Hello it is I again Tophat, after an absurd long time without chapters. I hope you enjoy, because I sure didn't enjoy trying to make this interesting and relevant. I don't even know if I succeeded in that.
Also, mandatory join the discord link.
discord gg/8gbF2TJ (Link in profile if you want to copy paste).
Enjoy.
"Spies go to bars for the same reason people go to libraries: full of information if you know where to ask."
- Michael Weston
Chapter 23: Back to the Basics
Ozpin sipped at his coffee as he always did.
The great expanse of Vale beckoned out to him from his high tower. Alas, Ozpin rarely did have the time to go out and enjoy the fruits of his labour. Especially now, with Salem making bountiful moves with her pawns, coming into direct confrontation with his own. No longer could he comfortably develop them, now he had to use them.
Behind him, the elevator dinged.
"James," his camera feeds had shown him the identity of his visitor long in advance. "What pleasure do I owe you?"
The heavy clanking of military boots stopped just behind him, "It's about Mountain Glenn."
"What about it? We finished discussing this days ago."
"I've had my spies poke around the underworld, asking about Mountain Glenn-"
"Contrary to what we agreed to, but continue on."
Ozpin could already feel the glare at the back of his head. Ironwood made a miffed sound, "My spies found talk of another organization working with the White Fang. Looking at the evidence, I think it's the same one we've been trying to find. There's also indication of them being in Glenn with the Fang. If this is indeed the same organization, I would heavily recommend we change our current course of action."
"What would you recommend we change?" Ozpin slowly spun his chair around, turning to face the cybernetic General. "Fly your ships overhead and bomb them while they escape underground?"
Ironwood just shook his head, "Ozpin, I'm sure over your many lifetimes you know military strategy. We'll infiltrate the city and make sure they won't get out."
Ozpin just tutted, "James, if they're as good as you say, they'll see your men far before you see them. They've had weeks to prepare for an attack like this. They can see your airships overhead Vale just like everyone else does. What are the chances that perhaps they have a plan drawn up in case you attack? What are the chances that they'll slip out from underneath your thumb, little gained save delaying whatever they have set up there?" Ozpin stood up, looking up at the man. "No, we'll go with the same plan. Sneak in a student team to find out where they are, then we go from there. Then you may send in your countless soldiers to flood the area."
Ironwood grimaced, hands tightening up into fists, "And don't you think they would put surveillance on the students? The moment they do anything suspicious they'll leave, or worse, attack them."
"Do you know the current location of their base in Glenn then, James?"
The General remained silent.
"We need to find where they are before you send the soldiers, James," Ozpin leaned forward, affecting his well practiced unsettling stare. "So, we will do the reconnaissance with assets that won't immediately trip their alarms."
For a second, a very long second, Ironwood met his stare, saying nothing.
It was a moment, just a moment, that Ozpin thought Jame's hardheadedness would come through. No matter, Ozpin reached to the dredges of his remaining magic, the more… subtle, things.
Agree.
"Fine," Ironwood turned away, beginning to walk away. "My only requirement is that it's a more experienced team, one that can hold itself in human combat. Do you understand?"
"Crystal," Ozpin nodded, watching the General step into the elevator. "Remember, who goes first, the flag bearers? Or the scouts? Remember that, James."
As the elevator doors closed, Ozpin just sipped at his coffee, perfectly content to carry out his plan exactly the same as before.
/ - /
"He said he was going to meet us somewhere here, right?"
"No," Jaune sighed. "He said we'd meet him somewhere, and then he'd take us to wherever. Does your memory suffer whenever you have to read?"
His team walked down the street in a large gaggle, all dressed in civilian clothes, and all animatedly chatting. Despite that, Jaune couldn't help but feel just a touch out of place. A large group of fairly fit young adults, just… walking down the street. The looks sent their way by passersby were quick and fleeting, maybe because they were used to far more wild things from Beacon, or they just didn't care. It was attention nonetheless.
And from the near forgotten memories of the barest of training on how to perform covert operations, attention was something they wanted to avoid, because people had the bad habit to remember faces when they shouldn't.
Lavender pouted, "I can read just fine, and I can remember just fine, it's just… wait that's what you said."
"One of the things you said was just proven false, we'll see about the other," Vi said.
Laughter around the group.
"Well, god knows I can barely read," snorted Thistle. "I just shoot things Jaune tells me to."
"It's going to get a bit more complicated than that real soon," Vi walked alongside their gunner, tying up her hair haphazardly. "Soon, you'll have to actually make decisions. Doesn't that scare you?"
Thistle rolled his eyes, "Har har. You're so funny."
Vi laughed, punching Thistle in the shoulder.
"Hey!" Jaune quietly snapped. "We're on the job right now. We need to concentrate."
Everyone flinched away, eyes wide at the sudden demeanour change from their usually cheery Crew Commander. Jaune turned away, eyes stuck forward to the sidewalk. If they couldn't focus, he reasoned, they'd fail, and failure would mean their deaths.
He'd already seen what happens when people slip up, and he didn't want it to happen to his crew.
Lavender's soft voice spoke up first, "Jaune, uh, it'd be better if you let us talk. Since we're trying to fit in and all, it'd make sense for us to be talking and all."
The brief second Jaune thought about Lavender's words in his head, he realized just how much sense it made, and how little his own words made.
Fuck.
"Yeah uh… do that."
Too focused, he thought, shaking his head. This was an entirely different world from what he was used to…
"Sorry, it was just… y'know the stuff in Beacon," Jaune tilted his head upwards as he walked, letting out a sigh. "It's got me on edge."
"It's got us all on edge, Jaune," replied Lavender.
Thistle walked up right next to his, patting his shoulder, "She's right Jaune. We're all bloodthirsty killers who want the scalps of our enemies."
Vi furrowed her brows, lips parting in amazement, "How the hell does that relate to anything?"
"It does, trust me."
"That… that doesn't make any sense?"
There they go again.
They continued to walk, their group loud and large as ever. Nobody paid any more heed than a glance over at the group of young adults, before going on with their day, the image of Raider 3-3 soon a lost memory.
"We're close to our meetup point," he quietly said, glancing down at the scroll in his hand.
"How close?"
"Close enough," came a voice. Jaune turned his head to find a man leaning on the wall, dressed in nondescript clothes, and smoking a cigarette. It took a moment, but after a moment of squinting his eyes, he finally recognized him.
"Cedric, how you doing?" Jaune stepped forward, extending a hand, which Cedric graciously took.
"Good, let's get going," he let go of his hand, already starting down the sidewalk. Jaune couldn't quite make out his face, it was like… every time he looked away it faded a little more from his memory. When he posed the question, Cedric just looked over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow, "My Semblance, don't you remember?"
Right, his Semblance again. Jaune had nearly forgotten about it.
It seemed Cedric had the odd trait of being absolutely forgettable.
When Jay glanced over at Cedric, he did a double take, "Wait, is that..?"
