Chapter four: History Test

It had been a whole day since the incident in the park and currently Jaune was lying comfortably in the room that was right next to Yang. This meant that they were currently in a U shape with Jaune and Yang on one side of the U and Ren and Nora on the other side. Ruby was at the point where the two sides connected and the very end of the hallway. Right now the only other occupant in the room with Jaune was Ren who was reading a history book while sat on one of the chairs waiting for Jaune to wake up. Ruby was currently back in her lab working on her amour again and Yang and Nora were in the gym going through some wrestling moves and endurance exercises, and from the sounds of it the workout was extremely intense. Jaune is dressed in a different set of clothes to the ones from BEACON; he had been given a new t-shirt and new pair of trousers. Much to Yang's disappointment she didn't get to change him, Ren did.

Now they had to play the waiting game, not only with the data decryption of the scroll, but also with their newest house guest. They would then need to decide what to do with him when they he woke up, because he might want to go back to BEACON. He may even want to go out in to the wilds and start a new life as a stranger or a wonderer. Right now Ren was more focused on the injuries that he was over coming, and how quickly his body was healing. Penny informed him that Jaune was perfectly healthy now and should be awake shortly and able to move around freely, provided that they didn't immediately start to fight between themselves. Ren knew that he wouldn't fight him, but he wasn't so sure if this man would lower his guard so easily, sure he had fainted into their arms, but he would be waking up in a foreign environment and that was enough to make any soldier nervous.

A small message popped up on his scroll notifying him that Captain Arc's breathing was getting quicker, this meant that he was starting to wake up. They had talked to Penny about not speaking aloud while Jaune was in this stage of transitioning into the new world as they didn't want to overwhelm him and give him a heart attack from hearing a disembodied voice.

As Jaune slowly came to he noticed that he was in a lot more comfortable position than the last time that he woke up, however some things were consistent; he had no idea how he got there or where he was. Looking around he noticed he was on a large bed, a very comfortable large bed and that there was a massive window overlooking a forest with beautiful trees and a lovely garden as well. The sun was also shining through his window with several rays of light going over the covers and on to him, this was when he noticed he had been changed out of a light t-shirt in to a darker one, and the trousers he was wearing were a lot better fitting and were not as tight as the others, someone had clearly changed him while he was asleep and he felt a little bit uneasy about that.

Looking around the room instead of out the window, Jaune saw the dark haired man from before, this time he was just sitting there drinking tea and holding a book. He didn't look threatening or intimidating in the slightest, but it was still strange to find that someone had been there while he was asleep.

"Good morning Captain Arc. I hope that you slept well and have recovered." Said Ren in greeting, always make sure you are polite when meeting someone new, and even though they had already had a fight this was technically the first time they had spoken to each other.

"Yes I did." Replied Jaune tentatively "Did you change me?"

"Yes I did."

"Oh."

"My friend Yang wanted to do it, but I thought it would be safer for me to."

"Thanks?"

"You are very welcome."

Then they fell into silence, and just looked at each other. Jaune thought that the silence was pretty awkward; Ren on the other hand felt didn't feel awkward in the slightest. After a while of them staring at each other with Jaune wondering what to say and Ren is waiting patiently, Jaune realised that he was still in bed and opted to stand up and take a walk. Throwing back the covers and placing his feet on the floor, Jaune was grateful for his lack of socks while he was asleep, he always felt like they confined his feet. Ren was by Jaune's side in an instant and holding out his hand for a handshake.

"Lie Ren."

"Jaune Arc."

"It is an honour to meet you."

"Likewise I am sure."

They then lapsed in to silence again and Jaune took a few steps around the room to get used to being back on his feet, meanwhile Ren tapped on a piece of paper in his hands. So he was a little strange but Jaune wasn't really one to talk, he was an odd one as well.

Ren sent a message on his scroll to the others, telling them that Jaune was awake and letting them know to head to the meeting room and observe the tour that Ren was going to give Jaune. It would be easier with one person giving the tour and not everyone so that he wasn't overwhelmed.

"Would you like a tour?" asked Ren, to which Jaune nodded it, would be good to stretch his legs and walk around the place he was currently staying. As Ren left the room quickly followed by Jaune, the other members of the team were currently in the meeting room watching through the cameras and waiting for the right time to introduce themselves.

"Anyone else know that Ren's first name was Lie?" asked Yang as she broke the silence with a slight chuckle.

"I like it, suits him." Responded Nora as she watched the screen intently, on Valkyrie they had this technology about four hundred years ago, she was amazed with how these mortals had only just progressed to this level of development, although considering the amount of time they had been on the planet she did suppose it was quicker in consideration to her people, but most of the mortals lacked the motivation to push further. Ruby seemed the only one willing to go the distance, however she was also the smartest if what Ren told her is to be correct so it makes sense.

"I'm not saying it doesn't, but come on; he was a SPY and his name is LIE. That is comedy gold." Said Yang gesturing as though the words were right there in front of her. Personally this was a great discovery for her, now she could make up even more puns about his name.

As Ren lead Jaune down the hall he pointed out where his room was and who he was next to; Jaune learned that the he was next to the beautiful blonde that looked almost exactly like Raven he saw the day before, and was called Yang Xaio-Long, exactly the same as Tai, and when he asked he learned that she was indeed the daughter of Raven and Tai. This made Jaune nervous as Tai and Raven were younger than he was, but their daughter looked to be the same age as him; h-how long was he asleep for? He needed to know now.

"Lie, h-how long have I been asleep for?"

The question caused Ren to stop walking and turned back to Jaune, he knew he could of asked the man what he meant by that, but the look in his eyes; pure fear showed exactly what answer he wanted and dreaded. Ren knew what was going to happen next so he swallowed and took a deep breath.

"Jaune, you have been frozen in ice for nearly sixty years. A lot has chang-"

Jaune wasn't listening to that any more, it was impossible, he couldn't have been gone that long. He shouldn't have survived that fall, he shouldn't have survived the ice and he defiantly should not be stood here. This was all wrong. Jaune fell sideways and hit the wall trying to steady himself, his whole body was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane, he was so close to curling up in a ball and crying his heart out, what had happened to him?

He was vaguely aware that Lie was still there in front of him and had crouched down to his level, he didn't say anything, he just placed his hand on Jaune's shoulder and waited for him to be ready to continue. He didn't know how long they stayed like that, but he also didn't care. Eventually he got up with Lie helping him and still holding on to him, that actually helped even if it was something so small like that, he had an air of calm about him that soothed the soul, and Jaune knew that it would be a long time before his soul was at ease, but Lie was helping a little bit.

"Are you going to be able to continue?" asked Ren, as he looked Jaune straight in the eyes. The man before him had gone through so many emotions in the last five minutes that he was surprised he wasn't currently crying, many lesser men would have, hell Ren even knew some agents back at BEACON who would still be on the bed, but Jaune powered through it all and he looked… not determined but like he would push forward however slowly and however long it took him to do it.

"Yeah… I – First round was supposed to be on me…" trailed off Jaune sadly as he looked into the distance. Ren didn't say anything at that, because he didn't need to say anything. He wordlessly turned down the hall and set off slowly, and he was followed shortly afterwards by Jaune, who was still distraught over finding out how far removed he had become from the world, this is why Ren didn't want to show him the gym or Ruby's laboratory yet as it might blow his mind, so they headed down the stairs.

