Hey guys! I figured I would grace all you lesser beings with my presence once again! Bwhahaha. Ha. Ha..

Just kidding though. Here's the next chapter. I wanted to get this out before classes started back up today, and it looks like that's what's happening.

Thank you all for your support. Just remember, if you're reading my story and you notice something... wrong... please point it out to me. It helps so much.

Almost forgot the line breaks again, but without further ado, read on my pretties.


Jaune glanced back and forth between Yang and Qrow, the two currently engaged in a fierce battle of wills; eyes locked, unblinking.

The tagalong had no idea what was going on. He'd left their private cabin on the passenger airship to find a washroom in order to relieve himself, and came back – after a little exploring, of course – to find the two staring at each other, some unspoken argument occurring. Unsure of what was happening and unwilling to interrupt, Jaune instead opted to take a seat in one of the chairs to the side, watching either party to see if he could find any weaknesses.

Qrow. It was weird for Jaune to refer to his teacher by his first name. The middle-aged huntsman had requested that Jaune call him Qrow for the duration of the mission. When Jaune asked him why, his teacher gave numerous reasons, and each of them were sensible.

He'd been watching the man for nearly three minutes, and it was as if Qrow was frozen completely solid, his face not showing any noticeable emotion.

Yang, on the other hand, seemed to be struggling. It looked like she was getting angrier with each passing second – so much that she was practically shaking.

Finally, after a minute of watching Yang's face pass through various degrees of frustration, the blonde girl blinked, and then growled.

"Ha, I win." Qrow stated happily.

…were these two serious?

Jaune sighed, the light noise drawing the attention of the two who apparently decided to start a staring contest while he was gone.

"Jaune, you're back!" Yang half-exclaimed happily. "How long were you sitting there?"

"I don't know, probably... six minutes?" Jaune guessed.

"So..." Qrow looked to a stopwatch he had been holding, "You took twenty minutes to go to the restroom?"

"No I took a look around the ship." It was a pretty big airship... wait a minute. "Did you guys start as soon as I left?" he asked doubtfully.

Yang nodded. "It's a six hour flight to Atlas. If me and my uncle can burn a half an hour in a staring contest, than that makes it only five and a half hours left to fill."

Jaune wasn't sure if he should be disturbed or impressed, so instead he settled for both.

"Qrow, I have a question." Jaune turned, attempting to avoid the pointedly bizarre.

"Shoot."

"I know we're going to Atlas, and I know you said our mission was 'protective detail', but what exactly are we going to be doing? Yang and I specifically."

"I'm glad you asked." the huntsman took a seat, gesturing for Yang to do the same. The girl took the chair next to Jaune.

"As you might have heard, the Schnee Quarry was the target of a White Fang terrorist attack weeks ago." The two teens nodded in response. "Although the news doesn't highlight it, it isn't the only White Fang activity as of late, most of it targeting high priority SDC targets. The Fang's been getting increasingly more active, and the Atlas military just can't seem to keep up."

Qrow paused to take a sip from his flask. "Both the Atlas military itself as well as the Schnee Dust Company started hiring outside help for temporary jobs. I was requested – personally – by an old friend to assist in guarding a Schnee laboratory that is a predicted target."

"But why bring us?" Jaune asked.

"I was just getting to that. " Qrow noted, "My friend also wants me to do some digging. He's worried there may be a mole at the lab – A leak, if you would. So, as an outsider, he's trusting me to do some detective work... My friend mentioned hiring others as well, but I... suggested that I might take a student or two along for 'training'."

"Gee, is he as cheap as you are?" Yang asked tauntingly.

Qrow ignored her, "He agreed, stating that he could 'see no problem with it' so here you guys are: your first official mission, and you guys aren't even out of Signal yet. You two should be thanking me."

"Who's your friend?" Jaune asked curiously.

Qrow smirked, "Oh, you know, just General James Ironwood, the Headmaster of Atlas Academy and leader of Atlas's Military."

There was a pause. "No, really." Yang demanded.

"What, you don't think I'm telling the truth?" Qrow said with fake hurt, "I'm offended."

"You know the general?"

"Yeah, fought him during the Vytal Festival – twice actually, once as a first year, then again as a third. He packs a mean punch. We went on a joint mission with his team before too." He smiled to himself "I don't think I'd ever seen Grimm run from someone before."

"Let me know when we're about to meet him." Jaune laughed, "I want to make sure I go to the bathroom beforehand."

"Eh, he's not too bad." Qrow stated encouragingly. "So, Jaune...?"

"Yeah?"

"Staring contest?" the grinning man offered.

The blonde groaned. "Yeah, sure, whatever."

Jaune didn't last nearly as long as Yang had, apparently. Shortly after his contest with Qrow, the elder huntsman decided he'd take a nap.

That left Yang and Jaune some time to talk to each other. Jaune talked about his holiday, training with his father, and his family back in Vale. After he'd exhausted that topic, Yang told him about Ruby and her dad, and what they'd done over the holidays.

However, apparently even Yang could grow tired of talking, and decided to take a nap like her uncle. With both his traveling companions passed out, Jaune figured it was probably a good time to get some reading in.

He reached into his bag, past his packed change of clothes, and pulled out two books that were on completely opposite sides of the literature spectrum. His copy of Ninjas of Love – still unfinished – and his aunties journal. He placed the more… questionable material back on top of his bag, because despite his incessant need to finish the book, he felt that reading smut in a room with his teacher and one of two female friends was a bad idea.

Not to mention they were both related to his one other female friend of only one day as well.

The blonde sighed, hoping that he'd at least be able to finish the book at some point during their stay in Atlas.

Jaune flipped the leather backed journal open to where he'd left off last. He'd just finished the section on Combat Movement last night, which he planned on working on the next chance he had. The section covered offensive and defensive positioning, team tactics, and how to properly fight when surrounded or while protecting civilians – things he would certainly need to know in a career as a huntsman.

The next chapter was called Advanced Dust Technologies. It was a topic Jaune skimmed through when he'd first got the book, very briefly. Now that he had a better understanding of many of the factors related to it, he felt he'd now better understand the topic in it's entirety.

He flipped past the pages on Dust Charges – it was what he'd picked up from the section the first time he'd looked at it – and instead continued on to Dust Bullets.

It wasn't something that was unheard of. Jaune knew about people storing Dust in their weapon's magazines in the form of bullets, being able to use the Dust with the pull of a trigger instead of having to activate it manually with their Aura. He began reading the topic regardless, to see if there was anything else that he could learn.

After scanning through a couple sentences, Jaune realized that what he'd been thinking of wasn't what his aunt had meant by titling the sub-topic Dust Bullets. His aunt actually had multiple diagrams drawn up of bullets that were made of Dust. As in Dust projectiles that could be shot long distances, and then activate on impact.

The designs were flawless, from what he could tell – immaculately drawn and labeled with the types of Dust used, their amount, their weight. Bullets that could light things on fire, freeze things solid... The list went on.

There was even a design for a bullet that could – theoretically – disable someone's Aura while not causing any physical damage. That sounded incredibly useful... if it worked.

From what he could tell, the bullets were possible. Just very challenging to make.

Perhaps coincidentally, the designs for the rounds were all .50 caliber. The same as his weapon's rifle component.

He looked at the two other people in the room, who were snoozing. Yang was well on her way to becoming a huntress: she had the skills, she had the ability, the mindset. Qrow was the textbook huntsman, someone Jaune would probably always consider out of his league as far as skills go.

And Ruby? She took down sixty Beowolves by herself out in the woods of Patch, according to Yang; and Ruby was two years younger than him.

His father, and even his mother if she decided to take up her spear again; they were all so far ahead of him in terms of ability. He knew he had to do whatever it took to catch up.

Jaune was sure this would be something he'd be able to use effectively

"Oh, what's this?" he heard a voice say, as the owner's hand reached down to grab the book.

Not the book he was reading currently, which in all honesty, would have probably been more convenient.

"Ninjas of Love...?" Qrow teased, flipping through the first couple pages. "I didn't take you for a romantic kind of guy Jaune."

"I-it's not a romance novel."

"What is it then?" the older man asked, eyes narrowed at Jaune over the top of the book.

Sighing, Jaune stated plainly "It's... smut."

Qrow gave a light chuckle, closing the book, "Yeah kid, I already knew that. Wanted to see what kind of stupid excuse you'd have. I'll have you know, I appreciate the honesty - just as long as you don't lend this stuff to either of my nieces." Qrow handed the book back to Jaune. "Oh, and we'll be landing in twenty minutes, so if you could wake Yang that would be great."

The boy scrunched up his face in confusion. He was sure he'd just started reading barely twenty minutes ago. Jaune opened his mouth to contest Qrow, when the intercom buzzed to life above him:

"Attention all passengers, we will be landing in twenty minutes. I repeat, landing in twenty minutes." the effeminate voice stated.

But... but how?


Jaune sat cross legged on the floor of the Bullhead's cargo bay, waiting patiently for their second flight of the day to end.

After getting off the passenger airship, they were quickly welcomed by an Atlesian officer – a lieutenant, going by how Qrow referred to him as such. The lieutenant took them to another dock, where there was a Bullhead waiting to take them to the lab.

Jaune felt the Bullhead slow slightly – no doubt approaching their destination – and stood abruptly.

Yang, who'd been sitting next to Jaune, asked "What's up?"

"We're almost there." The blonde boy stated.

"How can you tell?"

Timed perfectly with Yang's question, Qrow came out of the cockpit. "Two minutes out, get ready for landing. Once we're off the Bullhead, our mission will begin; I want both of you to stay alert, and be prepared for combat at a moments notice, and remember: keep things professional, got it? Well, at least until it's just us three again."

Jaune nodded, sliding Crocea Mors over his arm and deploying his other weapon in it's full rifle form. After roughly a week of patrolling Forever Fall with his dad, Jaune had gotten used to the combined weight of the sword and shield on his arm for long periods of time. Yang did whatever Yang had to do to prepare, and gave Jaune a quick smile.

The hatch opened, and the cold air quickly filled the previously warm cargo bay. Jaune could see the lab from where they were – it was practically a fortress, it's tall walls dotted by towers at equal intervals, illuminated despite the darkness of night around it. The lab building was half as tall as the walls surrounding it, but Qrow had told them that the majority of the lab was underground. Anti-air dotted the open area between the walls and the lab, prepared to fight off either a flock of Nevermore or a fleet of Dustplanes. All in all, it was quite the impressive looking complex.

"That's the lab?" Yang asked over the roar of the engines and the howling of the wind. The distance between the ground and the tilt-jet shortened as they got closer.

"Must be." Jaune responded, pulling his scarf over his face.

They descended towards the landing pad. The Bullhead hadn't even touched down yet when Qrow hopped out, jogging ahead. Why the man hadn't worn a winter coat like himself and Yang, Jaune didn't know.

Jaune and Yang followed Qrow's lead, landing softly on the concrete beneath them as the Bullhead landed behind them. They quickly caught up to Qrow, who was standing outside a large metal door with the Schnee logo on it. Qrow was tapping away at a panel on the wall next to it, and a voice came out of the intercom above it.

"You know," the distorted voice came through, "I'm tempted to leave you locked out there just because I know you're not wearing a coat."

"Damn it Jimmy, open this door!"

"Sorry, I have no idea who you're talking about."

Qrow scoffed, shivering. "James, you open this door right now, or you're going to have to hire even more people to fix it."

A couple seconds passed in silence, before the door slid open. Qrow was the first one in, still shivering, followed by Yang with Jaune bringing up the rear.

Standing in the middle of the hallway was a middle-aged man in a white military-esque uniform. Jaune could only assume the man was General Ironwood. Jaune would have thought the man unamused at seeing Qrow's plight, if it weren't for the edges of his mouth showing faint signs of a smile.

"Qrow," The man stated plainly – as plain as a man likely used to commanding multitudes of soldiers could, "It's been too long." The big man held out a hand for Jaune's teacher to shake.

"Not long enough if you ask me." Qrow joked in response, taking his hand. "But if the alternative is staying outside, I guess I'll take the better of my two options."

"Yes, quite." The general turned his attention to Yang next, offering her his hand as well. "Miss Xiao Long. It has been even longer since I've last seen you."

"Oh? I wasn't aware we've met before sir." Yang smiled – although Jaune could tell it was half forced.

"Ah, you were very young then. You've certainly changed since." Then, the military man's gaze switched to Jaune.

They stood there in silence for a moment, with Qrow and Yang looking back and forth between the two, before Jaune panicked slightly. He retracted his weapon into its pistol-like form, and switched it to his left hand while extending his right for the general to take "The name's Jaune Arc; It's short, sweet, rolls off the tongue - ladies love it."

Now if only Jaune could shoot himself in the foot physically as well. He could practically feel Yang's glare burning its way through the side of his head. And Qrow? Jaune didn't even want to know what Qrow was thinking.

Way to keep things professional, Jaune.

But to the three's surprise, Ironwood simply laughed it off, taking Jaune's hand. "Ah, you're definitely your father's son. A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Arc." The man turned, but not before giving Jaune's weapon a curious glance. "If the three of you could follow me please, I'll take you to your quarters."

The general started down the hall. Now that the older man wasn't likely paying attention to the trio, Yang kicked Jaune in the shin – not damagingly, but painful – while Qrow smacked him in the back of the head. They didn't need words to convey how they felt about what just happened.

The party of four traveled through the laboratory's bland hallways, occasionally passed by different Atlesian soldiers who would pause to salute their general. Qrow walked alongside Ironwood, with Yang and Jaune tailing them.

Yang whispered to Jaune, looking around "Not a lot of windows, are there?"

Jaune was about to respond – but Ironwood, roughly two meters ahead of them was quicker "No, in a lab like this, windows are considered a structural weakness – it makes it easier to lockdown entire sectors if anything gets through, or over, the walls."

Jaune knew which of the two Ironwood was referring to specifically however. Nothing was taking down those walls.

"Ah."

The four of them stopped outside a door, sliding open when the general swiped his scroll across the panel next to it. Ironwood regarded them once more. "These are going to be your quarters during your stay. Your scrolls should all be synced, so each of you can get in and out."

"Thank you, sir." Jaune accepted, heading on in. Yang followed closely and the door closed behind them, Qrow staying outside to talk to the general.

"Well, this is nice." Yang said sarcastically, glancing around the room.

There were three beds.

That was it.

"You know what? I like it." Jaune said dryly. "Reminds me of a prison."

"Nah, prison's probably better. At least some cells have windows." Yang explained, "Oh, I call the bed the left – it looks comfy."

"… They're all the same..."

"Let a girl dream, Jaune."

The two of them placed their bags at the feet of two beds – Yang at the left bed that she 'called' and Jaune at the one on the right, leaving Qrow the one in the middle.

The room didn't even have a bathroom connected to it, Jaune despaired. Talk about accommodation.

"So what do you think of Atlas so far, Jaune?" Yang asked with a hint of mirth.

Jaune recognized the tone. "Oh... you know. It's cold."

"Yeah?" Yang sat on her mattress, crossing her legs, "What else?"

"It's also very white."

"Mhmm." Yang hummed, a quaint expression on her face, as she had her eyes closed, imagining it.

"What else am I forgetting?" Jaune adopted a faux-thinking pose, even though Yang couldn't see it, before pretending he'd just come to a realization: "Oh, I know! It's also very cold!"

"Yeah, it sucks here," Qrow said from the doorway, walking in. Oozing unprofessionalism, he fell back onto the bed in between the two teens. "It has it's beauty, you just need to know were to look."

Yang laughed at that "Oh, and where is this beauty we're looking for?"

Qrow sighed, smiling as he looked up at the roof, "Well, it depends on how much you like white and grey"

Both teens laughed along with him this time.

"Anyways, I know its early, but we should try and get some sleep before tomorrow." Qrow mentioned.

"Didn't you guys just sleep for like, five hours on the airship?" Jaune pointed out.

Both Qrow and Yang looked at each other.

"He's not wrong." The relatives echoed.

"You know what? You guys do your thing, I'll just go to sleep." Jaune yawned.


Jaune sighed, as he continued to patrol the exterior of the complex's walls. He hadn't gotten a very good sleep the night before – courtesy of Yang and her uncle playing some card game. He wasn't sure what they played, but he was one hundred percent certain it did not require them to be so loud.

There wasn't anything he could have done about it either. Any time he'd try to tell them to be quiet, they either ignored him or asked him why he hadn't gone to sleep yet.

Despite the times he'd actually been enjoying their company, Jaune was glad for the time alone on his patrol; the only good part of it, mind you. The cold and the boredom weren't exactly very welcoming. The fact that he'd been given standard issue Atlesian combat armor to wear almost countered both of those.

The helmet and body armor covered everything but the bottom half of Jaune's face, which he covered with his scarf. Despite being completely solid, the visor did allow him to see through the use of external sensors – they broadcasted the area around him directly in front of his eyes.

Although the other soldiers claimed it was safe, Jaune had his doubts. His mother had always warned him about sitting too close to the TV screen. And his mother hadn't failed him yet.

The speaker in his ear crackled to life, and a man's voice came through "Command, this is Sentinel Two, I've got movement in the north east. Looks to be Grimm; a pack of Beowolves."

"Copy, Sentinel Two. Saber Thirteen, move to investigate."

Ah, that was him "Copy, Command. Saber Thirteen, en route." He was really glad Qrow went over radio communication before his shift began. That, and all the action movies he'd watched as a kid.

Jaune moved his head from left to right, using the compass on the helmet's visor to determine his direction, before proceeding towards the north east. Ahead of him was a thicket of pine trees, native to the continent of Solitas.

Jaune brought a hand back up to his helmet, "Sentinel Two, this is Saber Thirteen, do you still have eyes on?"

"Roger, Saber Thirteen. They're at your eleven – just at the edge of the treeline."

The armored and armed blonde looked in the specified direction, finally noticing the bulk of the pack. They were blended in quite well with the sparse shrubbery. Jaune stalked closer to the wolf-like Grimm. He counted eight of them – no alpha.

"Command, this is Saber Thirteen, requesting permission to engage the Grimm threats." As he said this, Jaune readied his firearm, deploying it in its more stable, rifle-like form, and aligning the irons with the head of the Beowolf that was the closest.

"Permission granted, Saber Thirteen."

Upon having confirmation, Jaune pulled the trigger twice, before quickly acquiring a new target. The remaining Beowolves turned towards the disruptive gunfire, barely noticing their freshly dead kin already beginning to disappear. Jaune put another two rounds into the open maw of another, the howl it let out instead cut down to a garbled whimper.

The Beowolves, in sudden realization, began to charge Jaune, but he kept firing; two shots for each Beowolf. Six of the canine Grimm were dead or dying before the closest even crossed the halfway mark, all his shots having found their targets. He pulled the trigger once more, gun making a clicking noise, indicating his clip was empty – he hadn't been keeping track as he should have been.

Instead of panicking, however, Jaune simply pulled the alt-trigger, letting his high-caliber reserve round tear through the chest of one of the rapidly approaching Beowolves. He didn't have the time to reload, so he returned his weapon to his back in pistol form. Jaune drew Crocea Mors from his arm, shield now deployed.

The blade quickly found a new home in the chest of the lone charging Beowolf as he sent it on its way to rejoin its ilk.

Jaune used his shield to push the dead Grimm off, before wiping the blade on the black fur of the beast. He'd have to clean the blade properly when his shift ended, but for now it would have to do.

Sheathing Crocea Mors, Jaune was about to report in when an ear-splitting noise buzzed through his helmet, before going completely silent. Jaune keyed his mic, hand up at his helmet again, but the line was static.

Then Jaune heard the dull roar of Bullhead engines, and turned his eyes to the skies. Darting over him, there must have been five Bullheads racing towards the lab. Jaune pulled his firearm from his back, replacing the empty mag with a fresh one, and doing the same with his .50 caliber cartridge.

Fearing the worst, Jaune took off at a jog back towards the complex, as the sound of gunfire rushed out to meet him.


Oh dear, it looks like something's brewing. Of course, it wouldn't be a Jaune centric-fic if Jaune didn't get to be a badass more often, am i right?

Don't worry people, he's just getting started.

Catch you on the flip side!

Updated: August 10/16