"I wonder if he knows if we know."

"Maybe, maybe not. The chucklefuck might think so goddamn high of himself to think that he's infallible."

"Shit, well in any case, him knowing… about it doesn't hurt us that bad. If he tries to feed disinformation, we'd probably pick it up."

"Azul, trust me, Ozpin is one crafty fucker."

"Why do you shit talk him so much? Did he kill your parents or something."

"Long story."

"Shit, brother to brother, I have a feeling Ozpin will be a bit with the Corporal."

"You make it sound sexual."

"Ah, fuck you."

Conversation between Captain Alabaster and Major Azul.

Oops, I uh, meant to post this earlier in the day, sorry.

Anyways, thanks for helping me break 300 followers everyone, cheers.

Chapter 15: Old Friends

"Come sit down, Jaune. You might want to."

A chill spread across his body, and just for a second, he paused in place. Well, they had been the words uttered when he'd come up to Ozpin's office oh so many months ago, and his path in life changed dramatically. To be so close, yet so far, right in the office of not one, but two headmasters of a Huntsmen Academy, yet not be able to grasp the dream of being Huntsmen. Life wasn't fair, Razz would've said. Razz probably would've said a lot of things, actually, like getting his head out of his ass and getting on with the meeting.

"Jaune?' came Ozpin's voice.

Jolting upwards, Jaune blinked a few times, "Sorry, sir. I was just thinking about something."

An amused look, "Well, if you're done thinking, the chair is open to you. Nothing is stopping you from sitting down, and I'd rather you did, as looking upwards can be a bit tiresome." Ozpin grinned slightly, giving a chuckle to his own joke.

Jaune warily pulled back his chair, sitting back down, "So uh, can I ask why you kept me here?"

"Go ahead."

Silence.

A gentle cough into the cuff of his tunic, "Why did you keep me here?"

"That's better. Asking if you can, is asking a yes or no question. Can you? Or can you not? Asking if you can or may doesn't usually ask a question in reality. To answer your question, I just want to see how my old student is doing."

"Really?" a raised eyebrow. "That can't really be the reason for this. General, are you in on this too?"

Ozpin's eyes twinkled as he sipped from his mug, "An astute observation, Jaune. James here is just here to observe, and maybe ask a few questions."

Ironwood huffed in response, seemingly content to remain in his chair, ever watchful.

"Now you're right about that. But that's for later, but not now. Now? I just want to know how a former student is doing."

"A former student you kicked out."

Ozpin cleared his throat quickly, bringing his fist away from his face hurriedly, "Unfortunately, yes. My hands were quite tied by the Council then, as they couldn't just accept someone could get through Initiation without any training. Believe me, Mr. Arc, I fought for you to stay," a light chuckle. "After all, I always knew your transcripts were forged."

His head shot up from the head, meeting the headmaster's amused eyes, "Sorry, what?"

"Believe me, our vetting process is not quite as slack as you might think. Everyone who's accepted is fully vetted for any discrepancies, and yours were quite good, except that there just was no record of you studying at the combat school listed," before Jaune could shoot to his feet, demanding just why he would let him in, Ozpin raised a singular finger. "The why, Jaune, is something I'll keep to myself. Though the gamble I took on you certainly has panned out to be quite successful in its own right."

Jaune sat back down into his chair, crossing his arms grumpily, "If I ask how this gamble turned out so well, will you just answer cryptically again?"

"No, no," Ozpin waved his hand dismissively. "I'll get to that, I just want to ask how you're doing in Striker Group and in general."

"Just fine. I'm somehow an acting Section Commander already. Though something tells me you might know that already."

What was Ozpin trying to do here?

Just when he thought one layer of intrigue was done with, Ozpin just had to come around and smack him in the face with another. Why was he still here? What was Ozpin trying to do? So many questions, but no answers could be found.

Fine, just remember, while Ozpin is a "good guy", he's also a manipulative son of a bitch. Stay wary, kid.

Wary he'd stay.

"An impressive achievement to lead other people this early in your career. Alabaster said so when he told me about it. Rather different than our system, as there are much more experienced people in your force and people come in and out. I was made aware a particular set of circumstances led to it, unlucky or lucky, I will not say," sip, the mug was held out just in front of him. "Actually, would you want to visit your team while you're still here? As I said, it'd be fairly easy to call them up. They go by Piner now, if you didn't know."

Tick, tock.

The clockwork decoration worked and worked, gears turning and cogs moving.

"Jaune?"

Half open mouth. Shut, open, shut, then finally, a shake of his head, "No… not right now. I- I'll find them when I start the contract. I'm not ready for that yet."

Clink, the mug was placed down on the desk, "Understandable. Now, other matters," a holographic display suddenly appeared off to the side of them, displaying some sort of helmet camera footage.

Actually, it was his helmet camera, if the words in the top right were anything to go by.

"Yes, this is your helmet camera we're seeing," Ozpin chuckled, tapping quickly on his keyboard. "Four days ago, you fought a rogue Paladin of James. Quite admirably, if I do say so myself. If you could still be one, I'd offer a spot in my academy to you for how much you've improved."

Thump, thump, thump. His heart grew louder and louder.

