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Last time Jaune had been anywhere near Vale, he'd been sweating so hard that he thought he might die. Again. He'd dealt with it admirably, he thought, and mostly ignored it until he got to Tai's house and its blessed air-conditioning, but still, he'd been hot and then freezing when he returned home to the Tower, and had to deal with blisteringly cold winds breezing in through the balcony the Portal-pool was next to.

Honestly, whoever the bright guy was who had made that decision needed a nice, hard slap to the back of the head. With a mace, preferably, several times until they understood the severity of their mistake.

The cave had probably been part of the building, judging from the crumbled columns he'd seen on the way up, coated in natural rock and dirt both but with the dark pale stone brickwork still visible underneath. The roof of the cave, too, showed signs of an old construction of some kind, and Jaune was starting to learn how to spot them. Flatter than normal, with a scant few bricks visible around the stone that had built up over the centuries since the place had been abandoned.

Behind him, the old Portal-Stone rested, set into the natural rock now with everything else thrown aside by the Portal's whirl of energy and power, which had kicked up an annoying amount of dust. Even that had look… Worn and cracked, though, the stone weathered in a way some others weren't, probably from the time passed. He'd never stopped at the others to look, though. Scratches were chiseled along this one's surface, shallow and likely nothing to worry about.

Aside from the remnants of the stonework he'd seen as he made his way through the cave, though, nothing much else was left. Outside, he could barely even see any of the signs he'd seen inside. No brickwork, and certainly nothing else, was left to show any sign of the ancient civilization that had built this place, at an Overlord's bidding or not.

"How old is this place?" He asked, looking around at spare woodlands, made up of sparse brush and thick, tall pines that towered into the sky. Like Atlas, in a lot of ways, but with short grass and foliage on the ground, and thicker looking bushes and shrubs around him, some clustered around the mouth of the cave that he forced himself through. "There's nothing around here, at all… The one back on Patch had more than this."

"That one was in an area that stayed rather more settled than this one, Master." Gnarl explained, Jaune nodding at the idea. "Isolated on an island so bigger beasties can't get there terribly easily, and full of game, it makes sense that Patch would be more immediately apparent in having squatters. This is… a rather barren mountain, now, it seems. Which makes sense, given what happened."

"What happened?" He asked, hesitating for a moment at the mouth of the cave, more out of curiosity than any real worry. Whatever happened, it did so little over a thousand years ago at least, and Jaune wasn't worried about it.

"A battle, Lordship." Gnarl answered simply, actually managing to sound upset for once. Which was strange, coming from the Minion, or at least the kind of sadness was. "A Grimm Incursion came, and the Overlord before you went to face it, to defend his holdings here and the people living in them. The battle lasted several days, if my memory is reliable, and ended with the Grimm dead, almost all of the Minions fallen, and our Overlord lying in the mud, dead."

"He died a hero, then." Jaune complimented, feeling the weight of his Gauntlet on his arm more than ever, remembering the dream he'd had, his first night in the Tower after he'd died and been brought back by Gnarl. "Vale… Vale probably only exists because of his stand here, defending against the Grimm. Gnarl?"

"Quite right, Lordship." Gnarl growled, the sound tremoring in his ears angrily. "And for it, he was remembered for all of a generation, before becoming naught but a petty tyrant in their memories. Even that faded soon enough, and now no one really knows of him aside from a few scattered fairy tales and myths surrounding what he did."

"That isn't why you do heroic things, Gnarl. I mean, that's a crappy thing to happen after what he did, but… It was a bad time, for people, I mean. Good records only go back about six hundred years or so, that's what history class taught me." Jaune argued weakly, unable to bring himself to hold the Head Minion's words against him. When the creature didn't answer his explanations, or excuses as they felt to Jaune, the young Overlord sighed, "Just… Which way do I go to get to Mountain Glenn?"

"East, Lordship." The Minion answered, sounding cheary enough now that they were moving on. "You will have to hike for a time, around the mountain, and then you'll see the ruined settlement. The Gauntlet will let you know when you are close to the Hive, and it's on the way."

"How far?" He asked, already moving towards the edge of the ridge, treetops visible over it already.

"Long enough that I shall take a short nap, Master." Gnarl answered, the blonde Overlord blinking in confusion at the answer. "I shall return in a scant couple hours, and sincerely hope to hear of your success upon my return. Best of luck, your most grand Evilness."

"Gnarl, you aren't being serious right now, are you?" When the creature didn't respond to that, or the several repeated calls of his name, Jaune sighed and shook his head. "Dust damn it, you aggravating little… Gah!"

Deciding to push his aggravation aside, ad knowing that Gnarl was too valuable to punt off the Tower's balcony, Jaune settled for moving to the edge of the ridge to look around. And he wasn't disappointed, which eased some of the aggravation of being deserted by his literal guide to what was supposed to be his objective. Regardless of if the Gauntlet would help, Gnarl was supposed to stay on hand in case he needed him for… Something, even if Jaune wasn't sure what that would be.

