51

Chapter 51:

"Uh...Looks like the situation's under control," noted Sun, watching the last of the White Fang's soldiers go down before Penny's flying swords. While the soldiers' skills were nothing to write home about, it spoke volumes about Penny's abilities that she was able to lay waste to them so effortlessly. On top of that, there wasn't a single one actually injured. Penny had neatly and precisely broken their Auras, while also knocking them unconscious.

Blake glanced up, seeing the few remaining bullheads circling, their movements betraying their pilots' uncertainty. None of them wanted to chance another attack run, which would have brought them into the line of fire of Penny's incredibly powerful beam-attack.

Just what kind of attack is that anyway? Blake wondered, her gaze going back to Penny. Given the power and range it possessed, it should have taken a substantial amount of Dust to fire a beam like that. However, there was no space on Penny's swords for Dust-storage. It might have been contained in her backpack, and the energy transmitted down the length of the wires that were joined to the pommel of each of her blades' handles. But it would still have required a rather large amount in storage, which seemed at odds with how slim Penny's backpack was.

Still, she supposed that this wasn't the time to worry too much about the particulars. As peculiar a girl as she was, it seemed that their decision to include Penny in this little operation had proven to be the right choice after all. She'd more than pulled her weight.

"It'd be nice if we could bring those down," noted Sun, looking up at the bullheads.

"Let's not borrow too much trouble," said Blake, feeling nervous.

After one last thunderous crash, and a flash of violet light, the cacophony of Ruby's battle against Adam Taurus had died away. Blake could only hope and pray that Ruby had survived. Adam's incredible skill and experience had more than earned his place at the head of the White Fang's Vale Branch, a position granted to him personally by the High Leader, Sienna Khan. He'd overseen much of Blake's training, even helped her to design her own weapon. Even though they had undertaken missions side-by-side, Blake was under no illusions that she was his equal. At the end of the day, the thought of fighting Adam terrified her. The thought of Ruby fighting him was even more frightening.

Blake jerked sharply, her cat ears perking as she picked up the click of heeled soles. Turning around, she brandished Gambol Shroud in its sickle mode, pointing its pistol at the source of the noise. Then she relaxed at the sight of Pyrrha, making her way towards them.

"Thank God," Blake gasped, relaxing a little.

"I should be saying that," said Pyrrha with a relieved smile. "We were worried something might have happened, when you stopped reporting in."

"Well...things got hectic," said Blake, her ears drooping in slight shame as she realized that she'd basically forgotten her job to go haring off on her own. The logical course of action should have been to wait for the others to rendezvous with them, then take action. Instead, she'd exposed herself, and basically put everyone else at risk by forcing them to bail her out.

"At least they seem to be under control now," said Pyrrha, surveying the situation.

"Where's Jaune?" asked Sun.

"He went to check on Ruby," said Pyrrha.

"Is that a good idea?" asked Blake, her eyes going wide. Now that they knew about Jaune's 'history,' and how he'd gotten into Beacon, it seemed like a dangerous idea to send him into a conflict with Adam Taurus.

"It's fine," said Pyrrha, beaming. "From the looks of things, Ruby won."

Blake's jaw dropped, and Gambol Shroud clattered from nerveless fingers. "She...won?"

"Damn, that girl's a certified badass," said Sun, with an impressed whistle. While his duel with Adam had been cut short, he'd gotten a taste of just how dangerous the other man was. In fact, Sun got the distinct impression that he'd been just a hair's breadth away from being taken down, before Ruby had jumped in. The notion that she'd actually beaten someone like that was an astounding one.

Pyrrha nodded. "But she used up almost all her Aura to do it. She's sitting in the critical zone right now. If this were an official match, she'd be disqualified."

Of course, it wasn't an official match. This had been a life or death battle. Blake didn't need to know Adam as well as she did to be able to tell that he would be fighting to kill, especially against a human, especially against a human who had opposed him as brazenly as Ruby had. So the notion of whether or not she'd be disqualified was a silly one. The fact that she had Aura left at all was amazing. The fact that she was victorious was more amazing still.

"Where are the others?" asked Blake, deciding that focusing on the task at hand was more important.

"Ren and Nora will be here soon," Pyrrha reported dutifully. "Though Weiss and Yang might arrive first, since they have Yang's motorcycle. The police should be here soon too. Last I heard, Weiss had called in the theft." Of course, even if she hadn't, the spectacular noise of the battle would have attracted attention before long. Either way, it looked like things were wrapping up.

"Well, we should probably at least make sure the White Fang are restrained," said Blake with a sigh, "especially Adam and Ilia. Could you help us with her, Pyrrha?"

"Sure...Um..." Pyrrha looked around. "Which one is Ilia?"

That confused Blake and Sun. "What are you talking about?" Sun asked. "Ilia's the one right..." He looked down and found himself staring at empty pavement. "...here...?"

"She's gone!" gasped Blake.

"She must have snuck off while we're distracted," groused Sun, grimacing and smacking a fist against the side of the container they'd taken cover behind. "Dammit!"

Blake frowned. That didn't make sense. Ilia had been right next to them. They would have been able to see her get up and move off. As a chameleon-faunus, Ilia could change the color of her skin to better blend in to her surroundings, but, at this range, such an ability wouldn't have done her that much good. Besides, she'd had her Aura broken and her body battered by the hits that Blake and Sun had landed on her, so she shouldn't have been able to make such a stealthy getaway.

