I don't own anything.
"I think we found something." I said, sitting down at the breakfast table next to Pyrrha as Weiss did the same for her own partner. The pair of them suddenly looked a lot more alert, glancing around with shifty eyes as they checked if anyone was listening in. Since team VLYR wasn't there yet, there was no one close enough to really hear us over the din of the cafeteria, so it was fine.
"What did you find?" Blake asked, but as I opened my mouth to respond, Weiss beat me to the punch.
"We found a cluster of warehouses owned by a rather new freight company. The building matches the dimensions to house the Paladin, and there were guards around the property, all of them Faunus."
"We're not 100% sure if it's them yet, but it's the best lead we've found so far." I cut in before shoving some toast into my mouth. I wasn't hungry, I never was, but after a long night of walking and being lectured on Wind Dust while we worked, a nice piece of buttered toast tasted like heaven.
"So, then we all go together tonight?" Pyrrha asked. I just shook my head.
"We're not fighting anyways, even if the White Fang are there. You might as well get your rest."
Pyrrha seemed to accept it easily enough, and Weiss looked relieved that she wouldn't have to subsist off coffee alone for another night. Blake, on the other hand looked like she'd bitten into something sour.
It wasn't hard to guess why. It had nothing to do with our teammates not coming along, she probably preferred it. But it was more about the fact that I'd said we wouldn't be fighting. I knew she was eager to put an end to the organisations she'd once been a part of, but this was a bit much.
With any luck, though, it would all be over after tonight. Then everything could go back to normal.
"This is the place." I pointed at the cluster of warehouses. They all looked innocuous enough. Simple concrete walls, all grey and with no distinguishing features other than the logo printed on the side.
This time, we weren't stood on the street. Instead, Blake and I had climbed up onto the roof of one of the buildings on the next block over. It gave us a good view of the entire place while the ledge of the building also obscured us enough that if this was a White Fang warehouse, the guards wouldn't see us immediately.
"It doesn't look like much." I said, getting a wry smile from my girlfriend.
"I think that's the point."
"Yeah."
We settled down behind the ledge, sitting cross-legged on the gravel floor. It wasn't the most comfortable, but it beat standing up all night, and with only our heads peaking up over the ledge, we weren't as likely to be spotted.
"You know," I said, "When we started this whole thing, I had imagined that it would have been a lot more exciting than this."
"Most operations like this are kind of boring." Blake said, looking over to me with shining golden eyes. "If things get exciting, it usually means that things have gone wrong."
"Hah! I can see that."
I glanced back over to the warehouse opposite us. There was some activity there, but I couldn't be sure if it was just night workers or the White Fang. They were all Faunus, but that didn't mean anything. Night work and other more unpleasant jobs were often the only ones Faunus could get, much like the mining jobs at the SDC. It might sound strange, but having an all-Faunus night crew probably wasn't all that uncommon.
We watched as they walked into the building, some coming in alone, others in groups as they poured out from the parking lot and headed inside. I saw all kinds of Faunus among them, a man with fluffy bear ears atop his head, more than a couple of people with fluffy tails that I couldn't immediately identify, and even a man with rather magnificent antlers jutting out from his head.
Were those difficult to maintain?
I shook the thought off as I continued my watch. It felt like hours had passed, but it couldn't have been more than half an hour in reality. Then, the trucks started arriving. Some were actual trucks with containers on the back of them, while some were simply vans of varying sizes.
People poured out of the building again, grouping up and grabbing the cargo in pairs. I couldn't immediately tell what was in the crates, mostly because they were shut tight and had no markings on them, or if there were markings, I wasn't close enough to make them out in the low light.
What I did spot, was the man leading them. I wouldn't have thought much of the guy at first. Sure, he was muscular, but if you were carting crates around all day, it'd be strange if you weren't at least somewhat strong. No, what gave him away was the long, broad object slung across his back.
I couldn't make out exactly what it was, but it looked vaguely like a sword. I nudged Blake and pointed over at the man.
"Slate." She said simply, almost hissing the name as her eyes narrowed. I nodded along, obviously, we did not like this guy.
"Who is he?"
"His name is Slate, I don't know if it's his first or last, but he was a captain in the White Fang when I left."
My confusion must have shown, and she threw me a bone by continuing.
"He led more than a couple of missions and has around 30 agents under him at any time."
I nodded along, quickly scanning the people milling around the parking lot.
"I count 35."
"36, one of the drivers is smoking in the corner over there."
I looked to where she pointed, and I could barely make out the light of his cigarette in the shadowed corner. I gave Blake a nod. For all the disadvantages being a Faunus brought with it, the eyes seemed useful at least.
I felt the girl shift next to me, moving to stand. I put a hand on her shoulder, gently pushing her back down. It earned me an angry look, but I wasn't going to budge on this.
"We can take them!" She said, her voice dropping down into the same hissing tone she'd used when describing Slate.
"What if Torchwick is inside?" I asked, narrowing my own eyes at her. "Somehow I don't think he'll be in the mood to play again after last time."
