A/N: Hey everyone! It's that time of the week again! Before we begin though, I want to do something that I've actually never done before now; give an original character a voice. Now, I normally don't do this because I want to leave that sort of thing up to reader interpretation. I DO have my own ideas for who should voice the characters I create myself, but I wasn't sure if you guys would want to hear that sort of thing or even LIKE my ideas for who should be voicing whom. However, with a certain character in this chapter, I had a pretty good idea for how he should sound right from the start, and I think you all deserve to hear it too.

With that said, the role of the police chief will be portrayed by Patrick Warburton. This is…

Chapter 83: A Strange Stand-Off

…..

Weiss was currently pacing back and forth through the main hallway of the Xiao Long house, the heiress waiting for the moment that her sister would finally emerge from the basement. It wasn't that she was growing impatient, oh no, that was FAR from the case. She had NO problem waiting for her sister to finish talking with the boy she was interested in. Rather, Weiss' current problem was that she was growing irritated by a certain EVO that was making a competition out of something as inconsequential as training, and there weren't even any STAKES to it! She had tried training on her own for a little while, but she found that not having a partner was far from satisfying, so she came back in to wait for her sister. 'I swear, the next time our Spanish lessons come up, I'm going to ask him to teach me some good insults.' she swore to herself. 'Ugh! Why is he so gosh darn irritating?!'

However, her little pacing-fest was halted when she heard the basement door, making her whip herself around to it. "There you are!" Weiss greeted as she strode to her sister. "I was wondering when you'd—" But then she stopped when she noticed the expression on Winter's face. The military specialist seemed to be in deep thought about something, her eyes staring at the nearby wall in contemplation. This immediately gained Weiss' concern. "Uh… Winter?"

Winter let out a gasp and turned her attention toward her sister. "Oh! Weiss, I'm sorry. I suppose I wasn't paying attention."

"It's fine." Weiss said while raising a brow. "But… is everything okay? Did something happen between you and Kenny?"

"What?! Oh, no, no, far from it." Winter smiled with a slight blush. "Our daily conversation was very nice as always. He even played me a few more songs." The elder Schnee grew serious once more. "What's on my mind however is what happened BEFORE our call. Agent Six was the one to transfer me over to Kenny, and he told me to have Ben call him back later on."

Weiss' eyebrows rose. "Is there something wrong?"

"I'm not entirely sure." Winter surmised. "He didn't say if it was urgent or not, so I'm not entirely worried, but I have a feeling that it IS important."

The heiress blinked in surprise. "Wow, something tells me that Six is good at keeping secrets himself."

To that, Winter gave a nod. "Indeed." But then her smile reappeared. "But let's try and focus on something else. Are you ready for today's training?"

A determined face overtook Weiss' features as the two sisters walked into the kitchen. "Oh, I am so ready! And I'm ALSO ready to put Rex's little "bet" to rest!"

Winter tilted her head at that. "Um… I'm afraid I don't follow, sister."

"Oh, Rex made a bet that HE could train harder than I can." Weiss rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Psh, so childish, am I right? I mean, it doesn't even make any sense!"

An amused smile came to Winter's face at this. "Hmm, perhaps not. But then again, it makes a little bit of sense if you take a little something into account…"

Weiss furrowed her brows. "…And that would be?"

"He's trying to get your attention." Winter clarified before poking her sister's nose. "Because he likes you."

"Ugh! This again?!" Weiss facepalmed with both hands. "Winter, the trope about boys teasing girls that they like is SO overdone! Not all boys do it!"

"Exactly, but maybe Rex just happens to be one of those boys." Winter gave her sister a smirk. "And besides, you really shouldn't be surprised if he HAS fallen for you. If I recall, you've had two boys in this group crush on you already, correct?"

"What? Jaune and Neptune?" Weiss shrugged. "Well, okay, I'll give you that. But at the same time, they've both moved on. And if that's the case then…" Weiss trailed off there, the words getting stuck in her mouth.

Winter wore a knowing smile and nodded her head. "Ah, finding the idea of Rex getting over his "supposed" crush unappealing, eh?"

An intense blush came to Weiss' face and she regained her bearings, facing away from her sister to hide it. "Sh-Shut up!"

With a heavy sigh, Winter threw up her hands. "Very well. If you wish for me to drop it, I will. But trust me Weiss… there are some opportunities that you shouldn't let slip through your fingers." All she got from her sister was a slight lowering of the head, to which she sighed again. "Hmm, I see." Winter was about to continue to the door when she stopped halfway, finally taking notice of the dead silence in the house. "By the way, where IS everybody?"

"Oh, a lot of them went to town." Weiss answered. "Max took a group to the mall while Athena took Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora and Ren to have breakfast with the Arcs."

Winter pointed to her sister. "Ah, yes, that's right. They were also going to tell them the whole truth about Salem afterwards." She put a finger to her chin in concern. "Hmm, I certainly hope that goes well."

But Weiss didn't seem all that worried. "Heh, well, I'm sure Jaune can handle it. I mean, he's gotten a LOT more confident over the past year." She waved her hand assuredly. "I'm sure he'll have no trouble at all."

…..

Jaune had never felt so nervous in his entire life. Well, okay, he HAD, but this was one of those times when his anxiety began to flare up. He was currently walking down a hotel hallway with his team and Athena, following his family back to one of their hotel rooms. However, it was far from a stress-free walk, as it was time to let the truth come out. When he had first heard about Salem and willingly joined the fight against her, Jaune thought it best to keep his family in the dark about the whole thing to keep them safe from harm. But after what had happened last night back in Menagerie, it was made quite apparent that the witch probably wasn't going to keep herself hidden away for long. One way or another, his family would find out, and he resolved that it'd probably be better if they found out from him rather than the worse option.

With that in mind though, he knew that it'd be FAR from a painless band aid to rip off. 'I just hope that they won't be mad at me.' Jaune prayed in his head. 'I really don't want what happened between Yang and her mom to happen to me… only nine times worse.'

"Jaune?" Pyrrha's voice suddenly pulled the blonde knight out of his thoughts, his eyes going directly to her. "Are you doing alright?" She reached down and grasped his hand with her own. "You've just been staring at the ceiling since we got into the hotel."

With a small sigh, Jaune gave a small shrug. "To be honest, Pyr, I really don't know." With his free hand, he ran his fingers through his hair, trying to process his thoughts. "With what we're about to do… I just hope it'll all go well."

"It will. I promise." Pyrrha smiled and leaned against his shoulder slightly, whispering so that only he could hear her. "Your family isn't going to shun you over this, Jaune. They wouldn't do that." She gave her boyfriend a wink. "Besides, they love you too much. Especially your sisters."

Jaune smiled back at her and gave her a small kiss, grateful for her comforting words. "Have I told you how awesome you are recently? If not, then remind me to do it more often."

Pyrrha couldn't help but laugh a little at that. "Haha! Oh, come now, Jaune. You're pretty cool too, you know."

"Heh, okay, maybe. But still, thanks for keeping me grounded, Pyr." Jaune wrapped an arm around her shoulder, which he now found a little hard to do given her new armor. "…You know, I never realized how hard it is to be intimate with this much armor on until now."

Pyrrha eyed her new pauldrons in slight annoyance. "Probably because we DIDN'T have to deal with this much armor before." She gave out a sigh of her own. "I appreciate my mother's concern for more protection in battle, but I can't help but feel that she wanted me to cover my shoulders up. But I suppose I'll just have to live with it."

Overhearing their conversation, Nora gave her friend a reassuring wave. "Aw, it's not THAT bad, Pyrrha. Besides…" She leaned over and whispered to both of them; "It'll make your more intimate moments a lot more special." With bright blushes on their faces, Nora knew that her job had been done, and she went back to standing next to her best friend. "Hehe, I know they're cozier with each other now, but it's still fun to tease 'em a little, right Renny?" However, the green ninja didn't respond prompting Nora to crane her head to him. As she suspected, he was staring off into space again, lost in his thoughts. With a slight grumble, Nora side-stepped in front of him, crossed her arms and called out; "Ren!"

"AH!" Ren yelped and stopped in place, his eyes darting down to his best friend. This also had the side effect of everyone stopping in place, including all of the Arcs. "N-Nora!" Ren stammered. "W-What's wrong?"

As he asked this, the Arc sisters gazed on in concern, with Rouge calling over; "Is everything okay back there?"

"Yeah, what's goin' on?" Blanche pressed further. "Ninja boy off his rocker a bit—OW!" She was promptly elbowed in the side by her twin, who was giving her the stink-eye. "Noire! What the hell?"

"Could you at least TRY to be a bit more tactful, Blanche?" Noire asked with an eye roll. "I mean, sheesh, c'mon!"

Pyrrha directed her attention back to Nora and Ren, placing a gentle hand on the former's shoulder. "Do you guys need a minute?" She received a silent nod from Nora in response, and that was all the answer she needed. "Alright, we'll be waiting for you in the hotel room, okay?"

And with that, the duo were left alone, their eyes locked on one another. Nora was still boring into Ren's soul with her unrelenting stare, making the ninja grow all the more nervous. He knew that she was onto his behavior, but he really wished she wasn't. "Nora, I—"

"Ren, what's going on?" Nora's question was firm, but also filled with concern. "You've been acting like this since this morning." She put her hand against his chest, her eyes filled with worry. "Please, tell me what's on your mind."

"Well…" Ren sighed and his shoulders slumped forward, his gaze going toward the ground. "You're right Nora, there IS something that's on my mind." He put his hand over hers and moved his head back up to her. "Since you mentioned it this morning, I've been thinking… about what happened all those years ago."

Nora's eyes widened and she immediately pulled her best friend into a hug. "Oh, Ren! You're bogging your mind down again!" She put her eyes back on him again. "You know what that does to you!"

"Yes, I do." Ren replied. "But sometimes, I just can't help it." He glanced out a nearby window to the cold, outside world. "Especially around this time of year."

Nora pursed her lips and leaned her head against Ren's chest. "I know. Sometimes, I think about it too." She then offered him a small smile. "But remember, even if our families aren't with us anymore, we've got Jaune, Pyrrha and their families now. Not to mention the rest of our friends too."

Ren let out a light chuckle. "Heh, yeah, you're right." He settled his hands on the small of Nora's back and pulled her into the embrace. "It's like you said this morning, we have a new family here, and I AM very grateful for that."

"Yep! And hey…" Nora reached up and put a finger to Ren's chin, pushing his head upward a bit. "Keep your chin up, okay? Things are going to be fine, I just know it."

The ninja couldn't help but admire his best friend's optimism. It was one of the big things that kept them both going over the years that they'd been on the road. Sure, Nora would often have her own bouts with sadness, but she would often bounce back rather quickly. 'She amazes me sometimes.' he thought to himself before speaking once again. "Heh, alright. If you say so, then it has to be true." He repositioned himself and then put an arm around her. "C'mon, the others are probably waiting for us."

"You got it." Nora said as she put her hand over his. "So… you ready to let the cat out of the bag?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Ren answered. "Let's just hope that it's not too bad." In just a few moments, the duo found the room that they were headed to and opened it up, revealing the whole family on the inside, already chatting it up. The twins, as well as Saffron and Terra, had taken to one of the couches while Athena, Jaune, Pyrrha and Rouge were sitting upon the other. Jonathan and Mary were sitting in the single loveseat that was right in the corner while the younger sisters; Verte, Azure and Violette were all sitting on the floor, their legs crisscrossed as they eagerly spoke with one another.

Nora smirked and nudged her head to the large group. "Take a good look, Ren, this is what family gatherings will be like whenever Jaune and Pyrrha decide to tie the knot."

