Chapter three: Downtime?

Two days after they had fought in the enemy base, Ruby and Ren were having some down time in the mansion, meanwhile Nora and Yang were on a different planet, as the arm wrestle had lasted for over two hours so they had to settle their argument in a different way; to see who could defeat the most frost giant monsters. They had been gone for most of the day and probably would be gone for the rest of the day, as well since Nora said it was going to be a massive battle as they had been moving in on the villages and destroying loads of people's homes, forcing them to seek shelter in Valkyrie. And according to Nora, her father was not happy about that so he asked for her to fight them back, and she saw the chance to bring Yang with her.

This left Ren and Ruby together in the mansion, and after Ren had done his morning exercises and gotten his tea, not necessarily in that order as tea was the most important thing in the morning, he stopped by the meeting room where Penny had been busy decoding the scrolls data for the past two days. Apparently she had encountered a lot more resistance than she thought she would, and as such Penny had only managed to unscramble forty percent of the data, but it was all broken up and made no sense, so they would have to wait for the rest to be unscrambled before they could do anything.

Taking a quick look Ren saw that it had now increased to forty five percent since they had been sleeping, this meant that if he wanted to wait, then he would be in the room for the next two days at best. He asked Penny to notify them the moment the data was decrypted so that they could start combing through it to see what they could find out about the mystery woman and her organisation.

Ren passes the laboratory and notices that Ruby is in their performing maintenance on her suit, while also working on a different project behind her at the same time, Ren decided to see if she needs a hand with anything before he goes to the gym and does some target practice and then some work on his arrows. Fortunately Ruby had given them all access to her laboratory; all they needed to do was place their palm on the scanner and it would grant them entrance.

"Morning Ruby, are you well today." Asks Ren in greeting, doing his best to not startle the younger woman and cause her to mess up whatever she is doing.

"Hey Ren, I'm a little worked up I guess, my amour needs a check-up and I am also working on the energy source problem." Replies Ruby as she is still tinkering away at the devices while maintaining the conversation with Ren.

"Is that energy for your heart, or for your amour?" Ren questions as he is a little confused, since they are the same thing.

"Actually it's energy for the world, Dust is a finite resource, we can't rely on it forever and if we keep digging down deeper and deeper, we could destroy our lands for good. The Schnee dust company doesn't seem to realise this, and have often spoken out against my work, they were some of the people who were unhappiest when I recalled all my weapons and started working on energy, prosthetics, medicine, and transport."

"If it helps they aren't the smartest person on Remnant, you are, so you are doing what is best for the world." Said Ren taking a seat and watching Ruby juggle her two jobs, unsure of how to help as this was way out of his skill book.

"It's just hard; I don't know how I am supposed to do both." Ruby admitted, she was slightly scared that nobody could figure this problem out, and then the world would run out of dust and be plunged into the dark ages again.

"Don't you have a company of scientists that can help you out? You are allowed to share your work load."

"I shouldn't have to ask for help." Muttered Ruby softly, she was Ruby Rose the smartest person on the planet, a prodigy in technology, creator of the greatest AI in the world and able to escape a cave of maniacs in an indestructible amour built from nothing.

"You saved my life and helped me; sometimes you just need help, regardless of if you ask." Said Ren with what he hoped was a small comforting smile on his face.

"I guess you are right, this isn't just my problem and I could use some time on my amour, hey I could always build you some amour!" Exclaims Ruby

"Then maybe I could throw you across the room." Said Ren dryly

"DROPPED! I dropped you behind cover!" Ruby yelled embarrassed at remembering what happened two days ago.

"Of course you didn't." and with that Ren got up and walked out of the lab, going back to his room to grab his bow and arrows and practice some advanced shots, Penny had managed to create multiple different targets for Ren to try hitting when she learnt of his abilities and deadeye. So far the programs had been very intuitive and Penny had taken to timing Ren and also adding points, while this made it more like a game than training, it still pushed Ren to keep trying harder and harder to achieve the best that he could.

Ruby continued to work on her amour and asked Penny to send all of her data and plans over to her team at STRQ industries so that they can work with what she already had. After the battle she should have more options to incapacitate enemies instead of destroy weapons, since people would be using the weapons. They disruptor explosives were great, but they required a few seconds to aim, and in the middle of a fire fight she might not have those few seconds that she needs. So she decided to add in sonic blasts, Tasers, trip wires and rubber bullets as they would cause damage but not kill anyone. This would make her able to take on more people without having to resort to lowering her repluslor out-put. She still kept in the missiles, flares, and emergency explosive as she couldn't have people stealing her amour and using it against her friends. That is why she also added in a shut down if anyone tried to interfere with her amour remotely.

As she was modifying the sonic blasts to configure to the right amount of decibels to affect a human, but not destroy their ear drums, Penny notified her that she was receiving a call from a secure line at BEACON. She could only guess that it was Ozpin calling to ask her to reconsider joining up to BEACON.

"Ah Miss Rose, it is good to see you. I heard you and your team managed to impress Deputy Director Agent Goodwitch that is a hard task to do." Clearly he was buttering her up to make the conversation go a lot smoother for him, that dastardly man, he might even bring out the cookies, then she would know he was pulling out all the stops.

"Alas this is not a social call, I require you assistance." Okay not how she thought this would go, but if it is anything to do with working for them she is out.

"A person of great interest is attempting to leave BEACON, and that cannot be allowed I need your help to stop them."

"No problem." Dammit, why couldn't I be meaner? Curse my helpfulness.

"Excellent, please do hurry up, they might hurt several agents in the process of their escape and I would rather avoid tha can." And then the call ended, with Ruby wondering why Ozpin would call her over Ren, as he was the former BEACON agent. Either way she would need Ren's help as this prisoner sounded pretty dangerous if he could hurt several agents. Ruby asked Penny to tell Ren that they needed to get to BEACON as soon as they could and she stepped into her amour.

