Chapter 3
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Blake Belladonna was getting nervous. This was a perfectly rational response, given that she had recently murdered a man and the client was overdue with the half on delivery. It was enough to make one's ears twitch, which really wasn't a good reaction when you kept them hidden under a beanie. She looked around the little hole-in-the-wall Mistralan place she'd been directed to. The message sent to her burner scroll had been clear, second booth from the back, away from the kitchens. Just as she started to make another sweep of the place, she felt a sharp pain in her seat.
[Dust! Stupid cheap seats. Where.. are th.. pretty colors..] Panicking, she got up and tried to run for the exit. She made it two steps before crashing to the ground, blissfully unconscious.
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The first thing she felt upon waking up was the cool air against her ears. [Oh, Dust. Alright, status check]. Self first. [Beanie gone, other clothes seem intact. Mixed news.] A slow, deliberate wriggle. [Securely bound to a chair, arms and legs. Not good. Nothing on my neck or ears, so I haven't been tagged or collared. Not bad. Something.. no, two somethings on my chest. Can't tell what they are.]Surroundings second. [A/C unit, must be inside. Can't hear any outside noise, so I'm either deep inside or high up. Or even outside of the city entirely. One other person, regular grunting, exercising? Not much to smell. Floor cleaner, sweat, some antiseptic, expensive per-]
"Oh would you stop faking it? I know you're awake." A voice rang through the room. Female, young. Strident, the voice of someone used to being obeyed. Reluctantly, Blake opened her eyes. The young woman glaring at her could best be summed up as _white_. White hair, white dress, white jacket. The only things not white were her eyes (a pale, frost blue) and the gunmetal gray rapier pointed between her eyes. Blake gulped. She'd seen that face before. The face of Weiss Schnee wasn't unavoidable in Beacon, but only just. The lounge-singing mascot of the Schnee Charitable Trust could be guaranteed to make the media rounds whenever unfavorable news broke about Schnee Industrial Consolidated. Oh, and the underground made it perfectly clear that she was at least Made in the Syndicate. All in all, not someone Blake wanted to be known by. While the Schnees did draw the line at keeping faunus pets, they were in close circles with some that did. And even with that exception, it was acknowledged that they were truly terrible to their faunus employees. And Blake had just taken 5 million lien to kill one of their board members while he slept.
It had been such a perfect job, too. Security hadn't been very tight, and it wasn't much trouble for her to sneak into his room. A lit cigar, some spilled brandy (with just a dash of pure grain alcohol) and a drained smoke detector made it look like an accident. Not to mention word in faunus circles was that he was shopping for a faunus pet. Getting paid to kill him had been a dream come true. A dream that was rapidly becoming a nightmare.
"How did you know I was awake?" Blake asked, stalling for time. Weiss flicked the rapier to Blake's left, then re-centered it. A look down revealed two wires coming out of Blake's sleeve, leading into a machine. As soon as she woke up, her heart rate must have spiked, triggering an alert. She turned her head back to meet the heiress's gaze. "How did you catch me?"
A smirk. "We trapped your seat. As soon as- Oh, hello Winter. She's awake" Weiss turned to greet the new arrival. Blake's heart fell even further. The woman in the white suit and pale blue blouse could only be Winter Schnee. The elder daughter of Wolfgang Schnee officially held the post of President of SIC, and was known to be underboss of the Syndicate. "As I was saying, our agent in the restaurant booby-trapped the booth we told you to sit at. As soon as the retrieval team was in position, he triggered it. Spring-loaded needle filled with a fast-acting sedative."
Blake silently processed this. That was some effort they had gone to. "Why me? Why... wait a minute, the booth you told me to sit at? YOU hired me to kill Nils Gul? Why?
Weiss looked at her sister. "Told you she'd figure it out. Might as well tell her about the plan she ruined."
Winter smiled. "It was a good plan, sister. Not her fault she didn't know her part. To be blunt, Belladonna, you were supposed to die." Blake was too shocked to even protest. "A faunus would attack and kill Nils Gul. Said faunus would be gunned down by his security force before she could make her escape. Any investigation would assume that this was merely a case of a faunus with nothing to lose taking out a sterling example of anti-faunus bigotry. The Syndicate would be in the clear, and some of our more vocal bigots would be encouraged to close their mouths from time to time.
"But you had to go and be sneaky. Burned to death in his sleep does not send a message. So as for why we brought you here, Belladonna, you're here to answer a question. What should we do with you?"