Ren gave the Pink Dynamo an incredulous face. "Nora, we have a LONG time to go before we can even think about that becoming a reality."

"I know, I just ship it that hard." The two stepped through the doorway and Nora gave a wave. "Hey guys! We're here!"

The large group craned their heads up to the two entering teens, sending smiles their way. "Hey, there you guys are." Saffron greeted. "So, is everything okay?"

"Oh yeah, totally fine." Nora affirmed. "We just… had a little private conversation."

Terra raised a brow in their direction, a knowing grin coming to her face. "Ooh, scandalous. If it's private then you know it must be pretty big."

At the brunette's accusation, the two best friends blushed intensely and glanced away from each other, with Nora clearing her throat. "Ahem, uh, yeah it was." She then raised her hand up to them. "But it's all been taken care of, so we're cool." Nora did an about-face to Jaune, hoping that she could change the subject quickly. "So, Jaune! Did you get around to telling them… it yet?"

Jaune visibly winced at the mention of "it". "Not yet. We were actually waiting for you guys."

Next to him, Rouge gave him a questioning face. "And what exactly is "it", Jaune?" she asked as she used air-quotes for emphasis.

"Does it have anything to do with the mission you went on last night?" Jonathan pressed further. "Because if it does, then I'd be more than happy to hear it!"

Mary put a hand to her husband's chest to settle him a little. "BUT even if it isn't, then we'd all like to hear what you have to say anyway."

"Well, no, it isn't. I mean, it kind of is, but..." Jaune scratched the back of his head nervously. "It's actually a pretty big secret that I've been keeping from you guys for a while." the blonde knight admitted. "And I intentionally kept it from you so that you wouldn't get hurt or be worried about what me and my friends were getting into."

The Arc's eyes all simultaneously widened, the first to speak up naturally being Blanche; "Jaune, are you and your friends caught in the middle of something… shady?" She stood up and pounded her fist into her palm. "Because if you are, then just show me where I can beat 'em up so I can get you out of it!"

Noire pulled her sister back down into her seat before adding; "And I'll take more sensible steps to solve the problem. I'll get the appropriate authorities involved and we'll—"

"I'm afraid it's not that simple, Noire." Athena piped up. "What we're about to tell you is something that very few people know about, and something that cannot be easily solved just by calling the police or a professional Hunter." The Mistralian Huntress wore a dead serious expression as she set her sights on the family, their faces growing more worried by the second. "This is much bigger than any normal person can comprehend."

There was a long silence that hung over the entire room for a few good seconds, the Arcs processing Athena's words all the while. Finally though, Mary stood up and went over to her son, putting her hands to his shoulders while locking eyes with him. "…Jaune, please, what's going on? What kind of trouble have you all gotten into?"

Jaune glanced between his teammates and Athena, with all four of them giving the okay. Jaune took a deep breath and began his very long explanation. "Okay, but let me start by saying this; I kept this from you because I wanted to keep you safe. And I was worried about what might happen if you guys got in on the whole thing." Reluctantly, he put his hands over his mother's, and thankfully, she didn't take them away. "The public isn't ready to hear this information, so… can I ask that you guys keep it from leaving this room?"

"Of course, son." Jonathan got up and did the same thing his wife was doing, giving his boy a nod. "If anything, we're worried about you too. And the walls here are thick enough so that no one'll hear us. Now please, tell us what's going on."

"Alright, what I'm about to tell you is one-hundred percent true." Jaune raised his right hand. "I swear that I'm not making any of this up, so… you might wanna brace yourselves."

On the floor, Verte blinked in surprise. "Wow, I… I don't think I've ever seen you this serious, Jaune." The teen girl directed her eyes to Pyrrha. "Is it really THAT big of a deal?"

"Indeed it is, Verte." Pyrrha nodded solemnly. "Now, to start things off… what are your favorite fairy tales?" And so, for the next half hour, Team JNPR and Athena regaled the Arc family with the tale of what REALLY happened at Beacon Academy, along with the identity of its attacker; Salem. They told the Arcs of Ozpin's ongoing war with the witch, and how the headmaster himself had actually been a long-lived immortal man with the ability to reincarnate into new people. Finally, they finished it all with the Maidens and the Relics, and how if Salem managed to acquire all of them, she could plunge the world into darkness.

"And it's up to our team to stop her." Jaune finished. "Ozpin pulled us into this war… and we're going to see it through to the end." He lowered his head to his family, who were all dumbstruck at the information. "Well… there you have it. Every last little detail."

There was another long silence, this one much longer than the last. However, after another good minute, Blanche pretty much summed up what everyone was thinking. "What the SHIT did I just hear?!"

"Blanche!" Mary scolded. "Watch your mouth!"

Violette raised her hand. "Hate to say it mom, but she hit the nail on the head." She craned her head up to her older brother, who was still lowering his. "Jaune… how could ANY of this be true? I mean, it's almost hard to believe."

"Not to say we don't believe you." Saffron clarified. "Because we do. We're just… having some trouble processing it all."

Noire rested her head on the back of the couch, staring up at the ceiling. "That's putting it mildly."

Azure put her hands to the sides of her head, her eyes nearly bugged out in astonishment. "All this time, I was thinking that there was a scientific basis for what the Grimm were and where they come from…" She threw her hands up into the air. "But it's seriously all just BLACK MAGIC?!"

"Shh, Azure, keep your voice down." Rouge shushed. "We don't want to take chances, even IF the walls are thick."

"Uh, HELLO?!" Verte got up and thrust her hands forward, gesturing to her brother. "Are we just going to ignore the fact that Jaune and his friends have been putting themselves in mortal danger for the past two weeks?!" She balled her fists up and placed them on her hips. "I mean, Grimm is one thing, aliens are another, but this is just a whole different ball game!"

Jonathan set a hand on her shoulder, hoping to calm her down. "Sweetheart, let's take a moment to breath here. We've already had a ton of stuff dropped on us, so let's not make this anymore difficult." He then set his eyes onto his son, stepping back over to him and crouching down so that he was eye level. "Jaune, look at me, son."

Jaune reluctantly brought his head back up, hoping that his dad wouldn't be too harsh on him. "Dad, I-I'm sorry—"

"Don't apologize for anything, son." Jonathan cut him off, giving his boy a reassuring smile. He put a hand to his shoulder and continued. "Truth be told, I always had a feeling that ol' Oz had a whole closet full of secrets that he'd been hiding from everyone. Even when I went to Beacon, he was always a shady one." His features then became a bit more concerned. "I WILL admit, though… I'm worried about what you and your friends have gotten into with all of this. But if what you say is true and this witch wants to take over the world, then I guess that sitting by and doing nothing's not gonna help matters."

Verte's eyes nearly bugged out of her sockets. "Dad… are you seriously okay with Jaune fighting against an all-powerful witch who's got a whole army of follower and Grimm at her beck and call?!"

Jonathan sighed and went back to standing up straight, all while crossing his arms. "It's probably going to be pretty dangerous, but this team has had great success so far with their missions." He then set his gaze onto his wife, who was visibly worried as well. "Dear, what do you think about all of this?"

Mary took a deep breath, pursing her lips in thought. "Well… I won't lie, this has me worried in about ten different ways." Her gaze then settled onto her sun, a small grin coming to her face. "After all, my baby boy is fighting against the forces of evil. But your father has a point, Jaune, you and your friends have been doing well since the Battle of Beacon. How many bad guys have you fought over the past couple of weeks?"

Jaune became somewhat sheepish at the question. "Heh, a lot. We've taken down a whole bunch of Ben's enemies and encountered Salem's forces almost every day."

Blanch practically jumped out of her seat. "But do you seriously think that you guys can take down a freakin' witch?!"

"She's right, Jaune." Saffron supported. "This seems a little out of your league."

"I know, but I'm probably not going to be fighting her." Jaune explained. "The only one who stands at least a remote chance against her is Ben. But if my team and I can help out along the way, then why wouldn't we?" He got up off of the sofa and walked over to his sisters. "Guys, I know that you're really worried about us, but very few people know about the threat that Salem brings to the world. And among them…" he waved his hand to his team, "is us. And we WANT to help. That's what Hunters do, after all."

Terra sent a pleading look to her brother-in-law. "Jaune, we understand how important this all is. We just don't want you to… you know… die."

"And I don't wanna die either." Jaune agreed. "But our team needs every little bit of help they're gonna need if we wanna pull this off. Besides" He went over and pointed to Terra's belly. "I wanna make sure that my new niece or nephew gets to grow up in a safer world than the one we have today."

Terra and Saffron couldn't help but smile at his words, with the former placing her hand over her stomach. "Heh, well crap. When you put it like that, it's hard to say no."

Rouge grinned as well, though hers was a bit sadder. "You're right, Jaune. I don't want my children to grow up in a dangerous world. Or worse… not get to grow up at all." She got up and hugged her brother. "Just… be safe about saving the world, okay?"

"And make sure you guys all stay alive, okay?" Terra added as she and Saffron did the same.

Saffron ruffled her brother's hair up a bit. "Yeah, I want our kid to actually meet his uncle, too."

Noire and Blanche followed suit with their sister's embrace. "And don't get in over your head, okay?" Noire warned. "Be smart, and don't get too over confident."

"If you feel like you can't win, pull out of the fight and take the L." Blanche balled her hand into a powerful fist. "But then, make a new plan and go back to kick their asses!"

Jaune let out a little laugh at that. "Hehe, thanks girls, I appreciate it." His eyes then found his younger sisters, who were still standing off to the side. "What about you guys? Do I have your approval?"

Violette scratched the back of her head. "To be honest, Jaune, I'm still trying to comprehend all of this." She followed up with a small shrug and a soft smile of her own. "But I guess if you guys are confident that you'll be okay, then I'll support you."

"Indeed." Azure adjusted her glasses. "While I'm unsure about the chances of you succeeding, I'm sure that given your track record, you have a strong possibility of doing quite well."

Nora bounded up and pulled the youngest Arcs into an over-the-shoulder embrace. "Haha! See? That's the spirit!" She gave them an optimistic wink. "And don't worry, we'll be alright. Remember, there's a whole ton of people who're fighting Salem than just us. I'm actually pretty confident in our odds."

"Don't be OVER confident Nora." Ren warned. "We don't want to jinx anything."

"Ah, let's leave Jynx outta this." The Pink Dynamo joked, though she knew that a majority of them there probably wouldn't get it. She then faced the only Arc who hadn't given her support yet; Verte. The teen was standing off to the side, a perturbed expression written across her face as Nora's eyes landed on her. "What about you, Verte? You gonna show your bro some love?"

"I…" Verte trailed off as her eyes went to her older brother, the blonde knight giving her a reassuring gaze. But the younger Arc was still uncertain about all of this, the very thought of supporting her brother as he faced certain doom beginning to ebb at her mind. "I really don't know what to do. I know how important it is for the world to be safe, but…" She craned her head away from everyone as tears began streaming down her face, a few sobs threatening to escape from her lips. "I don't want to risk losing you, Jaune."

Jaune gave her a small nod before going over and enveloping her in a hug of his own. "I know you don't, sis. But I don't wanna lose any of you either." He reached up and wiped the tears away from her face. "If any of you guys were to die because I couldn't do anything about it, then I'd be just as heartbroken as you would be."

Pyrrha got up from the couch and walked up behind Verte, putting both of her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Verte, I will make sure that Jaune stays safe. You can count on that."

Verte shifted her eyes between the two, noting how they weren't the least bit scared. "How… how can you guys be so calm about this?" she asked. "You're putting yourselves in all of these dangerous situations… and you aren't scared?"