"Yes," sighed Cedric, exasperation biting at his voice. "It's me, Cedric Lilo. If you don't feel like you've seen me, that's because of my Semblance, if you can even remember that. If you're asking why I have it active right now, it's because we're in public, and I always have it active in public. C'mon, I don't want to waste any more time out in the open like this."
One by one, the members of Raider 3-3 took their turn trying to recognize their old Basic sectionmate, with Thistle doing the best, and the sisters doing the worst.
Cedric supposed maybe his Semblance started to affect more than just the memory of his face.
That or Raider 3-3's memory sucked.
He'd have to see.
"Probably shouldn't have had you travel in a group like this." Cedric idly mentioned. "Things like this usually attract more attention than smaller groups. That was an oversight by me. Figured I'd just pick you all up in one go and minimize the time out in the open. Better this way with your level of training." Cedric threw a look over his shoulder, "Though it looks like you're doing fine even with it like this."
Vi cocked her head, "Wait, so what should we have done?"
"That's for later," Cedric reached out a hand, clicking a keyfob in his hand twice. A nearby minivan flashed its lights. "C'mon, get in."
"Nice van," Thistle threw back the side door, peering in. "It got enough space?"
Cedric walked over to the driver side door, "I may have fudged security protocols just this once, but I'm sure as hell not going to bring a sedan when I need to transport you guys. Jaune, you're riding shotgun. Everyone else get in the back."
"Jaune can't even drive," Vi followed Thistle into the back seat as Jaune opened the passenger door. "Why is he shotgun?"
"Because," Cedric turned around in his seat. "He's the guy who needs to get orientated the most."
Jaune settled into his seat, shutting the door beside him, tossing the bag on his back onto the floor, "Yep. Now load up before you cause a scene. You can bitch at each other in here, not out there."
"Feel free to talk," Cedric twisted the key in the ignition as the sliding door shut close, the last one, Finch climbing into the very back of the minivan. "We're mostly secure in this van."
"Mostly?" Jaune shot him a look.
The van lurched forward, merging with the traffic beside them, "Never could know if someone slapped a charge on it and it somehow passed my inspection. Or bugged it without me knowing. Just don't talk anything overly sensitive in here and we're good."
The interior soon shifted into lighthearted discussion between them all, the usual pairs talking, the usual shit-talking, except Jaune.
Jaune focused on the outside.
"Hey, Cedric?" Jaune asked, the chatter behind him white noise.
Cedric didn't look away from the road, "Yeah?"
"I'm pretty sure we just went in circles the last couple minutes. You know where we're going?"
"That was on purpose," Cedric explained in an everyday tone. "It's called a Surveillance Detection Route, or SDR. So I can, very aptly, see if anyone's following us. So far nothing, but there's only so much I can do from inside a vehicle. If I was on foot, I would've been able to make far more sure. In here? Not quite. If you could keep your eyes out it'd be appreciated."
"Will do," Jaune stared out the window. "I'll try my best, but I barely know what I'm doing."
"If you can BS your way in a Huntsmen Academy for a few months, I sure you can BS your way through this for less than an hour."
They took a long and winding path through the city. Multiple times, Jaune thought he saw a follower, only for Cedric to promptly prove him wrong. False positives, he called them. A symptom of inexperienced countersurveillance, one that would be corrected.
"We're here," the van quieted down almost instantly. As they pulled into a side street, Cedric raised his wrist to his mouth, speaking quietly. "Iris, we're outside. Open it up."
The van stopped just next to a two-storey house. It was relatively small, and situated in a sparsely populated area where the houses were far spread apart. Just as they glided to a stop in a driveway, the singular garage door the house had whirled up, beginning its crawl upwards. As soon as it was up, the van smoothly slid its way into the garage. For a brief moment, the headlights illuminated a figure leaning against the side of the garage. Iris, he assumed.
Cedric twisted the key out of the ignition, the engine dying quietly, "Alright, everyone out. Iris will get you all situated, and Jaune?"
Jaune turned around just as his foot left the car, "Yeah?"
The door shut as Cedric walked around the hood, coming to face Jaune, "When you're done getting all your stuff set up, meet me at the front door."
"Gotcha," Jaune nodded, Cedric nodded back, before quickly leaving the cramped garage.
Behind, his section spewed out of the van, their conversations the same mundane things they spoke about every day. As the garage door slowly pulled itself down, it was almost like a shadow detached itself from the wall, the way Iris suddenly appeared. She pushed herself off the wall she leant on, wearing a baggy hoodie that undercut much notion of her being high maintenance, along with the usual self assured look on her face, accompanied by a wide smile.
"Heya guys!" it was like a wave of positivity hit them all at once. Jaune thought it felt a bit like Nora's constant atmosphere of energy except injected into his veins. "Long time no see, eh?"
"Long time no see," Vi came back, pulling Iris in for a hug. "Hanging out with these guys is a drain, and I haven't hung out with other girls in forever. Lavender can only do so much, y'know?"
Lavender promptly tried to punch her sister.
Continuing this trend of Iris pulling each one of them in for a hug, including Jaune, albeit reluctantly from his end, she finally finished, a wide grin on her face. He noted that it wasn't even half as bad as Nora, despite her energy level being the same.
"Time to show you guys around!" came her exuberant statement, followed by her beginning to lead them out of the garage, and into the house. "Hey, I dunno just what strings you're pulling, but holy shit Jaune, you got us a nice safe house. Well, actually I do know what strings you pulled, but I thought they'd just give us a crap shack. Anyways, onwards!"
Huh, can't have been Ozpin.
Must've been Alabaster.
/ - /
"So this is where we're staying?" Jay glanced around the room. Two beds on either side, with ample space to store their things. Pelican cases littered the room, along with a huge locker in the center of the far wall. Another door sat in a corner, leading into a walk-in closet.
Iris nodded from the doorway, "Yep. If you have any problems, or can't find any of your kit, tell me and I'll give them hell for fucking up a simple transfer like this. You all good here, or do you have any questions?"
Finch immediately went to inspect the massive crate that laid at the foot of his bed, while Jay just glanced over at Iris and said, "We're all good here."
"Alright, remember, I'm always here if you need me. I'll be helping everyone else," and with that, Iris disappeared from the doorway.
"All our stuff, huh?" Jay peered over Finch's shoulder, who now carefully sorted through the contents. "You see everything you need in there?"
"I'll have to do a more extensive inventory later, but," Finch pulled out a drone with folded up wings and a ball camera. "It looks like I have everything I need to conduct short term operations."
Jay furrowed his brows as he looked into the box. It at least contained a hundred of Finch's little creations, most of them shrunk down into unbelievable sizes from Finch's "trade secrets", which he even refused to try and explain to him. "Short term? This looks like enough to wage a war."
"It may look like enough," Finch placed the drone back in, closing the container shut. "In reality, it's not. I need far more to sustain operations past the short term."
"Really?" Jay raised an eyebrow. "Do you assume each drone is a one time use or something?"
"Some of them."
"Alright," he admitted. "But what about the others?"
