"Let Me Save You" from the Nex Machina. The music this time will overlap from one scene into another. Just let it keep going.
Let Me Save You: watch?v=1YwMfS2krqk
The drive back to the airship port was a slow one. Daniel drove the rented car from the airport back to the motor pool.
Jacket fell asleep just moments as they returned to the van. Each Heister changed their suits out to regular clothes. Crescent sat directly behind the passenger side and Wolfe was in the back retooling some of the equipment. He took apart and ECM and looked at some of the components as well as the sensors. He squinted on the piece while a bit of it rolled off and Wolfe did not catch it. He looked at the front to be glad that only Jaune saw that mishap.
Mercury flicked his finger to turn on the signal to get in a new lane. The nighttime sky was welcoming view of the stars.
"I heard that you guys made some major headway." He reached to near the gear shift the pulled up a drink. He did not wait for a response from Jaune as he then turned up the radio once a song he liked came on.
Neo looked back then looked back to Jaune's mask. She eyeballed it until he took the hint.
Being mindful of the world outside the van, Jaune had the mask low as he showed the face side to Neo. From there, she lightly waved at it for him to pass it to her. She traced her finger along the crack. She tilted her head and silently giggled.
"What?" The berated Jaune can recall all the times when people would reprimand him. Oddly enough it is usually from women. Neo tilted the mask then rubbed her index finger on the inside and could smell the pepper spray. Just in her lap, she could feel the slightly irritating aroma.
Soon enough, she got bored then passed it back to Jaune. She pulled out a small book for the drive and began reading it.
It would be forty minutes before the van made to the airship port. The return of the rented car went without a hitch. Each of them traversed through the bright infrastructure. Once they walked around to the side and walked out into an airship field with a pilot that none of them recognized. The Payday Gang took a section of the plane for themselves. Jaune received the same advice like the rest and fell asleep by leaning against a duffle bag. Wolfe was the only one to remain awake as he felt well rested among them.
Neo read her book and Mercury played with his scroll for the flight.
Vale Inter-Kingdom Airport
Jaune and Jack had their bags on their backs as daybreak was about a half hour off. The blue glow of the morning had the city give a drowsy welcome. The crew walked through the halls to see various people and styles of clothes they had. In the main lobby of the airport was a giant banner on the main wall. It read, 'Welcome to the Beacon Vytal Festival.'
Neo and Mercury cut in front of the crew.
"Well, we got our part of the deal done. As for the talk of payment, I think you knew of the terms." Mercury clapped then tilted his head playfully. Jacket looked at Jaune and he nodded to it, from there. Jacket tugged on a strap and one of the bags of money passed off to Mercury. He double checked and was satisfied.
"Pleasure." Mercury showed his teeth off in a smug grin. Jacket was ready to deck him but when Jaune patted his shoulder. The crew just let it be as they walked their way out. Daniel then the rest of the crew noticed that he stopped in his tracks. On the far right side, there was a deli that just opened.
It would take some time just to get back to Wolfe's house. Jacket rubbed his stomach as none of them had the urge to bicker. Jacket opened the bag and took out a single one hundred lien bill. Each picked out their sandwich as the employees turned on the TV. Of the speed that people came and went. It was just more noise to drone out the world.
The flashing lights of the screen caught Jaune's attention as the images reflected off the glass over the food. He widened his eyes.
On the bottom portion of the screen had this headline.
'THE PAYDAY GANG HAS BEEN SIGHTED IN MISTRAL. ARE THEY EXPANDING?' There was Lisa Lavender on the screen as she spoke in an assertive tone on VNN, the current lead anchorwoman.
"The footage you will see the masked terrorists that waged war in Pilsen. The current speculation is that they operate in small-scale groups and use fully automatic weapons." Lisa, fixed her documents as she stared at the camera. "The amount of damages caused are ranged in several millions. What this has done is cause some to call the current of how taxpayers are witnessing the lack of an effective police service."
An employee chuckled as he wiped down the tables. In curiosity, Jaune turned to her. "A bit strange, don't you think?"
