11 Mission Control

As I'd promised, I went to Tukson's Book Trade after school. Blake, one of the most powerful people I'd ever met especially near my own age, stood alone among the fantasy novels, nose in a book. She looked up as I entered, nodding at me slightly.

"Hello, Blake," I said as politely as I could. I was a bit irritated to be drawn back into this, but one didn't mouth off to people more than twenty levels above oneself. "Did I keep you waiting long?"

"Not really," She answered, placing a bookmark in the novel and closing it before moving towards me. "I wasn't certain when you'd arrive, so I came early. Hello, Jaune."

We were silent then, both having apparently run through our lists of casual conversation topics. Blake walked passed me and pressed a button, making its color shift from green to red, before closing and locking the door and making the windows opaque.

Well. That wasn't ominous.

I glanced above her head as she worked, checking her sign.

The Beauty

LV36

Blake Belladonna

Two levels already? It'd only been a week. But then, I suppose she probably saw a lot of violence as a high-leveled terrorist. I figured fighting multiple super droids was probably out of the ordinary even for her, but what did I know?

"What did you need, Blake?" I finally asked, going right for the point after the silence continued to linger. I figured we'd both appreciate getting down to business.

In reply, she tossed me something. I caught it reflexively before looking at it. Glancing up at her curiously, I opened it up and watched as images appeared and began to, well, scroll through the images even as the last remnants of my good day evaporated.

"Those are photos from a company town on Mantle," Blake stated evenly. "Do you know what a company town is?"

I nodded without saying a word but she continued anyway.

"All the businesses in the area are owned by the same company and they all accept company scrip, which is the only thing those employees are paid with."

"'Those employees,'" I repeated, though it was easy enough to guess.

"The Faunus," She said, mouth twisting. "Mantle's famous for its technology, but that's the type of thing that needs a lot of, preferably cheap, manpower. It's also not a place famous for its high opinion of Faunus. If you're known as one, there aren't a lot of places you can work, but the major companies will employ them…in a sense. In truth, it's more of a legalized form of slavery. They're given enough to get by, to survive and keep working, but they owe everything they have to the company and if they step out of line, they'll have it all taken away and find themselves out of the streets. What you're seeing is what a few of our people on Mantle have able to get about their living and working conditions and their general state of health."

I didn't reply until I'd finished flipping through the pictures, burnt all the images into my brain and made sure I would remember them. It was…

"Disgusting," I said. "Isn't this illegal?"

"Not on Mantle," Blake answered. "Or not enough that anyone truly cares. Even after the Faunus Right's Revolution…"

She shrugged.

"Things aren't perfect and are worse in some places then others. The White Fang has more traction on Vytal than Mantle and with travel between Kingdoms as it is…" She shook her head, exhaling through her nose. "My associates have been discussing how to take action against…this for several months and there's been a lot of talk about mobilizing a large response."

I closed the scroll and tossed it back to her.

"If you're waiting for me to try and defend that, you're gonna be waiting a long time," I told her. "What those people are doing is sick. But I hope you don't think that just burning the company to the ground is going to help anything."

"I know it won't," Blake said, shaking her head. "I've been one of the people arguing against it. Even if we destroy the entire town—something that would inevitably result in countless, meaningless deaths on both sides—it wouldn't help the Faunus employed there. The root of their problem, and the reason they can be exploited in such a way, is that they can't find work elsewhere. Unless we can solve that problem first, destroying the only places they can work isn't going to make their lives better, even if those places are horrible. A lot of the leadership agrees with me, but there's a demand for action and if an alternative can't be found…"

She shrugged again.

They'll do something stupid instead of doing nothing, I understood and nodded. In the long run, it might even help—if they could cause enough fear, if they could show enough power, and if, in doing so, they didn't ignite a massive response. But those were a lot of ifs and there would be a lot of deaths even if they managed it. In time, they might be able to scare people into employing the Faunus on reasonable terms, but that wasn't going to help the ones that would be left homeless and unemployed because of this.

Or maybe that was the idea? If there was a lot of anger and fear directed at the Faunus, it wouldn't take much for the Faunus to start giving some back. It could easily drive a lot of them into the arms of the White Fang, giving it the foothold it apparently lacked on Mantle and increasing their ranks majorly. That was a cold way of looking at it, but…if they took it far enough, there could be another war.

Then again, a coldly logical part of me said, if this was how the Faunus were treated even after the Rights Revolution, maybe they could use another war.

I hushed that part quickly.

"What do you want me to do about it?" I asked. It wasn't a rhetorical question; if she was here, she must have had an idea and I probably wasn't gonna like it.

"There…was one other idea proposed, a long time ago," Blake actually seemed hesitant, which sent off alarm bells in my head. "Mantle…I wouldn't say Faunus are treated great anywhere, but Mantle is by far the worst and the White Fang has assets on other continents to assist newcomers in settling in. The issue is the transition, but if we could get them into Vytal—"

I stopped her right there, putting the pieces abruptly coming together. The bottom dropped out of my stomach and I was already regretting…some many things, coming here the first and foremost.

"You…you want me to fly an airship," I paused for a moment, contemplating what would be needed for something like this. "You want me to fly an airship across the ocean, past who knows how many Grimm, invade a continent known for its advanced technology, perform a mass rescue operation, and then get back out of there, cross the ocean again, and get back here? Is that about right?"

After a long, still moment, Blake nodded, actually looking a little embarrassed.

"The White Fang has attempted to create a system to move Faunus between the Kingdoms several times, but always had to abandon the plan as unfeasible on a large scale—even the possibility has been discarded now and isn't brought up as an alternative anymore. The Grimm are too dangerous and, because of them, boarder control is too tight. With that and peaceful protest abandoned…I really think the leaders are going to push things until there's another war. There are already plans being made for an attack and I…" She shook her head. "I want to avoid that. I think we can avoid that, but we'd need to prove a point here and now that other ways are possible. But it would require something big. Something like this."

"Assuming, of course, that this ludicrous plan is possible," I said. "I mean, do you even have an airship?"

"We'd need to steal the airship," She admitted. "The White Fang doesn't have any that are big or fast enough for something of this magnitude."

"Oh, right, sorry—that makes sense," I nodded and corrected myself. "You want me to do all of that with a stolen airship, ensuring people will be chasing from the very beginning, meaning I'll have to escape the country and get back into it, after committing a crime that would make me an enormously wanted criminal if I got caught. Anything else?"

"There are only a few airships that are big enough and fast enough to make such a trip and airships in general are equipped with a number of systems to prevent them from being stolen," She added. "Which means acquiring one will be…hard and the moment we have one, we'll need to go. And the chances to steal a major Airship before it's under heavy security are…limited. The only chance I can be sure we'll have before the White Fang takes action is in less than two weeks."

"And a time limit for preparation, because who doesn't love a challenge?" I muttered before lifting my voice. "I have just one question. Well, no, that's a horrible lie—I have about a million questions, but I'm gonna start with this one: Why me? Why am I the person you're going to about this? Ignoring everything wrong with the idea, of which there is a great deal, why do you want to recruit a human you met once to go along with this ludicrously dangerous idea? I mean, let's assume for just a second that I agree to this. You would be trusting me with your life and the lives of everyone involved with this mission. So, again, why me?"

Blake seemed to have been waiting for that question.

"Several reasons," She said, lifting a hand in preparation to tick off her fingers. "The first is simply necessity. If this mission is to have any chance of working, I need someone who can learn to fly a vehicle they've never encountered before, figure out its exact specifications with no experience beforehand, become skilled enough at programming to deal with any measures already on it, use it to outrun the military, and do all of that in a very short period of time. Otherwise, the plan won't work."

"That's because the majority of your plan is 'Hope a miracle happens,'" I informed her.

She ignored me.

"Secondly, your ability to heal others and to regain your own power quickly makes you invaluable for…pretty much any mission. In that particular regard, your own personal power is only a minor consideration—rather, your presence serves as an enormous force multiplier. Adam and I could not do such a task alone, but if we were restored to full power anytime we began to weaken…" She let that statement hang in the air. "But the third reason is the most important."

"Oh?"

"I'm asking you because I think you might say yes," Blake said solemnly. "I can't say I know you, but a week ago, you got involved and risked your lives to help people you didn't even know, simply because they were in danger and you could help them. I think you're good man—I'm not amazed by your sense of self-preservation, but I think you have a good heart. I need to save these people and I need to try and stop the White Fang from going any further down this path. Will you help me?"

I put a hand over my eyes and sighed loudly, turning away from her as I rubbed my face. When I looked up, I was unsurprised to find a blue screen hanging in the air, but I still glowered at it.

A quest has been created!

A Friend In Need: Help Blake with her insane mission!

Reach the Faunus on Mantle and then escort them to freedom! Time Limit: Two weeks.

Completion Reward: Exp 550000, Increased closeness with the Faunus of Mantle, Increased closeness with the Faunus of Vale, Increased closeness with the White Fang, Increased closeness with the Blake.

Failure: Decreased closeness with Blake, Imprisonment, or Death*.

*Depending on time of failure.

Don't even try to tempt me with your sexy, sexy numbers, I thought, even as I counted all the shapely zeroes. I knew full well that if the reward was that high, getting it would mean terror and pain. I'd known that last time, too, granted, and it had turned out surprisingly well in the end, but the reward for this one was nearly ten times that one. If that said anything about the danger involved, well, I could only imagine. But this time—

I sighed deeply.

"There's too many ifs involved," I said. "Maybe we can get the ship and maybe I can fly it and maybe I can escape and maybe I get us there in one piece and maybe I can get us back—but those are all really big maybes."

"Believe it or not, I actually have a plan, though a lot of details need to be hammered out," Blake said dryly. "Though none of it matters without your help and I'm not going to hurt you if you want to back out. But we can do this. You might not even need to fight."