"Things break down, and these little things just love to suffer mechanicals issues all the time," he pulled out one to emphasize the point. It was barely larger than a baseball, really. "There are a lot of moving parts, and I'm still trying to iron out the kinks in them."
Jay turned away, walking over to his own locker, "You get to fixing that then. I don't think Jaune would appreciate his drone coverage disappearing because it suffered a mechanical issue."
"Pft, it rarely does nowadays. I think I'm just going to chill for the next hour. I don't think I'll get much time to rest in the next few days."
Jay threw open the Pelican case, which revealed his machine gun, which was exactly the way he left it, "You say it fails a lot and it rarely does within a minute of each other. Pick one, and stick to it. What do I always say about consistency?"
Jay couldn't see it, but he could hear Finch's eyes roll, "That inconsistency is hypocrisy, which is fucking stupid."
"Just as I always say it," he flipped the gun over in his hands, feeling it up and down for anything out of place.
A rustle of cloth behind him, then the sound of a case unlocking, "Fine, I'll work on it now. You happy?"
"Hard work rewards itself, Finch. Cheating usually ends badly."
"Didn't Jaune lie about his transcripts to Beacon?"
"That's different, and he got thrown out."
"Now he's with us."
He scowled, setting the machine gun back into the case, "Jaune is just one lucky bastard. That good enough?"
"To be honest," Finch said, just a hint of nervousness in his voice. "Jaune fucked up a lot, but every time he somehow manages to do it."
"The only time he really fucked up was with Lavender," he moved to the second Pelican case, a larger one this time.
"Well, he's fucked up with her twice."
"Hm?"
"One, with the village op, and second, not realizing she's into him."
Jay snorted, opening the second Pelican case to reveal his missile launcher, "How's the betting pool on when he'll notice?"
There was more sound of opening up boxes, "Five hundred now. Thistle cashed in his part when Vi's guess failed. 3-1's been betting on the Vytal Festival."
"Shit," Jay closed the case, laying it against a wall. "We gotta get her to confess before or after then."
Finch looked up from the small table he was setting up and raised an eyebrow, "Isn't it a bit uh… what's the word… cynical that you're manipulating our teammates for betting money?"
"Isn't it weird that we're betting on our teammates' relationships?" he retorted. "Think about it, we can scam the fuck out of 3-1 by just pressuring her. It's a simple racketeering scheme. We've done those hundreds of times."
"Yeah, but aren't we past our criminal past?"
Jay nearly laughed, "What? Never. We just do illegal activities legally now, like the gambling ring I run on base. Wait shit I shouldn't have said that-"
"You know," Finch set down his drone on the table. "I should've expected that, with all your random disappearances."
"You want in? I can't bring you in the fold now, but when we return to garrison, we can. I have a buddy running it right now, a trusted one."
"Of course," there was a significant pause before his next words. "Hey, aren't you being a bad influence on me?"
Jay slowly turned around from his footlocker, facing Finch, and deadpanning.
"Finch, I know you're not the most socially ept, but we were in a gang for about three years and you consider me a bad influence on you? Really? I had to stop them from influencing you most of the time, and yet you're still totally fine with running a betting pool on whether our teammates would hookup. What kind of hypocrisy is this? You remember what I think about hypocrisy, right? You just said it earlier."
Finch rolled his eyes, as he always did, "Hypocrisy is fucking stupid."
"Yes, and what have you just done?"
"Be hypocritical."
Jay placed his hands on the table Finch unfolded, staring down towards his friend, "Yes, now what will you not be now?"
"Hypocritical."
"Good," Jay backed off, starting to walk towards the door. "You continue fixing your stuff, and I'm going to see what kind of food they have here. 'Kay?"
"Yeah," Finch lazily waved, before returning his focus towards his drone. "Get me some too."
"Will do," and Jay disappeared around the corner.
Sometimes, Finch thought that Jay proved a better surrogate father figure than his actual father.
Or maybe he was just a shitty child.
Maybe he should try and reconnect with him later.
Later, now would be for trying to fix his fucking drones.
/ - /
"She's heading down the street. Finch, Lav, take up position."
Finch's voice in his earphones answered, "Roger, we're going."
Jaune took the cigarette out with two fingers, letting it drop to the ground. Just in his peripheral vision, Iris walked through the crowd, melting in and out of it as she went.
He gave a quick scan around him as he pushed off the wall he leant on. Crowds of people packed the sidewalks, everyone paying only the barest attention as to not bump into one another. Cars filled the roads, some speeding through, others slowing down to park on the side. Plenty of things for a person to hide in, which made their job that much harder.
He walked down the sidewalk, discreetly pressing a button on his wrist, "I'll take up the far tail. Finch takes up support, and Lav takes close up. Got it?"
Two acknowledgments came back. A few moments later, both of them said they were in position.
He couldn't spot it, but he knew Finch was on the other side of the road, and Lavender was the closest to the target. Once again, he clicked the button on his wrist. "Team two, status."
Jay's voice came back, "We're good over here. Ready to take over whenever."
"Alright, keep out of sight. Out."
At this point, he'd long lost sight of the target. He'd just have to hope Lavender still had her.
Lavender came on the net, "She's going into a coffee shop. Should I pass by or..?"
"Pass by, don't look inside," Jaune paused, letting go of the transmit button, but just for a moment. "I'll go in."
Quickly, he pulled a baseball cap out of his pocket, slipping it on. As naturally as he could, he unslung his backpack, pulling out a jacket, putting it on as well. Hopefully, it'd be good enough to fool the target. If it wasn't? Well… that was a problem for future Jaune.
Weaving his way through the crowds, he offhandedly glanced at a faraway storefront, past the coffee shop, catching a glimpse of Lavender leaning against a nearby pillar flicking through her scroll with one hand. Just for a moment, she looked up and met his eyes. He immediately tore his eyes away, hoping nobody running countersurveillance noticed.
He passed a few storefronts, before arriving at the front of a cafe. Keeping his eyes up, he entered, closing and shutting the glass door without scanning around. He did the thing everyone did when they entered a coffee shop, and joined the line to the counter, beginning to idly flick through his scroll. Only then did he begin to scan around.
One thing stood out to him.
One very important thing.
He did his best to repress his panic, very carefully depressing the push to talk button, placing his scroll up to his ear.
"She's not in here. We lost her."
/ - /
"Affirmative," Finch walked on the sidewalk, beginning to rapidly glance around him. "I'm searching."
Jay's voice came over his earbuds, "Roger, I'm moving my team to containment."
Where could she be?
The target must've been long gone by now, and if she gave them the slip… she must've known they were there. As the realization came over him, he relayed his realization over the net.
"I know, Finch," replied Jaune, a hint of irritation on his voice. "Keep alert and try to find her."
"Roger."
C'mon, Finch. You gotta do better than that.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the distinctly colourful hair of their target disappearing into an alleyway. For a moment, he stopped in his tracks, at least until he was suddenly shoved, the offender offhandedly yelling to not stop in the middle of the sidewalk.
Right.
After a brief moment of hesitation, he went to follow.