The TV continued to show frantic camera shakes when there was gunfire then several suited men could be seen. The camera quality was grainy as it did not give a clear view of any Payday Gang member. There was voice modulation and shouting at the people to get down as they sprinted past the crowd. Before the camera could get a good look at their backs, a police officer grabbed the camerawoman and forcibly evacuated her. Just nothing but camera shake.
"This led to numerous concerns of the people and if there needs to be an update to the articles related to the governing police forces. We were able to get a quick word with Councilman Bob McKendrick."
The screen changed to a middle-aged man, flabby cheeks, a grey hairline above his ears, a straight and triangular nose with dark green eyes. He was in a grey suit the as he walked past the reporter and her crew. "Councilman, Councilman. Does the Valean Government have any comments to the rise of armed conflict within the walls?"
"You make it sound like a warzone. Don't make the actions of the single group ripple around to frighten the public. There have been subjects of discussion within the Council the decision will come when it does. For now, I will have to request that you not rush to conclusions." The man looked away and ignored the crew for the rest of his walk.
"We will continue to give more information as the story as it develops." Lisa Lavender turned her head to a different camera. She rambled on as Jaune turned away from the TV.
"Not one for the news huh?" The employee commented as she wiped the table.
"Yeah." He took another bite of his sandwich and chewed as thought over some things over in his head. It could be just the lack of sleep talking to him. He did have several bags under his eyes and several bruises all over his shoulder, back and legs. One in his chest was much larger than he thought it could be. When he moved in a certain way, the pain would flare up regularly.
He leaned forward and then spent about twenty minutes as each of them finished their food. It took twenty minutes to finish their meal. When they did, the orange glimmer of the sun graced the city. They left the airport and started the walk. They had to get through the outskirts of town. As the crew walked through the main street, there was were several banners and a bar that openly welcomed a discount to longtime Huntsmen and Huntresses during its open hours. A semi-truck carefully drove through the street as it had the Schnee dust shipment on its route to the various shops.
Out in the street itself, it was still vacant for the most part. Other than the morning joggers and those who worked in the early morning. Wolfe glanced at a nearby steakhouse joint and saw noticed it had a deal offer. There was a family sized challenge for chili cheese fries as Wolfe nudged Jacket's side.
He realized what Wolfe was on about and he shook his head. Wolfe looked back at the sign of confusion. There was not a need for him to dwell on it too much and he let it be.
It took close to an hour before the JAWS to make it back to Wolfe's apartment. Once the crew did arrive, it was the same pleasant crap hole they remembered. It is like a fondness for a first car, no matter how much of a hassle or annoyance it was to use. There is always someone special about it to the core.
Wolfe glumly took out his house key then twisted it open. The dark abyss mislabeled as a living room. Wolfe just left both of his bags beside the couch and walked to the garage. Jaune paced in front of the kitchen to get a cup of water. Daniel walked to the sofa then turned the power on to the TV. The scuff on the carpet was loud enough to tell that Jacket dragged his feet as he walked down the hall to his room. He did not look back and glumly waved his hand.
Jaune reached into the bag and pulled out the chipped Crescent mask. His lips went back a little then he looked over to the TV to see that the Vale local news is excited about the events in the coming days. He put the mask face down on the counter and his gear bag near the garage door, but not in the direct path for Wolfe to trip over.
"What we going to do next?" Daniel flicked through the channels while Jaune stood behind the couch.
"I figured some R and R. I'll see the rest of you at Beacon, try to come here this afternoon." Jaune pulled on his clothing bag and walked out of Wolfe's house.
The time it took to get to the small airship station for him to return to Beacon. The funny thing was that the closer he got. The more active the people became. A Faunus couple walked with their son as their scroll displayed when the upcoming matches will be a thing for the public to spectate.
He paid for his ticket back to Beacon and sat down at one of the benches the airship offered. There were plenty of teenagers among those onboard as well.
There was a tall man in large orange shades, brown gloves and his sky blue jeans with a red open long sleeve button up shirt and grey t-shirt of a cutesy design of a girl that winked. His combed back hair let some of the front strands stand up. With little regard to fashion sense, he just smirked while his eyes glued to the TV the airship provided. He had a pamphlet in his hand as he read over what possible activities there were in Vale.