"Um...At least we have the other one," suggested Pyrrha a bit lamely.

Desperately, Adam lifted Wilt to intercept the incoming blow, bracing his left hand against the flat of the blade, putting all his strength into the task.

It wasn't remotely enough.

Over the course of their fight, Ruby had observed, all too clearly, the manner in which Adam's Semblance functioned; the peculiar method he used to block attacks, in order to absorb their energy to turn against his opponent. Adam's Semblance required both sword and sheath to function properly; the sword to absorb the incoming energy, the sheath to contain it. Without both, Adam could not utilize his Semblance properly. Perhaps Wilt could hold a little energy on its own, but that was a fraction of the power he could build up by containing it in Blush, certainly not enough for it to withstand Ruby's attack.

Adam found himself on the receiving end of a wave of violet plasma that blasted him back, its edge biting and burning through his Aura. Adam was blown into the side of a container, then through it, as the wave of energy split it in two. Desperately, Adam channeled every last ounce of energy he had left into resisting the blow, lest it cleave him in two as well. Finally, Wilt could take no more, the red blade of the sword snapping like a twig. As it did, that energized edge brushed against Adam's mask, right in the center of his face.

Adam landed hard on his back, the remaining force of Ruby's attack driving him into the pavement with enough force to shatter it, Adam's body digging a trench with his passage, before he finally slid to a stop, laying on his back with a pained groan. There was a crackling flare of light across his body, Adam's Aura breaking and dissipating.

Ruby stared at him, gasping for breath. Her legs buckled, threatening to send her pitching forward onto her face, and she staggered. I did it! she thought, elated.

It had been a tightrope act for sure, managing her remaining Aura to the most precise degree humanly possible. It had been a serious gamble, first investing a great deal of her own strength into drawing out Adam's strongest attack, then taking advantage of the opening it presented to turn the tide of battle. From there, she had worn Adam down through continuous hits, bringing him down to the point where she could finally end it. Allowing him to throw out one final powerful attack had given her the last opening she'd needed to disarm, then defeat, him.

Still, as she swayed, Ruby reminded herself that she couldn't allow her own guard to falter. That was what had doomed Adam after all. She couldn't afford to capitalize on his mistake, only to make the exact same one herself. She struggled to keep her eyes fixed on Adam, ready for any sign that she was being baited into a trap herself.

Then a powerful arm slipped around her front, and Ruby found herself steadied in a gentle grip.

"Easy there," Jaune said into her ear, his voice making Ruby want to sigh in relief. Jaune and Pyrrha had arrived.

At the moment, Jaune had his shield resting on his left arm, with the sword still inserted into it. His right hand he used to keep Ruby steady, making sure she didn't fall over.

"Thanks," she breathed, smiling tiredly. At the moment, she was having plenty of trouble just trying to stand on her own. Her cloak was almost more holes than cloth by this point, a testament to just how much of her Aura she'd used up. She'd managed to beat Adam...with almost no room to spare. If he'd landed just one more hit, Ruby might not have managed to find victory this night.

"Where's Pyrrha?" asked Ruby.

"Helping Blake, Sun, and Penny mop up the last White Fang soldiers," said Jaune. "There wasn't a lot for us to do over there though."

Finally taking her eyes off Adam's prone form, Ruby looked up to see at least three bullheads hovering up over the docks. However, they weren't attacking, instead drifting one way then the other. It looked as though they were wary of trying anything more. It also seemed that all the White Fang's troops had been expended.

A cough, followed by a hoarse, angry growl reached their ears, prompting Ruby and Jaune to look over and see Adam stir. First, he rolled over onto his stomach. Then, slowly, he forced himself up onto his hands and knees, before managing to stand up. Then he turned around to face Ruby again. He looked even weaker than Ruby felt, and she could sense that his Aura had been broken. If he tried to fight, her next blows would bite into his flesh with almost no effort on her part...assuming she could manage more blows in her current state.

Then a soft sound echoed through the air, an almost inaudible "clink!" Adam's mask cracked, right down the center, between his eyes, fragments of it dropping away. Then, suddenly, the whole thing split in two, falling free of Adam's face.

Ruby and Jaune both gasped. Ruby's stomach rebelled, lurching and threatening to expel her dinner at the sight of what lay behind Adam's mask. His eyes had clearly been blue, at one point. The right one still was. However, the left was completely different, a bloody sclera framing a dark-gray iris, and a pale-gray pupil. The cause of this change was plain, etched in angry red across his face, directly over the ruined eye in a red brand, featuring three familiar letters in a blocky font; SDC.

Ruby's hand went to her mouth, horror rushing through her as she wondered just how someone could do that to another person. She could scarcely imagine someone maiming anyone so horribly. The mark on Adam's face, that scarred brand, was terribly ugly, but the implications behind it were so much worse.

It seemed to take Adam an extra second to realize that his mask had come off. His left hand came up to cover the brand, while his right brandished what remained of his sword. "You like this?" he shouted at her, his right, unharmed, eye shining with rage. "This is what humans like you are capable of!" His right eye narrowed, and his body tensed.

He wanted to strike, but his body wasn't up to the task. Adam took a step forward, then staggered.

