UPDATE: SO, UH, I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT HAPPENED HERE, BUT THE FORMATTING WAS COMPLETELY BONKERS. IF YOU DIDN'T SEE BEFORE THE UPDATE THEN IGNORE THIS, SORRY. ANYWAYS, I'LL TRY TO BE MORE CAREFUL AND DOUBLE CHECK TO MAKE SURE THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE. I APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE. ANYWAYS, HERE'S WHAT IT WAS MEANT TO SAY.

/

A/N from Ahamkara's Eye: hello everyone. We're back. Hope everyone has had a good couple of weeks. Aperture is still working with me, and he wrote the first bit of this chapter.

Anyways, not much else to say right now. Let's get to it.

/

A small light fixture was all the group had for illumination as they stood in the small office in the abandoned warehouse Blake had led them to. Illia was still unconscious and sitting in a chair they found with Crow finishing binding her arms and legs, standing up as he finished.

"I don't think she'll be getting out of that." He said with a small smirk to his lips.

"Don't get too cocky now." Glints voice rang in his earpiece. "We still don't know much about these people and their abilities. For all we know she could bust out with ease."

"Relax Glint. Given how many interrogations I had to do on Spider's behalf I'm fairly confident in my abilities."

/

As the pair stood guard, the remaining members of their group had made their way to a separate room to talk among themselves and plan on how to continue. Upon entering the room, Yang slowly closed the door behind them and turned to the two Faunus.

"So," she began "looks like we have a lot to talk about partner."

Blakes ears flattened on her head as she looked down. "Yang, I- "

"But all that will have to wait. At least until we can decide what to do about the two unknowns in the other room." Blakes ears and head perked back up upon hearing that.

"Unknowns?" Sun questioned. "I thought he was with you. You guys came in together and everything, and even said you traveled together."

"Yeah for, like, a day. Two max. I met him after killing a Deathstalker and rode with him here on a ship after he insisted on tagging along." Yang crossed her arms as she responded. "Other than the fact that his name is Crow and he's a Faunus I don't know anything about him. If anything, his behavior makes him more suspicious than anything else."

"His behavior?" asked Blake.

"Yeah. I mean I thought I was used to socially awkward because of Ruby, but this guy makes her look like Coco in comparison." Yang chuckled at the joke, but it died upon reminiscing about her sister. "Ruby…"

Blake reached out to her partner and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Yang…"

"It's fine. I'll be fine. Let's focus on what's in front of us." She said casting a glance at the wall that separated the two rooms as though she could see through it.

"Right." Sun spoke up. "So, let's start with the person we know is White Fang." He looked at Blake.

"Her name is Illia." Blake said with a sigh. "She is indeed part of the White Fang. We used to work together a bit since we were both pretty good at infiltrating. But I hadn't seen or talked to her since I left the White Fang behind."

"So, we have one enemy and a- "

"Possible enemy." Blake cut in. "She's not a bad person Yang. Like a lot of the White Fang, she joined either because she felt she had no other choice or life's circumstances forced her to. She's a good person deep down, and I know if we could just talk to her, she might even see how far the White Fang has fallen."

"Blake," Sun began, "she tried to stab Yang. If the new guy- "

"Crow." Blake corrected him.

"If Crow hadn't stepped in and took the blow, then Yang would definitely have gotten hurt."

"Speaking of dark, blue and broody." Yang cut in as she shifted her weight to one leg. "We need to decide what to do with him too. I mean nobody really believes that 'I have a strange aura' crap he fed us, right?"

"No." "Not really." Came the replies.

"How does his behavior make him more suspicious though?" Blake asked, having remembered Yang's earlier comment.

"Well for one he just acts distant, like he has something to hide all the time. Second, the guy hardly sleeps, like, at all. Also, the way he got right up after Illia attacked him is… weird."

Sun nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah. From the outside it almost seems like maybe she held back, and it only looked like she hit him. It may have been a ploy to get us all together. Plus, he noticed her on the roof when even you didn't Blake."

"Yeah, but his shot wasn't faked. She clearly took the hit and had her aura break. Besides," replied Blake turning and looking to Yang, "you said he came with you to Menagerie on the boat. That seems like a lot of work just to trick us if he was with her."

"Alright, alright you got a point there kitty cat." Said Yang while uncrossing her arms and standing straight. "So, he's not necessarily an enemy, but he's still suspicious."

Sun nodded his head and then replied, "Then let's give him a chance. So far, he hasn't shown any antagonism towards us, and he has actually helped us. I say we see where it goes. For all we know he just wants to do some good."

