For a secured base, the place doesn't really offer much.
Sure, the place was located underneath a mall, but aside from the guards and the trapdoor, there was nothing else. He didn't know whether these guys picked the place on a hurry or if this place would be use once. There were even no security cameras whatsoever!
Jaune – disguised as a White Fang grunt – snorted.
He along with two White Fang members entered the room where the officials were meeting.
The room wasn't that impressive – a mediocre class size furnished with brown carpet and second hand furniture's. The well dressed Faunus that occupied them were most likely the big shots here in Atlas, they didn't even deem it necessary to cover their faces.
Must be amateurs pretending to be professionals or very confident that they won't be discovered.
He immediately positioned himself beside the door and stood straight, along with another member. The third member placed a suitcase in the table and stood behind a blonde cat Faunus. A memory of a black bow appeared in his mind for a brief second before he squashed it back to the depths where it came from.
The cat Faunus opened the suitcase and checked the papers that it contained—he sniffed loudly and threw it back to the table.
"Useless. These new recruits will lead to our capture!"
"Did another one of our bases got raided?"
"Let me guess, a newbie was tracked."
The three big shots said their own comments. The blonde cat Faunus looked extremely annoyed while the other two simply rolled their eyes. Something tells him that the other two were used to failures of newly recruited members.
"Whatever. So long as our operations don't get delayed…"
"I really think we should hire recruits with the skills. Increasing our numbers with incompetents would only lead to our downfall."
"The problem with that logic is that there's not much Faunus that are competent. Most of them are hunters working for the humans."
The three of them fell into conversation of recruitment. While it was amusing to hear their views on how to better their organization, they should really invest in their security. Jaune paid half attention to their debate and wondered if there was another reason why he was here—aside from capturing these three.
A newly graduated hunter can handle infiltration of this caliber.
Maybe it was because of his pride. Last month, he and his partner were stationed in the outskirts of Altar and were assigned to dispatch a large nest of Boarbatusks along with a few Deathstalker. It's been ages since he was assigned in an amateurish mission like this!
Shouldn't he be in a more… prestigious mission or something?
Jaune heard the White Fang member beside him groan and lift his leg. They had only been standing for mere thirty minutes yet the man was already tired. How was he supposed to guard with fatigued legs? Seriously, the fat Faunus was correct—the White Fang needed competent members.
"—speaking of which, have you heard the commotion in Vale?"
"Yes, many of our members were killed in the underground explosion. The city itself was invaded by the Grimm."
"Vale… isn't that human, Roman Torchwick, in charge there?"
Jaune focused on their conversation without appearing interested. He kept glancing in the room while he listened. He knew of that attack in Vale. Grimm used the abandoned tunnels that connected to Mountain Glenn and invaded the city. The explosions underground made a hole large enough for a few King Taijitu to fit. There were many casualties in both the Vale population and White Fang members. The only good thing that came out of it was that Torchwick was arrested.
"Humph, I bet a Faunus could do a better job than that imbecile. Why is there even a human in the ranks?"
"He's the one who provided us with weapons and resources. He is one of the foundations of the White Fang; his arrest is a big blow to our plans."
"Not to mention he's good at what he does."
He listened to their conversation but it seems that they were only here to discuss about the plans in robbing Dust. Seriously, they've been robbing Dust since he was at Beacon, what would they use it for? Why do they even need a shit ton of Dust?
Jaune was pulled out of his thoughts when the door was opened abruptly.
He was immediately in position, aiming his – standard issued – rifle towards the intruder. The other member on guard duty stumbled down in shock and dropped his gun. Jaune rolled his eyes and put down his weapon when he saw that the intruder was another White Fang member. He was panting, and from the looks of it, he was to deliver an important new.
"S-sir! You are required to see who we captured!"
The three fellows looked at one another in curiosity and nodded. They ignored the newcomer's stutter and glared at the grunt that was still on the floor. The three headed out of the room and the other member went to pick up the suitcase.
Before he left, the blonde Faunus pointed at him.
"You there, come with us. It feels safe to have a competent member guarding us, unlike him."
Jaune saluted and followed them.
For a weakly guarded base, the place was surely large. Then again, it was located underneath a mall. Jaune followed the trio and pretended to be on guard just to put on a sense of safety for the three big shots. He'd enjoy to see their reaction once he incapacitate them later.
On their way, the member spoke, his sentence rugged.
"We were on the meeting of SDC earlier, we saw an important person and then HQ said to capture her at any cost. We did, but with great sacrifice on our part. We escaped and left the others to fight and then arrived here. There are only two of us and my friend in injured…"
Oh? Who this person might be, Jaune wondered. He examined the White Fang Grunt and noticed that he had a few scratches in his uniform. He might be a competent member after all. Jaune prepared several plans on his mind…
"Well good job! I'll make sure you and your friend get promoted!"
The blonde Faunus grinned widely, on the other hand, the other two big shots looked contemplative. Finally—one of them spoke, the tallest one.
"This person… she wouldn't a part of Schnee family, is she?"
The grunt nodded… wait what?! Jaune did not hide his shock.
"What? Are you a fool!"
"Why did you brought her here?!"
The two experienced leader exclaimed simultaneously while the amateur merely tilted his head in confusion.
"What are you guys so worked up for? Shouldn't we celebrate? I mean we have a Schnee as a hostage!"
The other two glared furiously at the last member of their group while the grunt looked at them with curiosity.
"They brought a high-value target here! SDC would sent reinforcements here!"
"Did you even check her for tracking devices?!"
"…They're right you know?"
The two leaders exclaimed before they suddenly collapsed on the ground, unconscious. The last one stared at Jaune with a surprised expression while the other grunt moved to fight him. His movements were sluggish and Jaune disarmed him easily. Seriously, with these easy targets he wondered how White Fang managed to remain active until now.