Even though he was still in a semi state of shock, Jaune could not help but be amazed by the house that he was in right now. His home back in the village had nothing on this, and was most likely a pile of rubble or was some kind of floating science station thing. It was saddening to think that there was probably nothing left of his family home, or maybe his family… surely someone must still be around for him to talk to.

"Lie, I don't suppose that I have any family members still alive do I?" asked Jaune

"Please call me Ren, Jaune I much prefer my friends to call me that."

"Very well then Ren. Please tell me that there is someone left."

"No… You are the last Arc in the world… I truly am sorry Jaune, I wish I had some good news."

Ren had never felt worse about having to tell someone that they were left alone in this world, he had to tell several people over the course of his life and it never got any easier, you just got used to it. While that might sound as though it makes it easier, then you have no idea what it is like to tell someone that the person they love most in the world is never coming home. Ren could almost see the light completely fade from Jaune's eyes at that point, but unlike before he didn't fall, Ren suspected he already knew, he just wanted to be wrong.

Jaune had given everything for the world and now it was like the world had taken everything from him, and he was powerless to do anything but listen.

"Please keep going." Jaune begged

"Of course this way."

Ren then lead Jaune into some kind of laboratory, but it wasn't like anything that Jaune had ever seen before, at the glass building place near Vale, the lab there was all dark and had computers lined up along the sides, the machines here were possibly for different experiments, one of them contained a liquid of some kind, another had a cold mist coming from the bottom of it and then there seemed to be a heat coming from the floor almost everywhere that Jaune stepped, did they have more testing area underneath, maybe the white island in the middle moved back so that you could get down there.

"This is the kitchen."

ARE YOU SERIOUS

"Would you like some tea?"

"Just water please."

"Personally I think it is going quite well if you ask me." Said Yang out of the blue.

"Nobody asked you Yang." Replied Ruby eyes still focused on the holo screen.

"Sorry to interrupt you time staring at tall, blonde and handsome." Teased Yang, this managed to prompt a furious blush from Ruby, who began to shake and splutter at the statement that came from the devil of her sister.

"Y-Y-YANG! That i-is ridiculous, absurd, highly irregular, out of or-"

"He has got a nice bum." Pipped up Nora "Not as good as Ren's." she muttered as an afterthought, however both of the other girls heard it, but then they saw the look in Nora's eyes and the way she gripped the hammer and decided that in-fact, they had never heard it and it didn't happen.

"I will say this though, blondie is ticking all my boxes." Purred Yang as she watched his arm flex as he lifted the water up, silently wishing that she could share the glass with him.

"Aww does someone have a crush?" sung Nora

"Pot-kettle." Responded Yang, to which Nora gave her a deadpan look and then shrugged. " No but, I can appreciate good eye candy when I want to."

"Where are the other people that you were with?" asked Jaune after he had drained the glass in one gulp. "I'm sure that there were more of you."

"We didn't want to overwhelm you with so many people, but if you like I could ask them to come out here." Offered Ren sipping the tea that he had just made. Jaune appreciated the gesture, he was already panicked by finding out everything so far and he still couldn't believe that this was the kitchen, where was the oven?

"Yes please. It would be nice to see them." Said Jaune as Ren filled his glass of water back up and handed it back to him so he could drink a lot more as he was suddenly very thirsty. Ren also tapped on the piece of paper he brought out of his pocket, although now that Jaune was looking at it properly, it looked a lot sturdier than paper and also glowed with a white light. Within seconds of Ren tapping the thing and putting it back in his pocket Jaune heard three sets of foot falls coming up behind him and then stopping a couple of feet away from him.

Slowly turning around he was greeted by the three females that he saw yesterday, they looked a lot clearer now that he wasn't about to faint and he could see now that the woman he though was once Raven was nothing like her; she had a smile on her face, seemingly for no reason and Jaune could count on one hand how many times Raven had smiled. Her eyes were a different colour, her hair as well a different colour and it was longer and she appeared to be shorter than Raven. The girl that looked like Summer on the other hand made Jaune do a double take to make sure that it wasn't actually Summer, they were nearly identical, even standing the same and constantly moving their fingers as though they needed to have something to fiddle with at all times. Looking at the two of them Jaune did feel a few pangs in his chest as he dearly missed his friends and seeing their reflections now was… hard.

The last girl however, Jaune had never seen before yesterday. She was beautiful that was sure and had lovely ginger hair that matched the maniacal glint in her eyes. She looked at Jaune with awe and also understanding, and for some reason Jaune knew that this woman out of everyone that he would meet in this time was going to understand him the most in the world. She had done this before, been so removed that when she came back she had to adjust just as hard as he had, and she was proof that if she could do it then anybody could do it. Jaune had no idea why he thought of that and clutched his head as there was a tiny ache in the left side of his temple and when he locked eyes with the ginger woman she just said.

"Sorry, I thought it would help."

Everyone else looked between them curiously, of course they couldn't see inside their heads to see what had happened, they were also unaware of any mental abilities that the others possessed.

"It did… what was it?" asked Jaune honestly

"Acceptance and Reassurance. My mum taught me how to empathise with other people who had been away from people for a long time as I have, to show them that if I can pull through it, they can as well." Explained Nora, as this skill had helped her so many times in her life. Her mum had used the power on her dad a lot as well since he had been in many battles when he was younger and needed both to get him through the hard times, she was nowhere as skilled as her brother or even her mother, but she knew how to use it when needed.

"Thank you." Said Jaune as tears threatened to fall from his eyes, the ginger woman moved forward and hugged him around the waist and after a couple of shocked second he returned the hug and just held her there. Ren was happy, Jaune could recover from this and he would do everything in his power to help him out, he wasn't good with the physical affection like Nora apparently was, but he would be an ear to listen to when he needed to be, he would make sure of that. After the two separated Jaune realised that he had no idea what the names of the three were, and he only knew that Yang was the blonde because she was the only other blonde in the house other than he was.

"I'm sorry… I had hoped to meet under different circumstances, my name is Jaune Arc and it is a pleasure to meet you." He held out his hand to the ginger woman who pushed it aside and gave him a hug again and then stepped back.

"That is how we say hello to a soldier on planet; my name is Nora, princess of Valkyrie, Goddess of Thunder and proud member of The Hunters."

Next up stepped the blonde woman named Yang and she grabbed his hand rather forcefully and almost broke it with her squeeze.

"Nice to meet you blondie, names Yang Xaio-Long, try not to scream it to loud."

Lastly was the summer look alike who stepped forward with an awkward wave and then took Jaune's hand, after he had shaken it from the strength of Yang's squeeze and carefully shock it.

"Hi, I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose. Welcome back, I guess." She said meekly

After the introduction Jaune stood there awkwardly as Ren then asked about the decryption and then he and Ruby started talking about what they should do after they had combed through the information. Shutting out the conversation that they were having Jaune looked over to Nora and Yang, Nora was watching the two converse and alternating between them making her head swivel, Yang on the other hand was watching Jaune and gave him a smile when they locked eyes, which Jaune returned and then he took a sip of his water again. This was still all too much, he wished he had Nora help with her mind thing again, but he didn't want to ask her to constantly do that.

