48

Chapter 48:

In the silence that followed Blake's admission, one could have heard a pin drop. In the first moments that it took for her announcement to sink in, all everyone could do, Ruby included, was stare at Blake. Ruby had already begun to suspect Blake's history, given her reactions during their conversations with Velvet and Coco earlier. But it was one thing to have a vague suspicion, and another to hear Blake just up and say it.

Then, once the full weight of Blake's announcement had settled upon them, everyone's eyes drifted another way, their collective gaze settling on Weiss, as they awaited her reaction. Hearing what Weiss had experienced earlier, none of them were expecting her reaction to be pretty.

For her part, Weiss was still staring at Blake in complete silence, her eyes wide, her mouth hanging slightly open. Her entire body had gone still, as though she'd suddenly become a statue. It was an unsettling sight, to say the least. Her mind was running at full tilt, going back over the past few weeks and months, and all the interactions therein. She was reviewing her entire personal history with Blake in a completely new light, thanks to the revelation she'd just received.

Was she here for me? Weiss wondered. Was all this just a gambit to get close to me, a chance for the White Fang to take out a Schnee? That had been Weiss' initial interpretation, despite the fact that Blake had referred to her membership in the organization in the past tense. But Weiss quickly deduced that that didn't actually make all that much sense. If Blake had really come to Beacon to find a way to get at Weiss, Weiss would have expected Blake to try to get as close as possible.

But Blake had kept her distance instead. Part of it was thanks to them being on different teams. However, it was also due to Blake being a more solitary person, preferring to spend much of her free time in the library, reading. If anything, Blake appeared to be more interested in indulging her personal interests than some kind of mission concerning the Schnee heiress. There was nothing about her behavior that came up as actually malicious.

Processing everything she'd just heard, which, admittedly, wasn't much, Weiss came to a conclusion...that she didn't know enough yet. So she closed her eyes, then took a deep breath to calm herself down. "All right," she said. "Continue."

"Are you okay, Weiss?" asked Jaune. "Considering what you told us earlier, you're taking this...pretty well."

"Well, I could be doing better," Weiss admitted, giving Jaune a wan smile. "But I've realized that just what I've heard now isn't enough for me to decide anything. So..." She focused her eyes on Blake. "...please continue."

Blake's entire body seemed to slump in relief. "All right," she said.

"How long have you been in the White Fang?" asked Ren.

"All my life," answered Blake frankly. "In fact, you could say I was born into it." She looked down. "I am Blake Belladonna, and my father...is Ghira Belladonna."

Weiss gasped in shock. "I...I never even noticed that you two shared the same last name," she whispered.

Granted, that wouldn't have been proof of anything. Remnant wasn't such a small place that there weren't people with overlapping surnames, who were completely unrelated to each other otherwise. However, thinking back to the pictures she had seen of the man, Weiss could definitely see a certain resemblance between them.

"Um...Who is this guy?" asked Ruby a bit warily.

"Ghira Belladonna was the previous leader of the White Fang," said Ren. "However, he retired from the position years ago. Right now, he's the current Chieftain of Menagerie."

"Holy cow!" exclaimed Nora, grinning at Blake. "Does that mean we've been living with a real-life princess?"

"Hardly," said Blake, laughing softly at Nora's conclusion. "I...I haven't been all that close to my parents for a few years now. We didn't part on the best of terms."

She paused, and shook her head. "I need to do this properly," she said. Then she looked back up at them. "Like Weiss said, my father was the previous head of the White Fang."

Weiss pressed her lips together in a thin line. When she was younger, she remembered overhearing her father talking, ranting really, about Ghira Belladonna, and his "upstart mongrel movement," which threatened to tank their company profits. Jacques Schnee had perceived the White Fang's previous leader as an irritating dissident, someone who needed to be shut up through any means necessary, lest his efforts to improve faunus rights gained traction.

Of course, said statements had been worded somewhat differently than that. Jacques had referred to Ghira as someone who was a threat to the SDC, someone who was determined to destroy its profitability, and ruin the Schnee Family's livelihood. He was someone who represented faunus greed, who scrabbled for more, despite the fact that the SDC were one of the few companies in Atlas willing to hire faunus, and pay them the same wages as their human laborers. But no, that wasn't good enough for the faunus. They didn't just want the same wages as the humans. They wanted better wages, more advantageous treatment, always more, never enough...

At least, that was how her father had phrased it. Back then, a younger, more naive, Weiss had taken his words at face value, and seen the, then peaceful, White Fang as greedy and ungrateful for all that her family had done for them. Growing older and wiser, learning more about her family's company, and how it was run, had given Weiss a greater appreciation for the more subtle manner in which her father had exploited his faunus labor, and why the faunus would want to protest that. Of course, by then, the White Fang had morphed into its more violent incarnation, and she now had new reasons to despise them.

Blake continued, oblivious to Weiss' line of thought. "Back then, I took part in every rally, every protest, at the front of every crowd..." She shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself. "It was frustrating. We tried to protest peacefully, but the humans would respond with violence. They'd throw stones, beat us with whatever they could get their hands on. But, if we tried to push back, to defend ourselves, the media would jump all over it and declare proof of 'faunus savagery,' and use that to condemn us, to justify our oppression and mistreatment."