He pressed his PTT button as he rounded the corner, "Possible sighting on target, going to verify."
"Acknowledged," Jaune said quietly.
Taking in the alleyway, he furrowed his eyebrows.
Nothing.
Tentatively, he took a step forward, carefully scanning the whole place. Empty except for a few dumpsters reeking of rotten food. No distance figure walking to the other side of the alleyway either. Maybe she slipped into a side door?
Walking slowly down the alleyway, he kept swinging his head back and forth, making sure to thoroughly inspect everything around him. Nothing to say someone passed through recently. It certainly looked like someone passed through… a lot, but not someone just now.
A gasp escaped his mouth as a hand landed on his shoulder, squeezing it tightly. Stale breath wafted down his neck, coming in bursts of low chuckles. They carried a sense of morbidness. One person finding humour in the demise of another. Eyes wide, his breath caught as his hand shakingly grasped the small knife to his thigh. His other hand carefully felt around for the sidearm holstered in his waist.
"Don't," came the serious tone behind him. "You're already dead."
A sigh. His hands dropped from his weapons, beginning to turn around to face the target, "Guess I am. Is this it?"
She gave a wide grin, raising her wrist to his mouth, a small black bracelet wrapped around it, "Endex, endex, endex. Reconvene at the meeting point for debrief."
Iris patted him on his shoulder, turning away to leave the alleyway, "Don't feel bad, if I didn't know your face, you could've lasted a bit longer. Plus you're new at this. I messed up in my training too."
As Iris left, Finch just sighed, slumping against a wall.
Only a little longer?
/ - /
"For someone with this little experience, I'm fairly impressed, tradecraft wise," Cedric sipped at his coffee, leant back in his chair. "Like Jaune, you did fairly well entering the coffee shop, though if this was against an alert target and they stayed in there, they might've noticed you from earlier and gotten suspicious. Getting Finch to enter probably would've been the safer bet."
"Yet, Iris still spotted us," Jaune said simply, placing a hand on the table they were all gathered around.
"Iris," Cedric nodded to her.
She gave a cheeky grin, "Well uh, I'll say that it partly had to do with already knowing how you looked like. Though I probably would've caught you sooner or later seeing your tradecraft."
Cedric rubbed his forehead, starting with a sigh, "Speaking of that, while I am fairly impressed, I'm fairly impressed with how much you've absorbed and improved in these last few exercises. That still doesn't quite put said tradecraft on a higher level. It's a lot of smaller details that got lost in translation. I'd say you mostly have the broad strokes… in thought, but not quite down. If you were facing an actual target, they'd get you in minutes. We'll improve on that later. For now… let's head back, and I'll go over more classroom stuff, and some practical field stuff after."
Everyone pushed back their chairs, standing up, grabbing their belongings, and heading towards the glass door that was the exit. Cedric paused for a moment, scratching his chin in a moment of thought, before following the rest.
It was a six kilometre walk back, wasn't it? Not that far, maybe they could play a little game...
Outside, everyone still gathered, staring at him expectantly. What, did they need to get permission to- right, they did.
Made it easier to tell them the idea, though.
"Everyone," Cedric said, motioning them to come closer. "We're going to play a bit of a game for the walk back."
Iris stopped on a dime, spinning around her entire body on a heel, "You want to do something but work? Go on."
"Here's the deal," Cedric waited until they all stood around him. "I'm going to send out pairs at a time in random intervals. You have to try and covertly take a picture of another pair, while not getting your picture taken by another. That clear? If you take a picture and don't get one taken of you, I'll give you a treat. Make your groups, and I'll send off the first group."
Iris just rolled her eyes, "Of course the game you come up with has something to do with work."
Almost instantly, they migrated to the very same groups Cedric expected them to. The sisters, Finch and Jay, and Jaune and Thistle. Their boasts and playful shots thrown at each other were only hollow for the moment, only time would see them proven right.
Personally, he had his money on nobody succeeding.
He pointed towards the sisters first, "You two will step off first. Get going."
They scrambled to get away, practically sprinting across the street, shouting and yelling at each other to go faster.
A speed approach then. Huh, probably should've made a rule against that.
Too late.
A glance at his wrist revealed the time. Mentally, he added five minutes to it, "Oh, and I forgot to mention, I'll be playing the game too. There's something special in it if you avoid me."
Iris gave a smile. She always did. Wrapping an arm around his shoulder, she began to spout about just how unfair that was, and how she'd enjoy absolutely crushing everyone. Cedric did as he invariably did: tune her out, hum agreeably at times, and close his eyes and lean against a wall. She'd get bored of it eventually, going to do some other thing.
He was proven right when she left to go annoy another person.
"We really do that well?"
Cedric cracked open an eye. Jaune leant against the wall next to him, a cigarette held in his lips.
"I'd say so. There's still a lot to go over, but you're making… enough progress."
"Is that sugar coating I hear?"
"Some people made more progress than others," he grunted out. "I aim to correct that."
Jaune blew out a puff of smoke, "We have a week to get ourselves up to speed. I don't have the feeling this will end well."
"The way I intend to use you lends more to your primary skills, rather than the things I'm teaching you," he raised an eyebrow at the cigarette. "I thought the law stopped you from smoking here?"
"Six metres from a doorway," Jaune pointed at the nearest doorway, which was indeed, about six metres. "I'll make sure everyone is fully applying themselves to this. We can't afford mistakes in the real thing."
For a moment, Cedric turned glassy eyed.
"Yeah."
A look down at his watch showed the five minutes were up.
"Jay! Finch!" he pushed off the wall. "Get going, it's your time!"
Like Lavender and Vi before, they started in a mad sprint across the road.
Hm, he really should've made a rule for that. Not like they'd break it once they were out of his sight, though.
"Five minutes before your doom, Arc."
A grin, "Wouldn't it be ten minutes? Since you need to wait and all."
"It's my game, and I'm last, I can do whatever I want."
"Cedric breaking the rules?" Jaune gasped, placing a hand over his chest. "Never."
"Says the guy who told me to steal a drone to use in an exercise."
He sniggered, "Can't believe you remember that."
"I remember a lot of things," Cedric glanced over at Jaune, who now stood next to Thistle. "Like how I was going to vary the start times. Get going."
It seemed they'd all caught onto the strategy of sprinting at the start. They both made a mad dash across the streets, pushing past everyone and everything in an effort to make any amount of distance between them and him.
Iris sidled up to him, arms crossed and watching the pairs quickly disappearing into the crowd, "Are we immediately going after that or something else? Because I don't think we're catching up to Lav and Vi."
He jerked his thumb towards the minivan parked on the side of the street, "We still have that, don't we?"
Her smile grew far bigger than normal, almost predatory, edged with a streak of competitiveness, "I like the way you think."
As they slowly walked to the van, he just shrugged, "Most don't."
/ - /
"That was such bullshit," growled Lavender, plopping down onto the couch. "Using a car? That's just fucking cheating! Still didn't get us though… still fucking cheating!"
