I am crossposting this story from other sites, but I suggest hopping on Questionable Questing if you would like to see some character portraits. Or join me on Discord, server code is vN7sTYhEp6

  I will be posting four chapters daily on this site until it catches up with other sites.

  Fair warning for the tter half of this chapter. Dark shit ahead.

  The Weathercock Inn,

  “Okay, say cheese.”

  Fie snapped a picture of the grumpy looking cat-faunus giving her the stink eye. A bit of touch up on the app, and she had the girl's picture set on a profile page that she will submit to the Adventurer Hub once the signal returned. For now, though, she turned on her recorder and pced the Scroll on the table.

  “You don't have to look so grumpy. Here, have some milk.”

  “I would, but a certain someone has me tied up like a hog for a roast.” True enough, Fie had the girl tied to a chair on their dining table in their inn room with ropes and chains.

  Could never be too careful with Aura users.

  Sara was completely knocked out on the bed from exhaustion, and Fie would rather not wake her mentor up. Unfortunately, there weren't any other pces suitable for an impromptu interrogation, as this was the only part of town that had gotten away retively unscathed from the attacks.

  “You would know all about tying people up, judging by what we found in your bag.” Shrugging, Fie grabbed her own gss of milk and sipped it leisurely to hide her smirk.

  “I-I don't know what you're talking about.” The bck-haired cat girl might try to act nonchant, but her eyes were glued to the gss of milk Fie offered.

  “Oh, I dare say, you know very well what I'm talking about. Ninjas of Love? I never imagined the mean and tough White Fang operatives would read such books.”

  “I'll have you know that Ninjas of Love are a highly respected series of literature. Besides, aren't you too young to know about these things?”

  “Don’t forget, this young girl beat you six ways to Sunday.” The captive girl growled at the reminder, causing Fie to grin inwardly yet maintain an impassive face outward. “I'll be sixteen next month, and if I'm old enough to kill, I'm old enough to read smut.”

  The white haired adventurer shrugged with a yawn. She might have taken a nap earlier, but she felt like sleeping for the rest of the day. Opening her eyes, she found the girl sitting opposite her gawking at her blunt admittance to having killed before.

  Such an innocent girl and yet… “So, you don't deny your affiliation with the White Fang?”

  The girl, who still refused to identify herself though Fie had a hunch to her identity, cmmed up for a whole minute in which Fie simply drank her milk and refilled her gss.

  “Not anymore.” She finally mumbled. “I came here to warn you about an impending attack. The group I was with allied with the local bandits to attack the town. It seems I was too te anyway.”

  “Mhmm, you missed all the fun. Are you sure you don't wanna tell me your name? I'll untie your hand so you can drink at least.”

  “I'm fine. I don't need your pity.”

  “Suit yourself, I guess I will put ‘Grumpy McGrumpface’ refuses to cooperate in my report and suggest using catnip as a torture device.” The amber-eyed girl snorted involuntarily, and Fie’s lips twitched upwards at finally breaking through to her. “You really aren't that subtle, Bke Beldonna.”

  “H-How–”

  “Your father is famous among adventurers, and I met your mother once. They looked so simir, I mistook them for siblings.”

  “They’re cousins, actually.”

  “Ah, nothing like keeping it in the family, huh?”

  Bke didn't rise to the taunt, and Fie shrugged. It would make sense for her to grow a thick skin over something she probably got teased about since she was a child.

  Using the lull in conversation, the green-eyed cat girl typed in the girl’s information. Height, name, weight, three sizes for that old perv and his science, and so on. Regardless of the girl's change of heart, she was still caught red-handed sneaking into town without even paying for the train ticket.

  “Can you untie me already? You already know my name, and you have my weapons. I'm hungry and thirsty.”

  Finishing her gss of milk, Fie hummed as she gazed at the girl daring to use her own secret technique, pitiful cat eyes, on her.

  Sadly, it was very effective, causing her to shrug as the white-haired girl moved towards her captive and untied her hands while keeping her legs secured.

  “Thanks.” Bke rubbed her wrists to get her blood flowing, “food?”

  A wave from her hand had breakfast that the proprietress, Margot, had prepared earlier to appear on the table. She hid a grin at the other girl’s fbbergasted expression.

  “How the–”

  “Magic.” A peace sign accompanied by her grin was all she would give the bck-haired girl. “Now, eat.”

  Bke looked like she wanted to argue, but her rumbling stomach convinced her otherwise. She dove into her meal of river trout and boiled eggs with toast and an apple. A simple affair considering the attacks the town suffered, yet still a hearty meal.

  A comfortable silence descended upon them, with one girl eating and the other typing on her Scroll. Once the bck-haired cat girl finished her breakfast, the white haired cat girl stored the empty dishes, and they enjoyed more milk.

  “So, are you ready to tell me more about yourself?”

  Bke finished her gss of milk before refilling it. “Am I under arrest?”

