Chapter 10: -Want to -

~Sid’s POV~

Of all things that I could have not either expected nor wanted to experience after coming to live here in vale, blinking awake and staring at the familiar starry sky still above the city was possibly one of the top ten.

Why this predicament wasn’t truly a surprise for a Mistralian like me? Well, considering that bandits, thieves and other criminals were easy to encounter in solitary strolls around the minor cities, getting mugged by someone wasn’t a novelty.

Not at all.

It wasn’t a ceiling I wanted to really be staring at and the cold breeze reaching right at my shivering frame was enough to get me to wake up a little faster than planned.

My throat was aching annoyingly, a knot forming as the wind had certainly not spared my unconscious self from its relentless ‘striking’ upon the capital.

My Aura had tanked most of the weather, my eyes squinting around as I tried to understand where I currently was.

I could see wooden tables spread across the small area in my general proximity, familiar tables.

I blinked as I slowly started to stand up from the uncomfortable bench I just woke up into, my brain burning for some time as memories and logical reasoning went to give me a clear picture of what had happened earlier that evening.

The fake aquarium, the exchange of blows between the two masked aggressors, Blake falling unconscious and-

…

…

NonononononoNONONONONO!

My sore back groaned a little as I suddenly went tense, anger breaking the last sleepy resistance I had within my brain in that precise moment.

Worry, fury, and a barely-restrained need to exact some revenge against the poor bastards that had decided to come around to attack us and-

Blake.

My sight regained some more focus, cold realization springing me to start moving, to get my muscle acting against the irritating cold persevering in that district of the city.

My brain started to properly recollect everything and I was given notice of two distinct details:

I wasn’t dead and the Cat Faunus was nowhere in sight.

As much as I deemed the two morons that had attacked us to be mediocre at best, their team-skills lacking to a deplorable degree, the little lucky kick that had gotten me that debilitating concussion had been the very blow that costed me that unexpected fight.

The two ‘White Fang’ thugs weren’t nowhere in sight at the moment and my mind was rightfully repeating that, if they had been the real deal, they should have killed me when I was forced unconscious.

I had been spared. Me, a human, had been spared by the White Fang.

Why is this important about Blake? The answer is terribly straight-forward I reckoned with a dry thought.

If those two weren’t part of the Fang, then they surely didn’t take the girl to one of the hidden outposts lying within Vale and so my chances to find her were close to zero.

Anger bubbling, my irritation sparked numerous possible thoughts as I continued to wander around, still unwilling to retreat back home.

While the fight had drained some of my Aura, my body was still in good-shape and my hope of finding Blake were all tied to a limited window of time.

Wherever they got the dark-haired young woman, it had to be someplace that was still inside town and… if I waited just a day, even too many hours, I could expect the kidnappers taking her outside of the city for security’s sake.

Suppositions, guesses and finally possible routes I could take to swiftly find out where they had taken here were now drowning my mind, rendering me completely unaware of what was happening around me.

The darkness of the night became a cloak and the few lights still on were just enough to allow me a clear vision over the path ahead of me.

Moments of quiet passed, my boiling fury barely reducing, quite the opposite as my hatred was growing more and more.

If before getting knocked out I felt sorry for kicking that chatty kickster right where-all-begins, now I was sorry that I hadn’t delivered a second or even a third kick at his ‘weak spot’.

But then, just as I concluded to plan out any torture I could deploy against those two fools, my mind gave me a half-decent idea.

Actually, it was a half-idea but it was still worth of consideration and interest from my part; Blake had mentioned that Torchwick had been cooperating with the White Fang back during the battle at the docks, that the crime boss had been directly leading the groups as their chief.

It was an odd concept, but it gave a purpose and a reasoning behind the unexpected attack and… why the two thugs had been so mercifully towards me.

Their clothes were standard uniforms to the recruits of the Fang, but their allegiance was possibly closer to Torchwick than to the organization.

A false-flag operation… to try and get back at Blake for interrupting the important heists.

It wasn’t a complete lie to say that the makeup-wearing boss was vindictive when someone came to slight him to this unnerving degree and…

Maybe it was about the girl’s past connections with the Fang?

Did he want to bring her back there? To have the group-

I stopped thinking about it, multiple horrible scenarios keeping me from persisting on that trail of thoughts and focus on the real issue and solution.

If there was someone that would at least know whom would ordain a kidnapping with original WF’s clothes, it had to be Roman Torchwick.

And where to find him at this time of the day? The crime boss wouldn’t surely be walking around Vale in plain sight, the warrant on his head being high enough to turn numerous people against him all for the sake of justice and money.

He was elusive, but for good reasons.