Cedric passed the open archway, a small smirk barely visible, "If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying. Ain't that right, Finch?"
Sitting on another couch, Finch held a drone in his hand with slight embarrassment on his face. Setting the hand sized quadcopter on the coffee table in front of it, he pulled his knees towards him, shying away from all the eyes suddenly directed towards him.
Jay shared the couch, arm wrapped around his friend, and a victorious grin on his face, "Hey, you didn't make any rules against him using the drones he keeps up his ass, so we used them."
"Good," replied Cedric, out of sight. "Using whatever you have is a good thing. But that didn't exactly improve your tracking and tailing abilities."
"I got to test out some new techniques with the drone," came Finch's muffled voice from behind his legs. "I basically had it above them and you guys didn't notice!"
"Pft," Vi rolled her eyes, similarly positioned with her knees up to her chest. "We didn't get photographed by anyone but Finch and Jay. How's that, huh?"
Cedric entered the living room, a plate of food in hand, and his scroll in the other. He laid down the scroll on the table, specifically looking at the two girls, "Yeah, it was. I'm sure running is a great way to stay covert."
Vi leaned forward, taking a second to look at the scroll, before a groan escaped her, "Are you telling me you still managed to get a picture of us?"
"I'm not telling you," Cedric scooped some food into his mouth, swallowing before continuing. "I'm showing you. Running through crowds isn't a good way to stay covert, especially dressed like you were. Maybe you could pass it off if you weren't wearing street clothes, but you weren't, so, yeah, bad practice."
Iris entered the room right then, "Well, only do it if there are other people doing it too, because being the only runner is something that can stick out, like what you two did."
"Iris," Cedric turned his head slightly towards her. "Where's Jaune and Thistle right now?"
She threw a quick look at her scroll, "Entering the safehouse just… now."
"What's up fuckers!" came the shout from down the hall. "It's the fucking winners of this god forsaken game!"
Everyone in the room just smirked, trying to hold in their giggles.
Thistle came into view first, hands thrown up in celebration, the certainty on his face even causing Finch to doubt himself for a second, "Sup fuckers, we won."
Lavender scrunched up her face in the same way someone would trying to hold laughter in, "Are you so sure? Because Finch over here has your photo."
Still, the certainty did not waver as he pulled an armchair over, "Oh yeah, it was your drones, wasn't it?"
"I'll be honest, Thistle," Vi began. "I don't take you the type to remember that, because we sure forgot he carries one everywhere."
"Oh he did forget," came a voice. Jaune turned the corner, scroll held in a hand, the same, neutral expression he sported seemingly all the time recently. "I'm the one who remembered. He was, however, the one that won us the whole game."
Jaune placed the scroll onto the coffee table, before taking a seat in an armchair of his own. Everyone leant forward, curious to see what was on it that made the pair oh so confident.
It was a picture of Cedric, leant against a wall, and head down. The foreground was filled with people walking around, but the image of Cedric's face was clear as day.
"Huh," Cedric stopped mid scoop of his food. "Didn't notice that. I still managed to take a picture of you guys, though."
"That was expected," Jaune let a grin come to his face. "Taking a picture without you noticing was not."
Cedric stopped for a moment, bringing the plate he held away from his face, "Hm, give me a moment."
Cedric ducked behind the corner, leaving the living room for just a moment. His task only took a few seconds, since the kitchen was right next to the living room. However, the scene he came back to had him wanting to shove his hand through his face.
Everyone at once had apparently jumped for each other's throats, save Jaune, who quietly sat in his armchair, doing the same thing Cedric felt to need to do at that moment.
"Everyone, settle down," in an instant, the fighting stopped, and they all returned back to their seats like nothing ever happened. "Is there an explanation or..?"
"I'd go with the there is none," said Iris, who had leant on the wall the entire time. "Or maybe competitiveness. Probably that."
"Alright uh," he rubbed his forehead, starting to walk towards Jaune. "You two get a special prize since you managed something I don't think the rest of you could. Following me for a short amount of time without me noticing."
He extended the prize. An expensive looking pitch black wine bottle. Jaune took it hesitantly, rolling it over in his hands as he read the label.
"It's a fairly mid-tier wine, aged around twenty years. Figure this would be just about as good an occasion as any to hand it out."
"Shit, lemme see," Thistle leant over, snatching the bottle away as soon as Jaune even motioned to give it to him. "Huh. I'll be uh, keeping this for myself, if that's alright with you, Jaune."
"It's fine," he said. "Just don't drink it while we're working or going to work. The usual."
Thistle gave him a thumbs up, tucking the bottle by his side, "Yep, got it."
"Seeing as nobody else did anything noteworthy, and got all spotted, no prize for any of you," Cedric said, checking his watch. "I, however, will give you all an hour break. Afterwards, we'll resume training as normal. Got it?"
A chorus of affirmatives, but Vi raises her hand, "So uh, what was the prize if any of us actually succeeded?"
He winked, "That's a secret."
Cedric turned around, beginning to disappear around the corner and into the hallway, Iris following. Just as he got out of sight, he shouted, "And don't fucking doing anything stupid!"
"How about we do something stupid?" Vi immediately yelled, just as they could hear the front door open.
Jay shook his head, giving a look at the LAV driver, "Really?"
"Yeah, really," Vi said, the front door closing somewhere else in the house. "Gotta make sure they hear it so they're not as disappointed when they come back."
"So, what do you guys want to do?" asked Thistle, leaning back in his armchair.
Finch began to get up, "I got some board games in my room. Or we could all just hang out."
"That we could," Thistle scratched his chin. "That we could."
While everyone slowly got into discussing what they'd do next, Jaune just sat, thinking.
"Hey," Thistle nudged Jaune with an elbow, drawing him out of his thoughts. "What d'ya think?"
"I..." his next few words were halting, full of indecision. After a second, he looked up, eyes hard. "We did terrible today. Nearly every time, we got detected right away or soon after we started. Even the time he managed to get someone who didn't know our faces to play as the target, we still did terrible. He outed us almost immediately and pegged nearly all of us for surveillance."
"Your point?" Thistle raised an eyebrow, by now, the discussion in the rest of the room had quieted down.
"Taking a break when our skills that we'll need desperately in the coming months are in such a poor state is… not the best idea in my eyes. We have a week to perfect this stuff. We can't let our time go to waste. I think we should at least spend part of this time going over what we did wrong and what could go better. Our own little AAR. Yes, I already know we went over it with Cedric, but I know you guys, and I know it'll take more than saying it one time to get it through your heads."
Jaune scanned the room. Everyone had stopped their own individual conversations, joking, and messing around. All their attention was focused on their Crew Commander with hardly any more experience than the rest of them, his sole qualification for leading them an officer who saw something in him and an untimely accident. Despite this, Jaune kept his expression ever the same since Beacon. Serious and level.
Vi spoke first, "No offence, but do you happen to remember the all work, no play saying? We've been working our asses off the last few days."
Uncertainly danced in Jaune's head, but just an instant, "It won't take long, maybe fifteen minutes at most to reinforce the lessons learned in our heads. Afterwards, you can do what you want."
