~'I do not own RWBY. It is owned by Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum.'~

~'This wonderful cover image was made by: Viperium Prime from DeviantArt.'~

"Perfection in itself is unattainable, due to the very nature of perfection."

Note: Well, due to a surprise visit I had not been aware about until an hour and a half before from my great step uncle twice removed (I'm being completely serious.) I was rendered unable to write for half of today. Not to mention, that on Sunday the plans we had got shit on, and that meant we came up with new plans on the fly, which then went not according to plan, so I wasn't able to write.

So here I am, Monday. Which is fine on the new schedule! Woo! I really think the new schedule (will be detailed below) will end up working much better than the previous one!

Anyways, here we go I suppose. I normally pick up steam when under pressure, running late, and near my goal and end up going far longer than I should, so doing it over two days means that either I will have two bursts of inspiration, or none at all.

~o0o~ Jaune Arc: Augmented ~o0o~

Chapter XI

With a grunt of effort Jaune pulled Yang up the rest of the way. Standing on the small platform at the top of the ladder, and outside of the cabin, him and the rest of Team Aubergine were there, shivering in the night air.

They'd made a quick trip before the day was over towards the crane in which Ruby, Pyrrha, and Sky would all be maintaining overwatch from. It was high. High enough to the point it could go over most of the larger boats coming into port, and just close enough so that when given to people with the technical skill of Ruby, a hit is still possible from the longest range possible.

This was of course, to both keep the people up here out of harm, out of the public eye, and out of the notice of the enemy. The docks had long since closed, and the Schnee freighter from earlier was already on its way out, leaving close to nobody behind to guard the cargo.

If the White Fang really wanted to surprise him, they'd be there now, when there was just enough people to act as witnesses, to spread the word. Ensure that panic set in before the deed was done.

Shaking his head, Jaune helped Yang make her way across the platform before they eventually walked, carefully and slowly, along one of the long metal beams holding this thing together. Eventually getting to the other side where Blake and Ruby already were, the two looked down into the docks, not seeing much without the same scope or enhanced eyesight Ruby and Blake had respectively.

"So, here is where you'll be watching from. Make sure that nobody gets out. If you want, you can use lightning rounds so you can just shoot them in the leg or something and capacitate them anything. We'll pick some up at Beacon." Jaune said gesturing to Ruby. At that she nodded. They say nobody knows whether they could truly kill someone or not until put in that situation. Jaune, despite knowing that Ruby was highly skilled, and intelligent, he knew that she wouldn't want to kill somebody if she didn't have to.

That's simply the way she is.

"Alright. So, do you guys see the large arrangements of shipping containers on the west side of the docks?" Jaune asked. Pointing one of his mechanical fingers that way, he eventually got all of them to gaze towards the large metal jungle of crates. Tunnels, alleys, empty hiding spots. Perfect. "That's where Blake, Ren and Russel are going to be. All of you will use the cover, incapacitate the enemy, leave them tied up in one of the empty containers for law enforcement later."

That got a nod from Blake, even as Yang jumped a couple of times, making the entire beam shudder when she landed. "What about me! I can do stuff! I mean, you know how awesome I am, so what am I on?"

At that Jaune leaned back against the other support beams, trusting them to hold his weight before gesturing to the large open area in the center. "Yang, you'll be with Cardin, Dove, Nora and I. We'll be acting as the main forces on the ground, tanking enemy fire, and firing back. Our main purpose is to move around, stop them from getting the crates into the air. It'll be tough, but between the five of us, it should be possible."

"Any more questions?" Jaune asked with his eyebrow raised. Looking around at his teammates, he eventually caught Ruby's hand in the air. "Yes Ruby?"

"How many crates can we allow to escape before grand scale pandemonium?" She said oddly cutely despite the fact that they were talking about a terrorist attack with a potentially high casualty rating. "I mean, surely one wouldn't do that much right?"

At that Jaune nodded, though at the same time pursed his lips. "Well, yes and no. One crate wouldn't do much, two is probably handleable. But if three go off, then we've got a problem. So while it's extremely preferable to not to let any out, we can in theory let out one or two."

Nodding, Ruby leaned herself back into the other beams there. Overlooking the water generally to his right, Jaune couldn't help but think that it was a shame that there was a dock here. It would do remarkably well as land for condominiums. Of course, that would depend on the amount of clay in the ground an-

"So, do we have any contingency plans in the event of this 'third' container?" Blake asked putting quotations around the word third. Fair enough question, if not one he was dreading bringing up.

The contingency plans… Well, they weren't exactly pretty.