"Okay. Well, that's probably as good an outcome as we could hope for right now."

"There's one more thing," Blake said. "We got ahold of Illia's scroll earlier, and based on what we found, we think that Adam is planning an attack on Haven academy, circumventing or even overthrowing the Fang's leadership. A repeat of the Fall of Beacon."

"It goes without saying we're going to do all we can to stop it, right?" Sun and Blake nodded. "Good. What does our captive think about that plan?"

Blake sighed and looked down. "I think she's conflicted. Like I said, she isn't a bad person. I think she's just… put too much of her life into the Fang to quit now, even when they go this far."

"Okay." Yang gestured to the room they'd just come from. "We push her on that then. You ready to go and help your friend see the light partner?"

Taking a deep breath Blake looked to Yang, "Yeah."

/

Darkness finally gave way to bleary light as Illia started to come back to consciousness. She blinked her eyes a few times to try and get her vision to focus.

"Mmmmmm wha-?" she groaned as her head lulled back and forth. She shook her head in an attempt to try and clear it. "What's going on? Where am I?"

"Those are very good questions." Said a voice. "You've been out for quite some time. As for what happened I'm sure once your mind clears, you'll remember, and as for where you are well, you're currently in our loving company." He finished while spreading his arms out.

As her vision began to clear up, she was finally able to get a good look at the person standing before her. 'Why does he look so familiar.' She thought as she stared at him. 'Oh, that's right! He's the Faunus that took the hit for that blonde human. But how is he still standing?! That hit should've knocked him out of the fight for a good while!'

The man then spoke up again, "It's good you're awake. I'm sure the others have quite a few questions for you."

"Not just her Crow." Came a third voice form behind. Both Crow and Illia turned to look at the source of the voice.

"We have some question for you too." She continued while giving him a pointed stare. "But those can wait for later. Right now, we need to talk to Illia." She then turned to the bound girl and her expression softened.

"Blake?" Illia said the name with anger and confusion in her voice. "What do you want, you traitor?"

"Illia." Blake began. "I'm sorry it's been so long since I- "

"Left? Ran away?" Illia asked sarcastically while cocking her head to the side, "Abandoned us?"

Abandoned me, she left unsaid.

"I was going to say since I talked to you." Blake said with a sigh. "I left because I saw the direction the White Fang was going, and I just couldn't continue on that path anymore. We all thought Sienna was right, but it's gotten out of hand Illia. People aren't respecting Faunus, they're fearing them. That's not equality."

"And so, what? You just decided you'd abandon the cause?"

"I didn't abandon the cause! I will still fight for our people, but I will do it my way. A way that doesn't involve murdering innocents and spreading fear like Adam."

"Adam doesn't- "

"He attacked Beacon! He almost killed me!" Blake yelled pointing to the scar on her stomach. "He cut off Yang's arm when she tried to defend me!"

Yang waved her prosthetic arm in indication.

"He had the Vale sect work with Roman Torchwick to steal Dust and release Grimm into Vale before that! He is responsible for the deaths of innocent people, many of them Faunus!"

"Beacon is… was…" Illia started, though the uncertainty was creeping into her voice, "He destroyed it as a message! It was a symbol of the systems of power. The ones that oppress our kind and keep us down!"

"But the Huntsman fight the Grimm. They protect Humans and Faunus. Why would attacking a Huntsman Academy help the Faunus?!" Blake shook her head in frustration.

"How much do you wanna bet that your leaders don't even know Adam planned to attack Beacon?" Yang interjected.

Illia snapped her head to the blonde and scowled, "Quiet human. Don't you dare talk about the High Leader so casually."

"Illia." Blake spoke with an admonishing tone causing Illia to turn back to her. "She has a point. Did Sienna know about the attack?"

"I… don't know. But with Adam's actions, maybe people will finally start to give us the respect we deserve."

"So, you're saying that you're okay with an act of violence that caused mass death, changed thousands of lives forever, and wasn't even approved by leadership?" Blake slammed her hand against the wall. She took a breath to calm herself. "This was why I had to leave." She said in a softer tone, "I couldn't stand by as we continued down this path. The Faunus need one vision, unifying rhetoric, and a plan for change that hurts as few people as possible." She looked to the side somberly. "And the Fang just isn't that. Not anymore."

Illia opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again soon after, not saying anything. There was silence for a few moments.

