Chapter 11: -Let go! This is why I will save you!

~Blake’s POV~

It’s been just an hour, maybe two, since she had woken up in that barely-illuminated room, but Blake was glad that the rescue party had come this early on to save her.

Adam snarled as he tried and failed to kill the resourceful human much to his growing anger, Sid managing to defend himself by reflecting the furious blows away with his crowbar or use his semblance to retaliate in quite the incensed return of strikes.

None of the two men was sparing much attention her way, the now-freed Cat Faunus more than happy to use the opportunity granted by her friend to start and search for Gambol Shroud, or even something that could help her the best in aiding the struggling young man.

As trained as the human was, Sid was still far from being able to keep up alone against Adam, the Bull Faunus having experienced enough battles to be considered a fierce veteran of the Fang’s ranks.

A true warrior that didn’t shy to display his full abilities, never holding back against his ‘true enemies’.

The more she thought about the former friend, the more the Belladonna felt saddened and disgusted by what could have happened if Sid had been a little more late.

It wasn’t much of a secret that her companion did harbor strong feelings for her, but to show them so intensively and so uncaring of her own decisions was enough to bring bile at the moral decadence he had now embraced after her departure.

It wasn’t a full-fledged fall as he had been hesitant to go ahead with such a heinous action, but the mere attempt did leave more than enough disappointment to finally make Blake see the issue the fellow Faunus was suffering from.

He was losing the grasp to reality the more he kept representing the idea and leaving his own personality to rot in that twisted monster he was becoming.

Something so horrible that even Sienna had mentioned during one of the few meetings she had spared alone with the Cat Faunus.

As much the tanned woman had been secretive about much of her plans with the organization, it had been a clear detail that she still minded how some of the grunts and officers behaved during several skirmishes in the past.

Radicalism was reached a new height with the reactionary reforms passed by the SDC in the last few years and Adam was slowly and surely unknowingly turning in something that represent this renewed hatred.

No longer was Adam Taurus a free individual, his ideas turning in a cage without lock, a prison for his own loneliness to consume his sanity.

Still, her horrible musings didn’t stop her from going to search for something that she could use against her former friend, her entire body now awake and freed from the chains keeping her stuck at the now-damaged table.

Her eyes scanning swiftly all over the half-room preserved by the ongoing clash, her mind drilling her with the resolve of being quick with her attempts as time was crucial with how unfair the fight was developing to be in that very moment.

Sid ducked away from Wilt, the Chokuto missing barely but enough to allow the young man to return the attempt by slamming the Aura-reinforced crowbar on the Bull Faunus’ ribs; said action was then retaliated with a swift kick pressing on the human’s chest, forcing him to back away for a moment before resuming the close clashing.

Nervousness was all high in her mind, so many thoughts and so little time to attend each and every one of those as she continued with her pursuit of some object to use as a mean to help.

Her attention then flickered at something shining far deep in the shadows, behind some boxes filling that section, something which had some white-metal shining through some of the spots between the wooden cubes.

Blake vaulted the crates which were hiding said object and she went to reach this possible weapon, crouching down as she lifted the short blade up.

She frowned for a moment, her cat ears twitching in surprise as she recognized this particular kind of knife, having seen some soldiers in Atlas using those during close fights.

It was a standard military knife that was mostly-produced and only used in Atlas and…

Then the girl noticed that the boxes had some words painted on them, different kind of classifications that were mostly known with Atlesian Military-grade equipment.

Her eyes widened, panic surging as she quickly realized that this building contained a vast amount of quality guns and melee weapons that were meant to be only available in Atlas, the Council there having forbidden the distribution of this new technology to other kingdoms.

This… this shouldn’t have been possible, how could Adam have gained control of this kind of weaponry with how little control the Fang had over the region?

Even considering Torchwick’s alliance with the organization didn’t offer any means to truly solve this mystery, the man having a large crime network in Vale but nothing worthwhile in Atlas that could see this much equipment shipped to Vale.

Blake blinked as her ears caught the distinct noise of blades clashing once again, her attention returned to reality as she took out the spare bow she had on her pockets.

A seemingly innocuous object that wasn’t removed from her because of its relative harmlessness but, once unfolded and set well around the knife’s hilt, turned the simple blade into a make-shift weapon she was more adept to use, similar in nature to her custom Gambol Shroud but without her gun capacity.

Adam was unaware of her silent steps, the Belladonna looming over him from behind as she slammed the flat edge of the knife by the side of his head, causing him to recoil in surprise and back away from the dual front.