"It was time to work for a-"

"RUBY, Penny just told me about the mission, I'm ready when you are." Said Ren standing there in his full combat gear and bow at the ready.

"Rennnnn, I was in the middle of a cool catch phrase." Whined Ruby as she sighed dramatically.

"Continue, please."

"No the moments ruined, I hope you are happy." Said Ruby accusingly as she pointed her finger right at his nose.

"Thank you. I hope you are happy as well, you are my friend." Replied Ren as he bowed his head forward to show his respect for his friend. Ruby silently cursed at this, as he was being too nice making it difficult to be angry at him.

"Sarcasm Ren, sarcasm. Let's just get to the Bullhead."

Ten minutes earlier

"A good man"

"A promise is a promise."

KABOOM

SPLASH

Cold

Cold

Cold…

Warm?

The doctors were moving around the lab as they had been for the last two days, going around an checking the lamps, adjusting the angle they were aimed at. Upping the temperature when they needed it to be done, and checking on the heart rate and blood pressure of the subject, currently he was in a coma and had only just been completely thawed out of the ice.

In truth the doctors were surprised that he was even able to survive the freezing cold water off the coast of Atlas where he had been discovered in a routine inspection by the military. They had discovered a life form that was stuck inside of the ice and upon investigating they discovered who it was. The right to have him be unfrozen here in Vale had taken a good couple of hours as General Ironwood was adamant on keeping him in Atlas, but the council eventually decided that Vale was the best place as he was born just outside of the kingdom and it would be the closest to his home.

Now that he was out of the ice and just in the coma, the plan was to place him in a secure room and wait until he was awake so that the Director could gently introduce himself and help him migrate back into the world and answer any questions that he might have. Like the scientist said, that was the plan. However the thing about BEACON was, nothing ever went accordingly to plan and it was best to just improvise.

"I can't believe how quickly he is recovering."

"This might be me being a bit ignorant here, but who is he?"

"Seriously? Did you not learn about the great war in school boy?"

"No the teacher didn't see the point as it had already happened and it was best to forget about it."

"You ever hear the quote; those who forget history are doomed to repeat it?"

"I said that to him, but he sent me to the head teacher's office for talking back."

"What a snowflake. Anyway, this man is the reason that war ended peacefully."

"I thought it was the Vytal agreement."

"Yeah and this man made sure it happened, he was out there fighting on the front lines, made sure that we advanced and took down countless of Mistrals best fighters and what's even better, he did it all without killing a single person, I know a lot of soldiers who don't regret taking a life to protect others, but I know even more that wish they had managed to find another way. Then there is another story, there was a rocket headed to the island of Vytal and it would have whipped out everyone there and ruined every chance of peace, but this man… He jumped on the rocket and gave his life without a second thought. He gave his today so we could have our tomorrow."

"Woah, I had no idea…"

"Not many people know his name these days; they just know someone stopped a rocket. Hell even that part I being forgotten and pretty much everything this man did. Eventually no-one will remember his name."

"What is his name?"

"Jaune Arc, or as he is otherwise known as; Captain Vale."

That is when Jaune opened his eyes for the first time in sixty years, and was greeted by orange lights all pointed down at him, he could hear voices around him saying something about heart rate and brain activity. Maybe it was Raven and Tai arguing over his vitals again, he must have hurt himself in a mission again, Summer wasn't going to let him hear the end of it now. Maybe Qrow will be willing to admit to actually been drinking all this time and take some of the force of her outrage, oh who was he kidding that was about as likely as Captain Ozpin and Tuckson agreeing on who won the last game of cards.

Jaune blinked a couple of more times and wiggled his toes and began to flex his fingers to make sure he still had them, and to his delight he did. This meant that he would be able to get up soon, even though he would be forced to rest for the rest of the day, but they had a war to finish, and they were close to. One last push, then he could finally go back home to his family, maybe meet a nice girl and live a normal life just like his parents wanted.

Just then Jaune's view was obstructed with a person in a white coat looming over him and fiddling around with his chest. That was when he realised he wasn't wearing his amour and his gauntlets and greaves had been removed as well. He also noticed that this person wasn't a member of STRQ industries as they never wore white coats when dressing his wounds, nor was he Captain Ozpin who hated hospitals and everything to do with them and Tuckson never came to check on him when he was injured, he preferred to just by him a beer.

That meant this man was a stranger and that made Jaune nervous, he might be extremely exhausted, but he would still fight to the end no matter what. He just hoped this man wouldn't say or do anything strange. Jaune tried to ask who he was, but it had obviously been a while since he had used his voice so instead it just came out a rasping noise, that managed to alert the man to his recently gained consciousness.

"Ahhh, ouuu…" tried Jaune

"He's awake, prepare the serum, let's send him back into sleep." Not good, not good at all, this clearly wasn't a friendly space and Jaune needed to get out, and he needed to get out now. So he reached out as fast as he could, which given he had probably not been active for maybe a day or two was still quite fast. Grabbing the man's coat he pulled him in really close and threw him over the table he was laying on and he heard him crash into the ground, startling the others in the room.

Another pair of hands then grabbed onto Jaune's shoulders as he tried to sit up and began to force him back down, but Jaune thrust his head forward to where he felt the person was and the hands released him very quickly. Once he was finally sat up straight, he swung his legs around and blinked a couple more times and noticed that there were still three more people in the white coats, one of which was talking quickly into his hand? That was a strange sight to see, but Jaune placed his feet on the ground and stood strong against them, maybe for the first time in two days, but now that he was running on his adrenaline he was ready.

