Chapter 12: The Bounty
"Stop aiming center mass Blake. This isn't a Grimm or a person, only a head shot will work." They where in the sparring room, shooting holograms of battle droids so Jayden could effectively teach them how to dispatch droids. "What's the difference?" Blake said as she put in a new magazine, she looked at him as if they'd just met for the first time. In a way they sorta have, now that she knew the truth about him. Jayden asked for her gun and shot the droid in the head. Two bullets made it in causing the hologram to turn red. "Back during the war, Captain Apache told me a standard Trade Federation battle droid can still transmit data for several days as long as the head functions, even if severed from the rest of the body, last thing we need is for droids to be transmitting our location. Two shots usually does the trick." He handed Gambol Shroud back to her and turned to Yang who was practicing on a super battle droid Hologram.
She was standing still and making every shot with a hail of buck shot. "Yang, if you stand straight in front of one of those you'll be mowed down before you can throw a single punch, your best bet is to get them from above or below." She glared at him and did as he said, she jumped several feet in the air and shot one, did a front flip, and landed behind two other holograms and shot them from beneath. They where getting the hang of where to attack the droids rather easily, they'd been training in combat for years before now so it should be a natural transition. Soon he'd have them practice how to take out Droidekas. He was surprised none of them questioned the red cloth covering his eyes, or maybe after last night they just don't care.
"What should we do if we face anyone with a weapon like yours?" Ruby said as she finished taking out ten holograms out with Crescent Rose at once. Jayden took out and ignited his lightsaber. "Shouldn't be a problem, the vast majority of lightsaber users where Jedi, and even if we do face any one with a saber, Weiss, try and strike me." Weiss turned to him and took a ready stance. Without saying anything she used one of her glyphs to speed towards Jayden. His saber met her rapier, but it didn't go through. It glowed brightly, but there was no damage to the sword itself. They disengaged and Jayden turned towards the teams. "The metals and metal alloys commonly used for weapons have a unique property that make them saber resistant, theoretically you should even be able to block and deflect blaster bolts." This had proven to be an annoyance many times,but it wasn't unheard of for some metals to be resistant to light saber, like Mandalorian iron. They where all doing very well, even Jaune. "Ok guys, where gonna practice how to take out droidekas. Several make shift droidekas walked into the room and activated their energy shields. "A droideka is one of the most dangerous droids there is. It's twin repeating blasters allow it to mow down entire crowds in an instant, and it's shields are near impenetrable. It can, however, be pierced by a slow moving object." To punctuate his point he reached into a bag and pulled out a small ball. He activated it and slowly rolled it into the shield. It went in with minimal difficulty and released a magnetic pulse that took out the shields. "You'll be doing that until you can do it right every time. Once you get down the right speed it shouldn't be too hard."
They'd done that all Saturday, it was dark out now and everyone had left, except Jayden who was fumbling around trying to clean up. "Hello Jayden." Jayden stood up only to slip on one of the magnetic bombs. "Hey Pyrrah, hope you don't mind if I sit. I thought you went back to your dorm with your team?" Pyrrah helped Jayden up, and they walked over to the bleachers. "Well Jaune's hanging out with Cardin again. Ren is trying to make pancakes and Norra is eating pancake batter. I thought you might need help."
"Thanks but I got it, just a little hard with the bandana over my eyes." Qui-Gon had insisted Jayden learn to not rely on his eyes. He'd wanted to protest but master Harthow had managed just fine with out any eyes. "Not with that Jayden, earlier I could feel there was a problem with you and your team, we all could. What happened after the meeting Jayden?" Jayden sighed. So it was that obvious? "Pyrrah, did I tell you what happened to cause me to come to Remnant?"
"No, I don't believe so."
