Old Vale. The Shadows. Faunus Sanctuary. January 14th.

Blake sighed. She had been here - how long had it been now? - without any routine. With no changing light, it seemed like no time was passing. Time had, in fact, been passing, just not at the fastest of rates - this was only the second day here.

The cut on her hand had healed up, but already it had been joined by several others across her body. Sharp rubble, accidents in the dark, she was learning that this was a very scarring life. She was sitting atop a crumbling building. From the looks of it, once a dust shop, cases, and tubes long empty. Sometimes, if she concentrated hard enough, or climbed up high enough, she could hear the commotion from the rest of the underground. It made her feel oddly nostalgic, for some reason. She supposed, deep inside, the chaos there reminded her of her busy, crowded life on Menagerie. Though the most dangerous threat there was heat stress, with the occasional accident. It certainly wasn't a cesspool of crime and death like here. She had hoped that she could gather the faunus here, sent them into the main underground power facility, and destroy it, and then in the darkness, take it over, and with everyone under her rule she could burst forth into the upper world and descend upon the humans from the shadows of her- no their suffering...what was she thinking...these weren't her beliefs. As she stared into the darkness she could swear she could see him looking back. These were his ideas. Possibly mixed with Fixers...from the darkness next to her she heard a quiet breath. Blake looked but saw no one.

She had an idea who it was. When she had arrived she had walked around, looking at the condition of all the faunus. Most were scared, tired, unwilling to even move most of the time. But there were a few who were like her, like the leader. Ones who whispered in the shadows, eyes glowing with a different kind of hunger, hunger for change. And then there was one, she could always tell when they were looking at her. Her skin would tingle and she's whip around, seeing nothing but almost feeling the hidden anger. She had a pretty good idea of who it was. So she had come up here, knowing they would follow.

"You here to finish me off then, Ilia?" she looked off to the left, and with a slight shivering sound, Ilia changed from the same dark black around them to her "normal" skin color. "If you want to kill me you are going to have to try a bit harder this time" Blake faced Ilia, her arm buzzing with electricity. But to her surprise, Ilia had no weapon on her and was holding her hands up in a surrendering gesture.

"I'm not here to kill you, Blake...I just... need your help"

"What are you even doing down here?" Ilia looked way at the question. Blake was honestly confused as to how Ilia had found her. Blake had lost them in Vale and ended up down here, and she had asked Fixer several times, there had been no Faunus around when she had found her. And she had never seen any in the rest of the underground. Either Ilia had just gotten here or she hadn't been able to find her way to the city.

"Ater we failed to get you, the White Fang blamed me. They tried to kill me, so I came here"

Blake was surprised. "You knew about this place?" Ilia nodded.

"My parents told me about it, a long time ago, before they… I figured, if you weren't dead, you would end up here eventually. Blake, look you have to help me get out of here...I can't stand it..the dark, the quiet..it's driving me insane. I...I know you can help, you did manage to, you know escape us."

Blake sighed. She looked out toward the direction of the main underground hub, then back toward the leader's throne. She felt something being placed in her hand and looked down, it was an apple, Ilia had one too. They were pretty decent ones too, firm, unbruised. Usually, the foods they got, since it was teetering on the edge of rotten, was nearing mush. Still, tasted far better than anything she'd had recently, and she had smelled what seemed like cider brewing, so that would be good. She took a bite, the overwhelming sweetness almost making her eyes water.

"If it means you can get me more food like this, I'll gladly help" she could feel Ilia smiling behind her, that smile she knew meant dangerous things lay ahead.

"Well...about that…."

New Vale, Commerce Quarter, High Five Gym, January 14th

"Hyyyaaa"

Yang gave the punching bag another solid blow, sending it reeling back. Reaching out to steady it, she took a moment to catch her breath. She'd been here, at the gym, for 6 hours already, starting out with the bench press and deadlift, then coming over her to work on her fighting, alternating from a constant barrage of fast blows and slower more powerful ones. Getting back into her stance, she went back to punching imagining each ht was to the face of the stupid dumb asshole called Jacques Schnee. They had been so close. SO close. To getting Ruby out of there. Then she had gotten called to see him and 15 minutes later she was off to Atlas military HQ for an "extended mission" with the Atlas Military. She had had to sneak back out, without her sister, and she had been pissed ever since. She had hoped to tell Dad that Ruby was alive, and have her right there for him to see. They had wanted nothing more for the last 8 years. 8 years of just the two of them, never really speaking to each other. Her dad never really did much anymore. The money he had from his job plus the bonus they gave him after he left had only been enough, with Yang's careful spending, to last them 3 years. Yang had quit school after that, going around Vale, doing any small job she could to get money, until she had gotten picked up by a scouter at a Gym where she had been hiding in, avoiding the pouring rain. She had been an old Huntress, saw potential in Yang, took care of her, and trained her, told her about Boxing matches where she could win cash prizes. And she did, she won, made a name for herself, first in the Jr league, and had made a huge splash into the Teen League. When she had turned 18 there had been much anticipation to see her in the adult league, but her prowess in the ring had made her quite a few enemies, and she knew that the adult league would probably be the end of her, added to that was her discoveries with her Sister, so with much disappointment from the League officials (her fights always made them tons of money) she had withdrawn from the Boxing League. Instead, she just worked part-time here at the Gym, hoping to one day own it. She did occasional coaching for the Jr League, but she never taught them any of her really good tricks. Speaking of which…

She backed away, looking at the wall on the clock. 15:30. The kids would be here for their practice soon, and they'd be needing these punching bags. Though thankfully she wasn't coaching today. She wiped her face with her towel, going to the showers and changing back into her regular clothes, being extra careful with drying her hair. Even with all the warming and heating technology, January was still January. Putting on her brown leather jacket and orange scarf, she left the gym, giving some waves to the other patrons and staff, making sure they weren't put off by her earlier demeanor. Usually, she was far more social while working out, but she had been too angry to risk social interaction. Walking back through Vale, she wished that she had just taken Ruby and ran. Sometimes she wished she had never let Ruby go, and even that they had never met Weiss. Of course, recently, having heard what Weiss had gone through, she didn't feel as bad, but the anger was still there. Her old trainer had said her anger was her greatest weapon and biggest weakness since when she was angry she hit harder and felt less. But she could only sustain that anger so long and it made her tired in a fight, and sloppy too. She had lost many fights to that rage until she had learned to temper it. Turning several street corners, she finished the rest of her walk just thinking about Ruby.

Entering the apartment building, which she had bought a year ago, but hadn't really started using until recently, she climbed up to her door, going in, throwing aside her workout bag and undressing once more, going to take another shower. The gym did have nice showers, but she liked long showers, with hot water, and her own shampoo. Getting out she went and collapsed on the bed, sighing, her muscles relaxing. She felt drained. It wasn't the typical tiredness from after a workout, it was deeper, emotional and mental. She looked over at her phone. She knew she could call Ruby, she had made sure that he had some way to get proof if she needed, but she didn't know when she'd be alone and able to talk, so she just sighed. She closed her eyes, just wanting to rest for a moment…

Yang woke up in the early morning greyness, not exactly sure why she had woken. She was confused and groggy, apparently having slept in the apartment overnight without expecting it. It was quiet, strangely so, and then she heard it again, a faint boom, and then a rumble. It happened once more before the morning settled down again. She grabbed her Phone, opening up to a news site, waiting for some kind of report, but there was nothing about any kind of demolition. Looking back at her contacts, she threw caution to the wind, pressing the one for Ruby. the line rang for almost half a minute before the line connected.

"Ruby?" she heard coughing from the other side, and a sound like falling rocks.

"Hello, yes, this is...yes..." her voice was bland and unchanging, like she used when there were other people nearby that she couldn't trust, so Yang guessed she must have been around others "Please hold while I get to a secure area." shuffling and scraping followed for a few minutes before she spoke again, this time her voice showing some slight emotion.

"You heard the explosions then I guess?"

"Yeah I did- wait, that was you? What the hell is going on?" more coughing

"There was an...accident on a mission. I might be in Vale longer than expected...look I gotta go...General Ironwood is calling" and then she was gone.

Under New Vale, An Hour Ago

Ruby took one last look around, checking that no one was around to see them, before dropping down into the small opening, looking like any other maintenance hatch. But anyone who would take a second look would notice that there shouldn't have been a hatch here, as there were ones only about 12 feet to either side, and hatches were supposed to be placed in standard 25 feet intervals. Dropping down into the darkness, it was only a short drop, 6 feet down, then she activated night vision, hearing low whines as the rest of the squad did the same before they slowly set off down the pipe which slanted at a gentle 10 degrees. Going slowly and carefully, Ruby took the point, running her hand along the walls, occasionally stopping to X-ray the surrounding rock and metal. The tunnel had seemed pretty small on paper, or, rather, hologram, but it was actually several miles. Progress was slow, what with her scanning every area, confirming the data they had on the area's composition.

Almost 45 minutes had passed before they reached the spot, and the demomen started setting up the charges at her discretion, using her arm blade to gouge the walls where the packs needed to be placed. She stood further down from them as they worked, setting up the wires and the receivers, which would go off when she sent the signal, but as she stood there she heard something. Even with her enhanced senses, it was just barely in her range. Tuning out the noise behind her she moved closer toward it, hearing a shuffling sound. When she switched to thermal and zoomed in her vision, she almost jumped.

"Finish those charges now. There are rogues incoming at half-mile" she gave a short order into her comms, receiving affirmatives in response, she raised her hand, loading a small flare into her launcher and sent it flying down the tunnel as a warning shot. For a second she heard nothing but the sputtering of the flare, before even that went quiet, and then the sound of running, and growling. "Changes are live and hot let's go and evac."

Ruby looked at her sensors. 6 hostiles, and she was the only one armed for this kind of combat. "Fall back. That is an order. Fall back, and return to base, I will return later." there was silence for a moment on the line before she got the affirmative. Then she switched her arm to gun mode, loading in stun rounds. Aiming down the tunnel, she shot high, aiming over the heads, until she knew that her team was clear. Bringing up the map of Old Vale, she memorized it, then blew the charges.