"Of course, we are." Pyrrha affirmed. "Hunters are always scared about what they have to do. I'm sure that your father would agree with me on that."

"One-hundred percent." Jonathan concurred. "Verte, sweetheart, if you meet anyone who says they aren't scared about going into danger, they're lying. Especially if it's a Hunter saying that. Fear is a natural human emotion. We all feel it." He placed a hand to his chest. "But Hunters do their job regardless because we know how important it is. In fact, the fear of losing all of you if I didn't do my job is what kept me going over the years." The man gave his daughter a small grin. "And it's evident that your brother and his team realize this."

Verte let her father's words sink in, moving her eyes back to Jaune and Pyrrha as she did. After a few seconds, she let out a heavy sigh and set her head against her brother's chest. "You know, you and your friends are really stubborn."

"I've heard that from time to time." Jaune admitted.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Verte pulled away and pointed a finger around at the team. "Okay, you guys have my support. But I want you ALL to stay safe, alright? Don't take any unnecessary risks…" She raised a brow over to a certain redheaded warrior. "And that goes double for you, Pyrrha. No recreating what happened at Beacon!"

The Invincible Girl raised her hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, I get the picture. No more self-sacrifice, trust me. After the last time, I don't plan to do it again."

"I certainly hope not." Athena said as she herself got up as well. "After all, if anyone plans on killing you, they will have to answer to me." She moved over to her daughter and Jaune, giving the latter a thumbs up. "So, how does it feel to have all of this in the open, Jaune?"

The blonde knight let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding, his body relaxing a bit. "To be honest, I feel a lot more at ease." He wiped away some sweat from his forehead with a chuckle. "Really thought I was gonna be put through the ringer, though." He gave Blanche a questioning face. "I'm actually really surprised that you didn't, Blanche. Especially considering… you know…"

Blanche simply shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I was going to, but after thinking over what you said and what you guys have been through already, I've got faith in ya." A quilty expression came to her face. "…Plus, I didn't want to start another fight with you after what happened last week."

"None of us wanted that, I'm sure." Noire said as she pat her sister on the back. "And don't worry, we won't let this slip to anyone, promise."

"Thanks guys. We really appreciate this." Jaune bowed his head to his sisters and then to his parents, though he saw that his mother still had a visibly worried face. He offered her a small grin and gave her a wink. "Mom, I'll be okay. I promise."

Mary sighed and pulled her son into a hug, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I hope you're right, baby. Dear god, I hope you are."

The two fell out of the hug and Jaune held his mother's hands, grasping them firmly. "Trust me, things are going to be okay." He returned the kiss to her own cheek. "I love you, mom, but I've gotta do this."

With a small chuckle, Mary blinked away the tears that were starting to form at the corners of her eyes. "You AND your father really know how to make a woman worry." She lightly set a hand onto his new chest plate. "But I'll be wishing you good luck out there, remember that."

"Believe me, I will." Jaune nodded. "…And considering how powerful Salem seemingly is, we'll need it."

Saffron placed her hands on her hips with a smirk. "That isn't exactly reassuring, little bro."

"Yeah, I thought you DIDN'T want us to worry." Terra added.

Jaune's eyebrows snapped up in realization. "Oh, uh… yeah. Sorry 'bout that." He clapped his hand together, hoping to change the subject. "So, hey! Now that everything's been let out and the air's been cleared, how about we go do something fun? I heard from Ruby that there's a large pier with a carnival along the other side of the island. Maybe we could—"

BANG! BANG! BANG! Jaune was suddenly cut off when three loud shots rang out from outside the window, making everyone in the room either scream, duck and cover, or both. Following that, they could hear many more screams coming from outside the window, leading them to craned their heads up to see what was going on. They were on the fourth floor of the hotel, so they had to look down into the streets. There, they could already see multiple people running away from whatever was happening down below, going as fast as their feet could carry them. "What's going on?!" Rouge exclaimed.

"I don't know." Noire said as she quickly moved away from the window. "But what I DO know is that somebody is shooting a firearm in a public area, and that's not gonna fly with me!" The police woman reached into her large duffle bag, pulled out her uniform, and then went straight to the bathroom to quickly change. "Someone has to go out there and help!"

"You're right, sweetheart." Jonathan went over and pulled out a very large case, opening it up to reveal his gold and white armor. He then whipped his head around to Team JNPR with a serious face. "Kids, we're probably going to be a while, so—"

"Say no more, dad!" Jaune saluted, with the rest of his team following suit. "We're already on it. C'mon, team, let's move out!"

As Jaune, Ren and Nora bolted out of the room, Pyrrha faced her mother with a nod. "Mom, I know that you don't have your armor, so could you and the others make sure that everyone in the hotel stays safe? It would be a big help."

"Of course, dear." Athena agreed. "Now go out there and find out what's going on." With a quick nod, Pyrrha sprinted out of the room to catch up with her teammates, leaving Athena alone with the Arcs. The Mistralian Huntress made a fist, frustrated that she hadn't brought her own armor and weapon. "Why can't anything around here just stay peaceful for at least twenty-four hours?"

…..

The moment that Team JNPR stepped outside, they were immediately swept up in the chaos. The streets were hustling and bustling with terrified people, all of them running for their lives from an unknown source. Many vehicles had been slowed to a crawl, which even made a few people abandon them all together so that they could just run themselves. "My god, what the hell is going on here?!" Nora shouted. "And where'd those shots even COME from?!"

"Not sure." Ren replied. "But something tells me we just have to go in the direction that the people are running from to get our answer."

All of a sudden, a familiar voice called out from behind them; "That's what we were thinking!" Team JNPR all whirled around to see Ben, Yang, Ruby, Blake, Ilia, Team SN, Cooper and Team CFVY all running down the street toward them, some of them even pushing against the large crowd swarming in the opposite direction. Ben waved over and called out; "Hey guys! Perfect timing!"

"Ben!" Jaune waved back. "Any idea what just happened?!"

"Not a clue. We were at Whitlea's shop when it happened." The hero stopped in front of the knight and began scanning the crowd, still perplexed at the whole thing. "But whatever it is, people are making the right decision and gunning it away from the action."

Ruby looked to Jaune in concern. "What about your family? Are they—"

"All fine." Jaune answered. "They're safe in one of their hotel rooms." The young man sighed in exasperation. "And of course, this all just HAD to happen right after I told them the truth about everything."

Yang's eyes widened at that information. "Woah, okay, that's pretty big, Vomit Boy. So… how'd they take it?"

"Pretty well, actually." Jaune confirmed before waving his hand to the crowd of people. "But to have all of THIS follow it up? It's a disaster!"

"Agreed." Blake spoke up. "But right now, we need to—wait!" The cat girl's ears perked up at the sound of an approaching siren, catching it before any of the others. "We've got officers in bound!" Sure enough, a few seconds later, a slew of police cruisers came zooming from around the corner, the sound of the sirens ushering people to clear the way. As the law enforcement vehicles went rushing past them though, a single one stopped in place, screeching to a halt just a few feet away from them.

Neptune recoiled at the sudden stop. "What the?!"

But his question was answered for him when a familiar face came out of the driver's side door, a head full of red hair accompanying it. Yang broke out into a grin as she recognized this particular officer. "Hey, Lieutenant Burns!"

Police Lieutenant Krista Burns gave the group a wave as the passenger side window of her cruiser began to lower, revealing her partner; officer Roy Price, sitting on the inside. "Hey everyone!" she greeted. "I'm guessing you heard the gunshots?"

"Exactly!" Sun said as he and the team ran over to them. "Man, it's been a while since we've seen you guys."

"Yes, I think it was the incident with Subdora where we last saw each other." Pyrrha added.

Roy gave a nervous chuckle and scratched the back of his head. "Hehe, yeah, with all the crazy stuff that's been happening around Vale, the chief's been having us work a lot more." He gave an apologetic bow to Ruby. "Speaking of, sorry we couldn't make it to your birthday party, Ruby."

Krista lowered her head as well. "Yeah, sorry. I really wish we could've come."

But Ruby gave them a reassuring wave. "Ah, it's no big. I understand." She gave them a small wink. "An officer's job is never easy."

Meanwhile, Ilia raised a brow and leaned over to her best friend. "Uh, Blake? You know these officers?"

"Oh yeah, we've worked together a couple times in the past." Blake gestured to the two. "Ilia, this is Krista and Roy." She then moved her arm over to Ilia herself, now addressing the two officers. "And guys, this is my friend Ilia. She's new around here."

"I see." Krista nodded. "Well, it's very nice to meet you. So, you guys were going to investigate the crime too, huh? On the ball as always, I see."

At that moment, Coco and her team stepped up, the fashionable girl placing a hand on her hip with a smirk. "That's right, officer. So, what's the sitch?"

Krista pointed down the street. "The sitch is that we've got a hold up at the bank." She craned her head in the same direction. "We think that the culprits have hostages in there with them, but we're still not entirely sure." Krista put her focus back onto the team. "The only reason WE stopped is because we wanted to ask you guys for your help."

Cooper gave her a thumbs up. "Hey, we would've helped out even if you HADN'T stopped to ask."

"He's right." Ben agreed. "So, I'm guessing that we're going to get a police escort now?"

Roy shrugged at that. "Eh, more or less. You guys probably can't all fit in the car though…"

Just then, a loud honking came from down the street, prompting everyone to whirl their heads around. There, approaching at high speeds, was the Rustbucket. The motorhome's engine was roaring with all the power it could muster as it came to a halt, the passenger side opening just as it did. Max, who was still sitting in the driver's seat, got straight to the point; "I got into gear as soon as I heard the shots!" He nudged his head to the teens to get in. "Hop in, kids. We haven't got much time to lose!"

The whole group blinked in surprise, but Ben wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Well, I guess that solves that problem!" The hero ran straight to the Rustbucket, ushering his friends to do the same. "C'mon guys, we've got a day to save!" With that, all of the teens piled into the motorhome while Krista went back into her cruiser, quick to put the sirens back on and zoom ahead. While it was crowded in the Rustbucket to be sure, that didn't stop Max from flooring it, following Krista to the scene of the crime.

…..

By the time the team got to the bank, the place was already surrounded, both by officers and concerned bystanders. The officers themselves were trying to keep the civilians back however, especially the press, who were already on the scene. "Dear lord, it's like a zoo!" Max commented as he slowed the Rustbucket to a halt behind Krista's cruiser. After seeing the redheaded lieutenant and her blonde partner exit their vehicle, the old Plumber moved around in his seat to face the team, who were already prepping their weapons. "Alright kids, it's show time. Do you have a plan?"

"Kind of." Ben answered. "There's no easy way for me to get in there without drawing too much attention. So…" He brought up the Omnitrix and brought up the holo-ring, quickly finding Chamalien's icon. "I'll be taking a stealthier route."

However, before he could bring his hand down, Jaune stopped him from doing so. "Wait a sec, Ben. Maybe we should get some more info on the situation first." He set his gaze out the window toward the bank. "If we go in without knowing what's going on, then we could risk making the problem even worse."

"Hmm, you've got a great point there, Jaune." Ben admitted as he brought the holo-ring back down. "Alright, I'll hold off for now." He then stepped toward the door and stepped outside. "Okay guys, let's see what's going on."

The teens filed out of the Rustbucket and quickly headed over to Krista and Roy, both of whom were standing behind a barricade of police cars. Many of the other officers around them were already arming themselves up with rifles and pistols just in case the situation escalated quickly. One of the officers, a brunette woman with tanned skin and brown eyes saw the team approaching and was quick to stop them. "Hey! You kids can't be here!" she shouted firmly as she raised her hand. "This is a restricted and dangerous area. I suggest you all—"

"Relax, Rockwell." Krista stepped forward and halted the woman in her tracks. "These guys are with me. They're Hunters-in-training who want to help."

