Chapter 2 – The Beginning

Team JNPR pounded down the hallway to class, barely making it in before the bell rang. Dr. Oobleck is still writing on the blackboard, a flurry of movement and calligraphy none of them could follow. Without turning around or stopping he addresses the students. "Alright, everyone to your seats. I will be with your shortly, I just need to finish up some of these notes so that you may write them down for your – notes!"

The class start talking amongst themselves while they wait. Jaune turns to Pyrrha and asks, "How do you know Uncle John?"

"He said Ozpin asked him to escort me around Vale before Initiation." She replies.

"Ah. That must have been the favor he was talking about."

Ren raises an eyebrow. "Favor?"

"Well," Jaune replies hesitantly, "you know how I didn't go to a formal combat school like the three of you did?" They nod. "Well, Uncle John asked Ozpin to let me take part in the Initiation even without a formal transcript as a favor. Said that's the most he could do for me, as I would need to earn my place at Beacon myself. Him escorting Pyrrha around Vale must have been the favor Ozpin used."

Ren nods in understanding. "Did he do anything else for you?"

Jaune scratches his chin. "He taught me some hand to hand combat and unlocked my Aura for me about half a year ago. He said I couldn't go to an Academy with my Aura still locked away."

"Hand to hand combat?" Pyrrha asks, intrigued. "But I've only ever seen you use your sword and shield."

"Uncle John said it's not the kind you use against Grimm, but against people. He also said not to use it unless a life was in danger. He was pretty serious about it. That's why I'm using a sword and shield."

Further conversation is halted as Dr. Oobleck turns to face them. "Now" he says, in his usual fast pace. "Today we will be covering the way Dust was originally used to interact with metals to form a catalyst that…" and Jaune is lost already.

-|#|-|#|-


John steps out of his car in front of The Club, having decided to come here directly from Beacon. It's still the afternoon, so the building would be closed unless it's for a delivery. John heads to the back, coming up to the rear entrance and knocking.

One of Junior's men opens a slot in the door and looks at him. "What do you want?"

"I'm here to talk to Junior."

"About?"

"Business."

The guard looks at John for a few seconds before talking into his radio. "Boss, there's a man at the back entrance who wants to talk to you about some business."

John looks up and to the right, where a security camera is pointed at him.

"Bring him to my office."

The grunt opens the door and motions John inside, closing and locking the entrance afterwards. Another grunt starts leading him to Junior's office. Once there, he opens the door to let John walk in.

Junior is sitting at his desk, the Twins off to one side resting on a couch. John nods to the man. "Junior."

Junior nods back. "John." He motions the other man to sit down before pouring some bourbon into two glass cups. "What kind of business do you have with me?"

"Roman has been using your men as muscle on some business recently." John says before taking a seat and grabbing a cup, taking a sip as Junior nods. "I'm here to suggest you don't allow that to happen anymore."

Junior is surprised but doesn't show it. "Why do you say that?"

"I can't guarantee their continued employment with you should I run into them outside of this establishment while Working."

Junior looks at the John speculatively but nods in agreement. "I see. Thank you for informing me. I'll make sure to cut my business dealings with him for the foreseeable future."

John nods back. "Thank you." He finishes his drink, as does Junior. John places the cup back on the table. "What can you tell me about all the Dust Roman is collecting?"

Junior shrugs. "Not much, I don't know any more than you do. Dust has always been part of his acquisitions, but the amount taken lately is far above normal. The fact that he has to hire outside contractors shows the scale of his operations. Whether this is just a temporary project or permanent expansion is currently unknown. He's not exactly lacking in Human Resources, and there's rumors he's in a partnership with the White Fang, with the possibly a merger." Junior tilts his head and looks at the man across from him. "Why are you getting into this? I thought you were retired."

"I'm working on it." John stands up and nods to the other man. "Junior."

Junior nods back. "John."

John turns around and walks out of the office, leaving the three alone. Junior turns to the Twins. "Inform our men, no one is to take so much as a single lien from Roman Torchwick until I say so." They nod and stand up, exiting the room to tell the underlings personally to clarify the importance of the order.