"Anyway in the meantime I think we should focus on training to work with each other." Said Ruby with an air of authority, she was most likely the leader of this 'team' they had. "Would you like to join us Jaune?" she asked.

"Train? Um no thanks, I just want to be alone for a bit to think."

"Yeah that makes sense, I mean you only just got up and you don't have a weapon." Said Nora as she held up her fingers listing two things, she was struggling for a third, but relented and just said two.

"Yeah… no shield." Murmured Jaune as he drank the rest of his water

"Actually I asked the Director about your shield, but he said that he would not send it over." Said Ren "He didn't say why and I asked him repeatedly because I thought it would help you out, having something from your past to help you through this time."

"If he has your weapon then we must go and get it back!" declared Nora and Jaune wholeheartedly agreed with her, that shield had been through a lot with him and if it was here then nothing was going to stop him from getting it back. He nodded in agreement and the others chimed in with their support.

"Yeah let's go show them the full force of The Hunters!" yelled Yang

"We won't fight, we will talk and then they will give me my shield." Said Jaune firmly, the tone of his voice was very commanding and Ruby was slightly jealous that she didn't have a voice that grabbed the attention of everyone like that when she spoke.

After that was established they all decided that they were going to suit up and head to BEACON again, it seemed that was all they did right now, just head to BEACON and then they solved problems there. Nora stayed with Jaune as she didn't need to get suited up in anything since she just wore her battle clothes around all the time, when Ruby was walking down the steps holding her amour in its suitcase form she saw that Nora was explaining to Jaune what they were going to be getting there in, and from the look of Jaune he was very green in the gills right now at the prospect of flying to BEACON.

Once they caught a look at the Bullhead they would be taken Nora turned to Jaune and told him that this was what she was talking about, and if possible he got even greener at the sight of flying in something like that. Ruby was pretty sure that Jaune must have flown before in his time during the war, and what she had designed now was ten times more efficient than whatever they had back then. When she told him this he didn't change colour at all, just stood incredibly still. During the whole flight to BEACON Jaune was bent over in his seat and Ren had provided him with a bucket that Jaune was extremely grateful for, since he had thrown up in it twice already. Ruby discreetly asked Penny to slow down the ship to make it more stable, however Yang then said that if the trip was prolonged maybe Captain Vomit Boy would just chuck up more times before they actually got to BEACON, it was a sign of her ultimate restraint in teasing that she included the Captain at the start of his nickname. Nora was asking all sorts of questions about the vomit and Ren was dutifully answering them all without getting squeamish in the slightest. However the sounds and the thought of the vomit getting on them had driven Yang and Ruby as far away from him as possible; one out of fear of her hair and the other out of fear of her amour.

The moment they touched down at BEACON Ren assisted Jaune on to the ground where he promptly collapsed and started praising Oum for solid ground. Several agents greeted them and were shocked by the appearance of Jaune, most were let down that the legendary hero was incapable of flying without throwing up causing all but there escort to leave. There escort was a man with round timed glasses and crazy green hair with a mismatching yellow tie and a half tucked in shirt, he quickly moved forward and held out his hand in greeting to Jaune who was still trying to learn how to breathe properly after throwing up. He then approached Nora and examined her in great detail for all of three seconds before yelling questions at her about; age, diet, origin, animals, technology and coffee on her planet. Nora took this as a challenge and answered back just as fast as he gave the questions. The only person that managed to follow any of this was Ren, who eventually stopped the crazy man by greeting him with a bow.

"Hello Doctor Oobleck, as always nice to see you."

"Ah yes agent Ren, so good to see you, how are you? Well. Splendid. Absolutely splendid and this woman is a goddess, a real goddess in the flesh, the things you must have seen my dear, simply incredible. And of course Captain Jaune Arc, you sir are a legend with no equal, all of us historians know you and your story, the hero of Remnant, the slayer of Grimm and saviour of humanity, this is a fortuitous day for a historian indeed." Spoke Doctor Oobleck faster than a bullet from a railgun.

"Yeah… a legend, sure." Muttered Jaune as he stood up and then noticed the statue, now sure that he wasn't hallucinating he could see it clearly and really believe it was there. They had built a monument to him, meant to inspire people and bring about the next group of heroes. Looking at it now made Jaune sad, he couldn't be proud of this; he had left everyone, disappeared when he was needed and let down those he cared about. Yes he stopped the rocket, but what about the aftermath, would he not have been needed then? That statue wasn't inspiring him, right now it just reminded him of what he had left behind, and it seemed the agents around had felt the same, he had heard them murmuring, they had all come to see the legend, the hero of the war and their statue come to life and they had been disappointed. He turned his back on the statue and followed the crazy haired man towards the glass building he had escaped from at the start.

Yang shared a concerned glance with Ren, both of them had been at the right angle to see the look pass over Jaune's face, this man wasn't honoured to have a statue of him in the middle of the courtyard, he was disappointed. Disappointed that they would even consider him to be a hero, probably because he had been gone for so long. Yang made sure to stand strong by his side and place a hand on his shoulder, in a silent show of support for her new friend. Once Doctor speedy had lead them to the lobby Yang noticed Goodwitch waiting there, still looking as regal and beautiful as ever, honestly Yang wondered if she would look even half as beautiful as she did when she reached her age, some people were just fortunate like that. Goodwitch gave them a once over and then looked Jaune up and down a few times and Jaune regarded her wearily, oh yeah they had a fight on the way out.

"Sorry if I hurt you ma'am." Said Jaune as he scratched the back of his neck, in what Yang thought to be an adorable display of nervousness, Goodwitch was going to eat him alive, and like the good friend she was, she would laugh. Hard.

"It is okay Captain Arc, good to see that even all these years didn't make you any less skilled." Praised Goodwitch, which made Yang's jaw drop. How could she complement him after getting her butt kicked by him.

"Still it must have hurt right, it wasn't a light throw, are you sure your, uh, chest is okay." Asked Jaune with a heavy blush, 'now that was a very brave thing to ask a woman, especially this woman' thought Yang as she gave a very large grin and leaned over Jaune's shoulder.

"Maybe you should offer a massage." She whispered into Jaune's ear, this shocked the soldier and made him step away from her; Goodwitch also gained a very light blush and fixed Yang with a deathly glare.

"Miss Xaio-Long, might I suggest that you choose your next words carefully, I can make your life very difficult."

Gulp "You don't scare me."

"Yang, she can still see you, even if you are hiding behind Nora."

"Shut up Ruby!" growled Yang, still hiding behind Nora, hoping that Goodwitch would stop glaring at her.

Spoiler alert: she didn't.

"Please follow the Director is waiting, and I am fine Captain Arc." Jaune nodded and the group began to follow Goodwitch toward the ever familiar elevator, Yang still using Nora as a shield from her death glare. Fortunately once they all got into the elevator Goodwitch faced the doors away from Yang who was happily stood at the back, so long as she was away from Goodwitch during the quiet trip up to see Ozpin she could enjoy the silence. When the elevator finally dinged open Goodwitch was the first to step out in to Ozpins office and Jaune followed her through afterwards and therest of The Hunters came after him, with Yang still hiding behind Nora ready to leap out the window at a moment's notice if Goodwitch threatened her again.