Across from him, Jay drummed a hand on his thigh, before speaking up, "I'll side with Jaune on this… I watched you guys out there. You guys know I was in a gang, and I did things like this a lot. Watching everyone was like watching people fumble around with only half an idea of what they were doing. We really need to get better and I think doing something like this by ourselves would help."
From the surprised looks everyone sent his way, Jay just shrugged, "I'm being realistic here. It's work our asses off or die somewhere out there because you tailed someone poorly."
Everyone was silent, quietly contemplating what was just said.
Before long, Finch spoke up quietly, "I with Jaune on this. I sure know I need to improve."
"Same," Lavender a split second after. "I trust you Jaune, and I'll follow you on this."
Thistle laughed, looking towards Jaune with a grin, "You sure as fuck know I'd follow you to hell and back. I also know we're terrible at this intel shit."
Vi sat in her seat, eyes bouncing between everyone who'd just voluntarily chosen to work through their break. "We're already going to be pushed a bunch by Cedric, I think the last thing we need is to take away our breaks working even more."
"Complacency breeds mistakes," Jaune gritted his teeth. "And mistakes get people hurt. You saw that before, at Beacon."
"Oh I know mistakes get people hurt, you fucked up that one time, remember?" it slipped out of her mouth before she could even realize it, and regret started to pool deep within her. "Shit, I-"
Jaune cut her off, "Save it. If you remember that, then what's your argument here?"
Silence overtook the room, before Lavender softly said, wrapping an arm around her sister, "Hey um, Vi, c'mon. It'll only be for a little bit, then we can have a break, isn't that right, Jaune?"
"Yeah."
Vi just stared down at her hands, before finally saying, "Sure, yeah, I'll go along with it."
"Good," Jaune just nodded, beginning to pull a small notepad out of his pocket. "I don't suppose anyone else took any notes on the AAR?"
Shrugs all around.
He sighed, "I suppose that's why I recommended this in the first place. Let's begin with..."
/ - /
The week they had passed by in a blur.
Jaune pretended to scroll through his scroll, all the while his mind constantly brought up what would happen if they failed this.
What would actually happen? Ozpin would be disappointed? Not like that mattered anymore.
Alabaster probably would be disappointed. He tasked him with this mission, and if he and his team couldn't even get past the training, what would happen then? In truth, Jaune really had no idea, and he'd rather not find out.
"This is it guys," Jaune whispered. The crowd he walked among would do little to interfere with the induction mic he wore around his neck. Neither would they notice him. People never did pay much attention to their surroundings. "We do this, and he confirms us as operational, or we fail and we go back to garrison with our heads hung in shame."
"We already know this, Jaune. No need to repeat it twice," Vi's voice came on through, the muted sound of an idling engine in the background. "We just spent a week training for this. Trust us, we know the stakes."
"I know, just reminding you guys not to mess up."
"Would it be so bad to mess up? Then I don't have to deal with this spy shit anymore and I get to go back to shooting a gun at clearly identifiable targets," Thistle said, voice smooth and low.
Jaune laughed, but he didn't let Thistle hear it over the net. Looking down at his scroll, he finally received the text he was waiting for, "Clear it up. We're a go."
"Roger," Finch said. His transmission was more crackly than the rest. He chalked it up to interference. "Sending the drones up now."
Jaune pressed the PTT button mounted on his wrist, "Alpha, you good to start the tail when Finch finds her."
"Affirmative," Jay replied, his usual gruffness audible even with his single word reply.
There's a moment of hesitation just before he pressed the PTT button. Trust was important. He needed to trust his team to do their tasks, and they trusted him to lead them through it. Leaning over their shoulder all the time could make a situation worse.
"This is Jaune," he depressed the PTT button anyway. "All teams, check in."
"Finch here, all good on my end. Drone is searching. Face recog is nominal."
"Vi is good and ready to rock," a car revved in the background. "I'm good to drive Finch around for the entire time and do nothing."
"Alpha team checking in," Jay said. "We're all good. I just hope Vi doesn't crash her car."
"Hey, would ya shut up? My driving's fine."
He sighed, before long they'd start arguing about something pedantic and completely unrelated to the original subject, let alone the operation, "Vi's right for once, about shutting up that is. Focus up and get ready, out."
No reply came as he walked through the crowd. He could only walk around until Finch would track down Iris—their target—and even then, it would be a while. Jaune had confidence in Finch, but his software was untested, and unproven.
"This is Finch, I got her."
Or not.
/ - /
"Target is going into the store."
"Roger, I'll switch out with you"
"I'll put the drones on perimeter security."
The comms were chaotic, yet somehow organized. People stepped on each other's transmission regularly, yet, they still got their message across.
Jaune shook his head, leaning against a nearby brick wall, watching the flow of people go past. Only his team.
The follow had gone well, with little to no indication of them having been spotted.
Then again, hadn't Iris said that she wouldn't be giving any indication nor trying?
Right…
Jaune stopped at the intersection along with the throng of people that did so as well. He threw a casual glance left and right, making it as long as he could without seeming suspicious.
As the crossing light appeared, and the crowd began to cross, he threw another look around, zeroing in on a specific location. One person stood out. He sat by the window, looking out of it while sipping at some coffee. Another glance around confirmed Iris was definitely in sight of the coffee shop.
Not to mention Jaune had already seen his face before.
Jaune pulled out his scroll, placing it against his ear, like he was taking a call, before depressing his PTT button, "Counter surveillance spotted. Marigold's Cafe, fifty metres west of target."
"Affirm," came Jay. "We'll stay clear."
Cedric had called on some friends of his to play counter surveillance. He was sure the fact that they'd been spotted by someone with a week of training would be rubbed in their faces for weeks to come. Or maybe, just maybe, the ones he spotted were the lower skill ones.
Jaune suddenly recalled that almost everyone he spotted looked more like a doorkicker than a spy.
Shit.
"Finch here, picking up a possible tail on Brightside road. Got a hit for him near you a while ago. Now he's in sight of Iris again, and at a pretty good vantage point. Forwarding pictures to your scrolls now."
Jaune butt in, "Don't check your scroll all at once."
"Chill," Thistle said, his laxness ever present. "We're not stupid, trust us."
Trust.
"Roger. Sorry, just making sure."
"And it's good you're making sure, just don't overdo it."
"Oh, what would I do without you?"
"Probably die, and what was all that about comms being mission oriented?"
Jaune took his finger off the PTT button and returned his scroll to his pocket.
There was a click in his ear, the start of a transmission, and then a long string of laughter, which promptly cut off.
Asshole.
"Lav here, target is entering a taxi. I'm gonna need Vi to take over."
"Oh hell yeah!" Vi replied. "I get to do things now!"
"Everyone," Jaune spoke into his mic quickly. "Scatter and start finding transportation. Do it one by one and slowly. Vi, Finch, pick up the slack and hopefully, we'll be there once she gets out."
