Heathcliff peered into the dimly lit hallways of the hill that served as the home of the Whitebays and others. It was far from inviting, it was far from what was the norm in Autumn Hills. Normally these underground homes were well lit through liberal use of Dust Lanterns and Windows to keep people's spirits up and make it easier for the eyes when the occupants step outside… But the lanterns here were running low on Dust and the windows he could see were boarded up. And despite the bad lighting, he could see that the hallway needed cleaning, this entire place was poorly maintained and he was willing to bet that it was on purpose.
His guts were stirring but he didn't need them to tell him the truth that was plainly laid out before his eyes; Autumn Hills was letting this place rot because the Whitebays lived here. It was a constant reminder that although they were born here and lived here their entire lives, Autumn Hills was not their home. It would never accept them, at best it would barely tolerate them and even that was coming to an end.
"Shit, this is gonna be a pain in my ass." He reached for the rifle slung on his back and flipped a switch on it, a screen popped up on the gun and lit up. At the same time a camera attached to the top of the barrel turned on and the barrel itself began to move, first to the left and right, then up and down, then clockwise and counterclockwise, and everything in between.
Once that was done he checked the screen to see what kind of ammo was loaded into the gun. He frowned when he saw that it was the standard… for fighting Grimm and people with Aura. But against Auraless civilians, it was overkill and Heathcliff had no intention of appearing on the news. So he quickly swapped it to a weak Electric Dust ammunition that was used by police to stun and capture, he then double-checked everything just to be safe.
"Just in case," He whispered to himself as he slung the weapon and took a cautious step into the unwelcoming hallway.
Heathcliff didn't want this visit to end in violence, but desperate people do desperate things and the Whitebays were almost certainly feeling pretty desperate and they had every right to be. The town has viewed them with suspicion and hatred for so long that it was only natural for a sense of paranoia to take root in both the town and the Whitebays themselves, add Erik's arrest and his disappearance from jail to that pile and you now had a metaphorical powder keg waiting for a match.
Coming here might have been a bad idea, Heathcliff thought to himself as he made his way through the tunnel hallway. But at the same time, he didn't really have a choice, not if he hoped to gain some insight from the family and that was insight he would need if he ever hoped to piece together the full picture. Why can't I ever have an easy case?
There must have been some deity out there who took pity on him because he only walked a couple of feet when he encountered a sign on a wall. It was a directory and map listing the names and locations of every family that lived inside of this hill along with any facilities such as communal baths and laundry… Interestingly and yet somehow not surprisingly most of the hill's residential areas were listed as vacant, nobody wanted suspected cannibals for neighbors.
Heathcliff used his scroll to snap a picture that he examined to make sure it was good enough, it was. So while he walked he took a close look at the names of the people who still lived here. "Huh, I recognize some of these names… These are all either watchtower guards or the family names of deputies. So not only were the Whitebays ostracized from the community but they were basically being spied on for years."
He shook his head in disappointment, Autumn Hills was disappointing him in a way that was permanently tainting his perception of this town and its community… or maybe it was more appropriate to say that he was seeing this town for what it really was. Seriously, I get that they had their suspicions but that was a generation ago! There's no good reason to keep the family down, caution is one thing but this is just a self-fulfilling prophecy waiting to go off!
He was already in a bit of a rush but now he was nearly running down that hallway looking for stairs. According to the directory the Whitebays lived on the third basement floor of the compound and while there were elevators, the state of the place did not inspire much faith in their functionality. But more importantly, he could not afford any delays.
The Whitebays were hated, their neighbors were paranoid law enforcement, tensions were high, Erik was a suspect, and he was now missing… All it would take is for a couple of assholes to try and take the law into their own hands for this to turn into a tragedy.
Heathcliff was now sprinting down the hallway. As he ran he would glimpse at the picture he took on his scroll and soon he found himself at a flight of stairs going down. Once he arrived instead of running down the steps he leaned over the rail to see how it looked to better decide how to descend.
The staircase was steep and wide enough that four to three adults could fit on a single step. After ten or so steps there was a landing followed by another staircase facing the opposite direction going deeper or higher depending on whether you were going up or down. If he was to jump from here then he could reach the landing quickly and potentially be able to jump again to the next one. After thinking it over for a second or two he decided that this was the best idea and leaped over the rail onto the landing and then jumped again until he reached the landing just above the third basement floor.
