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Inside the small rec-room they found not just team Juniper, but also team Ruby, all arrayed across the couch that had been set against the wall to the left. On one side were Ren and Nora, closest to the door and looking as well as feeling anxious. On the other were the girls, swiftly rejoined by Weiss while the other two sat to either side of their inhuman member, whose head laid on her partner's chest. A low coffee table ran the length of the room in front of the couch and overflowed with pizza and drinks left thus far untouched. Across from the dark wooden piece of furniture a large terminal screen had been installed in the wall, the source of this room's entertainment.

On it, the image of a woman that had she not been here he'd have mistaken for Weiss watched him impassively. Obviously military and equally obviously impatient for whatever reason she turned her gaze from him to the Schnee retaking her seat and asked, "Is this finally everyone, sister?"

"It is, yes." Weiss nodded, sitting beside her partner and rolling her eyes when she scooted closer so their thighs touched. Ignoring her entirely, she began running through swift introductions for each of them. At last, she gestured to the large screen itself, "And this is my older sister, Winter. A Specialist with the Atlas military."

"A pleasure to meet all of you." The woman said in a voice that told him that it was anything but pleasurable to meet them. As he eased in on the couch, Pyrrha between him and Nora, the woman asked the same question he wanted to. "You made out like you were afraid for your very life, Weiss, so I sincerely hope that meeting your friends isn't what you called me for. I applied for emergency family leave to be here for this."

"Really…?"

"Did you think I would not, sister?" Her older sibling asked, leaning back a bit as though shocked at the statement. Beyond, Jaune could make out a grey and silver room that he took to be her personal quarters. "You messaged me seventeen times in a single hour, Weiss. Seventeen. And in one you mentioned 'life altering news' and 'grave risk to my future' to get me to respond sooner."

"I mean…" She flushed, "You weren't picking up, and I needed you to answer."

"Yes, I was a bit busy coordinating a multi-lateral strike against the Grimm." She answered breezily, Weiss' head scrunching down into her neck a bit at the scold in her words. "And then when I get back I read that. And I didn't, and still don't, know whether you mean a risk to your life, your career, or-or pregnancy."

"Winter!" The girl flushed, going ramrod straight and stiff, stammering, "I-I wouldn't- Why would you even-"

"You attend a school of handsome young men and risk your life daily, Weiss. Further, there are only so many options to consider from your phrasing. So perhaps you should work on that before giving me an aneurysm." At Weiss' quiet, simple nod, the woman sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. To her, or to them it didn't really matter, she apologized, "I've been stressed, understand. And messages like that… Well, suffice to say I am not exactly enthused over seeing more than a dozen and a half filling my inbox."

"Nora expressed a similar level of anxiety and need for us to get back." Pyrrha didn't add that they'd be coming back from their date, either for their privacy or having read the room. Giving the ginger a look she grimaced, pursed her lips the way he knew to mean she was looking for her phrasing, and finally asked, "Nora, what is… Going on, exactly?"

"Well…" She grimaced, swallowed and looked to the others for help. Eventually, when none offered it, she prompted, "Blake you, uh… It's your thing, so… I mean, maybe you should be the one to explain it."

"I suppose…" Slowly, she pulled herself away from her partner who released her with barely anything more than a small, comforting smile and nod to comfort her. Sitting up and leaning forward, she rested her arms on her legs and leaned on them, staring between her feet for a long moment before she started to speak. "A-A while ago, Ozpin- The Headmaster, that is, called me to a meeting with him. He needed a… Favor, of sorts.

"A favor?" Winter repeated, earning a nod from the Faunus and then a second one from her younger sister. When Blake only mouthed words anxiously, unsure of what exactly to say, Winter asked, "What kind of favor, exactly…? Is this- Do you need legal council or-"

"No, he- I mean the kind where I risk my life ripping the soul out of another woman to get magic powers." She finally rushed out, before the Atlesian soldier could say anything else like what she already had. Now that she had started, she couldn't stop, rambling on, "I-It sounds insane, I know, but- But under Beacon there's this vault, with huge locked doors a-and at the back is this little pod thing with a woman and… I'll just catch you all up on it, I suppose."