  “Detained. Your only crime is skipping out on the train ticket, and refusing w enforcement orders - which could be interpreted as resisting arrest. Those can be paid off with a fine, however.”

  “Even when I confessed to being part of the White Fang?”

  “The organization may be criminal in Mistral and Ats, but they have yet to commit any crimes in Vale. As for you, Bke Beldonna, I do not see any warrant for your arrest, though there is a rge price on your head.”

  “What?!” The wide eyes of the girl had Fie want to snicker, but she maintained a bnk look.

  “Oh yes, your parents have missed you so much that they have a ten thousand Lien bounty for your whereabouts. Not capture, mind you, just your location and a method of contacting you.” Bke rexed slightly but averted her eyes as she suddenly found the ground more interesting. “Bke? Why are your parents looking for you?”

  “That is none of your concern.”

  “True, I hardly know you. Regardless, now that I know a bit about you, I can guess your role in the White Fang. The daughter of the founder of the organization would be the perfect poster child for recruiting, and the fact you do not have a single warrant or report on you means that you have kept your hands clean for the many years you’ve been missing.” Fie didn’t hide the disdain in her tone, and the girl must have noticed it.

  “What of it? Do you think I don’t know about it? That I’m just an accessory to whomever has me on hand? Who are you to judge?” Bke smmed the table in anger as she gred at her, but Fie simply gred back.

  “Silence, or you will wake Sara up. I have released your arms because I expected this would be civil, if you will shout and bitch, then I will tie you up again and hand you over to the Vale authorities. They do have a captain stationed here, and I assure you he is not a big fan of faunus.”

  She continued to gre at the older girl, who oozed naivety, until Bke averted her gaze again with a mumbled apology. Fie nodded, and produced a tub of ice cream from her Storage.

  “Just, how are you doing this?” Despite the question, Bke eagerly accepted a spoon, and they both shared the mint and chocote ice cream.

  “Magic.” Fie shrugged again, if the girl won’t believe her, then that’s fine by her. Another silence fell on them as they continued to eat until they finished the tub.

  “What do you want to know?” Bke’s tone was resigned, and Fie raised an eyebrow.

  “What makes you think I want to know anything?”

  “Of course you do, you just told me I’m detained, and my crime is negligible, yet you are keeping me here. It has to be for a reason.”

  “I dunno,” the white haired cat girl shrugged, “I just found another cat faunus who can fight. Naturally, I was going to be interested.”

  “That’s it?” Bke snickered as she hesitantly pced a hand on her shoulder. “You wanted a friend, so you had to tie me up? Aw, you could have just asked.”

  “You would have run away. You struck me as the scaredy-cat type rather than the feisty one.” Fie didn’t mind the girl’s touch. She wouldn’t dare attack her, for her tail held a knife close to her femoral artery that, even through aura, would have her bleeding out in a few minutes if she tried anything funny.

  Fie loved her sembnce.

  “Oh? And which one are you then?”

  “The cool type.”

  They both chuckled genially as their conversation seemed to naturally evolve into their own personal lives. Fie learned a lot about Bke and then found herself telling more about herself as well. Before she knew it, she had brought out her supply of cotton candy, and they were talking about Bke’s fears of what her former group was up to.

  “So, hold on a second. You separated the train cars, giving your potentially illegal group weapons and supplies after their decred intention of destroying Celdic and Vale?”

  “Well, when you put it like that, it does sound bad, but they’re stranded hundreds of miles away with no aircraft or vehicles to get them anywhere. Adam would be far more concerned with making sure the loot and supplies are stored safely, over travelling all the way here to attack.”

  “That’s an assumption, and in my line of work, assuming without taking proper measures tends to kill you.” Fie shook her head as she pulled up her Scroll and typed a few more lines for her report.

  “Are you not going to arrest me for attacking that train?”

  “The SDC demands preferential treatment and oversight over their own legal affairs. Attacking them is attacking Ats, not Vale, so no, even now, you aren’t under arrest unless Ats issues a warrant for your arrest.” Fie shrugged as the other girl’s face morphed into shock at the byrinthine protocols and procedures that w enforcement had to follow. Adventurers under employment by a kingdom-affiliated town would naturally count as w enforcement.

  “You do a lot of good being an adventurer, then?”

  Fie paused at the strange question and looked at her new companion. “I try as much as I can, but Jaune would say that being a Huntsman would allow you to help even more people.”

  “Who’s Jaune?”

  “A buddy of mine who is off on his own assignment.”

  “So you think being a huntsman is possible for you?”

  “I dunno,” Fie shrugged. “I hear Beacon is flexible about accepting all sorts of people but I never thought about it.”

  She eyed the other girl curiously, it was almost as if she wasn’t asking her about being a huntsman. Could she be–

  “How do you handle the treatment you would get for being a faunus?” Bke finally blurted out what Fie guessed had been eating at her for so long.

