Chapter nine: Protect the package: By any means necessary

"Uhh… what happened?"

I thought as I slowly opened my eyes, looking around the room I was in. I wasn't in my dog bed, oddly enough, but rather in a real bed, like the one my master used to sleep in before… before… "No… don't cry… not now…" I thought as I reached up a hand, wiping away at my tears as I noticed something else. I wasn't naked, rather I was wearing a long, brown nightgown. I sat up, looking around as I tried to move my legs, only for them to remain completely stationary. Suddenly, I heard a nearby door open, light spilling into the dark room as I shut my eyes, blinking against it. My eyes widened when they adjusted and I saw the figure that was slowly approaching me.

They were dressed in a long, white robe that cling to their body, showing off their curves. Above that they had a strange mask, one that was swirls of red, green, and blue, all to make a spiral. I sat back as far as I could from them, only for them to reach up, taking off the mask. Beneath it there was a dark skinned woman, bright red eyes, and long green hair, a small smile gracing their face. She took a few steps forward, reaching into her robe and pulling out what looked to be an apple. She held it out towards me, "Here." she said, still smiling at me as I gently moved forward. I sniffed the apple. It didn't smell poisonous, so i grabbed it, taking a small bite. I smiled when I felt the familiar taste on my tongue, quickly biting into it as hunger started making itself known.

The woman just watched, patiently waiting for me to toss the apple core to the floor, looking up at her. "Who are you?" "I'm called the Den mother. Think of me as… a babysitter, for the newcomers like you." she said, standing back up and sitting down on the bed next to me, that whole time keeping that strangely off putting yet also fitting motherly smile on her face. I raised an eyebrow, looking to her head and, when that failed, behind her. "Wait… you're not a fau…" I trailed off, eyes wide as I saw her skin and hair start rapidly changing colors, like a rainbow right in front of me. "Nus…" I said. The woman let out a small laugh, reaching over and gently rubbing my right ear. Then I heard the sound of heavy boots on the ground and the woman looked over her shoulder, her body trembling slightly as she looked back towards me, holding out her hands. "Come closer." she said.

I complied, feeling her hugging me to her chest as someone walked in their room. All I could see was white, but I could hear every single word. "Who's this?" I heard a snarky, male voice ask. They sounded like they didn't give a crap about me, or cared if I lived or died. They just knew I was a thing. "The child Tyrian brought in… before you ask no Adam." the woman said, holding me tighter to her. I felt the woman jerk, a cry of pain coming from her along with a loud, wood hitting against flesh sound. I could hear someone scoffing, "You are in no position to defy me half-blood. I'm in charge here, I decide what becomes of her. Do I need to take you back downstairs?" the man asked. I felt the woman shiver, and I could tell she was shaking her head, violently.

"NO! Please! I… I understand. I'll be a good girl from now on." she said, her voice cracking higher with fear. I heard the man grunt before he started moving away, the sound of boots hitting against the ground before the door slammed shut. I moved back from the woman's chest, looking up to see her nursing what looked to be a small welt on her cheek. "He… he hurt you." "It's okay… it's nothing." she said, wincing as she touched it, obviously holding back tears. Still though, she kept smiling down at me, like nothing was wrong. I felt her pulled me onto her lap, smiling down at me as she gently ran her hands through my hair. "Lady… what's the downstairs?" I asked, looking up at her. I saw her look away, as if to disguise the fear and hatred in her eyes… she knew it was futile against a faunus, not sure why she did it. Her next words though, chilled me down to the bone.

"If you're a good little girl, you'll never have to find out."

…

"Thank you, come again!"

Winter said, waving towards the man as he walked away, taking one last look towards her with a small smile on his face, the direction of his eyes making it very clear what he was happy about. And it wasn't the nametag on Winter's shirt. I saw the man turn down the street as I flipped the sign to closed, walking back towards the front of the store to find Winter standing as emotionless as she was before, having dropped the happy mask she'd put on around the customers. She seemed rather… business-y, seems the best word here. She looked like she'd sooner be staging a hostile takeover rather than smiling and waving at customers… then she picked up Ruby and that facade was immediately dropped.