It's not like he could screw up that much just heading in a general direction in a mostly empty forest. And maybe Gnarl leaving him to handle it on his own was a show of faith in him, or as much as the Head Minion could display faith for… Anything at all.

Jaune was somewhat surprised when he put a foot on the edge of the ridge, leaning on his knee and looking out, and actually saw Vale. Sort of, at least. So far away he could scarcely make it out, he could see Vale's towering walls across a sea of forest green, great pines that towered a couple hundred feet in the air easily. Even they were dwarfed by the wall of Vale, though, which themselves towered hundreds of feet higher, built like the castle walls of old with towers, battlements and flags visible even from here, but magnified in size to a ridiculous degree and then modernized.

The forest between Jaune and the wall sloped with the mountain valley and the mountains themselves, the latter curving out to either side of the mountain Jaune stood on himself. The valley itself was massive and wide, easily a hundred miles long and half that from the base of the mountains on one side to the other, full of the thick pines on the mountain slopes and more temperate kinds interspersed with them on the valley floor, which had turned to oranges and reds by now, leaves scattering through the air on breezes and gusts he could actually see, as far away as they were. The sparse, short undergrowth too had started to redden, leaves falling on the floor and leaving bare branches in most places.

A forest halfway through Autumn was a pretty sight, and with all the clutter dying off, it would be easier to make his way through it.

Every now and again, on the peaks of the mountains ranging around him, Jaune could actually make out fortifications. Ranging from the closer ones, small forts he could barely make out, to the ones on the highest peaks interspersed regularly. Those were huge, fortresses of white stone with craft coming and going, and bristling with what even Jaune knew to be weapon emplacements. At the end of the line of forts, halfway through the valley towards him, were the largest emplacements that looked less like forts and more like small towns with huge walls, covering the upper tenth of the mountains in white buildings with flying flags and buzzing ships.

Which turned the entire valley into one long trench, surrounded my weapons and soldiers. A kill box.

And that fact didn't detract from how beautiful it looked, to Jaune, who smiled and let out a contented sigh, thinking on Gnarl's story. "I wouldn't mind dying here, for this kind of view..." he smirked, shaking his head and pushing away from it, "I mean, I'd definitely prefer not to, but… Damn."

What a sight it was, even if he didn't have time to really enjoy it. He had a ways to go, and better to get started now and make some decent progress before Gnarl woke up and nagged him over taking too long.

Gnarl did seem to enjoy nagging him.

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When Ruby came to, she was in a dark room, lying on the ground with her hands bound behind her and rope tied around her knees so she couldn't stand. Or run, she realized, eyes closing and tears welling at the edges threateningly. They knew her Semblance, then, or they wouldn't have bothered if she was already disarmed. They knew that if she could run, she could escape, and go for help. Even if she couldn't defend herself, her Semblance would have allowed such speed that it wouldn't have really mattered.

When the door opened suddenly and a flourescent overhead suddenly blazed to life, she rolled onto her butt and slid away from the door blindly until she found a wall and curled up against it, asking, "W-Who is it?"

"Oh, Red, it had to be you, didn't it?" A familiar voice asked, actually sounding sad for a moment before he sighed, "Why do you always get involved in shit that isn't your business? Can't you just leave things well enough alone once in awhile, just to try it out?"

"Torchwick…?" She murmured, confused as her vision returned to normal from the sudden flash of light before, until she could see the man smiling at her and leaning against the far wall by the door. She swallowed nervously, "I-I wasn't trying to fall through the road, you know."

"Really?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her words and then snorting in amusement, "Knowing you brats, I wouldn't put demolishing a road to jump into the hole past you. You lot tend to look before you leap, after all, so don't act like I should be surprised too terribly much."

"We would…" Ruby admitted carefully after a second, hands behind her knees and her thumbs fiddling together, "But, I mean, I don't even have Crescent Rose. So it's not like I wanted to fall through the hole. I would have brought my weapon, and my team, if that were the case."

"Don't need to convince me, kiddo, I thought that when they told me what happened. You're not the brightest thing in the world, sure, but even you aren't dumb enough to leap into a dark pit in the ground without even having your weapon on hand." He gave her a glance and then shrugged, "Eh, maybe. I mean, wouldn't be the dumbest thing you've done. Messing with known, famous criminals like myself still ranks a few inches higher on the stupid scale. Sorry, Red, maybe you'll take gold one day. If, uh, you can manage to… get out of this mess, I mean."

"What do you mean?"

"I…." Roman sighed, grimacing, and moved closer to her. She watched him approach worredly, and barely relaxed even when he simply sat on floor next to her, head resting against the wall. "They wanted to do a lot of crap to you, Red, just so you know. Bad stuff, stuff I wouldn't allow."