The shortest of the three approached him with a needle in his hands and tried to talk to him, but Jaune shut out his voice and stumbled forward and knocked the needle out of his hands and using a Judo throw that Tuckson had taught him, flipped the man over his shoulder and onto the floor. The white coat man who wasn't talking into his hand stepped forward to help, but Jaune kicked him back against the wall and he slide down groaning and holding his chest. The last one turned and ran out of the room, which was lucky for Jaune as the kick had really made him dizzy and he threw up on the floor and fell to his hands and knees.

The door then opened again and two dark figures came in, and they walked with a lot more confidence than the white coat guys did, but when Jaune say the dark clothes, he immediately thought about the Deathstalkers and their leader Dr Watts, and he was filled with rage, he was the doctor's prisoner, well not for long. When he felt hands on his back and being pulled up by his shirt he went with it and swung his fist up and struck the man in the chin with his left hand, and then using the same hand to grab the front of his shirt and pull him forward into a right cross in the face, with as much strength as he could muster, dropping him instantly. The second dark figure, that Jaune was convinced were Deathstalkers, stepped forward and tackled Jaune around the waist forcing him to stumble back and hit the wall, as he was still trying to get his footing and find his balance. The Deathstalker then punched Jaune in the kidneys, which hurt a little so Jaune retaliated by kneeing him in the face as hard as he could and holding the Deathstalker by the sides and throwing him up towards the ceiling where he broke a light and then slammed into the floor, out cold.

Taking a breath before he did anything else Jaune shifted his way over to the door and leant against the door frame and checked out the hall way, it seemed as though there were green lights headed in one direction and red lights coming from under some of the other doors and around them. Trying a red door Jaune discovered it was locked, but when he followed a green light he noticed it lead to a green door, which was unlocked, so green was good.

Walking through the green door, Jaune discovered that he was in the middle of a large glass building with people in suits all around him and some of them wearing the same dark uniform as the two Deathstalkers he fought a couple of seconds ago, he also spotted the last person in the white coat talking with a stunningly beautiful blonde woman and a crazy looking green who was holding a cup of coffee, or tea or something like that, hell it could have been orange juice for all Jaune knew, but that didn't matter, he just wanted to leave and they were in his way. They quickly noticed him as he was the most under-dressed person in the glass place thingy, just standing their wearing a white t-shirt and some jogging bottoms, he didn't have any socks or shoes on and it didn't look like his favourite hoodie was around here either.

The blonde woman made a hand motion and everyone that was wearing a suit quickly left the area and then she was surrounded by five people wearing the Deathstalker dark uniform, although it looked a little bit more streamlined than he remembered, may be they changed it in the two days he was out of it. She then pointed at him and spoke with a commanding voice, it was one of those voices that you didn't need to raise to be heard across the room, because nobody would be stupid enough to talk over this woman.

"Captain Arc, stand down now." She commanded, and Jaune took a breath and analysed his odds, none of them had any ranged weapons and they didn't have anything on them other than those batons which would hurt, but not as much as what he could put behind a punch, so he had strength and speed on his side, they had numbers, and they hadn't just woken up.

"I'm…le…ving…ow" Jaune tried to croak out but it was hard to as his voice still hadn't returned to him, but he still had actions, and they spoke a lot louder than words.

Jaune walked forward towards what he hoped was the door as it had a handle on it, the blonde woman was quick to send in two of the Deathstalkers to intercept him in the way; the one on his left swung his baton while the one on the right opted to stay back a little and wait for an opening, which was smart on her behalf. Jaune stepped into the swing and pulled the man's arm into his body and again used a judo move from Tuckson flipped the man over his body and on to the ground, he then pulled the man's arm up and dislocated it from his shoulder, it wouldn't knock him down but he wouldn't want to get up after that if he was smart. With his back turned to the other Deathstalker, she did exactly what Jaune hoped she did and swung in a downwards arc, which missed Jaune and instead hit her fellow Deathstalker in the arm, causing more pain. Jaune stepped in and then struck with a left jab around her face, grabbed her by the back of her shirt and kneed her in the stomach before throwing her towards the door he had come through.

"S…ry." He managed to almost say, as he hated hitting women, it didn't feel right in anyway and he could imagine the disappointment radiating off his mum and his sisters. But he wasn't going to stand there and take it, so the most he could do was react and say sorry, or try to say sorry.

Turning back to the remaining Deathstalkers, Jaune noticed that the woman was very upset and quite possibly seething with anger right now. She then sent in the remaining three Deathstalkers and Jaune could see that they were all men, so he wouldn't have to worry about hurting them too badly.

It looks like they were not going to wait for one another to get taken out and were going to attack all together to see if that could over whelm Jaune, it wasn't going to work as he could see that plan coming in from a mile away and knew exactly where to step, they all held the batons in their right hands, which meant he was going to be using his left arm to deflect and grab while his right hand was going to be doing most of the striking. The first Deathstalker to strike him, attacked with a fast downward arc with his right, so Jaune stepped into the using his left arm to direct the blow away from him and make sure that he was left open, allowing Jaune to deliver a right cross to the face and send the Deathstalker past him, the momentum from the downward strike and the punch sending him rolling on the floor. The next two Deathstalkers swing at the same time, one with an outside right swing and the other with an inside swing. Jaune blocks the inside swing with his right arm and the outside with his left, he then grabs the man's forearm with his left and pulls him into a head butt, while side kicking the other man in the ribs, forcing him away from the two. Leaving Jaune's right arm free to strike the man across the face, bringing both hands to the man's forearm, controlling the weapon and rotating his arm so that he was bent over, Jaune then left front kicked his ribs and pulled on his arm, dislocating it from his shoulder and possibly cracking some ribs as well; that makes three down, two to go.