Collectively, everyone's minds went back to the day they'd befriended Velvet. They'd asked her why she'd allowed CRDL to abuse her so, even though she was so much stronger than them. Blake had said something like that then, about how a faunus fighting in self-defense would still be characterized as going too far, then condemned as a savage.

"I wasn't the only one frustrated," continued Blake. "Within the White Fang, people started to call for a new approach. 'Peaceful protests weren't working,' they said. The only things humans understood was violence. So, if we couldn't get them to change their minds through peaceful means, we would force them to change...and pay them back for the pain they put us through.

"Finally, Father was forced to step down, and a new leader took over the White Fang. Under Sienna Khan, we changed our approach. We started to fight back, literally. We targeted humans who abused faunus, wrecked businesses that refused to serve us, robbed from companies that exploited faunus labor..."

Weiss was silent, though her mind continued to whirl through the various actions the White Fang had taken against her company. Having spent her entire life on one side of this conflict, she was now getting to see it through the lens of someone from the other side of the battle. It was...enlightening...to say the least.

"It was...it felt good," explained Blake. "After everything we'd been through, after all the abuse and mistreatment, we were finally able to hit back, to hurt the people who hurt us. It felt so good. We were actually beginning to see change too. Businesses changed how they dealt with the faunus, because they didn't want to be the next one wrecked by our reprisals."

"But it was all through fear," said Weiss, remembering what Sasame had told her.

Blake nodded. "And it was getting worse," said Blake. She shuddered again, hugging herself even tighter. "We were taking it further...too far, especially here, in Vale. The current leader of the Vale branch of the White Fang is a man named Adam Taurus. He and I were...close."

"Um...how close?" asked Yang. When she saw the reddening of Blake's cheeks, she gulped. "Oh..."

"When my parents left the White Fang, I stayed," said Blake. She let out a choked sob. "I was so...so angry. We were finally getting the change we'd been fighting for, but it felt like my parents were actually against it. I didn't realize what they were upset about, back then. To me, it felt like they were abandoning the fight, like they didn't have the spine to do what was necessary to win our rights. Adam...fed that belief, manipulated me...so that I would stay with him."

"Blake..." Yang stood up and wrapped her in a hug.

Blake pressed on. "But, the longer I stayed with him, the more things began to change. People weren't just being hurt. They were dying. And they were being killed on missions that Adam led. I was still training at the time, so I didn't know all those missions entailed. So, when he told me that they were accidents, or that things just sometimes went out of control, I believed him. When I was finally able to join him on the front lines, I began to see otherwise. I saw that Adam didn't kill just because circumstances forced him to, that he was doing it because he wanted to, because he liked killing humans.

"And it got worse. We were targeting those who were exploiting or oppressing the faunus. But Adam started to broaden our targets. He stopped caring about collateral damage, about who else might be caught up in our attacks, even if those other people were faunus. He justified it by saying that they deserved it, for not fighting alongside us. But I was finally starting to see it for what it was. Adam just wanted to kill. He wasn't being driven by righteousness, or justice, or equality. He was being driven by spite. He'd been hurt, and he'd become consumed with the desire to hurt the world right back. It was all about hurting them more, doing more damage...I...I couldn't stand that."

Blake sniffled, quaking in Yang's arms. She looked up at her assembled friends. "So I left. I abandoned Adam in the middle of a mission, and came to Vale. And now...here I am."

Silence greeted the end of Blake's tale. Everyone was processing her explanation, trying to figure out where she stood with them. Finally, it was Ruby who spoke first.

"Why come to Beacon?" she asked.

"I..." Blake swallowed. "When I was little, I'd fantasized about being a Huntress. I wanted to be a hero, not just fighting the Grimm, but standing up for the oppressed. I thought that, as a Huntress, I'd be able to better help people, to make change.

"But, when the White Fang started to change, I just wanted to fight alongside them. I gave up on that. The others were always talking about how Huntsmen were a part of the system that oppressed us. After all, there had been more than a few occasions where our rallies were broken up with assistance of Huntsmen, hired by the Schnees, or someone else. Huntsmen were just tools of human oppression. That's what I'd started to believe. But...when I left...that was the only thing I could come back to, the only direction I could think of in my life. I...I don't have the courage to go back to Menagerie, to face my parents again, to admit that they were right all along. So I came here instead."

Ruby stood up and joined Yang in hugging Blake. "We're glad you're here," she said softly.

Blake sniffled and closed her eyes. "Thank you," she breathed softly.

While still holding Blake, Ruby let her eyes wander back to Weiss, wondering how she was taking all of this. Weiss appeared deep in thought, presumably considering the possible ramifications of the fact that she'd been living in close proximity to a former member of the White Fang for months.

Finally, she spoke. "Why?" Weiss asked. "Why tell us all of this?"

"I...I realized that I need to stop hiding," said Blake, her ears drooping. "I hid my status as a faunus, because I was afraid of how people would treat me. But I also hid it because I...I wanted to put my past as a member of the White Fang behind me. But, after hearing what you've been through, even if I've never had a hand in it, I couldn't just leave everyone in the dark. You deserve better than that."

Weiss' lips slowly curled up in a smile. "Thank you," she said softly.

Ruby and Yang let go of Blake, returning to their former positions. "So now what?" asked Ruby.