“Y-You- Darling?!” Surprise briefly replaced fury, then the hatred sparked fiercely from his scowl as he tightened the hold over his sword before rushing back against his two opponents.

Sid smiled through his mask, nodding her way as the two resumed the engagement against the furious Faunus, the man snarling as he tried the human first so he could deal with Blake a little later, but the young Belladonna wasn’t going to allow him that kind of mercy.

The sword was flexible, that was something that Blake couldn’t certainly deny, but the fact the Bull Faunus was facing two experienced foes at once in a close encounter made it difficult for him to move around without facing major pressure.

The advantage he had mere moments ago was gone, the leader of the Vale Branch of the White Fang was facing a competent duo that was more than capable of keeping up with his anger-induced attacks.

Suddenly, Adam snarled with renewed energy, slamming the Chokuto on her knife and pushing her a few feet away.

The little development proving to be more than enough for the man to finally return his full attention on Sid, slamming the human with an unexpected fist on his mask and sending him flying onto some of the crates around the battle’s area.

The human groaned, slowly getting up from his downed position while the Bull Faunus shifted his focus on Blake.

The Belladonna soon found herself rushed by the brazen and aggressive stance adopted by her former companion, her hold over the hilt of the knife slowly slipping as the soft fabric of the bow rendered the surface difficult to grasp at with so much pressure against her.

She yelped as her blade was finally forced away from her hold, forcing her to try and back away from that confrontation.

Yet the girl would soon discover that it was too late to retreat away, the fellow Faunus roaring as he slammed his knee of her chest before grasping at her neck to push her to the floor.

The young woman flinched with a pained look as she tried to quickly get up from the floor, only for the red sword to stab right on her shoulder.

More pain surged as the blade twisted just momentarily on her wound, a yelp leaving her trembling lips as the sudden attack had left her unable to resist at the torture.

“I always valued you for being a considerate and smart individual, Blake,” Adam said, his voice transpiring just bits of his current rage, the rest being genuine hurt. “I valued you as a friend and even more with your consent. I wanted you by my side when humanity got the justice it rightfully deserved and now… I will have to destroy everything you love-”

The redhead slowly took Wilt out of her injury, some of her blood trickling down the edges as it was slowly pointed back at where Sid had landed, forcing her to glance right where Adam was pointing up

The human was now standing up, legs wobbly a little as he was possibly suffering from some concussion. His mask came off with the impact suffered mere seconds earlier and now his shocked face was in full display for the two Faunus to notice, either with glee or with worry.

“Starting with him.” The masked Faunus proclaimed smoothly, preparing his stance as the human roared and went to rush towards them. “DON’T YOU DARE HURT HER!”

Her eyes widening in surprise and concern as smoke erupted from his feet once again to propell the young man towards Adam, turning the human in a blur.

The Bull Faunus smirked and… prepared his own semblance, the damage endured by his blade now ready to be released in a single stroke.

Her eyes widened, she struggled up as she knew what was going to happen, many robots and droids having faced gruesome fates against Adam’s ability.

“N-No! Y-You- NO!” The girl screamed as she tried to get up but her body was drained, her aura was far too low and…

Blood exploded in a scene of glorious dread and despair.

The swift strike bisected Sid’s chest and left arm, cutting through without major resistance as his Aura was far too low to tank an attack of this magnitude.

Yet his face was still not showing any reaction to that sudden damage he had suffered, rather he looked perfectly fine and… it had to be a slow-received reaction.

Her brain was burning in fear, worry and confusion as the human seemed to not care at that horrible attack, mere surprise painted on his face as he continued with his attack.

She had expected pain to surface upon his face moments after, but then the crowbar slammed right into Adam’s mask with immense strength and speed, blood quickly rushing out of the quick slam while also forcing the man to be flung right onto some boxes standing behind him.

Silence ensued as Sid looked down at her and… smiled happily.

It was in that instant that Blake’s eyes made a morbid but confusing discovery as she was slowly brought up from the floor.

Sid wasn’t bleeding.

The attack did land, there was some void between the upper chest and the neck-head area, but it wasn’t flesh that greeted her.

It was smoke; Particles of white smoke that were now slowly reforming his body’s full composure without showing any pain in the process.

Rather the human looked drained and tired as, by the time the astonishing process was completed, he almost crumbled on her unstable hold, forcing the girl to put more strength in her own legs as to keep both standing up.