Jayden got up, thinking about it still made him furious. He raised his hands and suddenly all the used bombs and droidekas gathered in a pile in the middle of the room. He always felt more power when he was fueled by rage, not a good sign. "We where betrayed. No, not betrayed. We where deceived. The leader of the Republic, one of the most respected men, believed be one of the few honest and moral politicians left, was a Sith, the ancient enemy of the Jedi, the order I belonged to. He tricked us into fighting in the war while he secretly led both sides, slowly gaining more and more power till he was able to destroy us and turn the galaxy against us." Pyrrah got up and jumped onto the floor. "Come Jayden, I find when I'm having a bad time a little sparring helps. Mind using that light saber of yours?" Jayden jumped onto the floor with her and ignited his saber. He turned the energy output to the lowest setting so he didn't accidentally cut her in half. "Jayden, what happened after the meeting?" Her sword and his saber clashed. He jumped back a sent a telekinetic blast at her, she stumbled backwards but instead of falling she stood on one hand and threw her shield with the other. Jayden side stepped and rushed her. "I was so angry I went to the forest to vent it off. When Yang came to see what was wrong I got even angrier, and... and I hurt her." Pyrrah switched to her gun and fired off three shots which Jayden managed to deflect. "I see. And then what?" Jayden hesitated to tell her. But he felt he needed to. "You probably won't believe me, but I was contacted by an old Jedi master, one who's been dead for a while." Pyrrah stopped fighting, she put her sword and shield away. "You where contacted from beyond the grave? Jayden, are you feeling ok?" He figured this would her response. Worse yet he wasn't sure how to convince her. "He tells the truth." Pyrrah was wide eyed, she was turning around trying to find the voice. "You weren't kidding Jayden?" Jayden was about to speak when Qui-Gon interjected. "I've come from the nether world of the force to complete Jayden's Jedi training. I apologize for startling you." Jayden told her about his adventures the night before. "Qui-Gon had me complete two of the trials of knighthood, they kept me out all night. I tried to get back before they woke up but they had gotten up early. They'd been out looking for me and now here we are." Pyrrah nodded like she understood. "Why didn't you tell them before hand? Why sneak around their backs? Jayden, they're your team and you're not letting them in." Jayden was about to protest, until Qui-Gon said his piece. "She's right Jayden. You can't be afraid to drag them into the dangers that may come with you. It is the will of the Force that they be by your side. So let them be their."
"But they don't need to be dragged into our world! It's too dangerous, If I had been killed in the temple I'd never have come here and none of them would know of the Jedi, the force, any of this." Pyrrah turned Jayden around and looked him in they eye."Jayden, someone once told me, no matter how bad things are..." Jayden interrupted her. "It could be worse?" She smile and laughed. "No, it can't be any better. And it can't be any worse. Cause that's just how things are, and they can't be any other way." Jayden took a deep breath his emotions where running amok again. He had to control them. But it was to much for him. "Well what the hell am I supposed to do!" Pyrrah Smiled and said two, simple words. "Trust them."
"JAYDEN YOU DOLT DONT DO THAT!" Weiss pushed Jayden off his work bench and took the dust crystal out of his saber hilt. "What the hell where you thinking! Where you trying to give the work shop a new skylight?" Jayden had been experimenting with dust as a saber crystal in the schools workshop. He figured Weiss wasn't going to want to help him so he went about it him self. He'd cut it to the precise specifications for his saber and was going to begin on the lowest energy output in case of complications. Jayden got off the floor and rubbed his elbow. "Mind explaining what that was for exactly?" Weiss turned to him with his saber in hand. She looked more livid then ever. She started shaking it at him and yelled at him. "You where gonna use this to focus an energy output weren't you? This is the wrong crystal for that! You need a specially designed crystal to focus an energy output of any kind, anything else will overload and blow up on you. Most dust contains natural energy reserves, so adding any more would cause it to overload and blow up." She took out her scroll and pulled up a page containing info on the special dust crystal she had referred to, he took her scroll and started reading. "Let's See, contains no natural energy, can absorb energy... Ten thousand Lien!" Weiss took her scroll back and handed Jayden his saber. "It's the only thing that'll work. Don't suppose you have the money for it." Jayden sat down on the bench and took out his scroll. "No, but I know how to get it. I'll need your help though." Weiss looked confused. "And what would you need my help for? You better not ask for a loan!" Jayden pulled up a web page and began to look for something. "No, nothing like that. I used to do some bounty hunting for some cash. Private ones only, they didn't pay well but they didn't to any thorough background checks. Ah, here we are. Gov. Bounty, thirty thousand lien. More than enough, what I need though, is for the bounty to be in your name." Weiss took the scroll from him and reviewed it. "Why does it need to be in my name?"