As Jaune made his way as casually as indifferently as possible, he just hoped Vi would be able to follow the taxi without getting spotted. Trusting his team had been so easy a short time ago… nevermind, he just needed to focus on the mission. Thoughts would come later.
/ - /
It turned out that Vi could apparently follow Iris without getting spotted.
That or because this was training countersurveillance couldn't just open fire on her any time they wanted.
Thinking of the second didn't exactly help calm his fears.
Well, actually, Vi had to break off the follow multiple times, and Finch had to pick up the slack, which led to endless teasing over comms. So maybe she really didn't get spotted, due to her constantly breaking off the follow…
"Target's entering the subway," Jay said. "Lavender, get in there. You've been the least exposed out of all of us."
"Roger,"
Jaune sighed, taking the headset away from his ear, and looking over at Finch. Space was already limited in the car, but it was even more so by the drone operator's equipment.
"This is Jaune, everyone but Lav keep a loose follow until the target boards the train. Thistle and Lav will go onboard, Jay, get back into the car."
They echoed back his commands with affirmatives.
"Vi," Jaune turned over to her. "Head towards the pickup for Jay, then we'll wander until they forward us the destination."
Vi made a right turn, throwing a quick glance over at him, "I know. You gotta stop being so overbearing. We know how to do this stuff now."
"You didn't a few days ago."
"True," she admitted. "But we worked hard, at your constant insistence, and now we're where we are now."
Jaune took a second before he continued, albeit quieter, "By the way, sorry for snapping at you a few days ago. Beacon was still fresh on my mind, and I didn't-y'know."
"I get it. Don't worry about it, man. I'm far past holding grudges now. Unlike past me when I'd stay angry for days on end."
They both laughed.
"You had fair reason then."
Vi shrugged, "If you say so. Let's just drop this, we both had good reason, and everything worked out in the end, at least it's looking like it's working out now. Just… just remember that we all have our limits, and we can only perform at them for so long."
"Yeah," Jaune bit his lip. "I'll remember that."
Finch spoke up from the back, "Do you guys even remember I'm here or are you going to keep spilling your secrets out for me to hear and record?"
Vi took a hand off the steering wheel, flipping off Finch behind her.
Now it'd be even more waiting. More, tedious waiting for Thistle and Lav to report in again./
Surveillance wasn't exactly as sexy as it sounded when he first heard of it...
/ - /
"Target's entered the apartment building. I can't enter without being spotted."
"Yeah, me neither."
"Nope, I'm pretty sure I'll be burned the moment I enter."
Jaune pursed his lips for a moment, then pressed his PTT button, "Is there a receptionist anywhere in there?"
Lavender responded, "Negative."
There had to be a way to figure this out…
"Hey Finch?" he turned around in the van to face the tech specialist.
"Yeah?" Finch never took his eyes off the screen.
"This may sound stupid, but," he cringed a little on the inside. "Do your drones have anything that could possibly help? Like uh… I dunno, seeing through walls."
Finch laid his drone tablet aside, bringing up another tablet, "Nope, but I can do you one better. Give me a sec and… target is in apartment two-three-zero. "
"W-what, how?"
"I hacked them," Finch stated matter of factly. He turned the laptop around, which had a picture of Iris, along with some information, which he could clearly see was fake.
"Of course," he groaned. Scroll held in a hand, he quickly navigated to Cedric's messages, tapping out the number on his scroll, before pressing send. A second later, Cedric responded, with a simple confirmation.
"All stations pull out and regroup at Point Jackal. Finch got the apartment number. We'll kit up and move in once we're prepped, over."
Jaune nudged Vi, who plugged the key into the ignition, bringing the van to life. They'd long switched out vehicles for an easier way to ferry around themselves. Five seats for six people wasn't exactly the most optimal setup.
Quietly, to himself, he whispered, "Game time."
/ - /
It was midday.
The sun was high in the sky, most people were at work, and the ones left at home lazed around, not bothering to look outside save to blearily glare at the sun rays peeking through their curtains.
So many didn't see the minivan pull up to the apartment building.
A group of young men and women piled out, each carrying civilian bags of various makes and sizes. They chatted with each other casually, and if someone would listen all, all they'd hear about would be hanging out at a friend's place, and all the things they'd do.
Just some teenagers having some fun, nothing more to see.
They entered through the lobby, passing a few people who dismissed them as teenagers going to hang out, or even party with friends. Hopefully, they were smart enough not to do the latter there, lest their friend be thrown out on noise complaints.
Climbing up the stairs, their chatter quieted, until the whole party was silent. At the top of the stairs, Jaune, the lead, peeked around the corner. Looking back, he gave a thumbs up.
"Good to go. Kit up."
As one, they all dropped their bags, unzipping them to pull out SMGs, unfolding stocks and screwing stubby suppressors on the ends. They donned chest rigs and communication headsets, tuning them into their radios.
"Everyone," Jaune depressed the PTT button attached to a strap on his chest rig. "Radio check."
Everyone checked in, voices coming in crisp on the headsets.
"Good," Jaune pointed to Jay, then jerked his thumb towards the hallway. "Let's go."
As Jay passed, Jaune followed close behind, SMG in a low ready as the two walked slowly through the narrow hallway. A quick glance behind showed him the rest of the team followed tightly.
A matter of seconds later, they were in front of their target door.
Jay tapped his head twice with a fist. Breacher up. Vi approached the door, the only sound the light patter of footsteps, and even then she tried to lighten her steps. Once she made it to the other side of the door, she reached forward, gently twisting the knob. It stopped after a millimetre of twist. Locked. Vi pulled a lockpick set from a pouch, starting to go to work on the lock.
A few seconds of the entire stack doing nothing but stand around in the hallway. A few seconds too long, since the neighbouring door opened to reveal an elderly man, who immediately closed it after not even a second of seeing the stack of armed Contractors.
There was a click, and Vi stepped away from the lock, flashing a thumbs up at them before bringing up her own SMG. A nod and a hand held up with three fingers, then two fingers, and one finger, then finally none.
With a violent shove, the door flew open.
The team flooded into the room in a stream of people, each clearing their own sector in a matter of milliseconds. The living room was completely devoid of anyone.
In a practiced flow, they surged towards the nearby doors, guns up and scanning. It was a well-oiled machine. This was what they trained for months on end; kinetic operators, and it showed. Everyone moved as one, breaching and clearing as a tight knit unit.
Jaune reached forward to a doorknob, twisting it suddenly with a jerk and throwing it open. His SMG shot up at the silhouette of a man. In one clear movement, he centred the little red dot on his sight on his forehead, squeezing off two suppressed rounds. For a moment, both Thistle and Jaune stood on opposite sides of the doorway, peering into the room with their SMGs. A nod later, and the two flooded into it, barrels sweeping the room. A bed dominated the center of the room, leaving dead space they couldn't see on the other side. A nod towards Thistle, and he moved to clear the other side, promptly firing his SMG twice.
As the pair exited the room with hardly a word, they found the rest of the team coming out of their own respective rooms.
"All clear over here," Jay said, lowering his SMG.