"You're pretty good with people Winter." I said, walking around back, brushing against her back, before I opened the drawer Weiss was in, pulling out the napping girl and cradling her in my arms. I felt a tint of red on my face when I remembered earlier, how Weiss had thought Winter was her mother… why didn't she do that with Blake? Why Winter? That was the one question I couldn't reasonably answer. "You don't have to lie to me Jaune… I've never been all that… well…" "I'm not lying Winter. It sounded like you'd known those people for years and I guarantee you don't know most of their names." I said, smiling over at her and then down at Weiss when I felt a little hand grabbing at my chin, lightly pulling on the hairs growing there… probably needed to shave soon.

Winter blinked a few times before she looked away, a light blush on her face. "Oh… well, thank you Jaune. I still think you're-" "Do you always do that?" I interrupted, raising an eyebrow towards her as I gave Weiss her stuffed animal, the little girl giggling as she played with it in my arms. Winter opened her mouth to speak, but I managed to beat her to it. "I mean, it seems like every time I've tried to compliment you you just… kinda brush it off. Make it seem like less than it is." I said. I mean, if someone was complimenting me I'd just thank them and take it. If it wasn't true well, that was another story. Though, the compliments I'd said to Winter were completely true, and she seemed to know that too. So… why brush them off. Winter just looked away, off towards some of the shelves as we sat there in silence, the only sounds being Weiss's adorable little giggles and the normal, ambient sounds of the pet store.

"It's just," Winter said, finally breaking the silence. "I'm not used to being praised. I do as expected and… that's it. I'm not doing anything out of the ordinary so… why compliment me? I don't understand it." she said, furrowing her brow in confusion, looking off towards the door. I laid Weiss down in her crib for a moment, walking towards the adoption center and pulling open the door. "Well, I like to let people know I appreciate what they're doing. And uh, for the record, I don't like to make a habit of lying." I said, walking into the adoption center. I felt a sense in my chest as I realized just how ironic that was. I say that I don't like to make a habit of lying, yet by telling her Weiss was my daughter, that was exactly what I was doing. I tried to ignore it, walking around and grabbing items to replace the one's that had been sold.

When I walked back in, I noticed that Winter was still staring at the door, her brow scrunched in confusion. She stayed that way until I was done re-stocking, up to the point I waved my hand in front of her face. She blinked a few times, looking over at me. "Anybody home? Cause you left the lights on." I said, lightly poking her forehead, giving her a warm smile. Her face burned a light red as she stood, looking away from me and once again going to Ruby for distraction, picking up the small husky and gently rubbing her back. I looked around, walking over and picking up Weiss, who was starting to grumble and complain a bit about me not being there. "You know I spoil you, don't I my little princess? Yes I do! Yeees I do!" I said, tickling Weiss slightly as she let out more adorable giggles.

After a minute I looked over to Winter, walking towards the door as she got the message, following me. "Well, about quitting time Winter. See you tomorrow." I said, holding open the door for her. She seemed… hesitant, to say the least. I raised an eyebrow towards her, looking outside for anything that might be suspicious but… I saw nothing. There was just the empty street in the middle of the night, Winter being an unarmed woman in work clothes with a pretty face and a large bust and oooooh… right… "Do you uh, need me to walk you home, Winter?" "Hmm, oh I uh, I wouldn't want to burden you." she said, looking away from me.

"Oh it wouldn't be a burden! I think Weiss is getting bored of the same old store anyway. Besides, I need to walk my pets. Girls!" I said, whistling as the three dogs bounded near me, Yang giving a light growl towards Winter as Ruby leapt at her feet. Winter smiled down at the dogs, then looked back up towards me. She looked outside one more time, a hint of fear in her eyes, before she nodded. "I'd… appreciate it, Jaune." she said, giving a relieved smile. I just nodded, turning around and walking towards the back room, quickly grabbing my revolver and shoving it, uncocked of course, into the waistband of my pants. I didn't own a holster for it after all. I walked into the backroom, and before turning right into my bedroom I pulled open the nearby closet, rooting around in the bottom. "Let's see… hmm, I know I have it somewhere… ah-ha!" I said, pulling out a small, folded up, pink stroller.