The officer, whose last name was apparently Rockwell, grew even more concerned from Krista's statement if anything. "Burns, are you crazy?! The chief is on his way here right now, and you KNOW how he feels about any Huntsmen or Huntresses getting involved in police affairs!" She pointed a finger toward the teens. "If he catches a single whiff of them, he'll—"

"I'll deal with it, Loni." Krista pressed further, this time using the woman's first name. "These kids helped me and Roy take down plenty of perps over the past couple weeks. I think the chief will make an exception… hopefully." She waved her hand toward the bank. "Right now, we need to focus. Help the squad set up around the building and we'll go from there."

Loni Rockwell simply shrugged and scoffed. "Alright, but just remember; it's your job that's on the line, Burns. Not mine." She proceeded to walk away, calling out to the rest of the police squad to surround the building and keep their weapons at the ready.

Nora pursed her lips slightly at the woman's behavior. "Sheesh, who's she, a crooked cop?"

Roy smirked and chuckled a little bit. "Ah, Loni's just jealous because KB got promoted first… and did better at the academy than her."

Krista rolled her eyes at that. "To be honest, I just wish she'd let it go." She shook her head and regained herself, focusing back to the teens once again. "Okay, so from what I've been able to gather from the civilians, we're dealing with three armed and dangerous men who're holding the bank tellers and everyone else inside hostage."

"Do we have a motive?" Ruby asked.

"Yes. As expected, they want all of the Lien that they're holding in there." Krista concentrated onto the front door of the bank, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Thankfully, unlike the bank heist in Vale a couple weeks back, these guys aren't strong enough to throw an entire bank vault door."

The group of teens exchanged knowing gazes at that last part, but they couldn't dawdle on that for too long. "Did anybody notice anything else?" Ben pressed further.

"Actually, yes." Roy affirmed. "Many witnesses claimed that all three suspects were bald and had the ears of a pig, meaning that we're probably dealing with Faunus."

Blake's reaction was immediate; "WHAT?! You've gotta be kidding me!" She face-palmed in exasperation. "Great! Just great! It's people like this who make humans think that Faunus are dangerous!"

Ilia's brows furrowed angrily at the revelation. 'To think, I used to do the exact same thing in the White Fang.' She raised her fists up and stepped forward. "This is unacceptable! We have to do something to stop them!"

"You got that right." Coco pounded a fist into her palm. "These guys are in for a world of hurt when we get a hold of 'em."

"I appreciate the enthusiasm, Coco." Krista nodded. "But we can't just rush in there. These guys are ready to kill anyone in there at a moment's notice. We need to plan this out and—"

VRROOOOM! The sound of a loud approaching truck engine cut Krista off before she could go on, making everyone whip their heads around to the opposite end of the street. Along with the loud engine was the sound of a wailing siren, accompanied quickly by flashing blue and red lights as another police vehicle came from around the corner. However, this wasn't a regular cruiser, but instead a large SUV. Roy's blood ran cold at the sight of the large vehicle. "Oh god, it's the chief!" He darted over and hid behind Krista, hunched over shaking like a leaf. "Please don't let him be in a bad mood today!" he prayed.

Krista stepped aside and pulled Roy back up straight, giving an aggravated groan. "Ugh, Roy, you really need to calm down. I said that I'd handle the chief, remember?"

"Yeah, but he actually likes you… to some extent." Roy countered.

The redheaded officer sighed and pat her partner's shoulder. "Just relax and I'll do all the talking, alright?"

Just as she said that, the SUV pulled up to the curb, its driver-side door facing the whole group. Ben quirked a brow in curiosity. "I wonder what this guy's deal is? His own officers are afraid of him."

Yang sent her boyfriend a side-long glance. "Trust me, Green Boy, if YOU had to deal with the chief, you'd be scared too."

Ben's raised brow only persisted at this. "Have you?"

Yang cringed as the cheif began to step out of the SUV. "Let's just say that I had a few speeding tickets in the past."

The moment the chief stepped out of his vehicle, everyone was taken aback by how imposing he was. He appeared to be in his late-forties and was at least six and a half feet tall, with a very muscular physique and broad shoulders. He was in a blue uniform with black pants, though he didn't have any headwear to speak of, allowing for a good view of his brown hair that was shaved into a buzz cut. However, it also let everyone see his OTHER very distinguishing feature; a pair of pointed wolf-like ears at the top of his head. His waist was also donned with a very furry garment, one that hung off just above his rear, resembling a wolf's tail. He took a deep breath and let out a mighty howl, silencing everybody in the area almost instantly; "AWWRROOOO!"

Ilia and Blake brightened up at what they were seeing. "Your chief is a FAUNUS?!" Ilia exclaimed. "I didn't think Vale had any Faunus in their police force!"

"Oh yeah, we've got plenty of them here on Patch." Krista confirmed. "We're equal opportunity here, if you hadn't noticed."

The chief glowered in their direction, his face frowning the moment he saw a bunch of kids at the crime scene. Finally, he spoke up with a voice that was deep, loud, and quite surly; "Burns! Price!" He strode forward, his large arms swinging with every step.

Both Krista and Burns stood at attention and gave the chief a salute. "Chief Howlin, sir!" Krista addressed with respect. "We're glad you could make it. I just ordered Rockwell to set up a perimeter around the bank."

"Excellent." Howlin commended, though his judging glare was still focused on the teens. He lowered his head to Team JNPR, Team SN, Blake, Ilia and Team CFVY, his voice going from loud to dangerously low in a second. "But, uh, Burns? Let me ask you this;" His hand whipped over and pointed to the group, his voice raising up again. "WHY IN THE HELL ARE THERE CHILDREN AT THE CRIME SCENE?!" He then noticed Ben and Cooper standing off to the side… and that there were two familiar young girls hiding behind them. "Rose! Xiao Long!"

Ruby and Yang both slowly peaked out from behind the boys, giving the chief a stilted wave and two cheeky smiles. "Hehe, hey! Chief Howlin!" Ruby greeted. "It's been a long time!"

"Not long enough." Yang mumbled under her breath.

"I heard that, Xiao Long!" Howlin stomped over to the four, making them fall back a bit in fear. The chief pointed directly at the Blonde Brawler's face, making her recoil even more. "Don't think I've forgotten about all the speeding tickets I've written up for you. OR the fact that I suspended your license for a year because of it. Tell me, did you forget?"

Yang sighed and her shoulders sagged a bit. "No, sir. I haven't forgotten either, unfortunately."

"Good!" Howlin crossed his muscular arms, turning his nose upward while starting down at Yang. "Because if you had gotten that many tickets NOW, you'd be facing some serious jailtime! You're lucky that I've got some respect for your father. Having to deal with you two AND your uncle is something that I have to give props to."

Ruby quickly got in between the two, hoping to deescalate things. "Heh, alright, let's all just take a breath and calm down." She moved her eyes up to Chief Howlin, locking them with his. "Mr. Howlin, I think that we can both agree that there's worse to worry about right now than just Yang and Qrow's reckless driving."

Howlin grumbled slightly, but he had to admit, Ruby had a point. "You're right, Ruby, there ARE." He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. "And we can start by gettin' you kids AWAY from the crime scene!"

Coco shot a glare right the chief, pushing her glasses up to readjust them. "Uh, excuse me, chiefy, but we're here to help."

"That's right." Yatsu bowed in respect. "You see, we're—"

"Say no more, string bean, I know who you kids are." Howlin moved a single finger across the whole group. "Judging by your weapons, I can only hazard a guess and say that you're a buncha Hunters."

"Erm, Hunters-in-training, actually." Velvet clarified.

For the briefest of moments, a faux smile came to the man's face. "Ah, I see. Cute, very cute." He put his hands behind his back and moved his head down to look Velvet straight in the face. "Well, I can certainly see that you're all just quite adorable. But I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you all to leave."

Fox tilted his head. "…And why is that?"

In a split second, Howlin rounded on Fox and yelled; "Because this is a POLICE matter, Hunter-boy!" He pointed to the badge on his right pectoral. "You see this badge right here?"

The redheaded boy smirked at that before lifting his bangs, allowing Howlin to get a clear view of his eyes. "No sir, I'm blind."

Howlin's eyes bulged out and he quickly tried to go back his blunder. "Oh, ahem, my sincerest apologies for what I said." He then saw Ben giving him a funny look out of the corner of his eye and then rounded right over to him. "You! Green jacket! What're you laughin' at?"

Ben, who was still smiling, simply gave the officer a shrug. "Nothing sir. But I'll thank you to stop antagonizing my team."

"Ah, so this is YOUR team, is it?" Howlin went up and pointed to his badge again. "Listen here, bucko, you see this badge? Know why it's here?"

"It came with the shirt?" Ben snarkily retorted.

The group behind Howlin began laughing at Ben's remark, but one stern glare from the chief all made them stop immediately. "It means that if there's a problem in this town, I'M the one to take care of it. Let me make one thing perfectly clear; I'm top dog in this town, and I'm not about to let some young upstarts, Hunters or otherwise, do my job for me! Besides," the chief pulled at his collar with both hands, straightening it out, "I wouldn't be doin' my civic duty as an officer of the law if I let you kids put yourselves in the line of fire."

Jaune was about to speak up on their behalf, but unfortunately, Nora beat him to the punch. "Aw, c'mon, big guy!" The Pink Dynamo raised her hammer above her head. "Krista actually asked us to help out, so why not take all the help you can get?"

Howlin was about to yell at her as well, but then he noticed exactly what she had said, making him direct his eyes back over to the Lieutenant. "Oh, did she now?"

Roy was practically quivering at this point. "This is it, the point of no return!" He ducked his head and put his hands up as a shield. "Let me know when it's over KB."

Krista didn't even flinch as Howlin stepped up to her, his hands placed on his hips as he gave her his best disapproving face. "Well, Burns? Care to explain yourself?"

"Yes sir, I would." Krista gestured to the group of teens. "You see these kids here? They've been helping me and Roy out ever since they first came to this island. You remember the giant robot that plowed its way through the jewelry store? The speeding robbers? And even the invisible thief?" She waved her hand around at the team. "Almost all of these kids helped out on those jobs. If there's anyone who deserves to be here, it's them!"

Howlin's face scrunched up and he raised an eyebrow over to the team. "Oh really? Is this all true?"

Blake raised her hand while placing another one on Sun's shoulder. "Yes sir. My boyfriend, Team CFVY, Cooper and myself helped Krista with the robot."

Coco put up two fingers. "I can vouch for that. I remember getting thrown around by that tin can all too vividly."

Yang was all too eager to speak her piece next. "Oh! And Ben and I were the ones who helped take down those speeders!" This only made Howlin's brow rise further, almost as if he doubted Yang's word. "What? It's the truth! And it was the BEST first date I'd ever been on!"

Before Howlin could get a word with her, Jaune piped up next. "And me and my team helped Krista take down the invisible Dust thief." In his mind, he added; 'Even though she escaped probably just a few minutes after, but we don't need to mention that.'

Howlin put a finger to his chin. "Hmph, I see…" He then saw Neptune and Ilia standing off to the side, the two becoming fearful the moment their eyes met with his. "And what about you two?"

"Er… well…" Neptune put his hand behind his head. "We didn't exactly help out on any cases before, but we're part of their team, so you can trust us!" He gave Howlin two thumbs up. "Seriously, we've got mad bad guy stoppin' skills!"