Blake thought fast. It was obvious that the wrong answer would lead to her death. Indeed, it was a wonder she'd been allowed to wake up at all, unless the Schnee sisters were closet sadists. But what to say? A thought occurred to her. [Sometimes, the only way out is through. And what's the worst that could happen?] "Well, to start you can give me the rest of my fee."
Weiss was the first to crack. Just a smile, but enough to give Blake hope. She continued "I mean, the contract was to kill Nils Gul. Like you said, it wasn't my fault I didn't know the real plan. I..." some pieces fell into place. "You said, convince the bigots to shut up. Why...?"
The smile turned pensive, analyzing. A half turn, an eyebrow raise, a nod from Winter. "Because it's bad for business. Every time one of them opens their mouth, that's millions of Lien out the door, just from the money the Trust has to throw into faunus programs to kill the news cycle. Do you know how much Nils cost the SCT during his tenure?" Blake shook her head. "Over a billion lien." Blake goggled at the thought "And guess where that money had to come from? Schnee Industrial and the Syndicate. He, and the others like him, have made the Trust the Single. Biggest. Contributor to faunus charities and programs, and then they complain why _billions_ are going out the door to subsidize those animals."
Blake frowned internally. Not the most promising attitude, but... "Then that's the other reason to keep me alive. I can be the message." Winter's eyes narrowed as she beckoned Blake to continue. "That type is more afraid of backing down than getting killed. If they think that their lives are in danger for what they're saying, they'll say it twice as loud and surround themselves with security. Any one of them who dies becomes a martyr to bigotry. So, you have to hit them from the flank. And keep up your PR campaign. I can help with both."
"How?" Winter asked.
Blake turned to Weiss. "By becoming your new best friend"
Both sisters stared flatly at the cat faunus. "Go on" Weiss said.
Blake took a deep breath. "Well, just to get the obvious out of the way, it'd make a splash. A daughter of Wolfgang Schnee spending time with a faunus? All people would talk about for weeks. Then, there are the loudmouths. It almost works better if they know it's a PR stunt. If that's the lengths that need to be gone to... well, money's money, but pride is pride. The faunus community will be wary at first. Probably be some parts of the slums I shouldn't walk through during all this. But give it a few months, and if we don't screw it up, they'll start believing it. Won't do much to improve their views of Wolfgang, but the next generation... It'll give us hope. And that's something we desperately need." A pause. "And unless you're constantly giving me jobs, I can promise you I'll cost less than a billion lien."
"Weiss. Outside." Winter commanded. The younger Schnee wasn't happy, but she complied. As the door closed, Winter spoke again. "You know what you're signing up for?"
"Having my people call me a race traitor? Putting myself in the line of fire of everyone who considers the Schnees to be the heroes of humanity, keeping the beasts in their place?" Blake shrugged. "You say that like I wasn't dead the minute I sat down in that restaurant. And it's not like I haven't been through worse. Try growing up on the streets as a faunus."
"Not what I was talking about, though it's good to hear. No, I meant you'll have to be civil to my father."
[Damn, she's right] "Then it's a good thing we haven't decided what my fee will be."
Winter gave a low chuckle. "Brazen one, you are." She pulled out her scroll, fiddling with it for a minute. "Alright. After we're done here, you'll make your way to the Wilhelm Schnee Shelter. Weiss will touring it in about a week with a small media crew. During the visit, she'll pull you aside for a personal conversation. During that conversation, you will reveal your ears. Try and look shy while you're doing it. From there, we'll see how it goes and adjust as needed. Sound like a plan?"
"Good for a start, at least."
"Excellent. Oh, and Blake?"
"Yes?"
"My sister has never had a real friend. So, if the act starts becoming real? Don't fight it."
Blake was stunned. Definitely not what she expected. But... "I won't. Fight it, that is. Or fake the real thing, for that matter."
Winter's face softened. "Excellent. And one more thing. If my sister comes to harm over any of this, physical or otherwise.."
"I'm a dead cat walking?"
Her face hardened again. "No, death will be too quick. Instead, I'll be showing off my new Broken cat. Are we understood?"
Blake paled. "Completely understood, ma'am." She'd carry through, was the scariest thing.
"Wonderful." The happy Winter was back. "I'll send Weiss in so you two can start working on your script. I look forward to a long and profitable relationship, Ms. Belladonna.
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A/N: Not a whole lot to say this time. Was able to get some serious work done over the weekend. Chapter 4 will be coming Soon®
