"Were there any complications during the job?" Cinder looked at each of the crew.
"Nothing to worry about," Emerald answered for the team.
Wolfe was pretty happy on getting the job done. He looked at Jaune. His expression was blank and seemed to have been unhappy with himself. There was more to this heist than what one could expect. It was quite evident in his body language.
The flight over the city was brief; everyone was alert and reeling in from the last firefight. Wolfe took out his candy bar to eat but his body heat melted it, so he put it back in his pocket. The Payday Gang did another heist, but the new mechanized droids showed that they overstayed their welcome.
"There are only a few more jobs after this right?" Jaune wiped the sweat from his brow.
"It will depend on how everything will play out. It will be impossible for Junior to recover from this and his control over the city. Just one of those girls could shake the foundation of his network." Cinder smiled sadistically. Jaune removed his mask and set it beside his an empty duffle bag.
The amount stolen of the six bags was about 60,000 a piece, meaning 360,000 lien in total. During the flight, Jaune took one of each bag and passed it around. Emerald, Mercury, and Wolfe looked up.
"Great work, tonight, here is your payment."
Wolfe opened his bag and inside the bright purple bills beamed off his eyes. He zipped the pocket closed and smiled. So did Mercury and Emerald. Each of them took a moment to savor the reward. Jaune took out a bundle of money and walked to the cockpit of the airship.
"Here's your payment Bile." Jaune had the money tap Bile's shoulder. "Listen, thanks."
"Save it; you need a pilot, just contact me. Other than that, I don't want to know anything more. Got it?" Bile gave his specific conditions.
"Yeah." Jaune turned from the cockpit and sat down. The remaining three bags were still isolated. Jaune kneeled down and took out some lien and put it in one bag. He set two duffle bags for himself. The last one he took money from was in his hands and walked to Cinder. Emerald noticed Jaune walk up to Cinder and she elbowed Mercury to watch as well.
"Here." Jaune passed the bag to Cinder.
"Oh? What is the reason for that I receive a lesser amount, and you get a second bag?" Cinder kept calm, but she was a force to be reckoned with, She could kill Jaune effortlessly if she wanted to. Like the time she had the knife to his throat.
"To cover the expenses for better equipment. The cops stepped up their efforts, so we have to as well. Unlike you, I don't just use people. I plan to keep everyone involved alive." Jaune refrained from looking away. "You've haven't helped in the slightest in recent jobs. So with that, you get a lesser amount."
Cinder raised an eyebrow. There was a moment of silence. Then Cinder finally spoke.
"That sounds fair. We're ready for the next job, and know that I'm the one leading the heist. Got it?" Cinder poked Jaune in the chest. His arms remained at his sides. He grunted and turned around.
The airship landed, and everyone returned to the dorms. Jaune's team was still asleep, so he didn't have to worry about being spotted. He placed his duffle bag in under his bed and dropped to his head. He fell asleep without any effort.
Jaune opened his eyes; the ceiling was grey from the light outside. It was going to be a cloudy day. He scanned the room to see his team still asleep with Pyrrha gone on her morning exercises. He sat up and leaned forward; last night took a lot of him, both physically and emotionally.
The morning went quickly, and Jaune entered his classroom. He spotted Ruby waving at him.
"Morning Ruby," Jaune said as he sat down in his seat.
"Sup Jaune, hey have you heard?" Ruby baited. That day, she had a red scarf wrapped around her neck. Changing from her usual bland uniform was nice.
"About what?" Jaune asked.
"There was another shooting involving the Payday Gang. It was sporadic, and the news has been saying that the gang did it to save a group of abducted girls." Ruby couldn't contain her excitement. "The Payday Gang is being labeled as heroes."
Heroes? What was the hell so heroic about it? The job was about power and money. Jaune made sure not to have his face turn sour of his actual thoughts.
"Isn't that cool?" Ruby was hoping to have an in-depth discussion.
"A little." Jaune made sure to have his voice crack. "Listen, I'm exhausted. So can we talk about this later?"