At the far back, there was a pale teenage girl with short silver hair while there was the hilt of a broken sword at her lower back. What threw Jaune off was how she wore little armor but two large dark green pauldrons on her shoulders. The rest of her body was an arrangement of wrapped grey fabric with a maroon corset at her abdomen. Her expression laced with intrigue and hint of excitement.
Jaune stretched his back and yawned as he raised his arms to the ceiling.
There was a short kid dressed in a black suit, tie and white undershirt. Both hands in his pockets, he looked to his left as two well-endowed women cracked jokes at his expense. He had two M92F Berettas holsters inside his jacket. From how the side of the suit sort of sticks out a bit. He cocked his head opened a water bottle to drink and took a big gulp. His hair had three white horizontal strikes on half of his head.
The women beside him wore no sleeve shirts that exposed their midriffs. The taller woman had dirty blonde hair while the shorter one had light blonde hair. The fall one wore bell-bottom jeans while the other had half of her jeans cut so it could convert into short shorts. Not that Jaune understood why both would wish to dress so similarly. By the time he looked to his far right, he had made that assumption too soon.
Some people were nearly identical in theme. Dark gothic clothing as the woman of the duo had thigh high boots and a giant curved sword at her hip. The guy with her had a long sleeve over-shirt with black shorts and boots. What made them stranger was how both had black blindfolds over their eyes but could look around and looked like they could see just fine. The woman at least appeared human while her friend had two fine fur tipped ears. It was too long for a cat and too messy for a dog. So he concluded it was a fox Faunus of some sort.
"Attention, we are now approaching Beacon Academy." Jaune turned his head up then looked back at the view. He could see the lake below and the tall towers. The gears that churned and the active presence of students. There was even a single camera crew out to interview some of the transfer students on how they feel about the tournament.
The airship docked as the people disembarked at their own pace. Jaune made his way to his dorm hallway. On the way out, he spotted Yang down the hall.
He raised his hand and waved at her. She saw Jaune as he adjusted one of her athletic shoes. Her hair was tied to be over one shoulder as she had a tank top with shorts. She had a blank expression as she recognized him.
"Hey." She looked over his shoulder. "You other team isn't with you?"
"Nah. Those jerks just live off campus." Jaune gave a thumbs up and pointed behind himself. "How are you doing?"
Yang's eyes drifted to the side. "Weiss is complaining that a new revolving cylinder for her weapon needs to come in soon. She said something about how it needs to load other dust types faster." Yang shrugged.
"Ah okay." Jaune circled around her.
"Whoa, hold it there buster." Yang pulled his hoodie. "You're going to tell me about your time at the Grimm hunting expedition. Nora told me about why you've been MIA recently."
He grumbled as he a put his palms on her. "You somehow get put in charge of two teams and see how you like it?" The duo made some noise that got some glances from the rest of the people in the hall. Jaune made an effort to put his head out from Yang's grip, part of him wanted to lash at her. He chooses not to and meagerly sighed until Yang got bored after twenty seconds.
Once that little event passed, Yang stood on the other side as Jaune sauntered through. The brown door towered over him while his eyes drifted from the décor down to the knob. He took hold and twisted it to a dorm room bathed in sunlight. On the bed with one leg crossed, was Ren with a book in hand.
At the kitchen, Nora was laid out on the ground. He eyes wide open as she twitched and groaned. Ruby stood over her in terror. There were cookies and crumbs sprawled out, coffee mugs and five empty energy drinks. Little Red went on one knee and shook Nora and said something so incoherently, Ren lowered his book.
"We're losing her!" Ruby shouted.
Jaune walked over to his bed then redirected his attention to Ren.
The green sleeve of Ren's left arm was pulled back to reveal a black leather watch. "Nora's just exploring the universe. Just give it twenty or so minutes."
The duffle bag of clothes dropped the floor as Jaune rolled it underneath as he did not feel like unpacking. Ruby spotted Jaune and frantically waved at him before he stood over Nora. "You have to do something!"