It was at this point that the blue skinned Faunus, Crow she remembered Blake calling him, stepped forward. "If a plan as large scale as attacking a city and an academy took place without your leader knowing then that means it was kept from her. And if it was kept from her then you can most likely assume that the people closest to her are siding with this 'Adam'. Which doesn't bode well for your organization."

"Illia please. I know you've seen the signs. You must have by now. The increasing radicalization. The change in desire from just wanting to have equality to just hating humans in general. That wasn't why the White Fang was founded."

Illia didn't respond as she looked down, deep in thought. They were right of course. She had seen the signs. Heard the rumors about how the Albain brothers were growing disillusioned with Sienna and how they constantly sang Adam's praises. How people would talk in the mess halls and around campfires and their rhetoric would get worse and more violent and hateful. She tried to convince herself that those were just the radicals. That beacon would be the end of the large-scale violence. That most people in the White Fang just wanted change, not some sort of twisted vengeance. She didn't want to believe it, but after having listened to Blake's logic, she couldn't deny it anymore.

"I… I don't know what to do." She whispered as tears started to fall.

"We need to stop him." Blake stated. "We need to stop Adam."

"How?"

"Do you really want to help?" Blake asked. Illia nodded in response.

"We need you to find out what Adam is planning, and how far his influence reaches. He's already attacked one Huntsman Academy, and we know from your scroll that he's planning on attacking another one. And he'll do worse if he thinks he can."

"So, you want me to go back to HQ and try and find out what I can." Illia could see where Bake was going with this.

"Yes, and once you do I need you to contact us and let us know."

Illia finally looked up at Blake. "What about you? Where will you be?"

Blake let out a sigh and looked back at Illia, "Home."

/

After freeing Illia and going over the plan one more time, they finally let her out of the warehouse, and she went on her way. Crow watched as she left, his lips drawing a thin line across his face.

"Are you sure it was wise to trust her with where you'll be staying? What if she decides to turn on us?" he asked as he turned around to regard the other three.

Blake made eye contact with him, her eyes firm. "Like I told Yang before, she's a good person. She's just been stuck making the wrong decisions." Her weight shifted slightly, and she turned to her companions. "However, now that the matter of trusting her has been taken care of, there's still the matter of trusting you."

Immediately Crow was on edge. Figures they wouldn't trust him. He wasn't exactly forthcoming with information with Yang, and his insistence on being involved probably seemed a bit weird. As he looked around thinking of an exit strategy in case things went bad, it was Sun that stepped forward and spoke up.

"Look man, all we're saying is that it's weird how you came out of nowhere and insisted on helping despite not knowing us, not that we don't appreciate it. Plus, you suddenly recovering from Illia's attack due to having a 'strange aura' isn't very believable."

Damn. They weren't buying it – and he supposed the excuse wasn't exactly watertight.

"I'm not with her if that's what you're implying." Crow said in response. He then turned his head to look at Yang, "And I was telling the truth when I said I'm here to help."

"Sill doesn't explain how you recovered so quickly," Yang replied.

"Like I said, barrier tech. And I really do have pretty good healing abilities."

Yang stared at him for a while. He knew she was trying to see if she could detect any deceit in his words or if he'd just crack and spill the beans himself. Fortunately, he had told the truth, in a sense, so he wasn't too worried.

Finally, she relented. "Fine. You can stay. You've been helpful so far, and you haven't actually gone against us in any way."

"Thanks. I… I appreciate that."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I'm giving up on getting answers from you. It's just that I understand everyone has their secrets that they're not willing to share immediately." Yang cast a sideways glance towards her partner with that last statement. Turning her eyes back to Crow he saw they were tinted slightly red, "So long as those secrets don't endanger me or my friends."

"On that I don't think we will have much issue." He responded coolly. Not like he could even remember if he had a dark and sordid past, filled with terrible secrets, to begin with.

Yang clapped her hands together and then threw a one-armed hug around Blake. "Great! So, what say we get out of here and head on over to Blakey's?"

"Yaaaaaaannngg." Blake groaned.

"And while we're at it, I can FINALLY meet the parents. Maybe see some embarrassing kitty photos." Yang continued while waggling her eyebrows up and down.

"Ugh, it's almost like nothing's changed." Blake said, the edges of her lips turning slightly upwards.

/

"Wait. Are you're telling me that you're practically royalty here?"

The four figures stood outside of the largest and most opulent dwelling in the town. One that – apparently – belonged to Blake's family. Yang's partner shot her an irritated look, and knocked on the door.

"I mean, hey. We wouldn't have judged you or anything."

