Chapter 193: Boom

"What do you want? Money to fund your little terroristic acts?" Jacques spoke, his voice cold as he glared towards the bullhorned faunus, the one acting as the leader to these ruffians.

"Money is useless, all it does is provide corruption upon corruption upon corruption," the pacing boy halted his stride and glanced to one of the other White Fang members, one who had just come out of a back room and whom Weiss couldn't see any faunus aspects of, so it was likely something small, eyes, perhaps fangs even. "Is it ready?"

The blaring of red and blue billowed in from the windows upon which many of the hostages were lined. Weiss, her father and a few others, high ranking officials in Vale, people she knew to have some form of infamy for poor faunus treatment, were sat on the floor at the centre of the bottom floor. many of the White Fangs stood around, weapons drawn keeping an eye on them, ensuring no one was thinking about playing hero.

"Yes sir," the faunus said, revealing themselves to be male judging by the depth of their voice.

"Good, alright! Huddle up!" The boy called before turning his gaze onto Jacques, spite undoubtedly, though Weiss could only construe that through the scowl he was giving, his eyes otherwise hidden behind shimmering red slits of his mask.

Though as he glanced between her and her father, a glint of light took his attention. He approached her, she wanted to move away but her place knelt and laying on her hip kept her incapable, instead she could only glare into the area she presumed his eyes to be as he lowered himself onto one knee before her.

His hand snaked towards her, raising past her head and to her face before finding itself by her cheek, lightly raising the snowflake earing. Analysing its crystalline form, "dust…" he snorted, pinched the earing and mercilessly ripped it away.

Agony coursed through Weiss, true pain as she felt part of her earlobe sever, her aura though capable of preventing most wounds was incapable or unwilling to stop such a minor injury. "Grrr…." she grit her teeth, grinding them to dust as blood began to strickle down her cheek and water filled her eyes, threatening to tear through the bloodshot orbs filled with true hate for the boy before her.

He wasn't finished though as he threw the earing to the side, he gripped her head and forcibly tilted her head to the side, allowing his other hand the means of grabbing the other and ripping it out.

"Ghg…" by then tears had found themselves forcing their way out, she couldn't halt them, her body wouldn't let her. It stung. It hurt. "Damn you. Damn you." she mumbled swallowing her hate, her words.

The boy snorted, his hand coming to grip the hair atop her head and tilted her head back with a single jerky motion, "no, damn you. Schnee. You don't get to damn us after all you have done."

"Me? I've done nothing!" she argued.

"And? You're still a Schnee. Therefore, a problem." He threw her to the side causing her to lay flat on the cold wooden flooring of the restaurant. The smell of iron and sight of red droplets of blood enough to let her know she was hurt. Not for long, she knew that, while the wounds wouldn't fully heal in a day, let alone two, they were sure to stop bleeding soon. Her aura would at least make sure of that.

Laying there, Weiss rolled onto her back then slowly rose to an upright position, an action made more challenging than necessary from her arms bound behind her back. She looked to her father only to see him give her the smallest of sidelong glances before returning his eyes onto the leader.

"You won't get far," her father began, "as you can see, the police are right outside, likely having been giving full use of lethality as well."

The boy huffed, "you would like that, wouldn't you? Less animals in the world?" his voice mocking her father. He didn't respond, but the silence seemed enough for him to gain his answer. "Of course, you would. My surprise. And so what if they use lethal force? We'll just use lethal force of our own. Or… we can just not fight at all." Spinning his head to the same faunus as earlier, his voice rose, "do it!"

The faunus nodded his masked head and gripped tight a cylindrical object, his thumb pressing down onto a red button that sent shivers down Weiss' spine. The next second loud bangs, explosion echoed above the terrified screams as flashes of light racketed in a circle around the white fang and their hostages.

It took only a moment for Weiss to realize what was going on, and by the time she felt her body go into free fall, she knew they were insane. The fall lasted only but two hastened breaths before the floor crashed down heavily, having sunken a single story. Many of the captured individuals having lost their balance and fallen over.

"Go! Go! Go!" the leader bellowed and Weiss alongside her father were forcibly lifted to their feet and shoved in the direction of a dark, old sewage tunnel stinking of excrement and rot. Weiss felt her stomach roll, threatening to empty as the girl pushed her ahead.

Something strange happened though, before she could enter the tunnel, she felt the white fang's hand gripping her arm loosen then disappear, the suddenness alongside the whooshing noise sending her staggering to her knees.

Then came the voice, one she hadn't been expecting. "You know Adam. I always knew you were insane, but blowing up the floor to get into the sewers is just… I don't know, stupid?"

Adam, the leader Weiss was assuming paused his rushing while the others escaped further into the tunnels. He spun around and so too did Weiss and her father and several others who hadn't yet escaped with their hostages. Their heads tilted up and indeed, the voice belied the body as there, sat calmly with one leg dangling over the edge of the newly formed hole while the other sat atop the edge, was her professor. Not far from him the hostages that had been acting as the wall by the windows were staggering away from the hole.

Below where he was seated, a white fang member, the one she was guessing was her captor. A chain had wrapped around her neck and lifted her off the ground, leaving her hanging meters off the ground, kicking, and gurgling for breath.

"Professor?" Weiss muttered, though her voice went unheard.

"Let. Her. Down." Adam growled, his hand coming to hold the pommel of his sword, ready to cut her down if her refused.

"Hmm? Who?" Professor Evans hummed and glanced down to his captive, "oh her. No. I don't think I will." Gripping the link of chains, he began to lift the woman higher and higher until finally gripping her shoulder and pulling her onto his level, his lap to be precise. The chains loosening enough for her to gasp and breath in, though weak considering how slumped she looked like his arms wrapped around her.

"She's a criminal don't you know?" the professor smirked over the girl's shoulder, a finger tilting her head up for him to rest his chin atop her right shoulder, "quite a dangerous one. Hanging should be expected. Less trash in the world. Less problems." He went still, smiling as if enjoying the expression, the leader had. "But, I do suppose I can let this one go." an ominous smile took his lips as he gripped the chin of the girls mask and pried it off her face, revealing a cute girl with shiny, beaded slit eyes like those of a geckos. When the mask was removed, Weiss could see the girl's nostrils flare and her eyes widened, pupils dilating in much a similar way to Blake.

The girl was lax in his arms as the professor whispered something into her ear and just before pushing her down the hole, he pulled a vial from his pocket and spritzed some kind of aerosolized liquid onto her face that made her body jerk heavily. When she clattered to the ground, another of the white fang ran to her and ensured her safety. Quickly casting Adam, a nod that she was alright.

That 'alright', lasted all of a few seconds as when the members attention was away, did she reach for the dagger at her waist and pulled it free, spinning it around in her palm before ramming it home into the boy's side. At first, he didn't feel it, it was painful, just the suddenness of a dagger tearing through his skin and piercing into his bowels was unexpected and his brain hadn't the time to process it.

"Grahg!" he yelled and collapsed to the side as the girl tore the dagger free, letting blood spew free from the wound casting the ground in crimson ichor.

"Ouch," the professor spoke from up high, "should have brought someone with more combat awareness, his aura would have kicked in and saved him from, well, that otherwise."

"What did you do?" a strangled growl made its way out of Adam's throat while he and the others in the whole saw the girl standing there, a smile of insanity on her face, drool trickling from her lip, her legs tight together but bowed, hiding a darkened splotch around her crotch, and skin as red as fire. She was clearly not in a right state of mind. He had done something to her in those few moments.

"Adam. I think you have other things to worry about then whatever I did to her." A breath later, the girl kicked off the rubble of the restaurant and launched towards the closest other white fang. Her dagger flashing through the air cutting at the recoiling white fang member, unsure of what he should do, she was a friend, a white fang. A faunus. "You should worry about her."