"Sure thing Jaune." Ruby nodded and walked on the other half of the room where she usually sits for Professor Port's class. He felt a presence, the same one that brought him into this. Jaune kept looking forward and gave an awkward smile in Ruby's direction. She smiled and looked at her textbook.
"The job will be on the night of the upcoming dance." Cinder stated as she sat down.
"Go figure. There will be a lack of any possible first responding Huntsmen. So we going loud or do we stealth it?" Jaune asked as he opened his textbook.
"Stealth. Regardless of those, we come across. We have to be discreet about it." Cinder leaned back in her seat.
"Understood." Jaune flipped past the pages. "Shall I contact the crew and assets?"
"No need, we can still do the job here. We'll blend in when it's over. It'll just be the two of us while the rest will do surveillance at the dance."
"Hmm." Jaune was slightly surprised that Cinder was going to help for a change. "Timeframe?"
"Two minutes at the least. Four minutes at the most."
"Great." Jaune looked around the classroom. It seemed that Professor Port is late to lecture the class, again.
Earlier when all of this Payday Gang business began, Jaune learned from the given documents that Cinder was planning data theft from the Cross Continental Transit. (CCT) A tower that was constructed by the Atlas government for world-wide communication, it was a gift to the world. But the difference here in Beacon and the city of Vale was that ever since the Atlas Military showed up, the CCT is linked up with the Atlas Military with sensitive documents which General Ironwood could continue to oversee. That was the part that had Jaune stand up in class several weeks ago.
"Will the guards be distracted?" Jaune asked.
"No, the ones who stand in our way will be crushed." Cinder said completely calm.
"They're soldiers, but that doesn't mean we get to kill them because they seem faceless." Jaune laid out his intentions.
"It doesn't matter. We are all predestined to die at some point, what's the harm of accelerating the process?" She asked.
"Death is the ultimate end. Something that I would think many people fear." Jaune stated. He didn't honestly mean what he said because he never thought about death before.
"It isn't. Before the inevitable, we should have done what we wanted when death comes to claims us." After Cinder said that, Professor Port spoke in the background that he was sorry for being late then somehow had the thought of telling another story of his youth.
"Hmm." Jaune never thought of it that way. How could someone act as if everybody understood death? Because how can there be a right answer? Cinder didn't leave much for Jaune to continue the conversation, so he didn't press any further.
In between his bumbling stories, Port took the time to mention the Kingdoms to the students. It was something they all knew, but the education system demanded that it be part of the Huntsmen curriculum.
The World of Remnant divided into Four Kingdoms. Vale, Mistral, Vacuo, and Atlas. Atlas had the most active Military located in the North. Vale in the center of the world, so it had the most extensive variety of culture. While Vacuo was the capital that welcomed the Faunus people in the Western. Continent. To the East is Mistral and it holds tournaments every year of varying levels.
The lecture ended on a very dull note and being told to do homework that you could efficiently procrastinate it's due. Jaune organized his belongings as Cinder stood up. There were whispers among the students. Jaune toned them out because he didn't feel the need to justify himself to others. They can think whatever they want. Cinder left the room, and at the same time, Ruby entered.
"Hey, Jaune. Today we got the weapon and sparing matches today." Ruby called out to Jaune; he shouldered his bag. The two made to the arena, Glynda Goodwitch had been the instructor to oversee student matches, and to reinforce the training to improve student abilities. For the first round, it would be team CRDL and against Pyrrha Nikos. It was sure was brave, to take on Pyrrha by themselves.
The arena was broad as it was a circular shape with the student allowed to sit wherever. Jaune walked in with Ruby to see Yang, and Blake waited. Yang was excited, while Blake seemed distant, more so than usual. Jaune wanted to say something, but this isn't the place. He let it be. On the opposite side of the seat where Jaune was, Wolfe was sitting by a girl. They looked like they knew each other. Jaune concluded that walking over the Wolfe would be a bad idea.
In the arena, CRDL waited for Pyrrha to change into her combat gear. It was a minute or so until she walked into the arena. Her golden and bronze armor and with a calm expression, Jaune knew that CRDL was in trouble. Pyrrha was on her game today. With the lights of the arena dimming out, the match started as the CRDL rushed toward Pyrrha.
