with contaminated blood that spreads it when stabbed into another person whether or purpose or on accident. The plot is about the rest of the cast trying to save him, but doing so many well requires invoking the Voice of Chaos, named because it doesn't have a physical form as far as anybody knows. In fact, it only manifests when somebody vocalizes or sings in certain ways, which in the Earth Banes world resulted in most societies actually banning any music that requires vocals in their entirety, and those that don't have very heavy regulations against the practice, due to superstition being said vocalizations are cursed." Ted further explains. Blake relaxed for a bit, forgetting for a little bit about Team STELs' off-putting nature for just that short span of time.

As he was showing off some fanart of the characters and explaining who they were on his Scroll, a notification came up on it, from an app bearing the same signal she was now looking at in Tuksons' bookstore.

"...I can definitely confirm that Ted is one of the Beowulf Men now. But, he's the most… socially awkward Human I have met." Blake said, recounting the memory to Tukson.

"Does he need to be socially graceful in order to disembowel a person?"

"...fair point. Well, that's about all I have to talk about for now, got any recommendations to take with me back to Beacon?" Blake asked after finishing her tea, standing up and gathering her things while Tukson opened the door for her.

"Yeah, I have a couple of books I think will interest you." Tukson replied, and after making a purchase of a few that Blake felt she would like, she went off back to the Vale Airport to Beacon.

As Blake stepped off the airship ramp onto the dock to Beacon some few hours later, she looked up at the night sky. The moon was at Half-Broken, the phase wherein only half the most destroyed fraction of the moon of Remnant was visible. Continuing on, she pulled up a group chat that was set up between her and the rest of RWBY. Setting her Scroll to call, she waited for one of the others to respond as she walked on to the dorms, when she saw Eleanor walking with Jaune and Pyrrha. She paused, squinting her eyes as she watched them head over to the gym. When Weiss' voice answered, Blake got snapped back to remembering she was calling the rest of her Cadet Team.

"Fair night Blake, is everything alright?" Weiss asked, her upper-class Atlasian etiquette showing in her tone and wording.

"Oh, um… yes, yes, I was just now returning from Vale. Is Ruby or Yang with you?"

"I'm afraid not, I was busy getting a new Scroll, same number and all that. Ted has also been helping me with learning how to properly use the tool kit that came with it. You're on speaker by the way."

"Hello." The boy that was mentioned said in the background.

"Hey." Blake said, trying not to grimace as she realized she will have to be careful then in also speaking with the rest of Team RWBY, especially Weiss if Ted had access to her Scroll. Suddenly a ping signaled another person joining the chat, where Yang's voice announced it was her.

"Hey Blake, what's up?"

"Just arrived from Vale, and heading over to the gym for a bit. Jaune, Pyrrha and Eleanor also happen to be going there. Do you feel like joining?" Blake said, walking over to the place in question.

"Eh, already did my workout once we got back to class, maybe some other time." Yang replied.

"Is there anything else you have called for, Blake?" Weiss asked.

"No, that's everything for now. Night." the cat Faunus in hiding replied.

"Later night owl." Yang responds.

"Good night, don't stay up too late." Weiss intoned.

"Bye." Was all Ted gave. A ping came up.

"Hey Bla-" was all Ruby gave when Blake thumbed the log out button, whinging as she did so.

"Shit." she muttered, but knowing Weiss and Yang would cover for her, continued on to the gym. As she entered, she immediately saw Eleanor, Pyrrha and Jaune on one of the practice mats, setting up a sparring match between Jaune and Eleanor. While the raccoon Faunus was wearing a tanktop and knee length shorts that showed off her midriff, Jaune was in a sleeveless shirt and sweatpants. Pyrrha was off to the side, wearing a similar dress to Eleanor while going through a set of weapons to pull out a couple of daggers. As she passed them to the two sparring Cadets, she noticed Blake.

"Oh, Blake! You're here to train alone?" She asked, to which the Cadet in question nodded.

"Yeah, but I saw you guys setting up and was wondering what you're doing." Blake replied.

"Well, I uh… um…" Jaune tried to speak, voice trailing off, when Eleanor spoke up.

