Chapter 80

The ride continued in gloomy and eerie silence, only broken by the sound of Nora attempting in vain to chew her way through her restraints. Ruby glanced across her party, noting the four missing members, and felt a slight surge of hope.

'Where do you think they're taking us?' She asked, and Qrow sighed heavily.

'I'm gonna go with jail.' He said, turning his head to the side and ending that conversation. Jaune clenched his fists angrily.

'I still can't believe that fishing pole guy took us out like it was nothing!' He said angrily, and Weiss raised a despondent eyebrow.

'Welcome to Atlas.' She said. 'Those were Ironwood's Ace Operatives.'

A stranger seated at the end of the transport turned slowly to them, eyes widening as he processed what he had heard. 'You guys had a run in with the Ace Ops? Ironwood must really have a bone to pick with you.'

'They're not that big of a deal.' Weiss said dismissively, and the man sputtered in response.

'Not that big of a deal!' He said incredulously. 'The Ace-Ops are the elite-of-the-elite military huntsmen! And Ironwood's personal attack dogs.'

'Didn't their leader mention that Jaye and Mina's team took down all six of them though?' Blake said, raising an eyebrow at the rest of the group. Qrow sighed.

'Five actually.' He said, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. Jaune started pointedly at the floor.

'That's a good point. They got away right?' He said, and Ruby nodded.

'At least from what I could tell, yes.' She said. 'It's easy to forget because of how the two of them are… but they really are leagues above us aren't they?'

'At least in personal combat.' Yang managed a weak chuckle. 'Jaye always complained he hates dealing with Grimm because there's no logic there. He can't tell what they're going to do, so he always predicts wrong and gets hit.'

'Yeah…' Weiss said, staring out the window. 'I hope they got away safe.'

Meanwhile across town

'You know, when I said I wanted a night out on the town, this was not what I meant.' Artemis said, raising her knives at their assailants. Harriet and Vine had caught up with them, brandishing their weapons at the four. Jaye darted forwards, slashing at Harriet as she zipped away and out of reach. Kamina made for Vine, disappearing as he fired off a tendril and reappearing in front of the accelerated woman as she skidded to a stop. She made a sound of shock, coughing hard as Kamina kicked her in the neck. Vine, realizing too late that it was a distraction, felt his world spin as Jaye kicked his legs out from under him. He gasped in pain as Jaye's fist collided with his throat, cutting off his air and disrupting his movement, and cried out as Jaye slammed his fist back down and into his head. The concrete cracked behind the man's head, knocking the man out for a moment, and Harriet staggered to her feet. She yelled as she activated her semblance, shooting towards the boy, who grinned widely at her. A flash of orange appeared behind her, and she felt herself seized around the neck.

'You lot haven't really learned from our last encounter, have you?' Kamina shook his head, throwing the girl into the wall behind him and launching a flying back kick into her stomach. She crashed through the bricks, tumbling down onto the other side, coughing audibly as she tried to get her breath back. 'Though to be fair you have improved; you two were a whole lot better able to deal with our attacks this time around.'

'But you fell for the same trick again.' Jaye sighed, putting his katana away. 'It's all well and good for you to attack the one you're stronger against, but don't ever forget that trick can be used against you. That's the second time we traded places in the middle of the fight and threw you two completely off.'

'You need more training.' Kamina shook his head, grabbing his team and zipping them to an opposing rooftop. He grinned at his team. 'That was fun!'

'Alright let's get a move on.' Jaye said. 'They probably won't expect us to double back to the clinic, so we'll set up there and find a way up to Atlas. We have to rescue them.'

'Seconded.' Artemis said. 'We should take the exact path those two took to find us; these guys seem elite so it's probable they'll all take different paths to increase their chances of finding us.'

'Meaning following a path they already took makes us less likely to get caught.' Jaye nodded. 'I see you really did pick something up from us.'

'I know, I'm proud of myself too.' Artemis grinned, gesturing back down the rooftop way. 'Pretty sure they came from there.'