"Captain Arc meet D-"

"Captain Ozpin! Finally a familiar face!" cried out Jaune in joy as he moved towards the Director and grabbed him in a fierce hug, that the Director didn't return and when they broke away Jaune looked up and down at Ozpin and realised that this wasn't the man that he knew. The smile that he had on was quickly lost and it broke Ruby's heart to see someone lose all that joy in a second.

"I'm so sorry Captain Arc, but my name is Director Nick Ozpin, you knew my father; Captain William Ozpin. He spoke her highly of you and would tell me all about how he hoped you got the peace you so wanted." Ruby watched Jaune step back and have his eyes firmly locked on the floor and swallowed before he spoke next.

"T-That's good to hear, Captain Ozpin was always someone who deserved a happy ending." Said Jaune as he sighed sadly.

"I know why you are hear Captain Arc, you are hear for your shield." And then Ozpin went behind his desk and pulled out the shield, and Ruby had to hold in a breath as it was an exceptional weapon, the shine, the craftsmanship, the paintwork and the metal, as Ruby silently asked Penny to zoom in on it as well as scan the metal, she found that it was taking in vibrations from the surrounding air and making it give off a very low humming sound, almost unable to hear it if she hadn't enhanced it so that she could. Penny also couldn't tell what metal that it actually was as the element was not on the periodic table and there was no known element that made up the shields structure. Ruby couldn't wait to test it, of course if Jaune would let her test it that would be spectacular.

"Still just a perfect as the first time." Said Jaune absentmindedly as he placed his hand on top of the double crescent emblem and just held it there lost in his memories.

"I kept this here for one reason; I wanted to meet you and this was a sure fire way to make sure that you would come, I wanted to talk to you about an opportunity to join BEACON."

"Wait han-"

"Miss Rose if you would remember your place as a guest here and not interrupt the Director, that would be polite."

"As I was saying; Captain Arc you helped save the world once, and yes The Hunters have done a fair bit-"

"Cleaning up your messes-" muttered Yang to Nora and Ren; one who nodded in agreement and the other who just narrowed their eyes, points for guessing which did which.

"-But, BEACON is still recognised as the best place for protection. We have been active for a very long time and gained a lot of respect from the people, and with you joining us BEACON could do so much more."

"Jaune as someone who used to work for BEACON I feel inclined to tell you that they will keep things from you, they might help but they are primarily spies, and they value that secrecy." Said Ren

"That is correct Master Ren, we have kept secrets from people in the organisation-"

"-And the public." Interrupted Ren

"-sometimes we have to, if they knew what we know then there would be a lot of unrest and distrust between the government and the people."

"Nothing makes the people calmer than lying to them." Said Yang with a roll of her eyes, to which Nora snorted trying to contain her laughter.

Ruby watched Jaune as he considered all of this and she could only imagine what he was thinking; BEACON would offer a more stable lifestyle for him and would have a better chance for him to adapt back in to the world. However with The Hunters he could be honest and he wouldn't be used as a symbol, he would be a person and they would do their best to make sure that he is included in everything, they had done a good job with Nora and they could help him out to.

"Thank you for the opportunity sir, but I don't want to keep secrets from anyone, I've been told I'm bad at lying."

"Captain Arc, this would be a great opportunity for you. Save the world with more than just a small team of people."

"I did save the world already sir." Began Jaune as he held the shield not taking his eyes off of it for a second as though he was remembering how he saved the world. "And it was with a small team, a small team of exceptional people. And it worked because they just saw me as that, a person and I saw them as people. And that is what I need right now; to be with others who see people, look out for the little guy and in a big group like this you tend to forget the little guy, so I am flattered sir, but I'm not a statue, I'm just Jaune Arc."

Director Ozpin looked at Jaune for a couple of seconds, considering his response and not giving away anything with his steely poker face, Ren however could read it as he looked into his old boss' eyes, he was pleased with Jaune's choice, but that made Ren wonder why he would keep the shield all to himself and not send it over, was this all just to meet Jaune and test him to see what he would choose?. After a while he nodded and held out his hand gesturing to the shield, almost giving his permission to take it. Ren thought it was nice that the Director thought he had a choice, because from Jaune's body language he was going to be walking out with the shield even if Ozpin said he couldn't have it, and Ren was inclined to help him with that.

"You are making a mistake." Said Goodwitch out of the blue, surprising Ren as she had been very quiet up until now, most likely displeased with the option that Jaune had chosen. "With BEACON you have the backing of multiple agents, the council and the majority of the public, if something goes wrong out there on a mission BEACON can cover you, however if it goes wrong out there with you lot, then you are on your own. The people will turn on you and you will be witch hunted, with BEACON we have acceptable casualty losses, you 'Hunters' may be considered an accessory to the death you might cause."

It was a heavy statement, and it was one that Ren had considered. They were acting alone and they would have to deal with the consequences of their actions, but then again so did everyone. Ren would just have to push them to do the best they could and the more people they had on their team, then the more they could do. They might not be well known, but the safest hands were their own, if they had some council members tell them what to do, they might tell them to destroy an innocent village and leave a guilty one. Control was best left to them.

Ruby understood where Goodwitch was coming from; having someone tell them what to do might be for the best, it would then shift all of the blame on to them. However is that how she wanted to do things, shifting the blame on to others when she had done the action that required the blame? That wasn't right, and it wouldn't be what Dad wanted her to do. If they did work for BEACON and the council what was to stop them from asking Yang to be subject to experiments, order Nora to leave the planet and never return. Then there was the chance that they would work the deal to force Ruby to start making weapons again and undo all of her work, and that was something that she didn't want to do. That would be a waste of her life.

"You know what, you might be right." Admitted Jaune "But you said something that ensures I will never work for BEACON, and that might have been your mistake; there is no such thing as acceptable casualties. There never will be, we don't trade lives and we don't put anybody else's life above another's. Our job is to save and protect, not find a way to make sure that the minimal amount of people can die."

"You have been gone for a long time Captain Arc, sometimes there is no other way."

"Then you make the other way and plant yourself by that ideal, like a strong tree near the river of truth."

Goodwitch looked Jaune right in the eyes, all the awkwardness of before when asking how she was had disappeared, stood in front of her now was the man who had lead an army over the trenches, freed prisoners of war, beaten the toughest warriors of Mistral and taken down the most evil organisation of the war. What is the most incredible thing about that is he didn't kill a single person, and he had the lowest causality rate of any military leader in history before or since his battles. This man always found another way, and he didn't care if it cost him his own life.

Jaune then held his shield firmly and walked towards what Ren had called the elevator and stood in front of it, before the doors had just opened up for them by themselves, now they remained shut. Jaune then saw Ren reach out next to him and press a section on the wall that stuck out a little bit further than the others and the doors opened up, so there must be something mechanical to it, which made a lot more sense as Jaune previously thought the elevator just knew that they wanted to go in it. Before he got into the elevator, Jaune turned around to look at Director Ozpin and ask him one final question before they left.

"Where is he buried?" Ozpin regarded him carefully and looked over the top of his glasses at Jaune with a steady look in his eyes, and then he understood, the Captain just wanted to say goodbye to his old friend in a soldier's way.