Her partner shot an even harsher glare at her. "Quiet."

The door opened. A woman with cat ears opened the door. Blake's mother, Yang guessed.

"Blake, darling! You're home. Come in." She looked at the rest of the group, nodding at Sun, before her gaze landed on Yang and Crow. "Who are these two?"

Yang stretched offered her hand, and the woman shook it. "I'm Yang Xiao-Long, Blake's partner from Beacon!"

"Kali Belladona, Blake's mom. Pleased to meet you!" Kali smiled, then turned to the fourth member of the group.

He waved awkwardly. "Hey, I'm Crow. This group and I don't know each other too well – I might not stick around for long, but I'm here to help right now."

"Well, any friends of my daughter are welcome here, even new friends. Come in; we have tons of room," Kali said, gesturing behind her. The group funneled into the building and walked into a room nearby, where Kali motioned to the seats around a table. "Ghira, Blake's father, is out on some important town business. He shouldn't be back until later."

Blake looked up. "Is it related to what we found on the scroll?"

"Yes. He's talking to other influential people here and seeing if he can drum up any official support for a group to go to Mistral to oppose the White Fang."

"Will that work?" Yang asked. "I mean, it's a good idea, I'm just not sure how many people would go along."

"Maybe not, but we have to try. I'm sure that at least some people will agree." The woman paused. "If any of you need anything, feel free to let me know."

The group sat down as Kali left the room. Sun spoke first. "So, uh… what are we planning on doing next? Illia's going to find her own path or something, right? How do we get people to listen to us?"

"Maybe we could get into the White Fang's nearest base of operations," Crow suggested, "Get information on exactly what they're planning on doing next, and how they're going to do it. It seems like the radical cell of the organization is very influential, which means that they must be communicating and coordinating their attacks somehow, even with the CCT down. So maybe we can find wither the database or the place where they keep that information?"

"Well," Blake started, "they do have a pretty large camp near here. But sneaking in would be dangerous. Despite it being called a 'camp,' it's really turned into a permanent center of operations by now, and it should be heavily guarded."

"I'm pretty stealthy when I need to be," Crow responded. "Maybe I could sneak in, get what we need, and come back here with information on what their next moves are. Maybe get people here on our side."

"Whoa whoa whoa." Crow looked at Yang, who had crossed her arms. "Listen dude, I appreciate the help, but I think I speak for everyone here when I say that we are definitely NOT letting you go into that camp alone. Both because you might get yourself killed, AND because we don't fully trust you."

Crow raised his hands apologetically. "Alright, alright. I just thought it would be easier with one person. And I don't know how much experience with this infiltration stuff any of you have."

"Hey. I was part of this terrorist organization once, remember?" Blake spoke up, "Not only do I have experience, but I know a lot about the way this particular group is run. At least, assuming they haven't changed too much."

"Plus, look at her. Anyone with that much black in their outfit is practically legally obligated to be stealthy." The joke was Sun's. Yang laughed, but Blake looked unamused. Crow let out a small chuckle.

Blake cleared her throat. "Ahem. ANYWAYS. You're right about a large group being a bad idea though. All four of us probably shouldn't go. Even if these two weren't awful at being subtle."

"Hey. I resent that."

Blake ignored her partner and continued talking. "We can both go. Watch each other's backs, and I'll keep an eye on you. No offense."

"None taken."

"Alright, sure. You guys will probably want to go under cover of night, so…" Yang looked out the window. "That gives us an hour or so. When you go in there, Sun and I can stay near the camp and get ready to come in ourselves if your 'stealth operation' Doesn't go according to plan. Sound good?"

"Yup."

"Good with me."

Crow shrugged. "I'm new here, so I'm fine with doing things your way. I assure you that I'll do my best to help in any way you need."

Yang cleared her throat at that. "So, um. I know you're probably not ready to talk openly about WHY you're helping us, and that's okay for now. But we should still know some things. For example, your healing – you say it's good. How good are we talking?"

"Well…" Crow leaned over and tapped Yang's metallic arm. "Let's just say that I wouldn't need one of those. Sorry to hear about that, by the way."

Three sets of eyes widened slowly.

"Are you serious?"

"Dead." Crow paused for a minute, before continuing. "I think it goes without saying that if I get injured in a fight, you shouldn't focus on trying to help me or anything. There's not a lot I won't stand back up from. I've had my pelvis shattered, limbs dismembered, and there was even one time a major artery in my neck got cut. And well, I'm still here and in one piece - physically, at least." He conveniently didn't mention that he had died and been resurrected some of those times, but that wasn't the point. The point was that he didn't want them to worry if he got hit in the chaos of battle.