Jaye slapped the cate girl on the back. 'Then let's get a move on.'

At Atlas Academy

'I guess we will be seeing the General.' Ruby said, gazing up at the massive school before her. 'For better or for worse.'

They marched through the halls of the school, coming upon a small intersection. A somewhat familiar voice rang out through the hallway, tired and exasperated.

'I swear if I have to sit through one more council meeting like that…' The General's voice trailed off as he stalked past them, not seeing the group wrapped in chains behind the two guards standing at attention. Penny spotted them, apparently only them and not quite their predicament.

'Yay! You're here!' She said excitedly, thankfully gathering the attention of the two white clad officers stalking away. Ironwood and Winter turned around slowly, and the woman's eyes widened as she spotted her sister amongst the captives in chains. Nora raised her bound hands, wiggling them obtrusively.

'Anyone wanna give us a hand with these?' She asked, and Winter placed her hands behind her back.

'You have ten seconds to take those off before I start hurting you.' She addressed the guards, who glanced confusedly across each other before hurriedly undoing their restraints. The bindings dropped to the floor with loud clinks, and the three Atlas Military members quickly shipped them up the stairs.

'Please, come in.' Ironwood ushered, letting them inside his vast and highly advanced office. 'It is so good to see all of you.'

'Our reception didn't really convey that.' Yang muttered, rubbing her sore wrists, and Ironwood sighed as he made his way to his desk.

'I sincerely regret how you were treated by my team. When a rogue ship entered our airspace, it raised some… red flags.' Ironwood sat down in his chair, easing himself into the leather. 'We assumed the ship was stolen.'

'Stolen?' Ruby laughed nervously, trying in vain to come up with an excuse. 'Okay yeah it was stolen.'

'You stole an Atlas airship?' Winter paced angrily down the steps towards her sister, who had her eyes downcast in a bit of shame. James chuckled at the group, but Winter continued on her warpath. 'What were you thinking! You might've been shot down! How unbelievably irresponsible-!'

Weiss cut her off with a hug, wrapping her arms around her sister and burying her face into her neck. Winter stopped her rant short, feeling Weiss tremble a little against her.

'I'm sorry I worried you.' The ex-heiress said, squeezing her older sister tightly. 'But we did what we had to do.'

Winter relented, sighing heavily as she put her arms around her one and only sister. 'I… suppose I understand.' She instead sought to turn her anger to someone else, unable to continue to be angry at her beloved sister. 'But I cannot believe you allowed this to happen, Qrow.'

Qrow smirked at the woman, fully aware of her simple desire to redirect her anger. 'You try stopping these kids when they have their mind set on something. Besides, we were technically harboring criminals. In hindsight, any hope of safe passage was gone from the start.'

'Ah yes, I read the report. Clover's quick on that.' Ironwood said, squinting at the screen before him. 'But to think you were in the company of two of Atlas's most wanted; all we had to go by was the descriptions we got from my team when they first hit us. We were lucky they failed in their mission, otherwise I wouldn't be here to talk to you right now.'

'What mission?' Yang asked, crossing her arms at the General. Ironwood cleared his throat, and Winter paced back up the stairs to stand beside him.

'Three years ago, we were hit by a covert team of assassins. We have no definite images of their faces, our only contact with them was the Ace Ops. They were practically ghosts in a city where we watch every shadow twice as hard. Till now we don't entirely know for certain, but at least one of their objectives was to assassinate the General.' Winter explained, earning a gasp from the entire party. 'They also managed to steal some highly confidential data, known only to a very select few in our ranks.'

'I heard they managed to take down almost the entirety of the Ace Ops in only five minutes!' Penny said jubilantly. 'That is certainly a worrying timing!'

'Rest assured our operatives have grown significantly from the experience; they're not the same people they once were.' Ironwood clarified, raising a hand to stop his subordinates. 'I assume you were only in their company up to now as an absolute necessity?'

'Actually…' Ruby grinned nervously, and the General's face hardened as he prepared himself for the increasing bad news.