"What?" Blake stared at her in confusion.

"You've told us your past, and who you were," said Ruby. "Where do we go from here?"

"I...I don't know," said Blake, looking down. "I wanted to clear the air, because I was tired of hiding behind a lie. But I'm not sure what else to do."

"Well, at this point, the only thing I can think of is that we carry on as usual," said Ren. "We know more about you, and that's what matters."

"That's right," agreed Jaune. "I mean...unless you think there's something we need to do."

"There's something I need to do," said Blake, frowning.

"What?" Pyrrha wanted to know.

"I need to investigate what's going on in Vale," said Blake. "I need to find out if the White Fang really is behind the thefts that are going on."

"You have reason to doubt?" wondered Ren. He didn't sound skeptical, merely curious.

Blake frowned. "Given what they put Velvet through, it seems possible to me that the police might be blaming the White Fang, because it's convenient for them, and the faunus are easy targets."

"That...sounds unpleasantly likely," grumbled Weiss.

"She's got a point," said Nora. "I mean, Ruby put that Torchwick jerk away, but he isn't the only crook out there."

"No kidding," agreed Pyrrha. "Somebody was flying the bullhead that tried to extract him, so he has at least one accomplice, likely more. If anyone is behind a crime wave, they're just as suspect as the White Fang."

"So where do we start?" wondered Ruby.

"No!" blurted Blake, glaring at them, her outburst making everyone in the room jump. "You don't understand! This is my responsibility. I need to do this myself."

They stared at her incredulously. Then, to everyone's shock, Jaune stood up, stepping forward to stand right in front of Blake. She stared at him in confusion...until Jaune raised his hand, and brought it down in a chop, right between her ears.

"Ow!" exclaimed Blake, cringing and covering the top of her head.

Everyone else could only stare at Jaune in amazement, barely comprehending how he, of all people, could do that.

"Don't be an idiot, Blake," he admonished her. "You're our friend, and there's no way in Hell we're letting you do this alone. You don't get to wall us out with some stupid excuse about it being your responsibility. You left the White Fang. Maybe you were responsible for some of what they did while you were with them, but you aren't responsible for what they're doing right now."

"You don't understand," protested Blake, looking up at Jaune plaintively. "If you get involved, the White Fang will target you too. They'll come after you."

"So?" It was Weiss who spoke now, her tone ladened with scorn. "Weren't you listening to what I said earlier, Blake? I've had a target on my back for years. The White Fang have been going after me for most of my life. They're certainly not just your problem."

"B-but..." Blake was struggling to find the words to voice her protests.

"As the leader of this team, I say that you can't leave us out of this," said Ren. Even though there was a teasing smile on his face, his tone was firm and resolute, indicating that he would brook no argument from her.

"That's right," said Nora. "We'll find those White Fang jerks and smack some sense into them."

"No way I'm letting my partner leave me out of this," added Yang, just as firmly.

"Sorry," said Pyrrha, giving Blake an apologetic smile. "But we're not giving you a choice about this. You aren't going to do this alone."

Blake let out a whimper, but that was her final sound of protest, before she slumped, her shoulders sagging in defeat. "Fine," she moaned.

Jaune sighed in relief, settling back down next to Ruby, who glanced sidelong at him. "You did good," she whispered.

"Just remembered what someone else told me," Jaune replied in the same tone, thinking back to the initiation, when Ruby had learned the truth about him.

Ruby giggled, then leaned her head against his shoulder.

"So...where do we start?" asked Pyrrha.

"Probably the docks," said Ren.

"Why there?" Yang wanted to know.

"Apparently, most of the thefts are taking place around the docks," said Ren. "The Dust is being stolen after it's been offloaded, and is in the process of being shipped through the Kingdom. The perpetrators have been knocking over the occasional Dust-shop, but they're mainly hitting it along the distribution routes."

"That makes sense," said Weiss. "It's easier to secure a location, rather than something that is on the move, so the Dust would be at its most vulnerable while it's being transported."

"So, we go to the docks, and tail the next big Dust shipment that comes in," said Yang, nodding.

"That'll be easier said than done," mused Jaune. "I mean, the Dust is going to be moved by truck, and we'll be on foot. Besides, I don't want to think of how the staff is going to take us following them around."

"Well, if it's wheels you need, I've got 'em," said Yang. "But I can only tail one truck at a time. So, if we're wrong..."

"Or...we can do this a different way," said Weiss.

"How so?" asked Blake, looking at her.

Weiss smiled. "Well...I might be able to use my...connections. After all, it is SDC Dust that is coming into the Kingdom and being stolen. I can request the shipping manifest, which will include which shops are being supplied by which load, and when they will be shipped out. After that, it's simply a matter of determining their routes. Rather than try to follow all the trucks, we can stake them out along their routes, which should give us a better chance of catching the culprits."

"That...sounds like a pretty good idea," said Ruby, considering it.

"Of course, we still need to work around our classes," continued Weiss. "Unless we want to bring Professor Ozpin and the Beacon staff in on this."

"Let's...table that for now," said Blake, frowning at the idea.

The others shared nervous looks. After all, what they were talking about was essentially vigilante activity. They were directly infringing on the territory of Vale's law enforcement. That said law enforcement appeared to be more concerned with finding scapegoats in place of the actual criminals would be immaterial, as it concerned RASP and RYNB's own actions. Perhaps, with sanction from Ozpin, they could have it classed as an official mission, which, while it wouldn't make the police happy, would shelter them from the legal consequences of their actions. However, that would be based on the assumption that Ozpin would sanction such an activity by first-year students.

On top of that, assuming it was possible, getting his support would require laying out the entire reasoning behind their actions, which would undoubtedly include bringing up Blake's background in some manner. The question of how Ozpin would react to that was an open one. Sasame had told Blake that Ozpin might well have already suspected that she was from the White Fang, but Blake wasn't certain that she was willing to put that theory to the test, particularly if it turned out that Sasame was wrong.

"Let's at least get an idea of what we're dealing with," said Ruby finally. "Tomorrow's Friday, so we can head into Vale, after class, and visit the docks to get Weiss' info at least."

"That sounds like a valid plan," agreed Pyrrha.

"We can also scout out the lay of the land a little," said Jaune.

The others all nodded, Blake doing so reluctantly, still believing that it was better if she didn't get her friends involved, but also realizing that attempting to dissuade them was a fruitless endeavor. Instead, she found herself closing her eyes and resigning herself to the reality that her friends wouldn't let her enter this fight alone. She found that reassuring for some reason.

The classes the next day were fairly uneventful. They didn't have History, so they didn't get to see Velvet until lunch. Her team was keeping close to her, ready to fend off any potential harassers. Velvet definitely looked better, now that she had gotten some rest. She and the rest of CFVY were happy to join RASP and RYNB at their table.

Ruby briefly entertained bringing CFVY in on their little plan. Coco was definitely primed to take some kind of action, if only to do something about the atmosphere that had led to Velvet's interrogation. However, she and the others opted not to, mostly because it ran the risk of exposing Blake's past association with the White Fang, and they weren't sure how that would be taken by the second-year team.

With the last class of the day done, they adjourned to get their homework out of the way, before catching the next available airship into Vale. From there, they made a beeline for the Kingdom's port.

"It's such a pity," said Weiss, letting out a despondent sigh as they walked beneath a banner being stretched through the air over the street, welcoming foreign visitors and students to Vale for the Vytal Festival. "This is the perfect time to welcome our contemporaries from the other Academies, and observe them."

"You mean spy on them?" teased Yang.

"I said no such thing," said Weiss, turning her nose upward in a huff.

The others laughed, but the mood soured as their path towards the docks took them past the ruined front of a Dust store, its display window smashed in. Yellow and black crime-scene tape stretched across the broken window and the door, with more being stretched over the entire front of the shop. A police car was parked out in front of it, with a pair of officers standing before the door, talking in quiet tones.

"You thinking White Fang?" mused one, looking at the ruined storefront.

"I'm thinking we're not paid enough for this," groused the other.

Beneath the cover of her bow, Blake's ears drooped.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asked her softly.

"Not really," said Blake, disappointment echoing through her entire being. "It's just...I don't like this at all."

"I don't think the ones who did this care about being liked...at least, not by the people they do this to," muttered Yang, under her breath.

Continuing on, they reached the docks, which established a broad arc along Vale's harbor. All kinds of ships were moored along its length, both large and small. The northernmost end was given over to the bulk freighters, massive vessels, their decks stacked high with rectangular containers. There were currently two moored at port, and the students could see the cranes working to offload those numerous containers.

"Maybe we'll get lucky, tonight," mused Jaune.

"Not likely," said Weiss, frowning. "Neither of those is an SDC vessel. There's a chance that one might be coming in later tonight, but we won't know that until I get the schedule and manifest from the offices."

"Well, let's not waste time," said Ruby. "If we wanna organize a stakeout, we'll need to be ready."

The others nodded, and they began to make their way along the docks towards the towers of containers.

Their journey was delayed when they heard a chorus of angry shouts from a smaller cargo ship, moored just a short distance away, along their route. Looking over, they could see sailors running about on the ship's deck, their movements almost giving the impression of an anthill that had just been kicked. It took a few seconds to see what all the excitement was about, namely another figure, bounding amidst those sailors, dodging one way then another, leaping and ducking to escape grasping hands, flipping about with an agility that spoke of impressive skill.

The sailors' efforts proved to be in vain, the figure vaulting over the railing in an impressive leap that carried him to one of the lampposts that lined the the length of the docks. "Thanks for the ride, guys!" he shouted cheerfully over his shoulder.

A distant shout reached their ears. "Someone get that no-good stowaway!"

The strange boy flipped over, prompting a widening of the eyes of his audience when he dangled from the lamppost by a gold-furred, prehensile tail, actually stopping to peel and begin eating a banana. "Hey!" he retorted around the fruit. "A 'no-good' stowaway would have been caught. I'm a great stowaway!"

The boy yelped, having to abruptly dodge a thrown object, which didn't come from the ship, but the docks below. Looking down, the Beacon students saw the officers who had been stationed outside the ruined Dust shop, glaring up at the young faunus. The boy whipped his body around to stand atop the lamppost.

