In RWBY's Shadow

A Few Things

Contrary to what she expected, the warehouse belonging to A Few Things didn't look abandoned. In fact, nothing about it really stood out from the ones around it, other than the brightly painted logo of a bullhead dropping the company's name out the back. Off to the side, a delivery truck was busy unloading pallets, with two employees in orange vests and hats helping move them closer to the building, much to the relief of the truck driver. One had a thin tail poking out behind them, but the other didn't even look like a faunus at all.

"You sure this is the place?" Smit whispered. The four of them, along with Sergeant Fredricks and two men armed with scoped rifles were prone on a nearby rooftop, observing the warehouse. On the other side of their building, hidden in an alleyway, the Vale SWAT team waited with additional support units, all ready to storm the building at Sergeant Fredricks' signal.

"Matches the address on the list," Fredricks answered, watching the delivery through a small set of binoculars.

"Doesn't really look like a terrorist headquarters. I mean, the front door is open and everything!"

True to Smit's words, a small door near the corner of the building was propped open, granting easy access to what was supposed to be a secret base for a terrorist organization. Peering through her own binoculars, Lilly could see a little way inside the entrance. A few chairs lined the wall, and she could even see the corner of a vending machine beyond that. It looked like any normal waiting area to her.

"What did you think it would look like?" Fredricks growled as he turned to look at them. "The idea is to make it look legitimate. If they stood out, don't you think we would've found them by now?"

The continued White Fang presence in the city was a bit of a sore spot for the Vale Police Department. Blake often complained about how the authorities never did anything about it, but if Sergeant Fredricks' response was any indication, that was probably a pretty common perception. Honestly, expecting the local police to root out a well-armed, well-funded terrorist group while also having to deal with the local crime families and the menace of Roman Torchwick was kinda unreasonable. Maybe they would stand a chance if they had a team with Huntsman training, but Huntsmen were too valuable to devote to such tasks when entire villages were constantly under the threat of the Grimm. A bunch of civilians on a severely limited budget didn't stand much of a chance. Besides, a force like that would require an emergency declaration from the Council, which was pretty unlikely in an election year. Admitting you didn't have the problem under control wouldn't win you any votes.

"Already sent in an undercover to place an order," Fredricks continued, looking back to the building. "She said they processed the request and even offered to let her wait there until the order arrived. No red flags at all. Even had better rates than most and offered to ship it today since they have bullheads standing by." Fredricks pointed to the trio of bullheads parked off to the side of the warehouse. "Orders are to only go in if we can get proof of White Fang activity. Last thing we need right now is the nightmare of raiding some innocent company, especially if they employ faunus. Aside from the lawsuits and risk to those inside, the publicity of such an event would pretty much guarantee heads would roll, starting with mine."

"But how do we get proof?" Honey questioned. "I mean, I doubt we can just put on suits and claim we're here for a surprise inspection." That may work on TV, but real life was never so easy.

"Can't have Randi pose as White Fang and just walk in, either," Smit added, likely recalling Randi's tale of infiltrating the recruitment rally a few weeks ago. His faunus partner, armor still in backpack form, shook her head.

"No one's going in alone," Fredricks cautioned with a wave as he looked to Lilly. "We do need eyes on the inside, though..."

Lilly caught the hint easily enough. "Sorry. My Semblance doesn't work like that. I'd either need something they had handled or a direct line-of-sight on someone inside." Of course, being able to spot someone inside was part of the problem. "I could try linking with one of the guys outside and hope he walks back in."