At that Jaune sighed, digging into the pocket of his coat before bringing out a small remote control. Aiming it in the general direction of the docks, Jaune clicked it a few times just to show that nothing was happening, and to get all of their attention. "Tell me, what do all of you know about C4?"

Ruby's hand instantly shot up and he pointed at her, tossing her the remote. Briefly about to lunge forwards and catch her as she lost her balance and careened off the thing, he had to worry not as Blake pulled Ruby back by her hood. Coughing in embarrassment before holding the remote in her hands, Ruby adopted a scholarly voice and pushed up her imaginary glasses. "A C4 is a type of explosive available for both civilian, and military use. It's highly malleable, can stick to pretty much everything, and is resistant to anything which might cause it to explode, except for a detonator."

Nodding at her explanations and wondering if that's how smart he sounded all the time, Jaune continued for her. "That's correct. Now… Okay, this isn't very pleasant so I would like all of you to take this extremely seriously."

He noticed them straightening up, as they stopped leaning against the beams, and instead began paying complete attention. "Now, in the event that they have the third container, and we're unable to stop them… We're going to blow some C4 which I'm going to plant before hand."

Already, he could see them not liking where this was going. "If put in the right place, the right amount of C4 will go through the crate, and blow up the insides, which will then detonate every other crate on the docks. This explosion would be so large and so powerful that it would completely destroy everything nearby." Jaune said before Yang's hand went up. "Yes Yang?"

"Well, aren't we trying to stop the huge explosions? I mean, that is what we're trying to do right?" The normally confident brawler looking unsure and confused. At that Jaune nodded, before gesturing to the docks.

"That is correct Yang. However, if they get three or more crates out, then the entire kingdom falls. If they get two out, and we're able to stop the third, we must at any cost. It's better to vaporize everything in the docks, with low casualties, than allow an entire kingdom to fall, totally unprepared." Jaune said before his face took a turn to the grim side of the spectrum. "That… That would be genocide."

At that Yang nodded, returning backwards. She understood what he meant, and could see between the lines. Vaporize everything in the docks. Not the dust, not the Bullheads, everything. Them included.

There would be casualties, but in the end of the day the greater good theory once again rears its ugly head, ready to challenge even the most prepared plans, and the greatest people. That's what happens in wars, all of them.

"Now, let's get back to the dorm, and grab some sleep." Jaune said before they walked generally in the direction of the ladder, slowly and carefully across the beams. "We're going to have a very long weekend ahead of us."

~o0o~ Jaune Arc: Augmented ~o0o~

Blake stirred from her slumber quickly, suppressing a groan so as to not wake up her teammates before blinking a few times. Looking up at the painted white, popcorn ceiling before sighing and sitting up in bed. Just the motion in and of itself is enough to wake up nearly anybody, why she didn't know but it was a proven method of waking up.

Sighing, Blake left the warmth and comfort of her oh-so-glorious bed before padding silently to the side of it. Crouching down to the drawers built into the bed, Blake quietly grabbed out some clothes different from what she normally wore.

Sort of.

Moving around in her yukata-clad state, Blake took a look at the time on the scroll near her bed before nodding. Seven in the morning. She knew by now that Jaune woke up at six every day, so he was probably out holding their table for breakfast.

Sighing again, Blake went forth to the bathroom. Shutting the door softly behind her, she glared at the cold tiles beneath her feet before hopping onto the small carpet they had put there. Laying out the clothing for the day near the sink, Blake grabbed out her shampoo and body wash before considering whether or not she should waste time on conditioner.

She wasn't Yang, so really she shouldn't be worried too much about one wasted day worth of conditioning, but in the end decided to go for it. After all, it never hurts to be prepared. That and she enjoyed the smile of it quite a lot.

Blake smiled, she had a feeling that Jaune enjoyed the smell too.

That smile faded moments later, before a cascade of water started in the shower and Blake stripped out of her yukata. Sticking it in her designated hamper (Jaune did this so as to avoid having to wash any of their undergarments, something the girls were rather thankful for.), she then undid the cloth wraps around her chest before folding them and placing them neatly on the sink.

Then she took off the bow.

Despite everyone in the room already knowing now, thanks to a meddling partner named Jaune (she still felt the need to thank him for everything he's done so far) she had still been wearing the bow to sleep. Call it something of a security, or perhaps just a reassurance that even should someone who isn't friendly enter the room they wouldn't see anything more than an odd girl who slept with a bow on.

It was better than the possibility of being bullied for something as simple as two extra appendages.