As they leave, Junior picks up the phone and dials a number. The phone rings twice before being answered by a jovial voice. "Ah Junior, good timing. I have a little job I need assistance with tonight, no more than half a dozen of your men are needed. This will be provided to me for free of course, as compensation for their lacking performance two weeks ago."

"About that Roman," Junior interrupts. Roman always loved to hear himself talk, he could go for hours. "Unfortunately, I will not be able to provide any more services for you."

The line is silent for a few moments. "Junior. Are you telling me no?"

"That's correct."

"And why" says Roman, all traces of mirth gone, "would that be Junior? Hmm? What could possibly tempt you to deny me your services? Especially since you know exactly what I would do to you and yours if you ever said no to me."

"It was a request."

"A request to deny me your assistance?"

"Yes."

"And may I ask whom exactly made this request?"

"John Wick."

There is silence for a few heartbeats. "Oh." *click*.

Junior puts the phone back on the receiver and sighs, before pouring some more alcohol into his cup and taking a large gulp. He then picks up the phone and calls a few more people to warn them.

-|#|-|#|-

Evening rolled around, and John Wick approached a supposedly disused warehouse in his Business clothes.

White Fang members are currently moving crates of Dust and other supplies around inside, as well as guarding against attacks. Though they have greater night vision, John knows how to evade them well enough to catch one off guard, snapping his neck quietly and putting the body aside. He enters through the 2nd floor emergency exit, making sure to not make any sound. Luckily, the terrorists inside are too busy to notice his entrance. He makes his way over to a cat walk along the short side of the large room and surveys the scene below him.

The warehouse is split into several sections by the supplies inside. He can see Dust, weapons, ammunition and food being moved from trucks to storage and vice versa. There are roughly three dozen Fang members inside the warehouse, with more undoubtedly standing guard somewhere outside.

He makes a plan of attack, just as two Faunus exit what looks to be an old manager's office and sees him. "Hey!" one of them shouts, "What are you doing-" John draws his handgun and fires off two head shots. With all attention drawn to him, he leaps off the railing, spotting three terrorists beneath him.

He shoots the ones on the left and right in the head as he drops, then crushes the one directly beneath him before finishing her off with a headshot. He then snaps his gun forward, opening fire as he moves down the center aisle.

Several more terrorist die as they try and fail to get into cover. John's aim doesn't waver as it moves from one to target to another, the compensator helping to keep the muzzle level. He rolls underneath a sword swing, coming up to a knee and shooting the terrorist in front of him twice in the chest and once in the head before turning around and putting one in the eye of the sword wielder. He turns around, standing as he does so and puts three rounds in a third Faunus before the slide locks back. He drops the magazine and flicks it to the side, slapping in a full mag and taking cover.

The White Fang are starting to get organized, guards coming inside while others fled. Everyone that stayed was either armed with a gun or a sword. John crouches and waits, gun at the ready. A shadow comes into view and he immediately turns the corner, grabbing the Fang member and using his body as a shield, shooting over the shoulder while moving forwards. He then kicks the member down, finishing him off with a headshot as three come behind him.

He turns 180 degrees, popping off three more headshots before rolling backwards into cover. Turning left, John shoots a female trying to ambush him before he stands and pivots right - headshot, pivot center – stomach-chest-head, pivot left – chest-chest-chest-head. He finishes off the female trying to crawl away, the slide locking back empty again.

Flicking the empty mag away, the reload is interrupted by a Faunus bum rushing him, pushing him into a metal container. An Aura enhanced elbow breaks the terrorist's back before the body is pushed up and away, allowing John to reload and finish the Faunus off with two headshots.

With only 12 members left the remaining terrorist decide to retreat, but John won't let them get away that easily. Two trucks start up, a few Fang laying down covering fire while the rest fall back. John crouches down and flanks to their left, staying out of view until he approaches their cover and they end up in a straight line. He takes down the four with guns, landing headshots on all of them before turning and killing the two in the first truck. The second truck guns it, tires squealing with a few of the terrorist climbing into the back as it exits the warehouse.