"Like?" She asked, the man giving her a look out of the corner of his eye, and she swallowed and forced herself not to shuffle away from the larger man. Swallowing, she asked, "W-What did they wanna do that someone like you would have problems with?"

"You're an adorable young girl, they're fanatics, and you're trussed up and helpless, Red." he explained, voice low, "What do you think they wanted to do with you, besides the torture part of it?"

"Oh." Was all she managed, swallowing, throat suddenly dry.

"Yeah." Roman nodded, voice quiet and lacking its cocky tone, for once, "Neo's standin' guard over you, so that kinda crap doesn't happen. I had to argue with them for twenty minutes to stop them cuttin' you up for fun, or handing you around for somethin' worse."

"Thanks…" Ruby eventually said, staring a hole into the floor as her fears started to abate somewhat, "I mean that, by the way."

"Don't thank me, Red. S'just common decency." Roman answered, turning to actually look at her for a few seconds before he added, "And doesn't mean I saved your neck or anything like that."

"W-What do you mean?" Ruby asked, that fear rushing back with a vengeance, "I-I thought you said you convinced them not to hurt me?"

"I convinced them not to do messed up shit to you, Red, I can't convince a bunch of racist fanatics no to kill a Human." He sighed, fishing in his jacket when she deflated, looking at the ground again and trembling. He could see tears well in her eyes again, as much as she tried to hide it. He held out the small canteen for her, smiling apologetically, "Here you go, kid, some water. Gotta be thirsty."

She took the canteen from him with a mumbled thanks, taking a sip from it and holding it for a second before asking, "How is it… You know… Gonna happen?" She rushed to add, "I just wanna… I wanna know, ahead of time. So I can get ready for it, I guess, or… I dunno, I just wanna know, I guess."

"Have a preference?" Roman asked, the young Huntress-in-raining shaking her head gently at the question, "Firing of 'em with rifles, two rows, firing until you die. Normally it can take a minute for it to kill a person, 'specially one with Aura, but I paid a couple of 'em off and gave 'em Aura-piercing rounds. Told 'em to put shots in your chest. Shouldn't feel a thing."

"Aura-piercing rounds are expensive…" Ruby observed quietly, swallowing at the idea, "Why would you pay that much for me? You don't even know my real name, or at least I don't think you do, but you'd toss thousands of Lien into trying to make it not hurt for me when your friends kill me?"

"Cuz I'm not evil, Red. And they are very much not my friends, either." He shrugged, fishing in his jacket for a cigar and holding it up for permission. Ruby nodded and he set to trying to light it, sighing, "I give a shit about you, even if I won't risk my neck to save your ass. I'm not some mass murdering psychopath, you know?"

"A thief with a heart of gold?" Ruby asked, smiling in spite of everything. Maybe because it all felt less than real to her, at least right now. Shoved to the back of her mind, where she could pretend it wasn't real, at least for a while. Roman gave her a look, and she added, "I never would have thought of you like that."

"Why not?" He asked, taking a long draw on his cigar and turning his head to blow it mercifully away from her, even if that didn't help with the smell. She gave him an apologetic look when he met her eyes again and he growled, "Okay, look, Red, I play a part, okay? Gotta carry the charisma, or people won't follow."

"So you're, like, an actor?" Ruby asked, jumping when she heard a sudden knock on the door, and a deep voice.

"Roman! Get your ass out here, stop playing with the girl, we got shit to do. And you're the one that made sure she wasn't something for any of us to worry about doing!" Ruby heard something smack him, hard, and he snapped, "And get this aggravating kid to stop smacking me with her umbrella before I pop your head like a melon!"

"Neo, don't play with the help!" Roman called back, pushing off the ground and sighing, "Looks like our chat's over, Red. Sorry to cut it short like that, but… Yeah, I'm an actor, and I gotta hit the stage."

"Okay…" She held out the canteen for him and he shook his head, "Thanks, I guess. It's… It's kinda hard to be really grateful with, you know, everything but… Thanks, no matter what."

"Would do it for anyone, Red, and have done it before." He nodded, tilting his hat with a hand politely, and turned to leave. He hesitated at the door though, a hand on the knob, and turned, "If Neo comes in here by herself, at any time, it'll be to kill you. Not for anything bad, but because they decided not to listen to me. She'll make it quick, simple slit throat, but you'll have to keep your Aura down. Cuz those animals will do a hell of a lot worse than that. Understand?"

"Y-Yeah." Ruby swallowed, doing her best to get that image out of her head, "I-I understand. I promise."

"Good, good…" He sighed, staring at the wall, "This is a fucked situation if ever I've heard of one, you know…" Blinking, he gave her a look, "You the religious type at all? We got all kinds of 'em here, I can… I can get you something, if you want. Only got a couple hours, but…"

"No thanks… Actually," she smiled embarrassedly, "I'd, um, enjoy a book of fairy tales, if you have one somewhere. And, uh, I can't find it, they took all my stuff, but… My mom's cross? It's a family thing. And my name is Ruby. Ruby Rose."