Doing so gave them a good look at the young man. He wore a crisp, white, high-collared, short-sleeved jacket that hung open over his shoulders, with no accompanying shirt to hide the toned muscles of his pectorals and abdomen beneath it, the lines of which appeared to have been etched into his tanned skin with a chisel. His forearms were covered by red bracers, over black, fingerless gloves. Over his legs, he wore a set of light-blue cargo pants and plain sneakers. A circular, gold pendant hung from a black cord around his neck. The young man's eyes, set beneath a head of messy, spiky blonde hair, were a shade of blue, slightly lighter than Jaune's, with just a hint of gray to them. Those eyes practically sparkled with a spirit of mischief, which completely matched the playful grin the boy appeared to habitually wear, albeit a grin that faded into an annoyed frown as he looked down at the officer who'd just tried to knock him from his perch.

"Get down from there!" shouted one of the men.

The erudite response was a half-eaten banana, and its accompanying peel, which landed squarely on the man's face. The boy had already moved on, leaping from his perch, landing on a post along the dock, then running up to the wall where it met the road. From there, the boy executed an impressive leap up the face of the wall, landing a short distance down the road from Ruby and the others. From there, he took off at a sprint, his flight carrying him past the group.

As he passed, his eyes found Blake's, and the boy shot her a wink. Then he was gone.

"Well...Um..." Yang looked in the direction he was heading.

Abruptly, Blake was gone, chasing after the boy.

"Blake! Wait!" shouted Ren, the rest of Team RYNB going after their wayward member.

"Should we...?" wondered Pyrrha.

"You guys go on ahead and get what we need," said Ruby, "I'll go after them."

"Are you-?" Jaune began to ask, only to find himself addressing a cloud of scattering petals. "Okay then..."

Weiss sighed. "Whatever. Let's just go. Ruby will keep them in check...I hope."

Using her Aura, Ruby channeled it out through her feet as she dashed after her friends. She supposed she should stay with her own team. But she figured it might be best if she kept a tab on their sister-team, if only to ensure that something didn't go wrong. The boy had been unusual, to be sure, but Ruby hadn't felt any sense of real danger from him. That wasn't saying that he wasn't capable...just that he didn't seem to be a direct threat to them. While she'd never actually dealt with anyone from that group, Ruby imagined she would feel quite a bit more threatened by members of the White Fang. There had been no hostility in the boy's behavior, not even after those police had chucked something at him.

Tracking her friends with her awareness, Ruby could sense their Auras, even after they'd rounded a corner. Turning to follow them, she realized too late that there was someone in front of her. As a result, Ruby found herself slamming head-on into another girl, who'd been about to come around the corner the other way.

"Oof!" Ruby squeaked, bouncing off the other girl, feeling as though she'd hit something as solid as a rock. Despite her impressive solidity, the other girl still overbalanced and fell over backwards with a yelp of surprise.

"I-I'm sorry," said Ruby, managing to maintain her balance, looking down at the girl, lying on her back. "Are you all right?"

"I am wonderful, thank you," said the other girl in a cheerful tone that didn't strike Ruby as the normal response a person would have to being unceremoniously knocked over. "It's nice to meet you."

"Um..." Ruby wasn't sure how to respond, already taking in the features of this unusual girl.

Outwardly, she looked fairly normal. The fair skin of her face was dotted with freckles across her cheeks, while she looked up at Ruby with a pair of pale-green eyes. The girl's head was covered by short, curly, orange hair, with a few strands sticking up in a cowlick at the top. A pink bow was tied behind her head as well.

She was dressed in a gray blouse, with gray overalls, and black stockings. A black collar was also closed around her neck. Lines of green ran up the outside edges of her stockings, as well as her collar, with two lines running up the front of her skirt, with Ruby suspecting that another pair ran up the back as well.

Despite her rather unremarkable appearance, Ruby couldn't help but feel...confused...by the girl in front of, and below, her. To the eyes, she looked normal. But to Ruby's other senses, there was something...off...about her. Part of the reason Ruby hadn't sensed her in time to react was because the girl just didn't feel...all there. In fact, she seemed almost...inanimate...to Ruby's senses, as though Ruby was staring at an unliving object that had been sculpted in a person's likeness. Ruby couldn't sense the physical warmth of a human body, nor the flow of air in and out that would have indicated her breathing. All told, the girl didn't feel alive at all.

But Ruby could sense her Aura. In fact, that was the most apparent thing about her. The girl's Aura blazed like a beacon. It was the only indicator that Ruby had had that anyone had been around the corner. However...it seemed that this girl's Aura was the only indicator that she was alive at all.

It took an extra moment for Ruby to realize that her confusion had distracted her. She'd already spent a lot of time staring at this girl, only to realize that her friends had escaped the radius of her Extension. However, she couldn't simply leave this unknown person lying on the ground. "Um...Do you need help getting up?"

In response, the girl bucked her hips, kicking her legs up into the air, transitioning the motion down her spine to bounce her shoulders clear, even as she rocked back forward to land on her feet, and rise back up into a standing position. "I am perfectly fine getting up on my own," she said, after the fact.

"Oh...uh...okay," said Ruby, not sure of how else to respond.

"Sal-u-tations," said the girl cheerfully. "My name is Penny Polendina. It's nice to meet you."

"Um...I'm Ruby," said Ruby, feeling her eyelid beginning to twitch. The girl's nature was odd enough, but her strange mannerisms only made her presence all the more unsettling.

