Sorry for the wait, a combination of different story ideas, struggles to write certain chapters for said stories, and a sudden interest in the Deus Ex games caused my lack of updates.

Now for reviews.

Guest 1: I never said Blake hated Jaune.

Guest 2: I can avoid the statistic you brought up by making Eve straight.

P.S. The armor described in this chapter is based off of WMDiscovery93's Task Force 77 - EMPS Standard on DeviantArt

It was a calm and peaceful night for the citizens of Vale, except for the two Mercenaries and their unintentional ward. Jaune and Glynda had only gotten enough sleep to continue functioning, Whitney on the other hand had her scant sleeping moments plagued by nightmares. So much so she almost missed when her mother arrived. Willow stormed through the door, clearly worried sick.

"Where's my baby!"

Whitney eyes widen as runs to give her mother a hug. "Mommy!"

as the two women embrace, Glynda makes a sound of realization.

"Hn, I just realized something."

"What's that?"

"Weiss really got the short end of the genetic stick."

Jaune, choking back a laugh, took the time to actually examine Whitney. She was half a foot taller than Weiss, at about average height, with a body more like her mothers than petite like Weiss. If he was honest, had he not known better he would have thought she was the older sister.

"Hn, you're right."

"I'm always right."

"Yes, yes you are." Jaune said rolling his eye, but knowing better than to argue.

Their conversation is interrupted by Willow walking up.

"I would like to open a contract with you two." The two mercs nodded for her to continue. "I would like for you two to take Whitney into your employ under a new identity."

"Sounds doable, but are you sure about this, she'd have to do missions, and they're not always pleasant." Jaune asked.

"Yes. It would give her experience outside of Jacques, and teach her to defend herself."

"Very well, it will be done." Glynda replied.

Jaune walks to Whitney and clasps her shoulder. "Congrats kid, your about to be trained by the best merc that's ever lived."

"Y-you?"

Jaune snorted. "Me? Fuck no, I was talking about her."

Whitney follows his thumb towards Glynda. "Oh, I suppose that makes sense."

"Yup." Jaune said, popping the P. "Now, while the adults hash out the details, we'll be heading to home base, but before that we need to get you some new… well everything."

"Uh, why?"

"Because you're now dead, as far as the world is concerned, so that means whole new look."

"I suppose that makes sense when you put it like that, well then, let's be off."

With that out of the way, Jaune left Glynda in-charge of hashing out the deal while he took Whitney to get a new identity, after an outfit change. Jaune and Whitney wait back in the apartment for their contact to show, Whitney now wore a simple white tee with pale skinny jeans and blue trainers. They didn't have to wait long as there was a knock at the door. Jaune stood and opened the door, revealing an older looking gentleman.

The Gentleman was tall and of trim build, he had slicked back salt-n-pepper hair with a white pencil mustache tastefully decorating his lip. He wore a brown Valen style suit with a light grey dress shirt with a button down collar and three button cuffs. For accessories he wore a burgundy paisley pocket square and tie with oxblood double monk strap shoes and driving gloves, to finish off his ensemble was a brown fedora and overcoat. The Gentleman removed and hung up his overcoat and hat before turning to Jaune with a restrained but no less ecstatic smile.

"Mr. Atone!" The Gentleman then kissed both of Jaunes cheeks, as was costume in Vale, before continuing. "How may I be of service today?"

Jaune smiled before turning and gesturing to Whitney. "We've found ourselves a poor nameless soul searching for a purpose."

The Gentleman turned with a surprised look towards Whitney. "Ah, my condolences Ms. Schnee, I'm sure your obituary will be quite lovely, though I do not believe the same could be said for your fathers."

"I'm sure you're right, Mr.?"

The Gentleman slapped his forehead. "Oh, how could I forget my manners so carelessly, you may call me the Gentleman." The Gentleman bowed his head with a flourish.

Whitney looked to Jaune for a reaction, and seeing none turned back to the Gentleman. "It is, nice to meet you… Gentleman."

The Gentleman chuckles. "I know it seems weird but only a few individuals in the company know the real names of all its operatives, for the protection of everyone involved you see, but worry not, you'll get the hang of it soon enough. Now, onto the reason I am here."

The Gentleman sets down a briefcase that Whitney only now noticed, it was a small thing, only a foot long by a half-foot tall, but it was quite bulky at another half-foot in width. He entered a code Whitney could not see and opened it to reveal a concealed computer. The top half of the case was entirely a screen, while the bottom held a small keyboard, a hand scanner, and a slot for inserting cards, as well as many ports for inserting cables. The Gentleman saw Whitneys confused face and chuckled.