Ruby carefully removed herself from Jaune's supporting arm. Though it was unpleasant, she forced herself to look straight Adam and his scar. As she did, she couldn't help but pity this man for all that he had been through. Granted, none of that excused any of his actions, but she still felt sorry for him, that he'd been so maimed and tormented.

Adam saw her pity clearly, and it only stoked his rage to greater heights. "Don't you dare look down on me! I don't need some human brat's excuse for pity! I'll kill you!"

"I do feel sorry for you," Ruby admitted. "But that doesn't change what needs to be done. You've been hurt badly. But that doesn't give you the right to hurt others."

"I AM DELIVERING JUSTICE TO THIS WORLD!" Adam roared. "You humans no longer deserve your place in it!"

Ruby opened her mouth, but stopped when she felt Jaune's hand on her shoulder. Turning, she saw him giving her a sad look. "He's not gonna change his mind," Jaune said. "Let's just take him down and let the police handle the rest."

Ruby sighed, and nodded. They hadn't come to host a debate after all, they'd come to stop the White Fang from stealing more Dust. And it looked as though they'd succeeded. Sure, it looked as though a few bullheads were going to get away, but the troops had been brought down and, hopefully, they now had two important figures in the organization for the police to take into custody.

"Right," said Ruby, looking over at Adam.

At the moment, he was still swaying uneasily, staggering, barely able to keep standing. Right now, it seemed like all it would take was a stiff breeze to knock him over. However, Ruby could still feel his intense tenacity. Her family had taught her that few things were more dangerous than a cornered animal. That applied to humans and faunus as well. If his back was against the wall, Aura or no Aura, then Adam was still potentially very dangerous. He was brandishing the broken blade of Wilt, with the suggestion that he might know how to use it.

Ruby wasn't feeling at her best herself. The wisest course would be to stand back and let Jaune finish subduing Adam. Still, she didn't want to send Jaune in blind, not knowing what Adam might have up his sleeve.

Then it occurred to her. What am I doing? she scolded herself. Jaune's my partner, not my protectorate.

With a sigh, she turned to look at Jaune. "Can you try to knock him out?" she asked. "It shouldn't be too hard."

"Yeah," said Jaune, grabbing Crocea Mors' handle. Rather than draw forth the sword, he instead collapsed the shield back into its sheath-mode, and then hefted the whole thing as a single, unified weapon.

Ruby smiled, then glanced nervously Adam's way. "Just be careful. His Aura's broken, but he's still dangerous."

"Got it," said Jaune, his expression hardening. He began to walk towards Adam. Ruby followed behind him.

Seeing Jaune approaching, Adam snarled and spat a glob of bloody saliva on the ground. "What's the matter?" he shouted. "Are you that afraid of me that you can't even finish this yourself, coward?"

"Sorry," said Ruby, giving Adam a small smile. "But this is too important to take pointless chances for my pride. If anything, it's because I think that highly of your abilities."

Adam seemed genuinely taken aback by that, blinking in surprise, drawing himself up. His expression was baffled.

Deciding to take a chance, Ruby gave Adam a sheepish grin. "Um...Having said that, if you want, I'd accept your peaceful surrender, then Jaune won't have to bop you on the head."

From the return of his angry glare, Ruby figured that she'd botched that chance.

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Geez, could you have phrased that a less silly way?" he asked. "He might have actually listened."

Ruby sighed. "Probably," she admitted, before bowing her head to Adam. "Sorry."

Jaune hefted his sword and took a proper attacking stance, focusing his gaze and keeping his attention on Adam, as though he were about to begin a fight against the man in earnest, rather than knock him out, when he was already at the edge of unconsciousness to begin with. Ruby felt pride swell inside her to see Jaune taking this so seriously. They couldn't afford to take chances with someone this dangerous.

Despite the relief that came with the realization that help had arrived, Ruby still hadn't completely dropped her guard. It was something that her family and teachers had hammered home over and over again. In the wild, it was an indispensable skill, when the Grimm could come at any time and in any number. Ruby had kept her awareness spread, mainly because, even if Adam himself was no longer in fighting shape, there might still be someone who could try and help him.

And that proved to be exactly the case. Ruby gasped, her eyes going wide. "Jaune! Watch out!"

Jaune would have asked what he was supposed to watch out for, but the question was answered the instant after Ruby had opened her mouth. There was a flash from behind Adam, and someone appeared out of thin air, dashing past him and darting right for Jaune. Upon hearing Ruby's warning, Jaune immediately went into his default defensive mode. Still holding the sword's handle, he triggered the transition of the sheath to its shield-mode, the spreading shield cutting off his vision of what was in front of him, but also saving him from what came next.

He felt a pair of impacts, something hard clanging against the shield. With the awkward position he was holding it in, Jaune was driven back, nearly having the entire thing knocked out of his grip. In a bit of last-second inspiration, Jaune used the momentum of the blows to turn his wrist, sliding his left arm into the shield's straps as it oriented upright, while drawing his sword forth in the same move. From there, he sank into his default stance, holding his shield up and ready for the next attack. As he did, he was able to see his attacker.

The girl who'd struck him used the recoil of her own kick to launch herself backwards in a flip that allowed her to land right next to Adam. Whoa! She's tiny! That was the first thought that appeared in Jaune's head. The new girl was even shorter than Ruby, barely topping out at a little below five-feet, even with the heels of her thigh-length white boots boosting her height. However, that was hardly the most curious thing about her appearance.