"I'm giving him extra training, since he's going to be here for some time. We're starting off with unarmed and armed hand-to-hand combat techniques." the sniper of Team STEL explained, flourishing and testing out the balance of her dagger against an imaginary foe.

"Really? You're really taking the time to train Jaune?" Blake asked, to which Eleanor shrugged.

"He isn't leaving anytime soon, so may as well give him something to work with… speaking of which, Jaune!" The Faunus shouted mid-conversation with Blake, making both her, Pyrrha and the blonde man flinch. Blake immediately realized what got her attention before she explained her sudden shouting at him.

"Don't hold that dagger in reverse. Instead holding it like I am doing." Eleanor said in a much quieter tone, demonstrating by holding the dagger out with the blade pointed out from the space between her forefinger and thumb.

"It's much easier to control the blade Eleanor's way. Though there's exceptions like with Lie Ren's StormFlower." Pyrrha added. Jaune stared blankly, then nodded.

"...moving on. Now then, Jaune, just to make sure and to avoid accidents, how do you think wielding a dagger differs from a sword?" Eleanor asked, getting into a kneeling stance and waiting for the Human to answer.

"...it's basically just a super baby sword, right?" Jaune replied, scratching the back of his head.

"..."

"..."

"..."

As one could probably imagine, Blake, Pyrrha and Eleanor stared in absolute bafflement at how incorrect their companion was.

"This is going to be a long, long night…" Eleanor mumbled to herself.

The group of internationally recognized criminals, both Human and Faunus, gathered around a table with a map on it. Whilst one of them, a Faunus man in the garb of the White Fang with deer antlers flicked through a list on a Scroll, the red-haired Faunus boy next to him was dressed in all black, with a mask covering his eyes. The only thing that denoted his race was a pair of small nubs of ox horn growing out of his forehead. Even so, his expression conveyed his disdain for the Humans facing him across the table, and for the woman that was the only reason they were sitting together without their guns drawn. Cinder read off a report of the mission that was provided by Roman and Neo, smirking heavily.

"Well, well, well… It appears that Adrian Cobalt has left a little something important for Gaean Industries exposed." the woman chuckled as she showed off what she found.

"Mountain Glenn?" Roman asked, recognizing the map as he recalled some of the history that involved that area. Turned out, with some prodding from Neo to study up on his heists, that knowing your history is good for tracking down some of the most valuable items he had taken from his heists.

Mountain Glenn in particular was notable for being Vale's first foray into spreading out its population by expanding into the Vale Mountain Range and building a city underground. However, a flaw in the plan was that it required the establishment of a border wall, and due to difficulties in recruiting enough soldiers to defend the walls being constructed, Vale hired one of the recently newly founded Black Eagles Bands, a collection of mercenary warriors that emerged around a decade before the Great War began, effectively forming a kind of union/tribe for their occupation that sold their services for everything from escorting VIPs or their closest family and friends, to hunting down rouge Huntsmen (the latter being a significantly hot topic of debate, as the Black Eagles have been known for… butting heads when their missions overlap with those of the Huntsmen. Turns out having two organizations that essentially center around free-lance work in the same area can make for some… nasty business if things go wrong between them.)

The warband in question working for Vale was the 57th Varangians of Tyr, a Black Eagles warband which has operations in Vale. The 57th fought off multiple invasions by Grimm that tried to break into the city, and after it was constructed, negotiated a deal to patrol the other side of the Vale Mountains in exchange for having access to the now defunct Castle Everfree, a Valen castle that was made to overlook a now abandoned town, which they had restored and renovated over the course of 13 years using the massive amount of income they accrued fighting for the Valen Armed Forces during the Great War and/or looted from the Atlas/Mistral military. It was around this point when Mountain Glenn would suffer the destruction and final Grimm attack, the result of an attack by a platoon of Corporate Soldiers sent by Gaean Industries.

