Chapter 35

A/N: School starts tomorrow. Summer's officially over. Repent, REPENT! Because of this, updates might not be expected as I get used to the classes and homework of 10th grade. I hope you understand why. So for those who are going back to school, good luck. And for those who don't have to go... you are lucky bastards!

So leave a review on what you think will happen next in the story. Which characters do you want to reappear? And in what way? Also, any feedback on the story so far would be greatly appretiated.

For now, though, ignore my rambling if you already haven't skipped this and just start reading! Enjoy!

The mech was incredibly complicated, yet Janette operated it with ease, knowing just which buttons to press at which moments, which levers to pull and other complicated stuff. The arms worked by putting on special gloves, and in response to the hand movements, the mech's own arms would move accordingly.

So Jaune just sat on the second seat and kept his hands to himself, worried after Janette told him he was in the gunner's seat. She was giving him a rundown of the mech, and he found himself genuinely interested in the works behind it.

"So can it lift that?" Jaune asked innocently, pointing to the container with the bronze they were trying to get.

"Easy. Wanna see?"

"Sure!" He responded, extremely pleased with how it was going so far as he accepted the gloves and pulled them on.

The mech marched to the container, before reaching out with two hands and picking it up with ease. Jaune was impressed as he inspected the shipping container. "How much would this weigh?"

Janette checked on a screen. "Twenty-seven tons. Yep, this thing is heavy."

Jaune sweated from the weight. No way Pyrrha would be lifting that, so there went that plan. "Could I try walking around?"

"Sure." Janette allowed him to take the secondary foot controls from his seat. It consisted of a special treadmill that would allow him to control movement when he stood up from the seat, which folded when he took control. Jaune let the mech take a few steps, before spinning around slowly, being held in place in the cockpit by the seat straps behind him.

"This is actually kinda easy." Jaune took the mech to another walk. "Could we try without the container?"

Janette let him drop the container, and they continued piloting around. He now allowed himself to pilot the mech and enjoy the experience.

Qrow whistled. "Jaune, you lucky son of a…"

Somehow, Jaune had managed to get Janette to carry not only the bronze filled shipping container but place it on the back of a flatbed truck, without her realizing it. How he was capable was beyond him.

Now all he had to do was find a truck…

He quickly tried to find one and found a guard smoking next to a trailer truck. He walked forward with confidence. "Hey, I'm going to need this truck for a bit of work."

The man looked up. He had graying black hair and a thick mustache. "What for?"

"Need that trailer shipped tonight," Qrow explained. "A special order, I was sent right here."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Really? Alright, well, let me just grab the keys."

Qrow grinned as the man opened the door and reached inside.

It then faltered when he found himself staring down the barrel of a shotgun, which the soldier pumped, loading a shot in.

"Imposter. One, if you were sent to get the trailer, you'd have brought your own truck or produced me with paperwork. Second, you're wearing private Jimmy's uniform, and he went out with the captain in the same jeep you arrived in. And third, you reek of alcohol. And that is a big no in the military. So hands up!"

Qrow cursed to himself as he slowly raised his hands. But as they went level with the weapon, he ducked to the side and grabbed the gun, pushing it upwards.

The man fired the gun into the air as they wrestled with it. He kicked him in the stomach with his knee, and Qrow responded by headbutting him.

He then flung the soldier over his shoulder, and the shotgun flew up into the air and clattered onto the roof of the truck.

Qrow and the man glared at each other until the man whipped out a knife and ran at him, yelling. Qrow dodged at the last second and slammed a fist into his back, and he tripped and smashed into the truck, knocking himself out. But at the same time, he triggered the alarm of the truck.

Qrow scrambled to silence it and did so, but afterward, he realized how futile it was. If the alarm didn't attract the other soldiers, then the gunshot did. And sure enough, he heard yelling as the soldiers raised the alarm.

"I hate my life…" He quickly dashed to the bushes, where Neptune and Ren stood up and handed him his weapon. "So, plan B. We knock out every guard and make our way out of here."

Neptune sighed. "Again? Qrow, does your semblance happen to be bad luck? Because you REALLY need to learn to control it."

Qrow felt a vein bulge on his head. "Ha ha, very funny. Now shut up, and start shooting!" He quickly turned and fired a round at a red barrel, and it exploded, sending two soldiers flying and hitting the ground, knocked out. "Let's go!"

Nora and Pyrrha rushed out to find Jaune, while Ren and Neptune ran with Qrow to take out the soldiers.

"What's going on?!"

The radio had burst into life as the commanding officer called Janette and Jaune over the radio.

"All units, we have a number of intruders in the base, repeat, we have intruders in the base, most likely Huntsmen. Take them out now, all units scramble immediately!"

"Roger, what do we do?" Janette replied into the radio.

"Get the mech over to the entrance and take them out! Use the Gatling guns, we don't want to lose anyone!"

"Yes, sir!" Janette closed the radio and turned to Jaune, face grim. "You ready? I'm gonna take control, you man the guns, they're relatively simple to use."

"S-sure! Just-"

The entire mech suddenly jerked to the side as something impacted it.

"What was that?!"

Jaune then vaguely heard the sound of a grenade launcher going off, and sighed. "Just hold on!"