Yang leaned back. "Well, damn. If everything you've said to us is true, then I'm glad you're on our side. Or at least, not on theirs."

"Glad to be of use." He looked outside. "I think I'm going to step out for a little bit, find some fresh air and be alone for a few minutes. Then we can set off." The group nodded, and Crow excused himself, went to stand on the balcony.

"Glint," he said softly.

"Yes, Guardian?"

"Can you make me some smoke bombs? For stealth?"

If glint had been materialized, his shell would have twirled. "Yes, but I think we're a bit low on Glimmer. Spider didn't exactly pay us very much before we got pulled here. Why don't you just… you know, try using use Void Light? Plenty of Nightstalkers can vanish in smoke without any fancy tech."

Crow sighed. "First of all, you know I'm not confident with the Void. But even if I was, I want to keep my Light usage to a minimum."

"You know, if you want them t-"

"Yeah yeah, if I want them to trust me, I shouldn't hide this from my new friends. I know what you're going to say. But do you really think they'd believe me? As far as we can tell, they don't have Guardians or Ahamkara here. And they've never even heard of the Traveler."

"I know. It's just…" Glint paused. "It doesn't matter. I'll help with whatever you decide to do. I'll make those bombs, just be careful with our supplies."

"I will." Crow moved to head back inside. "I think it's almost time to get moving. Best get back to the group."

/

"So," Crow asked, "You know what we're looking for? Or where we might find it?"

Blake glanced around the camp that they were approaching briefly. "There." She pointed at a building. "That's probably where they'll keep any communications from Adam."

They made their way down the hillside slowly, watching what guard patrol paths and patterns they could see as they went. Yang and Sun waited just over the crest of the hill, ready to follow the pair in themselves if they heard gunfire or other sounds of struggle.

"So, uhm. If you don't mind me asking, what exactly made you realize that you couldn't be a part of the Fang anymore?"

Blake looked at him for a moment, as if deciding whether she should answer the question. "Well… Adam, the one who's leading the extremist cell now… he used to be my partner. He started off reasonable – or at least, his views seemed reasonable to me – but over time I could tolerate them less and less. Don't know if that was because I changed or because he did. Probably a bit of both. It took a while for me to work up the courage to leave, but eventually I had to." They continued slowly towards the outskirts of the camp. "What about you? Have you ever been a part of something you didn't want to be?"

Crow winced. "Yeah, actually. Until pretty recently, I was part of a pretty… unscrupulous organization. Many would call it a crime syndicate. Run by someone they call 'spider'."

"Why? Judging by your reaction, you clearly didn't want to be there."

"Well, I started because it was one of the only places I was accepted. A lot of people from other places and groups seemed to hate me – not because of anything I did, or at least, I don't think so, but because of who I am."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well it's in the past now. Anyways, I would have left, but eventually Spider threatened my best friend. Used him as leverage over me. That's why I couldn't get out of the situation."

They stopped behind a boulder near a structure at the edge of the encampment, still well outside of earshot of anyone inside. "What… what happened to him?"

"My friend? Oh, he's still alive and well, and I don't think that he's in any danger anymore."

"Glad to hear it."

"Yeah. Thanks. We should get on top of that building there." Blake used her unique weapon to climb up to the roof, while Crow activated his double jump. They crouched on the roof, looking out over the camp. It was honestly more of a small town than a camp; nowhere near as big as Kuo Kana, but there were still two dozen or so buildings interspersed with plenty of more temporary-looking structures. A few people, including clearly armed and uniformed individuals, were visible, but not too many. Their target building was a short distance away.

"We're lucky. There don't seem to be as many people here as I remember." She pointed at an entrance to the target building. "Only two guards there. And the patrols take a few minutes to pass by."

The pair jumped across the rooftops deftly before coming to a stop near where Blake had indicated.

Crow presented a smoke bomb and whispered to Blake. "I say we wait for a patrol to pass out of sight, then use one of these, and in the confusion drop down and knock those tow out quickly." Blake nodded an affirmative.

They waited for a short time. A group of three guards walked by their targets and turned the corner a short distance away. A few seconds later, a smoke bomb dropped from above the two unsuspecting guards' heads. In their confusion, they had no time to react to Blake and Crow dropping down from the rooftop nearby. Blake took hers out with one quick blow to the head, while Crow grabbed the other one around the neck with his arm and squeezed. After a short struggle, he was unconscious too. Then, they proceeded inside.