  “I prove to any of my naysayers that I’m better than they could ever be.” The adventurer shrugged again. “Half the garrison could not stand my presence when I first arrived here, and the other half pretended I didn’t exist. Once I showed my mettle, they changed their tone, and now I’m in good standing with the captain of the guard.”

  “… I see.” The older girl looked lost in thought, and Fie eyed her with interest.

  “You mentioned your former group allied with the local bandits. What do you know about them? Tell me anything you could think of.”

  Bke frowned in thought as she told her all she knew, from numbers and goals to their leadership. Fie smiled inwardly as the girl didn’t even hesitate to tell her about it all, and had to hand it over to Sara’s teachings.

  There was nothing better than a cooperative interrogation, for torturing information out of someone seldom worked. That Fie herself had grown to like and care for the other cat girl was a bonus, it was incredibly rare for her to find someone her age with simir attributes.

  Jaune didn’t count. He was a boy, and there are things girls can’t talk about with boys.

  “… mentioned four Grimm Hordes but–”

  “I’m sorry, repeat that part.” Something the girl said prickled at Fie’s thoughts, four? She felt a rock hit her stomach.

  “There were four Grimm Hordes hidden around Celdic, but you already destroyed one of them in the quarry, I believe. The other three attacked at night, right?” Bke tilted her head in confusion, her cat ears, which Fie had convinced her to release, twitched in question.

  “No. Only two hordes attacked us. Which means–”

  Both girls twitched their heads towards the door as the sound of running footsteps cmbering up the stairs reached them. Even if she didn’t have cat ears, Fie’s hearing was superb, and as the doors banged open, she found the heaving figure of one of the militiamen staring at her in panic.

  “G-Grimm. More Grimm have been sighted.”

  The silence in the room was broken by a loud groan from the bed. “Just as I thought I could finally sleep.” Sara got off her bed, her tired and bloodshot eyes stared at the man. “Where?”

  “Huh?” The man stared dumbly at the powerful adventurer wearing only a tank top and panties, causing her to click her tongue in annoyance.

  “Where are the Grimm attacking?” Sara grounded through her teeth, but Fie had already stood up and dressed for combat before the man could reply.

  “N-North. From the north across the stream, and some to the west. Hundreds of them were seen, and the train is still loading.”

  “Get Brocket and Montgomery to meet me at the train station.” Sara sighed as she walked into the bathroom before gncing at the still standing militiaman. “Sometime before the Grimm overrun the town?”

  Finally, the man nodded and sprinted off to do as he was told.

  “Take me with you. I can help!” Fie stared at Bke as she struggled from her seat. She gnced at her mentor, who had washed her face and dressed for combat, then shrugged at her.

  “Up to you, kiddo, I hardly know her. I’ll trust your judgment.”

  Fie gazed at the bck-haired cat faunus and recalled their conversation. “I suppose you will get to do some good after all, instead of just looking pretty.”

  Bke grinned as she released her bindings and accepted her weapon and belongings when Fie pulled them from Storage. “Do you need any Dust?”

  “Yes, anything you can spare. My sembnce works with most of them, and I only have a few fire dust.”

  “Sweet.” Fie handed her some of the ground Dust Sara yoinked from that Huntsman. “Let’s not keep Sara waiting, she’s far more powerful than I, but she really hates having her beauty sleep getting cut.”

  “I heard that, now let’s get a move on, kiddos. Bke, right? Tell me what I can expect from you in combat along the way.”

  Fie smiled lightly as they followed her mentor outside the inn, easily assuaging the worries of the people they met along the way. They have already beaten back two Grimm Hordes, and even without Jaune, they now had another Aura user who could help. Hopefully, it would be enough, as she really was exhausted.

  Blowing things up was nice, but her cat naps were nicer.

  T*A*M*S

  Bandit hideout.

  Ilia knew something was wrong as she listened to the anxious racket the bandits made in the tunnels outside her room. She had been careful not to interact with any of the outws for fear of contracting any of their diseases or addictions, even refusing any food or drink and opting to use the rations she brought.

  The White Fang operative had remained in the small room given to her once she had explored the cave complex and called it a night.

  At first, she thought they were preparing for the operation, but checking her scroll told her it was a little early for it. A gnce at the signal bar told her all she needed to know. Someone must have turned on that bck thing too early.

  Indecision consumed her as she bit her lip in uncertainty. The appalling treatment of the faunus prisoners and children had given her nightmares, and she had not slept a wink for nearly a day and a night. They were supposed to assault the human town, and Ilia had dreaded what would happen to those people. Her usual hatred for all things human felt childish compared to the horrors she had already seen.

  Now, though, with the attack presumably compromised, this was her chance to rectify some wrong.

  Giving a thankful prayer for her luck, Ilia quickly dressed and secured her weapons and equipment before making her way out of the room. Activating her racial ability to blend in, she augmented it with her sembnce, Calm, that muffled any sound she produced. Silently, she sneaked down the hallway, making sure to avoid any contact with the bandits rushing past her, until she was forced to follow behind a group led by a rge man.