John sprints across the warehouse and out the door, opening fire on the truck before the slide locks back, two bodies falling out the rear of the truck. Instead of reloading, he pulls out a special bullet and puts it directly in the chamber, releasing the slide before taking aim and hitting the back of the passenger cab. He then watches as the truck leaves, the rear cargo doors still open as a few of the Faunus stare at him. The truck soon turns a corner and disappears from view.

John lowers the gun before pulling out his scroll, opening up an app that can follow the signal of the special tracking bullet he fired, recording the route it takes and the locations it stays at. The battery will only last 86 hours at most, but they will hopefully bring it to at least one more safe house before it dies. And with all the bullet holes, they shouldn't look at any one of them too closely.

Car headlights and flashing police lights shine on him from the right, and John brings his gun hand up to shield his eyes. The headlights dim as an officer steps out of his vehicle, allowing John to lower his hand and see who it is.

"Evening John."

"Evening Jimmy. Noise complaint?"

The officer slowly nods. "Noise complaint." He looks and sees the dead White Fang in the parking lot. "You uh, you working again?"

"Something like that." John puts away his scroll and reloads the gun before holstering it. "Something for Ozpin, he can explain it to you if you want."

"No, no, that's ok." The officer waves it off before looking at the warehouse. "More inside?"

John nods. "More inside. You mind coming back in an hour? I need to look through some things first."

"No problem John." He pauses getting halfway in the car. "This something I should know about?"

John shrugs. "Maybe. I'll tell Ozpin what I learned. If he doesn't tell VPD, I'll tell you the important parts."

The officer nods. "Thanks. Well, I'll leave you be then. Night John." He says as he gets back in the car.

"Night Jimmy." John watches as the flashing lights are turned off and the car drives away.

Turning back towards the warehouse, he goes inside to start searching for some information that can be used.

-|#|-|#|-

Next Day, Headmasters Office – Beacon

Ozpin ends the call with John Wick, bringing up the data from the tracking app that he shared with them. They've identified at least one more warehouse, possibly two though the latter may just be a safe house or recruitment center. The Tracking App is widely used throughout all of Remnant, with Beacon itself utilizing the app as a homing beacon for the rocket lockers and to keep track of student's whereabouts. Ozpin never really gave the app a second thought, though if it is something Wick would use in this situation he has to wonder how much influence the Organization truly has.

Ozpin notes the locations the truck stopped at, making a reminder to have both sites under discrete observation. Glynda watches all this with pursed lips, indicating her displeasure.

The headmaster takes a sip from his mug before glancing at the deputy headmistress. "See Glynda? One day and we already put a dent in their operations."

"True" she replies, "but at what cost?" Goodwitch turns on the TV, the display showing the warehouse John Wick had cleared out behind police tape as bodies are being carted out. "Over 25 Faunus are dead. How many more will die before this ends?"

"You know those deaths would have been unavoidable no matter what methods we used. And as callous as it is for me to say, better 25 dead Terrorists than 25 dead civilians."

Glynda purses her lips again but doesn't say anything to refute the statement. The Headmaster decides to change the subject. "How are the first year students doing?"

She glares at him, but lets the blatant redirect go. "They are doing well. We have several outstanding teams at the moment, though I worry if some of the leaders are up to the task."

"Oh?" Ozpin raises an eyebrow, "Which individuals would these be?"

"Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc and Cardin Winchester." Ozpin nods in understanding. "Miss Rose, though gifted in combat, is far behind in the normal curriculum. Without some intense effort on her part, I'm afraid she will be left further and further behind."

Ozpin nods.

Glynda pushes up her glasses. "Though Mr. Arc is up to speed on school work, his combat scores are abysmal. He shows some training, but his sword and shield are not up to par yet. I've seen him improving, but is still below what is acceptable for a first year student."

"And Mr. Winchester?"

"Though he is … adequate in both theoretical and practical coursework, problems with his personality have not endeared him to many of his classmates outside of his team. This will be a devastating problem in the future if it is not resolved soon."

Ozpin is about to respond when a call window opens up on his desk. "Headmaster? We're having an issue with two students in the dining hall."

Glynda spoke up. "I'll be down there in a moment."


Glynda Goodwitch strode into the cafeteria to see two first year Team Leaders about to come to blows. She whipped her riding crop to the side, creating a loud crack that drew all the attention to her. "Children" she says, pushing up her glasses once more, "What is going on here?"

Cardin Winchester has a sneer plastered on him. "Just a disagreement Miss Goodwitch."

"Yeah," replies Jaune, fury on his face as he looks at the other boy, "just a disagreement over who the real animal is here."

Cardin snarls, rearing his fist back but is stopped by another loud crack. Goodwitch speaks again. "Fighting is not allowed in the cafeteria. If you have a disagreement, the combat arena is the place to resolve them. I suggest you two move there." They stayed in place. "Now" she commanded.

Ten minutes later the combat arena stands are packed with students, mostly from the first and second years. Cardin is dressed in his combat armor, two handed mace out and ready. Goodwitch is on her scroll, setting up the standard arena protections and rules. Jaune walks out of the locker room, still dressed in his school uniform but holding his sheathed sword.

"Mr. Arc" says the deputy headmistress, "Why are you not in your combat outfit?"

"Don't need it" he replies.

Glynda raises an eyebrow, but Cardin speaks first. "Che. You're getting cocky Jaune. You fight like crap with your armor, what makes you think you have a chance without it?" he says with a sneer.

Jaune just smirks, making Cardin even angrier. Glynda sighs but steps back and begins the match.

Cardin rushes in, knowing that Jaune mainly hides behind his shield, but is surprised when the other boy merely tosses his sheathed sword aside, leaving him weaponless. Cardin doesn't stop and takes a large swing at the other boy.

Jaune ducks under the swing and kicks Cardin in the knee with his heel. Cardin buckles, but is able to recover with a backhanded swing before Jaune can do anything else. Jaune skips backward, easily dodging the mace and getting into a fighting stance.

Cardin stops as his knee hurts more than a kick should have been able to inflict but Jaune merely taunts the other boy, making a 'come on' move with his hand.

For all his bluster however, Cardin is not stupid when it comes to combat. He runs over and makes smaller, less telegraphed swipes but each one is dodged. Finally, he loses patience and makes a large swing for Jaune's left shoulder, which the boy ducks and retaliates with a liver shot, a hook to the face and a kick to the chest to push Cardin away.

Cardin stumbles backward, breathe hitching, side and face stinging from the blows but not badly hurt. The crowd is starting to get into it, once Jaune shows that he won't be going down as quickly as he normally does. His friends are impressed, as this is a side of him they have never seen before.

Cardin comes back swinging, each miss being met with a quick jab to the face or low kick to the knees and ankles.

"Oof," says Yang, "he's being merciless."

"GO JAUNE GO" yells Ruby and Nora.

"What do you mean Yang?" asks Pyrrha, as Jaune knees Cardin's left kidney. She is happy that her partner is able to fight effectively against the bully, but wonders why he didn't fight like this before. She can't place the fighting style either, as he doesn't fight with the normal flashiness that a hunter normally would. Instead, it's all small, controlled movements and precision strikes. She's never seen anything like it before.

"I think she is commenting on how Jaune unerringly strikes Cardin whenever the opportunity presents itself." Replies Weiss. Indeed, Jaune just tossed Cardin over his shoulder onto the floor, where he punched him in the face three times before jumping back to dodge an awkward swing from the Mace. The bully staggers back onto his feet, face red and breathing heavily.

"That too, but I'm talking about where he's hitting Cardin rather than how much." Six heads turn to her for explanation. "Look, how much hand to hand combat training have you girls – and Ren – had? Not much, right?" Yang knows Ruby was taught some by their dad, but it's not anywhere near as much as she learned. Everyone nods, even Pyrrha even though she probably had more than the others except for Yang. "I can tell you right now, he's not fighting like this is a spar. He's fighting like he wants to break Cardin."

"What do you mean?" asks Ruby, afraid her friend would do something cruel.

"Well," says Yang, finger tapping her chin as she tries to think of how to explain the situation, "you see where Jaune has been striking right?"

They turn just as the boy in question hits Cardin in the chin with an upward palm strike, pushing the taller boy backwards. "Yeah, just like that. Every hit Jaune has landed has been to the temple, eyes, jaw, liver, kidney, knee or ankle."

"All valid targets" says Weiss.

"I'm not saying they're not, but each location is where you hit to either disorient or disable someone. Whoever taught him to always hit those places plays for keeps. Also, a few of those spots I was told never to hit during a spar, as they could be crippling blows."

"What?" Pyrrha, Ruby and Ren ask in surprise.

"Temple and jaw strikes shake the brain to disorient," Yang ticks off each point with her fingers, "hits to the eye puff up the skin slowly shrinking your field of vision to nothing, liver and kidney strikes make it hard to breathe and sap your strength, knee and ankle strikes lower mobility until you can't even stand. It's the last two I was warned about, cause if you hit them too hard the other guy isn't going to walk correctly ever again. Jaune is picking Cardin apart piece by piece. If he keeps this up, I'd be surprised if Cardin can remember his own name at the end, much less stand and walk." They watch as another kick causes Cardin's knees to buckle, but he doesn't fall down and swings again wildly. "Jaune wasn't taught how to fight, he was taught how to destroy."

The spectators continue to watch and cheer as Cardin is now in the orange, while Jaune is still in the green though sweating slightly. A few more hits to the head and Cardin has lost any sort of patience he once had. He comes in swinging wildly, detonating the Mace at random times. Jaune dodges everything by a hairs breath until he is clipped in the arm and sent spinning to the floor. He recovers by rolling backwards to his feet, dodging a downward strike and the subsequent explosion.

Emboldened by his first successful attack of the fight, Cardin rushes Jaune with wild, powerful swings. Jaune decides to end the fight and drops to one knee to dodge a swing. He punches Cardin on the inside of the right thigh, striking a nerve and locking Cardin up for a moment. Jaune then uppercuts the other boy in his unprotected groin, eliciting a wince from the audience. As Cardin doubles over, Jaune grabs his head and brings it down onto a rising knee.

Cardin stumbles backwards, arms flailing and off balance but Jaune doesn't give him time to recover, jumping on to the other boy and wailing on his face with this left fist, riding Cardin to the ground where he continues to punch him. Cardin tries to ward Jaune away with his Mace, but Jaune grabs the right arm and spins his body around into an arm lock, back on the floor, hands around the wrist and legs around the arm below the elbow. He arches his back and Cardin screams out loud, fingers loosening until he drops his Mace.

Jaune tosses the Mace out of the stage and spins both bodies until he is lying above Cardin. He then wraps his left leg around Cardin's neck, tucking the left foot under Cardin's right arm which he still has a hold of. Jaune then arches his back once more, forcing Cardin to choke himself to while trying to stop Jaune from breaking his arm.

Cardin's attempts at escaping slowly diminish as his blows become weaker and weaker as he is left gasping for air. Jaune keeps his hold, just as he is taught until his body is covered in a purple glow.

"I said stop!" yells Goodwitch, prying Jaune off with her semblance and throwing him backwards. She then walks over to Cardin, who is still lying down on his back unmoving. She crouches down and checks his pulse, before confirming that he is still breathing. She stands back up and turns to his team mates. "Team CRDNL, please take Mr. Winchester to the infirmary." They nod and move forward, picking up their team leader and leaving the combat arena.

She then turns to Jaune, who just got back on his feet after being tossed like a rag doll. "Mr. Arc," she says, eyes narrowed, "Though I commend you on your win, please pay attention when I say the match is over. Ignore my instructions again, and it will be an immediate disqualification as well as grounds for further punishment." Her eyes flashed. "Don't, do that, again."

