The Team Wilts

Blake

'Come on. The White Fang must be around here somewhere.' thought Blake as she jumped into another tree. It had been three weeks since she had set out from Beacon, and she was no closer to finding the terrorists than when she had started. She was starting to believe that this "Tip" that they had received was false...

"Blake Belladonna!" Rang the voice of Glynda Goodwitch
through the Hall. Blake looked up from her book to see the huntress professor standing in the doorway of the hall. Ruby looked up too.

"Uh, oh." said the younger girl, "That usually means something bad." She turned to look at Blake. "What did you do?" She asked. Blake simply ignored her, set her book down and approached her, hands clasped down at her front.

"Yes Ma'am?" she asked. The professor gazed down at her through the glasses perched on her nose, her piercing green eyes judging, almost sizing her up.

"Professor Ozpin would like a word with you. He asks that you meet him in his office." she stated in her curt tone, hands behind her back.

Blake looked back at her table, where Ruby and Wiess were still sitting. Ruby was watching what was going on, staring at them with her big silver eyes full of curiosity. Wiess either didn't know what was going on, or didn't care, all her attention focused on the paper in front of her. Blake turned back to Glynda.

"Alright then, I'll go." she finally answered. Glynda nodded and turned to leave.

"I suggest that you get to his office swiftly. It is not in your best interest to leave the Headmaster waiting."

Blake expected Professor Ozpin's office to be grand but then she was taken aback by the sheer size of it. The room took up an entire floor at the top of one of the towers of the school. A massive desk of rich dark wood sat at the far side of the room, and three of the walls were lined from floor to ceiling with books. The entire fourth wall behind the desk was a massive window, which looked out onto the grounds of Beacon. It was there that Professor Ozpin was standing, leaning on his cane. Blake stood in the doorway, unsure of what she should do next.

"Blake Belladonna." Said Ozpin finally, still facing the window. "Have a seat." He gestured with his cane towards his desk, where two plush armchairs stood in front of it. Blake slowly crossed the lush carpet and sat down.

"Admiring my library, are you?" Asked the Headmaster. Blake looked down at her feet. She had not realized it but she had been gazing longingly at the books that filled the room.

"It's just that there are some interesting looking books you have." she said politely, "Some of them look really old."

"Indeed, some of them are." He replied, finally turning to face her. He calmly walked back to his desk and sat down behind it, his brown eyes focused on Blake.

"But getting to the point, I've asked you here because I have a special task for you."

Blake nodded silently. It was usually Glynda that gave Team RWBY its missions, so receiving one from the headmaster himself must be important.

Ozpin took a remote from his desk and pressed a button on it. The massive window behind him darkened, then lit up again, but with a white background. Blake blinked. The window was also a huge screen.

"I trust you've heard of The White Fang organization?" Said Ozpin as he turned his chair to face the screen. He pressed another button and a logo of some sort appeared, the head of some beast, in red, with big claw marks slashed right through it.

Blake adverted her eyes slightly.

"Only what's in the news." she replied. "They're a Faunnus activist group that have recently taken on a violent nature to their protests, and society has branded them as terrorists and thugs . " The Professor gave a nod of approval.

"You seem to know quite a lot about them"

Blake now directed her full attention. Ozpin took a sip from his mug and pushed his small glasses farther up his nose. "The Government is keeping information about this organization secret from the public, so not to cause civil unrest. A few months ago, it was discovered that White Fang members have been raiding supply trains carrying cargo from the Shnee Dust Company."

Blake's back straitened a bit at the mention of Weiss' family name. her teammate had already told her about the White Fang's secret war with her family's company, and she knew about the organizations perspective from her time as a member. Ozpin hit another button on the remote and the screen changed into a map.

"The government has labeled the White Fangs as terrorist, but because they want to keep the public from knowing, they cannot get involved. They are requesting Beacon to assist them."

Blake was a bit confused by this.

"Why keep it a secret?" she asked, "Why not just declare them terrorists and deal with them?"

Ozpin turned his chair back towards Blake and looked at her over top his glasses.

"I asked them to hold back."

Blake raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Because thanks to you, we know that they have been working with Roman Torchwick"

Blake's eyes narrowed. Team RWBY had run across Torchwick on a number of occasions, and every time he had managed to get away. Now Blake was starting to see where this was going.

"So what is it you need me for?" she asked.

"I received a tip from one of my trusted sources that a large population of White Fangs have set up base somewhere in the Forrest of Forever Fall."

Another hit of a button caused the map to zoom in on the specified spot on the map. Blake's eyes darted along the screen as she studied it.

"The Shnee Dust Company," continued Ozpin, "Has a railroad that runs through the forest." A wavy line became highlighted on the map. "The White Fangs likely have their operation set up somewhere along it, but they could be anywhere in the forest."

He set the remote down and leaned on the desk, his chin resting on his hands.

"Since you've arrived at Beacon, you've shown exceptional infiltration skills. It is for this reason that I am assigning this mission to you and you alone. Your objective is rather strait forward: Find the White Fang's camp, figure out why they are stealing the Shnee products and what they are doing with them, and above all else, uncover any information about Torchwick."

Blake was still studying the map when Ozpin finished. she was uneasy about this. Her last few run-ins with the White Fang since she left them hadn't ended well, and she wasn't looking forward to fighting them again. Whats more, there were people in the White fang who would recognize her. And then there was him...

Despite all this, she still wasn't prepared to reveal her secret to Ozpin. She looked at the headmaster.

"That forest covers a lot of land. I'm supposed to find them in that? Alone?"

"Yes. This mission will likely take a long time. Half a month if you are lucky. I think we both know that the rest of your team's skills are ill-equipped for this type of work."

Blake nodded in agreement. Ruby and Weiss could never stay quiet when in close proximity to each other, and Yang would sooner topple the whole forest than sneak around. But there were others who would be up to the task.

"Well, what about Lie Ren? He's also good at infiltration."

"True. But his skills are geared more towards assassination. We also cannot have multiple hunters and huntresses running about without drawing suspicion. We need surprise here, or else Torchwick will disappear again."

Blake sighed, and nodded her head again.

"I understand, Sir."

"Good." Ozpin replied, "You leave tomorrow. I suggest you prepare."...

'At what point do I give up and head back to Beacon?' thought Blake as spun around on a branch and leapt off it into another tree. She had searched the forest all around the Schnee railroad, to no avail. She had even staked out until a train passed through, but there was no sign of any malicious activity.

'Do I actually have to turn over every single leaf in this stupid-'

Her thought was interrupted by a large bang behind her.

'Gunshot.'

Blake twisted in the air just as a massive projectile flew past, just missing her. Doing so caused her to smash into the branch she was going to land on. Winded, Blake fell, crashing through the tree till she hit the forest floor, landing on her ankle.

Blake winced in pain as she leaped to her feet.

'At least a sprain.' she thought, 'A fracture if I'm really unlucky.'

She pulled Gambol Shroud off her back and looked up into the tree. Her heart stopped when she found the thing that almost hit her buried in the trunk of the tree. It was a ninjatõ.

A red ninjatõ.

'No. It can't be-'

"Well, I never thought it'd be you I find sneaking around here." came a voice behind her. Blake turned around, and her eyes widened.

"You?!"