Speaking of which, the first man had got back up and ran at Jaune as fast as he could, a challenge which Jaune met head on, shoulder barging the man to the ground, once again sending him sprawling to the floor, this time he smacked into a desk and didn't get back up after that. Now it was just one to go, and the man did something very stupid which was throw his only weapon at Jaune, it was a good throw and would have hit him if Jaune didn't catch him and throw it back as he ran at him, just with more force, hitting him hard enough in the head to knock him out before he fell to the ground, this just left the Blonde woman and the crazy haired man. The blonde woman, instead of stepping forward to fight him hand to hand like the others, drew a pistol that she had obviously kept hidden from Jaune's view and took aim, this left him with the option to dive for cover, and as he did he grabbed one of the batons that the Deathstalkers had dropped. The blonde woman didn't seem to be firing bullets, but darts instead; they probably intended for him to go back on to the table to experiment on him some more. That wasn't going to happen, so Jaune threw the baton as hard as he could at her, and it moved to quickly for her to dodge it and smacked her in the chest sending her tumbling into the man, as he sprinted for the glass door and smashed through it he shouted out a sorry in his croaky voice and ran as fast as he could away from the building, even though the glass on the floor had really cut his feet.

The pain didn't matter he had to keep going even though the pace that he was running was quite slow compared to what he could actually get up to, he was still going quite a bit faster than anyone he knew could run. As his feet pitter-pattered across the cobblestone leaving drips of blood, he heard a noise above him and saw that a shadow, that was not his was slowly getting larger, this meant that something was falling towards him, so he dive rolled out of the way to the left and came up on his knees ready to face whoever it was.

He didn't quite get the chance to as a searing pain stabbed into his shoulder, and when he took a look he noticed that it was an arrow lodged in there. This guy had shot him with an arrow, the Deathstalkers were getting creative, and he would give them that as he did use a shield to fight his battles, so who was he to judge. Looking up from his shoulder he noticed that his attacker was a male, with long dark hair that went down to his mid back, he wore a Mistrailian outfit with nothing on his shoulders, but purple arm bracers that went up to his mid bicep, he was clearly in shape and looked dead into Jaune's eyes with an unreadable expression. He held a bow in his left hand and looked ready to draw another arrow with his right.

"Only warning, stand down."

"That's… not… an… option…" Breathed out Jaune, finally able to speak out proper words, even if he had to space them out in-between, however pleased he was with this, the new man didn't look so happy with his statement and drew and shot another arrow at him. Now Jaune wasn't so delirious as to try and catch the arrow, so he just rolled forward underneath the arrow. This was then met with a downward strike with the bow which smacked him in the head, and a front kick to his chest. This guy was fast and with Jaune being at a disadvantage due to not having his shield. So that meant he would have to play this differently, fight to run away and get back to his friends. Jaune stood up fully and sidestepped the next arrow that flew towards him, and got in close using both of his hands to block the next strike with the bow that hit his forearms, he then ripped the bow out of the man's grip, and it was subtle but Jaune noticed a look of shock pass through his eyes, he was not expecting someone that strong. Now that they were on equal footing the man struck out with a palm thrust to his chest and then a kick to his knee, following up with a roundhouse elbow to the temple. This fight was going nowhere, and Jaune was starting to get even more tired than he was before, when the ninja Deathstalker attacked with a rising front kick, most likely to his groin, but Jaune blocked it with a cross of his forearms, he then gripped the ninja Deathstalkers leg and raised it up and swept the other leg out from under him sending him crashing into the ground, it would hurt for a second but it wouldn't do anything permanent or lasting to him, but Jaune didn't care he took off in a full sprint away from him, and he wasn't likely to catch up to him.

That was when the strangest thing happened, another shadow was getting smaller and this time Jaune noticed it was going to land where he would be, so he just stopped running for a second. The thing that landed was a robot, but a robot in the shape of a short woman, with a cape. That was strange, clearly Doctor Watts was trying to mess with the allies' heads and make them lose their trains of thoughts by distracting them. It almost worked on Jaune almost, but he just wanted to leave and nobody seemed to understand that getting in his way was a very bad idea, and even though this might have been a woman he was done holding back.

"Stop right there, you are un-" began the robot thing, it even sounded like a female's voice, all be it a heavily robotic one, however Jaune charged at it and tackled it to the floor and punched it in the face several times, and then turned it over, grabbed a rock and smashed it on its head and then started running again, he wasn't in the mood for this, he just wanted to get out of here and get back to his friends. That was when he came across a statue in the middle of a fountain, it had a figure that was raising a shield above his head, he wore similar amour to what Jaune usually wore and even the shield was exactly the same, shame shape and symbol. The only difference was the size of the person and the shield compared to Jaune, they were a lot bigger than he was, but it couldn't be him, this was a Deathstalker base, so why would they have a statue of him? It doesn't make any sense. Looking at the base of the statue briefly Jaune also noticed that it had his name written on it in full;

Captain Jaune Arc, the hero of Vale.

Saviour of Remnant.

That was crazy, he must be more tired than he thought, or maybe that blonde woman had hit him with the dart earlier and he was hallucinating things, or that arrow the ninja Deathstalker had shot him with had drugged him and he was hallucinating from that. Either way he needed to get out of there, so he turned away from the statue and ran towards the exit to the entire courtyard, which happened to be the edge of a cliff, he looked around and planed hi route down to the ground before jumping off and disappearing into the forest heading towards the city he noticed in the distance.

Back with Ruby and Ren they were both in a little bit of shock, they weren't hurt as when the blonde man had tripped Ren he had rolled with his fall and come up standing near where his bow was, but when he took aim the man was already about one hundred meters away from him and Ren was shocked that someone could move that fast on land. Ruby wasn't hurt either she was stunned however that a person could just tackle her amour like that and make her look a little stupid really, the punches and the rock had done nothing to her amour, but she was still shaken up inside the amour. He was very strong and watching him run away and fight with Ren showed that he was also very quick and could take a few hits and still keep going. This was going to be a little bit harder than she previously thought, but at least she would get a chance to test out all of her non-lethal weapons in the amour.