My only hope being the annoyed comments coming from some tuxedo-wearing men that would be coming at the Morning Sip on a weekly basis to rest away from the previous night hangover; comments about being ‘used’ by someone they called the ‘dandy bastard with cane’.

Torchwick was known to make use of local gangs to stage his heists and he was the only crime boss that used a cane as a weapon to personally deal with his enemies.

It wasn’t difficult to connect dots at first and, while I had mentioned this to Marcus, I was told to not denounce any of this behavior for some specific reasons.

The Police in Vale was understaffed because of the numerous cuts applied by the Council in the last decade, the group barely capable of handling someone as influential and entrenched as the dapper criminal.

Plus retaliation at the bar would mean also an attack against Marcus’ family and against me, not the best situation considering the barely-uncovered extent of operations ruled by Torchwick.

Still, while I was deterred from calling the police, the owner of the Morning Sip did offer a detail that now served as a proper clue to this difficult case.

It was about the allegiance of this gang that was common to find around the main streets, their unique uniforms having them stand out to other civilians or Huntsmen.

Hei Xiong, better known as ‘Junior’, was the owner of the pub sited just a few blocks away from the Morning Sip, the place having been around for much longer than the day-shift establishment and being a bigger fish because of the large clientele and the presence of alcohol.

The place had also another function, Junior working as an info-broker for numerous organization, legitimate and not, about the happenings inside Vale; the legitimacy of his sources having proven to be incredibly trustworthy as no one had ever attacked the pub.

Except the curiously-familiar blonde brawler that might or might not have trashed the building for no apparent reasons.

I was already pacing through the mostly-empty streets of the city, my eyes narrowing at the entrance the moment it came onto sight and I was quick to try and appear calm and collected as I approached the guarded doors before the night-bar.

I tensed up as one of the grunts moved to stop me and, before I could do or say anything about it, the man started to check me up.

It was similar to the check-ups one would receive by the airport, he was trying to see if I had any weapons on me and… he backed away, giving a solid nod to his partner as the fellow thug went to open the door just enough for me to pass.

I blinked in confusion, expecting to be asked about some pass or to pay some fees to entry as this was an expensive establishment.

“Should I need more to enter inside?” I asked with a frown, getting a shrug by the door-holder.

“Blonde-bitch drained our cash in reparations, we are trying to-”

“Get some clients to stay rather than be afraid,” The other man concluded with a sigh. “Hopefully, this is going to be another easy night.”

I nodded at the two and decided to not ask any more questions to them as I ventured inside the club.

Music was there as usual, several people having taken some private sections of the pub while the large majority was enjoying some dancing in the area reserved to that specific activity.

I barely bothered the sight as I made my way towards the counter, at the moment having just the bartender and only a man standing by the stools.

Once I was close at the counter, I knocked at it and waited for the calm-looking tall man to approach. “Yes?”

“I wish to speak with Junior,” I said with a cautious tone.

The individual nodded. “You are talking to him.”

I blinked in surprise at that, but I didn’t let my surprise stop me from proceeding with the questions I had to get answers from.

“I require some information about the White-Fang,” I started with a calm tone, slowly bringing up my Scroll and expanding the photo I had taken of Blake when we had to place a picture to the contract she had with Marcus. “Blake Belladonna, she was kidnapped a few hours ago by two thugs from the Fang-”

“I can’t help you,” The bartender replied with a tired sigh. “The organization is a tough nut to get info about and… if this event is that fresh, I don’t have the means to verify if something like that could have happened-”

“What about Torchwick-”

“Even worse, kid,” Junior interrupted with a tired tone. “Ever since the failure he got at the docks, he had been keeping himself out of public eye. I have little info about his whereabouts.”

I gritted my teeth at that double rejection, shaking my head in disappointment at the bad luck I was experiencing in that very moment.

It was my only lead and… no. There has to be something else that I could do about this.

There has to!

But before I could despair any further with that lack of directions, I heard someone knocking at the counter just beside me.

“Junior, a glass of water for me and the kid,” I turned to grace the client that had been quiet until now, his hazel eyes staring right at me. “Name’s Tukson.”

I blinked in recognition, remembering a book-shop called the very same way and… I frowned at him, unsure of why he would be interested on me.

“Sid.”

Tukson nodded and he waited for the glasses to come, taking a single sip from his own and then he started to talk again.

“You are searching for info about the Fang, correct?” The bookstore owner inquired with a curious voice. “I might give you something if you allow me to look at the photo.”

I tensed up a little more at this, slightly surprised at the ‘lucky’ encounter and feeling rather skeptical over this man’s friendliness.

