[REFINED, Oct. 27, 2018] Author's Note: This chapter has a lot, so...
Enjoy.
Chapter 9: "It appears that you thought you had a choice. I wonder how you ever could have made that mistake..." – Raven Branwen
Qrow's POV
"Alright, good to see you all here. Before we start, do we have any questions?" Ozpin asked the room as he took a seat in the rolling chair of the Beacon Staff Lounge. Port had made himself comfortable on the old couch with a plate of snacks in his lap that wouldn't last five minutes. Next to him on the two-seater couch was Oobleck, who hadn't settled into his seat but sat on the edge of it, although he too had a small plate of snacks—it was possible they were to give to Port so that the man wouldn't interrupt the whole meeting going for snacks several times. Just across the small room, sitting at the small table not occupied with food, was Glynda, who had no snacks but did have a glass of tea and was gripping it with a ferocity that was not unusual and yet was unnerving all the same.
"Yeah, why am I here?" I asked from the chair I had pulled up directly to the snack table, a tactical decision if ever there was one.
"You know why you're here, Qrow." Oz dismissed with a roll of his eyes, walking over to grab a cookie for himself from the snacks. "Any other questions?"
"Yes. Why is Qrow here?" Glynda asked, cutting her eyes at me without any real vitriol. If I didn't know better, that might even be a joke.
"For the same reason that none of our less experienced teaching staff are here. Normally, this would be more of a war council, but seeing as the semester just started, I figure we could use it to bring up any concerns. Qrow is here because I called him back early."
"Trust me, guys, not my idea." I defended. "Also, don't use me to deflect. You called us specifically because this counts as a monthly staff meeting that you're required to hold."
"Anyways, Port, let's start with you," Oz redirected, probably to get Port while he was still paying attention but very pointedly not acknowledging my accusation. "Any standouts from your lectures?"
"Other than my students don't care in the slightest to hear about Grimm Theory, like usual, no." In the defense of those students, I've gone to Port's lectures once or twice, and saying that it is Grimm Theory that they don't want to hear is not strictly honest. I highly doubted that any of them suspected that Port had the social awareness to know that they weren't paying attention, considering even the best of students treated the class like a scheduled nap. Port used to tell of how when he first started lecturing, he would call out anyone if they looked like they were dozing off, but got tired of confronting so many students every class. If they didn't want the information, then they would risk failing his class; that being said, when everyone fails your class, the curve brings everyone up to passing.
"What about the older students?" Ozpin asked, feigning interest masterfully. Oz hates faculty meetings, even those containing details about secret things or even sham meetings like this one. One of the reasons he always menacingly sips from his mug so much is he really does rely on the coffee to have the energy to pay attention.
"The upperclassmen? Most of the groups aren't due back from their first missions until later this week, with CFVY being the exception, but I have gotten a few fun check-ins. Some of the groups really loved being sent into Grimm territory and I've heard tales that made me proud." I had to cough into my arm not to laugh. I remember coming up through Beacon and how Port handled a lot of our Search and Destroy missions then, too, and all the groups would compete to see who could exaggerate their missions the most. It was rare for Port to ever accuse anyone of making things up, and even when he did, as long as they maintained their story, he would be persuaded. One time, we convinced Summer of all people to just skip the mission and let Raven and I make up our report; we got an A on that assignment and Port asked us to speak to the first-years the following semester before they started their missions. From the rolling of eyes over from Glynda, it was clear that I wasn't the only one to find this funny. Port wasn't as oblivious as his lectures would suggest, but that didn't mean he wasn't oblivious; after all, for almost twenty years now there has been a tradition of exaggerating reports specifically to fool Port and the man was none the wiser.
"Glad to hear it. Dr. Oobleck, anything of interest that you've noticed yet?" Oz asked, turning off from Port as quickly as he could.
"It is too early to tell if any of my students truly connect with the material, but I have noticed at least a couple that have really latched onto their studies. Like always, the section on wars of the past and their lasting prejudices was hotly contested." Oobleck answered, hardly taking a breath in his normal manner. "I do believe that, while we have gotten sidetracked by such discussions, at the end of the day they are more fruitful than a planned lecture could ever be."
"Any students in particular that worry you?" Oz asked, taking a sip from his mug. "Each class does have its difficulties."
"I am keeping my eye on a couple, but for separate reasons. I have nothing new for the group, if that is what you are asking."
"It was. Thank you, Bartholomew." Oz looked around the room and locked eyes with Glynda for a moment. "No one else has concerns? Well, thank you all for coming…"
"Ozpin." Glynda called out, agitated.
"Oh, what is it, Glynda? Did you have a negative experience with a student that we should be concerned with?" Ozpin asked exhaustedly, knowing what was coming.
"I believe it's time we came up with an official plan on what to do about the bullying problem in our new class of students." Glynda answered back, avoiding the expected argument Oz was waiting for about the Arc kid. Her voice wasn't nearly as angry as the tales I had been told about her deathlust for this kid led me to believe.
"Bullying problem, huh?" Ozpin asked from behind his mug. "Well, that does sound like something we're supposed to deal with, I suppose. Go ahead."
"I think we have a problem with Mr. Arc going out of his way to antagonize Mr. Winchester."
Ozpin gave Glynda a flat look that asked, 'is that really the hill you want to die on,' and Glynda's returned expression did soften.
"You're going to have to explain that one further." Ozpin stated.
"Mr. Arc went out of his way to taunt Mr. Winchester during their spar, showing some history between the characters. The day after Mr. Arc's defeat, he attacked Mr. Winchester in the locker room and humiliated him. Most recently, they were involved in an altercation during the field trip to Forever Fall."
"As I recall, Mr. Arc was cleared of that incident in the locker rooms." Port piped up, more in a matter-of-fact way than an antagonistic way.