"It's nice to meet you," replied Penny.

"You said that already," Ruby pointed out.

"So I did," noted Penny, still beaming.

"Um...well...it was nice meeting you," said Ruby, stepping past the girl. "Take care, friend."

Ruby was about to set out after RYNB once more, only to find Penny in front of her again, blocking her path. She's fast! What was more, once again, Ruby's was confounded by the unnatural manner that the girl registered to her senses; seeming, at once, both alive, yet not; that strange, contradicting sense of her throwing off Ruby's awareness.

"What did you call me?" asked Penny, her smile gone. Instead, she was staring expectantly at Ruby, as though she'd just had a revelation.

"Um...you mean 'friend'?" asked Ruby.

"That's it!" said Penny. "Are we really friends?"

In her mind's eye, Ruby could picture Weiss shaking her head vigorously, while Pyrrha and Jaune looked on with sheepish, uneasy looks. All the same, Ruby couldn't help but answer, "Sure."

Penny squealed, jumping in the air, holding up her hands and squeezing them in a triumphant gesture. "Sen-sa-tional!" she exclaimed happily. "I am so glad to be your friend, Friend Ruby."

"M-me too," said Ruby, stumbling back away from Penny's enthusiasm. "A-anyway, I have to go after my friends-my other friends. Um...Maybe we can talk later."

As tactless as it was, Ruby decided to use her Aura, executing her Shukuchi to dart past Penny and down the way RYNB had gone. Despite how abrupt and rude her departure had been, Ruby could still hear Penny's cheerful farewell from behind her, indicating that the strange girl hadn't taken umbrage at Ruby's behavior. That was odd.

The boy's run carried him down an alleyway. A swift jump carried him up to the railings of a nearby fire escape. Not even bothering to climb over them, he instead pushed off, his jump carrying him farther upwards and across the alley, allowing him to plant his feet on the wall, before repeating the action, then doing so again in a series of back and forth hops that carried him up the sides of the two buildings, allowing him to vault over the edge of a roof. Upon landing, he stood up straight, and let out a relieved breath.

"Heck of a way to make an entrance," he said to himself, his tone cocky and self-assured.

Then a dark figure appeared over the edge on the side of the roof opposite the one he'd just come over. The boy's eyes widened for a few seconds, before he relaxed a little, an easygoing grin appearing on his face as he recognized the raven-haired beauty he'd passed just outside the docks. "Well hey there," he said in his most confident voice. "I figured I'd made an impression, but I didn't figure it was that good."

Blake's yellow eyes narrowed as she took in the boy. There was no question that he was an attractive specimen. But that wasn't something to bother over now. What she really needed was answers. "Who are you?" she asked.

"The name's Sun Wukong," said the boy, folding his arms and striding towards her. "I'm a student from Haven. You?"

"So...you're not involved with the White Fang?" asked Blake.

Sun stopped, throwing up his hands, a shocked and...almost disgusted...look appearing on his face. "Hell no!" he exclaimed. "I don't have anything to do with those jerks." He might have been more offended, but Sun was fairly certain the black ribbon atop Blake's head was hiding something extra, from the way it sometimes twitched.

Blake huffed in disappointment, then turned away. If this boy didn't have anything to do with the White Fang, then there was nothing more for her to investigate here.

Sun was surprised by her reaction. Seeing as she was about to head back down, he approached her again. "Hey! Wait! That's all you wanted to know?"

"Yes," said Blake, glancing over her shoulder at him. "Sorry to bother you."

"Hold on!" protested Sun. "Why are you looking for the White Fang? You don't want to join them, do you?"

The glare that Blake sent his way was all the answer he needed.

"Okay," said Sun, holding up his hands in surrender. "Then what are you looking for them for?"

"It's personal," said Blake, turning away. "You shouldn't get involved."

"I'm pretty sure I shouldn't have stowed away on a freighter from Vacuo," said Sun, his cocky grin returning. "There's a lot of things I shouldn't do that I do anyway."

Despite herself, Blake couldn't help but let out the tiniest snort of amusement. His ears picking up the sound, Sun's grin widened as he realized he'd found a chink in her armor. Seeing that he apparently wasn't going to let this go, Blake decided to give him an answer. "I'm trying to stop them."

"Stop them from doing what?" Sun asked.

Blake turned to face him once again. "Why do you care?" she asked. "This isn't your fight."

"Who's to say it isn't?" asked Sun. "The White Fang are a bunch of holier-than-thou jerks, who give upstanding faunus, like us, a bad name."

Blake fixed the "upstanding faunus" she'd just seen fleeing from a ship full of sailors, and the law, with a deadpan look.

"Uh...Like you?" Sun amended with a sheepish grin.

Blake's ears drooped beneath her bow. Her twitch didn't go unnoticed by Sun.

"Well...you get the picture," said Sun. "Anyway, if they're up to shenanigans, I'd want to put a stop to them too."

Blake stared at him for a long moment, Sun's grin growing shakier by the second.

"You're going to invite yourself along, even if I tell you not to come, aren't you?" she asked.

"You already know me so well," said Sun, his previous confidence returning.

Blake sighed. Well...at least we'll have another set of eyes on the situation, she thought in resignation, assuming we can trust him, of course. "All right," she said out loud, "let's go then."

"Anything for the lovely lady," said Sun with an earnestness that surprised her.

Blake refused to look at him again, not even to shoot him a glare at his shameless flirting. If she turned her head, even a little, he'd undoubtedly see the pink tinge of her cheeks. The last thing she wanted him to know was that his flirting was rather effective.

"And you're sure we shouldn't be helping her?" asked Ren dubiously, staring up at the distant roof.

"Nah, Blake's got this," said Yang, her voice full of confidence.

"How do you know?" asked Nora.

"You guys saw that look he sent her, right?" inquired Yang. Seeing her two teammates nod, she grinned. "Then trust me, Blake's gonna totally have him wrapped around her finger. You'll see."

Much to Ren and Nora's surprise, Blake and the blonde stowaway came around the corner, out of the alleyway on one side of the building. On the other hand, Yang flashed Blake a triumphant grin that had Blake rolling her eyes…and smirking.

"Everyone, this is Sun," said Blake laconically, "Sun, this is Yang, my partner; Ren, our team leader; and Nora, our…Nora."

"Wassup?" said Sun, grinning and raising a hand in greeting.

"Sun's going to be helping us with our...investigation," continued Blake.

"Really?" asked Ren, staring at Sun in confusion.

"Cool!" exclaimed Nora, darting to circle around Sun. "That was really cool, how you got here. Why were you on that ship? Is stowing away fun?"

"It's a pretty sweet way to get around," said Sun, grinning, before quailing slightly under the half-lidded glare that Blake and Ren both flashed him.

"Please don't give her ideas," said Ren in a resigned tone.

"So why were you stowing away on that ship?" asked Yang, raising an eyebrow, but giving Sun a playful smirk.

Sun's grin turned sheepish, and he rubbed the back of his head. "Well...we had a bit of a break before my partner and I were due to come to Beacon for the exchange, you know. I decided to head to Vacuo to visit my family, before heading straight here. But...uh...I ran out of money, so I decided to take a boat without getting a ticket."

"Your school didn't cover it?" asked Ren.

"Haven would've sprung for the tickets if I'd gone straight to Beacon," said Sun. "But personal trips, like mine, we have to pay for out of pocket. It made more sense to come straight to Vale than go back to Mistral."

"Makes sense," said Yang.

Before the questioning could continue, Ruby arrived in a flurry of red petals, panting for breath. "I caught up with you!" she gasped, before looking up and seeing Sun, who gave her a cheerful wave. Tilting her head, Ruby looked to her sister and friends. "What'd I miss?"

"Let me get this straight," said Weiss, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "We take our eyes off you for just a few minutes, and now this lout has managed to bully his way into our investigation."

"Hey, I don't bully my way into anything," Sun protested, picking up the coffee cup with his tail and bringing it to his lips for a sip. Then he shot a grin and a wink at Blake, who was sitting next to him. "I charm my way into things."

Blake shifted her face away from him slightly, mainly to hide the pink coloring her cheeks.

"I'm sure that the crew of the ship you arrived on beg to differ," commented Pyrrha, prompting Sun to flinch, and his smile to falter, which produced a giggle from Blake, something that Sun actually seemed to enjoy.

"Well, I sure didn't bully my way onto it," said Sun, before chuckling weakly. "Though I guess I kinda bullied my way off it."

"Ehhhhh, semantics," said Nora, waving one hand dismissively, while using the other to raise her mug of hot cocoa to her lips, allowing her to punctuate her statement with a noisy slurp.

"He seems pretty cool," said Jaune.

"That's hardly a sterling recommendation," Weiss retorted, making Jaune quail beneath her glare.

"He wouldn't let it go," said Blake, taking another sip of her tea. "I figured he'd just tag along without our permission anyway."

"And what makes you think we can trust him?" asked Weiss.

Blake didn't answer.

"Hey, I'm totally trustworthy," protested Sun.

"Says the one who stowed away on a freighter," commented Ren.

"Low blow," grumbled Sun.

"It's more than that!" snapped Weiss. "This boy just happens to pop up out of nowhere, and he decides to help us investigate the White Fang, just like that? How do we know-?" Weiss' voice abruptly cut off as she saw the absolutely livid glare Blake directed her way. "I'm sorry," she said softly, slumping down.

Blake felt something tickle along the side of her neck. She gasped and twitched, shivering from the not-unpleasant sensation of Sun's tail brushing over her bare skin, completely breaking the glare she'd fixed Weiss with. Looking over, she saw Sun smiling at her, looking completely unruffled.

"It's okay," he said, before looking back at Weiss. "You want to be sure I'm not one of them, right?"

Though Weiss nodded, she had the decency to look abashed.

"Well...it's not entirely an illegitimate question," admitted Sun, scratching his head. "I come from Vacuo. Discrimination isn't all that big a problem over there. It's a tough place to live. If you can manage it, people tend to respect you, regardless of whether or not you have extra parts.

"When I went to Haven, I had to deal with some pretty big culture shock, mainly the part where I realized that people over in Mistral actually did care that I was a faunus...and not always in a good way."

"Why did you go to Haven?" asked Ren. "It sounds like Shade would have been a better place for you."