"All of them are in the same place Captain Arc, the Vale National Cemetery. It is near the east of the outer wall, you won't be able to miss where they are."

"Thank you sir, and goodbye." Jaune turned to Goodwitch and nodded. "Ma'am." And then the rest of The Hunters joined him in the elevator trip on the way down, and just like the trip up to the office it was done in silence.

As they exited and made their way back through the lobby, Ruby noticed that many of the people now had their eyes on the ragtag group, and Ruby supposed that they did make for a strange bunch, Jaune with his shield now strapped onto his back, Her in her full amour with the head piece off, Ren armed to the teeth with an assortment of arrows, knifes, guns and bolts, Nora in her pink skirt had thankfully decided to leave her hammer outside and then Yang who had numerous posters placed up around most major cities in the kingdoms detailing that she was a walking Richter scale, and Ruby had no doubt that every agent here knew exactly who she was because of that. Finally outside they saw that a great number of the more muscular agents were trying their hardest to lift up Nora's hammer and failing, much to the joy of Doctor Oobleck who was watching with great amusement and taking down notes at a pace so fast the paper was almost on fire. As the biggest looking guy stepped forward and tried to lift it up and failed spectacularly Nora let out a loud laugh and was followed by Yang who joined in, this caused many of the agents to back away from the hammer as they were aware that it was the ginger girls, and she was supposed to be some kind of goddess.

"Wow there are a lot of you trying to lift my hammer aren't there? Has anybody not had a go that wants to give it a try, now is your chance!" Nora yelled out to the crowd, although nobody stepped forward to try to lift it, so she just sighed in disappointment and held out her hand causing the hammer to fly towards her and find its home back in her grasp. The agents just stared in awe and the group followed a skipping Nora towards the Bullhead ready to leave, one person following reluctantly, unaware of the three different sets of eyes watching him; Amber filled with curiosity, Grey filled with malice, and Brown filled with respect.

Right as the group stepped on to the Bullhead Ruby got an alert through her helmet and when she put it back on and brought it up, she saw that there was a giant monster that was attacking the island of Vytal, she quickly told the rest of The Hunters and was met with two happy cries of joy and one sigh of disappointment.

"Yeah I'm gonna punch it, I mean I doubt it will do anything but I'm still going to try." Said Yang.

"I wanna ride it." Said Nora as Ruby brought up an image of a giant black monster that resembled a large dragon, one that wasn't breathing fire though but just seemed to be yelling loudly, it came up from the water and was nimbly moving around one side of the island, a ship had tried to fight it but their cannons were useless against the beast. Since it was being attacked the dragon turned its head and shot towards the ship and split it in half be diving right through it.

"Not talking about Ren here Nora." Teased Yang

"There will be time for that later, Hunters, time to work. Jaune you'll sit this one out." Said Ruby

"What?! No I can help, it won't be the first monster I've fought." He protested

"You just woke up today, haven't fully healed despite what you may say and on top of that you found out that you have been in ice for sixty years. Take some time, we can handle this thing and then the next giant monster we fight, you can be right there beside us."

Jaune looked at her solidly for a moment and then smiled softly, but Yang noticed that it was a fake smile, one you practice in front of the mirror every day to try and make people feel at ease around you, she knew it well, it was the kind of smile that she often used to give to Ruby when she asked how work was before the accident.

"Okay I'll stay."

"Good, let's go team, we have a monster to beat." And with that they all boarded the Bullhead and took off in to the air leaving the soldier of legend alone once again.

As the Bullhead was heading towards the location where the monster was Ruby started to doubt what she had said, maybe it would have been better to bring Jaune along to fight with them, he was supposed to be very good at it and he had lead many people into battle so he might be able to come up with a decent plan as to how they could defeat the monster. But she just felt a little voice in the back of her head that said it would have been better to leave him back there, and it did bring up some good points, he wasn't used to the world yet and this was the equivalent of helping someone to swim while throwing them into a maelstrom.

"Okay guys here's the plan; the thing has got a tough hide so most of the weapons Ren and I have are just going to annoy it, it does like to move around a lot so step one is to limit its movement, breaking the legs or incapacitating them should work, Ren I have some new arrows that will drill through anything so if you can hit the right area where the joints connect it will halt it's movement. Its mouth seems to shoot out a form of electricity, Nora absorb and redirect. Once we have it unable to move then we can start hitting it harder and turn it into paste."

"Question: Is it my turn to throw Ren?" ask Yang while smiling at the marksman with an evil glint in her eyes.

Ren looks sternly at Yang for a second before replying with a resounding "No." and then going back to packing in the arrows that Ruby had pointed out during her planning speech. But not before pleasure in watching the disappointed look cross her face after he shot her down, heh archery pun.

The doors to the Bullhead were opened and just before Yang and Nora could jump out to start the fight and get on with their jobs, they were stopped by Ruby who handed them communication devices that they could put in their ears and would still be able to talk to the others without having to shout at them, or fly over to each other and talk face to face. Then Nora threw Yang as hard as she could towards the beasts left leg just as Ruby flew in front of its face to distract it and focus the attention on her. Yang slammed hard in to the monsters left leg and a loud snap could be heard all around the area where they were in. The force that Yang had been thrown caused the beast to be in a lot of pain, so it opened its mouth and roared out and simultaneously shot a blast of electricity from its mouth straight at Ruby. However she was fast enough to blast her way to the side in a streak of red as her cape trailed behind her, and she let loose a few shots from her repulsors making sure to strike the dragon with silver bolts of power. However this didn't do much but annoy the monster and move its head to the side, this distracted it from Ren who was still up in the Bullhead, which had moved around to the right side of the beast and released three of the new arrows that Ruby had given him into its right leg; one arrow went into the point where its hip was, the second into the knee and the third deep into the ankle. All of them severed the ligaments in the joints and since the beast was heavily leaning on that leg after Yang shattered its other, it fell over completely on to its stomach and lay there; defiantly shooting beams of electricity up into the air trying to hit the Bullhead; however Penny managed to manoeuvre it out of the way and Ren then jumped out and landed onto a sturdy roof building that had survived the onslaught of the attack. Now that the target was completely immobilised and it's attention was focused on Ruby who was flying around directly in its face, Nora had a clear chance to end the fight once and for all; she rocketed up into the air and called in a thunder storm and lightning struck her hammer, charging her up with power and then she dived down towards the monster and hit it with enough force to obliterate the beast and turn it into ash.

Ruby let out a sigh of relief, they had managed to win the battle with an incredible display of teamwork and strength, the plan beforehand had worked perfectly and the speed in which they had defeated the monster was astounding. Ruby was also luck that there were no civilians around the area, so nobody had gotten hurt because of what happened, she also hadn't used much power so her suit and her heart were still in excellent condition, unfortunately Nora had reduced the beast to nothing but dust, as Ruby was curious to study it and find out more about it, but it was probably better this way, as they now defiantly knew that the beast was defeated.

"Everyone okay." She called out over the radio communicators

"YES THAT WAS AWESOME!" Screamed Nora into her communicator.

"Hell yeah sister, you smashed it!" yelled Yang's reply.

"I am unharmed." Said Ren, just as calm and collected as ever, even in the face of a giant murderous dragon.