Ilia facepalmed at that last part. 'He COULDN'T just stop at the "trust" part, could he?'

Thankfully, Ruby was quick to jump in and save their bacon. "He's right, Mr. Howlin! We've been helping General Ironwood out with a bunch of missions while he works on the relief efforts in Vale. And what's better, we've had a TON of successes since the Battle for Beacon." She pointed finger guns at the chief and gave him a wink. "So, c'mon! What d'ya say?"

Once again, Howlin crossed his arms and closed his eyes, his wolf ears twitching as he thought it over. Finally, with a slight grumble, he put his eyes back on Ruby. "You aren't going to leave until I say yes, aren't you?"

"Exactly!" Ruby cheerily replied.

"Oh, for cryin' out—FINE." Howlin relented. "You kids can help out if you want. But BE WARNED;" He pointed a single finger up in the air. "If you kids wanna help, then you're gonna play by MY rules, understand?!"

Off to the side, Coco gave him a salute. "Yessir, Chief Bushy Tail!"

"IT'S A SASH!" Howlin shouted before pinching the bridge of his nose. "Ugh, what've I gotten myself into?"

Suddenly, Officer Loni Rockwell came running back over with something very odd in her hand; a paper airplane. "Chief! This just got thrown out one of the windows!" Everyone turned their attention to her as she unfolded the craft, taking a quick glance at it. "It seems to be a note from the perps."

"Bring it here, Rockwell." The woman did as she was told and handed Howlin the note, the chief snatching it out of her hands with urgency. His eyes scanned over the words, reading them aloud as he went; "We'll be willing to negotiate the release of the hostages, but only if you… LET US LEAVE WITH THE LOOT?!" He quickly crumpled up the paper and tossed it over his shoulder. "What kind of negotiation is that?! They might as well just turn themselves in!"

"I know, right?" Loni shrugged. "Pretty dumb if you ask me."

"Well Howlin, it's your show." Ben put his hands to his hips. "So, what should we do?"

Howlin held out his large hand. "Price! Megaphone!"

"AH! Y-Yes sir, Chief Howlin sir!" Roy scrambled to his and Krista's police cruiser and pulled out a megaphone, handing it to Howlin as soon as he could.

With the turn of a dial, Howlin set the megaphone to its fifth loudest setting and spoke into it, his voice ringing out across the crowd. "Alright, LISTEN UP PEOPLE, we've got a hostage situation that's not gonna be easily negotiated. I want all civilians to remain calm and get AWAY from the scene ASAP!" The moment he said that, all of the citizens began walking away quickly from the scene, getting as far away as they could from the bank. "Officers, be ready for anything!" Every officer around the building stood ready, keeping their weapons held up. Howlin brought down the megaphone and narrowed his eyes at the bank's front door. "Now… it's time for Big Bad Howlin set up his OWN ground rules for negotiation."

…..

Meanwhile, back at the Tiger Lily Flower Shop, the trio of Whitlea, Russel and Iris were hunkering themselves down in the greenhouse, hoping that whatever was going on out there would pass sometime soon. Iris in particular was pacing back and forth, the blue-haired girl worrying about her friends. "Ugh! I really wish I had my combat gear!" Iris exclaimed. "I'm a Huntress-in-training, not a freaking bystander!"

"I know how you must feel, Iris." Whitlea consoled. "I'm worried about it too. But for right now, all we can do is wait and see what happens." Her eyes went to the nearby door that lead out to the shop itself, her concern ever-growing. "I just hope that the others can handle it."

Russel pulled his fiancé into a comforting embrace, resting her head against his shoulder. "I'm sure they know what they're doin', hon." he assured. "From what I heard at the party, those kids're a buncha ass-kickers. They'll be able to handle it, I'm sure of it."

"I suppose so." Whitlea nodded. "But still, I—"

But she was then cut off by a rather familiar sound; the ringing of the bell at the front door to her shop. The three moved their heads up to the greenhouse door as a voice began calling out, one that was quite clearly of a man; "Hello, Whitlea? Anyone? Where in the Sam Hill're all these blasted people runnin' to?"

Russel and Whitlea broke out into two matching grins, with the former's stomach nearly jumping out into his throat as he called out; "PA!" The couple ran to the door with Iris hot on their heels, with Russel flinging the door open as quick as he could. "You're here!"

The action slightly spooked the man, his hand going to his chest. He appeared to be in his mid-fifties with jet black hair that matched his sons, though it was evident that it was slowly beginning to change into a shiny silver along the sides of his head. He had a black handlebar mustache that was curled at the ends, though even THAT was beginning to show signs of greying as well. The man was donned with a rather simple ensemble of a white button-up long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans, though the two stand-out pieces were a pair of brown leather cowboy boots and a straw cowboy hat on his head. He let out a startled gasp and exclaimed; "Gah! Criminy, Russel! Don't spook me like that!" He pat his chest as he walked over. "You know how my ticker can get."

Russel winced and put a hand to his neck. "Ah, right. Sorry dad." He went over and pulled his old man into a hug. "But god, it's great to see ya!"

"Same here, son. It's cert'nly been a while, huh?" As the two fell out of their hug, the older man saw Whitlea out of the corner of his eye, and his smile brightened up even more. "Aw, there's my future daughter-in-law!"

"Oh Butch, it's so good to see you!" Whitlea greeted him with a hug before taking his hands in hers. "I didn't think we'd see you until later tonight."

Butch shrugged his shoulders. "Well, you know how eager Jessie was to see ya'll. She made sure we were on the road and headed here first thing this mornin'."

Russel's eyes widened in realization. "Oh yeah, where IS ma anyways?"

"Ah, she went out to figure out what the hell all the panic was about." Butch answered with a smirk. "An' considerin' how yer ma likes to get things done, I think whoever's responsible for all this madness'll be in for quite the punishment."

…..

Back at the bank, the team were watching with baited breath as Howlin, Krista and Roy approached the door, the three cops intending to begin laying out their own deal to the criminals inside the building. Ben in particular was keeping his eyes concentrated squarely on the officers, the hero ready to leap in at a moment's notice. Still, there WAS one thing that was slightly holding him back. "I wonder if a whole precinct of police officers will be able to keep my secret if I transform in public." he wondered out loud.

Yang gave a sideways smirk to her boyfriend. "Green Boy, I think they'd sooner start shooting at you than at the criminals." She pat his shoulder softly. "Don't worry, we'll get 'em, even if you can't help out."

Ben pouted slightly and folded his arms, pulling his head into his shoulders. "Man, first I gotta take orders from a total windbag and now THIS? This sucks."

Ruby laughed next to him. "Haha! Yeah, Chief Howlin IS pretty full of hot air. My uncle can attest to that."

"I'm sure." Blake said off-handedly. "Still, it's like he said, we should be ready for anything." The cat girl faced Cooper, Ilia, and Teams JNPR, SN, and CVFY, giving them a single nod. "We know what to do about that, right guys?"

Everyone pulled out their respective weapons, with Coco keeping a handle on her purse just in case. "You got that right, Kit Kat." The fashionable girl furrowed her brows as Howlin knocked on the bank's front door, ready to begin parleying with the perps. "Let's just hope worse doesn't come to worse."

The three officers stopped about fifteen feet away from the bank's front door, with Chief Howlin taking out his megaphone once again. He didn't want to chance getting too close to the building, otherwise there could be blood on the bank's floor. "Alright, little piggies, we're ready to make a deal!"

Just then, a very raspy voice came from behind the door, one with a heavy city accent; "'Ey! Whatchu talkin' about, eh?!" Behind the door's window appeared a relatively short man in a black turtle neck and jeans, wearing a matching mask around his eyes. He was also quite bald and had a set of pig ears sticking out from the top of his head, made even more unnerving by the fact that his regular ears were also quite visible. The only hair he had was a small goatee on his chin, the hair red and curly. He gave Howlin a glare and pointed at him through the glass. "We's already gave you our demands, so if you's wants us to let the people go, then let US go with the Lien!"

"No can do, shorty." Howlin shook his head, his voice still blaring through the megaphone. "That's not how this works."

"We can come to a peaceful solution though!" Krista continued. "If you'd be willing to talk with us, then maybe we can come to a compromise!"

"Heh, ain't no compromisin' here, toots." The pig man denied. "The Swiney Brothers don't talk, we ACT."

Back with the teens, Ilia, Blake and Sun all glanced at each other in confusion. "The Swiney Brothers?" Sun asked. "I don't think I've ever heard a last name like that, even for a Faunus."

"Must be something they made up to protect their real identities." Ilia considered. "They're probably trying to make a name for themselves with all of this."

Howlin clenched his fist, letting out a growl before going on. "Listen, pal, I know that this is a pretty stressful situation, but ya can't just go around holdin' banks hostage!" He his eyes went to another nearby window where he saw a bunch of civilians kneeling on the ground, with two other pig-eared men standing near them and holding guns. One was very tall and lanky while the other was large and rotund, though they both shared a lot of features with their brother. Howlin gestured to the people and asked; "How can you be so cruel to innocents like this?!"

"HA! In our minds, no one's innocent!" the shorter Swiney Brother laughed. "Society's a mess, big man, 'specially after that attack on Vale!" He took out his pistol and pointed it at Howlin through the glass. "An' we're the ones who're gonna take advantage of that!"

It was then Roy's turn to speak up. "Okay, so what do you guys get out of all of this? Aside from the money, I mean?"

"Respect!" the pig man replied. "The respect that society never gave us!"

"I getcha." Roy nodded. "I'm guessing it's because of the strained relations between humans and Faunus?"

"BAH! Hell no!" the short Swiney Brother waved that notion off. "See, we were raised in… what most people would call a bad neighborhood." He placed the tips of his fingers together with a rather deranged smile. "Our parents tried the best they could, but…" He flung his arms up. "It just wasn't enough. So, once we were able to finally LEAVE that hell hole, we promised ourselves that we would do better than they would… by any means necessary."

Howlin gave a disapproving glare to the pig man. "So you chose to start robbing banks… to BETTER yourselves?!" He held up a hand to the shorter man. "I think you might've made a few mistakes here, bud. How about, I don't know, an actual JOB?"

"Ha! As if!" the Swiney Brother let out a loud cackle. "We're hittin' the direct path to easy street! No one's got time for jobs these days anyway!"

The chief growled at such thought. NOW he knew the story. These were a bunch of lazy good-for-nothings that were out to make a quick buck by robbing a bank. Well, not on his watch. Negotiations were now officially over. He lowered his voice to a deadly tone and spoke clearly into his megaphone; "I am giving you ten minutes tops to stop what you're doing and turn yourselves in."

The little pig man narrowed his eyes at Howlin. "Or WHAT?!"

"Or else I'll blow this door in myself!" the wolf man shouted back.

"Heh, you'll have to shave the hairs off our chins first!"

Ben pursed his lips and glanced off to the side. "This scenario's starting to sound vaguely familiar."

The pig man then continued; "Besides, if you're gonna do that, then ya'd just risk the lives of all these "innocent" people, right?" He wore a devilish grin as another cruel cackle escaped his lips, though he was silenced soon after by a loud roar by Howlin, the wolf Faunus not even bothering to use his megaphone.

"Gah, DAMMIT!" Howlin huffed as he moved around toward the rest on the group, fuming as he puffed air out through his nose to try and calm down. He walked over to the group of Hunters-in-training and ushered them to huddle up, with Krista and Roy joining in. "Alright, so negotiations might've fallen through, but we can salvage this."

Jaune raised a brow. "You have a Plan B?"