"Indeed. And if I read the report correctly, Mr. Arc and Ms. Belladonna helped protect Team CRDL from an Ursa. Their own account backed this up, too." Ozpin added on.
"Of course Mr. Winchester and his team corroborated the story if they were afraid of repercussions from Mr. Arc. That's how bullying works, after all." Glynda defended. "Look, I admit to having leaped to conclusions the last time I dealt with Mr. Arc and that my judgement may be skewed, but is all that I just listed not cause for concern?" Glynda seemed to be restraining herself, likely because of what she had mentioned, how she jumped the gun last time.
"It is an interesting take, Ms. Goodwitch." Oobleck called from his seat, breaking his silence on the matter. "However, I would ask what actions you propose against Mr. Arc that would discourage bullying throughout the student body, because as I have observed it, his actions actually serve to prevent bullying."
"They what?" Glynda responded, caught off-guard. In her surprise, a little of her anger or frustration revealed itself, but since this is Glynda Goodwitch, international Ice-Queen runner-up that we're talking about, there was no telling if Mr. Arc was truly the source of that frustration. For all I know, a file could have been misfiled earlier and she's still fuming over it.
"Mr. Winchester is one of the troublesome students I have been eyeing and had even considered proposing similar measures to control him instead of Mr. Arc. He has expressed—well, racist views is the best way to put it—during my class, but I have also gotten complaints from a few students that his whole team bullies faunus in the school, meaning he acts out on those disgusting views. If it were Mr. Arc who attacked Mr. Winchester in the locker rooms, then I would suggest we do nothing to discourage Mr. Arc's actions."
"He openly assaulted another student! We can't just let that stand." Glynda responded.
"Why not? Team CRDL could use some good sense knocked into them, and if Mr. Arc is willing to oblige, I say we let him." Oobleck countered.
"Now that is a plan I can get behind! Why aren't our meetings like this more often?" Port added enthusiastically as I prayed to everything that Glynda wouldn't look over to see me hiding my laughter.
"Ozpin, do you hear how ridiculous this sounds? The ends justify the means?" Glynda asked, turning to the headmaster for backing. "You can't just justify doing bad things because they happen to equally bad people!"
"I gotta say…" I started, only to be cut off by Glynda.
"Oh, please don't…" Glynda mumbled to herself.
"…that I'm with Goodwitch here. As much as the kid may have deserved getting the tar beat out of him, that doesn't really make it right. I think."
"Exactly my point. We cannot allow Mr. Arc to carry on without any sort of consequences." Glynda rallied behind me without a care in the world for the concern over what I was going to say but a few seconds ago.
"We're not." Ozpin answered back with a smirk. "Mr. Arc has and will continue to be subjected to punishments that should deter other students from crusading around the school and attacking others in the name of vengeance."
"What are you talking about? He hasn't faced anything yet!"
"You are his punishment, Glynda. We have done and will do nothing to stop you from punishing him during his sparring sessions. It's simply up to you to make him hate your class, whatever form that may take." Ozpin answered as his smirk widened, obscured from view by taking another sip of his coffee.
"That… that's it?" Glynda asked, her confusion slowly fading as she thought on the idea. It clearly wasn't the official, top-down punishment or action she was hoping for, but something told me that she did realize the potential that such a flexible ruling holds.
"Trust me on this one, it's more than the kid deserves." I answered, earning a glare from Glynda.
"Fine. I want it noted that I'm doing this under protest. And that he's fighting Ms. Nikos with his hands taped behind his back the first chance I get."
Jaune's POV
Me: In position.
I let out a long sigh as I sent the text and then shut off my scroll entirely. What are you even doing here, Jaune? Wasn't the whole point of getting away from the tribe and Raven to, you know, get away from the tribe and Raven? That should be a rhetorical question, but the sound of a portal opening from behind me crushed any hope I had of this getting called off. So much for washing my hands of all the raids that made be want to leave the Tribe in the first place.
"Jaune." Raven acknowledged as she stepped out and closed her portal behind her. He voice was low and her actions quick to avoid being noticed by anyone, but she didn't need to worry. We were in the warehouse district, sure, but we were a few blocks from the Fang's actual warehouse and the site of the incoming shipment. I didn't actually need to get close to it; after all, the plan was for Raven to show up and create a portal for her crew to steal dust through. Since Raven can, you know, fly, all I needed to do was get her somewhat close to the target, and that was it. "Walk me through what you've seen so far."
"I got here about an hour ago, as the sun was setting." I explained, walking over to the edge of the roof with Raven. We were well out of sight of the docks themselves, but you could see over the tops of some warehouses. As long as we stayed low and behind the ledge of the roof, we wouldn't be spotted by the naked eye due to the distance—I wasn't going to take a chance with Faunus eyes being better than mine, so I even left some extra space. "Closest dock to the water in that direction is the warehouse, and about a hundred or so yards from there is where the SDC Dust is supposed to come in. I still don't know if they're hijacking the dust to put straight into the warehouse or if it is just a staging area, though."
"Good." Raven mumbled, leaning forward to scan the area through her mask. She took her time and scanned the peripheries, making sure to memorize her location and other escape routes, not that they would be needed when you could fly. She was thorough, though, and would never be caught in a trap that she hadn't seen coming.
"Police response is variable, but this isn't a high-population area and it's at night, so chances are the Fang will be in and out before any authorities show up." I offered the last of the information I had.
"How's your alibi?" Raven asked, catching me somewhat off-guard. "Your team going to come looking for you?"
"Why would they?" I asked, staring back into her mask. "I won't have been gone for more than an hour, and we were already searching through Vale for someone anyways."
"Where's your weapon?" Raven asked, getting off on a tangent that I did not like.
"We're not hunting anyone. We're just tracking down a friend." I defended back, sensing what Raven was implying and resisting it. Raven cocked her head to the side slightly upon hearing that last word. "Friend, acquaintance, teammate, whatever. Spare me the lecture of the evils of friendship."