Currently Ruby and Ren were going to meet with Ozpin to see if he was going to tell them more about the mystery blonde man or not. They hoped that he would be truthful and tell them everything he knew, so that this way he could be apprehended a lot more efficiently and without endangering people's lives.

As they met back up they wordlessly headed towards where the glass lobby where the blonde man had come from, on the way there they saw Goodwitch waiting for them outside the building, her hair had fallen out of her bun and there were several agents being carried on stretchers and some more cleaning up the lobby. This lead to a very confusing sight when Yang and Nora turned up, as Yang landed with a loud thud and sending up dust around her before she head over to her sister and asked what was going on, as they stopped by the mansion, but Penny told them they were here, and while Ruby brought Yang up to speed, Nora then landed after Yang, but with a lot less impact on the ground, she immediately skipped over to Ren and asked if he was okay, what he had for breakfast, if he missed her and what were pancakes as she knew what a pan was and wondered if mortals made them into cakes.

The constant questions were a little bit overwhelming for Ren all of a sudden, but he answered all of them honestly.

"I am, porridge, yes and it is a type of breakfast."

"You really missed me?" asked Nora innocently

"Yes, you usually wake up the same time as me. I like our morning routine."

"Bow-chikka-bow-wow" says Yang while winking at Nora, and that forces Nora to back away from Ren a little, she had been victim to Yang and her teasing for almost a whole cycle on Jötunheimr, and she didn't want that to continue for when they were on Remnant.

"Miss Xaio-Long, if you could take more care with your landing that would be much appreciated, or I will start to bill you for damages."

"Um sure thing Miss Goodwitch, sorry?" Said Yang sheepishly avoiding her gaze

"Very well, if you come this way the Director is waiting for you." Said Goodwitch as she lead them in to the lobby and straight to the elevator, walking past the agents who were either getting medical attention or cleaning up the mess.

"Whoa, this guy really did a number on your agents. What kind of prisoner is he?" asked Yang as they looked around at the lobby.

"The director will explain everything."

The ride up to the office was a tense one as nobody was saying anything; Ren was nervous as this would be the first time he would be face to face with his boss after he left, Ruby was curious as she wanted to know more about this mystery man, Nora was intrigued by the lift as on Valkyire they only had stairs and didn't have this contraption, Yang was scared as this was the man who could decide if she would be hunted by the Atlas military or left alone. Glynda Goodwitch meanwhile was preparing for a headache that this would cause, and she was certain that Director Ozpin would be very little help in this situation and most likely do the most amusing option possible.

As the doors opened up the five were greeted by Ozpin facing out overlooking the courtyard and out to the city of Vale. He didn't verbally acknowledge them, but he did turn and take a seat behind his desk, and gesture to the four seats in-front of his desk. They all took their seats and waited for Ozpin to begin talking, at first he just looked at the weapons that Ren and Nora had brought with them and the amour that Ruby was still wearing, even though she had made sure that the helmet plat was retracted. He might have wanted to say something, but thought against it.

"I am glad you all have come." Began Ozpin "This will be a strange request and possible a challenging opponent."

"Yeah your agents looked flattened." Said Yang, this earned her a sharp glare from Goodwitch which shut her up quickly, she might be able to bench a bus, but that glare was scary.

"Yes, compared to this man, my agents were much out of their depth. They performed admirably, but ultimately this is an opponent with a lot more skill."

"Who is he?" asks Ruby

"His name is Jaune Arc." Ozpin let that sink in for a second to see if anybody recognised the name and the history behind it. Ren was the first person to grasp the level of severity in the situation and why this might be challenging mission for them. Ruby and Yang glanced at each other as the name was familiar to them, but they couldn't place where they knew it from. Nora bounced in her seat as she knew exactly where the name was from.

"Oh, oh, oh that's the name on the statue. The man with the shield and amour!" she exclaimed happily, that jogged Ruby and Yang's memory making them realise just who this person was.

"Are you saying, we got our butts kicked by Captain Vale?" asked Ruby

"From what I saw there wasn't that much 'Butt Kicking', but yes, that would be correct." Answered Ozpin

"The war hero?" questioned Yang

"Yes."

"The man responsible for the peace treat being completed." Added in Ren

"Indeed."

"The very same person that liberated over three hundred people from Haven when it was a prison."

"The very same man."

"So what so great about him?" asked Nora "I mean that all sound heroic and all, but you make it sound as though everything he did was spectacular."

"This man shaped the history of the planet, you see Nora; sixty years ago the world was at war and lots and lots of people died. This was also the time where monster roamed the land, and not just the Grimm, these were human monster called the Deathstalkers. They took their name from the monster and committed terrible acts, but Jaune took it upon himself to wage war against them, and he succeeded. With only a handful of people this man toppled hundreds of enemy soldiers, and base's all while fighting the so called Grimm, and he kept going no matter how hard it got, that's what makes him a legend." Explained Ren to Nora, who was now a lot more interested in this Jaune guy, if he really was this legendary hero, she wondered why more people on Remnant didn't talk about him more, on Valkyrie people still talked about her grandfather and his battles, and that was fifth-teen thousand years ago, sixty years was nothing compared to that.

"But the real question is how he is here right now, and how he is still young." Asks Ren turning back to Ozpin in confusion

"After he fell from the rocket, he was presumed to be dead and claimed by the sea and whatever lay in her depths. This wasn't true, he had actually been frozen and had joined the Atlas coatline, he was found in one of their military patrols. You can imagine the amount of hoops I had to jump through to get him back to Vale. Can't you Miss Xaio-Long?"