"'Course I've got a Plan B." Howlin affirmed. "But to pull it off, we'll need a good distraction…" However, his ears perked up when the sound of rapid hooves clopping against asphalt suddenly graced his field of hearing. Blake, Sun and Ilia took notice of this too, and before long, everyone else was hearing it as well.

Neptune was the one to vocalize their thoughts; "Uh… does anyone else hear a—"

"NEEIEIEIGGH!" The sound of a loud and clear whinny made everybody jump slightly before all of their heads simultaneously whipped around… just in time to see something really big leap straight over the barricade of police cars. It was almost as if things were in slow motion for a second, the entire group blinking in shock at what they were seeing. A large mare, a Clydesdale no less, was jumping directly over the top of one of the cruisers, not even nicking it with its hooves. There was definitely somebody riding it, though they were all too distracted by the large animal to take notice at the time. The mare hit the ground with all four hooves still running, only stopping when she made it over to the group as the rider pulled back on her reigns.

Everyone stared on at the magnificent animal in stunned silence for a good five seconds before Ben raised his arms up and hollered; "HORSE!"

Yang was just as astonished as her boyfriend, shaking her head in disbelief. "W-What the—AH!" The blonde let out a gasp the moment that she glanced up to the horse's rider. She felt herself begin to feel a whole bunch of emotions all at once, though chief among them was excitement. "Oh my god, oh my god, OH MY GOD!"

Coco's jaw dropped when she saw the rider too. "No… fucking… way."

Ruby's silver eyes began glistening at what she was seeing. "It's her! It's REALLY her!"

Team JNPR in its entirety were completely baffled by who was before them, with Nora beginning to hyperventilate a bit. "Am… am I dreaming?!" the Pink Dynamo asked.

A smile slowly began to form on Pyrrha's face as the rider began to dismount. "I don't think we are, Nora. And if that's the case, then I REALLY don't want to wake up."

Despite everyone's gawking however, Chief Howlin wasn't too happy that some random person just jumped over one of his cruisers on the back on an animal. He approached the rider, a woman by the looks of it, one who wore a white Stetson cowboy hat that was slightly obscuring her face from his own view. He pointed a finger at her and yelled; "Lady, do you have a warrant for that horse to be doin' stunts in public?! Because let me tell ya, I can have one for your arrest in ten minutes if you don't have a good excuse for all this."

Once the woman got herself settled onto the ground, a wry smile crept onto her lips at Howlin's words. She was about nine inches shorter than him, so she had to crane her head up, finally revealing her whole face to him and taking him aback. She was in her early fifties, though you would never be able to tell by her face. By contrast, the woman's features made her appear the be in her late thirties or early forties at the most, the only visible sign of aging being the slight wrinkles under her eyes. Said eyes were a radiant shade of blue and she had a head full of bright red curly hair that nearly matched the neckerchief tied around her neck, flowing down to the small of her back. She wore a white button-up western-styled shirt with black detailing and fringe, which went along with her Stetson quite well. Her legs were adorned with a pair of blue jeans, a set of brown leather chaps with tassels at the bottoms, and a pair of brown cowboy boots, complete with gold spurs. There was a shotgun holstered on her back and a lasso hanging from her left hip, completing her cowgirl image.

"Well, sorry there, sugar." The woman winked as set pet her steed. "My sweetheart was just so plum happy to be off'a that ferry that I just HAD to let her have some fun for just a spell."

Howlin's jaw dropped, his hand still pointed at her. "W-Wait, aren't you…"

The woman proudly and confidently thrust out her hand, taking Howlin's already outstretched hand in a firm shake. "Jessica Jameson, pleased to meet ya! I take it YOU are the sheriff 'round these here parts?"

Howlin cleared his throat when his hand was finally let go. "Ahem, y-yes, though I'm actually the chief of police here."

Jessica waved her hand. "Aw, same difference." She placed her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest. "Anyway, I came here hopin' to see my son and his fiancé, but then I noticed all the trouble goin' on. So, I'm here to help!" It was at that moment that she saw the slew of young teenagers staring blankly at her, and she noticed that nearly all of them were holding weapons. A bright smile came to her face and she waved at them as well. "Well howdy there, kids! I hazard a guess that I'm not the first Hunter here, huh?"

Cooper and Ben, the only two who had any semblance of their senses about them, came forward and answered her. "Uh, yes ma'am." Cooper affirmed. "Though we're more along the lines of Hunters-in-training, actually."

"Ah, I getcha! Well, it's always nice to see young buck an' does out in the field, if ya catch my drift." Jessica's eyes scanned the crowed, taking noticed on just how starstruck the teenagers actually were. She raised her hands up to them with a chuckle. "Hehe, alright, I can tell that I've got a few fans in the audience here. But why don't we take care o' all this crap before we start talkin', huh?"

Yang's eyes widened and she bowed her head to the woman. "O-Oh, yes! Totally!" She blushed slightly as a nervous smile came to her face. "But really quick, I just wanna say that it's a HUGE honor to meet you, Miss Jameson. You're an inspiration to ALL of us here."

"Aw, thanks sugar, I appreciate the kind words." Jessica said as she bowed her head to Yang as well. "But please, call me Jessie." She gave her a small wink. "So, what's your name, hon?"

"Y-Y-Yang." The Blonde Brawler felt like her mind was going into meltdown just by uttering her own name. 'Oh my god, I am on a first name basis with her! AAAAAAH!'

"Yang! What a nice name! I'm very pleased to meet ya." Jessie turned her attention to everyone else. "Matter of fact, I should probably know the rest of ya'll's names, just so we're all on the same page."

After the whole team introduced themselves to the famous Huntress, Ruby, Coco and Velvet were also similarly freaking out as well. "Oh my gosh! We're actually getting to work with THE Jessie Jameson!" the Hooded Huntress squealed.

"I KNOW." Velvet grasped Ruby by the shoulders and lightly shook her. "This is fantastic!"

Coco had her grip tightened around the strap of her handbag, her excitement almost ready to burst. 'I can't believe this actually happening.' she thought to herself as she tried to keep her cool demeanor about her. 'I'm getting to work with one of my childhood heroes!' Coco closed her eyes and took a deep breath, steadying herself before she completely flipped. 'Calm down, Coco. Just focus on the task at hand.' She put her concentration back onto Jessie, the redhead standing there expectantly. "Alright, so here's what we're dealing with…"

After Coco explained the situation to her, Jessie put a finger to her chin. "Hmm… I see. Well, lucky for y'all, I've actually handled some non-negotiable hostage situations before." She began trailing her eyes over the group again, almost as if she were getting ready to make a choice. "Now let's see…" She began picking out a few team members; "Ruby, Blake, Sun, Ilia, an' Ren." She ushered them to step forward. "C'mon over, would ya please?" The five teens did as she asked standing in a row in front of her. "Now, I don't like makin' assumptions, but ya'll look like you can move pretty fast an' quiet-like. Am I right in sayin' so?"

The five glanced to each other before Ren spoke on their behalf. "Well… yes, actually."

"Great!" Jessie pointed over to the building. "Now, we've got hostages that need savin' in there before we can do anythin' from this side, so it'll be ya'll's job to sneak into the bank and rescue 'em from under the perp's noses. Then the rest of us'll go in an' take 'em all down." She gave them a wink and a thumbs up. "How does that sound?"

"That's actually a pretty great plan!" Blake agreed.

"Yeah, sounds alright to me." Sun nodded. "Sign me up!"

Ben crossed his arms and smirked toward Howlin. "Well, "sheriff", any objections?"

Howlin grumbled slightly, only for Krista to point something out. "Honestly, chief, I think it's the best plan that we have at the moment."

"Yeah, I mean, the Swiney Brothers made it pretty clear that they aren't gonna let us in." Roy added. "What other option is there?"

The chief's hand went to the back of his head, scratching it absentmindedly. "Well… I suppose it's a good plan." Howlin then pointed to Jessica again. "But you'd better be right about all of this, Miss Jameson. This is a delicate situation, and the last thing we need is—"

"Aw, don't you worry 'bout a thing, big man." Jessie reached up and booped the chief on the nose. "We'll get this done without any problems, I guarantee it." She faced the group of six that she had chosen and nudged her head toward the building. "Alright, y'all! You kids know what to do, so have at it!"

They all gave her a salute, with Ruby declaring; "Ma'am, yes ma'am!" With that, the five began to sprint their way around the building, making sure that they stayed out of sight of the Swiney Brothers."

Jaune's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Wow, you're good!"

"Heck yeah, she is!" Nora supported. "Where'd you learn to give out orders and make plans so well?"

Jessie raised a brow and jabbed her thumb off toward Vale's direction. "Heh, where else? Beacon, o' course. Hell, I even lead my OWN team there when I was younger."

"Well, I must say, it's very impressive." Pyrrha bowed in respect.

"Aw, it's not THAT big a deal." Jessie insisted. "I just wanna do the right thing." She pointed between Jaune and Pyrrha. "An' I'm sure that your parents would agree with me." Jessie received dumbfounded expressions from the couple at her words. "Ah, c'mon, you two really didn't think I'd recognize an Arc or a Nikos? Ya'll are their spittin' image!"

Jaune and Pyrrha glanced toward each other before shrugging. "Eh, I guess you've got a point." Jaune relented.

Jessie chuckled a little bit before going back to Yang. "And you… you wouldn't happen to be Taiyang's little girl, would ya?"

Yang's jaw nearly dropped to the ground. "You… you know my dad?"

"Heh, oh yeah, sure do." Jessie rolled her eyes with a smirk. "I had left Beacon quite a while before your pa started goin' there, but whenever I came back to the ol' stompin' grounds, I'd scope out the new students to see how they were farin'. And, hoo boy, your daddy's team was quite somethin', I'll tell ya what." However, it was then that she pointed out something else. "Tell me somethin', Yang, yer ma wouldn't happen to be Raven Branwen, would she?"

Yang's bright smile went into a frown almost immediately, and she turned her head away from Jessie slightly. "Uh… yeah, she is."

"Oh, I see." Jessie lowered her head. "Sorry if I upset ya in any way, sugar. I just wanted to—"

"It's alright, I understand." Yang assured, her focus going back to Jessie. "It's just… things are complicated."

"I get ya." Jessie acknowledged. "It's just I noticed that you and Ruby… don't exactly resemble your pa all that much. She actually reminds me a lot of his other teammate. Summer Rose, I think her name was?"

"Yeah, Ruby and I are half-sisters." Yang confirmed.

Jessie nodded her head slowly. "I thought that was the case. But again, I apologize for any wrong-doin' I did by bringin' the subject up." she apologized once again. "If'n ya don't want me to talk about it again, I understand."

But Yang raised a reassuring hand. "No, no, it's okay. No harm done, promise." Her smile returned in full force. "Now, why don't we get ready to lay the hurt on some no-good crooks?"

Jessie returned the grin and she pointed back at Yang. "Now that sounds like a hum-dinger of an idea to me!"

…..

Meanwhile, inside of the bank, the three "Swiney Brothers" were patrolling around the sizable main room, keeping an eye on the hostages while also forcing the two tellers to put all of the Lien cards into multiple sacks. "C'mon, c'mon, move faster!" the shortest brother shouted, prompting the tellers to do what he said. "You's idiots better do this pronto if ya wanna live!" The diminutive pig man faced his bigger, yet younger, brothers, his hands placed firmly on his hips. "Alright, here's the deal; once we get all the Lien cards our bags can carry, we'll sneak out the back way an' make a break for it, capisce?"