  The chameleon-faunus twitched her nose as the downwind draft brought their unwashed smell to her. Still, she heard some interesting gossip as she stuck close to the shadows cast by the torches.

  “… Boss Lady was pissed when Shiro returned…”

  “I heard he managed to at least get two of the hordes to attack the town but…”

  “… Was still standing strong when he left. Will we have to fight the guards and let those animals reap all the rewards once we're tired?”

  At the st comment, Ilia scowled, but then remembered that many of the bandits were also fellow faunus that did not seem to care about being called animals. It was such a conflicting dilemma for her; the brutal treatment of the prisoners as well as the terrible screams that echoed out throughout the day made her hate all those monsters with a passion. Yet to find out that many of the tormentors were faunus?

  More mindless chatter about not getting their fun or loot, and Ilia was sorely tempted to kill those bastards but held back for when she managed to escape. She may not be able to do anything for the newly arrived prisoners, but those poor faunus kids were waiting for her to free them. She will need all her wits and strength to make it out of here alive with both kids safe.

  “Fuck all that noise! If the White Fang bastards hadn't left us that chick as colteral, the boss would never have trusted them. I can’t wait till we start the operation, and she would outlive her usefulness.” Ilia froze at the words, and her heartbeat thundered like a drum. Surely, they aren't talking about–

  “H-Hey, we're not supposed to even mention this. That lizard girl has good hearing, right?”

  “Nah, bat man said the lizard can see heat or something but is half deaf. Better yet, spider bitch assured us the girl was a virgin and free game once we begin, Gihihihi!” It was then that Ilia noticed the apparent leader’s squeal-like ughter.

  Looking closer, the man was bald and pink skinned, with a massive stature. As he ughed, she couldn't help but notice how rge and blunt his teeth were, and with his snout-like nose, it made him look like a pig. It took everything in her willpower to not sh out at the mongrels ughing along with their leader as they turned at an intersection. Ilia breathed deeply before hurrying down the other tunnel, where the children were secured… and tortured.

  The chameleon-faunus had suspected foul py when it was decided she would be left here, but she never expected betrayal. From Trifa, perhaps, but for Yuma to give away her weakness to filthy bandits like this? It was such a convoluted and cowardly way to get rid of her, and seemed to be in line with what little she knew of the man.

  Considering Elder Walter gave him his tacit approval about her assignment, it was clear that Adam himself wanted to be rid of her.

  At first, it was supposed to be just Trifa here, but when it was suspected the spider-faunus was compromised, Adam wanted a better eye on their erstwhile allies… was what she was told. It was only then she realized his goal of separating her from Bke. Her friend had confided in her about her disillusionment with the way Adam did things, and while Ilia did not agree completely with their leader, she still agreed with his ideal about bringing the fight to the humans.

  Now though, seeing how he allied with those scum and not caring one whit about their fellow faunus, Ilia decided that Bke was right. The fact she was seemingly left here as a peace offering to bandit scum made her blood boil.

  Ilia knew there were others among the ranks of the White Fang that shared their dissatisfaction with Adam. She worried about what would become of them, and Bke in particur, as Adam continued his apparent purge.

  The sound of children crying and adults ughing told her she was approaching her destination, and Ilia gulped in anxiousness. She had yet to actually see the girl the bandits were… working on, but she knew there was a boy who came with her. They were both most likely in that room, and the only thing separating her from them was the unguarded door and whoever their minders were.

  Ilia had been briefed on the existence of Grimm Bait, but she was told that such a votile method of weaponizing the Grimm would always backfire. She knew Sienna Khan herself vehemently opposed the mere idea of using them, and any who tried to go around her back would be severely punished.

  “We are freedom fighters, not lunatics.” Was Sienna’s justification.

  Considering her group had allied with those bandits fully knowing they used that abhorrent method, Ilia wondered if Adam knew he was essentially splintering from Sienna's leadership. She greatly respected Sienna, and Ilia wondered if Adam was turning into a lunatic… or perhaps he was always one.

  Shaking her head, she pced her ears against the door, trying to detect how many bandits were inside, but like the pig-faunus from earlier said, her hearing wasn't the best. All she could hear were the children's whimpering and the ominous sound of steel grinding over leather. There were some voices however that she tried to listen to, but the sound of sobbing was distracting.

  “… Can't wait… you under my knife again.”

  “… Until I've… the drug first.”

  Ilia clenched her teeth as that was more than enough to judge the minders as guilty, but she still needed to know how many were inside. She was not out of tricks, however, as Ilia stuck out her tongue and licked the air near the door gaps and closed her eyes. Focusing on her senses, she detected four humanoids inside, one of them with aura. She might not be able to sense aura, but she could taste it in the air.

  That was enough for her.