"You don't seem to understand your role in this operation." Raven responded, her tone a mix of flat nonchalance and annoyance. She was still leaning forward against the ledge with her head turned towards me, where I had turned to face her entirely now. "This is your intel. I'm going in there blind and bringing my men. If this is some sort of set-up, then you're coming with us. If I'm captured, then it will be really easy to convict me of murder when I eviscerate you in front of everyone."
"The hell I'm not going in there!" I shot back. Raven pushed off the ledge and faced me head on. "This is your heist. I wanted no part of this."
"I don't really think you understand how little of a choice you have, Jaune. There are three ways this plays out…" The tension in Raven's arms and shoulders relaxed, which served to put me even further on edge. A tense Raven was dangerous, but a loose and relaxed Raven? That was the type of person who could draw a blade in the blink of an eye without a care in the world. "One: you sold us out. You go in there with us. You die." To emphasize, Raven slowly drew out a red blade and snapped it over her knee, dropping the shards to my right. "Two: you refuse to go in there. You die right here, and it doesn't matter if you sold me out or not." She took another red blade out and did the same, snapping it and letting the shards fall to my left. "Three: you see your op through. The op is successful. I get my dust. You do not die." The blade Raven drew out this time was white instead of red, and she did not snap it, instead leveling it at me. "What's it going to be?"
"I told you I wanted out, Raven. Why would you trust me with anything like this?" I asked, keeping my anger in check by balling my fists at my sides.
"Well, I'll admit that you aren't usually the type to betray anyone, so I'm not very concerned about this being an ambush. I am concerned just enough to make you go with me, though; you should feel honored." Raven sheathed her sword again as she spoke.
"Gee, you're making me blush." I deadpanned back.
"And if you're really so dedicated to those…wonderful morals Ozpin's cronies preach about, then I can trust that you'll see this through without any complications." I couldn't see through her mask, but I could feel her smirk at my confusion.
"Explain."
"Why, this is a radical terrorist group who has been growing increasingly violent that is about to steal tons of dust. Whatever your feelings about me, surely me having the dust is a much better scenario than the Fang having the dust, right? After all, I am a very calculating person who wouldn't use that dust randomly, unlike terrorists." Raven's words hung in the air, the smugness of them mocking me, but the point mocking me even more. It was a valid point, as much as I would not admit it to her. "And you don't want to see any bloodshed, so you'll see to it in person that everything goes according to plan."
When I didn't respond, I heard Raven give a small chuckle before drawing her weapon and summoning a new portal. "Well, go on in. Vernal is prepping the teams. She'll be expecting you."
"I hate you." I mumbled, stepping forward to go through the portal.
"Mmm yeah, whatever. Tell Vernal I'll give her a sixty second warning via text." Raven's voice echoed out from the other side of the portal as I stepped through to find myself back in that stupid camp.
"Wow, you lasted in Beacon, what? A couple of weeks? Impressive." Vernal's voice called out from the side, where several of the tribe members who were arming themselves laughed at my expense.
"In my defense, each one of these guys here couldn't last two minutes." I shot back at the assembled group without any playfulness. Gods, I forgot how much I hate these people.
"Is that so, huh?" One of the most problematic of the bunch piped up. He was a real asshole that honestly, I never even cared to learn his name, but I had sparred a few times when he annoyed me too much. "The way I hear it, you have a really big sword now. Compensating for something?" His posse loved the comeback as he sauntered on up to me.
"Well, by your analogy, the bigger your weapon, the smaller your penis. First off, not that original; second, if you look really closely, you'll notice that my weapon is so small you can't even see it on me." I brought my hands up to show that I was unarmed, before pointing down to the cutlass-style sword on his hip. "But I see yours, so…"
"Listen here you little shit, do we need to settle this the old-fashioned way?" The man challenged back angrily, trying to get in my face and act tough.
"What the hell are you talking about? We've sparred before. A lot. Usually for this same reason. You've lost every time. Why are we even talking about this? Don't we have something better to do?" My frustrations from my chat with Raven was coming through and I had to divert myself from this pointless, stupid confrontation before I knocked him off his feet and beat him with his own shoes.
"Yes, we do. See to it that the men are ready. Jaune and I need to discuss the plan." Vernal stepped in, forcing the group to back down immediately. There was a reason Raven liked this tribe so much, and it was because for all their aggressiveness and tenacity, she and Vernal had them absolutely whipped. As far as they were concerned, Vernal was the Maiden, too, so the speed with which they dispersed was not surprising in the least. "Here," she called out, tossing some sort of polearm at me. I caught it by the shaft, looking it over.
"What's this?" I called out. It was a long staff, about six or seven feet in length, with a metal blade at the end. The production felt simple but sturdy, meaning that there likely weren't any hidden features other than stick and pointy end. The blade was a foot in length and sharp on both edges, tapering off into a point. There were no asymmetrical features to the blade, unlike a typical halberd or other weapons like a katana.
"A naginata. You'll be guarding the front and the guys will be unloading dust in the back." Vernal called out, also tossing to me a black hoodie and a Grimm mask. "The masks aren't identical to White Fang décor, but they'll fool anyone who chances to stumble across us, or any security footage."
"I understood what this weapon was, Vernal. I was asking why you gave me any sort of polearm when I've never trained with them." I cut back, holding out the naginata to get a feel for its balance.
"What's so hard to understand? Long range. Poke and stab. Slice and cut. Don't die." Vernal mocked back at me.
"Yes, because it's that easy." I deadpanned back.
"Alright, I didn't want to do this, but…" Vernal waved for someone from behind me to come forward, and I turned around to find that asshole from earlier charging towards me with his cutlass drawn and a grin on his face. Instinctively, I jabbed the pointy end at him and he jumped back with a yelp, barely able to contain his momentum. "See, was that so hard?" Vernal mocked again.