"Then what do we do?" Her eyes were still narrowed, and I could feel that her shoulder was still tense under my hand, but she at least stopped straining to stand.
"We call the cops, and if they won't help, we call the teachers."
The plan didn't sit right with Blake, I didn't need to look at her to know that. I was all for doing what we could to help as well, but people like Torchwick were beyond us. For now, some part of me whispered in the back of my mind.
I quickly dialled the emergency number for Vale.
"Vale PD, what is your emergency?"
"Hello, my name is Jaune Arc, I'm a student at Beacon." I said, introducing myself. "I was recently involved in an incident with the White Fang and Roman Torchwick at the docks. I'm out tonight and I recognize some of the men who got away there at a warehouse in the city."
"… Are you absolutely certain?" The woman seemed more than a little sceptical of my claim, but I wouldn't let that deter me.
"Yes, they have the same features and builds. They aren't wearing White Fang uniforms, but I'm as sure as I can be without them."
"I will send a patrol unit to the location of your scroll."
"If I'm right, you will need more than one patrol unit. I count 36 people, one of them is visibly armed and the people I remember all had their aura unlocked."
The voice that came through the phone this time was different, a supervisor maybe.
"We will send along Huntsman support. Do not under any circumstances put yourself in any danger. Help is on the way." The other woman's voice was clipped, almost barking out the command. I nodded along, only to realise that she couldn't see me.
"Yes Ma'am."
The silence on the rooftop was deafening. The only sounds that I could hear were the crates being moved across the street.
Luckily, I didn't have to wait long for the distant sirens to get louder and louder as they approached the warehouses. I could see as movement on the other side of the street got more frantic the closer the police got. I even saw some people try to get in the trucks and leave once it became clear that the police were here for them.
Only, they were too late.
The next couple of minutes were a blur. Two dozen police vehicles pulled up on the street, sirens blaring as officers poured out of them. At the helm of the assault, though, were two men with rather unique weapons in hand. One of them held a sword of his own, and the other a massive blue halberd. The Huntsmen.
They moved in, surrounding the potential White Fang members. The police asked to see the contents of the crates, only to be shot at almost immediately as the Faunus pulled out weapons of their own.
And then Torchwick showed up, and he wasn't alone. Alongside him was a woman who couldn't have been more than five foot even, wearing similarly extravagant clothing as the gentleman thief. The pair of them quickly engaged the Huntsmen that the police had brought along, and I couldn't help but gape at just how strong they seemed to be.
It became more than clear that Torchwick had just been playing with us at the docks.
"Let's get a better view." Blake suddenly said, interrupting my train of thought. "Make sure no one gets away."
Her mouth was set in a thin line, and her usually pale skin was flushed. She was still angry. With a sigh, I nodded, and she pointed at the rooftop right next to ours. I leapt over to it, landing with a quiet crunch of gravel, and Blake came down next to me. Only, she didn't move after the landing.
I narrowed my eyes at her, reached out and… A clone.
I heard the pounding in my ears, and I couldn't tell if I was more angry or scared. It didn't matter, in the end. I sprinted to the roof's edge, looking around to find my errant girlfriend.
And then I spotted her, standing before a downed police officer, Gambol Shroud clashing with Slate's weapon in a shower of sparks.
The weapon he wielded was some kind of mix between a sword and a chainsaw. It rang out through the night, and produced a sort of screeching sound when it collided with the back edge of Blake's weapon. The force of his swing, combined with the rotation of the edge pulled Gambol Shroud to the side, and Blake off-balance.
I jumped.
A hand lashed out and caught a fading copy of the black-haired girl in the cheek. A bullet sparked off his aura, but the man seemed ready for it, and the chainsaw covered the distance faster than either Blake or I had expected. It grated on her aura in a shower of purple light.
And then I was on him, the crackling edge of Crocea Mors ramming into Slate's shoulder with enough force to send the man sprawling. I didn't let up, though. The blackened surface of my shield snapped into his face as he scrambled to get up, and a weak, aura-guided bolt of lightning flew out of Crocea Mors, quickly covering the distance to its target.
Through the haze of anger, my aura charged the second shot up much faster. It happened so fast that I was too late to stop it. The first bolt slammed into the man with a crack of his aura as it broke.
Then night became day, even for a moment, and a thunderous BOOM sounded out from my weapon.
My ears were ringing, my vision was filled with a great streak of purple that made it hard to see what exactly was going on, but one thing stood out to me.
ENEMY FELLED
+40000 Dust
Here we go! About time we get to climax of the second part of the White Fang Arc. For a while, I struggled with how to make this scene happen in a realistic way, and I'm actually pretty happy with how it turned out.
I wonder what you guys think?
Anyways, as always, have a good one!
If you guys want to talk about the story and get direct responses from me, or just chat in general, you can join this Discord at: b7JaQcpuc7
You can read up to 6 chapters ahead on: P a treon . com (slash) Raven991
As always, have a good one!