  The White Fang operative gnced behind her one st time, only to freeze at the sight of two beady red orbs staring at her. Ilia huffed when she realized it was just a crow, though she wondered how the bird made it inside the cave. The corvid stared at her from on top a pile of crates, before flying deeper into the tunnels.

  Ilia shrugged in favor of grabbing the heavy door, took a deep breath, and barged in.

  It took her less than two seconds to notice the two torturers by a rack of tools. A male with a fat head and wormy lips was sharpening a knife on a leather belt while the other, a female with a scaled and gaunt face, had a syringe full of yellow liquid in her hand.

  The two of them froze at her entrance and Ilia charged at them with Lightning Lash whipping around the neck of the man and pulled.

  She did not even need to activate her lightning dust, for the torturer had no aura as evidenced by his head getting crushed like a melon from the serrated whip. The other woman yelped and Ilia wasted no time throwing her knife at her throat. The reptile-faunus’ gurgling as she tried to stem the flow of blood was ignored in favor of the two children forced into a small cage held aloft from the ceiling.

  Ilia had seen a lot of terrible things. Her vendetta against humanity drove her to accept missions and assignments that would have destroyed Bke's innocence. She confronted the worst that humanity could do when she fought enemies not so dissimir to those bandits.

  Yet none of that could ever measure to the sight before her.

  The moaning and the crying came from the battered form of the boy that pink-haired bandit took, the Grimm Bait. The kid’s olive skin was bruised from the many beatings he endured, his left eye was swollen from a recent blow, and the rags he wore had dried blood on them.

  Even as she watched, the kid's aura worked on overdrive to fix his injuries, but it was slow-going.

  All of that was processed in seconds, for Ilia could not remove her gaze from the morbidly disfigured form of the… human? Girl? She was unsure.

  “… Petunia –cough– please…Wake up. It's me, Jasper.”

  The boy, Jasper, answered her unasked question, and Ilia couldn't tear her gaze away from the comatose girl in the cage. Her blue eye was dull and unseeing, the left eye a gaping hole in her head. Her blonde hair looked to have been burned in some pces and torn in others. She might have had cute freckles across her nose, but Ilia couldn’t tell with how broken and scarred it was. Her fingernails were torn, her skin was fyed in pces, her legs twisted at an unnatural angle.

  By rights, she should be dead, yet the weak movements of her chest and the drool from her mouth told Ilia that the girl was miraculously still alive.

  It took everything in her power to not lurch sideways and empty her stomach. Ilia took a deep shuddering breath before approaching the cage, finally grabbing the attention of the boy as he gred at her with such venom that it gave her pause. His slitted eyes outed him as some kind of snake-faunus, and Ilia sheathed her weapon as she approached.

  “It’s okay, I’m here to rescue you.”

  The boy’s gre changed to confusion at her words, and then he noticed the dead bodies of his captors, before a wracking sob burst out of his clenched teeth.

  Ilia opened the cage, just as the boy’s sobbing reached a crescendo, causing her to use Calm to muffle the sound from leaving the room. She froze when he lunged at her but rexed when he held her tightly in a shuddering embrace.

  The former White-Fang operative hugged the boy, soothingly rubbing his back and finding several old wounds on it. Her eyes, however, could only stare at the dreadful sight of the girl’s lone eye staring at her unblinkingly. Idly, Ilia wondered if she was truly a faunus for she saw no traits, but she did not care anymore.

  Those two children shall be saved, and any who stood in her way shall die. It was as simple as that.

  “Jasper? I need you to be strong for me - for Petunia.” At the mention of his friend’s name, the boy hiccuped as he looked at her with sad yellow eyes that had seen things she could never fathom. “I need you to tell me what’s wrong with her, so I can help her. What kind of faunus is she? I have some drugs that–”

  “No drugs!” The boy wailed as he grabbed her colr. “P-Please, n-n-no drugs…” Jasper's grip was weak, and he returned to sobbing hysterically, causing Ilia to grimace.

  She was unused to a male’s touch, but she would endure it for his sake.

  “Jasper, I promise this is good medicine, it will help your friend.” Ilia rummaged in one of her pouches and found what she was looking for, painkillers with a few different dosages depending on the faunus, and other detoxifying drugs, as well as clean syringes. “But I need to know what kind of faunus is your friend.”

  The boy mumbled something incoherent, and it took some coaxing for him to speak.

  “Not a faunus. Tuni lied to everyone, saying she was a rabbit faunus, so I wouldn’t feel bad about being the only faunus in the vilge. We’re both orphans that stumbled into the vilge a few years ago. The vilge took care of us anyway, but Petunia… She raised me, took care of me, taught me how to read and write even though she was only a year older than me… and now she’s like this.”

  It was shocking for her, that a human would go so far for the sake of a faunus.

  Ilia shook her head, as she quickly administered the standard dosage to the girl, before removing her from the cage to pce her on an operating table. She was by no means a trained medic, but she did have first-aid training.