"You can't be serious." Winter stated more than said once all had been said and explained, turning a gaze on Weiss in question and scoffing when she only smiled weakly and shrugged. Scowling, the woman reached for her Scroll and their screen, snapping, "I thought you were better than wasting my time on practical jokes, Weiss Schnee. You and I will be talking after you apologize for this-"

"Her name is Amber." Pyrrha cut in, glaring the older woman into silence and, without looking, seeking his hand out with her own and squeezing it gently. Heart hammering, he took what solace he could from it while she went on and he tried to school himself. "Weak and frail, housed in a sort of… Tube. The machine sustains her, I think, and… Well, it is designed to tug her Aura - her soul - out of her and implant it to transfer the Maiden's powers into a new vessel."

"So that it can't be fully stolen by her killer." Ruby filled in quietly, giving the rest of Juniper looks to gauge their acceptance of the story. Apparently satisfied, she turned her gaze on a gaping mouthed Winter and challenged her firmly, "Do you think Weiss would waste all our times, and especially yours, on some kind of… Of I dunno, joke?"

"No…"

"Then do not insult my partner by thinking that is what is happening ever, ever again." Ruby chided firmly, exercising more authority than Jaune could recall ever seeing from the young woman. To Juniper and Winter both she explained, simply and firmly, "We've decided that Blake might take this 've also decided, though, that one woman or team isn't nearly enough to protect it. Because we need help to-"

"It's suicide." Jaune finally spoke, the words falling out of his mouth before he could catch or consider them.

"Not if we work together, Jaune." Ruby said it like it was a fact and he laughed. A harsh sound even to his ears, but one that was followed by another. Amid it, Ruby tried to argue, "Jaune, we're Huntsmen and Huntresses. Protecting people is like… Literally one hundred percent of our job. This is like…"

"Like our duty." Yang offered simply, giving Blake a nod when the woman looked to her. When Ruby nodded too, Yang went on, one ankle resting on her knee and her arms crossed over her chest. "We're 'sposed to protect people, and this does that. This kind of power is… Just thinking about it drives me nuts."

"It's incredible." Blake agreed with a small nod, "Which is why we can't let it fall into the hands of the kinds of people that would murder to get it. We," Blake gestured to team Ruby with a flick of her ear and a slight nod to the side, "decided we'd take the power. Protect it, as a team. We'd like your help, though."

"You've gotta be kidding me…" Jaune made to stand but Pyrrha's hand on his shoulder held him firm and he turned to her and then past her, to a sober looking Ren and Nora. Eyes widening and blood running somehow both hot and cold in one as his panic fed upon his panic, he murmured, "Guys, no. We're not doing this."

"That's…" Nora paused and looked to Ren as if for permission and, when he nodded, went on. "Not up to you, Jaune. Our friends asked for our help, I'm not- I can't just say no to something like that. It's not who I am."

"Not who we are." Ren corrected while Jaune stared, eyes wide and breathing deepening until his shoulders began to heave. Ren gave him a small, apologetic nod and then turned back to the Faunus. "If you do this, Nora and I will help you. I don't know how much help we'll be, but…"

"I can break their legs." Nora shrugged and smiled, turning to look at the distracted looking Atlesian on the screen, currently staring at nothing and presumably just trying to process what she'd been told. Loud enough to snap her out of it, Nora called, "Are you going to help too, scary lady? Or nah, gonna leave your baby sister out to hang."

"Baby sister…?" Winter blinked after a second and visibly shook herself to reset herself a bit. Coughing into a fist to clear her throat, the woman straightened and nodded curtly. "Of course, you have my help as well. I would never abandon my little sister to… Well, to whatever nonsense she's managed to get herself involved in, frankly. I can contact Ironwood to-"

"Ironwood is involved in this whole thing as well, actually, Miss Schnee." Pyrrha commented helpfully, the woman blinking and then grimacing as her words registered and processed. She gave Jaune a look and grimaced, smiling apologetically. "Jaune…"

"Pyrrha, no." He grunted, standing and rounding on her with his hands curled into fists at his side. The woman smiled sadly and he snarled, the gentle look only seeming to add to his mounting fury. "We just got out from under this… This curse, Pyr! I-I just… You can't be considering stepping right back into the firing line!"

"My hand has been forced, Jaune." She answered simply, smiling that insufferable, resigned smile he had just been so happy to think was done with permanently. "I told you when this all started that I would not leave people behind. Even if it was dangerous not to, I won't simply tuck tail and flee."

"It's suicide, Pyr." He challenged, waving a hand at them all and snarling loudly. "Pyrrha, this is a suicide mission! You know it is!"

"Actually, Jaune, I don't." She argued simply, sparing the confused onlookers a glance and then returning her gaze to him. From her little frown and soft eyes, he supposed he must have looked quite the sight, for all he cared about it at the moment. Still she argued, "Things have changed, Jaune. I am no longer the candidate. No longer the target."