He then got low to the ground and listened; Just below him were some faint shouts and approaching footsteps. Someone had heard him land and was now coming to check it out, they did not sound happy but Heathcliff decided against taking his rifle into his hands. He did not come to fight, he just wanted to ask some questions and to check up on the Whitebays, he wanted to make sure that they were safe.
Instead, he stood up and slowly crept down the stairs but stopped when up ahead he saw a man whose intentions seemed to be less than noble with a gun in his hands looking in his general direction. Though it wasn't clear if this armed stranger had spotted him just yet.
"Alright, you sonofabitch! Come on out and git yer hands up!" An angry older man holding an even older double-barrel shotgun was climbing up the stairs towards the sound he had heard but hadn't yet spotted the detective. The older man took a few steps then paused, turned around, and shouted at someone behind him "I tolds you dat there was another one of dem goddamned cannibals hiding here! Now watch ma back boy!"
The shotgun-toting man got closer as Heathcliff carefully backed up, as he did he spotted a deputy badge pinned to the older man's flannel shirt. I was afraid of this, now how do I navigate this mess?
Heathcliff needed to do something but was having difficulty trying to think of something that wouldn't start a fight against the man and whatever backup he had. Maybe I can climb back up the stairs and then jump over the rail when he passes below me? If I'm careful then he won't hear me and I can get past him… but what about the other guy? I don't know where he is and if he catches me then it will be nearly impossible to talk my way out of this.
Heathcliff then had an idea, a stupid one but maybe a stupid idea was what was needed to handle a stupid fellow.
The man with the shotgun stopped climbing the stairs just before he reached the landing, "I knows yer hiding just around the corner! I won't hurt youse, I jus wanna git a good look at youse."
"Hello there," Heathcliff said without stepping into view. "Keeping a watch on those no good cannibals?" The words tasted like ash in his mouth but getting this man to drop the hostilities took priority.
The older man looked in the direction of the voice and paused for a second. He recognized that voice and was trying to remember where he had heard it and who he heard it from. "Oh! Youse here to help us out? Why don't you lets me ave a good look at ya?" And if you're one of those Whitebays trying to pull a fast one on me… well, you'll be getting what you got coming!
It was a risk, but it was worth it to not only avoid turning the town into an enemy but also possibly get their help. But perhaps this wasn't as big a risk as it seemed, the deputy did seem to recognize the voice so maybe seeing Heathcliff would trigger his memory… There's just one way to find out. And if something goes wrong then I can count on my Aura to save my dumb ass.
Heathcliff then walked out of his hiding spot and stood where the older man could see him, "So… Need any help with those Whitebays?"
The older man blinked once and then twice before his eyes just lit up and a big smile stretched across his face, "Well I'll be darned! I dinnae think you'd be down ere to help us git these freaks what they deserve! And what about those kids of yers?"
"They're helping with the search. So what's going on with the family?"
"Them cannibals ave barricaded themselves in tight! We're guarding de stairs jus in case they make a break for it."
"So there are others here besides you and your friend?" Heathcliff glanced past the older man and caught a glimpse of another younger man trying their best to remain hidden. "Would you mind if I tried asking the Whitebays some questions first? While I still can?"
The older man hummed to himself as he thought it over for a few seconds, "I… dunno, I'm fine wit it but I'd reckon dat Brandy may not like it."
Now that was a name Heathcliff did not expect to hear, "Brandy? You mean to tell me that the deputy is leading this?"
"You stupid hick!" The younger man emerged from his hiding place, on his chest was a deputy badge and in one hand he carried a pitchfork and the other was pointing at his older colleague. "You weren't supposed to say anything about that! Now we're going to have to kill him!"
Heathcliff's fists moved lightning fast and connected with the jaw of the older man with a wicked crack that sent him tumbling to the ground knocking the air out of him but not quite knocking him out. Then while the younger man was still processing what just happened, Heathcliff unslung his gun and fired three shots, two at the younger man and one at the older man still on the ground knocking them both out.