  Jasper had let go of her and stood on the side hesitantly, while she worked on fixing the girl as much as possible. It helped that the room had plenty of medical equipment, such as gauze and disinfectants.

  “How long have you been here, Jasper?” Hoping to distract him from the sight of his friend, Ilia gnced at the boy who jerked at being spoken to.

  “I-I’m not sure…weeks, maybe months, could be a year.”

  “That can’t be right.” Ilia paused from where she was setting Petunia’s leg. “This entire bandit group only formed a couple of months ago. What was the st date you remember?”

  “… July 2nd.” The boy took a moment to remember, and Ilia froze at his answer. How was this possible?

  “Do you know what kind of drugs the bad guys gave you?”

  “B-Bad ones.” Jasper seemed to shrink onto himself. “They would inject some kind of yellow slime into us, they said it's to make…to make o-our conditioning m-more…”

  That was more than enough for Ilia to understand what happened, as she tied up the st bandage on the girl and covered her with a simple white sheet for modesty.

  “Jasper, July 2nd was four days ago. Whatever drug they gave you made you believe more time had passed than normal.”

  That expined how the scum had managed to create the Grimm Bait in such a short amount of time. A surprisingly functional one, as despite what he endured, Jasper could stand on his own feet and talk coherently. If it wasn’t for the sheer hatred and malice she could taste in his aura, he would have been mistaken for a scared child. Her eyes fell on the syringe the woman had - it was full of a yellow, viscous liquid, and she immediately crushed it underfoot.

  Looking around the room, Ilia’s gaze settled on a wheelchair and propped Petunia on it, trying to make sure she was as comfortable as possible.

  “F-Four days? B-But, it felt so…”

  “Drugs can do a lot of things to the body, many of them good but some of them bad.” Ilia turned to the boy and rubbed his bck hair gently as she checked him for injuries, dabbing his swollen eye with disinfectant and pcing bandaids over any nicks and scratches. “Now, are you ready to get out of here? I’m sure your vilge would be gd to have you and Petunia back.”

  “But, Tuni is…”

  “Shhh, don’t worry about that. She will live, and she will recover. You have to believe in her. Now, can you push her behind me?”

  The boy nodded, his face tightening in determination as he hurried behind the secured Petunia and slowly pushed her as Ilia waited by the still open door. It was a miracle that no one had barged in on them, and Ilia thanked the gods for watching over her reckless ass.

  As they traveled down the tunnel to where the bandits had parked their Bullheads, her eyes widened as a tremor reverberated through the walls. Were they under attack? She waited for a minute, but no more tremors came, causing her to shrug it off as an earthquake.

  As they traveled through the tunnels, Ilia froze at an intersection where a dead body was slumped against the wall. Checking it closely, it was a bandit but the way he died… it was a completely clean cut, and the second she touched the body, half of the man's torso fell off.

  Gncing down one of the tunnels, she found more corpses. Some of them were cut simirly, others had bullet marks, yet a couple appeared to have been ripped apart by a wild beast. Ilia did not want to know who would have such incredible strength for such a feat, and thanked the gods that they did not need to go through that tunnel.

  She swiftly led Jasper and Petunia down another tunnel that should lead them to the Hangar.

  The sound of tired huffing had her turn to Jasper, who appeared to be on his st legs. Ilia quickly had him grab onto her back as she tied him with a loose cloth she found on a crate. Then, she pushed Petunia’s wheelchair down the tunnels, Calm working at maximum to muffle the cnging sound of the wheels going over the rough path.

  It only just now occurred to her that this entire rescue operation was a major clusterfuck waiting to happen - that she depended too much on luck and her Sembnce to sneak away, but she knew that her luck would run out once she arrived at the hangar.

  Soon enough, they exited the tunnel to find the cavern acting as a hangar filled to the brim with bandits. There must have been at least a thousand of them, many of them having crossed from beyond the Vale Mountains to raid and pilge the fertile nds of Vale proper.

  The bandits have chosen their hideout well, for the tunnel complex led to an ancient underground city that they only explored its surface levels. A massive cave mouth overlooking a valley acted as the perfect hangar for VTOLs, with over twenty bullheads and three cargo ships docked in haphazard lines. It was a good thing the ceiling was easily over a thousand-foot-high.

  “It’s them!” Jasper’s growling next to her ear had her follow his sight to find Shiro and Trifa standing next to the humongous form of Ravena Boering. There was a heavy feeling in the air as the rambunctious bandits were silent for once as they stared fearfully at their leader.

  Ilia quickly hid behind one of the bullheads, hoping it was unlocked, but to no avail.

  Gncing at the massive woman, there was a scrawny man kneeling in front of her and a cage of juvenile Grimm manically trying to escape. Ilia gulped when the Grimm stared right at her - no, at Jasper - and went even madder.