There was only one person in the relatively large room – a woman who, luckily, didn't seem to notice that they had gotten in. Crow gestured at her, and Blake nodded, before moving behind her with rather impressive speed and knocking her unconscious as well.

The room seemed to be a logistical center for this base. It had multiple computers and other electronic devices for storing data and communications, as well as a few stacks of paper around, likely containing the same types of things. Crow pointed at one side of the room. "I'll take that side. You can look around over there," he said, nodding to another section. "This might take a bit."

Crow wasted no time moving to his portion of the room. However, he had no intention of searching – his plan was to pretend to do so and have Glint do most of the heavy lifting. Ghosts were good at that kind of thing. He leaned over and picked up some papers, as Glint materialized, making sure to keep his body in a position where it would shield the drone from view. Glint quickly scanned through dozens of documents at once, then his shell spun.

"Find anything?" Crow whispered.

"Yup. There's plenty in here that's useless; they have logistics assessments, intelligence reports on unrelated subjects, and other irrelevant communications. But there's some useful stuff in here." He gestured with some Light beams at relevant documents. "Take these with you. Some stuff in here about the models of bombs they're probably planning on using, recon assessments of Haven academy, some stuff about Adam and one 'Sienna Khan" – apparently they've infiltrated her guard."

"Hmmm." Crow moved to collect the items glint had mentioned. "Can you get into that terminal?"

A few more beams of Light. "Yup. I doubt that they're used to something like a Ghost here – their encryption and firewalls are leagues worse than most things I've seen back home on the Shore."

"Find anything else?"

"Hmm. Well, I – oh. Yes. Apparently, they're working with an outside contact. One who they believe has enough connections and influence to get them into Haven on the night of the attack with no trouble at all. They're planning more of an infiltration style of takedown here than they apparently did with Beacon. I've downloaded the stuff I think is relevant to your scroll wirelessly." The Ghost then dematerialized.

Crow was still a bit unfamiliar with the device – he'd only gotten it a few days ago – but it was what everyone else on this world seemed to use. He pulled it out and saw multiple new files, supposedly the ones Glint had pulled.

"Hey," Blake's voice came from behind him. "I think I found a -" she paused when he held up his scroll and gestured to the terminal behind him. "How the hell did you get in that fast?"

"I know how to access pretty much any system on the face of the planet. Came in handy quite a few times in my work before." Neither statement was technically a lie, but he did conveniently leave out the part about a sentient god-fragment from another universe doing pretty much all of the hacking for him.

"You have to realize that this isn't helping your case on not being suspicious, right? How do I know you didn't just have access already because you're working for Adam?"

"Here," He said, handing her the documents he'd found. "I'll give you these. I'll send you these files and erase mine. Then we torch this place. That way you'll have the only copy of all this info. That okay with you?" He looked at the unconscious body on the floor. "We can take her out first."

Blake hesitated for a second, then agreed. Crow held up a smoke bomb he had from earlier and smiled. "Corrosive smoke. Should render most the electronics and documents in here unusable." They dragged the woman's body from earlier out of the building, then Crow tossed his bomb into the building. It went off with a small beep, then a hiss.

Blake nodded, seeming satisfied. "I think that's everything we came for," she said, and took out her weapon. The two vaulted onto the top of the building, Blake with Gambol Shroud's ribbon, Crow with a quick double jump, and they took off back towards Yang and Sun's vantage point. As they neared the edge of the encampment, a commotion started behind them – no doubt the Fang had discovered what they had done.

The pair sprinted up and over the hill and made it back to their companions without incident. Yang looked at them expectantly.

"We have all we should need," Blake said, presenting the documents as crow held up his scroll. "Let's head back into town."

AN from AhamkarasEye: Hey. Been gone a while, but I hope all of you have had a good start to the new year.

Just wanted to comment on this chapter a little bit – I know that they didn't have to do anything like this in the show, but to be honest, it seemed a bit too easy for them, both there and here, to just get everything they need off Illia's scroll. Plus, the little infiltration mission gives the RWBY cast a bit more time to interact with Crow, which I think is needed.

Anyways, until next time. Hopefully it'll be a shorter wait.

ApertureZero: Like AE said above, sorry for the hiatus. For me it was Endwalker releasing and having to deal with Log In (Savage) and then the holidays. Hope you all had a good time over those! Also as stated above, now that that's all done, were planning on going to a more reliable update schedule. Next chapter will be written all by me so please look forward to it!