'You mean to tell me that one of the criminals that very nearly took out our head of state studied with you at Beacon for an entire year!' Winter blanched at the group as Ruby finished her story, and Weiss nodded in corroboration.

'And we've been traveling together for the last year.' Weiss said. 'He's been instrumental in getting us through a lot of tough situations, and we trust him.'

'He tried to kill the General!' Winter hissed, and Ironwood raised a hand to stop her. Winter fell back in line quietly, lacing her hands behind her back in ill-disguised reluctance.

'Ozpin decided to let him in despite knowing everything he's done.' Ironwood said, letting his hand fall to the tabletop. 'Though I may not agree with that decision, there are more pressing matters that require our attention. We will agree to withhold his arrest at present, and you may contact him and his team to come here for our accommodation should he desire to take us up on that offer.' Ironwood laced his fingers together in front of his face. 'But this still does not absolve him of his crimes, or the people he killed to get to me. This is a postponement, not a pardon.'

'Thank you General.' Ruby said, giving the man a small smile which he returned. Qrow cleared his throat loudly.

'Speaking of more pressing matters, we have one that requires your attention that's… confidential.'

'Oh is it about the relics?' Penny chirped, and Winter gave Qrow a wry smile.

'Or the Winter Maiden?' She smirked from behind General Ironwood.

'You told them?' Qrow said, the surprise blatantly visible on his face, and Winter was clearly relishing the moment. Ironwood gave them a somewhat playful smirk.

'Did you really think you were the only ones who got to work on a new plan after Beacon?' The General paced around his ironwood desk (hehe). 'In part, it was a requirement; as the information those assassins stole was the identity of the winter maiden.'

The girls glanced across each other with worried glances, the revelation of this newly incriminating information dealing a heavy blow to Jaye's credibility in the military kingdom. Qrow, electing to address the more important issue, stepped forward to the General.

'What plan?'

Out in the city

'So how the hell do we get up to Atlas?' Apollo asked, and Jaye waved off the boy.

'For now, we don't.' He said, plopping himself down on the chair he'd found in the corner of the clinic. They had dropped into the clinic after doubling back and avoiding all the Ace Ops patrols, scaring Maria and Pietro half to death in the process. Jaye pulled his swords off his belt, setting them on the table next to him. 'We have to wait for them to calm down first.'

'Right now, the Ace Ops are on high alert for us. That means we're not getting into Atlas without being detected through regular means.' Kamina said, leaning against the wall. 'They'll be watching every transport into the city, and we'll be caught and detected in no time.'

'Though we can fight them off and escape, that won't work this time around.' Jaye interjected. 'We're staging a rescue, meaning we need an airtight, under the radar way in and out.'

'And you can only get those through hella illegal means.' Mina grinned, peering around the clinic for somewhere to sit down. 'That means waiting till the night life opens up for us.'

'Oh, so we do get a night out on the town.' Artemis said rolling her eyes. 'You were starting to worry me there for a minute.'

'Wrong kind of nightlife.'

'Bummer. Why make promises you never keep?'

'I aim to disappoint kitty cat.' Jaye kicked back in the chair. 'So for now we wait.'

'Or.' Apollo said, waving his hands at the group. 'Hear me out, hear me out. OR. We can go get something to eat.'

'Most sensible thing you've said all day.'

'I'd like to sincerely apologize for the miscommunication down in Mantle, we didn't mean to-.' Clover began but was cut off by Elm pushing past him to shake Ruby's hand. Or rather shake Ruby.

'I feel so bad! Honestly!' She apologized, shaking Ruby by the arm so hard she was beginning to take the shape of that bendy pencil trick people did to demonstrate optical illusions. 'If we'd known who you were, we'd be laughing over a hot meal right now and-!'

'I understand, you were just following orders.' Ruby croaked, getting unsteadily to her feet and waving her arms for balance as the world spun. Weis stabilized the girl with a finger.

'I mean you could have asked us some questions first.' She muttered, and Marrow stepped forward.