"This little case is used for our agents new identities, should they want or need them, it's disconnected from the CCT towers and ergo unhackable from a distance."

"But wouldn't you need to be connected to the CCT to upload it?"

The Gentleman chuckles. "Only if we try and pass you off as someone who grew up in one of the Kingdoms proper, but if we say you are from one of the frontier towns, then we can simply pass your new paperwork along to the counsel and boom! New you."

"It's… that easy?" Whitney asked, perturbed.

"Disturbingly so, the Kingdoms only care about the people inside their walls I'm afraid, but luckily for us it is so. Now come here and we can stat the process."

And so, over the next few hours, Whitney had went from Whitney Schnee, new heiress to the SDC Empire, to Esmeralda Noire, freelance mercenary. Along with her name, her appearance changed as well, her once long ivory locks where cut to her shoulders and died black, she was also given green contact lenses. She had also been coached about her new identity as to not accidentally reveal her true identity. Glynda had arrived at the tail end of the process with more clothes for her and brunch. After they ate their fill, Glynda approached Whitney.

"Name?"

"Esmeralda Noire."

"Where were you born?"

"The frontier town of Volga, in the Cossack territory of the Kingdom of Atlas."

"What are your parents names and what do they do?"

"Johnathan and Gertrude Noire, my father is a farmer and my mother a seamstress."

Glynda nodded in approval. "Good. Now that your background is set in stone, it's time to head back to the HQ."

Whitney blinked in confusion. "I thought this was the HQ?"

"No, this is our personal apartment." Jaunes shouts of it was only his were ignored. "The HQ is a private island a few hours outside the Kingdom of Vale, we have a personal bullhead waiting for us, we'll explain how the company works on the flight over."

And so with Whitneys impromptu interrogation over, the three mercs hoped in their company car and headed to the airport to board their company bullhead. The bullhead was about twice the size of a regular bullhead, and had twice the firepower and armor as well, with a stylized compass vector painted on the side. Once they boarded Glynda explained that the company operated as their namesake implied, the took almost any contract, minus the ones from known criminal sources, and did their damnedest to complete it. The contracts could range from relatively low risk humanitarian aid to high risk contracts like hostage rescue and Grimm extermination. The operatives were given strict guidelines to operate by, such as follow the letter of the law in the zone of operation and abstain from unnecessary danger of civilian persons and property, but outside of those guidelines the individual operators were practically given carte blanche. There was also two sub categories of contracts, Plain Clothes and Uniformed, these were fairly self explanatory, Whitney would get a first hand look at the uniforms when she recived hers.

As their flight comes to an end, they approach an island roughly thirty two times the size of Patch, it's grey concrete military style fortifications were visible as they descended, about a mile inland from the coast was a large wall, with guard towers every mile or so apart, with a large complex in the center, which held a CCT tower, with various small settlements dotted across the landscape. Whitney was told she would meet the most important figures of the company, she would meet most of the operators on various contracts, those being the Head Doctor, Main Armorer, Director of Communications, Chief of Security, and finally the man in charge of the company, The Director.

First was the Chief of Security. They found her exercising in the company gym. She was a tall and muscular older woman with tanned skin and white hair tied into a tight bun, her piercing blue eyes were enhanced by the three large claw-like scars on the right side of her head and ending right next to her eye. She was dressed in a light grey tank-top and charcoal cargo pants bloused into a pair of black combat boots. She racked her weights as she saw them approach and sat up.

"So, you're the newbie right?" She held out her hand to shake, Whitney took her hand, only to have hers be crushed. "Huh, dainty little thing aint ya?" She lessens the pressure. "Sorry 'bout that, when I served I was one of the few women in the Atlasian Military, let alone the Marines, so I'm used to insecure higher-ups trying to crush my hand as a show of dominance, names Myla Quaritch, former Colonel of the Atlasian Marines and current Chief of Security."

"Esmeralda Noire."

"I know, you were cleared shortly before ya' landed." Quaritch chuckled. "And for future reference, it's either Ma'am, Chief, or Quaritch, if I like ya' enough I might let ya' call me by my first name, but only Felix and Glynda have earned that honor so far."

"Yes Ma'am."

Quaritch chuckles. "Good. Now fuck off to the Doc for your check up and leave me to my exercise."

Next was the Head Doctor. They found her in her office, a comfortable clinic esc space. She was a full-figured woman of average height with fair skin and grey striped black hair done up in a messy bun. She wears a white blouse tucked into a brown A-line skirt with black-brown stocking held up by a black garter belt and black office flats, she also wore a closed white double-breasted lab coat, held closed by a black belt, with a red tie, red elbow length gloves, and black glasses. She was currently doing surgery, with a patient that was still very much conscious.