As Jaune fought to maintain a passive face, Ironwood broke in, "I'd like to clarify it was not my rogue Paladin. The wording implies one of my men was operating it. Which they were not."

Ozpin glanced humorously at the General, "I don't think you need to fight about the wording of sentences in private company, James."

"Hmph."

"Well, in any case," Ozpin turned to face him. "You did perform quite well. Coordinating to take down the Paladin with the rocket launcher, and the explosive drone. Quite creative with that, explosive drones. RWBY had many glowing words, in fact, Schnee said she was pleasantly surprised."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Though that does bring up another topic of interest, your semblance."

"What about it?"

A few taps on his keyboard changed it to the scene of Razz, lower body crushed and him desperately holding onto his hands.

Squirms, silence, Clenching fists, gritted teeth.

"It's a quite interesting semblance. Alabaster said from testing it after, it's a type of Aura Amplific-"

Ironwood cleared his throat loudly, catching Ozpin's attention, "I don't think Corporal Arc here appreciates being shown the disabled body of his ex Section Commander."

A brief moment where Ozpin's eyes widened, then a quick tap of a button changed the screen, "Dreadfully sorry about that. I wasn't thinking straight. Are you alright?"

Breathe in, two, three, out, "I'm fine. Not like it killed him. Razz is still up and walking about."

"Yes, I assume his prosthetics are up to snuff?"

Jaune narrowed his eyes, "I have a feeling this is a recurring theme, with you making oddly specific remarks about stuff happening around me."

Ozpin leant back in his chair, an easy smile on his face, "Beacon paid for the prosthetics in full. After all, our students were at least partially responsible for that incident. It wouldn't do to not compensate for it."

"I see..."

"Back with you semblance, what can you tell us about it?"

"Haven't you heard from Alabaster about this already?"

"I'd rather I hear it in full from yourself," Ozpin leant forward, clasping his hands together.

A moment's hesitation. Did his Semblance count as sensitive information? No, it wasn't anything classified, and it wasn't as if Ozpin didn't know everything already… Alabaster apparently had told Ozpin about a bunch of things, which wouldn't be something he'd expect with how he acted around the Headmaster.

He'd already lost count of how many confusing layers there were on this onion.

"Aura Amplification, uh, essentially I just use my own Aura to boost someone else's. It can supplement someone's Aura or semblance. So if someone has a," a few snaps of his fingers, " speed Semblance-"

Ozpin exhaled air briefly through his nose, almost laughter, but not quite.

"-then if I use my Semblance, they become even faster than before. Same thing with Aura. If someone is low on Aura, and or injured, I can use my Semblance on them to supplement their Aura, and get them to heal faster."

"Quite the powerful Semblance you have there," Ozpin remarked. "Even more so if paired with the correct person. How's your control with it?"

"Decent, I guess."

A raised eyebrow, "It can always be better, Jaune. While I'm sure Alabaster is teaching you just fine, he doesn't quite ah, how should I say this? Grasp the finer mechanism of Semblance or Aura. For those, you'd have to go to an expert."

Tap, tap, tap, his fingers drummed on Ozpin's desk, "What are you suggesting here?"

Chuckling, "My, Beacon happens to have one such expert here, Glynda. Before you ask why again, I'll answer that. Your semblance could be quite powerful, so it's in my best interest to train up what could be our greatest boon. Is that a sufficient explanation?"

"Uh… yeah," he cocked his head. "So what now? You'll just have Goodwitch train my Aura? When?"

"Need I remind you that you're going to be guarding the CCT now?"

"Oh… so just after my shifts then?"

Ozpin hummed in agreement, "I'm sure we can work out the exact arrangements later. Now, the next thing."

With a press of a button, the hologram screen to an image of four cloaked individuals standing abreast of the Paladin.

"These individuals right here. I'm quite afraid to say that we know nothing about them, I was hoping that you might know something, seeing as you encountered them."

Ah, Sabyr Brigade.

Not referred to by name, curiously. Did that just mean they really didn't know who they were? Or that they were testing him?

Shrk!

Another layer in the onion of intrigue.

A moment's hesitation before speaking, "What about them?"

Ozpin grimaced, "As I've said, we were hoping that you'd… have more information than we do. I painfully must admit we are terribly uninformed about them."

This time, he didn't wait to speak, "Even if I knew anything about them, I wouldn't be allowed to say anything."

Ironwood sighed from the side, leaning towards Jaune, "Striker Group's intelligence services are unrivalled, Arc. I highly doubt you know nothing."

"If they did, why would they tell me?"

Ironwood stared at him.

Jaune stared back.

The General was the one to break away, sighing heavily, "You hesitated at the beginning, Arc. You know something, and it's something imperative to Vale's safety. What happens if whatever you know saves lives, Jaune? Those would've been some that you could've saved."

"I'm sure if Striker Group knows something, they'll act upon it accordingly."

"That's a copout answer and you know it, Corporal."

Nothing was said in response, just crossing his arms in lieu of one.

Ozpin massaged his head, glancing at Ironwood, "I don't believe we'll get anything out of him, James."

A clenched jaw.

"I think you're right."