Lav peeked out of a room, "Same here."
"Alright," Jaune said. "Move to SSE. Jay, Finch, you're on security. Let's go."
They worked fast and efficiently. Quickly bagging up anything relevant they could and tossing it into their backpacks. As the team filed out the room, Jaune took a long look at the paper targets left behind with tight ragged holes in their heads, wondering how Striker Group hadn't already gotten sued from their live fire exercise.
They stowed their equipment in their bags as they entered the stairwell, their safety guaranteed both by their Aura, the sidearms hidden in their waistbands, and the fact that this was all, indeed, a training exercise.
The landlord, who stood by the exit with a cigarette bid them farewell as they left, knowing that even if their walls might have some new holes in them, they'd be getting more than enough money to fix it. It was a neat little arrangement for her and it worked. Walls, floors, and ceilings filled to the brim with Kevlar and metal, along with the hefty soundproofing, solved most of the problems, and made it in all, a fairly everyone wins deal.
Except the occupants, but they were enticed with lower rent prices.
God, he thought, the prices in this city were so high people were willing to take lower rent for the price of possibly getting shot.
Absolutely mental.
She just hoped, as usual, they passed whatever test they were doing in her apartment building.
/ - /
"Con-fucking-grats," Cedric cracked open a can of beer. "You've learned a ton about surveillance in a short amount of time, passed the final exercise with a passable grade, and I can now declare you operational."
Cedric stood at the corner of the coffee table, all other sides surrounded by couches, which were filled by the members of Raider 3-3. Iris also squeezed in on the girl's couch, a beer of her own in hand.
"Only passable?" Jay raised an eyebrow.
"You've achieved the bare minimum of Intel school, which doesn't seem like much until we say that you trained for a fifth of the time we normally would. So, I'd fucking drink to that," Cedric raised his can.
"Cheers!" chorused everybody else.
He took a sip, before looking down on everyone with a slightly more serious look, "Celebrate now, because, in a few days, we're going operational. Got it?"
They all answered back with laughter, already beginning to down their beers at concerning rates.
Jaune however, nodded, "I'll make sure they're good to go."
"Good," Cedric pulled up a chair. "Just not right now, because you've worked hard enough. Now is time to relax a bit. It's always good to relax a bit."
"Right," Jaune turned to the rest of his section, joking around and grandstanding. Vi and Thistle argued about the pedantics of guns, and everyone else just enjoying the show.
Jaune?
For the first time since he left Beacon, he truly smiled. The kind where you're just happy, not where you're laughing at a joke, then immediately after you're back to your previous mood.
Jaune was just happy.
His team were some of the most hard working people he knew. They achieved something virtually impossible, and could most definitely continue to do it.
Things would be fine.
/ - /
A few days after Raider 3-3's Confirmation Exercise
"Roman," Lieutenant Arberwood walked into the office, rifle slung by his side, and mask on his face. "We need to talk."
Roman glanced up from the desk, already sliding the paperwork in front of him aside, "What d'ya want to talk about? I'm always open to talk to you masked, and very competent mercs. Here, take a seat."
Arberwood looked towards the chair, but he didn't move to sit down, "Beacon's sending a Huntsmen team on a Grimm clearance mission in Mountain Glenn. We should be able to remain hidden from them, but I don't trust the White Fang to stay hidden."
"Bah," Roman waved a dismissive hand. "Buncha animals in my opinion. What d'ya want me to do about that? You're the one in charge of the security operations here."
"I want to keep you informed of the situation," his voice was more modulated than usual, like the mask was distorting his voice. Interesting, maybe a firmware update on it or something, Roman sure didn't know. "I need you to stress the importance of keeping hidden to the Fang. This cell is… very, very poorly trained compared to others, so you need to make sure they understand."
"That I will. If there's anything I'm good at, it's keeping wild animals under control," Roman pulled a cigar from his desk, puffing clouds of smoke in the enclosed space. "I assume you can't hack Beacon and remove it from the missions?"
"They're on edge after Cinder's attack. We try and Striker Group would get suspicious."
"Ah," Roman removed the cigar, leaning forward on his desk. "Say, what would happen if this Huntsman team discovers us?"
"You launch the train if deemed necessary," Roman couldn't see it, but he knew Arberwood's eyes narrowed at that moment.
"But don't worry, we'll deal with them when it comes to it."
/ - /
MISSION NOT AVAILABLE TO FIRST YEARS
The words flashed on the large holographic screen, almost mocking them. Team RWBY stood around, slumped over and dejected as they took in the message.
"So..." Weiss said, pursing her lips as she stared at the red words of denial. "What do we do now?"
"Well," Ruby scratched her chin, thinking of any other way to get to Mountain Glenn. Then, the perfect idea came. "We mail ourselves there!"
The rest of her team deadpanned at her.
"You could do that, or..." a new voice began. The four Huntresses turned to look and find the voice. Ozpin appeared out of the shadows behind the screens, holding a scroll of his own. "There could be another way."
As Ozpin began his spiel towards the girls, he thought back to his conversation with James.
Who came first: the flag bearers, or the scouts?
Perhaps if Arc hadn't been so preoccupied with the other task he gave him, maybe Ozpin would've given him the task. Or maybe not, he had to test his other projects too. Not to mention the amount of attention they'd garner, and then the enemy would leave, leaving everyone empty-handed. Perhaps Striker Group already had a presence in Mountain Glenn. They always seemed to know everything, and knowing about the White Fang presence wasn't much of a stretch.
Ozpin knew the White Fang were in Mountain Glenn, and so did RWBY.
RWBY didn't quite know about the other faction.
No matter. Maybe the mission would help temper RWBY, to show them the cruelties of the world, and to draw them closer to him. If push came to shove, Bart would know that the students came above everything.
Ozpin sipped his coffee all the while as the faces of RWBY lit up with excitement at their new opportunity to strike back at the White Fang, entirely unaware of what they were in for.
To be honest, I'm not all that happy with this chapter, like, at all.
Sure it does some things I need to get done, like I can't just toss Jaune and the boys into a black ops thing and go like, "Yeah bro they already know how to do all this." Like, I'm a bad writer, but not that bad of a writer.
Right?
I never did that before. Probably.
Also, another shill about my discord. The DnD is going to happen I swear. It's just like Cyberpunk, it'll be openworld and definitely not buggy, and it'll run great on last gen consoles.
In all seriousness, I'm close to finishing prep for the "one shot" (it'll 100% take more than one session lol) and we'll be able to play… soon? Anyways, you can still join the Discord to hang out and play games, because we play alot of games together and it's good fun.
discord gg/8gbF2TJ (Link in profile if you want to copy paste).
Remember to leave a review. I don't care even if you put, "Nice." or "Shit chapter mate." my monke brain just wants to see numbers go up.
Except my discord, fuck you my discord needs to leave long reviews going over everything they like and dislike about the chapter, or I'll murder canonically murder your bunny waifus.
Anyways, remember to not spend thousands of dollars on Gacha games.
Tophat out.