Jaune nods up and down repeatedly, extremely nervous and scared. "Good. Now, are you injured?" He shakes his head in the negative. "Very well." Goodwitch turns to the rest of the students present. "The fight is over. Everyone is dismissed." She then walks off the stage, as everyone else starts talking amongst themselves about the fight and leaving.

Jaune sighs in relief before he is glomped by mini-huntress in red. "JAUNE! THAT WAS SOOOO COOOL!" Ruby lets go of him and starts making exaggerated karate poses. "You were like ha! And ka-pow! And ke-yah!"

"I don't think he was that dramatic Rubes" laughs Yang, leading his other friends over to him. "Nice moves there Vomit Boy. Didn't know you had it in you."

The others congratulate him as well, causing him to blush at the praise.

"Still" questions Weiss, "how come we've never seen you fight like that before? You usually use your sword and shield." Though only a week into the new Semester, combat classes are held on Wednesday and Friday for first years. Each new attendee has already fought at least four times.

"Well, the hand to hand style I was taught is designed to fight people, not Grimm. I use a sword and shield most times as I need to get better with them before getting out into the field. Also, I was told never to use it unless my life or the life of another was in danger."

"Then why did you use it?"

"Because I couldn't beat Cardin normally and he needed to be taught a lesson about being an ass, especially to Faunus."

All his friends nod in understanding, though Blake starts to regard Jaune in a different light with the last statement.

As they walk back to their dorm rooms after Jaune put Crocea Mors away, Yang asks "So Jaune, who taught you how to fight?"

"My Uncle John did." He replies.

"Uncle?"

"Yeah he was here yesterday for something," he points a thumb at his team, "I ran into him with my teammates just before Ooblecks class."

"That's Doctor!" yells a faint voice.

Everyone looks around but can't find the source. "Huh" says Yang, "Well anyways, those were some pretty brutal moves you used, especially at the end."

"Yeah" Jaune scratches the back of his head, "like I said, I wasn't supposed to fight like that unless it was a life or death situation, but I think Uncle John would understand why I did it when he hears my reasoning."

They part ways once they get to the room, each team doing their own thing.


#


AN:

Chapter 2 came out pretty quick, I think I wrote this in about two weeks.

So, I had to wait until John Wick Chapter 2 came out before deciding if Jaune was going to be good at hand to hand combat. I say this because in the first movie, John Wick gets the shit kicked out of him every time it's against someone halfway decent: the ambush in the beginning, with the guy at the end of the night club shootout, Perkins in the hotel room, and with Viggo at the end. Most of the hand to hand in the film was just kinda 'meh' with John coming out usually worse, except for the one instance in his kitchen. The 2nd movie showed he knows what he's doing.

Not sure how many chapters this story is going to be, especially since I'm not doing a lot of Beacon stuff. Having John raid warehouse after warehouse would be boring also, so I'll keep that sparse. Also, he won't be at Beacon itself very often, mainly because there is no need to go there. If you look at the first volume as an entire semester as it should be, there are only a few things of note: Initiation, Jaune getting picked on, Weiss and Ruby regarding leadership, Forever Fall, the thefts at the Dock. I've already covered the first two with these two chapters, Forever Fall and Ruby's leadership doesn't concern John Wick at all, and the Dock is at the end of the semester. So if each semester at Beacon is, say, 3 months long, then there are still two and half months of filler I need to put in. There's gonna be many time skips, that's the only way I can keep the story from getting stale.

Next chapter will have Roman and Cinder, I think, as well as a little detail about the organization and how they work in this world, as well as John going to the Continental.

No pairings other than canon. No, John Wick is not going to get together with any of the students, Winter, Glynda, or anyone else. No, Jaune is not going to have a harem, the part about Blake is that this early in the school year she has no opinion on him other than that he doesn't fight with his sword and shield very well.

Yes, John Wick has a semblance, no I'm not going to tell you what it is right now, it will come out in the story much, much later.

Not sure how long each chapter is going to be.

Yes, the 'come on' hand motion is the same one Keanu does to Smith in the Matrix.

That should be it.

Peace,

Gunkatas