"Because we removed ourselves from the fight!" He answered back, "If we still join it, then we're still targets! My vision-" He caught himself at the last second, jaw clicking closed, and breath rushing out as he turned to look first at his team and then at the rest. All confused, all suspicious and concerned in varying levels. Running his fingers through his hair, he sighed, all energy suddenly sapped from him, and he took his seat, head in his hands. "Pyr, you explain."

"I don't think I'm the one who should-"

"You want to drag us back into this damn fight, you get to explain what's going on with us." It was petty, and he would have to apologize for snapping at her later he knew. But for now he was anxious and angry in a way he hadn't been in literal years. To escape damnation only to be dragged right back into it… "I'm not in a place to very calmly explain why you're killing yourself, Pyrrha. I'll leave that fun little conversation up to you to have, since you're so damn set on it."

"I…" Pyrrha's mouth opened once to argue and then closed and she grimaced. It opened a second time, then, and her voice was soft. "Very well, Jaune. If you trust me to tell your story well enough, then I will tell it, whether it is mine or not."

"Do whatever you want." He sighed, shaking his head and trying so desperately to regain his control. His center. Trying and failing, sadly enough.

"Very well, then… If you're absolutely sure." Pyrrha sighed at his quiet nod and took a breath, laying a comforting hand on his leg even after he'd been so sharp to her. An action that only made him feel worse than he already did, though he made no move to remove it. In her polite, diplomatic voice she began to explain, "I suppose it would make the most sense to start at the beginning of what I know… Years ago, in Ansel, a young man wished more than anything for his father to teach him how to be a hero. And so into the forest to train they went…"

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Glynda came out of the elevator with wild hair and wide eyes, asking immediately, "Ozpin, are you aware that-"

"That young Blake, our Maiden hopeful, has gathered her friends and reserved a private recess room? From which an outbound call from Miss Schnee's Scroll has been going for," he paused to check his own little device, which was monitoring hers, "approximately one hundred and fifteen minutes?"

"Y-Yes." She nodded, grimacing at his knowing little smile and taking a breath to collect herself. Calmer, and brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear with a flick of her finger and an unsaid command to her Semblance, she went on. "Are you aware of… Well, of that. I suspect that Miss Belladonna is informing not only her team, but also someone else entirely and Mister Arc's team of what was told to her."

"Indeed she is, I suspect because of the whole 'high risk of death and pain' aspect of the entire ordeal." Ozpin nodded, watching the whole scene play out through the room's security camera, nestled neatly into a corner where it couldn't be seen. The video quality left much to be desired, but the audio was splendid. "The Atlesian in question is Miss Schnee. Ah the eldest Miss Schnee, Winter, I mean."

"I followed." Glynda assured him, glancing to the Scroll on his desk and then grimacing. "I suppose you are watching their meeting, then."

"I am, yes." He nodded with a small, apologetic smile. The monitoring systems had been a point of contention between the two of them, with the Headmistress fearing a slide into rather draconian, Atlesian policies. "I know you disapproved of their installation back when we did the renovations-"

"Oh don't worry." She cut in, "I still do."

"-but," he went on with a small chuckle, glad at least that the blonde woman hadn't changed terribly much since her younger years, "I very rarely use them. And I kept my word on restricting them to public areas like the recess rooms, halls and the like."

"I know, I just…"

"You don't like it. I know, Glyn." He guessed, earning a small nod in confirmation from her. In truth he sympathized a great deal but at least in some of the ways James meant it, 'trust but verify' was a good philosophy. Even if James' went too far, and focused a bit too much on what race a person was, for his liking. "Neither do I, though I get very little say in the matter. There's not much of anything involved with all of this that I like if I'm honest, though."

"I feel much the same…" The woman sighed, though, and as always nodded resignedly even for her distaste. "There is nothing for it, though, except to make of it whatever we can. Hopefully something decent enough, for the circumstances."

"Indeed." That was a hope shared even by their foes, amusingly enough. The instinct to fight against poor circumstance was, among only a few other similar things, an ever-present and universal sentiment.

"Ozpin." Glynda prompted, drawing a hum in question from him. At a wave, she asked, "What should we do about this situation?"

"Hm?" Pulling himself from his musings, he turned his attention back to the conversation as things began to take an interesting turn. As Miss Nikos talked, his eyes began to narrow and his lips began to curve, first down and then up, from frown to smile and back again as dozens of emotions played across his face before he could catch them. Schooling himself, though, he answered, "Nothing at all, Headmistress."