Standing in the place where the beast was Nora had a big grin on her face and was swaying side to side happily when Yang came over and offered her a high five, which she then had to explain what a high five was. However their victory was short lived as Ren spotted some ripples in the water and warned the girls that the fight might not be over yet. Unfortunately he was proved correct, as three more black dragon like beasts rose up from the depths and begun to make their way to the shore, whatever they were, they wanted a fight and judging from the looks on Nora and Yang's faces they were going to get a very good fight. Ren couldn't help that think maybe having Jaune here would be a good idea, more numbers on their side and he would give a tactical advantage as he was a prominent military leader, he also couldn't help the paranoid part of his mind that said keeping Jaune away from the monsters was what someone wanted all along, but Ren didn't know why he thought that, was this all just some trick being pulled on them?

"Fights not over yet Hunters; let's send them back to where they came from." Ordered Ruby as she blasted off to go and engage the new monsters that had just come into play, this was going to be a hell of a fight.

Location: Classified

Time: Unknown

Date: Unknown

All of that secret information was useless when faced with the abilities of a master of espionage like Mercury Black, over the years he had managed to uncover almost every single rock the council had and extort them in every way imaginable. His long life had been both a blessing and a curse; the curse was the pain, every waking moment his body was in constant pain, it had damaged his legs in such a way that they had to be removed and replaced with cutting edge prosthetics, they actually worked better than the real things, but now he had phantom pain to worry about. The blessing came in the form of his work, that had gotten him noticed by several prominent figure in the world of Remnant, The Kingpin of crime in Vale for example had requested his services on multiple occasions, meaning he had gotten to do the killing he so dearly loved, and each target was so different and unique with various different levels of security that presented him with a challenge. However that challenge had grown stale almost twenty years ago, now he craved something more, something worth his time, something he could truly be proud of, after all only one target had ever managed to survive him and it had resulted in his never ending agony.

That was why he had come to this place, the person that he was going to be meeting here had told him of a target that he would most defiantly want to 'meet'. Mercury had questioned his host before he came to the meeting point, but they were adamant on the surprise being the most enticing part of the meeting and that he would be very pleased with the target. Mercury did have his doubts, yet the good doctor rarely did disappoint him, he had helped him with his case of pain and been the one to provide the mechanical legs and they had worked without fault for many years now.

As Mercury entered in to the secret lab he was greeted by the smell, the ever familiar smell of death and decay that the doctor seemed to revel in, he said that it motivated him to work harder as he knew the consequences of what could go wrong, Mercury was no stranger to these smells, but he wouldn't think of them as being motivators, he much preferred a minty smell or maybe a vanilla as they were much more pleasant. He also heard the sound as well, the quiet roaring and crying of the beasts that the doctor was making and manufacturing, this man was fascinated with the old creatures of Grimm and was determined to make his own, however they were mere pale copies that ended up turning to dust after an hour of productivity. Not that Mercury cared, he had fought and killed real Grimm before all those years ago, and he had even done some jobs for the Grimm cult in Vacuo, they were a disturbed lot, but they spoke with passion and Mercury could respect that, in its own demented way.

The rest of the lab was exactly as you would expect it to be for an evil, mad and paranoid doctor who loved to experiment on monsters. There were test tubes all over the place filled with different coloured liquids, generators powering different devices creating a low humming and static sound that filled the room when the roars didn't, centrifuges spin around mixing different chemicals together, and naturally the glasses with different parts of the human body up for display. While Mercury might have been a professional assassin, he wasn't a torturer or a mutilator, he did clean kills that were over quickly, it was his code. If he was being honest, that there creeped him out a little bit.

"Ah Master Black you came." Spoke a voice from the shadows. "At last, I almost feared you would forgo our meeting for the sake of annoying me." The doctor usually spoke like this, always thinking he was the smartest man in the room, while that might have been true when he was alone, now he was in the presence of someone older and wiser and the act was just that; an act.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here, what's the problem?" Asked Mercury tiredly as he waved his hand around, projecting the body language of being lazy and disinterested. "Need someone to die again or is it to acquire some top of the line goods that I really could not give a crap about?"

The doctor let out a chuckle and stepped into the light, Mercury finally got a good look at him today and he looked no different than the last time he saw him one month ago; grey hair that was spiked up in every single direction, a pointy beard that looked to be the only thing well maintained about the man, his metallic hand that was stroking the beard was black with red pulses of energy and the blood red mechanical eye glaring right at Mercury, analysing him as only a scientist could.

"Oh it is even better, someone that you want to die, more than anything."

Mercury snorted "I doubt that, the only person I want dead is already dead. The only annoying thing is that is wasn't by my hand." He finished growling as he clenched his fists in rage.

"Yes the Captain." Said doctor Merlot as he turned away from Mercury and walked over to the large computer. "Good thing he's not actually dead."

"What?" Mercury asked in disbelief, his head shooting up toward Merlot and appearing by his side in an instant. "Explain yourself now!" he demanded

"I'll do one better." And he pressed a button on the screen and brought up the image of Captain Jaune Arc standing outside of the BEACON lobby, the cameras had caught him as he was exiting the building and had his shield strapped onto his back. It could have been a look alike, but Mercury could feel it, deep in his heart he knew that this man was Captain Vale, the very same man that had killed him, denied him of peace and the man responsible for every agonising moment of pain he felt throughout his body.

His grey eyes glared with malice.

"His companions on the other hand are quite spectacular, a new friend of mine has a vested interest in them and I am sure you do not want the meeting between yourself and Captain Arc to be interrupted."

"You are correct doctor." Snarled Mercury, his eyes never leaving the screen as he burnt holes through Jaune's head.

"I already have a distraction planned for them, and my new friend has ensured me that you can have your alone time with Captain Arc, all he asks is for you to them help him out with-"

"Done."

"Oh… just like that?"

"Your new friend is giving me Arc on a plate; after he is dead I'm free to do whatever he wants me to do… free of charge."

"My, my, you must detest the Captain great deal."

"You have no idea."

"Very well, he is going to the Vale national cemetery, a fitting place if you ask me."

"Perfect, you have out done yourself on this one doctor, once it is done I want to meet this friend of yours and thank him personally." And with that, Mercury departed from the laboratory and headed to his ride, finally he could have his revenge, he didn't care how Arc had survived Dr Watts, but right now he didn't care, his life was his to take and there was no force on the planet that was going to stop him, he might even bring back his body for doctor Merlot to inspect as a thank you for this early birthday present.

Back in the laboratory doctor Merlot watched as Mercury Black sped off on his bike heading back towards the main city of Vale and smiled softly, it was all going as his new friend and employer had said, the plan really was without fault. He would have to give it to the man, not only did he have style he also had substance, the fall of that fire maiden, the destruction of the base being run by Miss Sustrai and the discovery of Captain Vale, all of this going exactly as the man predicted. If doctor Merlot was not a man firmly in the belief of science, he would theorise that there was a certain magical entity surrounding this man's clairvoyance, however he must have simple done an impeccable amount of research to acquire such results, not unlike a certain genius scientist would have done.