Heathcliff then dragged both of their unconscious bodies into a darkened corner of the stairwell and bound their arms and legs together with some zip ties that he always kept on hand to make captures. After that he examined their badges, they were real, or at least they seemed to be. Of course, this couldn't be easy… but Brandy? That's a surprise, he never once set off my Semblance… I've gotten complacent. Once this is over I'll have to train myself to stop relying on it so much.
Once he was done, he sent an urgent text to Team PRAN before walking into the hallway with his gun at the ready. By the Brothers, I feel bad for those kids. This was supposed to be an easy mission for them, something interesting to take the edge off after that Search and Destroy mission back in Vale and now they have to deal with this shit.
He then stepped back into the hallway and began to carefully make his way through it; it didn't take long for him to find other people but none were Whitebays. Every person that he spotted was like him, someone who was looking for the Whitebays but unlike him they were seeking to harm the family and each one had been deputized to do it.
Heathcliff couldn't let that happen but he couldn't fight every single one of them.
But maybe he wouldn't have to? Maybe he could trick them into thinking that he was on their side just like he did with the older man. It was risky but trying to fight who knows how many people was also risky and he didn't think that it was possible to sneak past them all. So with that in mind, he did his best to look natural and act like he was supposed to be there.
He looked around a bit, he was searching for anyone who was by themselves and was less… bloodthirsty than the others. He was able to find a large lanky man who fit the criteria and approached him with a smile.
"Hey there friend! How's the hunt!" How many deputies does Autumn Hills have? There is no way that it needs this many, not to mention that the old man I ran into earlier wasn't exactly law enforcement material… My gut is telling me that there is something fishy going on here.
The deputy in question was tall, lanky, and had this awkward air about them that made him feel unthreatening despite the hatchet in his hands. "Oh?! Detective? I- I didn't expect to see you here."
"Well, I couldn't let those cannibals just sneak away now could I?"
The lanky man's eyes widened, "So it's true then? They're really cannibals?"
That was not an answer that Heathcliff had expected and he wasn't prepared for it, "Ah, um, maybe?"
The lanky man was taken aback, "But they seemed like such nice people. I've heard rumors, so many rumors but they were always such nice hard hard-working people and Brandy did have a way of exaggerating."
"Hold on a second… if you're against this, then why are you here?"
"To be honest, detective. I don't know myself. Brandy just handed me this badge and told me to be armed and ready for trouble."
"So you're not actually a deputy? Are any of the other guys here actually deputies?" That explains a couple of things and raises new questions.
"I'm a farmer, most of the folk here are just normal everyday people. Brandy is the only one here that's a real deputy. Do you mind if I ask what's going on?"
Heathcliff mulled it over for a few seconds before deciding that it was worth taking another risk, "Let's walk and talk."
The sun was rapidly setting over the town of Autumn Hills, around this time most people would be wrapping up whatever they had left to do outside and getting ready to head inside. This was especially true when there was an official curfew like in situations when there were Grimm sightings or someone on the run from the law.
Erik Whitebay was both… but many people were ignoring the curfew. Many people were asked by Mayor Carla and Sheriff Silvia to ignore the curfew for the safety of the town and, strangely enough, for the safety of Erik as well. It wasn't safe out at night, there was still a mystery that had yet to be solved and Erik was the only person that could help them solve it.
It was only natural that the town would work together to find him and it was inspiring to see this kind of unity… or at least that was what they wanted outsiders to think.
The text message that Team PRAN got from Heathcliff suggested a very different reality. It warned them that there were at least some members of Autumn Hill's community who saw this as an opportunity to get rid of the Whitebays and that included Erik… Their mission was now clear, they had to find and protect Erik from the town.
"But how?" Jaune asked. "There are only four of us! Even if we each go with a different group, there is no way for us to cover all this ground."
"Don't forget that we can't trust anyone here," Ren added.
"We can't even trust Silvia or Clara!"
Nora shook her head, "Maybe it's too early to judge them but Clara was always a bit off and Sheriff Silvia struck me as someone we could count on… and Brandy, he tricked us all."
Pyrrha had been quietly gathering her thoughts until now, "How could he have organized this?"
"Who?" Jaune asked.
"Brandy. He was the one who told us how Erik just disappeared from jail. How did he get from the inn and make his way to the hill where the Whitebays lived and get there before Heathcliff?"