"What do you mean…?"

"I mean what I said, Headmistress." He answered cooly, leveling a look at her that he very rarely employed but which she knew meant he would brook no argument. She grimaced but nodded and Ozpin gave his own curt nod in thanks. "Now if you would, please inform James that his Specialist is being brought up to speed on the matters to hand. And that he is to, without mentioning that he knows she knows about it all, call her to a meeting to induct her into the fold."

"To preempt her growing to have any mistrust in him, and give her access to what they will want on our own terms." The Headmistress nodded, experienced enough by now in his manner of plan-making to guess at his intent. And, lacking any reason not to, he nodded to confirm her guess. "Very well. I'll explain the situation to him, as well as your decision. I doubt he will like the sheer number of people who know about this, though…"

"Yes, but it is as you said." He murmured, paraphrasing, "We make the best of what we have dealt to us."

With a nod of understanding and a murmured farewell, the woman rushed off to see to her tasks. Both those on public record, tending to the Academy, and those of their more secret and frankly more important tasks. She had plenty of both kinds to see to, though, and he felt a pang of guilt for levying so much onto and out of her. But still, he let her leave to see to her tasks and only after he emptied his cup did he stand from his chair and close the Scroll on his desk.

He had, after all, heard more than enough.

Seeing how low the sun was getting in the sky, he made his way to the lift and began to descend to the Vault as he almost always did. Visiting Amber, another of his many failings, had become something on a routine for him in the weeks preceding. His failings, her death, as was so often the routine in his rather unique line of work. And so he gave his victim, for that was what she was given he very much intended to kill her, the only mercy he could and visited her once a day or so. Even catatonic, he was of the school of thought that said that she could still register his presence somewhere deep down. Whether she would be happy to see him, though…

Well, he doubted that sincerely.

Regardless, his feet didn't carry him to her pod. Instead, as the elevator doors swung open on the dark Vault, her turned to the side and began to make his way along the sealed doors that lined either side of the Vault's main room. Numerous designations of artifacts of antiquity, whose designations only he knew and which only he could access, flitted by. As he walked he skimmed them, musing about the strange young man that had come to his school.

"I thought you were just a lucky young man who found a handful of relics…" He murmured as he reached the door he'd been looking for. 'AC-4'. One of a handful of such repositories, and one which held what he had come looking for. As the door slid back he smiled, "But you are so much more, aren't you?"

Inside the square room were shelves and crates which lined every surface, the former filled with broken weaponry of very clearly foreign designs. Rifles and pistols that didn't use Dust to fire, strange metal blades, axes and polearms that cut through steel easily and resisted damage better than any normal blade would or could. Odd armor sections he'd found over the endless years filled some of the shelves as well, made of foreign blak, grey and white materials that even Atlas couldn't quite replicate. His collection was vast, to say the least, spread out over five more such rooms.

In the back center of the room, though, was something special even amongst the collection of offworlder technology.

A simple armor mannequin had been built, arms spread out in a 'T'. Thin white linen like a shirt had been laid over it and over that had been laid the scraps of armor. A curved pauldron with what appeared to be a circle pattern of sorts rested on the off shoulder of it, attached by loose and tattered fibers that were not normal cloth to a breastplate that had been melted away. On the same arm an arm brace protected the mannequin's upper arm, which connected by the same undersuit to half of a gauntlet that had melted away above the wrists.

He ran a hand over the helmet, the front over the mouth melted away on one side and torn away on the other and murmured, "I wonder if I will finally find out who you were…"

Between the Archive Temple and Jaune's source of information, whatever it was, he was hopeful for the first time that he would. And with these secrets, he hoped, would come so much more. This armor, what sections he'd been willing to risk at least, had proved nearly indestructible to common munitions found on their world until the last century and a half, when higher powered weaponry began to disseminate. To be able to levy such weapons and technology against the Grimm, against Salem…

"But how to get Jaune's help…" Pressuring him via his friends and partner wouldn't work, he needed him willingly helping him. What to do, then…

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While Pyrrha explained, he sat, quiet and forcing himself as close to 'center' as he could. He was still angry, once again with Pyrrha and the situation even if the latter was grossly different from what it had been before. Still, after forty minutes of the Mistralian talking, he felt a bit more in control if nothing else. The storm was there, but it was like it churned over a pool or lake rather than an open ocean. The forth and gale were there, but contained and locked away enough not to worry about as much.

"Why didn't you tell us…?" Nora was the one to finally ask, face in her hands and voice cracking. She wiped her eyes and masked the action in running her fingers through her hair, but if anyone else noticed her red eyes they didn't say anything. "Pyrrha is- Pyrrha was- I don't even know for, frick's sake if she's safe or not or-or… Just why, Jaune?"

"Because I didn't know what was coming, or who was involved." He answered simply, "Here and now? I know you so much better than I did. And back then, we had zero idea when, where, or why she was…" He swallowed and sighed, then pushed on, "And we didn't know who was involved, either purposefully or accidentally."

"Cause and effect, when we know neither is… Well, dangerous." Pyrrha added when Nora's only response was hiding her face in her hands again, masking her angry, pained tears while Ren stared at nothing and rubbed circles into the small of her back. Weakly, Pyrrha finished her thought, "There was just so much going on, we didn't know what to do. Or where to turn to."

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry, Nora." And he meant it, too. Seeing her so upset now, after getting to know her… It hurt, deep in his chest. And combined with everything to give him a headache. Still, he added to Ren, "I'm sorry to you too, Ren."

"It's… Not fine, but I get it. And I accept your apology." Nora gave him a look over her shoulder and he nodded. Once she'd snuggled into his side, the man sighed and said, "I think we should just focus on dealing with the problems at hand. One thing at a time. Everything else is…"

"Not important." Winter, resting her elbows on her desk and her head on her knuckles, no doubt for a horrible headache. Sighing, she straightened and gave her Scroll a look, and then grimaced. "I have an emergency summons from General Ironwood. Apparently taking emergency leave isn't relevant to him, here…"

"We'll come up with something." Ruby, the most well put together of their group through everything weirdly enough, promised. Nodding curtly, Winter left the call to deal with whatever fresh insanity had pinged her on her Scroll. Turning to them all, Ruby's eyes hardened and she ordered, firmly, "To start with… Blake, Pyrrha, neither of you are not to be alone at any time, if it can be helped."

"What-"

"That's absolutely-"

"I agree with Ruby." Jaune cut them both off as he stood, taking a breath at the headrush and feeling them all turn to him. Feeling the Force roil with their staunched anxieties, quashed by shock at so much being unveiled at once, Jaune went on. "Being alone is stupid. And if you both are going to decide to get involved in this nonsense… Well, you could at least do us the damn courtesy of listening to our demands, too."

"We can't protect each other if we don't stick together." Yang added, giving her fellow blonde a small nod. He returned the gesture, and she turned to Blake and, beyond her, Pyrrha. "We'll fight with you both. Protect you both, if we can. Hell, I'd give my right arm for you, Blake. But you gotta work with us."

"...Alright." Pyrrha was the first to agree, sighing and nodding along with a resigned, but somewhat more relaxed seeming, Blake. When the Faunus only shrugged and nodded her acceptance, Pyrrha went on quietly, "I suppose we should… Begin to figure out the logistics of this, then."

And, tense and filled with anxiety they were all putting off for later, they did. Sitting together and cracking open the long since cooled pizza, they started making plans. Escorts to and from various places, arrangements for dealing with projects, and the like. Soon, though icy, that evolved into them simply… Spending time together, with their plans more or less set. A distraction, to be sure, but…

One that he found nice, and one he figured they needed before the mess to come.

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Update! In the game of 'Is this Allergies, or Coronavirus' it was allergies. I feel a bit better and am still asymptomatic for major Covid stuff. Yay~!

Also, a QUICK note- People aren't done reacting to all of this nonsense.

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Malgrath :

Road to hell, good intentions, excellent paving. XD

Hirshja :

Because I'm scum? XD

Knightwolf :

I imagine Chewie gives the best hugs, as long as he doesn't accidentally squeeze too hard.

Argus :

Same on my end. Ohhh the variables, possibilities and different paths that can go down when there are nine people involved in a singular conversation… Gods, but I need an F in the chat for all the stress.

...I swear to whatever deities if you fucks start dropping Fs…

Zenith Tempest :

I write Yang in this story precisely how she reads and acts in canon. If she has a brain in this story then she also had one in canon. Otherwise I would be writing her differently. In stories like this I tweak zero character traits that aren't a direct consequence of the premise change.

On that note, I do hope the changes I have made - To Saph, Jaune and Pyrrha especially, and whatever changes emerge further - continue to please.