Chapter 82

'SALUTATIONS!' Penny screamed, and the four girls yelled as they shot awake in their bunks. 'Good morning team RWBY!'

'Ugh Penny, what time is it even?' Yang groaned, rubbing her eyes. The android girl struck a pose at the blonde, putting a peace sign to her forehead.

'Time to be huntresses of course!' She declared, and the girls groaned in unison at the way too chipper morning girl. Except Ruby of course, who immediately joined in the screaming. Jaye opened the door, raising an eyebrow at the group of screaming and groaning girls, rubbing his hair with a towel.

'What the hell happened here?' He asked, and Yang paused mid-curse. He raised an eyebrow at his leader in the centre of the room dancing with Penny. 'Never mind, I don't want to know.'

'Good morning Jaye! What are you doing here?' Penny asked, pausing as Ruby continued to dance and jolting her to a stop. 'You should really consider wearing a shirt in this cold weather.'

'Thanks for the tip.' He said, throwing his towel over a nearby chair. He grabbed a shirt from his cupboard, pulling it on over his head and putting his jacket on. 'And it's my room too you know.'

'I thought you would be staying with your team, would you not?' Penny said, placing a finger on her chin. Yang smiled at the android.

'He is with his team.' She said, and the android simply gave her an even more confused look.

'But I thought the faunus boy and the twins were his team?' Penny asked, confused, and Ruby patted the bewildered girl on the shoulder.

'No Penny, we are.'

The previous night

'Where are you going?' Yang asked, and Jaye paused mid-stride down the hall.

'My room?' He said, confused by the question, indicating the room a few doors down where Kamina and the twins were waiting by the entrance. 'Why?'

'But we're staying here.' Weiss gestured at the door, and Blake nodded in response.

'Oh okay.' Jaye said, not comprehending. 'But Mina and the others are over there, so that's where I'm headed.'

'Um excuse me? Did you not hear what I said?' Weiss scoffed, and Jaye gave her an even more confused look. 'We're staying here. This is our room.'

'Okay?' He said, giving her a face that said, "I am confusion". Yang took the boy's hand.

'Don't you get it you dum dum?' She laughed. 'We're a team. We stay together, whether that's on the battlefield or the barracks.'

'Oh.' Jaye scratched his head. 'But I thought you'd be more comfortable with just you girls.' He glanced back at the three other members of his now sort of team. 'I mean… it's just a room. I'm only a few doors down.'

'It's not the same and you know it.' Weiss rolled her eyes at the boy. 'We haven't been together at all since Beacon. This is a great time to correct that.'

'The rooms can fit eight people anyway.' Blake said. 'We'd love to have the four of you in as well.'

'Besides, Artemis would be the only girl over there, and that cannot be comfortable for her.' Yang pointed out. 'Better eight in one than by herself.'

'I mean.' Jaye shifted around, and the girls heaved a collective sigh.

'Stop trying to distance yourself from us.' Weiss said, raising an eyebrow at the assassin.

'I am not.'

'You so are.' The ex-heiress rolled her eyes. 'Don't think we didn't notice you excluding yourself from the festivities yesterday. I know coming to Atlas and being reminded of your... unsavory past isn't the nicest thing, but I don't want that affecting you in such a stupid way.'

'You've more than proven yourself to us.' Ruby said, placing a hand on her hip. 'Nothing's going to change that. You're our teammate; we trust you and we love you. Even if the General or the Ace Ops or Atlas doesn't accept you, we do.'

'Bottomline is we want you here.' Yang grinned, pushing him into the room and beckoning the other three over. 'So, come on and quit arguing!'

'… Thanks guys. It means a lot to me.'

'I see.' Penny said, smiling at the boy. Kamina popped into the room behind him, flanked by the twins, all three of them touting towels in their hair. 'Well good morning to you three too!'

'Morning. The name's Kamina though, not three two.' The fox boy replied. 'Are we having a mini-gathering of sorts?'

'No, Penny was just being an alarm clock.' Jaye explained, sliding his gauntlets on. 'Another one of her many functions.'

'How did you know I have a built-in alarm clock?' Penny asked. 'That is one of the more obscure features I carry.'

'Seriously?' Jaye asked. 'I was joking mate.'

Kamina laughed. 'Considering this is a military kingdom, I'm guessing there's roll call now. You lot better get going.'

'That is a correct assumption!' Penny smiled. 'The General has requested that Jaye and his team attend as well! It will be held in the briefing room.'

'Oh okay.' Jaye raised an eyebrow at the girl. 'Did he say what for?'