I swiped some of the dust off of it before I gently set Weiss inside, strapping her in as well as I knew how. Weiss only smiled at me, clutching her bear to her little body. "Pa-pa!" she said. I only smiled, pecking her forehead before I stepped behind her, pushing the stroller and its occupant out into the front of the store. "Well, in the text Winter said not to let Weiss be seen… then again, I can't leave Weiss alone and in good conscious let Winter walk home alone either… oh well, it's dark out. Maybe no one will see us?" I thought, knowing full well that that would likely not happen. It would take a miracle to keep anyone from seeing us. I walked over to Winter, jokingly holding out my arm towards her, bowing slightly. "Would you allow me the utmost honor of escorting you to your accommodations this evening?" I asked, feeling like a completely and utter idiot for saying it out loud.

Winter only smiled, letting out a small giggle, the first I'd ever heard from her, before she looped her arm around mine, "Why yes good sir, I will grant you that honor." she said, pulling off an even better aristocratic accent than I could. I just nodded, standing a bit straight and pushing Weiss out the door, Yang and Pyrrha almost seeming to sense that she couldn't be seen, Pyrrha blocking view of her from the street, Yang from the front. Ruby… well she was just being Ruby, yipping around and jumping around by our feet, despite it nearing her bedtime. I just kept walking, feeling my face heat up a bit when Winter adjusted her grip, and I realized that we were doing the old timey equivalent of holding hands… did this still count?

CRASH!

"AH!" Winter said, pulling closer to me, gripping onto my arm as I reached for my waist, looking over towards the nearby alley. I let out a sigh of relief as I noticed a small raccoon scurrying away from an overturned trashcan. "Just a raccoon." I said, turning back forwards and walking, Winter still holding tight to my arm. Other than the stronger blush on my face, I showed no reaction I'd noticed. The second time it happened, this time with just a gust of wind knocking the can over instead of an animal, I spoke up. "Are you scared Winter?" "No… usually I am but… not tonight." she said, standing up straighter as she kept her hands on my arm, leaning against my taller frame slightly as she looked around, keeping her eyes peeled but, with every noise we heard, her reactions got less and less severe, from nearly crushing my arm to just her stopping and looking over.

It took quite a while, as one could imagine with all the stopping, before we finally got to a small apartment building, near the edge of town. "Here we are… home sweet home." Winter said, smiling towards the building as she, almost reluctantly, let go of me, walking towards the structure. When she looked back, standing in the door, I could see the light slipping around her, almost in a royal glow, before she smiled. "I'll see you soon Jaune… thank you." "No problem. Good night Winter." I said, waving towards her as I turned away, me and my pets heading back towards the store as I kept a lookout for any suspicious characters. Strangely though, and this had been the case for the entirety of the walk, the streets were empty. Just… empty. Not a soul in sight.

"Wonder where everyone is?"

…

"Jaune… you are a lucky son of a bitch I'm here."

I muttered as I saw him walking away from the Pale lady, or Winter as Jaune's been calling her. I laid on a nearby rooftop, holding a walkie-talkie in one hand and my familiar rifle in the other, filled with tranquilizer darts today instead of bullets. I looked over, seeing a few people coming from an alley, on a course with Jaune. I held the radio up to my mouth, "Beowolf-one this is Never-more, we've got three drunk tangos heading for the package, stop them in their tracks." I said. I heard radio static for a moment before he confirmed, and a few seconds later I saw a man burst out a door near the three others, bashing the three in the heads with a pipe before pulling them out of view of the street. Jaune only looked over towards the sound, but then shrugged, mostly thanks to the trashcan lids Seven-one had been smart enough to throw around.

I shouldered my rifle and dashed across the rooftops, jumping onto a nearby ledge before swinging myself up onto it, laying flat on the ground as I took out my binoculars, providing overwatch for my men on the ground. I looked around, seeing one clear threat walking towards Jaune and Weiss. That threat being a man with a gun in his jacket, no doubt a part of Vale's mafia group. He was talking over the phone, walking towards Jaune and, clearly, arguing with someone. I held out the walkie talkie. "Ursa-five, sector 2 is code speak-easy." I said, letting him know a mafioso was nearby.