"Thank you." Said Yang softly as she realised she hadn't said that the first time and now realised that one of the reasons General Ironwood hadn't already kicked down the mansion doors was probably because of Ozpin. The other reason was because of Ruby and the pull she had with the military and influence in the world.

"It wasn't easy, but we managed to get him back here. The plan was to wake him gently and have myself talk to him, he knew my father very well, just as he knew your parents Miss Rose and Miss Xaio-Long. I thought it would help him if he could then be brought back in to his wor-"

"It's not his world anymore." Said Nora sadly "He has been away for too long, and when you come back after a long time away, you find that things have changed. Things you didn't even imagine were possible have happened, and it hurts you more than anything."

No one said anything about that, because if anyone in the room knew life, it would be a goddess who had already lived for a thousand years, and would live for several thousand more to come. She knew the heartache of change and being forgotten.

"This is why I think it is best if you go, together and bring him back. BEACON can help him, we can bring him up to speed and then he can start to serve again, just as he did all those years ago."

Everyone took a minute to process this; Nora felt sad for this man, she knew exactly what he was going through right now and she knew how much it was going to hurt him when he found out the truth, she just hoped he had the strength of character to keep going. Ren was just amazed that the man had managed to survive everything he had been through, it was true that they needed to help him and finding him was the first step, but was BEACON really the best place for him? He might not want to serve anymore. Yang was more eager to find this man, he could tell her stories about her father when he was young and foolish, when uncle Qrow and aunt Summer were with him and how they all grew together, he might even be able to tell her about her mother and why she changed. She also knew what it was like to wake up and be at the mercy of scientists, and she knew that above all else this man was scared; he needed some friends right now. Ruby didn't know what to think, this was something she never thought she would have to deal with, but someone needed help. It wasn't the typical help, this would take a long time to help this man, but she knew one thing; BEACON was not the place for this man, almost everything Ozpin said was right, he did need to be brought back and taken in to be looked after and learn about the changes, but then the choice was up to him if he wanted to serve or if he wanted to be left alone.

"We will find him." Said Ruby as she broke the silence and turned everyone's eyes on to her.

"But we are not bringing him back here; he will be coming with us."

Ozpin considered this for a moment before he gave a very slight small smile, that they were all sure had disappeared very quickly.

"As the Director of BEACON, if any of my agents find him first he will be brought back to me. However if you find him, then that is up to you to take in a citizen."

They understood the message, they knew the position that Ozpin was in and they knew he couldn't outwardly condone it, but he was giving them a chance.

"I cannot say if you taking him in is the right choice, nor can I let you find him first. That being said, he did manage to ver efficiently dispatch several of our agents so they will be required to suit up with better weapons, amour and plan their strategies a lot more effectively, it will take them about fifth-teen minutes."

The Hunters all stood up and made their way to the lift and got in, not before Yang gave a wink, Nora a salute, Ren a bow and Ruby a smile. Ozpin was confident they would be able to find Captain Arc, and they would do the right thing. He didn't have a choice, part of the agreement had been that Captain Arc would return to Vale on the grounds that after he had awoken he would be tested and made fit for active duty as well as examination and helping to produce the next group of super soldiers. This didn't leave Ozpin with much of a choice, however Miss Rose and her team were the perfect people to take in Captain Arc, they would make sure he was looked after.

"Sir are you sure that this is the right choice?"

"Who knows? I just know that my father knew that we couldn't force Captain Arc to do anything he didn't want to do, and he was one of the people that knew him best in the world."

Down in the city of Vale, the man of the hour is currently running as fast as he could down the road, avoiding the automobiles and the pedestrians as best as he could, whatever this city was it was incredibly large, much larger than his city of Vale and the buildings looked like something out of the comic books that he used to read back in his room, the vehicles also looked exactly the same as well, this place was a technological marvel, he would give it that, Tai and Qrow would have a field day if they could see all this stuff, he would make sure to bring them here when he made it out. He even passed a shop where the entire front window was a television with a short fat man, with a bushy mustache, he seemed to be hosting a radio show, but was making his debut on the television and he was talking about the Monkey-King, the vigilante in Vacuo and about how much of a menace he was, and that he was causing more problems than he was solving, inspiring the youths to be more reckless, he even brought up a video of the Monkey-King and showing him jumping into a burning building, jumping off other buildings and fighting some other men in masks. Jaune was fairly certain that the so called Monkey-King was being put in a bad light, but he had a little bit of his answer as he wasn't in Vacuo, but he wasn't sure why the people of Mistral would be showing news about Vacuo that wasn't about the war effort. However he would save that thought for latter, right now he needed to do something.

The people were eyeing him rather strangely as well he noticed, when he stopped on the corner to watch the little show, he saw many of the other people staring at him with open mouths and shocked expressions, this was probably the lack of shoes and socks, maybe running bare feet was not common in this city. Speaking of which Jaune had managed to conclude that this wasn't Mantle or Vacuo as the temperature was neither freezing, nor was it boiling. He also didn't think that it was Vale as he was certain that he would recognise his home town, so that just left Mistral. However there were only a handful of people that had on Mistral style outfits, and the majority simple wore shirts and jeans. Jaune did notice that a large number of younger people wore their jeans around their knees, why? He had no clue, they looked like idiots.

As he took off running again after stopping on the street corner he failed to hear the conversation from a couple that stopped and watched him as he stood there and then left.

"Damm that guy was jacked!"

"Mmm, I like…"

"Where were his shoes?"

"I'll help him find them if he wants…"

"Claire I'm right here."

"Honey tell me you wouldn't do the same if that Nikos girl wasn't here."

"Good point, love you."

"Love you too Paul."