  She couldn’t hear what was being said, but she watched in morbid horror as the mouse-faunus stuttered something through his wailing that caused the Bandit Queen to scowl deeply before she grabbed his head with one meaty fist. Screams of terror were muffled by the massive hand as the woman smmed him on the ground, his crunching bones echoing out in the cave. Then, the terrible woman grabbed his arm and ripped it off its socket before moving it to her gaping maw…

  Ilia couldn’t help it and dry retched on the side. She knew they were lowlifes, but she never imagined they would sink so low.

  “They are monsters, we must kill them all.” Surprisingly, Jasper patted her cheek in comfort, yet his words chilled her. The unmitigated malevolence and spite she could hear through the boy’s venomous tone was staggering. “That demon did that to Petunia. Gouged out her eye and swallowed it in front of us when Tuni fought back.”

  “Let this be a lesson to any of you retards who disobey orders or get any funny ideas. The Boss Lady is always hungry, so don’t give her a reason, or else you will share the same fate as Bors here.” Ilia flinched and looked back to find Shiro speaking through a megaphone.

  The Bandit Queen was wiping some blood from her lips with a towel and smiled in content as if she just had a gourmet meal.

  There was no sign of the dead man.

  Ilia shook her head, and started looking for an open Bullhead. The sooner they were out of here the better. Hopefully, the remaining prisoners would still be alive when she returned with help from Celdic, provided they didn’t shoot her on sight.

  She knew the prisoners were only here for a day, and the bandits had been too busy preparing for the attack on Celdic for them to have been abused too harshly.

  Ilia tried to ignore the screams of terror and pain she had heard when she passed by the prison pens st evening.

  “Celdic is ripe for the taking. We have all been waiting for this moment for weeks, and now we shall take it for all it's worth. Even as we speak, they are on their st legs after fighting off two Grimm hordes, and will be easy pickings–”

  “BOSS!” A sudden shout interrupted whatever Shiro was going to say next, and all eyes turned to another tunnel as a man hurried into the hangar with blood over his front. “Boss!” The man shoved his way through the sea of bandits until he stopped before the scowling Shiro and Ravena, but their countenance quickly changed at his excmation.

  “We’re under attack! The tunnels are strewn with corpses. The prison pens are locked, with the guards missing!”

  Many worried murmurs sounded out, and Ilia used this chance to slowly push the wheelchair towards a Bullhead with its ramp extended, Calm killing all sound, but she still had to be careful not to be seen. The White Fang operative ignored all the surrounding chatter, her vision tunneling on the Bullhead and all her focus on sticking to the shadows.

  Nearly there now. Just a little–

  “Stop!” Jasper’s warning hissed in her ears, and she involuntarily stopped. “Why are they quiet?”

  It was true, the worried chatter from earlier was gone. All Ilia could hear was the sound of snorting and loud sniffing, and a shiver ran through her back.

  “Over there! I can smell the lizard bitch.”

  Fuck! She risked a gnce behind her, finding the same pig-faunus from earlier pointing at her.

  Ilia hurried towards the Bullhead at the sound of rushing footsteps behind her, all thoughts of subtlety forgotten. She knew that her biggest weakness was her inability to hide her smell. That had never been a problem for only a faunus would have such keen senses to smell her, and once again, Ilia Amito cursed her treacherous kin who joined hands with those brigands.

  “Stop, or we will shoot.”

  “Idiot! Just shoot her already, she has aura.”

  Ilia’s eyes widened, and fear for the boy holding tightly onto her shoulders had her turn around to shield the girl and the wheelchair. The sight of nearly a hundred bandits with dozens of guns aiming at her froze her. She barely had time to cover her face with her arms, before gunfire, explosions, and screams of pain resounded in the cave.

  Yet… she did not feel anything hit her.

  Opening her eyes, Ilia looked in shock at a towering figure standing protectively in front of her, wearing a white shirt with a short red cape. Ilia involuntarily licked the air, and shivered at the obscene amount of aura her savior had.

  A massive sword blocked the worst of the hail of bullets and as Ilia looked past the tall dark-haired man’s shoulder, she nearly chortled at the ridiculous sight of many of the bandits’ guns jamming or outright exploding in their hands.

  “You’ve done well, girl.” The man gnced at her, his red eyes glowing with power, and Ilia thought they looked familiar. “No matter your affiliation, you are under my protection now.”

  Ilia’s heart nearly dropped to her stomach as the man all but confirmed he knew she was from the White Fang, yet his smile eased her worries. Just who was he?

  “Who the fuck are you?” The grating shriek came from Shiro who threw away his gun as it too had blown up in his hands, though his aura protected him.

  It filled her with giddy joy to see all those scum afflicted with such bad luck, or maybe the fools simply never bothered to maintain their weapons.

  “Qrow Branwen. Huntsmen of Beacon.” Ilia flinched - of all the people who would save her, it would be the most famous huntsman in Remnant. She was not sure if she should be honored or terrified. “You are all under arrest, and I advise you to come quietly before things get ugly.”