He chuckled weakly. “S-Sorry, that was… quite a difficult trick with low aura,” Sid commented with a quiet stutter, causing her eyes to soften and a small smile to appear on her face.

“A-A trick?” She asked in a half-whisper. “You can do… that?”

He tried to shrug, almost falling again. “I-It’s something I did some years ago, this is… the first time in a long time I’ve tried this.”

...Oh?

“S-Sid, we should be going-” “N-No.”

Blake blinked at the interruption, confused by his stubborn tone as the young man lifted his arm right to point at a certain box of many that have been left untouched during the fight.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she noticed what was on top of it, the dark-alloy of the custom-made weapon familiar to her as she quickly approached it with the tired human.

Her free hand grasped Gambol Shroud, slowly bringing it to her shoulders and settling it here as she made her way towards… the vent shaft the human had came through.

Sid was pointing at it with his wobbly arm and Cat Faunus followed his directions as he made sure to led them out of the unknown building and they indeed ended up leaving from the section of the vents that led outside.

They both descended from the shaft slowly and carefully, their bodies still sore and tired enough that a bad fall could seriously create complications, then rushing as quickly as they could away from the warehouse section.

The sun was slowly emerging and bringing another morning to Remnant as they stopped just a moment by the young man’s request, standing a long distance away from the building they had ran away from, but the place still visible from where they were.

“B-Blake, I know that this request is big but… do you want to really bring the past to an end without running?”Sid asked quietly.

The Cat Faunus blinked in surprise at that question, her eyes frowning in confusion but then the human brought up a… detonator?

Her eyes widened as she returned to glance at him quizzically, silently asking him how he had recovered that device.

“The man that gave me this suit and… the mask, he also was someone leaving the Fang. He said they are too dangerous to be left around and… he wanted this to happen in return to offering me the chance of saving you.”

She blinked, her surprise lessening but her nervousness growing as she stared back at the device.

“You- You want me to-”

“You don’t have to,” He admitted quietly, his tone showing some genuine concern. “I- I know that this is a big step and that you and that I shouldn’t be the one asking you but, I think it’s best you know that you have this decision and-”

KABOOM!

The human stopped, eyes going wide open as his attention snapped at the large explosion ripping apart the warehouse, fire and flames consuming the remaining structure of the place.

His wide eyes then slowly shifted back at the device and… at the index finger owned by the Belladonna now pressing it.

“Blake-”

“I appreciate the fact you wanted to make a speech about it, Sid, I really do,” The young woman interjected with a snort. “But I will also remind you that I’ve had plenty of sights to know that this situation is beyond saving, that… there isn’t much to do about it except accepting reality. This branch of the Fang had gone through the deep end and… it can’t be redeemed.”

He opened up his mouth, ready to say something more but…

Blake’s unscathed arm wrapped around his neck, bringing him in a hug as she felt her remaining energy leaving her tired body.

A yawn left her lips as she voiced one last thing before going unconscious. “Thank you for… caring for this ‘Cat Problem’.”

The smile was palpable in the words but the girl couldn’t see his reaction as his face was not visible from where it was standing, her only indication being his shoulders tensing up at her whisper.

And then… she fell asleep, her mind giving her guarantee that in the end Sid would have her returned to the apartment.

Back in that lovely and comfy couch were… she could get some sleep from.

Meanwhile, a certain young man was having trouble walking back to his flat with the non-negligible weight that was Blake Belladonna, the girl softly resting in his hold as he carried her in a slow and tiring path back to safety.

Truly, what a Cat Problem he got!

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~Cinder’s POV~

The spectacle was proving to be brilliant to look at from afar, her binoculars allowing her quite the fiery sight over the headquarters of the White Fang, the now ruined building bringing some mirthfulness and pride to her eyes.

The fire was still destroying the remnant of the warehouse, fire-fighters and police officers having reached the area some time ago as the explosion had quickly woken up the entirety of the Kingdom with its unholy noise, bringing the attention of the entire administration to the former hideout of the organization.

Some of the thugs had managed to survive, a few of them having been wounded or just lucky enough to have been close to windows and other entrances to escape the growing blast, but their survival ended up with the final moments of their their freedom as the law enforcers arrived on time to arrest them all, their next destination being jail itself.

She could already imagine the newspapers’ lines, the big titles throwing accusations and condemnation to the terrorist nature behind the White Fang and forcing the group to grow more and more desperate to resist the hatred combined against them.