It was all over in a matter of minutes. Jaune smiled as Cardin was launched into the sky to be slammed by his weight. He was on the ground caressing his stomach.
"Lucky shot," Cardin grunted before he fell over to his side, exhausted.
"And that concludes the match; well we have time for more matches. Would anyone care to volunteer? Blake Belladonna." Glynda called out. Blake lifted her head in awareness. "You've been rather docile of late. Perhaps-" Glynda was cut off.
"I'll do it." A voice called out. Jaune recognized it and looked toward the source. The person calling out was Mercury.
Glynda was surprised by the voice. "Alright, who shall be your opponent?" She asked.
"I wanna fight her." Mercury pointed at Pyrrha. Jaune noticed that Emerald was sitting right beside him. She had a devious smile.
"Well, I'm sorry, Pyrrha is done for today."
He noticed that Pyrrha was going to say something, and before she could, "I volunteer." Jaune stood up. What could Mercury want with Pyrrha? Jaune felt a tinge of fear. He wasn't sure of the repercussions of his actions will be this day.
"Jaune Arc, is it? Very well, you've avoided this class, and it nice to see a change." Glynda swiped several names in her PDA and Jaune's name was in bright letters on the monitors overlooking the arena. Jaune looked over toward Mercury. He had a rather calm expression and focused his eyes.
Cinder has to remember the terms of my agreement. So what the hell is this crap? Jaune walked down the steps before he jumped into the arena. Because Jaune doesn't have any real combat gear, he could just walk into the arena. He drew his sword as Mercury jumped into the arena. Pyrrha couldn't do anything, so she just walked out of the arena and returned to the seats to sit next to Ruby.
With a press of a button, Jaune's sword holster turned into a shield. Jaune walked to the opposite side of the arena. Mercury got into his stance. His legs were bent slightly, and his arms were relaxed.
"Begin the match," Glynda stated.
Mercury sprinted toward Jaune; he raised his left leg for a downward crescent kick. Jaune lifted his shield just in time to absorb the blow. He raised his sword in an upward thrust, but Mercury used the shield to jump on the opposite side of Jaune. Jaune turned around, and high kick to his chest to land flat on his back.
The first point went to Mercury. Jaune rolled to his left and got back on his feet. He smiled. "Hmm," Mercury smirked. Show me what you got. You could handle Adam, so what's the problem? He thought.
Jaune sensed the mental game of Mercury. He couldn't let that grey menace get in his head. Jaune adjusted his stance. He braced his shield with a reaffirmed grip, and with that, he locked his right arm into a 90-degree position. It was so he could adjust for a slash or thrust. Mercury and Jaune sprinted toward each other.
"Hey, your friend is pretty good," Ruby commented to Emerald.
Mercury jumped up and reversed kicked Jaune's shield to launch him back, or at least that was the plan. But with a press of a button, the shield became the handle. It was gone, and Mercury's kick just breezed in the air. Jaune reaffirmed his grip and leaned back to avoid the high kick and brought it horizontally to Mercury's stomach. He was winded, and with a swipe of Jaune's sword, a sash Mercury always wore waved on the air. Jaune was calling Mercury out.
Jaune didn't wait for a response, so he pressed on with his attack. Several slashes and thrusts, had Mercury dodge every attack but to use his legs would mean for him to anticipate Jaune's next move. In every slash, Mercury recognized a simple pattern. The subsequent slash, he was ready.
When it finally came, Mercury sidestepped the slash to close the distance onto Jaune. It was there; he was planning to sweep Jaune's feet and then bring his boot to Jaune's throat. The matches set to points of victory. Then the slash came. He sidestepped it, and as he focused his vision, he was greeted with a force of handle becoming a shield again. Jaune predicted Mercury's plan. So now that Mercury was on his back, the sword was at his chin. One point went to Jaune.
