Following in the direction of the shadow figure proved Jaune's initial assumption to be correct. By the time he arrived at the CCT, the intruder was already inside. How did he know? Well, the unconscious forms of Atlus Soldiers gave him a tip. The hunter checked briefly to see their status, and was revealed to find they were all unconscious and not dead. Jaune managed to find what he thought was an emergency button on one of them and pressed it- hopefully back up would come soon.

There was only one elevator that ran through the entirety of the tower, so his investigation was completed for him as he watched the floor number tick up until it reached '13,' then stopped. Clearly, the intruder was on floor thirteen. Now, he could've taken the elevator up as well, but just as he determined the intruder's position that way, so too could they anticipate his arrival. A better strategy was to take the stairs.

Normally, rushing up thirteen flights of stairs would end poorly for anybody- even with a Hunter's stamina. But Jaune was no ordinary Hunter. Gamer's Body performed miracles as he climbed the Atlesian tower at a brisk pace, not even feeling slightly out of wind when he arrived at his desired floor. The leader of Team JWLR vaguely remembered something about exhaustion that occured within his first few weeks at Beacon, but that was not the focus right now. Instead, it was-

"Cinder Fall!" Jaune announced his presence, sword and shield in hand. He had nearly forgotten about Beacon's Rocket Lockers- since Team PBNYJWLR carried their weapons everywhere, always- but helped him mitigate wasting any time before he entered the CDC. As for why he alerted the criminal mastermind to his arrival instead of maintaining the element of surprise, well, bravado worked well last time, so it might save his ass here. Not to mention, the element of surprise rarely worked in the favor of someone who was up against aura users. Just about anybody with an unlocked aura could block at least one attack before breaking, so surprises were practically useless.

"Oh! Gah-!" Cinder Fall dignified his entrance, dropping her scroll in surprise, and nearly buckling her knees as well. "Don't scare me like that!" The stunning woman scolded him as she picked up her scroll and steadied herself. She was wearing a mask, though it didn't conceal her identity all that much.

"Uh… Sorry?" He still had no idea how to react to her awkwardness.

"It's fine, Jaune, I'll-" Cinder did a double take. "Wait- Jaune!?" Instantly, she jumped behind the terminal she stood at, blocking his view of her. Before he could make any comment, though, she strutted out from her hiding spot with an excess of confidence, sexiness, and danger in her stature. "Jaune Arc… I should've known you'd come to foil my plans a second time. Tell me, how did you so thoroughly trick my spies?" Spies?! She had spies?!

"When you know how to play the game…" He replied with his false confidence. That sounded like something a hero would say at this moment, right? Cinder seemed to think so, at least. "But what continues to elude me is why you would risk yourself by entering Beacon. What are you planning?"

+1 Bond with:
Cinder Fall
Bond LV: 4/200

[OK]

"Getting right to business, I see. I appreciate that in an Archenemy- Someone who knows when it's time to talk and time to fight." She commented. "So many heroes love to go on these- these rants about 'justice' and 'peace' and 'morality' and all that crap. I mean, who cares?!"

"Criminals too." Jaune added, mainly thinking about the one right in front of him. No matter. The more she talked, the more time Atlus had to bring in back up.

"True." Cinder nodded. "But not you and I, we just get right into it, don't we? If I'm being completely honest, you've been on my mind ever since we first met. Just… The way you managed to completely destroy all my hard thought planning in an instance, it- It was impactful."

"Impactful?"

"Yeah. I've never encountered a challenger with as much cunning as you." That confident stature she had put up previous was slowly but surely eroding back into this awkwardness again. Not that Jaune minded much. Cinder seemed less hostile in this state. "I- I don't want to be too forward here, but…"

"But what?" He encouraged, still waiting out the clock.

"Oh, fuck it. I'll just come out and say it: Will you be my Archenemy?" The criminal mastermind dropped the ultimate question.

Jaune blinked.

Then he blinked again.

And again.

"Uhh… Yes?"

+5 Bond with:
Cinder Fall
Bond LV: 9/200

[OK]

"Great! And as my first act as your Archenemy, I want to reveal to you that the entire time we've been speaking, my plan has had time to unfold and…"

DING!

"Now, it is complete." The sound originated from the computer terminal Cinder had been standing at. But before Jaune could analyze things any further, she blasted the entire system away in a ball of fire. With an evil smile, she taunted, "Your move, Jaune."

Shit. While he thought he was playing her, she had been playing him! Now, he had to fight her, all because Atlas' backup was taking forever! As he moved into his offensive stance, he couldn't help but continue to disparage Atlas. Seriously, though, how long did it take them to send-

A giant, green, laser beam originating from right behind Jaune, passed his right side by inches, and nearly collided with Cinder before she dodged out of the way.

"Don't worry, Agent Goody, I have arrived to provide you assistance." The leader of Team JWLR turned around to see Agent Penny Polendina, dressed in full combat attire, with a crazy amount of swords hovering above her and smoking as if they'd just collectively fired off a beam of energy.

"I had hoped to keep this meeting between us, but that now seems impossible." Cinder quickly spoke. "So long!" Before either he or Agent Penny could react, the criminal mastermind threw herself out a window and off of the CCT. By the time he looked out, she was already out of sight.

So much for the hope of her becoming a puddle on the pavement.

Quest Completed:
An Intruder in the Night

Objective One Complete: Find out who is sneaking around this late at night
Objective Two Failed: Stop Cinder's Evil Plan

First Objective Reward: +5 Bond with Penny Polendina, +1000 EXP, +2 Bond with Weiss Schnee
Second Objective Failure: Something Very Bad Happening in the Future

[OK]

You Leveled Up!
All relevant modifiers have been applied.

[OK]

And there goes the Dance. Now Jaune is archenemies with Cinder, but Penny interrupted before they could have their first battle. Lucky: For Cinder, of course.

Until next time,

-RMV