Shivering as the cool air outside of the shower made contact with her bare skin, she then stepped into the shower letting the hot water cleanse away any trace of sleep which might've been left. Relaxing under the hot current of water even as it came out from the metal nozzle, Blake took the short time she had (ten minutes as specified in Jaune's weekly email reminders for the rules of the dorm), to organize her thoughts.

Everything that was going on… It was crazy.

Completely and utterly absurd.

Impossible.

Five years ago, just after she'd run away and things were going well, everything changed. They finally started getting noticed, cared about… Feared. But alas, things were changing, the fear went ignored, instead being replaced by the respect it offered. The organization had always been one fighting for the people, but as so pointed out a few days ago by Jaune, it had changed.

Blake had been right in the middle of it.

Briefly, her mind wandered to what Adam was doing before she destroyed the thought, vaporized everything left, and threw it into the metaphorical as well as digital trash can before right clicking and selecting delete. Adam had never been good for her. At least, her father had always insisted that.

Humming quietly to herself as she thought of her father, Blake realized how right he was.

He'd taken her from her home, brought her into the protests, the organization, showed her the entire thought that equality was possible… Then he never brought her back home, stopped the protests, made the organization unrecognizable, and didn't truly think of equality when he thought faunus.

When he thought faunus, he thought alpha.

Something which would normally be out of place for a bull came crashing down on Adam eventually… Pride. Such intense pride at being a faunus that it ruined him, made him think that they should be treated with a stupid amount of respect, made him believe that there was no other way to live, that humans were inferior.

But, if humans were thought of as inferior… Then what was the difference in Adam's thinking compared to anyone who discriminated against faunus? Wasn't the exact same? Truly and completely?

That… That thought was that which brought Blake to her current place in the world. A place in which she had friends, true honest to God friends not forged by blood, or on the battlefield, but in the classrooms, and in the training rooms.

She wouldn't give that up for anything…

No. Not even Adam himself, the high and mighty Taurus could stop her.

SIghing and stepping out of the shower, now clean and smelling as nice as she could, Blake stepped onto the tile before hopping once more to the small rug. Putting on her undergarments, she deigned not to wrap up her chest today. No… That would just look odd with what she was wearing today. Putting on her clothing for the day, she wondered why Jaune would recommend for her to wear such a thing.

While it wasn't necessarily odd, it was certainly not what she normally wore. If anything, it was something akin to what Yang wore underneath that prized leather of hers. A simple black tank top, as well as a pair of black leggings. Personally, Blake would've worn a pair of yoga pants should he have had them on hand, but naturally Jaune didn't.

While Jaune may be odd sometimes, and semi-socially inept the other times, even he knew that he shouldn't be buying women's yoga pants. Though, to guess her size wouldn't have been hard. While she'd only had the visor on for a few minutes the day before, she saw how it calculated everything, going through information in such immense amounts every second.

It was terrifying how much he could know with just a few seconds of gazing in her direction, and briefly Blake considered changing bra sizes if only so that it woulds screw with the measurements on the device.

Of course, that would've been redundant since she's already willingly given him a full body scan for the 3-D modeling system of his.

'Which of course he used to create make my armor to my nearly exact measurements… Though to be fair, that was awhile ago. After all the training we've been doing, I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if I've put on a few pounds of muscle and lost those last few pounds of fat I've been trying to get of forever.' Blake pouted. 'Surely he wouldn't mind if I'm too lean right? I always hear about how people always like a nice bit of softness to hold onto rather than just hard flat stomach. Or maybe, Jaune woul- What am I doing? I've got far bigger things to be worrying about right now.'

Stepping out of the bathroom, looked around the room. The sun was now higher in the sky, despite it only having been twenty or so minutes, but even then that might not be true. Walking over to the curtains, Blake pulled them open wincing as the harsh sunlight went directly into her face.

Stepping back, she looked at Ruby and Yang who were still sleeping and briefly considered waking them up before shaking her head. She'd let Jaune just handle that. After all, why poke a sleeping berserker with a stick?

Not to mention there was Yang sleeping there as well.

Sighing, Blake slipped on her shoes before grabbing her scroll. Reaching for the door handle she was about to open it before it opened by itself swinging slightly inwards. Caught off guard, Blake wasn't expecting for it to keep pushing so she just let the door push her before hearing a intense sound of muffled cursing.

Looking around the door, Blake came face to face with a Jaune who was now covered in food, and just a little bit of hot coffee. Seeing him standing there partially covered in hash brown, Blake instantly felt bad.

Wincing, Blake only remembered to whisper at the last moment. "Sorry."

Jaune just shook his head giving her a strained smile as the hot coffee burned into his chest. She could see it still steaming before he just gestured in her general direction. "You mind if I get through? I need to change apparently."