With the explosion surely going to be ruled out as a mistaken care of some ‘high-grade weaponry’ stolen from Atlas, multiple ramifications were going to happen all at once.

First thing first, the Fang would suffer a major blow to their reputation, the current evidence presented about their sudden aggressive nature having been considered until now by a grand majority of Faunus as an attempt to demonize the organization, now the major event surely going to bring unpleasant attention to Sienna Khan and her Clique.

The presence of illegal Atlesian guns, Dust and other military-grade equipment would then result in a tightening of the regulations coming from the Kingdom in the north, simmering the reputation between Atlas and Vale.

The aftermath of the explosion was already causing some small-scale panic spreading all across the capital and attracting even more Grimm to the walls, something that incredibly helped her to avoid any suspicions about a ‘sudden’ increase of Grimm presence that her plan required.

Still, with the White Fang surely requiring to retreat their Valean Branch with the sudden lack of recruits, Cinder will have to find some more canon fodders to fill in the role of backbone for their little invasion.

Her mind was already thinking of having Roman work on expanding his turf and draft some of the other disgruntled criminal, maybe create a mercenary group that was easier to manipulate and use even after attacking Vale.

Promises of wealth, power and betterment of life were surely going to conquer a large majority of the scum lurking in the kingdom’s darkest corners, enough to be made in a true strike force that could genuinely be used better than the Fang’s useless fools.

Yet her job was far from over in that very day as some more tasks were needed before going back to her safe hideout.

The Half-maiden proceeded to bring up her Scroll, accessing to the cameras she had set just outside her brother’s flat, from the entrance of the building up to the corridor before the door that led to the apartment, and woman was elated when she found the tired-looking young man bringing the lucky Faunus back to his home.

He looked incredibly drained from the fight he had to go through, making Cinder question her own cautiousness to not urge her younger sibling to go this far with his mindset, maybe next time give it some more attention instead of being this much trustworthy, and…

She was just so happy that he had proved her right, actually doing much more than she had expected him to do with how things have unfolded in just a handful of hours.

Not only his response had been immediate to the threat, but the magnitude and power carried in that reaction of his… was thrilling to witness from a safe distance.

It made sense to her that her lovely brother would be as brutal and fierce in protecting his things from damage, to retaliate vehemently when he was wronged or slighted by someone so foolish and moronic.

Cinder could almost see how angry he had to be while facing Adam, the Bull Faunus currently missing and surely dead, the hatred materialized with the sheer madness of Sid’s semblance butchering the feeble fool in smithereens before bringing the silly girl to safety in his lair.

For a moment her mind sported some jealousy at this specific detail, the bridal-carry that the Cat was surely enjoying just like the one the young boy used to give his sister when they were incredibly young.

Time made the requirements to accomplish that delightful feat quite difficult to reach for the young man, but now that he was a full-fledged adult…

She could only imagine the sensation of being hold by his athletic form, her smile growing a little more genuine at the thought of that.

Maybe she should visit him? Maybe in a day or two, just enough to see him recover from his own injuries and be a little more at ease around people.

Yes, some time away from him now mattered so little as he was now in her reach.

The Half-maiden just needed to will it and… he would be hers to capture and keep away from dangers.

But of course that opportunity wasn’t viable from the very beginning, her childish trail of thoughts concluding with some reasonable obstacles in the form of emotions.

Cinder wasn’t certainly going to ruin her brother with hasty and brash need to have him around her, like a good sister should, but rather she would have to wait the right moment to strike and get him to ‘understand’ more about their connection.

Yes, she can bear to wait for some more time for said chance to arise.

She had already many things to do before this even happened, so much that needed to be done and completed for her main plans of true justice to this world.

The woman hummed as she made her way back to her own headquarters, ignoring the people all around, looking so afraid and tense to what had happened in the last few hours.

She entered the medium-sized warehouse sited far away from the Fang’s headquarters, finding Emerald and Mercury staring in shock at the TV’s screen, the news detailing the destruction that had lit the city’s collective mind like a true inferno.

Emerald noticing her presence first, her mouth opening as she tried to formulate some questions over the matter, her curiosity clear but her coherence coming to miss as the girl failed to get some query formed.

Yet Cinder knew exactly what the green-haired teen wanted to know. “It was him.”

The comment seemed to finally get Mercury’s attention, the silver-haired mercenary had his wide eyes at the woman.