While the Varangians had a unit returning from patrol, the Gaean Industries raiders waited until the gates into the entrance tunnel to the city were opened to let them in, then launched a barrage of missiles with warheads made of a mix of powderized Burn, Combustion and Water Dust. Gaean Industries discovered that this led to a volatile concoction that records would go on to name 'Gel-Fire Dust', that when activated creates an explosive fluid that ignited with temperatures hot enough that the resulting inferno partially melted the gates, reducing them to pieces of molten slag that fell on the burning mercenaries that were not instantly blown into ash from the direct impact and heat of the artillery barrage.

"Yeah, apparently Gaean has set up a RD shop in the ruins of Mountain Glenn, despite being explicitly banned from having any operations in or around the Vale Mountain Range. Oh, before you comment about not having anything for taking on Gaean Industries at this point, Adam, I have that covered. You have our newest partners to thank for that." Cinder replied to Roman and Neo. The two stared blankly, until their eyes widened.

"Was this what the Dust robberies have been for? Starting a second fight with the Mistral Megacorps?" Torchwick asked, to which Cinder laughed.

"Well, not only that. Let's just say even now, assuming things have gone to plan, other criminal rings will suddenly be armed with a massive stockpile of Dust that found its way into the global black market." Cinder said, staring with a smug confidence that made the group she gathered stare with varying expressions.

Neo simply frowned, conveying the thought of how the inevitable upping of security in multiple locations would inconvenience her and Roman in the future, whilst Roman by contrast saw the idea of competition as the main annoyance. Adam, however, smirked.

"Hopefully, this can inspire a new wave of Faunus to rise up and take arms against their oppressors…" he sneered. Roman frowned as he cast a bemused look.

"Aren't you supposed to hate all Humans as oppressors, including Miss Fall over here?" he asked, making Adam go back to scowling.

"Some goals require merely accepting that you have to do things you wouldn't tolerate in other circumstances." Adam replied.

"...Heh, how bad did she kick your ass into joining our merry little band?" Roman taunted, causing Adam to stand up, flaring his nose as the stag Faunus held him back by the arm.

"Don't, not worth it." The man said, his voice deep and gruff as Roman smirked, and then fist bumped Neo. The woman then began signing, which Cinder noted.

"Got a question for me?" She asked, tapping a finger against the desk she was sitting on. Roman replied in her place.

"Neo was asking what exactly the Gaean Industries laboratory is researching." He explained, to which Neo nodded. Cinder had a passive look, picking up her datapad she was showing Roman the map of Mountain Glenn on, taking a moment to set up her next presentation. Once she was done, she revealed that various areas were designated to represent what Gaean Industries was doing with the ruined and abandoned city.

"From what I can determine from what you and the White Fang gathered from the records within the Gaean Industries offices, the laboratory is a weapons platform RD station, focusing on something called '5-Form Aegis' in an urban combat environment. The red area to the East closest to when the East Gate was destroyed is a zone that they've been letting in the Grimm to test out their ideas, while the green… symbol here is the actual laboratory proper. The yellow area around it within Mountain Glenn is where they have set up multiple obstacle courses for mobility and durability testing, etc. As it also happens, days from now, a supply convoy is scheduled to arrive, and drop off supplies where the blue star is. There they have a communication station and listening post for tracking anybody potentially investigating the area." Cinder said, pointing to the different locations of interest.

"And those orange lines?"

"Patrols making sure the Grimm are kept in the assigned containment zone to ensure internal security is kept up and minimize interference with non-combat related trials." Cinder answered, to which Adam spoke up.

"I suppose this is where the White Fang fits in with your plan?" He asked. Cinder nodded.

"Correct. If you need some additional persuasion, this particular installation has a face and name that, if word from the grapevine is reliable, which it always has so far… you should recognize." she replied, showing Adam something on her pad. He stared at it, breath hitching as he scowled, eyebrows furrowing in silent fury. Roman and Neo noted this, and the look they both gave to each other spoke clearly that they saw how he was being played with emotionally. The stag Faunus, while stoic, was evidently concerned about what was happening here, until he saw whatever or whoever Adam was seeing, then his face paled.

"Well, I will definitely appreciate finishing off that particular thing." the bull Faunus growled.