"That's… a good point," Ren said, trying to imagine how it could have been done and mostly drawing a blank beside one possibility. "For now, let's assume that he has a Semblance that lets him travel unseen."
Pyrrha nodded, "Agreed. For now, we should split up and try to find Erik first and while we're at it, make conversation with the townsfolk. Try to find out everything you can about Erik and be ready to fight if it comes down to it."
There was nothing else that needed to be said so the team then split up, with each member dispersing into a different part of the crowd just as Mayor Carla began to address everyone present.
"Hello, hello everyone! Can everyone please gather in front of me? Can everyone gather so we can make something clear?" Carla's voice was carried over the crowd thanks to the megaphone in her hands.
The crowd excitedly gathered in front of the mayor, the bloodthirst was nearly palpable. So great was the mob's eagerness that the deputies present along with Sheriff Silvia were having trouble pushing them away from the mayor. This situation was starting to look bad so all the members of Team PRAN started to push themselves to the front of the crowd to help the deputies.
Meanwhile, Mayor Carla looked at the mob with a mixture of disappointment and annoyance. She then raised the megaphone again to address them, "Go home."
For a moment, there was a pause and a poignant silence. No one, not even the members of PRAN believed their ears, how could they? You don't get in front of a crowd like this and just tell them to leave, that couldn't possibly end well and indeed once the moment passed a rumbling settled in… It started small, but soon grew in volume and anger as the coward began booing, shouting, arguing, and in some cases ignoring the mayor.
"Go back home! It's not safe," Carla shouted again with the megaphone.
"Of course it's not safe, there's a cannibal running about!" someone near Pyrrha shouted back.
"No there isn't! The cannibalism was something that MIGHT have happened decades ago! Nothing Erik supposedly did had anything to do with it!" Carla was right of course, it made no sense to burden an innocent with the supposed sins of an ancestor but this was not the argument Carla should have made.
"I can't believe you'd run cover for a murder!" Someone else shouted.
"Who did Erik murder!?" Carla angrily asked.
The crowd didn't listen and worse was that they started to move. Some headed back to their homes shaking their heads and bemoaning their sad excuse of a mayor. Others tried to move closer to Carla, probably to argue but were kept away thanks to Sheriff Silvia and her deputies along with Nora who managed to push through the crowd to help Silvia. Soon she was joined by Jaune and the sight of the two huntsmen-in-training dissuaded a few in the crowd from arguing with the mayor. Some even chose to go back home.
But most didn't move towards Carla. Most moved away from her, and those people scattered in random directions muttering about how they were going to do what needed to be done… they wanted to lynch Erik.
"Stop!" Carla shouted through the megaphone, "Stop you fools! Are you trying to send a pack of Grimm here? Are you trying to get us killed?! For what? Something that might have happened before most of you were born, before Erik was born!"
Some in the lynch mob stopped though it was impossible to tell whether it was because their common sense won over their hate or whether it was because they were reminded of the Grimm. Either answer was fine, either answer made things easier for everyone who still had their wits about them… sadly most people had their minds already made up and would not listen to reason.
Those people began splitting up, forming their own disorganized groups, and heading off in seemingly random directions. Those people refused to listen to the mayor, or the deputies, or their one family and friends who were starting to have second thoughts and why would they listen? In their own heads, they were the heroes of this story, they were the ones standing up to a threat, they were the hard men making the difficult but necessary choice to protect everyone else, and they were right.
A distant roar challenged that narrative they wrote for themselves.
"Do you hear that!?" Carla asked. "Do you hear that? Get inside and before your stupidity gets people hurt!"
The crowd froze and for a moment Pyrrha dared to hope that they would listen to their mayor. That hope took flight when slowly but surely a few people began to break away from the rest of the crowd, their fear of the Grimm outweighing the fear of a mere human… But there were still far too many people standing there, arguing with those trying to break away.
"What are you all just standing around here for?" A voice in the crowd asked, rising above all others. "Are we going to let a monster escape and continue hurting our families just because we were too cowardly to do anything about it?"
Pyrrha tried to see who it was but couldn't, the voice was coming from the center and there were too many people in the way. In the distance, she and everyone else heard another roar as the sun slowly started to descend. I can't let these people leave, they'll die if they do!