“You mean to tell me that the guy we had fought is responsible for this?” He asked in pure surprise and with some skepticism. “Surely he got some ally to infiltrate and-”

“Someone gave him a White Fang uniform, some explosives, and the address to the warehouse, but the rest was all him,” Cinder interrupted with a slightly proud tone, having some issues keeping her voice under control. “Roman contacted me recently that one of the White Fang’s target had recently left town after a visit at Junior’s and the owner confirmed that Sid did in fact ask for some information from him.”

“T-This is ridiculous-” The girl paused, tensing up at their boss’ frown. “I-I mean, I think that the Fang couldn’t have been caught off-guard so easily. As much as a strong guy he could be, it couldn’t have been easy to-”

“You mean to tell me you have forgotten the prank we pulled at some lazy grunts?” Mercury interjected with a snort, causing his partner to blink and slowly nod. “C’mon, it was memorable! The poor fools couldn’t recognize us while we wore their uniforms and gave them some fiery sermons about the ‘cause’ and ‘freedom’.”

Emerald sighed. “I admit that was quite disappointing but… I though it was an isolated case,” She said before glancing at Cinder. “Wasn’t it that?”

The Half-Maiden merely nodded. “Adam did give the impression they were professional, but sometime people put on some convincing masks to hide their incompetence. Especially if some of the recruits are mere botanists with no experience on fighting.”

“Ouch,” Mercury commented with a quick flinch. “Still, shouldn’t we be worried about what this guy will do now? He did seem to recognize that we weren’t part of the Fang and-”

“He will do nothing about it,” Cinder stopped him with a sigh. “He will not expose himself or his friend to danger once again without some decent proof that could lead up to you two. He will not risk it.”

The silver-haired teen nodded before frowning in confusion. “You know, boss, you have yet to tell us how do you know so much about him,” He said with genuine interest. “I mean, you seem to know so much about him that it seems you have been close to him.”

“Is there a question or do you want to be punished for being disrespectful, Mercury?” The steel glare reaching from the woman seemed to stun the young man to silence, surprise building up but the son of Marcus Black merely shrugged and decided to not poke any longer at the murderous dragon.

“Just curiosity, I will tune out now,” He decided to conclude with, knowing better from testing his boss’ undeniable sense of wrath.

“What about the ‘friend’, the Cat Faunus?” The tanned girl asked with some genuine curiosity. “She is dangerous to have around him and if her teammates find her out-”

“Sid will surely be able to find a way to get the attention away from her,” Cinder stated with incredible conviction. “Until now he managed to hide her in plain sight, I know that he will manage even in the worst case scenario.”

There was a pause, but Emerald nodded at the woman before turning her attention back to the TV.

Without much else to do, the half-maiden decided to spend the rest of her day planning out the next step in the principal plan, the first obstacle to face in this mission for Salem.

It was something incredibly complicated from a simplistic point of view, the problem ending up being quickly deemed beyond her current capacity much to her growing dissatisfaction.

So, instead of raging and causing a fuss over the matter, Cinder decided to make sure to bring in someone loyal to her that could seriously help her with this task.

Emerald gulped nervously as she walked upstairs and then right where Cinder’s command room was.

Once she had reached her boss, the woman currently reading from one of the personal terminals built on her room, the half-maiden quickly took her by her side and showed her the issue they had to deal together for the incoming infiltration at Beacon.

Red eyes widened in surprise and minor embarrassment, the half-maiden unwilling to specify what kind of problem she was having with the clothes she had now on her bed.

Emerald’s face reddened as she gave a simple but blunt order coming from her ‘guardian’, her mind failing to grasp the ‘complexity’ of such request.

“Help me putting on this uniform,” The woman said without a hint of any second reasons, her genuine concern manifesting in the fact a 22-years old woman was supposed to don a first-year student uniform from Haven Academy.

The thing was… incredibly small and unfairly difficult to put on.

And that is why Emerald was needed, the former thief surely the only trustworthy assistant to get her to succeed in that embarrassing issue.

After two hours of trying and fighting against the blasted skirt and shirt, Cinder ended up victorious from that difficult battle before carefully removing the pieces before those ended up tearing at the stress they were suffering in that moment.

Some knitting will become essential to adjust the size to better accommodate her frame without damaging the integrity of the cloth.

Meanwhile, a certain tanned girl was seen smiling for the rest of the day, not even the crass puns coming from Mercury managing to bring her out from that heavenly mood.

Such was the reward of a faithful minion.