Strangely though, I saw the man grip at his neck, my eyes widening as I saw a small, silver dart stick through his neck, the man falling to the ground. I saw a woman walking forward, dark skinned and dressed in a long blue skirt, as well as a gray button-down shirt. There was some kind of gold marking on her chest, but what really got me worried was on her wrist. A watch. Didn't seem like much, but when I saw her looking at it and muttering something with a disapproving look, I immediately knew we were in trouble. "Ursa-five abort! Huntress in sector 2! I repeat! Huntress in Sector 2!" I said, trying to keep my voice down. Ursa five seemed to hear me, if the sudden retreat of a shadow in the background was anything to go by.

The woman reached beneath her watch, pressing a button as I saw it flip upwards, revealing something within. She grabbed her dart from the man, producing a small cloth from the underside of her watch and cleaning it off before replacing it, jamming the silver dart in her beret. "Nevermore! If she keeps going the way she is she'll-!" "I know that, give me a minute to think." I said, racking my brain for some kind of idea. She was a trained huntress, so no one one ground level could possibly take her down. I looked around, only for my panic to increase. On a nearby rooftop I saw a woman standing up, clad in the familiar garb and white mask.

A white fang spy.

"All grimm! We have a white fang spy and human huntress closing on the package! All grimm mobilize! Try and stay hidden!" I said, making a quick decision as I fired a round at Jaune. He reached up to his neck for a second before he fell to the ground, Pyrrha and Yang sniffing around him as Ruby yipped in a worried tone. I saw time-keeper, the huntress from before, hear the noise, moving over to figure out what was going on. The spy did too, moving in from the side as I fired a dart towards them, only for them to jump over it, looking my direction. "Shit." I thought as I saw them pull out a revolver, aiming right at me. I jumped off the side of the building, gripping onto the edge for a second before I jumped back, landing on the other building. I loaded a different clip, this one with actual bullets, and screwed on a suppressor, kneeling as I aimed around the rooftop.

When I didn't see them I looked back to Jaune, seeing the time-keeper walking towards Jaune, smiling when Ruby jumped up towards her, the woman effortlessly picking her up. "What're the odds Ruby's cuteness gets us out of this?" I thought as I kept looking for the spy, only for static to come in from my radio. "THE SPY! HE'S IN SECTOR TWO HE- ARGGHHH!" "Ursa-five?! Ursa-five do you read?!" I asked, feeling the first spiking of panic as I looked around frantically, trying to find the lone spy. I saw the corpse of Ursa-five, laying dead on the ground before being dragged behind a nearby wall. "All grimm this is nevermore! Beowolf units move in, the spy is behind the brick apartment complex! Repeat! Brick apartment complex! Ursa units move in and secure the package! Shoot-to-kill permissions are granted!" I said, seeing men moving on the sides as I aimed up for the roof.

BOOM!

I jumped back, ducking behind a nearby vent as I saw and heard the concrete explode next to me, a silenced round having buried itself half an inch from my foot. I heard a ting against the metal as I got down, crawling towards the nearby unit as I tried to think of a way out of this. "Let's see, if I poke my head up, I get shot. If I look towards them, I might get shot… hmm…" I thought as I felt my bow rustling against my ears… wait, my bow! I reached up, quickly untying my bow and, with some difficulty, retying it so it stayed on it's own, rather than up by my ears. I held out my rifle barely, holding up the bow from beneath the metal grating.

I immediately felt it get blown back, a hole near the bottom as I dropped the rifle, pretending that he'd killed me. I waited a few seconds before I got back on the radio. "Does anyone have a bead on that sniper?" "Third story, they've lost interest in you Blake." I heard a familiar, somewhat obnoxious, voice say. I sighed, not bothering to answer as I switched frequencies, grabbing my rifle and aiming it towards where Sun -he was the one speaking- had said they were. I saw them, plain as day, aiming right down at little Weiss. I squeezed my grip around the trigger, tighter, tighter, until I felt the gun shudder in my hands. The spy fell backwards, his blood painting the broken glass red. I sat up, aiming down towards the street… only to see the five ursa's we had, well, four of them anyway, all crumbled on the ground, one in a pool of blood, the rest gripping their arms.

