15

Chapter 15 - Nightmare on Arc Street

his is a bad idea."

"Is this the warehouse?"

"The answer to both statements is yes."

Blake rolled her eyes as she dropped into an abandoned corner of the docks, the task made significantly easier by the rundown nature of the environment. Apparently before the SDC had come into real force this had been a busy docks warehouse sector. But as the shipments got larger, and as such the necessity for cranes, space and bigger machinery became ever more pressing – new warehouse areas had been set up, and these left to rot.

Or be taken over by the White Fang.

"We're just here to scout things out," Blake rubbed his head lightly, pushing his little ears down as she sought to calm him down. "I already promised we wouldn't get into an all-out fight unless we had to, right?"

"I suppose," the small golden bear huffed as it crossed its arms, though she noticed it didn't protest the rubbing at all. "And you did play that card game with your team nicely."

"I did," she nodded. He'd been right it seemed, for once she'd woken up from her sleep she'd felt revitalised in ways she had never imagined possible. Even if she'd immediately gasped and tossed the perverted bear across the room from what he'd done in the night.

Trust him to wiggle his way into her bosom while she slept, seriously. And his comments about the soft, bountiful embrace of her love hadn't done much to endear him to her.

Still, he'd not only come up trumps, but her good mood had even managed to cause Yang to back off, her team breathing a sigh of relief as the more normal Blake came back into play. Even if she'd still been roundly trounced by Yang in that stupid game of Remnant. Even Jaune, who was apparently a practiced player, hadn't been able to help her.

Yang was scary like that.

"I didn't realise I was hurting them by focusing so much on the White Fang," she sighed as she looked down at him, "I suppose thanks are in order for pointing that out." The small bear wiggled in her arms, so that his front was pressed to hers as he looked up at her. A small hand coming up to pat her chin.

"I accept strip-teases as thanks."

"And then the mood was ruined," she sighed as she flicked his face, ignoring his protestations of animal abuse.

Being on a team was new to her, so it was perhaps expected that she might mess things up, especially with how she normally liked to do things on her own. The White Fang was her problem, her responsibility.

Yang, Ruby and Weiss deserved better than to be mixed up in her mistakes.

"What would you do Jaune, in my situation? If you were in danger, if you had a secret to keep – would you tell your team?"

"I like to think I would," the boy-bear sighed, "but I doubt it. I'd probably try and sort it out on my own, especially if it was my problem. Bear's got to solve his own problems after all."

Blake nodded, already knowing the answer deep inside, but thankful to find another that agreed with her. Besides, in a weird way – she wouldn't be doing it all on her own, would she?

"You remember your promise to me though? We're just scouting, right?"

"Yes Jaune," she sighed as she turned him round so he could act as a lookout once more. "If I see dangerous criminals I won't go and hold a blade to their throat this time."

"And you won't call out to enemies and draw attention to yourself?"

Okay… even she felt stupid for that one in retrospect, what exactly had she been expecting? Even if they recognised her it would only be as a traitor to be silenced. She'd literally leapt into the hornet's nest and then announced her presence.

Adam would have had conniptions.

"Alright," Blake argued, her cheeks flushing despite herself, "mistakes were made. I promise that won't happen again."

"Then let's do this." The undead stuffed toy cheered as she slipped into the dim light of the warehouse, easily stepping between two containers that really ought not to have been there. Though honestly that the structure was illuminated and busy should have been indication enough of illicit goings on.

"Looks like your hunch was spot-on," she whispered to the bear, silently scaling a few containers to try and reach the rafters. Human nature meant people often failed to look up, and even if they did, if she was above the lights then they would struggle to see her anyway. They would instead be blinded by the bright lights hanging from the ceiling, unable to see a shadow concealed above them.

"Yeah well, seemed obvious at the time. Maybe because I don't feel fatigue like you do."

"Good job either way," she complimented as she flipped up onto a support beam, edging across the ceiling in a manner that would have been downright reckless for anyone else. For her it might as well have been a walkway, and once she reached the middle she lounged out upon it, her scroll busy recording the happenings below.

White Fang, for in those uniforms they could be little else, milled left and right, lifting packages and parcels into containers as they gathered the dust they'd no doubt stolen from stores are shipments alike. There weren't as many of them as she might have expected, no more than thirty or so, but then again how many could be needed for manual labour? Likely the best fighters were out procuring more dust or handling dangerous tasks.

These would be the lowest of grunts.

That didn't make their tasks any more important though… and judging from the sheer amount of dust they were moving, this was a major hub for the White Fang.

"Alright you animals," a new voice shouted out, filling the warehouse as various faunus stopped in their tasks. Blake's fingers dug into the handle of Gambol Shroud as she watched the hated man stroll into the warehouse as though he owned it. "Let's hurry this up shall we?"

"Torchwick…" she whispered hatefully as she drew her weapon. Jaune appeared before her a moment later, springing from the bear as he floated below her, his arms held out as though to block her vision.

"You promised."

He was right there… she could fall through Jaune and on top of him like a panther, dragging him to the floor as she tore into him.

Except that she would surely die afterwards, and even then she might not be quick enough to kill him.

"Tch," she holstered her weapon – ignoring Jaune as he nodded and floated beside her.

"He's got someone with him," the ghost pointed out, his spectral finger pointed at a small girl who honestly looked no bigger than Ruby. But if the cruel smirk that adorned her face was an indication, not to mention how the faunus avoided her, then she wasn't to be underestimated.

Blake nodded, amber eyes narrowing as she committed the girl to her memory. With a hairstyle like that she felt confident in saying she'd never seen her before, but she would keep an eye out for her in the streets of Vale.

"We need to get these shipments out of here tonight if we're able," Roman Torchwick continued, pushing a faunus aside when he was too slow to remove himself from the thief's path. "The longer we stay here the worse things will be, so put your foot – hoof, or whatever other extremity you've got – down!"

Blake sneered silently as she watched the goings-on, how the faunus of the White Fang – normally so stubborn and strong-willed, backed down before him – bowing and curtailing like dogs as they sought to please the very personification of their entrapment.

It was disgusting… enough to make her want to kill him right there and then, but for her promise – and the immediate threat of death. Jaune was right, she would serve no one dead.

Well, not unless she ended up like him.

The two of them watched as the two lone humans nodded and made their way around the facility, judging and adjusting where they saw fit. All the while faunus gave way to their input, nodding and backing away whenever scolded.

She watched it in a strange haze, a mixture of disappointment and fury. Part of her, perhaps the part that was still loyal to the old values of the White Fang, rebelled at the fact that they dared to back down before the humans. Experience now told her that some humans held them equal, and that many more simply didn't care either way. But Torchwick and his accomplice were clearly of the superiorist ilk, and they made no motions to hide their disdain of the lower faunus race.

The disappointment came from their willingness to even consider whatever methods would require so much dust. Most White Fang operatives were just normal men and women, dispirited and desperate for change – involved in something they knew so little about.

She supposed those who were desperate enough took whatever succour they were able to.

"So we've found out enough, right?" Jaune tried as he possessed the bear once more, pushing at her arms as he looked down on the hubbub below. "We've definitely found out that this is a White Fang outpost, so job done… right!?"

"Not quite," Blake said as she watched Roman and the mysterious girl leave, barking out some last orders as the shutter doors rolled closed. "This much dust… it's enough to cause some serious trouble Jaune, enough to put people in danger."

"I'm not going to like this, am I?"

"We need to blow it up."

"Hey, what do you know… I was right…"