Stepping back and looking down a bit, Blake's curiosity was peaked thanks to Jaune going over to his bed. Looking briefly back into the hallway, she considered cleaning up the mess on the floor but decided against it.

They had janitors for that.

Looking over as Jaune stood back up with a new shirt, she briefly wondered if he'd have to change pants before thinking against it. He'd spilled nothing on them so there was no point.

With his back turned to her, he took off his black t-shirt and generally rubbed around the center of his chest with it before throwing it onto the ground. If he knew she was looking, he either didn't mind or was in so much pain that he didn't care at that exact moment in time. Though, to be fair, Blake was glad he didn't mind enough to head to the bathroom to change.

As he took of the shirt, Blake could see his back. It was lean, muscular, but not necessarily broad. Starting at where his back met his backside, Blake went upwards tracing up his spine with her eyes, looking at the few faint scars which could've only come from his training. All of this was of course, before she reached his shoulders.

They were round, and seemed to be almost half human. With skin stretched over half of them, the other half was the same metal which made up the rest. It was lumpy in a sort of way, while at the same time being smooth and looking black as night.

Going down, she could see where the machine made muscles of sorts had created his arm, and she watched as it all went down to his hands. Smirking as she looked at them, she thought about how even though they were just robotic arms, Jaune had still managed to turn them into something so much more complicated than what they could've been.

Why he hadn't settled on the usual arms hunters used when losing a limb she'd likely never know, and if she did, he'd say something like: "It's because I just felt as though I needed to use my brain to it's full capacity!" Or something of the sort.

Her eyes continued roaming before tracing back to his neck. Just as Jaune was pulling down the shirt over his chest on the other side, it got caught on his neck giving her just enough time to look a bit closer.

Just enough time to look a bit closer, and notice the huge sprawling scars across his shoulders and upper back.

She'd known they were bad, but Blake had absolutely no idea they were that bad. Bad to the point in which they covered so much skin that they seemed like his actual skin? Yeah, that's bad.

Sighing as he passed her, Jaune stood outside of the door looking at her before gesturing with his hands a bit. Realizing he was gesturing for her to join him, Blake made sure her scroll was still in her hand before stepping out into the hallway.

Once the door was gently shut, Jaune smiled at her. "Sorry about that, wasn't expecting anybody to be on the other side of the door."

Blake recoiled slightly. He had been at fault there? "No, that's completely my fault. I should've moved really." Blake said before they continued walking down the hallway, carefully avoiding his spilled food from earlier.

Jaune shrugged, making her imagine his shoulders. "We'll just agree we were both at fault then."

At that Blake nodded, breaking out of her mind. She could think about him later, preferably when she had time to think about him, and not just time in between now and a terrorist attack.

"Anyways, how are you doing Blake? Nervous?" Jaune asked as they continued down the hall. "I just want to know, because if this is making you feel uncomfortable just tell me okay?"

Blake nodded. "I'm a bit nervous. But I assume that's natural when de-"

"-aling with terrorists about to take down a kingdom." Jaune said saving her the task of finishing her sentence. Had anyone else done that to her though, Blake might've just been peeved. "Well, we spent a long time planning things out the past couple days. It's highly unlikely that things go totally tits up."

Blake snorted at his lame ending there. It's not normally like him to talk quite so casually, and use such 'hip' lingo. "Well, there's always the possibility of everything going wrong. The White Fang are apparently getting smarter."

Jaune let out a chuckle at that. "Yes apparently. I'm still surprised that they got someone competent to run it so quickly after I jinxed it though. Oh well, what can we do about it eh?"

Patting one hand on her shoulder, Jaune rubbed it for a few seconds and she could faintly pick up the noise of the motors inside moving as he did so. Feeling herself de-stress slightly at his makeshift, one-sided massage, she would've started purring, but that would've been a bit odd so she refrained to.

By refrained to, Blake meant that she simply disguised it behind some humming.

Taking his hand off her shoulder, Jaune let it drop to his side as they stepped out of the dorm building and into the courtyard. Looking up at the colourful leaves of autumn, she took time herself to look.

Autumn was a nice time at Beacon.

The leaves fell, drifting off the trees, even as they rose in all shades of colour. From a dull orange, do a deep fiery red, every leaf seemed to have its own colour. Each one clashed with each other, but melded together perfectly with the mass on the rest of the tree.

They would blanket the ground before the snow would come, and they would all just disappear as though by magic, eventually degrading into nothing. It was the cycle of life, nature, and everything else.

Thinking back on it, Blake could've stood in that one moment forever.