He then grinned at the blonde Faunus before he knocked him unconscious.
"Targets have been secured, there are two more but they are of no threat. I will move to another objective. You can take over here."
[Affirmative…]
Jaune ended the transmission secured the four unconscious Faunus on the ground. He moved quickly to the underground parking lot where he saw a black van with an injured White Fang member outside and guarding.
Jaune approached and the man and before he could say something, the White Fang member suddenly threw a punch at him. Jaune dodged it by side-stepping and swept the man on his feet, causing him to collapse on the ground.
"You know, I really hate bullying. Why don't you just stay there and be nice?"
He said as he pointed at rifle at the injured grunt.
Damn he's cool.
The grunt snarled but before he could do something, Jaune used the butt of his gun to hit the grunt on his neck, rendering him unconscious. Jaune checked the grunt for any signs of faking unconsciousness and then secured him with cuffs.
He opened the backdoor of the van and paused.
The one inside, cuffed into the chair was a woman of twenty-something. She had white hair that framed her face and reached shoulders and a pair of lavender colored eyes. She stared at him with a glare but did not say anything.
Jaune sighed.
"You really like getting kidnapped huh?"
The woman's glare turned into something unfathomable as she stared at him for a few moments. After that, her mouth thinned into a line and she relaxed on her position.
"It's not my fault these degenerates loves abducting me."
Her tone was snide and cold, and her personality even colder.
Jaune did not say anything and entered the van, he released her from her ministrations and contacted his reinforcement on the sudden development on his mission. Meanwhile, the woman got off the van and fixed her crumpled attire without any care to her surroundings.
"By the way, why are you disguised like that, Arc? Demoted into a grunt?"
Not even thanking him from the save. Jaune rolled his eyes and removed his White Fang mask, his blonde hair falling to his shoulders. He glared at her but did not respond. He had forgotten that she also had a mean streak even nastier than her sister.
"I should saw the same thing to you, from CEO into a damsel in distress. I didn't know you liked fairy tales, Winter Schnee."
"Even the pay is crap! Man, I'm so not going on another job like that."
Jaune left the building, his attire changed. Beside him, a woman followed. The woman had long black hair and pretty features that gave a sophisticated aura. Although her sharp eyes tend to scare people whenever she stare, whether it was intentional or not, he did not know.
Her name was Serafall Sequenzia, his partner for four years.
It had been two years since the two of them graduated from Atlas' institute where Jaune spent his third and second year. He left Beacon after first year because of some family matters that forced him to transfer out. Since then, he had not been in touch with his friends.
He doubted that they even remembered him.
"…Indeed, that was a waste of our time."
Unlike Jaune who was tasked to infiltrate the White Fang base (if you could call it that) Sera was positioned to snipe anyone who escape or take a civilian hostage. She was out in the cold place for an hour and she didn't even get to shoot someone.
Enough to say, she was not pleased.
A group of males scrambled as Sera shot them a scathing look.
Jaune sighed and grabbed her wrist, a pissed Sera was not a nice Sera. That was a lesson he learned the hard way during their second year in Haven. In order to calm her down you would need strawberry parfaits.
A lot of them.
"Come on; let's go to that shop you want. That job was so crappy that we should spoil ourselves."
He lead her to a certain coffee shop that had maids as servants. He was glad that his partner would rather choose to stay in a coffee shop than shop for clothes. Sera had always preferred her black suits and she never wore anything aside a shirt.
Even on their prom.
It was an amusing sight; both of them wore suits while dancing in the middle. Jaune could remember Sera step on his foot several rimes, it was quite painful, she always had a fascination with heavy shoes that can serve as a shield.
The two of them entered the shop and sat down. Since the shop wasn't full, they were served immediately by one of the maids in frilly uniform. Jaune settled for coffee while Sera ordered parfait despite the (always)-cold weather in Atlas and cakes, lots of cakes.
"Still, who knew that she would be involved there?"
Jaune discussed about a certain CEO that he rescued earlier. Winter did not even said anything to them when she boarded a Bullhead and left with a dozen bodyguards. The two of them had encountered her before. It happened a year ago in Vacuo, where they were assigned to investigate the sudden spike of Grimm. They discovered that the place was a White Fang base where they keep hostages. The combined negative emotions from the White Fang and the distressed hostages drew the Grimm and well… the rest was history.
They rescued her along with a few important figures while dispatching Grimm and some White Fang members.
That job was a bloody mess.
There were many casualties when the heavyset Grimm had arrived and wrecked havoc.
The two of them would never forget that event.
"So, there doesn't seem much to do these days… what do you say let's take a break and wait for something… more paying."
"…Whatever."
As soon as Sera finished her meal, the two of them went back to their apartment, eager to rest after a long day.
Winter Schnee dried her hair with a towel and stared at her screen.
Jaune Arc… she knew that she had heard that name before. Even before that incident in Vacuo, and now she knows why. She had heard his name before from her sister and her friends from Beacon. Her eyes stared at the details, comparing the one in Beacon and the one currently in Atlas…
So, he spent his first year in Beacon and transferred out by the end of the first school year. She remembered her sister at that time, growling about lunkheads and something about not fulfilling a promise. She wondered if Arc had known Weiss.
She swept her fingers in the screen and another profile appeared.
It showed the picture of Serafall Sequenzia.
Her eyes narrowed at the information, there was something missing. The information on her was limited, at the same time she couldn't help but wonder if this person was hiding something. Then again, it was none of her business.
From the looks of it, the two of them were not on any mission and filed on a leave for one month.
Placing a delicate finger on her red lips, she wondered…