'He did not!'

'Well when is it?'

'It is in eight minutes and thirty-six seconds!'

'WHAT?'

Briefing room

Jaye walked into the briefing room with the other girls, finding team JNPR already there. He greeted Jaune, catching Harriet's eye as she glanced up at him. Realizing who it was, her face immediately turned into a snarl, and Jaye responded with a deadpan "good morning". She pointedly turned away from him, and he groaned exasperatedly at the stubborn woman. He made a point to sit a seat down from her in a show of good faith and rolled his eyes as she shifted yet another seat away. He watched Jaune give his coffee away to Marrow and rolled his eyes at the boy who was still almost a pushover.

'Eyes up huntsmen.' Clover said, pacing into the briefing room with all the rigor and rigidity a military man should have. 'Time to get used to the new normal in Atlas. Your top priority is Amity Tower; that means protecting supply runs from Grimm and bandits. And, protecting the site itself.' He nodded towards the rag-tag team of ex-assassins in the back. 'Jaye, you and your team have been granted special privileges to operate independently within our kingdom. You aren't officially huntsmen, but you will be granted all the combat privileges of one.'

'Good to know.' The raven-haired boy raised an eyebrow. 'What's the catch?'

'There isn't one.' Clover explained, pulling up the holo-screen behind him. 'You're basically huntsmen in every regard except name.'

'Which lets you easily reopen the bounties on our heads once it becomes convenient for you.' Kamina finished for the captain, leaning back in his chair. 'Good to know where we stand.'

'Take the privileges however you will.' Clover recovered smoothly, turning his attention back to the board. 'Diverting all construction resources towards Amity Tower means there are going to be gaps in Mantle's defences against the Grimm. They'll need help on the perimeter.' He scrolled through a few potential missions on the screen. 'But there's still plenty to do in Mantle itself. I think you'll find everyone appreciates having a Huntsman around. You're of course free to enjoy your time off as you see fit. Whatever helps you take the edge off.'

'Just stay away from me and we'll be fine.' Harriet finally spoke, clearly addressing the raven-haired boy though she didn't say so. 'You know where I'll be.'

'Then I'll be sure to grab a drink or two during my time off.' Jaye snorted. 'It'll be just like old times.'

'Screw you.'

'You already did that. Why, you miss it?'

'Insufferable little prick.'

'Do we have to keep doing this Hare?' The boy groaned. 'I already said I'm sorry.'

'No, you haven't.' She muttered, placing her chin into her hand, and turning abruptly away from him. Jaye scratched his head awkwardly, turning his attention to the floor. Clover cleared his throat.

'Can it, both of you.' He said. 'The huntsmen around you can be an invaluable resource… when they're not at each other's throats.' He gave the two a glare as if to say, "give it a rest", and Jaye rolled his eyes at the captain. 'But make no mistake, school's over. You get to choose what type of huntsman or huntress you are. Jaye and your team, I'd appreciate it if you'd be willing to train with the Ace Ops. After all, hard as it to admit, you did beat all of us in a relatively fair fight.'

'Never fought you though.' The boy said, folding his arms over his chest. 'That's something I'd like to do.'

'I'll take you up on that offer.' The man laughed, closing the mission board behind him. 'But we'll leave that for a training session. Dismissed.'

Harriet got up as quickly as she could, pushing past her teammates to exit the briefing room as quickly as she could. Jaye sighed, getting up from his chair, and Kamina sniggered at him.

'Oh, she hates your guts doesn't she.' He grinned, and Jaye swore at the fox boy.

'Piss off.' He said, catching sight of the bob-cut making her way out of the briefing room as well. 'Why doesn't Alexius seem to hate you? You betrayed her too!'

'Please, it was a casual sort of friendship.' Kamina said. 'We weren't a thing, and the one time we got down was after we both had a few too many drinks. We decided not to make a big deal about it. You and Harriet on the other hand…' The fox boy glanced at the now empty door. 'I think she was really hoping you were the one.'

'I can't do anything about that.' Jaye grumbled, folding his arms in frustration. The fox boy shrugged helplessly, clapping his best friend on the back.

'No, you can't.' He laughed. 'But at the same time, you can.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Figure it out dumbass.' Kamina waved off the boy. 'Let's get a move on; I'm starving.'

Training Room

Harriet grunted in exertion as Jaye's fist collided with her stomach. She zipped away immediately, and the boy spun his swords as he searched for her. She shot out again from a gap in the walls around him, and he deflected her blows with an emotion akin to annoyance.