But I had little choice, my means to get some clues were nothing and even a hint over the matter would matter a lot in the long-term planning.

I tilted the Scroll and showed him the picture, his eyes slowly widening at it as he stood quiet while looking at it.

His silence was brief as he soon was nodding at me. “I might be able to help you but… I wish to know just something.”

I blinked but nodded at him, a little hopeful over the matter but still keeping my guard up at him.

“What’s your connection to her?” Tukson asked with intrigue and curiosity dripping from his tone. “Why are you, a human, interested in saving a Faunus? What do you get out of it?”

I was stomped by the three questions, my mind stopping for a moment as to contemplate the essence behind the queries and… I couldn’t help but put in a curious situation.

The man was partly-correct in mentioning the fact that I could have asked the help from… Yang, maybe the rest of team RWBY but…

B-But it was the short time I have- yes, I could see that being the reason but…

Why this reason felt so unfaithful to my current state of self?

A brief struggle of thoughts, ideas and perceptions ensued, my mind turning in a battlefield as I tried to give sense to my current erratic behavior, to my desperate need to get the girl back to safety and away from harm.

It was in that moment, the very instant that I saw a familiar glimpse flashing to my brain.

I could see an uneasy-looking Blake, a hesitant Blake, I could see a frail Blake seeking help from me.

And in return I could also see the moments that she had gone to cover for me, the moments that she meaningfully tried to behave properly and without creating chaos. All for the sake of the trust she has in me… and I have in her.

I gulped, but it was nervousness driving me to the action, rather some minor hesitation.

My dry throat prepared and soon I was speaking, replying to the man.

“She is… someone I care for,” I genuinely admitted. “She can be annoying, terribly stubborn in her own terrible initiatives… but she is someone that I don’t wish to see harmed in any sort of way. She is a good person and… I like her for that.”

There was some silence, Tukson’s eyes widening at the lengthy reply but…

Then the man started to smile, a snort denied as he shook his head in amusement.

“To think that… the roles would have been reversed to this degree with the new generation,” The dark-haired book-shop owner mused quietly, drawing a frown out of me before he actually addressed my words.

“I see that you care a lot for your friend,” Tukson nodded with a friendlier tone. “So I think I will help you as I think I know where she is and… I want you to succeed, so I will give you some material to enter the base.”

...What?

How could he know about Blake’s location if- Who was he? And how did he know so much of the Fang?

“Sir, what are you-”

“Junior,” The man interjected, ignoring my confused tone. “Could you please bring out one copy of the things I’ve left in Deposit 45, 97 and… 164?”

The bartender nodded quietly but stopped just for a moment from going to comply with the request, eyes widening as he heard the last number. “164? Just one bar wouldn’t do much so-”

“Bring them all, in a gym bag,” The client interrupted again with a determined nod. “I think it’s time I make it clear that… I’m no longer affiliated with them.”

I was left confused by this strange comment, Junior sighing but nodding in defeat at the clear words, leaving the proximity of the counter and vanishing in the ‘backstage’ of the night-club, leaving me to give a quizzical look to the man.

“I can see you are curious, but I know that you are angrier at the ones responsible for this attack to your friend,” He commented quietly, hazel eyes glancing in my direction. “So, while I will give you the means to infiltrate and get your friends out, I wish that you do another task for me, something that will work for the two of us.”

“And that is?” I found myself questioning out-loud, trying to make sense of the bigger picture here exposed by the ‘simple’ book-shop owner.

Tukson merely smiled and gave a brief chuckle, stopping as Junior emerged from the unknown sections of the building and bringing everything out and-

My eyes widened at the uniform and at the fake ID to the White Fang, causing me to frown at both objects in renewed confusion.

But before I could ask about ‘how’ the two had managed to get this things if the Fang was so well-secured, I was presented with a glimpse of what was inside the gym bag.

I paled, I was shocked to death at the content but… then color returned back to my skin at the thought of how this was going to be used by me as there was only one thing that could require the presence of the small pale-yellow bars filling the bag.

I smiled widely and nodded.

“So… I guess you hate them too?” I supposed while glancing back at the man.

Tukson sighed, but I could see a familiar smile on his face.

“Oh no, I don’t hate them… I hate what they are doing,” He corrected with a hum. “Now please go and save your friend.”

I nodded, slowly putting everything inside, careful to not use too much pressure on the material inside as I made my way outside of the bar, the small paper containing the precise address confirming my next steps.

And now it’s payback time.

-----------d-d-d-d--------------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d-----------d-d-d-d-----------

I admit that I have never seen this specific part of the city, the district looked to be one of the slums that were so common to find in the various cities in Mistral but…

This one truly looked the worst possible. At least in Mistral there were non-profit organizations that helped around to make sure the situation didn’t escalate to this point.