"I'll see what I can do, Ruby." He answered, pushing open the door and throwing it wide, shouting boisterously. "Later, Red, hope you have a great couple of hours, play time is in three of 'em."

Just before the door closed, a small hand slammed in between it and the frame, and Neo pulled it open, leaning against the frame with a small smile. Ruby lifted her hand and waved, "Uh, hi?"

The small girl's smile turned considerably more vicious, and she gave her umbrella a meaningful pat before blowing the younger woman a kiss ad pushing out the door, letting it close behind her and leaving Ruby alone in the brightly lit room. At least Neo had left the light on for her.

And now, alone, Ruby finally let out a choking breath and pressed her forehead into her knees, trying not to cry because she knew that the goons - and Neo - would enjoy hearing it. Not that it proved to matter, in the end, when she finally broke down and cried.

And sitting outside the door on the floor, her legs crossed and her umbrella laying across them, Neo smiled and closed her eyes, enjoying the sound of Ruby's music. Even if she hadn't caused it, she could still enjoy it well enough.

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And hour and a half.

That's how long he hiked, and normally, he'd be sweating bullets under the heat he knew he should be feeling, and the weight of his armor and weapon. Only… he felt perfectly comfortable, like he was in an air-conditioned room, rather than hiking through a forest. And the armor felt lighter than it should have, no heavier than his old set back when he'd snuck into Beacon.

And now, finally, as he rounded a thick oak and hopped over a log lying low to the ground, he felt it. A tremor in his Gauntlet, like it was vibrating around his forearm excitedly, and a pull at his mind that felt like a cross between Deja Vu and the warm sensation that came from seeing someone you loved. It tugged his eyes to his left and up slightly, urging him towards it, and he followed that urge without a second's thought.

Within half an hour, he felt the familiar tug of Minions, their presence always something he recognized. He followed that, then, tracking it like a hound would a scent until he found a small cave, barely large enough for him to crawl in. The stone around it was surrounded by scratches, and a rancid stench came from inside the cave, smelling like something had crawled in there and died. He gagged, shaking his head and standing, looking around in confusion.

"The Green Minions are quite a fetid lot, Master." Gnarl suddenly said, Jaune yelping in surprise and nearly dropping his poleaxe at the voice. Gnarl snickered, "Honestly, Lord, you are so jumpy. Most unbecoming of a dark Overlord, if you ask me."

"I didn't." Jaune snarked back, flushing in embarrassment, "How did you enjoy your nap, Gnarl? I hope it was refreshing."

"Quite refreshed, yes, Master. Thank you for asking. You're so considerate and polite, you know, always valuing my opinions and asking how I'm doing. It's all quite kind of you, and I appreciate it ever so much." Gnarl snickered again when Jaune simply sighed tiredly, "Now then, Master, if you would like to do your job, use your Gauntlet to order the Greens to come to your call. Just like when you summon Browns to you."

First, he took several steps away, and then he raised his Gauntlet high and pushed Mana into it, feeling a sensation like fire creep up his arm. Oddly enough, it didn't worry him not like it probably should have. He knew it was no danger, it was obvious to him that the fire he felt wouldn't harm him.

And then, accompanied by his Mana coursing through the air, he bellowed, "Green Minions, come to your Overlord's call to serve!"

He didn't have to wait long before a small green head poked out of the hole, covered in dirt and grime. The creature looked him over once and then twice, and Jaune held out the Gauntlet for him to see, and it grinned viciously and pulled himself out, cheering, "The Overlord is here for us!"

It ran at him, grasping at his armored legs like a child, and soon a dozen had joined him, and then their numbers continued to swell until two dozen of the creatures swarmed around his legs, cheering his name - or his title, rather - and clinging to him like a child who hadn't seen his parents in a long, long time might. He let them enjoy him, for a moment, reaching out with his Gauntlet to scratch at their ears, and they crooned in delight.

"Your Hive is buried, isn't it?" He asked, several of the Green Minions bouncing and nodding excitedly, two dozen voices answering his question at the same time. He raised his hand, shouting, "Oi! Stop yelling over each other, I can't understand any of you when you do that." Randomly, he pointed at one, "You, answer."

"Yes, Overlord, of course." It answered, snivelling and bowing low, in a facsimile of Gnarl's first real bow. When it rose, the creature explained, "When we settled here, we dug a hole, Master. Then we made it wider, and moved our Hive into it, and then we buried it to hide. No one found us, Master!"

"Good work, uh, Green guy." Jaune tried, awkwardly referring to the specific Minion, who seemed to croon in delight at the poor attempt at a name. "I'm, uh, very, very proud of all of you, for managing to stay hidden for so long."

"We're the sneaksiest, Master!" Green Guy answered cheerily, bouncing on his heels and pointing at the hole, "We hide very good!"

"Yeah…. Gnarl? How do we get the Hive out and back to the Tower, exactly? You didn't mention it being buried." He asked, the Minion on the other end sighing at the statement.