'The hit-and-run tactic isn't really working, it's just irritating.' He called, raising his blades to deflect a shield flying out of nowhere. He leapt over it again as it returned to its owner, ducking a swing from Harriet as she zipped out from behind a nearby set of blocks. Alexius charged the boy, spinning with her shield as she engaged him, and Jaye raised an ice pillar to intercept the blow. The weapon collided with the pillar, wedging itself deep in the ice, and the boy froze her shield in place as Harriet zipped out again from the wings. He kicked off Alexius's back and launched her into the woman's path, causing them to crash into one another. They stumbled away, Alex gasping as Jaye landed on her back, knocking the wind out of her system. He promptly froze her limbs to the ground, ignoring her curses at his masculinity, and raised his swords at the bunny girl. Harriet narrowed her eyes at the boy, watching his blades as he trailed his wakizashi along the floor next to Alexius's face. He tapped it against her neck, and Harriet raised her hands in a gesture of surrender. Stepping off the shield woman, he released her limbs from their ice restraints, helping her to her feet as he put his swords away. He ducked another swing from Harriet, sighing in exasperation at the woman.

'The hit-and-run tactic is a good way to keep yourself out of harm's way, but you have to do it properly or you'll find yourself struggling to do any damage.' The boy said, dusting off his hands and gesturing over to the other half of the training room where Kamina was fighting Elm and Vine. The fox boy apparated out of nowhere, launching himself off Elm's head and swatting Vine as he chased the boy into the air. He sliced through Vine's tendrils easily, teleporting to him and kicking him hard in the face. The man crashed into the wall behind him, sliding down the blocks towards the floor. Elm started forwards to catch him, stumbling as Kamina kicked her in the back of her head. She gasped in surprise as she felt a hand on her collar, and Kamina hoisted her into the air on the soles of his feet as he rolled onto his back. Chambering his hands behind his head, Kamina launched her into the air with a handspring kick. Vine, managing to catch himself before hitting the floor, immediately sent out a tendril to catch the woman, and Kamina took the opportunity to teleport to and dispatch him from behind. Elm hit the floor, groaning in pain, and the fox boy laughed as he helped the pair to their feet. 'That's how you do a real hit-and-run.'

'You would know; what with being a low-life assassin and all.' Harriet scoffed, and Jaye sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

'Really? We're doing this now? Don't be salty just because you lost.'

'The only salt I have is from your tears.' Harriet spat, and the boy shook his head.

'Your comebacks are getting worse. Let's just get together and discuss what went wrong.'

The groups converged in the middle of the stadium, greeting each other, and Kamina patted the girls on the back as they arrived. Alexius at the least seemed to have somewhat rekindled her friendship with the fox boy, and Harriet was tolerant of him, leading Jaye to be the only one feeling left out of the happy bunch. He cleared his throat loudly.

'Thoughts?' He asked, and Elm raised her hand.

'Kamina was amazingly fast!' She said enthusiastically. 'So difficult to catch!'

'Yes, that's right.' Jaye said, thanking the woman. 'When you split up to fight us individually you already made a mistake there. Since Kamina has the advantage of not just speed, but the actual ability to cross space and time, Harriet and Alexius would have been the better pair to take him on.'

'Defensively I'm a lot stronger than Jaye, but he's a much better attacker than me.' Kamina explained. 'I would have had a harder time with Harriet who could probably keep up with me and cover distances I would usually cross to stay safe in a short amount of time. It would have pressured me much harder and made my fight more difficult.'

'On the other hand, Elm and Vine would have been more suited to fighting me.' Jaye cut in. 'I'm a strong attacker, but the two of you are better able to weather the storm of my attacks. Elm could root herself down and dominate the ground, which would force me to take to the air where my mobility isn't anywhere near as good as Kamina's. It would come down to how fast I can take out Vine, since his restraining abilities would have made all the difference in the fight.'

'On the other hand, Vine was too slow to catch me, and Elm you were too easily distracted.' Kamina criticised the massive woman. 'Every time I hit you and zipped away you would seek after the spot I disappeared from, making it pretty easy to get under or behind you. I specifically jumped between attacking the two of you to keep dividing your attention. You're both strong fighters who can take care of yourselves; you try to keep each other safe too often. Only do it when you really need to.' Kamina clapped the muscular woman on the arm. 'Vine is actually fine, but you're too eager to protect him.'

'What?' Elm exclaimed, and the fox boy laughed.

