Chapter 49: Cinder Finds Out
"What…happened?"
A White Fang member was in her grasp, writhing as he tried to pry off the steel grip that Cinder was holding over his neck. The heat from her semblance began to spark and engulf the goon in flames.
Someone had to break the news as soon as Cinder had arrived. They knew what was going to happen and no one was willing to say it.
One eventually did, to the reluctance of said White Fang member. Though he was instantly regretting that decision as he was now about to turn into a burnt matchstick.
Cinder had been told of the absent status of almost every important member of the operation. Hei Xiong, Melanie, Militia, and Adam were MIA, along with dozens of arrested white fang which brought even more heat to Cinder's plan
So, Cinder being Cinder, she took the nearest person by the neck and started aggressively demanding things they didn't know the answer to.
"Where are they?!"
The grunt got shaken, his body getting throttled by the back-and-forth motion as Cinder began to somehow speak in a lower voice.
The grunt couldn't even answer her question since he wasn't there when it happened. Almost every grunt got knocked out except for those who escaped on bullheads.
They could tell Cinder what transpired but if she was this mad, perhaps it was not the best moment to tell her they were beaten by a bunch of teenagers. Moreso when they got pummeled so easily.
No one wanted to report their failures.
But that was not to be the same situation. Another White Fang member bravely, and perhaps foolishly, steps forward to try and save one of his comrades from being burned alive.
"Boss?"
She snaps her neck towards the white fang lieutenant. She lightens her grip on the struggling victim she had been asking questions to and turned her attention to the other white fang member.
"Speak."
He prepares to tell the entire report, willingly allowing himself to be burned to a crisp for his brothers in the white fang.
"They were the same students from before, Ma'am." He answers with an audible shake in his voice.
"…"
Cinder was silently staring at the white fang lieutenant.
The white fang members holding their breath, waiting for the inevitable, finally released a small sigh. It seemed too good to be true that Cinder was taking it well.
"THOSE… …BRATS!"
They were right.
Cinder had her left eye twitch at the revelation and she had finally lost it. Many times during Torchwick's week in trying to fulfill her orders that one specific girl was ruining everything.
Now that the whole of team RWBY was revealed to be part of her problems during the first time Hei Xiong was running the operation, she was livid at knowing that they were the ones responsible for a failure amid an important time.
She kept ranting about meddling kids ruining everything. Even Mercury and Emerald started to really doubt her mental state after the revelation.
Most of the white fang present were already hiding behind a barricade of chairs and tables in the hopes they wouldn't die if Cinder decides to unleash hell at them. Which she does soon after, launching random attacks as she started to swear team RWBY's name to the ground.
"She really needs to chill out for a while."
Mercury looks towards Emerald with a mischievous grin. Emerald groans, she backhands him again while she peeks towards Cinder who's now starting to throw flames around.
"Mercury, I don't need you to start making terrible puns while Cinder is losing it."
Mercury rubs his head from the pain of being backhanded. "What do you think happens now? We're going to have to find another one to manage stuff here while we are infiltrating Beacon."
"The Vytal festival is still at most weeks away with the dance being within a week, we have plenty of time to get the necessary information. As for the dust stealing, I have no idea. Hei Xiong was already from a long-time crime family."
The reason Hei Xiong was a decent replacement for Torchwick was that he had some form of a criminal network already in place from the time his father built up the family to its height. Eventually falling in favor of Roman.
Emerald visibly stiffens as another wall of fire reaches a part of their hiding spot. Mercury on the other hand was still relaxed about the whole situation.
"We'll have to convince the students and staff at Beacon of half our teams' apparent lack of appearance. Y'think Cinder has something to say to them for an excuse?"
Emerald frown. "No, we can't disturb her even more. We need to prove to Cinder that we can obey her wishes to the greatest of our abilities."
"Hold that thought." Mercury peeks over the table.
Emerald raises an eyebrow before Mercury grabs a hold of her arm and yanks her towards him. Forcing her to leave her previous spot and landing roughly on the floor.
"What are you doing?!"
A second later the part of the table they were hiding behind went up in flames. The smoldering heat burned half the table into ashes. Emerald stared at the near-death experience but Mercury brushes it off as if nothing ever happened.
"Anyways, what is the 'we' that you are talking about?"
"I already told you, we need to prove our usefulness-"
Mercury interrupts. "Hold on, I never told you that I wanted that. What made you think Cinder would appreciate it anyways? Let's just ask her what to say than fucking it up even more."
"Cinder gave us a chance, I say that we return that favor by making her see that we can follow her commands to the fullest."