Sun grinned. "Well, Mom always told me that, if I want to be a great Huntsman, I needed to learn more about the wider world. Sometimes, that means dealing with parts of it that aren't so pleasant. I knew that things outside of Vacuo weren't exactly hunky dory, especially for faunus like me. But it's one thing to 'know' it, because that's what you're taught in school, and another thing to know, because you've experienced it for yourself. I needed to see what the world outside Vacuo is like for a faunus. Having experienced that now, I can't say I don't understand wanting to fight against those prejudices. But the way the White Fang goes about it...really leaves a bad taste in my mouth."

Everyone stared at Sun for a long moment, enough to make him nervous. "Was it something I said?"

"We just weren't expecting that kind of answer from you," said Yang. "If we're going by base impressions, you don't exactly come off as a 'deep thought' kind of a guy."

"I'm a man of many talents," said Sun proudly.

"Yet modesty is not one of them," Blake observed with a smirk.

"Nope," agreed Sun wholeheartedly, drawing another snort from Blake.

Weiss frowned...then sighed. "Well…in the end, I suppose it's your call, Ruby," she said, looking over at her leader.

Ruby wasn't sure how she'd essentially been designated the leader of this whole affair, particularly since Weiss and Blake were supposed to be taking the lead on this. But she decided to follow through all the same. Truth be told, she had little trouble accepting Sun's presence in their group. His friendly manner and surprisingly thoughtful words aside, she couldn't help but like him.

Sun's Aura was one of the brightest and most optimistic she'd ever seen. It was the Aura of someone who took things as they came, but always with a view towards seeing the glass as half-full. He was quick to make friends, but also steadfastly loyal to those he befriended, however brief their association. Beneath that cheerful demeanor, Ruby could sense powerful conviction, and unwavering devotion, whether to the course he'd put his life on...or the girl sitting next to him, despite having known her for a couple of hours at best, by this point.

"I like him," she said finally. "Let's keep him."

Weiss let out a long breath. "Fine," she said in a resigned tone. "Well, let's not waste anymore time, and get to planning, shall we?" She pulled out her scroll and opened up into tablet mode. "It took a little...persuading, but Pyrrha and I were able to convince the administrators at the docks to provide us with information about the next Dust shipment coming in."

"That's good," said Ruby.

"It's going to be tricky to manage this," said Weiss. "This is the biggest shipment of Dust that's come through since the piracy shifted to the Almaren. We don't want to be spread too thin, in case we actually find what we're looking for. So we should at least keep to pairs."

"We don't exactly have an even number, though," said Pyrrha, looking around.

"Then one trio," said Weiss.

Ruby sighed. "That's too bad. If only we had one more person."

"One more person for what, Friend-Ruby?"

Ruby shrieked, lurching in shock at the unexpected, yet familiar, voice that spoke up from behind her. She wasn't the only one, all the others at the table jumping in surprise, nearly upsetting all the cups on it.

"Penny!" exclaimed Ruby, whirling around to see the girl she'd met earlier beaming at her...after standing behind her to practically look over her shoulder.

I didn't sense her again! thought Ruby, shocked that she hadn't noticed such a brilliant, intense Aura come up behind her. Once again, that strange aspect of Penny; that lively Aura contrasting with a cold, lifeless-seeming body; served to keep Ruby from properly noticing her, until Penny had spoken. What is she?

"What are you doing here?" Ruby asked, trying to get her breathing under control.

"I saw you in here, and wanted say hello," said Penny, before raising a hand in greeting. "Hello."

"Who is this?" asked Weiss, staring, aghast, at Penny.

"This is Penny," said Ruby lamely. "I...bumped into her earlier."

"Friend-Ruby said she was my friend, so I wanted to see my friend," said Penny.

"...Okay," said Yang.

"Anyway, what do you need another person for, Friend-Ruby?" asked Penny.

"Ah...we're...um..." Ruby tried to figure out how to explain this away.

"You're investigating the White Fang attacks on Dust shipments brought in through Vale's docks," said Penny, her smile widening. "I heard."

"How long have you been eavesdropping on us?" asked Blake warily.

"Thirteen minutes, and thirty-seven seconds," said Penny, without missing a beat.

Were you standing there the whole time? everyone wondered nervously, afraid to ask. And why didn't we notice?

"If you need one more person to assist you, then I would be happy to be of service," said Penny.

"Um...uh...I don't think that's a good idea, Penny," said Ruby. "This could wind up being dangerous."

"There is no need to worry," said Penny standing up a little straighter. "I am combat ready."

"Are you an Academy student?" asked Pyrrha.

"I am Penny Polendina, student of Atlas Academy," declared Penny proudly. "I will be happy to provide whatever assistance I am able to my new friend."

"She's certainly...peppy," said Yang, blinking.

"Eh, the more the merrier," said Sun, grinning, while Blake gave him a wan look.

Does anything faze him? she wondered.

Weiss groaned, leaning forward and closing her eyes. After a moment, she sat back up and looked at Ruby. "Well...?"

Ruby gave Penny a worried look, before sighing. "Sure...why not."

Penny squealed. "Sen-sa-tional! I shall give it my best efforts, Friend-Ruby!"

"Right," said Ruby, her eyelid twitching. Then she sighed and turned back to Weiss. "Well...let's do this."