'Vine only really reached out to help you when you were going to crash into the ground at the end there, which was what I intended anyway. It made sense to help you there since that fall would have very well taken you out of the fight. And it actually did!' Kamina laughed. 'On the other hand, you were too concerned about Elm, and pretty much got distracted every time I hit him. You immediately went to catch him when he was falling down the wall, though he was fully capable of catching himself, and that gave me the window I need to launch you into the air. If you'd stayed locked into the ground like you should've, I wouldn't have been able to capitalize on that advantage and the fight wouldn't have ended there.'

'Trust your partner to take the hits.' Jaye added on. 'You should have a good gauge of how much your partner can take and only help him when he needs it. Without that, your team is weak.' He turned to the girls behind him. 'You two were disadvantaged to begin with against me, but you could still have won. The premise of a hit-and-run isn't just to be fast and escape. It's to distract your opponent and open him up for attack.'

'Wasn't that what I was doing?' Harriet scoffed again, and Jaye shook his head.

'Your attacks were ineffective and too obvious.' He said. 'You're amazingly fast and skilled, but your thought process is too straightforward. Pop out from behind wall. Attack with hand when Alexius does something. Predictable.' The raven-haired boy gestured at the girls in turn. 'You weren't enough in sync; whenever she did something to distract me, you weren't close enough behind to follow up on it. And you were taking turns to distract, and not holding my attention for long enough individually. It was obvious you were out of sync, so I always kept both your positions in mind at all times.'

'My hit-and-run was quick and solid attacks bouncing between two targets because I'm alone.' Kamina chirped. 'But when Jaye and I fight together it's a lot of him pulling attention while I set myself up for attack. He attacks furiously and rapidly to force our target to focus on him, then I appear from nowhere and strike hard and fast to be the outlying factor for victory.'

'If our opponent is unusually tough, then after a while I halt my attack and Kamina punches in for more than his usual single strike tactics.' Jaye added. 'That throws off the target and forces him to switch his battle IQ and analysis to Kamina, distracting him from me almost entirely. That usually lets me land a decisive blow.'

'Doesn't matter how good you are, when you've fallen into the rhythm of the battle and are predicting our movements like a good fighter should, suddenly having to adapt to an entirely new battle situation is extraordinarily disconcerting.' The fox boy pointed out, gesturing at the two pairs. 'Don't always stick to the same tactic; switch it up every once in a while. But do it too often and your target gets used to the idea that he has to switch between two different fight tactics, and it becomes ineffective.'

'Condition your opponent to think you fight in a certain way and make your mix up the deciding factor if your tactic doesn't do it.' Jaye finished. 'Work on it. You'll get it soon enough.'

'Clearly you aren't quite used to fighting other humans.' The fox boy laughed. 'Too much Grimm on your plate huh?'

'That is true.' Vine admitted. 'Most of our tactics, though applicable to personal combat, were certainly designed with Grimm in mind. And most Grimm are not intelligent enough to understand our tactics and form counter-strategies.'

'That's the flaw.' Kamina sighed, shaking his head. 'You lost to us not because we're so much better than you; our skillsets are designed almost entirely for fighting humans. We don't do as well with Grimm.'

'I get hit all the time.' Jaye grumbled. 'In the end I give up and just put them to the ice.'

'The difference is that you can get away with basic fighting instinct with Grimm.' Kamina explained. 'But personal combat? That's a whole different ball game. Better to focus on being able to fight other humans; at least you can still wing it with Grimm.'

'Point taken.' Vine thanked the fox boy. 'We are grateful for your guidance.'

'We will fight again!' Elm declared. 'And next time, we will win!'

'Somehow I don't think you will.' Kamina grinned. 'Do your best to prove me wrong.'

'I see you're all training hard.' Yang's voice rang out from the entrance to the training hall. The boys waved as they approached, and Jaye kissed Yang hello. Harriet promptly turned away from the exchange, earning another exasperated sigh from the boy and a curious look from Yang. 'How'd it go?'

'We whooped ass. Like always.' Mina said. 'You?'

'Oh, the usual. Long supply run; cleared out a few Grimm from the site. The works.' Weiss said, glancing across the group. 'You were training with the Ace Ops?'

'Training the Ace Ops.' Kamina corrected, laughing. 'Their personal combat could use some work.'

'As unfortunate as it is to admit it.' Alexius relented, returning her shield to her back. 'I honestly questioned Clover's decision to ask the two of you for help when he first made it, but I see now we needed it if we were ever going to improve.'

'As the strongest huntsmen in this kingdom, it is imperative we always strive to be the best that we can be.' Vine murmured. 'If that means asking criminals for lessons then so be it.'