Maybe Vale wasn’t the second best to Atlas as many painted it to be.

The desolate streets nearby the ‘abandoned’ warehouse gave off an ominous feeling as I carefully walked around to try and reach the proper place where to get inside the building.

The uniform that Tukson had given to me and that I was donning looked incredibly well-made, the fabric actually leaving a delightful touch to the skin compared to other military-like uniforms I had the displeasure to try because of mother’s passion with that kind of clothes.

It was doing a perfect job in hiding my identity away from anyone guarding the area, the hood and cloak keeping my body well-covered from giving out any details about my real self.

I finally approached the entrance, my posture calm and relaxed as I ‘casually’ waved at the man keeping the door half-closed, unwilling to give away my cover… until I was well away and safe from any retaliations from the battalion living there.

“Good evening, brother,” I said with a moderated tone, neither too flamboyant nor too dull. I was aware of the fanaticism, but I didn’t want to sound too much desperate or faux with my voice.

The pitch seemed to work well as I was met with a nod from him.

“Good evening,” He greeted back, his tone neutral but seemingly uninterested at me. “Can you please show your ID, brother?”

I was quick to pass to him the fake ID also provided by the book-shop owner, the name written there being ‘Doble Simulado’, a young recruit that had been suffering from some sickness until now and that his treatment had taken way too long to leave a lasting impression on the garrison here.

‘I’ was a worker by the supply section of the building, one of the three cadets assigned there, in that massive room where there were numerous explosives, guns and Dust of all kind.

The guard nodded and returned the plastic card back to me. “Welcome back, brother Simulado.”

I nodded and quickly walked inside the place the moment he made way for me to enter.

The warehouse was actually pretty small compared to the other major ones in the area, the decision of picking this medium-sized one enabled by the fact that the police was trying to find major groups within large buildings, something that this place didn’t actually fit in their investigation’s requirements; So this place was effectively void of any major threats from the law enforcement.

I hummed quietly as I paced calmly through the place, glancing around at the numerous thugs present all in that very place.

Some were training with some make-shift targets, other were compiling reports about the ongoing missions and the rest was wasting their time doing nothing particularly important.

I could see four curious individuals seemingly involved with Remnant: the Game, two girls and two men.

The first girl had white antlers that reached out of her hood and she was giggling happily as their opponents, the group of dudes, was having trouble keeping up with the female duo.

Her friend was shaking her head, but she hardly seemed willing to bring the bubbly cheerfulness down as they were crushing the two other thugs.

One of the men was incredibly tall and… he barely seemed focused on the game as he was tending to what looked to be some pots with flowers sitting right by his feet-

Beside his incredibly-horrifying chainsaw-like weapon.

I shook my head, these four genuinely looking to be having a blast with that tabletop game but…

I couldn’t just ignore the fact I have a much more important mission to deal with, Blake still being confined Gods’ know where and I had yet to locate the supply station.

Asking for directions would cause an unneeded amount of suspicions, so I ended up taking some time searching around for anything that could even resemble my ‘workplace’ here in the warehouse.

A minute later, I found myself walking inside a large room with numerous shelves housing numerous wood crates with different denominations and content.

Crates with guns, explosive and Dust. It was their arsenal and… it was mostly exposed as I saw the ‘guard’ to the place currently napping by the chair at the entrance of this room.

My smile lit, my feet almost itching to skip around and just start placing down the little gifts Tukson had wanted for me to leave to his former group, small bars of explosive charges that were all set to trigger at the mere activation from the small device safely put inside the bag.

I greeted the two other rookies wandering around, the two Faunus checking on the content of the boxes and writing some reports about the current state of supply.

The situation was optimal for me to start to do something about my secondary task. I slowly ‘lost some time’ before joining them by hiding some of the charges in barely-visible corners of some of the boxes with the ‘Explosive’ tags attached to them, humming quietly and innocently as I took my bag and began helping the two cadets in concluding their shift.

A single hour passed wandering around and signing down the small notepad the various objects inside the warehouse, the two unaware rookies nodding gratefully as I decided to take on the ‘burden’ as they left for their break.

By the time they were out of my sight and away from hearing me crack the notepad on my hands, I began displacing more and more bombs all around the area.

Tukson never specified how much I was supposed to leave around, and so I decided to play a safe route and deploy everything available and in strategic positions.

Two hundreds bars were set up in well-hidden sections of the room, some even being left in acceptable quantities by some of the columns as to make sure the place collapsed quickly and without any major issues.

When you make a man angry and said main obtain bombs, you better hope that the Gods are by your side.