The voice continued, "This isn't the first time we've heard roaring in the distance! It's a nearly nightly occurrence, why are we acting like it's suddenly a big deal now? Is it to protect a cannibal? When did we start caring about freaks more than we care about our children?"
What they were saying was complete nonsense but that only matters if you were thinking with a clear head and they were not. They were thinking with a head filled with years no, decades of paranoia that had been directed at a single family. They were going to stop any time soon and they were not going to be persuaded… they had to be stopped by force.
That was when Pyrrha finally noticed that the solution was staring her in the face the whole time. She had a way to force them to stay.
The people in this crowd were all carrying weapons. Some were guns, most were various tools, and there were even a couple carrying around old mechashift weapons, probably something they inherited from a relative who had been a Huntsman… But regardless of what they were carrying, it all had something in common with each other and that was the fact that it had metal.
Her Semblance allowed her to create and control magnetic fields and that meant that she could forcefully pull the weapon out of their hands. Without their weapons, even the bravest would hesitate to go on this reckless hunt.
Another roar sounded in the distance, it was getting closer. Meanwhile, Carla kept trying to argue with the crowd and despite the best attempts of Silvia, the deputies, and the other members of PRAN it was becoming more and more apparent that they would not be able to dissuade this mob.
The situation was bad and getting worse but that also meant that no one was paying attention to Pyrrha and that gave her the opportunity she needed to put her plan into action. And as she was about to find out, she would need that opportunity.
At first, there was no issue, it was easy for Pyrrha to activate her Semblance and start projecting her Aura into the crowd to take hold of their weapons. Her time as a fighter in Mistral's arenas was serving her well here, you couldn't succeed in the arena without being able to use your Semblance in stressful situations and over long distances and both were applicable here. However there was another factor in play here that the arena didn't just fail to prepare her for, it had actually hindered her.
It was an issue of quantity. Fights at the arena were mostly one-versus-one affairs with occasional group fights. But even the biggest of those fights was significantly smaller than this crowd. She was now trying to use her Semblance on more bits of metal than she had ever done before and was struggling. She had trained to use her Semblance with subtlety and precision, in those regards she was good enough that no one at the arena ever figured out that she was using her Semblance.
But this wasn't the arena, this was a crowd that was anywhere between 30 to 40 people and they were getting sick and tired of arguing.
"That's it! We're not letting you waste any more of our precious daylight. C'mon people, we got a job to do!"
The crowd was starting to move away, Pyrrha had to act now!
I could just brute force the problem, Pyrrha thought to herself. It would take a lot of Aura but I could just force their weapons to the floor or into the air but I could end up hurting them. What if I just held them in place? That way I could avoid hurting anyone but then I'd have to continually use my Aura just to hold them in place… As she kept brainstorming, the situation became worse as another roar echoed in the shrinking distance. There's no doubt about it, Grimm are coming.
Carla was now shouting into that megaphone, "THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING, STOP OR BE STOPPED!"
"Oh, so you're going to arrest us now? You're going to defend that cannibal?" Someone shouted back
Another voice from the crowd chimed in, "I knew Carla was a bitch, but I didn't think she'd betray the town like this."
"Yeah! She is a traitor!" Said another who was soon joined by others in denouncing the mayor as some kind of traitor for the sin of… not wanting to kill a man for a crime he didn't do? For not wanting her neighbors to run into the Grimm?
It was absurd and yet it made cruel sense. These people weren't operating on logic, so course logic and facts wouldn't reach their ears. They were running on fear and anger, pure and unfiltered emotion that was overriding everything else and demanding that they turn their ears away from anything contradictory and turn their weapons towards anything that garnered their ire no matter who it was or how nonsensical it was.
The situation had deteriorated to the point of no return and Pyrrha had heard enough. She closed her eyes to help focus and visualize her goal. She imagined arms of magnetic force snaking through the mob and taking hold of every bit of metal. She reached out with her own hands and clenched her hands into fists as it happened to further solidify what she was doing and when it was done, she waited.
"I've heard enough of this nonsense!" someone in the crowd shouted before trying to walk away only to be yanked back by their own arm. "What?! What's going on!?"