"Very well," Ozpin inhaled sharply. "Let's move subjects. I suppose you might want some answer on that whole source thing, right?"

Shifting in his seat, "Yeah."

Ozpin leant forward, a fatherly smile spreading across his face, and it might've even put him at ease had it not been from Ozpin, of all people, "Well, the exact circumstances in which we met is a story I shall not tell for him. If he wants to tell you, he will. However, after that, we mutually agreed to provide each other information. He provided me with tidbits on Striker Group, and I with general tidbits on the council's decisions to ah, give them fair warning about things."

Did… did Ozpin just admit to doing something illegal in front of him?

"Isn't that leaking insider information?"

A sly smile, "Maybe so, but it benefits everyone. It's not like there are many companies that rival Striker Group. I do expect this to stay in these doors, and even if you tell people about it, who are they going to believe? You? Someone who has a reason to be disgruntled against me? Or Ironwood and I?"

"Fair."

"Anyways, this arrangement benefitted you quite well, as you might've noticed."

"I might've," Jaune motioned to his arm, which had the crossed lightning bolt emblem. "And I appreciate it."

The smile grew imperceptibly wider, "I just wonder, how far do you want to go in Striker Group? If it wasn't for this unfortunate black mark on your record, I would've offered you a spot back in Beacon, but alas, I'm interested to see where you'll go."

A very specific, and very strange question to ask.

All of the alarm bells rung in his head, for what must've been the hundredth time already.

"I'm… not sure," he shifted in his seat. "I'll see where it goes, but I'm happy where I am."

Ozpin leaned back, an eyebrow going up, "I see Alabaster didn't tell you what he thought."

"And?"

"He said he thinks you'll go far in Striker Group, maybe even get to command a fairly large unit."

Huh?

"Huh?"

"Yes, Jaune. Alabaster did say that. Despite how he probably has acted around you, that's what he said to me. I do know that despite the way he acts around me, he trusts me well enough for what our relationship is."

"Uh..."

The headmaster held a hand up, "No need to respond to that one."

The three of them sat in silence, Jaune just trying to process what was just said, finally, he spoke, "So, if that's all..."

"Not quite, there is just one last thing I want to go over," Ozpin's face grew serious. "Do you happen to know anyone in your intelligence branch?"

"Actually… yes," narrowed eyes. "Why?"

"I'd like to hire you for… finding out more information on the cloaked men that you encountered. We figure that with your company's reputation as manhunters might mean that you can turn up something, where we cannot."

Shit, fuck, goddammit, why?

All of these expletives flew through his head and more, but on the outside, his face remained level, or what he hoped was level.

"Why don't you put this through normal channels?" he asked. "If you do that, they'd have many more resources than I would have at my disposal. Not only saying that they'd probably find them faster than me."

"I want to be discreet, which isn't something I can guarantee if I put it through normal means. So that's why I'm here with you, requesting your help with this, personally. Pay, of course, isn't an issue. We'll scale it proportionately with how many people you have on your team, which we prefer to keep as low as possible, for obvious reasons."

"Uh, I'll have to check with Alabaster first..."

Ozpin grimaced, "I'd prefer it if you didn't tell anyone, but I wouldn't expect otherwise. Though, of course hypothetically, if you were to accept the contract, I'm of course willing to offer the services of my students to assist you-"

Students? No, he wouldn't do that unless-

"-more specifically RWBY and PNR. I understand your relationship with them is… rocky right now, but I assume that in the coming days, you'll reconcile with them."

There it was.

"We're aware of your rules of these personal contracts," Ironwood broke in from the side. "You or the employer has to provide the equipment, and nothing illegal. The latter isn't an issue, and for the former, the Atlesian military is perfectly fine with lending out equipment."

"What's the pay?"

"One-hundred-fifty-thousand for every person, every month you're employed in this manner."

Well, shit.

The pay was good, they were already chasing Sabyr Brigade, so he'd just be doing his job but for even more money. Where was the disadvantage?

Fine, just remember, while Ozpin is a "good guy", he's also a manipulative son of a bitch. Stay wary, kid.

Well, he could always just hold off until later, until he talked to Alabaster about it. It wouldn't exactly hurt if he heard the more precise details… it'd at least give him something to tell Alabaster when he was done.

Jaune sighed, leaning forward, "Well, let's say hypothetically that I accepted, what would the details entail?"

Smiling, Ozpin started tapping on his keyboard, "Well, first of all, your intelligence friends..."

/ - /

The short elevator ride was uneventful, to say the least.

Maybe he just expected… something crazy to happen, and he probably wouldn't have batted an eye, considering the last few days.

Alright, he would've batted an eye, an eye and a mouthful of swears.

After a few minutes tapping his feet in the elevator, waiting as minutes seemed to stretch into hours, just from everything swirling through his head. The skills honed from training sifted through everything that had just been told to him, and even then, he realized falling half asleep in those classes hadn't been the best decision he'd ever made. Both from the immediate punishment then, and the struggle inside his head now.

Finally, the elevator doors opened.

Jaune waved hello as he stepped out, "Well, I'm done with that now."

Alabaster came off the wall he was leaning on, "What did Ozpin want to talk about?"