'Ah, questions are for the weak. But, we're all on the same team now! Not that I'm happy about it.' He said, flinching as he felt his tail wag unconsciously and seized it in an attempt to stop its motion. Harriet sniggered at him, and he made an "I'll kill you" gesture at her from behind Clover's back. Clover cleared his throat.

'We just wanted to say we're sorry, and that we're looking forward to working with you on our next mission. You might be students, but you've been fighting just as hard as we have. If not harder.' He said, and Harriet smirked again.

'Exactly why I'm looking forward to seeing what you kids can do.' She said, earning a groan from Vine.

'Ugh, not everything's a competition, Hare.' He said. Penny zipped out from between the girls excitedly.

'Come one! Let me show you around campus.' She declared, and Ruby turned her attention back to Clover.

'Before that, it sounds like you and your team know Jaye and Kamina.' She asked, and Clover gave her a confused look.

'Jaye?' He pondered, eyes lighting up in realization. 'Oh, you mean him. The two that escaped.'

Ruby was silently glad to hear they'd gotten away but kept her face as impassive as possible.

'General Ironwood's agreed to put their arrest order on hold for now.' She said, lacing her fingers together nervously. 'They're our friends and we trust them. It doesn't mean that you have to, but I just want you to know they're good people.'

'Really?' Harriet scoffed, folding her arms across her chest. 'You call that monster a good person? You have any idea how many people he's killed? How much blood is on those hands?'

'We know what he's done.' Ruby said, balling her hands into fists. 'He told us, willingly. And we also know what he's done for us. The Jaye you know is a cold-blooded killer that takes lives. The Jaye we know is a kind person who loves too much, even when it hurts him.' She set her lips in a thin line, staring down the rabbit-like woman. 'He might be gruff and broody, sometimes even hard to read, but that doesn't make him a bad person.'

'He's killed my friends.' The shield girl, Alexius, said. She stepped forward to the girl, stopping as Clover held out an arm. Still she continued, intent on saying her piece. 'I know him as the one that took away people I've known for years. People I lived and trained with, people I expected to see every day for the rest of my time here until they weren't there anymore. People whose funerals I had to attend. Flowers I had to buy for their graves.' She turned away from the girl, staring instead at the wall. 'And he did it for what; money? Fame? Recognition?'

'Well then when he shows up, you can ask him yourself.' Yang cut in, and Clover held up his hands between the group.

'Okay, that's enough.' He said, giving the smol girl a smile. 'I don't think we'll quite see eye to eye about this one, but we have our orders and we'll follow them. If we meet them, we won't do anything except invite them to Atlas. Nicely.'

Ruby returned the man's smile. 'Thank you.'

Penny reappeared in the scene, grinning from ear to ear. 'That sure was a long talk. Come on, the grand tour awaits!'

That evening

Jaye landed noiselessly on the pavement, glancing around the area for guards as he slipped between the pillars. He recognized the layout of the Academy from the last time they infiltrated for their assassination of Ironwood, making his way to what he knew to be the security room. The four of them had managed to stow away on a late-night cargo ship heading up to Atlas, and he'd paid an information broker to find out where the ship carrying their party had gone. He peered around the corner, grabbing a guard as he stepped out from the door and yanking him into a chokehold. The man going limp in his arm, he laid the guard down against a pillar, mostly out of sight unless you looked closely, swiping the man's keycard and slipping into the security room. He touched the console with the card, lighting it up and opening the security footage. Digging through the footage from the last few hours quickly, he located the team walking down the hallways with Penny, uncuffed at the very least, and finally settled on them entering the dormitories, where the rooms were clearly unmonitored for modesty purposes.

'Find anything?' Kamina asked, shutting the door to the room behind him. Jaye glanced briefly at the fox boy over his shoulder, returning his attention to the computer screen.

'They're in the dorms currently, but that says nothing of the state of things.' He said, folding his arms over his chest. 'I might have to scrub back through the last few hours to see how they got there, but we don't have time for that now.'