Jaune kept running as fast as he could and eventually he came across a park entrance, this should give him time to rest and sort out a few things in his head, he needed to remember what the last thing he could think of was, because so far it was a blur. He also needed to look back at the day and see what he could piece together from it, as so much had happened since he woke up, he had already been in about five fights and he hadn't even had breakfast yet! It might be a record for him, not for the team as Tuckson was still in the lead with twelve and to this day Jaune wouldn't believe it unless he saw it in person, in fact he still didn't believe it and he was the last fight and he lost.

As Jaune stumbled deeper into the park he saw a park bench that he could sit on while he caught his breath. The moment he sat down however, he noticed another statue in the centre of a crossroad section of the park. This statue was done in the same style as the one that was outside the glass building he had escaped from, so he heaved himself up and stumbled over to look at it, that was when he recognised the names on the plague and saw that the figures were a dead ringer for his best friends and teammates, Summer, Tai, Raven, Qrow, Captain Ozpin and Tuckson. They were all listed on the plague and they were all stood there in-front of Jaune right now, looking down at him with smiles on their faces, or as much of a smile that Raven and Tuckson liked to give when asked to. Furthermore, the statue had a message underneath their names:

Vale central park memorial

In honour of our friend, teammate, captain and brother; Jaune Arc, Captain Vale, the true hero of Remnant.

Always in our hearts, where ever he is.

That was when Jaune's heart stopped, what was going on? Was this place really Vale? How was this here, was this a joke that was being played on him? Had he actually managed to get drunk and was now having a drunk dream and was going to wake up ready to fight another day? Jaune fell to his knees, because something important had just happened, he remembered.

He remembered all of it; the cold wind whipping his hair around, the sound of the rocket, the taste of blood from Dr Watts' punches, the force that almost compelled him to pick up the Relic, but remembering what he actually needed to do and destroying the rocket with his explosives and jumping clear.

And the cold icy plunge of the ocean water.

He knew there was no way of surviving that even with his virtually indestructible shield, he would die and he had been at peace with that, because everyone else would live. But here he was now and his friends were nowhere to be seen. That was when he heard a different noise; this was coming from directly above him and was casting a huge shadow over the statue and the area of the park. Looking up he saw a plane of some kind floating above him and that's when four people landed around him; to his left was a pretty ginger haired girl with a large hammer that looked to weigh the same as a car, she was very well built and looked like she had actually flown down, there was the Ninja Deathstalker that Jaune had fought before, still looking as intimidating as ever, but he had lost the fire in his eyes like he knew something different this time, then there was a drop dead gorgeous blonde woman with a body most women would kill for, she looked so much like Raven that Jaune almost called out her name, but the eyes gave it away this woman had lilac eyes, and they looked pained, but not the same pain that was behind Raven's, this was a different pain. The last person was the robot girl, the appearance was by no means comforting as Jaune knew that he had caught it by surprise last time and he doubted that he could do so again, as he was really feeling the effects of his injuries and the pain of no proper rest, but he would fight.

Jaune stood up to meet his opponents, by now his vision was starting to blur away and he could just about make them out if he concentrated as hard as he could. He then raised his fists, and shifted his feet.

"I… can… do… this… all… day." Jaune managed to breathe out as he stood ready for the first strike to come. That was when the robot made a whirling sound a opened up and a woman stepped out and not just any woman, she was the spitting image of Summer. Identical in almost every way, the only difference was the eye shape, Summer's eyes were wider, but this woman was defiantly related to her in some way.

"Captain Arc… Jaune, my name is Ruby Rose." She even sounded like summer and had the same voice as her. "We want to help you, you don't need to fight us you can relax, and you are among friends."

Jaune considered her words for a second, should he believe her, she looked so much like Summer, and he was so tired.

"Di… Did we win?" asked Jaune slightly lowering his guard slightly and stepping forward towards the group of people who slowly moved forward to him.

"Because of you, we did." Replied the dark haired man as he gave a half smile.

They won. They finally won, he didn't have to fight anymore. He could rest. That was when Jaune fell forward, the fight completely out of him and almost hit the ground, but was caught by the blonde woman and the ginger girl who held him up as he drifted into unconsciousness, finally at peace.

Everyone held silent for a couple of seconds as Yang and Nora held Captain Arc between them, it was clear that he had passed out, they were just amazed that he had held off for so long, almost a whole hour after waking up from a coma, without having any previous injuries checked or tended to.

"Not going to lie, it's been awhile since I had a guy fall for me like this." Quipped Yang with a smile on her face.

"I get marriage proposals all the time back on Valkyrie, I don't accept them though, they would want me to give up fighting."

"It's not a competition Nora."

"Yeah you're right, I still win."

"How about we get him back to the mansion, I imagine he we appreciate waking up in a more comfortable area than a laboratory." Said Ren hoping to stop the pointless argument.

"No one should have to wake up to that." Agreed Yang as the Bullhead lowered itself to the ground and they lifted Jaune on to one of the benches in the back and made sure that he was secure before they flew back home.

"When he wakes up, who's going to talk to him?" asked Ruby, she wasn't sure that she would be the best person as she was very socially akward.

"I'll do it." Said Ren "In the mean time I can research all about his history and the time period to learn more about his way of life."

That put everyone a bit more at ease, however the question still remained; what would Jaune do when he woke up? Would he continue to fight for his country by joining up with BEACON? Would he just give up fighting altogether and go live a peaceful life? Or would he join The Hunters and fight alongside them in their quest to make sure that the world was safe from shadow organisations and super powered villains? Only time would tell.