"Oh yes Master Black, you will meet my friend. And it will be an interesting sight to see." But enough of his musing, he turned back to the screen to see how his precious was doing and was surprised to see that it had faded into nothing but ashes. His friend had not over sold their abilities in the slightest, perfect. Now he could conduct a proper field test against the correct combatants to achieve the results that he so desired. Pressing another button on the keyboard, three more of his precious beasties rose from the water and began making their way to the so called 'Heroes' intent of devouring them.

Doctor Merlot could not be any happier with this experiment.

As Jaune wondered through Vale and actually took in the sights he was vastly overwhelmed, this was all too much for him, the noises, the people, the smell, the lights and the feeling of eyes following him everywhere he went.

Amber eyes filled with curiosity.

A car had backfired and Jaune had been so distraught that he was suddenly back in the middle of the battle field, and before he knew it he had slipped his shield off and almost thrown it at the source of the noise. The only thing that stopped him was a small little girl that stood in his way and she managed to bring him back to the current, right in the middle of the street, the very busy, very loud street. So Jaune shouldered his shield and jogged off in the direction of the cemetery that Doctor Oobleck had pointed him off to, in hopes of escaping the noise.

After rounding a few corners and asking a nice old man where he could find the cemetery, he finally arrived at the graveyard. A strange place to be, but now Jaune felt a sense of completion, he had successfully managed to navigate his way through the future to the place that he wanted to be. Walking through the gates of the graveyard Jaune noticed a sign, one end of it pointed towards 'Family and friends', the other end pointed toward 'Brothers and sisters in arms'. Jaune knew exactly where he needed to go and followed the path along the way, a quick look at the map told him that the graves were divided up in to squads made up of the unit that the person served in and then each of those were then lined up in order of rank. This meant that his team would all be together and all lined up next to each other.

Jaune spent a good ten minutes searching for the his team and was getting more and more concerned the longer it went on without him finding them, and he was almost at his end when he noticed the a line that just had seven different tombstones for the whole of it and then a massive gap before the next set of tombstones. Testing his luck he walked over and saw his name on one of the stones, and then he saw Captain Ozpin's, then Tucksons, then Summer's, then Tai's, then Raven's and finally Qrow's name. All lined up, exactly like they were the first time the General called them into a meeting.

Jaune knelt down in front of them and placed his hands on the ground, lowering his head.

"First round's on me guys." He managed to choke out silently as he started to feel tears come up behind his eyes. He let them come, his friends deserved these tears. Jaune didn't know how long he knelt there, but eventually he felt a hand rest on his shoulder and a calming yet weathered voice spoke to him.

"First time in a while son?"

Jaune looked up and saw the aging man from before who had directed him towards the cemetery two blocks away, Jaune wondered if he had been followed by this man.

"Just came by to see my spitfire, when I saw you, figured you could use a hand there son."

Jaune didn't say anything, he just turned back to the graves and stared at them, while it might have felt real before, Jaune now fully understood the whole event. He was all that was left, everyone else here was gone, but he was the only one left, the last soldier of the worst war in history.

"You just get back from overseas? You look like you have seen some action." His voice wasn't pushy, just concerned and kind, and Jaune found himself speaking before he knew he actually was.

"Just got back after a long time away." He muttered in reply, loud enough for the man to hear him.

"I remember my tour's, I was in Vacuo, couldn't stand the heat."

"Mantle."

"Huh, didn't know about anybody that still called Atlas that, nor did I know of anyone being stationed over there. But I can tell it wasn't easy, and that you want me to leave." The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a card and held it out to Jaune. "You might feel like the only one who's seen terrible things, but there are others and we meet every week. If you feel like coming to one please do, you don't have to talk just listen and when you're ready share."

Jaune hesitantly took the card with the address of the location.

"Thank you sir."

"Anytime kid." And then the man left Jaune to his own devices, I guess no matter where you went, or when you went, there were kind people around that were keen to offer help. Jaune stayed by the graves of his friends before standing up and walking back towards the entrance.

"Goodbye." He said as he walking away from his old friends.

"Oh let's not get to carried away Captain Vale, I'm sure you'll be saying hello in a second." Came a sarcastic and condescending drawl from behind him. Jaune knew that voice, Jaune knew that man and he knew that there was no way that he could be speaking to him. This was the only man that Jaune had ever killed and was the only man that he would ever kill in his life, but when Jaune turned around he saw him; Mercury Black in the flesh, master assassin and murder of Professor Watts who was his good friend.

"Long time no see Arc." He said with that cursed smirk, his body portrayed a relaxed and nonchalant posture, but Jaune could see in his eyes an inferno of rage and anger, with all of it directed at him. Mercury was not going to hold anything back and Jaune was going to fall to his mercy right here.

"M-Mercury? How? Are you real?" asked Jaune in complete disbelief that the assassin was still alive and stood right in front of him at this time.

"Aw you remember me." He said sarcastically. "I'm touched, and yes 'Captain', I am very real and I am going to make you suffer and then you are going to die. Any questions?"

"But how ar-" Jaune was very quickly interrupted by Mercury springing forward with a right side kick catching Jaune completely by surprise, which it shouldn't have as he tended to lead with his kicks and attack before everyone else could finish their thoughts, it was a masterful tactic he used to knock his opponent off balance, and right now it worked so well that Jaune was sent back, skidding across the track back to the entrance of the cemetery on his shield, sending up sparks across the floor. Lying on the floor Jaune shook his head and rolled over backwards onto his feet and considered his advantages over Mercury; to him it had been three days since their last fight, but to Mercury it had been sixty years, he might have forgotten how Jaune fought. However Mercury has most likely spent those years fighting and killing people, upping his experience and if Jaune knew one thing experience usually won. If he could exploit his anger however, then Mercury would be the one off balance giving Jaune openings that he could exploit; here's hoping that the years haven't calmed him down.

Jaune unstrapped his shield from behind his back and slotted it on to his left arm, now he felt ready, now he felt balanced. Mercury sneered at the sight of Jaune armed with his shield, as though remembering last time that they had fought and the outcome of that match up. Dashing forward Mercury slid into a low sweep with his right leg aiming for Jaune's front foot to knock him of balance; however Jaune lifted his left leg off the ground so the sweep flied harmlessly underneath him. Mercury on the other hand was not one to waste an opportunity and used the momentum to spin his right leg into a high arcing spinning kick aimed at the side of Jaune's head, but was deflected over him by the famous shield. Mercury didn't give up though as that wasn't his style, so using his hands and a little bit of break dancing he swung his left leg around while Jaune's shield had been lowered by his second attack, this allowed Mercury to strike with a tremendous amount of force and power causing Jaune to flip over and crash into a gravestone, chipping away some of the masonry.

"Perfect, I was worried that you weren't going to be as I remembered you." Came Mercury's voice from behind him.

Placing his hand on the headstone and using it to help him stand up he looked at the name engraved on the stone and saw 'Private Steven Rodgers' and he remembered exactly where he was and who he was surrounded by, these were soldiers, his soldiers and the enemy had just come into their house and was now it was time for him to pay. Rising up to his full height Jaune turned around just in time to block another side kick, but this time he shoved back hard enough to push Mercury back into a cartwheel and then into a backflip to regain his footing. Jaune then launched his shield at Mercury's legs which made a resounding CLANG that echoed around the cemetery and made Mercury lean over forward to stop himself falling on his back, Jaune capitalised on this moment and ran in with a right uppercut, just as he caught his shield heading back to him and then used it to clothesline Mercury over and into the ground. Mercury tried to recover into a backwards roll and then strike with a double footed up kick to Jaune's back, but he was met be a shield striking him in the stomach, since Jaune had learned how quickly he recovered and wasn't taking any chances. Luckily though for Mercury he had crumpled around the shield, removing the 'Captain' of his legendary weapon and leaving him virtually defenceless against a superior opponent.