'You think they're okay?' Artemis said, appearing behind the two and scaring the crap out of Jaye, though he didn't let it show on his face. He turned his attention back to the screen, scratching his chin. 'They look okay to me.'

'You never know. They could be treated well because they're students, but I don't see Qrow with them. Who knows where he's ended up, but at the very least I don't see any records of prison entry under their names.' Jaye said, tapping at the keyboard. 'They could be being held under provisional cases, like unspoken monitoring and imprisonment. Being kept as students basically.'

'Meaning although they haven't been jailed, they might now be free to leave when they want.' Artemis finished. 'That's hard to tell. What do we do?'

'Says here they're accompanying the Ace Ops on a mission in a few days.' Kamina said. 'That means they'll most likely have their weapons back.'

'And even if they don't, it'll be easier to whisk them away there than from here where we could have the whole shitshow coming down on us.' Apollo cut in, grinning. 'Seems like a better plan for now.'

'Fair enough.' Jaye said, placing the keycard in his pocket. 'They might split up for the missions too, which should elect us an opportunity to take them out more easily if need be.' He turned to the twins. 'You two are no match for any one of them, not even together. Don't argue about it, we've fought them, so we know.'

'Not even gonna try.' Artemis grinned, holding her hands up to the boy. 'We'll keep out of the way.'

'We're not saying don't engage at all; provide support rather than engage on your own.' Kamina clarified, swatting the boy in the arm. 'We're going two to six in the worst case, so I'd rather have you two providing some form of support than just sitting by and hoping we win.'

'The last time we fought them we were four to six, and they weren't as well trained as they are now.' Jaye sighed, shaking his head. 'You might have seen us take those two down easy earlier, but that doesn't mean squat against the whole squad. You can only exploit someone's weakness when there isn't someone else covering it.'

'Which is what our team was designed for.' Kamina crossed his arms, peeking out a crack of the door to make sure they hadn't been caught yet. 'Back then we complemented each other's strengths and weaknesses, that was what made us so incredible as a team. Even Damian, god strike down his soul.'

'I was the all-rounder, capable of holding off or even taking out multiple enemies with a hard-to-deal-with semblance and combat skill.' Jaye elaborated. 'Indigo was the untouchable, meant to frustrate enemies who found it virtually impossible to catch her by surprise or even land a blow. Damian was… he was an amazing single combatant, capable of taking down almost anyone in a one-on-one. Kamina was the real assassin, he specialized in surprise attacks even in the middle of a fight.'

'I have trouble in one on one fights since I have to be conscious of my jump charges.' Mina said. 'Not like I can't fight one on one, but I have no advantage whatsoever even with my teleportation. I can't spam them, so although I can pull surprise attacks that only works so often against stronger opponents.'

'On the other hand, I have difficulties with fast-movers.' Jaye sighed. 'My semblance is great for restraining and crowd control, which is why I do really well against multiple opponents and big guys. Ice is ultimately slow.'

'So, I would cover his pitfalls, and he'd cover mine.' Kamina said, patting the raven-haired boy on the back. 'Damian couldn't deal with multiple opponents, so it was up to Jaye to have his back.'

'Even if the bastard stabbed us in ours.' The smol boy spat. 'Indigo was perfect at defense, but had trouble taking down more defensive targets since she can only react at super speed, not move at it.'

'Which is where I came in.' Kamina grinned. 'Perfect for ambushing a target that was wholly focused on how to break her guard, most wouldn't dare take their attention off her for a second.'

'We learnt each other's skills and weaknesses and covered them. But we haven't had the time or training to do that with you two, and frankly you're not at our level just yet. Probably not for a while.' Jaye said, placing a hand on Artemis's head and earning a curse from her. He ruffled her cate ears, laughing as she begrudgingly allowed him to touch them. 'We'll get there eventually, which is why we can't afford to let anything happen to you two here.'

'We won't say we'll protect you, but you need to protect yourselves.' Kamina pulled the male twin into his arms, ruffling his hair. 'And if that means chickening out of a few battles, then what choice do we have?'

Chapter 80 completed