"Heads up," Ren said in a reserved shout then threw a water bottle for either of them to catch. Ruby did so in time then held it upside down, Jaune looked at Nora then at the bottle. The bottle and to Nora. He saw no harm in it, and Ruby had the bottle still as Jaune twisted off the cap as the water spilled on Nora's face. She coughed some of it then blinked several times.
"Oh hey Jaune, when did you get back?" Nora's right eye twitched as she recalled the state of the kitchen. "Oh Ruby, we should try cinnamon sugar!"
"NO MORE SUGAR FOR YOU!" Ruby could have blown out Jaune's eardrum. "Oh yeah, glad you're back." Ruby took a half-eaten cookie.
"Want it?"
There were teeth marks. "You can have it."
"Your loss." Ruby twisted her wrist to inspect the cookie. Nothing was wrong with it, so she popped it on her tongue then chewed.
Nora lifted herself off the ground. Ruby and Nora caught Jaune up on what he missed for the past several days. Nora decided it could be a good time to get some working out done. The only one willing to join her was Ruby. Ren would too, but considering how little time there is with homework and practice. He decided to catch up on some cooking and maybe a few books. Blake goes into the courtyard and sits in the same tree to read a book of some sort. Yang went to the gym and practiced on her punching. As for Weiss, she just does whatever the team would do that day.
Ruby put her hand on her chin. "Come to the think of it. It's like she doesn't have any hobbies."
"Has she been practiced her singing?" On a whim, Jaune asked.
"Sometimes, but usually goes off the school grounds for that." Nora looked at the kitchen to see Ren with a frying pan. He started the oven fire and got some bacon stripes, and he even sliced some potatoes to have on the side of spam. Not the best concerning what everyone wanted but Ren smiled.
He wanted to mix it up.
The group of them delved into small talk from there. Over the course of the conversation, the Grimm Hunting mission just went as dull as Jaune thought it would. His teammate Wolfe couldn't stop bitching, Daniel dropped the ball a few times and Jack ate half of their rations. Sure, it was fun but it just Beowolves and Ursa Minors. There was a chance encounter with a Nevermore, but nothing came of it from the past couple of days.
For some reason, Ruby appeared disappointed in how nothing super exciting happened. When the group finished eating, Nora took out a flosser toothpick. The kind where it is designed from plastic to make picking teeth convenient. Of course, it was a rule of the team to do so in the bathroom. It did not bother the group that much. It was more so for Pyrrha since it usually made her uncomfortable
, speaking of which.
"Where's Pyrrha?" Jaune probed.
"Oh. She's in the maintenance hall. Something about her weapon not being able to eject dust rounds or something." Nora flicked her floss and got some white gunk out that she irritated her mouth.
"Alright." Jaune put his plate in the sink. "I'll see you guys later." He exited the dorm at a brisk pace.
At the table, Ruby looked at Ren. The two just sighed at each other. She put her elbow on the table and rested her cheek in her palm. "Do you think Pyrrha will ever make her move? I mean, it must have been hard on her because he can't be around us as much."
"That is for her to decide, Ruby." Ren twisted the knob to activate the water in the sink. "It would cause some trouble for both teams. You know how Jaune is for other people. He tries to please everyone."
"Like that time he convinced you that he would practice in time for the dance?" Ruby rolled her shoulders back.
"That doesn't count. It was a group effort." Ren fired back.
Ruby snickered. "Sure. We should go out for lunch and invite AWS. I bet they can break the ice."
"I'm up for it. I want to know what happened with SHDW." Nora finished flossing her teeth and tossed the flosser into a trash bin. "Two of them were from that team right?"
"Don't stick your nose into their private business Nora, what would your grandpa think?"
Nora gleefully sneered deviously. Way too devious than what can go under the label of... normal.
Start Let Me Save You
The Maintenance Hall
The double doors of the hall were both open as it was almost devoid of people. Along the wall, there was a fold out table and clipboard. All students had to check in when they turn up. The pen in hand, he scribbled his name down then looked at the various booths and stations. One of the booths had the crimson top of her head pop out to which Jaune made a path toward her.
Jaune walked from the side of the wall and leaned against it. Before he spoke up, he went through several expressions to come off as relaxed but welcoming when she turned around. Instead, she rolled her eyes as the monitor here was quite pushy and harass everyone who entered.