First was her hair, which descended in a swirling corkscrew, down the length of her back. It consisted to two colors from either side of her head. The right side was a pale-pink color, while the left was dark-brown. Said colors were mirrored by her eyes, set into the pale skin of her rounded, face, like Ruby's, just enough to look full, without looking overly babyish. She was clad in a white jacket with pink lining, over what looked like brown corset, tucked into a set of black pants, which, in turn, were tucked into those boots of hers.

Her size aside, she was actually quite the beauty, with a bust that was impressive, considering her stature, her outfit highlighting the curved contours of her hips to her advantage. She looked quite dainty, but the kicks she'd delivered to Jaune's shield indicated that she packed a wallop. The grace with which she'd performed her backflip showcased her poise and balance. This girl was dangerous.

In her right hand, she hefted what looked like a closed umbrella or parasol. As she came to a rest next to Adam, she hefted it, opening it to reveal a lacy, curved canopy that was slightly translucent, then rested the shaft over her shoulder, spinning it in her grip idly.

Ruby's eyes narrowed as she regarded the smaller girl. There was one other factor that stood out to her. This girl; who'd jumped in to save Adam Taurus, the head of Vale's White Fang branch, a man who couldn't stop talking about how much he hated humanity; was a human.

Adam grimaced, staggering again. The girl reached out with her free hand to steady him. The touch made Adam glare at her. "You're..." He paused, letting out a pained cough. "...Torchwick's..."

Torchwick? Ruby's eyes went wide at that. She supposed that, even if Roman himself was in jail, there might still be any number of his associates running around. But for one of them to be helping the White Fang...

Rather than try and attack again, Jaune had fallen back, taking up a position slightly in front of Ruby, guarding her. In the face of this unexpected attacker, his first priority was making sure that his partner was covered. That gave Ruby a sense of relief, as she didn't want to try calling Jaune back, if he'd recklessly gone on the attack.

Instead, Ruby looked over Jaune's shoulder, meeting the other girl's mismatched eyes. The smaller girl blinked and, to Ruby's amazement, when her eyes opened again, the colors had swapped. Before, her left eye had been brown, her right pink, matching her hair. But now her pink eye was on the left, with her brown one on her right.

"Are you here to help him get away?" asked Ruby warily.

The smaller girl smiled and nodded.

Ruby let out a slow breath. "Fine then," she said. "Go."

The girl smiled, the bowed towards her, holding out her left hand in a courtly gesture, before straightening up and taking Adam's arm. Then she jumped back, taking Adam with her, the difference in their sizes not seeming to impede her in the slightest. There was a flash...and the pair vanished from sight, though Ruby could still sense their presences retreating.

"Was it a good idea to let them go?" asked Jaune.

"We didn't have much choice," said Ruby, shaking her head. "That girl...she's too dangerous right now." If Ruby hadn't expended nearly all of her Aura in the fight against Adam, things might have been different. But things were what they were. Ruby supposed she could have tried to stall, until the rest of their group had gotten there. But she decided that it wasn't worth the risk. That smaller girl was just too much of an unknown...and too much of a threat.

The roar of an engine reached their ears. Ruby and Jaune turned to see a yellow and black object come flying over one of the dock's security walls, with two figures clinging to its back. The motorcycle landed out of sight. After a few seconds of the sound of its engine revving and its tires screeching reverberating off nearby containers, the vehicle shot out from between two rows of the rectangular blocks, turning and screeching to a halt. Yang and Weiss dismounted, Weiss looking more than a little unsteady on her feet.

"Ruby! Are you okay?" asked Yang, rushing to her younger sister's side.

"I'm fine, Sis," said Ruby, giving Yang a tired smile.

"This place is a disaster zone," observed Weiss, hobbling over to join them.

"Yeah...things happened," said Ruby sheepishly, able to see that Weiss was borderline incensed at the damage that had been done to numerous containers of her company's precious merchandise.

"Looks like we got here before Ren and Nora," said Yang, grinning at Weiss.

"Only because you drive like a maniac," Weiss, countered, glaring back at her.

"So, did we nail the jerks?" asked Yang, turning back to Ruby and Jaune.

"Well...I beat their leader," said Ruby, before slumping and sighing. "But someone came and bailed him out."

As if on cue, there was a familiar sound of engines whining. A bullhead lifted up from behind a nearby stack of containers. Ruby frowned, watching it. She hadn't noticed one of them landing. It wouldn't have been hard, in the midst of all the chaos taking place on the ground. It seemed that Adam's mysterious rescuer had apparently made full arrangements to evacuate him.

She could see the girl now, standing in the passenger bay, the crook of her umbrella hooked over one of the overhead railings. Even over this distance, Ruby could see that the girl was looking back at her. There was a sober expression on the smaller girl's face, almost pensive. She looked as though she was studying Ruby. Ruby studied her right back, wondering just what the basis for the other girl's interest was.

"Let's bring it down!" shouted Yang, deploying her gauntlets, readying to open fire.

She was stopped by Weiss, who latched onto the arm Yang had pulled back, in preparation to fire one of Ember Celica's bolts. "Don't even try it, you idiot!" exclaimed Weiss, clinging desperately to Yang's arm. "There's way too much Dust out in the open now! If that thing crashes, the entire dock could go up!"

"Oh..." said Yang, disappointed. She let her arms drop, much to Weiss' relief.

Ruby and the small girl's gaze was broken when the bullhead pivoted around, before going into flight mode, swooping out, over the bay, before turning towards a more distant part of Vale. The other bullheads that had been loitering in the skies above quickly moved to join it.

They stared after it for a moment, before Ruby finally sighed and shrugged. "Well...let's go check on the others."

The night, as it turned out, wasn't a total loss. Ren and Nora arrived just in time to finish helping secure the remaining White Fang prisoners. Strangely, Penny was the one behind their restraint, producing strings of impressive tensile strength, with which they were easily able to bind the limbs of the disabled soldiers. The howl of sirens behind Ren and Nora indicated that the police weren't far behind.

Ruby briefly considered them making a break for it, before the police found them. Perhaps they could slip away in the night, leaving the police a gift of practically gift-wrapped White Fang grunts, as though they were secret agents of justice. It was an almost...superhero-y...thing to do, which had a certain appeal. Also appealing was the prospect of distancing themselves from the damage that had been done during the fighting. There was really no sugarcoating it. Sections of the docks had been wrecked. Containers had been knocked over, split open, and their contents sent scattering across the ground. It was nothing short of a miracle that none of the spilled Dust had been triggered, which would have resulted in the very conflagration that Weiss had cautioned Yang against causing. Perhaps it was a testament to how well the SDC stored their product that none of it had been triggered.

In the end, Ruby decided against it. From the sound of things, the police had arrived in force and, by the time they'd finished restraining all the prisoners, the cops had clearly established a cordon around the docks. Trying to escape now would only make them look like the guilty party, maybe not guilty of trying to steal Dust (what, with the actual culprits hogtied in a nice little group in the open), but definitely guilty of something, which Ruby supposed was true enough. In the end, they'd just have to own up to it and face the music.

Much to their surprise, the police were surprisingly accommodating, one of the detectives taking them aside and asking them questions. Blake and Ruby kept close to Sun, silently vouching for him, if the police had any ideas about trying to add him to the number of prisoners they were currently carting away.

After the questioning was over, they sat off to the side, watching as the police began to clean up the operation. Ambulances were brought in for the injured security guards, which gave Ruby an idea of what the small, nimble girl had been up to. If she'd guessed correctly, that girl had been one taking out what few guards had been in the docks this night.

While they watched and talked amongst themselves, Ruby sensed Penny abruptly stiffen, her Aura flaring nervously. Turning to look at her newest friend, Ruby saw Penny slowly backing away. Carefully, so as not to attract too much attention to herself, Ruby moved from her seat on a stack of shipping crates and went to Penny. "What is it?" she asked softly.

"I...I have to go," said Penny, looking down. Ruby found herself troubled by the android's nervous demeanor. "The-My...uh...My...handler is here, to pick me up. He's probably not happy with me going off on my own."

"Will you be okay?" asked Ruby resting a hand on Penny's shoulder.

"Don't worry," said Penny, giving Ruby a sunny smile. "At most, he'll just give me a scolding. He's not a bad person."

"Should I come with you?" asked Ruby.

Penny shook her head. "It's probably best if you stay with the others. I'll...I'll see you later, if I can."

"All right," said Ruby, giving Penny one last fond smile. "Take care, friend."

Much to her surprise, caught a slight giggle from Penny, indicating the android had caught the small joke behind the sincere expression of care. "I will, Friend-Ruby." With that, Penny turned and jogged off.

Ruby returned to the rest of her friends, Jaune being the first to notice her arrival...and Penny's absence. "Where's Penny?" he asked.

"She had to go," said Ruby. "Someone came to pick her up."

"That's weird," said Yang.

"So...now what?" asked Nora, watching the last of the White Fang soldiers being loaded into a police truck.

"We've been told to stay put," said Ruby, sighing. "I got a text from Professor Goodwitch, telling us she's coming to pick us up. I don't think she's happy with us."

That sent a shiver down the spines of everyone pleasant, save for Sun, who'd never had to deal with Beacon's Deputy Headmistress before.

"Uh...It's not too late to make a break for it," suggested Pyrrha lamely.

"She already knows," said Weiss, letting out a tired sigh. "We're sunk."

The others slumped. It looked as though their already-long night was a fair ways from being over yet.

The warehouse door slid open with a clanging, rattling sound. Grunting, Adam staggered in, leaning against the frame of the door, panting for breath. His left hand was curled around the handle of his weapon once more, his rescuer actually having the consideration to retrieve it before they left, leaving only the broken-off portion of Wilt's blade behind.

Behind him came Ilia, along with their...benefactor...who was currently supporting Ilia, by draping the chameleon-faunus' arm over her shoulder. They made their way deeper into the warehouse's interior, making their way between the rows of empty shelves, which almost seemed skeletal in appearance, thanks to a lack of anything for the warehouse to actually "house."

Near the center of the building, in a space between all those shelves, a table had been set, along with a few chairs. Spread over the surface of the table was a map of Vale, showcasing a variety of marks indicating crimes that had already been committed, and those that were planned for the future. A bright-red line had been drawn to encircle the docks.

The girl helped Ilia to one of the chairs, settling her into it, before drawing back. Adam slumped into a chair of his own, taking a moment to rest, before leaning forward and picking up a black marker, which he used to draw an angry-looking X-mark across the circle around the docks. That task done, Adam lazily tossed the implement aside, and leaned back, staring at the ceiling with his one functional eye.

"Well, it would seem that things did not go well tonight," purred a husky, seductive voice.

Ilia and Adam both jolted, sitting up straight in their seats, while their rescuer's posture stiffened, and she took a few steps farther back.

Accompanied by the clinking sound of glass clicking against a hard surface, a woman strode out of the darkness. She was a figure of beauty, her dark-red minidress showing off the magnificent curves of her bust and hips, which swayed sensually with each step she took, the garment baring her shoulders, so that the creamy color of her skin stood out starkly against the dress's own coloration. Gold embroidery ran down the sleeves, and along the collar of her garment, while a blue feather accessory decorated her right hip. The woman's raven tresses flowed down from her head, hanging a little below the shoulders. A significant portion of her bangs partially covered her left eye, while the right, with its amber iris, was left unobscured.

Behind the woman were two others, a light-skinned boy with gray hair, and a dark-skinned girl with mint-green hair. They followed in the woman's wake like her own shadows, barely noticeable in comparison to the woman's seductive, yet imposing, presence.

"Cinder..." growled Adam, forcing himself to stand up.

"What happened, Adam?" asked Cinder. "Not only did you return without anything to show for tonight's efforts, but it would seem that the bulk of your forces did not make it out with you."

"There were complications," said Adam. "One of our former members, and a group of her friends, disrupted the operation."

"And they managed to not only stop you from taking the Dust, but also brought down all your troops," noted Cinder. "Not to mention that you and your...assistant..." Her gaze flicked to Ilia, who flinched away from her. "...were reduced to this state. You're fortunate that Neo was on hand to assist, or you might not have escaped at all." The woman tilted her head in the direction of the diminutive girl, who offered her a nervous smile in return.

Adam growled in frustration, the fingers of his left hand clenching around the handle of Blush, even though the blade within it was broken. Behind Cinder, her two followers tensed, the girl's hands drifting towards the handles of the revolvers that rested at her waist, while the boy's knees bent. In her chair, Ilia's hand began to stray towards the handle of her own weapon.

But everyone froze when Cinder held up her hand. There was a flash, and an orb of flame, the size of a baseball, flared into being, hovering in the air over it. The woman's irises seemed to shine from within. Both the temperature and tension in the air rapidly began to rise.

Then, just like that, Cinder snuffed the fireball out. "There's no need for hostility," she said, maintaining a pleasant tone. "If you are in this state, Adam, it speaks a great deal about the ability of the ones who managed to do so much damage to one of your operations."

With that, the woman moved forward to take one of the seats at the table, on the side opposite from Adam. Sitting down, she rested her arms over the top of the table, clasping her hands together, while she smiled indulgently at Adam. "So...I want you to tell me, in detail, everything that happened tonight."

"Well...on a scale of one to ten...how screwed are we?" asked Yang, once Ren and Ruby had left Glynda's office.

"I'd say a twelve," said Ruby.

"Maybe a thirteen," amended Ren.

"We're going to have detention for the rest of the semester," added Ruby, earning pained groans from her audience.

"Frankly, we're lucky we weren't suspended," said Ren.

"If any of that Dust had gone off, we might have been expelled," added Ruby.

"At least the police aren't going to be pressing charges," added Ren.

"What would they be charging us with?" demanded Nora.

"Vigilantism," replied Ren. "It's a legitimate crime."

"Professor Ozpin managed to work out some stuff with them, under the table," said Ruby. "They get to take credit for all the White Fang grunts we took down."

"Well, that sucks," grumbled Yang.

"Probably for the best," said Jaune, earning him a nod of agreement from Weiss and Pyrrha.

"Looking back on it, it was a foolish course of action," Weiss admitted.

"Ah, well, hindsight is twenty-twenty, and all that..." said Yang, almost dismissively. "At least we got out in one piece...and we roped in a bunch of White Fang thugs in the bargain."

"Maybe the police will stop harassing innocent faunus over all this," mused Jaune.

"I doubt we'll be that lucky," groused Nora.

They could only hope. Only time would tell whether or not their actions had done any good. Sure, they'd saved a shipment of Dust from the White Fang, and taken a number of the organization's members into custody doing so. But the leaders of the operation, Adam and Ilia, had escaped. There was no telling how many more people the White Fang might be able to call on for future operations. For all they knew, this might be a bump in the road. On top of that, it was only one shipment of Dust that had been saved. There was still that mysterious raider in the ocean, taking down the SDC's ships. Even if other loads made it into Vale, odds were good that the White Fang would go after them too. And, on those occasions, it was all but impossible that RASP and RYNB would be in a position to do anything about them.

Even the potential silver lining of the police having actual White Fang prisoners to charge, instead of innocent faunus, was a fleeting one. Now that there was full, concrete evidence that the White Fang was the group behind the Dust thefts, more suspicion was likely to fall upon the faunus as a whole. It was all too likely that the police would start investigating regular, uninvolved faunus even more intrusively than before. That kind of ill treatment was likely to drive more faunus into the White Fang, promising them an outlet for all the frustration they felt at their persecution, setting off a cycle of worsening relations.

So...it was unlikely that things would get all that much better. At best, the White Fang had probably been dealt a serious setback by the events of this night. But a setback was the most it would be. The actual problem had not been dealt with, and Ruby got the feeling that there was very little any of them could actually do about it. The adults appeared keen to keep these issues to themselves.

Although...maybe they had already earned a little slack. As harsh as it seemed, Glynda's pronouncement of detention for the remainder of the semester was more lenient than it first appeared. Semester finals were coming up the week after next, which meant, overall, that their time in detention would be less time that CRDL spent in suspension for their stunt with Jaune and his locker.

Distracted as they were by the aftermath of their little excursion, and Glynda's lecture about their behavior, it took Ruby and Ren a little extra time to notice that their group was one member short. "Where's Blake?" asked Ren.

"Uh...Professor Ozpin called her to his office," said Yang, looking nervous at the prospect.

Ruby and Ren shared an uneasy glance, worried about what Ozpin would want to talk to Blake about. Given what they had learned about her and her history, it probably wasn't good.

"And so...tell me about your plan of action for this past evening, Ms. Belladonna," said Ozpin simply.

Blake swallowed, feeling unnerved. After welcoming her into his office, instructing her to take a seat, and even pouring a cup of tea for her (the presence of coffee in Ozpin's mug, and the out-of-place look of the tea-set on his desk, indicating that this was a specific accommodation to her tastes), this was the very first thing he'd asked of her.

"I...What...?" Blake was caught, unsure of what to do. Part of her instinctively wanted to divert, to try and pass this all off as a mere coincidence that had spiraled out of control. However, another, more rational part of her reminded her that the teachers already known that this had been a deliberate action on the parts of RASP and RYNB

"Let us not mince words, Ms. Belladonna," said Ozpin. "We know that you were looking to intercept and head off a Dust theft. What I wish to know is how you had planned going about doing it, and how those plans wound up lining up with reality."

Blake found herself staring in shock at the Headmaster. The last thing she'd expected, when she'd been called up here, was a debriefing, the kind of thing she'd expect after an actual mission. It also stood to reason that the next logical question was "Why her?" After all, this plan had been something developed mainly by Weiss and Ruby. Blake had been the impetus behind it, with her-

And, with that realization, the bottom dropped out of her stomach, and Blake knew exactly why Ozpin had called her here, instead of Ruby or Weiss, or both their teams.

"I see you are beginning to understand the real reason you are here, Ms. Belladonna," said Ozpin. "We will get to that in a moment. However, be assured that your present status at Beacon is under no threat. Let us start from the top. Tell me how this night was supposed to go, and how it did or did not work out the way you expected."

Reluctantly, Blake nodded, and began to tell Ozpin what they had come up with. She explained their plan for monitoring the Dust deliveries, to try and figure out where the White Fang might strike. She then described how they'd been caught by surprise when the White Fang instead launched a strike to steal the Dust shipment in its entirety, right from the docks. From there, the story devolved into a brief recounting to of the battle. Blake only had the broad strokes version of Ruby's end of the fight, but had more details concerning the part that had involved her, Sun, and Penny.

Ozpin's expression as she wrapped up her story was a pensive one. It wasn't stern or disapproving, not at all like the look that Glynda had given them the moment she'd stepped off the bullhead at the docks.

"Interesting," he said finally. "I must admit, for a rather ad-hoc operation, it was fairly well-planned out. True, there is definitely room for improvement, and a great many things that need to be considered, if you ever intend to run future operations like this; but this is most definitely well above what I would expect from two teams of first-year students."

"'If' we intend to run another operation?" Blake's ears perked up from beneath their bow, scarcely able to comprehend Ozpin's choice of words.

"Perhaps I should say, 'when'," Ozpin replied with a smile that was both knowing and amused. "I have the distinct feeling that, despite Glynda's remonstrations, you are not all that interested in simply standing aside and leaving things to the authorities."

"Probably not," admitted Blake. "Especially if the authorities are more interested in going after innocents, like Velvet, than doing any actual investigations."

"A sentiment I share," said Ozpin. "But this is not an easy matter. The police, the military, and the Huntsmen are all meant to hold their distinct roles. In an ideal world; the military handles external threats, be it bandits or other Kingdoms; the police see to the maintaining of law and order within the Kingdoms and settlements; while Huntsmen deal with the Grimm. Of course, as a student-Huntress yourself, you understand well enough that those boundaries are not so distinct and impassible."

Blake nodded slowly.

"Truth be told, the police were quite irate about what happened tonight," said Ozpin. "I received quite the complaint about how they should be informed of such potential crimes, instead of Huntsmen, student or otherwise, conducting undisclosed operations right under their noses." Ozpin's expression hardened. "I chose to remind them that they had access to much of the same information you had, and yet they still chose to prioritize harassing innocent faunus, including one of my students, over following up such apparent leads." His smile returned. "Strangely...they had very little to say in response to that."

Blake found herself smiling as well. In a sense, that put the impetus of this operation on the police, and their own inaction, rather than on Blake and her friends.

"That being said, the law is the law, and it must be upheld to the best of our abilities," said Ozpin. "That counterpoint worked this time. Hopefully, the authorities will take my advice to heart, and try to be more discerning in their efforts, rather than taking frivolous actions simply for the sake of looking like they are doing something. But this would not be the first time they ignored such an epiphany."