The skinniest pig man went up to his shorter brother, his eyes glancing out the window in concern. "Uh, yeah, Frankie, we got ya. But, here's the thing; I think I just saw some o' those guys leavin' for some reason. Should we be worried?"

The shorty, whose name was apparently Frankie, spread his arms out wide and scoffed at his brother. "Psh, you kiddin' me, Slimmy Jim? That just makes thinks a whole lot easier for us!" He gave a sinister smirk over to the largest of the three brothers, nudging his head toward Jim. "Hey, Hamm, you hearin' what Slimmy's yappin' on about?"

"Huhuhuh, yeah, he's bein' a worry wort as usual if ya ask me." Hamm chortled, his belly jiggling as he laughed.

"Yessiree!" Frankie produced a small burlap sack from behind him, rattling its contents around slightly. "An' besides, we've ALWAYS got these babies incase things go south!"

Inside the bank vault behind the counter, the two bank tellers, a man and a woman, were grimacing in irritation at all of this. At the same time though, their concern was growing ever by the minute. There were at least ten other people in the building with guns pointed directly at them, the pig men threatening to shoot if the two didn't comply with their demands. "We've gotta find some way to get everybody away safely." the woman whispered.

"I know." the man agreed. "But it's not like we can just jump them or anything. They've got guns, we don't. At this point, all we can do is—" THUMP. The man stopped and his eyes widened as a quiet, yet noticeable noise hit his ears, with the woman doing the same. They craned their heads upwards, the thumps continuing across the ceiling until they stopped by a nearby vent. A green blade suddenly stabbed through the ceiling, which the two tellers had to resist letting out a scream at. It began cutting around the vent until it was entirely out, a hand grabbing the grate before it could start falling.

From the hole, a young man donned in green and with long black hair fell into the vault, crouching low to the ground instantly so the pig men wouldn't see him. Fortunately enough, he saw that all three had their backs turned to them, which he took as the sign for action. He looked to the two tellers and pressed a finger against his lips, which they thankfully picked up on. Lie Ren craned his head up and nodded once before rolling forward, diving for the back of the counter to conceal himself from the criminal trio.

Following him were Ilia, Ruby, Blake, and Sun, the five following Ren's example as they huddled behind the counter, all five remaining as quiet as can be. As they listened to the trio go on about how much of a success their heist was, Ren glanced back over to the two tellers, nudging his head toward the main area behind the counter. "How many?" he whispered as quietly as he could. The woman held up ten fingers, to which Ren nodded at once again.

Blake turned to Sun and gave him a small smile, which the monkey boy returned. Sun moved around and began crawling away to the opposite end of the counter about twelve feet away, readying himself for the stunt that he was about to pull off. He sat in a meditative stance and closed his eyes. 'Alright, here goes nothin'.' He concentrated on his Semblance, creating once of his Via Sun clones. The clone stood up and jumped over the counter, making all of the citizens shout out in surprise.

This, combined with the bright light, managed to catch the attention of the three pig men. "Hey! What the hell is that?!" Jim shouted.

Hamm let out a scream of terror. "AAAH! It-It-It's a ghost!" At his scream, the Via Sun clone dashed off down a nearby hallway, one that lead to the building's offices.

"That ain't no ghost, ya dingus!" Frankie berated. "Besides, if it WERE, it wouldn't run, it'd fly. To be honest, I don't know WHAT it is, but I ain't lettin' it get away! After it!" Before they went though, Frankie pointed his pistol at the patrons, threatening them once again. "An' don't you people even THINK of movin' an inch!" With that, the trio ran down the hall, hoping to catch whatever it was they saw before it got away.

Ilia let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness they're all idiots."

"I hear that." Ruby agreed as she focused onto the two tellers with a kind smile. "Are you guys okay?"

"Yes, thank you." The woman whispered as she and her compatriot abandoned the bags and stepped out of the vault. "But please, you've got to stop those people!"

"Don't worry, we will." Blake assured before going over Sun. "You holding up, baby?"

"Yep." Sun nodded slightly as he kept his concentration. "You and Ruby go on with step two and I'll help you out from here."

Blake gave him a quick smile before going to Ruby. "You ready?"

"Oh yeah! Time for Ladybug formation!" With that, the duo jumped over the counter, catching all of the citizens off guard as they rushed down the hallway.

Following that, Ren and Ilia jumped over the counter as well, with the chameleon girl leaping toward the door to open it. "Everyone, stay calm and quietly make your way out the front door." she whispered. "If anyone has any injuries, the paramedics are already here for you."

"Single file, please." Ren requested as he began helping many people up off the ground, some of them still hesitant to even move. Before long though, all of the civilians were out of the building, with Ren letting out a sigh of relief. "Hah, alright, that's one part done."

"Great, now all we have to do is hope that Blake and Ruby can—" BOOM! Ilia was cut off by a rather loud explosion, shocking the two and making their heads snap over to the hallway. Sure enough, there was a bunch of smoke coming from there, which was followed up by a few fire alarms ringing out through the building. "Well… not the way I would've done it, but okay."

At that moment, Chief Howlin, Ben, Yang and Jessie all came sprinting into the bank, all wearing concerned faces after hearing the loud noise. Cooper, Coco, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora and Neptune all filed in as well, the blonde genius being the first to ask the obvious; "What the hell was that?!"

Sun jumped over from behind the counter with a confident grin on his face. "THAT was our plan succeeding." he proclaimed. "Ruby and Blake should be bringing back the perps any moment now—"

"IT DIDN'T WORK!" Ruby screamed as she and Blake whipped around the corner with multiple gunshots being heard behind them. "The Ladybug formation DID NOT WORK!"

Sun's eyes bugged out at that. "What?! What do you mean it didn't work?!" He gestured over to the hall. "What happened with that big explosion?!"

"They had a bag of Dust crystals." Blake explained calmly. "They threw a bunch of ice Dust at the ground and it made a huge shard that protected them from the blast."

Howlin facepalmed at that. "Well, that's just great! Now we've gotta deal with them AND call the fire department."

"You got one a' those right, cheify!" Everyone stood at attention as the Swiney Brothers emerged from the hallway, the three pig men covered in a light coating of soot from the explosion. "Call the firemen if ya want," Frankie shouted, "but we're gettin' our Lien and scrammin'! Boys!" With a single command, both of his brothers raised their assault rifles and aimed directly at the group, with Frankie himself aiming his pistol. "Make the right move, chief." Frankie warned. "Ya don't want this to get ugly."

However, the wolf Faunus was just smirking at all of this. "Ha! You think I'm intimidated by that? It might as well be an empty threat." He spread his arms out to all of the back up by his side. "In case you haven't noticed, short-stuff, we outnumber you by a large margin."

"Maybe so, but let me tell ya a little somethin'…" Frankie smirked as he brought out his little burlap sack again. "We've still got a few more Dust crystals left. I figure that if I toss these an' shoot 'em, it'll cause a nice little ka-boom that'll take all o' you's out."

"What?!" Coco exclaimed. "That's insane!"

"You three will be taken out with us!" Pyrrha beseeched. "Your heist would've been for nothing!"

"Not if we're a safe distance away." Jim said. "And considering that we're a good fifteen feet away from you, I think that's a good enough distance."

"Huhuhuh, c'mon, big bro!" Hamm laughed dumbly. "Make 'em go boom!"

"I'm gettin' to it, ya lump!" Frankie smirked evilly. "Well guys, it's been fun… well, okay, not really. See ya!" He rattled the bag a good bit, tossed it as hard as he could, and then made to bring up his pistol, preparing to fire it.

"NO!" Howlin made to ran forward to stop the bag. He didn't care if it'd get himself killed, whether by the explosion or the bullet, it didn't matter. So long as everyone else lived, THAT was all that mattered. However, before he could even take a single step, a red blur dashed in front of him, making him stop in his tracks. "Jameson! What're you doin'?!"

"Everybody hit the dirt!" Jessie's order taken immediately as she reached for the lasso at her hip, spinning it around and flinging it at the bag the moment the pistol fired. In an instant, the lasso snatched the bag of dust out of the air, with Jessie yanking back toward her hand. With one quick motion, she grabbed it and ducked down, allowing the bullet to fly over her head.

Needless to say, Frankie was not pleased. "Oh, COME ON!"

Jessie peaked into the bag to see that the energy within the Dust crystals was beginning to settle again, making her sigh in relief. "Phew! Thank heavens." She stood up, prompting everyone else to do the same. She presented the burlap bag to Howlin with a smirk. "Chief, I think that THIS counts as evidence?"

"It certainly does." Howlin confirmed as he took the back. "The game's over Swiney's! You've lost!"

"No way!" Frankie said as he and his brothers aimed their guns at the group again. "We ain't goin' down without a fight!"

Jessie's smile persisted as she shook her head. "Well, if that's the way ya'll want it." She craned her head back over to the team with a nod. "Kids, I think you can handle this one, right?"

Yang gave a toothy grin at the prospect. "Hell yeah, we can! This shouldn't take long at all." She balled her hands into fists and popped a few muscles in her neck. "I'll take the big guy."

"Count me in on that." Coco said as she grabbed a hold of her purse.

Jaune and Pyrrha readied their blades simultaneously. "We'll take the skinny one." Jaune added.

Nora pulled out Magnhild while Neptune shifted Tri-Hard into its rifle mode and lowered his goggles. "And we'll nail shorty!" the Pink Dynamo declared.

Cooper crossed his arms and smiled in anticipation. "Oh, THIS should be satisfying to watch." He cupped his hand next to his mouth and called out to Coco; "Good luck, hon!"

"You're tellin' me." Ben agreed while pumping a fist into the air. "Go get 'em Goldie Locks!"

In a flash, the six volunteers burst forth in a surge of speed, closing in on the three criminals as fast as their legs could carry them. The moment they did though, the three pig-men began to fire a hailstorm of bullets at them, causing them to quickly dodge out of the way. As most of the bullets embedded themselves into the ground, Yang and Coco began to close in on their chosen opponent; Hamm. The duo separated into two different directions, drawing closer and closer to him from either side.

This proved to successfully confuse the big oaf, unsure of who to shoot first. "Uh… what do I do?!"

"How about this?!" Yang lowered her body and sprinted right toward Hamm, grabbing the barrel of his gun and pushing it up toward the ceiling. She wasn't bothered in the least by the heat of the barrel. In fact, she took the opportunity to bend it upwards, making the rifle useless. "Sorry big guy, no firing indoors."

"Hey—AUGH!" Hamm let out a yell of pain as Coco came up from his other side and stomped on his foot, making him pull it up and hop on one leg. "Ouch! Ouch! OUCH!"

Coco raised an amused brow. "Heh, you thought THAT hurt? Get a load of THIS!" She swung her handbag right into Hamm's gut, knocking all of the air out of him and causing him to stumble back in pain. "Yang, finish it!"

"Already on it!" Yang caught the stumbling Hamm and punched him right in the back, causing him to fly right into a nearby wall. With a loud SMACK to the head, Hamm was knocked out flat to the floor, his head lolling off to the side. "Ha! Too easy."

At the same time, Jaune and Pyrrha were also making headway with their target; "Slimmy" Jim. The lanky Swiney Brother was shooting off a lot of bullets at them, but the couple simply kept their shields raised, the bullets bouncing harmlessly off of them. This managed to make Jim all the more worried. "Frankie, I don't know how long I can keep this up!"

"It's alright!" Pyrrha shouted as she pulled back her javelin. "You won't have to!" With a mighty thrust, the Invincible Girl threw Milo directly at Jim, the tall pig-man's eyes widening in horror. However, rather than striking him, the javelin's head went directly into the barrel of his gun right as another bullet fired, making the rifle explode in Jim's hands.