"Uh..." a quick glance at the camera watching them. "The… people from the Paladin stuff."

Alabaster's eyes narrowed, "What exactly about… these people?"

"He wants to hire me to find them."

"Well shit," Azul said, standing next to Alabaster. "That uh… complicates things."

"No kidding," replied Alabaster. "Shit, let's walk and talk and figure this out."

The trio started to walk down the corridor, crisp military uniforms drawing more than a few looks from the passing students. Alabaster looked over as they walked, "So give me a rundown, and preferably without anything really detailed until we get outside."

"Yeah," said Azul. "I'd like to hear what Ozpin had to say."

Jaune groaned, rubbing his face, "Well, he wants to put forth a personal contract for more information on S- the people I encountered. Wants me to bring on some intel guys, and my own section," at that, he scowled. "We'd basically be given a blank cheque to do whatever the hell we want."

"Damn," whistled Azul. "He really doesn't play around, does he? Is this even legal?"

Alabaster grunted from the side, "He's the Headmaster, Azul. Bastard can make up and ignore any rule he wants, and he'll sweep away any consequences."

Personal Contracts was something that had been fairly glossed over in Basic. The meeting before had only reinforced that fact. Still, he could remember the basic rules: nothing illegal, nothing against the Kingdom or Striker Group's interests, the employer or Contractor has to provide the equipment, and the contract has to be approved by the Contractor's CO. There were actually plenty more semantics that Jaune barely remembered, and didn't matter in the large picture, but they were still there.

Nothing illegal certainly wasn't a factor when the employer was the one that made the laws.

"That's basically the lowdown," he said. "We should keep the specifics until we get outside. Ironwood did offer his equipment. Like, fucking all of it. So if I do accept, at least I'll get to play with the latest and greatest te-"

"JAUNE!"

Loud, high pitched voice, excitement, and his name all thrown into one. Jaune spun around, his hand twitching towards his holster. One, two, three, fucking all of them. A cloaked girl led the group down the hallway, students dodging out of the way of her. Her semblance wasn't active, but it could've been with how fast she was moving, and just behind her…

Red hair, emerald eyes, and a look of genuine happiness.

Fuck.

Why now? Why not when he could've actually decided it on his own terms? Shit, why was he so apprehensive again? There was no reason, everyone looked happy to see him, there was no reason for him to be so nervous.

His heart pounded all the same.

Nora, looking bubbly as ever.

Ren, calm and collected.

Yang, dragging her partner along.

Blake, being dragged along.

Weiss, scolding her team for unheard reasons.

Both teams had come in full force. They had come in full force for him.

"Eventually, this will catch up to you Jaune, and it won't be on your own terms."

Mentally, he told Lavender to fuck off.

Internally, his body seized. Lungs starting to hyperventilate, and the fight or flight instinct kicked in, completely overriding the rational part of his brain. One step back, then it was turning around, turning around and running. At least until a hand landed on his shoulder.

Jaune was pulled back, and pulled around to face the owner of the hand, Alabaster, "Hey, hey, where do you think you're going? Those are your old teammates, right?"

"Y-yeah," he sent a glare right at the Captain.

A chuckle erupted from his throat, "Kid, we're about to be stuck here for a few months. Might as well talk to them and make up. Anyways, does that look like the face of someone who hates you?"

In any case, it was too late to try and run. Ruby became a blur, her rose petal trail littering the floor. In a short half second, she had closed the short distance between Jaune and her, stopping abrupting in front of him.

"Hey Jaune! You didn't tell us you were here," Ruby chirped, bright and hopeful face smiling happily. "What are you even doing here anyways?"

He turned to the Red Reaper, scratching the back of his head, "Uh, that... am I allowed to t-"

The other redhead in the hallway didn't give him time to finish. Pyrrha took him completely by surprise, crashing into him just as he turned around to look at Alabaster. The last thing he saw before tumbling back was the Captain holding in barely restrained laughter.

Bastard.

Jaune stumbled back with a verifiably loud yelp, barely managing to stay upright from the Pyrrha-shaped projectile hitting him at top speed. As she wrapped her arms around him tight, his body, as a teenager, didn't exactly react well to… Pyrrha's assets squishing against his chest, and so… just a twinge in his pants was all that was needed to send him into full panic mode. The last thing he needed was her thinking he was a creep!

"Jaune," Pyrrha simply mumbled into his shoulder, squeezing him all the tighter.

"Pyr..." slowly, his own arms came to wrap around her. It was nice to see her again, despite his earlier nervousness. He let himself savour the moment, at least until he realized that his breaths were drawing shorter and shorter with each passing second, until he could barely breathe. "Hrk! Pyrrha! Can't, breathe!"

In an instant, Pyrrha let go, backing off sheepishly while Jaune gasped for air, "Oh! Sorry! I'm so sorry! Are you alright?"

"Yeah..." he gasped. "Fine."

Looking up, he found all of his friends in front of him, foremost Nora and Ren.

"Fearless Leader!" yelled Nora, leaping forward, dragging a mostly compliant Ren along. "You're back!"

"Heh...' a mutter, "back..."

Azul from the side, gave a glance at his watch, "Sorry, but we'll on a bit of a schedule, so we'll be going soon-"

"C'mon sir," Alabaster broke in, crossing his arms. "We're not really on that big of a time crunch right now. We already have the contract and it's not like they're expecting us back so fast. Let the kid talk to his friends." he added the last part with a grin directed at Jaune.

Really? Surely, Azul would say something that they had to go-

Another glance at his watch, "Eh, you're right. Corporal, you get five minutes tops. Got it?"

"Tracking, sir," he nodded, internally cursing out Alabaster.

And so he turned back to his team.

His friends.

Friends.

Fuck.

And so, he was just a tiny bit caught up in how he was going to deal with this, when Nora decided now was the time to go for a bone crushing hug, somehow even tighter than Pyrrha's.

"Agh!" he yelped, as Nora folded him in two, compressing his sides into a Jaune sandwich, and his lungs even more. "Can't. Breathe. Help!"

"Nora, please let Jaune go, he needs oxygen," Ren reached forward, tapping an unseen part of her, causing her to release him in a storm of giggles. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he said, gulping in bucketfuls of air. "I'm fine, fine. So uh, how are you guys?"

"Great!" perked up Pyrrha. "Just happy to see you again."

Nora giggled as she clung onto Ren, "Well, now we know where our fearless leader disappeared to! He's gone and joined the army!"

"You know full well this isn't the army," tutted Ren, staring her in the eye. "We went over this already, and Vale doesn't even have a real military."

Team RWBY stood by the side, awkwardly shuffling around when Jaune peered past his team to look at them, "Hey guys, how are you doing?"

"Good," responded Yang, hands on her hips, looking him up and down. "You get any better at fighting, Vomit Boy?"

"Yang!" Ruby punched her sister ineffectually.

A loud and sudden cough, with a pointed glare at Alabaster, "Yeah, I had uh, some brutal instructors to say the least."

Alabaster only grunted, kicking him in the shins.

"Wanna test that out in the ring later?"

"Uh-"

"He'll do it," Alabaster smirked.

Yang smiled at the Captain, "Alright, can you help set it up for us? Because I don't trust him to not go dark on me."

"Ahem," Jaune cleared his throat. "Do I get any say in this?"

Alabaster rapped his knuckles on the side on his head, drawing a yelp, "Consider it a training opportunity. Don't worry, uh..."

"Yang," the brawler said.

"Yang, we can organize it later, and I'll make sure he doesn't skip it."

And so as Yang and Alabaster slowly fell into conversation about how they'd make Jaune suffer in oh so many ways, Pyrrha awkwardly glanced up at him.

"So, I was just wondering," Pyrrha began, kicking her feet against the floor. "I don't mean to pry, but why didn't you text me after you got kicked out? I don't know if I didn't anything wrong, but if I did, then I'm sorry."

"No, no," Jaune shook his head. The shaking inside subsided, the fight or flight instinct had subsided, and finally, the rational part of his brain came forward. "Nothing on your part. After uh, my expulsion, I just wasn't feeling all that great. Then when I joined Striker Group. It's uh, a Private Military group," he motioned to his patch, "I was too busy doing stuff. I know, I know, a terrible excuse, but uh, I just found myself putting it off, because of all the stuff that's been happening."

Pyrrha stared weakly at the floor, "I guess you might not have had time after the Paladin thing..." her emerald eyes suddenly shot up to lock with his. "Wait, you were avoiding us?"

Gone was the usual facade of an Invincible Girl, in its place just any other girl. One that had her best friend torn away from her, supposedly the first one to finally look past her status, and looked at her as another person. It'd been more than a few months, so she must've only recently gotten over him leaving. Well, it couldn't have been that bad for her, could it? She still had Nora, Ren, and the rest of RWBY. Losing him couldn't have been that severe of a blow. He was just Jaune, a washout, a failed knight who turned to a PMC, and she was Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl.

Yet, she stood in front of him, vulnerable and scared, mixed in with a dab of happiness.

What she said wasn't wrong.

He had been avoiding RWBY and JNPR with everything he could.

Well, amends had to be made eventually.

"Yeah," Jaune simply said. Pyrrha's face became crestfallen, just the slightest hint of tears in her eyes. Even behind, an odd expression came across Nora. Ren twitched. RWBY flinched.

Fuck.

Swearing was something he picked up from just about everyone in Striker Group, he idly mentally remarked. Yelling expletives in the face of the enemy started coming naturally. Expletive laced insults were thrown around frequently in Striker Group, in stark contrast to Beacon. It was all an idle thought that passed through his head in the intervening moment.

And so, he stepped forward, and wrapped Pyrrha into a hug.

"I'm sorry," he began, in the only way he could. "I'm sorry for trying to avoid you all. I'm sorry for lying to you all. I'm sorry for leaving you all in the dark. I'm sorr-"

He was interrupted by laughter from Pyrrha, who gently pulled away, mirth clear on her face, "Jaune, we're not angry at you. We understand that you needed space. We're not clingy and think that if you spend a moment not talking to us that means you hate us."

"Silly, Jauney!" laughed Nora, who pranced forward to boop! him on the nose. "Thinks we hate him or something, ha!"

"It's true," Ren said. "Whatever you think, we really don't hold any ill will."

"Wow, uh..."

Ruby chirped up, "Yeah, I get it!"

"Jeez, Vomit Boy, we don't really hate you, and I just needed to see that you could actually work for stuff, no offence."

"I respect you now."

"Hmph."

Jaune scratched the back of his head, looking at his old team, "Wow, uh. Thanks?"

Pyrrha grinned sheepishly at him, shuffling forward and clasping her hands around her back, "So, when's the next time we can get together? Will you promise to text us again?"

"Yeah, definitely," he nodded, then slightly turned his head towards Alabaster. "Am I allowed to tell them?.."

The Captain nodded, "Go ahead, not like they won't find out."

"Ruby asked why I was here-"

She nodded vigorously, and soon even Blake had locked her eyes onto him, listening raptly.

"-and so, in a nutshell, Ozpin just hired us to guard the CCT, and I'm in the unit that's gonna do it. You guys know what Striker Group is, right? Do I need to explain that to you?"

One second of silence.

"Oh, that's grand!" Pyrrha nearly jumped for joy, her face brighter than ever. "And we already know about um… Striker Group. Team RWBY researched them and told us about them."

Ruby's eyes widened, "Wait, so does that mean we get to see those cool vehicles you had?"

"Really?" Yang raised an eyebrow. "Now at least, we know when we can spar."

Weiss pursed her lips, "Well, I'd certainly like to see what you can do."

And so, everyone broke into talking, unconsciously planning out what they would do, often drifting away from Jaune entirely. Ruby going on a spasm about weapons, Yang theorizing how she'd beat him, Weiss and Blake talking about… something. Nora and Ren arguing whether… they should break people's legs? However, his attention was drawn to the redhead Champion.

A massive smile, "So does that mean you're going to come back soon?"

"Uh..." a look back at Alabaster.

"In a few days."

"Yeah, that," Jaune said.

"That's great," Pyrrha said, emerald eyes bright and happy. "Though, I do have a question that I'm sure the rest of us would like answered."

Behind, everyone stopped mid-sentence, slowly coming to huddle around Jaune, curious expressions present, "Shoot."

"How did you come to join Striker Group, and what did you do during it?"

"Yeah, long story," he idly scratched his head. "I'll try and keep it short, mind as well get started."

So he told them the story, from the beginning until then, with some details omitted, after pointed coughs from the two officers next to him. His story was often interrupted, either by Nora bursting into a miniature story of her own, often tempered by Ren soon after, or one of the others posing a short question. Soon, he was finished.

"So, that's it," he clapped his hands together. "Now I'm here."

"Wow, uh," Ruby cocked her head. "That's cool, you got to do so much stuff! I mean, we stopped Torchwick from robbing a place last semester, then… uh, a few days ago."

Ruby looked down at her feet, the rest of team RWBY following suit, with Yang being the outlier and madly grinning at him instead.

"Naw, it's fine," Jaune shook his head, gesturing dismissively with his hand. "As long as you guys don't decide to step in on our operation again it'll be good. We're dealing with the White Fang now, so you won't need to step in. We all good now?"

RWBY almost immediately perked up, with Ruby herself the loudest. Yet, Blake hesitated, waiting a moment. Then again, she was the quiet one, so it made sense.

"Good, great," said Ruby. "We won't intervene in police operations anymore, won't we, Blake?"

Maybe it was just Jaune, but he swore he saw her bow twitch as she coughed loudly into a fist, "Yes, definitely."

"Now, I hate to break up this little reunion," interrupted Azul from the side. "But we gotta go now, so if you could wrap this up real quick."

"Oh," Pyrrha said, the smile faltering. "We can walk with you to the Bullhead docks."

Alabaster coughed loudly, looking around at the assembled group of Huntsmen and mostly Huntresses, "I'm afraid that you can't. We gotta uh… discuss some sensitive stuff that you can't hear."

The smile faltered even more, "Well, if that's the case, bye?"

Jaune reached out a hand in a fist, "I'll text you later."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Pyrrha smiled again, and bumped her fists against his.

"Aww," snickered Alabaster, already turning to walk away, Azul following. "Now get fucking moving Corporal, or I'll beat your ass into a pulp next time we spar."

In an instant, Jaune had moved next to Alabaster, waving goodbye to RWBY and PNR, "Seeya later!"

"Bye!"

"You better spar me later!"

"Bye, bye, Jauney!"

"You better show me that tank!"

And many other things. Jaune just gave one last thumbs up at them, before turning around the jogging to catch up with the officers.

"Fucking colourful bunch, are they?" Alabaster grunted.

A shrug, "They're my team, or my former team. But I'd like to say we're friends, so please don't badmouth them."

"Getting a bit big for your fucking pants, Corporal?" snorted the Captain. "Don't worry about it, just commenting on them. Anyways, tell me more about that conversation with 'ol Ozpin, once we get outside." a nod towards the double doors in front of them, leading outside.

Jaune nodded.

Once they pushed their way past the double doors, Jaune began.

Start to finish, explaining didn't take long. Going through from start to finish, occasionally adding in his own observations. The finer details, he didn't bother to mention in interests of time.

"So if I'm getting this right," Azul began. "The Headmaster pulled you aside, to go behind our backs and hire you to investigate the guys you already were hunting?"

"Essentially."

"Well, isn't that fucking wack..." Azul shook his head.

Alabaster scratched his chin for a second as they walked on the pavement, "So Ozpin asked about how you were doing, then complimented you on becoming a Crew Commander so early, then asked for your help on this. Isn't that something… fucking manipulative asshole."

"Huh?"

Alabaster elbowed him hard, "Have you not been paying attention when I was teaching you? The fucker's definitely trying to manipulate you somehow. Though the personal contract is interesting..."

"How so?" he asked. Alabaster glanced quickly at a passing student, waiting for them to get out of earshot before responding.

"I don't like you working for Ozpin directly, Azul sure as shit wouldn't-"

The Major grunted in agreement.

"-but, you'd essentially be doing what you would've been doing, but instead taking money from Oz."

A pause.

"Take the contract."

"Wait, really?" Jaune cocked his head.

Alabaster groaned, "I know you know you don't have the listening capability of a fucking ant, so fucking listen. You're going to take the contract, but all you're going to do is take his money. You'll in actuality be operating mostly under our auspices and under our supervision. However, working under the dude that can sweep literally anything under the rug..."

The Captain snapped his fingers a few times, "Shit, this is perfect. Whatever you do, make sure you have stuff that connects you to Ozpin, so if shit goes wrong, it goes wrong for Ozpin. If we have to do this, you'll have to get your own kit and people, which I don't think will be a problem if old Ironwood is willing to lend it out. You got anyone in mind?"

"My section," he said immediately. "As for intel support… I got someone in mind, though I have to convince them first, and probably get their unit to approve it."

"Great, we can get that stuff sorted out later."

Azul nodded along, "I can help with that, if rank is an issue there."

"Heh, this'll be a good opportunity to flex your leadership skills, because I'm sure as shit making you organize this," Alabaster said.

Jaune did a double take, "Wait, what?"

"Yeah," a short chuckle. "If we're selling Ozpin as the fall guy, we sure as shit can't help. I'm also pretty sure this is what Ozpin intended. Testing your leadership abilities and all, and I'm not exactly opposed to that, because that's useful to me too."

Huh.

A cheshire grin slowly came over Alabaster's face, "Anyways, how was talking to you girlfriend?"

"Wait, what?" Jaune stared up at Alabaster, furrowing his brows. "Pyrrha? We're not dating!"

As they approached the Bullhead, the air was filled with curses, denials, and loud, raucous laughter. Azul himself was just in for the ride, gleefully listening to the ribbing of Jaune by his superior. As they boarded the Bullhead, the pilot just shook his head, tuning out the conversation behind him.

He'd heard weirder shit.

/ - /

"So, Cedric, what do you think?"

Iris sat across the coffee table, one hand holding a coffee cup, the other pushing a scroll towards him. A few people walked past their table, paying no heed to the pair sitting at their table. Overall, the coffee shop was fairly packed for its size, all the more useful for drowning out their words.

Cedric peered at it, "Looks good. Probably need skill overall, in fact, I think you just need skill in general."

"Oh shut up!" she rolled her eyes, swinging her head to look at the other side of the room. "Like you could do any better."

On the scroll was an image of a badly painted piece of art, if you could even call it that, drawn by Iris herself. Cedric grinned, sipping at his coffee idly as he gave a quick scan around the coffee shop. Patrons walked around, and many were seated, sipping their own coffee or taking bites out of their food as they chatted.

All in all, it was a nice, calm day in a coffee shop in Vale.

Iris' eyes peered behind Cedric, sweeping the room in trained unawareness. Laughter and talk between the two masked their true purpose.

They were working.

They were tracking.

They were hunting.

In reality, their unit had been tasked to go hunter killer mode, let loose to prosecute any target that came across them, each team had been given an initial target, and told to follow and prosecute it.

Their Major had come to personally give them their target. One Faunus Male, suspected White Fang member, also suspected to be quite high up the totem pole. So the mission had been given to them, supposedly one of the rising stars in the Intelligence branch. They wanted them to track them, find signs of guilt, and call in a snatch and grab team. So he'd selected them, and told them to pretend they were dating while tracking the member, supposedly because two young adults out together usually drew less attention than a single man.

An easy assignment, overall, though Cedric didn't get Ray's snickers as he left.

Cedric couldn't see him, but he knew for a fact the target sat in the corner of the room, back to a wall, casually chatting to a female Faunus.

Iris quickly took the scroll back, swiping through it quickly, "Hey, wanna take a picture?"

"Sure," he grinned humourlessly.

A giggle, "C'mon, give me something more!"

The smile widened fractionally, not like it was for him anyway.

"Ugh," rolled eyes. "Good enough."

Click!

Iris had angled it every so, that he didn't fill up the frame. Instead, the target behind him did. At least, Cedric assumed so.

"So," she brought the scroll out of sight, below the table. "You talk to Jaune recently?"

Shrug, "A bit."

"What'd he say?" she placed her elbows on the table, leaning forward intently.

Another shrug, "Eh, some stuff about work a few days ago. Did you know he was actually working on the same project?"

An odd smile came onto her face, "Really? What part?"

"Apparently took part in the robotics part," a sip of his coffee. "Apparently he was a huge part in deconstructing the thing."

"Deconstructing?" she tilted her head, smile widening.

"Yeah, like," he gestured randomly with his coffee cup, his own grin creeping onto his face. "Taking it apart. Testing to see what kind of punishment it was able to take."

"Did you tell him about our part in it?"

A chuckle, "The parts I could tell him. The Company really does love making sure nobody knows everything."

"Truly fascinating."

They sat in their seats enjoyably, the background noise of the coffee shop a nice accompaniment to their work, at least. Well, it wasn't all that bad, going out to town. The company wasn't all that bad at least, Iris made for pleasant enough conversation. Slowly, he checked the recording device he planted near the target's table. Still recording, they'd review the audio later.

Bzzt! Bzzt!

The scroll was out of his pocket in an instant. They were supposed to keep them on, in case their CO ever needed to get in touch.

The image of a blond dork greeted him, along with an accept or decline button.

"Is it Ray?" Iris asked. She was referring to their Major.

He grunted, "Jaune."

"Oh?" she cocked her head. "Well, take it, I can keep watch."

"We're working."

"Sh, we're, on a 'date'," she smiled. "Now, I'm a good girlfriend and will let you talk to him."

Rolling his eyes, he tapped the green accept button, and brought the scroll to his ear. Iris sure loved teasing him, or whatever counted as teasing in her books.

"Hello?" he tentatively asked.

"Hey, Cedric."

Why did he hear a certain tone in Jaune's voice, the same one that he always heard before every single batshit insane plan?

"What are you calling for?"

Laughter on the other end, "What? I can't call to catch up?"

"I'm working."

The laughter quickly stopped, "Alright, I'll keep it quick. I'm calling because I want to hire you and Iris for a contract. One that's not officially covered by the Company, as you might be able to tell. Though I already took care of most of the details already, so this call is mostly a formality."

Well, this was interesting at the very least, "First of all, I'm a busy guy, and my boss isn't going to like me being gone for an extended amount of time, second, what do I get out of it? Third, what the hell are you doing, Jaune?"

"I've talked to your Major already, and he's already approved all of it," shuffling paper for a short second. "As for what's in it for you, close to a hundred fifty thousand a month. As for me? Not exactly something I can explain over scroll. Though I'll just say I got approval from my Colonel for this."

Jaune, someone who'd been in the same amount of time as him, had managed to talk to his CO, a Major, and get approval for whatever this was from his Colonel. In addition to paying him a hundred fifty thousand a month. Now, if that wasn't a flag for something interesting then nothing was. Cedric, however, didn't get through life by taking everything at face value, "What's the job, and how do I know you're not just bullshitting me?"

"You really have that little faith in me?" chuckling, then a momentary pause, "I don't blame you. If you want to make sure, check with your CO. The job isn't exactly something I can say over the scroll, so if you want to know details, then message me on the secure net after, and we can set up a meeting place."

"If you could get the approval of everyone for this, why not just get me through the official stuff?"

"Uh, as I've said, it's technically unofficial..."

"Hm."

"Anyways, talk to your CO, message me if you're interested, and say hi to Iris for me. Seeya later anyways, because even if you don't accept this, I'm sure as shit going to try and meet up with you regardless."

Then, the scroll clicked, and he brought it away to find that Jaune had ended the call.

"What was that about?" Iris raised an eyebrow, sipping at her coffee.

The scroll soon faded to black, "Jaune says hi."

"What else?"

"I think things just got a whole lot more interesting for us."

Just want to know, if I made a Discord server, how many of you would join it?

Also, did I ever tell you that I hate writing scenes with a whole lot of characters all at one in a dialogue scene? It isn't a story the Jedi would tell you...

I want die, plz help.

I literally wrote this chapter two days before my deadline, so I honestly was panicking while editing this lmao. Plus this is supposedly an important chapter so I literally have myself yelling at myself that my writing is shit and what the hell am I doing half the time.

Didn't help that I just couldn't write for half the time lmao. Dialogue is easy with OCs because people can't call you out for not writing the character right.

I originally was gonna rewrite the first few chapters and release them alongside this chapter, but uh, time crunch yo. Chances are if I get off my ass you get rewritten chapters in two weeks. In retrospect, I should've made Jaune's transition between a goofy knight and a still somewhat goofy but more serious PMC dude more obvious and pronounced, and less, hey, now Jaune's this way now.

If only I actually planned this out better.

By the way, we not only passed 300 followers last chapter, but this story is now 100k+ words, damn. That's about the size of a small book, and we're not even on the Dance Arc yet. That's a big oof for the pacing.

Anyways, review so my ego can inflate ten times the size of my head. Every review I get the more I question how people like my story. Then again, when reading Fanfiction, people tend to lower their expectations to zero…

Anyways, gonna go yeet a commie in Portlaghanistan and Seatraq.

Cheers,

TopHat out.