All the way back at BEACON Director Ozpin sat behind his desk and pondered on the events that had come to pass, it had been less than a week and already there had been an alien visitor for another planet claiming to be a Goddess, a breakout of a woman with unbelievable control over fire, Yang Xiao-Long had come out of hiding, he had lost the best field agent he had ever had all because he had held information from master Lie Ren, Miss Rose had taken a strong stand against the Atlas military forcing them in to an ultimatum, The Hunters had managed to cripple an unknown enemy base filled with dangerous robots and people, Captain Vale had been found and now was being treated by The Hunters.

Director Ozpin couldn't help but think that some of these events had been planned out by some nefarious party. The breakout in particular, it turned out Nora's lightening had been extremely precise and had only affected Cinder's cell, every other inmate that had escaped had been because she had blown their cells open with fire blasts. Nora claimed that she didn't do it and watching the footage of her fight with Cinder, she had excellent control over her lightning and electricity. Maybe it was possible to redirect a Goddess' powers, but the individual would have to be exceptionally powerful themselves. Not to mention know Nora and her abilities very well to know just how to make her doubt herself. Director Ozpin would have to look further into her history to see if he could find any people that would be antagonistic towards the Goddess of Thunder.

He was interrupted from his mussing be a beeping on his holo-comm, and without looking at the caller identification he knew exactly who would be calling at this time and so soon after news of The Hunters in Vale central park. He still looked maybe hoping that he was wrong, but as usual Director Ozpin was correct in his assumption. He sighed heavily just knowing how this conversation was going to go and mentally preparing himself for the headache, good thing that his Deputy Director Agent Goodwitch had started keeping headache pills around at work and that he had managed to snag a few from her desk, because he was certain that he was going to need them right now.

"Hello James, how are you today?" asked Director Ozpin

"What the hell were you thinking Nick!" yelled General Ironwood's voice as his upper body came into view on the hologram.

"I'm afraid-"

"Damm right you should be-"

"-That you are going to have to be specific James."

"You let an unaffiliated group take in the asset!" shouted General Ironwood

"Captain Arc is a person James, he is not some machine or a weapon. He made his choice and The Hunters got to him before my agents did. It would also seem that Captain Arc took issue with his accommodation here in BEACON and left, injuring multiple members of my staff in the process."

"That is exactly why I said leave him in Atlas, he would never had escaped in my facility." Protested General Ironwood

"Yes and then we might have another incident like Miss Xiao-Long on our hands." Explained Director Ozpin, but it seemed to fall on deaf ears.

"Please, while I admit that Mr Arc is skilled, he would not be able to out match my agents as easily."

"James we have both read the files and heard the stories about Captain Vale and his achievements in battle. Do you truly believe that you could hold the man that liberated Three hundred or more people all by himself from one of the most secure prisons in history?" Asked Director Ozpin in complete disbelief, he already knew the answer but he wanted to see if General Ironwood's ego was over ruling his thinking.

"I am completely sure." It turns out it was indeed affecting his thinking.

"Regardless, Captain Arc has made his choice. He has chosen to stay with The Hunters and if you have a problem with that, you could always take it up with Miss Rose, I am certain she would be more than happy to learn that you still have three where-houses filled with her weapons."

"How do yo-"

"It's my job to know, goodbye James, until next time." And then Director Ozpin left the call, leaving General Ironwood to sit there in anger, it was true he couldn't make a move against Mr Arc, not when he was under the protection of Miss Rose. He would need to play the long game with this one, luckily he had a few players of his own to add to the chess board.

"Olivia send them up now." Ordered General Ironwood, as he spoke into the intercom connecting to his receptionist. After waiting for a couple of second, General Ironwood let his anger lower to more manageable levels, sure he got infuriated with Director Ozpin some times, but they had always managed to reach a compromise before, but now he was angry with him. The elevator doors opened up and five people walked into the room, four of them stood with complete confidence, while the other member of their so called 'Team' was apprehensive about being here.

"It would seem as though our asset has been lost to us, we will now consider him to be our enemy." General Ironwood says to the five members of his strike squad.

The four confident males all reply at the same time with a resounding "Yes sir." This causes the General to look over to his fifth and final recruit, and if he was being honest, the person with the most power on the team.

"Is that understood by everyone?" He gave the question out to the whole room, but she knew exactly who this was aimed at. The way General Ironwood stood looking down at her and the silence from her other Four 'Teammates' told her that the question was completely for her benefit and nobody else's. Once again she was being singled out to get the answer out of her, just like back at home.

"Yes." She replied quietly, and upon looking at the General's face realised it wasn't enough and she needed to say more.

"Yes sir, I understand." She said it with false confidence. That didn't matter whether or not she was confident in the message; she always completed her mission and was excellent in a fight. And now she was obedient as well, the perfect soldier, leagues above Mr Arc and completely outclassing him in every way. General Ironwood almost forgot the disappointment of losing the so called 'Captain Vale' when he looked at her and the rest of his strike squad.

"What will you have us do sir?" asked the tallest person in the room, as he stepped forward confidently. That was why General Ironwood appointed this man to be squad leader, he reminded him of him when he was a young soldier, always eager to serve.

"Continue with the training, soon we head to Vale. I think it's time to have a bit more of a personal chat with Director Ozpin."

The man in the corner puffed out on his cigar, mortals were great fun.

Now who could that be?

Told you there would be new characters, next chapter will be soon, do not worry. The way I do this is I always have a completed chapter ready while making a new one, and the moment I finish the new one, I upload the one that I have saved up.

I will be heading back to work soon, the life of an outdoor activities instructor mean that I didn't have much to do over the winter, so I wrote out the whole story on paper. Now I just need to put it on word and upload it to the net. Joy.

Favourite Captain America moment come from an episode of earths mightiest heroes in season two, the skrull have him captured and the only information he gives them is his name, rank and serial number. They torture him for months and he doesn't give them anything, and the scientists are baffeled.

"Our scientists, our shamen, they have no idea what is keeping him going."

Just think it's cool, anyway until next time.