I thought there was pretty much no chance in hell of that being true, but maybe I was just getting cynical. Still, being in a party with people of Adam and Blake's levels was…

Still not enough to make this sound like a good idea.

"And stealing an airship…that's a major, major crime, especially on the type of scale you're talking about. Who would we even be stealing it from? The military? Because that would be an unspeakably bad idea without even getting into the amount of people we'd piss off afterwards. I mean—"

"Schnee," She interrupted me.

I looked over my shoulder at her in disbelief.

"You mean…"

"The airship is being produced by the Schnee Dust Company," Blake said. "The same company who owns the town on Mantle. They'll be showing off their newest model in Vale soon at a conference."

Wow, this plan was just getting better and better.

"Poetic justice aside, you…do realize we'd be pissing off one of the most powerful groups in the world, right?"

"The Schnee Dust Company and the White Fang have been at each other's throats for years," She dismissed. "This won't make a difference on that front."

"Not for you, maybe," I said, turning to face her fully. "But what about me? Even if we succeed, if anyone sees my face…"

Blake reached down to grab the bag at her feet and threw it to me.

"What's this?" I questioned, looking down at it. It was heavier then it looked.

"I just told you, I'm not stupid," Blake said, giving me a flat look that made me think it was wise not to argue.

Hesitating for a moment, I opened the bag with a sigh. On top were a few small cases, a large box, and…

I took out the mask. It was a lot like Adam's, though the designs were a bit different and in black instead of red.

"Um…"

"It's one of Adam's old ones," She said. "But it should fit you, too."

"…Yeah," I said, drawing the word out. "No offense but I don't think hiding my upper face is going to protect me for long when I find myself on every TV station from here to Atlas."

She rolled her eyes and made a rolling gesture with one hand and I took the items out of the bag one by one. After I took out the box, I found myself looking at the back cover of a book and reached in to remove it—

You obtained the skill book 'Makeup for the Menagerie.' Would you like to learn this skill?

…Wait. What?

You obtained the skill book 'Making Faces: How to be a Makeup Artist.' Would you like to learn this skill?

You obtained the skill book 'Windows to the Soul: A Thousand Designs for Beautiful Eyes.' Would you like to learn this skill?

You obtained the skill book 'The Fairest of Them All.' Would you like to learn this skill?

You obtained the skill book 'Let Down Your Hair.' Would you like to learn this skill?

I looked up at Blake silently and then turned to the box. I opened it. Then I raised it, unfolded it, separated it, and stacked it. It was a makeup kit—a real, professional one which had so much stuff inside of it, the box must have contained a pocket dimension. There were about fifty million different pieces—for my skin, my eyes, my hair, my lips, my nails, and who knows what else. It featured about a thousand colors I hadn't known had names and implements which may have doubled for use in torture. The cases that came with it contained what looked almost like slides, with about four dozen colored contact lens in them. Looking at it all was both intimidating and terrifying. I didn't touch it—it was complex enough that there may have been a self-destruct.

"This is the basic kit," Blake said, which made me look at her again. "I brought more, in case we need it. I only know the basics, but it should be fine with your power."

She stepped towards me and grabbed my chin with one hand, turning it one way and then the other, staring at me like I was a specimen on a slab.

"Didn't think so," She said, before elaborating. "No identifying marks. You're lucky; that makes this easier."

"Um," I started to say before her index finger and thumb forced my lips apart and she stared at my teeth analytically.

"You have good teeth, too. Alter the lines of your face with the mask, change your eyes, maybe shift your skin tone…we'll need to do something to your hair, of course, and we'll need to change your wardrobe, but…do you have any birthmarks?" She asked, freeing my lips.

"No, but—"

"Scars? Tattoos?" She continued.

"No!" I said, pushing myself to my feet. "But wait a second, will you? I haven't agreed to anything yet."

Blake looked me up and down even as her hands busied themselves putting away the makeup kit.

"You want to help," She stated. "You're scared, but you really, really do."

"Of course I want to help, but the odds of this plan working…" I shook my head in irritation. "We, you, aren't going to help anyone by getting killed. If I thought it could work, maybe it'd be different, but…this is…"

Blake nodded.

"I know. Adam said the same thing and I agree," She stated. "And until last week, I'd never have even considered the idea. But it is possible. Or haven't you realized…?"

She turned and began to walk towards the back of Tukson's shop. Before she passed through the curtain, she paused and looked over her shoulder at me.

"Oh, that's right; you've never seen Tukson's private collection before, have you?" She mused. "He keeps all his best books in the back."

I stared after her for a moment. This was the part where I should walk away. I hadn't agreed to anything yet and wasn't going to; I should just click no on the quest screen, walk out the door, and never turn back. This was insane and there was no point even discussing it further, much less in giving Blake a chance to try and make me go along with it. There was nothing but trouble behind that curtain, even if I knew Blake wouldn't force me into this. That was the smart thing to do, the wise thing to do, and I knew it.

But…

I swore and followed after.

If only Greed wasn't my sin.

And if only she wasn't right about me wanting to help.

XxXXxX