I kept the pointy end facing him and made sure to wiggle the weapon in the air so that he couldn't knock it aside and charge in, which he tried a few times. Eventually, I let him knock the blade to the side and used the staff's torque to bring the bottom around to smack him in the face before he could get his sword back up. His blind swing missed me and I kicked him in the side to create some space before getting my guard back up.
He went back to trying to swat or deflect my blade away to charge in again, and I continued to draw circles in the air with the weapon to keep him at bay. Eventually, I stepped forward to lunge and feinted a stab at his face. Understandably, he flinched at the feint and swung his cutlass up to knock the blade away, but I had already pulled my naginata back in time to avoid his strike and take free stab at his belly. Were it a real fight, I might have had enough momentum behind the point of the blade to piece aura and impale him but settled for poking him.
"That's enough, boys. Do you have any other stupid complaints?" Vernal asked me rhetorically, a grin growing on her face. It wasn't nearly as hostile as Raven's grins usually were, and I found myself grinning as well, though more out of chagrin than anything else.
"I will never run out of complaints." I shot back automatically. "But none about you. At least not right now."
"Oh, so cryptic and emo of you. Let me guess, making friends has been hard at school?" Vernal's tone indicated she was mocking me, but the way she fought to keep herself from rolling her eyes let me know there wasn't anything behind it.
"More like problems not making friends. I never thought that acting like Raven would make people want to get closer to me." I grumbled more in general than at her.
"Oh please, like you've actually been doing that." Vernal dismissed readily, catching me by surprise. It was her and Raven's plan (more Raven's, but still) that dictated that I try to avoid making any strong connections while at Beacon, but that comment felt very contrary to that goal. Never mind that I had recently decided to pretty much give up on that, because they couldn't have known that; I only decided it like two days ago.
"Uh, yes I've actually been doing that. Is this some sort of trick? Did Raven put you up to checking in on me?"
"I mean, technically yes, but not that specifically. More like she told me to knock some sense into you, if necessary." Vernal answered back, not looking up from where she was loading fresh dust into her weapons. "Do you mean you really tried to push everyone away?"
"Yes! That was the whole freaking point, wasn't it?" I answered back exasperated.
"No," Vernal cut back quickly. "The point was to avoid forming any attachments that would keep you from doing what's best for you. That doesn't mean going out of your way to avoid making connections, you idiot." Vernal's words didn't have any malice behind them, but she did sound as if she was berating a toddler.
"That would have been a fantastic thing to clarify before you sent me into Beacon!" I shot back, a bit of sarcasm added in to lessen the implicit accusation there.
"Tell me, Jaune, what would be your natural reaction if your teammate intentionally tried to make you dislike them?" Vernal asked. I didn't answer immediately, catching on to her point and realizing that I would look like an idiot. Or I already do. "You would probably be suspicious and want to dig further into who they are, wouldn't you?"
"…I don't think I should answer that."
"Did you really think that Raven's advice was to cut yourself off from the world?" Again, my silence spoke volumes. "Gods, you really are an idiot, aren't you? Is that how you see Raven? Or me? Unfeeling and unattached to anything?"
"No…" I lied poorly, with the good sense to look a little ashamed.
"That's incredible; you actually do think that's what Raven is like after, what, over thirteen years? You have got to be the densest person to walk Remnant." Her indignation had given way to genuine surprise and she was starting to find the situation funny if the smile was any indication.
"What did you mean that Raven's advice was to do what's best for me?" I asked, thinking back on what stuck out. "Isn't the whole point to get me to do what's best for the Tribe?"
"I know you're smarter than this, but I don't have time to wait for you to figure this out, so..." Vernal responded, putting her things down to look up at me. "Raven's smarter than you, Jaune. She's certainly more clever. We know you would betray us if it meant you could be free of us." I opened my mouth to object, but Vernal gave me a glare that shut me up. To her credit, she wasn't wrong completely wrong, though I feel like I wouldn't betray them so much as I would cut ties with them. "But you're also smart enough not to follow Ozpin, either, so she's testing you. You're free, Jaune; the moment you left for Beacon, you had everything you needed to break ties with us, but that would require joining Ozpin. As long as you don't want to do that, we have leverage over you."
We never broke eye contact as Vernal paused, letting the air grow thick with tension. I gripped the staff of the naginata harder, preparing myself to react should the worse happen. There wasn't a threat made, but the fact that she was aware of what I was trying to do was telling; I had considered betraying them, and I have even gone so far as to establish that I would if I had the power to protect myself from them. What she was telling me now was that they knew that I would try and were preparing for it, which was a terrifying prospect; I was banking on being able to blindside Raven if I ever went through with this, but if she had years of foreknowledge, that all but guaranteed a messy end. Vernal had even acknowledged my biggest roadblock, being that my only realistic choices were joining Ozpin or working for them; I didn't have a third option yet.
"But, as long as you're going to be in Beacon, we're not going to use leverage over you if we can help it. Think of us as allies, or at least, mutual benefactors. You keep us informed about Beacon, we let you go to Beacon. You help us plan heists..." she broke eye contact and turned to look over the Tribe members preparing themselves. "...we'll make it worth the trouble."
She looked away suddenly, he eyes drawn down to her leg where she pulled out a scroll. "That's Raven. She said she's opening the portal in sixty seconds. I'm going to round up the group." She started to walk off, turning to get one more word in. "Raven's advice wasn't supposed to turn you into her perfect spy; it was supposed to teach you to be like her. Attachments are fine, Jaune. Raven had them then and she has them now, too. Just be very, very certain you know which ones are superficial and which matter the most. When the time comes to choose, you should already have made your choice."