"The government does do thorough background checks on all bounty hunters. Ozpins fake identity he made for me only goes so far. But if you're heading it they'll only check for you. The government is notorious for loopholes like these." Weiss continued to read, she was looking concerned. "Are you sure it's a good idea? This guy is really dangerous." Hassan Dimund, a known drug distributor but the authority's could never find enough evidence to convict. Recently the cops criminal informants began telling of rumors he might be running weapons to the White Fang. "He is, but I'm sure we can take him. I've got some guys I know on the east side of Vale, one of them should be able to give us a lead." Jayden didn't expect her to say yes after last night. But he figured if he wanted to show he trusted them this was an ok start.
"I'll do it." Jayden was shocked, his jaw went a little slack. "Really? I figured after this morning you wouldn't help me with anything." Weiss pursed her lips together and her jaw got tight. "Well, I may have been a little over reactive. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. Sorry." The sorry sounded like it physically hurt her to say, but it was genuine. "And I'm sorry for not trusting you, it's just... That stuff doesn't come easily to me. But that's no excuse, I promise I'll trust you and the others more." Weiss smiled for once. "Thank you. Now if where gonna do this we need to leave immediately, we have Monday off so that should give us some time. We need to pack our things and leave now." She left to go to her locker, Jayden had almost everything he'd need; sword, saber, his only clothes. He'd go to the room and fill his back pack with emergency supplies and provisions. As he left suddenly some one grabbed his shoulder. "I'm going with you." He turned around to see Blake was the one behind him, she had a very bad habit of appearing out of nowhere like that. "What why?" Was all he could say. "Ive heard of him, that guy might be running weapons for the White Fang right? I can't sit back and not do anything. And if we run into the White Fang you may need my experience." Jayden was skeptical. "If you come and we run into some of your old buddies Weiss may find out." Blake's bow twitched, probably her ears from some nervous tick. "I'm prepared for that, I don't want any of the reward, just to stop this guy from hurting anyone." Jayden sighed. If she was this adamant telling her no wouldn't do anything. "All right, but we need to get going. We'll stop by the room to grab our things but then were leaving immediately."
"Got it."
They had all the gear they'd need on the trip, all that was left was to tell Ruby and yang. He didn't want to take them with him, it wasn't that they couldn't handle it, but a group of five couldn't move covertly. Before he could get his thoughts together, the two of them walked in. "Hey guys. Whats with the gear, going camping?" Ruby said as she walked in. "Not exactly Ruby, Jayden needed to get some money, so Blake and I are going to help him." Weiss said to Ruby and yang as they came in. Jayden put the last of the stuff in his pack and put it on his back. "Sorry we didn't invite you to come with but this requires a smaller group. Hope that's ok with you two." Yang walked past him with out giving him even so much as a glance. "Whatever." She said as she pulled her self into her bed. Jayden headed for the door, no point wasting anymore time. "Well, we need to get going. We should be back late Monday early Tuesday."
"By guys! Good luck with the job!" Ruby said as they left the room.
Ruby woke up the next morning and saw Jayden's empty bed. Her eyes drawn specifically to his pillow. " 'mornin sis!" Yang said as Ruby swung her feet over her bed. " Morning yang. What time is it?" Yang looked at the clock on the wall. "Seven. Looks like we both got up early." She got off her bed and started changing. "Hey, what do ya say we go camping this week end! It'd be fun and good for some training." Ruby thought for a moment, she hadn't gone camping in years. "Sure, where?" Yang pulled on her shirt and reached for her jacket. "Forever falls. It's close so we won't have to travel for a long time and lots of Grimm to hunt." Ruby loved the idea. She loved anything that involved killing monsters actually. "Great! Let's get ready then. To bad Jayden isn't here, I'm sure he'd love to go." Yang let out a humph. "I'm sure he's fine with what ever the hell he's doing." Ruby knew she was still mad at Jayden, but she needed to let it go. "Yang, you said it yourself he had learned something awful." Yang looked up at her. "Yeah, and threw me into a tree and dislocated my shoulder."
"He didn't mean it."
"But he did it." Yang put on Ember Cecilia and hung her aviators glasses on her shirt and proceeded to start packing. Ruby reached over and grabbed Jayden's pillow. She looked at the salty stains that had dripped from his eyes and onto the pillow. She couldn't help but think "do either of them realize just how much pain he's in?"