Jaune walked backward for several steps as Mercury got to his feet. It was a clean slate; the two were ready for what happens next. They didn't need to show any expression; the two were going head to head. Mercury's boots countered Jaune's sword, but Jaune's shield prepared for Mercury's onslaught. That's when Jaune's shield started to shift into the handle. Mercury jumped forward, and with three jabs, it had Jaune lost his balance. The fight ended as he was kneeling down to Mercury.
"The victory goes to Mercury. Alright, so who's next?" Glynda looked out to the class.
Jaune reversed his sword to support him to get to his feet; he strapped his holster and sheathed his blade. He looked out to see Ruby smiling and Pyrrha nodding. To his right, Jaune looked at Wolfe. He was impressed as well. That was enough for Jaune to feel better about himself. Mercury jumped out of the arena and sat next to Emerald.
"Learning is so much fun." Mercury faked his giddiness to Emerald.
From there, Jaune left the arena by walking around to the locker room to wash his face. After that, he walked back to the seats of Ruby, Yang, Blake, and Pyrrha. They all told him some reassuring words. Before the class ended, Glynda reminded everyone of the upcoming dance that weekend. Jaune had a thought in his head for the longest time. He just needed a guitar. For the rest of the day, Jaune went about to catch up for his classes. That night, he agreed to do some training with Pyrrha.
That day after the classes ended, Jaune borrowed a guitar from the music department. He walked the front door of team RWBY's dorm. Jaune made a fool of himself as he tried to ask out Weiss to the dance.
Lately, with so much on his mind, he felt like Weiss was the only one could help. She's beautiful, has an eloquent manner of personality, and has a fantastic voice to sing. Jaune overheard her singing to herself on several occasions. He smiled his usual goofy smile. With crappy lyrics, he wrote in five minutes. He just watched as the door slammed in his face. She was kind enough to open it again but criticized in a matter of seconds. Jaune looked down; he knew from the very beginning that this was a terrible idea. He walked down the hall.
It's not like I need to go the dance anyway. Jaune shrugged to himself. He walked off to return to the guitar he borrowed without asking to the music department. He wandered back to the roof to wait for Pyrrha. After a training session and a moment of self-pity then explained it to Pyrrha, Jaune ended the conversation by the playful banter of saying if Pyrrha doesn't come to the dance alone, he will wear a dress.
He wandered off to go to sleep early that night at his dorm. The next day, he talked it over about being a loser. Lie Ren, didn't have anything helpful to say. Pyrrha suggested speaking from the heart. Jaune felt like he didn't have anything to lose, so he wandered off to ask Weiss out properly.
The day was coming to a close after the sunset that day. Jaune found a white doily flower. He heard that they were Weiss' favorite flower. He could only get one, but he felt it was enough. He spotted her in the school courtyard. Just about before he could say something to her, she shouted to someone else.
"Neptune!" Weiss called out. Jaune looked around and hid behind a pillar that held up the building. She put her hands behind her back and started to rub her legs together. "I was wondering if you'll accompany me to the dance."
That was all that Jaune needed to hear. He cast the flower to the ground. He looked out to the city. He didn't want to sulk in some far off corner. He needed to vent and didn't think much about it. He walked to his dorm, lucky for him, his team wasn't in the room. He grabbed his duffle bag. Before he knew it, he was standing on an airship to get back to the city. He walked out of the ship and just wondered around the town. After an hour of walking, he came across a small district that had four stores all on one street.
I guess I'll do it here. Jaune concluded as he walked into the closest alleyway. He dropped his bag and opened it. Inside was a clean and well-tailored suit. A cyan-blue, and underneath rest his mask. The Crescent moons glimmered off the street light as he set it on. To whatever happens here, he didn't care.
This area was pretty vacant of people; all the stores had their lights on. There was an excellent china shop, an electronics store, a coffee shop, and a convenience store. A beautiful place to have a robbery. The score didn't matter, or how bad it will become with the police. Jaune pulled out an MP5k submachine gun from his bag. His sword and shield were still at his side as well. The kit also had his suit and body armor. Jaune started his heist.
He walked onto the street; no one paid attention to him yet. Jaune turned to his right and walked into the unique China shop. All the pottery neatly arranged on shelves. He became Crescent once again. When the cashier noticed him, she froze in absolute fear. She heard the news, she was a young woman working a part-time job, and she has to deal with a robber.
Crescent walked to the desk; there was no one else in the store. He lowered his MP5k and had his M92F on his left hand. "You know what I want, and please. Make it quick." Crescent tilted his head. He did it for the added measure to frighten the girl. She pressed several buttons randomly on the cash machine. It binged open, and she grabbed all the large bills.
"I thought you guys were heroes." The girl stated with venom in her tone. She was partly correct. Crescent wanted to dignify himself but, he let her speak several more words. She passed him the money.
"Show me your hands," Crescent stated. His mask pointed at her face. She complied. Crescent reached into his pocket and pulled out three zip ties. He laced her wrists with two links and had a larger one on her ankles. She was mostly immobilized. He carried her into the back room, and there, Crescent noticed a small safe. He thought about opening it up to see if it had anything. But he didn't feel like waiting. For some reason or another, the china shop had no security cameras.
Crescent looked at the girl. "What's happened to the cameras?"
"All deactivated; the boss is a lazy shit and plans to update the security this Monday." The girl answered.
"Alrightly then." Crescent walked out of the room. The girl wasn't screaming or anything. She just stared at the wall and figured that she was going to be stuck there for the night. After a moment, there were footsteps. She was happy to be rescued so she could quit this tedious job.
To her dismay, Crescent returned with a small machine that had a monitor strapped to it. It was placed in the safe and was turned on. It was a drill to break into the safe. The girl just watched as all of this happened. The monitor was in bright blue; in the center was yellow bolded numbers. It displayed 110 seconds with a yellow progress bar. Crescent nodded to himself and left the room.
In the street, it was still empty from people. So he walked across the street to the electronics store. Inside, the lights may be bright, but it was closed down, and the doors were locked. It was metal so that Crescent couldn't shoot at the door. If he did, then the area would be alert to his presence.
"Fuck it." Crescent adjusted his pistol and fired at the glass. It shattered, and he reached for the lock to unlatch it. It swung open, and Crescent walked inside. The employees were gone, so it made the job a bit easier. He walked to the cash register and pressed the buttons to open it. He grabbed all the lien the machine's hand except the coins. It was rather easy. He walked out to see that no one was out into the street. The silent alarm must have gone off.
He didn't overthink about it. So he walked along the sidewalk. There he entered the convenience store. There was no one, but there were cameras. The front desk was empty. All around were two aisles for the snacks and other assorted stuff. There ahead of him was a small back room. To the left of the cashier's table were two glass windows, was a rather odd place to put windows. Then out came a Faunus man who looked like part deer. His eyes fine-tuned, and forehead had two small antlers. What he looked at Crescents mask was just stared. He didn't react until Crescent said a word.
"I-"
"Oh, my dust! I can't believe it. The Payday gang wants to rob my crappy store!" The man smiled. It took Crescent entirely off guard, and the man walked to his cash register in a happy mood. He had light brunette hair and appeared to be in his late thirties. He looked slightly fit and wore a grey t-shirt with blue jeans.
"I never thought my shop could ever be on the radar of such well-known criminals!" The man didn't show any fear toward Crescent.
"One day, just one day. Someone would see my worth, like what my wife always said. Rest her soul." The man looked at the register to his wall. There was a picture of his wife and himself, both showing the love that they shared for one another.
"Great, as long as you know why I'm here." Crescent shrugged. The Faunus man walked to his backroom to get a camera. It was disposable one. He walked out with a smile still on his face. "Is it okay if we took a picture?" The Faunus man nodded.
Crescent just stared at the man. "Sure."
The man walked beside Crescent and had the camera reverse and took several pictures. He even asked to have the gun posed to his head. After seven or so images the man walked behind his register. "I'm sorry, but all I got is 300 lien in the register, the rest used as payment toward the local crime gang." The Faunus man shrugged.