'Can we stop with the criminal thing?' Jaye sighed, shaking his head. 'You're making this seem like a dance with the devil.'

'It sort of is.' Kamina pondered. 'I mean your face is hellish enough for it.'

'Says the inside of an asshole.'

'Where're the twins?' Weiss distracted the two before they started fighting again, and Jaye jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the other end of the training room. They were fighting Marrow on the other end, holding their own really well, and Marrow groaned in exasperation as another arrow struck home against his thigh. Throwing his boomerang blade at Artemis, she leapt over it, snatching her tail out of the way before it touched her fur. Apollo launched himself off a nearby wall, landing hard on Marrow's back and dealing noticeable damage before he was thrown off. Marrow turned to face the boy, getting more and more frustrated, and swore aloud as an arrow slammed into the back of his head. Artemis sniggered at the dog boy, earning another glare from him, and the fight continued. Jaye smiled unconsciously at the pair, folding his arms over his chest.

'They learn fast huh?' Kamina said, and the boy nodded in response.

'Yeah. We've barely been teaching them for a few months, but they've absorbed most of our lessons completely.' Jaye said, with undisguised pride. 'It's like watching my babies grow up.' He turned to the red-hooded girl, watching her quietly. 'You know I realized I feel the same way about you.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Ruby yelled, punching the raven-haired boy, and he slapped a hand onto her head.

'Means you're our baby!' Kamina seized the two in a bear hug, lifting them clean off their feet and earning several groans and curses from the assassin. Alexius raised an eyebrow at the twins fighting on the other end.

'You've been training them?' She asked. 'I thought you were all assassins?'

'Yeah, but they're newer.' Jaye choked out, swatting at the fox boy's head. He finally put them down, teleporting away as Jaye swung at him and reappearing atop a nearby wall. 'They're essentially pure assassins; they specialised in assassination and only that. Literally nothing else. It's a long story.'

'So their personal combat could use some work.' Kamina finished, reappearing between the girls and throwing his arms over their necks. 'We all have our own specialities, though most of us have at least some combat training.'

'These two… well they were essentially disposable manpower.' Jaye admitted, and the girls gave him a disgusted look. 'What? I never said they were MY disposable manpower. Their previous… master? Trainer? I don't really know what the definition is. Well he treated them like pawns.'

'It was one of our teammates you fought.' Kamina clarified. 'Well, ex-teammates. I killed him.'

'What?' Harriet gave him a confused and slightly horrified look. 'You killed your teammate? Why!'

'Because he tried to kill them.' Jaye said, gesturing at the twins as they approached, clearly done with their training sessions. Marrow followed behind, grumbling quietly, putting away his weapon.

'Damian was a messed-up bastard. He wasn't always that way… he was on our team and he was a lot better then. We don't know what happened to him but… he changed. A lot.' Kamina sighed, making a face at the twins as they approached. Artemis returned a finger, and Apollo made a face back, and the fox boy grinned widely at them. 'Point is he tried to kill those kids and we wouldn't let him. Someone had to go; and that was him.'

The members of the Ace Ops present exchanged complicated glances, and Jaye cleared his throat loudly.

'Anyways, we're not here to share our backstories, and I doubt you lot care either.' He said, placing his hand on the cat girl's head as she approached him. She grinned widely at him, kicking him in the shin playfully. 'Wassup?'

'Were you watching?' Artemis said excitedly, grinning from ear to ear at the boy. 'We wrecked him.'

'You did not!' Marrow yelled, and the twins laughed brilliantly in unison at the dog boy. He caught sight of the stoic gazes of the rest of his team, raising an eyebrow at them. 'Uh… what's going on?'

'Actually, I rather think we'd like to know.' Alexius said, crossing her arms. 'We're all pretty interested in how your organisation of assassins works, and more than that we want to know how you got to where you are.'

'It's purely educational.' Vine said, and Alexius nodded.

'Right. Educational.' She said, glancing at Harriet, who was feigning disinterest while staring at the wall. 'Would do some of us a whole lot of good to know.'

Jaye caught the women's glances, sighing as he scratched his head sheepishly. 'Why does everyone want me to spill my guts huh? Kamina you're a part of this; you do it.'

The fox boy promptly vanished in a puff of orange, reappearing at the door and waving his goodbyes as he stepped through them. Jaye swore at him as he ran away, grumbling to himself as he met the expectant eyes of the Ace Ops once more. He rolled his own, sitting down on a nearby block and making himself comfortable.

'Fine, I'll do it. But someone else better tell Clover later; I'm not repeating myself.'

End of Chapter 82