"Without your weapon now Arc, this fight is only going one way."

"That was quite a loud CLANG I heard, something wrong with your legs?" asked Jaune curiously

"Grrrr." Growled Mercury as he dived at Jaune and threw a punch catching him around the face and then following through with a second punch around the face and almost making a third punch connect around his face, yet Jaune managed to step in and lock his whole body around the arm and throw him over his body and slam Mercury into the ground, while he was down there Jaune punched him around the face. As he pulled back for another punch Mercury shifted his body and avoided the strike and simultaneously struck with his knee, driving it into Jaune's ribs. Using the arm that Jaune had left away from his body, Mercury pulled on it and used it to help roll him over Jaune's back, twisting him in to a bent over arm-bar and then kicked him in the face with a front kick, sending him sprawling into the dirt and gravel. Mercury then kicked him over so that he was lying on his back now instead of face down in the dirt; however much he deserved it for what he had put Mercury through.

"That's more like it, grovelling in the dirt." Sneered Mercury as he kicked Jaune in the stomach.

"Are you ready to join your friends?" he asked condescendingly

"Yes." Jaune breathed out, although Mercury didn't seem to hear him as he was starting to monologue.

"You know I have no idea how you managed to defeat Ares and Athena, the supposed champions of Mistral. Dr Watts told me you did it solo, but I know you had to have had help. They were tough, not my level as I destroyed them when they challenged me, but still worth the challenge. Yet for all the enemies that you defeated, here you lie, beaten by me. No one to save you, you truly are alone in this world. YOUR LIFE IS MINE."

Mercury raised his foot above Jaune's head and prepared to stomp down and end the man who had caused him so much pain and agony throughout his long lifetime, and once Jaune was dead he could finally rest, He always knew that somehow Arc had managed to survive the rocket and the fall into the ocean, and that burning desire in him to finish the fight that they had been roaring, to kill the only person that had managed to escape him and now he had the chance. He lowered his foot to strike with all the power he could and Jaune closed his eyes in acceptance.

But death never came, Mercury was knocked off of Jaune as the shield bashed into his back, flinging him over Jaune and down the path landing away from Jaune and his mysterious saviour. Said saviour then held out a hand in front of Jaune who had opened his eyes when he heard the tumbling of the assassin, taking the hand he was helped up to his feet by the saviour and got a good look at … her?

The woman was wearing a dark one piece body suit that covered her entire body, there was extra amour around her legs going all the way up to her thighs and very prominent heels, her arms were covered in the material, but it was where the amour was the sleekest, along with around her midriff. She wore a beautiful silver neckless and a pure black mask where her amber eyes stared deeply into Jaune's blue. The only part of her not covered were the two cat ears on the top of her head that twitched around, proving to Jaune that she was a cat faunus.

"Who the hell are you?" asks Mercury as he stands up, glaring in disbelief at the cat woman who had appeared out of nowhere.

To her credit, the cat woman doesn't flinch under the glare of the master assassin. Instead she simply hands Jaune the shield she used to knock down Mercury and then flex's her wrists and causes claws to extend out of her finger tips. She crouched down into a pouncing position, looking exactly like a cat about to strike at her prey. Mercury sneered and muttered about stereotypical faunus, always ready to get on their knees for humans.

Mercury charged forward and to his combatants, but is beaten to the punch or in his case; kick, by the cat woman who shoots forward jamming her claws into his shoulders, tackling him to the floor. After letting out a wince of pain, Mercury garbs the hands still on his shoulders and bring both feet up, planting them on her chest and kicking her over him, expecting her to hit the ground. And she does, but like all cats, this woman manages to twist in the air and land on her feet. With Mercury now facing away from him, Jaune speeds forward and strikes with a hook punch at his ribs, assisted by his shield, the added force of the object makes Mercury lean into the attack more than he normally would and as he turns his head to look in Jaune's direction, his other fist hits him right across the face. While bent over the cat woman speeds towards him, quick as a cheetah, and slashes up his chest with her claws, making six cut lines appear on his chest. Not deep enough to deal any permanent damage, but enough to draw blood and leave a nasty scar once it had healed. A front kick from Jaune then sent Mercury flying away (they always did as that serum must have given Arc some instructions about not skipping leg day) and tumbling down the gravel track.

Sensing another opportunity, and knowing that with a fighter of Mercury's calibre they don't come often, Jaune threw his shield at him, however Mercury was now familiar with this song and danced out of the wall of the cursed Frisbee by rolling to the side. However, Mercury didn't count on the shield rebounding off the ground, hitting a nearby lamppost and then coming back to strike him from behind, knocking him into the ground again.

"Give up Mercury." Ordered Jaune as he caught the shield and approached Mercury's fallen body, the man twisting in pain and breathing fires of anger.

"Never, this world is mine now, you have no place in it. You are a Relic, made to be forgotten." Spat Mercury, burning a hole through Jaune's head.

"I don't know much about the future, however I do know about the past; you lost. You always do, it doesn't matter if I am here, or not."

Mercury, took several deep breathes and then slowly reached around to his back pocket and pulled out a device that he pressed with his thumb and a count down appeared on the screen of it.

10

9

It was an explosive and Mercury tossed it over Jaune and it landed at the feet of the cat woman, without even thinking about it Jaune jumped forward and removed his shield from his arm, he then placed it down on top of the explosive, using the inner of the shield as it curved and the edges laid flat against the ground. Jaune then put his full body on top of the shield and tried to hold it down as best as he could, hoping that it would be enough to protect the cat woman who had saved him, and stop the graves from being damaged.

2

1

BOOM

The wisps of smoke came up from under the shield as the explosion had destroyed part of the ground and given it cracks to spill out of. The rest of the area was completely fine; Jaune's shield had stopped the explosion from damaging anything, the shield its self was completely undamaged, the straps could do with replacing, but the shield just had some smoke marks that would wash off easily when water was applied.

"Heh, looks like that worked out alright for us." Said Jaune as he slid off his shield and sat on the ground looking around for the cat woman, however noticing she wasn't there he panicked slightly.

"Ma'am? Ma'am?! Where are you?!" That's when he spotted a piece of paper fluttering on top of one of the graves, held down by a piece of stone to make sure that the breeze didn't take it away. It was also in the last place that Jaune had seen the cat woman standing. Standing up and lifting his shield up, Jaune was greeted by the sight of a small crater that the explosion had caused, this reminded him of Mercury, but when he looked over he couldn't see the assassin anywhere. Good riddance. Picking up the note presumably left behind by the cat woman, Jaune read the only two words on the paper.

'Suit's you.'

Huh!

Who could that be?

Who do we know that is a cat?

Wh- Yeah it's Neon, I'll tell you now, no point keeping it a secret as you would already have guessed correctly.