It would have been nice to stay with Ghira and Kali, but the truth was that Blake and her friends were on something of a tight schedule. How long would they have before this captured faunus was executed by the White Fang? Still, she could tell that her parents were eager to talk more with her too. After all, their daughter had just rolled into town with her three girlfriends looking to stir up a whole mess of trouble. They wanted to know everything about this. But with any luck, there would be time once they were done.

Strolling up to the White Fang headquarters, Blake saw the only familiar face she had been intentionally on the lookout for. Ilia was standing there outside the main door, practically at attention. But it broke the moment they drew closer to one another. It almost felt like her old friend was eager to break rank and be informal with her, but she was resisting that urge. Still, she did give a wave and a bright smile. "I'm glad your parents alerted me to your return, otherwise I might be having a heart attack right about now." Her skin began to shift through a few different shades of red. "It's... good to see you."

Behind her, she heard Yang chuckle softly. "How many people you think we can add to this relationship before it starts to become truly ridiculous?" That was followed by a muffled laugh from Weiss. Now Blake's face was starting to match the color of Ilia's skin.

"Um, yes. You too." Getting flustered, she decided it was far better to continue on with the mission before she got distracted with... whatever this was. "A-Anyway, we're here on rather important business and we need to speak with Sienna Khan right away. I hope you don't mind the rudeness."

Ilia just shook her head with a wry smile. "If anything, I think Miss Khan will appreciate that. She wouldn't say it to your father in so many words, but she certainly isn't happy about delaying this entire process. The sooner you finish your business, the better." She leaned in conspiratorially. "She's eager to deal with this guy. He's... awful. Really truly awful. He keeps laughing, like everything is a big joke to him. And that scorpion tail is terrifying. One of our guards is in the hospital after getting hit by that stinger."

Blake could practically feel the anger and frustration coming off everyone else in waves. This man, whoever he was, would be their only link to learning more about Salem. And they couldn't very well do that with Sienna Khan on the warpath. "Do you think... We were kind of hoping we could take him into custody and bring him back to Beacon."

The other faunus visibly winced. "Uhh. I think she's rather looking forward to executing him. Personally. The concept of leaving him alive may not be especially agreeable to her."

Well. They weren't going to get very far trying to negotiate this through her friend. "Well, Miss Khan may be in for some disappointment then. We need him alive. Is she ready to see us?"

With a shrug of her shoulders, Ilia led the way inside and up to Sienna's private office. It felt strange to be here again - absent of both her father and Adam's influence. The place didn't feel nearly so dark and dreary, though it was still a bit militaristic. Seeing her scout return with a crew of other young women in tow, the woman behind the desk stood up and gave a surprisingly warm smile. "Miss Amitola. I take it these are our guests? Thank you, I won't steal any more of your time."

Unlike before, a much more erratic array of colors flashed across Ilia's skin in faster succession. Suddenly she was standing like her spine was an iron rod, saluting smartly. "Yes, Ma'am!" Hm. It would seem as though someone had captured her attention since the last time Blake was around. Now that was interesting. But before she got too comfortable, Ilia did give her one last look, a smile, and a soft "We'll talk later..." before disappearing for parts unknown.

After a series of curt introductions, Blake took a careful seat across from Sienna and started pulling up the speech she'd pre-written in her mind during their flight. "Sienna. I know that this feels like an internal issue for you. But Hyacinth was our friend, and something of a... a mentor. We need to meet with this man, and if possible, bring him back to Beacon for extended arrest and questioning."

"Maiden..." was all that Sienna said first, causing all four of the girls to gasp softly. After letting the word hang in the air for a moment or two, she continued. "That's what this Tyrian maniac has been ranting about. In fact, there's really no need for you to question him because he is quite happy to speak at length about anything and everything. Provided you can parse the useful information from the ramblings. Shame he believes in a fairy tale. I don't care if you think she's the incarnation of evil itself, you don't kill one of your own. We faunus are under enough strain as it is, we shouldn't have to deal with conflict between our own people. That's how you end up with someone like Taurus."

Blake shuddered and felt a comforting hand from Yang come to rest on her shoulder. This was where the conversation got a bit complicated. Did she confirm that Maidens were very much a thing? Or did she play along until they could at least find out what Tyrian had to say for himself. She glanced back toward the others and noticed Weiss slowly shaking her head, as subtly as she could. Well, that was it then. Best to play it close to the chest. "Either way, Hyacinth was important to us. And while he may be the only one that you captured, he's not working alone. We can't let him be... ahh, dealt with... until we can question him about it."

"You can't let him be dealt with? Are you threatening me, little Belladonna?"

Both shared a moment of tense silence, eyes narrowing slightly. Blake wanted to. Gods, how she wanted to. But that would inevitably draw her team into danger, and create exactly the kind of divide that the White Fang was trying to avoid creating for a second time. She sighed and forced her shoulders to relax. "No, Sienna. Obviously you're free to do as you like. I can respect that you want to keep this internal. But... I just want to remind you who it was that managed to stop Adam before he completed his coup."

"Clever. You really are your parents' child." She stood up with a dramatic sigh. "Very well." She began walking out of her office, and the girls quickly scrambled to follow after her.

Ruby had been growing concerned that this tense meeting would never end, or worse, would end in disappointment. But she knew now that she should have trusted Blake to be just as good a leader and speaker as her father.

Their host continued to lead them through the White Fang compound, through several sets of doors. At the end of a dank hallway, behind a set of strong metal bars, was a lanky man with a long braid and even longer tail. Both it and his arms were bound in chains. He was giggling and muttering something to himself, though Ruby couldn't make any of it out.

"You have an hour. After that, I will expect you to get out of my way. Or we really will have trouble." Sienna stalked off after that without another word.

There was a moment of clear air where Ruby attempted to formulate a plan on where to begin. But Weiss beat her to it. With a flick of her wrist and a white glyph, she'd pushed the captive from where he sat to slam into the bars, then reached through to grab his collar. "Why."

It was threatening for sure, and a hell of a power move. But Tyrian reacted like she'd just told him a joke, giggling even more and thumping his head against the bars a few more times for good measure. "Oh that's cute. The little princess thinks she can be scary. You need to work on your intimidation skills, darling."

Without warning, the hallway was filled with the presence of a glowing arma gigas. They hadn't even seen her summon it. Weiss was coming into her powers, perhaps too fast. "What about him? Is he terrifying enough for you?"

"Nope!" he exclaimed before erupting in another burst of giggles. Weiss released him with just as much fury as she had grabbed him, sending the assassin across the cell and running into the wall. Always cackling.

By the time Ruby looked back at the others, Weiss was sobbing and Yang was putting a comforting arm around her, leading her away and down the hallway. She shared a look with Blake, each of them nodding seriously. "Look-"

"The new Spring Maiden was the bad cop. Will the Fall Maiden play good cop? Or perhaps you'll just torch me with your magic? It's nothing compared to what Salem will do to me for my failures. You're talking to a dead man. Worse. I wish your little cult out there would kill me. But she won't allow it. She'll take me back. She'll-" He collapsed in a fit of manic laughter. "She'll make me payyyyy... She'll take her pound of flesh."

Another shared look, mixed with panic. So, there was no point in subterfuge. He already knew everything.

He continued. "Awww, wondering how I know all this? Well, figuring you out was easy enough. After all, Cinder gave us a very accurate description of you." Tyrian gave it a moment to let it sink in. "Ohhh yeah. She's still around. And she really doesn't like you, kid. As for your little heiress girlfriend? Simple deduction. Obviously taking this whole thing very personally. And she's powerful. Like, say, someone who got the powers from a Maiden. A spritely little fox, maybe? And one hell of a bleeder. Awww, but I really screwed up. I was supposed to steal the powers from her, but I botched iiitttttt~ She died before I could sssssuck them out of her. So that tart over there got 'em instead. Shame, that."

Sienna wasn't kidding. All you had to do was take a step back and let this maniac do the talking. Not that Ruby liked a single thing he had to say. But at least they were getting what they came here for.

Crossing her arms, Blake cocked her hip and sighed sadly. "Salem must not be too happy about all of her generals being screw-ups."

Tyrian sat down, stretching out his legs. "Aww, worried about us? Don't be. She knows she can always train us, whip us into shape, make us better and stronger. You should be more worried about yourselves. We just put her in a bad mood when we screw up and she takes it out on us. What do you suppose a creature that powerful is going to do to the people that stand in her way?" He made direct eye contact with Ruby, all trace of humor falling away from his face in an instant. "What do you suppose she's going to do to Ozpin?"

The sudden turn was jarring. "What does he have to do with-" She wasn't able to finish questioning him. The wall next to them suddenly burst apart in a shower of debris and shrapnel. Ruby and Blake only barely managed to get away from the scene of chaos. It was only as the dust started to clear that any of them could understand what was happening. An entire crew of vicious simian grimm had broken their way through the wall of the White Fang headquarters, not only into Tyrian's cell but in several other places around the compound, judging by the distant shouts.

"Awww, we were just starting to have fun! But I'm afraid duty calls!" Already he was scrambling his way over the broken bricks and out into the bright sunlight, clinging to one of the grimm that seemed to be acting as a personal taxi service. "Until next time, kiddos!"

With a burst of her semblance, Ruby probably could have chased him down. But cries of distress from elsewhere in the city caught her attention instead. Tyrian was right, they would see each other again. And when they did, she would be ready. All of them would.

For now, it was time to be heroes.