I stepped out of the portal to find myself in the warehouse that I had checked out a few days ago. The first thing I noticed were the several shipping containers in the center of the room that were surrounded by bodies of White Fang members, not all of whom were obviously dead. There was a chance that a lot of them were unconscious, though it was obvious that a couple wouldn't be going anywhere. As I stepped through, I looked to my right to find Raven standing next to her portal, arms crossed and leaning against a wooden crate in a very relaxed manner, as if she hadn't just taken out a squadron of terrorists.
"What's the situation?" I asked as members of the tribe started to emerge from the portal and figure out what to do next.
"There's some sort of fight outside but doesn't look like authorities. Maybe a rival gang or something; point is, they redirected the dust in here for safe keeping. Pillage everything you can and get it back through the portals." Raven's words were loud enough to be heard by all and it was clear that she was giving them commands, as they started running around and breaking into the unmarked containers. "Jaune, take a few and guard the entra—what is that?" Raven motioned down to the weapon in my hands.
"Uh, some sort of polearm?" I answered back.
"Do you know how to use a polearm?"
"The pointy end goes into my enemies." I answered back oversimply, hoping that she'd take my sarcasm as a sign that I actually did know how to use it.
"Whatever. If you get killed, that's your fault. Guard the entrance." Raven shook her head and pointed me in the general direction of the large hangar doors, which were only opened wide enough for one person to fit through. Chances are, that's how the Fang had left it after they brought the dust in here, as I doubt Raven would have risked moving the doors; if they were rusted, the creaking noise could easily give us away.
I made my way to the door and I wanted to peak out and see what exactly the commotion Raven had mentioned was about. Some sort of SDC security, maybe? Their shipments normally had something, but I had never heard of an unmarked (and therefore unofficial or hidden) shipment having a contingent of body guards; that would seem counter-intuitive. As far as rival gangs go, it wouldn't be impossible, but how many common criminals would have the intel to suggest that an unmarked SDC shipment would be easy pickings? For that matter, how did the White Fang find out? Based off the news reports, this Roman Torchwick guy was the main cause of the dust shortage in Vale, so it was possible that he was outside causing trouble for the White Fang. Even then that might not explain it, seeing as Blake's entire reason for leaving Beacon was to find out if Torchwick really does work with the White Fang. When this is done, I should peak out and see if I can't get any evidence that would satisfy Blake's curiosity.
I never got to find out who really was behind the fighting, as before I got to the door, a small figure sauntered on through. She was short and was even wearing some sort of boosted boot that made her taller, meaning she was really short. It was her outfit that put me on edge, though; she wasn't wearing typical White Fang gear, nor was she even wearing a mask. She wore stylish clothes all centered around the colors pink, white, and brown, and had the hair to match. She had a small umbrella slung over her shoulder and the surprise in her eyes at seeing our operation was quickly replaced by a malicious grin.
"Get her." I ordered the two men who had come with me. I had a sneaking suspicion that whoever this person was had Huntsman training or skill comparable to it, and the fact that she showed up to a heist wearing such blatant colors told me she didn't fear being spotted; she might have even been looking for a fight. That's why I studied the manner in which she dismantled the two men I sent at her closely, though it didn't tell me anything useful. She didn't even draw a weapon, instead playing each of them against each other and using one of their weapons against the other. In a matter of seconds, they were both unconscious on the ground, and she made a show of stepping on them as she walked towards me.
I pulled my naginata into a defensive position and waited to see what she would do. She did nothing, just standing there with her umbrella on her shoulder and a bemused look on her face. If nothing else, I had a massive reach advantage, and that was before you even factor in the length of my weapon. I stepped forward and stabbed at her core, which she sidestepped without changing her lax stance. I pulled back and went in for another stab at her face before feinting it and going for her core again; I was hoping to get her to dodge to the side and when she committed to that I wanted to catch her before she could recover. The first part worked and the second should have, but she displayed an incredible agility as she had leaned back to avoid the first attack and bent over backwards to avoid the second. I was distracted by the move for a split-second, and in that time instead of bouncing back up, she caught herself with one hand and kicked her legs up in the air, knocking my naginata straight up where it would be no use to me. Before I could bring it back down, she had returned to her feet and charged into my guard, lunging at me with the point of her umbrella, which now had a blade protruding from the end. I turned to the side and avoided being impaled but did take a tough swipe from the blade, but nothing my aura would be stressed by.
I finally brought my naginata back down, but she was to my side, away from the pointy end. I turned to prepare for an attack as she lunged back at me again. I brought up the staff to catch and redirect the lunge, but the blade retracted just before I could knock it aside and her lunge suddenly stopped. Instead, her umbrella unfolded with a pop and I froze in my defensive stance with the weapon perpendicular to my body, which was enough time for her to spin and kick from behind the umbrella. Her first kick came down almost vertically and knocked my weapon down, and to avoid losing it, my guard was brought down with it, before a second spin and kick delivered a boot across my face. My instincts roared at me to get my guard back up and had I not, the lunge she took at me would have ended with a hole in my stomach. Instead, my guard forced her to go for a less threatening stab into my side, and my aura reserves kept the blade from piercing, instead sliding off. I was able to smack her in the side of the head with the blunt end of the staff as she retreated, but such a blow was more annoying than it was damaging.
To hell with this, she's smaller than Ruby; there's no way she has a big aura pool. Trading damage would suffice, which means I need pressure. I didn't let her retreat and regroup, instead launching another series of stabs and feints. She managed to avoid and parry them without difficulty, but I did a good enough job of throwing in sweeping slashes and cuts that she couldn't or didn't capitalize on anything yet. That's good because it means she's acknowledging that the range difference is an issue, meaning she is at least concerned by it. As soon as I had thought that, she had knocked a stab aside and spun around behind it to quickly close the distance. Now inside of my guard, she finished her spin by dropping low and swiping with her umbrella blade at my legs, expecting the action to panic me and get me to either flee backwards or drop my guard down to block it with the staff again. Instead, I used my semblance and focused my aura on the outer leg, catching the blade and stopping it dead in its tracks. It didn't hurt but it certainly was not good for my aura to just take hits like that, since my semblance doesn't make my aura immune to damage, it just lets me resist the momentum of strikes to 'tank' them. What it did do is surprise this girl and leave her open to my other foot, which I leaned forward to kick her in the chest with, focusing my semblance on my foot so I didn't break a toe or anything.