She stood over a large balding man dressed in charcoal cargo pants tucked into black combat boots, he was currently shirtless with his chest wide open, and spoke with a heavy Mantlese accent. "And when the patient woke up their skeleton was missing and the Doctor was never heard from again!" After a round of laughter from the both of them the Doctor continues. "Anyway, that's how I lost my medical license." As the roaring silence settled, the Doctor noticed the new arrivals and approached them.

"Ah! About time you showed up!"

"Um, shouldn't you be tending to that man?" Whitney asked.

"What? Oh! Nein, he'll be fine." The Doctor waved her hand. "Now for introductions, I am Dr. Ludwig, I will be your main source of healing, and if necessary, either bionic augmentation or limb replacement. Now, come come, time for your physical."

Whitney was unnerved by Dr. Ludwig's sinister smile and looked to the two sane people in the room. "Are you sure this is safe?"

Jaune chuckled. "Don't worry, you'll get use to it after a while."

"You didn't answer my question!" Whitney yells as Jaune and Glynda retreat from the room. "You didn't answer- what are you doing with that syringe! No! Stay away! Somebody save me!"

After the unnerving but surprisingly competent physical, Whitney was ushered to the Armory. The armory was helmed by a tall shaggy looking man with black hair and pale skin, he had bags under his eyes and a mustache and goatee. He was dressed in a two-tone grey combat shirt, the shoulder and arms being a darker grey with the rest being a light grey, with khaki pockets attached to his shoulders by khaki pads, tucked into charcoal cargo pants bloused into a pair of black combat boots. He was wrapped in an old military poncho liner and fast asleep, mumbling to himself.

"Those are my fuckin' cabinets." Jaune cleared his throat, causing the man to wake up with a start. "Specialist Hazard reporting for… oh, it's you, what do you want?"

"I'm here for my equipment-"

"Yeah, yeah, sign here, here and here. Good. And here's your shit, additional equipment will be given out as needed and, so on and so forth, blah, blah, blah. Now go bug Mike."

Whitney checked out her new uniform, her fatigues were the same as the Armorer was wearing, and for armor she was given a plate carrier that resembled the anatomy of the human musculature and a helmet that covered all but her face, with an attachable respirator and googles, she turned to Jaune and Glynda.

"Is this it?"

"Nope, you still need your radio, then it's pretty much done, you'll receive your weapons after training, but it boils down to a melee weapon, a main arm, a side arm, and a back up weapon, we'll train you in all sorts of weapons and unarmed fighting styles until we find out what works for you." Jaune explained.

"Oh, okay."

"And try not to take offense at Hazards attitude, it's a byproduct of his time in the Army." Glynda explained.

"Why? Quaritch doesn't act like him, what happened?"

"Myla got out a few years before Hazard went in, and at the time Atlas had just declared war against the White Fang, and the leadership wasn't prepared to fight an irregular war, so a lot of bullshit was flying and Hazard was often the one catching it." Jaune explained. "Now, let's go meet Mike."

A few minutes later they walked into the Comms center. It was a two-story room filled with people working with various radio equipment, on an elevated platform stood a brown haired clean shaven man dressed in a light grey T-shirt and charcoal cargo pants bloused into a pair of black combat boots with a black vest and red military beret. The man turned to them with a friendly smile.

"Hey, I'm Mike, you're the new recruit right?"

"Uh, y-yes."

"Cool. Sign here. And here's your new scroll, radio and ear piece, and labtop."

"That's it?"

"Yup. Now you should be off to meet the Director."

With her gear in order, it was time Whitney meet the Director. His office was at the top of their CCT tower, it was of spartan design, with a simple wooden desk surrounded by bookcases. The Director, an older man of slim build with greying brown swept back hair and goatee with his dark green eyes hidden behind black blocky glasses. He was dressed in a simple slate colored dress shirt and navy slacks, with black dress shoes and dress belt. He looked up as they approached and spoke with a rural accent.

"Hello, I am Director Temple, but you will refer to me simple as Director. And no need for introductions, I trust both Felix and Glynda will teach you all you need know and more. Now if you will see yourselves out, I am a very busy man."

With the Directors dismissal the three mercs made their way outside the tower. Once there Whitney turned to Jaune and Glynda with a curious expression.

"So, what now?"

"Now?" Jaune repeated. "Now we train."

With that said, the three made their way to the company gym.