Blake nodded.

"Now then, to the real matter..." said Ozpin, his eyes narrowing at Blake. Abruptly, Blake felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, her ears stretching upwards, the tension in the air ratcheting up several brackets. "...the reason I called you here, instead of your leaders, or both your teams in their entirety."

Blake swallowed, a lump forming in her throat that threatened to cut off her voice entirely.

"Do you still choose to hide the truth about yourself?" asked Ozpin.

"I...I don't know," said Blake, barely even surprised by the fact that Ozpin knew she was a faunus. It wasn't all that surprising that he'd realized it. "I told my friends. But I don't know if I can really be open about it."

"And is fear of persecution the only reason you seek to remain in hiding?" pressed Ozpin.

The lump in Blake's throat grew, and she found herself having difficulty breathing. She knew exactly what Ozpin was getting at. It was a question that he clearly already had a good idea of the answer to.

"Is there anything else you would like to say about what happened?" pressed Ozpin.

Why is he asking me like that? Blake wondered. Given what he knew, or thought he knew, why hadn't he pressed her directly? That was when she realized that there was a certain...lack...of pressure in Ozpin's gaze. Now she understood. He had asked her in this manner to give her an out. If she didn't want to tell him, she could say no, and would be speaking the unvarnished truth. For the sake of her comfort, he was letting her bring this to an end, rather than reveal a secret that she had worked so hard to keep hidden.

Closing her eyes, Blake thought of her talk with Sasame on the roof, those weeks ago. She thought about her team, their sister team, and how they had dealt with the truth about her. Ozpin had told her that her standing in Beacon was under no threat, while also implying that he knew the answer to his own question. She could be truthful, if she wanted, and she wasn't in danger of being thrown out of Beacon...

A sense of relief filled her heart. Taking a deep breath, Blake felt the lump in her throat dissolve, freeing her voice and her breath. "I...Before I came to Beacon, I had been a member of the White Fang."

Ozpin nodded, his smile returning. "Thank you for being frank with me, Ms. Belladonna. Your family name, of course, is not wholly unknown to me. I have held your father in high esteem for his commitment to nonviolence. Hearing that he had been ousted from his position came was an unpleasant revelation."

Blake felt the urge to scoff. However badly she felt about the way the White Fang was going now, she'd grown to feel more than a little scorn at her father's unwillingness to do what she and others had thought they needed to do, in order to affect real change. The more cynical portion of her also scoffed at the fact that it was a human saying this. Of course humans preferred the White Fang, when they were nonviolent. Humans preferred "animals" that were "tame", after all. Yet, at the same time, she could sense the sincerity behind Ozpin's words, the true respect she held for the views and actions of Blake's father.

Ozpin's smile took on a bit more of a teasing quality. "Of course, having said that, given that he is a rather prominent figure in the world-faunus community, it's rather understandable that we would have...ideas concerning your background, once we realized who you were related to."

Blake grunted.

"In the future, I would suggest a pseudonym."

Blake flushed in embarrassment. Now that she thought about it, her own cover might have been worse than Jaune's, when it came to lying about their pasts before entering Beacon.

"So, now that that is in the open, I suppose the next part of this conversation should be about what comes next," said Ozpin.

Blake nodded.

"That having been said, this kind of conversation is one that should not take place just between the two of us," he continued. "Obviously, your friends and teammates are a part of this as well. So...it will not take place here and now. However, Ms. Belladonna, the next time you have...ideas...concerning taking action against the White Fang in the future, it is my hope you will bring them to me. You might be surprised to find that I might not simply refuse your ideas on the basis that you are mere students."

"So that means...?" Blake's eyes widened.

"It will be conditional," said Ozpin. "We shall wait and see first, if the police will use this as an opportunity to amend their approach to dealing with the problem. Of that...I cannot say I am wholly optimistic. But we shall see."

Blake nodded, amazed by the idea. The possibilities were dizzying. Of course, Ozpin had said it was conditional. But...if there was even a chance that she could do something, that she and her friends could do something, it was one worth taking.

"Of course, needless to say, your hands shall be tied for the remainder of the semester," continued Ozpin, showing subtle amusement at her grunt and abrupt flinch, "Glynda has seen to that. Do try to be on your best behavior from now on. Glynda's assessment of your maturity is a factor that I will be weighing, when it comes to whether or not you and your friends get to participate in any future 'operations'."

"Yes, Professor," said Blake.

"You are dismissed, Ms. Belladonna," said Ozpin.

Blake left. Once the elevator door closed behind her, Ozpin leaned back in his seat. Tapping the top of his desk, he activated its built-in projector, an image appearing in the air above it. It was a familiar picture, showcasing a quartet of people, former students of his. Ozpin's gaze went to one figure in particular, that of a young woman, most of her body hidden by the folds of the white cloak she wore. However, from beneath her hood was a youthful face, all too familiar in appearance; black hair, fading to red at the tips; and striking, silver eyes.

"For better or worse, your daughter is treading the same path you have," said Ozpin softly, fixating on the young woman's features. "I will do my best to ensure she does not meet your fate. I know you would probably not like this. But she has too much of you in her. I will do the best I can for her...Summer."