"I figured you would like to have a second shot at killing him, after everything that occured in Mistral."

"...consider me in." Adam said after taking some time to think about having an opportunity to hunt down the person they were talking about. Neo, for her part, simply leaned on Romans' shoulder, exchanging a look with him.

"Anybody want to fill us in?"

"Short answer is one of the bastards responsible for Mistrals' increased repression of Faunus rights is here in Vale… and I am taking his head." Adam snapped.

"...right." Roman says, tilting his head. "So what are we doing?" He asked Cinder.

"Well, we'll need to have someone get in on the inside. And it happens you two have the talents and, depending on what we uncover, transportation of Gaean Industries' latest project…"

Within a small corner store across from Tuksons' a car that had an unmarked black paint job which had been staying there for the past hour during Blakes' visit drove past it, managing to stay unnoticed by the owner. Driving in and around the area, the car came upon an apartment building a couple of blocks down from it. After stopping and turning itself off, the driver's side door opened.

When the man inside came out, the first thing one would notice if they paid attention to his face and hair was the matching color of cobalt from the news reports about the Vale Police Department being attacked. He looked around, scanning the streets and the alleyway in front of him, before nodding in self-satisfaction that he was not followed, holstering a revolver he had hidden in his hand and walking into the alley.

Approaching a dumpster, he tapped on its lid four times. After a second passed, it opened up, and the man grimaced while stepping back to allow the occupant inside to climb out. The second person, also a Human man in appearance, twitched and shuddered for a moment as he did his own visual searching of the area.

"So what sort of business do you have with me? You're certainly far from your corporate tower, oh towering Walker." The homeless vagabond asked his tailored suit wearing acquaintance.

"Business regarding someone who got a peek beyond the Veil." The tailored man said, causing the homeless man to frown.

"Well, you know what the Litany calls for… The Veil Shall Not Be Lifted, especially if what I heard is going on in both Atlas and Mistral is correct."

"The Atlas Incident was the result of Man-Eaters, as in your kinsmen getting sloppy and getting the Atlasian military catching them in their activities." the man replied.

"Aye… but your 'elite' pack didn't live up to their reputation and beat them to the punch, hehehe. Ah, well, I suppose you want this particular gal dead by tomorrow or something, eh Adrian?" The man asked. That was when Adrian Cobalt stared, his expression blank as he handed his acquaintance an envelope. Upon opening it, the vagabond found over 700 Lien in the envelope, along with an envelope which had a paper letter with instructions and a card with numbers drawn by hand in an elegant cursive script upon it.

"This is what I want done with her, along with the number and address you can contact me if you need assistance or the job is done. The 700 Lien is a down payment for now, with an extra 1,300 upon completion of your task." He said, letting the vagabond read through the instructions. He then looked up at Adrian, head tilted as he silently asked him a question.

"Can you do it?"

"Well, yes… but why would you-"

"Then that is all I need of you. You no doubt have seen what's been going on out by the border, no doubt seeing the effects for yourself as well in this capital." the homeless man nodded.

"Right. These elephant Grimm, Behmons, Behmens, er…"

"Behemoths."

"Yes, those."

"Well, up in my corporate tower, I have been privy to the fact we have multiple problems, and if they all converged… Well, let's just say we have bigger problems looming on the horizon, more than a possible Veil Lifting."

"What, you Walkers planning to have a three front war with the White Fang, the SDC, and the Kingdoms or something?"

"If the ones in charge are stupid enough, I fear they will, and drag every one of our Tribes down with them into whatever firestorm they plan to embroil this world in for their ambitions." Adrian replied, gesturing off in the distance with a wave of his arm.

"Well, what do you plan to do, go find the Silver Fangs and bring back the Concordat? Nobody has found one of them since the Tribal Revolt was waged against them for their failures, and to break away from the Nation." The homeless man says, scratching at himself. Adrian shook his head.

"I don't need to… that's all I am going to say regarding them." He said, then he turned around and walked into his car. "Remember, follow the instructions I have given you Thomas, and if you want to meet me personally again, go take a bath in the Everfall River first." He says, closing the door and taking off down the street.