She looked up, right towards me as my ears twitched, and I saw her walking towards me. I didn't think as I aimed down, firing without a seconds hesitation. My eyes widened as I saw her hold up her wrist, her watch, or maybe those black gloves, seemingly absorbing the shot. It didn't go through, she wasn't bleeding, and if she was in pain, she was doing a damn good job of hiding it. I fired again and again, until my clip was empty, and I saw her reach into her beret, pulling out one of those darts. I ducked back away from the edge when she threw it, but I noticed there was something else on the back, a small wire, connected to… something.

I figured out what that something was when I saw her suddenly leap up, the wire connected to her watch as she drew her dart, quickly throwing it at me. I dodged it, hearing it thunk in the air duct behind me as I reached down, pulling my pistol from my pants pocket. No time to put a silencer on. I fired twice, the woman deflecting both shots as she rushed me, and I felt a sharp burst of pain across my face. I staggered back, looking down to see her grabbing a dart, about to run it through my neck. I grabbed her hand, my feet being forced back as I felt my back bent over the duct, using all my might just to keep the dart from painting it red in my blood. I didn't speak, neither of us did, knowing that if we gave the enemy a voice, they'd be able to find us. I held out, but I could feel in the girl's stomach and legs pressed against my own that it was a losing fight. "Could really use a miracle about now." I muttered, feeling her blade pressing against my throat.

"Are you ready for a miracle!?"

I heard a loud voice say as the woman was knocked off me, falling back against the roof as I saw a hand held out to me. I looked up, smiling slightly as I saw the familiar face of one Sun Wukong, his monkey tail wrapped around his waist like a belt. He had that same, arrogant smirk he always did, dressed in a white button-down -opened of course- and a pair of ripped jeans. He reached for his belt, pulling out a pair of nunchucks as he spun them around, smirking towards the woman as I took his hand, grabbing my gun in one hand, my knife in the other. We looked towards her, she only glared back at us, particularly sun. I looked down, noticing that there was a small, nearly unnoticeable crack in her watch. Her expression broke into a snarl as she spoke. "You've heard my voice." she said. It was chilling, not because of the words. What they meant.

She was going to kill us no matter what now.

I fired at her twice, her blocking both shots as Sun ran in, hitting his nunchucks against her gloves as she simply deflected the blows a few times, before she simply elbowed him in the stomach. I dashed forward, swinging my knife towards her and firing off a bullet. She blocked the bullet but, not the knife, a small scratch on her cheek. She glared at me as she drew one of her darts, going on the offense as she tried stabbing me, only for Sun to block with his nunchuck. He swing it towards her, but she only grabbed it, leaning in and headbutting Sun as he staggered back. I looked down at my gun, only one bullet left. I aimed down, firing towards her ankle.

"ARGH!" she said, gripping her ankle. As I thought, she couldn't reach down to block it fast enough. I took the opportunity, stabbing down towards her back with my knife, only, she seemed to guess what I was doing. "UGH!" we both grunted as I stepped back, seeing one of those silver darts in my stomach, my knife buried in her back. Sun whacked her over the head with his nunchuck, causing her to stumble backwards, nearing the edge. Then Sun reached down, grabbing a piece of concrete from where the sniper had shot and threw it at the time-keeper, knocking her back over the edge. I took a few steps forward before I fell to the ground, gripping at my stomach. "Yeah, we did it Blake!... Blake? Blake!" Sun said, noticing the dart in my stomach as he dashed over, reaching into his shirt.

"Just hold still okay, I'll get that thing out of you." he said, opening a small, white med-kit and getting out a small piece of thread. He pulled out dart first, causing me to grunt in pain as I laid back, my head against the concrete. I felt my vision getting slightly blurry as the stars seemed to swim in front of me. "Dart… poison…" I said, realizing why she'd let me hit her so easily. I felt my eyes closing of their own accord as Sun tried to say something, but it was like talking to a wall if he was saying it to me. I felt my eyes shut, my breath evening as I let my body relax, the pain from Sun's stitching and attempts to medicate the area only minor stings to me now.

…

"My, what a mess."