The blow did some damage and forced her to retreat, but by no means tipped the scale of this battle in my favor. I had touched her twice for all the damage I had taken for it, and she must have known this, too, because the grin on her face grew more mischievous. She looked me over once or twice and I couldn't help but feel like I was little more than a fun challenge to keep her from getting bored, an observation that did not help my confidence here. I would need to swing this fight in a big manner soon, or else my survival would come down to whether or not Raven felt like my position inside of Beacon was worth the effort of saving my ass. I did surprise her by resisting her attack, so if I can do that again, maybe I can get something big in.
I decided to go on the offensive again, needing to force her into another mistake to turn this fight around. Her defense again made me look silly, but without any actual training with this sort of weapon, all I could really do is poke and slash and see what sticks. I poked to her side: blocked. I brought that poke into a slash back across her: too slow. I feinted a poke then feinted a second poke then slashed at her ankles: she backed out of measure. Eventually, as I got more desperate, I started throwing slower but heavier slashes that she almost looked insulted by, given how easily she avoided them. I threw a large slash diagonally that she stepped sideways to avoid all the while giving me a disappointed frown, as if she was upset that I wasn't nearly the challenge I had shown myself to be. I kept the momentum from that slash as I spun and released my near-side hand, extending the weapon one-handed for extra reach as I slashed at knee-height in a circle all around me. She jumped over it easily—she almost looked bored, now—and when she landed she jumped at me, spinning to kick at my head.
What she did not expect was for her foot to impact my head and it not budge an inch, thanks to my semblance. I still took most of the damage, but felt no pain and didn't flinch, whereas she took the damage, pain, and the shock of kicking something that didn't give in at all. I didn't let it end there, though, because she made the mistake of kicking to my side where my hand was no longer holding my weapon. I brought that free arm up and pinned her leg against my neck, trapping her in an awkward position in mid-air. Before she could react and stab with her umbrella, I dropped the naginata from my other hand and brought my other elbow down hard on her thigh, hoping that I could bruise or snap her femur due to her slight figure. Her aura flexed, resisting the blunt blow, but a yelp escaped her mouth as she frantically tried to get me to drop her. Somewhere in my mind, it registered that she had just flexed her aura the old-fashioned way, which means that I was dealing with someone who was either seriously trained or had fought for a long time.
She tried to get me to drop her by stabbing at me with her umbrella's blade, but I pushed my semblance to cover my whole self, preventing any damage she could inflict from stopping me. With her still pinned and hanging from my shoulder at an awkward angle for her, I spun around a few times and flung her full-force away from me. She flew through the air and impacted the hangar door with her back, bouncing awkwardly as the edge of the hanger wall split right down her back; the crunch of the impact and the painful contraction she went through made me wince, but not enough to get me to give up on the fight. Her aura visibly fizzled a little but it managed to recover and didn't break entirely, meaning that she was dangerously low but not broken. I thought I would fix that as I hurled the naginata at her like a spear and saw the whites of her eyes as she stared at her death, before suddenly she shattered into pieces and the naginata sailed right on through, piercing the sheet-metal of the wall and imbeding itself in it. With no body left behind and the pieces fading from memory a few moments later, I was left assuming she had fled using some sort of semblance.
"Well, that was lucky," Raven called out from across the warehouse. I turned to find her still leaning against the box from earlier but facing me and clearly having been watching the fight. "Mind telling me what you're doing using a weapon you suck with on my mission?"
"Vernal made me," I answered back, uncertain of what I should say. Raven stared at me through her mask and for once I saw why she liked wearing masks, because while this White Fang mask may only just barely cover my eyes, I felt infinitely more confident when she couldn't see them and read my emotions. Eventually, Raven turned to her crew.
"You two, go pick them up and drag them back," She called out, motioning to pick up the two guys I had sent at our attacker beforehand. "Everyone else, wrap it up. I don't want any more company. Portal closes in thirty seconds!"
That was my queue to leave, but not without that naginata. It was the only thing I had touched so far, but that meant it did have my prints on them. If this place were to become a crime scene, which felt likely when all was considered, I did not need my prints on record. Not that they have any records of me to compare them to, but that meant that if anyone ever did record my prints, they'd find out immediately that they matched this heist.
"Jaune." Raven called out before I made it to where my weapon was stuck in the wall. I turned back around to see what was up and was greeted with a small sack flying at my face. My reflexes kicked in and I snatched it out of the air, only realizing once I caught it just how slow it had been tossed. I opened up the pouch to find a somewhat significant amount of lien and looked back up at Raven quizzically. "Good work, kid. We'll be in touch."
"You're…paying me for this?" I asked, somewhat bewildered by the scenario. My mind did go back to Vernal's words earlier, though: we'll make it worth the trouble.
"Don't be silly. That's the money I took off all the Fang I knocked out." Raven called back with a laugh, disappearing through her portal.
"Yeah, 'knocked out,'" I called back as she left, looking around at the bodies slumped on the floor. To her credit, some were actually knocked out; just...not all.
"Well, I guess taking it is no worse than stealing dust from terrorists." I mumbled to myself, looking around the room at the result of our heist. I shook myself from my stupor quickly, remembering that I was currently wearing a Grimm mask and needed to leave, and that there was another battle going on outside. I was tempted to check my aura levels, but that would mean turning on my scroll, which would then keep a record of where I was. It was bad enough that I had to turn it on to call Raven in the first place, but having a second record of my presence would be much harder to explain away.
I ducked out the opening to the doors and found a crate nearby that I could hide behind. The sounds of fighting were still going on, but as I peered around to the side I noticed a few White Fang members loading dust onto a Bullhead. They weren't loading very much, since the Bullhead appeared to be an escape vehicle. It could be a diversion; since they have witnesses, make them think their plan was to load and steal dust instead of hiding 100 yards away. I crawled around to the other side of the crate to get a view of the fighting. A man fitting the news' description of Roman Torchwick was locked in combat with a…yellow faunus monkey? Is that it, just one guy causing all this—nope, there was another one lying on the ground who was already knocked out of the fight and—
"What the hell…Blake?!"
Yang's POV
I barreled down alleyways without any regard for what or who was in my way. I wasn't far from the docks and as soon as I got Weiss' text I put everything I had in getting there as quickly as possible.
Weiss-cream: Found Blake! docks, in trouble. White Fang. NOW
It wasn't the most coherent of texts and it didn't make any sense, but it didn't need to. My stomach had dropped the moment I read the words and I redoubled my efforts to get there faster. I could already see smoke overhead, giving me a pretty clear guide for where to go.
When I got there, I spotted Blake immediately and fury shot through me; she was lying on the concrete with a White Fang member crouched over her. With one blast from Ember Celica I was flying across the docks towards this asshole, who had the gall to duck my punch upon hearing my shotgun blast.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" I growled, and he obliged, backing away with his hands going up. I wanted with everything in me to go ahead and knock him into the sea, but right now Blake was more important (and the other guy unconscious there, too) and if he was going to back down, I would let him.
"Whoa whoa whoa, Yang! It's me! Calm down!" A familiar voice came from the man as he took of the small Grimm mask he wore.
"Jaune?!" I asked in complete disbelief. "What the hell? What are you doing with the White Fang!?"
"Yang, calm down." Jaune repeated, annoying me and causing the opposite effect. "I just found the mask. I was trying to sneak them to safety."
"What about the White Fang?" I asked, too worried to challenge his answer and stepping forward to check on Blake.
"I think Weiss has them pretty well handled at the moment. Torchwick included." Jaune motioned to the area behind me, where Weiss was currently having a field day with her glyphs and all of the spilled dust containers lying around. "She's kinda in her element, surrounded by outrageous amounts of dust."
"We'll let her hold them off. Ruby and the others should be on their way." Jaune took the silent command for what it was and picked up the guy faunus, slinging him over his shoulder, and I did the same for Blake. It may not be gentle, but it would let us get out of here quicker. "How did you even know about this?"
"Same way you did, I suspect." Jaune answered back, checking over his shoulder to see if we were followed.
"Weiss thought to text you?" I asked, a little surprised. Weiss didn't necessarily have anything against Jaune that I knew of, but she was so practical that I didn't think she would have bothered checking if Jaune would help. It's not like she ever came with us to look for Blake, so she wouldn't know that Team JNPR was helping. What's more, how did she even find Blake if she wasn't looking?
"Apparently. I was already nearby the docks and got here just after Weiss did." Jaune and I had found an abandoned warehouse that was well out of the line of sight and we set down Blake and her friend against the wall. The guy was out cold, but Blake was starting to stir and come to.
"Yang, go help Weiss; you're more useful in a group fight than me. I'll protect these two." Jaune ordered. For a moment, I thought about telling him to go out there because Blake was my partner and I would be the one to guard her, but I dismissed that thought. Weiss is my teammate, too, and he's right; besides, I need someone to punch.
I left the warehouse and sprinted back to the docks, but by the time I had gotten back, Ruby had shown up with that weird redheaded girl we had met the other day, and they both were carving into the White Fang. Torchwick was holding off Weiss, but with his Fang support cut-off, he disengaged before I could make it to Weiss to double-team the bastard. The coward threw a White Fang grunt at Weiss and dashed up to the Bullhead behind him, but just before he made it to the ramp I had caught up to him, launching my first right into his back.
And his back shattered, causing him to disappear and pieces of glass to scatter all around. I looked around confused before looking up to see Torchwick on the Bullhead, waving goodbye with a laugh at my expense. The next time I see him, he's a dead man.
"Look, pal, I'm gonna level with you here. You guys have already taken our statements. None of us are hurt. We've been here for an hour and a half now. We've been checked by paramedics, detectives, forensic analysts, and reporters. We've all been cheek-swabbed, given fingerprints so they can distinguish ours from actual suspects', and we've given DNA samples. If you don't let us go in the next five minutes—"
"Yang, you're torturing the poor guy." Blake whined wearily from her seat on the back of an ambulance nearby.
"Yeah, you're just angry that they plucked a hair for the DNA stuff." Ruby added on with a giggle.
"That's not funny, Ruby!" I shot back, too exhausted to contain myself. Fortunately, they didn't find me serious, so I didn't offend anyone, but unfortunately, they didn't find me serious, so they didn't stop.
"L-Look, l-let me just go a-ask the detectives if you can l-leave, alright?" The officer before me and object of my endless ire stammered out. The poor guy looked young and his role as the guy in charge of guarding the crime scene fit with that, but that didn't matter right now. I was tired, hungry, and in a bad mood.
"Eh, that won't be necessary." One of the two detectives in charge called out, walking up from behind the poor beat cop with his partner. For some reason, they both still wore their sunglasses, and it wasn't as if they could pull the sunglasses-at-night look off, either.
"Yeah, this one looks pretty... pretty... pretty... open and shut." The other drawled out, putting emphasis on weird parts of his speech.
"Lookin' like the ole' White Fang are burning a new Torch, now, don't it?" The other responded in just as strange of a speech pattern, making me worried for the future of the police if these idiots were running investigations. Something about them told me they couldn't have figured out what type of faunus Blake was even if she didn't wear a bow.
"New…Torch…" The second drawled back.
"Anyway, you and your little friends here can leave. We've got your files if we need to find you." The first one confirmed, causing everyone to perk up. Nora even kicked Jaune in the stomach to wake him up from his nap on the ground.