"DIE YOU EVIL PIECE OF METAL!" Nora cried as she sailed into the air before bringing down her hammers straight onto the top of the mech. It completely dented it and sent it reeling.

Pyrrha used her semblance to keep the guns aimed away from Nora as she landed on the ground and now swung at the mech's legs. One hit, and it cracked. Two, and sparks flew from the loose panels.

The third strike completely severed the leg and it collapsed. Pyrrha rushed forward and flung open the hatch before aiming her rifle into the cockpit. "Hands up!"

Jaune and Janette both crawled out, the latter whom stared at her in fear.

Pyrrha pretended that she didn't know Jaune as she grabbed his weapons off of him. "Any funny moves, and I shoot. Nora, you alright?"

Nora grinned as she switched Magnhild back into grenade form. "Ooh, ooh, do we get to break her legs?"

Janette stared at Pyrrha before her eyes widened. "Are you… Pyrrha Nikos?"

Pyrrha hid her shock from being recognized. "What's it matter to you?"

She smiled despite the rifle aimed at her. "I'm a huge fan. We met two years ago when you started your career, remember? At the local Mistral huntsmen competition?"

"You… I remember you. You said you wanted to be a huntress as well, right?" Pyrrha then smiled a bit. "Yeah, I remember you."

"So what's the invincible girl doing here?"

Pyrrha sighed. "Just… doing my job. Jaune?"

Jaune lowered his hands. "Sorry, Janette. I couldn't tell you, of course."

She shook her head. "Man. This is completely crazy."

"Tell me about it." Jaune sighed. Gunfire erupted from the other side of the mine, and Jaune turned to it. "C'mon, Nora, let's go."

They both ran to the battle, leaving Pyrrha with Janette, who sighed and sat down next to the destroyed mech. "You should go help your friends, I'll stay here."

"Can I trust you?"

She grinned and knocked on the mech behind her. "Does it look like I'm in any condition to fight?"

Pyrrha nodded, before extending a hand. Janette shook it.

"Oh, by the way, he's taken."

Janette raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

Pyrrha grinned before rushing to the fight. Janette just stared at her, before shrugging and leaning back and humming to herself. 'Nothing else to do, I suppose…'

Qrow gritted his teeth as he dived behind a crate, letting it absorb the bullets from three assault rifles firing at him. Crowd control was never his strong suit.

He waited for a pause in the fire before leaping out and firing a shot from his weapon. It hit the ground between the three soldiers and sent them reeling. He charged forwards and smashed the first one with the flat of his blade, before spinning and kicking the second one to the leg. There was a crack and a scream as he stumbled back, leg bent at an odd angle at the knee joint.

Qrow ducked as the third swung the butt of his rifle at him, but he merely headbutted him, sending him to the ground. He then turned to the soldier who was clutching his broken leg as he groaned in pain. "Sorry, kid. It's for a good cause."

He smashed the handle of his sword on his head, knocking him out.

Qrow then brought up the blade and blocked several bullets, before diving behind another container again. "Damn it!"

He stabbed his weapon into the ground and prepared to run out when he heard several shrill whistles followed by explosions. A soldier flew through the air and landed on the ground next to him, groaning. His clothes were stained with pink powder.

"Looks like the cavalry's here," Qrow muttered. He stepped out only to duck as two soldiers were smacked straight at him.

"Sorry!" Nora called out before she swung her hammer and caught another guard, knocking him into several others like bowling pins. "Hole in one!"

"Nora, focus, please!" Neptune shocked a soldier with his staff before swinging around and letting loose on an armored jeep with his rifle as it drove past them, as did Ren. Pyrrha used her semblance to tip it over, sending their occupants flying out.

"What do we do?!" Neptune yelled, panicked.

"Don't worry, I've called the bullhead. They'll be able to take the container with us." Qrow's eyes widened. "Wait… why didn't we do that in the first place?!"

"This is way more fun!" Nora cheered before she switched her weapon to grenade form and let loose into the sky, sending the pink grenades in a high arc before landing behind a stack of containers. The screams as they landed meant they hit their targets. "Nailed it~!"

"When will the bullhead be here?" Pyrrha yelled as she shield-bashed a soldier who attacked with a metal baton. She then kicked his legs from under him and a smash to his forehead with his stolen baton knocked him out.

"A few minutes," Qrow replied, before blocking a sniper shot from the distance. Ren ran towards the sniper, twin SMGs blazing as he weaved between the shots, no doubt remembering his fight in the Vytal Festival. Jaune and Pyrrha blocked off several shots with their shields as they grabbed Nora and ran to cover.

Neptune raised his own rifle and let off a few shots. "Ok, we should be good-" His eyes widened. "QROW! WATCH OUT!"

Qrow turned to the side, where he saw a soldier leveling a rocket launcher at him. He recognized it as an airburst model, specifically designed to take down individuals and not armor. "Shit!"

The soldier fired, but Neptune sprinted forwards, trident out and intending to block it.

"NEPTUNE, DON'T!" Qrow yelled. But it was too late.

Neptune swung and caught the rocket, expecting a small bang that his aura could handle. Instead, an enormous explosion resonated that deafened and disoriented everyone and sent him flying, before bouncing and rolling to a stop.

He didn't get back up.