I muttered, walking towards the unconscious Jaune and the wounded men, most of them running as I walked towards them. They carried off their dead friend as I felt a drop on my head. I looked up, smiling slightly as I saw the dead mask of a white fang member. "One less enemy I suppose… unfortunate this victor comes with such great loss." I thought, frowning at the dead Ursa, the wounded remaining ones. I saw Ruby running towards me, barking towards my legs and tugging on my pant-leg as Glynda rushed over with her, towards Jaune. I walked over to him as well. "Oh my… how'd this happen?" I said, feigning ignorance as I carefully removed Blake's tranquilizer, not letting the four faunus see me do it.

"Well, I can't leave you like this." I said, reaching beneath Jaune's shoulder and lifting him up… right before I gave up and lifted him over my shoulders in a fireman's carry. I walked over to Weiss's stroller, pushing it along towards my home as I whistled. "Come along girls, let's get your master up and healthy again." I said, the four faunus following me, Yang and Pyrrha somewhat begrudgingly, though Ruby and Glynda did it like second nature. With Glynda, well, because it was, and Ruby since, well, even though she was technically 15, she still acted like a puppy. We walked for awhile down the road, towards the pet-store thankfully, until we came upon a twisting road that lead out towards the woods, the estate I'd managed to purchase with the wealth I'd gained over the years.

Once we were at the front door, Glynda opened it for me, allowing me and the other dogs to walk in. I heard Glynda shut the door back as I walked to the guest bedroom, laying Jaune down before I wheeled Weiss into my study, right beside the guest room. Glynda shut the door, I always did forget to close it when I walked out, before I down in my chair by the fireplace, moving Weiss out in front of me. "You can drop the pet act now girls." I said, seeing Glynda move behind my nearby desk. I waited a few seconds before I saw the blonde, curled hair of Glynda Goodwitch, her eyes piercing green as she looked over at me. I saw her tail snaking upwards, toying gently with my nearby coffee mug as her face burned, glaring at me. I chuckled as I turned away, looking into the fireplace as I heard Glynda rummaging around.

I heard the sound of springs groaning as she spoke, "You can look now." I turned, finding Glynda, still blushing, with the nearby blanket from the couch pulled around her body, her tail laying out next to her as she tightly squeezed her legs together. I stood, walking towards the nearby closet, picking out a much larger blanket, as well as a smaller one, the only ones I had that would really fit the girls in their human states… that is, if they were about the sizes I expected they would be for their ages. I laid them on the back of the couch before I sat down, looking towards the fire. "I know you're faunus girls, Glynda told me all about it. Go ahead and change, we have some things to discuss." I said. I was lying, sort of, Glynda had told me about it when she found out, but I'd kind of figured they weren't normal much earlier. They were too smart to be normal dogs.

"You told him!?" I heard one of them say, no clue who it was, but based on the mature sound I ruled out Ruby. Maybe Pyrrha? Hard to tell when I'd never seen their faces before. I heard the sound of rustling blankets as Glynda, seemingly ignoring the question, spoke up, telling me to turn. I did so, smiling as I saw the three girls. Ruby was sat between Glynda and the other two. What gave it away were the silver eyes, brighter than any I'd ever seen. The eyes of a wolf faunus normally. She was cross-legged, her entire body cocooned in the smaller blanket (ironically) with it pulled over her head like a hood, her tail wagging slightly behind her. She seemed to enjoy the warmth.

The other two were taller, Yang being the blonde one and Pyrrha the redhead if I had to guess, and were more developed in… certain, areas. Which I suppose was to be expected with age. Pyrrha was blushing, crossing her legs tight like Glynda was. Yang, on the other hand, had her arm wrapped around Pyrrha's shoulder, pulling her in closer and smirking slightly. Her legs were spread to the point her right one wasn't under the blanket past her knee, her left pushed right against Pyrrha's. Pyrrha had pulled the blanket up to her nose, while Yang just let it kind of hang there, tucked under her arms. I saw Pyrrha's tail laying on the couch, wagging only slightly. Yang's ears on the other hand, just moving like her chest, as she breathed. "I'm sure you have questions." "Damn right we do." Yang said, her voice more aggressive and blunt than the one I heard earlier. It must've been Pyrrha's. "Well," I said, leaning back against my chair slightly,

"I suppose it's time I give you some answers."