Crescent didn't feel like making the situation extremely worse. "It's fine, just hand me some snacks." The Faunus man scrambled to his fridge that housed the drinks. He passed it off to Crescent. "Thank you so much. You saved those girls from Junior's gang. Heroes welcomed here." The Faunus man grinned as Crescent took the drink. In his other hand were a sandwich and a bag of chips.
"You're a very lonely man, aren't you?" Crescent asked.
"You have no idea." The Faunus man laughed. Crescent shrugged and walked back to the China shop. His drill would end by then, or probably jammed. Like all the other fucking drills. They take all the while forever as Crescent, and the Payday gang had to deal with heists. He entered the shop to see the woman he tied up still sitting down.
She looked up at Crescent. The drill stopped, and the safe was open as well. Inside were three rolls of cash. And for some reason, a half-eaten sandwich? Who leaves lunch? Crescent pulled the bit of food out. The girl just shrugged.
"Shouldn't you be trying to escape?" Crescent asked.
"I would, but I'm not in a rush tonight. And if I deal with the police, that would take a long damn time. I also heard the gunshot."
"Don't worry; it was used to break the glass," Crescent said as he pocketed the money.
"Ooohhh, that store. No luck. Not connection to the security grid. It became that way when the local gang rolled in." The girl tilted her head left and right.
"Huh, I must have been that way to the convenience store."
"Oh, you must have met Mr. Cloud. He has his private system. But not able to link with the police." The girl stated. "He's kind but a little weird."
"You're taking this rather calmly." Crescent raised his eyebrow under his mask.
"This is a blessing in disguise. Also, Stockholm syndrome. You never pointed the gun at my face, yell at me, or do any real harm. You just gave enough for me to quit my job." The woman shrugged. "Besides, when I found like this, my boss would have to make it compensate for my tragic and horrifying event." The girl gave a sad tone at the end, the damsel.
"Well, best wishes to you." Crescent nodded, he left the soda and in front of her, as well as a bag of chips and sandwich. The food left at the girl's feet.
"Thank you." The girl leaned forward to open the soda.
Crescent left the store and walked in front of the coffee shop. Only two people were sitting by themselves with a man in a coffee uniform. Everyone just minded their own business. No one investigated the gunshot. The surrounding area wasn't on high alert.
Crescent felt a very unusual feeling. So with that, Crescent walked back to the alleyway to change his clothes, and mask, along with to hide his weapons. When he got there, someone was waiting for him.
It was Wolfe. He sat beside Jaune's bag with his mask. The demon mask.
"Hey, there boss."
"Evening Wolfe."
"So what are you doing way out here?"
"Just wanted to vent my frustration. Tonight will go down as my must unusual heist ever. Apparently, this area is under the rule of a small gang that isn't part of Junior's gang." Jaune offered his hand to lift Wolfe up.
"Pity, so are we going to wreck this gang?" Wolfe stood up. Eager for the answer.
"Indeed. I'll contact some people to do some research on the area." Jaune pulled his mask off.
"Sure thing boss. How much did you make?"
"About 13,000 lien, can you help with something?" Jaune asked.
"Sure thing."
"I need you to help me pick out a dress."
"You gotta be fucking kidding me." Wolfe dropped his jaw.
"I made a bet slash promise. Just being prepared." Jaune admitted.
Wolfe looked down toward the ground. "Fuck it. I know a store that has a deal going on tonight. Don't ask me how I know that." Wolfe waved his hand.
"I realized now how much of an angst-filled jackass I've been. I'm glad I didn't do anything foolish. I was mad at myself more than anything. So, when did you start following me and were you going to stop me?" Jaune stated as the two walked through the alley.
"Since you got off the airship, and I didn't have a weapon, but it seemed like you had everything under control. I was on my way back to the dorms. I wasn't sure if you were planning to do a job tonight." Wolfe adjusted his backpack. "You see, I like to carry my mask around in my backpack."
"Hmm," Jaune responded.
"After we get the dress, I know this great burger joint that we could eat at. I don't know about you, but I'm starving." Wolfe chuckled at the end. The two spent the night to kill some time before they went back to Beacon.