"GAH!" Jim tossed the gun to the ground, with Pyrrha using her polarity to return Milo to her hands. Before he could react, both Jaune and Pyrrha charged at him, making him let out a terrified gasp. "Please, no, wait!" he begged. But it was too late, the duo bashed their shields into his chest and forced him to the ground, with Jaune pointing the tip of his blade to Jim's chin for good measure.

"I'd stay down if I were you." Jaune warned. "You aren't exactly in a good position to wiggle your way out of this."

Despite the fact he was pinned, Jim continued to plea for his innocence. "P-Please! Please don't hurt me! I didn't even wanna do all this!" He pointed over to his older brother. "I-It was all Frankie's idea, honest!"

The accusation served only to make Frankie's temper rise further. "SLIMMY JIM!" he screamed. "Why you little—GAAAAAAH!" His threat to his brother was cut short however when Neptune shot a Lightning Dust round directly into the short pig-man's shoulder. Frankie fell to his knees as he hollered in pain, his eyes screwing shut as the electricity briefly coursed through him.

"Sorry, dude." Neptune said as he pulled his goggles up. "But you were gettin' kind of annoying. Nora! Finish this!"

As his momentary pain finally stopped, Frankie was suddenly greeted by a pair of white and black boots landing in front of him, making him jump back on his rump. He set his gaze up to see Nora towering over him, her hammer slung over her shoulders. "Hey," she greeted, "remember when I said that we'd nail you?"

"What…?" Frankie started before seeing Nora pull her hammer back over her head.

"I was serious!" With a mighty SLAM Nora brought Magnhild down onto Frankie's head, knocking him unconscious. The Pink Dynamo spun her hammer around and settled it back to her shoulder, standing proudly over her fallen opponent. "And that takes care of that!"

All at once, the bank's main room was filled with an uproarious cheer, the teens celebrating their victory. The only ones who didn't were Jessie and Howlin, the former grinning proudly at the young up-and-coming Hunters while the latter cleared his throat to get their attention. "Ahem! While I applaud your… technique in taking these low-lives down, I wouldn't celebrate just yet if I were you." He whipped his arm up to indicate the billowing smoke that was coming from the hall. "Because thanks to a few certain someones…" he glanced over to Ruby and Blake, the two girls shrinking away slightly along with Sun. "We've got a fire on our hands now!"

Thankfully however, Ben was quick to offer his services. "I actually think I can help out with that…" He pointed over to Howlin and Jessie. "But in order to do it, I need to know if you two can keep a secret."

The two adults looked to each other in confusion before going back to Ben. "Whaddya mean, sugar?" Jessie asked. "I mean, I think I could, but I just need to know what it is first."

Howlin jabbed a thumb to his chest. "And I'm a police officer. I don't keep secrets unless they really ARE that important."

"Trust me, it is." Ben assured as he brought up the Omnitrix. He activated the holo-ring, taking Jessie and Howlin by surprise, and began scrolling through his aliens until he found the one he wanted. "Alright you two, stand back and watch me work!" The Omnitrix's core popped up and Ben slammed it back down, the signature flash of green light taking both Howlin and Jessie off guard. When the light dissipated, the adults were astonished to see a large, red, bipedal mollusk creature standing where Ben once stood, its glowing green eyes concentrated onto them. "Water Hazard!" it cried out.

Jessie let out a gasp while Howlin just let out a loud yell, pulling out his sidearm with lightning fast reflexes. "What the hell are YOU?!" he demanded. "What did you do with the kid?!"

Water Hazard raised his hands up defensively. "Whoa, whoa, chief, calm down! I AM the kid!" he pointed to the Omnitrix symbol on his chest. "See?"

Now that the creature pointed it out, the chief was shocked to see that it was the same exact green and black hourglass pattern that Ben had on his watch. Howlin lowered his weapon in bewilderment, barely managing to utter the words; "What the…"

"Is that REALLY you, Ben?" Jessie asked.

"Yep, sure is." Water Hazard turned around and gave them a two-fingered salute. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a fire to put out." The Orishan ran down the hall with his hands outstretched again, blasting powerful streams of water from each hand as he did. In almost no time at all, the fire was successfully put out, leaving the hallway a scorched mess. The fire alarms shut off soon after and Water Hazard emerged back into the main area, transforming back into Ben as he did. "See? Told you I'd be able to put out that fire."

Howlin and Jessie stared at the young man dumbfounded, both of them in complete awe at what they had just seen. Finally though, Howlin was able to pull himself together, his brows furrowing toward Ben. "Explanations… NOW!"

…..

It didn't take long before both the police chief and the Vacuoan Huntress were filled in on Ben's situation and the whole thing about alternate dimensions. Thankfully, they were more than ready to believe the teenagers after the stunt they had seen Ben pull. It also finally allowed Krista and Roy to reveal to their chief that they knew about the alien stuff as well, to which Howlin was slightly miffed by. "You mean to tell me that you two knew about extraterrestrials being among us and you didn't even tell me?!" he whispered as harshly as he could without raising his voice.

"Well, it was either that, or sending the public into a mass panic." Krista countered as she and Roy managed to shove Hamm into the back of a police cruiser with his brothers, effectively crowding them all into one vehicle. "And we ALL know what can result from THAT."

"Hmm… good point." Howlin relented. "Alright, I'll allow it." He then went over to Ben and the team, giving them a salute. "And I'll make sure to keep your secret as well, Tennyson. It's the least I can do after your help today."

"Thanks, Chief Howlin." Ben saluted back. "I—"

"BUT BE WARNED!" Howlin prodded Ben's chest with his finger firmly. "If you all cause any trouble with this "alien" business anywhere near town, then I'll personally see to your eviction from the island. Am I clear?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." Ben replied hesitantly.

"Good, glad we're on the same page." Howlin stood up straight and spun around on his heel, walking back to his police truck. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got an extensive case report to start filing… without any extraterrestrial beings in its pages, of course." With a slam of his door, Howlin's truck began driving back toward the police station, leaving a baffled Ben behind.

The hero shifted his gaze over to Krista and Roy, the two officers giving him a shrug. "What can I say, man?" Roy grinned. "I think you got off easy with the chief there."

"Heh, yeah, probably." Ben chuckled. "Well, I don't wanna keep you guys up. After all, the "Swiney Brothers" aren't gonna put themselves away."

Krista gave him a nod. "Yeah, we'd better get going." She and Roy raised their arms up to wave to the teens. "Hope you guys enjoy the rest of your day though! Stay frosty!" After the whole team gave their own goodbyes, Krista and Roy got into their police cruiser and drove off, ready to put the still unconscious Swiney Brothers behind bars.

Once they were out of sight, Ben let out a relieved sigh, checking the Omnitrix for the time. "Man, it's not even NOON yet and we've already beaten up some bad guys. That's gotta be a new record if you ask me."

Jaune chuckled at that. "Heh, yeah, wait until family hears about—" But then he cut himself off at that, his eyes widening in realization. "Oh god, we gotta go tell our families that everything's okay!"

"Oh shoot, you're right!" Pyrrha smacked her forehead. "I nearly forgot." She smiled over to the others and gave them a salute. "We'll meet up with you guys back at the house, alright?"

Yang returned the gesture. "Sure thing! We'll be sure to catch up with you guys later!" As Team JNPR began headed back to the hotel, Yang noticed Jessie out of the corner of her eye, the Vacuoan Huntress chatting on her scroll with someone. However, a few moments after her eyes landed on her, Jessie said goodbye to whoever she was talking to and strolled over to the others, a bright smile on her face. "Hey, uh… Jessie." Yang couldn't help but slightly stumble over the woman's name, still finding it a bit odd to say. "Who was that you were talking to?"

"Aw, that was just my baby boy." Jessie answered. "He an' his fiancé were callin' me to make sure I was doin' fine…" She raised an eyebrow to them knowingly. "But they also asked if ya'll were doin' alright too. I gotta say, I didn't think ya'll were already acquainted with my family."

"Yeah, well, Whitlea's actually helped me out before." Ben said as he pulled an arm around his girlfriend, shaking her shoulder a little bit. "See, she helped me put together the perfect bouquet to give to this lovely girl right here."

"Oh, well isn't that just the sweetest thing!" the Huntress gushed. "Whitlea certainly has quite the green thumb, that's for sure." Jessie gave Yang a wink. "So Yang, did ya like the flowers he gave you?"

"Yes, definitely." Yang affirmed as she kissed her boyfriend's cheek. "Probably one of the best gifts that anyone could've ever given me."

Jessie smiled widely and gave an approving nod. "Well, I'm glad that's the case. Speakin' of which though, I'd better get over to the shop myself." The redheaded woman strode over to her horse and mounted herself back onto her saddle effortlessly, taking the mare by the reigns once she did. "I've got a lot of catchin' up to do with the kids, after all." She gave a wave to the team as they approached the horse as well. "It was nice meetin' ya'll today! I gotta say, ya'll are a pretty unique team. I hope I get to see more of ya durin' my stay here."

It was then that Ruby decided to pipe up, raising her hand so that Jessie could see her. "It was nice meeting you too. And hey, we have a whole bunch of other teammates back at our house that I know would LOVE to meet you!" She bowed her head toward the Huntress. "If you'd ever want to swing by sometime, we'd be honored to have you as our guest."

Jessie returned the Hooded Huntress' grin eagerly. "Hey, now there's an idea!" She pulled out a pen and a notepad from one of her saddlebags. "Though I'll need an address first, if'n ya don't mind."

"Oh! Of course!" Ruby quickly took the pen and notepad from Jessie and jotted down her address before handing it back. "There ya go! And we hope to see you sometime soon!"

With a tip of her hat, Jessie happily agreed with Ruby's statement. "I'll be sure to swing on by, Ruby, don't you worry 'bout that. But for now, I'm off!" Jessie flicked of the reigns and a kicked her boots lightly, causing her horse to rear back onto its hindlegs. "Run like the wind, Cassidy! YEE-HAW!" With a great burst of speed, the Clydesdale began galloping down the street back to the Tiger Lily Flower Shop, passing the Rustbucket along the way.

As the teens watched the woman riding out into the streets, there was one major thing that they could ALL agree on at that moment; "She is SO cool!" Yang squeed.

…..

A/N: Phew! Okay, another chapter bites the dust! A bit longer than I expected, but hey, it's a bit of a one-off bit of action to introduce a fun side character (Howlin) as well as another character that's actually going to be having a bit more prominence in the upcoming mini-arc (Jessie). Plus, now Jaune's family knows all about the battle with Salem, so there's that air cleared. But what do you suppose Winter was talking about at the beginning of the chapter? Guess we'll just have to wait and see on that one.

Now, Jessica Jameson is based on Jessie James as well as the idea of western tall tales with her amazing feats (plus, her husband and Horse are references to Butch Cassidy). But as for Chief Howlin, I had a bit of fun with his inspirations. Now, obviously, he's the Big Bad Wolf and the Swiney Brothers are his three little pigs, it's just that the roles of good and evil have been reversed. However, he also has ANOTHER inspiration, and it all lies in who the two previously established police officers (Krista Burns and Roy Price) are based off of. Plus, the voice I chose for him is also a pretty big hint. See if you can guess in the comments.

Alright, so, NEXT TIME! We're getting a bit more casual again as the gang return home in good spirits and with a grand story to tell everyone. However, it's then that Winter informs Ben that he needs to call home right away. After the call though, the gang receive a visit from a certain cowgirl, and everyone's more than eager to hear the stories she has to tell. Well guys, that's all for now! Thanks for reading and I'll see you all next time!