"I signed in an hour ago. I didn't-" Pyrrha looked up to see Jaune with his tongue out and his index and ring fingers caught in the middle to scrap his tongue. Of course, Jaune stared at her.
He mumbled. "My tongue had an itch."
Pyrrha rolled her head to the left and she swallowed her laughter as she turned around completely. "When did you get back?"
Like a real leader, he needed to play this cool. Cooler than those actors from old action movies. Aw man, he could go for watching Kommando again.
"Jaune?"
Oh right. "Just today." He eyeballed over Pyrrha's shoulder. Miló set to the .308 Winchester rounds. It had a bottlenecked rifle cartridge that can be manufactured as rimless as well. It can be considered overkill for human targets but can punch holes in Grimm. At least it had the accuracy to equal its firepower at medium range. Half of the weapon was taken apart on the table. The spring and different components were all neatly arranged in a state to get a faint idea what is supposed to go where.
"I did some practice with Blake and she noticed that the bullets aren't chambering out fast enough.
"Did you clear the barrel or the ejection port?" Jaune entered the booth and sat beside her.
"I did. I thought it could be that I'm overthinking it. Or maybe I should just get the barrel replaced." Pyrrha set some of her tools aside then put her hands beside her thighs. She didn't want to rub anything from the grease on her fingertips.
"Hm." Jaune put his hand over his mouth.
.
.
.
Jaune opened his mouth to speak.
No words came out.
He sat in silence for about ten or so seconds.
"Yeah, I got nothing."
Just of how he could say that with such a straight and sincere face. Pyrrha stood no chance then turned away to laugh hysterically. From there, she asked for several tools as Jaune remained with her for a while.
Of course, Pyrrha knew it was just the magazine compartment. All it turned out to be was that a bug got trapped in her gun when she fired it. The JNPR leader just showed up right before she was going to clean it. Of course, Jaune grew frustrated with just trying to fix the fucking thing.
Somewhere in Vacuo and it is Night Time in the Time Zone
Vvvvvvvvvvrrrrrrrrrrrroooooooommmmmmm VVVVVVVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMM VVVVVRRRRRRROOOOOM VVVVVVVVVVRRROOM VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVRRRRROOOOMMM.
The orange and blue lights of the walled-off city beamed out to the world. A motorcycle raced through the highway. It carefully passed each car on the freeway as it got closer to a building near one of the inner city neighborhoods. The street lights transformed into dancing strings of neon.
The drive continued as several palm trees would wave with the gentle kissing wind.
The motorcycle roared for another minute as it approached the next turn off from the freeway. An above average office building had several dark-colored lights on the outside. Each of the windows had dark tarps over them to keep out the sunlight during the day. The motorcycle parked behind a dumpster in a hallway.
From the darkness, the driver revealed himself to the orange street lights as he walked around the building. There was a Faunus man and woman dressed in casual clothing. Neither of them was alarmed and were in a general state of calm.
From the side, a streak of white reflected light disappeared as the woman had a blade embedded her eye. From the pain and the mixed emotions, the woman put her hand over her eye then dropped to a knee. As that happened, her partner grew curious about what just happened.
By the time the guard put his hand on her back. Two red converse shoes were in the view of the guard while he uttered to himself. As he opened his mouth to shout, a blade plunged into his left temple. From there, another blade pierced the top of his skull. The blood spurted out onto the hands of his killer.
The woman turned around to see a man hover over her. The man's right leg lifted up and kicked the woman in her sternum. All in her sight was of a sky blue motorcycle's helmet and a sharpened meat cleaver. She started to scream as he put his palm over her mouth then brought the cleaver down on her throat. Blood seeped as she stared into the nighttime sky.
The man stood up and put his bloodied knives on his belt. He wore blue jeans and a hot pink vest with a cartoonish skull on his back.
This Biker, flicked the blood off his cleaver as he opened the door. From there, he caught the sight of a middle-aged woman with a man half her age in a bedroom directly across the hall some pet and owner situation. The boy looked up and noticed the corpses outside. He scrambled to a wall as the woman thought this was part of the services she paid the pimps.
As she turned back to her boy toy, the woman had a blade strike at her lower back then repeatedly stabbed over and over. She gasped for a while before casting her aside. Her blood oozed out and appeared black in the dark blue lighting.
"Go home." The Biker muttered as the young prostitute bolted out of the building.
A guard walked through the hall and noticed the trail of blood into the room. One of the workers in total fear just ran by him. The guard approached the room as the Biker revealed himself with his arms by his side. The Biker practically hugged the man.
The expression of the guard's face went from confused to shock. The Biker plunged a knife into the guard's abdomen then slashed horizontally. The innards of the guard spilled out like noodles from a can. He dropped to his knees in a fruitless effort to catch his intestines. He fell to the ground and stared at his stomach then died from shock.
In the hall, the Biker turned to his left and proceeded onward. He came close to a room where two women worked for the building and both had guns. The room wasn't that large, and it was about the arm's length wide as the two had a small conversation. One of whom was in front of the door on the other side.
The Biker twisted the knob then kicked the door open which forced the Faunus one to stumble into the ground as the other had a knife flung at her. She reacted fast enough, so the blade went in her shoulder. She raised her gun but the Biker predicted this then grabbed her wrist then but his right hand up to sever her gun hand. The woman guard screamed as she got the blade under her jaw. The black visor mirrored the horror of her face as the blade twisted deeper from under her mouth to reach her brain. He tiled her head back so the blade seen at eye level.
The Biker's right palm straightened out then launched it forward to finish her off. The Faunus woman guard rolled over and before she drew her gun. The Biker stepped on her arm with so much force, the shoulder joint dislocated.
With the end, the Biker angled his legs closer together then dropped with gravity to land on her stomach. Once the woman leaned up from the pain, the cleaver embedded itself into her forehead. The blood streamed down from the cut, but that was not enough. The blade was yanked out and whacked her again five more times. Bits of the skull chipped and flew out.
The Biker's helmet had a tear of blood drip off from the chin area. The Biker looked over his shoulder to see the terrified expression of a male guard. With squished meat the corpses and bits of brain matter on the cleaver.
He stood up and tilted his head as he walked to the doorway. The guard sprinted down the hallway. Like the rest, he didn't escape and crawled out of the building with an extended blood trail. The lights of the building started to flicker.
The final room of the building was kicked down while a chubby man in a brown suit cowered behind the desk. The room had cocaine with several stacks of money. The Biker walked past the both of the objects and grabbed the suited man by the collar.
"Why am I getting phone calls!?" The Biker growled.
"I-I-I-I don't know what you're talking about!" The man stammered.
"I get calls every damn week. All I can remember is waking up and always being surrounded by bodies!" The Biker took out his meat cleaver and shoved the man to the table.
"I can't help you!"
"Don't you DARE try to bullshit me!" The Biker yanked on the man's arm, so it over-hanged off the table. The cleaver lowered down, so he feels through the fabric.
"PLEASE! PLEASE! I HAVE A NEPHEW!"
"Then tell me! Where can I find the man in the letterman jacket!?"
"I have no idea!" The man shouted.
The Biker had none of that, and he hacked the arm once. Blood seeped from the shoulder as the man screeched in pain. He squirmed under the Biker's grip. With every attempt on the same questions ended with the same results. As it turned out, the manager honestly knew nothing as his body was on the table with no arms.
The Biker was in the back of the room at the man's computer reading through what files he could. Once there was something that caught his attention on the screen.
"The Commissar?" The Biker looked up. "…Last seen in Atlas." He furiously beat his fist on the table.
"I was fucking there just two months ago!" The Biker pulled the clever out of the wooden desk as he exited the office. The door closed behind him as he stepped over the various corpses. In some of the rooms, was the whimpers of those who were not part of the primary workforce at this location.
The Biker eventually made it outside then put his knives and cleaver back inside his vest. "Another dead end."
The same manner as before, the Biker walked into the darkness.
Vvvvvvvvvvrrrrrrrrrrrroooooooommmmmmm VVVVVVVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMM VVVVVRRRRRRROOOOOM VVVVVVVVVVRRROOM VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVRRRRROOOOMMM.