I drank alcohol while editing this. So that's my excuse for bad writing.

Also, the first chapter should be rewritten by now. It might take a few hours for the site to update, so sit tight if you feel like rereading it.

"So you accepted the offer?"

"Yeah, now we're just going to lay the groundwork for them, while they sit around and stay cozy in Beacon."

"So… what's our first objective?"

"Snatch up anyone and everything. We need to find enough intelligence that Jaune and his team can act on it. Preferably with Beacon reinforcements, if what he's telling me is right."

"Isn't that… illegal when we're not doing it with Striker Group?"

"Iris, we're literally working under the jurisdiction of Beacon right now."

"Oh, right."

"Man, I sure do love when I'm working for the Council. Sure makes it easy to ignore the laws."

"You've… not worked for the Council? Like, not with the Company?"

"..."

"Mysterious past, got it."

"Anyways, let's get to work."

Chapter 16: Beacon

The Bullhead engines droned on as it soared through the air.

Well, that was what Jaune hoped it was doing, instead of… dropping abruptly to the ground while its engines were still going. It wasn't possible to see outside the Bullhead due to a glaring lack of windows. Sure there were two, but those were the ports for the door gunners, and there weren't any more in the ramp version of the Bullhead. Motion sickness wasn't a factor, due to the wonders of modern medicine. Else he would've been laid out on the floor with a puddle of barf next to him.l

There was also that Aura trick Alabaster had shown him once he learned about his motion sickness. How he didn't know about this before? No idea, but it wasn't surprising, considering he somehow didn't know about Aura before going to Beacon...

Looking back, it was a miracle that he lived.

"Hey Jaune," Thistle nudged his side from his seat next to him. "Did the Headmaster give you a reason why we're the ones doing this? Hell, you're just about the only one who has an idea of what we're doing here."

Jaune crossed his arms, reclining his head on the seat's headrest, "Ozpin told me just about nothing, I already told you that, man. And don't go blurting all about the contract just anywhere. That's supposed to be a 'secret'." he motioned the air quotes, lowering his voice to a hush, "So I rather not just have everyone know about it."

Lavender was sitting just across from him, so she leant forward and placed her elbows on her knees, head resting on her hands, "You sure about that? Only thing you told us was that he hired us for this special top secret thing, and he demanded that we be the ones that guard the CCT. Sounds a tad suspicious to me."

"C'mon," Jay said from his seat next to Lavender. "You gotta have at least a theory in that head of yours."

Besides Jay, Finch was busy tinkering with a small drone. The drone specialist looked up from his work for a moment, "If we're going to go on this contract, we might as well know what you think is why."

"Alright, alright," his hands went up in mock surrender. Lowering his voice, so only they could hear him, which wasn't all that difficult over the whine of the Bullhead. "Alabaster thinks he wants to try and manipulate me or somethin-"

Thistle held up a hand, a cheeky smile on his face, "Wait, so he's trying to groom you?"

"Bad, Thistle. Vi, smack him."

"Oh c'mo- ow!" Thistle flinched as VI's hand came fast, sharply hitting him in the cheek.

"Anyways, the why, I don't really know, but if the Captain could decide everything he'd have us off in the woods hunting Sabyr Brigade, and as far away from Ozpin as we could be."

The Section Marksman cringed, "Weeks on end in Rocky Laser Beam with my sister as the driver? Ugh."

Vi, from her seat beside Thistle, buried her face in her hands, "Why did you guys have to name it that? Why not anything else? Why not just Laser Beam, and remove the Rocky part?"

"Because," Jaune turned to look at the aforementioned Rocky Laser Beam, "Thistle is a laser beam on the turret, and you're the worst driver in the Company. It's my decision, and that's what I decided on."

Much to Vi's visible chagrin, the words, Rocky Laser Beam, were stencilled on the hull of the LAV strapped to the floor just in front of him, in the typical matte black of words on a military vehicle. Decided after Thistle proposed the initial idea, and Alabaster had given the go-ahead. Ideas had been bounced around, but Vi's complaining really sealed the deal with Rocky Laser Beam.

"So what's it like in Beacon?" Thistle asked. "Since we're literally going there right now. Are the girls cute? Do they have like, fucking raves where they take all of the drugs because of their Aura?"

Vi rammed an elbow into Thistle's side, driving him straight into Jaune as they both yelped out in surprise. One from the introduction of an elbow to his side, and the other from a body being thrown onto him, "Hey! You're not allowed to take drugs!"

A snort, "What are you? My mom?"

"No," she glared at Thistle, before softening her gaze. "But if you do go to a rave, have the decency to invite me."

"No way, you'd get high as fuck off a particle of anything."

She raised a fist in the air, poised to strike.

"On second thought, you'd hold up fine."

Jaune chuckled from the side, "Just for the record, there are no raves that I know of-"

"Aw!"

"-but, there probably was one brave Huntsman that tried, and failed miserably."

"Why's that?" Thistle cocked his head.

"The Deputy Headmistress."

"Pft, if they're scared of her then-"

Jaune coughed into a hand, interrupting Thistle, "This is a Huntsman school, Thistle. That means the Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress are some of the most skilled Huntsmen in Remnant."

A mouth gaping like a fish, Thistle held out one singular finger, about to object but stopping mid thought, "Yeah, good point."

Quiet chatter soon took over their spot in the Bullhead. The engine whine was barely audible through the hull, which let everyone inside talk quietly to each other. Another LAV in the very back was strapped down, their own crew talking amongst themselves, while Jaune's own section started chattering in pairs. Vi and Thistle, Finch and Jay, and as for Jaune? Lavender locked eyes with him, leaning forward to speak.

"You talked to your friends at Beacon yet?"

"I did, yeah. They sort of found me right after we finished our meeting with Ozpin," a chuckle. "Someone must've recognized me and told my old team. Dunno who though."

Lavender leant back in her seat, content to talking from across each other, "Did you run away or actually talk to them? I do know for a fact that you never texted them, so that must've been awkward."

"I uh, tried," an awkward smile. "Alabaster held me there, so I couldn't. They didn't really seem to care all that much that I never talked to them. I told them sorry, and they just didn't care. They were pretty happy to just have me back I guess. Though RWBY did seem pretty sorry for the whole Paladin thing. So they shouldn't be running around interfering with us anytime soon."

She yawned, arching her back as she stretched, "That's good. You never told us how they are though, mind telling me?"

"Sure," Jaune closed his eyes for a second, shifting around in his seat to find a more comfortable position. Arms crossed, he began. "So let's start with my team, JNPR. They're called PNR now, because I'm obviously not part of it. I, surprisingly, was the team leader. I don't know why Ozpin chose me, but I'm pretty sure it's the same reason we're going to Beacon instead of hunting for Sabyr Brigade in the Grimmlands."

Lavender idly scratched her chin, "You said you faked your way in with no Aura, right?"

A subtle wince, but a wince that Lavender caught nonetheless, "Did that hit a soft spot? Sorry, we can just drop that if you want..."

He shook his head, "No, no, it's fine. Jeez, you don't have to apologize for accidentally insulting me. We've both been through Basic, and if we don't have thick skins then Moss probably would like to have another go at us. And yeah, I did fake my way in with no Aura." a pause, "You know, I was kind of stupid looking back."

Her hand stifled a giggle, "Moss is in the other Bullhead, so just tell him all about the stupid things you've done, and we'd have free entertainment."

"Yeah, yeah," rolled eyes. "Anyways, turned out Ozpin knew in the first place that I faked my way in."

"And the plot thickens. You know why he even let you in? I find it hard to believe there's a good reason."

"No idea, as I've said a million times already. I'm about as lost as you," almost unconsciously, he started tapping his thumb against his thigh. "Anyways, to get back on topic of the original subject. My former partner, Pyrrha Nikos, is like, really cool."

"I'm pretty sure I heard that name somewhere before..." she paused, sniffing slightly. "Dunno. I think I spent too much time worrying about myself to pay attention."

He just shrugged, "Anyways, she's an awesome fighter. Top of the class, really good swordswoman, and was going to train me before I got kicked out. Turns out she was some sort of famous Champion Fighter before Beacon, and the mascot of Pumpkin Pete's."

"Shit, Champion Fighter and mascot? I think I know her more from Pumpkin Pete's than the arena. Though I sort of remember something about her fights."

"You eat Pumpkin Pete's?"

"Uh," she shifted around in her seat. "Sometimes, not very healthy though."

A slow nod, "True. Pyrrha said the same thing when I first met her. She really is an awesome person. I think you'd really like her if you met her. Heck, when we saw each other earlier she looked really happy. Like, crush my ribs with a hug kind of happy."

A sharp turn of her head, and narrowed eyes, "Really now."

"Yeah," Jaune continued on, eyes glazing over as he stared up at the interior of the Bullhead, "and I'm not joking about crushing my ribs. She nearly crushed my ribs until I told her to let go. Dunno why though, since I'm just me and she's the Invincible Girl and all. She had Ren and Nora, and the rest of team RWBY for friends. Like, I understand her being happy, but jeez, she held on tight."

"How about you tell me about the rest of your team?" she suggested, spitting out the words awfully fast and with a pained expression on her face.

"Oh sure," he nodded, snapping his fingers quickly. "How about we start with Nora? Man, she is just about the biggest ball of energy you can find..."

And so he told her about his former friends. Ranging from the bombastic Nora, to… the bombastic Yang. Lavender listened attentively, soaking in the information like a sponge. Occasionally, she broke in with a joke or two, usually at his expense. The time went fast, so fast that he was only broken out of talking when the intercom sounded off, a feminine voice emitting from the speakers mounted on the sides.

"Attention passengers, we're coming up on the Beacon air docks in about one minute. Prepare to unload your vehicles, and ensure you're properly strapped in. Thank you for flying Knight 2 airlines, and fuck you all."

The other section leader, Sergeant Russ, turned to the cockpit doors, cupping his hands around his mouth, "Fuck you too, fly boy!"

There was a pause, then the intercom crackled again, "At least I don't have to deal with fucked up knees. And it's fly girl for your information."

Laughter from the cargo hold, "Well, maybe I can take you out sometime, I'll show you more than my fucked up knees!"

The intercom actuated, "Yeah, ground pounder? I don't think I'll be particularly impressed with your size."

More laughter in the cargo hold from the other section, and quiet chuckles from his own.

Thistle pounded on the hull, grabbing everyone's attention, "You literally exist to ferry us around for a living, and your comebacks aren't even that good!"

Everyone inside oohed, looking up at the intercom to see what the pilot would say next. After a short pause, the intercom crackled again, a snarky tone overtaking her voice, "You do realize that your lives are in our hands right now, right? I could nose dive this shit straight into Beacon Tower right now."

Utter silence from inside the cargo hold.

The intercom actuated again, this time starting with snickering, "Jeez, you guys believed me? You grunts are fun to mess with. Anyways, we're touching down now, now get the fuck off my Bullhead."

True to the pilot's word, they landed. There wasn't any abrupt stop, or sudden jolt. No, it felt like stepping on a marshmallow, except with a Bullhead. The ramp next to him clicked, and started to descend, revealing the bright, and familiar exterior. Contractors quickly unclipped their seatbelts, standing up to stretch out, and get the blood flowing again in them.

"Alright!" Jaune called out, grabbing the attention of his section. "Thistle, Vi, get the LAV prepped to move. Everyone else, move your kit outside so the Captain can get everyone organized. Gotcha?"

"Gotcha," Thistle slapped him on the shoulder as he got up, moving to remove the tie downs for Rocky Laser Beam. "What the hell are you doing?"

He hefted up his own rucksack, "Moving my own stuff and making sure you don't run anyone over."

"Making sure Vi doesn't run over anyone. Don't lob me in with her terrible driving, thank you," corrected Thistle as he released a tiedown.

A pause in the middle of stepping off the ramp, before looking back at Thistle, "True."

As Jaune continued down the ramp, there was a sharp crack! of a slap, and an angry Vi yelling at Thistle.

Sorry man, I'll just leave you to deal with the angry woman.

Beacon was just as impressive as a few days ago. Albeit without the nostalgia factor, but the architecture itself? It was still something to gawk at.

And boy, did people gawk.

While he and Jay only spared the architecture short, admiring glance, the two other section members reacted quite differently. Lavender stared up at the highest tower, mouth gaping and eyes wide, and Finch very much the same.

"Woaaah…" she breathed, staring up at the tower. Her pack dropped to the ground as she stood at the end of the ramp. Finch did the same, at least until Jay snapped him out of it.

Lavender stumbled forward as Jaune passed, his hand gently smacking into her shoulder, "C'mon, you'll get used to it soon enough. At least I did in about two months."

"Can't you just let me have my moment of awe?" she pouted, slinging the pack back over her shoulder.

Around them, several other Bullheads had landed, each spewing out dozens of Contractors of their own. "No, that's not allowed in my section."

"Ugh, you suck," rolled eyes.

Already, the attached infantry platoon had set up an impromptu perimeter, green clad men arraying themselves in a semi circle around the cluster of Bullheads. Captain Alabaster himself was next to his own LAV, cigarette clenched between his teeth as he shouted at passing Contractors. The few Huntsmen that took note didn't give them more than a stinkeye before passing by. However, a few curious types took to walking up to the infantrymen from 2nd Battalion, asking unheard questions and looking them up and down.

A look over his shoulder. The Rocket Laser Beam still hadn't rolled off the Bullhead yet, and even worse, there still were straps all over it, "Hey Thistle! Vi! What's taking you so long!"

Thistle growled, standing up and kicking the strap with his foot, "The damn thing won't release! That's what's taking so long!"

He rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Get the crew chief to help you!"

Thistle opened his mouth to retort, before getting a tap on his shoulder by the aforementioned crew chief, whose mouth moved, forming inaudible words as he bent down to the strap. In less than a second, the strap was undone. Wordlessly, Thistle clambered up onto the turret, shooting a deadpan look over at Jaune.

He just gave him a thumbs up.

Thistle flipped him off in return.

Turning away, Jaune faced the congregating infantrymen who were hanging around in a gaggle, right in front of where the LAVs were gathering. In other words, right in front of where Vi would need to drive.

"Hey!" Jaune waved his hands above his head, getting at least one infantryman to spin his head to where he was. "Get out of the way, unless you want my driver to accidentally run you over!"

Laughter from the infantrymen as they slowly migrated away. Behind him, the Rocky Laser Beam was already off the ramp, Vi's driving ability already showing, clear to anybody who took a look.

"No, I'm seriously not kidding. She'll fucking run you over by accident-" the rumble of a LAV engine reached his ears, the sound just a tad too close for comfort. A glance over his shoulder had the LAV barrelling straight for him.

He leapt out of the way, curses spewing out of his mouth, and so he barely avoided the LAV that had stopped mere millimetres away from knocking him over like a bowling pin. Vi sheepishly smiled from the driver hatch, while Thistle facepalmed from his seat on top of the turret. Sighing, Jaune turned back to the infantrymen. "You see? I still don't know why we trust her to do this."

The infantrymen wisely dashed out of the way.

"Did you really have to do me like that?" said Vi from her hatch, turning her helmeted head towards Jaune.

Jaune reached up for a handle, starting to pull himself up to the top of the LAV turret, "You did nearly run me over just now."

"Ugh! Are you gonna hold that over me for a while?"

"Nope."

"Oh thank go-"

"I'm going to hold that over you forever," Jaune clambered up to the very top, taking Thistle's offered hand as he took a seat on the turret. "Starting now, and forever."

Vi groaned, craning her neck to look up at Jaune sitting at the lip of the turret, "Why?"

"Because I enjoy making fun of you for your driving skills."

"Like you could do any better."

"Fair," he admitted, leaning over the side to look at Lavender, who stood just at the wheels of Rocky Laser Beam. He extended a hand. "You wanna get on?"

She took it immediately, pulling herself up, "Sure!"

"Yo, you two!" Thistle yelled to Finch and Jay, standing just off to the side of Rocky Laser Beam. "Get up here before Vi accidentally runs you over!"

"Hey!"

Jay nodded, scrambling up the side of Rocky Laser Beam, "Gotcha."

And so, everyone was on Rocky Laser Beam when they lurched forward. Why, they decided to take a ride on the LAV they named the Rocky Laser Beam rather than walk the extra fifty metres was beyond Jaune. Well, actually, he wouldn't put it past Vi to somehow run them over. She nearly just did, after all.

"Man it's been a while," Jay stared up at the CCT Tower, or Beacon Tower, while simultaneously gripping a handhold as the LAV rolled forward. "Three years. Wonder what the people I met are doing now..."

Jaune looked over his shoulder at him, "You didn't really tell me that much about what happened when you were at Beacon."

"Yeah."

"Mind telling more?"

Pursed lips, "I failed Initiation and I got disowned by my family. That's really all that happened. I already told you all this in basic."

"Yeah, well. I sort of was expecting a bit more," more and more curious Huntsmen were gathering around the Contractors, barely held back by the infantrymen holding the perimeter as they questioned and sneered at them. "Like, your brother's here. I don't particularly feel like being caught off guard by a random reveal that you're secretly the son of some important figure or something."

Silence.

With a mouth half open in laughter, Jaune turned back, "Wait, are you actually?"

"I came from a very old, and very traditional family," by now, the LAV has slowed down, coming to a stop just beside Alabaster's LAV. "They're pretty racist, so there's that. Not sure how Cardin is right now, so I guess we'll see."

Jaune slid off the turret, landing on the ground with an oomph! "Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure he's the reason I'm here and not still in Beacon."

"Like I said," the weapons specialist grunted as he landed in a crouch next to him. "We'll see."

Thistle jumped down from the turret, landing softly on his feet, "So when are we going to get a mysterious call to Ozpin's office, then get introduced into a secret group of people who control the world and have spy birds? Everyone fucking knows the pigeons aren't real."

Rolled eyes from Jaune as he started walking forwards, "When are you going to stop bugging me about that? You'll hear about everything when it's ready, and everything is really not ready right now."

"Oh sure!" Thistle walked alongside Jaune. "We get told to guard the CCT in a school of people who can literally beat all of us in a straight fight. What's the point of us guarding this thing? No fucking idea! Oh wait! I do have an idea, and it involves you."

"My God..." he rubbed his forehead, turning back to Rocky Laser Beam, where Vi was climbing out of the driver hatch. "Vi, can you smack Thistle for me?"

Vi immediately leapt off the LAV, moving towards Thistle at frightening speeds, "Gladly."

Thistle tried dodging, but to no avail, "Goddammit! Wou- gah!"

"Alright, anyways, I'm going to go find Alabaster and see what we're doing," he motioned towards the rest of his section. "Lav, on me. Everyone else, stay here and don't cause any tro-"

"Hey, Jaune!"

A familiar voice, one that sounded awfully like Ruby.

And there they were, RWBY and PNR standing at the edge of the perimeter, held back by two slightly overwhelmed infantrymen. More shouts carried through the air, and Ruby and Nora jumped up and down, waving her hands around to catch his attention.

"On second thought," he turned around back to his section. "Jay and Finch, go talk to Alabaster. Thistle and Vi, stay here. Lav, on me, because I gotta deal with my old team. Got it? Alright, go."

"Don't we have work to do?" Thistle raised an eyebrow, one hand of his slung rifle.

Shrug, "If I don't deal with them right now, chances are that they'll break through the perimeter and drag me somewhere else."

"Huh."

And so, Jaune started towards the perimeter, where his friends eagerly awaited him.

"Sorry ma'am," one of the infantrymen said, blocking Pyrrha from moving past him. "Can't let you past me."

"Hey!" Jaune called out, causing the other infantryman to spin around. "They're good. They're uh, with me in a way."

The first infantryman shrugged, eyeing the epaulette on Jaune's vest, "Still can't let them pass without talking to someone higher, Corporal."

"That's fine, I can chat with them here."

The two infantrymen briefly glanced at each other, before shrugging, "We'll stand off to the side. Don't let them close in with anything though. I got my job to do." they shuffled off to the side soon after, paying attention to elsewhere.

"Gotcha," Jaune nodded, before turning back to his friends. "So uh, hey guys."

"Can I see those vehicles?" Ruby burst out, only held back by her sister, who flashed an apologetic smile. "Can I?"

An awkward smile, "Uh, like they said, I can't really let you past the line. Mostly because of security reasons I guess."

Pyrrha furrowed her eyes from the side, "But we're your friends! You know we won't do anything bad."

"We can't just let people close to our stuff just because one of our guys says they're fine," he said, shrugging. "If we do that, then we wouldn't be able to do anything."

"Oh, alright," Pyrrha frowned, before switching her gaze to Lavender, who was shuffling her feet just behind him. "Who's this?"

"Oh yeah," Jaune motioned over to Lavender."Uh, Pyrrha, this is Lavender. Lavender, this is Pyrrha."

"Nice to meet you," the Champion flashed a smile. The genuine smile, the one she reserved for her friends.

Lavender slowly extended a hand, her own face drawing into a thin, awkward smile, with just a tinge of red in her cheeks, "N-nice to meet you as well."

Wait… oh yeah, she's shy. It's been so long that I've forgotten about that...

Pyrrha blinked, the fake smile appearing in place of the real one, "Oh, well, it'll be great to hear what Jaune's been up to from a different perspective."

"Yeah," Lavender straightened her back, coming up to her full height as Pyrrha shook her hand. "It'd be great to hear all the embarrassing stories of Jaune at Beacon. I've got plenty of stories to tell, since we're at what? Six, seven months?"

Goddammit, he should've expected that. Also, what was she trying to get at here?

More confusion on Pyrrha's face, "Yeah, we could do that. Could we exchange numbers to keep in contact?"

"We can do that later. There's plenty of time, since we're going to be guarding the CCT after all."

The two shook hands for an absurd amount of time, and he would've sworn Lavender was trying her best to crush Pyrrha's hand, but there was no way she'd do that. Then, they stared at each other, seemingly sizing each other up… and they stared… and stared, and stared...

They would've kept staring at each other, at least until Jaune cleared his throat, "Now uh, let me introduce you to everyone else."

Introductions were done quickly, with everything else going far more smoothly than the earlier interaction.

"Can I see your gun?" Ruby had already slid her way next to him, edging her hands towards the rifle slung behind his back.

Ruby just never changed, did she? So a heavy sigh came out of him as he unslung the rifle.

"Sur-" already, the gun was out of his hands and hers.

"An Atlesian model rifle, older, and one that's not designed to work with visors. Looks like it's a shorter variant. A scope that's fairly conventional, though it looks like it has some cool nightvision and thermal functions. A mid tier calibre at 6.5mm it looks like. Ooh! What does it say here?" Ruby babbled on and on, studying the rifle with a growing expression of disappointment. "Does this transform into something cool? Maybe it transforms into a rocket launcher or something."

Jaune gently pried the rifle away from her hands, but to no avail, "No, it doesn't. It's sort of supposed to be issued to every Contractor in the Company. So it's not that special."

The reaper pouted, "Really? Nothing cool then?"

"I mean, I still have my Crocea Mors," he patted the sword strapped to the side of his pack, before pointing back to Rocky Laser Beam, "and my LAV, which is my main weapon as Vehicle Commander. My crew's one of the best..."

Thistle was trying to do a handstand on the turret, while Vi clapped gleefully next to him. The keyword here being trying, as Thistle soon fell off the turret, bonking his head on the ground, and the laughter from Vi was heard even from where Jaune was.

"Yeah, they're uh, just them."

"Can I see the LAV?" Ruby asked immediately.

"Heh," Jaune scratched the back of his head, glancing towards Lavender, and snapping his eyes onto her own rifle. A cool, transforming sniper rifle, "Lav has a cool rifle. It can transform and I'm pretty sure she made it herself-"

And there Ruby went.

Lavender shot him a pleading look as the Red Reaper stopped next to her.

Jaune turned away from her.

"Soooo," Yang said, stepping right into Jaune's vision. "When are we fighting?"

Wait, she was taking that seriously?

Yang was top of the class in Combat class last time he checked, just below Pyrrha. She had been training to be a Huntress since childhood.

Him? He's just handed a rifle and told if he ever met a Huntsman level threat, to just run away as fast as possible. Then he was beaten to a pulp by Alabaster every day for a while. Any fight would probably be an even more brutal beatdown than Alabaster.

"Yeah, about that..." shit, shit, shit, what was his excuse? Anyone, anything, what was something that he could use to run away? If Alabaster saw Yang, he'd force him to fight her immediately as "training". Jay was getting orders from him right now, wasn't he?

Wait, orders?

Oh yeah, he was working.

"You see, I'm uh, technically working right now," a subtle glance behind him. "So, I gotta go uh… do work stuff."

"Really?" Yang tweaked an eyebrow. "If you really had work stuff to do, then you would've just said it at the beginning."

Just an inch back, "Well uh… hey Lav, let's go. I'm sure Alabaster needs us for something."

The strained smile she put on as Ruby continued to examine her rifle turned vicious as she turned to him, "Nah, I don't think so. I'm sure he'd be fine with you talking to them, while Ruby plays around with my rifle." all of this was spoken through gritted teeth.

Really Lav? You'd sell me out this fas- oh wait, I did sell you out to Ruby in the first place…

I should probably think about what would happen if I toss bad things onto other people's lap…

"Wait, Fearless Leader and Yang are going to fight?" gasped Nora, shooting right next to him. "Oh, that'd be so cool! I mean, Yang will probably break your legs, but maybe he'll pull out a cool trick he learned while he was away!"

"Nora."

"Yes, Renny?"

A sigh, "You know what, nevermind."

"Yes, Renny!" Nora jumped up and down in joy. "Will you make me pancakes?"

"...yes? Like I always have."

It almost felt like he was back at Beacon again. Ren and Nora bouncing off each other, Pyrrha… well, she was still with Lavender. Ruby gushing over weapons, Yang… he could never really get a good read on Yang, and Blake? Well, she was just watching from the side, and averted her gaze when he looked over at her. It would've been nice to be permanently back at Beacon, being a hero…

Ozpin didn't specifically say he might offer him a spot…

There was a chance, still.

"Hey you mangy animal, what the hell do you think you're doing here?"

Everyone spun around at once, locking onto the voice who'd blatantly yelled out the racist remark.

Not fifteen metres away from him, was team CRDL.

The same people who'd gotten him kicked out.

Standing face to face with one infantryman was Cardin. A monkey tail was visible on the Contractor, who stood unmoving in face of Cardin's verbal jabs. No emotion was visible, and not that there was any to be seen from the mask wrapped around his mouth. Cardin himself stood over the Faunus Contractor, staring down at the shorter man, a cruel smirk stretched across his face. The rest of CRDL jeered from the sidelines, surrounding the Contractor in a semi circle. Nearby, the other infantrymen stood by, one hand on their shock batons, the other ready on their chests, grasping at something on their vests.

"Too scared to reply, animal? What? You're nothing but a bloodthirsty mercenary, are you?" Cardin sneered. "Too weak to become a Huntsman, but you decided to go and kill for money as a mercenary. Isn't that just right for a dirty Faunus?"

Still, the Contractor stood stoic against the verbal assault.

"Why is he standing around and doing nothing?" Blake's voice came from behind him. "Why is no one doing anything?"

"He's waiting for Cardin to make the first move," Jaune said, swinging his rifle around to his front.

"Why?" she hissed.

"Because if we make the first move, or this ends bloody, it's bad PR. Plus most of the students would blame us for attacking him. So once Cardin touches him..."

It would end badly for one side.

Even that wouldn't be viewed so nicely by anyone.

One step forward, then it was two.

A hand landed on his shoulder, Lavender, "Where are you going?"

"Gonna try to make sure this doesn't end badly," he shrugged.

Rolled eyes, "Fucking hell, let's go."

Up ahead, more yelling from Cardin, "What? You're too scared to do anything? All big and bad in all this equipment, but yet, when faced by a true hero, you're too scared to do anything. Pah, pathetic. Just what I'd expect from an animal."

A crowd of Huntsmen had started to gather around the commotion, only passively watching the confrontation between Contractor and Huntsman, eager to see what was to come next.

As Jaune walked, he leaned down to his radio, speaking into the voice box, "Jay, this is Jaune. Get over to the perimeter, because I'm pretty sure your brother is about to fight one of the infantry guys."

"Shit what? I'm on my way," Jay's voice crackled back over the radio.

"Wonder if you're so big and bad.. What happens if I do this?" Cardin stepped forward, and probably made the biggest mistake of his life.

He pushed the Faunus Contractor.

Immediately, the two other Contractors right next to Cardin whipped out shock batons, electricity dancing up and down the metal. One other Contractor who'd been watching immediately raised his rifle, pointing it straight at Cardin's face.

The Faunus Contractor stumbled back, quickly recovering as he whipped out his own baton, the crackle audible through the shouts and jeers from the crowd.

Fear passed through Cardin's face, just for a second. The next moment the sneer came back to his face, "What are you gonna do, huh? Hit me, and it'll be a bad image for you mercenaries. Hitting a Beacon student? Do you know who my dad is? He'll make sure your band of mercenaries are hunted down to the last man."

The Faunus Contractor just cocked his head, before starting to rear back his baton, winding back to hit Cardin straight on the side.

Shit.

"Wait!" Jaune had already broken out into a sprint towards the brewing confrontation.

But it was too late.

Cardin raised his arms to block the strike.

The baton came down, for one single strike.

"Agh!" Cardin jolted back, grasping at his twitching arm with his free hand. "You'll pay for that!"

CRDL began walking forward, their best attempts at menacing expressions on their faces, but only to fall flat as their lips quivered, and eyes darted for an escape.

The two Contractors nearby moved, shock batons in hand, expressions unreadable through their masks.

"Wait! Wait!" Jaune stumbled in, pushing through, and putting himself in between Cardin and the Faunus Contractor. He pushed Cardin away with one gloved hand, stepping forward as Cardin was caught by his team. "You! Fuck off for a moment before we hand your ass to you!"

Cardin blinked several times, looking up at him, "J-Jaune?"

Turning to the Faunus Contractor, a heavy sigh came out of his mouth, "Sorry man, but I can't let this shit escalate past this, or else something might actually happen."

On the Contractor's vest, was an epaulette with one chevron. Probably just joined like him, and probably didn't happen to be thrown into an absolute bullshit situation like him and forced into leading Contractors…

They probably could've switched places, and nobody would've batted an eye.

Unfortunately for him, a series of unfortunate accidents led to where he was. Acting Corporal, not even a real one. Just a rank that was given to him through sheer circumstance.

The Contractor spat on the ground, "Lemme take another fucking swing at him, Corporal. Just one."

Gritted teeth, "I can't do that, Contractor."

"One fucking swing, Corporal. Just gimme another swing."

"Hey look," Jaune threw a look over his shoulder, before turning completely to the Contractor. "We'd get Beacon on our asses if we beat one of their students into a pulp on the first day. We're here to guard the CCT, and by extension, Beacon, from foreign intrusion. We're sure as fuck not here to police the students."

His eyes narrowed, "That asshole pushed me first."

"Shit, I know!" he was not ready for this! Why did he have to be the one to sort this out? Why did he even run into this? He could've just let the Infantrymen beat the snot out of CRDL and be done with it! There must be someone with higher rank in the immediate area to take care of this, right?

He scanned the epaulettes of the Contractors besides him, both with one chevron. The one with the rifle? One chevron, but with a star at the top. Leading Contractor. Why did he skip over that rank again? Probably because of some arbitrary rule, or maybe he was just in some sort of badly written story with a poorly planned plot.

So that meant he was the highest rank present.

Not like there were much higher ranks just behind the LAVs.

"Dammit..." he finally muttered. "Stay back, I'll deal with it."

Where were the NCOs? Well, he'd have to deal with Cardin first.

"Here comes the faker," Cardin spoke, the trembling voice fading as he put on a brave face. "When you got thrown out, did you just get desperate and become a mercenary? Pathetic."

Twitch, staring.

"Quiet? W-well, just what I would expect from you, Jauney boy. Did the mercs take pity on you and let you in? Because I don't even think that you could pass whatever pitiful training they could offer."

"I mean," a shrug. "That's partly true, ish."

Cardin blinked a few times, and the rest of CRDL jolted a tiny bit, "Huh?"

"Anyways, that doesn't matter now. What matters is that you were heckling and assaulting one of us."

Nearby, a shock baton buzzed.

Cardin shuddered, "Yeah? You think you scare me?"

"Shit, Cardin," Jaune took a step forward until he was basically nose to nose with him. "What happened to not messing with my friends? I saved you from that Ursa, and ratting me out was how you repaid me?"

"T-that… wasn't me."

A hand landed on his shoulder, a quick glance behind him revealed it was Lavender, and behind her, were RWBY and PNR, "Jaune..."

He ignored her, keeping his eyes fixed onto Cardin, "Care to explain?"

Nervous shuffling.

"It was… it was me," said the spikey haired one from behind. Russel, if Jaune remembered correctly. "I revealed your secret."

"To who?"

Cardin grimaced, "To my dad. It is in the Winchester family interest that Beacon remains only for the worthy. I neglected to, but Russel decided to report back."

The aforementioned Huntsman looked down at the ground.

So Cardin wasn't the one to report him, but one of his cronies. Bad, but not as bad as Cardin breaking his word, or promise, or unspoken promise, or stare with him...

Blake's voice broke in from behind him, "Worthy?" she hissed, "You dare judge people of being worthy of being here, while you… do this? You scum of Remnant piece of sh- MMPH!"

Yang behind him had clamped a hand down on Blake's mouth, whose own amber eyes stared furiously at Cardin.

Why him again?

Sighing, he turned back to Cardin, rubbing his forehead, "This is the first, and last time you'll harass any one of us. If you do, I will detain you. I have half the mind to let the Contractors behind me loose on you, and I think they'd be happy to comply."

The crackle of a shock baton was all the agreement Jaune needed to hear.

"Um..." Cardin gulped, eyes flicking from left to right, then finally to Jaune standing right in front of him, clad in military equipment and looking like he had grown a spine in the short time between being kicked out and coming back. Jaune's eyes were different… more hardened, more like the eyes of the same Huntsmen who'd visited the Winchester manor every so often, but not quite there yet.

Regardless, Jaune couldn't hear Cardin's thoughts, but he could see the indecision flittering in his eyes.

"What is it going to be, Cardin?" he cocked his head. "Leave and don't bother us anymore, or try and fight us and lose. Pick an option, because I got work to get done and a job to do."

"Who says we'll lose?" said another one of CRDL. Dove, or something.

He didn't bother looking behind him, because the guttural growl and buzz of shock batons told him, and CRDL enough.

Cardin took a step back.

"Cardin? Is that you?"

Jay ran behind, face equal amounts of surprise and anticipation. His rifle dangled on his sling, bouncing up and down as he ran.

The Rocky Laser Beam had just rolled up, Thistle poking his head out of the gunner hatch, and Finch was just behind, sliding off the side of the LAV. The turret on the Rocky Laser Beam whirled towards them, the 25mm cannon pointing in their general direction.

"J-Jay?" Cardin's mouth was agape, eyes wide in surprise.

Jay strode right up to Cardin as Jaune backed away a little to give the two space. The similarities were as striking as lightning now that they were next to each other. Same height, same broad shoulders, same hair colour, and the same facial structure, with one big exception.

The eyes.

The last dredges of malevolence that were present in Cardin's were fading away, soon replaced by confusion, and surprise. Jay's were… well, Jaune couldn't exactly read people that well, but if he had to try, he'd start with apprehension. They were harder and less… innocent? Jaune might as well have been pulling words out of his ass, but that was the closest comparison.

"Hey, bro," then, Jay stepped in close, wrapping Cardin into a hug. "Long time no see, eh?"

Gasps from behind, then the quiet murmurs of RWBY and PNR.

Cardin stood for a second, before wrapping his own arms about Jay, even tighter than his brother. Eventually, the two came apart, "Dad said you were dead! That you died in Initiation, and you were- were too weak!"

Jay shrugged, "That's what the old bastard probably would've said. I'm here though, and alive."

"You joined up with all these mercenaries? These people?"

"Hey, don't diss them like that, they're basically my family. A better one than the old bastard the raised us was anyways. We have so much to catch up on bro. Like holy shit, you won't believe what kind of stuff I did while you were off at Beacon and I was busy being disowned."

Cardin scrunched up his eyes, taking a deep breath in, and breath out, "Wait, why would dad tell me you were dead?"

"A lot of reasons," Jay took Cardin by the shoulder, pulling him along, and towards a quieter spot. "C'mon we got a whole lot of catching up to do. Get your team to fuck off or something, before they cause a problem. Lemme take you to somewhere where we'll have some privacy."

"Alright uh, go back to the room and wait for me there!" shouted Cardin, before he was gently pulled away by Jay, who pushed through the crowd, pulling Cardin towards a semi secluded spot.

"What the fuck?" came Yang's voice from behind him.

"Language!" shouted Ruby.

Weiss hmphed, "Arc, do you mind explaining to us what just went on?"

"Uh..." Jaune racked his head. So wait, Cardin was Jay's brother. Jay was disowned, and… he'd ask Jay later for clarification, "I'm not quite sure. All I know is that one of my Section members had a brother here, and he's brothers with Cardin..."

Yang rubbed her eyes, "Yeah this is already too complicated, Vomit Boy."

"Corporal Arc! What the fuck is going on here?"

He twisted around at the voice. Alabaster walked, Moss by his side and heavily disappointed expression on his face.

This isn't good.

"Uh, we had a situation," Jaune called back. "And I took care of it. I think. Well, Jay's taking care of part of it right now."

"Care to explain?"

So he explained, as fast as he could. RWBY and PNR stood awkwardly behind him. As the Infantrymen began enforcing a perimeter, his friends were passed over being pushed back out by the Faunus Contractor, who shrugged and let them stay. The other Contractors followed suit, leaving RWBY and PNR behind the line of Infantrymen.

Huh.

"Holy shit..." Alabaster rubbed his face, looking up, his eyes locked onto the remnants of CRDL, who were still standing around, as the Infantrymen's shock batons buzzed with murderous intent. The Faunus Contractor in particular had a rather murderous grin. "Hey, aren't you the fuckers who caused problems for my men?"

"Y-yes!" shouted Russel, straightening his back as he locked eyes with the Captain, or tore his away from the Captain's gaze.

"Well fuck off already!" Already, Alabaster had pulled out his sword, harshly stepping towards

(C)RDL quickly scurried away.

"God, so now, Jay is related to the asshole who was harassing our guys?"

"Yeah, it's uh… complicated."

"And... oh hey, this is your team, or old team, or just Beacon friends."

"Hey?" waved Ruby, tilting her head, looking around unsure.

Alabaster massaged his temples, taking a look around him, "Alright, first, I don't want to deal with this shit anymore, so this is where it ends. If any Beacon student fucks with us, the standing order is to detain them. Jaune, you shouldn't be hanging out with your friends, because we have work to do, but I figure relations with the students should start somewhere… Fuck it, you can hang out with them, but you need to be doing work. Tracking?"

"Tracking, sir."

"Great," Alabaster turned his head away slightly. "Now go get moving the LAVs to the CCT and we'll set up a staging area there. Bring your friends on the LAV on top, or inside, I don't give a fuck. Don't let them touch anything important, gotcha?"

"Gotcha."

Alabaster turned and stomped away, the expression being painted on his face as, "I really don't care right now".

"So uh..." Ruby perked up. "Does this mean I get to see your vehicle?"

"Yes, yes it does."

"Sweet!"

Lavender and RWBY groaned all at once. Thistle and Vi looked at them curiously, wondering what would be a problem with showing the energetic Huntress a few guns. They'd be groaning soon enough.

Jaune figured Jay was a secret time traveller who took his brother aside to avoid having Ruby take apart his weapon.

Cheeky.

So that ends Chapter 16, and the start of the Beacon Arc.

I probably should take a week off updating this story just to plan out everything, instead of just going off the grand story outline which doesn't have many specifics. Something for the next go around.

Also, I've made a Discord. Feel free to join it. Hopefully the link works, since this site hates links.

(slash) 8gbF2TJ

Another note of the love triangle between Pyrrha, Jaune, and Lavender…

Holy shit that may have been slightly accidental. Love triangles are sort of a no no in writing, because they often take over the story and fuck with the plot… if you need more proof the Love Triangles are a meme, go ahead and search up Terrible Writing Advice on Youtube.

I mean, I already don't know what I'm doing.

So with the love triangle? Don't expect too much attention on it. I'm just going to blame it on an inconsistent narrator as Jaune doesn't notice, and doesn't pay attention to any sparks between Lav and Pyrrha. Man, I should plan this stuff out more before writing. That or say I'm a pantser writer and blame it all on that. (Pansters are people who write with no plan, like me, but not, because I like writing with a plan...)

Honestly, I would love some live feedback on my characters and how I could improve everything, because 352 eyes are better than one.

Silent followers flex.

On the note of the reunion between Jay and Cardin and it being anti climatic. One, I'm not going to write a thousand more words for that. Two, would you really talk about such sensitive stuff in front of so many people? No, you'd take them aside. Though I do plan to have some more stuff on that later.

Alright, seeya guys, gonna uh…

Join the SEALs and leave my CCT on a mountain to die?

Dunno, guess I'll be roasting military units for a bit.

Cheers.

TopHat out.