With that part of my job done and concluded, I took from one of the crates a tool that would prove to be useful with the next step of my plan.

The crowbar was made with Dust-reinforced metal, the resilience and strength tripled compared to the normal alloy; This object was the best way to pull open the small gated part of the wall that led right into the ventilation shaft.

I stepped inside with a careful pace, mindful enough to not create any noises as I quietly started my little search for the Cat Faunus I needed to recover before leaving this warehouse.

I saw numerous patrols walking by the rooms visible from the gated openings all over the small metallic corridor, the shaft big enough to fit me crouching and not lying on my belly much to my glee and surprise.

Too many action movies, seriously.

Moments of uncertainty continued to linger as I ventured deeper and deeper this little compound and… I finally ended up finding something that did look like what I was searching for.

The room was barely illuminated, but I could see someone tied to some table with some chairs.

A golden pair of orbs was burning in the dark, furious and annoyed as a red-haired man approached… Blake!

“You are making things difficult, Blake,” The masked figure muttered with a sigh. “I’m giving my best to put a good word to Sienna, about the fact that you didn’t betray our cause-”

“The Fang betrayed the cause!” The young woman spat back with an irritated tone, her displeasure of her current conditions perfectly evident. “We wanted to bring peace, not violence-”

“Humans don’t understand peace, my dear,” The horned jerk said with a condescending tone, his hand forcefully cupping her chin and cheeks. “And you should know too since your cover at Beacon failed.”

The Cat Faunus pulled away hastily from his hold, her face burning with anger. “Y-You don’t know what I passed in the last days-”

“A group of silly girls decided to turn your back when you showed your true colors,” The man mused smoothly, a chill going down my spine as I understood what he was referring to. “Just like everyone else in this disgusting world of war and deception.”

“They are… they are not everyone,” The girl replied defiantly, her eyes narrowing at him with renewed strengths. “There are good humans, there is Si-”

But the Belladonna stopped, eyes widening and her… stance retreated.

The red-haired man paused just for a moment to think about this, while my own eyes widened at the cut-short outburst.

She… she was referring about me?

“There is someone that gave you hope for that silly dream of yours?” The man asked mockingly. “Someone that betrayed your trust by filling your mind with foolish ideals that would never come to be?”

He approached again, his right hand pulling at the hilt of the sword sheathed by his side, the red blade burning hatefully while he took some locks of Blake’s hairs in his hand, yanking them painfully.

“Tell me his name,” The man commanded with a stern tone, then dropping to a softer voice. “Please, my love, tell me so… that I can help him out?”

Her eyes stared wide open at him. “W-What?”

“You care for him, don’t you?” The masked man continued calmly. “Then give me his name, I will make sure he is protected by our more violent brothers, that he is safe from harm and-”

“S-Stop lying!” Blake shot back, then yelped as the man yanked harder at her hair. “A-Adam, you are hurting me-”

“Because you hurt me first, dear,” He inched closer, far too close for my liking. “But I think you said that love can mend everything… so please, do love me too, my darling-”

He leaned in slowly, but the tears flowing from the Belladonna’s wide eyes suggested that this wasn’t ‘love’.

This was violence, this was unwanted.

I growled, my eyes tinging in red as I felt my semblance acting up and…

I tensed my leg, pressure building up as white smoke formed beneath my soles and- I jumped through the gated section of the shaft, breaking it with my own body as I prepared the crowbar to take a swing at the bastard!

I roared furiously, the man stopping moments before forcefully taking that kiss as to lift his sword up to intercept the approaching intruder.

His red blade clashed with the reinforced crowbar, sparks erupting for a brief moment before I pushed everything I had in that rush to slam him as far away as possible.

The redhead was sent flying into the concrete wall behind him, the impact cracking and almost tearing down the barrier in mere moments, giving me a little window of opportunity to act up.

I slammed the crowbar on the chains, breaking them as Blake backed away from me in utter fear and shock.

“W-What?”

My free hand reached for the mask and I pulled it up for a moment to frown at her. “Hello.”

Her eyes widened in realization. “S-Sid?”

“In person. We need to go before-”

“You two are going nowhere!” Adam roared through the dust, running towards us as he prepared to take a swing at me, the Muramasa clashing again with the crowbar.

“Who are you?” The man demanded angrily, trying to win the little struggle that was ensuing.

I smiled- no, I grinned madly.

“I’m just a human with a Cat Problem!”

Smoke exploded out of my body, covering the entirety of the room as I was granted full clarity over the area.

Adam snarled at the challenging tone, backing away just a moment before rushing back to the close exchange of blows.

The true battle starts now!