"Unless, of course, any of you are dirty liars!" The second one shifted moods so unnaturally that, for a second, I thought he might be pregnant, before I remembered the obvious reason that's impossible: no one would have ever done that with either of these two. Oh, and the whole being a dude thing, too.
"You know, I really hate when people lie to me." The first added on.
"You know, as fun as this isn't, I think we're just going to leave." I called out, trying my best to ignore whatever had just happened as I walked off. The sounds of footsteps behind me confirmed that everyone came with, and once we were out of earshot I stopped to address the group. "Alright, gang, this has been just…exhilarating, and I know it's late, so why don't you guys go back to Beacon?"
"You're not coming?" Pyrrha asked, giving me a strange look that, honestly, I was too tired to read into.
"No, I am starving and Team RWBY needs to have a little chat—" I looked dead at Weiss and Blake before continuing, "—so I think we're gonna go get waffles."
"Aww, we can't come?" Jaune whined, mocking me.
"Uh, no."
"Actually…" Blake started, before trailing off as all eyes shifted to her. She retreated in on herself immediately, but it was Weiss of all people to come to her rescue (again, I suppose).
"What I think Blake is saying is that it's fine if Jaune and his team come." Weiss looked to Blake tentatively before they both turned to look at Jaune, who nodded. Blake looked back at Weiss and nodded also. "And I guess Ruby's new friend can come too, since she helped out."
"SENSATIONAL!"
"Well, that's settled. Let's go eat!" Nora called out before marching off with the group in tow. No one actually knew if she knew where she was going, but chances are, following Nora was the best way to get to waffles. Before I moved I caught Jaune's eye and gave him a quizzical look, trying to find out what the hell had just happened between those three. Jaune returned the stare before shrugging softly and jogging back up to the group as if nothing had happened.
"Did…I see that right? Did they…?" I trailed off, unable to put my thoughts into words because I wasn't actually sure what I thought I just saw. "I'm too tired to deal with this crap. I need a waffle."
Closing Thoughts: Ah, yes, finally, the introduction of everyone's favorite characters from the show: Detective Burnie and Detective Joel, better known as the Hardy Boys.
"They call us the Hardy Boys, because we're so hard...on naughty little boys."
"Hard...boys..."
"Ugh, that's disgusting."
"You made it disgusting."
Oh, and Neo was there, too, so that's neat. And before anyone can comment about it, no, Jaune should not have won that fight with Neo. He is not skilled enough to beat Neo with a brand new weapon, and it would be a fair split if he was using his best weapons. If Neo hadn't retreated, I feel like Jaune still would have lost that fight, since he landed like only 4 hits, half of them coming from that stunt he pulled. Neo only fled after loosing an alarming amount of aura from getting smacked into that wall, which suddenly makes you reconsider taking on an entire warehouse full of enemies. Neo is a wildcard because we've seen her twice in the show, once when she dismantled a tired and irritated Yang (read: not level headed) and once when she and Roman tag-teamed Ruby. We don't have a true idea of what she's capable of. If Neo and Jaune ever meet again, I can only imagine the dynamic between them...
Oh, and Vernal smacking Jaune around with words a little was a long time coming, too. One of the more consistent comments/concerns has been that Jaune doesn't exactly see Raven perfectly accurately, and yes, he didn't. Now that someone has had to correct him on it, his perspective might be shifting and that might lead to him making firm resolutions to take actions.
As always, feel free to break my heart down there in the comments section (reviews, whatever)!
It isn't as if I obsessively check my phone for new reviews every couple of hours or anything. That would be crazy.
Comment of the Week: by user Josh Spicer on Ch. 8
"Too bad most fans seem to hate Jaune, including Miles, considering Jaune has the biggest upside in character development."
Last Closing Thoughts, I was talking about character development from the show, and got off on a tangent about Jaune, who I started off disliking in V1, quickly becoming okay with and shipping Arkos through V3, and then really liking his character's darker driftings in V4. This culminated with V5, where Dark Jaune quickly became one of my two favorite things about that fight at the end (Yang v Raven was #1).
Jaune is such a strange character in terms of audience reception, because the poor guy can't catch a break. If you go on Tumblr, Jaune's sole purpose for existing is to ruin RWBY and he also is the embodiment of cockblocking all lesbian ships, which is a war crime on Tumblr.
Note: is it called cockblocking if you interrupt two girls? Asking for a friend
This kinda stemmed out of V1 Jaune being whiny and having a lot of screen time, and since then both issues have been resolved, yet the disdain lingers on. He's kinda the Nickelback of RWBY: everyone has agreed to dislike him.
Not on my list of things to do today was to out myself as a quasi-fan on Nickelback, but here we are...
That being said, "Hating Jaune" is almost an ironic thing to do now for a lot of people, myself included, because it is funny; at the end of the day, there are a lot of secret Jaune fans out there. I certainly am one, though he can't hold a candle to Weiss and Yang, but honestly, who can?
As for Miles hating Jaune, I do not understand at all where you are coming from. Miles seemed to love voicing Jaune in V5, if his comments from the AMA's or his overall fantastic performance are any indication. If anything, Miles isn't even the one to blame if you think the writing disfavors Jaune, because Kerry admitted that Miles does not write any of Jaune's lines because he voices him; it's all Kerry. That said, I don't understand the idea that the writing hates Jaune either. I've maintained for a while that Jaune is the character in need of the most character development, but he is also the character with (BY FAR) the most character development already.
I certainly do get Josh's frustration here with how Jaune is typically received. I feel like a lot of us never gave him a chance to shake off that V1 stigma, the same way I never gave Weiss a chance until V5.
Then again, there are a lot of Jaune-centered fanfics, so maybe I'm just dead wrong here. LOL.
Thanks for the comment, Josh
See y'all next week.