  The bandits looked at Qrow as if he had grown a second head before they burst out in ughter. Ilia noticed Trifa, Shiro and some of the other higher ups, like the pig man, turning to Ravena in worry, however.

  “Quiet you fools!” The bandit queen roared from her position next to the Grimm cages, causing all ughter to cease. “Qrow Branwen. Your reputation precedes you, yet even you should know how foolish it is to attack us all by your lonesome.”

  “Who says I’m alone?” The veteran huntsman gnced back at her with a smirk, causing Ilia to gulp.

  “You would ally with the White Fang? A poor choice of friends, for she would sooner stab you the moment your back is turned.”

  “Just as you would have done to me!” Ilia couldn’t help herself from shouting at the bitch, finding her courage from the reassuring smile of the huntsman. “Tell me, you monster. How many of our fellow faunus have you killed or tortured for whatever sick pleasure you enjoy?”

  “More than I could care to count.” Ravena’s bored reply took her aback, and she noticed Branwen’s shaking head.

  “It’s no use trying to appeal to the morality of monsters that are worse than Grimm. These scum had long abandoned their humanity, or faunusity or whatever you want to call it.” Ilia’s eyebrow twitched, “Ravena ‘the cannibal’ Boering is a fugitive from the Narrow Sea and is responsible for the destruction of multiple vilges and towns, along with countless deaths and atrocities. You were st seen two years ago, running with your tail behind your legs into the jungles of the Southnds after a raid gone wrong. I’m surprised you would end up here, of all pces, causing havoc once again. Surely, you should have known that you would not survive the ire of Vale if you pgue these nds with your existence. What gave you the guts to act now?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  “A mysterious backer, perhaps? That communication bckout, it must be something provided by that backer.” Ilia saw the bandit queen gnce briefly at the worried looking Shiro. “Looks like I hit the nail on the head.”

  “It doesn’t matter, you won’t be leaving this pce alive. Neither you nor the girl and the brats.” The cannibal queen grabbed a massive halberd that had serrated chains on one side and an axe head on the other.

  No, calling it a halberd would be an understatement.

  It was a massive fucking chainsaw.

  “Hey, girl. What’s your name?”

  Ilia jerked at the sudden question, and bit her lips in worry. If she gave away her name, then she could be tracked. Maybe if she used an alias–

  “I already said you’re under my protection, and I’d rather not call you ‘lizard girl’ during the fight.”

  “… Ilia. Ilia Amito.”

  “Good name. Protect your charges, Ilia, and don’t hesitate to kill, for no amount of talk would have these scum see the error of their ways.” Qrow brandished his weapon as he gred at the bandit army in front of him. “However, I’m not fond of killing, so I will give you one st chance. Surrender, and you will receive a fair trial.”

  “Too te for that, dipshit. You already killed our men on your way here. Men, attack!”

  Before anyone could so much as twitch, a resonating explosion resounded from deep inside the cave. Suddenly, a massive crescent wave of what Ilia recognized as an aura attack, burst out of the wall, raining rocks and debris before smming into three of the Bullheads, cutting them in half.

  The rocks fell onto more Bullheads and crushed a few of the bandits standing in the rear. All was quiet as a lone figure walked out of the new tunnel, with ominous steps that echoed in the cavern like a Goliath's stomps.

  A deep chuckle came from Qrow Branwen as he shook his head in exasperation. “I never said I was alone, and I only killed the prison guards on my way here. Is this your idea of sneaking in, Jaune?”

  As the dust settled, a blonde man in dented and rusted armor, the same height as Qrow, stopped in front of the bandits. He held a longsword pointed to the ground, his blue eyes glowed with a malice and hatred that reminded her of Jasper on her back, who had remained quiet ever since they were discovered.

  Yet unlike the powerless Jasper, the eyes of the newcomer promised death and retribution on those who wronged him, and Ilia could taste waves upon waves of suffocating aura encompassing the cave with every step the man took. It made Qrow’s obscene aura reserves seem like a pond compared to that ocean of aura approaching.

  This was no man, it was a demon. Ilia was only gd that he seemed to be on their side.

  “This pce is a maze. You didn’t bother giving a signal, so I made my own way in.”

  In the show, Bke is incredibly naive for a supposedly former terrorist. This is my take on what she has been doing over the past five years.

  Fie interrogates her with kindness and it works well. Too well. Like, she nailed a NAT 20 on a Charisma roll well.

  White cat 2, bck cat 0?

  Ilia was a good concept character that got shafted instead of developed properly. She is probably only remembered as Bke's lesbian stalker or something, so naturally, I will fix this garbage by both buffing her up and nerfing her in pces.

  Lizards and reptiles generally have bad hearing, but are capable of tasting the heat in the air. I know chameleons probably can’t do that but y off my back lmao.

  Qrow comes to the rescue, and Jaune is all out of fucks to give.

  Prepare for a healthy dose of RIP AND TEAR next chapter.