Her comment makes Mercury chuckle for a moment.
"Seriously? You're worried for her? Pft… If only you knew."
Before Emerald could try to respond, Cinder had finally finished and was straightening herself out. Her dress stops its glow as the fire dust woven into it dies down from inactive use.
She readjusts her look and observes the white fang hiding behind the barricades.
"You! I will promote you to manage the white fang."
She points an aflame finger at the one who spoke a while ago. The white fang lieutenant nods deeply, hoping not to offend Cinder by denying his new position.
"What about Hei Xiong's men?" He asks.
Cinder looks around the room and scans for any possible candidate. She sighs in disappointment as she scans the hopeless grunts that littered the area. Her hand drags from her face as she looks behind her to see Mercury and Emerald.
"Fine, I'll do it myself."
Emerald approaches her. "What about our entrance to Beacon?"
Cinder pauses for a moment. "You'll have to make do with just the two of you for now. I will return days before the dance happens. You know what to do, don't mess up."
After the stern warning, Emerald goes back to her place next to Mercury who wore a neutral face after their small conversation during Cinder's outburst.
Cinder grits her teeth and places a finger in between them and bites into her nails. The delays were going to have to be rectified by them changing how they were going to orchestrate a breach.
They might have to skimp out on explosives and let the white fang lessen their operations to make sure they'd have enough dust. The operation was delayed even further, some sacrifices had to be made to rectify that.
"We'll have to deal with what we have and prematurely relocate to the south. We need all hands on deck in trying to breach the walls with fewer explosives."
Cinder turns to the lieutenant she newly appointed head of the white fang.
"Deal with the brats. I'll assign you part of the fang along with some dust and arms. You already know what will happen if you report back to me a failure."
The head of the white fang reluctantly nods. He turns to his fellow members and sees their reactions mixed. They had already had a lot of attention drawn to themselves after the few failed operations so most of them knew that fighting whoever was catching them had a high chance of letting them get arrested.
"What happened at the other location? Adam disappeared at the docks but Hei Xiong was not mentioned as being in the same place."
Cinder looks straight towards the new head of the white fang. Her fiery eyes bore down for another question. The white fang gulps nervously as he tries to answer.
"Boss, we did try to find out soon after. The information network Hei Xiong was building up still had some steam left in it to be of use."
He gave a glance behind him, signaling his fellow members to give him their scroll. Soon enough, a person gave him a scroll they had prepared during a small team huddle that happened alongside Emerald's and Mercury's own conversation.
The small mental breakdown Cinder had made them think of how to alleviate the situation by planning what they should present to her if she asks another question.
Thankfully for them, one had already done so by asking around as soon as they received the news of Adam's apparent disappearance and probable capture.
"Here it is, a few of Hei Xiong's men already collaborated with us to find out more about the SDC train station that they failed to take."
He swiped on the scroll, using the prepared information they managed to piece together last second.
"They had… figured out the descriptions on those responsible."
Cinder had another twitch visible to everyone. The men flinched but the white fang head trudged through the scare.
"Was it the brats again?" Cinder asked in a low tone.
"No, we suspect it was someone else as well. Someone that you and we all personally knew at one point."
Cinder stiffened her expression. "How did you come to know of this? I don't need liars at my side trying to save their skin."
The man shakes his head. "Hei's men asked around. Them being humans made it so people wouldn't suspect them as much. There has been a gossip going around the facility where the fight took place."
Cinder nodded. "Continue."
"Well, you won't like this but… the description includes a little girl in red with a scythe."
Cinder tightens her hands together as her dress began to glow from the fire dust woven inside of it.
"That little… I knew it."
"There's someone else… you won't like this one even more."
The comment the head of the white fang made was a mistake since it instigated her so much that Cinder menacingly walks towards the man and confronts the new information by getting closer.
"…Who?"
The man's palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. He reaches his final revelation to Cinder.
"A man… with a bowler hat…, a cane,… and his name rhymes with Candlestick."
The white fang immediately takes cover and jumps towards the pillars and walls still standing. Mercury and Emerald take the chance to do the same as they see their boss starting to rapidly twitch her eyes.
"Ah shit, here we go again."
"Mercury, I swear to the gods' shut the hell up."
Her unhinged rage finally reaches an apex. The man who left her plans so long ago, the same man that began the plan's spiral downwards, the same man who was now directly going against her and working with who she calls the brats. Cinder sparks her hands and raises her head high as she unleases a banshee scream.
"ROOOOMAAAAAAN… TORCHWIIIIIIIIICK!"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone