"Don't worry, Jaune, the help is coming... You... Just stay quiet and you will be safe."

"Mom..." No, she couldn't leave him like that. "Mom, please, wake up!"

"Coral?"

"Olivia?"

She never opened her eyes.

None of them survived that night.

Life outside the Kingdoms was rough.

Small villages were numerous but only a handful could boast more than two decades of existence. Maybe it would take a month or maybe a few more years, but it was only a matter of time before all the people here were killed and the town was added to the growing list of ghost settlements. People in places like these always tried their best to keep their emotions in control. With not enough money to hire the Huntsmen, the best they could do was to try to stay out of the Grimm's sights as much as possible.

For some villages, this plan bought them a few more years.

But it doesn't seem to be the case here, Jaune thought absentmindedly as a small gang of men roared in laughter, their spit and munched food flying out of their mouths. A young waitress - barely older than him - brought more food and forced a fake smile on her face. As she hurried to get away from the men's table, one of them lazily grabbed her by the wrist, a wide smile on his lips. The girl could only gulp before the man forced her onto his lap, his small piggy eyes savoring the view of her cleavage. And here we go.

That was a funny thing about places like this. It was stupid, really, but often people thought that Grimm were attracted only to open conflicts. Whereas in reality, any negativity was fair game to them. And suppressed anger or frustration were just as appealling as anything else.

"Hey, why don't you stay here with us for a while? I am sure your boss wouldn't mind," the man looked at the owner of the place, tone clearly indicating that he had no right to mind. With a nervous nod, the man ran into his office, sparing the poor girl only the silent apology. "See? That's fine by him. Anyone here has something to say?"

The other patrons of a small pub hastily turned away, finding sudden interest in their half-finished food and drinks. Jaune ignored the obvious threat, instead opting to get a better look at the men's weapons. Obviously, they were either Huntsmen or, at least, had Aura and prior training. That was not unusual though. Huntsmen were still people and it was unsurprising that some of them found the idea of ruling much more interesting than serving.

"You go something to say there?" The man sneered, sending him a glare. His friends smirked, looks of amusement and warning on their faces. Their hands reached towards their weapons, eager to make things more violent. To make an example out of him.

He looked into the girl's eyes, silent plea loud and clear. He didn't need to do the same with the rest of the people in here. He would find the same looks everywhere. They wanted someone to stop it. They wanted him to be a hero.

But he wasn't one.

And why should he be? Just because he was the only one here with the weapon? He could take these guys on. But he wouldn't walk away with

"Not really, you do your thing, man," he shrugged, the tension in the room dissipating immediately. Yeah, that must have looked quite anticlimatic. Leaving a few Lien chips, Jaune stood up from his table, ignoring everything around himself. The dissapointment and some understanding in the eyes of the patrons, the mocking laughter of the thugs and the betrayed look from the girl - none of that mattered to him. No need to waste my Dust on them.

There was nothing to gain in this situation other than some more scars and the gratitude among these people. None of those things would be useful in the long run. The place had nothing to offer. There were no people to impress around and, obviously, taking care of three random academy dropouts wouldn't add anything to his reputation. Not that he was trying to make one.

"I am surprised you didn't get into a fight."

"Wasn't worth it," he shrugged, looking the man up and down. What the hell was he doing here? "Aren't you supposed to be one some kind of meeting?"

For the first time in a while, he sounded genuinely concerned. And this guy wasn't easy to get worked up about anything. From the little bits the infamous criminal shared with him, Jaune knew only that the person he was meeting was very dangerous - even by their standards - and that she wasn't the type to take 'no' for an answer. Both traits Roman had himself and, thus, hated anyone else with them.

Except for Neo. When it came to her, he was quite the pushover.

"Just got back from there," the man smirked gesturing to the certain triple-colored psycho sitting idly on the bench, an ice cream cone in her hand. He could see some stains of red near her lips, though asking whether it was strawberry jam or blood wasn't required. She really liked the sweet strawberry syrup.

"I take it went well?" Otherwise, the master thief wouldn't look that damned pleased with himself. "So, what is the job now?"

"Eager I see, huh?" Of course he was. The damn bastard had him stay here for the long two months. "Don't worry, kid, we are going to have a lot to do. In fact, we are going to start right away."

Say what?

The world around them shattered like a glass.

[H]

"I hate you, you know that?"

"Oh, stop whining, Jaune," the annoying voice of his tormentor of a mentor figure spoke from the communicator. "it's not like you had any trouble with them before, did you?"

Seriously, they couldn't land him wherever the hell they did. No, why would they do it? They always could just drop him right next to the freaking bunch of SDC robots! He had barely enough time to slip on his mask lest his face got caught on camera. Roman loved attention. He was narcisstic like that, wanting eveyone to know that he could steal whatever he wanted and do this in broad daylight.