"I didn't know it was buried, Lordship, but it's fine." Gnarl answered, sounding bored and aggravated at the same time. The Minion had a talent for that, it seemed. "Just tell them to dig it out, and send them back to the shrine with it. It's a simple trip, and the Tower will open the Portal for the Hive, and I'll send some Browns to guide them back so none of them vanish on the way somehow."

"You five," he started, pointing at Green Guy and four others next to him, "are coming with me. The rest of you, dig the Hive out, and get it back to the Portal-Shrine. Some Browns will be along… eventually, and they'll give you a hand getting it back. Understood?"

They all cheered and, as he walked away, he could hear the sounds of the left-over Minions scraping at dirt and stone and digging. Now, it was just about getting to Mountain Glenn itself.

Which just meant another hiking trip, and this time with his… Cheery friends.

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Jaune saw the shift in the area far before he reached Mountain Glenn. The trees gave way when he rounded the mountain itself suddenly to flatter terrain, with tall, green grass stretching out impossibly far with nothing visible aside from a few massive Elephantine Grimm wandering through the grass, which were luckily so far away that Jaune wasn't terribly worried about them.

That was ahead of him, and off to his right as well, and further out from the end of the valley Jaune could see the blue of the sea. It was probably days away, from here at least, and he had no interest in going that way, but it was at least pretty in a hazy sort of way, at least at this distance.

And then to his left, across some of the plains and cut into the foothills, at the foot of the outer expanse of the mountains that protected Vale even now, sat Mountain Glenn. Or the ruins of it, at least, and oppressive they certainly were.

Ten stories of concrete wall, with chunks missing and fallen around its base randomly and, at the top, the silhouettes of ruined, blackened building frames. It was… Surprisingly plain, to Jaune at least, leaning against the side of a tree and kneeling in the dirt with his Minions around him loosely, boredly looking around and waiting on him to give them instructions.

"What… happened here?" He asked no one, looking over the hulks of tanks and mechanized units, scattered around the base of Mountain Glenn almost randomly. He could spot helmets as well, and other signs of soldiers. "A battle, I guess, but… Why? Why would a battle happen so close to Vale, but I don't remember this place being mentioned in my history classes or… Well, anywhere else either."

"Perhaps, in a world filled with creatures driven by simply feeling particularly angry or upset about something, the people in charge elected not to incense and upset people with the truth of what happened here." Gnarl answered, almost a question judging by his voice. "I must confess, Lord, that I do not truly know. Whatever happened here, it was not so long ago, yet you were taught nothing about it?"

"No," he answered, shaking his head as he rose and moved out of the treeline, towards the wrecks, "I don't know anything about this place. I-I figured that this would end up just being abandoned, a bunch of empty buildings with a few Grimm running around, but this is…"

"Beautiful, total devastation?" Gnarl tried, sounding awed as he passed the hulking form of a mech, its arm shorn cleanly off and laying a dozen yards behind it, towards Mountain Glenn's concrete wall. Jaune grunted, and Gnarl added, "Probably not how you'd phrase it, I suppose."

He could imagine the bipedal warmachine, lumbering forward with the two heavy machine guns - or Jaune thought that's what the rusted things on its arms had been - and the soldier in the cockpit between the things shoulder-blades roaring defiantly. A massive Grimm barreling towards him, the rounds he fired glancing off, and then shearing past him and flinging him down to be overwhelmed by smaller Grimm. He reached out with a hand, resting it on the glass and wiping the dust and dirt away, and peered inside.

Empty, and that wasn't necessarily a good thing, judging by the torn open side of the cockpit he could see. The pilot had probably been dragged out and then mauled to death, which ranked pretty high up on 'ways Jaune didn't want to die'.

"Green Guy, take the rest of the group and find a way into Mountain Glenn." Jaune ordered quietly, scared, now that he was so close, of alerting the White Fang, "If any of you see a Faunus wearing a white mask, come and find me right away. Don't do anything else. Understood?" He waited for the creatures, clever enough to know he desired quiet, to nod and smiled, "Then go."

They rushed towards the ruined settlement, bodies low to the ground, and he quickly lost sight of them as he followed. Soon enough, and the White Fang that attacked his people would be gone, and no one would know about it.

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Ruby jolted when she heard her door open again, unable to really know how long she'd been in the room. Roman had, true to his word, show up an hour after their chat and given her a thick book of fairy tales and her mother's cross, and he'd even brought her more water to drink, but he'd left pretty fast.

Which made sense, she supposed at the time. They didn't have anything else to talk about now. He had done enough for her, and she wouldn't ask for more, especially since she knew he couldn't do anything else.

"Hey, Ruby." The man said, standing on his own with Neo behind him, the small woman looking somewhat perturbed. Probably at not getting to kill her herself, if Ruby had to guess. "Did you enjoy your reading?"