"M-my pitchfork?! It's just frozen in the air, I-I can't move it!"
"It must be a Semblance! But whose?"
Accusations began to fly between the crowd and everyone else present, arguments quickly followed along with the threats of violence though none seemed willing to act on them, and for good reason. The crowd may not have access to their weapons but they were still violently angry and still outnumbered the deputies… Worse was that some of them were starting to glance in her direction, they were piecing it together.
Finally, a man stepped out of the crowd and walked towards Pyrrha. "It's you isn't it, girly?" The man was old enough to be her father, large, and had leathery skin from working the fields. "What have you done, witch?" His voice was filled with indignation and fury as he came closer and raised his fist.
Pyrrha didn't answer, though that witch comment did give her a few things she wanted to say to the man but that lecture could wait. Right now she needed to step out of the way of his fist which she accomplished easily before grabbing the wrist of that same hand.
"What are y-!"
Pyrrha effortlessly twisted his arm behind his back and forced him to his knees, or at least she hoped it looked effortless. It takes a lot of concentration to keep using my Semblance like this. I can't keep this up for much longer. Out of the corner of her eyes, she spotted someone else coming, it wasn't another person trying to hit her. This person wasn't even walking toward her, they were walking past her on their way towards the Mayor and Sheriff.
Another roar sounded and it was even closer, far closer than the others. Worse still was that it was no longer a solitary roar, others were joining in.
"Get off of me you bitch!" The man under Pyrrha shouted but was ignored and not just by her. "Why isn't anyone helping me?!"
The reason was a simple one. The person that Pyrrha had seen heading toward the Mayor and Sheriff had now been spotted by everyone else… that person was guarding coming from the direction of the nearest watchtower. That person had a message and everyone knew what it was and were hoping that they were wrong, but they weren't and they knew that.
The guard reached Mayor Carla and whispered something into her ears. She then whispered something back and sent the guard away before addressing the crowd, "Congratulations dipshits, the Grimm are coming thanks to you. Not Erik or the Whitebays. You. Every one of you who can't let go of something that happened before most of you were even born and never happened again."
Silvia glanced uncomfortably at Carla, "Don't you think you're being too harsh?"
"No. No, I don't think so at all. This has gone on for too long and I've held my tongue for too long… and I'm going to hold it for a bit longer but when this is over we are having a long overdue town hall meeting. Until then, everybody goes home unless you're going to help us."
Pyrrha let go of the man and released the weapons from her magnetic grip, but nobody seemed to notice. They were just standing around unsure of what to do, even the man who had attacked her seemed frozen with indecision. Even the man she had been restraining seemed oddly out of it, perhaps
Carla then repeated herself, "Either help the rest of us or get inside, choose fast because I won't be saying this again." She then passed the megaphone to Silvia.
"Alright deputies and guards, it's time for you to fulfill the responsibilities that come with that badge. Can PRAN come talk to me along with any volunteers? We have some things to go over so we're all on the same page.. As for everyone else, you should all be ashamed of yourselves. All of that bluster to kill a man and where does it all go when really trouble comes knocking?"
Pyrrha made her way over to the sheriff, as she walked she looked back at the crowd and saw that they were starting to disperse. Most seemed to be heading back to the safety of the hill's interiors, those people were either hanging their heads in shame or fuming over how they've been called out. Others were walking in the same direction as Pyrrha, they were walking over to the sheriff to discuss what their roles in this attack would be.
The roars were approaching, guards from the watchtowers were counting the Grimm, identifying the types, figuring out which direction they came from and where they were going, and they were relaying that information to the ones in charge. Defenses were being activated and people were getting into place while trying to calm their nerves. There was still time before the Grimm arrived, they still had a wide field they needed to cross but the damage was already done.
Autumn Hills was never going to be the same after today. An ugly wound that never really healed had been exposed and found to be infected, to be rotten. It was a wound that hadn't been inflicted by any Grimm. It was a self-inflicted wound, the town had done this to itself and the town had chosen to ignore it, the town had no one to blame but itself.
Back in Mount Glenn, Yang and Blake were having their own problem and it wasn't the Grimm running around the streets below or climbing the side of buildings looking for them… though that was a problem. It just wasn't the problem that was on their mind at the moment. The problem that they were worried about involved the third member of their group; a member of the White Fang named Greenstone and currently their willing prisoner.