Continuing along the path, her and Jaune made their way into the cafeteria before stepping into line. Jaune sighed, looking out the window. "You know, it's an annoyingly nice weekend for a terrorist attack."

Blake instantly was on high alert, looking around before he once again put a calming hand on her shoulder. Did it calm her down? No, not quite. Did it make her feel as though he meant to bring up the terrorist attack while there were other uninvolved people around in a line for breakfast? Sort of.

Jaune chuckled at her reaction, before patting her on the head and messing up her just dried hair. Glaring in his direction, Blake tried to be as scary as possible but he just laughed. "Don't worry about it Blake. I doubt anybody here cares, and even then, we just need to relax. Things will get stressful enough this weekend, don't you worry."

Blake just sighed. Freaking her out for no good reason like that! How dare he!

They stood in line for what was likely around three minutes at most before sitting down in their usual table across from each other. Looking up at the clock on one of the walls of the cafeteria, Jaune nodded. "Yang and Ruby should've just woken up."

Blake nodded. They ran off of remarkably similar internal clocks when it came both to sleeping, and to waking. It probably had something to do with them both living in the same house for so long. It was nice. Sometimes Blake wished she had siblings.

Jaune took a bite of his toast before swallowing. "How's it going Blake?" He asked in a friendly manner, not unlike the usual way he asked people things.

She meanwhile just raised an eyebrow. "Suddenly taking an interest in how things are going? We were talking just a few minutes ago, and while this breakfast isn't spectacular, it definitely isn't enough to sway my mood."

Jaune laughed. He seemed to be doing that a lot that morning. If she had to guess, she'd say that it had something to do with the fact that he himself, was nervous. Despite organizing everything to the last letter, she supposes it is possible for him to be nervous.

"No, not now. I mean, just in general." Jaune said before taking another bite of his toast. She suspected it had something to do with the fact that it would fill the silence as he thought of what to say next. "Since the teams were made, it's always been you, Yang, Ruby, and me. Or Ruby, Yang, me, and you. It's very rarely just you, and me."

"So I was just thinking, that in this brief moment we have to ourselves, that I would talk a bit with my precious partner." Jaune said unknowingly making her face feel hot. Oh God, why did he have to be such an oblivious idiot? "So, like I said, how's it going? Just in general."

Blake looked at him and his easily grinning face before tilting her head for a second as though in deep thought. Straightening it again, she shrugged a bit. "Decent."

He nodded. "That's good. I hope everything on the team has been fine… Yang is a handful sometimes, but she's a great person. Ruby is so kind that I worry sometimes that being a huntress isn't for her…" Jaune laughed again. "Then she goes and tears apart a grimm in front of my eyes, or stomps on my training buddies who've been my friends for years without breaking a sweat."

Jaune shuddered for a second as though repressing a terrifying weapon. "I mean, I learned that women were terrifying back in..." He seemed to just stop talking for a second before continuing. "Anyways, how do you feel about our friends over at Team Lavender?"

Blake raised an eyebrow. Gossip? How unlike Jaune. Normally he has nothing to say about other unless it's to set the team straight on the facts or to tell them one of his favourite sayings.

People talk about people. Intelligent people talk about events. Geniuses discuss ideas.

Sighing, Blake just pursed her lips and shrugged. What was there to say that he didn't already think or assume? That's the tough bit with being partners with someone like Jaune… They know what you're going to say before you do most of the time. "They're nice. Nora is a bit loud, but that's just my opinion."

Jaune laughed, leaning back on his bench. "I think that's everyone in Vale's opinion. Honestly, I'm surprised Ren isn't deaf by now."

"Or gone mad. Honestly, if I was in Pyrrha and Weiss' position I would've gone mad by now. Pyrrha certainly doesn't deserve such a cruel fate. She's a nice girl." Blake said before taking a sip of her morning coffee and continuing. "Weiss is… Well, she's Weiss. She's a decent girl, and I think that should everything be fixed, I would be able to get along with her."

Jaune nodded. "Yeah, she's always been that way. Though to be fair, that's through no fault of her own. Her environment made her that way, that as well as her father. Thankfully when I met her all those years ago I got her to at least think about the notion of making the conditions better for faunus."

Taking a sip of his own beverage, Pep-Schnee as was his usual, Jaune gulped it down before continuing. "Trust me, she was far worse before. While now she may not be perfect, she'll get better. Sometimes all people need is time."

Blake nodded. While Adam had gotten worse over time, Weiss would do no such thing. If Jaune said so, it was basically a guarantee. That's simply the way he was. "How are you Jaune? Just, generally."

He smiled back in her direction before setting back down his drink and putting his plates back onto his tray. "I'm doing pretty well. My gold stocks went up, I have several beautiful friends who I live with and can trust with my life, I'm about to do good in the world, and my mother just called. All in all, I'd say that despite the whole 'White Fang' drama thing, I'm pretty good."

Blake tried to ignore what he meant by 'several beautiful friends' but found herself close to grinning despite herself. Choking her grin before it could make its way up to her mouth and let Jaune know how pleased she was, she instead changed the subject entirely. "Your mother? How is she doing?"

Jaune nodded before sighing a bit. "Fine. Another treatment on my father didn't work so she was a bit pushy but that's fine. I'm used to that as the one guy in the immediate family."

Blake nodded. While she didn't have siblings, if she had seven daughters and only one son she'd probably dote on him too. "That's good. How about you, do you have any ideas on how to help your father?"

Jaune's father wasn't per say a sensitive topic, but she could tell it was one he wasn't extremely comfortable discussion. From the way he slightly shifted his body to make himself more comfortable just showed he was uncomfortable to begin with.

"None really. Everything I've come up with has been either too inhumane, or too risky to try without other test subjects. But naturally, when this is one of five cases in the world, it's hard to find said test subjects." Jaune said before it was his turn to change topics. If there's one thing she's learned, it's that he always houses a huge cornucopia of useless knowledge at all times. "My mother's really been pushing for me to visit for the solstice. Keeps telling me to bring a nice girl home, introduce her to the family. Something about keeping the Arc's strong or something."

Blake nodded. "Well I'm sure Ruby or Yang would be glad to accompany you." She knew the meaning behind his mother's words, even if Jaune himself did not. Sure, while it may have annoyed her a bit that she would have to make someone other than herself go with Jaune on break, it was for the best.

She's been told she's stoic, unfeeling and snarky before. In other words, the opposite of nice.

Jaune just shook his head. "For the break they're going straight back to their Dad's place on Patch. I was thinking that after visiting for the actual date itself, I would head over to their place. Of course, I haven't proposed this yes, but I assume that they'd be fine with it."

Blake nodded. That was all that's needed, and they sat there in comfortable silence, with Jaune looking upwards and at an angle as though imagining a scenario in his head. Getting up, he took her tray getting a mumbled thank you in return before coming back and sitting down.

"Blake, I know you're more of a coffee person, but how do you feel about tea?" Jaune asked, breaking the silence before looking up at the clock again.

She shrugged. She's learned to take coffee when she could get it from back in her White Fang days, something not too difficult since Adam was her partner, but it was still more rare. So while she preferred coffee, she's had tea on occasion. "I can tolerate it I suppose as long as it's not too strong."

Jaune grinned at her. "How about you then? You're a perfectly nice girl, not to mention intelligent and likely able to make some conversation with my sisters. If not, they'd be fascinated by you anyways, and if you'd really like you can always just slip into the shadows."

Confusing herself even more for a brief moment before shaking her head, Blake sighed. "No."

Jaune pouted. "C'mon Blake! What else would you be doing on the break? It would make my mother happy! I'd owe you one! A big one! It wouldn't be that bad! You could have a room to yourself, a butler, all you can eat! Training facilities!"

She sighed again. "I seriously doubt I could hold a conversation with your mother."

He just laughed. That's right, laughed at her reason, valid though it was. "We could just tell her you're mute. Trust me, it would be fine."

"No."

At that Jaune sighed. Putting his hands on the table, he ghosted his metal fingers across the surface. "What would it take for you to come?"

Blake looked up for a second. Would it really be that bad going with Jaune on break? It was a few weeks away, and currently her plans consisted of 'find something to do for break'. She could go, and then they could go join the rest of the team in Ruby's cabin in Patch…

Huh, maybe it wouldn't be too bad.

But… If he was going to offer her things, she'd take advantage.

Smiling, just a little bit at the notion of finally having something to do, not to mention with somebody she'd like to do stuff with, Blake put her hands on the table. "That fish and chip place you've promised Ruby? You're buying it for me instead."

"Done."

~o0o~ Jaune Arc: Augmented ~o0o~

That day with Blake and the teams was a blur. Everything happened. They got things together, created the explosives, went over roles, specifics, general rules. A few people took notes, but he told them to go straight to bed anyways.

There wouldn't be time to sleep the next day. Either from adrenaline, or because they'd be fighting until dawn.

The next day was even more of a blur. From Jaune moving here, there, setting up cameras all over the docks, to organizing the explosives. Everything had to be so carefully put together… Even the slightest tremor of his hand could cause an explosion dooming millio-

"Wooo!" Nora shouted nearly breaking his ear drums even though she was at least seventy feet away. Looking in her direction, he saw her jumping from crate to crate, apparently practicing for her dramatic entrance later before jumping off entirely and hitting the ground with her fist.

He was surprised it didn't crunch like a piece of ice against the concrete.

Knowing that she'd have to wait a few seconds to recharge her meta-Nora-cle (Get it? Like metaphorical?) batteries, Jaune quickly finished setting up the explosives before stepping back. The C4 was now in place, and shouldn't end up blowing unless someone hit the button connected to the detonator in his pocket.

The odds of that were slim.

Turning around, he came face to face with Yang. "I don't know why, but I have a sudden urge to say 'Nice one Jaune!' and give you a thumbs up!" She said with a bounce. Definitely not watching how her blessed breasts bounced as she did that, Jaune shrugged.

"I have no idea why."

Falling into step beside him, Yang came around, surveying everything like he was. Mimicking his motions exactly, whether to mock him or to actually see something, they went around checking everything before going to stand in the center of the large open area.

Reaching upwards towards the comm in his ear, Jaune pressed on the button making it go live and send a call out to everybody. It was two button presses to get directly to him, and the various other numbers went to various other people. However, only press was everyone.

"Alright, we're all set up on the ground, how's it looking from overwatch?" Jaune asked as the program began filtering out unwanted noise. He could never really tolerate seagulls that often. Not after Mozambique…

Little rats of the sky.

Ruby's chipper voice came out a few seconds later as well as a few mumbles before she started. "Is this thing actually on? Uhh, Pyrrha, does the light mean it's on?"

Hearing some sort of noise of agreement, Jaune listened despite the static as Ruby put it back in. "Alright, overwatch here, what can I do for you?"

Jaune sighed before repeating his question. "How's it looking overwatch?"

Ruby made a hum of agreement before answering the question he's asked twice now. "Good. We have eyes on everything, the forecast should stay the same. By the way thanks for that shot-guider thingy. It helps a bunch, but doesn't feel as though it's taking away my control."

Jaune nodded. The shot guider. It was the gift he had for Ruby. Still in its early stages, but it automatically calculated everything needed to make the shot, putting an overlay over the scope where it would actually land. Sooner or later it would have a future to pre-fire shots at moving targets, but its good enough.

Nodding, Jaune continued. "Alright, keep up the good work. We only have a few hours to wait. How's it going guerilla team?"

Ren's voice came in a few seconds later. He's been considering giving it to Russel, but he was unreliable sometimes…. He also considered giving it to Blake, but that would make him have to specify which set of ears she should use for it, and he was not opening that can of worms.

"How may we assist you?" Ren said coming in. While everyone had a comm, the few leaders of the teams were required to sign in for that. Though, for the battle, they'd be doing roll call every two minutes, to insure everyone was there.

"Do all of you have a decent grasp of the terrain?" Jaune asked. While it wasn't really terrain, it still counted in his books. Despite not being able to see Ren, he could guess he was nodding from across the earpiece.

"Yes. We simply should practice a bit before nightfall, but otherwise we should be fairly coordinated." He said coming in.

Jaune thought for a second before dialing up Ren again. "I'm transferring Dove over to your unit. His shortsword is probably better for the close ranges you'll be working in."

Once more, Ren came in a few seconds later. He heard a sigh, and then some shuffling before getting an affirmative. "We're in quadrant 'U4'."

Making the necessary call to Dove, he watched as he mosied along the lot towards the containers. Seeing him disappear into the metal jungle, Jaune nodded. So, everything was set up except for his unit. Holding down on his earpiece for four seconds, Jaune got to his own telling them to assemble in front of him.

It was a few minutes later before they were all there, and ready. Nora was bouncing happily, shifting and reshifting her weapon constantly, likely trying to ensure that there's no flaws in the mechanism before they started.

Say about Nora what you will, but she was an intelligent gal.

Now with Nora, Weiss, Yang, and Cardin in front of him, Jaune stood at their front gesturing to the area around them. "Here's our battleground."

They nodded, paying attention. That's good. Despite all of Nora's psychopathic leg-breaking tendencies, as well as her general cheerfulness, she was able to be serious sometimes! "Now, Weiss, I know that you use large broad strokes of the elements with your rapier, as well as your glyphs, so keep it trained on the center and not outwards."

"Okay. Should I travel around clockwise so as to keep moving and aiming towards the center?" She asked raising a real question. Imagining it in his mind, Jaune shook his head.

"The risk of missing is higher if you move. Don't bother. Besides, they'll basically be trained on you since you're a Schnee. In other words, you're our bait." Jaune said grinned. He saw her petite throat swallow before she asked another question.

"Who am I baiting?"

Jaune nodded. "You'll be baiting the grunts and the lieutenants. Cardin, Yang, that's where you come in. Really, you should both be able to take out a few grunts before heading for the lieutenants. Weiss will be able to assist before she takes out a majority of the grunts using her speed advantage."

At that, all three of them gave a dull affirmative. This was about to happen, so it was best that they listened to him. Nora bounced happily, unable to stay still for too long before she raised her hand. "What about me! I want to BREAK THEIR LEGS." She said letting out her inner demon for a second before giggling and whipping out her hammer again.

Jaune nodded. "Nora, you're going to shoot them out of the sky. You'll be rotating. As they keep people trained on Weiss, you'll hide over there." He gestured to a general area in the west-wards direction. "It's safe to assume they're coming from one of the few shoreline warehouses able to house Bullheads, meaning they'll come in from over the water. Try shooting them down before they get too close to the containers."

Nora gave him a happy salute. "Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroger that!"

Nodding, Jaune turned to his team before turning on his comms sending out a call to all of them. Looking up at the sky, he assumed they had maybe six hours of waiting left before they'll be here. They've spent the past day preparing, going over maneuvers, getting everything together.

This was it.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, hunker down but stay limber. We've got one hell of a fight ahead of us."

~o0o~ Jaune Arc: Augmented ~o0o~

Jaune shivered. It was much colder than he thought it would be, and his arms weren't heating him up much. They'd taken to huddling generally around him, and Jaune tried to ignore Yang's soft orbs pressing against his back no matter how nice or absolutely divine they felt.

Yep… Ignoring them.

A few seconds later, they were all scrambling to their feet from the little hole in the containers they were hunkering down in. Ruby had just sent in something over the comms. "Mango-Mango to Brown Tango, we've got a few Bravo Charlies coming in."

Jaune sighed over the comms even in the situation he was in. "No, I'm Brown Mango, you're Pineapple Mango."

"Who cares! They're coming in on you hot!" She said and he could hear her drop the calls. They knew what to do. Waiting in bated breath, the rest of them all waited there, ready to spring into action.

They sat there, waiting until they were right on top of them, too close to retreat without exposing their pilots to the sniper fire. They waited until the moment in which they could hear the humming of the engines themselves, as they slowed down before letting a ground crew off.

Then, with a nod to one another, they ran out of the crates.

There was no mighty war cry, no signal to announce their arrival. They were simply there.

Like lightning in the middle of a clear sky, like hammer onto an anvil, like nasty porn-given virus onto a hard drive, they crushed into the enemy.

It had begun.

~o0o~ Jaune Arc: Augmented ~o0o~

Note: Here we go! Done a day late, but on time! Technically, since I'm typing 'Criminal Mastermind!' on Tuesdays now, this is kind of on time! Woo! Longer than I thought it would be too, which is great.

Not much happened, but I needed to set up the break, as well as the battle. Not to mention give you guys a bit of showertime-naked Blake. Even if it wasn't overly described.

Also, woo! Volume 5 is good so far! Liking the animation, and my guess was right about two of the relics. Overall, doesn't change the story one bit so far! Woo!

Now, I'm going to answer these reviews. Speaking of which, leave a review. But most importantly, have an absolutely wonderful night, and a great day! Destiny 2 (PC) comes out tomorrow, and my hoodie and shirts came today, so I know I'm happy! Anyone else playing it?

Review Responses:

alrickit: I respond to all reviews! Also, no. We do not explain Mozambique. Ever.

son of a mictlantecuhtli: Sorry about that! Life stopped me from writing. I hope you re-enjoy your way to this point!
Random O' Panda: I will never leave a story my friend. May the Tetris be with you.

desdelor97: Thanks man! Good to know you're here 'till the end!
anand891996: Aha! I have found a moment in which Ruby acts like a leader! In Forever Fall she says a thing! Also, we talked about this in PM!

Thedarkness1996: I've seen Chapter One of Volume 5. That's good enough for me.

Raidentensho: I don't know those series… Sorry.

1st Dragon King: Man! I want Shadow Of War, but with Destiny 2 coming out tomorrow for PC, that's already going to take up all my time!
Shawn1302: Yeah, I know. I just don't want to do that.

DuplicateUserName: Why thank you!

Now, I'm going to get off! Have a wonderful night folks, and remember, leave a review!

-DragonManMax