"Y-Yeah, I did, it was nice…" She swallowed nervously, closing the book an setting it aside gently. "Is it, you know…"

"Yeah, kid." He answered, sighing and coming into the room with Neo behind him, the small woman kicking a rock away in irritation. Roman knelt in front of her, close enough she could smell his cigar and alcohol on his jacket, and gave her an apologetic smile, "For whatever it's worth, Red, I did try and talk 'em down again, a couple times. Weren't budgin', though. They're… Well, they're looking forward to seeing you get gunned down too much tobe merciful today."

"Told Neo she couldn't, not without your okay, but if you prefer she could…" He made a face, caught between apologetic smile and a sour grimace, "Well, she could let you die a bit more privately, if you catch my drift. However you wanna go, she won't mind, if you prefer it to getting shot a bunch."

"I-I dunno, I… I never thought about it, I guess…" She gave Neo a glance, the woman looking eager at the prospect, and swallowed nervously as she glanced back to Roman, "Would it hurt? A-And won't you, you know, get in trouble, though?"

"Nothin' I can't handle, Red, believe me on that mark. They'll be pissy for a bit, hurl some threats, but Ci- My friend, she scares them enough they won't actually do anything to me. And Neo is, you know, terrifying too." He assured her, smiling genuinely at her show of concern. "And… I dunno if it would hurt. A broken neck or a slit throat probably would, yeah, and Neo will have to rough up your body to sell the story, too."

"Rough up my…?"

"She's sadistic." Roman explained, waving a hand at the small woman, sho simply smiled mutely and waved back. "Story'll be that you did something to set her off, I'll make that bit up later, and in that case she'd spend some time with you. Makin' it hurt. You'll be dead as a doornail by then, though. And if you don't want either of those, she could also go the old 'two handed goodnight'."

"I don't know what that…" She looked to Neo, who rolled her eyes and wrapped her hands around her own throat, pantomiming herself being strangled and shaken back and forth, and Ruby trembled, "N-No, thanks, I… I don't want to cause you any trouble, you've been so nice to me, you know… Considering."

"You sure?" He asked, giving her a look of conflicted concern and curiosity, and some kind of fear she didn't understand. "I'll confess to some selfishness here, too, firing lines are… Messy. And I don't think I'd enjoy seeing a cute little kid get gunned down. Getting choked out is gentler, just… Just puts you to sleep."

"No, I…" Ruby sighed, nodding and setting her jaw, "I understand, Roman, but I don't want that. I want them to remember me. Maybe, I dunno, maybe they'll feel guilty over this, down the road." Her visage cracked, and she squeaked, "M-Maybe I'll help someone else like me, you know? Down the road."

"Maybe, kid, maybe." He sighed, standing up and shaking his head, looking at Neo, "Treat her nice, until we get out there, okay?" Neo nodded and Roman turned to Ruby, smiling and nodding his head, the rim of his hat pinched between his thumb and forefinger, "It was nice knowing you, kiddo, even if you were infuriatingly underfoot all the time."

"You too, Roman," Ruby answered, smiling sadly and holding out her bound hands to him for him to reach down and haul her to her feet. He did so and she met his eye, shrugging when Neo wrapped an arm around her and pulled her against her, Ruby reduced to hopping with her knees bound as they were, "You're nicer than I thought you were, in real life, you know? But, uh, can I ask one more favor?"

"Sure, Red."

"Can you tell my sister what happened? Even if it's kinda, you know, messed up, you tried to help however you could." She asked, voice low and weak. "And that I love her? And not to come after you for this? It's, you know, not gonna work, but I wanna tell you try. If, you know, you can tell her without getting thrown in jail or-or something."

"I'll give it a shot, if I can, Ruby." He answered, smiling and giving her another nod, "See you in a few minutes." Looking over her head at Neo, he said, "Two minutes and you follow me, got it? And don't rough her up or anything, it's overkill."

Once he was gone, the room was silent aside from Neo's breathing and Ruby's blood pounding in her ears. The small woman adjusted her grip on Ruby, and the brunette looked at her, "I, uh, this is weird to say, but… Sorry I didn't let you kill me, I guess?"

Neo snorted mutely and leaned up to give her a peck on the cheek, probably meaning to show her it was okay, and then started hauling Ruby towards the door.

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It took fifteen minutes to find a way into Mountain Glenn but, after that, finding the White Fang had taken no time at all. The interior of Mountain Glenn was a honeycomb of layered hallways and rooms and four of those layers in, the White Fang presence became obvious. Like they weren't even trying to hide in the slightest. Which, given how deep under the old settlement they were, and the work that getting here would have almost certainly taken anyone else as well, they probably weren't and were decently justified in that.

It was like a settlement down here, with apartments and homes, and production areas, scattered through the honeycombed halls. Hunting through them would have been a slog, normally, or he'd have had to risk himself and his Browns getting caught in a pincer attack between White Fang.

Instead, he sent his Greens ahead and had Green Guy guide him after them, past dead White Fang who looked like they'd simply keeled over in the middle of whatever they were doing. Occasionally, he'd spot some blood on the floor, or a green back in the dark, or he'd see lights being put out, casting the place into relative darkness with only red emergency lights to guide his way. Other than that, he didn't see, or hear the Greens as they went on their way.

And that was kind of terrifying, really.

He did his best to ignore the corpses as he past them, stepping over them gently, and avoiding looking at them, but he couldn't ignore it entirely. But… they didn't bother him, not directly. He felt kind of bad for killing them, or having them killed he supposed, but he didn't react how he thought he would. The guilt hit him weakly and washed away within seconds, and Jaune didn't know why.

Eventually, he gave up playing the game of trying to feel guilty so he could push through it, and just accepted that whatever was happening was probably due to the Gauntlet on his arm. Gods knew it had been playing with his mind plenty already. In fact, he realized he was bothered more by not being bothered by the killing than he was by the killings themselves.

Which was pretty damn weird, he felt certain.

"Door ahead, Master." Green Guy finally said after twenty minutes of walking, pointing a clawed finger, "Lots of white-mask-men out there, wide open space, not good for Greens. Nowhere to hide, Master, no no no, too much light."

"Can you tell what they are doing?" Jaune asked, moving towards the door and adjusting his grip on his axe. Green Guy shook his head and Jaune sighed, grimacing under his helmet, "We're not leaving here with any of them breathing, so we need to figure it out. Tell me what you did see?"

"Lots of them, moving seats towards a wall, and making food. A bunch with guns, Master, waiting in a group near a wall. Some loading crates and barrels onto a train, too, but they all keep looking at the ones with guns." Green Guy answered, "A guy in a big jacket and smoking is talking, making the people with guns and seats laugh. Can show you, if you follow me."

"Lead the way, then. And tell me what to do, I don't want to get us into trouble out there when we aren't ready." Jaune ordered, crouching low when Green Guy motioned for him too, and following the Minion out the door.

Outside the door, flood lights lit the area well, bright enough he winced after the gloom of the tunnels. Rows of trucks lined the wall where the door was, and Jaune saw a Green leap onto the back of a wiry man in White Fang garb, plunging claws into his neck and cutting across his throat before he could so much as cry out. The body fell and Green Guy nodded, standing in front of him, and led him forward.

The area they were in looked like a subterranean boulevard, with a trainstation to his left and more honeycombing buildings surrounding a wide, open area. Next to the opening for the train itself's tracks, ten men with rifles were idling while a dozen more hauled seating of a wide variety out and someone Jaune felt like he recognized stood on a large crate and gave a speech of some kind.

"What is going on?" Jaune asked no one, kneeling beside the hood of a truck with Green Guy next to him, both watching the proceedings while Greens around him brought down anyone that came too close and dragged the bodies behind the trucks to hide them, "Green Guy, what do you think?"

"Looks like a party, Master." The Minion shrugged, pointing a gnarled finger at the train, "That's full of crates and barrels, though, Master. Dunno why, though."

He heard a door bang open, metal slamming against concrete harshly, and almost jumped out of his armor at the sudden noise in the surprisingly quiet place. It took a moment to see why, a small woman dragging another who hobbled along with her, before she was thrown against the wall next to the crate with her back to him. The small, multicolored one grabbed her and turned her around, pressing her against the wall next to the mane on the crate, and Jaune's heart stopped.

"Ruby…?" Green Guy looked at him, seeming surprised at the fear in his voice as he watched them. "What the hell…?"

The ten men hooted excitedly, the ones at the seats practically roaring in excitement as the ten formed a couple lines across from Ruby, who was dragged to the side a few feet and made to stand still, trembling while she watched the Faunus array themselves. Then everything clicked in his mind, the guns, the way they were sitting, the excitement.

They were going to execute her?

Silently, Jaune rose, Green Guy watching, and as he marched towards the assembled Faunus, the Minions broke from cover and followed behind. A Faunus with a sword stood closest to him and, as the men and women formed a couple loose lines, A half-dozen feet away, Ruby spotted him, dark armor shining in the light cast on him by the flood lights, and them the man on the crate did.

Jaune braced himself for the man to call out, but instead he just smirked and nodded. Which was… Odd, for Jaune, at least. Surely the guy was friends with these others, right? Ruby's head snapped to the Faunus in fear and excitement at the same time , as the man bellowed out the order to aim. Jaune pulled his Gauntlet back, fingers forming into a point, and slammed it forward into the man's back.

He cried out, and the gunman and onlookers turned to look at him in shock as Jaune's gauntlet punched through his chest and out the front. His axe swung up and then down, crushing the rifle closest to him as it swiveled towards him, and in the same motion he allowed some of his Mana to surge through the axe and spewed a gout of flame at them, swallowing four of the gunman in the fire as he jerked the swordsman to the side and freed his arm, the burning Faunus crying out and collapsing under the heat of the flames.

A dozen rifles swiveled towards him, now, and he turned to put his left side towards them as they cracked a haphazard return, hampered by his Minions as they began to leap on them and his armor as rounds deflected away in most places. Not all though, he noted with a pained gasp as several rounds punched into his side and legs, turning and hurling his axe towards Ruby and past the small woman from before who charged him with a rapier.

Too close, he summoned his Mana and turned to face her, feeling rounds slam into him as he reached out with his Mana for his axe and moved to it, stumbling and slamming into the wall next to her. Behind him, his Minions tore into Faunus, and the fighting gave way to brawls, rounds firing with reckless abandon from weapons as men fell and fought alike. He wrenched his axe free and heaved a pained breath, turning as another few rounds carved into the concrete beside him. Ruby actually leapt to his rescue now, or hobbled more like, rounds deflecting off his Aura as he collapsed under her, his helmet resting against her back as he knelt.

Summoning more Mana, he surged it into his axe and closed his eyes, murmuring an apology to Green Guy and wrapping his gauntlet around Ruby. She squeaked at the hold, and then shouted in earnest as she rolled across the floor of the cave, next to the Portal-Stone. He staggered out of the blue light and then collapsed, slamming into the dirt floor with a dozen Minions rushing to him with worried cries, and he turned his head to look at Ruby.

"U-Uh, hi?" She tried, sounding nervous and showing it more so when the yellow eyes turned to her, "Are you, um, okay?" She glanced at his armor, and the blood flowing along the dirt of the cave, and grimaced, "Okay, so that's a no, I guess… Just, tell me what you need?"

"The…" He coughed, rolling his head and pointing at the Portal-Stone, "Home… Gnarl, he can… Help."

"Okay, Ruby, you can do this… This is nothing for an awesome Huntress-in-training like you." Turning to one of his Browns, she smiled warmly and held out her rope-bound hands, "Can you, um, cut me loose, plase? My knees, too? I want to help, but, kinda can't move too well."

The brown was quick to cut her free, and she rubbed her wrists for a second before stepping over him, planting her feet to either side of his hips and squatting down, looking through his visor, "Need you to stand up, okay? I'll drag you the rest of the way, but you're… Kind big." He nodded, and she leaned forward, wrapping her arms under his shoulders and Jaune couldn't help the first thing that came to mind, in his state.

"Smells nice…" He grumbled, Ruby huffing and pulling at his shoulders while he scrambled to get his boots under him.

"Not the time, dude," she grunted as she shifted, letting him lean on her shoulders and half-dragging him onto the stone while he summoned the paltry Mana to open the Portal. It whirred to life, and she blinked at the blue light, murmuring, "Wow…"

When they stumbled out of the Portal-Pool in Atlas, Gnarl shuffled towards him with a startled cry of, "Master? The devils have you done already? I swear, I send you on one little errand without me and-"

Jaune pushed off Ruby and staggered away, towards his throne, his axe clattering across the floor as he sagged and Ruby caught him, staggering under his weight and shouting at the Head Minion, "He, uh, he got shot trying to help me, and I don't think he has Aura, and you are not helping right now."

"Take him to the throne, young Mistress." Gnarl sighed, shaking his head as Minions emerged from the surrounding halls to watch, Ruby dragging Jaune along and then up the stairs, panting when she finally shifted him and sat him on the chair, "Now out of my blasted way."

"Okay, fine, sheesh." She panted, stepping to the side, and catching her breath while Gnarl climbed onto his lap and reached for his helmet, plucking it from his head and tossing it aside, slapping Jaune's face to get his attention while Ruby staggered away, "Jaune…?"

"Hey, Ruby." He coughed, smiling through bloodstained lips and coughing while Gnarl looked him over, "Been… Been a minute, huh? G-Glad you're okay."

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Okay, ay have run away with myself in the Roman scenes, but he's just fun to write and play with. Couldn't help it, and I had to fit a lot of shit in for Ruby as well. And then I just couldn't find a decent stopping point, and just… Ugh. I got way too caught up with exploring Roman and Neo in what little capacity I can in this particular story.

I did, however, delve way too much into those scenes, sorry guys. Tried to expand the chapter itself to not encompass literally just Ruby and describing the trees for days. But I had a lot of scenes to describe, and that's like crack to me.

So, extra long chapter, and I hope you all enjoyed it. I'll stop rambling incoherently now.

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The Qrow :

No, he doesn't. In the original chapter one, there was a line explicitly stating that Aura and Mana can't coexist. I forgot to restate it after removing that instance, so all there is now is Gnarl insulting Aura and implying it had no place in the Tower. My bad.

Webghost :

She was indeed, yeah~

Now, less so~

Maybe~

Eren Jaeger :

Glad you're enjoying the slow grind of progression. It's my favorite thing to do, you know? Note, though, that this chapter was a major escalation chapter.