He had agreed to surrender as long as he could call the White Fang HQ and warn them about what Adam was doing and he had upheld the promise.
But the end of that call echoed in the minds of Blake and Yang; I will suggest that you start looking for more evidence, you're probably going to need it.
Greenstone needed more evidence to stop Adam and he could not get that evidence if he was in a prison cell. Even if the Authorities acted immediately on any information he gave them, there was very little that they could do to stop Adam and whoever was supplying him. This was a problem that needed a real solution, a permanent solution, and letting Greenstone go so he could get that information seemed to be the only way forward…
But that was making a lot of assumptions. They were assuming that Greenstone could find that evidence, they were assuming that whoever got that info wasn't on Adam's side, and they were assuming that the info would be enough for Sienna to make a move and that the move wouldn't cause more problems. And of course, there was the possibility that sending Greenstone to talk to the cops would result in him giving them pieces of evidence that could push an investigation forward.
In addition, there was the biggest and most pressing issue of all; the others in their group. The gunshots were getting louder and that meant that Ruby was getting closer, and while they weren't too worried about her the same couldn't be said about Weiss or Oobleck.
With those questions and doubts rolling through their heads the two partners looked right at each other… They weren't sure why they did it, they weren't sure what they were looking for in each other's eyes but they did find a sort of comfort in the realization that they were on the same page. Now they just needed to make a move.
"Greenstone, I need you to be honest with me." Blake suddenly said, "How confident are you that you could get the information needed to stop Adam?"
The older man looked at Blake understandably confused, "By myself… not very. Why? Is there going to be a problem?"
"Absolutely," Yang answered, "And I'm not talking about the Grimm outside looking for us. We're talking about what we're going to do about you, Adam, and our team."
The gunshots were getting louder, Ruby was almost here and Weiss and Oobleck would soon follow behind.
A worried look came over Greenstone's face, "What's wrong with your team? They won't do anything to me, right?"
Yang answered with a sigh, "No. They won't do anything to you besides ask questions and take you back to Vale to hand you over to the police."
"Ah, now I get it," Greenstone recalled the question that Blake just asked him and put it all together. "You two are wondering if I should surrender, or if it would be better to let me work from the inside in the hopes that maybe I can find something that Sienna can use. That's a hard question and it only gets harder if your team shows up."
There was another gunshot.
Yang then said, "Look, we don't have a lot of time so I'll get to the point. Earlier you said that you weren't confident that you could get the information that your friend on the radio asked for. So should we just go with the original plan and turn you in?"
"Probably, but…"
"But what?" Blake asked.
"I… I don't really trust this guy, but Roman Torchwick has been helping me out and it seems like he is also looking for an out. You do know who he is, right?" He quickly noticed how the mention of the thief's name caused both of their expressions to change ever so slightly to one of annoyance and suspicion. "So you do know of him."
Yang groaned, "Oh we know of him, we know plenty about that asshole."
"He's helping you? Are you sure we're talking about the same guy?" asked Blake, now reconsidering if it was worth letting Greenstone go.
"Trust me, I understand. The dick blackmailed me into letting him in on what I was doing."
"So he knows?"
"Yup, he has known for a while now."
Blake and Yang glanced at each other again and shared a confused look before Yang addressed Greenstone again, "Wait… he knows you're working against Adam and just didn't cash in on it?"
He nodded, "I know it sounds weird but it's true. Though he's not doing this out of charity, he's looking for an exit. Whatever is going to happen is just too much for his tastes."
Another gunshot rang out but this time it occurred right next to the building.
"Ruby's already here," Yang said as she walked over to the window she broke to enter the building and peek out at the streets below. It didn't take her very long to spot the long red-capped hood of her younger sister rapidly moving between the Grimm and taking them down one at a time.
"What's the plan?" Blake asked her partner.
Yang set a foot on the window frame and leaned out, "Weiss and Oobleck won't be too far behind. I'm going down there to help out and buy you two time to decide what you want to do." Then without another word, she leapt out of the window to join her sister.
"Your other teammate is named Weiss?" Greenstone asked Blake once Yang was gone, his face scrunched up as he recalled reports from the Dock incident and the Rally. "Are you… are you by any chance teammates with Weiss Schnee?
Blake sighed, Well he was going to find out either way so I might as well get this over with. "Yes. Weiss is my teammate and she is also an ally. I know that it sounds too good to be true but she is on our side."
"Are you sure?" Greenstone's face was dead serious. "Plenty of people in the past claimed to be for Faunus' causes. Politicians, businesses, and even Huntsmen… Some were legit but most were just trying to use us to boost their own careers, your father learned that lesson the hard way. We all did… How certain are you that Weiss is legit?
"She is. She knows that I'm a former member of the White Fang and has risked her life to help me. Everyone in my team is trustworthy."
Greenstone's face relaxed, "That's good to know and that makes my decision much easier. I'm going to stick with the deal and surrender."
"Are you sure? This isn't something that you can just change your mind about, once Oobleck sees you it won't be possible to let you go. You'll never get a chance to find that info."
"I don't think I ever had that chance… Adam plays things too close to his chest. But maybe you can."
"What?!"
"You can find what I couldn't."
"How?"
"You're already working with the Academy, the police, and even Atlas is getting involved. With Weiss as a point of contact, you have partial access to a network that I could only ever dream of. You can point them in the right direction and the revelations will turn Adam from a hero to an unmanageable liability."
"That…" Blake thought it over, it was messy and would take time but it could work. Just busting whatever plan Adam has going on here would be a huge step forward and prove to the headquarters that Greenstone was right. "That could work but how am I supposed to contact headquarters? I didn't have a chance to take that equipment with me."
"Just use mine! It's still right on the roof of the building we were on just a few minutes ago. Most of that equipment was just to increase the range but you won't need that! We can leave that stuff behind, take what you'll need, and along with my notes you'll be able to reach them yourself."
"And what do I tell them?"
"Tell them to watch the news. Tell them that I was right. And tell Torchwick that he should follow my example and surrender before he's made to cross a line he can't come back from."
Just outside they could hear new noises besides that of Ruby's gun, Yang's fists, and the angry roars of the Grimm. Now they could also hear the sound of flame and the rising and collapsing of ice walls.
Blake peeked outside and saw that Weiss and Oobleck had finally arrived and were helping quickly clear out the Grimm. But she could also see that new Grimm were coming, she didn't know how many were left but this was a good thing. This meant that she and Greenstone had time to get back to the previous building and grab what they needed… but it also meant that they had the opportunity to do something else after they were done.
"Take your weapon," Blake suddenly said as she walked over to the nearest window to gauge the distance that she'd have to jump.
"Okay," Greenstone picked up his halberd from the floor and then asked. "What do we need this for?"
"To make a good first impression."
"I don't think an armed member of the White Fang suddenly showing up makes for a good first impression."
"It will if they see you helping us fight off the Grimm despite knowing that doing so will get you arrested. Besides, Oobleck is sympathetic to Faunus' struggles and would love an opportunity to talk to a current member. The fact that you're fighting against Adam is another point in your favor."
"Alright, you know the guy better than I do," Greenstone walked to the window next to Blake and also began to plan his jump. After a few seconds, they walked back about several feet and got ready to get a running start on that jump.
"This is your last chance to back out," Blake said.
"I won't."
"I knew you'd say that."
He glanced at her, "Then why ask me?"
"I just wanted to remind you that you still had the option to change your mind. Now you can do this without any regrets." She then ran forward and leaped through the window and into the neighboring building where she waited for him to follow.
And he did.
Author Notes: First off, I want to apologize for how this chapter is an entire month late. What happened is that after I came back from my vacation I was able to reread what I had written with a fresh pair of eyes and I wasn't happy with it. I was more than merely unhappy, I found to my horror that the events just didn't make any sense. Characters were acting in ways that ran counter to their character.
Looking back on it, I think the problem was that I was trying to write as much as possible before the vacation. To be more specific, I was treating my upload schedule as an absolute rather than an ideal. As a direct result, I unintentionally lowered the quality of my writing to get as much done as possible so I could still meet my self-imposed deadline.
That was a mistake and a lesson that I was thankfully able to learn in time.