He, however, preferred to keep his identity secret.

[Intruder, identify yourself.]

"Jaune Arc, I was sent here to check something here for a certain mascara-wearing bastard and his mute girl psycho girlfriend," he replied knowing that it would take the robots around a minute or so to check over all the data he gave them. First, his name. Then if it was on the list of people who actually could be inside the warehouse. Then it would double-check before recognizing him as a threat and pointing a weapon at him.

He wouldn't wait for it to finish though.

He couldn't use his sword here. His swordplay wasn't bad but it was far from good or fast enough to use it against the robots with machine guns. Instead, he let a small vial of paper-thin glass with Burn Dust fall out of the sleeve of his jacket and into the palm, the white Aura coating it as he smirked just as the robot's voice announced that he was a threat.

No shit, dumbass, Jaune thought to himself as he spun, unleashing the powerful torrent of flames on the robots. The black steel was more than resilient enough to withstand his attack but their sensors weren't. Surprisingly, the robots did melt as the flames consumed them. That was unexpected. Did SDC cut their costs on security? No that didn't sound right. If there was anything a certain CEO valued, it was the sense of safety and superiority he loved rubbing the thieves' noses into.

[Target: Eliminate!]

Damn it, He almost got caught off guard. If it weren't for Neo beating these reflexes into him, he would be screwed. It was his luck that the first rows were mostly long-ranged. Otherwise, he would find himself riddled with bullets by now. He never carried too much with himself in that town so he didn't have a lot to use. Just three of vials for four basic types of Dust: Burn, Ice, Lightning and Steam. First three for attack or defense. And the latter for distraction and escape.

Though Steam Dust wouldn't do much in his situation. These darn robots would see right through the veil of steam and attack him. Dodging the blade of one of the robots, Jaune drew out his sword and allowed the sheath to expand into shield, parrying the first blow before tanking his way through the next two androids. These were not the high-quality work despite their shiny looks. His sword slashed through them far too easily and their own moves were way too sluggish for the security of SDC warehouse.

Something was wrong. And the more time he wasted on these guys, the less time he had to figure out what on Remnant was going on here. Dodging and ducking and parrying, he made his way onto one of the giant containers in this place before pulling three Steam Dust vials out of his inner pocket. He threw them against the ground where the moajority of robots stood letting the veil coat them before he took out three more bubbles of Dust.

Ice Dust.

It was anice little trick he learnt back when he only started. Some types of Dust were much weaker than others. That is, unless you used your head with them. Gravity Dust, for example. Unless you had some Semblance to control it, you couldn't do much with it other than sticking yourself to the ground or floating in the air like a balloon. But mix it with Ground type and add Burn Dust and you have a deadly trap. Burn Dust had naturally volatile traits and was one of the easiest to trigger.

The robots couldn't even react in time as the steam around them froze, trapping all of them into ice blocks. huh, that easy enough. Then again, this whole thing was way too easy. There were almost two dozens of robots but he cut through them like Neo through... Well, pretty much anyone.

He did fight against some androids before. Not too often but enough to know general weaknesses. But these were not some random robots. They were made specifically for SDC. Strong enough to fight against a group of White Fang soldiers. Even though he could certainly say he wasn't weak, he definitely couln't be strong enough to take all of them out in less than ten minutes.

Something didn't feel right.

"Roman, I am done with the security," he whispered into his communicator, waiting for some snide remark on taking too long or not being dead yet. However, no response came. And that was already unnerving. The feeling of unease only continued to grow as senses someone's Aura outside the door. It was powerful but - more importantly - expectant. In the heat of a a battle, he didn't sense it. But now it all became clear. "Shit..."

It was an ambush.

The entire wall was brought down, the group of twenty police officers or so standing outside, weapons at ready. He had only Lightning Dust on him and his Aura wouldn't get him far even if it was a tad bit larger than most people's. Shit, the first day out on the real job and he is already at the mercy of the local law enforcement. Where was he even? The guys didn't looks like someone from Atlas. Too much color for Atlas. Too little flesh shown for Vacuo. Mistral? Well, he could always pay them so it didn't sound bad.

"This VCPD, put your hands in the air so we can see them!"

Oh joy... Out of all places, it just had to be Vale.

"Roman...?"

"Yes?"

"Fuck you."

Hello, guys. I really want to hear your response to this story. I will be honest, writing first chaoters is always a choir. I guess I just can't find the balance between "too long" and "too short"./ So if you would kindly review this prologue, I would really appreciate it.

Basic premise:

Jaune is a thief and a criminal under Roman. However, I really want to deconstruct and pick apart the issues which come with such life but often get missed out in stories. You know, like making Jaune some sort of a killer but a sweet cinnamonroll at the same time? No way.

Any suggestions are welcome.